wolfriverjoe

Actually, the first thing repressive regimes take away is free & fair elections. Look at Myanmar (Burma). Look at Russia. Then ask what party is trying to do that here. True to a point. But it's pretty important to remember what that 'restriction' actually meant. They limited each household to one select fire AK-47 (or equivalent). Those are rifles that are highly controlled here in the US. I keep hearing 'expand the background check to cover all purchases'. WHY!?!?!?!? Every single 'mass shooting' that I can recall involved weapons purchased through FFL Dealers. With a background check. Dylan Roof in Charleston didn't pass the check, but the timing rule allowed him to get the gun. That rule is in place because when Brady passed, there were local officials in a number of places who basically said "Oh, you have to pass a check to get a gun? We'll make sure that those checks take a while. A loooong while." Gary Martin in Aurora IL passed a background check. When he later applied for a carry permit, a deeper check found a felony in another state. Despite knowing that he had obtained a firearm and was breaking the law, the officials didn't bother to go and arrest him or confiscate the gun. There have been thousands (more than that, actually) of people who filled out all the forms and were denied because of what they had on their record. They lied on the application forms. That's a crime. There have been very few people prosecuted for that crime. I'm all for mandatory training, but that won't prevent this sort of thing. I'm not sure how any 'ban' that doesn't involve confiscation will have any effect. The fear-mongering over the past dozen years or so has put an incredible amount of guns into circulation. Many of them the military style semi autos that are so frightening. And while highly publicized, are rarely used. As was noted earlier, there are more guns than people in the US. That's a problem that isn't easily tackled. I'm willing to listen to good ideas. Ones that will actually make a difference. I have yet to hear any. As I've noted before, there's a 'DO SOMETHING!!! DO ANYTHING!!! Make me feel SAFE!!' attitude in place. We've seen it with the 'security theatre' in airports. We've seen it with previous gun control measures. And when it doesn't work, they ask for more. The "slippery slope" argument is actually pretty valid for gun control. Back in the early 90s, the Brady Bill passed. Then the "Assault Weapons" Bill. The gun control groups were very happy and had a LOT more planned (look up "Brady 2"). Then the 96 mid-terms gave control of congress to the Rs. And it ended. That's what I fear more than anything right now. The Ds have a very tenuous grip on power. The Rs made gains in the House last election, and damned near held onto the Senate. Trump lost WI by about 20k votes. GA by 11k. Many voters were solid Rs, but saw Trump for the wannabe despot he truly was. I don't know how many will continue to support the Ds. I DO believe that if there is significant gun control passed, the Ds won't hold onto that power after the 22 mid terms. I've said it before that I won't vote R again, unless there is significant party reform (which I no longer believe will happen). But there are a lot of folks who still support the Rs, and will do so even more if they see their 'gun rights' being 'taken away'.

Oil prices are rising, and are likely to rise some more. Purely a supply issue. There's a very large container ship stuck sideways in the Suez Canal. A LOT of oil (and other stuff) passes through there.

To be fair, the fools weren't directly told that they 'would have to be insane to fall for it'. That statement is being used as a defense by the perpetrators. The manipulators. I have yet to hear Trump, Giuliani, Powell, or any of the other con artists actually tell the fools that it was all a massive lie. And, despite the evidence (no evidence submitted to a court of law, the admissions in court that it was all a sham, ect), many of those fools STILL believe that the election 'was stolen', that Trump is the 'rightful president' ect. They still believe that "Q" is the truth. You are absolutely right that it will happen again. It's happened over and over (and over and over and over and over) in the past. It's happening right now with all the lies and disinformation about Covid and the vaccines. Or about AGW being a 'hoax'. People are gullible fools. They believe what they WANT TO believe. Thousands of years of religion prove this quite clearly.

Tell that to Pence. I really would liked to have seen what would have happened if the mob had gotten their hands on him. While I agree with you that Trump and his supporters are idiots, they are dangerous idiots. Fortunately, the FBI & Justice Department recognize the threat they represent.

Not within 100 miles? Please. They're all over the country. Including 'more than a few' in Virginia. The idiots are still pretending that the election was 'stolen'. Still repeating the stupid Q bullshit. Still pretending that Trump will come back to power. The FBI is doing a pretty good job of rounding up the criminals, but there are still a lot of that sort out there. To think that the threat is over is foolish.

Technically, that's true. However, a large percentage of people that support Trump believe all of her stupid claims. So I guess she's saying that all the people she's conned are idiots?

All of the above? I can't wait to see how they try to justify this one.

Well, more like a preschool. There's only a couple toddlers. The rest feed and enable them.

Actually a Captain, not the chief (and of the Sheriff's Dept). However, despite the fact that there have been thousands of attacks on Asians, the fact that Trump stoked that hatred with comments like 'Kung Flu', all of that, this cop said it was 'a bad day'. Oh, wait. That same Sheriff's Department Captain had a FB post saying how much he liked his shirt. The one saying "Covid-19 Imported from Chy-na". Really. https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/skbaer/spa-shooter-bad-day-racist-facebook

Entirely possible that I'm 'misremembering', but I thought the CYPRES 1 fired and the CYPRES 2 shut off.

