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Sorry for the length of this, but there really is a common thread to it. First, realizing that so many states did a first-time way of voting, I'm a bit stumped why we didn't mandate full-on recounts in every state. That would have been a good way to eliminate any "illegitimate vote" garbage. Second, I think it is pretty clear that we need to standardize any federal presidential election (meaning same rules, practices, etc.) This taking weeks to count votes in some states while others are completed within 24 hours is beyond ridiculous. re: hate speech. I feel like most of us would agree hate-speech is hurtful, inciting violence, etc. But when I have Christian friends being told that talking to their non-Christian friends about Jesus is hate-speech, then I get worried about who defines "hate speech". For a Christian, that is the most loving thing they could possibly do. People may disagree, but is it really "hate speech"? It behooves us to pay attention to history just how quickly a democratic country can go to pot in the name of progress. The Weimar Republic in Germany collapsed under the weight of restitution payments and hyper-inflation, post-WW1. It gave rise to the National Socialist Worker's Party (anti-big business, anti-wealthy class, anti-capitalism). After coming to power the NAZIs made all other political parties illegal. Then, if you weren't a NAZI party member, you were deemed a threat. I have spoken to German immigrants whose families were sent to work camps (not concentration camps). Hate speech was what the government told you it was. "Provda" (The ONLY News Agency in the former Soviet Union) means "truth" in the Russian language. It was gov't controlled and told the people what the gov't approved. Everything else was "hate speech". So who are the arbiters of truth in the USA? I would dare to say it's not the USA government otherwise Trump would not have been endlessly dogged for four years. So from whom are we receiving "truth"? When facebook, twitter, and YouTube are shutting down people on their platform because they have a different political view than their parent company, we can debate if we have an issue and if they are actually publishing or not. Of course, that discussion won't be allowed on their platform.... so people try to set up alternate platforms to discuss. Except, those platforms are being blocked by other privately-owned providers. The end result? Whatever the media giants permit becomes truth. Everything else is deemed "hate speech". Where then is the dissenting voice? It is effectively cancelled. Although those you oppose today may get cancelled, what is to stop you from getting cancelled tomorrow? There is a quote from a Lutheran Pastor who lived through WWII - Rev. Martin Niemoller: First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a socialist. Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out - because I was not a trade unionist. Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out - because I was not a Jew. Then they came for me - and there was no one left to speak for me. Pastor Niemoller served most of WWII in a NAZI concentration camp because he dared to speak out against the mainstream attitude, not just of the government but the press as well. If we think what happened in Germany can never happen in the USA, then we're not paying attention. I pray for love, peace, mercy, grace, and forgiveness within our government leaders and our nation as a whole. On a less serious note. My last complaint tonight is not having enough money for all the rumored Star Wars sets coming out in 2021.

I would argue that people like Susan B Anthony, Martin Luther King Jr, and RBG would disagree with that. Had they lived within the social norms of their time without exercising their freedom of speech, some of the rights that you enjoy and support would not have existed today.

I consider myself a Libertarian more than a Republican, but since the Libertarian party never really has a chance, more often than not I vote Republican. I don't necessarily support Trump and I will be glad to be rid of his rhetoric, even if I did vote for him. As a veteran and someone who takes pride in our nation and the constitution I find it pretty sickening what happened on the 6th. What annoys me most of all is the silencing of free speech, especially from large tech. If large tech, such as Twitter YouTube or FB want to regulate who can say what on their sites then they are a publisher and should be accountable for every tweet or post. If they want to continue to be a "platform" and not be held accountable for anything posted then they should allow every individual to post whatever they want no matter how distasteful or incorrect the message may be. Same goes for every single forum or website on the internet in my opinion...

100% I work with a lot of individuals who are terrible with financials. It's one thing to complain that one lacks money, but when they walk in with Starbucks everyday, and order delivery food 3 days a week, I start to question whether it is more of a function of poor decision making more than anything else. I'm totally aware of people having money struggles, and that I'm currently standing on my soap box, but when a person is in debt and getting $100 haircuts, nails done twice a month, etc etc etc, a lifestyle change may be in order.

It is also important to keep things into perspective. Poverty in the US (and in most developed nations) looks very different from what poverty looks like in most other countries in the world.

