I’ll ask you the same, do you believe people choose their attractions? Be very careful in your answer. If you say yes, then LGBT is a choice.

I have no clue what MAP is, but can you point to the words that hurt you?

We don’t get to choose who and what we are attracted to. 🤷🏻‍♂️ However, that does not absolve one of immoral actions.

Or do you believe attraction is a choice? You believe people have a choice to be gay or trans? You can’t have it both ways. Pick. One.

Only 3 Kennedys had real power with the new RFK being a weird outlier, and one without much real juice. They’re just a rich family with name recognition at this point.

How about the Bush family? I’d rank them above the Kennedys.

Americans substitute wealthy people for the royalty we’ve never had.

Neat! Don’t think I have the energy to do much about it, but that’s a great site, thank you very much!

That first sentence tells me SO much. I never once thought of that.

That first sentence is likely my answer! People are identifying with the memes, therefore they feel they belong to that group when they may truly not. I am not a smart man.

As to medication, LOL. My ADHD best friend and his ADHD wife brought some Ritalin home one afternoon. Very excited, they invited me to join in snorting a line. I was bouncing off the walls like I was on meth. They got calm and were very happy to just sit on the couch and talk.

Another funny one; When we were 17 a salesman in the department store offered us coffee he was selling. Gf: “No, that will put me to sleep.” Say what?! True enough. We met and lived with each other 10-years later, coffee knocked her out cold.

But what really turned my head was seeing my 6-yo daughter on medicine the first time. She never struck me as “abnormal” until I saw her on speed. We watched her literally stop and smell the flowers.

Didn’t want to say it, but it sure seems trendy to me. Quick example from my daughter:

She had zero issues with eye contact until very recently. She reads memes telling her eye contact is a problem for people like her. Now she has problem.

I am NOT saying that issue is fake, but when a child is constantly bombarded with, “This is how you are!”, they become that way.

Part of my thoughts in the OP are, “We’re making normal behavior out to be abnormal and slapping a label on it. And perhaps we’re making it worse than need be.”

My mother constantly told me I was sickly as a child, and I was constantly sick. First year of college (without her influence) was my first year without a single illness, not even a mild cold. Miracle! Wait…

If I took her ADHD drugs, I’d be on speed. She takes them, she calms down. Yes, it’s speed, I’ve done loads, all kinds, I get it. Why else you think said drugs are so highly controlled? Shit’s nearly like meth to “normal” people.

Are you telling me to educate myself and implying there’s a genetic component to autism/ADHD? Imma need to see your notes.

That is starting to make sense. Yet I’ve never met a human that experiences these things non-stop. My daughter can be “off” sometimes, but she’s mostly not. And yes, I understand it’s a spectrum, there are degrees.

Kids broke the laser pointer, makes it really hard to use. But the SATISFACTION. :)

I try not to kill anything but flies (overwhelming in the summer), cockroaches inside, and fire ants (invasive and destructive). I refuse to use poisons or herbicides, only fire ant bait.

Keep on! I’ve seen our insect populations crash since I was a child and the upstream ecosystem is suffering. Young people would be fucking appalled if they emotionally knew what I knew, seen what I’ve seen.

But good news! Our yard is the only reason we have frogs and dragonflies back on the block! More to come.

I’ve got one! Annoyed my wife leaving salt all over the kitchen window sill.

Yeah, weird in-between dining model. Still beats McDonald’s inside where they have purposefully run off dining customers in favor of drive thru.

Still, way better food, brought to you and cleaned up, same price.

People like her aren’t stupid enough to take public government roles. The truly powerful rule behind the throne. I think the reason we’re all raging about billionaires, particularly in tech, is that their manipulations are shamelessly public now days.

They’ve cut corners somewhere this century and the meat turned to cardboard. Their burgers were tastier when I was a smoker.

My wife fries them in a cast iron pan with a little oil.

Wife doesn’t like burgers, had never been to Steak n Shake. (Must be a Filipino thing because she cant’ cook 'em either.)

First bite, “This is the burger I have been looking for!” She loved the seasoning so much she bought 2 bottles, $5 each.

Forget what we paid, but it was on par with McDonalds, including the $5 tip. The restaurant itself and waitress kinda sucked, “Do you have coffee?” “We’re out.” So make some? This is a restaurant. Something else basic was out, I forget. But the point stands, a proper sit-down meal was the same cost as McDonalds, except delicious.

And don’t start me on local Mexican dives and trucks. I can get 3 deluxe street tacos for $10, less than some of the gross combos at McDonalds. And that place is a little high!

How did Mamdani take NYC against a filthy-rich opponent (Cuomo) with literal billionaires and the national conservative machine standing against him?

AOC was a bartender and took her House seat, untouchable now.

Obama was a nobody from Illinois. People heard him speak at the 2004 Democratic National Convention (me included!) and jumped onboard.

Clinton took the Presidency as an unheard-of governor of a hick state nobody cared about. And a Democrat in that state no less!

They all did it without big money, against wealthier opponents and won by talking to their people and listening. The formula works.

And like Pelosi, he received the most votes from the state of New York because, “That’s our guy!” We gotta fight these people where they live.

Mitch McConnell had the game down pat. He’d campaign like hell in Kentucky, be damned what the rest of the US thought of him. He’s shaken the hands of 10s of thousands of little old ladies who say, “That Mitch sure is a nice man!” (got that last bit from an article about how he worked his campaigns, not making it up)

Jesus, if lemmy only knew about Orrin Hatch or Robert Byrd (KKK member!). 🙄 Those dirtbags lasted for decade after decade after decade by appealing to their constituents, not the US as a whole.

Former House Speaker Tip O’Neill: “All politics is local.”

Side note, Mamdani has this game figured out! Except he went out and listened to his voters, of all sorts. Fascinating man to watch. No talking points shoe-horned in as replies, no sound bites, legitimate listening skills and answers. Bill Clinton was such a master. We will watch his career with great interest!