Agreed. One strategist on PBS pre-debate show put it succinctly: “The debate is won or lost in the first 30 minutes.”

Let’s be honest, fact-checking doesn’t matter to the American people watching this. The people who need to hear these facts have already been preprogrammed to believe CNN is biased and lying.

Buttigieg, Booker, Abrams, fuck even Warren despite her age would mop the floor with Trump.

I really wish Americans weren’t ignorant enough to fall for someone who looks better on TV even though they’re a convicted felon who tried to undermine and overthrow a free and fair election, but history tells me otherwise.

I seriously hope there are high level discussions within the Democratic party and with Biden about putting someone else forward.

I voted for Biden and I’ll vote for him again to keep a fascist out of office, but it is quite clear that the best thing Democrats could do is to have Biden back out and put forth a younger charismatic candidate. Age and the excitement about someone fresh would be enough to sweep this. That’s just a reflection of what polls are already telling us. The debate just started, but it’s quite clear that the optics of a debate thus far are going to Trump.

Immigration talking-points for Biden:

• “I tried passing the strongest border security bill in decades, and your party blocked it”

• “White American citizens commit more crime than undocumented immigrants. Let’s worry about the right-wing extremists already inside our country that the FBI warned us about.”

• “These immigrants actually help keep food prices lower. Donald doesn’t seem to care that this action on this overblown fearmongering will make your grocery bill even higher.”

• “Let’s focus on the big fish like Russia, Saudi Arabia, Japan, and Chinese foreign nationals buying large swaths of American soil. Heck even the King of Jordan owns beach front Malibu mansions that subtracts from the average America’s chance at the American dream.”

Everyone owes it themselves to watch the PBS Frontline documentary on the Uvalde response.

Cowardice, gross negligence, and outrageous incompetence.

The only people I had respect for was the BORTAC team that showed up and got the shit going and actually made entry into the room.

Watching the PBS stream and they show the attack ad against Biden;

“Are you financially better off since he became president.”

Is your family safer?

Is our country more secure?"

Yes to all three in my family’s case.

Thanks to Democratic legislation I dodged nearly $35,000 in emergency medical expenses and instead had to only pay about $750. Thanks to the IRA legislation, I was able to invest in both solar and an energy-efficient A/C for my house for which I got 30% off through deductions that I otherwise wouldn’t have obtained.

I definitely feel safer in this border state, my elections more secure, and I appreciate a leader who stands up to global tyrants.

It matters though. The weight of a single Rep in the House is far less than a US Senator. It sucks, of course, but very relevant. He can’t be a Manchin.

Because I was well trained

Well you see, many of these cops joined the force because they would’ve flunked or did flunk basic.

Bail out banks: Good.

Bail out poor/middle-class: Bad!

Look I’m from such a small Pennsylvania town. Rural Appalachian. Coal mines and specialty steel production most notably.

Both of you are right, and the problems feed back into each other to some extent.

After my family migrated west more than a decade ago, every single time we go back to PA to visit family, attend a funeral and so forth — it just keeps looking more and more run down. Honestly the place is a shit-hole nowadays. I’m sad to see my old county went for Trump by 70%. You couldn’t pay me enough to move my family back.

The young, educated, smart, and compassionate folks leave and GTFO asap — both for jobs, and for more diversity and tolerance. The sad part is I remember watching a slew of documentaries in the early 2000s forewarning of what would happen to these small-towns…

• Because of shipping manufacturing off elsewhere.
• Because of big box corporate eating up local shops, eroding community and draining out the money.
• Because administrations were unwilling to break the hard news that things like coal mines wouldn’t last forever and we’d have to help retrain and get them to new modern job sectors.

No doubt these communities feel the pressures they’re complaining about; they’ve just been exploited by right-wing media about who is responsible: the southern migrant more desperate than them, the trans, the homosexuals, the liberals, etc…

@FlyingSquid is also right that there is FAR more bigotry among these communities as well; and that ties back to not being well-traveled, our education system collapsing, and the right-wing fearmongering machine.

Edit: Shit, Inside Out 3 should be about being inside the head of a MAGA supporter.

Oh it is.

… It’s just all in the top 0.1% and corporate coffers.

Those are bed sores, sir. Hospitals must special order beds for those.

Elsewhere I read the pump actually did have an entrapment system engaged and shut off, but by the time she blocked the pipe and sensors detected the obstruction, she was already wedged 20 feet into the pipe.

In other words, if this had a simple grate and she blocked it with her body, the pump would’ve shut off almost immediately.

The other problem is this hole was supposed to be an outlet, not an inlet. But the pump was reversed for whatever reason.

Seems like litigation is still ongoing but most recent articles I’ve read state that pump was either recently repaired or replaced, and flow was in the wrong direction. If it was outflow, nobody could swim in there if they wanted to (but if it was off, a small child still could, so a grate still should’ve been on there). They suspect hole was installed later to probably align with flow requirements for the new pump.

Fuck sake that was a hard read. That poor mother. I can’t even comprehend the purpose of that pipe. They describe it as a lazy river so I’m assuming it’s some sort of equalizer pipe to the other side. Water flows in one direction around the pool and I think what they’re saying is the flow of the river was reversed for whatever reason. There would be quite a strong amount of suction through there, even if it wasn’t a direct intake line to the pump.

Edit: oh this is old news, months old. Looks like it was indeed an outlet:

“Her poor little body was contorted when she was sucked into this hole and pipe 20 feet back. Her body was inside of the motor when she had to be extracted," he said. "They had to break up concrete in order to extract her, cut pipe. It was absolutely horrific.”

Pump’s flow was reversed for whatever reason.

Elsewhere I read the pump actually did have an entrapment system engaged and shut off, but by the time she blocked the pipe and sensors detected the obstruction, she was already wedged 20 feet into the pipe.

I look at it the other way: right-wing conspiracy theories pander to textbook mental illness. They’re more susceptible to such bullshit and thus it’s like a magnet that attracts these deranged individuals.

One way or another I am personally convinced a large chunk of dyed-in-the-wool Trump supporters are not of mentally sound mind.

Drugs, head injuries, lead exposure, etc. You look at the average attendee of a Trump rally and they do not look physically healthy from the outset.

That poor child… And those poor ems workers who had to dig out her little body…

I tagged along with my wife for a pool day at her friend’s house with our kids. I was swimming along near the wall of the pool when my foot was violently pulled into the vaccuum line. Really spooked me. It’s code for those suction lines to have a spring-loaded cover. This one didn’t. I luckily freed my foot and went to check the valves on the pump. All suction was routed to the vacuum line, none to skimmer.

Some expensive pumps have an anti-entrapment system but most do not.

I warned her to get that shit fixed ASAP…

For commercial pools of this scale, there’s just no chance to resist.

I own a pool now and I take all that shit very seriously. You don’t mess around with water.

Minority Report: Special EDition.