Good discussion. kudos all for keeping things civil here. (had to take a 24hr break myself, for feeling very un-civil.) And thanks to the Mack's and the mods for providing the space to do so.

Same here actually. I dumped Facebook 4 years ago (briefly went back after pressure from friends - crazy, but this actually happens), never had twitter. Not to go full Ron Swanson, but I tend to see the people I care about in real life, so I don't need to fill my life with random thoughts and pictures of people I last saw 10 years ago. Edit: I also have you lot of unconventional knights.

My wife used to sell cars so she handles the negotiations, I know that's not very manly, but it's part of our technique. We run a good cop/bad cop situation. I buddy up to the salesman, listen to all their BS, act line I'm on the hook, and then suddenly hand off the deal to my wife. She beats them up on price, having a good idea on what the margins should be, and then if we can't get to an agreement, we walk. You have to be willing to walk, they will call. They always call.

Are these real in stock or system glitches? Whenever I placed an order, they end up getting cancelled.

Elf Club House at target

75190 - First Order Star Destroyer for $500

sorry but 90% of the country's population do not live outside of large cities...the voting that was demonstrated simply speaks more of it being likely opposite. Also based on the census:https://www.census.gov/newsroom/press-releases/2015/cb15-33.html U.S. Cities are Home to 62.7 Percent of the U.S. Population, but Comprise Just 3.5 Percent of Land Area now if your argument is based on land mass representation then maybe but that's not a rational argument since we're talking about people...it's really easy to see a map of red and blue and think most of the country is red because of land mass coverage.

I am yet to see any rational person with some kind of a road map to how to move forward and bring people together. For the majority here that doesnt know, I was born and raised in a civil war torn country that is still divided to this day with no light at the end of the tunnel. I moved to the USA about 20 years ago because of what this country stood and still stands for , and hopefully someone smarter than me can fix this . I've seen firsthand what hatred and violence does, at the end of the day there are no winners other than warlords and politicans .

Bespin is back at LEGO Shop at Home https://www.lego.com/en-us/product/bespin-duel-75294

This didn’t take long

I wish this were true, I really do, but the more and more the government gives just erodes this out of people. I also agree that luck has a lot to do with success in life, but they say luck is the crossroads of preparation and opportunity.

I am willing to bet my concentrate orange juice futures that it’s these two.

Sorry, but until people can realize that organizations like BLM are racist themselves, we can never get past racism or have a serious conversation about it. Our Constitution and voting system was designed not to allow cities to control the country. I wasn't referring to populations with %'s.

I would suggest not to lump all the groups together; because anyone looking can find critical flaws with any group; especially the extremists...for every BLM protesters that throws a molotov cocktail and yells profanity at the police there are thousand of 100% peaceful protestors just like there's a thousand peaceful protestors OUTSIDE the Capitol for every protestor inside the Capitol causing trouble...lumping folks together w/ their extremist counterparts only makes folks defensive and does not facilitate open discussion.

He can't empathize with others if he doesn't know who Shaun King is? I don't think he can win here. You treat him like a child because he doesn't know who Shaun King is and I feel like if he did know who he was people would be saying he can't make up his own mind and is being led. I feel he's being pegged either way. what question are you answering here?

I took part in BLM protests. I did not protest against the police, I protested to give voice to the fact that Black Lives are treated differently than White Lives. Our BLM protests in our quiet part of the midwest US were non-violent, and the police participated (as in, they helped direct traffic, escorted the 1000+ protesters and worked together with the organizers to make it all a peaceful affair). I do not sympathize with the more radical parts of the BLM movement, because just like what happened at the White House, they don't represent the vast majority of protesters. The only difference is that there was no-one in any position of authority egging people on to act aggressively towards the police. Imagine our current President voicing his displeasure with the election results, but telling his followers to abide by the legal process and to go home since that route closed for good with the last challenge in December. This wouldn't stop fringe groups still marching on the Capitol, but it would not be sanctioned and be treated completely different than the current situation. Heck, just today the President used the Twitter POTUS account to edge his supporters on to disrupt the inauguration on Jan 20th. This should not be allowed, it goes beyond Freedom of Speech.

