Slashdot Mirror

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

I am not in any way saying that CPS is right in this case, I am saying that I wouldn't let a 6 year old under my care do the same, as I don't believe a 6 year old can be mature enough. I don't make decisions for this case, and don't believe the state should be making any decisions in this case as it isn't their business unless there is a true case of neglect.

Somebody in the YouTube comments mentioned that in the United States the gun would considered a fully automatic weapon because of the attached solenoid.

Ridiculously-broad laws & regulations are ridiculous.

BATFE considers a shoestring a machine gun.

Seriously, no kidding.

The ATF recommends that manufacturers voluntarily submit weapons for case-by-case determination. But those judgments are private and, it turns out, sometimes contradictory. Critics say nearly identical prototypes can be approved for one manufacturer but denied for another.

That process, known as âoeletter rulings,â results in various findings about what makes a weapon. Program critics, including the ATF's former assistant director of criminal investigations, said one determination contended that a shoestring was a machine gun.

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

So basically, an individual can not know precisely what is legal or illegal ahead of time until/unless they are prosecuted, that is, unless they become a licensed firearm maker and submit a prototype for a determination.

But, that does not inform anyone else, as those letters are sent to the specific business involved and are often secret. Letter determinations are not made public.

As far as a solenoid or similar type actuating mechanism that is not a traditional mechanical type, isn't that at the core of so-called "smart gun" designs?

Wouldn't a law that made this armed quad-copter illegal by making the non-manual trigger mechanism illegal run the risk of simultaneously making "smart gun" technology illegal?

It's another of those attempts to make a technology or object illegal instead of making harmful/dangerous acts performed by any means illegal.

I'm certain that, given the amount of laws & regulations concerning firearms already on the books, that there are already laws that would cover any illegal/dangerous acts performed with this technology.

Besides, as has been pointed out elsewhere in the comments, a law won't stop lawbreakers.

Strat

I'm not anti-gmo

Bullshit.

but to suggest that putting Salmon genes in Tomato plants is the same as just selecting between different offspring is incorrect.

This is exactly why I despise the anti-GMO movement. You and the rest of them keep making up and/or spreading bullshit lies because you have this foolish belief that natural is better and/or you have competing economic interests.

First of all, no GMO food that ever makes it to your plate ever has genes from one organism transplanted to another. The "frankenfood" is just another lie that keeps on getting repeated. But it's just that, a lie, usually spread maliciously by people who have an axe to grind against Monsanto, (sometimes they work for the snake oil organic industry who is struggling to compete with inexpensive GMO food) even though Monsanto isn't the only company that produces GMO plants. GMO foods are the result of a study called proteomics, and usually consist of fewer than 200 nucleotides (one pair of AT or GC is a nucleotide) which isn't anywhere near enough to create a full blown gene, let alone being transplanted from another organism.

Second of all, this actually happens in nature all the fucking time. In fact human DNA carries the placenta of some other animal. It permanently ended up in our genome via viral infection. It's a part of one of three full virus genomes embedded into our genome. We have some 100,000 other partial virus genomes embedded into our DNA.

Third of all, no person and no animal has ever gotten sick from GMO food. Ever. Not once. You know what though? Thousands have died and continue to die because they consumed organic food. That is, the organic farming process that produced the food that they consumed was the sole cause of their death. Tens of thousands more have gotten sick from organic food as well.

Sources: (and lots of them)

http://www.artsci.wustl.edu/~a...
http://www.cgfi.org/2002/06/th...
http://www.geneticliteracyproj...
http://www.realclearscience.co...
http://www.americanthinker.com...
http://www.science20.com/chall...
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

You know what though? Your stupid little anti-GMO movement doesn't make single a peep about the evils of organic food. Why the fuck do they demand warning labels for GMO food, but they never make any demands for warning labels for organic food?

Explain that one. Why the fuck do we need warning labels for GMO food, but not organic food, when organic food is the only farming process proven to actually kill people?

Yeah. What an utter dolt, getting Iran to sit down with the current Great Powers and hammer out an agreement. What an utter incompetent. He should totally just keep doing what Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, and Bush II did, because boy oh boy, they should had fantastic fucking success with Iran.

You'll note that Carter, Reagan, Bush I, Clinton, Bush II didn't manage to get a toothless and unenforceable agreement that is unlikely to inconvenience Iran on its trip to getting a nuclear weapon when it wishes. If getting such an agreement is a mark of success to you it might be time to set the bar higher.

You know, I don't think Obama is the best president ever, not even in the top ten, but it takes a complete fucking retard or partisan lunatic to think that somehow he is some sort of bottom-rung President.

Or the reverse of that. Nixon was a better president and Nixon almost went to jail. Even Jimmy Carter's legacy now looks better in retrospect. The damage he has helped heap on the US won't easily be undone. How about a deal? What do you say to a Chief Executive swap between the US and Canada? The interesting thing is you'll think Canada comes out ahead and many of us here will think the US comes out ahead.

But because he's black, because he's a Democrat, and because, well I dunno, because he isn't Ron Fucking Paul, somehow in some peoples' eyes he's the second coming of Satan or something.

Maybe you should try a fringe leftist with bad policies, a perpetual campaign, and an oversized ego that leads him into bad deals and policies? I think it is really sad that the first thing you threw out there is his race. After all, who are you? George Takei?

Is this what you are talking about? I guess repealing DADT really worked out "well."

Victims of sex assaults in military are mostly men

The ACLU isn't for unlimited freedom, it's for maximizing freedom.

