My forefathers fought and many of them gave their lives to secure my (and your, and his) right to not answer questions or to be forced to make statements designed to incriminate myself.
It's incredibly MORE disrespectful and discourteous to ignore their total sacrifice by waiving those hard won rights than it is to not answer questions...especially when you DO calmly and clearly explain why you don't talk to officers.

The officers, on the other hand, are legally REQUIRED to answer your questions about 'are you detaining me', 'do you have reason to believe I'm committing a crime', and 'what crime are you charging me with'. They may not remain silent.

Yes, many 'situations' might be avoided if you capitulate and waive all your rights, but that behavior is 100% un-American, unpatriotic, disrespectful, and degrades the freedom of every citizen every time it's done. Sometimes having a legal right to 'act like a douche' DOES mean you should 'act like a douche' (if, as you seem to think, not participating in the investigation of your possible criminal acts is 'acting like a douche', that is).

No, the bible is fucked up all on its own.

That its adherents have made it worse is no surprise, when your moral code comes from a book that endorses slavery, rape, xenophobia, child sacrifice, genocide, war, homophobia, torture.

Oh and 12 year olds getting married? Oh look, religion endorsed that too.

And there's a reasonable argument to be made that rapists and child molesters were "born that way" in that they may have serious mental issues. That doesn't excuse them acting on it, but one day with enough study, we might be able to identify and treat them before it becomes an issue.

We have Stewart Brand to thank for those images of the whole earth... It's too bad Tyson is more scientistic in his thinking than actually scientific. Like most television personalities, he sacrifices the rigors of skepticism (which are at the heart of the scientific method) for more popular notions of what sells books (and, now, tickets) which help to promote his "brand."

Christians have often tried to enforce their 'morality' on the rest of us....it NEVER works out well for anyone, and in hind sight is always seen as evil and stupid, as well as non-christian. Morality is a personal decision. When you start legislating/forcing it, you've lost your freedom to decide for yourself. In America, it's 100% legal to sin, the only excuse for singling out this 'sin' is the hatred for those disenfranchised by doing so.
The bible also said I'm to stone anyone working on Sunday, or worshiping incorrectly (even if they're Christian), or worshiping idols (like a cross), or adulterers...where's the standing up for that, if it's so important to follow the bible? It also said to take slaves, rape, murder, sacrifice children, ...shall I go on explaining why 'the bible said so' is the worst argument ever?
Doesn't the bible say it's not OK to marry a different 'race', what about a different religion...why aren't you fighting to end inter racial marriage, and inter faith marriage? Come on, let's hear the logic.
The day marriage was recognized as a civil process, the institution was removed as a religious one and became a civil one, which means one religious groups idea about it matters not. Even if you believe it was 'created by god', you must admit it's now a civil process with civil benefits, not religious one's, so YOUR religion has nothing to do with it anymore. That's YOUR religions fault for insisting on benefits for 'married' people.

As for 5 men...well, I can't really see a reason plural marriage is illegal beyond someone's morals...but a tree? How does a tree consent and affirm their wish to be married? If it can, go for it. Why do you want to stand in the way of that tree's happiness?

Japan was supposed to buy us out too at one point, don't get your hopes up.

I am not saying that the US is a great place vs the rest of the world, I am just saying that you don't get the 'utopia' that people claim Norway to be without huge sacrifices by the people and also being a net exporter of natural resources.

Norway has one of the highest tax rates and one of the highest VAT rates in the world. They are net exporters of Oil, Natural Gas, and Seafood, almost all profits of which are nationalized by the government and rerouted into pension funds.

They are one of the highest cost of living places in the world and that is not factoring the taxes, but goods and services. If you take your family out to eat and spend 100 dollars, you are going to pay an additional 25 in just taxes.

The society is conditioned to believe in Jante's Law, so this suits them because everyone is 'equal'. However, with the immigration rates rising from poorer EU countries, there are cracks appearing in the laissez faire attitude. Protests and even a mass atttack have happened once people realized that they are now supporting people that are lower than them.

The point is, you can't simply point to the nordic socialist countries and say "Oh, what a wonderful place, if only everyone was so enlightened!" because it won't work without a specific set of circumstances. Most countries don't have those circumstances and must forge ahead in their own path. Additionally, almost no other country has the unique set of challenges that the US faces due to our position as the supposed world leader. Personally, I've long wished we would back off and let the rest of you all figure out stuff on your own. I think, however, that it wouldn't be long before one or more countries would come bitching to us to fix something.

