Phil1111

I have to agree with Brent on the XL pipeline. Energy pipelines are the safest method to move petroleum products by far. I have to disagree with rolling back environmental regulations unless they have no benefit to all of, environment, safety or costs. trump has stated that he wants to roll back regulations on coal. Coal is dead. There will never be another coal mine built or coal fired power plant expansion. Although there is the prospect of legacy (existing) coal mines continued operations through deregulation. Natural gas is already cheaper than coal. Its more responsive to peak and irregular power demands than even coal. In addition, more deregulation of fracking and drilling will bring more nat gas to the markets.

Well...well...well... the pigs got the message.Might have to find another way to the full trough. "House Republicans Back Down on Bid to Gut Ethics Office" http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/03/us/politics/trump-house-ethics-office.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=first-column-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Well there is this one: https://www.nytimes.com/newsgraphics/2016/news-tips/

True, but if they did impeach him that would make Pence POTUS. I'm thinking the GOP could live with that. Trump will not be impeached unless he does something both illegal and major. Being a lying liar is not enough. We can close this thread now. "House GOP votes to rein in independent ethics watchdog" Between self investigation, closed doors and the new amendment. "The proposal bars the ethics office from considering anonymous tips about potential ethics violations and prevents disclosures about investigations. http://www.dropzone.com/cgi-bin/forum/gforum.cgi?post=4830096;page=unread#unread Impeachment is impossible! I recall trump saying something about "Donald Trump doubles down on claim he could ‘murder’ someone and not lose voters" http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2016/feb/24/donald-trump-doubles-down-on-claim-he-could-murder/

Well stated. The US will have the wolves guarding the sheep. The foxes guarding the henhouse. What they should have done was introduced separate legislation to allow and fund the FBI to open a new office right on the hill. Such that any citizen who takes his complaint, or information, about corruption, or crimes, to an elected official. Then either gets no results or coverup. Can get immediate action and investigation. A separate office with in-house council and judges. With full funding to investigate US and non-US citizens, corporations and state actors. A politician investigating another politician in closed door or witness-less procedures. Yeah that will drain the swamp. There is a reason why there are checks and balances. Why self investigation of a police force by itself is not wise. "The proposal bars the ethics office from considering anonymous tips about potential ethics violations and prevents disclosures about investigations. Goodlatte said in a statement his proposal would ensure due process rights for lawmakers. Ethics watchdogs, however, warn that barring OCE from reviewing anonymous tips would impede whistleblowers who may fear blowback over a sensitive case." http://thehill.com/homenews/house/312430-house-gop-vote-to-rein-in-congressional-ethics-watchdog This type of self investigation is typical in African, South American and other regions where corruption, bribery and influence peddling is rampant. Countries where the ranking on the Transparency International Corruption Perceptions Index already ranks the US 3 points below Australia. and 7 below Canada. http://www.transparency.org/cpi2015

I do expect that much of the Republican agenda (as opposed to the Trump agenda) will be automatic. Removing billions of dollars of economy stifling regulation can be done quickly with nothing more than a pen and a phone. I'd certainly agree with the Republican agenda. Undoing regulations is not easy. All those special interest groups will be lobbying..i.e....crying like mad. They will all be trying to do end runs around trump, the house and the senate. To the public. to the courts, etc. etc. Lobbyists are very good at confusing the facts and spreading the cash. There will be lots of party breaking/splitting votes.Did I mention cash all around.

trump will have enough on his agenda dealing with fellow Republicans. Without worrying about any odd dissenting Democratic party votes or opinions. From what the Sunday tv news shows had in the interviews with senior Republican leaders. Nothing will be automatic.

The Realpolitik of Republicans(and Democrats) will overlook fake charities, the Atlantic City casino bankruptcies, scams, etc. Its the very nature of politicians. Justices can be appointed for the next four years. Laws passed, legislation amended, taxes cut. Draining the swamp needs ideologically based and integrity driven politicians. trump is not one of those. Those politicians are few and seldom find partners to support bills that put limits on the slime that fills swamps. Theft from charities IMO, is like child molesters, lower than pond scum. But mix politics into the equation and everyone jumps into the swamp. Politicians, voters and all the other creatures that live in swamps.

