winsor

Fossil fuels have allowed us to achieve a standard of living that was beyond that to which what royalty could aspire in the remarkably recent past. They have also allowed the population to expand to previously unimaginable levels. The fact that fossil fuels are finite seems to escape some people. We will never completely run out of coal, petroleum and what have you, but we will reach a point where it will take much more time, energy and money to extract that last ton or barrel. To those people who think producing oil is simply a matter of sticking a tube in the earth and sucking it out, I recommend studying up on the geology involved, as well as the technology involved. I won't digress into that, but suffice it to say that it is not that simple. The bottom line is that there are 8 some odd billion people on this planet, most of whom are dependent on fossil fuels for their way of life - if not for life itself. When sufficient fuel is no longer available to power agricultural equipment, and synthetic fertilizers and pesticides go away, things will get interesting indeed. At that point we might wish that 'climate change' was the worst of our problems. I'm reminded of a line in an old movie where a woman, whose life has just been saved by Jimmy Stewart, asks "just what is a human life worth?!" To which Stewart's character replies "whatever the market will bear, lady, whatever the market will bear." Thus it is with petroleum. BSBD, Winsor

Without your citing the post to which you're responding I can only guess as to its content. Having said that, given that a very large amount of the interaction here is one variation of ad hominem or another, where do you draw the line?

The earth is topographically flatter than a pancake. Anyone from Kansas knows that.

Unfortunately, when she shakes her head it rattles.

During the days of the Evil Empire, an interviewer asked various Soviet citizens whether what Pravda and Izvestia reported was true. The universal reaction was guffaws and scoffing, effectively 'of course not, everyone knows it is bullshit.' If you then asked the same people 'gee, have you heard about the train wreck outside of Vladivostok?' they would quote verbatim the story posted by Pravda and/or Izvestia. Religion is contingent upon the principle of "Credo quia absurdum." Science is more along the lines of "dubito, ergo cogito, ergo sum." BSBD, Winsor

There are precisely as many Atheists in Heaven (tm) as there are True Believers. Or Leprechauns, for that matter.

The King was still the King (who relocated my family to a vast estate in Canada).

Unfortunately, when power is thus transferred by violence, the replacement tends to be that much worse. Think the Czar, Allende, Qaddafi, Hussein, etc.. If Poutine is replaced in accordance with vox populi it may well turn out badly. A population that has been fed a constant diet of bullshit is poorly suited to insightful decision making, given the chance. Think Albania, Berkeley and the like. Perhaps the best outcome would be to limit the scope of Poutine's ratfucking to the geographical borders of Russia. Outside of his realm you're in the clear. Cross the border? 'Abandon hope all ye who enter...' and all that. All things being considered, Poutine fails to make Xi look good by comparison. Bringing China into the equation, despots are most dangerous when their power appears to ebb. It is when they have little to lose that they pull out the stops, and Poutine's retirement plan involves pushing up daisies. Thus, the best outcome would be if he could declare victory, repatriate the Ukrainians forcibly relocated to Russia, return the borders to their 2014 status (aw, we didn't want Crimea anyhow...) and move on It will, of course, be the job of someone more Machiavellian than I to arrange such an outcome. BSBD, Winsor

That would be bilingual and straight.

They both deserve to be imprisoned. If you're cool with one, don't bitch about the other.

Though skimming this article seems to reference leaks specifically, I agree in general with The Donald here. https://www.cnn.com/2022/09/03/politics/trump-jail-sentences-mishandled-classified-information-kfile/index.html He should be comfortable in returning to Government accommodations; in this case the Big House rather than the White House, but it's all good. I think the trick is to remove him from the equation ignominiously so that there is no hint of martyrdom. He remains the turd in the soup that is U.S. politics, and neither side of the aisle is immune to his poison. BSBD, Winsor

I linked the video referenced by a mainstream article as the basis of her firing. It was apparently good enough for her employers.

Note the disclaimer.

Two wrongs do not make a right. Three lefts do.

I can't tell who, in particular, you're addressing. Rather a few posters rely entirely on ad Hominem to the exclusion of supporting data or references. Nitpicking those who do provide data and references seems rather counterproductive.

Someone made the observation to the effect that the Left defends the right to express differing views, while being horrified that people hold other views. Apparently, expressing other views is not at all encouraged in practice. Project Veritas is hardly a 'Fair and Balanced' source, but they do capture people saying things that at least appear damning. In all fairness, the person caught on camera here is a real dog, and may well be 'gilding the lily' in the hopes of getting laid. I've known too many people who would overstate their professional accomplishments to suit their perceived audience, and this person may well be doing just that. Having said that, I'd have a hard time coughing up $60,000 a year for the privilege of being indoctrinated by the likes of her. Then again, when asked why students were sent to college in Moscow in the 1960s, the leader of an African country that has since been renamed responded 'when we send our students to Paris they come back Communists, but when we send them to Moscow they come back Capitalists,' so perhaps exposure to bugwits like her will drive at least some of her charges to a more balanced approach to life than is the Woke norm. One can only hope. BSBD, Winsor

He doesn't need the money, he's a billionaire. He said so himself.

