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College 1st Quarter/Semester experiences: let me know what you all went through I just finished my first quarter at Santa Clara today with my italian final it was a grind but I would not have it any other way.

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OOOooOOOooo I wish I could. Did go on a Gay date by accident.

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First semester of Physics was kind of tough.

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Congratulations!

I think my first college semester was characterized by falling asleep in class a lot.

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me too. i did not appreciate that 800a class was a very hard class to get to during freshman year. i figured i went to class at 730a my whole life, how hard could it be ??!!

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Free through the end of the year https://mymodernmet.com/nikon-free-online-photography-classes/

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So, a movie question: As an adult, which movie that you watched again because you liked it the first time disappointed you the most? For us (this was long ago) it was The Stunt Man. Loved it in the theater, disappointed a few years later when we rented it.

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American Beauty. Loved it in the theaters, then returned to it 10 years down the road and it seemed kind of silly (and this was before the Kevin Spacey harassment/assault allegations came out).

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No comments? Blargh.

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I mean I'd love to help but I don't watch many films to start with

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Wai’ahu’akua Cave, Kauai

https://gfycat.com/bestorganicindianspinyloach

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Did you take that photo?

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That's me with the washboard abs. I decided to go blonde and Caucasian for one summer.

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😂

I just assume everyone here is a blonde Caucasian male with washboard abs.

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pqtm

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Wow!

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Equal parts gorgeous and sphincter-clenching

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exactly.

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that looks amazing!

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Today in Covid

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"White House Chief of Staff Mark Meadows on Friday told Stephen Hahn, the commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration, to submit his resignation if the agency does not clear the nation’s first coronavirus vaccine by day’s end, according to people familiar with the situation who spoke on the condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to discuss what happened.

The threat came on the same day that President Trump tweeted that the FDA is “a big, old, slow turtle” in its handling of vaccines, while exhorting Commissioner Stephen Hahn to “get the dam vaccines out NOW.” He added: “Stop playing games and start saving lives!!!”

WaPo - what a fucking moron, interjecting politics now is the ABSOLUTE stupidest thing possible, so of course he does it.

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NH State Speaker of the House dies from Covid directly because of GOP maskless posturing

https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/10/politics/richard-hinch-new-hampshire-house-speaker-died-coronavirus/index.html

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Welp. We've done it. 300k dead.

https://www.worldometers.info/coronavirus/country/us/

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Lets never do this again.

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f*.

what's the over/under on 400K? at current rates we are looking at about a month.

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I think we will hit 400k, it is just a matter of how long it takes. With Christmas and NYE upcoming, it could be within a month.

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heh...oops bad optics to fire a doctor for telling the truth. Let's say it was a misunderstanding...yeah people will believe that.

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Elsewhere in college

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4-star WR Quay Davis decommits from USC

https://n.rivals.com/news/rivals100-wr-quay-davis-usc-part-ways

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ah well, good luck to him

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Oregon vs. Washington game canceled due to Huskies having "well under 53 scholarship players". AR State and Charlotte have declined replacement game, meaning Ducks may have a Bye this weekend. This means that UW may win Pac-12 North despite not playing due to better record (3-1) than the Ducks (3-2). And there's a chance that the Pac-12 South ends up with two teams that are undefeated.

https://www.oregonlive.com/ducks/2020/12/report-washington-well-below-53-available-scholarship-players-game-at-oregon-to-be-canceled.html

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If Washington can't field a team next week, there is conference precedent for sending the 2nd place team from a division, vs the next best opponent, which is what the Colorado-USC game would be. UCLA, with a .500 record represented the South after USC had won the south, but was ineligible for the post-season back in the sanction years.

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don't count Clay Helton out yet, I think he can contrive a loss to UCLA

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Chip could certainly chip in with this Championship chaos with an upset of the Trojans. The Bruins are only 2 1/2 point dogs, so I'm surprised there hasn't been more talk about what a UCLA win would do.

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I'll be rooting for you guys

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I appreciate it

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Wilner: Pac-12 to announce Week 7 match-ups this weekend.

https://twitter.com/wilnerhotline/status/1337430075000557568?s=21

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4-star WR decommits from ASU

https://twitter.com/DominicLovett2/status/1337433800742236161

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Enjoy getting the shit kicked out of you by the SEC and 4 years in Columbia, Missouri dude.

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A Rose Bowl by any other name...

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Jon Wilner posed the prospect of playing the USC-UCLA battle for the Victory Bell in Yuma. It's not the most ridiculous idea he's come up with.

