MC Fresh Breath

Texas, man.

pretty much this. the campiness was turned up so high, but then you'd get random almost horror movie stuff with the Bale character. When Korg started telling the first tale of Thor and the Guardians, I kept waiting for some moment like Thor waking up and the camp being turned back down to reasonable levels. I found Ragnarok much more fun, personally. The goats were a highlight. Dialogue quite often was really bad. Even if it was bad on purpose or for the sake of camp.

Lots of truth there. The Pickup/SUV with bike rack is just about a necessity, though. The trails here are fantastic. Outdoor playground is one of the main perks. Edit: Meant to add "ball caps" to your list, b/c nobody gets good haircuts here. And hoodies b/c you can wear them 9 months out of the year. Wife calls it the "Bend Bro" look.

I may post too much on these things, and its all opinion, but I'm going to give you some Bend cons in your list since I can sing the praises all day long. Live music--> I have had some fun here and there, but what you find here will be the 'biggest' touring bands you get. I had fun with some hardcore punk a few months back, but you're driving to Portland otherwise (a little over 3 hours). Most of Bend really shuts down early. Like 8-10 pm. So if you're still active in Austin's scene, you will miss that. "wifi"-->depends on the speeds you want, but anything over 25-30mb you're looking at Bend Broadband which has a monopoly here and gets complaints all the time. They also are sneaky bastards who will up your bill while you're not paying attention. Then you get to call in and go through hell trying to get it back to what it was. I've only had one 'serious' outage that interrupted my work day, but I read all the time about other people having to deal with them. Austin had many more choices and options. "cost"-->um, yeah. We got lucky and bought our home right as Covid was shutting everything down. I (and many) prefer the West side of Bend to the East side for various reasons. I am not surly elite so in just one year my home went up to where I wouldn't afford it now. In two years even more so. Groceries are definitely higher here, imo. And fuel, although not as bad as California in gas prices (but what is). No sales tax, though, which is wild when you experience it the first few times. And property taxes are more than reasonable. Personal Income tax though, so maybe that's all a wash, depending on your situation. weather-->I love the four seasons. It's great. However, last summer for about a week the smoke from fires in Oregon and California got bad, and apparently this happens for at least a few days most years. Knock on wood hasn't happened yet this year. Last year, Christmas Day looked like we lived in a snow globe. My first White Christmas ever. Loved it. The rest of your list, yeah, it's heaven.

Right, but the difference is the rural doesn't get to dominate the urban in the PNW. The State will most likely align with what you believe, even if the small-town yokels do not. Legal weed, abortion, and right to die (in Oregon). We both know how that goes in red states. So, you and Al aren't wrong in that rural MAGA is all over. But it doesn't impact you here like it does in a red state, imo.

Man, I feel the exact opposite. I have finished 6 episodes so far and it's definitely enjoying it. This looks fun

Two Girls One Tower

Quoting myself. I was bored and searched this for a minute and came up with a Faux news story about Whoopi Goldberg on the View apparently thinking Jill was a medical doctor and touting her for Surgeon General. Not being a daytime TV viewer, I never would have heard of this if OP (well, whoever quoted OP since he's on my ignore list) had not sputtered his incoherent outrage about it. Sure hope Days Of Our Lives or General Hospital doesn't tick off OP anytime soon. Might be bad for his heart, although reading people quote his follow ups perhaps he's already lost it.

Why is he calling Jill Biden the Surgeon General?

Relatively surprised nobody weighed in with this yet.

So where is Ted Cruz's vacation destination this week?

I don’t have much of an opinion on the whole situation. The self destruction of our own nation just a tad bit more compelling to me. However, I don’t think setting up a MAGA hat for detention in a bid to free up an arms dealer would be thinking things through very much. For one, most MAGA wouldn’t need to be held against their will I wouldn’t think. Probably would just want selfies with Putin. It also seems that the GQP thinks devil weed is the cause of all the mass shootings in this country. So maybe they aren’t carrying vape pens overseas. But you are correct I think in that it is difficult to have empathy for those who seemingly have none themselves. In fact for those who are going out of their way to openly spread hate and pain as their only ideology. Who are taking away our freedoms to just exist. Yeah we probably wouldn’t be all that wound up about the unlikely event of an American Taliban being held by someone they actually worship.

Gun groups challenge California ban on firearms marketing to kids

https://apple.news/Au8RomvBdSB6U8qRk0x05IQ

The last few years have really illustrated the disparity between the normals and the elites when it comes to the concept of 'law.' "Subpoena? Nah, no thanks."

Asked the 'can't I just go to the beach' question every day I was in Port Aransas a couple of weeks ago. I vented about it in the Texpatriates thread. So many flags and banners and shirts and all that. Everywhere you looked. Completely inescapable.

That's a lot of shooting.

In the long run, you're probably right. Not even that long I imagine. In the here and now though, I have never been happier in my whole life. Unlike leaving Texas, I would be angry and sad at having to leave my own version of heaven. Also, I had my kids later in life than many. The move was hard on them emotionally for quite some time. And then Covid happened and made it even more difficult for them. The isolation after feeling isolated already was rough. I won't uproot them again when they are both finding their spaces, their friends, the activities they enjoy. I'm in the US for at least the next 7-8 years. And in that time frame I will be nearing or entering my sixties. Will re-evaluate then.

The new Lupe Fiasco is worthy.

I agree with your post, but as you are aware, we're all pretty fucked. Biden Urged to Take Emergency Action After 'Disastrous' Climate Ruling by Supreme Court (commondreams.org) Of course, if only we had elected a President who would take action: Progressives Hand Biden List of 55 Executive Actions Because 'Working People Can't Wait' (commondreams.org)