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Cacti

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Everything posted by Cacti

  1. Sloppy journalism/fake news. If Cole had done a quick Google search, he would have known that Republicans Mike Pence, Andy Biggs, Matt Gaetz, Sean Duffy, Dusty Johnson, Pete Stauber, John Joyce, Ted Cruz and Lindsay Graham visited the border while Trump was President.
  2. Quote from the DailyMail article referenced in post no. 1821. Aside from how different administrations approach the immigration issue, there seems to be one constant that spans Clinton, Bush, Obama and Trump. That is, their policies resulted in a multi-billion industry that is deeply entrenched in the fabric of our government—much like the military-industrial complex. This border security-industrial complex is an industry that prospers on the misfortune of the never-ending supply of desperate people and on our inability to have a bipartisan, consistent immigration policy. It is now Biden’s turn, but no matter what his policy is, the border security-industrial complex will still rake in billions. The Greater the Disaster, the Greater the Profits
  3. Cherry-picking implies that other pertinent data are available for 4th and 8th grade science and math performance, and that I deliberately chose to exclude some of the data. You seem to have access to a more comprehensive analyses of 4th and 8th grade science and math measurements than does the National Science Board; please share.
  4. Overall, Texas’ public schools seem to match up very well when compared to their peers. Every few years, the National Science Board publishes, among other things, science and engineering indicators for most states. This report does not include reading rankings, nor does it include rankings of students beyond 8th grade. What it does do is rank states by quartile in 4th and 8th grade science and math achievement, and Texas does very well when compared with other states, especially those with high populations. For example, in 4th & 8th grade math performance, Texas ranked in the 1st and 3rd quartile, respectively. In 4th & 8th grade science performance, Texas ranked in the 2nd quartile for both grades. Illinois beat Texas in only one of the four categories, while New York and California didn’t beat Texas in any category. Actually, Texas’ scores are impressive considering that the state spends considerably less per pupil than the other three states mentioned.
  5. Griddy no longer in business…I'll find the link later.
  6. If Texas were connected to the national grid during this particular nation-wide storm, would other states have enough excess electricity to help Texas in a substantial way?
  7. I was too young for spines, but he did get severe blisters on his hands. I can’t make that story weather related so I’ll just add this: the wind chill is expected to be -20 in west Texas tomorrow night.
  8. When I was a child—a long, long time ago—I backed up to an open-flame heater with nothing on but my underwear and a flannel robe. The robe caught fire and my dad tried to rip the robe off me but I panicked and ran. He caught me and smothered the flames with his hands, no doubt saving me from serious burns. True story.
  9. Impact? Sure. But I think there is a lot of space between “impact” and “bought-and-paid for.” Big PAC contributors can have an impact simply because they usually can get a face-to-face meeting with law makers to make their case for their cause. But even if an elected official supports the PAC’s cause, that doesn’t mean that they were bribed to do so. Only a cynic would make such a generalization. And in Inouye’s case, it doesn’t make sense that he was bribed to support Israel. He easily won every election in Hawaii and could have done so without pro-Israel PACs. If money was the only consideration in determining how politicians vote; if most of them have no firmly-held views and can be bribed; then pro-Israel PACs need to contribute to Ilhan Omar’s campaign, thereby flipping her anti-Israel stance to pro-Israel.
  10. From the last sentence in the article: It’s telling that—in the same sentence—you say “perhaps he (Inouye) was a fair dealing Senator wrt Israel...perhaps he wasn't” and go on to say “but he sure as fuck was one of the post bought-and-paid for Senators out there when it came to Israel…” You must be one of the few who believe that Inouye accepted bribes to support Israel.
  11. That’s a separate question from “How does the U.S. benefit from our relationship w/Israel?” Examples of the latter have been given. “It’s all good” is your choice of words, not mine. And you’re ignoring my narrow and specific point, which is: the aid to Israel is not “unquestioned”, as the OP claimed.
