Legend

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Viewing 15 posts - 481 through 495 (of 1,086 total)
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  • in reply to: For Mick – Some Contrarian Reading #5359
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Gr, here’s the question:  who is the audience for this kind of “contrarian” writing?

    The people of color who understand the stats don’t need an article on it.

    The folks who choose not to believe that the US is a land of opportunity for all and that the stats show it won’t be convinced with facts.

    somebody needs to tell all those Haitians that they are entering nazi Germany because they certainly have other choices. But, of course they know that such nonsense is just that…nonsense. And, I believe they know it has nothing to do with government entitlements.  It’s truly possible to work hard as do well in the US regardless of color or status. It’s an amazing country in that respect.  May we never lose it.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Oregon #5358
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Ha ha ha.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Reparations: Yes or No? #5332
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    I do not, but then again I can see the rationale to some degree.

    If we are talking direct payments, the best approach to reparations would be to require direct payments from white, Latino, Asian, etc. people to specific African American families. It should be done in a way that there is visibility of who is paying and who is receiving. That way, when a poor Latino in tx has to contribute real $$$ to a black family living in a suburban community in DC on a civil servants salary and pension, we can see the lunacy of the policy.

    There should be none of this government borrowing silliness, it should be today’s people paying today’s people, directly.  Can’t pay?  Have the government back the loan for the immediate payment and the Latina grandma stuck with the bill can pass that on to her kids.

    The argument that somehow today’s people owe for the sins of yesterday’s people is an awfully regressive principle. It also presumes guilt, which is anti American.

    If we are not talking direct payments, then I would include all aid programs disproportionately targeted to or accessed by slave descendants into account in the determination of future reparations.

     

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Vandy #5328
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Yes that kinda gives us a measure of ourselves.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Special envoy to Haiti resigns, destroys Biden #5323
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    You know?  The envoy isn’t right. If it’s inhumane to return a person to their country of origin because the security situation of that entire country, then where does that leave us?  Are all Haitians technically refugees?  Even those who have not lived in Haiti for the past year?  Do we just declare Haiti an American protectorate?

    It’s silly. We are not obligated to open our borders for people who will not demand better government in their own country.  Importing a humanitarian crisis is not a part of the deal.

     

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Vandy #5307
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Good game. I’m really liking our qb. I really dislike it when we take him out of the game to run wildcat.

    Arrow up on wins for the year.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Is a united America no longer possible? #5300
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    [quote quote=5298]Maybe not since the 60’s. I’d say we were unified in WWII, the Depression, the 1950s, WWI, and earlier.[/quote]

    That’s likely just airbrushed memory.  Lots of political division existed in each of those times.  Even during WWII there were significant forces resisting the war effort.  We just don’t hear about them much because success has many fathers but failure is an orphan.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Woodward’s new book. #5291
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Not sure what qualifies as treason these days, but it’s certainly conduct unbecoming if he was contacting foreign militaries with assurances outside the chain of command, I would think.  I mean, play this down…If an admiral in the south china sea decided to call his counterpart and let them know that “there is no attack coming,” what could possibly be the motivation for it?

    How is this different?  I’m not outraged at all, but I’m genuinely curious what the utility is of Milley calling his PLA counterpart outside the chain of command?

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Woodward’s new book. #5286
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    A true American hero.  He was clearly Preventing the nuclear Holocaust that Trump was set on creating.  I mean, everybody knows Trump was a warmonger.

    And it’s worth a chuckle that he had to call general li.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Good point on the pilot demographics.  There are plenty of issues of demographics in the Covid era.  Maybe we will have cooler heads prevail and get people vaccinated while also expecting them to live healthier lives.

    In a lot of ways, Covid is a judgment disease.  It comes after people who have poor self care habits HARD.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Is a united America no longer possible? #5278
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    I’m w/ GR.  We’ve been a hot mess since our founding, we just don’t want to admit it.

    For every person who pines for the 50’s there’s someone who reminds us of the Red Scare and Brown v. BOE Topeka.

    You want the 60’s?  I give you vietnam.  Wait, no that was the Democrats.

    How about the 70’s?  More Vietnam (the Republican flavor), stagflation and the rise of Japan.

    80’s were great?  I offer you conflicting views of the arms race, Iran, Beirut, etc.

    What about the 90’s?  Criminal justice reform, welfare reform, the contract with America, and the first politician in America I ever personally heard called a fascist (Gingrich).

    I don’t need to go beyond that.  We’ve always been a mix of points of view.  Some of them are toxic, some of them rational and reasonable.  None of them ever were owned by one side of the political spectrum.

    Unity doesn’t mean believing the same things, it means believing we can work as a country despite our differences.   On that I’m less sure today than 10 years ago, and it’s only because of one thing:  The balkanization of information sources.  We have gone from espousing generally American values to cowering in our little corners of hate.  That hurts us and our politicians relish it because it makes us tractable.  See Covid as a prime example.

    I keep this board going because I believe that occasionally we get people to come at issues from all sides.  GR’s now infrequent drive bys are an example of that, and healthy for us.

     

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: From a retired USAF Colonel, F16 pilot, war hero, and Thunderbird #5276
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Seems a bit political.

    There are plenty of mandated vaccinations in the military, some of which are far riskier than the COVID vaccine (anthrax comes to mind).  And for anyone watching, military members don’t have “constitutional rights” per se.  That doesn’t necessarily mean that the government can or should do anything it wants, but it isn’t like joe schmo on the street.

    The note about the vaccine killing “thousands” is disingenuous.  The avoided loss of life from the vaccine is far, far beyond the losses of life even peripherally related to the vaccine itself.  Reminds me of my old neighbor who wouldn’t wear a seatbelt because somebody got hung by one once in a rollover accident.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: USUCK Expectations? #5270
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Very happy to be wrong on this one. I think we have a very good quarterback.  Wow. McKee was throwing darts out there.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: Iowa COVID tracker #5265
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    Before getting all inflamed, ask yourself whether a person needs to have a degree in data science to speak with authority on data issues.

    I admit to being from Missouri on this one. Credentials actually tend to create as many problems as they solve.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

    in reply to: OSHA? #5256
    LegendLegend
    Keymaster

    I’m philosophically aligned to the need for people to take the vaccine, but am shocked that this sort of coercion from the federal government is legal.

    There is a straight line causal relationship between some safety practices (steel-toed boots) and injury (crushed feet).

    There is in no way any straight line workplace justification for forcing people to take a vaccine against a disease that is neither highly lethal nor highly likely to be transmitted in most workplaces with minor precautions in place.

     

    Again, I’m for vaccines, but this seems like massive overreach.

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    Sic transit gloria mundi (so shut up and get back to work)

Viewing 15 posts - 481 through 495 (of 1,086 total)