Trump will serve a full term because only Republicans can impeach him. They have House and Senate control. Thats not going to change quickly unless Democrats get their act together. This is a excellent opportunity to put a consensus based conservative shift to government. For a little off thread topic reply. There are 1.6 billion Muslims in the world or about 23% of the total population. US followers of Allah are not like the followers in the northern provinces of Pakistan. Just as German, Canadian, French Muslims are not a religious based voting block. There are Christian groups that use religion to foster hate just as IS has its Wahhabist ideals. At these protests in Arizona a Christian pastor said it best: "Jim Mullins, a pastor at Redemption Church in Tempe, helped organize the blue shirt-wearing solidarity wall. He told VICE News that after 9/11 he was just like the anti-Islam crowd at the rally. "I was like the folks over there," Mullins said. "I had hostility towards Muslims and I had some friends that challenged me on it. They said that I was inconsistent with who Jesus is… I started on a journey to discover what it really looks like to love my neighbor, love my Muslim neighbor in a post-9/11 world." https://news.vice.com/article/heres-what-happened-at-the-anti-islam-protest-and-draw-muhammad-contest-in-arizona Despite the provocations Muslims did nothing in response.The protestors had the objective, the agenda of religious hate. Just as IS has the objective of religious war. http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/03/29/what-is-wahhabism-the-reactionary-branch-of-islam-said-to-be-the/ And a little more biased but more detailed: https://www.geopoliticalmonitor.com/wahhabism-isis-and-the-saudi-connection/ And a longer read but more precise: https://www.brookings.edu/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/The-ideology-of-the-Islamic-State.pdf

Airports can get boring after a while and pilots like to drink. But three times the "legal" limit of .08 at two hours after the arrest? "Calgary police have charged a pilot after he allegedly passed out from intoxication in the cockpit of a plane with 99 passengers and six crew members. The flight was scheduled to make stops in Regina and Winnipeg before continuing on to Cancun, Mexico. According to police, the pilot boarded a Sunwing Airlines 737-800 series aircraft in Calgary shortly before 7 a.m. on Dec. 31." http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/impaired-pilot-sunwings-airlines-arrest-1.3917757 Transport Canada defines the "legal" limits differently than .08 BAC.

Ron has inserted his beliefs into his arguments and opinions here for a long time. Sometimes he right, but usually not. For anyone to use religion as a systematic basis for the formulation of their opinions. Then not expect a response to those same fallacious arguments. Is naive. I address these comments to you, Hoop. Not Ron. IMO Ron can and always has taken care of himself. You use "adolescent pettiness" to describe a response to a Christian based series of opinions and patterns. Of logic, thinking and writing. Yet suggest equal insults to written opinions here to Allah when there is not a Muslim to be found. We generally try to stay on topic here. I haven't read your books, But they sound good and actually something that I might read. They seem to have good reviews.I actually met you twice in Z-hills. But thats of course irrelevant for these discussions. What is relevant is that your writing style is to throw petty insults about as a way to validate a point. Its as ineffective as inserting Allah or Jesus into the arguments. For Ron I'll respond to "Thought for the day, President Trump may not be the answer for all our nation's ills but he is the cowboy that turned the lead steer and stopped the stampede. " By saying you're partially right. The president, the house and congress. Will more or less lead the herd in a conservative direction. But its republican wins in the house and senate that are equally responsible for turning the herd around.

