@newtboy,

One of Mayers examples is calling out headlines about SAT's being inherently racist as false. Isn't that something you've told me you felt strongly about? I know we had discussion on including race in college admissions, and you against a race/color blind admission process as that was too pro-white. Seems it's not wrong on at least that point to say Maher's ruffling feathers with the left?

This isn’t Afghanistan. Your infantile puritanical sexual hang ups aren’t law. I’ll say it again, if you want Shariah law, move to Afghanistan.

I read more risqué literature in 6th grade….granted my school had us reading at college level by then. What I know is that people who can’t handle this by high school are the ones with the problem. Southpark goes WAY farther, REN and Stimpy, on Nickelodeon, went WAY farther, Family Guy on Fox goes WAY farther. Not to mention the internet giving access to hard core German porn to any 7 year old means frank discussions about sex need to happen before they ever log on. If this mention of sex gets you in a tizzy, you are woefully unprepared for life in America.

Most high school kids are engaging in sex acts like those described…but you’re upset they might read about them? So delusional, bob.

Since you’ve never passed even a grade school creative writing class, you have no idea what is appropriate. In a high school college prep class, this is totally tame stuff.

You know it, everyone knows it except puritanical deviants who hate sex and incels who are afraid of sex or pissed at those who get to enjoy it.

Let me guess, another from the college level advanced creative writing class for seniors in high school being presented by her as a normal everyday class book (and hinting it’s in 4th grade classes).

If you’re upset a senior in high school might be voluntarily exposed to this material in his college prep class, you need to move into the Westboro Baptist Church compound and hate sex and freedom along with them, leave the public out of your puritanical shariah insanity.

You get worse language on prime time broadcast tv, WAY worse on say, Howard Stern, or Jersey Shore…this is maybe pg 13+ content, not xxx….and guaranteed not required reading. Get a grip.

Really...You saw a HEART beating at 6 weeks. You're a liar....not a new revelation btw. You've been a proud liar for years.

The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists also has said in a statement, “What is interpreted as a heartbeat in these bills is actually electrically-induced flickering of a portion of the fetal tissue that will become the heart as the embryo develops. Thus, ACOG does not use the term ‘heartbeat’ to describe these legislative bans on abortion because it is misleading language, out of step with the anatomical and clinical realities of that stage of pregnancy.”

I do not believe you work in as a medical device service tech (which wouldn't include ANY medical training, now would it) but can't spell or read above a third grade level. It's just not believable....not that it would indicate any medical knowledge if true.

Again, seeing a PULSE is not seeing a heartbeat. If they say they saw a heart at 6 weeks, report them, they're delusional. What they call it has nothing to do with reality....many nurses are anti vaxers Q followers, being in the medical field doesn't make one reasonable, logical, or right. Techs aren't doctors....and doctors fudge the truth to avoid conflict. Press them, they'll admit there's no heart, unless like you they prefer a comfortable lie to the hard truth, and believe it's better to tell a lie than a truth that might hurt your position. Probably shouldn't have admitted you think that.

Here's a citation for you to dismiss as fake news....https://www.factcheck.org/2019/07/when-are-heartbeats-audible-during-pregnancy/

Btw, I stand corrected, except for changes in the muscle tissue, the basic heart is apparently formed by week 13, not 20. The muscle tissue matures around week 20. I'm always willing to admit when I'm wrong, unlike some.

I wish we had this in the US:

1. At 18, you go into two years of national service, PERIOD. Unless you're in a coma, you're going. And you're going to go someplace you're not from and be on a team with people you're not used to so that your millimeter-wide view of America gets forced open to a mile.

You will be evaluated for mental and physical wellness. If you're suffering from mental illness, you will get help. If you're struggling with weight or other physical issues, you will get help.

You will be helping out in communities that you are not used to seeing: rural, inner-city, black, white, Latino. You will meet gay people, hard-core religious people, prisoners, entrepreneurs, carpenters and mechanics. You will get to know their world and help them understand yours.

2. After your two years, you have some choices:

- You can go into the military and strengthen those skills you've shown an aptitude for.

