Many family and friends gather only once a year and that can result in some uncomfortable silences. Here are tried and true (it’s science) ways to get people talking whether they are liberal, conservative, or libertarian (whatever they believe).

1. Hey, were you as happy as I was to see Ellen Degeneres leave the country?

2. I hope Elon buys MSNBC and fixes it like he did Twitter!

3. I think Peanut the Squirrel had it coming, don’t you?

4. Can we can all agree that if we colonize Mars we should leave the Muslims behind?

5. What’s with this age of consent thing; I mean 18 is just an arbitrary age some prude picked.

6. Aren’t those yard signs where people declare their beliefs the stupidest things you’ve ever seen?

7. I think all lives matter.

8. Every idiot who goes about with a ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart.

9. If global warming is real then why is it cold out right now?

10. Isn’t meridian-street.com the best, or what?