I just have a feeling. Could be wrong, could be right. It could be argued that since all 3 are supposed to be separate branches that congress adding more justices would be tampering with checks and balances. Then again, precedent might count in favor of it.

War/Secession isn't only a purview of the conservatives. I recall many people saying similar things when Bush/Trump was elected. Especially Trump, as I recall people saying California should leave the union etc. As I've told you before, I honestly think it might be the best solution at this point. Half of us bitterly disagree with the other half and it's getting worse every single election/year.

I'm old enough and jaded enough at this point that I figure it couldn't hurt. The USSR broke up, might as well be our turn.

I would go hunting for the videos, but Biden has already stated that he fully plans to empower Beto to be his gun control 'czar'. Beto has already said that he absolutely is coming for "our" guns. He plans a forced turn in or buyback of all assault style weapons, presumably those also covered by laws that allow them under federal tax stamps (full auto).

In addition, Biden lists the following on his website as his plans:

1. Hold gun manufacturers accountable. In 2005, then-Senator Biden voted against the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act, but gun manufacturers successfully lobbied Congress to secure its passage. This law protects these manufacturers from being held civilly liable for their products – a protection granted to no other industry. Biden will prioritize repealing this protection. (Only this is misleading. Do shoe manufacturers get sued if you kick someone in the face? Do knife manufacturers get sued if you stab someone? Do car manufacturers get sued when you get into an accident? No and neither do most other manufacturers. Putting this in place means that any time a gun is used in a crime, they can try to sue the manufacturer of that gun into non-existence. It doesn't even have to be an 'assault' weapon, any gun manufacturer is at risk. The only thing that wouldn't count is blackpowder guns since they aren't classed as firearms.)

2. Ban the manufacture and sale of assault weapons and high-capacity magazines. Federal law prevents hunters from hunting migratory game birds with more than three shells in their shotgun. That means our federal law does more to protect ducks than children. It’s wrong. Joe Biden will enact legislation to once again ban assault weapons. This time, the bans will be designed based on lessons learned from the 1994 bans. For example, the ban on assault weapons will be designed to prevent manufacturers from circumventing the law by making minor changes that don’t limit the weapon’s lethality. While working to pass this legislation, Biden will also use his executive authority to ban the importation of assault weapons. (So this would be a perma ban on assault weapons and would also anticipate changes to circumvent the law. This would be the assault ban of 1994 on steroids.)

3. Regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. Currently, the National Firearms Act requires individuals possessing machine-guns, silencers, and short-barreled rifles to undergo a background check and register those weapons with the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives (ATF). Due to these requirements, such weapons are rarely used in crimes. As president, Biden will pursue legislation to regulate possession of existing assault weapons under the National Firearms Act. (So even if he doesn't get Beto to push through a buy back, he can force owners of assault rifles to be subject to the EXTREMELY restrictive NFA. Not only that, but it's expensive and would be a tax on gun owners yearly.)

4. Buy back the assault weapons and high-capacity magazines already in our communities. Biden will also institute a program to buy back weapons of war currently on our streets. This will give individuals who now possess assault weapons or high-capacity magazines two options: sell the weapons to the government, or register them under the National Firearms Act. (Covered this already. But if this does go through, you likely won't be seeing me on here anymore as it will be a cold day in hell before I surrender my guns or pay the government to be allowed to own them.)

5. Reduce stockpiling of weapons. In order to reduce the stockpiling of firearms, Biden supports legislation restricting the number of firearms an individual may purchase per month to one. (Once you get this through, it is far easier to get legislation passed to cap how many guns a person can own total. Fuck that.)

6. Require background checks for all gun sales. Today, an estimated 1 in 5 firearms are sold or transferred without a background check. Biden will enact universal background check legislation, requiring a background check for all gun sales with very limited exceptions, such as gifts between close family members. This will close the so-called “gun show and online sales loophole” that the Obama-Biden Administration narrowed, but which cannot be fully closed by executive action alone. (I can deal with this, just means you need to go through an FFL.)

7. Reinstate the Obama-Biden policy to keep guns out of the hands of certain people unable to manage their affairs for mental reasons, which President Trump reversed. (Not 100% on this one, but it isn't a deal breaker)

8. Enact legislation prohibiting an individual “who has been convicted of a misdemeanor hate crime, or received an enhanced sentence for a misdemeanor because of hate or bias in its commission” from purchasing or possessing a firearm. (Felony yes, but that already exists. Misdemeanor, fuck no.)