- If you want, you can attend a trade school, fully covered.

- If you want to go to college, your first two years will be covered if you get a AA/AS. Should you go for a four-year degree, your first three years will be covered.

Imagine what kind of nation we'd be living in right now has this been done in 1990.

yes, that is all too true. can be very successful yet be oblivious to the realities around them.

- remember an interview w/Ted Turner, while he was on top in the cable world (CNN was king). when speaking about business matters; very insightful. But when the questions about current affairs came around; he gave his opinion then changed it or said IDK anytime the interview offered a counterpoint.

- in an interview w/Colin Powell, as Sec of State, when the interviewer tried to corner him on how, looking at his GPA in HS and college, he ever made it to a 4-star general? all Colin would do was smile and say (something like) "It's good to be American. It offers many great opportunities to many people." That line of questioning ending in both parties smiling and chuckling.

- had to show our valedictorian how to put air into a tire. watching them struggle was hilarious but made one empathic.

also the belief anyone can become the president of the U.S.A. is both inspiring and terrifying. (as we all know now)

****

seeing this video, and the truth of the above sentence is a reason why education should become one of the top three, if not top, priorities, and quests of this nation. paired w/a universal form of national service* should provide all citizens will the skills to perceive wtf is actually going on.

*a former military serviceman, back from Iraq, noticed that Congress has far fewer former service members in their ranks since the early '80s. he noted in the military there are many ilks of service personnel, but they all work toward one goal. they have to - or they fail. reading this, have to believe - like Bush, Sr and Clinton both agreed on - that all Americans should put in some form of national service . since it'd foster a better understanding of other Americans: how they lived, how they were raised, their beliefs, the challenges they must face...i.e. see more than what's outside your 'bubble'.

this idea and a couple of other GREAT bipartisan ideas have waned since 9/11 but it'd be a hell of a fix.

* * * * realizing have wandered off the trail * * * *

or more concisely; to your point...

a body might not be the sharpest tool in the shed, but any tool can become useful.

Not sure I understand. Neither article dealt with common sense, only that people with high iq's often aren't what most would consider "successful" and rarely fit in in a world that values predictable uninspired thinking and those who take the road more traveled over intelligence and unique thought processes.
I could be Steve from the second article if my IQ was 46 points higher. His mannerisms sound just like me, except I don't limit my references to three movies. I went to college for over ten years with no plan for any degree...but accidentally qualified for a general science degree anyway. I've never seen a successful career as the road to happiness, so many successful professionals are miserable...same goes for wealth. I've always thought, when you find yourself in want of something, don't ask the universe to give you more, ask it to help you want less. That road leads to contentment and happiness. Does that mean I have more, or less common sense than average? It definitely makes me abnormal, many would say unsuccessful....I think they measure success wrong.

Hilarious….you need to ask why someone doesn’t like nazis?…but who said to kill them all? Wasn’t me.
Are you under the mistaken assumption that being a mine defuser is a death sentence, and they all died? Is that what happened in the movie? This was a German plan to have them earn their freedom and not starve to death in POW camps.

I can’t abide Nazis. If you feel the urge to defend nazis, that’s on you, buddy.

So, you’re just trolling then….or are you so dense you don’t see a difference between captive invading murderous soldiers who are around 16 and who were committing a genocide and non combatant children who are 10 and not indoctrinated into violent expansionist racist and murderous fascism? Nazi youth aren’t cub scouts….Jojo Rabbit wasn’t a historically accurate documentary.

If we had not abandoned Vietnam and our soldiers were captured instead, our soldiers there should have been forced to demine Vietnam and Cambodia, including the 15 year olds (the idea that non combatant children be sent there is brain numbingly ludicrous)(Dan Bullock (December 21, 1953 – June 7, 1969) was a United States Marine and the youngest U.S. serviceman killed in action during the Vietnam War, dying at the age of 15. Yes, we use youth soldiers too.).

