winsor

Yeah, I'm familiar with the ramifications, but I find the short term scenario to be amusing. I have a problem with Gitmo from the standpoint that, if you want to wear the white hat, you have to follow the rules. Much though I would personally prefer it if everyone at Gitmo had succumbed to a horrible, debilitating and lethal illness they contracted while doing their terrorist thing, avoiding international law because they are simply awful people does not fly. About the only way that they could be treated that would address their penchant for recidivism is to subject them to complete sex change and release them. Anyone who finds a problem with that would then incur the wrath of the SJWs to whom any hint of misogyny, homophobia, transphobia or whatever is blasphemy ("what's wrong with being a trans woman?!"). Going back home as women kind of ruins the whole martyrdom process, so it would server the end purpose in an amusing kind of way. If the U.S. is going to ignore international law, they should take a more results-oriented approach. Limbo in Gitmo is both counterproductive and expensive as hell. BSBD, Winsor

There ought to be a line in the mix somewhere that says something to the effect of, "was prevented by stonewalling by the GOP." I mean, you know, just to be factual. Obama promised to close Gitmo, but I certainly don't think that should be held against him all things considered. What prevented him from keeping the promise (and a few others like it) was the GOP plain and simple. Gitmo was/is used as a holding and interrogation center to get as much intel out of them to capture others and prevent further acts of terror against the US and its allies. I support keeping the anti terror measures going in some way. Maybe not at Gitmo though. There are other facilities just as secure that could be used. But Gitmo as a military base was already established before Castro led the revolution against the old government... I support moving the prisoners from Gitmo to U.S. territory. The only options I recommend are either Attu or Kiska.

Given that he's rather a wild card, I really don't know. As far as his being impeached, I suspect he's slippery enough that he'd be hard to get. Wrestling with a pig, and all that. Resign? That would require a conscience, so that's out. The worst/best case is that he'd join Lincoln, Garfield, McKinley and Kennedy. We have a bad habit of deifying scumbags who don't manage to duck in time. He is the fulfillment of the Chinese curse "may you live in interesting times." BSBD, Winsor

Ann Coulter did as well. FWIW, I can't bring myself to read her stuff either.

There are some sources I tend to ignore as a matter of course, familiarity with whom is limited to perusing tabloid covers in the checkout line at the supermarket. My greatest exposure to Michael Moore is that part he played in 'Team America World Police.' Like Gary, I have yet to come across anything about Michael Moore to suggest that his opinion is more valid or pertinent than that of, say, Paris Hilton or one of the Kardashians (who I know from the covers of the tabloids). The one exception to the principle that 'if this person espouses it, it must be utter horseshit' was when Moore penned an editorial recommending a paradigm shift that I have long espoused. When we were first offered hope (but got to keep the change), Detroit was in shambles and the economy was effectively a blank slate. It struck me then that there was a once in a lifetime opportunity to pick a new course, and to move away from the model implemented by Eisenhower. Since Ike had brought the Third Reich to its knees by crippling transport in the form of rail, and the Allies had triumphed by being able to schlep materiel by means of deuce and a halfs, it seemed to provide unlimited freedom to move away from rail and to build a network of highways, with everyone having a car in the garage. Given the unlimited quantities of fuel available by simply drilling into the ground, what could go wrong? By 2008 this model had revealed its flaws. The opportunity presented itself to revisit the approach taken in 1942, when Washington gave Detroit an offer it could not refuse. Given the catastrophe the U.S. faced at the hands of the Axis, auto makers were told that henceforth they would turn their manufacturing capabilities to other things, such as deuce and a halfs, tanks and the like. "It will take us years to retool!" wailed the auto makers. "Cool - you have six months" said the War Department. And so it came to pass. Had the incoming administration in 2008 gone to Detroit and told them that it was a real shame that they couldn't give away their products, but, luckily, they were going to be making light rail, high speed rail and freight rolling stock, there was not much they could say about it. Also, on the books are rail right-of-way laws that would allow reestablishment of rail lines that had been paved and built over, which would allow the U.S. to reestablish the magnificent system of rail transport that once existed (the jokes in 'Roger Rabbit' about LA's rail weren't a joke). Michael Moore's article basically said what I have said, which proves that even a stopped clock is right twice a day. Beyond that example, I could only imagine what Michael Moore thinks - if I chose to do so - so I'm not sure if he has anything new to say. Either way, I'm with Gary. BSBD, Winsor

Who here is whining? Everybody agrees that Trump won your election. The majority of the people just wanted somebody else. Unfortunately, 'none of the above' wasn't on the ballot.