http://www.rollingstone.com/sports/russian-olympic-doping-scandal-rio-2016-w431262 "In Russia, sport and politics are inextricably mixed – from the use of the 2014 Sochi Winter Olympics as an exercise in soft power to the cultivation of non-western nations through the 2013 World Student Games in Kazan. Now doping has come to be seen as a metaphor for the way Putin’s Russia operates; a place where the end justifies the means and winning is the only acceptable outcome. But a closer look at the narrative behind the doping scandal and the national response to it – a narrative that also informs both foreign and domestic policy – suggests another metaphor; one that describes a country suffering under complacency and heading for stagnation: https://www.theguardian.com/sport/2016/jul/27/russia-olympic-doping-scandal-vladimir-putin Russia has always used sport to foster national pride. But under Putin sport and success in sports has led to new levels of cheating as a way to conceal Russian economic problems. "As Russia touts signs of renewed growth after a long recession, the self-exiled former Kremlin adviser who is now chief economist at the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development (EBRD) says his homeland's prospects for recovery in fact remain bleak. Senior Russian officials have said they expect the economy to start recovering from recession next year, with the Economy Ministry predicting 0.8 percent growth in 2017 after a projected decline of 0.2 percent this year. But Sergei Guriyev, a prominent economist who left Russia in 2013 amid fears of a politically motivated criminal prosecution, says the country's economy is not in a process of recovery but of "transition from recession to stagnation." "The drop in gross domestic product [GDP] has ended, moving now to zero or very slow growth," he told RFE/RL's Russian Service in a telephone interview in London, where the EBRD is headquartered. He predicted that, if there is positive growth, it will be only about 1 percent a year." http://www.rferl.org/a/russia-economist-guriyev-interview-stagnation/28005119.html This is the story that Russian media distributes for domestic consumption after FSS approval. "Galactic doped-up US stars not banned from Rio Games. We all knew it all along. We knew it when the famous Flo-Jo declared she was clean, then suddenly retired, and died aged 38. We knew it when Russian athletes who never took a banned substance in their lives were banned from Rio just because some Canadian wrote a report. The more they lie... And so the entire Russian Paralympic team was banned from Rio because some Canadian called McClaren wrote a report for his British boss (and obviously the Americans pulling the Poodle's strings) without substantiating specific evidence against all specific athletes based on the claims of a rogue Russian official (Stepanov) who had had criminal proceedings brought against him. And who is now cringing and hiding like a coward in the USA, where else? Most of Russia's top athletes were banned from the Olympics to deprive Russia of medals for the same reasons. Every time Russia gets anywhere near a sporting event, especially when Russia starts winning all the medals, Russia is accused of some geopolitical incident which results in its own venues being boycotted or else its competitors banned from competing overseas. They threatened to boycott Sochi but did not and the looks on their faces when Russia swept the medals boards and "owned the podium" was a foretaste of something to come." http://www.pravdareport.com/opinion/columnists/14-09-2016/135609-doping_bomb-0/ i.e. all part of "the western lie"

Komrade, you are up working so late at night! Your dedication is commendable. The story was about Russian cyber aggression, for which your leaders are now being punished. Why does Mother Russia, a wasted third rate, vodka fueled, oil dependency with a kleptomatic government think it should still be seriously considered as a power? Thats hilarious. But everyone knows, the KGB,er Federal Security Service,[/url] never sleeps. They know all, they see all and kill or incarcerate all enemies,foreign and domestic. http://www.politifact.com/punditfact/article/2016/jan/04/does-vladimir-putin-kill-journalists/ http://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/07/how-putin-uses-money-laundering-charges-to-control-his-opponents/277903/ [url]http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/21/world/europe/moscow-kremlin-silence-critics-poison.html?_r=0[url]

"In a statement on the Kremlin website (in Russian), Mr Putin said: "We won't be expelling anyone. "We won't be banning their families and children from the places where they usually spend the New Year holidays. Furthermore, I invite all children of American diplomats accredited in Russia to the New Year and Christmas Tree in the Kremlin." He wished Barack Obama and his family a happy New Year, as well as Mr Trump and "the whole American people". http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38464612 trump has no hope of matching Putin in using obfuscation, tactics and lying. To manipulate affairs for the national interest. Putin is worth 200 billion, trump under four. Putin smart, trump NOT. trump is just a good liar. In one move Putin has just played both President Obama, trump congress and the house. http://www.forbes.com/donald-trump/#3b5e6f9a790b http://www.news.com.au/finance/money/vladimir-putin-could-be-worlds-richest-person-with-stolen-257b-fortune-investor-claims/news-story/6cbbf7e22072c7d66fdccfe13a7c2acd