The mines we left all over those countries have killed and maimed numerous generations, tens of thousands, and continue to do so to this day, and if I’m not mistaken, many POWs did clear mines during captivity. Leaving an active minefield on foreign soil should be a war crime if it isn’t already. It’s definitely targeting the civilian population once the war is over.

Wow. Remind me to never be around your family then. Everyone in my family knew it was wrong to invade and murder our neighbors because we like their stuff and land, and wrong to try to exterminate an entire ethnicity by the time we were 6. If you didn’t know that by 14, you have serious issues. Nazis exterminated the mentally feeble.

The young republicans aren’t a murderous group exterminating Jews, blacks, gays, and anyone not Republican…nazis were. If the young republicans were a murderous group like the nazis, any member should get the death penalty, even the murdering racist 15 year olds….young adults kill just as thoroughly as 35 year olds, their victims were just as terrified and are now just as dead.

The nazis didn’t have a tiny majority through which they controlled German politics, they had a monopoly. Another false equivelent. Christ on a cracker. If Trump had won in 2020, and used the Jan 6 attack on congress as a false pretext to outlaw any opposition to Republicans, taking over completely through violence and intimidation and held and consolidated power for nearly a decade you would be almost there. Holy Ghost on toast!

Are you shitting me. You equate these things, refusing vaccines, creating bad state laws disenfranchising voters, to accepting and participating in genocide. Just fucking wow, buddy. Stretch much? Almighty God on cod!

Old enough to murder, and you do it, you’re an adult. I don’t give a flying fuck if you’re 9. If you know what your doing when you put that gun to a Jews head and say “your children are next, you fucking kike” or a similar slur then pull the trigger, you just became an adult and eligible for the death penalty. We try 12 year olds as adults, but you would shield murderous hitler youth, many of whom turned in their own parents for liquidation, from responsibility from committing genocide among other disgusting atrocities. These kids aren’t Jojo Rabbit. Mother Mary with her cherry!

Besides…as I informed you, it was the German commander who had the idea and gave the order. At least get mad at the right nation.

You said “ but just can't get my head around putting children in a minefield. no matter the justification. that'd be just as bad as anything the nazis could ever do: lose any sense of humanity.”
1) you have lost your ever loving mind if you think a little danger is as bad as anything the nazis could ever do….you simply have no fucking idea what you’re talking about. The atrocities the nazis committed make clearing a minefield they layed look like a nice summer job with a friendly and generous boss by comparison. Try abasination, sewing twins together, seeing how long people can live without skin, raping people to death, melting people alive in acids, starving babies, stomping babies, gassing entire populations, etc. you really climbed so far up on that high horse you can’t see reality anymore. Sweet Zombie Jesus!
2) it was something the nazis did. This was a nazi plan from a nazi officer. Get it straight. The nazis did this, not the allies. That’s what I mean by learn the history instead of getting mad over a story….you are upset over fiction….and defending nazis in your outrage over nothing.

You have a problem. Your position is that nazis shouldn’t have to take any responsibility for their actions…apparently going so far as excusing college age men for fascist, racist genocide because you know some people that age who made some mistakes. (I say that proves my point that just as being older doesn’t mean making better decisions, being younger doesn’t mean you can’t make good decisions. I learned to not hurt other people except in defense in preschool.)

I say if you pick up that gun and march, you’re a soldier and responsible for your actions. If you kill, you’re a killer, no matter your age.

what's beef w/the Hilter youth?

can't abide w/the kill all the baby adolphs vibe. seems extreme. even by WWII standards. just the bare fact that children were used to defuse bombs isn't what one would call kosher. if that was the right of the winning side, one hell of a lot of bombs lying around in Laos and Vietnam - what about sending our Boy Scouts over to take care of the US mess they left?

anyway - not meaning to be mean - at 14 most are not at the level of being correctly called 'idiots'. if you don't know - you just f'n' don't know!

christ on a cracker...know folks who now question what they were thinking joining the Young Republicans - - - AND THEY WERE OF COLLEGE AGE!!!

what is freaky is the line "If the majority of Germans weren't complicit, the Nazis would have never come to power."

