This isn’t a recent phenomena. Bernie’s statement calls out the Democrats behavior over the last 30 years which puts you right in the middle of the first term of Clinton. However, Clinton was the first Democratic executive that had a chance to really enact a strategic change in the Democratic party that was first formulated after the chaos and losses of 1968.

Before 1968, the democrat party was tightly knit with union interest and the selection of a presidential candidate was done behind closed doors by party bosses. This is how it was done in 1968 resulting in Hubert Humphrey. Hubert Humphrey was an establishment candidate and VP to a very unpopular president who decided not to run for a second term. Robert Kennedy was very popular, but assisted before the convention. There were other candidates, but Hubert Humphrey enters the race after the 12 primaries had closed, but before the convention. There were a lot of reasons for chaos at the Democratic Convention in 1968, but this was one. Humphrey was chosen in an undemocratic fashion by party bosses despite lacking wide support by the base. I’m not saying history repeated itself, but it sure rhymes.

So Humphrey loses. The next four years results in reflection buly the party, an internal document called the McGovern-Frasier report is created, the selection process becomes more democratic causing candidates to make a wider tent for an intra-party coalition resulting in the nomination of McGovern eho whose major focus was to get the US out of Vietnam. Major unions decide not to back him and, well, he gets his ass kicked.

More reflection and the Trilateral Commission conclude that “excessive democracy” had resulted in the erosion of economic and political stability. So unions are still important in America at this point, but there’s a growing shift from an industrial society to a professional services society starting to happen. The members of the Trilateral Commission see this and start to court this group. Meanwhile, colleges increase enrollment accepting non-traditional students to matriculate.

Jimmy Carter, a member of the Trilateral Commission, is elected and enacts several neo liberal policies such as deregulating the airlines and creating natural gas markets. He fails a bid for a second term, but the tenor of what is yet to come has been sounded. Atari-democrats, young ambitious tech savvy, step to the fore and represented by someone like Gary Hart. He fails to get the nomination mainly because he had an affair and Mondale gets the nod. Mondale was an old school dem who supported labor and Carter’s VP. He loses worse than McGovern in 1972.

In 1988, Dukakis runs trying to bridge the old Dems and the new Dems. Like riding two horses, he fails. That’s four out five election losses. 1992, a young whipper snapper from Arkansas steps to the plate and wins with an outstanding 43% of the popular vote. Wait! How could be, you ask? You see, Nader isn’t the only spoiler candidate. One free wheeling Texas business man named Ross Perot got about 20% of the popular vote. I still remember is slide presentation on network television.

But I digress. This administration, knowing they just barely won, does what anyone who hasn’t won in a whole and makes radical changes. Good bye old guard and welcome the new way of ruling. One notable survivor of the purge was Joe Biden. They deregulate more industries and open more trade with NAFTA, CAFTA, China and help rebuilding a newly democratized Russia. Not all of this happened in the first term, but these were all important events. W campaigned on an isolationist strategy in response to much of this. From 1993 to 2013, we lived in the Clinton era. Biden isn’t really aligned with it deeply. He’s been the middle ground man and probably is more closely aligned to Mondale or Dukakis.

The stock market takes off during the first tech boom, but the vast majority of the spoils go to the professional class and the rich. The working class is doing better because everyone is doing better, but not keeping up. Meanwhile factories are closing and we aren’t investing in infrastrcuture. Also, if you want your kids to have a future, send them to college. Can’t afford it? No worries, here are some loans. It’s for your children. Good luck!

It’s during this time that you see them not resisting neocon war mongering. War mongering guts the working class. You see Obama not helping out the working class after the 2008 financial crisis. But who cares? The stock market is soaring! What do mean you don’t have any extra cash to invest. Good luck!

2016 had primaries, but everyone knew they’d regret it if they got in the way of Hillary. It was her turn and we deserved a woman president. Biden regrets sitting this out. I don’t know if he would have had a chance, but being VP, it would have been a fight of two different visions. Throw in Bernie and there’s a real decision to be made.

Well damn… This was far too long. Hopefully it was an interesting read. Yeah, there’s five examples in here, but the damage is far more subtle over the course of several decades. The working class, when unionized, were powerful. And politics were fucked up. Then we gutted them and an industrial base and shit’s fucked up in a new way. No easy answers. Just grinding.

Why not just ask this question in the OP?

The amount of unnecessary surgeries has been a known issue since the 1950s. During the first year of the pandemic, when the amount of non-critical surgeries would have been at a local minima, there were about 100,000 unnecessary surgeries. Spine surgeries came in at about 30,000.