9. Close the “Charleston loophole.” (yeah, no problem with this one)

10. End the online sale of firearms and ammunitions. Biden will enact legislation to prohibit all online sales of firearms, ammunition, kits, and gun parts. (So if I want to build another AR15 I can't? Fuck that. You still have to get the primary receiver through or shipped to an FFL. Which means a background check every single time.)

11. Create an effective program to ensure individuals who become prohibited from possessing firearms relinquish their weapons. (I would be for this if it wasn't for the fact that it is one step away from the government outlawing guns. Once this mechanism is in place at a federal level, all that means is you are one vote away from having your guns seized.)

12. Incentivize state “extreme risk” laws. Extreme risk laws, also called “red flag” laws, enable family members or law enforcement officials to temporarily remove an individual’s access to firearms when that individual is in crisis and poses a danger to themselves or others. (Sounds good, but nobody is willing to state the guidelines that the family or LEO will have to follow. That means that it is completely up to family members and LEO's to decide what constitutes a 'crisis'. Bet you a lot of LEO's in protest states would red flag most protesters immediately if this law existed now in all states.)

13. Give states incentives to set up gun licensing programs. (This is above and beyond the federal checks. This would mean any gun owner or potential owner would have to maintain and pay for a separate gun license. Also, it allows states and locales to decide what constitutes the requirements for the gun license. There are already some states doing this and you have to get permission to even own a gun from the sheriff or other official. Fuck that.)

14. Put America on the path to ensuring that 100% of firearms sold in America are smart guns. (Are you fucking kidding me? What if the battery runs out, what if it gets hacked, or what if the government decides to flip a switch and shut them all down? I'll never agree to this.)

15. Require gun owners to safely store their weapons. Biden will pass legislation requiring firearm owners to store weapons safely in their homes. (IE, locked in a safe or partially disassembled, possibly a combination of both. Why bother having a gun for home defense if it can't be used without spending 5-10 minutes to make it available/functional?)

16. Stop “ghost guns.” (This is just stupid. 3d printed guns might be able to fire a few shots before reaching a critical failure. You can't 3d print a lower or upper receiver that matches a stock one. Yes, they made lowers for the original m-16s, but they swapped from those because they were shit. They broke constantly. And those weren't printed, they were molded from a tougher plastic. A 3d printed one is not nearly as strong. Either way, I don't care too much about this because it is a buzzword for non-gun people. Just like bumpstocks. You can still bump-fire a regular ar-15, the bumpstocks were just training wheels for idiots.)

Now he has a shitload more laws he wants to pass, but most of them I don't care too much about. I won't bother covering all of them. In any case, he is going to go after guns on a scale unseen to this point. If the dems get control of both houses, he will get these laws passed. Then the only hope is that SCOTUS votes them down as unconstitutional.

I won't vote for Trump, but I will be doing my part to maintain a split congress. Which means straight republican ticket other than Trump.

Subscribe to what you want, my birth lottery included trees and butterflies, I was raised in a forest in a glass house in a forest. (We had an atrium inside with a forest of trees growing through the roof, and the house was in the middle of a forest)

If I were born black, that person would be me, but I would be different. Besides, I was born a poor black child, sir. ;-)

If my starting line is 50 meters ahead of yours in a 100 yard dash through nothing but luck, that's pretty lucky for me.

I feel pretty successful having made little effort to get there, that's luck.

I don't feel shame because I'm not a normal American that thinks anything they want is something they deserve and need. Best lesson my dad ever taught me was know the difference between want and need and you'll be far happier in life. It's true.

I don't have too much, I have enough, but I still share with those who i feel don't. I've housed multiple friends for free, and even let one live in my yard for 7 years, which in retrospect was at least 5 years too many. My wife and I live comfortably on <$30000 a year. Most Americans can't live on that for one person. Newts do just fine, we take a vacation every year, pay our bills, and eat well.
Maybe that's why I'm so different. I was allowed to roam the wild woods and bayou alone at just over 3, to the point where the neighbors told my parents they were going to call the cops. This was in the middle of Houston, literally a wilderness of (or at least in) modern civilization. ;-)

I did go to school for 24 years (preschool -the ten year plan at Jr college) but never tried hard or practiced, to the point where my trig teacher insisted I was cheating because I didn't pay attention or do homework so she separated me for a big test, the class average dropped a full grade but not me, my neighbors were cheating off me. She left me alone after that. That might be preparations, but it wasn't hard work. It was boring busy work.

I did that, read encyclopedias and dictionaries. That was punishment at my school through 7th grade....but my grandmother read her set through twice for fun. My mother was called "the encyclopedia" in school, with good reason.

