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No, the heart of the Ukraine scandal was Trump and Giuliani. They made it very clear that what was important to them was that Ukraine announce that they were investigating the Bidens, and that they were willing to withhold approved aid until they got the announcement. It was the announcement that was important to them, not evidence of wrong doing or exoneration. The important thing was to score the political hit. Speaking of exonerating evidence, Joe Biden has been exonerated of wrong doing in Ukraine by multiple parties. This includes a Republican led Senate investigation that

The accuracy!

No, we can put this fairly on the leadership. I live in that country on your northern border, where almost all our leaders took this pandemic seriously early on. Our per capita case and death rates are far lower than in the US, and while we're also experiencing a second wave it's nowhere near what America is going through; and our leaders are reinstating more stringent measures. Europe's approach to the virus was piecemeal and varied greatly, so it's not surprising things are getting bad again for the continent as a whole. Other countries like South Korea brought the outbreak under control eve

So I have downloaded GIMP and started playing around with some battlemaps for virtual tabletop use. I have not done any design like this in a long time. I don't claim to be a great artist, but I like to make things nice enough to allow easy suspension of disbelief for the players. As such, I would like to know if other do their own battle maps, make do without any, use those that others have made or some other solution? If you make your own, what do you use? Here is my first attempt, it's a cavern setting that will probably end up being a 2 session thing because of the number of en

Your concern for the children of your neighborhood in the midst of your own struggles is an inspiration to us all.

We had bought our candy before I got hit and hid it in the freezer to prevent us from devouring it all. Well, we can't endanger the kids even more in our neighborhood by allowing them to come to the house...

Watch the two 60 minutes interviews I linked up thread, and tell us which candidate you think is more coherent.

I remember that Star Trek episode

During the 2016 presidential campaign, Trump made it a habit to stay at Trump properties whenever possible. When he got a Secret Service detail assigned to him, like they do when someone becomes a serious contender, the Secret Service rented rooms at the Trump properties in order to stay close to him. That was entirely legal. After Trump was sworn in, he's made a habit of staying at Trump properties with his now expanded Secret Service detail also staying...with Trump continuing to get paid for renting them rooms. That's a direct violation of the Constitutio

Within limits, sure. It's easy to say "the government will pay for it", but that does not make it free. How much more taxes are you willing to pay (not impose on other segments of the population - pay yourself - "who should pay taxes?" is a completely separate question from "what should taxes pay for")? Or, what other programs (being realistic) are you willing to cut? More funding for COVID, so less for other medical conditions? More old people get hospitalized, so reduce social security benefits (or tax them more heavily) to compensate? A special medical tax? Just like the d

I see a few common threads emerging which I concur with, and steriaca touches on most of them here. By default, the attack works on anyone the character targets and hits. He can already choose not to attack some targets. He is limiting viable targets, and that means there is a limitation. Now we need to value it. The question is how often he will target, or will wish he could target, someone or something that the KA will not work on, That depends on exactly who it will, and will not, work on, which the player needs to detail. Object, automatons, animals, entities t

Oregon could become 1st US state to decriminalize hard drugs through this November's ballot initiative. Possession of small amounts of heroin, cocaine, LSD and other hard drugs would result in a $100 fine or the person could opt to go into new, free addiction recovery centers which are to be paid for by taxes on marijuana sales. https://apnews.com/article/election-2020-portugal-arrests-elections-oregon-4feaaeb5e60f3a853810ae1853fb22ea I'm excited to see this since it's a variation on the approach I've advocated for years. Portugal, the Netherlands and Switze

I would say it was a complete rejection of the status quo that got us Trump. The public was so sick of politicians that they gave the reality TV star and real estate guy a shot. That is a blistering condemnation of the quality of politician we have been getting lately. Comparing what we've seen the last few elections makes the politicians of yesteryear (Reagan, Clinton) seem like demigods in my very old opinion.

Look on the bright sides. --The neighbors were great. --There were only 10 of the idiots. I've had a fairly macabre, gruesome related 'thought'...if 1 person in 10,000,000 is a homicidal maniac who could go Mandalay Bay shooter at any time...then there's over 30 such people in the US right now. There will always be that fraction of a fraction of people who need to be sent through Karmic Recycling before they'll be able to even hear the whisper of a clue.

Keeping Up With The Kardashians was cancelled, so I still have some hope for American values.

I don’t know why Donald Trump wants four more years. He can’t even handle 60 minutes.

How come Batman shampoo exists... But not Conditioner Gordon?

I'm very sorry. Please try to keep us updated if possible and take care of yourself!

I find it truly appalling that you cannot get tested right away nine months after the start of the pandemic and even more shocked at how uneven the testing availability is. Alabama is by no means a hotbed of modern society, but we've had drive-in testing with 45 minute wait lines since June. My aunt, sister and I went in after my sister fell ill in one car. They gave us the brain swab, temperature checks and blood oxygen at curbside. My sister had blood oxygen in the low 80's and the doctor on site wrote her a hospital admittance on the spot. I don't know if you have a

You're in our prayers, Cygnia. But you're a Hero. You've faced down demons and supervillains. If this virus had an ass, you'd kick it.

