TheProgressiveLiberal

I suspect there was a more basic motivation. Free meal. Or maybe basic hatred of service industry folks who they perceive as "racist." This is probably how he behaves on a regular basis. We just hear about it now because of his fame from kneeling.

But how much is it worth to not have people laugh at you when you drive by?

I was under the impression that Catalans thought of themselves as industrious folks while the rest of Spain were lazy folks on siesta half the day. Bit hypocritical to take a day off.

Middle America in the way I used it means everywhere that's not the narrow strip from Boston to Northern Virginia and Seattle to Los Angeles. Of course 1/3rd of Americans live in those areas I just wrote off.

Canada's a nice place. Your joke is not appropriate.

Have you been to America? Go talk to people in Boston, NYC, or DC and see if they consider West Virginia to be East Coast.

The founder of the Redskins is actually from my hometown.

Grafton, West Virginia. Lived there and then my parents moved to a Swiss/German town in Indiana. The interesting thing about working for Chinese people is that they will tell people who don't tip that they should over the phone. It's very awkward to go look that person in the eye when they don't tip.

I'm a white American from the middle of the country. I would never do such a thing. I've seen east coaster NYC guidos and foreigners do it. Way too embarrassing for me.

Are those a Canadian thing only? West Coast? Never seen one before. How much? Would it be worth it to buy one and live in my driveway? Heard the incoming New Zealand government is going to ban foreigners from buying existing buildings. Doubt Canada will be smart enough to elect a similar government.

Bruce Maxwell was the only Major League Baseball player to kneel for the national anthem. We were subjected to stories about how brave and moral he was. He's made news for a few reasons the past few days. First he was at dinner with a city councilman from his hometown in Alabama. He claimed that a waiter refused to serve him. OK. Maybe. Made national news. Turns out that the waiter and his manager say that this is bullshit and an example of powerful people trying to f**k over someone lower on the social ladder. Maybe. Today he was arrested for pulling a gun on a delivery driver.

That would be my perception as well. I'm not defending the Spanish government. More just pointing out that there is a large % of people in Catalonia, perhaps the silent majority, who's views are not being taken into account.

The people here who don't seem to care that a legitimate vote was never taken, and all evidence seems to be that if a vote were taken that Spain would win. I know very little about Celtic or their fan culture. Think it's a fairly common term when people's true beliefs are revealed. In this case the commitment to democracy of certain people here.

Kurt Eichenwald is a down the middle source of information with no ax to grind? He may have legitimate information, but that description is amazing.

Who really cares about the size of rallies on an issue like this? Rallies can be an important show for politicians that you have highly motivated people on your side, but I'd imagine an election on breaking up the country is going to bring all but the most apathetic to the ballot box. The only number that matters is the vote. I'm going to step out on a limb, but it's probably a pretty good guess that the people seeking independence are more motivated to attend a rally. They are also probably more "bigoted" in the dictionary definition sense of the word and are more willing to impose social costs on their opponents. That doesn't mean their opinion matters any more than anybody else's opinion. Everybody gets one secret vote. It seems to me the mask is slipping off a few people here who are a bit less than committed democrats.

Think he was talking about the formatting of the quote making it look like what I had to say was part of his quote.

I don't know. A local election for a regional government is going to have a different electorate than a referendum on breaking up the country I'd assume. I can't say what the parties stand for in Spain, but I'd imagine at the margins there are "Unionists" who voted for "separatist parties." As you say, the separatists earned 46% of the vote. A few % at the margins takes that from within shooting distance of independence to a long shot.

Are we really that far apart on issues that don't revolve around race, ethnicity, and collective identity? Take health care. Your average conservative wants the government in control of between 40 and 60% of health care. Your average liberal wants the government in control of 70-80%. I think the current % is somewhere around 50%. You have small groups on the fringes beyond, but it seems we're on the same field arguing about precisely where to put down our flag.

Utah Senator and swamp creature Orin Hatch is planning to retire. A new poll has become the second straight to show Nevada Senator Dean Heller behind for the Republican nomination. Sen. Heller was part of the infamous Gang of 8 who attempted to legalize illegal immigrants. 85% of Nevada Republicans in the poll are favorable of Donald Trump and 86% say they are more likely to vote for a candidate who supports his agenda. We could be seeing the final nail in the coffin of the Republican Party as the party of the slightly right of center business class. They mined downscale whites for votes, but now they are losing their party. We are seeing the same thing happen in the Democrat Party as elite progressive whites will probably lose control of their party to the coalition of the fringes. Our future politics seem headed towards a contest between people regardless of class who view themselves as "Americans" and identify with the traditional culture, and those regardless of class who dislike traditional America. It's going to be ugly.

The break up of nation states will empower the EU. A group of nations which can't properly defend their interests will inevitably be swallowed up politically. Since a certain amount of people will want to move from where they are born and high achievers often need to move in order to maximize their potential, there will be demand for a superstate which will inevitably take more and more power. Catalonia will have their own flag, a national soccer team, and eventually no more real political power than they had in Spain. This is the issue. What about the people there who want to be part of Spain? Yes, the Spanish government behaved in an abhorrent fashion regarding the referendum. But there's no evidence from any vote that a majority of people want independence. The Spanish central government is the only group with the ability to defend the rights of what might be the majority of the people in Catalonia. This is a really shitty move by the separatists. Any decent person recognizes that changing political bonds which have existed for hundreds of years is a major deal to their friends and neighbors. It's not like other political questions. These things should be handled with care and respect for all views. Separatists have a responsibility to make sure their view is solidly in the majority before permanent action is taken. Otherwise they lose any moral high ground.

Sad to see what's become of Britain. For centuries you'd have been gearing up for an invasion if the biggest European power tried to set up an economic system that wasn't to your liking.

Love that you're trying to connect this to "'Murica." I'd wager the gap gets bigger as you go to 4, 5, 6, 7, etc years.

https://www.barstoolsports.com/philadelphia/you-better-stand-your-ass-up-for-the-pledge-of-allegiance-if-this-kid-is-in-your-homeroom-class/ Trigger warning before checking out the comment section.

No talk about how we now know that the Clinton campaign / DNC hired a British spook to leverage his Russian assets to investigate Trump? And the NY Times is claiming the reason they didn't publish this story months ago is that all the relevant Democrats lied to them and pushed back hard that there was no truth to this story. Also, Tucker Carlson with new info connecting Manafort's Russia activity to the Podesta Group.

Ties to the Interior Secretary I think. From the same small town and the Secretary's kid worked a summer job there if I remember the article I read earlier today correctly. It's being looked into. Great to see the left caring about crony capitalism these days. Applying these private sector standards to non-profits would basically shut down the social justice industry. Probably most of the green energy industry as well. Can't have public money being distributed to anybody who knows anybody in power. I'm 100% for this rule.