2016 mean anything? and that's the MINORITY of Americans!

christ on a cracker...what's the situation on the COVID vaccines? on voting bills? on any f'n' bill or issue in this land? the MINORITY is having their day keeping the rest in the dark.
[2nd Amendment but screw the other 26...or 24...cause 21 cancels 18 = 0]

as you said "History isn't nearly as cut and dry as it's presented, neither are war crimes"
as he said, "And as with most things, particularly in times of war, it's complicated."
but just can't get my head around putting children in a minefield. no matter the justification. that'd be just as bad as anything the nazis could ever do: lose any sense of humanity.

Bob,

The Electoral College is the opposite of what you're saying you want: a fair vote. Aren't you for "one person, one equal vote"?

"That is what happens to conservatives in major democrat cities during the counting. "

I don't understand the point you're trying to make here? It can be read a lot of different ways. If you'd like to clarify, I'd appreciate it.

The Electoral College is a great idea. It levels the playing field across all states.

As you stated""" inserting partisanship into vote counting, assaulting the integrity of the process and subjecting poll workers to death threats isn't creating a "honest vote system", it's degrading the most fundamental principle of democracy.""

That is what happens to conservatives in major democrat cities during the counting. Glad we are on the same page.

Bob,

I agree with your points below, but the limiting polling places, inserting partisanship into vote counting, assaulting the integrity of the process and subjecting poll workers to death threats isn't creating a "honest vote system", it's degrading the most fundamental principle of democracy.

If you really believed in voting honesty, you'd be railing against the Electoral College.

Its not where you start in life its where you end up.

White privilege is a false statement. Its really middle class privilege. Its about education not skin color. There are plenty of poor whites as much as there are poor blacks.


Those in the back mostly without fathers.
All knowing Newt, What is the fix?

Economic hardship of those kids would be lesson if both parents were present.


Finally JOBS or lack of them are mostly due to government policies ( Fair trade / Free Trade) have decimated job opportunities for All Americans, especially low wage and entry jobs.


Make policies that bring jobs back to America. Passing bills that take tax dollars and make roads or such only create short term jobs.

Trump was right Lower business tax rates to compete on world stage stimulated economy and America started to flourish.

Sadly Biden/ Democrats want to move tax rate up which will slow down growth, if passed.


Learn???
My dad started working at 14, His dad never got passed 8th grade.
My dad went bankrupt, had a chronically ill wife ( died in early 40s due to it) and 4 kids.

He never left. He worked his ass off.

Also he broke his back in 3 places and crushed his right hand. He left the hospital to sign a house mortgage, knowing he might never work again.
With a healing back and crippled hand he drove 50 miles each way in a stick shift car for 3 years like this just to keep a roof over our heads.

I paid my own way through college, Same for my sister.

My dad says If you want it bad enough you will find a way.

So don't tell be about white privilege bull shit.

What about Black lawyers, Drs, and ball players?
They make way more coin than most white people. Do they have white privilege?

The person making minimum wage likes it enough to stay, else he will find a better paying job.


Should fines, penalties be smaller for poor people , yes.

Stossel is a far right propagandist these days.

My theory is they waste money by offering loans for the first two years at major private universities....knowing that the classes are designed to weed out >75% of students before their Jr year. Jr colleges aren't designed to fail or burn out most students, class sizes are exponentially smaller, and the teachers are often better, certainly more accessible to students.
By offering to loan the money they knowingly set up that 75% for failure and long term debt for nothing. By paying for those two years at Jr colleges they could let students figure out if they are capable of a full degree without the enormous expense. As long as the Jr colleges are qualified, 4 year universities will usually transfer credits already.

As to trades...yes perhaps professionals can, under some circumstances, make as much as some white collar professional, even lawyers, but that certification takes years of low paid apprenticeship to qualify for. I welded for years, I built bridges, water tanks, construction tools, industrial ovens, crash attenuatiors, race cars, boats, .... my average wage in that time was barely over $10 an hour, and never over $20. It takes a long time to start earning a real living wage in most cases.