That enforces my point. Why should anyone care about some other person who, some may say, should have been spied on?

I just want to ask on behalf of people who don’t care about this, “why should I care about this”?

Because every time I bring up how much we’re being spied on by the government or Amazon or Google, et al, people just shrug it off. At best, they’ll admit it’s a problem - for people who should be worried about it. Meaning, “I’ve got nothing to hide”. If nothing else, Americans lack (or choose to reject) the basic concept of a shared society. If there’s a threat that the government is spying on people, we believe it’s the “other” people, not “us”.

Threats to our privacy is largely hypothetical for the majority of people. I’d even argue that the whole premise of privacy is no longer what it was just 15-20 years ago. I’ve even had people argue with me that they ‘want’ to be tracked so the ads they see are relevant to them.

So, I could see some Americans read this story and be in full support of this. They believe in a spy state as a means of protection. Ironically, these are also often the same people flying “Don’t Tread On Me” flags.

I don’t know if you’re serious or not.

Babbitt, an Air Force veteran, was shot and killed by law enforcement during the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol riot as she attempted to climb through a barricaded door to the Speaker’s lobby near the House chamber.

In May, the government agreed to pay Babbitt’s family nearly $5 million as part of a settlement.

The lawsuit alleged that the officer, who was not in uniform, failed to deescalate the situation and did not give her any warnings or commands before opening fire.

Remember this when the conservatives scream about “rioters” and the “thin blue line”. Fucking traitors and hypocrites.

How was it awful?

Could you tell me what the heck this yellow blob shape is supposed to be?

From a purely graphic design perspective, the classic logo is too busy and doesn’t scale well. The only thing it has going for it is the weirdness of the shape and the distinct color combination. It’s technically a really bad logo. You may not prefer the new logo but, technically, it’s a whole lot better. It’s far more adaptable to newer platforms while stilling being recognizable. Now, as far as being an effective representation of the brand and if that’s a corporate concern, I don’t know that I can comment on that.

Yes. It was.

the left is resorting to the same half-facts that has made the right so powerful.

This is nothing new. But it’s always said that, effectively, the left’s half facts are for the sake of the good. Which may be true but it still gives the right a reason to distrust the media and they’re right to do so. Meanwhile, you have people begging the Democrats to fight like MAGA does - which we’re seeing Newsom dabble with - but it’s not going to help restore any of what little trust and decorum that may have existed. Everything is spiraling towards shit.

I don’t think enough people are putting their principles ahead of the desire for entertainment. There should be a greater public backlash as these media outlets continue to increase their prices.

It’s taken me no more than two price increases by any outlet to cancel my subscription. I now only subscribe to Nebula, I watch Pluto and Tubi, I acquire my media in other ways that give me ownership of it, and I go to the theater more often. But mostly I try to do other things like read, create, exercise, socialize, learn new things.

To be fair, I’m a single person with no kids. However, I grew up in a time before mass cable tv adoption. I just hope parents are aware of the potential addiction they’re harming their children with as they stick a screen in front of their face rather than a coloring book or lego set.

We’re allowing corporations to control us and giving in to their demands to satisfy our addictions. To a lesser degree, we’re drug addicts and they’re the dealers.

Beef tallow is generally healthier than oil from some plants. When cooking at high heats, nearly all plant oils will break down and become toxic, making beef tallow a healthier choice. The issue with “seed oils” is that the food being consumed is a greater concern than the type of oil it’s cooked in.

In most cases corn syrup and sugar can be swapped out as effective replacements for each other. Not the case with alcohol and nicotine.

So, as we have illustrated, things have nuance.

Kennedy is correct about many of the issues we are struggling with today but often confuses correlation for causation. In the process, he sometimes offers a solution that is generally good even if it doesn’t directly impact the issue he intends to address.

He does get a lot of root-level statistics right when tracking health concerns over time.
What he often gets wrong is correlation versus causation and the methods for treating the issue.

Like, if I hypothetically claimed:
The rates of car accidents have increased over the past five years.
And I blamed our decreasing attention span due to social media consumption.
When the statics say that most accidents are caused by people looking at their phone.

