any idea what's up with Morning Consult consistently painting a rosy picture for the GOP compared to other pollsters? I have a really hard time buying their numbers

when a high-volume scorer becomes a better overall player, there's almost always some trajectory of improvement by now

the best excuse is that the core hasn't had enough opportunities to play together and gel this season. still, I haven't seen anything that's changed my opinion of him as a player. it's year 5, and he still hasn't demonstrated the ability to become more efficient or improve his playmaking

that limiting factor (+ not wanting to give up pre-built audience/engagement) is why many lib-leaners with accounts primarily focused on other things didn't stick around. a bunch of NBA-related accounts struggled to get any real engagement here & gradually just stopped posting

perhaps it would've gone differently in an environment without the covid supply chain mess + Ukraine-Russia energy & agriculture shock? fiscal & monetary situation definitely worse now than pre-covid, though

as soon as the US attacked, Iran's goals became:

1) maintaining regime control
2) outlasting the US's willingness to fight
3) showing the world that there's major costs to such attacks, as a deterrent to future action

given the possibilities beforehand, their stance hardly seems delusional

I think there was one trans man, but this is referring to trans women

the most important signal here is that Trump seemingly wants the conflict to end very soon

the toughest part is that I've always used the singular they a lot when referring to cis people irl or online (predates direct knowledge of trans people, & includes cis people I'm familiar with), especially in casual conversation

if ik someone is trans, I do try using their preferred pronouns more

too early to say for sure

is this necessarily desirable? if you add in suburbs & exurban-like areas to the city voter base, those voters would gain more power over policies such as the city's land use & housing, which I'd think would probably help NIMBYs & harm urbanism

the reverse (people telling light-skinned Hispanics who identify as white that they aren't white) happens a lot, though

disagree

it's a pretty silly standard

everything feels so fake

I'd say there's more of an internet-caused societal "loneliness epidemic" than a male-specific one

it's especially telling that religion is often reoriented around the things that an in-group already wants. in the 1800s, some white Southerners used warped interpretations of Christianity to defend the practice of enslaving black people

the right-wing secularism found in parts of Europe (as well as historical examples) makes me somewhat skeptical that that's actually a political solution

the right can just utilize ethnonationalism/racial grievances, cultural factors, gender, & low openness (disgust factor) to help other enemies

It should be needless to say, but it is perhaps at this moment worth saying, that transgender individuals have the same right as anyone else to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness.

idk why everyone acts like he looks old or bad for his age tbh. that's a lot better than most American guys approaching 50 look

Gallup: "The gender gaps are especially pronounced in the younger generations --31% of Gen Z women versus 12% of Gen Z men, and 18% of millennial women versus 9% of millennial men, identify as LGBTQ+, with most of these younger women saying they are bisexual"

Gallup survey chart showing the rise in LGBTQ+ identification by generation. 1.8% for Silent Gen, up to 23.1% for Gen Z

from Gallup

an example: in a previous UI update, Samsung had randomly removed the swipe navigation gesture option, a useful feature I'd used to navigate around for years. developers immediately released a reputable APK providing that feature again

there's tons of beneficial applications

a lot of applications available off of the official app-store are both not malicious and quite useful, and there's still a security warning & a setting that you need to change prior to downloading anything

the Idaho SOS released data on the voter registration of people moving to the state recently, and they're incredibly Republican

+ there are some ways of creating content while maintaining appearance anonymity on video-based platforms

attractiveness likely has some influence on video platforms, but looking like a supermodel isn't always a necessity. the most popular YouTuber in the world is a regular guy in MrBeast, not some supermodel

is production just too expensive now?

a lot of things in life are influenced by birth circumstances outside of our control. generational wealth, attractiveness, athleticism, etc

the average American was very lucky to be born here instead of a poor village in a developing country w/starvation risks, higher disease prevalence, worse HC

some aspects of attractiveness can be influenced by the individual & their environment, but the biggest component is definitely luck of the draw, and it certainly influences how people are treated

people seem uncomfortable considering birth luck (& "privilege") in general

the rate of domestic consumption growth slowing down through the first 2 quarters does have annual GDP growth on a slower pace than that

but without the labor market substantially worsening, domestic consumption likely won't be weak enough to be a big drag on GDP growth & the markets