254 Comments

I am sorry but saying "scientific progress" on one hand and later being against mandatory masks* and vaccines* when we are still in a pandemic don't go together, it's irresponsible at best, at worst try to guess.

* Go with his anti trans position too.

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Pot and the economy, personal freedom to boot. Yup, he’s a libertarian. Especially with the anti trans rhetoric. Libertarians nowadays are really the same as Republicans but with weed. Sure he isn’t pushing the extreme position on the culture wars, but he has taken a side in them. And I’m almost certain his legalize cannabis stance does not include free the current prisoners from the drug war.

If he was truly interested in fiscal responsibility within the government he would not even be flirting with the GOP or even libertarianism. Republicans have torn up the economy for generations and PRed the heck out of it to blame the Dems for it. Reality doesn’t seem to be his strong suit, even keeping his atheism in mind.

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Evidently "fiscal responsibility" = constant threats to shut the government down, playing havoc with the lives of government employees and the millions who rely on Social Security. I wonder what Phinney thinks IRresponsibility looks like.

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Isn't libertarian fiscal responsibility just not paying for any of the useful parts of the government? I'd really like to make a libertarian negotiate with the fire department while his house was burning down.

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I'd like to know how libertarians plan to get around not using public streets.

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They Are good at evasion.

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Call me nasty, if you must, but I'd rather see his house burn down.

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Helping poor people, of course. If they deserved the money, they'd already be rich! /s

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𝐀𝐫𝐞 𝐒𝐨𝐜𝐢𝐚𝐥 𝐒𝐞𝐜𝐮𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐲 𝐂𝐡𝐞𝐜𝐤𝐬 𝐀𝐟𝐟𝐞𝐜𝐭𝐞𝐝 𝐛𝐲 𝐚 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧?

"Typically, Social Security checks are not affected by a shutdown. Social Security payments do not require funding from Congress. These payments come directly from the Social Security Trust Fund, so the only funding required is for the employees managing these payments." <snip>

https://ssofficelocation.com/resources/is-social-security-affected-by-a-government-shutdown/#Are_Social_Security_Checks_Affected_by_a_Shutdown

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐃𝐨𝐞𝐬 𝐓𝐡𝐞 𝐆𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐫𝐧𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐒𝐡𝐮𝐭𝐝𝐨𝐰𝐧 𝐌𝐞𝐚𝐧 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐒𝐒𝐈 & 𝐒𝐒𝐃𝐈?

"As previously stated, existing Supplemental Security Income payments, Social Security disability benefits, and retirement benefit payments are usually not affected when the government shuts down." <snip>

https://ssofficelocation.com/resources/is-social-security-affected-by-a-government-shutdown/#What_Does_The_Government_Shutdown_Mean_for_SSI_SSDI

Also of interest:

https://www.aarp.org/retirement/social-security/info-2020/10-myths-explained.html

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deletedFeb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023
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I'm well aware of all that. But the Republicans have made it quite clear that they want SS on the chopping block.

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I have never understood why repukes want to shoot themselves in the foot by fucking over one of their largest constituencies.

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"Libertarians nowadays are really the same as Republicans but with weed. "

Yeah, pretty much.

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It's not clear to me why a true libertarianism would be anti-trans. Seems like they should be pro- "everyone gets to choose their own apellation", pro-"everyone gets to dress the way they want," and pro-"every business & public school gets to set their own bathroom policy." While the latter isn't progressive, it isn't top-down imposed conservativism either.

But as you say, political libertarianism is not really about personal liberty. It's more about using personal liberty *rhetoric* to prop up most (but not all) right-wing ideas.

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Yep. As many others have noted, a libertarian is like a five year old screaming at his mother "You're not the boss of me!"

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I would much rather have a Progressive Christian over a Libertarian atheist any day.

The economic support he speaks of is far more pro-corporatist than it is meant to help the Everyman. Especially when he gets in bed with the GOP.

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On Nov. 16, 2022, he posted:

". . . bizarre gender ideology, cultist attachment to authority, dehumanization of political opponents, . . ."

That describes the G卐P, not the democratic party.

". . . is trying to convince you they aren't the Fascists."

Someone needs to remind him which party Ron DeNazi and Greg Abbott belong to.

