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Annie
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Maybe that’s why people talk about outside the beltway?
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PaulinVA
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Very well might be, although technically I am outside the beltway, by a few miles. I know what you mean. The DC suburbs are probably not … normal.
He didn’t need to show them. He’s been a chip off the old block for decades ( his daddy stabbed Goldwater in the back in 64 ).
It is a 70 year old trap. What makes you think we are at greater threat today than when I was doing “duck and cover” 60 years ago?
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Zzyzx_Road
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Haha, no they are not. I have visited a few times over the years. My observations:
First, a lot of people work for the federal government or one of the many government contractors close by. So this region is not subjected to the usual wax and wane of the economy that most regions around the country are. Hard to replicate that demographic anywhere else in the country. Not hard to understand why the rest of the country thinks the people there are pretty insular in their view. Many parts of the country think that because these people have guaranteed paychecks, why are they dictating pain at the rest of us when they don’t have to feel the cost of their own policies? Skin in the game. Not.
Second, while the voters tend toward the Democrat Party because that’s where the perks and the money are, I got a lot of uni-party vibe as the Republicans present are also feeding at the trough.
Third, there is some difference in taxation between MD and VA which generally explains why the VA suburbs have benefited more from the government’s largesse than the MD suburbs. You’re in the right place, Paul.
One more: has anyone ever visited their Congressperson’s office in one of those House office buildings in DC? I have, that was … interesting, I’ll leave it at that.
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PaulinVA
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I see this less and less. Tysons Corner has more office space than downtown DC. They’re not all defense contractors, although a lot are.
In April, the unemployment rate was around 10%, so that’s not nothing. But, that is lower than other areas. I think it’s government, but also because there is just a large white-collar work force.
We ended up here by accident. We moved here are I got out of the Army 30+ years ago. I did intelligence work, so we thought this side of the river was “better”.
It’s really beautiful here, and I’ve come to appreciate the differences of the states. Glad we picked Virginia.
No, I haven’t actually. Not a fan of my Congressman.
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Zzyzx_Road
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Eschatology is a fun topic for some. But not Catholic. Carry on.
I will say one should get their facts correct about flu pandemics. We had major pandemics in 1957 and 1968. Neither were close to 1918, but they are acknowledged at pandemic level and their death tolls, right or wrong, often get compared to the current death toll from Covid-19. One should also acknowledge that as bad as Covid-19 has been, it is nowhere near close to 1918. Close to 1957 and 1968? Sure that case can be made.
I will say one should get their facts correct about flu pandemics. We had major pandemics in 1957 and 1968. Neither were close to 1918, but they are acknowledged at pandemic level and their death tolls, right or wrong, often get compared to the current death toll from Covid-19. One should also acknowledge that as bad as Covid-19 has been, it is nowhere near close to 1918. Close to 1957 and 1968? Sure that case can be made.
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Zzyzx_Road
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They never locked down the healthy across almost the entire country either. That’s a modern and quite disastrous intervention that has never happened before in our history, period.
The economy went down some in each of those years, 1968, 1957 and 1918. But nothing anywhere near close to this year. Have to go back to the Great Depression to find these levels of unemployed. That didn’t happen in 1968, 1957 or 1918. In 1918, you’ll find numerous examples of quarantines, but they were not government-wide, they tended to be aimed at the sick, they tended to be more along the lines of individual entities seeking to ride it out, but they didn’t kill the economy while they were at it.
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Minks
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Several “Guardian” articles have shown clear bias favoring very liberal positions, regardless of your assessment that, “The quality of the news reporting in ‘The Guardian’ is very good.”Boatswain2PA:
I tend to get my news from a range of sources: the BBC, Sky, LBC, The Guardian. Broadcast media in the UK is strictly regulated and is not allowed to express political bias. Print media is different. The Guardian, for example, is very clear that it has a left-wing editorial bias. However, print media in the UK is also regulated to the extent that it cannot publish things that are simply not true. The quality of news reporting in The Guardian is very good: there is a distinction to be made between its editorial content, which is clearly left-wing, and its new reporting, which is very reliable. The main reason I read The Guardian is because it’s not behind a paywall and its website doesn’t carry so much advertising that it’s impossible to actually read the stories. Like I say, most of my news comes from the BBC, Sky, and LBC, which are required by law to be free of political bias.