I use slightly less than that myself on average, but we have solar water heating (supplemented with gas), so that's a good savings (especially since it also heats the hot tub), and we replaced all our light bulbs with led bulbs when they became feasible last year. Now, we usually read between 400 and 1000 watts during the day (depending on how many lights I have on, and if the refrigerator is cycled on or not.) That's running a big screen TV, computer, and often ps4 almost all day, every day. We also have electric stove and oven...and I weld, adding somewhat to our total.

Yes, my battery bank is only useful for power outages. It's enough to keep the lights on and the fridge from thawing, but not much else. We get about 3-4 hours out of it if I don't notice the power went out, but can make it all night if we conserve. Our system is grid tied, and first powers the home, then tops off the batteries, then sells any excess to PG&E. To date, I've never drawn the batteries down to zero...but we do have a small generator to supplement it when the power's out for days. The average home would certainly need more, but a 10kwh battery should be plenty to make it through an average night without AC (we don't have AC here).

My current system could not produce that much, but close. I live in N California, one of the foggiest areas in the US. Because we have a renter, an electric hot tub, dishwasher, and electric washer and drier, we use slightly more than we generate at this point, but my system is upgradeable to 6500 watts of generation (I have less than 1/3 of that now) when panels get cheaper...and when I can find space for more.

My system is not flat to my roof, and I have 2 strings of 8 panels. With the solar water tubes, it takes up most of the south 1/2 of my roof (1200 sq ft home). I could maybe fit 4 more panels up there and still be able to walk around them to clean them, but any more and I'll need some mounting structure. I really want to add a small wind turbine to generate at night or when there's a storm...solar doesn't work in the dark.

In America, we still have some rebates for people adding solar to their homes, but they are drying up fast. 15-20 years ago, you could almost do it for free if you got every rebate available.

We used to have about 1-2 weeks of power outage where I live per year, and that was part of why we did they system. We hated having no power and losing food every year, and also hated paying the ever rising cost of electricity. Before adding our system, we had $4-500 a month electric bills, now we have <$100 in winter and sometimes a negative bill in summer...we pay our bill once a year now, lump sum at the end of 12 months.
On to your second post....
I often think...electric cars were popular and the norm in cities before Ford came along. It's still astonishing to me that it was basically dropped for a century as a technology (with minor exceptions). I'm glad someone had finally gone back to it and is trying to fix it's issues. If I could afford a Tesla, I would have one.

I also agree, people won't adopt the technology as long as they have to sacrifice lifestyle for it. I said the same thing, but I found that I don't change my lifestyle at all with my solar system, I just pay lower bills. I determined that buying a system would pay for itself in under 10 years, with the lifespan of a system being about 20 years, that's 10 years of free electricity! That all assumes electric rates didn't go up, and they certainly have gone up...but not for me. You just need to be sure you install enough panels to supply all your power, and you're there.

The battery thing is really mostly for non-grid tied systems, or emergencies. Most people don't use batteries at night, it's simpler and cheaper to just sell power to the grid during the day and buy it back at night if you can, using them as your battery. Perhaps this battery will change that, but with lead acid, it's hard to make them worth the cost.

Panels aren't that expensive, really. In many areas, with rebates, they can be near free. (some companies will even give them to you and split the power generated off your roof). It's a myth that solar is expensive...when compared to non-solar. Mine are paid for by bill savings already (8 years + in) so I'm saving money with them now, and my lifestyle has not suffered in the least. I have lights on if its dark, I watch TV all day, and use the computer all day, have tons of electric devices I use, and soon will power a pond, etc. I often think that my life is a much better example of how you can be 'green' without much change than Gore's. He really doesn't seem to walk the walk, but he can sure talk the talk.

Cops should be able to kill with impunity? That's a pretty ridiculous statement, which I never said, in fact if I did, please quote me here.

Also, I never said what this cop did was right. But you have this general tendency to weave fanciful flights of hyperbole and ascribe them to me.

I'm only bringing up what I think are some other considerations. Of course, the cop had just a minute to decide, you have...how much time?

Have you ever gone to your local police department and read the daily log? Why don't you go down there and talk to some of these monsters, maybe you can talk some sense into them.

Also, I conceded many moons ago that there are many jobs more dangerous than being a cop. Construction is one job that is. My point was that cops put their lives on the line to protect innocent people, which makes their sacrifice a little more selfless.

i don't expect you to look up to cops, especially since you only observe from the sidelines...where it is nice and safe.

