Yes it would be mind bogglingly expensive. On the other hand, so was the war on Afghanistan. We’re a rich country. We make choices about what we spend our wealth on.
An investigation will be needed to determine root causes and risk of future accidents. Maybe a separated crossing isn’t appropriate here. On the other hand we can’t say there’s no way this accident is about deferred infrastructure spending
As me ole dad used to say: "There are two kinds of people in this world - those who say ‘Jesus, take me now!’ and those who say 'Jesus, take them now!’ 
"
So, with an adult population of 258.3 million, that means we have 28 percent of the electorate who are batshit crazy. Well, guess what? That’s actually a small minority, and they’ve always been with us. What’s changed is the media has given them multiple bullhorns and echos their every mumble. They are still a minority, and if we don’t panic and fall onto our fainting couches, we’ll put them back in their boxen.
Things to do now:
Ball’s in our court and it’s our serve…
Quote:
"In 2020, the U.S. Census Bureau counted 331.4 million people living in the United States; more than three-quarters (77.9%) or 258.3 million were adults, 18 years or older — a 10.1% increase from 234.6 million in 2010. "
Source:
Yeah, I’ve tried but the conversations always just get heated, so I have to go with the flow…
I call her Westboro Baptist Greene.
Ya hafta understand that my cat is not normal. He’s a feral boy and he never learned normal cat stuff.
I sincerely hope the Dems understand that the celestial hall monitors will not save them and that neither the media nor the public will apportion the blame correctly if they let the GOP + Manchin et al ratfuck them on this.
The only logic behind playing this stupid fucking game that I can see is forcing Manchin and Sinema’s hands on the filibuster. Absent that, they better fucking mint the coin.
Meh. 10 steps forward, woefully inadequate. 1 step back, it’s all over folks, we’re done.
The pessimist’s credo. They always see clouds, not silver linings let alone clear skies. It’s a defense mechanism, sure, but also a passive-aggressive way of controlling others. People who feel powerless seek to control and undermine those who do not to avoid having to face their own terrifying demons. It’s gutless and vile but such is much of human behavior.
I feel icky before I even look up the word… lol
I hope your numbers are comforting to you because they’re not. At all.
Germany was hijacked by a tiny minority of psychopaths who then terrorized everyone else into following along, Or at least getting the fuck out of the way and keeping their mouths shut. Now, of course there are tremendous sociological and cultural reasons why that was sufficient and won’t work here. But what it proves is that a very dedicated minority can overturn everything because their goal is simple - create chaos. That’s easy. Once chaos has been established, lots of people just want things to go back to “normal” and people aren’t thinking rationally at that point.
So, don’t be surprised if the people who make the best case for calming the chaos and restoring things “as they were” are the same assholes who created the chaos in the first place. There’s a simple reason why fascists swear by this playbook. It works.
I’ve got an easier one than that. A new clean debt ceiling bill introduced by Senate President Kamala Harris and filed under a separate reconciliation, to set the debt ceiling at the value of all US Assets which is equal to about $250T. It would end the Kabuki dance for a long time and educate the US population about why the whole debt ceiling notion is ridiculous. To wit, if the US were a corporation, it would have a debt-to-equity ratio of about 12% which any Fortune 500 company would die for.
If the parliamentarian objects, Senate President Harris can just dismiss her. Shove the whole thing right up McConnell’s ass and dare him to complain about it.
The Army didn’t send me to war, but I recall night maneuvers in a deep forest. I thought If I ever had to do this for real, then I wanted to get my ears tuned to distinguish between manmade sounds vs natural sounds. I was probably naive, but I to tried to take it seriously – just in case. The forest has some nice sounds at night.
The sound of a rifle bolt cuts through the night like a hot knife through butter.
Let’s hope you guys are right. The WaPost is well into its “Biden fading” routine.
Even folks like me who know t that history tend to forget it. I have to remind myself.
Radical political and/or social change can occur quick as a cat can wink her eye.
Things can move at a glacial pace, then WHAM, the French Revolution or the rise of Hitler.
The clash of metal on metal is definitely not a natural forest sound. I remember the advice when sight-fishing in shallow flats for bonefish, which are essentially mirrors and from most angles just reflect what’s around them. The trick was not to look for “a fish,” but to learn to spot things that aren’t quite right, aren’t natural. Then suddenly you’d see it, but you had to cast without looking away or you’d lose it again. I suppose in the forest you have to learn the natural sounds and then realize when something isn’t right. Might give you the few seconds you need.
Have you ever read about Carlos Hathcock? Famous sniper in Vietnam. Another sniper was aiming at him once and Hathcock shot him straight through the other guy’s scope and killed him. It was the source of that scene in “Saving Private Ryan.”
I wouldn’t put it that way. Hitler became genuinely popular before his final consolidation of power and had the backing of the military. That said, every instance of a slide toward authoritarianism should be a warning for us, because that’s undoubtedly what the bad guys want, but there are many real differences between Germany in the early Thirties and our situation today. What the GOP is doing springs from desperation over their waning popularity.
The Nazis were NOT “a tiny minority of psychopaths who then terrorized everyone else into following along”. Sure, when they started out they were a small fringe group no one took seriously, led by certifiable nutjobs. But within short order they recruited millions of disgruntled vets, workers and nationalists by appealing to their anger and shame over losing WWI and being out of work and unable to provide for their families, convincing them that it wasn’t their fault but rather that of outsiders and traitors, and promising the restoration of all that was lost and revenge for all that was done to them. They were never close to a majority. They were just the biggest minority used terror, violence and lies to defeat their opponents, exploiting their inability to put aside their differences and put up a united front.
Sound familiar. I get and agree with your overall thesis, but you get the details wrong and they might be critical to our situation, because unlike the Germans of the 20’s and 30’s, there is no massive shame, defeat or loss that begins to match theirs, we’re far more diverse, our history and practice of democracy is much older, we’re far less conformist and compliant, and there’s far less division among the non-Trump factions of our political system. Our main weakness is states with too much power, the odious and anachronistic senate, and gerrymandering, structural forms of anti-democracy.
Oh yes. These guys are more than just super marksmen – I am/was a respectable one – but these guys are several levels above just good. They do so much on instinct. They may not always be able to explain a given shot. Yes, they got the idea for Pvt Ryan shot from his famous shot. Some of the great Russian, Finnish, German and American snipers used only stock rifles with a 4x scope. Think Lee Harvey Oswald.
I’m a decent shot myself and that stuff fascinates me. They use .50 calibers now a lot, and reach out incredible distances, but back then it was basically the same deer rifles anyone had. Hathcock was famous for his ability to creep up on his targets and that’s a whole other skill. Wild stuff.
I don’t think that selective default is not a bad idea if conservative politicians think that raising the debt ceiling is a bad idea. Conservatives do know a lot more about the markets than Democrats. So Democrats should meet them midway and go along –– with selective default.
Default is just Wall Street scare tactics. Corporate and banker propaganda.
America could selectively default on debt due to entities in communist countries, countries that have viruses as biological weapons and countries that sent terrorists on 9-11. All Americans hate these groups.