@kissane I open up Mastodon and on the main center screen all I have are responses. I don't see the original post and have no idea how to find the original post.

I was previously hooked on Twitter before leaving, but I'm not using Mastodon because I like to see the posts, then decide whether I want to respond.

I see some posts in the little column on the right, such as yours, but that small window is so narrow it's not conducive for reading. Is that where ALL of the postings are supposed to appear, or is that some other kind of window?

Even that column seems odd. The first post I see is 16hrs old, followed by a second post that's 4hrs old. No one has posted between those periods?

Maybe I just don't know how to use it. It's not intuitive.

@RaymondEdwardF @georgetakei It does bring into question the power of the president, vs. the supreme court, who seems to have the power to ignore or reinterpret the framework of our constitution if they so wish.

Let's say, for example only, we had 9 conservative justices who decided to completely re-interpret the constitution thus putting us back to the 1950’s standards where most discrimination, for any group, was considered normal. Hell, we're just lacking 3 or 4 right now! WHO has the power to circumvent or abolish the court, should that happen? Anyone? We really need to know that answer, and I don't know it.

@georgetakei This was a lawsuit against the state of Colorado. According to the official brief, “Ms. Smith filed a lawsuit seeking an injunction to prevent the State from forcing her to create websites celebrating marriages
that defy her belief that marriage should be reserved to unions between one man and one woman.”

She didn't want to violate the state law so her official action was challenging the state law at the supreme court level. Who else was she supposed to go to?

Let's not focus on why the court was involved, but instead we need to focus on their horrible ruling which has now opened the door to ALL new types of business discrimination practices. Any service provider can now say they don’t want to perform their services for “any group” based on their religious belief. The court took us back 60 years.

@plasmator @georgetakei The court opinion involved the 1st amendment. But in this case, it was the non-discrimination requirement of the business license that was really on the line. The court created an exception for that business license with respect creative services, which I consider wrong because it was a PUBLIC service. If she had a personal religious objection to any design work as part of that public service, she should have been required to hire someone who COULD perform the task, thus satisfying the anti-descrimination provisions of the business license. I've lost total respect for this court.

@georgetakei Agree, why isn't there more discussion on why this case was chosen? I also wanted to hear more about the business license requirements of that state and how the court has circumvented those requirements.

@feditips That's good news because I have been VERY frustrated with the official app on my Mac. I have a little tiny vertical window for postings and discussions that requires a LOT of scrolling, with a HUGE window for just reblogs that are worthless because they don't include the original blogs. It's a mess.

@cazabon @Heterokromia @yogthos I got a Canon laser. Costs much more, weighs a ton, but it's really a fast printer with excellent print quality and NO requirement for it to check in to it's manufacturer for permission to print. I'm pretty much over inkjets, period.

It's the old saying, you get what you pay for. Only downside is that you need to wear a back brace to move it.

@enron Never mind the tweets, have you ever tried to delete your account on any social media system? Even if you think you've closed it, it's not.

My theory on this is that social media operators like to brag about the number of users they have. But no one asks, “are your users really still using the system?" Therefore, they don't really allow accounts to be closed. My dad died many years ago. Try as I must to close his social media accounts, it just wasn't possible. I can report that they are still active today.

@PadreWil @georgetakei I seriously worry about a country where a large portion of people obtain their view of the world by slick actors on an entertainment channel, posing to be a news channel. In fact, I would say this one influence has pretty much severely damaged our country.

@dpscifi @georgetakei It's worse than that. They really don't think at all and just blindly follows anyone waving a bible who plays the act of a preacher.

The major problem we face in this country are the masses of people who must be told by someone else, or a group (Church), how they should think. They are incapable of any type of critical thinking on their own. Research to them is whatever the talking heads on their cable news channel tells them.

Logically, SOMEONE has to be watching all those dumb commercials on TV to make them beneficial for a sponsor so yes, that pretty much proves that we have a TON of gullible people who can be easily influenced to believe anything. And a good, crooked politician knows how to do this well.