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38463025 http://www.nytimes.com/2016/12/29/us/politics/russia-election-hacking-sanctions.html?hp&action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=span-ab-top-region®ion=top-news&WT.nav=top-news&_r=0

Just because the US intelligence community chooses not to divulge its methods and technical capabilities to YOU, terrorists and hostile nations, doesn't mean no evidence exists. They do provide evidence to the relevant committees of both Senate and House, members of which have security clearances. Sometimes we just have to believe that even Republican congresspersons do their jobs. I don't think they have provided any evidence to anyone. Just because you THINK that doesn't make it true. THINK ^^^^ 1. Involves the consideration of facts and new information. 2. Setting aside preconceived prejudices and ideologies. 3. Ascertaining subtle differences of fact When debating with beowulf, keep these disabilities in mind.

I wonder how his feeling of his "dream being crushed" compares to how the owners of the planes he stole and destroyed felt? I'm all for second chances. I hope he gets a chance to have a dream and pursue it. But before forgiveness, it would help if he expressed some remorse and made some real effort at amends (selling the rights to his story to Hollywood doesn't really count as "amends" even if the money gets paid). As I said, he was an arrogant little shit back then and still appears to be one. That is exactly how i think about it in every respect. Although i would add he must be a bit of a con man. He's conned John Miller, one of the owners of a AC he stole. This is not "a mistake" IMO he went on a crime spree that involved multiple thefts, multiple crimes. He has not made any personal effort to work and repay the balance of the restitution order. If he went to work at a FBO as a lineman and had the objective of repayment, then a aviation career it might be different. The $175k would be another con when as mentioned already a guaranteed job as instructor would be $50K. Whats quick, easy and get other to pay for it. Seems to be his MO.

And this is just as unacceptable: http://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/passengers-removed-jetblue-flight-ivanka-trump-incident-n699161 Jerry Baumchen The shock there is that she was traveling Jetblue in coach! So perhaps the egomania disorder does not affect the whole family. I wouldn't even have recognized her: http://www.tmz.com/2016/12/22/ivanka-trump-flight/ It seems the idiot who was harassing Ivanka and her family, is a professor and an author, and his book is getting some pretty bad reviews on Amazon: https://www.amazon.com/High-Life-Living-Suburban-Century/dp/0300164084/ Without reading any reviews more than a couple days old. I'd hazard a guess that they are all trump supporters. "An oddly written book. Seems to start in one direction, then flys over to another unrelated subject, then jets back to yet another area, left me feeling Blue.... Left me feeling verbally assaulted. Almost as if I had jetlag. I won't be taking this flight again anytime soon. and authors like " nObama NoMore".

Somebody should alert his parole officer. http://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/barefoot-bandits-dreams-crushed-when-feds-force-stop-to-his-flight-school-fundraiser/ "“Now I am 25 years old, free, and ready to do it (fly) LEGALLY!,” he wrote on his GoFundMe page. “I love airplanes, but I will never steal one or break the law again. I broke the law big league when I was younger, but now it’s time to focus on my career and life in the free world.” But the effort hardly got off the ground before the federal probation office told Harris-Moore to stop fundraising. Harris-Moore still owes victims of his crimes about $129,000 in restitution. “He is not allowed to have a GoFundMe account to fund his wish to go to flying school when the victims aren’t whole,” said Connie Smith, chief U.S. probation and pretrial officer for Western Washington. “The money in that GoFundMe account will need to go to victims.” Harris-Moore said he had made about $1,600 before he shut down the fundraiser, and announced in a tweet that his “dream has been crushed.” I feel like my dream has been crushed. What a terrible feeling... Most of his court-ordered restitution has been paid. In exchange for rights to his story, a Hollywood movie studio coughed up more than $1 million in restitution for Harris-Moore. The money mostly paid for the planes he wrecked... Harris-Moore said he’d go to great lengths to realize his lofty dream. “I have the email address of Kellyanne Conway,” he said, referring to President-elect Donald Trump’s campaign manager. “If it comes to this, I’ll get this taken care of from the top down.”"

