One additional point about the way the Electoral College was setup - no other country on the planet at the time elected a leader by vote of the people. Setting up the US Constitution and the Office of President was without any precedent. The communications and delivery of ballots or votes of the sta...
Jump to postI have bets on this election. Could be months before I find out if I have won or lost, couldn't it? No. All US Presidential elections are officially decided in January when the electoral ballots are opened, counted and tabulated in the Congress. Anything between that day and election day is just pr...
Jump to postWhen talking about the US, it is important to always remember that we do NOT have a national system for almost anything, and voting is one. We have 50 different sets of state laws that control things like voting and each one is a little different. And in most states, local counties have their own va...
Jump to postOver the years of working in corporate, I saw too many devices crash completely and lose all data for no identifable reason. I never ever trust any work on a device without a backup. You don't do it, and the one in ten million glitch will hit.
Murphy is alive and well.
If every reliably conservative part of the country broke off, it would be a very rural, agricultural area with no major centers of commerce to speak of. If every Democratic leaning area broke off, they would be at the mercy of the world (and former nation) for basic sustenance. I also feel while th...
Jump to postUnfortunately, or fortunately, no US state is able to survive alone. California would be hit hard if they declared independence, and the water tap to the Colorado River was turned off. And despite having some oil, they do not have enough to support their economy. Most of the food production, which t...
Jump to postGW Bush flew the C-32 into ELD back during his Presidency. The USAF put a temporary tower / team at the airport to handle coms on the unicom frequency. A helicopter was also brought in incase a diversion was needed. Five other USAF 89th aircraft landed at that field before the president came in, and...
Jump to postThe only reason that weather would be a factor in not showing up is Trump doesn't 't want to get his hair messed up. All other options are crap. Everyone else who actually were there at the cemetery were able to get there in the rain. That is pure BS. You, and most folks on this forum know that I a...
Jump to postI finally got ONE, at age 66, because it is a stylized symbol of the zodiac sign Libra. Both being Libra's with birthdays five days apart has always been a special thing between me and my oldest granddaughter. We got identical tattoo's on our upper left shoulder at the same time. She is also my firs...
Jump to postDonald Trump's basic issue with Healthcare is that he has no direct knowledge of the system. He has never filed an insurance claim, never had a generic substituted for a proscribed medicine and have issues, never waited and argued over a referral. He has been a cash pay customer of healthcare his en...
Jump to postFirst, I'm very much against the system that allows people to be paid much less than minimum wage because 'their tips will make up the difference'. I think that is a disgusting way to value the work of human beings. If you willingly take up the job, then it begs the questions as to whether you valu...
Jump to postMy first 'Vote by Mail' was in 1972. Just could not make it from Danang, Vietnam to the polls in Arkansas. I would have LOVED to be in Arkansas that day rather than Vietnam. Generally, I've voted by mail almost always since. Twice while I was living and working in the Dallas area, I got sent out of ...
Jump to postI am fine with tipping being a part of the "wage" that the person earns directly based on their service to the customer. I know some people will skate on the tip or leave an inappropriately small one but I think the majority leave proper tips with a few "going big". I tend to be...
Jump to postI am very concerned that CITI allowed someone to have loads of cards from them. Their Fraud Team should have become deaf from the several alarm bells ringing on their ears. The mileage thing I perfectly get it since, given it is only an award of some sort, the security is lax (should not be...). Bu...
Jump to postI've always considered insurance as basically a bet you make that something bad will happen. And the insurance company bets that you will pay them enough money over time to cover the costs of paying up when something bad does happen. I know my fully paid whole-life insurance policies worked out that...
Jump to postSaw an article today that NASCAR in the US, along with other sports leagues and the movie industry are trying to get the US Congress to change some laws to make such risks insurable. Those industries have suffered massive losses, along with many other industries/ companies. I see several closed Mom ...
Jump to postI will say this for SpaceX.
They aren't dull. Something almost always going on.
Getting information from the other companies is long, long stretches of silence, then some news that wasn't expected.
