TriGirl

What I find most mindboggling is that the US and UK couldn't even persuade the western members of the UN security council that an invasion was justified, yet still thought that the bombing campaign and military invasion itself would garner support and goodwill from the Islamic middle east. And this was all being pushed by people whose job it was to know about geopolitics, and they just wished away the likelihood of this direct, causal link between an unjustified invasion of a middle eastern majority Muslim nation and a massive fundamentalist Islamic backlash. It's hardly butterfly effect / crystal ball gazing stuff. If I was that bad at my job I'd be fired within weeks, and the consequences (probably) wouldn't even have involved one person dying. It was partly because the president at the time was trying to keep a campaign promise (Bush II campaigned on holding Iraq to the terms of UN Res 1441). Unfortunately, the fight against al-Qaeda et al jumped to the top of the priority list. Afghanistan stability and development should have stayed there, but the other part of the equation was that the president was so desperate to strike back at the nation that "tried to kill [his] daddy" that he didn't give appropriate consideration and evaluation of the new mess in Afghanistan. A better leader would have subjugated his own desires for the good of others; Hussein could have waited. We messed up Afghanistan by using it as a proxy to fight Soviet expansion. We had a chance after 9/11 and again failed those citizens for personal gain. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I voted "Independent," and I mean that in the literal sense. I consider each issue on its merits, fairness, and what I understand of its compliance with the Constitution. Sometimes I have no opinion because I can't see benefits or hindrance of an issue. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

And we lost Debbie Carrington last month. She was a bit older -- 58 -- but still way too young. Total badass. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

FIFY. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Thanks, Wendy. I'll check it out! As an instructor of diplomats, I will consider whether it should be added to our recommended reading list. Our students are expected to be able to explain and defend the way our system works, so I look forward to taking this book for consideration.

This. Procreation is (usually) a choice. Though I know DJL's employee is now separated -- in that case: child support. These life choices are just that: CHOICES. If you choose to create children, you should know with whom you are creating them. Know how much time/money/attention this will require, and for what duration. Of course, I know "things happen." External family emergencies, natural disasters, death/illness of one of the parents, etc. But those variables that are choices should be "owned" by those who make those choices. [/rant] See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I'm an active-duty Marine with multiple expert qualifications on both of my T/O weapons. Former competition shooter. I had several firearms in the house growing up. I'm also only 5'4", and if you can't tell by my screen name, a woman. I've lived in some less-than-savory places -- or had to transit to/from work through them -- on and off for several decades. I've never owned my own firearm, have no desire to procure one, and cannot imagine a situation where I would think I need one of my own. (Not including deployment to a place/mission where I would be issued one for that specific purpose, of course). I might start carrying a taser as I approach AARP eligibility, but otherwise, I have plenty of other ways to both avoid and deal with threatening situations. I watched a focus group recently on a news program. One man said he reconsidered (former NRA advocate) and determined no civilian "NEEDS" an assault rifle. A woman in the group replied, "That's not the point! It's my RIGHT to have it if I want one!" Except for the competition shooters (sport), hunters (for food/hobby -- hopefully also for food), or collectors, I still don't get why people in general are so attached to their ability to have firearms. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I wrote in another thread last year when I lived in LA that about every other month the convention center across the street hosted a gun show. And that was only one of about 3 per month advertised on billboards. To those who want to say Illinois has tough laws but high gun crime: you can easily drive over a state line and purchase something to bring back into Illinois. I submit that Hawaii is a better example of effective restrictions, being a group of islands. To quote Harrison Ford, "It's an island, babe. If you didn't bring it here, you won't find it here." The way you get legislation to work more effectively across CONUS is to implement similar restrictions across the board, regardless of state. Sure, we still have land borders that can be crossed more easily, but a larger area with the same restrictions would, IMHO, have a more realistic result. You can't say "but, Chicago!" with so many other legal sources within such close proximity. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I flew to Jacksonville and drove from there. Not a bad drive. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Actually, they did it by indoctrinating their society. Every Israeli (male and female) is required to serve (IIRC, except for those physically unable). Every adult is in the Reserve. It's ingrained into their collective psyche as a society how to behave as a cohesive community. In this situation (yes, I know Israel has a lot of other problems -- this is on topic), Israel is what many people on here and in the media have asked for: a collective buy-in to the good of the community. Now, how do we instill that into the next generations here when we can't even agree we need to adopt this outlook ourselves? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

All, I know I'm a day late, hope I'm not a dollar short. A couple of things came to mind as I read this thread: 1 -- I liken training to the same example earlier relating to driver licensing. A car used irresponsibly can kill someone unintentionally. It can also kill intentionally. Same with a firearm. 2 -- Some of the proposed training for close quarters makes me pause. I think of the criminal mind taking the training to get the weapon, then learning better how to take down a house in the dark with minimal communication. I'm opposed to making criminals better at this. OTOH, responsible handling, responsible storage, cleaning/maintenance, operation instruction -- I can get on board with that. And it has to be re-tested every XX years, just like a driving test (may even be written, like the periodic driving test). Hope those suggestions are on topic enough! T (multi-decade active-duty Marine) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