I don't know if this is a genetic flaw, or a direct effect of a lousy public educational system we never seem to fix, but the republican party manipulates them for their votes.

@shadyspotlight @georgetakei They really don't care. You had it right, it's a rallying point for their base.

@Ca_Dre @georgetakei The fact that we HAVE a debt limit at all shows utter idiocy in our government. Someone in the news media should give us some background as to who the hell proposed this and who else thought this was a good idea? That would be better news than we currently receive. No business would stop paying it's bills because of an arbitrary ceiling limit.

It further shows why these candidates need to provide resumes so we can evaluate whether they have ANY intelligence before letting them run for office.

Whether it's the 14th amendment or some other justification, not paying our bills creates a national security problem for our country and I believe an executive order could be used, if for no other reason, to protect our security. Pretty sure Biden has something in his back pocket, but he's not going to play his hand until the last possible minute.

@georgetakei I used to believe that, but I believe the White Christian nationalist movement is a front to just a nationalist movement intended to control our country as a power, with a dictator. These people are NOT Christian in any shape or form. It's just an act. They don't really care about abortion, gay rights, or trans issues. Their goal and game is to generate votes from the people who, because of their religious influence, DO care and will vote for them. All they have to do is act well and they will be voted in.

If you want to find people who really DO care about the unfortunate, forgive others, don't judge and are concerned about true equality for every single person, they really DO NOT exist in the republican party.

@pwnedcrypto @yogthos Same here. I started with the first version of Windows. It had bugs that were never fixed. Same problems version after version! I switched to a Macbook a year ago and will NEVER return to MS. I'm not an Apple's fan AT ALL, and I can't stomach IOS or the design of the Iphone, but the Macbook has been amazing. It works seamlessly with my NAS and everything else I can throw at it.

@cazabon @Heterokromia @yogthos So the HP inkjet was a huge disappointment to me. It no long works after 13mo. because it can't communicate with the mother ship. I will NEVER return to HP and it's overarching control of my equipment. I had followed all the rules, used their ink subscription, which was also a HUGE negative experience. Purchased a different brand that does NOT communicate with the manufacturer. I'm buying my ink supply as I need it. So much happier.

@algernon I greatly prefer printed sources, where a journalist has researched a news topic and devoted a LOT of space to its content, anticipating the readers questions and getting them all answered. And of course there are always multiple sides to any story so a good journalist will provide all sides of a story.

I have my own litmus test. Basically when read or listen to any news, if I have questions that were not answered, then I consider it was bad, or a complete lack of journalism. Most broadcast news, radio or TV fails my litmus test miserably. If I hear some significant news item, I'll seek the printed news in publications such as the WSJ, Atlantic, Forbes, NYT’s, Christian Science and others to really learn about it.

@staidwinnow @voron @dangillmor Most people develop ideas that won't change before age 20, but as I've learned more and more through life, my own ideas and opinions HAVE changed. Therefore, I assume there has to be more like me.

But it’s disappointing that most people cling to what they were taught before age 20, even if it's illogical or has been disproved by science, it doesn't seem to matter.

@algernon @georgetakei@universeod, I think the issue today, vs. 50 years ago is that most of the media is no longer focused on true journalism.

Years ago, you’d take a lackluster news journalist from a newsroom back office and develop them into an on-air personality, whereas today, you take any flashy and sexy on-air personality, and pawn them off as a reporter by having them read the news from a teleprompter.

The newspeople in the back room who feed the teleprompter are expected to create news with high sensationalism (even if it's fake) so as to increase ratings and advertising revenue. Journalism today is largely dead.

@jamesbritt @georgetakei I heard a republican candidate state that the border should be closed completely until we have border reform.

My interpretation of that comment is that every person crossing the boarder currently is a crisis. Take note of whoever is controlling the media at your local station. Bias in news reporting always goes straight up to the owner.

@genecowan @algernon @georgetakei Yes, sensationalism titles intended for maximum ratings and profits. Boring news doesn't sell.