I definitely let opportunities pass often. Sometimes because I don't need them and others might, sometimes I'm just lazy and happy so see no need to expend effort, usually because I see opportunities as traps, the bait being some modest short term gain, the cage being large long term obligations. I'm always prepared for opportunities that are for me without preparation. I'm not Trumpian, I understand I have limitations, and don't tend to obligate myself beyond them.

Who said I waited. I've been lucky enough that I didn't have to wait for, nor do I expect luck. Through luck, forethought, and decent planning things have worked out well with minimal effort or sacrifice. I don't rely on luck to dig me out of holes, I tend to watch my step and not fall in them often. You might call that preparation, I call it paying attention. It's working so far.

Newsmax, the wannabe OAN? Lol Bob. They're science denying, far right fake news that rates a 45/180 for honesty who sells snake oil by tricking their readers/viewers into reading fake "scientific discovery" articles that direct you to a sale page for the new snake oil that cures cancer or makes your cells (so you) immortal. Holy Fuck.
I won't watch a second of their dishonesty, recently claiming the RNC turned the tables for Trump and he's winning in all the polls now? Get real, such nonsense. You just love blatant fraudsters, don't you. They love you, they love all their uneducated followers, they're so easy to separate from their money.

My great great grandmother rented out houses in a small town in Louisiana in the early 1900's. One day when checking on her properties she found a chest full of KKK robes in a garage of one of her rentals. Instead of confronting her renters, she dragged the chest to the town square, pulled out the robes, and burned them all.
Her renters moved.

Holy shit is this moron deluded.

I'll never understand why they don't just buy a compound, and make it a club, admission by invitation only. Be separatist all you want, on your own property.

Wait, he thinks you can separate races by the language they speak? You've got to be kidding me, you moron.

Homosexuals are to be killed, just like people who eat shellfish or wear blended fabrics, or mow their lawn on Sunday even once. There are dozens to hundreds of rules that call for stoning, if you're Jewish. Not if you follow Christ. Those instructions come from the old testament, not the new.
If he thinks that doesn't matter, he needs to lynch himself immediately.

Ok, @bobknight33, grand wizard of N Carolina supports Trump, his chapter supports Trump, the grand Dragon supports Trump, the organization supports Trump. Not Biden. Of course, despite hearing it directly from the Klan you'll deny it and say they support Biden, that's called being delusional.

Fake.
It's not official Goodyear policy, not created by Goodyear, and is actually dead wrong in what it claimed.
That makes it a fake in multiple ways. It's maybe a real picture (maybe not) of a fake policy/slide. A picture of a fake purported to be real is a fake, even though it's a real picture. Duh. If I edit Melania's porn photos to have Don Jr draped over her in the nude and fondling her nude breasts, take a picture of that fake and release it as proof they're having an incestuous affair, is that not fake? It's a real picture. Jesusissodisappointedinyou


First, it gained national attention because Trump claimed they singled out his campaign attire, a total lie, and called for a boycott because he's a petulant infant that can't handle any perceived slight without throwing a tantrum. The claims are absolute pure bullshit. It wasn't until that was absolutely undeniable that you glommed onto the "no blue lives matter" part that's also a lie but less obvious.
Second, it's not corporate policy as it claims, it's one person making up their own policy, a person I'm sure is fired or demoted after the damage their unapproved actions caused.

Bullshit. Managers do not make policy. Stop lying. This is at worst a rogue employee, not a policy, liar. Try making new corporate policy down there at TGIFridays as the manager, see how that works out for you.

Goodyear did address it, instantly releasing a statement denouncing it as never their policy and never approved as soon as they heard. Duh. You right wingers are just incapable of learning anything, aren't you.
If the employee who leaked it had sent it to corporate, they would likely have done the same thing but more internally, which is told their employees this isn't the policy and never was, but without the boycotts and death threats from the insane right that will hurt the business if not destroy it over a lie. Now they have to worry about having a job next year and losing their pensions, and America has to worry about losing another international manufacturer, losing more jobs, and losing more GDP.

When one of Trump's underlings commits a felony for him, do you say he is guilty because his manager did it and should go to prison with them? Like decimating the post office, that's Trump, right? Separating families and caging children, all on Trump's shoulders, no response to Covid for months killing tens of thousands, all Trump, talking to the Russians for help in the election, also Trump. Talking to Ukraine for help with the election, Trump. Asking China for help with the election....that's actually directly Trump.
No, you excuse him as the leader with rogue subordinates that committed crimes....subordinates that deserve pardons for their treasonous felonies.