On Jan. 31, 2023, he posted:

"I wanted to make this clear early in the Presidential cycle because I am tired of political factionalism, hyper-tribalism, extreme partisanship in every way."

What the Fuck‽‽‽ Did he forget what he posted two and a half months ago?

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Politicians say whatever they think will get them elected. And they're quite aware that the average American has the attention span of a fly, so blatantly contradicting themselves is no problem for them. Two and a half months is a remarkably long time to expect US voters to remember anything.

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I really wish I could say you're wrong, but my fellow Texans re-elected Ted Cruz 4 years ago and Gregg Abbott 4 months ago.

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That sucks!

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Flies have a pretty good attention span, in my experience. Little bastards just don't give up on trying to chow down until they're dead or you let 'em land on your dinner.

Come to think of it, though, that's a pretty good analogy for the average Fox viewer.

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Gore Vidal used to refer to this country as the United States of Amnesia. I can't say I disagree.

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Feb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023

As a general rule Republicans forget what they posted 7 seconds ago.

On average.

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Yeah, I'm awarding zero brownie points just for not having an imaginary friend- not when the rest of the package is just as foul as the rest of the GQP. Newsworthy, sure, and thanks for reporting on it, but even if he's a tad bit more reserved than some of his colleagues, well... if it 𝘩𝘰𝘯𝘬𝘴 like a goose and 𝘴𝘵𝘦𝘱𝘴 like a goose...

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Not even a cookie? ; )

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I wouldn't give him the crumbs of the two-years-stale cookies I found at the back of the kitchen cabinets.

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Not even a brookie.

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Why would you trout* that out? : )

*Pun for trot.

Brookie is a nickname for brook trout.

If you have to explain them.......

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Just stop, already. You're giving me a haddock.

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Sorry for being a pain in the bass.

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Sucker!

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Don't feel bad. I'm late to the pun subthread and I'm already floundering.

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Are you fishing for compliments ?

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I can't. There's already another guy trolling this thread.

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I knew that funnily enough from reading books by Patrick McManus. Because I think we only have brown and rainbow.

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In some ancient Egypt poems fish was used as a metaphor. A part ça je ne vois pas 😁

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I like brookies.

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Never tasted, since it's seems to be from your continent the amount of sugar must be astronomical.

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What about blondies.

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*Kick Thor, kidnap Loki*

Does that answer your question ?

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Mmmmm, brookiiiiiiie... :9-----

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Feb 7, 2023·edited Feb 7, 2023

Have to ask: WTF was that anti-mask/vaccine mandates/anti-trans/anti-woke tweet about? He didn't do himself any favors with it.

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Oh, but he didn't say the word trans, so we're *assuming* that's what he meant. Says the JAQoff down thread.

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What trollski misses is that not all assumptions are unreasonable. The standard of proof for concluding that someone is a transphobic plague-rat to be avoided at all costs boils down to "when someone tells you who they are, believe them." He uses antivax/antimask phrasing to talk about masks and vaccines; he uses transphobic phrasing to talk about trans people. I will therefore assume that he is an antimask/antivax transphobe. Maybe Mr. Phoney is being honest about his beliefs, or maybe he's just throwing red meat to his base- one way, he's a bigot and a plague-rat; the other, he's a liar and a grifter. Either way, he's no friend of mine.

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Check out his profile (hover over his avatar). Admitted troll.

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RemovedFeb 7, 2023·edited Feb 7, 2023
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Self-deluded on top of everything else. Wow, just wow.

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To every thread, troll, troll, troll, there is a birdbrain, troll, troll, troll, and a time for every halfwit under heaven.

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"He actually won by 16 on election night; a recount added only one vote to his opponent’s tally."

See? FRAUD!!!!!!!

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O/T: From the Daily Kos - Christian K-8 school forced to close after publicly acknowledging ‘inclusive [LGBTQ] theology’

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2023/2/6/2151446/-Christian-K-8-school-forced-to-close-after-publicly-acknowledging-inclusive-LGBTQ-theology?utm_campaign=trending

I'm sorry, but what were you saying about "Christian Love?"

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I wonder how many people in those 8 hateful churches don't seem equally upset with children being physically, emotionally and/or sexually abused at Christian schools that are NOT LGBTQ inclusive.

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I am sure this comment by Candace Owens is also not hatred toward the trans community according to Thomas Boswell.