Looks like the crew that went up in the SpaceX Crew Dragon will be coming back about Aug 2
https://www.space.com/spacex-crew-dragon-aces-space-station-tests.html
When my father died, I suddenly realized at age 63 that I had to grow up and be the leader of the family. Being the oldest of six, my siblings looked to me to make decisions. Heck, they hadn't wanted my opinion since they were about five or six. Sorry that he's gone. While you will think of things y...
Jump to postWho fought against 'Real ID'? - The Republican states. Real ID and the voter ID initiative are two completely separate issues. Elections are run by the state, and a federal level nationwide identification system has little to do with state-based voter ID laws. It was the principle of having an ID w...
Jump to postI'd add the left's odd war against voter ID laws, specifically mandating ID. I do not understand this, basically every civilized country in the world requires you to show an ID/notification/check of some kind. Does not matter if its Iceland, Italy and heck even India does it. It isn't the 'left'. T...
Jump to postI have voted ONCE in person at a polling place on election day. The first time I voted was absentee from VIETNAM in the 1972 general election. For 20 years, I was in the US military and never near my home of record/ registered voting place on an election day. After I retired and my residence was in ...
Jump to postTexas, and I have no knowledge of other states, but suspect the same exists, had a absentee ballot fraud problem. it occurs almost exclusively in nursing homes and senior care facilities. Like many states, Texas allows 'assisted' voting by senior citizens and the disabled. Which allows someone to ob...
Jump to postEventually some were covered, but not all. My possible grandson-in-law did receive a partial payment of $350 per month because Texas Workforce Commission ruled he was entitled to a bit over 1/2 the Cares payment as a half-time restaurant worker. But my granddaughter was ruled not eligible for unempl...
Jump to postI remember the battles against the Interstate Highways. Think of all the small businesses from Oklahoma City to San Bernardino, CA that have gone out of business with I-40 basically replacing Route 66. Lots of small towns dried up when the interstate highway bypassed downtown. People stopped and sl...
Jump to postI'm surprised there is not an attack on Public transit now from oil and car manufacturer companies today Basically, the oil, tire and automobile industry have already won the war. They succeeded in changing the mindset of most of Americans that they NEEDED a car, and NEEDED the freedom to drive whe...
Jump to postFederal land is a big patchwork in Alaska. Major cities have federal wilderness land right up to their borders. It isn't always remote areas.
True, most hunting does occur far away from populated areas.
Raised in the segregated South, the main users of the Stars and Bars was as a symbol for the KKK in the 1950s. Only as schools started to desegregate did the flag become popular with 'normal' southerners. Looking at the history, Robert E. Lee and the flag were NOT popular southern symbols until the ...
Jump to posthttps://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/09/climate/trump-bear-hunting.html Imagine baiting bears with donuts, what sportsmen does that? I cannot help but mention donald trump jr. was awarded a permit to hunt grizzlies in Alaska. Is this coincidence or what? I forgot to mention also shooting animals while s...
Jump to postDriving across rural northeast Texas one day about 8 years ago, my then 10 year old grandson commented that there seemed to be a decaying/ dying small town every 10-15 miles. I told him that's how things were setup, when a man, or horse, could walk 5-10 miles a day round trip to the town for busines...
Jump to postMost North American cities "grew" after WWII which was the era of the automobile. All the infrastructure went to accommodate cars and low density housing in suburbs so most of the metropolitan areas cannot be economically covered by mass transit. Now it's too late to do urban planning so ...
Jump to postArchGuy1 wrote:Why do courts shout down in the south with marginally icy conditions?
More often than snow in the belt across Texas, Arkansas, Louisiana and Mississippi where I've lived - all within 100 miles of I-20 - is we get freezing rain with may a dusting of snow. Temps in the night/ early morning hours are seldom below 25 degrees F. But that is cold enough to put a sheet of ic...
Jump to postI drove a school bus that held 40 kids a bit in northwest Arkansas, for a school district outside Fayetteville to the south the winter of 1970-71. It was an unmitigated pain. Twice we had kids at school when the sleet started, and we had to get them home. Despite it's size a bus is a very empty ligh...