  12. Two benefits have already been given: As long as we are involved in the M.E., it’s a great benefit to us to have access to Israel’s unmatched field intelligence. Several years ago, the late Senator Daniel Inouye, Chairman of the Senate Appropriations Committee, said that "The intelligence received from Israel exceeds the intelligence received from all NATO countries combined.” Keeping nuclear weapons out of the hands of adversarial dictators has always benefited us. BTW, I’m not sure what you mean by “unquestioned” aid. Israel signed off on an Obama administration stipulation that Israel has to spend the vast majority of the aid on American military goods. Of course, this benefits Israel but it also benefits those employed by our defense contractors.
  13. I have a question for the lawyers on this board: Suppose a nefarious administration considered a social media company too conservative or liberal, and they used the power of the state via the IRS or other agencies to discretely harass or intimidate the company, sponsors (if any), or advertisers. Is there a tipping point where such, or similar, state action or intimidation against a non-state entity could be considered state censorship?
  14. That line was crossed well before my time, and I’m an old. Steering their flock in a certain political direction certainly isn’t limited to pastors who are Trump-supporting evangelicals.
  15. The Koch brothers donated more than 1.5 billion dollars to non-political, “good causes.” I won’t list the philanthropic organizations which the brothers supported but you can look it up, if you’re interested. As fierce, longtime Koch brother critic, Lawrence O’Donnell, said: "You can be outraged by what the Koch brothers do with their money in politics and you can appreciate what they contribute to hospital and medical research and you can do that at the same time and still retain the ability to function."
  16. I think what you’re asking is how can you use logic and reasoning to change someone else’s opinion; an opinion that probably has emotion as a component. The answer is: you probably can’t. Opinions based on emotion will hardly ever submit to logic, even when facts are indisputable. But that’s not a Republican-only fault—it also applies to me, you, all humans (even progressives).
  17. Secretary of Energy…AOC. We need an energy expert in this position. Secretary of State…Ilhan Omar. If that’s not possible, then she would be a good choice as ambassador to Israel.
  18. Trump didn’t allow [you] to feel even an ounce of pride? If that’s true, then you alone are responsible for giving Trump the power to be master of your feelings. Why would you willingly surrendered control of your feelings and emotions to any other person, much less to one that is unstable?
  19. Unfortunately this is true. My only exposure to Twitter is on Surly, and, from what I can tell, politicians and other pundits mainly use it to insult, make fun of, criticize, or lash out at some other Twitter devotee. Because of the self-imposed brevity, Twitter is a great forum for snarky, sometimes witty one-liners but it in no way contributes to a positive, political discussion. Also true, at least according to Surly Twitter critics. I just don’t think that being a master of Trump’s preferred means of communication is a trait to be admired.
  20. I usually don’t do FIFY, but I’ll make an exception.
  21. We have been transitioning for years. Wind and solar have already replaced some portion of carbon based energy, and advanced nuclear power has recently received several billion dollars in funding from the feds and private sources. My point? TwiceHorn said it well:
  22. The O & G industry has supplied a product that billions of people have utilized for well over 100 years, with the American consumer consuming more than their fair share. I assume you fly, drive, use electricity/gas, and enjoy the many products that come from petroleum/gas. If so, it’s not his job that is “fucking our environment”, it’s me, you, all consumers. Blaming the O & G worker’s ‘job’ for our environmental issues makes about as much sense as blaming the farmer for our obesity problem.
  23. Yes. And if there ever is a large military reduction, it would necessitate a massive program for retraining affected personnel. Such a bill would rival the W.W. II G.I. bill in both scope and cost but would be a sound long-term investment, imo. And who knows. Maybe the savings—along with higher taxes—would allow us to provide basic health care to all our citizens.
  24. In order to make significant military cuts, we’re going to have to drastically modify or perhaps even phase out some of our many outdated military treaties. Either because of formal treaties or ‘understandings’ the U.S. has obligated its citizens to, in effect, subsidize generous social programs of many of our so-called allies. Several of those countries—South Korea, Japan, and the whole of Europe—are, or should be, capable of defending themselves, yet they refuse to significantly increase their defense budgets (I’m specifically looking at you, Germany). Those countries (and others) have depended on our military largesse for over 70 years, and it is past time for these countries to leave our ‘basement’ and make their own way.
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