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I passed through that phase of my life. When I was in college and after graduation I went through my Ron Paul/libertarian phase. For me it was about 07-2013ish. I was a big Ron Paul fan back in 2008 and 2012 and voted for him in both primaries. I still respect the guy for his honesty, opposition to the Iraq War, opposition to the Patriot Act/domestic spying, and a few other issues I agree with him on. I've read all the libertarian authors and political commentators too from Ayn Rand to Fredrich Hayek to Ludwig Von Miss to Milton Friedman to Murray Rothbard. I used to read all the think tank publications too like Cato, Mises Institute, Reason Magazine, and Heartland. What got me off the libertarian wagon though was related to what happened to my dad. When he lost his house to foreclosure during the recession and when he came clean to be about being joke broke, I couldn't sit there and continue railing against the very social programs and safety nets that were keeping him subsisting (Social Security, Medicare, and VA Assistance). Government money was the only thing keeping food on my dad's table, clothes on his back, and giving him the medical care/prescriptions he needed to live. How could I be so strident against the very social welfare that was keeping him alive and was keeping him from not having to live with my sister or I? The other thing that really worked for me is that I left the vortex of libertarian media and the libertarian echo chambers online and in research. Instead of sitting there sifting through Reason Magazine articles and Cato research all day I forced myself to listen to other points of view, hear out other people (most notably my own mother whose always been a progressive), watch other sources for my daily news, research opposing view points, and just take a cruise around Metro Detroit to see how others outside of the middle class enclaves of Canton Michigan actually live. The thing about libertarianism is, when you leave no checks and balances in place, when you strip away all regulations and you rely solely on the nature of others to do good in a situation, you create chaos and destruction. What libertarianism doesn't or refuses to account for in the bad nature of others. That bad and unethical behaviors like callousness, greed, manipulation, selfishness do exists and without proper controls placed on those behaviors, they will run roughshod over people all in the name of self interest. Whether that self interest is that of a company trying to maximize its profits or someone refusing to look out and take care of their fellow human being. Libertarianism in some cases makes false assumptions that people will naturally do good because it is in their own self interest to do so. In other instances, like Ayn Rand and her sociopathic theory of objectivism, doing good for others or caring for those around you matters not. In Rand's case, only looking out for yourself and treating yourself as the king above all else, breeds a degree of selfishness and greed that is downright destructive to people and the planet. Besides, who wants to live in a world where you're stepping over bodies and walking around a burning planet all so you can maximize your own gratification and self interests for a short amount of time. Life is about far more than that and there is a certain nobility and positive impact you get to make in life by being a caring, compassionate, kind, selfless human being.

