Super Mario Run Now Costs £9.99 To Unlock In The UK

As someone in mainland Europe all I can do is shrug.

I was thinking yesterday that I should buy it before its price rises but never went ahead. Oh well, I guess it never interested me too much. Also it's just £2 so I'm not gonna loose my mind if I end up having to pay a little extra.

If Nintendo fans in the UK didn't already regret voting leave, then they should now.

Just watch this get blown up out of proportion.

@Portal_King Remainer here, and I saw this coming a mile off (including the Switch prices).

Why didn't big Dave Cameron use this in his campaign? "vote remain, keep Mario games affordable"

@Portal_King

For £2?

Get in the real world.

Now even fewer people will bother with it!

There is absolutely zero good reason for the price hike. "Because, Brexit" ain't a good excuse: It's a frikin' digital game; it costs basically zero to reproduce it endless times now that it's already been made and released.

I thought 7.99 was too much no way am I going to pay 9.99 for it

@Portal_King

Nah still happy with my decision, just still waiting for it to actually happen.

@impurekind of course it doesn't come with any added cost for Nintendo, but if the pound is losing ground to other currencies due to Brexit, well, then of course they'll charge more.
If the equivalent to 9.99 €/$ in pounds is rising from 7.99 to higher numbers, they'll have to adjust the price in order to keep it in line with the rest of the world.

@impurekind it's not directly because of Brexit, but more to do with the value of the pound taking due to brexit. Any money Nintendo makes is sent back to Japan. In the first half of last year, £8 would have been about 1400 yen. Today £8 is 1150 yen. Nintendo will be making significantly less than the price they decided on.

Apple have some nerve. They'd be lucky if I'd pay £2 for this game nevermind increasing its price by the same amount.

I'm a remainer here, but there's a lot of bigger issues for and against Brexit than whether mobile games cost £7.99 or £9.99.

Not many mobile users are going to pay for the app at 7.99, let alone 9.99. This is not going help Nintendo sell the game at all.
Also, its annoying people blame Brexit for everytime the UK price changes. Back in my day, we would call this "Rip off Britain".

@Portal_King The price of a smart phone game is quite low down in the issues of Brexit.

Costs always rise yet never decline. Only big companies (in this case Apple) can capitalize on a "trend".

Still worth it. It's got a lot of relpayability and there are no micro transactions, although I still wonder why exactly you have to collect 'tally tickets' to play Toad Rally.

@Mellor2000 the fact that all imports are now costing more and all exports are now worth less because some people thought Britain would save money by leaving the EU. Didn't take long after the vote for the major promise of the Brexit camp of extra millions for health to be proven a complete lie.

Apple already increased the prices of their hardware by quite a large margin, so not surprising.

However, given that the Android Miitomo coin prices have risen by the equivalent (7.99 option is now 9.99), I expect the rise on Android Mario Run too.

This is Apple's fault. They take the view that as all their income has to come out of the UK - and the pound has dropped n Value 20% - they lose 20% of their profit. . .. despite still making a profit. In November - the price of a £1049 MacBook rose to £1249 overnight along with 20% increases on all their other goods.

It's probably worth pointing out that it's possible that Brexit may not even go ahead now... the high court has given parliament the final decision on the matter, so they could overturn it... or at least force another vote now that people are more aware of the implications.

Apple are just getting greedy... trying to take advantage of the weaker pound... it could still recover once this Brexit mess has passed, but Apple probably won't change their prices back when it does.

That's a 25% price increase, absolutely crazy...

@AlexOlney Sorry, my bad that's what I meant. I'm so used to saying Nintendo are the root of all evil. You know how it is on a Monday morning, I still haven't woken up properly.

First, Failed Celebs That Now Work For Minimum Wage. And now this? Yeesh.

Wow, really? Just when I (stupidly) thought they might drop its price.

I'm trying so hard not to say something bad right now. But this angers me, brexit angers me, the leave campaigners and the people that voted leave without realising the full consequences of their actions anger me. This country angers me. This isn't even the start or the end of the price hike trend. It's everywhere. As someone already pointed out it's just £2 but that's a 25% increase. The value of the GBP has plummeted and prices all around are rising to ridiculous and sometimes unaffordable highs. Before the price rise I still felt like we got charged a premium or something for everything in the UK as if we were all rich (especially in Northern Ireland since we were off the mainland and treated like a castaway, unwanted, subsidiary of the UK) but now it's just gotten ridiculous.

