JoeWeber

Seriously, Bill, didn't they cover deductive reasoning at MIT? That's bullshit. I say we go get your money back.

You don't know raccoons, I guess. They don't form social groups. Ron, of course, is a product of his. YMMV.

jakee is right. What irritates you is not relevant to his point.

Ahhh... Poor baby. Absolutely, just hate Biden before he has had one day just as you did Obama. A lot of us liberal/communists don't like some of what Biden stands for but at least he is a decent man and not a non-stop embarrassment to America. Enjoy the next 4 years, Ron.

Thanks, Ken. I always enjoy being lumped in with xenophobic morons. Keeps me humble.

It is a gross mischaracterization of my thoughts to imply I believe we should be afraid. I am not, nor do I think America should be afraid. I am simply stating the obvious: in the long game of achieving world hegemony China both desires it and is the overwhelming favorite to succeed.

No, but I will call them smart and great at playing the long game. Saying any other nation has a hard time holding their own nation together is a claim few nations can make with a straight face. One thing about the Han Chinese is that they tend to think what is good for China is also good for them; the exact opposite of what we see across a large swath of America today. So you'll need to define "sustainable". Is it 10, 100 a 1000 years or more?

They don't care. They are taking a golden opportunity to expand their empire again. Whatever they can get they'll take. Then they will wait it out for the next opportunity.

That's Ron thinking: ignore reality and believe what makes you feel good. Step away from the jingoism for a minute and take a cold hard look at American influence around the world since 1945. We didn't earn or buy favoritism we rented it. We've not increased territory or population by acquisition even if you count a few specks in the South Pacific. If you count Philippine Independence in 1946 then we actually lost big time.

You might want to practice your skills on Bonfire for a while.

They aren't those kind of communists. They are pure capitalists at heart. When I was backpacking through Southeast Asia decades ago it was a known thing to stay at the Chinese guest houses for cleanliness and quality. Of course at check out time it was you go home now! Just yesterday I read in a Caribbean journal that South American and some Caribbean countries are now saying out loud that they have another option: China. So I'm not seeing the impediment.

You are being silly, Professor.

Of course you didn't. I'm simply pointing out that the current Chinese Leadership, in historical terms, is simply a continuation of the Qing Dynasty. Whereas we have been playing silly games since 1945, with the most modern toys, and going nowhere they have been on a steady path to world domination for quite some time.

Since 1945 is a mere 75 years. The Qing Empire in 1820, it's 25th year, had already grown to 13,700,000 km2 and 450,000,000 people. All without airplanes, a modern Navy and 50 years before their first railroad. If hegemony was our world plan since WWII then we aren't very good at it.

And eventually they'll be right. What they don't get is that there won't be any I told you so's.

I'm thinking you might consider returning to your old schtick of Guns and CO2 while you work on your new routine.

There is quite a bit of history still to come.

Even if I agreed with your point, and I don't owing mostly due to the relative lack of homogeneity and cohesiveness in our society, the Han still have us beat by thousands of years.

Finally you make a point we can all agree with.

Then why not change the thread title to: Righties and Cockups? Well, we know why don't we?

The one on the left definitely is displaying a pair. Boobs, Bibles and Brownings. Dance around it all you like, and SC is no exception, but it is Jesus that is behind Trump and where we are in America today. Were it not for evangelicals there would never have been Trump or an entrenched, power mad GOP. If you want a better, more educated future then you are in favor on eliminating local school boards. We need a national standard. Yes, a Betsey DeVos is always a possibility but we don't need to give the next one fertile ground.

Just written in a way that resonates with you. It was really same, same.

So at least he watches old TED Talks. You probably didn't think about it because he's a military hero but his entire self serving screed is, well, an entire self serving screed.

Biden is not yet President, Black Lives still matter, smart cars aren't dumb (like Hummers, for example) and you live near a university. Only item one gives me pause.

Without any doubt, that is exactly what the founders had in mind when they drafted the second amendment.