Let me tell a family story before I dive into answering the rest of your question. In the picture above is my mom's brother, my uncle. My uncle suffers from paranoid schizophrenia. He is 64 now and has had the diagnosis since he was discharged from the Army at age 22. He was in and out of psych hospitals and on and off medication for a period of approx. 25 years between the late 1970's and around the year 2001. In 2001 my mom's dad, my grandfather passed away, and ever since then something clicked in my uncles mind and he's been better about taking his medication, he's received injectable medication once a month, and has been a responsible member of society, living his best life. For the 20 years prior to 2001, his life was a mess. The only reason he wasn't homeless during that time period is because he had VA benefits from the Army that gave him money to subsist and because people like my mother, chased every mental health professional and social worker in the State of Michigan around to ensure her brother had a place to live. When he was doing ok and on his medication he'd go stay at my grandfather's house. When he was off his medication and in a state of paranoia or delusion or having an episode, he'd have to get kicked out of the house because he'd get angry, aggressive, belligerent, unstable, and violent. He threatened suicide on a couple of different occasions and also threatened violence against others in his family living in my grandfather's household, most notably my grandfather himself, his older sister who lived there and his younger brother who lived there. He used to pace the hallways at night with a baseball bat, knife, lead pipe, whatever he could get his hands on, forcing my family to have to barricade their doors at night time just to hide from him. Guess what, like a bunch of irresponsible morons, my grandfather, grandmother, and aunt who all lived over at the house owned guns. A house full of people ranging from a child with my aunts son on up to my grandparents owned guns with a mentally ill and unstable person living with them. One day, back in the mid-1980s, while my one of my mom's other sisters was up visiting from the Atlanta area, my uncle had a violent episode at my grandfather's house right in front of everyone living their, including my visiting aunt. He came up from the basement, where his temporary room was at, and had a double barrel shotgun in his hand. Right in front of my grandfather, grandmother, and my mom's two sisters, he racked that shotgun and started cackling with laughter. He looked over at my mom's sister (the one visiting from Atlanta) and said to her "I'm not going to shoot anyone, but I bet I scared you all didn't I." Thank god he didn't shoot anyone. But in the wake of that incident and many like it that families and people all across our country have had to deal with, why in the hell was a gun allowed to be unlocked, much less in the home, where a mentally ill person lived? Now onto your question, what Australia did in 1996 is what needs to be done here in America. We need a gun buyback program. But since you asked the question and said without doing a gun ban/buyback as Australia did, you need rigorous background checks, red flag laws, and mental health screenings among other things to prevent mass shootings from happening. I'll go through this one by one though. Longer, tougher background checks that include a social media sweep First, we need longer background checks. I mean background checks that take weeks to complete and are inspected by multiple individuals, not just a guy behind the counter at a gun store. Law enforcement and legal experts should review each and every background check. The check needs to be long enough in length so that an adequate professional has had the time to run a full and complete investigation into your past. That includes a sweep of your social media and online postings, which should be required to be reviewed. Any criminal past that comes up on your record that involved violence or violent behavior should prohibit you from owning that gun. Any social media posts that are deemed threatening or violent in any nature should also prohibit you from owning a gun. Additionally, if you want to own a gun, every single person listed at your residence should have to go through a background check and if anyone living at your home address has a criminal background that involves a violent past, that would prohibit you from being a licensed gun owner. As well, if someone new moves into your domicile, they are required to have a background check and if they fail the background check, you would be forced to turn your guns over or have that person leave and no longer live at the residence. Those individuals social media should also be required to be swept and if their social media contains violent or threatening posts, again, either you give up your guns or they must leave the residence and no longer live there. Registration requirements and criminal liability Every gun you own should have to be registered to you directly and you should have to be fingerprinted at the time of purchase. If that gun gets used in a crime, by someone other than the owner, than the owner of that gun should also be held criminally liable. If the gun was stolen than it needs to be reported to proper law enforcement agencies as stolen. Failing to do so would make you liable in that person's crime as well. Mental health evaluations Everyone living in your residence as a gun owner, including you, should be required to take a comprehensive mental health evaluation from a licensed mental healthcare doctor or professional. If you have a son or daughter or someone at your residence who has a brain health issue related to mental illness, you would be prohibited from buying and owning a gun. Adam Lanza, who shot up Sandy Hook Elementary, had a diagnosable mental illness, Asperger's Syndrome, as well as suffering from anxiety and depression. His mother was reckless and irresponsible with her guns and as a result, 28 people lost their lives that day in Newtown at Sandy Hook. Adam Lanza, Ethan Crumbley, my mom's schizophrenic brother, and many others like them should not be living in homes with such ease of access to guns. Requirement for gun safes with combination or key locks and locks on all guns Guns stored in a home should be required to be locked up in a combination or key safe where only one to two persons have access to that safe. If your gun is used in a crime than law enforcement would have the right to inspect your home and see what, if any, gun safes there are in the home. They would also be able to look at any and all gun locks. Any gun not currently in use should be required to have a lock on it at all times, without exception. If someone breaks into your home, well then, you're going to have to get the lock off your gun first. Again, as with the safe issue, if you are found to have guns not under a lock at your home, you will be held criminally liable for your negligence.

the building looks like the old Holiday Inn signs.

They aren’t hurting anything. It’s not like it prevents seating areas or blocks potential amenities.

Or, if you don't like riding a ferris wheel or carousel while you're at a ballgame, you can easily avoid it.

Different cartoon.

So can Paul Ryan as a Fox board member speak up?

The comparison is amusing. Is it supposed to be an insult though? I liked the Peppermint Patty character.

Never considered this possibility, but it makes sense in retrospect

Liz who organized the former SecDefs to prepare for the coup back in December 2020, is really doing work here.

yeah - to me this seems so clear. The threat of a single bullet is generally sufficient for self defense, and single shot weapons are perfectly adequate for hunting. What need is there in society for any semi-auto weapon, long or handheld, beyond the presence of other semi-auto weapons?