Jump to postLiving in a big city with half-decent public transport (and current major investments in new metro lines) I'm still surprised by questions on travel forums around "how do I use public transit?" It does take a bit of an education. My granddaughter raised in Dallas and a user of DART light ...
Jump to postWithin a city or metro area, I see mass transit as a combination of light rail and buses as working and doing a decent job for those who must use it. The American psyche is such that driving a personal vehicle is much more desirable than using public transit. For several years that I worked in downt...
Jump to posthe said the problem isn't the system the problem is at home and mainly single parent no father households mothers working making little money and kids with no direction and he is exactly right. As I mentioned above, that systematic requirement for fathers to not live in the home started back in the...
Jump to postThey can spend their money however they want. You're not back to square one if they waste it, they are and it's their choice. What I'm hearing from black leaders and Democrats who support reparations is that the purpose is to compensate, and LEVEL THE PLAYING FIELD for blacks. The purpose of any pa...
Jump to postThat's what I'm proposing and what I consider reparations, however I am talking about paying them the white man's wage at the time adjusted for inflation which should be way more than $100. A white overseer's wage up at the time right before the Civil War was approximately $12-15 per MONTH, Say $15...
Jump to postI'm not sure what's the difference, but of course in my country changing the constitution is a regular thing The US Constitution requires that three-fourths (75%) of the state legislatures vote to approve an amendment. That means 38 of the 50 states have to approve the amendment. A very difficult p...
Jump to postReparations will do NOTHING to fix a problem. Those are 'free' money with no value in that the person receiving the money has not invested anything in an effort to obtain the money. If there must be something along that line, I vastly prefer the money to be focused on education. How is it fair not ...
Jump to postit is very clear that a person elected twice to the office of President CANNOT take the office again. That's not what it says. It says he cannot run for a third term or run for more than one term if he's taken over from a president with more than 2 years left in his term. Obama wouldn't be running ...
Jump to postPretty hilarious that all those Red States are alcohol control states. So much for "Freedom". Remember the US passed an amendment to the Constitution about a hundred years ago the manufacture, sale, or transportation of intoxicating liquors within, the importation thereof into, or the exp...
Jump to postTammy Duckworth wasn't born in the US (with no debate about that fact) so that would be opening a big can of worms ! Neither was John McCain, but being born to American parents on a military base, he was clearly eligible. The having been born on a US military base had no bearing on McCain's 'natura...
Jump to postI'm not that close to US politics but like Ken777 I get the impression keeping senate seats will matter. A lot. As for the rules to be president, I find them ridiculous. Demanding someone be citizen by birth, I can understand (not a requirement in my country, and I have voted once for a candidate w...
Jump to postBarack Obama would not serve a "third term" because he never served as vice-POTUS in the first place. Sorry. I was talking about the possibility of him serving a third term as president. That is something we must think about, no matter who is running for president. Biden has already said ...
Jump to postOne of the problems I've watched develop over the past 50+ years is the efforts of the 'welfare' system to destroy the family concept for the recipients of government assistance. Basically, the system provides assistance to mothers to help have 'decent' housing for children when the family is financ...
Jump to postTammy Duckworth wasn't born in the US (with no debate about that fact) so that would be opening a big can of worms ! She might be considered a 'Natural Born' American Citizen as her father was working in Thailand for the United Nation agencies, so likely falls into the diplomatic exception. No, the...
Jump to postUnemployment doesn't cover everyone. If the company did not pay unemployment taxes in Texas, the person who lost their job gets nothing. Also, a significant number of people work 50-60 hours a week at two or more 'part-time' jobs. Less than 32 hours per week per job. That way the company does not ha...
Jump to postSicily was learning how to do mass amphibious landings. And work a joint force with two major competitive forces from different nations. Yes, they should have far north and cut off the Germans trapped in Italy south of Rome. D-Day was important symbolically to the war effort. No, it would not have b...
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