godzilla

if your son owns a truck and needs one then thats fine. you don't seem to know much about climate though. its pretty simple. we can measure the amount of CO2 in the air and it is 4k times more that it was at the beginning of the 20th century. and it is a greenhouse gas. i'm sure you've heard this over and over again. its not "who knows"? we do know. you can decide to believe the world is flat all you like... its not. thats great that the weather hasn't changed where you are. thats going to happen in places. but where i live... its changed a lot before my eyes and that change seems to be speeding up. no space lasers. no snow. we're 40% below traditional snowpack here in the pacific northwest. forest fires have burned all winter! do you remember the smoke last year in the eastern US from the fires here? i don't listen to Al Gore at all. i've never seen him speak. is this some mass conspiracy involving hundreds of thousands of scientists? the number of them from almost every field confirm it. the oil and gas industry knew it was happening 50 years ago. do you remember the "greening of the planet" tv commercials? they know its happening and recently the blamed to public for not doing something earlier about it.

i was being sarcastic. the weather where i live in my lifetime has never been like this. and its been getting weirder and weirder. forest fires have burned through the winter! its a linear path. do you understand its going to get warmer and warmer and warmer? the climate has been warmer in the past. its only possible to push the next ice age off by 5k years or so. which is a good thing? probably... we won't be around. but in the near term, the costs of not doing anything and the accompanying drought, hurricanes, sea level rises dwarf the costs of doing something to slow it. i'm convinced its inevitable. but it doesn't need to be inevitable for stupid reasons like people who like big trucks that they don't need because, you know, it reflects their tough guy attitude.

RNC installs new leadership as Trump tightens hold on GOP RNC resolution to ban paying Trump’s legal bills is ‘dead’ soon the RNC will be paying Trumps personal civil trial penalties...

yeah, he did a good job. he definitely had a good argument for the middle class. admittedly its a single sided argument during the actual speech. check out Mike Johnsons head bobbing in agreement. he's definitely bobbing in agreement most of the night! even though the GOP voted against most of the stuff Biden was talking about. i found that interesting. it was also very interesting how quiet the GOP were this time after Johnson demanded constraint as it clearly makes the GOP look like a bunch of loons. of course, space laser lady couldn't possibly contain herself. but what about the GOP rebuttal? the women most people have never seen before in the kitchen! seemed like a pretty vacant argument without identifying any actual policy. it was definitely the weirdest SOTU rebuttal i've ever seen. Rep Vance on CNN right afterwards did a way better job of rebuttal.

there will probably be a couple of one on one conversations in the bathroom... whispering Putin instructions.

Trump must be wondering how he can push the US to autocracy! who better to ask than Orban! or maybe this is so that Orban can deliver instructions from Putin. Eyebrows raised as Viktor Orbán to visit Donald Trump in Florida

what the US population has to worry about is that historically once the strong man is selected then its strongman forever until major upheaval. as i've mentioned in other posts. Trump has normalized lies, violence, cognitive distortions and bias. these things used to be called out and vilified within both parties in the US. now its celebrated. its a long road back.

you are so blind to your mental mindset you can't even read? hilarious. the report showed that black populations are a distribution with highest concentrations at the bottom end of the middle 60% and the opposite for white people. that provides that the exact middle of wage earners you would find very few black people and that at the bottom of the middle you find the highest concentrations. i noted that the report didn't discuss that equity is not linear. but most important, it didn't discuss the top or bottom 20%. that wasn't the topic of the report. but since the distribution for black people is highest at the bottom of the middle 60% then their distribution clearly intensifies in the bottom 20% and there is almost nobody in the top 20%. unless we live in some kind of upside down universe. funny, you started with "black people have everything they need" and then switched to "black people are not poor" argument.

ok, well, first of all... you're not suggesting we starve children obviously. they need to be fed. but then what? i'm in agreement but what are you suggesting to "promote independence, morality, respect and honor"? what has worked historically in many sub populations around the world is a hand up. take scholarships that target those groups. they just aren't handed out like candy. they are awarded based on abilities. this gives that person and their family a hand up out of poverty to gain an education that they would otherwise never afford. the MAGA GOP want to end this stuff in the wave of DEI. Top Wisconsin Republican says he's looking into cutting minority scholarships and as far as DEI in simple school admission. lets say that a black student has somehow the money to go to Harvard. if the only criteria is marks then all things being equal a black student would have a 1 in 10 chance of getting in IF the racial application ratio reflects the general public. its statistics. it would take a hundred generations for black students to have proper representation. and since we know that those students are not going to have the money to go to Ivy schools anyways... the application ratio is not 1 in 10 and so... it never happens. so what is the MAGA plan? if they don't like whats worked historically? i don't think they have one.

you're like Trump... you didn't say that in those words. but thats what you mean. you said that black people had everything they need. but you REFUSE to answer why they populate the bottom of wage earners. you implied it. if no one is stopping them then... what is preventing them? you don't answer. its like how you could care less about children in Gaza getting their parts blown off. but children in Israel are so important. unless some children are innocent and others are not then? how do you explain that? you don't say exactly that its because their skin is brown or that their parents are Muslim... but you imply it. just like Trump communicates... but we all understand exactly what you are saying. and there is no reason to continue to call people names.