I can agree with most of that. As for POTUS, I'm not a fan of how he speaks a lot of times as I know it puts off a lot of people regardless of what his actual message is. His policies and direction for this country is what got him elected and what most of his followers love, not the person he is. US will never have a federal system, it would destroy what this country is which is a Republic, not a Democracy. We have to have a balance between 90% of the country that is more conservative and the other 10% that is the huge liberal cities who control a large portion of a few states. Thats why you are constantly seeing area's trying to secede is people are tired of one city controlling a whole state, look at WA or VA. What we need is a nationalized voter ID. How we have to have an ID to drive, fly, buy a gun etc. but don't have to have one to vote on who we want to lead the most powerful nation in the world is beyond me. So are you for or against BLM and Antifa? Honest question.

I basically only play Lego games (very on brand) and my daughter enjoys watching and sometimes I can get her to actually play with me but then she stops moving and on the old Wii ones you have to drop her out so you can get on with the game - but she's never offended, because she likes watching other people play videogames anyways!

Regardless of the hate, this set will do well post retirement. It's one of those sets that can appeal to non collectors. Heck my mom who has zero knowledge in Legos found this and bought it for me. As a dude that has zero interest in flowers, I'm going to display the **** out of this proudly outside of my LEGO Shrine. Easily past off from afar as legit. Normal flowers are useless, they die. Plastic flowers are cheap. Flowers that allow you to remember every moment of building it and displaying it. Changing it's configuration to your heart's content. I love it.

Gonna have to disagree with you there. How do you figure?

I am proposing that companies would have to declare whether or not they are a platform or if they are a publisher. If they declare to be a platform then they must allow people to post what they wish regardless of content or viewpoint. This would not "tear apart one of the foundational principles of the internet". Companies can choose what they wish to be. I would assume that most forum sites such as Reddit would easily chose to be a platform. Wikipedia already screens every update to every page and they would therefore be a publisher. It's the other media giants that need to be worried. The TRACED Act which was signed into law at the end of 2019 requires phone companies to attempt to stop robo and spam calls. They were not doing it voluntarily before this law required them to. So my analogy is spot on. Social media companies would still be required to follow federal law and ban and report posts that contained child pornography, for example. Obviously there is room for legal debate. The people who run Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and the other social media giants currently have unchecked power to sway the viewpoints of the masses to their beliefs by deleting opposition views or by "fact checking" their users videos/posts. YouTube posts "fact check" disclaimers on any video that says there may have been any election irregularities or fraud, basically saying that the poster of the video is lying. Yet videos that speak about Trump and Russian collusion, which has already been investigated and proven false receive no such "fact check" disclaimers. I believe that the power of these social media companies to sway the ideas and thoughts of their users needs to be put in check.

IDK..."unbiased" is often times the PC word for hate speech

Good, those platforms as we know them are the biggest spreaders of misinformation there are. When you have private companies like that who are able to sway entire thought processes of a populace because of what they decide they want to allow or not allow based on their personal beliefs is what got us in most of the mess we are in now.

Nope. Really hoping the Imperial Droid is done right.

Problem with any social media platforms is to many people take what they see and read on there for the truth. Then when you have the platforms start censoring or banning certain people or groups they just don't agree with you have people take that as that group being "bad" or "dishonest" and it is a dangerous path. When you have people out there doxxing others just because they don't like them it becomes a serious issue. Social media by itself might not be the downfall of the country or society, but it sure is helping. True, but they know it isn't anything that's going to hurt them and they really don't care about us for the most part. How could they know? The last bill was 5000 pages and they had to vote in less then 24hrs.

I agree that that is how it is now. I am saying that is not how it should be. When we have advances in technology we need to update our laws to reflect that. Social media companies call themselves platforms so that they are not liable for posts made by users of their services. All traditional media companies are publishers and can be held liable for their content because they control what content they publish. As soon as social media companies start controlling their content via deleting posts or locking accounts that have done nothing to warrant a lock other than post something they disagree with as a company, now they have become publishers because they are controlling the content. If they wish to keep enjoying the freedoms of being a platform then they should not limit users posts based on content or viewpoint. If they do keep limiting posts then they should be held to the standards of a publisher and be liable for all posts. That is the law I am saying should be passed.