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Always Sunny gets picked up for seasons 14-18.

https://twitter.com/RMcElhenney/status/1337174807431925767

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I still have never watched it, though I suspect I would enjoy it. Maybe this show should be the next one I try.

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Observation bias

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Sixty-eight percent of Republicans believe the election was stolen from President Trump.

Among Trump voters, 77 percent think he actually won. And, so do 26 percent of independents and even 10 percent of Democrats.

That’s according to the latest Fox News national survey of registered voters.

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My observation is that there are a lot of people who can't read, based on the questions we get that are answered on the form, or web page used to FIND MY PHONE NUMBER.

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Cal has a propensity for DOOOOOMMM. (Crossover topic with CAL).

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Go Bears!

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Do you currently avoid a small business because of its owner's politics?

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I'm going to assume this is based off my tweet last night. Anyway, the back story is I received a random notification on my phone from Instagram for suggestions on new follows. One of them was an account called Falcon Bear, which I assumed was Cal related. So i clicked and start scrolling and nothing is related to Cal at all. Then I looked at the profile bio and it tells me that someone I follow follows this account. Quick glance I see the word Bear in their in the handle and click the name. Turns out it's my dog walker whose business is WoofWalks based in San Leandro. But the @ associated with this account is ladyqanonbear11. So naturally i went through her follows and its a whole slew of maga. I spoke with the former mrs about this and we will be moving a dog walking services to another walker. We cannot in good conscience continue to financially support this woman and her business. We had to board Harriet at her house a few years back and this whole experience yesterday brought back a memory of meeting her that day year s ago and hearing her talk about chem trails.

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This is a perfect example of why the country is so divided. We're willing to disassociate from someone just because they didn't vote for the same person as us? And this usually comes from the supposedly 'tolerant' side. As Thomas Friedman writes, we've become 'tribalized' much like the Middle East -- where people hate each other just because they're not like 'us.' We take it so personal now. Tip O'Neill and Gerald Ford (huge political rivals) were best friends. Back then, it was okay to disagree with someone and still be friends. Sad how intolerant people have become.

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One of the unspoken issues in the old 'legislators used to be friends' arguments is that there are many different voices from very different ideological places who are legislators now. Tip and Gerry agreed on the fact that the federal government was an important thing to make work. they disagreed on how to make that happen, and what the works priorities should be.

Now you have people elected who believe that the government should not exist, working along side people who believe that free markets are simply a way to hurt people. People who believe or stay silent on the racist idea that Obama was born in Kenya do not deserve to be heard/supported/etc.

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This isn't simply a difference of opinion. This isn't a disagreement about left and right. This is a dissociation with a business run by someone who is completely detached from reality. Someone who believes and supports baseless claims perpetuated by far right lunatics about pedophilia, mind control, and denial. If you can't see that, then I don't know what to tell you about what's really dividing us.

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Valid point, but people completely detached from reality don't usually stay in business for long anyway, because, well, that's a hard position to make good business and technical decisions from.

I have seen people who shouldn't be in business, for any number of reasons, political or otherwise, but I don't usually see them for long.

What I don't do is let someone else's questionable judgement become something that adversely impacts me and those I'm responsible for.

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QAnon isn’t just another political belief or simply voting for trump. These people think that democrats are running a secret child sex cult, I am a Democrat, how can I support someone who actually believes I am sexually abusing and sacrificing children?

This is well beyond small versus big government, regulation versus de-regulation disagreements and debates.

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Choosing not to support someone who, for example, supports Q, believes in Pizzagate, or believes Sandy Hook was a hoax committed by crisis actors is not tribalism or intolerance. It is a logical response to a belief system that excuses violence and anti-democratic behavior.

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Counter point: See Coup, attempted.

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Whoa, but come on man, San Leandro? Dead give away.

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I know nothing of the politcal leanings of San Leandrans

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It was on one of my drug delivery routes

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yep. one of the various restaurants around here. The owner has been a strong trumper, which is stupid, as trump policies only are bad for his business.

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Everyone else, I don't really know.

Our local Ace used to be owned by someone who tried to force their workers to donate money and vote republican. When that came out in the paper (also run by a quite conservative person), there was a strong public disapproval and the owner decided that it was time to get out of the business.

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I can't think of one where I would even know the owner's politics well enough to boycott based on them. Then again, I do live in Oakland, so anyone with right-wing politics and a successful business is probably smart enough to keep quiet about them.

