The Americans who spout off about things like standing up to tyranny and how much they love having guns are not the same people participating in this protest. The government is actively supporting those people.

The protesters are the ones expecting the rule of law to eventually win, but also know how important it is to protest so that the rule of law continues to exist. It may not be as violent as you’re expecting, but it seems to me that they are walking the walk.

We haven’t done this in a while and we’re a little rusty, but that doesn’t mean we aren’t fighting.

That’s assuming the country providing the “security guarantee” will actually do what they say they will when worse comes to worst. These days, that’s a BIG assumption.

They know that we know that they know that we know!

Yeah, a LOT of Americans are treating this as business as usual, and it most certainly is not usual. Just because bad leadership has blown over in the past doesn’t mean this is the same thing.

People are not panicking anywhere near the level they should because we need to take care of this NOW. Like now, now. I can’t believe it ever got this far to begin with, but you are 100% right in saying that 4 years is far too long, and by then, it will be too late.

I think it’s more like a sibling that you grew up with who was taught the same moral code as you. They were living a healthy, normal life for a while but got offered a very high paying job that is at odds with those childhood morals. They decided to take it, and at first, they did just a few unethical things. Then, they realized that they could make more money by being more unethical and the people who were supposed to be chastising them were not very good at punishing people with money and were really easy to manipulate, so they leaned in to the lack of ethics.

They know what their doing is hurting people, and they don’t care because they want to drive their Lamborghini to family Christmas and bring an ostentatiously expensive bottle of wine so that people can praise and fawn over them. But, if you call them on their bad behavior, they become enemies because how dare you?! Now we’re the sibling who is powerful but has completely gone awry due to that same power.

I’m hoping we gave a nice family reunion someday where my country has learned the error of its ways and can once again be accepted by its lovely Canadian relatives.

My understanding is that when they bite you, they also inject a bit of anticoagulant to prevent clotting as they suck blood out. The foreign material creates an allergic reaction that itches.

I don’t think there would be much of an evolutionary advantage to irritating your victim until they start a pesticidal war against you and your kind.

I’m only focusing on your comment about language here, and yes I’m aware that it’s a rant, but I feel the need to add some additional info because it brings me calm when I get irritated about similar things. I’m in no way coming at you or your opinion because the changes in language, like the most recent usage of “cringe,” are irritating and bothersome to me also:

I remember when I was in college, my best friend was really irritated by everyone starting to say “real” as an intensifying adverb as opposed to “really.” For example, instead of saying “I was really bothered by that situation,” people began saying, “I was real bothered by that situation.” For the most part, this didn’t change the meaning of what was said, but it did change the connotation a bit. While both sentences mean that the person was very much bothered by the situation, one sounds like a serious confession of your feelings, and the other sounds like the situation was crazy enough that itself was the cause of the discomfort. It changes the flavor of the sentence by emphasizing something else. It also changes the formality of the language. I’m not going to use “real” like that in a formal setting, but it does fit better when telling a crazy story to my friends.

I had also been taking a linguistics/grammar class at the time this came up, so I had very recently been discussing descriptive vs prescriptive grammar and what makes a language a living language as opposed to a dead one. While my knowledge of linguistics is definitely limited, I did take away that language constantly changes and adds new variations on meanings and expressions all the time. That’s not a bad thing! Without growth, our language dies. Our language adapts and twists and develops with or without our individual consent. But the vocabulary of the many is what shapes language. As much as it drives me nuts, if the majority agrees that this is the way we say something now, it now becomes correct in terms of lexicon, grammar, and usage. Otherwise, we would still be referring to “selfies” as “photos you take of yourself.”

I now consider these situations to be simply the growing pains of language. While they can be irritating, especially to those who learned to do things in a very specific way, they are necessary for the survival of our language. As much as I don’t love the idea of saying “cringe” as an adjective, it is the younger people’s way of saying “cringeworthy.” Once that is mainstream, it has then been added to the overall language’s lexicon. We either change with the times of language or risk being left in its dust. None of our lives are long enough that people will be unable to understand our version of the “old” language, but I think it’s important to try to grow along with the language. This is, at the very least, so that we can understand it, but more importantly, so we can appreciate the newest flavor of our language, even though it may be an acquired taste.

It’s easiest for my brain to put it in the perspective that I should appreciate that things are different because the very difference that bothers me is a sign of growth, not decay. The Guardian is just keeping up with the times. Maybe they’re trying a bit too hard to be hip, but I get it. It’s a case of grow or die. Should they be better than that? Probably, but I’m not sure why you’re expecting that of The Guardian. I don’t associate them with using the most professional word choice.

Most importantly, to end the story about my best friend, I began using “real” as an adverb often which started out as a way to piss off my friend just a little bit, but ended with me wanting to change as the language changed so I could experience the beauty of its growth.

At a minimum $10,000 a year. The COBRA option I was given to continue my health insurance after leaving my previous employer, was $1,500 per month, so $18,000 per year, and that was on the low cost end for relatively crappy coverage. I’ve seen them cost $2k-$3k per month. Of course, that’s just to have the insurance and doesn’t include copays, deductibles, or out of pocket costs.

I’m not disagreeing with you at all; I’m just always astounded by how much we have to pay to receive so little.

I’ve never seen a truer post.

I agree. They are better looking than they are tasting.