great post! i agree! so, where are these people who are "woke" who see inequality everywhere? i'm sure they exist but... they need moderation. NOT EXTREME RIGHT WING VIEWS. like black people not living the american dream because its their own damn fault. the danger is what happens and is happening... that ANY program (and these programs are usually tiny in budget) suddenly become targets in order to "own the libs", destroy the "woke". Minority-owned business agency discriminated against white people, federal judge says over and over again its shown that under represented groups need intervention and thrive when this happens... soon the extreme right will be targeting child food programs... you know, because it discriminates against rich children. social services are a religious target for the GOP and its business class backers... with tax relief for the most wealthy the outcome. Tax Cuts and Jobs Act

why not educate people instead of just being a dick? teach... provide examples. etc. be a source of change.

i'll give you that Clinton started it... without the proper regulation to control it. Bush signed Sarbanes-Oxley but then William Donaldson resigned because Bush was actually a "deregulation" junkie and refused to interfere with hedge funds and the banks that supplied the cash to make it work. everyone was making money! at least Clintons heart was in the right place (and thinking with his d!ck). Bush... well, we all know he doesn't actually have a heart. and then Trump went and loosened Dodd-Frank... and several banks immediately failed. the GOP is all about Laissez-faire economics. period. end of discussion. its what they live for... big money rules the day and should never be prevented from doing what they want to do. and when it fails then the public should be there to bail them out. privatize profits and socialize losses!

getting back to the OP... of particular interest is the lie that 87k IRS agents would be hired... and armed. there was a time that if you lied in the US in politics then you would be really in trouble. like say, if you said that you didn't have sex with a girl name Monica in the oval office or you invaded a country after claiming that they had weapons of mass destruction. it was really a problem for you. then came... Trump and his MAGA followers. the POST-TRUTH ERA! Trump has dulled the senses of the masses. liars are no longer vilified. they are CELBRATED!

well, if you're anti-woke... then you are... anti-woke! right? for prejudice and discrimination? for example... @Yakuda and @CdnFox both stated recently that black people have everything they need but that their culture prevents them from participating. you with them on this matter?

well, its just that some people are getting tired of "free speech" when its calling black people "n!iggers" and gay people "fags" and bemoaning them being on tv and working where white people work and not being able to just get drunk and hang them from trees every once in a while... Woke "Woke is an adjective derived from African-American Vernacular English (AAVE) meaning "alert to racial prejudice and discrimination". Beginning in the 2010s, it came to encompass a broader awareness of social inequalities such as racial injustice, sexism, and denial of LGBT rights." and not that the push for inclusion and rights for sub groups of people is always perfect. but thats a conversation and not something to just throw out there and claim that we need to go back to the "good ole days". so, we hear that you're anit-woke! keep that up!

@Yakuda... um, thats a funny avatar. its not a real person. just so you... know.

and huge tax breaks for the rich... especially the poor oil companies, who somehow to this day, even after milking the country of huge profits, get massive subsidies! yeah, that's right... we pay to get taken to the cleaners! what a joke.

except that this is an ongoing thing now since the 90's. but agreed, much of the money for the IRS this term was for upgrading IT systems (many of which are probably running COBOL) among other things completely unrelated to enforcement. but the GOP lies about the 87k so it can ensure that there are zero more agents looking at how frickin easy it is for corporations to hide money. i know... because i do it all the time! people who are taxed at source don't have to worry about enforcement.. they're already wage slaves. the fact that every union in the US supports Democrats and every chamber of commerce supports the GOP tells the story... if you support the GOP you are either rich or dumb. too bad for the dumb. is Trump going to change that? did he change that last time. NOT.

hmmm.. yeah, except that Bush was in office the whole time the sub-prime mortgage thing was playing out! feel free to point out US economic policy that directly caused the recent spike in inflation.. you can't do it. the feds were on it as soon as it started. the problem was the international COVID restrictions and subsequent price gouging from pent up consumer demand.

any yet... no comment about the Canary singing how Trump and his team attempted to throttle Democracy! i guess you can argue the definition of fascism... while proclaiming its OK that Trump continually praises the violence of Jan 6th. Trump being guilty is not arguable.

because most forum ultra "conservatives" are "social conservatives" and completely don't understand that the power base of the GOP simply don't care, or even worse, are far from being "social conservatives". no, actually... politics is all about the money. the GOP religiously attacks the IRS, lying about 87,000 agents being hired... because the GOP is the party of the rich. and of course, Trump is rich, he only hangs out with rich people and only really respects rich people. in fact, he thinks the poor rural folk that support him are dupes, stupid and, frankly, disgusting. meanwhile, while he fights government "wokeness", the rich class shovel money into off shore tax schemes, shuffle shell companies etc etc... GOP attack on IRS funding runs counter to deficit reduction effort Why Republicans Keep Spreading the ‘87,000 IRS Agents’ Lie

i don't know what to tell you... the flowers are out in February where i live! nothing going on!