In this article they reference a survey of why surgeons were doing unnecessary spine surgeries:

The two common answers were: USS were done because “we always have done this way” and for “financial gain, renown, or both”.

The article goes on and makes some recommendations. The first of which is:

1.Setting up musculoskeletal clinics in primary healthcare centers to filter spine cases and prevent direct access to spine surgeons.

We continue to undertrain physicians for the US population and many are incentives to go into lucrative specialties leaving primary care physicians to be over booked, and buried in paper work.

Lars van Trier’s Nymphomaniac would be very confusing without sex.

The number of sex scenes are down since 2000 of the movies coming out of Hollywood. But if you’re willing to read subtitles, there’s still a lot of horny videos coming out of Western Europe.

For me, make the sex relevant to the plot and make the sex they have congruent with the characters.

Okay… I’ll give it a go.

As we age, it’s easy to lose touch with something sacred. Certains drugs, in certain settings can remind some people of that. For those people, it can be a way to fend off the embittering nature of the rest of the world. It can put them in touch with that sacredness, reawaken some sense of reverence and awe, and some are able to carry a bit of this back into that into the world.

I don’t partake in drugs or even much alcohol. And I wouldn’t let loose without some sort of backup plan for the safety of my child. But I’m all for people doing what it is that lets reconnect to the sacred.

Personally, I hope it softens our hyper individualism and capitalist values. Hope that gives you an alternative perspective.

I care about my friends. I care about their goals, concerns, trials, joys, and more. I listen and I dig deeper. If I don’t care about what they did, I ask questions that reveal how it made them feel.

Now that’s a lot of emotional labor, but for a select few confidants, I am more than happy to that work. It bonds us and makes each other feel seen and connected.

I wish I had a friend who could just be there while I tried to get it set up. Honestly, I’d peroxide pizza, beer, and video games just so I don’t collapse in a mess of confusion and self doubt when something goes wrong. I don’t mind doing the work, but I don’t know if I have the patience to figure it all out.

Sounds like you had a wonderful patient who was grateful for you doing your craft. Do a compliment sandwich, but do it sincerely.

Complement Boundary Complement

“Oh my. I’m flattered. Thank you, but I’m not comfortable with that right now. You’ve been a wonderful patient and I enjoyed working with you too.”

This is just an example of the compliment sandwich structure and you should adjust the wording to serve you.

As for the phone number, just tell him that you were doing your job and seeing him better is all the reward you need. Again, adjust the wording for your truth.

The author’s photo is of her holding two oranges in one hand. I have unexpected joy from this.

I’m a simple man. I see a possum spouting truth and I upvote.

People need to get over the candidate BS

In one sense this true. Policies are set by a small army of party elites and admins. Presidents aren’t just policy makers though. They are the face of a country. Their words are powerful and institutions react to them. They also project a sense of competency and vitality to the world.

it’s the politicians who deliberately trample them and keep these people in a perpetual state of misery, and then use racism to distract them from their pains.

I think this is a one sided analysis putting all the blame on the Republicans. It fails to wrestle with purple states that became red states like Florida and the inability for Democrats to make lasting in roads in purple states.

I just can’t believe the Red party is still given any serious consideration.

Personally, I turn to history when I want to understand something that confounds me. It would be better if I could actually talk to some people and really hear them. But I live a major metropolitan center in a blue state so my access is limited.

How do you measure that for weight loss?

In a row?

Isn’t that due to the reassessment of property tax when a new owner purchases the property? And wouldn’t that be solved if the cap persists regardless of ownership change?

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He uses liquid detergent in his extensive example and regularly has the bottle feature alongside a box of powder.

The big difference between liquid and powder is powder allows for two different cleaning agents whereas if they both are in a liquid, they react with each other. He doesn’t bring this up in the video, but I think he mentions it in another one.

You’re using rationality to defend your behavior instead of connecting emotionally around a fundamentally emotional issue. This doesn’t mean that her behavior was justified either, but rationality will only get you so far in solving this problem. Arguably, there’s an intimate and emotional reason you’re together. If you’re both not engaging in protecting and growing that first, then you’ll end in a you vs her situation.

I can’t think of worse debate performance. Nixon profusely sweating? Pretty bad, but at least he was coherent.

Mondale not being able to counter Regan’s age deflecting quip? Damn. That’s so tough one when the crowds turned.

The Gore eye roll? Well damn that sucks.

But this was a debate long fugue state. At best, some Trump previous incoherent ramblings are close, but still not as bad.

This was seriously bad. And everyone failing to see that and trying to minimize it is attempting and failing to gaslight everyone else.

There maybe no replacement available, but at least call a spade a spade.

Sometimes we find inspiration where we least expect it.