Snowflake's Forum

 "Hello?" "Hello, I'm calling you from Medicare Health Insurance Department." "No you're not." "I'm not what?" "Calling from Medicare." "I'm calling you from Medicare Health Insurance Department!" "No, you're not." "Why are you saying that? I'm calling you from Medicare Health Insurance Department!" "No, you're a fraud." "I'm not a fraud! YOU'RE a fraud!" "Then why are you calling me?" Ever play with these clowns? I find it's often a great way to break up the day. Share YOUR adventures with the rest of us! AlextheKay

  I can’t help thinking that there may be a correlation between Christians' infighting and the fact that fewer people want to be associated with us. Chris Palusky Opinion contributor https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/voices/2021/06/29/american-christians-turning-people-off-church-bethany-christian-services/5370555001/ I can’t help thinking that there could be a correlation between our public infighting and the undeniable fact that fewer people want to be associated with us. Young adults flee the church In a 2017 Lifeway Research survey, a  majority (66%) of Americans ages 23-30 said they stopped attending church on a regular basis  for at least a year after turning 18. Among their top reasons was that church members seemed divisive, judgmental or hypocritical. Pastor Andy Stanley of the Atlanta area recently cited  the top five reasons that people leave the church . On the list was “they had a bad church experience,” where church members prioritiz...

  Oddsmakers give Vice President Harris better chances than   President Biden   to win the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination and general election, according to a Friday release from   online betting site US-Bookies . “ Kamala Harris  remains the favorite to win the 2024 U.S. Presidential Election. Her 7/2 odds (22.2% implied probability) put her just ahead of Joe Biden, who’s 9/2 (18.2%) to win re-election in 2024,” the release read. The site gives Harris 7-to-4 odds of being the 2024 Democratic nominee, compared to 9-to-4 for Biden, who at 78 became the oldest person ever sworn into the office.  Biden has said  he plans to run again in 2024, and Harris has given no indication that she would challenge him. "My plan is to run for reelection, that’s my expectation," the president told reporters last month. Former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations  Nikki Haley  is oddsmakers' second favorite — behind former  Pr...

  Cousins. by Lucian K. Truscott IV "You are looking at a photograph of me and my cousin Shannon Lanier. It’s a photograph that illustrates why the 1619 Project is such a white supremacist’s nightmare, teaching that racism and slavery played a major role in the founding of this nation. It’s a photograph of the truth exposed, at least in part, by critical race theory, an academic discipline that teaches the same thing. It is not only a photograph, it is a fact. It is history staring you in the face, history in flesh and blood, history that cannot be rewritten, cannot be buried, cannot be denied, because we are alive to tell it. That’s Thomas Jefferson’s grave we’re standing on. We are 6th great grandsons of Thomas Jefferson, the nation’s third president long idolized as a founding father of the United States. Shannon is descended from Jefferson’s 36 year relationship – if relations between an enslaved person and a slave owner can be called that – with Sally Hemings, who is his 6th ...

 OK, so we all have an opinion on the verdict on Derek Chauvin by now - but what about the judge - Peter Cahill? Those who were for seeing Chauvin handed a longer sentence will say he was too lenient. Those who thought Chauvin was being mistreated as to the law will say Cahill was way too strict in his sentencing. BUT do any one of us want to be in his shoes? Seriously? Cahill was in a no-win situation and no matter what decision he made, he would be criticized by some because of his conduct and sentencing. A bit of reading for context: https://www.npr.org/2021/03/10/975678095/judge-peter-cahill-in-derek-chauvin-trial-hes-known-for-being-fair-decisive For what it is worth, I felt he ran a tight ship during the trial, was courteous, fair, and decisive. A am particularly not used to seeing a judge rising from his throne to greet witnesses as Cahill did, so add gentlemanly. I know some will base their opinions of Peter Cahill on how they view the sentence he handed out,  neverthe...

 Yes, it's graduation month!  Time for all the uptight school authorities who've got their knickers in a twist to find some way to remind their students that they don't really believe in speech freedom, principles or honesty!   Ah, lovely school days, right? The latest entry is a valedictorian who got his microphone cut off when he started a speech about his queer identity and his high school experience.  The principal actually walked up on the stage and crumpled the honoree's speech in front of the whole audience.   But, oops, seems the kid had it memorized and went ahead of gave the speech anyway.  Boy, what's an officious twit of a principal to do, eh?   It's an annual event:  as the kids with the greatest achievements move on to adulthood, there are some school authorities who think they're supposed to be the Thought Police.   And it's not just a right-wing things.  In Michigan, this year, a young woman was told...

