Over my dead body. You might can slip this in on these men but I homeschooled two kids, I know what the hell this would look like.
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I only have time to respond to a couple of your proposals, and I won't even get into the fact that many would require a Constitutional amendment to enact:
—in some way eliminate or reduce the effect of the electoral college so there are more than 12 swing states - Of course it would be MUCH better to have the Presidential Election decided by five states, seriously without the Electoral College CA, NY, NJ, IL and FL would dominate the election. Tough luck if you live in Montana, Wyoming or Delaware.
--abolish the fucking Senate, honestly; it’s an outdated House of Lords - See above, it also helps prevent the more populous states from dominating the less populous ones. I personally believe one of our bigger mistakes was making Senator an elected position instead of them being appointed by the state governments as was originally done, that kept more power where it belongs, in the hands of the state governments who are closer to, and therefore more under the control of, the people.
—Have the president declare Marbury v. Madison was wrongly decided - Look up separation of powers, the President has no such authority. And without such protections, how do we undo laws which run afoul of the Constitution? Suppose Congress were to pass, and the President were to sign, a law that's in clear violation of the Constitution. Let's say something like "All news outlet must have approval of information by Federally appointed advisors prior to publication, any information deemed unacceptable by such advisors is prohibited from publication." A clear violation of the First Amendment, but now the law of the land. How does it get overturned absent Marbury v. Madison?
—Congress must approve the use of all combat troops and cannot deploy those troops for an indefinite period of time - Already done. We haven't had a formal declaration of war since the unpleasantness of the early-mid 1940s, but any time combat troops have been deployed overseas since then has been authorized by Congress.
—move away from schools being funded by property taxes so as to integrate society and stop, or at least mitigate, racial conflict - And how do you propose they be funded? Income taxes? So of course the places with higher incomes (therefore higher income taxes) will have better schools. Oh wait, your next point is:
—fund all schools equally so there’s equality of opportunity; if we’re serious about everyone starting at the same place, we can’t disadvantage children - This concept gets up my nose. I went to NYC public schools and the NYC public college, and I've made a good life for myself. Success depends FAR more on your ingrained attitude toward education (derived during your formative years from your parents) than on the alleged "quality" of the school. You don't make equality by pulling the higher-performing people down, no one wants to watch a one-on-one basketball game between Michael Jordan and Michael Moore where Jordan is encumbered by 100 lbs of sand-bags to make it more equal.
Is our system perfect? Of course not, nothing made by man is. But our system has generated the free-est, most productive, most prosperous nation the world has ever seen, and what we've produced has lifted up the rest of the world as well.
I think you C&Ped this fucking mess from the DNC platform. I think you're a fool. How 'bout that, y'all?
He didn't type a goddamn word of it. Look at the font.
Do you actually believe that William Barr is going to put Comey, Brennan, and Hillary in jail?
You think we're all going to die? I don't understand your point.
From the Fucking Centers for Fucking Disease Control: COVID-19 Pandemic Planning Scenarios | CDCQuote:
So even the CDC’s own data shows that, if you are 19 and under, the virus is essentially a non-issue. If you are aged 20-49, then your odds of dying with COVID-19 are around the same as the annual likelihood of getting struck by lightning: 0.0002%.
Even in the 70+ age group - apparently at imminent risk of mass extinction if we’re to believe the ongoing hysteria - the best estimate fatality rate is a mere 0.054%. That means of every 100 persons in this age group allegedly infected with COVID-19, 94.6 will survive.
Keep in mind these estimates are derived from those who die with COVID-19 listed on their death certificate. That is no guarantee these people actually died because of COVID-19; at best, it tells us they died with COVID-19. As I have explained in previous articles, the WHO has introduced new classification of death categories allowing doctors to ascribe “suspected” or “probable” COVID-19 as the cause of death, even though testing for COVID-19 is no more complicated than taking a nasal or throat swab and passing it on to the pathology lab.
Infection Fatality Ratio, Best Current Estimate: 0-19 years: 0.00003, 20-49 years: 0.0002, 50-69 years: 0.005, 70+ years: 0.054
Under the Constitution, as it stands without modification, states are free to give out their electoral votes based on their popular vote. Proportional as opposed to winner take all. A few small states do it this way.
I suggest California goes first to demonstrate their commitment to popular vote.
I think you misunderstand my point, and I take responsibility for that. I am, by no means, belittling the gravity of any facet of the situation we find ourselves in today. Allow me to try and clarify.
I don't know beyond what I know, and that is limited. I was in Afghanistan at a particular time, with a particular group of people and we had a particular mission. I know some of what came before that, and I know little of what came afterward. What I can surmise from all of that is, given what our mission was, the potential and opportunity (paid for in blood) was squandered. Should we have been there doing that mission? I don't know. All I can comment on is how we could have achieved said mission more fully.
Head up, eyes on the prize. Ears and Eyeballs. Ground truth. The military has a lot of ways of talking about paying attention to and dealing with raw reality. When you operate at a level where death is one small slip away, being absolutely aligned with reality is vitally important. Because there is no bullshitting your way out of that. But the country and the reality we find ourselves in? It's not a military problem. Hell, maybe Afghanistan wasn't even a military problem. It's not because of MAGA hats or "Black is the new Brown shirts." Every American is responsible for what is going on right now, and each of us controls such a little piece of that. I agree with you on a lot of your fundamental points, but I can no more force an outcome than you can. So what can we do?
Pay attention. Take our little pieces seriously. And do what we can. Reality will eventually reassert itself, but if we want a good outcome the Average Joe American is going to have to do the same times 330 million. Justice might be restored one day, but we didn't get to the point where we are now overnight. It will be a long, hard road back to good. Don't fail to take the necessary steps forward because you're too busy fixating on the past. One day, maybe... but not today.
Patrick, I agree with some of this, but
How would you account for existing jobs that make $18/hour that have labor supply lower than other markets? For example, why be an EMT when you could work at Home Depot for the same pay?
How would you prevent inflation and minimum wage chasing each other as you normalize to inflation?
In what market is this currently a problem? Can you provide a specific example?
Are you proposing nationalization of all universities? If not, how would you control and measure "ability to teach" and professor employment?
I've been consistent here that I do not have confidence in our DOJ / FBI's ability to prosecute these cases. It is a constitutional crisis. How many cases in our past have been as corrupt as General Flynn's case? How many agencies were involved in the General Flynn travesty?
However, unless there is a successful coup, I believe we will see justice: Lindsey Graham Questions Brett Kavanaugh Senate Confirmation Hearings “Enemy Combatants (youtube - 3 minutes)”
imo, that youtube is an important glimpse into what's happening behind the scenes. Think about the scenario these most recent whistleblowers are presenting. They claim our own government protected OBL in Iran while spending $trillions and killing God knows how many humans...in pursuit of our enemy, OBL. Then, they were blackmailed by Iran for $billions to keep it quiet. So, according to these whistleblowers, our government colluded with the enemy.
Back to the economy-killing Virus...the server storing this paper has been taken down...but you can read it in this tweet: Even CDC Now Admits No ‘Gold Standard’ Of COVID19 Virus IsolateIn case the server comes back, here's the link to the paper: Even the CDC now Admits No 'Gold Standard' of COVID19 Virus IsolateQuote:
"CDC document confirms Principia Scientific International claims there has NEVER been any successful laboratory test to isolate and confirm the existence of the SARS-COV2 virus. In effect, the science tells us there is NO virus."