🤦‍♂️

If Corporate hadn't found out, yes, perhaps it would have been policy for that shift at that section of that factory and until they did find out those few employees might believe that Blue Lives Matter attire wouldn't be allowed.
Blue Lives Matter isn't a racial justice or equality movement, they're an anti racial justice and equity movement, so shouldn't be allowed but are because Goodyear does so much business with police they made an exception to allow it, not an exception to exclude them as you claimed in your parroting of the ignoramus in chief.

Oh, so now you like cancel culture, more so when based on complete and willful misunderstanding the facts? So you're not just a liar, you're a proud hypocrite.
Open season on right wing businesses now I guess, make up any lie about them then boycott or burn them out of business. Sounds like a great way t o make America great, doesn't it?

You think the president calling for a national boycott of an American institution is the best way to handle an internal company policy issue where one employee tried to implement their own policy?!? Of course the same goes for right wing rogues, right?

My Pillow is run by a pedophile crackhead who runs a secret restaurant in the factory that serves baby to Satanists, a crackhead that allows only Maga attire and no social or political statements that don't support Trump in his factories. Go.

Of course, no lies needed for Trump companies. They clearly have the policy being complained about but reversed....no Biden attire, no BLM, but Maga and blue lives matter is ok. Certainly you're calling for them to be cancelled too, right?

Troll.

I don't think American hospitals would give up an opportunity to make obscene amounts of money for basic care let alone intensive care.

Having them pay insurance premiums or be put in a separate insurance category (high risk fuckwit) would probably make more sense.

Protesters and looters are separate groups.
Not one video shows what led to these attacks. Considering the source, that's not surprising, nor will it be surprising when they are shown in full and every "victim" either instigated the violence (like attacking a crowd with a sword) or the attackers were actually more right wing thugs posing as antifa/leftists to paint them as violent out of control monsters.
Stupid bitch...the one's arrested starting riots and with explosives were boogaloos...a Right wing, pro Trump group caught repeatedly now trying to start race riots dressed as antifa....and the FBI found no Antifa involvement in riots or vandalism in DC.
*lies

Those aren't protesters, they're the people trying to paint protesters as rioters and thugs.
Next time, citizens arrest them, it will do two things, expose who the instigators really are and separate the honest protesters from the small group of instigators in their midst.
When the instigators get turned over to police on camera, they'll stop instigating within hours, they really don't want their identities exposed.

Why? I doubt you want an honest answer, but here's one anyway.

Because the Fed refused to help states in crisis and, to free up desperately needed hospital beds for those in immediate dire need of hospitalization, some infected patients who were not showing symptoms or in need of hospitalization were discharged to facilities where they could receive routine care outside the hospital.
Had this not been done, there would have been a massive shortage in hospital beds, and a corresponding jump in deaths across the board. It would have been smart to quarantine them separately like California did in many cases, at least until we were sure they were no longer infectious, but since American testing still gives 50% false negatives, that's impossible.
Because most nursing homes utterly failed to follow guidelines for properly quarantining these patients, and because the virus targets exactly the same people who live in nursing homes, elderly with health issues, and because the outbreak began in nursing homes and spread among them while Trump insisted there was no danger, it's less dangerous than the flu, there's no need to change behavior and we won't ever have over 15 cases, they were going to be a major problem.

Those were their only options given the federal government's near total lack of action, keep them in the hospital and deny other patients or send them "home" to be quarantined. Neither was a good option, both were certain to end in increased deaths.


If, as I and others suggested in January, we used the military to build temporary hospitals for covid only like China had already done and instituted social distancing, we would have <10% of the cases we've had and might be safe to relax. Instead we did nothing for months based on Trump's ignorant stupidity and his narcissistic insistence that he knows more about everything than educated career professionals, this cost at least 90000 American lives and rising, along with the decimation of the economy, the explosion of the deficit and debt, and at best a recession if not depression that could have been avoided.

I'll just leave this light reading here....

Pandemic (H1N1) 2009 influenza emerged in Mexico in March 2009 and by June 10 had rapidly spread to 74 countries (1,2). Nonpharmaceutical interventions for pandemic influenza at the community level were recommended by the World Health Organization before and during the pandemic (3,4). One such nonpharmaceutical intervention was quarantine of contacts of persons with confirmed cases. A key question in closed settings (e.g., military barracks) was how to prevent a secondary outbreak of influenza among those quarantined.

