He is the most levelheaded, respectful, and transparent politician I’ve ever seen. I’ve been following him for years because he will explain what he’s working on in a way that doesn’t insult your intelligence nor play into the drama of politics. During his time in the US House of Representatives, his newsletters would sometimes explain the theatrics of government shutdowns and orchestrated outrage from other members. Even then, he didn’t name anyone specifically or sling mud. I’ve encouraged people from all kinds of political perspectives to follow his newsletters. He’s a great example of how a representative should be, and I genuinely believe that’s just part of his personal ethos.

There are currently lawsuits against them, but it takes time. This is from NC Attorney General Jeff Jackson’s newsletter earlier this year:

"The People vs. Ticketmaster/Live Nation

I’m forcing myself to only pick one case to go into detail about - but it’s a great one.

Let’s say you want to make a bunch of money by supplying live entertainment, primarily the music industry.

Well, the three big pieces in that business are:

The venue

The right to promote the event

The right to sell the tickets

Now imagine you control each of those. You own venues, and you promote the events, and you sell the tickets.

Congratulations - you’re a monopoly.

You’ve achieved vertical integration within your business, which means the sum of those parts has unlocked the ability to gouge customers with the confidence that they won’t be able to find a competitor to offer them a better deal. And using your monopoly to further entrench your power to charge customers higher prices is against the law.

This is exactly what I, along with a bipartisan group of AGs, allege that Ticketmaster/Live Nation has done.

They’ve turned concert ticket fees into something fans call the “Ticketmaster Tax.” These are the “convenience fees,” “processing fees,” and “handling fees” that add up quickly, inflating ticket prices by huge margins.

Why can they get away with it? Because they’ve locked venues into exclusive contracts, squeezing out any chance of competition.

But it gets worse. If venues try to resist and explore other options, Live Nation retaliates by threatening to strip venues of popular acts. The internal emails from Live Nation executives detailed in our lawsuit are explicit and awful.

Which means, if you’re an independent venue that doesn’t use Ticketmaster, good luck booking artists. Ticketmaster controls ticket sales and Live Nation controls promotion, so artists who are promoted by Live Nation typically won’t be allowed to perform at venues that refuse to use Ticketmaster for ticketing.

This is textbook unlawful monopoly behavior. Consumers are paying higher prices and artists and venues are suffering from reduced competition and income.

The good news is that Live Nation just tried - but failed - to get our lawsuit dismissed. That’s a big step toward accountability, including our ultimate request that Live Nation be required to divest Ticketmaster, which it acquired in 2011 and which became the linchpin for much of their monopolistic behavior."

Lincoln imp

40s, most days each week. My wife and I schedule couch rotting days to recharge.

Edit: I hadn’t read through many other responses before I commented. Not trying to flaunt or anything. I just wanted to let younger folks know that social life isn’t necessarily doomed as you get older. We don’t have kids (which makes it easier,) but many of our friends do. They just have to be deliberate about setting aside time for themselves which can be tough to do.

Deviledius eggius

I use both in my wood shop. Sometimes it’s easier to lay things out in metric or divide numbers, but other times it’s easier to remember an imperial number to go make a cut.

Why wouldn’t it be an equal decision that the two of them come to together?

I live near two other states and can tell a distinct difference by the shape of the mountains (one has rolling hills, the other has very steep-sided hills, my home region has deeper valleys) and the building style since one state has lax building codes and the other has older and larger structures. The barns are typically discernable too.

Talk to real people in your community. I have friends all across the political spectrum and class spectrum. We can disagree on many things, but we agree on most things. That’s important. Quit guzzling “news”.

After Helene, I saw how people respond to real problems. Showed me that what I was already doing really is the way. Love people. Show them love. Fuck the news, fuck the headlines, focus on your community. Stop seeding fear. That’s all it is. Be love.

I know it’s fucked, but just focus on the people around you and foster good relationships. Don’t try to understand everything they do or think that’s different from you. Just accept them where they’re at and where you’re at. Start there. It makes a huge difference. If it all goes to shit, you will have built relationships that matter.

Give it time. I started wearing glasses at 6. Contacts at 9 until I was ~22-23. Glasses again for the last twenty years. My prescription is heavy (-7.75 and -8.25.) It’s weird switching from contacts to glasses and vice versa. Looks like a fishbowl at first. Depth perception is off. Your eyes will adjust. That said, make sure you have a good eye doctor. Don’t start with internet companies. Go to a legit doc and then take your prescription and get backup glasses but be skeptical of the alignment and fit. If you don’t trust the prescription, get a second opinion. Take care of your eyes.

No, that’s rot. I’m a woodworker who has reclaimed thousands of board feet of barnwood and also has lived in a house that had termites. That is rot.

When did they do that? Maybe it’s confabulation, but I could swear I’ve seen commercials on streaming in the last year.

I’ve had a bidet since right before COVID (coincidentally and conveniently,) so maybe I’m just confused. It was surprising when I found out there was a toilet paper shortage in the US, then finally seeing the empty shelves, but checked the cabinet and after seeing a few rolls realized we were fine for a while. At least a dozen friends installed them soon after based on our feedback, and I know of at least three dozen through them. All bidet, e’ry bidet!

At least we can agree on that, haha!

I can see your point, but your delivery… Are you French?

The US is huge. There are so many distinct regions that it was pertinent to define which stereotype they were referring to.

PNW means Pacific Northwest.

Dante’s Divine Comedy is read similarly. Inferno, Purgatorio, Paradiso

That can be very confusing for a young person, I agree

Apologies are largely for the person delivering them, but I will say, they’re important in a healthy relationship. An honest apology shows the other person that their feelings are understood and validated while also recognizing the harm done by the person apologizing. If you are no longer in a relationship of some sort with that person, the apology is solely for them.

I expect an apology from my spouse only when I want them to recognize that I was hurt by what they did/said. If that isn’t met, it’s important for me to, respectfully, tell them the way that I’m feeling about their actions or words. Again, in a healthy relationship like I have with my spouse, they will empathize with my perspective and offer apology. This is in no way narcissistic for them to do, but if I feel it’s facetious, I sternly say thank you in a tone that says I see that you think you should apologize, but this is not a true apology.

What you’re describing is something where no apology could make up for the hurt that was caused. Narcissistic? I think that’s a deeply psychological thing, but you are in no way required to accept an apology. Again, it would be for the other person and in this case it might be best for you to let them know that you can’t accept an apology. There’s no making up for what they did, no gesture or otherwise will make it better. They have to live with that guilt because some consequences last a lifetime. Frankly, fuck their apology. Fuck them. You have to live your life and they have to find a way to live with what they’ve done. You don’t have to accept an apology.

I was going to ask about hulls and searched “cook wild rice” to be sure. Maybe start there. I found a ton of recipes