  (AP) — Nearly all Covid-19 deaths in the U.S. now are people who weren’t vaccinated, a staggering demonstration of how effective the shots have been and an indication that deaths per day — now down to under 300 — could be practically zero if everyone eligible got the vaccine. An Associated Press analysis of available government data from May shows that “breakthrough” infections in fully vaccinated people accounted for fewer than 1,200 of more than 853,000 Covid-19 hospitalizations. That’s about 0.1%. And only about 150 of the more than 18,000 Covid-19 deaths in May were in fully vaccinated people. That translates to about 0.8%, or five deaths per day on average. further details: https://www.courthousenews.com/nearly-all-covid-deaths-in-us-are-now-among-unvaccinated/

Jack Russell - small but tough Mastiff - powerful and dignified German Shepherd - poised and elegant Poodle - beautiful and stately Golden Retriever - warm and cuddly Pit Bull - scary but loyal Great Dane - a gentle giant  Husky - independent and hardy Yorkshire Terrier - yappy and demanding Doberman - protective but territorial  Other.....

 Fill in the blanks: The person you admire the most..... The person you admire the least...... Someone you used to admire but don't anymore....... Someone you might admire but you aren't sure yet....... Snowflake's answers. Malala Yousafzai Piers Morgan Justin Trudeau Joe Biden  YOUR TURN!

  At my morning koffeeklatsch , we got to talking about lyrics.  Not songs.  Just lyrics.  As in, "which lyrics really work, as storytelling, as poetry, as polemic, by themselves?"   Most don't.  Let's be real, "Love is all you need" is insipid. But with the Beatles being insipid still equaled zillions of sales.  And many another song will have a good idea or three, but not really hang together as a piece of work without those lovely melodies providing the scaffolding. But some do.  For example, Tom Waits' "Christmas Card from a Hooker in Minneapolis" tells a great little story with a twist ending: Hey Charlie, I'm pregnant and living on 9th Street Right above a dirty bookstore off Euclid Avenue And I stopped takin' dope and I quit drinkin' whiskey And my old man plays the trombone and works out at the track He says that he loves me, even though it's not his baby He says that he'll raise him up like he would his own son And ...

 Happy Monday one and all: I have nothing to say, couldn't find anything interesting to post, so need YOU ALL to do it for me. Suggestions Ideas What irks you Something silly A music video Politics Whatever, my mind is blank. And can you BLAME me? SUNSHINE, Covid restrictions being lifted, being fully vaccinated, LIFE is wonderful. One thing I will say (even though I said I don't have anything to say) is that participation here has gone WAY down and no problem, Hell - I ain't here all the time anymore either. Recently I added Alex as a Mod and Kristen has reappeared from her isolation and I hope to reinstate her as Mod at some point, so don't need more Mods, but I ALWAYS welcome new authors. Several who were regular have gone AWOL, there are several newbies on here now, and to those newbies - if there is something you like to contribute, either in the way of politics or non-politics, tag me and we can discuss adding you as author. Otherwise.........

What are the psychological characteristics of people holding far-right beliefs? People with  far right beliefs  are characterized by a simplified mindset and tendency to search for order and structure. They have a strong desire for group-based dominance and hierarchy, and often see social groups arranged along a superiority-inferiority dimension. They perceive the wider authorities as illegitimate. LINK:  https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/groups/compendium/what-are-the-psychological-characteristics-of-people-holding-far-right-beliefs.html What is right-wing extremism? Right-wing extremism is usually defined as a specific ideology characterized by ‘anti-democratic opposition towards equality’. It is associated with  racism , xenophobia, exclusionary  nationalism ,  conspiracy theories , and authoritarianism. MORE:  https://www.sv.uio.no/c-rex/english/groups/compendium/what-is-right-wing-extremism.html Some light reading for your Sunday or Monday if yo...

A short sustainability article in Scientific American is a nice reminder that on planet Earth, things are connected and life affects life. Alaska's Hawadax Island, used to be known as Rat Island due to a 1780s Japanese shipwreck that released rats on the island. The rats took over and wiped out all the seabirds. That wrecked the local ocean ecosystem, all the way down to algae. Rat poison was spread over the island and the rat population was completely wiped out. By 11 years later, things had returned to normal. SciAm writes: Nowadays Hawadax is once again a noisy place. Roughly a decade after a successful effort to rid the island of its predatory rodents, a bounty of seabirds has returned. And the benefits have extended across the island's entire seashore ecosystem, which again teems with diverse life. These findings, published in Scientific Reports , show that certain ecosystems can recover with surprising speed if given the chance. Researcher Carolyn Kurle's first findi...

