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If you are a man and you harbor some notion that if you are drunk as fuck and a woman you are near is also drunk as fuck, then the boundaries of what constitutes rape is somehow fuzzy because you were both drunk as fuck, consider this scenario:

You are drunk as fuck and another man near you is drunk as fuck. That man decides in the heat of the moment that it would be fantastic to have sex with you. Maybe you’re kind of passing in and out of consciousness or maybe stone cold passed out. That man throws caution to the wind and decides to take off your pants and fuck you in the ass.

You have now been fucked in the ass by another person. Do you feel raped? Did you want to be fucked in the ass? Even if you sometimes like getting fucked in the ass, did you want to get fucked in the ass two seconds ago when you were too drunk to move?

Did getting fucked in the ass just now make you feel any less raped because you’re a hot ass dude who looks mighty fine in those jeans?

Did the man who just fucked you in the ass not rape you because on any given night you like to have sex and you often look for opportunities to have sex?
Were you asking to be fucked in the ass because you dress and act sexy a lot of the time so you can get laid?

Was it your fault that you got fucked in the ass?

Did you secretly want to get fucked in the ass just now?

Or, did you not want to get fucked in the ass just now? Did you want to say, “dude, get the fuck off me! I don’t want to get fucked in the ass just now and not by you?” Or, did you wake up after you passed out to find out that you’d just gotten fucked in the ass and it’s one of the worst thing that’s ever happened to you?

If you feel revulsion at the thought of someone fucking you in the ass without you wanting to be fucked in the ass and it’s not ok just because you like to have sex and you try to have sex regularly and you dress to increase your chances of having sex and you like to get wasted, especially because it increases the chance that you’ll have sex, then there’s no gray area.

Women are people, just like you. If a woman doesn’t want to have sex or she’s too drunk to tells you she doesn’t want to have sex or she’s too frightened to say she doesn’t want to have sex and you have sex with her anyway, then you have raped her. No gray area there. No mitigating circumstances. Just like you didn’t want to get ass raped just now, she didn’t want to get raped just now.

Don’t fucking rape people.

The biggest job of a president is to sell America a vision of itself and what it can be.

Bernie is a weird salesman. He doesn’t ingratiate. He’s grumpy and short with people who try to get him to talk about shit that doesn’t matter. He’s no baby kisser. But, he is relentless and consistent. He’s been saying the same thing in the same way for at least 30 years.

And, what he’s selling is a vision of America that most people want: a prosperous America that everyone is encouraged to participate in.

Hillary is not a sales…person. She’s an operator. She would never be given the job of CEO. But, any CEO in their right mind would want her as COO. COOs ensure that shit gets done.

It’s not the job of a president (or CEO) to get things done. Their job is to clear the way and make it possible for the operators to do their job.

I don’t know why Hillary wants to be president. She should know she’s not that kind of person. My guess is that she sees the presidency as the ultimate achievement and, as a super-achiever, she sees it as the ultimate goal of anyone with ambition.

Sanders may not be the best CEO type we’ve ever seen, but he sure has a good vision to sell.

My guess is that, with single payer health care, health care costs would rather quickly snap into line with global averages.

Afraid this would limit your choice in medical care? Hardly. I’ve never met a skilled practitioner of anything who won’t take cash. 

Can’t afford to pay cash? Ok. I’m sure you’d be able to find a private insurance plan that will give you the choice you want. 

Can’t afford private insurance? I bet your employer will still offer private insurance benefits that will give you that choice.
Your employer doesn’t offer health care benefits–or, you’re not employed? You’re fucked now anyway. If there were single payer health care, you may not have much choice, but at least you’d be able to see a doctor.

The “single-payer reduces choice” argument is dumb. You don’t have choice now without you or your employer paying for it.

Single-payer health care would lower overall healthcare costs across the board, giving you even more choice than you have now. Because it would all be cheaper, you would be able to afford more options. And, if you don’t go to the doctor much or you’re not a choice fanatic, you’d make more money at your job because the employer expense of providing insurance could be transferred to actual wages or salary.
And for the choice fanatics–if you or someone you love has ever been truly sick, you know that choice stops the minute you have a substantial claim. Private insurance by default denies every large claim. You have to fight them hard to get the choice you thought you had anyway.

So, what’s the problem with single-payer health care?

Euclidean geometry

A national, single-payer health care plan is MASSIVELY business friendly.

I have never understood the logic of employer-based health care benefits.
And I don’t understand why every business except those in the insurance industry haven’t forced it to happen.
It’s a tremendous burden on employers. Managing health care benefits is a huge cost to many businesses that has nothing to do with their core mission.
A federal health care system would unburden so many businesses and let them focus on what they’re supposed to be doing: focusing on they’re product or service.
Why is the insurance lobby so much stronger than the business lobby?

