Today's Environmentalists Are Really Luddites (3 Viewers)

[Isaac]

My wife had a US passport for 30 years before she found out she was not a citizen.

I can't let that go without asking what's the story there? You may not want to tell me and that's fine, but I have to ask - too curious

 

[The_Doc_Man]

I'm really surprised that that had such an effect. I always thought fingerprints were permanent

So, apparently, are wrinkles.

 

[moke123]

I can't let that go without asking what's the story there? You may not want to tell me and that's fine, but I have to ask - too curious

Her parents came to the US from Germany by boat. When the boat pulled into NJ my mother in law went into labor with my wife's older sister. She had the baby and when they came back to the dock the boat was gone and all their belongings were on the dock. A couple years later my MIL was pregnant with my wife and went back to Germany to visit her mother and My wife was born in Germany. Years later when the in-laws became citizens they forgot to put her down on their paperwork, as her sister was a citizen by birthright. Through the years the kids had some kind of joint passport and when in their teens they each got their own passports. It wasn't until we got married and she went to change her social security card they asked for her birth certificate which was in German and they informed her she was not a citizen. It took us several years to get her citizenship straightened out.

 

[RogerCooper]

No, doesn't the party in power usually lose seats during off year elections?

You can also use that excuse in 2028 as it rare for the candidate of the party of the President to win when the incumbent President is not running.

Do you have your excuse ready for when inflation hits 3%?

 

[RogerCooper]

Exactly what WE have been saying about Progressive Liberals.

The Progressive Liberals have even infiltrated the Trump administration. The Solicitor General argued in court against birthright citizenship with

... that the United States' rule of nearly unrestricted birthright citizenship is an outlier among modern nations. It's a very small minority of nations that have that rule. For example, every -- every nation in Europe has a different rule ...

That's right, the Trump administration thinks that foreign law should be used in interpret the US Constitution. Trump said much the same thing.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

the Trump administration thinks that foreign law should be used in interpret the US Constitution

And yet the Constitution contains ideas that originated in British common law from a time before there even WAS a constitution. And, for that matter, some principles from the Adirondack native American tribal nations.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of comparing situations and deciding which of the (necessarily foreign) ideas actually make sense. We can learn from other countries' successes as well as their other failures. And at THAT level, what else do we have EXCEPT other countries for comparison?

 

[RogerCooper]

And yet the Constitution contains ideas that originated in British common law from a time before there even WAS a constitution. And, for that matter, some principles from the Adirondack native American tribal nations.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of comparing situations and deciding which of the (necessarily foreign) ideas actually make sense. We can learn from other countries' successes as well as their other failures. And at THAT level, what else do we have EXCEPT other countries for comparison?

Conservatives have long condemned using foreign law in constitutional interpretation. That is different than the writing of statutes (and constitutional amendments). In effect, those who reference non-US precedents in constitutional interpretation are outsourcing the protection of the rights of Americans to foreign jurists and lawmakers.

I know the Trump administration opposes the concept of limited government. I don't understand why they are identified as conservatives.

 

[Thales750]

And yet the Constitution contains ideas that originated in British common law from a time before there even WAS a constitution. And, for that matter, some principles from the Adirondack native American tribal nations.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of comparing situations and deciding which of the (necessarily foreign) ideas actually make sense. We can learn from other countries' successes as well as their other failures. And at THAT level, what else do we have EXCEPT other countries for comparison?

Except, of course, when it comes to fixing our broken health care system.

 

[Thales750]

I think I'm at a new personal era.

Political fatigue has really set in. All of my regular news sources have become based on politics.
It's time to train some new algorithms.

 

[AccessBlaster]

You can also use that excuse in 2028 as it rare for the candidate of the party of the President to win when the incumbent President is not running.

Do you have your excuse ready for when inflation hits 3%?

If it happens, I might pout a bit, but I won’t take to the streets waving a hammer-and-sickle flag and screaming about imaginary kings and 900 genders.

 

[RogerCooper]

Except, of course, when it comes to fixing our broken health care system.

The healthcare system is a matter of statute, not constitutional rights. So taking a look at how other countries deliver higher quality care at lower cost is a good idea.