CANDACE OWENS (HOST): Speaking of the trans agenda, January sixth has happened again, except nobody cares because it's trans individuals that are doing it. The Trans Lives Matter protesters decided to occupy the Oklahoma capitol building to fight GOP bills that ban gender conforming surgery for people that are under the age of 21. So that -- of course, that should be banned. If you are the age 21, you should not be -- honestly, you should never be allowed. I would go a little further. Oklahoma, if you really want to do something, just ban it altogether. But trans people were very upset and they decided to storm the Capitol building.

...

OWENS: So, I'm just going to come right out and say this because it needs to be said. I have such great contempt for trans individuals and everything that they are doing right now in our society. To me, I've yet to meet a trans person that I thought was a good individual. Go ahead, you can use that clip verbatim. Circulate it, George Soros and your goons because somebody needs to say it. This has gone on far enough, right? They are hateful, narcissistic human beings. It's very obviously -- it's very obvious that they hate women, that they are misogynist at their core. I'm talking about men that put on lipstick and say -- not only that they're women, mocking us to our faces, saying I'm a woman, I'm just like you, I can do whatever you want.

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Oh look, she wasn't too busy hating on trans folks to sneak in a dig at Soros. Excellent multitasking!

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She mentioned us too; "... and your goons...".

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I'm not a goon, I'm a minion. Banana!

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"To me, I've yet to meet a trans person that I thought was a good individual. "

Ceryan Dau, previously Nathalie, fantasy writer and trans man. You're welcome, Connasse... I mean candace.

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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gx0MLwhvWtY

Always found her entertaining if'n a bit intellectual. It's philosophy after all.

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I love philosophy as much as geometry 😅

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Philosophy is useful if you need to use the toilet and don't have any reading material handy.

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I am a Granny Weatherwax disciple 😁

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"They are hateful, narcissistic human beings."

With that, she described herself and her fellow hatemongers.

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Pretty ambiguous. ; )

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but she never said she "hates" them.

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That is how a pigeon plays chess. You know.

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knocks over all the pieces, shits on the board, and then declares victory? Agreed.

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I thought it was drumpster way to play 🤔

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Nah, he'd reach across the board, steal the king, grope the queen, and declare himself a grand master.

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My state will fight Judge Skidmark and SCOTUS tooth and nail.

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“Lithwick and Stern assert that perhaps the overturning of Roe v. Wade "was not the terminal point" in the attack on women' reproductive rights, but, instead, "barely even the start."”

No one ever said it was the terminal point, we all knew it was only the beginning. The GOP always told us they wanted more.

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I wonder if Margaret Atwood knows about this and what she is feeling.

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Probably that she's glad to be a Canadian.

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Phinney is an odd duck, for sure. His position on the necessary actions taken to quash COVID-19 are at best reactionary, never mind his attitude toward trans people. Just goes to show you that someone can be an atheist and understand that position and still be an utter idiot on other issues.

Sorry [not sorry], Brandon, but I ain't havin' any.

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What you've pointed out is why 'atheist' is a brain-dead category for the root causes of most of the discussions here.

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Has he read the NH Republican Party Platform?

https://nh.gop/platform/

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It's his atheist version of reading the bible, cherrypickimg at its best.

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I’m likely one of very few commenters here who is a registered Republican. KEEP READING.

I’ve voted for very few Republicans over the last 20 years. I used to say that I am the sort of Republican that lots of other Republicans would be if they only believed what they say. Unfortunately, over the last decade or so (circa rise of the “tea party” in ‘12) it has become sadly obvious that way too many Republicans actually do believe what they say*. They say batshit crazy stuff and give every indication of sincerity.

At this point I’m a Republican so I can vote against the worst of the scoundrels in the primary.

That being said, I think it is good for the Republican Party, good for the skeptical/atheist community, and good for the country to elect more Republican atheists even if one doesn’t like some of their views. We need to be normalized. I don’t know bubkis about the Dem this guy beat by 15 votes but I likely would have voted for him just because I think serves atheists in the war, if not the battle.