Is Matthew Stafford a Hall of Famer? My answer is yes but the question probably should be are Matthew Stafford, Phillip Rivers, and Matt Ryan Hall of Famers. They all have the same resume and if you take one then you have to take them all. They will all get in. Big Ben is very similar to these 3 but this is where his 2 Super Bowls separate him and have him already in as a lock.

he might have been more famous, but for his failure to communicate.

Anything semi-auto ban

I was 100% rooting for the Rams last night. Mainly because I want all the ridiculous Stafford haters to shut up. I would love nothing more than for LA to win it all while Stafford has a top 10 SB performance for a QB in SB history. Again...mostly just to shut the fans up with their lazy takes about it was "all Stafford" or "Pat Statfford" for our team blowing every year.

This is me today, after getting a Moderna booster after getting Pfizer originally.

Having a historical attachment does not mean that Putin OWNS Ukraine. Russia does not OWN Ukraine, in fact, Stalin BRUTALIZED Ukraine because of their independent farmers refusal to join in with Stalin's "collectives". Which directly led to their deaths, as well as a resulting "collective" famine that wiped out 10-12 million Ukrainians IIRC... Putin definitely has an emotional attachment to Ukraine, because of the historical connections (Kiev as the birthplace of the Rus (who everyone knows... were Swedish Vikings)), but Ukraine still has the right to self-determination. And they have decided that they prefer the European Unions capitalistic economy versus Putin's kleptocracy/ dictatorship... and have also decided that they are safer under NATO's brotherhood of like-minded democracies rather than under Russia's/ Putin's KGB/ Mafia/ Police State. Putin did after all steal Crimea from them as well as southeastern Ukraine's two provinces of Donetsk & Lugansk. FYI in case anyone cares...

Today is the 9th anniversary of the Sandy Hook massacre. I am a gun owner but if laws were passed that prevented these tragedies from happening I would turn them all in. These kids are the same age as my daughter. I still struggle to look at her and not see those kids.

He wouldn't have ridden Matt Stafford's if he had gotten one in Det? Of course he's not the player he was at 25 but Suh's numbers in 2020 were fine - 44 tackles isn't chopped liver. Has-beens don't start 16 games for the SB winner that had a top 10 scoring D.

My favorite ever Wikipedia edit was when Paul Ryan showed up on the list of invertebrates.

Thought this might be an interesting topic. I came across this book recent: Dutch Clark: The Life of an NFL Legend and the Birth of the Detroit Lions I borrowed it from my local library as something to read during some downtime during Xmas Break. Haven't started reading it yet but glanced through it and man... it's a thick book with very small print. My old eyes might have a hard time reading it. (I wish I could find an electronic version that I can increase the font size, but my local library doesn't have an electronic version to borrow and the price for the Kindle version is $60+, yikes!) Any, I'm curious if anyone has read this book and if so what you thoughts were. Expanding this idea to a bit broader scope: Do you have any other Lions related books that you've read and would recommend? Here's two from me: Paper Lion - If you're not familiar with this story it's about a sport journalist who went "under cover" (Team officials knew about it, players didn't... after first) as a rookie QB with the Lions for training camp in the mid '60s. It's a pretty good read with some nice inside looks at what training camp in the NFL was like back then. He made some friends with some of the players and even wrote a sort of follow up book called Mad Ducks and Bears with Alex Karras and John Gordy. Detroit: City of Champions - This one isn't just about the Lions but covers the 35-36 sports season when Detroit was king of the sports world: Joe Louis was coming on the scene and the Tigers, Lions, and RedWings all won their first championships. There's two follow up books that go in depth into all the players from all the teams as well.

I have avocado and eggs every morning. Sometimes with a side of pan-fried cherry tomatoes, sometimes spinach. And Frank’s hot sauce. (Yes. I actually DO put that shit on everything.)

For the record: libertarianism sucks.

Depends...what do their moms look like?

