A public servant that gets off on enforcing an unjust disproportionate entrenched system. Executioners are public servants by definition too, should I respect them as well? Prosecutors are mostly goobers.
It's not that simple, if gaining undecided votes comes at the cost of more votes than they gain then you're not going to win. That has been the struggle of the Dems for decades on every progressive issue.
Most of those where cops only larping as military. Military operations are a completely different thing. No country wants to fight their own people. Your own logistics, intelligence, supply chains, and financing all rely, in part, on the very people you are fighting... You can't trust or count on the chain of command at any point, at any point your keys to power can turn on you and you're dead. Leaders with half a brain know you usually don't have a long life attacking your own people.
Domestic wars are never pretty, no matter how powerful the military. Most people in the military don't serve to shoot their own country. Countries don't want to damage their own infrastructure or enflame their own people. Oligarchs won't support a war that damages their bottom line. People vastly over simply how easy it would be to stop an armed resistance.
My sister in law is blind in one eye, but because she has one working eye she has no disability protection as far as I know. She still can't drive because she has no depth perception and it's very dangerous. It's made navigating going to work difficult over the years, often working the same place my brother did so he could drive her. Luckily her current employer works with her and lets her work from home. But a decade ago no one would have dreamed of letting her work from home.
None of the things by themselves fully justify "belief" in a religion yet many people claim they are without a true belief in the entire system. It's the problem with such a vague question. By a narrower definition very few people attending a place of worship are true believers. Someone can believe in god, but not really believe in the rules, and still say they are "religious". Someone can believe in the rules, but not god, and say the same. I think if you are practicing the religion to some extent then you have a right to call yourself religious if that's how you view yourself regardless of your true beliefs on god, rules, etc. Cultural impact matters more than we give it credit for.
Gives a sense of community and cultural connection that other things don't quite provide.
I've met a not so inconsequential amount of people in my life that when pressed admitted, they don't believe in god, don't believe in the moral teachings, but attend a place of worship because they think there is no replacement for the interwoven community and cultural connection their place of worship provides. Many people simply like the community connection of their root culture. This is especially true in minority groups (black church, synagogue).
Realistically it's only those 1-2 days after snowing when things are still being cleared that it's an issue. I bike commute 52 weeks a year in Minnesota and there were only 3 days this year I regretted biking. 2 snow days and one heavy cold rain. I can always supplement another option on those days.
I do and it's honesty much better than those 33+ c days. When it's below freezing, I wear thermal high tops, snow pants, down jacket, face mask and ski goggles. Its perfectly comfortable.
I don't doubt anything you are saying, but it's worth mentioning that (iirc) 80%+ of severe injury and death on a bicycle is caused by motor vehicles, or complications of motor vehicle involvement. People very rarely have severe injury or death on dedicated bike infrastructure. The primary risk on bicycles is motor vehicles. If you remove motor vehicles, there is still risks, but someone might decide that risk is low enough to forgo a helmet. I don't feel those people should be called stupid for their choice.
There is considerable evidence that everyone wearing a helmet in a car would save vastly more lives and prevent severe head injury, and yet pretty much no one even considers that as a normal thing to do. The bike helmet thing is therefore just as much a cultural attitude, as it is about safety.
I still use a helmet, and more importantly, visibility gear, on my bicycle in 100% of my rides. I've never worn a bike helmet walking or driving in a car, even though my cousin died from a head injury getting hit by a car while walking and my grandma-in-law died of a head injury in a car...
A helmet is only needed if you intend to spend significant time in traffic. Most of the world doesn't use one.
The math behind using one is a lot more on the margins than people realize. In order for it to save you, it first has to prevent a head injury, and then prevent one that is in the range of severity that makes it useful. The vast majority of bike injuries won't fall in that range, they'll either be related to another part of the body, or in the case of high speed crashes from a car, too severe for a helmet to matter. But helmets do give people a false sense of security. Statistically people ride faster and take more risks with a helmet on. Lastly, again statistically, the visibility gear you put on yourself while riding does more to keep you safe in traffic than a helmet. Lights, reflectors, reflective vest, etc.
All this to say, the religiosity with which people proselytize helmets is misplaced. I still wear one, but I don't judge people who choose not to.
Getting caught up with semantics arguments seems like a waste of energy. Because, genocide or not, for many people impacted by any war with disproportionate power imbalance, it sure as fuck is as horrific as a genocide regardless of how one defines it. (I'm not necessarily criticizing the use of the word by some, I just think many activists get bogged down in defending the use word rather than addressing the horror.)
Any regular person putting significant cash in individual stocks instead of index funds is just gambling. All US broad market index funds beat inflation over every 10 year period since index funds have existed.
Transportation pales in comparison to heating and cooling homes and businesses. The single greatest thing we can do to reduce climate change from a policy standpoint involves reducing that. From work at home, to multi family zoning, to converting business skyscrapers into living space, to increasing efficiency and fossil fuels from energy production. And all that does a lot to improve transportation environmental costs as well.
Under your simplified system a person making 55k brings in less than someone making 49k. Which disincentives getting a raise at that salary range. There is a reason that currently we only tax money over the brackets set.
Progressive taxation isn't really the problem here though, our low tax on investment profit is. We should also probably enforce a 2% wealth tax on anyone making over a billion dollars.
I used to always do that until my carpet guy told me the oils from my feet directly on the carpet accelerates it's end of life. He suggested keeping socks on or using indoor shoes (slippers, etc).
When the NBA sells a jersey with Curry's name on it, Curry gets a cut of the profit. When the WNBA sells a Breanna Stewart jersey she gets $0. This isn't complicated, they are obviously getting fucked over if you've read anything about how the business actually runs.
You can have fun doing all sorts of things without doing them in excess. If you're preoccupied with doing something in excess while missing other opportunities, that is truly boring...
Oh please, this is everyone's fault, one man doesn't rule alone. We are failing at every level, in every state, in every county, in every city, in nearly every household. As long as people are too comfortable and lazy to take action every day that is NOT election day, election day will continue to be disappointing.
A public servant that gets off on enforcing an unjust disproportionate entrenched system. Executioners are public servants by definition too, should I respect them as well? Prosecutors are mostly goobers.