the only way to Democrats made their way back to the whitehouse was with an entirely new generation/brand of democratic politics under Bill Clinton, which embraced free trade and deregulation (i.e, the “third way”). So far, progressivism has not won in the way that this new brand of liberalism has.

This is a little too simplistic. First, it’s important to note how weird the 1992 election was. It was the first time in modern history that an independent candidate had a legitimate shot at winning; in fact, Perot was leading in the early polls, and very well could have taken the presidency if he hadn’t mismanaged his campaign, dropped out, and then re-entered the race. While he was somewhat centrist, he held a lot of populist and progressive positions like Medicare for all, assault weapons bans, opposition to NAFTA, and criticism of Reagonomics. Clinton ultimately won, but that probably had more to do with the 1990 recession than anything Clinton did, and, again, he very well could have lost to Perot’s platform had Perot been a more competent campaign manager.

As for the failures of the progressive message after that point, I don’t think that’s true, at least when looking at Presidential races. Obama governed as a centrist, but he campaigned as a progressive, promising Wall Street regulation, home owner bailouts, and universal healthcare. He abandoned all of those goals early on, but they are still what got elected, and he even made income inequality the focal point of his reelection campaign (which he again abandoned immediately upon reelection).

While Biden would never be called a leftists, he was a savvy campaigner, and he correctly read that the country wanted a progressive candidate in 2020. He leaned heavily on his strong pro-union history and had Sanders help him craft a highly progressive platform to run on. To his credit, I believe Biden did earnestly try to pass that platform, and it’s failure wasn’t do to a lack of desire. (He also funded a genocide and refused to step aside despite his advanced age, so fuck him, but the point is he got elected on a progressive platform).

Now let’s look at the presidential losers. Al Gore, a centrist technocrat, lost to Bush (sort of). John Kerry, a moderate war hero, lost to Bush. Hillary Clinton, who made the centrism of her husband’s presidency the cornerstone of her campaign, lost to Trump. And Harris (who, granted, was cobbling together a campaign at the 11th hour) ran a campaign of tepid centrist reforms and lost resoundingly to Trump.

So, tl;dr: Bill Clinton was the only candidate who won on an openly centrist campaign, and that was a very unusual election. The two other presidents, while also being centrists, won in progressive campaigns, while explicitly centrist Democrats lost.

I think if I don’t know anyone it’s happened to in decades of living in large cities means its probably not very common.

Yeah, I rode the Subway and T for years during rush hour, I used to work in Times Square, and I’ve of course been to tourist events in that time. In nearly 40 years of city living, I don’t know anyone who’s had their pocket picked, either in busy areas or, “Main st.”

I grew up in New York City and now live in Boston and I’ve never encountered a pickpocket. I’ve been mugged three times and had a mentally unbalanced homeless guy punch me in the face unprovoked, but I’ve never been pickpocketed.

My wife and I were Honeymooning in Paris, purchasing subway passes from an automated kiosk, when a guy who was pretending to be really interested in his phone started getting uncomfortably close to her. She felt him touch her, so she elbowed him real hard, knocking the phone out of his hand, and yelling, “Oh no, are you OK, I’m so sorry, I broke your phone!” real loud (which was true, she cracked his screen). I don’t think he was expecting a 5’2" woman to assault him, because he grabbed his broken phone and started booking it before I could react.

A very nice Parisian came over and told us we needed to be more careful and watch ouf for thieves. We thanked him, but my wife was laughing a few moments later because she just assumed he was a pervert. I thought maybe the phone screen had already been broken, and he was trying to run some sort of, “Hey, you broke my phone, give me money!” scam but chickened out when he saw how aggressively my wife reacted. We live in a major American city, so we’ve experienced crime before, but it never occurred to us that he was trying to pick her pocket. Felt almost quaint, like a Dickens novel.

I’ve read that they cancel most shows after two seasons because season 3 is usually when the cast renegotiates their salary and they’re too cheap to pay them what their worth.