If God doesn't give you any revelation of His existence then the scripture is broken and you would have an excuse when you stand before Him. I would be the first to say that this is unfair. However, we're all human beings and I know that people willfully reject God. Not only from my own personal experience, but the bible itself is littered with accounts of people who know better and fall into rebellion against God.

God has made the truth of these things so clear to me, and I believe He is faithful to do the same for you. If God sent Jesus to die on the cross for you and me, He is faithful to let us how we should respond to that.

I think it's clear that an infinite being suffering an infinite punishment is infinitely worse than a finite being suffering an infinite punishment. The finite being has a finite experience, eternally or not. Adding up everyone who ever lived, it is still only a finite experience of suffering, whereas the infinite being has an infinite experience of suffering. Qualitatively, an eternity of suffering of a number of finite beings does not equal even a moment of suffering of an infinite being. Whether you think that is debatable or or not, God the Father considered the sacrifice greater than the punishment, and that is what counts.

Jesus was doing what His Father wanted Him to do, which was to reconcile the human race to Himself, who are alienated from God and spiritually dead because of sin. As far as whether the sayings of Jesus are authentic, we have the manuscripts to prove that they were not made up over a period of centuries or even decades. We have around twenty five thousand manuscripts of the NT alone, which is about 24 thousand more manuscripts than any other ancient text. We have manuscript evidence even going back to the first century, and using all of the manuscripts there is a science called textual criticism that can reconstruct what was in the original manuscripts from that pool of evidence. The idea that the bible is patched together from centuries of retranslations and additions is demonstratably false.

Even if we didn't have any manuscripts, from the writings of the early church fathers alone we could reconstruct the entire bible except for 7 verses in the first 250 years. Even before that, we have the prophetic writings from the Old Testament which show that Jesus did exactly what He was prophesied to do. He did not speak anything different than what had been written thousands of years in advance. If you understand the bible as you a whole, you will see it is one story and it is all saying the same thing. The fact of its internal consistency, considering it was authored by 40 people over a period of 3000 years is another proof of its authenticity.

There are many reasons to believe Jesus is the Christ, but the biggest one is Gods personal revelation, which He is faithful to give to you. If you want to know whether Jesus is the Messiah, simply pray and ask. If He isn't, you've wasted a couple of minutes. If He is, you are avoiding an eternal consequence. God bless!

No, I would say you aren't wrong for normal operation, but carvers often sacrifice safety for tool functionality. Notice she still has the anti-kickback 'paddle' on the saw. It stops the chain 'instantly' (almost) if it's kicked back past your wrist's ability to bend. you'll still get a nasty cut, but won't cut your arm/head off.
Most chain saw carvers I've seen (lots around here, and on TV shows, especially ice carvers) actually remove that safety feature for better maneuverability on their small saws, it's nice to see one be relatively safe.

If I find that I'm wrong on the day that I die and I stand in front of God, exposed as the person that I am...then I want to stand in front of God as the person that I am.

I don't want my sins forgiven by the sacrifice of another. I don't need my slate wiped clean by ritualistic confession and contrite acts. I am human; flawed and broken and wonderful. I will stand in front of your God for all my actions, thoughts and intentions.

In my life I have callously hurt others, I have taken what wasn't mine, I have dispensed wrath and sought vengeance. Because I am weak and selfish and scared.
But I also endeavor to heal more than I injure, give more than I take and provide comfort to others when things seem darkest. Plus....I always smile and ask how you are. That's important.

As a thoughtful, empathetic human being, I know that the positive actions of other humans is the only balance against the entropy that surrounds us. We are our own hope and salvation against a random universe that has our destruction built into the very laws that compel it.
I don't do good things because I fear judgement. I don't do them because I'm commanded to. I do good things because I'm one small part of a community that extends as far as humanity can reach. The effect of my actions, positive and negative, ripples out, rebounds and reflects infinitely. I do good things because it's good to do them.

If I'm wrong, I'll be judged by your God and if I'm found lacking in my actions then I'll own my sins and the consequences. But if the balance of my life has been positive and I am found unacceptable only because I could not believe in the existence of a Creator...if the sum total of my affect on others matters less than my ability to accept illogical supernatural conclusions....then your God is Evil.

Besides, if your god is omniscient, then he knew how he would judge me when he created the universe. So I had no real power over my actions. If he did, in fact, give me free will such that he did not know how I would live my life, then he's not omniscient. In which case, upon our meeting, he will disappear in a puff of logic.

Revelation 1:17-18 And when I saw him, I fell at his feet as dead. And he laid his right hand upon me, saying unto me, Fear not; I am the first and the last:

I am he that liveth, and was dead; and, behold, I am alive for evermore, Amen; and have the keys of hell and of death.

