murps2000

I suppose. I never thought of it that way. Maybe second. But no deeper than that. He’s friends with Michelle, and any friend of Michelle is a friend of mine, evil or not.

I imagine he was probably as surprised as any real conservative that Trump would drag the party as far as he has down the road it is currently on. He might have just been playing by the old rules of etiquette, when former Presidents didn’t criticize a sitting one, so as not to interfere with the latter doing his job. Etiquette used to be a thing, even in politics.

This is why it blows my mind when I think about what they are trying to accomplish. I’d love to see the specs on those rotors. Interesting they went with a coaxial design although not surprising, given space limitations. Probably more reliable than a quad setup as well.

This is what MAGA really is. But yeah, they’d better avoid Martian houses. A raygun shot would end the party real quick. https://spacenews.com/nasa-reschedules-ingenuity-first-flight/

Maybe like this?

Got my first Pfizer jab this morning. One of my favorite delicatessens is a few blocks away from the vaccination site so afterward I promptly headed over and grabbed a huge pesto chicken sub. Then I went for a medium 6 mile hike. I'm home now enjoying a chilly pale ale. My shoulder smarts a bit but not as bad as the other jabs I got from some stinging nettle along the trail. I lost a very good friend to the fourth wave on Friday. He was as good as they come, a mentor and role model, and I was lucky to know him. I wish he could have gotten a vaccine in time. I wish more precautions would have given him that extra time.

Strange analogy but okay. I guess all previous Vice Presidents must fall into that category then. I’m going with Heirald Ford for my veep play on words.

How does being elected Vice President make one heir to the Oval Office?

Well Trump said covid goes away when it’s warmer. So Florida has an unfair advantage over Michigan. People in Florida probably go outside in March more than people in Michigan. I also think you’re making the assumption that mask mandates were followed to the letter. I have no data on that but I suspect that a significant percentage of Michiganders care little about them.

I’m not thrilled about it in a general sense but I am sort of thankful that Trump still controls the Republican Party. They reap what they sow. As does Mitch McConnell.

Nice. So in Arkansas, all a veto does is force the general assembly to make the same vote twice. They just come back in the next day and do it again. Brilliant. They could just eliminate the veto and make it a little more efficient to achieve the same legislative results.

Fair enough. I should have read your post a little more closely. Instead of looking at most mass shootings, I guess I just focused on the worst one. In the case of the Vegas shooter the reaction was to go after bump stocks anyway, rather than high capacity magazines.

Consider how low capacity magazines may have affected the outcome of the Vegas mass shooting. I’m generally pro second amendment, but that one event made me willing to compromise on magazine capacity. I doubt the shooter could have achieved anywhere near the same number of casualties if he only had shotguns.

I’ll say it again, take the George Floyd challenge. Have someone kneel on your neck for 8 minutes and 46 seconds while you are stone cold sober and get back to us with the results. Make sure they only weigh 140 pounds though. If you’re not on drugs you should be fine.

I tried to stop them in CA by voting no on prop 22. They threw a bunch of money into political ads and convinced enough voters to overturn legislation mandating worker protections for their contractors. For months I couldn’t watch the evening news without seeing them. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.latimes.com/business/story/2020-11-04/uber-lyft-proposition-22%3f_amp=true

I'm starting to think you'll never be able to understand how this works. Masks were never for self protection, so whether or not you are high risk means nothing. They were to limit your ability to infect others if you were carrying the virus. If you can't wrap your head around that then I guess they would seem like a charade.

Ironically I was listening to a discussion on NPR on the way home from work today and the subject was this very topic. I’m pretty sure Prius radios are designed to only play NPR but I can occasionally get some old r&b to come through if I jab the display enough. Anyway, they suggested oil prices might dip soon, perhaps briefly, but then rise again as we might expect in the northern hemisphere as we get closer to the warmer months and demand rises as people tend to travel more. I think they might have been alluding to the possible increase in production by OPEC. https://www.npr.org/2021/03/04/973623451/opec-and-allies-keep-oil-production-steady-as-saudi-arabia-urges-caution This is a relatively old article as far as markets are concerned but it delves into the strategy behind OPEC’s decision making about production increases. It’s interesting that although they definitely want oil prices to rise, one of their considerations is that allowing them to rise too much might result in a further push toward renewables, and a subsequent decrease in demand that would have the opposite effect.

I know your not asking me and I don’t mean to be trying to pile on. Demand is increasing but OPEC hasn’t yet increased production over pandemic levels. There is talk that they may do so in early April.

You said demand was skyrocketing. The cost certainly is but as usual it is largely speculation driven. Search “rockets and feathers” and you will see this is common in oil markets.

No, and I do have an opinion. I just don’t feel well enough informed or experienced to contribute much by sharing it. What sfzombie said sums that up well enough. I’d be interested to get some veterans’ takes on the segment, though.

I saw this when it aired on Sunday. I usually try to catch that show. Interesting indeed. It made me realize how ignorant I am in following the make up of the JCS through different administrations. I don’t feel I should weigh in with an opinion though, having never served myself.

I definitely agree. But you got me thinking, what exactly is a small business? According to the SBA they are much larger than the numbers you give as an example. Some are defined by revenue alone, some by number of employees. It’s interesting to see the breakdown. https://www.fundera.com/blog/sba-definition-of-small-business#what

I’m still not sure if you’re in favor or not but I agree with both of those points, although not as a libertarian. I think consensus might not be achievable in the near future. You mentioned several reasons why eliminating the filibuster might result in government moving without said consensus. I think those are valid and realistic points. Mitch McConnell himself has already talked of a scorched earth policy if the filibuster is eliminated. It should be well understood by now what the right will do with any branch of government they gain control of. For that reason I would like the filibuster to be retained. But I also agree that government should not move too quickly. Reinstatement of the talking filibuster would help achieve that.

I’m curious because I can’t figure it out from your posts. Are you for or against ending the filibuster? You don’t have to answer if you don’t want to.

Had to vote boobies because, well, it’s the USA. I can’t vote yes or no. I think it is good as originally intended but bad as currently practiced, so I can’t go all in one way or the other. I’m for reinstatement of the talking filibuster. I don’t think it was intended to simply be a veto by the minority. Even the name makes it sound as though it was intended to be a difficult but possibly necessary process.