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There are two local shops that I will never frequent again because they both were rabid Trump/Stop The Steal supporters. One was a pizza shop and the other is the local suburban farm that does stuff like corn mazes, pumpkin patch, and Christmas tree sales.

I posted this as a DBD topic because I would have never thought that a business would go out of their way to alienate theoretically half of their customers.

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Ooh. I just remembered 2 more.

We're building a new house and the electrical sub-system guy (eg, cable, sound, alarm) that is a subcontractor for the developer came into our meeting wearing a Blue-Lives Matter tactical vest and a MAGA hat. He came into the meeting with tons of swagger and it didn't help that he was saying stuff like "no, you don't want to do that. You're going to want to get [X system]", to which I said "please don't tell me what I want". He made $0 and I'll be happy to work with someone who doesn't work the scare tactics on.

Also, we had a pond service guy show up with a Glock on his hip, literally to the safest city in America. We told him to leave the gun in his car and we didn't use him again.

https://www.wnct.com/news/north-carolina/cary-is-safest-place-to-live-in-us-report-says/#:~:text=The%20data%20showed%20Cary's%20violent,place%20to%20live%20as%20well.%E2%80%9D&text=Copyright%202020%20Nexstar%20Inc.

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I try not to use Amazon as much... to support other businesses; but not specific ones, I guess.

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Most businesses around here aren't dumb enough to alienate consumers with unnecessary political opinions, so I can't think of anyone I avoid due to politics. On the other hand, I do go out of my way to support local businesses that take care of their workers, donate to locals in need, and otherwise help out vulnerable members of the community.

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I do support the local business, assuming they are competitive on price, quality, service, etc., over others on the basis that they are good for the community. And its good business; you might need them in a pinch some time a lot more than they need you!

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I do remember that one video of a contractor arriving at a house to provide a bid. Came in a truck with a confederate flag. Only problem was the owners of the house were an African American family. He was turned away real quick.

Similar to DCT's response, I think small business owners in the Bay Area are smart enough to not antagonize their predominantly upper middle class liberal customers.

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in the category of storefront businesses, the small ones around me aren't daft enough to antagonize their predominantly upper middle class liberal customers.

We recently hired a roofer to replace an old skylight, repair a chimney, and do something about pervasive leaks around both. His truck has "proud deplorable" type stickers on it, which we didn't notice at first... but no confederate flag or anything genuinely objectionable. After all, we hired him to fix the roof, and he's done a top notch job, I'd recommend him.

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What a concept! Base business decisions on quality of workmanship and materials, price, customer service when applicable, and timely availability, instead of factors having nothing to do with the task or product!

Do you think that might catch on?

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I mostly agree with this but if someone is sporting a Confederate flag or any other racist or bigoted type things, well I can’t support them, no matter how good their product or prices are.

Now if someone has a trump flag or Gadsden flag or are a “normal” Republican I can support them and work with them.

It is the full on crazy, QAnon or racist I can’t and will not support.

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Well, all other things being equal, most folks are going to support businesses who align with them morally and politically.

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I will say though that the day he was working on the roof and was listening to conservative talk radio at 120dB tested my patience, mostly because I was trying to work

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MSNBC at 120dB would be equally disturbing to the ability to concentrate on work. Its the 120dB (instead of earbuds/phones) that was the problem.

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when I'm picking up snippets of "stolen election" and associated talking points, it adds a little frisson of irritation. That's on me.

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finding skilled tradesmen (or women) around here who will actually return a call or bid on something smaller than full renovation / new build AND are actually good at what they do is a real pain in the ass. It's possible I might not hire someone if they were full on nutters, but otherwise I'm willing to live and let live.

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Speculating here, seems like the 2008 recession wiped out a huge part of those participating in skilled trades and there doesn't seem to have been the uptake of young folks needed to keep pace with demand.

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It's a question of scale and hassle. There's a lot of new build and redevelopment work around here, and most of the owners and their employees don't live near my neighborhood. It's perfectly rational for someone who has to drive 45 minutes or more to my neighborhood to prefer a multiple day job with good margins (roofing an entire house rather than trying to diagnose what part of my low angle split level roof is causing problems.

One demographic change is that a lot of area school systems have discontinued trades programs - parents complained about masonry or electrician programs, which is a load of arse. So you either see guys who are immigrants working their way up through construction, or guys coming through union apprentice programs. I think that was a bad idea from the schools but nobody asked me.