 

[Isaac]

Her parents came to the US from Germany by boat. When the boat pulled into NJ my mother in law went into labor with my wife's older sister. She had the baby and when they came back to the dock the boat was gone and all their belongings were on the dock. A couple years later my MIL was pregnant with my wife and went back to Germany to visit her mother and My wife was born in Germany. Years later when the in-laws became citizens they forgot to put her down on their paperwork, as her sister was a citizen by birthright. Through the years the kids had some kind of joint passport and when in their teens they each got their own passports. It wasn't until we got married and she went to change her social security card they asked for her birth certificate which was in German and they informed her she was not a citizen. It took us several years to get her citizenship straightened out.

Wow, that's scary to realize and have to get situated. thanks 4 sharing.

There is nothing wrong with the idea of comparing situations and deciding which of the (necessarily foreign) ideas actually make sense

I beg to differ. He wasn't positing it as what makes sense, he was hoping it is used in how to interpret our constitution - in which case, other countries' laws are irrelevant. Sure, that's what he wants - he wants them to decide it in a way for "whatever makes sense for our current situation" - Unfortunately for him, that's now how law and courts work. Their job is to interpret our constitution, whether it makes practical sense for us or not.

The healthcare system is a matter of statute, not constitutional rights. So taking a look at how other countries deliver higher quality care at lower cost is a good idea

I agree with this. And I think there are tons of entitlements/freebies/etc that we could CUT from our current federal budget in order to make healthcare a possibility - or even just bite the bullet and make Obamacare subsidies increased, so that healthcare isn't totally free, but mostly free.

I expect to be pounced on hard for what I'm about to say, but I've always thought free school lunches is something that perhaps should be cut. It's obviously the parents' responsibility to provide food for their children, that's pretty basic, and shouldn't be done by the government, plus it's become a slippery slope, since its inception people have begun to (inevitably) ask "why not breakfast? the poor children are hungry". Soon they will ask "why not dinner?" and "why not other things they need?" etc. etc.
We could also reverse course on all the student loan forgiveness stuff - if you took out a loan, you did so knowing you'd have to pay it back.
Also pell grants need to be redirected to trade schools and shorter degree programs, rather than funnelled deliberately toward 4 year programs
Renewable Energy Tax Credits could go away.

Half of what ICE is spending could be done away with, half or more of those people don't need to be arrested or detained, they're in the middle of a LEGAL asylum process.

Then figure out a way to make sure no billionaire is paying zero effective tax.

On top of all that, get to where Obamacare costs about $100/mo for anyone. Then AGGRESSIVELY come up with programs to reward good health. I don't mean the stupid easy stuff that employers usually do, where you use the honor system to claim you walked so many miles this week and get a credit, I mean verifiable stuff like bloodwork done and glucose going down, or weight loss, etc. I think Americans need to have their feet held to the fire more when it comes to good health. Do I mean blaming the victim for his/her disease? Absolutely. People need to realize the hard truth that a lot of their health problems come from their lifestyle. Something must be done to change consumer behavior, rather than just throwing money at the problem of poor lifestyle>poor health>costs.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

Also pell grants need to be redirected to trade schools and shorter degree programs, rather than funnelled deliberately toward 4 year programs

Cannot disagree. Mike Rowe, the host of "Dirty Jobs" show, has testified before Congress regarding the importance of trade schools and how this country needs more tradecraft. His arguments are quite good. Do a search for "Mike Rowe discussing trade schools" to see several videos on the subject. Some of them are quite long.

 

[Thales750]

I guess there is not much left to say.
Trump has turned out to be all we expected him to be.
Sometimes, I really hate being right.

 

[AccessBlaster]

This must be a very frustrating time for you guys, having all this Trump news with no proper outlet to express yourselves.

 

[Isaac]

I guess there is not much left to say.
Trump has turned out to be all we expected him to be.
Sometimes, I really hate being right.

