GeorgiaDon

That would make sense only if there was a way to both delay the vote on the nominations and win the senate. Since it now takes only a simple majority to confirm judges, and the Republicans have that and control of the process, I don't see how Democrats could block voting on the judges until after the new senate is seated. Maybe you can explain how that could be done? Also there is no way the Democrats could win back the senate without campaigning or while fucking the millennial vote. Maybe you can offer a convincing scenario about how that could be accomplished? The worst case scenario is having the judges confirmed while failing to take the senate (or even seeing the Republican majority increase), which is what you seem to be advocating. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

While this would be nice in principle it is impossible in practice. The court is needed (as the founding fathers realized) because there will always be potential for conflict in interpreting ambiguous laws (and no law can be written to cover every possible circumstance), and more significantly there will always be circumstances calling for some "interpretation" of the Constitution. If things were cut and dried, with only one possible way to see things, there would be no need for the court. As it is, we have 9 justices so they can discuss and debate, bringing their experience and knowledge to the table. Of course when there is a "grey area" in a law individual justices will turn to the same personal principles and ethics that also govern their political leaning. Having principles is not the same as being a political partisan. And, of course, any President will nominate people who agree with him/her on principles. The best (though not an easy) solution to many of these controversies is for Congress to get off their ass and produce well written laws, laws that are founded on constitutional principles and have as little ambiguity as possible. Want the EPA to regulate CO2? Make it a law, not just a regulation originating with the EPA. Want abortion to be available in every State? Pass a federal law, or if necessary a constitutional amendment. Elect politicians who will fight to pass strong legislation so the Supreme Court isn't asked to decide if clean air and water is subordinate to corporate profits, or if control women's bodies and lives should rest in the hands of religious ideologues, or if people have a right to marry the partner of their choice, and on and on. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Needless to say that's very strange behavior. He's an emeritus professor, which means he is retired but still has a relationship to the university, which is to say he's likely still doing some level of research/publishing. However he would not be employed (=paid) by the university, contrary to what the article implies. I could speculate that some level of dementia might possibly be involved. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Doesn't that just make him even more Trumpy? The mango Mussolini will just have to pardon him now! Does someone have to be actually convicted before being pardoned? Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

At first I thought that would be impossible because you would not be able to transfer information between multiverses. Then I realized that wouldn't be an issue, given the information content of the posts in question. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Translation: "I've cheated on everything else in my life, so why can't I cheat my way to the Presidency?" Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

The Saudis can go pound sand, of which they have a lot. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

There are lots of "interesting" ramifications of a decreasing and aging population. In addition to the ones you mention, what will happen to real estate values when there are more houses available than people to occupy them? We have some recent experience of the "ripple effects" through the whole economy when real estate loses much of it's value. For better or worse our economy is based on the notion of constant growth. Businesses that sell less this year than they did last year are considered to be in trouble, and that is reflected in their stock value. How is the economy going to continue to grow forever when the consumer base is shrinking? I'm reminded of some old science fiction stories where the "poor" are forced to actually consume things (such as walking miles a day to wear out a pair of shoes per week) while the "rich" are allowed to use robots to do the consuming for them. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

https://www.chron.com/neighborhood/woodlands/news/article/La-Porte-plane-crash-victims-identified-as-13081248.php _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Nope, things change.Your answer brands you as a traitor. Not much of a surprise, given your long stated wish to tear up the 1st amendment to the Constitution and impose a Christian Taliban on the US. Despite your lip service to fighting communists you have never offered the slightest evidence of understanding the real greatness of the United States, or the vision of the Founding Fathers. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Some have argued that Trump cannot commit obstruction of justice because he is head of the justice department so, by definition, whatever he says goes. Similarly as ultimate head of the intelligence services it might be argued that it is within his powers to override the unanimous findings of a every branch of the intelligence services and accept, as official US policy, whatever lie Putin whispers in his ear. I wonder if they take the same view of treason: as head of state Trump is constitutionally allowed to make whatever policy he wants, even returning Alaska to the Russians, or commanding the armed forces to stand down as Russian tanks roll in Washington's streets. It is truly remarkable the swath of destruction this President is leaving in his wake in service of his monumental narcissism. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

So he can dish it out but he can't take it. What a surprise! Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Or a dotard.... Or an ass. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

It's more likely he'll nominate Jared the Wonder Boy. After he brings peace to the Middle East, collects his Nobel Prize, and reinvents government, being a Supreme Court Justice should be a walk in the park. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Not totally comparable situations. According to the article, Biden was campaigning in the area and the idea was to use his stop at the bakery as a photo op. I don't think people have an obligation to allow their business to be used as a campaign venue, especially if they do not agree with the candidate's policies. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

