Maggie Marbles

Civilians aren't obliged to walk around looking any particular way. Law enforcement is because they are using force on behalf of the government. The standards are much higher, not much lower.

And it's more interesting.

Trump himself signed a law that makes it automatic. I don't know who these legal analysts are, but there's a statute that contradicts them.

It used to be decided shutdown-by-shutdown, but Trump signed a new law after the last one.

Trump signed the law that guarantees back pay.

No, two separate things that can become recipes but are amazing as the half-prepped ingredients.

Try not messing around with fascism, surveillance, and plagiarism.

Please let this continue and make the public mad. I'm not ready for the shutdown to end yet, and the longer it lasts the better the Democratic deal will be.

When you're making cookies and you've creamed the butter and sugar together but haven't added the other ingredients yet.

Also roast a whole bulb of garlic till it's soft and pop the individual cloves like zits, but not at the same time as the butter and sugar.

In other words, the culture is getting more progressive, the institutions are following suit but not as fast, and both have pissed certain people off. But they still think it's an elite conspiracy and not something that's happening organically (and not always smoothly) among ordinary people.

If the line is redrawn to include Trump, by necessity you're saying that society no longer includes some very large groups that are currently included. It's a forced choice. If you include Trump, you automatically exclude (for example) me. There's no way to have both, and we will see who you pick.

The regular courts will still have to do regular court things. And since waging war on the American people is a very big undertaking that will cross all kinds of jurisdictional lines and create procedural headaches in regular court, it might make sense to create a tribunal for the whole thing.

And as a result they end up looking like Nazis, who are the secular demons for those of us who don't believe in supernatural ones.

Same goes for what they think the division of wealth should be. They want a lot more egalitarianism than we have.

There are few things sillier that trying to solve an argument over which restaurant to go to using logic. I've sat through too many people trying to convince me that their choice is the one, objectively correct restaurant choice, when it's really just that they want a burrito instead of Chinese.

Define "won." The U.S. has the resources to wipe smaller countries off the map. Slaughter the population, destroy the infrastructure, and so on. But often that's not the goal. With Trump, though, I think that will always be the goal.

Don't put up with shoes, underwear, clothing, hairstyles, or any other thing you wear if it causes you discomfort or interferes with the activity you're trying to do. Don't have a baby unless you also want a second grader, a kid in puberty, and a teen who needs to learn to drive.

In fascist world, white men don't show gratitude. They are the people everyone else is supposed to show gratitude to, as if our rights depend on what they happen to want to give us.

It's only a slur if it's got teeth. Lanyards, laptops, e-mail... millions of people have all three, and I think you'd have to make an effort not have any of them. They may be trying to aim at people who don't do "real work," but they keep missing the target because they're aiming the wrong way.

Far too many people of all demographics and political beliefs have lower-middle white collar jobs. It's like trying to demonize people for owning white underwear.

She should, but don't get lazy. Turn out and be sure to vote the down-ballot races too. We want her to have the right LG, AG, and House of Delegates, and there may be local races on the ballot too.

Some places just have the perfect soil and weather for very specific crops. Others have decided to cultivate specific kinds of vendors, like lots of neighborhood bakeries. But that doesn't mean they have better food across the board. Germany has good bread, but they don't win on everything.

Some specific things are better in some countries. Strawberries are better in Britain. Cherries are better in Italy. But most countries with financial means have the full range of food options from excellent to appalling. If people eat better on vacation than at home, it's not about the country.

Shutdowns have been coded as Republican dysfunction since the mid-90s. They only happen when Republicans have power, and I think people know that.

Lots of us have decades of experience with shutdowns as a symptom of specifically Republican dysfunction. There hasn't been one yet that stuck to Democrats, and this one won't either.

And every fed I know would rather be on furlough than carrying out this administration's wishes.

At this point, getting RIFed by these bastards is a badge of honor. I'm tying to run out the clock till next May, but I won't be devastated if the RIF me tomorrow.

The day he was elected was a disaster for the country, but it was the day that destroyed him too.

Old farts like Trump were young, but they can't deport their way back to their youth.

My school didn't have a full gifted program, but it did have ability grouping by subject. In the higher-ability groups, the teachers I liked best were the ones who let us knock out the required curriculum early in the term and then just read widely and chase what interested us.