[sigh] Rant over. Hopefully we don't see any more price rises. Like the Switch rising to £349.99 or something. That would be horrible. Luckily I'd still have that Amazon pre-order price guarantee though, lol 💀

I thought apple would be happy with Brexit as it was the EU which ordered them to pay back the 11billion back to Ireland in unpaid taxes because they had been using Ireland as a financial loophole to avoid paying hardly any tax to the UK and other EU countries. I'm sure they could shoulder this £2 increase themselves with all the money they kept from putting back into the UK over the years.

I don't think there's a reason to get mad at Apple or Nintendo for this. It's pretty straightforward currency value based on market issues.

It's healthy to note that there are similar issues around the world right now and prices were raised on the App Store in many countries.

Also, it's useful to note that Nintendo priced the Switch in different territories 3 months out knowing that problems like this were going to come up. There's a bit of "insurance" built into the price worldwide. It's unfortunate timing to be sure.

The Pound is like newbie player's first or twentieth attempt at beating the Tubular, They get the P-balloon inflate and then makes one slight mistake and deflates into a bottomless hole.

@aaronsullivan Thanks for the ninja'd words of wisdom on a Monday morning.

For all the UK folk blaming Brexit, go talk to the Canadians, their prices have been going up worse than yours the past 2 years and I haven't heard a single 1 of them blame Brexit. Prices go up, it's called inflation, it's not a new concept.

And if any Canadian knows why your prices have gone up so much the past 2 years I'd like to hear it, all I get out of Google is "inexplicable". Oh, and I know it has to do w/ currency exchange rates, I mean what triggered it in Canada specifically, b/c then maybe we can stop blaming get enough everything on here on Brexit and put blame where it belongs, on The Donald.

The worst part about this situation was giving off the ruse that the citizens were in control of their destiny, by creating an "election choice." In truth, it was just a way to determine the obedience of the populace. If enough chose "leave," they would be punished by intentionally harming the market. Some of the most powerful people in the EU are unelected, rather, they're appointed, and often have great power over the real decision making. It's the same thing on a more covert scale than what's more obviously happening now in the US: the corporate coup d'etat and total domination of governments.

A simple £2 increase on a digital game with a previously established price doesn't seem like something to get worked up over. After all, Apple's decisions on their products don't necessarily affect one's livelihood. But it always starts small. Companies will become emboldened by further power grabs. Yet, if the situation should worsen, it is not because those who seek power reach ever further for it in totality. Rather, it is because not enough people do even little things to resist their masters, craftily being led to make brutal enemies of each other, instead.

"Enemies, enemies... Enemies..."

And the shadow hands loom, pointing every which way, while emulating the flaming sword, and dangling the strings...

@DragonEleven Brexit will go ahead regardless at some point. Politicians can't block it, by they can open up discussion about under what terms they can trigger article 50...

@Findonovan95

It's £2 for God's sake.

Get over it and and go and give your sandals a polish!

Will try the free version (my first ever mobile game!). Will purchase if fun.

Also, this is a good moment to reflect again on the fact that we're lucky the Switch is 280, rather than having parity with the US price, given the way sterling is going.

Thanks Brexit

@8itmap_k1d Well, it'll cost close to the equivalent of US$50 more than in the US and ¥11,000 more than in Japan at launch, so I dunno about that...

@8itmap_k1d
I'd save your money. I know it's hard to resist Mario, but the game is way too short and it's not that interesting to play. Replay value is a placing coins in harder to reach areas.
And my friends in the UK....at least you don't have Trump.

That is Apple cashing in. Brexit has Not caused a 25% rise. Apple are being greedy. Let's hope Android are more customer friendly.

Otherwise Avoid the game.

@Portal_King I don't think not voting Brexit would stop Apple from ripping its customers off.

again, people will pay $5 for a cup of coffee. But $10 is too much for a game. Sad world we live in. How much does that smart phone cost every month too?

@OorWullie What does "the will of the people" even mean these days? Over $6 billion throughout the corporate media for 2016 were spent focused on nearly 24/7/365 of propagandic Trump coverage, and a billionaire called Robert Mercer single handedly helped bring Trump's campaign into the forefront. Unprecedented levels of shadow campaign money was spent, and with "Citizens United" vs FEC + McCutcheon vs FEC, unlimited contributions from the ultrawealthy were flung, unfettered by restrictions of law.