The first identified case of pandemic (H1N1) 2009 in mainland People’s Republic of China was imported from the United States and reported on May 11, 2009 (5). On May 29, the Chinese Ministry of Health required that each confirmed case-patient and each contact be isolated and quarantined in 1 separate room to contain transmission of the virus

https://wwwnc.cdc.gov/eid/article/16/8/09-1787_article

https://www.cdc.gov/h1n1flu/guidance/exclusion.htm

There weren't shutdowns because H1N1 wasn't spread before symptoms show, wasn't as easily spread, and wasn't 1/10 as deadly. By denying travel to and quarantining the visibly sick, it was relatively easy to stop the spread. There were many travel restrictions including travel bans, but they were mostly voluntarily. There was screening of passengers and sick ones were denied travel. Also, thanks to preparations, a vaccine only took months to create.
Yes, we got lucky, but we certainly didn't JUST get lucky, we took action AND got lucky.

So glad Amazon shut him down, I hope eBay, Craig's list, and elsewhere did too. I have to wonder if he broke even before they did, selling $1 bottles for $70 it wouldn't take long.

What a douchebag pandemic profiteer. I'm actually surprised Trump isn't doing the same thing, it's so his style. I hope it's a separate felony for each item he gouged with.

If you're sick and in Tennessee, find this guy and go directly to his house looking for sanitizer, and be sure to cough on your money first. If anyone deserves to be deliberately infected, it's assholes like him.

*promote a *quality shaming

Interesting info, but whoever produced the video made some really questionable editorial decisions. Commas separated values over 1000, except for periods used in #1. What's with the "big stuff" in the background? How do the heights of various buildings compared to things like mountains and the size of Halley's comet relate to these mortality figures?

Just... weird. Good video though, in spite of that

You're fucking dumb. I'm not a hypocrite. Do you know the details of withholding aid in Ukraine?

Do you remember when obama was president how the republican congress and senate was stonewalling everything he wanted? Do you remember complaints about executive orders?

The Ukraine Support Act proposed in 2014 did not make it out of committee in the house of representatives https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ukraine_Support_Act

THEREFORE

Obama issued two executive orders as part of a national emergency

https://obamawhitehouse.archives.gov/the-press-office/2014/03/17/executive-order-blocking-property-additional-persons-contributing-situat

https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/executive-order-presidents-continuation-national-emergency-respect-ukraine/

There was a separate bill that guaranteed loans that was later passed but distribution of funds was done mostly through executive order in accordance with The International Emergency Economic Powers Act.

THEREFORE

Obama actually had prerogative and liberty with which to distribute funds and Biden was acting as his surrogate at the time.

In other words, the law was not broken because there wasn't a law to break that existed.

----------------------------------------------------------


THIS IS DISTINCT AND DIFFERENT FROM WHAT DONALD TRUMP DID IN SEVERAL WAYS, BUT DISTINCTLY THAT HE SIGNED A LAW SAYING THAT HE HAD TO DISTRIBUTE THE MONEY

In 2019, the appropriations committee passed this and made it a part of an appropriations bill which the president (Trump) signed as part of a budget regulation

That is the difference

And it's why Biden can use those funds in a discretionary way and have it be legal, and Trump can use them in a discretionary way and have it be illegal (not just because he's investigating a political rival, because he fucking signed the law that said that he had to do it).

---------------------------------------------------


The retort is "what about Obama" but the circumstances are different and as much as, and as simple as, it was not against the law for him to do that because the house and the senate didn't pass a law saying he had to do anything with money for Ukraine, that was part of an executive order which gives him that discretion. Donald Trump could have issued an executive order rather than sign off on that budget And it would suddenly be legal.

^^^^^^^^ Don't misunderstand me. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^ Don't misunderstand me. ^^^^^^^^^^^^
^^^^^^^^ Don't misunderstand me. ^^^^^^^^^^^^

I'm not saying he's doing something illegal and jumping up and down and squealing and shitting myself like a housewife discovering daytime television.

I'm making an observation about how he doesn't care about what laws are passed or not in a more general way.

>>>>>>>>>>>>He just doesn't care about following the law.

Still, that's a separate issue from rooting out corruption overall versus bringing the entire weight of the federal government, not to mention the government in Ukraine, on Joe Biden.

Last I checked no executive order no bill no resolution said "Target Joe Biden specifically" And on the phone call released from Donald Trump in the White House there's only one name that's mentioned.

To put some context here, this calf was separated from his mother to become veal. So it's easy to say "aww cute" but this creature is about to go through hell for somebody's sandwich.

This is what will happen to this calf within a few days: [url redacted]

He will be beaten and thrown onto the truck. He will have his head crushed by a bolt gun to knock him unconscious, and then he will be hung up my one leg and have his throat slit to kill him, and his unconscious body will choke on this own blood.