 I have asked everyone I know, and some say they remember the movie I am referencing but like me can't remember the title. I tried google and typed in the general theme of the movie and it gave me all kinds of movie titles but not the one I was looking for, but since it was a foreign made movie I don't even know who is in it. I was having a discussion with some friend about rarely seen, dark movies, and I remembered seeing this one many years ago and it was indeed dark. They couldn't remember the title either. NOW I will try and see if any of my followers might be able to provide me with the name of the movie I am thinking of. So here is the general gist: A man is dropped off by a bus at a gas station in a desert and then picked up and taken to a unnamed city where he is provided with an office job, an apartment and even a female companion. Every one in this city is mechanical in their behavior, chit chat is dull and boring. Furthermore this man starts to hear music coming ...

  Fintan O’Toole, a columnist for The Irish Times, wrote the best analysis of today’s U.S. politics I have seen, in the June 10 issue of the New York Review of Books. Paraphrasing Friedrich Nietzsche’s “On the Genealogy of Morals,” O’Toole said that powerful people “can take literal revenge on their enemies: an eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth.” But people with little or no power, O’Toole wrote, quoting Nietzsche directly, “when ‘denied the proper response of action, compensate for it only with imaginary revenge.’ They have to create ‘a truly grand politics of revenge, a far-sighted subterranean revenge.’” This helps explain the undrained, festering swamp of Trumpism, and its debilitating effect on our quasi-democracy. In imagining themselves the “victims” of a grand conspiracy that never happened, Trump and the carnivorous sheep who follow him are pursuing imaginary revenge, and because the revenge is imaginary, these weak people may pursue it forever. Trump rode to power in...

  WASHINGTON – The House passed legislation Wednesday that would make June 19, or Juneteenth — the date commemorating the day news of the Emancipation Proclamation reached Texas —a federal holiday.  The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act moved through both chambers quickly, with the House passing it  just one day after the Senate , after it had been stalled in the upper chamber. Now that is has passed through Congress, it will go to President Joe Biden's desk on Thursday, just two days before Saturday, June 19. The Juneteenth National Independence Day Act would grant every federal employee a day off to commemorate June 19, 1865, the day enslaved people in Galveston, Texas, discovered President Abraham Lincoln's Emancipation Proclamation freed enslaved African Americans in rebel states 2½ years earlier. The day is also known as Freedom Day or Emancipation Day. The legislation passed in the House 415-14 Wednesday evening, largely on a bipartisan basis. ...

 We all hate earworms, right?  But we also love us some old commercials.  What do we do when they mix? Who can forget "Little girls have pretty curls, but I like Or-e-os?"  I sure can't (but I can't find a video of it on the internet either -- go figure!) Or the Meow Mix song? Could someone give me a break from Kit-Kat's "Give Me A Break" commercial? Please? And speaking of "cute once, but repulsive ever after..." And wouldn't you like to buy the world a Coke? Yeah, me neither. But come on--share the earworm that you can't get out of your head, no matter how you try!  Rest assured, we'll never forgive you! AlextheKay

 Most say that the Beatles are the greatest band ever.  Depending on your national pride,  you might pick differently, maybe the Eagles or Alabama? I would pick CCR myself. Or if you are Canadian, maybe Rush or the Guess Who? Though I prefer Blood Sweat and Tears. Might depend on your age too, us oldtimers love the Beatles, Rolling Stones, Led Zeppelin and don't "get" the excitement about Nirvana or Coldplay. My own personal favorite band of all time is Pink Floyd with Dark Side of the Moon the best ever album. BUT WHO IS YOUR FAVORITE BAND? Want to add a bit of variety to this thread, well OK then, is there a band out there that made it BIG but that you really don't care for? Example: I never cared for AC/DC, at most one or two songs of theirs I ever liked. Any you don't care for?

  Here is my point of view - which I realize might not mean much, but here it is anyways! The Dems are likely to loose the House and the Senate in 2022, so what to do about Joe Manchin and Krysten Sinema? NOW we know if this were the Republican party, they would be primaried, and certainly thrown off of committees if they didn't toe the party line. BUT you will say, Dems are not Republicans, no - they certainly are not, they don't know how to win by hook or by crook. So here is my point of view: Primary Manchin and Sinema, also throw no support their way for their re-election in 2022. IF the Dems are destined to lose the the Senate anyways in 2022, why hold on to two people who are determined to deep-six Joe Biden's agenda. At least have fresh and more pro-Biden people in place when they take another run in 2024 at recapturing the Senate. This is what the Republicans would do which is why they are so united and keep winning, time for the Dems to stop playing nice with the m...