@LnzyHou I live in an area of the country where hardly anyone wore a mask originally, unless retail places insisted on it. Then it was bandanas and handkerchiefs loosely tied, often below the nose. No one here will mask up now, despite the increased contagiousness of the new variant.

Trump thinks his scowl, like that depicted in his mug shot, is reminiscent of Winston Churchill. Gee, and here I thought he was trying to avoid any implication of his obesity.

The U.S. pumped out a record amount of oil in the last year and is the world’s largest producer of oil and natural gas. Yet Republicans keep insisting that we could produce much more - “Drill, baby drill!” - if not for the Biden administration and that we should be energy self-sufficient. Well, we could be self-sufficient if the government forced oil and gas companies to produce only for the U.S. market. But that’s not how capitalism works. Are Republicans actually proposing socialism here?

Can you imagine what would be the Republican response if what has happened to Mitch McConnell - twice! - happened to Biden?

@thedisasterautist Cool! We have a connection. My wife works as a volunteer at the Barbee library, and the beach at Barbee is our favorite. This used to be our weekend getaway home, but now it’s our permanent residence.

Drove from Raleigh to our home in Oak Island this morning and got here just as the rains from the outer bands of the hurricane started pouring down rain. The storm center is supposed to clip the southern N.C. coast tonight before moving out to sea.

@joem2go Awesome!

@joem2go Wow!

@Xponent Yup. A member of my own family is like that.

@Xponent I don’t disagree with you. Most Americans, including those who find themselves surrounded by yahoos in those ruby-red states, would not get an AR-15 and kill someone they consider not only un-American, but even subhuman. And most would condemn such actions. But I look at the trend in this country toward hate crimes and can’t help remembering what happened in Germany in the 1930s. That worries me. The guardrails we had to prevent overt racial and political intolerance are coming down.

@Xponent So you aren’t one of those people. Fine. Neither am I. But the fact remains that there are among us many with the mindset of hate, some of whom act on it. Look at Jan. 6. Look at those who applaud and cheer when Trump and his allies suggest that violence is acceptable to “Take back our country.”

“This is not who we are.” Biden and many others proclaim this every time there’s a hate crime/mass shooting. Wrong. It obviously IS who we are. As NFL coach Bill Parcells famously said, “You are what your record says you are.”

Apparently, the height and weight numbers for Trump’s arrest were self-reported, because Trump’s weight was listed at 215! And Meadows’ weight was given at 240! Sure, Trump weighs 25 lbs less than his chief of staff. What a joke.

@Idissent We probably won’t be given that info, because none of the other booked defendants had that publicized. To do it for Trump would, of course, result in outrage from the MAGA base.

@danielbsmith Having a colonoscopy is a stress to the system. If you weren’t sedated enough, your BP could spike as it could in any other stressful situation. Doesn’t sound to me like there’s anything to be concerned about. Good news about your negative colonoscopy!

Trump’s biggest concern regarding his arrest in Atlanta will likely be his weigh-in! Over/under: 275 lbs?

Surprise, surprise. Applicants who come from wealthy families have a much highest acceptance rate to elite colleges than the rank and file. But, and here’s the good news: Silver spoon applicants get in prestige schools easier, are more likely to land plum graduate school acceptances, and are more likely to get hired by top-notch law and financial firms. But their income down the road is not much better than their brethren who went to state schools. Meritocracy still works.

So Rep. Comer wants to subpoena the Biden family. Like who would that be? Biden, his wife, the grandchildren? Hunter, of course. What a travesty, considering that the Kushners were guilty of the most blatant influence-peddling by a president’s family in - to use Trump’s often repeated phrase - the history of our country.