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Yes, demand is exceeding labor supply. This is true in other aspects of building. The price for 1000' board feet of a Doug Fir has doubled since March. I've read articles and heard from those in the timber industry that it is a bottle neck at the productions centers, largely due to lack of reliable labor, (mills, laminate wood manufacturers, etc.). There is plenty of lumber, just not enough capacity to produce the raw product into its final form.

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All true! And I couldn't agree more on your last point. We had a period of vocal anti any kind of trade or technical program activity locally, and now we have a real issue with finding workers who understand how anything works. And a load of hard to employ people still early in their life. Both of which really exacerbated problems that arose when things went off the rails.

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That's true in any high-rent area; I imagine it'd be much easier in bum-fuck any state.

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It is surprising how hard it can be to find people to do work, even when you are willing to pay a premium.

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I'm waiting on the tile artisan to finish my side deck. I had the deck mostly reconstructed in August and September (no rain, just smoke). So that was done at substantial cost and I still can't get the tile guy to finish the job. 25 terra cotta tiles have to be replaced at the edge where the railing meets the deck. So it seems like it's hard to get stuff done these days no matter how much you pay.

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You in the Bay? I have a recommendation.

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Rarely have any clue as to who the owner is, much less their politics. Have never been turned away because of mine vs theirs, so don't even think about it unless someone brings it up as an issue.

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PRO

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Dang, Leeds just lost to West Ham 2-1 after taking the early lead.

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Jared Goff has OK night, Cam Akers breaks out in Rams' 24-3 victory over the Patriots at SoFi stadium...

https://www.cbssports.com/nfl/news/patriots-at-rams-score-cam-akers-enjoys-career-night-as-los-angeles-puts-new-england-back-under-500/live/

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It may end up being the Packers vs. Rams in the NFC championship game...

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CAL

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Cal loses a '21 commitment from O-lineman William Reed

https://twitter.com/WillReed44/status/1337224748292427776

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Can't blame him. The guy is going to the Ivy League rather than Cal.

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It hurts but we move on Eastside Catholic has been a factory for us "lately".

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Men's BB plays USF on Saturday at 12 noon. Pac 12 Network. Since USF scored 107 points last night I am not sanguine about our chances.

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Brilliant scheduling, overlapping with a national broadcast of the Cal football game. At least it will save some Blue Bears from having to watch USF out-score them.

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I do hope some of our Verbal football commits watch us dismantle the Cougs and then sign on the dotted line in a couple of days. Of course if we lose...ugghh

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My thoughts exactly. By the time that game is well out of hand, I can change channels to watch Cal take on the Cougs.

Or that would be the plan if I actually had access to the Pac-12 Network.

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Ooops. I was wrong - it's actually Sunday at 12!

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Fight the NFL for audience share! That's sure to go well for the P-12 Nets.

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They can't even sell ad time; it's sad.

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Go Bears! Make the Cougs Coug it once again.

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WBB: Bears fall behind by 15, tie it up in the 4th Q, but still lose to USF 67-62. Bears remain winless after 4 games.

https://calbears.com/news/2020/12/10/womens-basketball-bears-edged-by-dons.aspx

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So . . .I guess we're in a coup now.

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Are you referring to the Texas lawsuit? Everything in general or something new happen?

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A poorly-executed attempted coup, yes.

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eh, lame-ass, pseudo-legal one that is going nowhere.

Still disturbing. The fact that Republicans won't denounce this travesty makes them complicit - the party is run by treasonous scum, with few exceptions.

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Agreed, I am worried about the next time the GOP attempts this and does so with a much more competent GOP president.

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A "competent" GOP president wouldn't raise what is a valid legal point/principal when there is no evidence that that the described misdeed actually occurred (because it didn't).

The problem isn't with the nature of the charges Trump is raising, its with pressing charges that don't have any evidence to support them.

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That would be a competent and normal GOP president who believed in democracy, conceding defeat and the peaceful and orderly transfer of power.

A competent GOP president who was actually trying to hold onto power despite defeat and performingn a coup would be able to do so due to the silence and even support of electret GOP officials are the local, state and federal level.

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Nah, the real problem is that barely any Republicans or the Fox news universe is willing to say it's all a lie. 70% of Republicans think there was a "problem" with the election; that's a huge fucking deal.

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Florida releases bodycam footage from an officer from the raid on the Florida data scientist. Except it's an officer who happens to stand outside the whole time.

https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/newly-released-bodycam-footage-shows-florida-law-enforcement-executing-warrant-on-rebekah-jones/

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