I was very disappointed by Biden's speech shaming people for being mildly disruptive, like that's the point of protesting, but I will still vote for him.

He's not much better than Trump on handling Israel and Palestine being that there is still a genocide occuring, but he is still better than just being "not Trump". He has been working towards a permanent ceasefire and has been air dropping aid into Gaza vs Trump who said he would help Israel "finish the job". With Biden we also got a ban on non-compete clauses, a strong economy and job market, 144 billion dollars forgiven in student loan debt, restored net neutrality, pardons for nonviolent marijuana offenders, reschedule of marijuana, restored LGBTQ rights in education, and so much more.

We should also remind ourselves of what the Trump administration gave us. Raised taxes for lower and middle class people, lowered taxes for the rich, protestors snatched off the streets in unmarked vans, pardons for rich Trump yes men, lowered taxes for the rich again, death of net neutrality, stripped education rights for LGBTQ individuals, stripped abortion rights, a dumb border wall that is already falling apart and easy to climb, and so many more things that hurt lower and middle class people. We were heading into a recession under Trump too. If he gets another term, we will have all of those previous things at a worse level than before plus a dictator, executions of anyone who disagrees with or challenges Trump, death to net neutrality, restoration of non-compete clauses, nation wide ban on abortions/IVF and contraception, death of child labor laws, stripping children from single parents and LGBTQ parents, genocide of Mexico, genocide of LGBTQ people, and so many more awful things that you can find laid out in Project 2025.

Parents know those other shows are better, but I am more likely to be asked to put on Paw Patrol than Bluey and my toddler doesn't ever ask for Hilda. Kids have their own tastes, and it is impossible to shield them from everything you don't want them to watch. Thankfully, everyone I know agrees Cocomelon is harmful garbage and off limits, so I've been able to avoid that completely.

I 100% agree that they should have gone further with the many things they accomplished during their super majority. A universal healthcare system would have been better, they could have gone further with digging the average American out of the recession, etc.

However, it is disingenuous to pretend they did/do "nothing meaningful". ACA expanded healthcare to millions of people who couldn't get insurance at all, expanded Medicaid and Medicare, and it lowered healthcare costs. That's pretty meaningful and a major success even if it wasn't universal healthcare.

I think it's also disingenuous to compare democrats who make small progress forward to Republicans who are actively trying to roll all of our laws back to the 1800s. Again democrats aren't ideal, and really we need a more progressive major party in the US because they don't go far enough, but it's better to make any progress forward than it is to fully regress.

Democrats not being progressive enough is an issue we can fix in time, but it will take decades of hard work (and continuous work even after we succeed). We need to start helping more progressive candidates with their campaigns and even personally running campaigns during local, state, and national primaries. It would also help for us to push for major election reform while we work towards getting progressives elected. It is unacceptable we only really have only two major parties and really only one choice during general elections.

The last time they had a meaningful majority they spent their time (72 working days) on ACA (a major healthcare reform), pulling us out of a recession, appointing two supreme court justices, and so much more. They are known as the most productive Congress since Lyndon B Johnson was president. The last official majority they had they spent their very thin majority cleaning up after Donald Trump and dealing with COVID.

Democrats don't get strong majorities for long periods of time like Republicans do, and they are expected to fix every issue plus clean up after the newest national disaster that Republicans created. Maybe if we gave them time and a strong enough majority they would get more done.

Conservatives have been purposely tanking uncontroversial legislation so that "Biden doesn't get any wins". Do you genuinely think it is possible for the current legislature to pass bills that would fix something as complex as the housing crisis?

Most of the internet is made up of echo chambers now even though anyone and everyone can access a majority of it. I don't think being selective in who we allow into communities worsens the pre-existing echo chamber issue. If anything it may help to be more selective. It can sometimes be impossible to tell the difference between trolls, bots, and real people, so I feel like we assume every person we disagree with is a troll or bot. The issue with that is that we may be outright dismissing real opinions. In theory, everyone in a selective community is a real person who is expressing their true thoughts and feelings.

"calcium carbonate in the (hard) water became solid at higher temperatures, trapping the plastic particles within"

No gas involved. They did recommend straining the boiled water through a coffee filter and the harder the water the better.

Who is on Hamas's side? There are plenty of people on Palestine's side, but no one really wants to be on Hamas's side

Pretty sure they boycotted chik fil a within the last 6 months because the company has a diversity initiative, so they are doomed to starve.

I've watched a few episodes from each season and kept up on the news, but I havent religiously watched it by any means so I might be wrong on a few details.

Every season has followed Ash, but they will be moving on to a new protagonist soon.

It is very loosely connected to the games like it always has been. The two can be enjoyed independently of each other.

Not entirely sure on the story, but Ash did finally become a Pokemon world champion in the most recent season, which is why they are changing the protagonist.

He hasn't caught any legendaries, but he has a mythical Pokemon melmetal.

Based on what I've seen, you can start almost anywhere. Each season softly resets Ash's progress. You may see occasional cameos of past characters, but each season Ash usually makes a new set of friends, has a new set of Pokemon, and starts a new story.

While I know anecdotal evidence doesn't mean much, I personally felt a lot of empathy towards the animals when I took my son last year. I think it is hard to read every plaque in front of the exhibits and not be sad. Almost every plaque says something about how the animals exhibited are struggling in the wild due to everything humans do to the planet, and each one gives suggestions on how we can improve the world. I may be a rare case though because I can understand and acknowledge the environmental impact we have as humans, and I actually read the plaques. I think you may be right about the majority of people who go to the zoo, but I do feel like it is effective if people engage with the lessons that zoos try to teach.

It is true he was paid by the GOP to split the vote among Democrats, but I believe it has backfired if RFK Jr is running independent so soon into the election cycle. Several stories have come out about the GOP and Trump being worried about this move. Usually, federal abortion bans and right wing conspiracy theories don't appeal to left wing voters the same way they appeal to right wing voters. Add the fact that there are so many right wing conspiracy theories that say that the Kennedy family will somehow save Trump and give him control of the government, at a time where it looks like trump will likely go to prison for the rest of his life, and Kennedy becomes a conservative super hero. Also, Kennedy was given time to speak during CPAC, which has given him exposure among conservatives in a way that he hasn't received among left wing people.

There are a ton of reasons I am cautiously optimistic that RFK Jr. will end up tanking Trump or whoever Trump's replacement will be if Trump ends up in prison before the election. I still plan on voting and encouraging others to vote despite this turn of events.