$31k a year doing jobs that nobody else wants. Building the American dream, for themselves, their employers, their communities, their state and their new country, America. http://www.pbs.org/newshour/bb/south-dakota-town-embraces-new-immigrants-vital-to-meat-industry/

Merry Christmas

I doubt that Canada is a "safe distance". A 10% tariff on any goods entering the US won't be good, although the low exchange rate on the Canadian dollar will help offset this some. Increases in air and water pollution won't magically stop at the border. Abandoning the two-state solution to the Israel/Palestinian problem will certainly cause an increase in conflict and terrorism. Launching a new nuclear arms race will increase the odds that someone will miscalculate, and Canada is still in between the US and Russia. At least Trump won't be able to take away your health insurance. The converse is probably true as well. Don So if i understand your post correctly. Because of 62,979,636 high school educated white voters. Who all want legacy jobs of the US post WW II industrial boom to return. The coal, rubber, steel, shipbuilding, furniture making,clothes making, etc. All paying $100k a year for a 40 hour workweek. That ...that... the whole world has to pay for that small mistake. That because they were mislead, tricked and fooled by a smooth talking, easy lying NY,NY salesman. That Europeans might have to start converting wine cellars to nuclear bombshelters in the basements of their homes? Oh Lord, please put 2016 behind us and let 2017 fly by like a Hawaii vacation.

Everybody needs to make a balloon jump.Or a couple. Its like a safe BASE jump. How much?

Swoon... Wendy= Firecracker 1.1 An outstanding, exciting, or attractive person or thing: 1. frequently used to describe women who are not afraid to speak their mind, and will often do so at the behest of others. 2. one who is exciting, unpredictable, tough, hard-nosed, and free living. (could be male or female) Then there’s firecracker. You want to be called a firecracker, I think? If you’re a woman, it means that the speaker approves of you. He (it’s usually a he) finds you feisty, energetic, opinionated, and honest. You also may be on the petite side, like a compact paper cylinder packed with explosives. The point is, it’s cute when you yell! http://www.slate.com/blogs/lexicon_valley/2015/01/04/bright_young_thing_firecracker_whip_smart_compliments_that_may_be_backhanded.html http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=firecracker https://en.oxforddictionaries.com/definition/firecracker

The title character in The Ugly American was actually the good guy. Please, everyone -- it's a great book about the pitfalls of how we sometimes see ourselves and behave WRT other countries, and ways to do it better, with respect, and getting respect (and some broader horizons) in return. I encourage everyone to read it -- especially those who want to use the phrase, so it can be reclaimed and used correctly. (and now back to your regularly scheduled SC thread topic....) You're right!. ""Ugly American" is a pejorative term used to refer to perceptions of loud, arrogant, demeaning, thoughtless, ignorant, and ethnocentric behavior of American citizens mainly abroad, but also at home.[2][3][4][5][6][7] Although the term is usually associated with or applied to travelers and tourists, it also applies to U.S. corporate businesses in the international arena." Emphasis on ethnocentric. "Ethnocentrism is judging another culture solely by the values and standards of one's own culture.[1][page needed] Ethnocentric individuals judge other groups relative to their own ethnic group or culture, especially with concern for language, behavior, customs, and religion. These ethnic distinctions and subdivisions serve to define each ethnicity's unique cultural identity.[2] Ethnocentrism may be overt or subtle, and while it is considered a natural proclivity of human psychology, it has developed a generally negative connotation" https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ugly_American_(pejorative) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ethnocentrism and how the world sees trump. http://www.usnews.com/news/best-countries/articles/2016-03-14/in-trump-the-world-sees-the-ugly-american The world really doesn't see the US like the aforementioned article. But such conduct only goes to reinforce prejudiced minds. I say that because the exact people who make such references. Will freely admit to the generous and accepting nature of most US citizens. They know of Japanese, Chinese, Russians, Africans, Jews, Muslims, who have emigrated and found community in the US. Free from the prosecutions and encumbrances of their home countries. The final proof is: http://www.citylab.com/politics/2013/08/geography-americas-many-languages/6438/ 60 million would represent only three million less than voted for trump. That story was from 2013 so the number is likely over 63 million now