From what else I've been told, this is actually a viable number. Meaning, we have to keep power plants online and running continually, because it burns more fuel and costs more to fire them up "when needed," for example at night, or during storms when the panels don't collect nearly enough sunlight (again, that's as I understand the process -- I know I'm over simplifying it). I was also thinking of it like this: if I could have solar panels that ONLY provided power to my A/C unit (the A/C unit would pull from there first and get any other needed power from the grid), then my solar panels would be off-setting the cost to power my A/C when the unit would need to draw the most power anyway. And if I had any other panels, they could be helping the "grid" during the time of day most of the energy is being used (I might consider powering an electric car that way as well, assuming the technology comes along to store the energy at least for a day so it could be diverted into my car. However, we would (should) never think we could replace all of our power needs by renewables anyway. We'll always need a back-up, so we should plan for the most cost-effective/fuel efficient course of action (like keeping the generators always running). But a cut of fossil fuels used for the power grid by nearly half? Then add power generated by windmills and hydroelectric plants (damns), and increase efficiency of appliances -- yeah, I think we'd be doing a good thing for the planet to reduce the fossil fuel requirements by such a significant amount. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

We already have them, every Friday evening in the summertime at Marine Barracks 8th & I. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

#ReleaseTheDress !!! http://www.nydailynews.com/news/national/stormy-daniels-allegedly-gold-dress-supposed-trump-fling-article-1.3823010 If the dress does not fit, you must aquit Um... nothing this woman wears actually fits! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I thought we were in the 20s? (like this was 22 or 23?) See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I thought she was pregnant out of wedlock, so Joseph married her so no one would ask questions. I mean, how is it she would have been married already, then get pregnant as a virgin? They would have consummated, per Jewish tradition, right on the wedding night. ETA -- Oh, and quit with the slut shaming! I don't care how she got knocked up. I don't judge. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Just like the Taliban. And in Pakistan. And ISIL. Yeah, that's good company to be in. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Good question. And how is it that an independent Senator can run for a major party nomination? You would think some term of party membership would be a requirement. I heard in an NPR news story that the GOP wasn't acknowledging him as a Republican candidate, wouldn't give him any money, and the local chapter was trying to get his name off the GOP primary ballot. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

It's worse listening to Hannity on the radio. I like to tune in to some of the conservative and religious talk shows every now and then, just to hear about their issues and points of view. But damn, last time I did I got Hannity. It was absolutely insane. I didn't have time to deconstruct just the faulty premises (yep, multiple untruths in one sentence/background setting), let alone understand how they thought the crazy they were spewing was supposed to help anyone do anything. It was scary. See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Worse yet is the outright false statements they like to give as "facts" to support whatever insane message they're trying to spew. "So, here are the facts: XX never happened, ABC was proven to be a secret plan to discredit our Dear Leader, and (insert some person or group here) committed (name three atrocities) but is walking the streets free! This just goes to prove peanut butter comes from outer space, and the left wants us all sterile so they secretly ensure its in EVERYTHING we eat!" As someone who has worked in the news business, I'm increasingly frustrated that these people can so get away with the blatant falsehoods and false premise and call themselves "news." The average listener doesn't know how to tell the difference between a properly sourced report and this steaming pile of nonsense. I'm frustrated that because of this ignorance, any outlet reporting with journalistic integrity (yes, this does exist), is summarily dismissed as propaganda, yet this crap continues to be distributed (and shared/forwarded) as gospel. [/rant] Okay, sorry -- had to vent there for a minute! See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

This would never have happened if more people had more guns. Of all types. And could carry them everywhere at all times. There is nothing wrong with this. It can't be stopped. Cows are more dangerous. I wonder what those apologists would have said had the situation been different: someone else DID have a firearm, and shot that 12-yr-old girl dead. She said it was an accident (I imagine she meant that the gun went off, or she thought it wasn't loaded and just wanted to scare them, etc). Presuming away any other details that are going to come out, I ask rhetorically: is the death penalty, with no option for appeal, an appropriate sentence for a 12 y.o., for what she thinks was an "accident"? See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Well, economic stimulus from the public to Trump's pocket. All the hotel costs, golf cart costs, meal costs, all the expenses of staying at a Trump owned resort are paid for out of the taxpayer's pocket, directly into Trump's. Yep -- this. I was holding off replying to earlier posts (just catching up on this thread!) until I could get to the end to see whether anyone referenced this. The president may not be taking a low 6-figure government salary, but he chooses to take his weekends and holidays at COMMERCIAL properties he owns. This is a business for him, and he's making REAL money while "donating" his time (or his salary -- which can be a tax deduction if he's really donating it to charity). See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

Lily James sang a lovely version in the most recent Cinderella movie.

So, maybe those are the immigrants from Norway he meant! See? He really is sensitive to the needs of the refugees. [/sarcasm] See the upside, and always wear your parachute! -- Christopher Titus Shut Up & Jump!

I agree 1000%. The problem with Trump winning last November is that suddenly everyone thinks they're qualified to be Commander in Chief. That they'd be slightly better than the current imbecile isn't really an endorsement - he sets the bar pretty low. IMO Oprah is in absolutely no way qualified for the position and would likely be as much a disaster as Trump is. I won't vote for her. Where she is more qualified: she has actually worked with real people outside the country; understands life in poor, developing countries; and understands the spectrum of socio-economic societal spheres both within and outside the U.S. She has witnessed firsthand how education and opportunities lift a community and lead to progress and self-sustainment, and actively advocates for those opportunities on behalf of disadvantage people. Does that mean she's qualified to be president? She certainly has more business savvy, interpersonal skills (diplomacy), and global experience than many who have held the office -- most notably the current occupant.