Also… who’s gonna be attacking Canada with drones?

Well, there WAS that thing a couple of months ago where Kilmeade said the quiet part out loud, suggesting we should execute them.

Right, but the issue here is that nobody agrees on who is at fault. Nobody is given reason to change their minds, because it’s “the other side” causing it, regardless of which side they’re on. It’s a problem that is definitely affecting real people, but “we’re not the ones causing it” is an easy way to ignore responsibility.

That’s not to say the shutdown should end, or that it isn’t obvious that the administration isn’t willing to come to the table, but I don’t think I agree with your above point that there’s anything undeniable to be found.

You’re considering it from a partisan viewpoint. Future administrations would do better to add more robust protections against this form of political intervention. The DOJ should be independent, and welcome to investigate or charge any politicians they can make a case for, past or present, regardless of which colors are hanging in the halls of the great leader Trump Ballroom.

Nobody is seriously saying we should never prosecute a political opponent. They’re saying that political opponents shouldn’t be charged by partisan actors.

One of the wonders of being an adult is that our peers stop being limited to people who are the same age as us. Now in my late twenties, I have friends 10 years younger than me, and 20 years older.

Dating is different than friendship. But it’s not so fundamentally different that I’d feel weird about dating an adult in those age brackets. Is it more likely I’m going to date someone closer to my age? Sure. On average, they’d be more likely to be in a point in their life that I’m looking for, but it’s not a guarantee.

I’m a bit above your age bracket in question, so I’ll comment on what advice I might give to a friend in that age bracket. Were a friend of mine to be thinking about getting involved with someone 20 years their senior, I’d tell her to think carefully. She should spend some time thinking about what she wants from a relationship. If she’s still interested in going out late and drinking, or she likes raves, I might say she should consider whether her potential partner is still looking to have those things in their life. The opposite too, if she’s the “comfy book and a movie at home” type of gal, is she wanting to be with this partner who’s super into going out adventure biking all the time. I’d tell her to think carefully about why she’s interested in this person, but also what this person sees in her.

On average, people gain some level of “maturity”/“wisdom”/life experience/je ne sais quoi about them as they get older. On average, people tend to date people who are similar to them in some ways. On average, partners will have similar levels of this vague term for aged distinction that I lack a term for. Relationships that don’t follow this pattern are, then, unusual. Not bad or wrong, necessarily. My left ear is substantially asymmetrical from my right. That’s unusual, but not a problem, except I have to be careful when finding earbuds that fit both ears properly. Similarly, those who date with large age gaps like this are unusual. Not inherently bad, but with some things to look for. It is more common that these sorts of relationships have some sort of unhealthy dynamic. Maybe that’s a predatory power dynamic, or financial inequality, or just some skeevy 40 year old who thinks “coeds are hot sex toys, especially when they have daddy issues”. Or, maybe they just both REALLY like boats. Like, they met when they both learned they were building a to-scale hand crafted replica of Viking longships, and it was a wonderful match for them. Or, maybe they both have a kink for plastering lizard scales on themselves, putting on goggles, sunning themselves on the patio, and then fucking like rabbits. The reasons they can find love for one another are many, and are not mine to limit, or to judge. I can judge them, mind you. If their relationship is based on how much they both love drowning puppies, they’re awful people. But that’s who they are, not who they love. That’s different.

“Here’s an Onion article” isn’t a response to what I said. Most Americans also don’t like the situation we’re in. We agree with you on that point. But “I don’t like this version of events and you people are disgusting for letting it happen” is a pointless observation when nobody has laid out an actual plan that could change things more than what’s being done.

I ask again. What do you propose we should be doing instead?

And do what, exactly? Provide the exact excuse the federal government is posturing for, allowing them to justify the actions that our various local/state governments are fighting to show aren’t real? Should we start an insurrection, so that Trump can start gunning down citizens with impunity and incite even more dramatic acts of violence from his base?

Truly, what do you think Portlanders, as individuals or small groups, could be doing that would meaningfully prevent the administration from enacting their agenda? Portland isn’t on fire. Trump says it is. Should they burn it down to prove him wrong?

Absolutely agreed on learning to write Kanji, as well. Especially given that even PARTIAL learning will teach you how to recognize the writing of characters you’re not familiar with, which is critically important for being able to look them up in a dictionary.

Do you need to be able to reproduce every single Kanji you know? No. Should you spend time on learning how to write them? Absolutely, I’d 100% recommend it.

I suspect this will depend somewhat on your level of knowledge in those other languages. Japanese is broadly considered a very difficult language for native English speakers, and it’s pretty substantially different in many ways from English. Learning it is indeed possible, but takes a long time and a substantial commitment of energy. However, those with a decent fluency in Chinese (I use this rather than Cantonese/Mandarin because I don’t understand the nuances well enough to speak intelligently as to their relation to Japanese-learning) or Korean (and probably many other languages) will have a much easier time with the transition compared to those with a primarily-English background. Additionally, Japanese Kanji have a relationship with Chinese characters, and so learning the Kanji is easier for one with a meaningful Chinese background who has had to learn those characters already.

For some context, one can attend Language School in Japan, which is a half-time (~20-25hr/wk) course load taught with full immersion learning. That is to say, the course is taught almost entirely in Japanese itself, but doesn’t require any knowledge of the language to participate, as you’ll work up from a near-zero understanding. In many of these classes, the first few weeks might lean a small amount on English to explain certain concepts, but the complexity of English required is very low. It takes about 2 years of these courses in order to reach a “basic” fluency. Many who take the 2-year course take the JLPT (Japanese-Language Proficiency Test) and study up for the exam can test into the N2 category, which is what you’d minimally need in order to attend school or seek a job in Japan.

Learning on your own, I’d probably say you should expect either to spend many hours a day on study, and/or to spend multiple years before you’d reach the point of being able to understand a significant amount of the anime you consume. Learning the grammar and vocabulary are one thing, but actually consuming content in the language is an important part of learning, and jumping from nothing to full-on anime is a HELL of a jump in complexity.

As to how to go about it, there are tons of excellent resources available online for paths to take. Most will point you to various textbooks to work through, which is a pretty decent strategy IMO. The Genki series is one that is often recommended for those not working from a class, since it discusses the material in English.

I don’t think they meant geographic size. In terms of population they’re around 9th, in terms of GDP more like 25th. They’re not Malta obviously, but they don’t really stack up against the big traditionally heavyweight countries by most metrics.

This is not well-supported by a consensus of research.

It’s pretty consistent actually. Tylenol doesn’t link to autism, and guns do link to gun violence. In both cases they’re ignoring reality when it doesn’t fit their narrative.

That’s because they spent all the money again

Let’s call that 1500 liters of water. Assuming that drinking 10 liters of water in a short timeframe will almost certainly kill you somehow or another, 150 doses?

Hey! Don’t be so narrow-minded. It could be one of the woke judges instead.

Your meaning is unclear for me

The sex crimes stuff is so they can detain LGBTQ youth and issue them whatever the yellow badge equivalent will be.

Sorry… their plan is to have specifically police do this? And then that police officer will, without normal protections and secured only by an app, arrive to a known location, likely at night?

That’s… a choice.

None. All 4 Democrats on the committee voted in favor. It wasn’t a floor vote, it was an amendment to a crypto bill in committee.

Meanwhile, health officials said seven children were killed after an Israeli air strike targeted a water distribution site in central Gaza. The Israeli military has claimed that the strike was a result of a “technical malfunction” that had caused the missile to fall “dozens of metres from the target”.

So in other words, they weren’t trying to hit children with the missile, they were instead trying to hit the water source, which would’ve killed those children as well as many more people. That’s much better.