I still can't get over Mehmet's insistence on not being called Mehmet. It's not the media's responsibility to go by your trade name or to just say "Dr. Oz". They don't refer to Rand Paul all the time as "Dr. Paul". He wants their help in reminding people that he's "That guy named Oz" and not just any other guy named Oz, especially a guy with a 'foreigner' name. What kind of a patriotic American has a name that sounds like some Ay-Rab? Bad enough they had to sit through Barack Hussein Obama. True story, a HS friend of mine, after Obama was elected, complained that he was going to have to try to explain to his daughter than a guy named Barack Hussein Obama was elected President of these United States..... yes he has a southern accent too.

I don't remember what 5 were on the floor at the end of the 3rd and what 5 were on at the beginning of the 4th. It was pretty obvious the Nets were taking over the game at the beginning of the 4th and it seemed like you could see the momentum that the Pistons had throughout the game just leaking out of the balloon. Yes, the Nets should have won going into it, even without Harden playing. But, damnit, its still good to see them play with purpose and with passion.

CNN should have Chris Cuomo on now. That might get their attention.

Peppermint Patty had moxie. Lucy VanPelt was just a spoiled brat

Let's not forget JACK LOUSMA, UM alumnus who headed a Skylab mission, a Shuttlecraft Columbia mission, and was the recipient of the famous, "Houston, we have a problem!" message. I saw a photo of him back then with a "M Go Blue!" bumper sticker slapped onto one of his space vehicles. I have scoured the internet but can't find it.

I don't remember seeing it here, but Andrew Romaine retired last week. Some comments about filling some big shoes in Detroit...

Even if this is true I honestly do not care about him being "no worse" than a vaccinated person from a health standpoint (he has made his bed and can lay in it for all I care), but him missing games in Canada and having a longer quarantine and additional protocols due to still being unvaccinated still bugs me. Imagine if they somehow luck into the playoffs and play Toronto or something... I was hoping him missing game checks would change his mind if other concerns didn't.

Ya know, just a routine tour of the Capitol...

Treason is a capital offense. Suggesting a politician committed treason and should be prosecuted and if convicted given punishment available is not a crime. so go somewhere else with that bull shit. That dog don’t hunt here.

Meadows hearing, if you don't get C-SPAN. on now (7 PM EST)

I called 911

You know what? You’re just not worth the hassle anymore. please feel free to contact whatever “mod” you want. But as far as I’m concerned, you can shove it. “Mods” don’t really appreciate your insults. Well… this one doesn’t.

What did the Heisman show have to do with the Lions 2021 #1 pick? Did Hutchinson do something to turn you off from taking him? If anything, the more he talks, the more I want to take him. Seeing his mom wearing Hutchinson's Lions jersey in the stands every game would be a nice little bonus as well.

I've said it before and I'll say it again: people focus so much on left/right bias that they seem blinded to the ways that access can bias journalists as well. Foreign policy is a great example... there's not a lot of daylight between the Jake Tapper or Josh Rogins of the world and the folks ago were largely in favor of staying in that country forever. So no, I don't think that journalists were particularly objective during that period.

You are wise. She is as pretty as a picture.

With little exception, the majority of Americans over the last 30 years have believed in stricter gun laws. Yet the legislature has consistently sided with the minority. Weird.

I lived in Athens, Ga. I loved it there. Cool town. Much less snobby than Ann Arbor, which I also love. Athens was much more affordable too (at least back then, not so much now). Ann Arbor had The Stooges and Bob Seger, Athens had R.E.M. and The B-52s. I wore shorts in January in Athens. They all thought I was crazy. 40 Watt Club and Blind Pig both had the same vibe. I like both equally. Both had great record stores back in the day. Athens gets high with a balloon festival these days, Ann Arbor gets high with Hash Bash. Ann Arbor is losing it's personality as the old hippies that opened businesses are retiring and their businesses are being replaced with chains. I don't know if that is happening in Athens. Athens had The Varsity (it's moved) and Weaver D's (Automatic For The People). Ann Arbor has Zingerman's and the Fleetwood (hippie has browns). Athens was 90 mins. away from Atlanta, Ann Arbor is 40 minutes from Detroit.

Do you not see the kid in the games? He's hella athletic but not quite yet a field general. He's a lot better than Joe Milton, Dylan Mccafrey and Shea Patterson but thus far Cade is a better custodian of the plan and knows the playbook. They have used JJ's talents very well thus far.

finally beating alabama and winning the sec title isnt something to play for? herbie is all wet, georgia just got their asses kicked by bryce young.