Distasteful as I find Trump, the saving grace of him winning is getting to witness the complete meltdown of those who preferred the other candidate. Considering quite who goes on record calling him a poopy head and on what basis, I am beginning to suspect that he has more going for him than I would have guessed. Carry on!

You do realize, of course, that this is the only way countries have emerged from massive debt when using fiat currency. If and when the U.S. Dollar reverts to its inherent net value (zero, since it's not backed by anything), the National Debt can be covered by the afternoon's sales at a hot dog stand. The problem then is that nobody in their right mind would offer us any credit, and it would be a pay as you go economy at that point. Since we are a net importer of energy, food, textiles, electronics, etc., this may result in some minor economic disturbances. Think Venezuela or Zimbabwe, but an order of magnitude worse. When the US of A has to figure out how to manufacture shoes, toys, ballpoint pens, teevees and the like, there will be quite the learning curve. About the only thing we export more than import is weapons, and trading advanced weaponry to people you just stiffed is not generally viewed as a bright move. Not to worry - we'd be fucked regardless of who won the last election. At least this way we get the entertainment value of watching SJW meltdown in the meantime. It was fun while it lasted, Winsor

Those were corrected by processes inherent in a free and unbiased media. Just as the current rash of pro-Trump fake news is being outed. It is not the media's fault that certain segments of the population are too stupid or willfully ignorant to realize that they have been duped, even when the evidence is shown to them. Please be gentler with my irony meter. It can't take much more.

Gods are pretty much a dime a dozen. There are easily twice as many gods as there are leprechauns.

Update. The original story has video of the Santa's narrative, and it is pretty convincing. Since they gave the location of the guy's work, and said that he was at the ICU in 15 minutes, that really whittles down the number of possible hospitals (one). A search of obituaries in that area over the claimed time period yielded crickets, so that part doesn't ring true, nor does his running away afterwards. However, much of the rest is plausible. The claim that a kid can't be lucid one moment and dead the next is false. My sister called her husband when her condition went to hell, he made it there, and she died in mid-sentence. In any event, there is nothing quite as crushing as being helpless to save a little kid. An American who returned from serving as a Medic in Aleppo reported being particularly haunted by the kids who made it to the aid station for whom there was no hope. Don't get me wrong, I am trained in emergency services and will grab my first aid kit and fire extinguisher and run to the site of an accident if I am there before first responders arrive, but there is no way in hell I could handle working in a pediatric ICU. Regardless of quite how much of the story is accurate, it is not one that evokes my fundamental cynicism. BSBD, Winsor

This article was hard to read. When my son at the age of three asked if there was a Santa Claus, I told him there was a person named Nicholas who was known for his benevolence, and that we commemorate his memory with traditions in his honor. I think the guy who got this assignment is a study in decency, and understand how devastating this experience must have been. One of the reasons I am not on a volunteer ambulance squad is because one is guaranteed to come across scenes that will remain etched in one's memory for life, and I'm not up for it. I have known very tough men and women that were destroyed by one horrific accident or another, and I no longer kid myself about how tough I am. Helping a 5 year old die is more than I could handle. BSBD, Winsor

It was a vaudeville schtick. Moshe Horwitz was very much a mensch in real life. Barbara Billingsley pointed out that people assuming she was "June Cleaver" in real life was a testament to her skills as an actress, since she was a single working mother who bore little resemblance to the role she played. Similarly, Moe Howard was a devoted family man, married to the same woman for 50 years, and very humble about the fact that he could make a living by the slapstick role that became his trademark. I can only hope that the bluster and buffoonery of our next president is as much an act as it was for Moe, though I tend to doubt it. I agree that Zeppo or Gummo would have been an improvement on the candidates fielded from either side of the aisle.

