JoeWeber

So when Israel does it it's not terrorism? Imagine if Hezbollah pulled the same trick.

Don't be so sensitive. The point was that at an earlier time of great wealth disparity, when the US population was fewer, the system held.

Momentum is the issue and money raised is the metric. I'm kicking down $250 a month mostly aligned with Harris's better looks in the press. I think that's a number that is meaningful in my demographic as determined by her staff. I do think our ActBlue donations have a positive effect this election. But, as ever, to each their own. Slava Harris

You're right, for sure. Rockefeller and Carnegie were as rich or richer than our current slate of oligarchs yet the system held through some tough times. Obviously I can't know what the number is but it seems to me that at a certain point enough people will have enough personal power and wealth that the will of the people will become an inconvenience. Even now at least 40% of Americans can be talked out of democracy by a two-bit shyster so we must be getting close.

I'll take the Swedish commissions definition of electoral autocracy over democracy

I just think democracies are doomed to collapse at a certain population threshold. Probably somewhere around 350 million it appears.

You might also ask what could go right. I can not see our flawed system of choosing leaders working better with more people voting, and there will be more people.

Anarchy is not yet the answer.

Yes, and it's a real no brainer. We do not need, and should never want, our political leaders past or present being assassinated. We absolutely should want them held accountable for crimes committed but never slain extrajudicially. Things are bad enough as they are.

Yes. He has already defiled too many of our institutions. Lets hope he doesn't also permanently defile our secret service.

Let us hope not. As awful and odious as he is he is also a former American President under Secret Service protection. We must hope that he can be protected from harm.

This isn't like your etch-a-sketch; what you write here lives on. You don't need to remanufacture truths and self justify anything anymore: just vote Trump and sleep soundly. Biden caused world inflation and Covid, the Afghanistan war from start to awful finish is Biden's fault, Harris is a giggling idiot, whatever gays are doing to you won't stop without republican intervention, and you need a closet full of the kid killers gun of choice for when the transgender medical police come for your children. And to top it off, the world economy will blow momentarily but not until we get a rare historical two-fer: massive CO2 induced food production which, oddly, has failed to lower prices as some would predict and runaway world hunger that goes uncured because in turns out that corporate interests really don't give a fuck. And again it is all caused by that scheming, but still a dumb ass, Biden and his bobble headed marionette. No worries, you're good.

Please direct my attention to where Jerome Powell stated that my positions were false. Not yours, mine.

That's the problem. They don't always dribble spittle, pick out their nose hairs in distraction, or tell you about the time they were abducted, but in every case they absolutely identify with their captor and empathize with their abusers goals. Oh, and they vote.

They own that portion of inflation that can reasonably be attributed to the stimulus, maybe 30% depending on whose lies you believe. But then they also own any societal benefits that can be attributed to the stimulus. No matter, it is apparently the case that our increasing national debt is as salubrious, at least until those nasty economic feed back loops kick in, as increasing levels of CO2: more food, more jobs, higher wages and so on.

The individuals involved are also similar such that they are also members of the same species, which is interesting but hardly relevant. Like you, I also safe any gun handed to me no matter the qualifications of the giver. I also take great care where I point a gun regardless of whether I personally safed it or not. Nor do I consider any gun safe just because the safety is on. The point is that just because Baldwin plays a gunslinger on TV doesn't mean he has a good understanding or practice of safe fire arms behavior anymore than he would understand warp drives when playing an alien. It could be that just like a trusting student accepting a final gear check from a JM before jumping his accepting a "safed" gun from a qualified, SAG card carrying, gun handler was what he and his co-workers considered safe. Maybe his checking of the handlers work would be considered insulting in that line of work. As far as pulling the trigger goes, have you ever sat in a goose pit and the guy in the next pit over had a discharge as he was standing to shoot? Maybe Baldwin was lying about that but maybe he is also a victim of his own ignorance and has bouts of normal, human, mis-rembering. To my mind, unless the safety protocols on the set included a responsibility by him to recheck the "experts" work he should get a pass and the handler should get a cell.

That's ridiculous.

How would you have executed that withdrawal that was negotiated by Trump? Helicopters off the roof of the US Embassy? Like the retreat from Chosin? Mao's Long March? Or would you have emulated Leonidas at Thermopylae? There was no good option and no way to control every nasty variable. If you want someone to blame for those soldiers deaths blame George W. Bush and yourself if you voted for him.

I assume you'll agree that it is possible his copy didn't have this information. I think you need to cut him a little slack here.

The similarity ends where SAG is involved and kids without knowledge, discipline, or direct supervision are given a responsibility that might cause an accidental game of Russian Roulette because they have a union card.

Time to start passing the Chapatis.

Well, it isn't your country that's up for grabs and either way you'll be stuffed with internet talking points so I can sort of see your lack of concern. The value of the content of the debate is always debatable and often forgettable, no doubt. So the real reason to watch it fore to aft is to see if on her first side by side with Trump if she could come off as appearing Presidential. That's what can turn an election and that she did. Sorry you missed that.

Good plan, vignettes always tell the whole story.

It's always fun to vent and hope you are wrong.

Yes, well as a dogless Catamaran sailor, I approve this message.