*For example, l generally support smaller government because I think people have a better idea of their situation than does government. That’s why I’m pro-choice. I want government to stay out of religion and religion out of government. That’s why I oppose religion in public schools and support church-state separation just like the Founders. I want tax rates to be relatively low because I want people to be in charge of their own economic choices. That’s why I oppose tax exemptions for churches and other non-profits. Broaden the tax base and lower the tax rates. I want govt to provide economic assistance to poorer people because we are a civilized society and leaving welfare to the private sector invites coercion of various sorts. Also, the government is more efficient at raising and distributing welfare. (By the same token, I’d love to get rid of so many middle-class welfare programs. Perhaps the only thing Trump did — and he doesn’t actually get credit — that I approved of was getting rid of the mortgage interest deduction. It cost me money; it is good public policy.)

All these reasons and more are why I’m a conservative. I wish more Republicans were as conservative as me.

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"I'm likely one of the very few commenters here who is a registered Republican."

Yeah, but we like you anyway. :)

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Yeah, but he does write really long comment sometimes. 😉

I think I'm probably a bit to the left of Bernie Sanders – I don't mind high tax rates, because I want society to look after those people who are incapable of doing it. And in any large enough group you are bound to have a shit heap of those. Either too unlucky or too feckless or simply too stupid. I'd rather they didn't die from lack of help. I'd rather they didn't have to resort to climbing into my bedroom window and stealing my computer. And I think most people in NZ think that way, given that even our centre-right party hasn't really had the guts to completely get rid of our social welfare system. Did their best but they realised that if they gutted it completely they be out of office at the next election.

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Eschew verbosity. Verbosity obfuscates.

I honor that sentiment in the breach.

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Feb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023

The Congress passed the reform to eliminate the UNLIMITED mortgage deduction, amid the myriad of other reforms.

These are the others (based on Google of this one item and what USNews included in the article):

https://money.usnews.com/money/personal-finance/taxes/articles/tax-deductions-that-disappeared-this-year

Even Ripon Society Republicans want to enact some miserably outdated legislation, and that's from my recent monthly magazine issues.

At their best, the GOP have become "The Party of BAD Ideas", driven by avarice and prejudice.

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Feb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023

these sick fuckers deserve to be in prison until they die. I hope they have a long life as well.

https://wreg.com/news/local/tyre-nichols/officer-allegedly-texted-photo-of-tyre-nichols-to-others/

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Take them out to the desert. Bury them neck deep. Let the SCORPIONS have at it.

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What do you against German bands and people born in November ? 🤔

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Feb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023

Forgive him. I'm sure he just had a Blackout. :)

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I remain a 20th century man.

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Nothing. The "special unit" that murdered Nichols had the acronym SCORPION.

Sorry for any collateral damage.

By chance, do you have a November birthday? : )

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Scorpios are from October 23rd to November 21st.

That makes Weird Al a Scorpio. :D

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my birthday falls just outside of those day.

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One o' them sneaky Sagittariuseses, eh?

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I do.

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Happy, 9 months in advance, birthday.

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OT

Just tried to log in at OS. First I was told to log in. Then it said I was logged in. Then it told me I needed to log in.

And they wonder why people aren't contributing and opting to bail.

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Hemant has updated the About page here at Substack. It now says, "I previously wrote at Patheos and OnlySky."

Note the past tense.

First noted by Theresa in a comment at OS.

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I wonder why he chose not to tell us about that. Maybe he’s trying to ditch us.

Maybe I am just a bit paranoid about being abandoned.

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Maybe he's not allowed to, contractually. At least not right now.

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Welp, that's that.

OS is the Titanic with an iceberg in its future.

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Including the third row of rivets on each panel missing to cut costs.

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And a coal fire in one of the storage holds.

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I just spotted a typo I made on a previous comment. I could correct it 8 hours after initially posting it. Take that os unmoderators !

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This happens to me but only when I'm using edge. Chrome is fine. You might like to look into that.

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Feb 8, 2023·edited Feb 8, 2023

As I told B H m, I was on a library computer when it happened (and today is the first time it ever happened).

No problems on my laptop at home.

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Now that you mention it, I can't remember the last time it asked me to log in. No once in January that's sure when I used to have to log in at least twice a month 🤔

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I'm on a library computer right now, so I have to log in (I stay logged in at home on my laptop, so no issues).

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Still on my smartphone but maybe I will use DM ex tablet again since the broken screen is not a issue here.

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