^This. Originally, the person intending to stall the process via filibuster had to actually hold the floor. Continue talking. That takes a lot of work, and holds up everything else the Senate is doing. The rules were changed in 1970, something called the 'two track' system. That allows a filibuster to be 'officially' taking place, holding up a particular piece of legislation, while everything else proceeds normally. I can see the need for some sort of way that the minority can create difficulties for the majority to run rampant over the process. That's part of what the Senate was created for. But it should at least go back to being 'difficult'. If the minority wants to hold up a particular piece of legislation, make them bring everything to a halt. Let them pay that political price.

I'm good with that. It means there will be more available and I'll get mine sooner. It means more of them will get sick. Some will die. If they've been given the opportunity, if they've been given the information, if they choose to ignore science and reality... Too fucking bad.

Considering that it usually takes a week or so for the numbers to jump after a large exposure event, it can't mean anything. There's no data to evaluate. Unless he can see into the future. It may not spread much, or it might. Much of the activity was outside. It's been pretty clear all along that the virus spreads much less when people gather outside. To try to predict the effects of these gatherings now is pretty foolish.

The "current inhabitants" will continue to live and die pretty much as they have. The pandemic threw a pretty good 'monkey wrench into the works', but it killed well under 1% of those inhabitants. And it seems to be winding down. Personally, I don't see AGW affecting me much. The changes are coming, but slowly. The real 'death and destruction' is a ways off. Maybe a hundred years, maybe a couple hundred. Whether it's from actual 'climate change' (major storms, heat waves, sea level rising, that sort of thing) or our reactions to those (primarily wars from immigrating populations), that chaos will be an 'existential threat' to humanity. Not the planet. And, of course, the really fun aspect of that is the 'tipping point' concept. The idea that the damage path will become irreversible once we do enough. And that we won't see the results of that for a long time after we've passed the 'point of no return.' It's kinda funny. There was a quote going around at the beginning of the pandemic: "Every disaster movie starts off with a scientist predicting trouble... And being ignored completely." It turned out to be eerily accurate. It can be similarly applied to AGW. And I gotta love how the resident anti is cherry picking the month of February out of the winter. Ignoring completely the fact that the previous 4 months were all above average temps. So one cold month means it's 'all a hoax', yet the 4 previous mean nothing.

Interesting that it's an 'invasive' species. Is it considered a 'good thing' or a 'bad thing' in South Africa? We have a lot of that here in the US. For a variety of reasons, including seeds being carried in feed and subsequently pooped out, there are 'foreign' plants in areas they don't really belong. Some are benign, some are quite destructive. They overtake an area and kill off the native species. There's a nature center near me that uses goats to help control this. https://1000islandsenvironmentalcenter.org/1000-islands-goat-browsing-or-lets-do-munch/

FedEx. Back in the mid 80s, when the Caravan first came out, Cessna & FedEx had a big display at the EAA convention. They were giving out buttons. On the button, in 'large friendly letters', it said "Don't Panic" along with the FedEx logo, in orange or purple. I still have my purple one.

I'm not familiar with those. Wisconsin may be too far north for them (approx 44 latitude). Up here, we're seeing the first signs of spring. Potholes in the roads, dog poop on the lawns as the snow melts and reveals it, and motorcycles out and about.

42

More like PT Barnum. Or maybe William Miller, but in the opposite orientation. Or maybe just Kevin Bacon:

Right Said

Thumper

Two problems with that reasoning. #1 - The priorities for vaccinating were to take care of older people first. Nursing home residents are approaching 90% vaccinated. Around here, they are starting to allow visitors into the homes. Those older people are going to die at higher rates than that average. #2 - You're using logic. Facts. Haven't you realized by now that those NEVER work on Trumpettes? They don't want no stinkin' facts. They want to believe what they want to believe. They'll ignore a mountain of evidence and grasp that one anecdote that supports their idiocy. Personally, I'm done being nice. If that moron chooses to refuse the vaccine, good. That's one more dose that gets me closer to getting mine. If those fools wish to ignore science, let them. Maybe a bunch of them will die. Making the world a bit more intelligent by their leaving it.

The thread was locked for a while. I think, like the 'unbannings', the new format unlocked some of the old stuff. Or maybe, like the DB Cooper thread, the 'powers that be' decided the traffic was worth the trouble.

FIFY.

Not exactly. I'm not 'missing the point'. I just don't see it the same way. And it's not just 'the last couple of years'. This is the exact same struggle that has been fought over and over again since the founding of the country. It could have easily destroyed us very early on. Take a good look at the differences between Adams & Jefferson back in the very early 1800s. Look at the real reasons for the Civil War. It wasn't "State's Rights", not really. It was a very small group of very rich men who didn't want to give up the power and control they had. The current struggle goes back to the Reagan 80s. All the deregulation, all the 'small government' claims (which is really just a smokescreen for 'take away the protections for the ordinary people and let the rich do what ever they want), along with all the military/industrial buildup. It came to a head in the last couple of years, when the Rs finally dropped all the pretenses and just let the rich and powerful take over. The 'dark money', the 'super PACs', all that. It's not just the Rs, but they are the worst of it. Compare and contrast the just passed Covid bill with the tax cuts from 2017. Heather Cox Richardson has some very thoughtful posts on FB (and elsewhere). I've quoted them several times, as have others. She puts this stuff in a historical perspective, both long and short. I don't disagree that the Europeans really like us. We saved their asses twice last century. However, Africa, South & Central America & Asia have a bit different perspective. I truly hope we have turned a corner and will move forward. The majority of the country wants to. But, unfortunately, the majority of the wealth doesn't.