Well, I wasn’t even thinking about that, but now I’ve got a whole new thing to be self-conscious about.

People are right in saying it’s context and consent, and it’s not completely gendered. Men’s swimsuits are basically just boxer shorts. Normally I’m not self-conscious about that, but a few months ago I signed up for a toddler swimming class with my son where I wound up being the only Dad, and suddenly I felt a bit exposed. I think the normalcy of walking around in nothing but a small pair of shorts kinda evaporated once I was the only man in the room.

True, although that bug is a lot easier to deal with. Instead of integrating hallucinated stories about Dorian into the transcript, you get a couple of extra lines of text now and then that read something like, “Daddy, where are you?” or, “I can’t see, Daddy. I’m scared.” It’s annoying, but it’s pretty easy to just CTR F the word, “Daddy,” and delete it.

This is actually a really common bug in transcription programs. It happens when one of the developers trains the AI model with video and audio of their dead child, Dorian. Just contact support and request that the developer tell the AI he’s sorry he trapped him between this world and the next, and while he’ll always love him, he knows it’s time to let go; head towards the light, Dorian…it’s ok…you’re free now, Dorian, you’re free. Then you’ll probably need to restart your PC.

Oh, I didn’t pick up that they were all Jeffrey Combs characters. At a distance, I thought that was Quark.

Bold choice not picking Kahn for Wrath.

What you are describing is how people use the left lane during light traffic; a temporary labe to overtake one or several vehicles. During heavier traffic, most drivers don’t do that. They use the left lane as a, “fast lane,” rather than entering and exiting the middle lane repeatedly (which, strictly speaking, isn’t how you’re supposed to use that lane, but it’s how the vast majority of drivers use it). That’s usually when some asshole decides the, “fast lane,” isn’t fast enough and starts tailgating, forcing people to merge into the already crowded middle lane and slowing traffic even further.

Oh, got it. I thought the snail meme had mutated.

Wait, I thought it was just one snail assassin. It’s two?

Yeah, you should always wait until there’s a safe amount of space to change lanes, but realistically, you’re very rarely going to find a gap that has enough space to merge in with safe follow distance behind and in front of you (assuming 55-60 mph speed limit, that would be 100 feet plus the length of your car). You’ll probably find a gap with a little extra room, maybe 60 or so feet, match speed and merge with about 30 feet in front of you, then drop speed for a little bit until you hit 50 feet. The car behind you will do the same, and so on.

That happens all the time on the highway and it’s not a big deal, but if some asshole is forcing cars to do that every 2 minutes because they’re tailgating the left lane, that’s gonna start slowing down the middle lane. It’s also gonna cause people to start doing stupid shit like following to closely or jumping into the left lane at the earliest opportunity, even if there isn’t enough room to do that safely.

No, that’s incorrect. For example, here’s a law from Minnesota that explicitly states you may exceed the posted speed limit by up to 10 mph when passing:

Subd. 2a.Increased speed limit when passing.

Notwithstanding subdivision 2, the speed limit is increased by ten miles per hour over the posted speed limit when the driver:

(1) is on a two-lane highway having one lane for each direction of travel;

(2) is on a highway with a posted speed limit that is equal to or higher than 55 miles per hour;

(3) is overtaking and passing another vehicle proceeding in the same direction of travel; and

(4) meets the requirements in section 169.18.

In areas of height limited lanes, you should follow the directions regarding height restrictions no matter what. That’s common sense. In most states, 2 lane highways treat the left lane as the passing lane and the right lane as the travel lane (though people seem to mostly just travel in the left lane anyway). On a three lane highway, the left lane is for passing, the middle lane is for cruising, and the right lane is for vehicles that are exiting, entering, or otherwise need to go below the speed limit. The right lane should not be used for cruising when there are three or more lanes. Check with triple A if you don’t believe me

No, that is not correct. The rightmost lane is for slower vehicles and exiting. The middle lane is often called the travel lane because it’s the one you’re meant to be in when cruising.

Oh, lol, yes, I meant left lane. That was a typo. I made twice.