SCOTUS didn't allow bakers to refuse service for LBQT related weddings. The narrow ruling essentially said that, no, you can't do that, but because the city were such assholes in the way they went about punishing this particular instance, you get a pass, this time.That is true, regarding the actual scope of the SCOTUS ruling. Nevertheless, the Trump administration spoke about the ruling as if it legitimized discriminating against same-sex couples on "religious freedom" grounds. We saw the same (uninformed) reaction from some Trumpites here in SC. The Trump administration blatantly promotes discrimination against people based on religion, sexual orientation, race, financial status, national origin, education ("I love the poorly educated"), and probably a few more things I haven't mentioned. They even insist that people they don't like should not have basic constitutional rights such as due process. Yet, they demand that they themselves must be treated with "respect" at all times. Well, "respect" or "absolute deference". Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

So it's perfectly fine to refuse service to people because of their sexual orientation (for example the baker who refused to make a wedding cake for a same-sex wedding), but it's not OK to refuse service to someone who advocates hurting children to send a message to their parents? Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Think about who you are replying to. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

The State Department system is designed for use with the highest security communications, not personal emails. It is outdated, incredibly unwieldy, and so impossible to use in the real world that everybody devises workarounds (link). Even Condoleezza Rice and Colin Powell used private email for state business, not servers but easily hacked public companies (Yahoo in Powell's case!). Actually Rice, Powell, and Clinton all used the state system for communications that were marked secret/top secret etc, and the private system for non-classified or personal communications. All the so-called "classified" communications found on Clinton's servers were not marked as such at the time they were sent, but were retroactively reclassified during one or another of the several "investigations". Also all of the deleted emails had been screened and were categorized as personal, although of course the conspiracy minded cannot imagine that someone like Hilary Clinton could possibly have personal communications like actual real people do. Perhaps we should make it a condition of government employment that if you take the job every email you ever send, even if it's intensely personal between you and your spouse, will be public and provided to anyone who has an axe to grind or just want to humiliate you. I'm sure that would not keep anyone who really believes in public service from taking the job. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Of course, an advantage of the parliamentary system is that the party can elect a new leader, who would become Premier, should Ford prove too damaging. What I really disliked about the campaign was the way the PC platform promised all these cuts to taxes and Hydro (electricity rates, for non-Canadians who may be wondering) without saying how anything would be paid for. I can't imagine people really want a 20-30% cut in the number of teachers, but that's what they will likely get to pay for the promised tax cuts. Same for universities, and every other government service. A tax cut might not taste so sweet when your kid suddenly finds they are in classes with 40 or 50 other kids, and when they graduate and try to go to university there is no room for them, or the major they wanted isn't offered any more. That tax cut might taste downright bitter when you have some medical emergency and find 20 or 30% of the hospitals have been closed . Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

Yeah, they know.Does a real Christian make a habit of trashing the 9th Commandment? Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

No-one could have foreseen that Pence publicly discussing applying a Libya strategy to North Korea could have produced such a response. After all, Libya is such a great model to follow: 2003: Libya agrees to give up its nuclear program and chemical weapons in exchange for lifting of sanctions. 2011: revolutionaries, backed by the US and other Western governments, apprehend and kill Gaddafi. Why would anyone expect the Dear Leader (not the Orange Mango Dear Leader, the other one) to be happy about a plan that goes, more or less: unilaterally disarm now, and we'll kill you later. The whole point of North Korea pursuing nuclear weapons is that they are paranoid (not unreasonably) that the US is out to destroy them, and only the threat of a nuclear attack is sufficient to deter US aggression. What kind of an idiot brings up a model where the end outcome is exactly what the North Koreans most fear? Unless, of course, Pence is in cahoots with Bolton in preferring war over a diplomatic solution. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

The average enrollment for public schools in Georgia is 763 students (source). If you can process 2 students/minute (metal detector, running backpack through an X-ray, etc) it would take 6 1/2 hours to get them all into the building. If class starts at 9 AM they would have to be in line around 2:30 in the morning. Does that sound reasonable to you? We won't even discuss the cost for now. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

For real? So he is General Ripper?Small correction, this happened in 2002 so it would have been during the Bush #2 administration, not Bush 1. From this article: "Earlier, he had urged a first strike “pre-emptive” attack on Cuba, claiming that the Cubans were preparing biological warfare agents at a plant on the island. Steve Clemons of The Atlantic had visited that plant and reported that it was a medical lab developing vaccines for Cuba’s free national health care system." Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)

It may not have been relevant to Trump's previous career as real estate swindler. It is, however, quite relevant to his job as POTUS, at which he has demonstrated himself to be woefully incompetent.It's worrisome that this administration has consistently proposed extreme cuts to the budget for global heath security, and national security adviser Bolton has forced out the head of the Global Health Security Office (on the same day a new Ebola outbreak was announced) [link]. Bolton apparently has no interest in maintaining the office. Trump is filling his administration with people who think exactly the same as he does on issues, and "Bombs Away Bolton" has always been dismissive of the national security implications of pandemic disease outbreaks. I recall back in the Bush #1 administration Bolton was agitating to bomb vaccine manufacturing facilities in Cuba, on the theory that if they could make vaccines maybe they could make biological warfare agents. Don _____________________________________ Tolerance is the cost we must pay for our adventure in liberty. (Dworkin, 1996) “Education is not filling a bucket, but lighting a fire.” (Yeats)