Muda69

The military-industrial complex:

Without Evidence of 'Imminent' Attack on Americans, the White House's Justification for Killing Iranian General Seems Hollow: https://reason.com/2020/01/04/absent-evidence-of-imminent-attack-on-americans-white-houses-justification-for-killing-iranian-general-collapses/ Why would Trump opt for a "far out" plan like assassinating a foreign official—an act of war, make no mistake about it—when other presidents have passed on the opportunity to do so? It could be simply Trump being Trump. The president wrote on Twitter that Soleimani "should have been taken out many years ago." And Vice President Mike Pence expanded on that idea in a thread posted to Twitter on Friday in which he laid out a long history of Soleimani's involvement in everything from the 9/11 plot to various attacks conducted by Iranian-backed militia since America invaded Iraq. There's no doubt that Soleimani has blood on his hands and that he worked to make America's ill-conceived occupation of Iraq even more of a disaster than it already was. It's highly likely that he was still doing that when he was killed on Thursday. But there's a big gap between saying that Soleimani was killed for his track record going back years or decades versus saying—as the White House and State Department have officially stated—that he was killed to prevent some impending, immediate threat. And this distinction matters. It matters as a philosophical or moral concern regarding how America will continue exercising its global police powers. Is the standard for assassinating foreign officials now as murky and minimal as proclaiming them to be "bad guys?" More importantly, it should matter in a very practical way to anyone who wants to soberly assess whether the White House did the right thing in droning Soleimani this week. The attack has ratcheted up tensions, caused the State Department to warn Americans to leave Iraq immediately (even if that means fleeing across the desert into another unfriendly country), and resulted in the Pentagon ordering thousands more Americans into harm's way. The onus is on the White House to prove that the alternative—not killing Soleimani—would have been worse. But it doesn't seem like that was the calculus that actually drove the decision to kill Soleimani at all. The Washington Post reports that Trump was "motivated to act by what he felt was negative coverage after his 2019 decision to call off the airstrike after Iran downed the U.S. surveillance drone." (For what it's worth, I praised Trump when he called off that 2019 airstrike, a decision that likely saved dozens of lives and may have averted war.) Taken together, the reporting from the Post and the Times paint a picture of Trump making a crucial decision that could put lives at stake and further destabilize the Middle East because he wanted the media to portray him as a tough guy. Rather than facing down an immediate threat, it seems like the White House has created a much more dangerous situation because it retaliated against Soleimani for any number of prior offenses, including the attacks at the U.S. embassy in Baghdad last week. That's not the official story, of course, because as terrifying as "we assassinated a foreign official just because we wanted to, risk of war be damned" might be, "we assassinated a foreign official on a whim so the president would look like the tough guy portrayed in MAGA memes" sounds even worse.

How about a 25% reduction in the size and scope of the federal government, across all departments, agencies. bureaus, etc.? That should save some energy consumption right there.

Uni-party.

lol, interesting video until the "orange man bad" political rhetoric starts. How about just let the free market decide? And the insinuation that government (aka taxpayers) should buy "poor people" LED bulbs is eye-rolling, but a liberal staple. And CFL's frankly suck. I no longer use them. LED's are still too expensive. So I've stocked up on incandescent bulbs and have a several years supply now. Also for Christmas I received a couple of these: https://www.ucogear.com/candle-lanterns/ The website obviously markets them as primarily an outdoor product but I find they work fine indoors as well.

Historians Roast the 1619 Project: https://www.nationalreview.com/2020/01/1619-project-top-historians-criticize-new-york-times-slavery-feature/ As one of the comment's to Mr. Lowry's opinion piece states:

I guess Mr. Trump now believes starting a "war" with Iran will help boost his re-election chances: Iran vows 'harsh' response to US killing of top general: https://apnews.com/e36db7c72c1adba1a6cae75091bc273d And the military-industrial complex gets richer, on the backs of American taxpayers and dead/wounded American servicemen. Despicable.

