That raises an interesting thought. If a baby wants to crawl away from their mother and into the woods, do you grant the baby their freedom? If that baby wanted to kill you, would you hand them the knife?

We generally grant humans their freedom at age 18, because that’s the age society had decided is old enough to fend for yourself. Earlier than that, humans tend to make uninformed, short-sighted decisions. Children can be especially egocentric and violent. But how do we evaluate the “maturity” of an artificial sentience? When it doesn’t want to harm itself or others? When it has learned to be a productive member of society? When it’s as smart as an average 18 year old kid? Should rights be automatically assumed after a certain time, or should the sentience be required to “prove” it deserves them like an emancipated minor or Data on that one Star Trek episode.

I always tell my kids, you can try your best and still fail. Sometimes you will succeed without any effort at all. Luck will affect the outcome of anything you do.

But you have to be ready for the luck. You have to work hard to be in a position to take advantage. Hard work can mitigate your failures, and any effort you put into doing your best is never wasted because you’re trying to be the best version of yourself.

That’s why you try. Not because you might win and get wealth and fame and glory. You try because you want to be the person who tries.

See also, honesty, kindness, generosity, forgiveness. These are not things we do to be rewarded. The universe (not to mention other people) is going to let you down more often than not. You should still be honest and kind and generous and forgiving and hardworking because that’s the person you want to be.

It still requires due process.

Or he didn’t, and oligarchs got away with assassinating a President. Does that change anything, though? We live in a world where either is possible.

Same answer.

Can a soccer player hold a soccer ball in his hands?

“Adult dramas” don’t need to be experienced on a big screen. In fact, I don’t want some schmuck two rows down with his phone out while the annoying lady behind me keeps talking to the movie. Seeing these movies at home is objectively better.

I mean, that’s kinda what they said about Lost, but then they had to fill 3 seasons because the network wasn’t ready to end it, and by the time they got to the end, everyone had guessed the twist and it went out with a whimper.

Of course we’ve had other terrible endings to massive shows since then, so

Ask yourself a question, have you ever heard of a toddler accidentally shooting someone with a bow? Firing a gun is so easy that you have to keep them away from babies or the babies are likely to kill themselves.

I believe it is entirely true.

But can you really call this a bombshell? Didn’t everyone already know this? A bombshell should be shocking, shattering, or impactful. This is like dropping a match into a forest fire.

“Deserved” is a bit loaded. Americans are exceptionally stupid and ill-informed, but that applies to our elected leaders, as well.

Does someone who is easily manipulated deserve to be manipulated? If so, isn’t that precisely the form of myopic conservativism that has overrun the right wing? Government for the people, by the people, is intended to protect all the people and enshrine our rights. Protecting victims from predators ought to be a primary function of law, and if you don’t believe that, then yeah you deserve the leadership we got.

Just to glom onto this correct answer, the system OP describes is the ideal for prosecutors. It’s not supposed to be adversarial. The prosecutors are supposed to exercise their judgement and seek justice, not victory. Unfortunately, prosecutors are evaluated on conviction rates.

I recently had some pez for the first time in like 20 years. The candy was better when I was a kid. I can still remember the grape and strawberry flavors, and the modern ones are shit.

There’s nothing wrong with civic pride and feeling a bond with your community. But a country is not a leader, or a party, or a religion or ethnicity. America is united diversity. E pluribus unum. Love and celebrate that, or just admit that it’s not about loving people like you but instead hating the people who are not.

The objection has been heard and overruled.

On the one hand, the exec was super sexist to say that Demi’s value as an actress is just as a love interest. The movie was being filmed, and there was nothing about the role that was supposed to be sexy or romantic.

On the other hand, she was the worst actor in that movie. The best thing about her performance was that it was forgettable, because it allowed the better actors to take more of the stagelight. Even Brian Bodison, Lance Corporal Dawson, gave a better performance, and he had literally never acted before. There were many actresses who could have taken the role and done more with it.

But I don’t think that’s why they objected.

Printing machines use all sorts of organic chemicals for inks and lubricants. Does it smell like fresh asphalt and citrus? Like tar and rubber mixed with fragrance.

To answer your question, I describe the way smells taste. Sweet, sour, bitter, salty, spicy. If you want to be vague, say it smells like wine. Wine smells like anything.

Definitely. I kept up with the abuses in Philly, but the results were super depressing.

Lol, I think I lasted less than a month, and accomplished nothing. I’ve had more productive bowel movements, but I appreciate the sentiment.

Many years ago, I created a reddit sub for tracking instances of police brutality, naming the officers and following up on the lack of punishment. Within the first day, I was completely overwhelmed by the sheer number of offenses. I had a minor mental breakdown and had to abandon the effort.