He doesn’t understand how complex compounds work or what they are

Right. How the heck does he not understand this? How do you invest so much time in these topics, with a seemingly reasonable amount of intellect about some things, and completely ignore all the facts screaming at your face? I mean, maybe that brain worm is doing all the work.

he belongs to the party that wants to deregulate

He ran for president in '23 as a Democrat before switching to Independent. A lot of his work has been very much about pushing more government regulation. At the same time, he’s also pushing for the government to not push vaccines on people. So, I don’t think it’s so much about “government regulation” as a binary tent pole for him; which I do give him credit for.

Total wack job.

The seed oil topic is interesting. This has been mostly debunked but people still swear by it.

A friend of mine who is otherwise very smart has fallen for this and while he does acknowledge that the claims have been debunks he still shrugs it off. Because he has lost weight and maintains a “healthy lifestyle” that correlates with the period in which he stopped consuming seed oil (because a podcast told him to), he has establish a false correlation and goes on to tell people they should do the same. Propaganda and confirmation bias can affect everyone.

Although, there is a kernel (heh) of truth in the seed oil issue. The larger issue is that most of us lack any sense of moderation with anything in our lives. https://publichealth.jhu.edu/2025/the-evidence-behind-seed-oils-health-effects TL;DR: the things made with seed oil are what are bad for you.

I’m not aware of gimmicks or remedies he has a stake in selling. Could you share with me?

Generally, he’s been promoting healthier lifestyles and heavier regulation over processed foods (in direct contradiction to this administration). He blames our food choices, or lack of choices because corporations are getting away with putting trash in our food, for our declining health. When looking at the rest of the world, there are statistics to back this up. What he gets right is in regard to the things on our grocery store shelves and (on paper) the government’s role in promoting better choices.

Coincidentally, between the time I posted my original comment and now, I watched John Oliver’s segment about MAHA. The one thing he noted, in relation to promoting gimmicks, was his change in stance about health monitors. During the pandemic he was anti-tech because “the government could monitor you” but after being appointed as health secretary he’s saying he wants every American to have a health monitor within four years.

I mean, the dude in charge of America’s health is also drinking unpasteurized milk, swimming in sewage, and eating road kill - not to mention all the other wacky shit he gets wrong. He’s all over the place and I find it fascinating.

Have to admit, with RFK Jr, I don’t get it.

He might actually get more things right than he gets wrong but in the case of vaccines, he is so wrong - so willfully ignorant of the facts - that it effectively nullifies all he gets right.

I didn’t know this was an elected position. I could see how that complicates the matter.

Still, even if The People elect a person to a publicly held office as a representative of their interests, the elected official is obligated to uphold the law. If they’re unable to do so, either the county should have prevented her from taking the position or she should be held accountable for lying. Either way, the county should be facilitating the law to allow same-sex couples to be married.

No. I’m explicitly saying the exact opposite.

It’s not at all directly applicable.

There is no constitutional obligation for that employee to sell you pork. They’re representing laws that exist to benefit the tax paying public.

A worker at a barbecue is under no legal obligation to sell you pork. They may one under an obligation of their employment but that’s a private contract. The shop itself is under no obligation to sell you anything at all.

This makes total sense. What’s frustrating is that everyone focuses on the religious choice aspect while not asking the real question like why was this one person in charge of the entire county when it was known she had an issue. I’m sure this would lead to a larger investigation to find she wasn’t the only one with the issue of marrying a same-sex couple.

Really, the county should be held accountable, not this woman. The county has the obligation to marry same-sex couples. The county staffed one person whom they probably knew would have this issue.

The county should reprimand the woman for not fulfilling her duties as a representative, she should have sued the county for putting her in that position by not hiring someone else, and the couple should have sued the county. I’m not really familiar enough with the case to know how this actually went down.

Yeah. I don’t really blame this woman at all. It shouldn’t have been her sole responsibility. I would venture to guess though that even the people above her shared her opinions.

That’s not a comparable situation though. There’s no reasonable expectation that those places would sell you pork*. The employee who works there isn’t (not) doing anything that conflicts with the business’ offerings.

Even if a muslim employee at a barbecue restaurant were to deny a customer a rack of ribs, the restaurant is under no obligation to serve you.

This issue is about a representative of the county rejecting the county’s obligations.

*Edit: After re-reading the comment I was replying to, I see it’s about a person who is Muslim or Jewish working at a deli, not a person working at a Muslim or Jewish deli. The comparison is closer than I had argued against but still not the same because one is public and one is private.