No. The citizens have been led to believe they made a "choice." In truth, it is just the influence of money speaking in a louder voice than human voices could carry. Either way was a particular flavor of corporate coup d'etat: either covert, or overt. The citizens selected overt. The ultrawealthy selected overt. The pundits ranted and raved with their own brand of overtness. Who, then, will blame themselves and not others?

@Donutman
I don't care if it's $100 if it's a good game.

So it would actually be cheaper create a u.s apple account and buy the American game now.......

Apple getting greedy and are using Brexit as an excuse, while I can understand a small company putting prices up because of Brexit, Apple have billions in the bank and can afford to take a little less money from the UK.

As it it wasn't expensive enough...

@Donutman I remember it was often $70-80 for those coveted SNES RPG's, 20 years ago. But for their time, they were worth it. Super Mario Deluxe for GBC, which offers many of the extras that Super Mario Run offers, was quite worth the $30 it costed back in 1999. Paying $10 today for SMR, with all the stuff that can be had for nearly that price or just a little more? Not worth it.

@ottospooky Parliament CAN block it though... the supreme court decided that they do have that power last week, and the government can't go ahead with triggering article 50 until parliament give their permission, which has essentially put Brexit on hold until parliament come to a decision about it.
Parliament could easily decide that the implications of Brexit were not made clear enough at the time of previous vote, and could force another vote now that more of the facts have come to light.

@Hikingguy I know all about the Fed and the gold standard, some might even consider me and my tinfoil hat a conspiracy nut - though maybe less so after the week we've had - but 1913 is still over 100 years of inflation being the "norm" before somebody coined the term "Brexit". It isn't all about Brexit.

And honestly, even when I wrote "inflation" I knew it was wrong, but that's a lot easier than trying to explain exchange rates to people. If people can't understand the simple premise that things go up in price over time - I'm old enough to say things like, I remember when a slice of pizza and a can of soda would break a buck and still leave you w/ change for the bus - they surely aren't going to understand exchange rates. I was just trying to stop the constant scapegoating of Brexit for everything w/ a simpler explanation for prices going up. People start blaming Brexit for everything, they stop looking for the real causes and real solutions.

A 25% increase on the App Store doesn't effect me much as I rarely game on my phone however if the download stores I do frequent follow suit it's gonna hurt, 25% on top of a full price eshop/PSN game no thank you. But at least the xenophobes are happy.

@lemonjellydude I bought it day one and still play it every couple of days! Great little game, with quite a bit of depth to it. Puts most mobile games to shame quite frankly!

@Findonovan95 stop crying the u.s. has paid 10 bucks since day one lol

@rjejr for once I agree I remember when you could buy a carton of cigs and fill your gas tank for about 20 bucks. Early and mid 1990s

@DragonEleven

More of what facts?

@Raptor78 Shhh, people aren't supposed to know about corporate tax loophole deals...

@Slim1999 £8 is about US$10. They're paying more like US$12.55 now.

@DonkeyKongBigBoy that's good to hear I don't disagree it looks great, I have played it a little but Im not really a fan of playing games on my mobile in general and to me £10 is way too much for a game on a mobile when the vast majority are way lower. But with the Nintendo production £10 isn't much really but I'll stick to my 3ds and possibly switch when it comes to playing mario

@JohnG Both sides failed to properly communicate the positives and negatives that would inevitably come from either decision, and far too many people didn't fully understand what they were voting for as a result.
The weakening of the pound and resulting rise in prices is just one example of this... it was an inevitability of leaving the EU, yet so many people are now being surprised by it.

@PlywoodStick I deleted my comment right after I posted it,probably should have just left it there but didn't want to end up getting into a political discussion here.I will say,I've been stung left,right and centre since 2008 by these buggers that are meant to be serving us.The people have had enough.Whether Brexit or Trump proves to be the right choice we'll have to wait and see but hopefully these last couple of years will have proved to our politicians,if they don't don't do the job their elected to do and get back in touch with the feeling of the public then they're out.

Do we need any more proof that Apple is the spawn of Satan?

I remember reading a headline when it was released calling £7.99 "wallet busting" lololol

Lol, even more expensive!

I vote the way I do because I'm brainwashed see. I have no mind of my own but luckily these armchair analysts on the Internet are here to tell me that I don't have a mind of my own and that I should do what they say. Thank god for that. I don't know what I'd do.

