jerryskids

Yes, but those aren't the same. Those insure against accidents and malicious intent from others. If I wear a seatbelt because I fear my wife may drive the car into a wall to kill me if I don't, then your analogy works.

To me, a prenup (other than the exception I mentioned) is basically saying, "I'm betting that we're going to fock this marriage up and get divorced." I don't think that is consistent with my stated belief that you should find a person who shares your desire for a lifelong union.

I think that once the kids are grown, women get much less out of marriages on average than men. Remarriage statistics bear this out for widowed people: https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/8807029/

He knows how to get a prenup. I'm not a fan of them for first marriages, although I understand the need for prenups for future marriages, if there are kids involved from the first. FWIW, he makes more than his current GF, but not crazy more, maybe 30-40%. They are both in tech jobs, but his area pays more.

I see my post has had a significant impact, as we've now moved to the "how can we make it even easier to leave your life partner if you are having a bad day" phase of the discussion.

I'm intrigued, thanks for the info. I'll probably watch it.

Not even close. Nothing about Trump is kingly; in your example he came off more like Veruca Salt. Obama looked like King Joffrey that day with McCain.

You keep saying this, but it doesn't make it true: ETA: Remember a smug Obama to McCain: "Elections have consequences." That was the closest I've ever seen a president act like a king.

A few years ago he was vehemently against marriage, for the reasons you just posted to gutter. Then a funny thing happened: I got cancer, and he watched his mom and dad fight through it together. He realized that he wasn't going to be 25 forever, and that he wanted someone to be there for the bad times and the good, and that he wanted kids who would care like he did about me. He has really matured in that time, so much so that I sometimes forget and still think of him as the immature boy he recently was.

Bless your heart. This is categorically wrong; Europe realizes it finally, but the American wokesters haven't gotten there yet. Anyway, I don't want to sidetrack your defense of your behaviors here, carry on.

Yeah, he shouldn't have posted that video, it's raciss.

How about confused teenagers getting genitalia removed, does that make things better?

I find this very sad. I have a son with a serious girlfriend, and if he decides that she is the right one, I hope he proposes, she accepts, and they begin the wonderful process of building and sharing their lives together. I view no-fault divorce like other freedoms such as abortion, and entitlements like welfare. They are helpful and necessary in extreme situations, but in general we should avoid using them. Unfortunately, we have lost the moral fabric of our society, in our ever-increasing move towards hedonism. Just as people scam the system to get welfare, and have abortions for convenience, people will get divorce because they just aren't happy at the moment.

This was my wife's reaction yesterday when she saw the story. "Huh. Who knew they still existed? "

First, I don't condemn college students for anti-Semitic remarks per se; they are young and ignorant and their mind is being filled by TikTok algorithms which reinforce that ignorance. Unless the remarks are calls for violence. I'm pretty libertarian that way. What I condemn is them disrupting classes and physically confronting people, and more so the colleges lacking the balls to stop it and punish them. Second, you respond with this to a post where I said I don't like having to defend Trump, and that some folks know not to take him literally. Yet here we are. If you listen to the actual speech, he talks some about re-instituting the ban he had for 6 nations with known terrorist ties, and expanding it to further restrict an influx of people who are aligned with groups like Hamas, but he frames it with phrases like "if you don't like America, we'll kick you out." That's a simple way of saying what in implementation will be a much more limited set of restrictions, but common people get the point. His supporters do, anyway. You take him literally, and think he has the power (and desire) to send gestapo door to door with a survey and a paddy wagon if you answer something incorrectly. This is of course consistent with your belief that he is Satan personified. I would offer as evidence the four years of his presidency, where nothing of the kind occurred, but you'll tell me this time will be different.

I saw them 10-15 years ago, agreed it was awesome. Great music and light show (unless you are sensitive to strobes, in which case you'll have a massive seizure ). I play Christmas Eve and Other Stories (their first album) a million times every year. Christmas Eve/Sarajevo 12/24 is the song everyone knows, but I love the beginning (An Angel Came Down) and the end (An Angel Returned) of the story. My favorite song is An Old City Bar, it brings a tear to my eye whenever I hear it. I sometimes think of @wiffleballlistening to it, I hope he doesn't mind. Typing this, I think I'll branch out and play more of their other stuff this Christmas season.

I didn't know that, thanks for sharing.

I don't like being put in a position of trying to defend Trump, because he says things in a stupid way many times. Well, "stupid" isn't the right word. He phrases things in a simple, base manner which rallies a lot of folks on an emotional level, and at a level they can understand. Somebody said prior to 2016, and it is a great summary: people who support Trump take him seriously but not literally. People who oppose Trump take him literally but not seriously. That being said, I will concede that his comments could be construed by some folks as a call for anti-Islamic behavior. Your Vermont example may be one, although I've heard there are some questions about that situation. Regardless, we have not yet seen that put in action on any measurable scale. When we do, we can discuss it. Until then, it is the false equivalency between the two situations that the MSDNC is pushing so hard.

No. It's not. And your one-off anecdote doesn't make it so.

Read my words, Tim. They came from a basis of civilization. If your argument is that any culture that has done bad things in their history is not civilized, then no cultures are civilized.

Example of the Palestinians just wanting to get along, like @The Real timschochetassures us: https://x.com/OliLondonTV/status/1728722696505033125?s=20

You studied acting?

I had wanted to respond to this earlier but have barely been online. No Tim, the lack of a detailed plan is not the difference. I'm confident that over the multiple decades of Iraq and Afghanistan, many detailed plans were devised. The difference was that Japan and Germany were civilized. Different cultures obviously, but civilized. Iraq, Afghanistan, and certainly Palestinians were not civilized. They are barbarians. Japan and Germany were able to adapt and change, because they came from a basis of civilization. Palestine does not. I can't speak for everyone, but I think this differentiation expands to most people's objections to our fairly open immigration policies. The objection is not nearly so much for those folks from civilized countries who go through proper processes. They are the ones that are able to integrate and contribute to our "melting pot." People from non-civilized places, not so much.

It's probably getting a little warmer here during the summer, but the culprit is the every-increasing amount of roads and concrete which absorb all of the heat, not climate change. Winters are awesome; been 70's all week, highs will get down into the 60s later this winter.

Same. Except for that one person, you know who you are. Turkey is brined and about to go on the pellet grill. Waiting for my kids to show up so that I can start drinking adult beverages with them (they are adults). Seriously, I hope you all have a happy and blessed day.