In New York, there is a legal difference between rape and sexual abuse. It is my (admittedly limited) understanding that digital penetration counts as sexual abuse in New York.

So, according to the legal definition in NY and the idea that in the US people are innocent until proven guilty, maybe Trump can make the general claim "I'm not a rapist" without it counting as defamation. Maybe.

But in colloquial terms, we can absolutely consider this to be a lie. Donald Trump is an adjudicated rapist; a jury determined that, a minimum of one time in his life, he physically forced sexual contact on a woman who did not consent. (And based on what we know about abusers in general and this man in particular, my money is on this not being the only time in his life that he sexually assaulted someone.)

That's how they get you. They prey on people who don't understand math.

That is still the scariest movie I've ever seen.

The guerilla marketing around the film was absolutely genius. I knew it wasn't real, but I was already immersed in the world for weeks before the release.

I was genuinely terrified at the end of the movie. We went home and I made my fiancé (now husband) watch Priscilla, Queen of the Desert with me so I could get to sleep. I had nightmares for weeks.

I saw Ghoulies at a babysitter's house when I was 6. It was the first remotely scary thing I had ever been exposed to.

It opens with a satanic occult ritual. This was peak Satanic Panic, and my Assembly of God church was teaching me that Satan was real and people who worshipped him were actually performing ritual sacrifice. So in my little-kid perception, it was basically a documentary.

I had nightmares about it until I left the church in my early 20s. As part of my deconstruction process, I watched the film and saw how ridiculous it really was.

That's a hell of an assumption you're starting with.

There are quite a lot of philosophers who would say that free will doesn't exist (we call them determinists). I'd wager that plenty of them would posit that consciousness exists. It's hard to talk about our experience of the world without consciousness.

The folk music in A Mighty Wind may be greater than the Swans' screen time. And that music is extremely white.

But the meltdown over Busy Bee can definitely count for double.

I watch a lot of horror movies. Highly recommend His House for anyone who hasn't seen it, regardless of race.

The GOP operative wasn't willing to disavow militant Christians, so he didn't think El-Sayed would disavow militant Muslims.

What a dumbass.

I appreciate your comment, because it points out that what I thought was unhinged fan fiction that I should skip is actually unhinged fan fiction written by a word-prediction machine, and therefore even less deserving of my time and attention.

It's a specific tactic that politicians use. "Tommy" sounds more approachable than "Tom" or "Thomas."

This is why we know Charles Schumer as "Chuck" and Addison McConnell III as "Mitch." The folksy name feels friendlier and therefore gets more votes.

I don't know many MAGA voters who are 18-26.

I know a lot of them who are 65+, though. We can't blame NCLB for their idiocy.

The "unprofessional conduct" that he's alerting us to is his own behavior, right?

I read that and thought, "Whatever is coming is probably a huge breach of business etiquette." And I was right.

Edited to add: If the candidate's behavior in the interview was so egregious, why would you even waste your time with follow-up calls? It sounds like they wanted to hire the guy, but he wasn't interested in working for them after the interview. Sour grapes, anyone?

I read his statement as:

I choose to use my fame and platform to shield myself and avoid uncomfortable conversations that might result in the alienation of some of my fans.

I don't understand how it's legal for a court to order religion-based therapy that costs $1500 per month. That's absolutely insane from every possible angle.

I recently saw a shirt for sale online that says, "I'm sorry for everything I said when I was evangelical," and that really just about sums it up.

The bajillion stories in the comments about horrible experiences with math just reinforce the fact that I've made the right career choice.

I became an elementary teacher as a second career specifically because so many elementary teachers are absolutely terrible at teaching math. (Mostly because they don't actually understand the math that they're teaching. In my university cohort, almost 50% of my classmates failed the math entrance exam the first time. There was nothing more complex than 5th grade math on that test.)

Students should be allowed to use the strategies that work for them, and they should definitely never be punished for knowing math from higher grade levels.

If a student in my class knows something more advanced, I will challenge them to use grade-level-appropriate strategies to prove that their answers are correct. And if they demonstrate that they can do both, I'll give them more advanced work to help them grow.

Making sure that women have very little self-respect is one of the primary functions of American Evangelicalism.

He's not.

He's also not vegan, but that's another accusation his opposition is using. Because I guess there's nothing Texans hate more than (checks notes) ... tofu?

Where does Laura Loomer have financial ties? For whom is she "sowing discord"?

Every accusation from these people is an admission. They assume that their perceived enemies are performing the mirror image of their own maneuvers.

I wonder what she knows that hasn't been made public yet. She's clearly trying to get out in front of something.