Inspired 100% by Ninja-Bear a few posts up, A pair of "villains" showed up in my last few Teen Champions sessions: "Mista Finsta" and "The GOAT" (Greatest Of All Time). They are a pair of 15 year old mutants that are using their powers to become internet stars. They are social media influencer wannabes that are committing very splashy crimes and posting them online for the attention. They haven't taken anything expensive and no one has gotten hurt (yet) so they are low on the authorities priority lists, but their antics have spilled over into the personal lives of my PCs. Mista Finsta is

Let's see if we can get past this obsession with death statistics, and the notions that young people can just shake off this disease, and that quarantining only the sick and elderly is easy. What Young, Healthy People Have to Fear From COVID-19 I can't shake Covid-19: Warnings from young survivors still suffering

I have to disagree. This election isn't just a referendum on the President, and on the GOP, but on "Trumpism," his entire approach to politics that has so corrupted the American government and divided the American people. Trump and the Republican incumbents have to be so thoroughly trounced that it's clear the great majority of Americans repudiate Trumpism. Nothing less will quiet all but their most fanatical followers, and reassure the rest of the world that the last four years don't represent what America stands for. Otherwise there will be no domestic peace going forward, and the standing o

Quoted For The Mother-Lovin' TRUTH!

I certainly see your point and sympathize with your sentiment. But decorum serves a much more significant purpose than just "manners." It creates a context through which human interactions can be interpreted, meanings and motivations can be recognized and acted upon. Breaching decorum can lead to misunderstanding and offense, sometimes with significant consequences. One fairly recent example which comes to my mind was when Donald Trump attended his first NATO summit with other national leaders from the alliance. They treated him with the deference appropriate to his office, but I b

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The older I get, the more I find myself relating to these guys.

If it isn't too bad stay home, but don't be stoic. Earlier in the pandemic, someone here (Old Man?) posted a chart of the differences in the treatments of people who survived serious Covid encounters and those who didn't. The course of treatments were almost identical, but the survivors got the more aggressive treatments one day sooner. Yep, that was it. The doctors reaching for the big guns one day earlier in a significant number of cases made the difference between life and death. How, we treat Covid has changed considerably in the months since that chart came out, but I woul

Already taking D3, C and magnesium.

Critique wise, you made no mistakes. Good color choices, and very gameable. How many pixels across is it? As for their use, I find maps and minis necessary for any game that has a large tactical element.

Ewok Christmas Parties.

Not an ad, as I’m not a lender, but I am a subject matter expert (SME, in my business slang). Mortgages can be confusing and intimidating, and currently, rates are quite literally at all time lows the likes of which I never expected to see in my lifetime. As a point of reference, we just bought a house and I managed to secure a 2.75% interest rate. If you are interested in purchasing or refinancing, I can answer the common questions. If you have a question related to the industry, to your own circumstance, or just how everything works, this is the thread to post those. I’ll answer

It's the "shiftless, lazy blacks" trope. And, sadly, there are plenty of white folks who silently nod their heads in agreement, and don't believe they're being racist, just "realistic". See, those ugly negative stereotypes, in their minds, are largely "true", and therefore it can't possibly be racist for them to believe such things. Archie Bunker writ large. It's kinfolk to the same mindset that disregards scientific experts when those experts tell them inconvenient truths.

Once you've rationalized minority rule, you've rationalized cheating on the election. Which is why we are now seeing a spate of targeted post office sabotage, gerrymandering, intimidation at polling locations, voter roll purges, ballot drop box removal, polling location removal, and a long running campaign of disinformation designed to question the results of the election long before election day.

Exactly this. The problem isn't just the cops who served the warrant, it's the entire system that led a nurse to get gunned down in her own bed. Yet there is zero movement on the parties involved to reform no knock warrants, verify the informant's testimony, check whether the perp they're looking for hasn't already been picked up, or check whether they have the right address. Instead the only serious charges that were leveled were for the one cop who missed, and then the prosecutor intentionally fumbled the case in court. And while it might not have been a racial issue until the

Margins of victory in the popular vote are interesting, but not particularly meaningful. Popular vote does not, and has not ever, determined who becomes the President. The President has always been elected by the States through the Electoral College, never by popular vote. Good, bad, or indifferent, those are the rules. Continuing to talk about the popular vote, while interesting, is not particularly meaningful.

With respect, that's exaggeration. A case can be made that the Democrats' most prominent message has been, "not Trump," which targeting of the sitting POTUS is hardly novel in American politics, from either major party. But the Democrats had a broad platform in the last election, and they came out of their recent convention with an updated platform. You can read a summary of it here if you'd like. The whistle blower story about Ukraine emerged in August of 2019, and articles of impeachment against Trump were filed in December of that year -- hardly the Democrats' first action in th

I was told that wearing a mask and gloves would be enough during the corona virus pandemic. But when I got to the store I was told that pants and a shirt were also required.

Three things Christ promises he will never do: Won't leave you broken-hearted (Psalm 147:3), won't reject you (John 6:37), and won't leave you nor forsake you (Hebrews 13:5). In essence, Jesus is never gonna give you up, never gonna let you down, never gonna run around and desert you.