Considering this game is $13.99 to unlock in Canada, no one else from any other country(except maybe Australia) have a right to complain about the price of this app....

@DonkeyKongBigBoy my thoughts exactly. Mario Run is exactly the sort of game that players were crying out for 10 years ago: 1 price, no IAP, Nintendo, finely tuned gameplay, loads of hidden depth.

Those black coins are a sod to collect.

@Slim1999 Yeah, good thing I never took up smoking, I'd never be able to afford videogames as a hobby. $8 pints now and then taps out my "sin" fund.

@Hikingguy "divide and conquer..."

Yeah, I've been posting that phrase alot on FB and Twitter lately, but we better stop now. This is the reason I want NL to stop using Brexit in every article, too easy to get sidetracked in a world gone mad.

@RadioHedgeFund yep, Mario run basically made me order a switch

@zool This is a response I can get on board with.

@rjejr yea i quit about a month ago.between.video games and movies I had to lol

Why would they keep the price the same when the money is now worth less? They have no obligation to do so. And what is with this baseless statement: "when the value of the currency goes back up they won't lower it" As a Canadian I can confirm that they do adjust for when it goes up as well. I don't understand why people feel entitled to special treatment.

That's a damn shame.

I won't even bother getting the game now. It especially hurts that I've had to wait for March for it anyway.

@Grawlog Don't worry, Super Mario Oddysey is going to drain the swamp... Lol.

@Slim1999 Doing okay with handling any withdrawal symptoms?

@rjejr I can't help but wonder if Nintendo wanted to wait until after the fallout of the US election to decide launch price for the Nintendo Switch. It had to be a factor in deciding to wait until after the Holiday season, right? If nothing else, someone probably used it as a supporting factor.

@rjejr I just saw an earlier post suggesting you don't want to mix in politics here and yeah, I only want to discuss that stuff here as it directly affects video games. I'll get this off my chest and try to drop it: Politics and the non-compromising silo-gathering nature of modern communications... even among family and friends — it just sucks. On top of this (and maybe a reaction to this), politicians have decided that getting elected meant they should now only cater to their own party constituents and this always causes the growth of a disenfranchised group to take a turn, getting ignored and angry. It's been getting worse and worse over the last several administrations and there's no sign of relief.

I'm going to play some Super Mario Run now.

Just going to put this out there:

Half a year ago, the pound was 20% more powerful than what it is now ($1.49 US dollars then vs. $1.24 US Dollars now).

What about Android owners who haven't had the opportunity to buy it yet for whatever nonsense reason that developers use to bring things to one brand of phone first

@aaronsullivan "after the fallout"

We're nowhere near the fallout yet, we're at the end of the first Hunger Games movie, we have 3 more to go to get to the fallout.

In case you passed on that series, the snow-flurries have started, Winter is coming.

@Slim1999 Gum or patch?

I know, that was lame, but I had to.

Lol other can't say on here lol do you have a ps4?I'm sure the Wii u.if so send me a friend request

@aaronsullivan "non-comprising silo-gathering nature of modern communications..."

I knew there was a reason I liked you, you say stuff I can't comprehend. I've simply been telling everybody on Twitter and Facebook to watch this kids TV program from way back in 1993 that lays it all on the line. If you can't spare 22 minutes, watch the first 7:30, then skip ahead to 15:50 and watch the last 6 minutes to the end. Though, I'm getting a sense of deja vu, so, we've possibly already discussed this years ago and you've probably already watched it. It's worth a rewatch though, I've seen it dozens of times since '93, it's my favorite. Showed it to my Soc 101 class to teach the early 90's recession. Not to be confused w/ either the mid 90's or late 90's recessions.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3qxdi0H9tOo&t=981s

I rewatched Hunger Games w/ my wife and kids yesterday, my wife and I saw it when it first came out on DVD but I wanted to wait to watch the last 3, and my kids haven't seen any of them yet. So we watched the first movie, and it was much more scary than 4 years ago. Especially this scene.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aWPWHU8x6kE

Cheap Logan's Run special effects didn't make it scary, watching this real life scene from Saturday afterwards made it scary.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/politics/2017/01/29/immigrant-ban-protest-seatle-sea-tac-airport.cnn

Tin soldiers and Donalds coming,
We're finally on our own.
This summer I hear the drumming,
Four dead in Ohio.