I agree for the most part. Just look at the latest "stimulus" checks. Individuals who are hurting are getting hundreds of dollars, yet the politicians, foreign governments and various worthless organizations are getting millions if not billions. They get away with it because most people who just watch MSM don't realize what's actually in the bills because it doesn't fit the feel good agenda and all they care about is free money which really isn't free. Not sure if it was in the bill that passed or not but one of them had a $50k+ pay raise for Congress in it🤬

My kid is two, I don't have to worry about him on social media. I do have to help him steer his Mario Kart so the 5 laps don't take 40 minutes

my social media is Brickpicker...honestly Bold Arrow's post is what informed me about the Capitol news

All these politicians may start out thinking it's a swamp, but once they get there they realize it's a hot tub. Every politician installs their cronies in appointed positions, some are good, but most are just people they owe a favor to. Most of Congress just doesn't care about regular folks. They would rather be campaigning against the other side, distracting everyone while they line their own pockets, than actually solving problems.

Lion loose at the colosseum

absolutely true... but you are talking about specific individuals within an existing structure. I am talking about the structure. People respond to incentives...

This is absolutely true. I had the unpleasant opportunity to visit Djibouti a few times in the service. The squalor that the majority of the population lived in made me very happy to be born and raised in the US.

thats a long hold...

I recognize the roots of BLM are not consistent with what many consider are the BLM ideals. But just like folks support Trump policies but dislike the guy...folks can support BLM ideals and not have to know much about its roots. If a selfish egomanic wants peace...I want peace too...we can both want peace. I've got friends who are so into all aspects of the movements including each leader's entire life history...it's not about that. We're not following Jesus, we are following ideals we believe in which may have been brought to light by flawed individuals. I will say don't donate money blindly tho. Do some due diligence because $ in teh wrong hands can often times do more harm than good.

Curious, what is your take on BLM protesters who yelled profanity and spewed hatred against a group of people (ie. the police) for the better part of last summer? By the above definition, should BLM be allowed to express their freedom of speech?

I think of it like TV networks and censorship. There is a sense of decency that is the fabric of society. Any service that reaches all ages and peoples need to operate within the social norms of the times. There are no absolutes like "freedom of speech" outside the context of social norms. W/ all that said, suspension of Trump's Twitter is a big deal and unprecedented and will test the bounds of social media. I think a more reasonable type of regulation is to force all your followers to re-opt following an act that goes against policies. Clean slate and loss of previous content w/ every infringement of rules. Eventually people get tired of re-opting and that in itself will self-regulate individual twitter accounts

LifeProTip: Hand the two year old a controller, and then find a YouTube play through that has no voice over. You’re welcome.

I disagree that any level of "decency" should be required or enforced. The first amendment gives everyone the right to freedom of speech, not freedom of speech as long as it is socially acceptable. Hate speech is not a crime in this country and is actually protected under the constitution. You can stand out on the street corner and yell all of the racial slurs, curse words or untrue "facts" that you want to and that right is protected. Don't get me wrong, I don't agree with any racist remarks or anything like that, but everyone has the right to say what they want. I think social media companies that wish to simply be seen as a platform instead of a publisher should be forced to allow all people to say what they want no matter how indecent.

I see 3 scenarios: massive un-announced retirements due to CV uncertainty minimal retirements (even those on the list) but prolonged and extensive amounts of scarcity (ie OOS/OS dance) The list was mostly right and it's like most years w/ some un-announced sets "disappearing" Treehouse has been scarce since early Nov (I think); but I wouldn't personally tie up capital on any $100+ IDEAS sets

I have purchased two cars. I have come out of both experiences hating myself more than the regular level of self-loathing I exhibit. Maybe the third time will be the charm for not feeling like an idiot.

So now we are officially into 2021 and our 2020 sales sheets are complete, sort of. For those of us that unfortunately used the brickfolio for tracking, can we get some sort of clarification, pretty please? I ask this fully understanding it's probably not issue #1 for the brickpicker team, but some of us are really stuck in a tough spot since this disappeared. I know, hindsight is 20/20, I don't need any "you should have had a separate sheet" crap from the peanut gallery. I do now, but that doesn't help for older purchases. Thanks for all the work on the site, please help those of us unfortunate souls that relied on this function.

No; end consumers will actually want this, not just resellers.

I sold about 50 sets this year after only selling 3 all of last year. But the last time I made a copy was in Apr 2016. I put all of my purchase prices in there and have no data from May 2016 to Feb 2020.