This is the reaction of John, the beloved disciple, when he saw Jesus in His glory. He fell down at His feet as if he was dead. This is the reaction of the believer upon seeing God. The reaction of the unbeliever is going to be one
of great sorrow, and abject terror:

Matthew 24:30 Then will appear the sign of the Son of Man in heaven. And then all the peoples of the earth will mourn when they see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven, with power and great glory

Revelation 6:15-16 Then the kings of the earth and the great men and the commanders and the rich and the strong and every slave and free man hid themselves in the caves and among the rocks of the mountains;

And said to the mountains and rocks, Fall on us, and hide us from the face of him that sitteth on the throne, and from the wrath of the Lamb:

For the great day of his wrath is come; and who shall be able to stand?

When we stand before God, everything will be in the open. There will be no secrets; you'll be exposed as the person you really are and not the person you present to other people.

What is in this video is all false bravado. No one can stand in the day of judgment except those whose sins are covered by the atoning sacrifice of the Lord Jesus on the cross. He died for our sins, and was raised the third day so that we can be forgiven and have everlasting life. He took our place and took the punishment we deserve so that all who put their trust in Him as Lord and Savior will receive forgiveness for their sins, reconciliation to God, and adoption as Gods children. That is the only way anyone can stand before God in the day of the judgment.

Romans 3:23 for all have sinned and fallen short of the glory of God

Romans 6:23 For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.

Romans 10:9 Because if you confess the Lord Jesus, and believe in your heart that God has raised Him from the dead, you shall be saved.

I'm not sure the failure of the news to construct a narrative is necessarily a bad thing. Surely we should embrace confusion as necessary if we want to work at understanding anything? It would be very easy to subscribe to a particular story of the world, to sacrifice reality for the sake of not feeling bewildered.

I also think the deliberate attempt to confuse your opposition by taking contradictory actions, or a deliberate attempt to keep your population feeling as though they are besieged through fighting false flag wars is quite different from what occurs in UK politics. Here we have complex systems where I think it is very hard to really determine cause and effect. That is not a deliberate ploy, I just think that is the nature of reality. Not that understanding is impossible, just that it takes more work than being told it by a politic or by the news (who, lets be honest, probably don't know either).

When you make ridiculous claims like "he was just being a good guy cop trying to help", I see nothing wrong or argumentative in pointing out where you made your mistake in logic thinking that might be the case.

"Huge dissertations of bullshit arguing into thin air."
Well! If that's not the pot calling the kettle black! LOL!!!!

You must have replied without reading the entire post. I thought my last paragraph illustrated clearly why THIS cop was not 'being a good guy helping' as you wish to think. That does not mean it doesn't happen, or even that it's not the norm, it means it wasn't happening this time. I'm sorry if that's a difficult concept for me to properly illustrate.

It is a cop's job to find crime. They often find it where none exists. In order to protect yourself AND honor your ancestor's sacrifices, intelligent and patriotic people exorcize their rights and remain silent. Every time. My grandfather, the successful lawyer, taught me that. It's not paranoid any more than wearing your seat belt is paranoid.


Bad day?

Not answering questions is not being confrontational or an asshole when the questioner's only motivation is to find a 'problem' he can 'solve' by charging you with a crime. My sense of self preservation demands that I have a lawyer present during any questioning, and that I have written immunity before giving any answers. It's not being rude, it's being safe, EDIT: and it's honoring the enormous sacrifices made by my and other's ancestors in order to create and preserve the right to remain silent, ignoring/foregoing that or any other hard won right is a slap in their faces IMO.

Interactions with the police and normal person to person interactions are governed by a different set of rules.

Once the cop could see that there was absolutely no issue, why did he continue with the stop and demand ID and insurance if he was being a 'good guy cop, just trying to help'? That action denies the 'good guy' premise.

rule of law?
really?
you mean the law that ignores the lying liars on wall street?
the law that criminalizes the poor?
you mean THAT law?
a criminalized elite that legislates laws that benefit them and their cronies while crushing the working class.
wrong side bob.
thats ok..seems @ant agrees with you.

i find it hypocrisy of the highest order those who claim to be christian and follow the teachings of jesus,who will abandon his teachings when it becomes uncomfortable and inconvenient.

nevermind that many of the laws and rights you so enjoy nowadays were hard won by the sacrifices,and sometimes deaths of those who think and feel exactly as this video portrays.

hypocrites......the lot of ya.