And that's why I don't want to talk about it, b/c I do want to talk about it, I want to warn the world and enlighten the masses, and I get sucked in and I can't stop. Republican, Democrat, Trump supporter or hater, do people really need to die in a bloody revolution or civil war. 1 week down, 207 weeks to go.

And don't even get me started on WW3.

http://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-china-southchinasea-idUSKBN1572M4

Bannon has a seat on the Security Council and his old website Bribefart is running articles about the Chinese military preparing for war w/ the US. How is that possible?!?! I'm not linking to that trash site, here or anywhere, but this was the story.

http://www.cnbc.com/2017/01/29/us-china-war-increasingly-a-reality-chinese-army-official-says.html

If you made it this far, poor guy, here's 8 minutes of laughter, I always end w/ this. Does anybody remember laughter?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LQmbttoxUeE

I'll likely delete this when your done, just drop me a reply.

@rjejr *non-compromising silo-gathering (everyone separating from people with differing viewpoints, maybe I could just say siloing) is happening with how people communicate via social media especially, but also sharing opinionated rants that intentionally avoid nuance for the purpose of stirring up anger and fear and attention. That's what I was getting at, yet I mistyped non-compromising as non-comprising which makes it completely unintelligible.

Anyway, it has been escalating and as much as I think protesting is appropriate, especially now, it's more effective if the messaging is precise and done from a place of deep understanding of the issues. I don't want to feed into fears. Our government is set up to balance this type of thing out and as much as people have lost confidence in it of late I do hope we get to see it self-correct as some officials begin to realize how important their roles are. Even large bodies in the private sector are doing their part to protest, so there's some hope.

We have the most amazing avenue of communication in history and we, as people, huddle into corners and hiss at anyone approaching to try and come to a compromise or an understanding.

Man, I've retyped my thoughts here several times. I'm giving up for tonight.

@aaronsullivan Not sure I would have gotten it fully anyway, but compromising is a little easier to understand than comprising in that context. I'm smart enough to know what each of those words mean, but apparently not smart enough to know when to replace the wrong one with the right one.

"Our government is set up to balance this type of thing out"

Did you write that before he decided to just fire anyone in government who disagrees with him as if he were the host of his own reality TV show? Oh wait...

As I said on Twitter last night, she should probably consider herself lucky, the next ones will probably be arrested as traitors. I know he's wondering how many loyal cops he would need to arrest all of Congress while they are in session. I don't think he's Kim Jung cuckoo, no beheadings, but Emperor Palpatine maybe, Ep. 1-3 unfolding before our eyes? I know you think I'm insane, but we just lived thru 3 terms of Mayor Bloomberg in NYC, and that's a 2 term city. Giuliani didn't even run for a 3rd in the aftermath of 9/11 when the city needed stability, billionaire Bloomberg just bought it. And Merkel announced she's running for a 4th 4 year term. Let's just say he's beginning to worry me.

Let's say he's too old and just looking to get out, maybe the damage is already done?

US history:
Genocide the native Americans
Slave labor
Chinese labor
Japanese Interment camps
Jim Crow laws
KKK
Black Lives Matter

It's gotta be very hard to look at that list right now if you're a Muslim or a Mexican. 8 years of pent up frustration for the skinheads living under BHO. I'm not convinced they are satisfied with the victory, they seem a bit too eager with the ban and the wall rather than taking time to celebrate. This is their idea of enjoyment, hurting others.

For the record, I didn't vote for the guy, but I wasn't opposed either, better than Cruz or Rubio or any of the other Repubs. A loud mouth guy from Queens, my dad with a $1B, Archie Bunker in the WH. But nobody expected him to actually do anything but bluster. He's a bit out of control at the moment, but who's going to reel him in and risk getting fired or ostracized? Its all very Bay of Pigs "Groupthink" right now, too well insulated. Cheney was the devil, but Bannon? Cheney profited from small incursion wars into the middle east, perfect example of a military industrial complex money guy, but Bannon, I think he wants WW3 to be his legacy, nutjob. Make America a Great Military Power Again.

Power corrupts, absolute power...

@rjejr I'm not as cool, calm, and collected about it as my posts may sound, but the problem is that piles of hysteria don't fight hot heads who are in control, but instead feed them. The whole news cycle, social media, podcasts and radio shows are all feeding on drama and hysteria. Makes it all much harder, really.

