I thought we already were animists? I mean, my favorite is Kuma Kuma Kuma Bear ... but Yokai Ningem BEM is cool too.

As to Portland becoming the Antifa capital, it's kind of ironic, as Seattle has way more military veterans who have actually fought fascists, but at least it will keep the tourists away.

I kind of stopped reading JK Rowling after the Harry Potter series. I figured she lost steam, and now that she's a billionaire, she just doesn't care what anyone thinks, she can write what she wants, and millions will still buy it.

Venus is not the kind of place you want to raise your kids, unless they're floating membranes that live in the clouds. Which, I guess, is fine.

I look forward to Senator Elizabeth Warren becoming Senate Majority Leader.

Wine growing is doing quite well. I recommend a good Pinot Noir, the smoky addition will set it perfectly with a good shrimp salad. But even using the wine for face cream won't save Gen Z's skin, unless they're multiracial.

However, I totally agree that after the nightmare we've lived in, romance will come back into fashion.

Wow, so "antifa" is now thought of as a collective noun? That's progress!

Unless that farmer is farming Bitcoin, it isn't gonna happen.

RE: The dems are going to win control of the Senate.

If we actually manage to pull this off (and I can't personally fathom that's happening) the smartest thing we could possible do would be to permanently disband the institution outright. It's fundamentally undemocratic and in such a way that heavily favors rural rednecks (not that it's existence would be justified were it the other way around.) In the unlikely event that we do somehow wind up winning it, the odds of our keeping it for any length of time are virtually non-existent.

I get what the founders were going for in it's creation and it surely served a useful purpose, but it's time to put the fuckin' thing out to pasture.

@4:

"...the smartest thing we could possibly do...". Well, that's a pretty solid guarantee we won't do it, because apparently we're a nation currently run by a large pack of self-destructive imbeciles and nearly half the population is just fine with that.

Yay!!! The democrats predicted to take the senate and control all 3 branches of government!

First on their agenda:

Continued of killing black and brown people overseas with endless war. Remember, it's only racism to kill minorities if they are Americans!
Tax breaks for the rich paid for by the poor.
More money for police with less accountability.
More incarceration with an emphasis on longer sentences for the poor and marginalized along with get out of jail free cards for the rich and powerful, aka their biggest donors.
An increase in the surveillance state to keep an eye on American voters, who clearly must be monitored since they can't be trusted and must be "held accountable!"
More money for insurance companies and pharma with the same # of American's still lacking basic healthcare coverage.
Promises to address homelessness with no actual changes.

Wow, so many changes. I doubt we will even recognize this country as the USA.......

Yay, The democrats take the senate! and on their agenda:

Killing black and brown people overseas with endless war.
Tax breaks for the rich paid for by the poor.
More money for police with less accountability.
More incarceration with an emphasis on longer sentences for the poor and marginalized along with get out of jail free cards for the rich and powerful, aka their biggest donors.
An increase in the surveillance state to keep an eye on American voters, who clearly must be monitored since they can't be trusted.
More money for insurance companies and pharma with the same # of American's still lacking basic healthcare coverage.

Wow, so many changes. I doubt we will even be able to recognize the USA any longer. Thank god the Republicans are in charge. I mean, who knows what they would do!

Yep,

I wish @5 was not correct, and Luddite wasn't working for Putin.

@5 COMTE: I second Will in Seattle (@8): I wish your observations weren't spot on target.
@6 &@7; You really should change your screen name to Ludicrous5. Trump and its lackeys are laughing uproariously at you and all your fellow MAGA ilk.

@10: once again spot on with your analysis up to the point where you claim the Dems are different than Republicans.

If the Dems had nominated a Sanders or Cory Booker I would believe that. In any other civilized country Dems like that would be considered slightly left centrist, they would have swept this election and offered a real alternative to the corrupt and deeply evil Republicans. But no, instead they give us Biden and Harris, Basically Hillary Clinton 2.0. By all accounts that grifter Trump will now win and the Dems will go back to blaming the Russians for it.
Reform Dems. like Alex Morse in MA are routinely crushed in primaries by well funded big business democratic operatives like Neal that campaign by smearing Morse for being openly gay. When did institutional democrats become the party of Jerry Falwell and the moral majority? I thought we settled this whole "love is love" thing, but apparently not.

The Democratic party voted in favour of keeping weed illegal in their platform a few weeks ago at a time when when even crusty old quality of life crime enforcers like Dan Satterberg realize that's untenable and are transitioning to new quality of life crimes like prostitution (sorry, he calls it all Human Trafficking) to keep the asset forfeiture money rolling in to the police department.

@9: That's right Grizelda, keep calling everyone who brings attention to failures within the Dem party a Putin Operative. That strategy worked so well for Dems in 2016.

