My question was less about how doable it is, and more… if you can’t afford to buy a house, how can you afford to pay rent (and thus someone else’s mortgage plus a little extra)?

The last place I lived, I could afford my mortgage but I wouldn’t have been able to afford to rent an equivalent house. Hence my confusion.

I know this wasn’t your point, but I’ve been confused on a particular point for awhile:

buying a house is simply out of reach unless you have dual income and it better be nearly six figure dual income…

Just the general idea of it being impossible to afford to buy a house. And don’t get me wrong, the prices on houses have gotten ridiculous! At the same time, we talk about landlords buying houses and charging exorbitant rent (suggesting at the very least more than what they pay).

So if rent is more than the mortgage, insurance, etc, then how is it impossible to buy a house if it is possible to rent (an equivalent home)? Is it the down payment (if any)? Costs involved in purchasing? Because it seems like month to month it would be cheaper.

I say this as someone who has rented and owned, and owning felt significantly cheaper.

(Full disclosure, I’m in the military, so I had access to a VA loan… though not really sure what that did for me except maybe allow 0% down… if other people are absolutely required to put up a percentage then I can definitely understand it).

We need better stalls in the US for that to be the case. WAY too many gaps and openings.

Because they’re not disabled. What are you even talking about?

That’s like supporting some racist segragationist bullshit by saying “well, can’t black people just use disabled bathrooms? They’re a small portion of the population.”

See how ridiculous that sounds? It’s not disparaging to disabled people to point out how inappropriate that is. You’re just making life harder for disabled people to feed some asshole’s bigotry.

Isn’t this a large part of the premise of the newer Disney Princess and the Frog movie?

That one person is a gem and we should appreciate them. They noticed you got talked over, and made sure to circle back, noticeably so the others don’t do it again, to make sure you weren’t silenced. It shows they not only noticed, but were bothered by it.

Treasure those people, and be those people.

This is the type of thing that could be answered if people followed banal statistical data the way sports people follow sports data.

“This is the first time since 2017 they’ve scored over 30 points in the third quarter in a home game during the pre-season.”

I have Ryobi’s battery powered power supply, so… kinda!

Interesting thought. So in any state that includes Trump on the ballot, a party should put forward a 30-year-old (legal) recent immigrant as a presidential candidate. Either they would need to put the candidate on the ballot whether they are ineligible or not, or remove Trump (or be shown for their double standard).

From everything I’ve heard about the election in Argentina, it was the meeting of “Anything is better than this” and “it can always get worse.” The former won, and proved the latter correct.

“The fuckin middle one.”

The context, though, was in response to the Confederates returning to the Union. They did not need convictions for this to apply (it’s not like they would try and convict every person that participated in the Civil War on the wrong side), so I don’t know why you think it would start applying now.

The Cheat is GROUNDED.

Everybody to the limit!

(Haven’t heard reference to that in forever)

Not that Hamas is any better. The point is there are no good guys here.

True. But if you saw a 20-year-old asshole beating the shit out of a 10-year-old asshole (even if the 10-year-old started it), you wouldn’t hand the 20-year-old a bat.

Kissinger’s already gone, so… I think Cheney is on deck.

“I have about three drinks a week and get drunk maybe once or twice a year. I’d say I’m the picture of moderation, but I’m not really concerned with how you feel about my drinking habits.”

I am usually the one making the “perfect is the enemy of the good” argument, and you make excellent points in this case.

I will add some nuance to the enemy of the good argument, in that:

Doing something even is if it is an imperfect improvement is better than doing nothing.

does not factor in the potential harm of the imperfect thing. It’s a no-brainer with masks, because there is none. But it is worth taking a close look at whether the problems with IRV are less harmful than FPTP, and, more importantly, if implementing IRV prevents the institution of a better system (like potentially STAR). If there’s one opportunity to switch our voting method, and we go with a less effective one, would that prevent changing it again to an even better system?

I’ll give you an example: I’m not sure if this is still going on, but the Salvation Army was found to be rejecting LGBTQ people from shelters and support. Now, you can say “they still help a lot of people, so not supporting them harms those who do get support from the SA.” The perfect being the enemy of the good. But establishing a monolith of an organization like the Salvation Army as the go-to charity for the poor and/or homeless cuts the legs out from any charity that may support everyone, not just straight cis-gendered people.

In the same way, if IRV gets popular and cements itself as the alternative to FPTP, it could be that it prevents other forms like STAR from even being considered. It’s worth considering, particularly as FPTP alternative implementation is in its infancy, what alternatives are available.

I was in a group that traveled the country and stayed in school gyms over the summer. I can tell you, the worst school bathroom I had to poop in had a combination of all the worst things:

The toilet paper came out one piece at a time, like a napkin box at a restaurant but facing down. It was also this super thin ply.

The “stalls” were actually just small walls that went up to your shoulder (when sitting) and forward to your knees (when sitting).

They had a mirror running the full wall opposite the “stalls,” so you had nothing to look at but the wall of dudes pooping or furiously pulling individual tissues of tp out.

AT A HIGH SCHOOL. That shit should be considered abuse. I am so sorry for anyone who had to go to that bullshit school.

That’s not feasible. You start that up, the Republicans win and you lose anything you’ve gained plus more. You keep going and the Republicans keep winning, and the more they’re able to solidify their power until we’re living in a literal Christo-fascist nation.

That’s a great plan if, and only if, that is your ultimate goal.