My point is, it is by no means clear that Trump is actually responsible for the growth of the economy. He became president when the economy was entering an upwards trajectory. Similarly, Gordon Brown is widely blamed for the decline of the British economy during his premiership, when, in fact, he simply became prime minister just as the global economy was about to be hit by the biggest financial crisis in living memory.
Yes, there is much to be said for the US constitution and also much to be said for other systems of government. Both have their advantages and their disadvantages.
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EmilyAlexandra
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What I said was that the quality of news reporting in The Guardian is very good. Its editorial bias, e.g. in opinion pieces, I clearly left-wing and liberal. However, its news reporting is excellent. The Guardian did not hold back in holding Labour governments to account just as much as I holds Conservative governments to account.
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Minks
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Yes, as I noted, that is your assessment. My assessment of their US stories that appear to be pitched as being news stories is that they show a clear left bias. I seldom, if ever, read any of their editorials.
He became president when the economy was just above flat. He is only responsible for the tax cuts and regulatory reforms that made economic growth possible.
Depends on what you mean by liberal. If by liberal you mean in the classical sense, liberty, okay. If you mean liberal as progressive big government, that is typically not good.
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Minks
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Lol! Are you serious? How long has it been since “liberal” meant “liberty” in US politics?
When Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” “liberty” meant freedom. Whether or not that is what you consider to be the classical definition, I have no idea.
For the last several years, “liberal” has been associated more and more with the Democrat party, encompassing more and more lollypops and toys for the gimme trophy crowds.
When Patrick Henry said, “Give me liberty or give me death,” “liberty” meant freedom. Whether or not that is what you consider to be the classical definition, I have no idea.
For the last several years, “liberal” has been associated more and more with the Democrat party, encompassing more and more lollypops and toys for the gimme trophy crowds.
It still does. What it isn’t is a synonym for progressive.
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Minks
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You’re saying that “liberty” means freedom, as I defined it? And as most sailors on leave would define it? And that liberal democrats are wanting freedom? That doesn’t make sense to me. What is your “classical” definition of “liberty,” and how does it define Democrats today?
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I’m not sure there are many liberal Democrats left. The progressive movement has essentially overwhelmed the true liberals. You saw what happened to Dershowitz and Turley.
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YADA
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And Biden had 36 years in the Senate and 8 as VP, Pelosi 33 years has had , Feinstein has been in office 28 years, Schumer has had 39 years … 16 of those years with a Democratic president, many of those years with both a Democratic President and control of both Houses … and yet they solved none of these problems …
Biden has enriched his family, voted to restore citizenship to Confederates, been wrong on most foreign policy issues, praised a KKK member and made racist remarks. He plagiarized speeches, defamed a man’s reputation and made up stories about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement …
There is your “eminently sensible candidate” for US Senate … er … or is that President?
Biden has enriched his family, voted to restore citizenship to Confederates, been wrong on most foreign policy issues, praised a KKK member and made racist remarks. He plagiarized speeches, defamed a man’s reputation and made up stories about his involvement in the Civil Rights movement …
There is your “eminently sensible candidate” for US Senate … er … or is that President?
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CradleRC58
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Can you provide an example of a US president overriding the Supreme Court ?
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AlNg
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That is very impressive. What are the 180 different languages that they are speaking?
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AlNg
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Very true. That is why it is urgent that the US stop its intervention in foreign countries, stop its wars, and move to promote peace around the world.
It doesn’t have to be a greater threat in order for it to happen. The probability of your number seven turning up on the roulette wheel is 1/38 and it seldom occurs more than that. But wait around for a while and you will see your number seven finally turning up. Just because the probability of something occurring is small does not mean that it will not occur at least once over a long period of time. And when and if it does occur, then watch out. It could be an enormous catastrophe.
Put me down as voting in favor of your plan.
As far as the Cuban missile crisis was concerned, it looks to me like Kennedy was quite reckless because the blockade could have resulted in a nuclear war. The correct route would have been a diplomatic one. After all, the US had nuclear weapons right up against the border of the USSR, so why is it to be unexpected that Russia would not do the same as tit for tat?
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