I know of nobody who thinks Trump is anything short of FUBAR. The votes came from those who deemed Hillary to be significantly worse.

Better paint job.

At this point I think we need to start doing investigations of his and his family's various holdings and see who may have prior knowledge of what he's about to tweet. See if, for instance, anyone shorted Boeing in the last 24 hours. Consider Hanlon's Razor.

It annoys the fuck out of me that the dumb sonofabitch got a Nobel Prize and has made nine figures by pontificating on issues he is singularly unqualified to evaluate. I suppose it serves to validate my thesis that intelligence is greatly overrated, and that Dunning and Kruger were spot on. If Herman Cain got an Economics Nobel and a freight car full of money by voicing his particular brand of stupidity, I suspect I would find him equally as offensive.

Interesting. Can you link to serious scientists who have stated this? Well there's Fred, and he's pretty serious. Siegel & Howell's work "Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer," ISBN 0-07-057316-6 covers the fundamentals pretty well. Mind you, it might be good to be at least at the Master's level in an appropriate discipline to tackle it, but YMMV. BSBD, Winsor A Master's level in a related discipline is required to read that they state it is a foregone conclusion that CO2 is the single determining factor in climate science? Seems odd that a high level of education is required for a foregone conclusion. An example of why I dislike the ambiguity of pronouns. If someone states that CO2 is the single determining factor, they are by default not a serious scientist. Or they are drunk. Or they are kidding.

The difference between Al Gore et al. and qualified climate scientists is as great as the difference between your average airline passenger and Patty Wagstaff. The first group talks about climate change and the second group spends time in airplanes... BSBD, Winsor

Interesting. Can you link to serious scientists who have stated this? Well there's Fred, and he's pretty serious. Siegel & Howell's work "Thermal Radiation Heat Transfer," ISBN 0-07-057316-6 covers the fundamentals pretty well. Mind you, it might be good to be at least at the Master's level in an appropriate discipline to tackle it, but YMMV. BSBD, Winsor

Yeah, I don't like baloney much either. My son's middle name is 'Maxwell,' after James Clerk, so I doubt if I will try to improve on Maxwell and Faraday's work (ironically enough, I just showed my wife Maxwell's treatise on Governors yesterday). My point is that 'Laws' of Physics often turn out to be Local Ordinances in the grand scheme of things, for example, Galilean and Newtonian Relativity were expanded by Einstein (with more than a little thanks to Maxwell, who was a much better mathematician). When 'Cold Fusion' is put forth on a regular basis, I will admit to calling bullshit under my breath, but approve of having the submission rigorously refuted. Yes, I can and do stake my life on physical realities as I perceive them, but my livelihood is based on challenging to fail otherwise known quantities. Do I trust the Physics? Most assuredly. Do I double check when possible? Yup. The difference between the basis for Norton's or Thevenin's equivalents and the foregone conclusion that CO2 is the single determining factor in Climate Science is vast. I again invoke H. L. Mencken's observation that, for any complex problem there exists a solution that is simple, elegant - and wrong. BSBD, Winsor

The scientific process is based on skepticism, and science is never, by its very nature, 'settled' - even if there is general agreement with the applicability of models in concern. Systems of belief, OTOH, deem non-conformance with dogma to be heresy. The relationship between 'carbon credits' and 'indulgences' is too close for my liking. G. W. Bush may be a blithering idiot, but his ranch in Crawford is a case study in energy stewardship. Al Gore may be the Prophet of Climate Change (tm), but his home drawing vast amounts of power and his private jet taking him around to spread the Gospel of Climate Change (tm) require mind-boggling carbon credits. Science is great, but when it is simply religion in disguise it is beyond fucked up. Think Scientology. BSBD, Winsor

I kind of like the Louisiana approach. Burning a flag is perfectly legal. Beating the living shit out of someone who is burning a flag carries a $5 fine. That's cool, because also in Louisiana burning a flag and then shooting dead someone who you think is about to beat the living shit out of you because of it carries no penalty at all. Sure, if you can get a jury that consists of Californians.

I kind of like the Louisiana approach. Burning a flag is perfectly legal. Beating the living shit out of someone who is burning a flag carries a $5 fine.