https://reason.com/2020/01/02/illinois-spent-the-last-decade-losing-population-and-learning-nothing/ You have to wonder whether anybody there made the connection between the state's dropping unemployment rate and the state's drop in population. And if they're hoping marijuana tax revenues will make up for the massive budget holes, Illinois is in for a major disappointment. Tax demands for legal marijuana providers in Illinois are extremely high, and pot prices will likely be double those of nearby Michigan (which has also launched legal recreational sales). Illinois' weed taxes aren't quite as high as the ones in California, but it's still notable that the Golden State's high taxes mean the state is bringing in less than a third of its projected tax revenues from legal sales. Indeed, in California around 80 percent of all marijuana sales are still on the black market. The Illinois authorities are predicting $57 million in tax revenue for the first six months of marijuana sales, and they expect to get $500 million annually within five years. That's probably not a reasonable expectation, given what's happening in California. And in any event, that much revenue is just a drop in the bucket of the state's estimated $137 billion in pension obligations. Illinois spent much of 2010 serving as a warning that states cannot tax themselves into prosperity and cannot thrive by using so much of their budget to line the pockets of government employees. Will this be the decade that the state learns its own lessons? I doubt it, as long as they keep electing big government uni-party shills. Step one, as one of the comments posits, is for the state of Illinois to secede from Cook county.

https://reason.com/2020/01/02/military-intellectual-complex-expects-more-war-in-2020/ "Until the latest of our world conflicts, the United States had no armaments industry. American makers of plowshares could, with time and as required, make swords as well. But we can no longer risk emergency improvisation of national defense. We have been compelled to create a permanent armaments industry of vast proportions. Added to this, three and a half million men and women are directly engaged in the defense establishment. We annually spend on military security alone more than the net income of all United States corporations. Now this conjunction of an immense military establishment and a large arms industry is new in the American experience. The total influence—economic, political, even spiritual—is felt in every city, every Statehouse, every office of the Federal government. We recognize the imperative need for this development. Yet, we must not fail to comprehend its grave implications. Our toil, resources, and livelihood are all involved. So is the very structure of our society. In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist. We must never let the weight of this combination endanger our liberties or democratic processes. We should take nothing for granted. Only an alert and knowledgeable citizenry can compel the proper meshing of the huge industrial and military machinery of defense with our peaceful methods and goals, so that security and liberty may prosper together." - Dwight D. Eisenhower, January 17, 1961

R.I.P. jazz trumpeter and Schoolhouse Rock! singer Jack Sheldon: https://www.avclub.com/r-i-p-jazz-trumpeter-and-schoolhouse-rock-singer-jack-1840773880 How sad. I can still hear the music and recite the lyrics to both of those Schoolhouse Rock! segments.

https://www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2019/12/31/790261705/farmers-got-billions-from-taxpayers-in-2019-and-hardly-anyone-objected Still marching towards a debt crisis, and these handouts to farmers in exchange for votes only adds fuel to the fire. Sickening.

Castro drops out of 2020 U.S. presidential race: https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-election-castro/castro-drops-out-of-2020-u-s-presidential-race-idUSKBN1Z10ZE And another one bites the dust.

https://reason.com/2020/01/02/3-new-years-resolutions-the-government-should-adopt/ Once can only hope. Too bad most members of Congress can only look ahead to their next election cycle, and don't really give a rat's ass about the future of this country and what their irresponsible actions and inaction means for our children and grandchildren.

Not always.

Bernie Sanders Wants to Kill Pro Baseball: https://mises.org/wire/bernie-sanders-wants-kill-pro-baseball More big government, more taxpayers funds wasted, that is the "solution" to everything the Mr. Sanders and all other liberals view as a problem.

Thank you. But you are still the second smartest individual on the GID.

Not in Indiana but asset forfeiture madness: https://reason.com/2019/12/30/missouri-cops-used-federal-loophole-to-seize-2-6-million-from-drivers-who-they-never-charged-with-crimes/

Also bonafide liberal city-states like Los Angeles, Chicago and New York City tend to suck their home states of resources, just ask my downstate Illinois in-laws. No, these metropolises need to be 'cut loose' and become the 51, 52, and 53 states.

? If you are going to sling insults and/or snide remarks at least have the courage to actually say it to that person's "face".

Government Standards Are Making 5-Year-Olds and Kindergarten Teachers Miserable: https://reason.com/2019/12/27/kindergarten-test-standards-reading-math-teachers/ Yet another reason to get government out the education business, and let parents choose.

How is a U.S. congressman using his position of power to sway some SS or Medicare bureaucrat a "scam"? Do you have proof that Mr. Hamilton was getting some kind of kickback, other than perhaps a few votes from his constituents? Like you said..... own it.

You probably need to go somewhere more highbrow than the GID then. Perhaps a message board for MENSA members.................

A non-answer. Typical. And expected.

Sorry, I thought the GID was primarily for entertainment purposes. Also sorry you hold junior high debate in such disdain.....................

So your age makes you an authority on racism then? Kind of makes sense from a "wisdom" perspective.