Yeah, and more. I expected him to mostly drive the deficit down, import some hardcore illegals in a humane manner, and battle some 'culture wars' that had an obvious 'right' side, like men wanting to play women's sports, or wanting to shower with women. In the end he ends up doing something illegal almost every day, week at least - not the president I wanted by any means. Of course, the Democrats are full of stupid ideas, too. We need some more options

 

[Thales750]

This must be a very frustrating time for you guys, having all this Trump news with no proper outlet to express yourselves.

The Frustration is how much damage MAGA is doing to the county.
Here is a new updated set of my predictions.
1. Debt will increase more under Trump than any in history.
2. History will record the Trump era as the catalyst for the end of the petrodollar which will cause a catastrophic failure of the US financial sector and pull the rest of the world down with it.
3. The US will never recover from this fall. We will lose the super power status contest to China, and that will all be trackable to the Trump administration's wanton greed for power and the complete disregard for all of our previous friends and allies.
4. The world will stop buying American Arms, Let that soak in.
5. Science and Technologies will leave the US and move to Europe and Asia.

On a much brighter note, the Great Depression folks ended up with pretty good lives, all it took was a couple of world wars.
End Citizens United, while we still have hope.

 

[AccessBlaster]

The Frustration is how much damage MAGA is doing to the county.
Here is a new updated set of my predictions.
1. Debt will increase more under Trump than any in history.
2. History will record the Trump era as the catalyst for the end of the petrodollar which will cause a catastrophic failure of the US financial sector and pull the rest of the world down with it.
3. The US will never recover from this fall. We will lose the super power status contest to China, and that will all be trackable to the Trump administration's wanton greed for power and the complete disregard for all of our previous friends and allies.
4. The world will stop buying American Arms, Let that soak in.
5. Science and Technologies will leave the US and move to Europe and Asia.

On a much brighter note, the Great Depression folks ended up with pretty good lives, all it took was a couple of world wars.
End Citizens United, while we still have hope.

That’s quite a list basically every worst-case scenario rolled into one.

 

[The_Doc_Man]

1. Debt will increase more under Trump than any in history.

Blame Congress. THEY have the purse strings.

2. History will record the Trump era as the catalyst for the end of the petrodollar which will cause a catastrophic failure of the US financial sector and pull the rest of the world down with it.

If the petrodollar collapses, Iran won't be able to fund all of its proxies. Oh, boo, hoo.

3. The US will never recover from this fall. We will lose the super power status contest to China, and that will all be trackable to the Trump administration's wanton greed for power and the complete disregard for all of our previous friends and allies.

Ah, but China's economy - if you ignore what they say about themselves - is having a massive problem with their equivalent to GenX members going "on the dole" en masse. Plus their demography says that in 10 years they will not have enough workers due to a birth rate now below 1.0 children per family. And we have already had the discussion that it is LABOR that is the strength of an economy. They are running out of laborers to the point that they will not be able to afford their equivalent to social security.

4. The world will stop buying American Arms, Let that soak in.

On the other hand, Mexico will have no standing the next time they want to shut down an American arms company. And all of those countries that point the blame to the USA will now have to work with Chinese equipment - which is known to have a shorter lifetime. I can see the frustrated pilots as they yank the handle on the emergency ejector seat and a recorded voice plays in the cockpit saying, "If you wish to file a complaint, press 1 now. If you with to initiate an order return for a refund, press 2. If you need to speak to an operator, press 3. BEEP - you have requested operator assistance. You are now #145 in the queue. Please hold for the next available agent. <Elevator music plays as a voice overlays the music, 'Going Down'. <more elevator music>."

5. Science and Technologies will leave the US and move to Europe and Asia.

With Europe having the problem of Ms. VanDerLeyen limiting free speech, that will probably limit research. She seems to want to take over all types of technology, even though she's not qualified, and in fact wasn't elected. That situation is still percolating, but the stability of the European Union seems to be more precarious than they really want to project. As to Asia, the question will be the business environment in which any science-oriented country would find itself if they left North America.

 

[Isaac]

I certainly HOPE that the mexican cartels stop buying american arms - if only we solved the problem of military-grade weapons flowing down into mexico, the mexican government would then be able to stop the cartels for real. problem would be mostly solved., for a time at least..