@11: That's funny, I have often thought the same of cops. They have yet to lose a fight against an unarmed child, women, or black man with his back turned to them.

Here's a good one; only 10 heavily armed white cops needed to hold down this 100 pound unarmed Asian female reporter.

Looks pretty tenuous for the cops. Do you think they should call in an urban assault vehicle, or perhaps another 10 cops to restrain her?

American policing is a bad joke. Defund now.

https://www.vice.com/en_ca/article/889jk4/police-tackled-and-arrested-an-npr-reporter-to-the-ground-while-she-was-doing-her-job

@14: "Tough guy?" I haven't heard that taunt since I was about 9. Doesn't The Stranger have some age requirement for posters?

I'll admit I don't know how many armed thugs it takes to restrain a 100 pound unarmed Asian reporter. In my world that form of cowardice hardly ever comes up if that's what you mean by "when things go hot." I'm also not into shooting harmless dogs and unarmed people during no knock raids if that's your definition of "tough guy."

I think like most people I avoid the police the way you would a rabid dog that attacks without reason or warning. I do believe based on observation that law enforcement all to often either recruits for cowards, or trains them to behave that way and no, I don't think shooting unarmed civilians without consequence makes them brave.

In my life treating people with the respect police seem largely incapable of avoids conflicts, but then I don't enter every situation with a gun and complete impunity.

Hope that answers your question. Now stop hiding under your bed and acting like things are about to go "hot" at any time. It only works that way in Hollywood and in paranoid cop victimization delusions where they believe everyone is out to get them. In the real world people are generally decent and treat you with the respect you give them, which is why police receive so little respect in Seattle. When you openly show complete contempt for the average citizen they tend not to like you much. There's nothing "tough guy" about that.

@15 it's the Internet. We created it for scientists and the military, but then, sadly, we let 5 year olds on. Which would be fine if they had tenure.

@12 Luddite5, I agree with all your criticisms, but at the end of the day, it's Democrats that have fought for healthcare, civil rights, the environment, etc. and Republicans that have fought against it. Whatever the reason (and I agree that it has little to do with Democratic politicians), a Democrat in charge is more likely to produce positive change and protections than a Republican. It's irrefutable.

Look at what Democrats accomplished or tried to accomplish while Obama was in office. Look at what Republicans have accomplished or tried to accomplish while Trump has been in office. Or when GWB was in office. Imagine how a Republican governor would have handled COVID in Washington compared to Inslee. Things are always worse when Republicans are in charge.

If you truly care about the things you suggest you care about, then it's not a matter of opinion, it's just a fact that you have a better chance with Democrats than you do with Republicans. History shows this to be true.

@21: I admire your idealism. My experience with Dems and Repubs has been different.

Under Obama:
1. We did a "surge" in Afghanistan that killed thousands of innocent Afghani's and all the anti-war protests under that criminal George Bush suddenly evaporated into this air. I thought the Dems were against endless war, but apparently they were just against endless war under a Republican.
2. Deportations and ICE detention centers started under Bush exploded for 8 years unopposed under Obama, until they became an issue again under Trump. If Biden wins you can expect them to become an non-issue until the next Republican in elected. If Trump is re-elected they will remain an issue, although for all the wrong reasons. Raping, murdering and deporting helpless immigrants doesn't become an immoral imperative for Americans until they know who is in the white house.
3. Insurance companies that make their living denying coverage to the most vulnerable among us had their best 8 years under Obama while the homeless and vulnerable remained without basic health coverage. Trump has done nothing to change that.
4. Obama not only continued Bush's war on sex workers largely within the LBGT community, but ramped it up, which has continued under dirt-bag Trump with FOSTA and the EARN It act.

Trump as president is an embarrassment and lots of perpetual destructive American polices like endless war and mass incarceration have magically became an issue for Dems just as Repubs stopped stopped pretending they care about spending the moment they were in power. Dry your eyes big banks, republicans and democrats are always here to help!

Both parties are at their best when running and at their worst the moment they gain power. In power they are all about welfare for the rich, nothing but a bill and incarceration for the poor, endless war abroad and mass surveillance of an American public they both distrust and despise. To support either party is to give allow your abuser to continue beating you on a daily basis.

As for "who are the better humans," I have found that has nothing to do with politics. At some point in your life everything will go wrong and as Solzhenitsyn said:

"Until you have have a black day you have no friends."

There will be people you didn't expect who will be there to help up, and those you thought you could depend on will be no where in site. You will quickly realize that these two groups can't be predicted by political allegiance. From that moment forward, you will realize politics is an empty game run by sociopaths who place no value on your life, or the life of the people you love.