Nice username thats gonna be worth big money some day

I watch a lot of high speed police chase videos, kind of a guilty pleasure of mine. It’s fascinating stuff. One thing I’ve noticed is that while the State Troopers seem to have a higher level of training, when approaching a vehicle local PD will often just run up on all sides with guns out. So, you hear a lot of “watch the crossfire!” from the troopers. On the side of the road bystanders are rarely a hazard, but the same lack of positioning would surely be a hazard to bystanders in different circumstances. So yes i definitely I agree that police officers need more situational awareness training before they can use lethal force- especially in somewhere as packed as a subway station.

I think “Police shot innocent bystander in the head by accident” accurately captures the situation. The police were the ones who did it, but they didn’t do it on purpose.

There’s a big difference between receiving money as a loan to do something the government wants (in this case, build electric vehicles) and begging the government for money because you’re broke. During the recession Ford was notable for being the only major American car company that didn’t ask for a bailout. Their American employee headcount fluctuates year to year but it’s up over the last decade btw.

In NBA history, only 1 female player has ever been drafted- Luisa Harris. She did not actually make the team though, or anyways she never played in a game. I don’t quite remember. The door is open for women to play-the NBA does not prohibit it, nor do any of the “men’s leagues”-it just never happens because women are not good enough.

Haha it’s the job market all over again. How are ya going to get better at oral if you never get to practice?

Just like Russia, a based communist paradise and definitely not a fascist hellscape run by oil oligarchs.

Well, based off the little illustrations in each chapter he’s pretty similar to how he was portrayed in the movies. You can look up Mary grandpré hagrid to see what I would guess is Rowlings original vision.

Fair enough, I will check it out when I get the chance.

I feel like most of those things are not accurate, or are not good faith criticism. It’s worth remembering that until the whole trans thing, the Harry Potter series was seen as very liberal to the point where some conservatives boycotted it.

-Harry isn’t a “cop”, like hes not walking the beat arresting people, hes a dark wizard catcher. Which is perfectly rational given dark wizards killed his parents and they’re pretty explicitly fascists.

-a pretty huge part of the books is devoted to how good people can do bad things and bad people can do good things. Barty Crouch Sr is a whole character who is there to show how the good guys can end up being nearly as bad and brutal as the bad guys because they think the ends justify the means and in times of crisis people are willing to compromise their morals.

-Hermione is ridiculed for sticking up for house elves but she’s also right, as Harry starts to realize by the end of the books. It’s worth noting that the two most steadfast supporters of house elves are Hermione and dumbledore, aka Rowlings “always right about everything” characters

-Seamus is pretty yikesy in the movies but 90% of the stuff isn’t in the books. Idk I thought he was a little racist, although still ultimately a good guy. Cho Chang has a stereotypical name but so what? I don’t think it’s racist in itself. I literally work with a guy named Ying Yang.

-I don’t think obesity is used as a failing, gluttony is used as a failing, as in a favorite expression among leftists, the “fat cat”. There are plenty of other overweight characters that are good and righteous like Ms Weasly, Slughorn (kinda), and Hagrid.

-I’m not sure who you’re referring to with regards to describing teenage females as unattractive but that seems kinda cherry picked. Harry ends up with Ginny who in the books is described as a tomboy. The biggest female villain is arguably Umbridge who is very stereotypically feminine

I’m not defending Rowling as a person at all, or her statements about trans people, but the criticism of Harry potter feels very much like going back and reexamining them with an agenda. You can do the same uncharitable thing with any fantasy series. Hell, off the top of my head I can think of much worse criticisms of lord of the rings or game of thrones but people don’t seem to want to nitpick those the same way.

That’s kind of a weird take. Centrists have not always done that (otherwise society would get steadily more conservative century after century) so you can’t just wave it away as meaningless. Instead I think liberals need to look at what is driving away centrists. (it’s immigration)

Statistically, yes exactly.

Nah the savings came from reduced olives. Olives are expensive, it costs more to buy an olive than to fly it on a plane.

I was stunned, and my belief in society is shattered. Gonna give my girlfriend a call so I can feel better. (Crazy story by the way. She texted my number by accident! She’s out of my league pretty and she has given me some amazing investment tips. Can’t wait to meet her irl!)

…yeah that’s not a real photo

By early in her career do you mean when she was like 18? I’m not saying she hasn’t had a lot of help. But I disagree with the idea that she’s just a figurehead. She is listed as a writer for pretty much all her songs, and you can usually tell a Taylor Swift song just by the sound/lyrics, which isnt something i can say for a lot of pop artists. If it was Antonoff the whole time then Bleachers would be more popular (relative to Swift).

-Very skilled songwriter. I don’t necessarily like all her stuff but I legitimately think she’s the best songwriter (meaning, composing music and writing lyrics) of her generation. Probably since Bruce Springsteen or Billy Joel.

-Very attractive and a good performer

-Well connected in the music industry let her get an early start/inside track

-obsessed with being popular. I don’t mean that in a negative way, but her primary objective with her music is to please as many people as possible. I think the documentary “Miss Americana” on Netflix explains that very well-at one point she straight up says “I just want people to like me” or something like that. That means her music/career has always focused on mass appeal as opposed to making more… limited-appeal music like most artists do at some point in their career

-she’s kept a remarkably clean image even through being famous for close to two decades. It’s very telling that the worst thing her haters can say about her is “but her plane uses a lot of carbon!” This means parents let kids listen to her, brands love her as a sponsor, nobody boycotts her, etc.

-one last thing, I think people love her songs because they feel like they’re true. Her songs have a very intimate, almost confessional quality that a lot of artists strive for buy often comes off as fake.