Chris

They weren't the brightest of folks.

Completely fair.

I don't think it's a myth, it does happen a lot, but is far from pervading. And the points you make about dividing people and disguise causes of poverty are really valid. But multiple things can be true at the same time, and the explotation of the welfare state can go hand-in-hand with the desire of others to paint that as pervading. It still should be addressed. As you say, education is absolutely critical.

I personally know people who had them because a third child would get them into a better property, compared with having two children. A house rather than a flat.

I'm 100% for measures to lift existing children out of poverty by overturning cruel policies. But is there an alternate strategy to act as a deterrent for people pumping out kids (in some cases deliberately due to the extra provisions it will afford them) without the ability to support them, meaning a crippled public sector then has to? You know, a little something that would, as Chris Rock put it, encourage them to "put the dick down."?

He said he'd pick a woman of colour Supreme Court nominee, didn't say that about Kamala and the VP slot as far as I can recall. Which was fair enough, in my view. The 9-person Supreme Court should reflect how the country looks demographically. There'd never been a woman of colour on it.

: The Everton Story

One caveat: Bald.

Your actual name is Gnasher?

approximately three minutes of basic googling would tell you she’s anything but thick.

This will be my first time voting in a presidential election. I suppose the main difference is Americans get to vote for the president, regardless of who has the biggest party, as well as their Congressional and Senate representatives. In theory, I like that system of checks and balances, and the separation of powers between the executive and the legislative. So, if someome like Trump gets in, the power he has is limited if the other party has control of House or Senate or both, he can't just run roughshod. But, by the same token, the modern hyperpartisanism means in these instances nothing gets done. The president's agenda/mandate is undermined because he can't get through the legislative without majorities for his party elsewhere. In previous eras, it meant the finding of common ground and a solution. Not anymore. The opposition becomes the party of "no" Overall, though, I think it's better than having a single party in charge and then an opposition who can't do anything but complain, as it's been in Britain for a long time now by big majorities for Labour and Tories in plenty of elections since 1997. Hope that helps! For the record, I've always liked Kamala! Thought she'd have been a good choice in 2020, but she biffed the primary.

If anything, things are going the other way in terms of defederalising and returning more of the decision making to the individual states. Mainly due to this supreme court ripping up precedents like Roe vs Wade as the law of the land. EDIT: And by the same token, the popular vote winner has only lost the election four times in American history, so it's not all that unrepresentative. And never during the entire 20th century! 2000 was an ahboration with Bush/Gore being decided by about 100 votes in one state, again by the Supreme Court.

She lost because of her deep unpopularity on both sides of the aisle. She completely alienated progressives when her people colluded with the DNC to screw Bernie Sanders out of the nomination. Republicans have no wrath like they have for the Clintons. And she was the perfect match for Trump, who campaigned on "draining the swamp" of the poilitical establishment. They don't come more establishment than Hillary and Bill Clinton. Then she went and called everyone who was leaning towards Trump "deplorables" which resulted in a loads of "well fuck you, lady!" protest votes. I'll never forget the look on my wife's face when I met her outside the polling station having had to vote for her. Absolutely disgusted she felt she had to do it. But yeah, without James Comey pulling that shit as the "October surprise" she might have still squeaked home. She won the popular vote, after all.

One spotted in the wild yesterday. With, as @Paulie Dangerously called it, the "Crusade" font for the plate frame.

Michael Owen's first half hat trick away at Newcastle in, I think, 98 has always been one of my favourites. The third with the hand-rubbing celebration was supreme. Beat a couple of players and then smashed it in with the outside of the foot too.