@aaronsullivan Hysteria sells. Nobody turns on the weather channel to watch a nice spring day, only hurricanes, blizzards and tornadoes. And the occasional nor'easter which messed us up a bit down here last weekend.

That's the real problem w/ the press. Not that they are the opposition to the govt, that's not a problem, that's their JOB, to keep an eye on the govt and keep them honest and in line. It's called a "free press" b/c its free from govt over site, not b/c it's free as in beer. (That's a Slashdot thing, I don't know why.)

Here's one obvious example of my problem. Abortion has been legal since 1973 when those 9 old white guys said so. That's almost 50 years. 50 years of protests and marches and parades. Do those 2 groups of women, Life and Choice, ever, EVER sit down and talk about it to try and work out their differences? 50 years. We can't get women to sit down and talk, but we're going to solve 3,000 years of hatred in the middle east? I've halfway decided Pro Life and Pro Choice were terms created by men for "simple women minds" (product of the thinking of the time in the 60's) to keep them divided forever, b/c if women ever united patriarchy as we know it would end, they outnumber us.

And that's what he's doing now. Move the embassy to Jerusalem, then leave out Jews in his Holocaust speech. Keep everyone off balance and confused. Then give his enemies too much to do. Destroy the environment, destroy education, destroy freedom, destroy world peace. There's only so many pages in a newspaper and days and places to protest. War of attrition. News currently isn't helping. Alt-Right sees every protester as a "whiner", world news is their funny pages. It's all one sided. All of it. Every bit. Everywhere. Preaching to the choir is all anybody does. But what about discussion, civility, conversation? Maybe there are only a few % of us, but we need to make more. Everybody is getting angrier and angrier. Show me a calmer head to prevail and I'll show you a voice everyone tunes out. Schumer cries, Trump mocks him. How is that helping anybody?

https://www.google.com/webhp?sourceid=chrome-instant&ion=1&espv=2&ie=UTF-8#q=trump+mocks+schumer

Would you happen to know any non-partisan news organizations websites that actually make an effort to explain things and not choose a side? I watch BBC News sometimes to tell me what's what in my own country.

So I'm glad your a cooler head, I'm obviously not. But in my defense I have a wife and kids to think of, this hardly made a blip in the news.

http://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2017/01/19/510548864/wave-of-bomb-threats-targets-jewish-centers-again

OK, I'll calm down now. And go back and delete all of that now, I keep forgetting.

@Hikingguy @Hikingguy Yeah, "done" isn't really my strong point.

"I wish they taught discernment in schools."

Too much work. For the teachers and the students. Teach one thing, tell them it's the truth, let them figure out the rest. That's all we get. Trying to explain both sides of an issue, just going to confuse everyone. How many times in life do you here people ask - "What's right?" vs. "What are both sides of the issue?". Nobody cares about both sides, everybody just wants to know what's right. I'll at least give humans credit for that, people do WANT to be on the right side, but oftentimes "right" is a matter of priorities - me first everyone else be damned vs. I'll sacrifice myself for others. There is no "right", it really is all perception. Leading of course back to your discernment, realizing it's all based on frame of reference. People need to look at both sides, nobody ever wants to.

I've spent my entire long life saying "Destruction is easy, creation is hard". That's just my funky take on "path of least resistance" but I like it.

I did see a recent episode of Anthony Bourdain Parts Unknown - travelogue food reality show - where they were eating in an open air restaurant and somebody outside started shooting and everybody was trying to protect Bourdain, and afterwards he says "Your not my bodyguard, don't worry about me, protect yourself." It was a pretty cool moment that made the show seem real, not staged.

OK, deleting to do. Oh, and nice meeting you, anybody who uses the word discernment is ok by me, no matter what side of whatever issues you may be on. I think that makes me an elitist, but I like people who don't use it too. I'd never you use it, too many letters.

@Hikingguy Man, I keep forgetting to delete things. Maybe when I feel like I'm done w/ this thread. Even I need to change the subject after a bit.

Truly sorry about your kid.

@rjejr Yep, we are on the same page on all this. This particularly: "Preaching to the choir is all anybody does. But what about discussion, civility, conversation? Maybe there are only a few % of us, but we need to make more."

"Would you happen to know any non-partisan news organizations websites that actually make an effort to explain things and not choose a side?" Nope. Use discernment.