It's always comical when bigots and oppressors try to whine that they are the victims, try to pull the "show tolerance of intolerance" crap.

If someone wants to deny people equal rights, deny people the right to get married, based on the color of their skin or their religion or gender, then I will defend their rights such as free speech. However I will not invite them to my dinner table. I will not welcome them in my home. I will not welcome them in my social circle. I will earnestly endeavor not to put on damn dollar in their pocket. And I will damn well use MY right to free speech to call them a vile bigoted scum.

Tolerance is a virtue, but tolerance-of-intolerance is self contradictory. Tolerance does not mean I need to be polite or accommodating to a Ku Klux Klan group who are directly harming innocent people, or who inflict or advocate indirect harm of innocent people via laws or other force of government to deny them equal rights.

Whether it's interracial marriage or gay marriage, I do not need to be "tolerant" of the HARM inflicted or advocated in denying people equal rights.

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Most polls use the sample size to obtain a 3% or 4% error margin. The percentages I posted was the midpoint of 6 polls taken this year, and they were all within +/- 3% of what I posted. Very consistent. The vast number of polls over the last few decades show a strikingly clear and steady shift.

The political and other major events on the subject don't seem to be really pushing the numbers around. It seems that this is something that's just plain percolating through society, and the political fireworks and the court battles and the news items are more like an effect of this process rather than a driver of it.

I suspect almost the opposite. I think positions are changing faster than feelings. I think a lot of the shift is people who are still "uncomfortable" with the idea of gay marriage, but who are actively overcoming that discomfort to try to "do the right thing". I suspect a lot of the ideas and attitudes and understanding developed during the interracial marriage shift are directly responsible for the speed of the gay marriage shift. I think a lot of people are recognizing that "doing the right thing" here means supporting other people's equal rights, even when it means taking an uncomfortable position.

All of the complex factors behind it is why I find it particularly striking to compare it to the equivalent polls on interracial marriage. The shift on gay marriage is almost exactly twice as fast. Whatever the forces and processes are, they are twice as fast this time. That's huge.

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I didn't pick one comment: I read only the first one, and then gave up when you lied about what I wrote. And you're doing it again, so again, I won't continue reading.

I didn't say there was. I said the restrictions are arbitrary. I was explicit.

I can't bother to read past your first idiotic comment.

False. It is removing arbitrary restrictions on business. This is about the free market.

Irrelevant. Not my problem. We are freeing the market. Adapt or die.

Anything you say next is false. I am forcing nothing. Neither is the government. If they are forced to do anything, it is by free market forces.

Everyone, except for those relying on government to protect their interests against the reasonable interests of others, and I have no sympathy for such people.

I didn't go off-topic at all.

So? I wonder why you think you're making a point.

I do not recognize the "right" of any government to ban the sale of a legal product or service.

Even if that is true -- it's not -- it's irrelevant.

This is not a huge issue for me: while it is absolutely clear that laws restricting the sale of legal goods and services are stupid and harmful, it would have far less of an impact on freeing of the health market than much more sensible and broad legislation: to remove the business subsidies for health insurance, and replace it with an individual income tax credit, which will necessarily have the effect of driving down -- massively -- the cost of care and insurance.

In many areas, yes. I hope you don't think you're arguing against me in some way.

So what? Seriously. If a small business can't handle the free market, then it should go away. That's not a bad thing, it's a good thing, and the worst of all worlds is a government that keeps burdensome or expensive regulations around just to make sure businesses that rely on those regulations don't suffer.

Most of us would rather have the Queen as head of state than any recent prime minister.

Depends how you define, daily bases I guess.
In principle there are long term contracts and short term (down to hourly) deals at the spot market.

E.g. the company EnBW is selling a lot of power in long term contracts (1-2years) to frensh companies. Deals like that are between a power selling company and an end consumer.

Otoh surplus (well, any energy, but that is less relevant) energy is traded at the european spot market. So during peak production or other reasons (steel plant shuts unexpected down etc.) power companies trade amoung each other. So a german company might buy from France or other neighbours. Either to fill up pumped storages or simply to power down one of their own plants.

Production of renewables is a bit tricky to calculate correctly, as the increase in production is so high. Renewables are basically solar plus wind (biomass is still not much).
So I guess the sum of wind and solar is in winter low? Or it is only low in percentages as the total amount of energy production is much higher? Anyway wind energy should be more in winter than in summer!

I understand what Xolotl wanted to say and what you now claim. However: it is simply wrong.
Energy transfer is recorded and published, you can easy look up that germany does not import significant amounts of "coal power" from Poland (or nuclear from France or that matter).

Polling on interracial marriage showed it increased in acceptance at a fairly steady rate of 1% per year.
Polls show acceptance of gay marriage rising 2% per year. It's currently about 55% support vs 39% against.

Approval of gay marriage is overwhelming among the younger generation, who largely view it as a civil rights issue. The strongest opposition among senior citizens, who are literally dropping dead day by day. There is nothing that can stand against the force of a generational shift.

You lost this fight. You lost this fight several years ago. YOU are the gadfly that has been swatted. Get used to the word "bigot", because you're going to be hearing increasingly often.

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You're not offended by a legal code which doesn't forbid rape?

The degree part is optional if you use foreign/unusual units of temperature.
The "unit" part is optional if you assume you use the local used unit.
Well, I can not say about the US e.g. but for my 'speaking' 40 degrees would imply 40 fahrenheit, which would be equal to 40 degrees fahrenheit.
Anyway, in germany at least people woul add the (unnecessary) 'degree' if they would say fahrenheit or reymoure.

I second that.
Lol ... what a post ... I'm literally sitting in a pub and trying tomavoidnto rofl, but could not resist to slap my theights ... the whole pup is looking at me wondering why I'm laughing so hard ...

There is no unit 'degree Celsius'. Just like with Kelvin the official unit is without 'degree'!
And yes, you are right, only non scientific people,do that. That is 90 - 95% of the population. Do you really expect any german, european, wether forcaster to include 'Celsius' when he says: tomorrow the temperature will vary between 10 degrees in the morning and peak to 26 early afternoon and go down to 2 in the night?