DonkeyCigars

Yikes. This is awkward.

The politics of it gets sticky, I agree. That is why I don't really care to crow or advocate; I think we should all pattern and execute our lives around our own vision and mission for ourselves and our family. But if the government is going to fall backwards into an alignment of one of my ideals, I'm not going to be mad about it.

You eat poop for breakfast? But seriously, it's my opinion and belief and how I lead in life as the paterfamilias. If that were to happen rather than hit the kill switch, I would redeem the child by raising it as my own. Your mileage may vary, and it appears to do so. I'm sorry that makes us mortal enemies or whatever in your mind.

Can you share those tenets?

Yes.

I understand what you are saying. I just don't agree. I think you are wrong. Let's just leave it at that. Good luck out there; hope everything works out for you!

I'm not a fancy man, just a simple guy with a simple outlook on life. That is, Honor your mother and father and do not murder other human beings. You are destroying a creation of God by doing so. Women and Men should have no say in the matter of the business of murder. I'm an equal opportunity employer of that belief.

See? Exhibit A on why it's pointless to discuss because the opinion gulf is too wide, I guess.

Anastasis, in my worthy opinion if I do say so myself, is right. And to your question: yes illegal abortion should be jailed as murder/manslaughter. Abortion is murder (hence the significance of the heart beat part of the bill) and this guy gets it: Abortion no matter the origin is murder. If anyone asks if I've killed, I'd have to answer honestly and with a sorrowful regret. I appreciate that not everyone believes what I believe (and that can blow my mind from time to time) and so there isn't really any point in arguing because nobody changes their mind on these things.

Thanks for the response. Let me dig in and see where I got misaligned with respect to CRT being something built into public textbooks, training for teachers etc. And as someone who works for a living, I'm very familiar with the twin corporate pillars of trendy topics: DEI & Sustainability. I can assure I am not conflating.

Five tenets: 1) the centrality and intersectionality of race and racism 2) challenge to the dominant ideology 3) the commitment to social justice 4) the importance of experiential knowledge; and 5) the use of interdisciplinary perspectives. Most importantly is this though: Critical Race scholarship is unified by two tenets; The first is to understand how a regime of white supremacy and its subordination of people of color have been created and maintained in America, and, in particular, to examine the relationship between that social structure and professed ideals such as "the rule of law" and "equal protection." The second is a desire not merely to understand the vexed bond between law and racial power but to change it." (Crenshaw et al., 1995)

That is why I am asking you to validate your claim that CRT is not taught in public schools in Texas, because I'm open to the possibility of being misinformed and wrong.

Are you sure that is accurate? Can you cite something here? I ask because I was told the five tenets of critical race theory can be found in almost every public school in Texas, and teachers are now being required to attend training in these tenets of CRT. Edit to add: this might be where the whole vague and nebulous definition and application of CRT is muddying the waters?

CRT is interesting because it is so polarizing and it means something different to most people I ask (as shown by this thread, too). I find it to be tacky to talk about things like, specifically CRT, and generally politics, among friends and family and in public and at parties. I think you should just do what you think is right and what you think is best. FWIW, I think of CRT like Johnny Sack does, and so CRT is probably about 50% of why we decided against public schools for a private education. We just didn't want any part of it and think our children's energy, resources and time is better spent in different ways. If you want to engage with it and think it's great, great. More power to you, as we used to say. I said this earlier, but I feel like there is a healthy medium between "Pale, Yale and Male" and Critical Race Theory. We are trying to find the best landing place for our kids. Go and do likewise, gents. The money is out there. You pick it up, it's yours. You don't? I have no sympathy.

Oh you are grown now? How many times have you been to Carbone?

Embarrassingly enough, you've just deduced my late teenage years by describing me perfectly, down to the Blue Polo Sport bottle. I think Gen Z has a word for this feeling: Cringe.

I think most normal red-blooded American boys go through a phase-- around 16-21 let us call it-- where we can get caught up in Ayn Rand and really enjoy Atlas Shrugged (or The Fountainhead, in my case) and it scratches that post-pubescent itch. It is folly, of course, but it helps us to try and make sense of what is going on with ourselves. Our bodies are grown to look like a full grown man, but our brains are not all that well developed at all. We have brawn without any wisdom. We are coursing with hormones and aspirations and ambitions-- aspirations and ambitions which society is encouraging us to grab as rightful heirs-- and we aren't sure how to exactly be masters of the universe yet. Ayn Rand's fiction helps to gird us from ourselves in the comfort or a library or bedroom, before we have to go out onto Wall Street or wherever and actually get our nose bloodied. That was the old world of the 90's and 00's though, when being "Pale, Yale and Male" was the way. The world has changed though and I'm not sure that Ayn Rand's pacifiers are needed. Maybe or maybe not it's Joe Rogan's podcast or some influencer's TikTok page has filled the void, but rest assured, something has.

To touch on the feelings of FOH restaurant workers, I feel like we are slowly moving away from what we want as an experience in most fast and casual restaurants. I think the Chili's model someone up thread outlined where we order on a kiosk app and pick up the food at the window and we don't have high school kids messing up your order or going MIA or bothering you too much, is the way. When I am going through a drive-thru, between the hours of 8a - 6p, I'm 99% of the time on a conference call, either passively participating or actively listening/talking. After I place my order, I don't want anything more than a quiet transaction of take my credit card and hand me the food. The same with the casual food places I haunt, and they've gotten used to me by now and I tip over the top so they know it's not personal, but at first it was like can't you see I'm busy, just take my order and leave me alone and please don't try and talk to me, I just need to eat. You know how the Sprinkles in University Park has a cupcake ATM so you don't have to go inside? I think we need that for QSR and Casual Restaurants because people aren't going for a human experience, just for food and convenience. Automate that food wall, Mr. Gorbachev. That said, there will always be a need for the upper end waitstaff and sommeliers and folks like that to serve guests who are looking for food experiences where the goal is to communicate and connect with other humans. Think of dinners with clients, business folks, family events, etc. where you aren't on your phone or it is rude to multi-task.

All caps lol.

Interesting read about how a restaurant loses money on a $14 sandwich (in NYC). Not posting this to make a broad-reaching claim (after all, this is NYC and upper scale food cost analysis, not McDonalds or Burger King), but thought it was interesting: https://www.eater.com/2021/5/17/22434443/how-a-new-york-city-restaurant-loses-money-on-a-14-sandwich

As a pro can you give me a back of the napkin, just between us, review of these builders we were looking at: Bloomfield Homes, David Weekly, and Highland Homes?

I agree with you. Taking it a step further where I think we would diverge a bit I would guess, is in vaccinating children and masks on or around kids. I understand it's being reported that vaccines are safe for kids/teens, but I don't think vaccinating kids/teens (and children 12 and under) is in the cards for me and mine at this point in the game. If we've reached a point where vaccination of kids/teens is a luxury and not a requirement or mandate, then I think we are probably at an 80/20 with this thing.

This is me too. Thanks for responding.

Finally a valid hypothesis for why Aliens also probe our butts: https://www.theatlantic.com/science/archive/2021/05/evolution-butts/618915/