I'm not a fan of the Bureau, but I'm curious as to what part of the Constitution forbids the search of Mar a Lago. I, personally, want The Donald to completely drop off the scope forever, without anything that serves to set him up as a martyr or victim of any kind. Given the endless supply of cretins and half wits on both sides of the aisle, I suppose it doesn't make much difference in the long run, but the Mango Mussolini makes Tricky Dick Nixon look like a model of wisdom, honesty and decency by comparison. Being able to vote for the slightly lesser of two evils would be refreshing. BSBD, Winsor

If you want to find organizations with the worst track record regarding human rights, Christianity and Islam are a pretty good start. Nazis are johnny-come-lately amateurs by comparison. It is beyond ironic that Rome picked their method of executing Judeans as the symbol of 'following' an observant Jew - who they killed by that method. Similarly, following an illiterate pervert psychopath who boasted about personally beheading 600 Jews who disputed his reinterpretation of their copyrighted (seriously dysfunctional) family history doesn't instill much confidence in their psychological stability. either. The idea that I either 'confront absolutely everyone about their beliefs' or 'ignore absolutely everyone' appears to be projection. My killfile is limited to those whose abuse:content ratio approaches infinity (to include mods). BSBD, Winsor

When encountering people admiring the Shovelhead who have swastikas tattooed on their heads, I don't get into discussions I've had with my Rabbi. I stick to discussions of Harleys and certainly don't insult them. If people with rainbow tattoos or Ladies with Adam's Apples get coquettish with me, I take it as a compliment and talk about neutral subjects. Being equally polite with either crowd is advisable for differing reasons; telling biker trash what shitty bikes they're riding and what loser lifestyles they're living is generally a Bad Career Move. YMMV. BSBD, Winsor

Oh, I'd say he knows sleaze when he sees it. He is rather an expert.

Wheels rarely go flat, but tires do. Thus you have the concept of having a flat tire and changing a flat tire, or changing a tire for short. I have changed tubes on tires ranging from small yard equipment to 18 wheelers, and I agree that it is a different experience altogether. I have stopped to help change tires (inner tubes actually, but not wheels) of other bicyclists on organized rides, since I tend to keep spare 700c inner tubes and the necessary tools on hand. I had a group of friends in Georgia who all had Austin Healy 3000 Mk IIIs. One failed to secure the knock off properly, and the left rear wheel arrived in the parking lot before the car. My MGs (two Bs and a Magnette) were a mix of lug nuts and knock offs, the Series 1 E-type had knock offs. As Steve Landisburg noted on Barney Miller, "semantics is my life." BSBD, Winsor

We're trying to stick to an ad Hominem approach without going full Godwin here. Upon reflection, calling someone a Trumper is pretty close.

Talking past each other as usual. There is a certain level of politeness that one should afford a stranger. I'll stop and help someone change a tire, regardless of who they appear to be. The 'respect' to which we refer is something else altogether. If someone has a swastika tattoo, or a rainbow tattoo, I will take note of it but will not treat them any differently because of it. I'm aware of the sensitivities of the Hell's Angels and gay folks of my acquaintance, and don't discuss Kawazukis with the Angels or True Love with gays - or anyone that isn't on the menu, for that matter. I do have to restrain myself when amongst Pagan's, wanting to point out that the apostrophe makes it possessive rather than plural, but they tend to get violent when confused so I let it drop. Anyhow, I'm cool with pretty much anything an individual does that doesn't involve children and doesn't affect unwilling participants. When any group sees fit to inflict their world vision on others, regardless of whether ii is 'good' or 'bad,' I am not okay with it. There are Right to Lifers that I like a lot. I happen to think they're full of shit on that issue, and prefer to vote against their position. There are people with whom I've worked whose professional judgment I trust with my life, but whose life choices don't impress me. Mormons are one example (read the book and get back to me). In any event, we are using different definitions of the term 'respect,' which constitutes equivocation. BSBD, Winsor

Wendy, Respect is earned, it's not a birthright - either for the privileged or the oppressed. If I treated coworkers or supervisors differently due to sex, national origin or whatever it would be sexist, racist, patronizing and fundamentally offensive. To forgive and remember does not mean one shouldn't get over it and move on. Give it a try. BSBD, Winsor