I seriously don’t understand the gripes against Uber and the like.
From the consumer point of view, obviously, it’s great. It provides a service that taxis and other livery services can’t–or won’t.
From the driver point of view, I don’t see the downside. 
Sure, they don’t get the benefits of a white-collar job, but many jobs don’t offer that.

What they do get, though, is an unprecedented level of autonomy:

• the ability to decide when, where, and for how long they work
• the ability to control their own work environment
• an efficient market that matches demand to supply (no ridiculous waiting at train stations for customers)
• a market that prices the service to demand 

It’s also possible to make a living wage with no boss. A top earner can gross $80k/year. If I’m not mistaken, gas and maintenance are deductible.
Even if you’re not a top earner, it’s not impossible to gross the national median of $50k.
Anecdotally, one driver told me she quit her full time job to do uber full time and made her previous paycheck in four days.
I’m not in a position to need a job as an uber driver. But, I used to be. I would have done it then in a heartbeat.
So… what’s the problem? How do ride-sharing services exploit drivers? I don’t understand.

My take on who to vote for in the primaries: there are four things a president can do, in order of likelihood and lasting importance:

1. Nominate Supreme Court justices
2. Sell a vision of America to itself
3. Not start world war three (or otherwise deploy nukes)
4.  Set up the next presidential election

(Anything else a president manages to accomplish that doesn’t suck is just gravy.)

All of the republican candidates fail on nearly all measures. They’re all lunatics or assholes or lunatic assholes.

That leaves Hillary or Bernie.

On the first point, they are basically even. 

On the second point, who knows? I would venture to guess that more than half of the country hates her. She can’t sell shit. Bernie, on the other hand, has a giant faithful posse. It’s not a majority by any means, but nobody hates him–yet. But he is really, really weird, as far as American politics go.

On the third point, I trust Bernie more than Hillary, but I don’t not trust Hillary.

On the fourth point, it’s a mixed bag. Bernie the candidate has a certain appeal. But, it remains to be seen if he can make it through four years of brutal politics (where people are actually paying attention to him) without getting destroyed like Carter. Hillary, on the other hand, will play the insider game expertly. But, she will also annoy the FUCK out of everyone in America for so long that the next election may go to a republican out of sheer exhaustion.

While it may be a mixed scorecard, I won’t be upset if either gets the election (although, if Hillary does, I’ll have to ignore politics for a while to stop being annoyed to death).

Both of them will do better by far than any Republican candidate. 

The final issue is electability–which isn’t about being president. Bernie stands a much better chance of winning against republicans if he can manage to win against the democratic establishment. Polls agree and his momentum gives them credence. Hillary–I don’t know. She’s essentially a political loser, at least on the national stage. Bernie as candidate will win by a landslide. Hillary as candidate–it will be a nail biter.

Dear America, here’s a new year’s resolution for everyone: stop being afraid.

By which I mean, stop acting like frightened, spoiled toddlers whose mommy has left the the room for a moment.

The world is dangerous and beautiful–and god won’t save you from it.

Grow up and act like an adult–an adult with every advantage in the world–and stop throwing stupid, selfish tantrums that make throw the rest of the world into chaos.

Then go vote. Vote in your best interests instead of your stupid, hallucinatory fears. Vote as if your lives depend on it–your real lives, not the ridiculous fantasies you’ve invented for yourselves.

Your life does depend on it. Your actual, living here and now life depends on the decisions you make.

When you grow up, you will find a world waiting for you that is more vast and incomprehensible than you ever imagined.

Enjoy it. That’s why we are here.

Peace. Namaste. Shalom.

It’s totally worth seeing.

It’s not a Star Wars movie, exactly. It’s more of a modern retelling, shot through with strong influences of broad-spectrum ’80’s adventure movie nostalgia–a love-child of Spielberg and Lucas with some Harry Potter and even a tiny bit of Lost sprinkled in.

There are some Indiana Jones moments, some Harry Potter moments, and some techno-design evolution (the storm troopers and their weapons look like Apple products, the new droid is a cross between R2D2 and WALL-E). The last scene could be replaced with little disruption with a similar scene from Lost between Desmond and Penelope–or, rather, Penelope’s daughter.

But, it’s super fun to watch. Lots of great tie-fighter vs. x-wing battles. But, also, some multi-dimensional characters and decent storytelling.

The manifestation of evil is literally (by which I mean, figuratively) a giant asshole. An asshole with the angriest, planet-killing hemorrhoids in the galaxy.

And the storm troopers are literally dickheads–their helmets, especially in back, are shaped like penises.

And Kylo Ren’s darth-ette helmet is part German army and part insufferable shoe gazer boy bob.

In any event, I seriously enjoyed it. It helped immensely that my companion is also a giant Stat Wars freak. And now I’m nerding out with my 1999-issue x-wing fighter, trying to remember why I have R5D4 instead of R2D2.