Unless that freedom involves anything nice like a Christmas tree or something else they have a Jihad against. Sometimes the ACLU does something I like, often they don't. To depend on them them for anything would be a mistake. The have no regard for anything historical in their Athiest Jihad, not unlike how the Taliban famously blew up the historical Buddha statues in Afghanistan as described here

Here's your maximizing freedom examples:

regarding hate crimes

regarding privacy

ACLU harassing citizens

and a multitude of second ammendment ones like this

Maybe we should take all the oil subsidies & give them to the solar/wind/geo folks.

That would be nice, except there aren't any oil subsidies http://www.washingtontimes.com...

In summary, every time you hear someone talk about oil subsidies, they are likely talking about tax deductions taken by the oil and gas companies. There aren't specific oil company tax deduction though, they are just using the same deductions that all industrial companies from GM to Apple use.

You're missing the point. Bad guys (ie gang members, drug dealers, etc) will do what they want no matter what the law says. Take Chicago for example. Until very recently (last year) Illinois had NO carry program meaning it was impossible to legally carry a gun unless you were LE. We all know about all the crime problems Chicago has. The bad guys (gang members, drug dealers, etc) would carry anyway and not only that they would commit crimes too (armed robbery, murder, etc). So the fact that there's laws against carry and in Chicago's case even possession (ie you can have a gun but it must stay locked up at home) didn't stop all the violence there. Now, Illinois was told by the courts that they had to institute a carry program (along with DC). Now we've seen stories like this stating that Chicago's crime rates are starting to drop. It could be a coincidence but I doubt it. Now, carry permit holders are some of if not the most law abiding group/demographic nationwide. Crimeresearch Stats (PDF warning) JustFacts Those are just a few sources from a quick search. As far as anecdotal evidence goes, I remember when Minnesota was debating the passage of the carry law there (I live in MN). There was no shortage of people saying that it was going to be the wild west, normal arguments would turn deadly, there would be bar fights with guns, and that road rage incidents would end in shootings. That has not happened. There's only been a few incidents and MN has more carry permit holders by percentage than Texas (3% TX vs 3.3% MN, my own calculations). Minnesota Carry Permit Holder Crime Stats I'm sorry, but carry permit holders are law abiding citizens. Add to all the supporting evidence the supreme court cases (Heller, McDonald, etc) where the court affirmed the 2nd amendment and it's pretty clear that carry is safe, effective, and legal.

Ed, is that you?

Actually, in a poll conducted just this last week, 65% of Americans say that NSA surveillance has helped thwart terrorist attacks, and a plurality--49%--say that they believe the benefits outweigh the negatives. So yeah, maybe Americans aren't super thrilled about the fact that the NSA has our dick pics, the same way we're not thrilled that Facebook has licensing rights to all our photos or that Uber tracks our location and uses it to make inferences about our sex lives, but yet, at the end of the day, we're not changing our behavior--neither in the apps that we use nor in the ways that we vote.

Man, I feel dirty linking to the Washington Times, but it was the most recent poll that a two-minute Google search turned up.

Since the UK wisely kept its own currency, disruptions from a "Brexit" would be relatively minimal. It's far more likely that will see Greece exit the Euro, because they absolutely refuse to stop spending money they don't have. (Note that despite talk of "austerity," not once since the European debt crisis started has Greek cut government outlays to match receipts.) To Greece (and to a lesser extent the other PIIGS), the welfare state benefits have become more sacred than the capitalist system underwriting them.

The problem with the modern welfare state is that eventually you run out of people to stick with the tab. It both discourages work and generates declining demographics, a dynamic that is unsustainable in the long run.

Well, Greece is starting to reach the long run. They can't afford their own welfare state, but it's become so entrenched that politicians refuse to significately pare it back even on the brink of national bankruptcy.

The UK, like Germany, has a strong enough economy to avoid this fate for quite a while, but it too will get there eventually...

Provide proof that we live in a moral universe.

Wrong question.

Evidence that we live in a moral universe: We care about morality.

How many times have you appealed to morality "defined by us" as a standard of behavior?

The absurdity is that "defined by us" morality is no morality at all.

Also, how is doing bad things to people who do bad things moral?

You don't believe in self-defense, then. If a young girl is being attacked by a robber, a rapist, a murderer ... you would call her immoral for defending herself with a weapon and doing bad things to her attacker. She must submit to the robbery, the rape, to die ... or be called immoral by you.

Funny how you do nothing about the immoral robber, rapist, murderer. You help the immoral instead of the victim ... and you call this "morality"?

If there were a universal standard, we certainly haven't found it.

You confuse rebellion against a universal standard with an inability to find the universal standard.

Same-sex marriage and child adoption are not longer "bad things" - to the contrary, children raised by same-sex couples are exposed to far less domestic violence.

Liar.

Divorce is not longer a "bad thing."

Liar yet again.

" Divorce represents one of the most stressful life events for both children and their parents."

That's the thing about "universal standards" - there are so many different ones.

Yes, there are an infinite number of wrong answers.

1+1 = 3 is wrong. 1+1 = 4 is wrong. 1+1 = 5 is wrong ....

That does not mean there is no right answer. That does not mean that it is impossible to find the right answer. People who argue what you just argued are beyond stupid, you are foolish.

The stupid can't help it; the foolish choose it. The upside is that you can choose to stop being foolish. Repent.

I think your analysis is off. I believe democrats see government is a moderation of society, where people come together to create a better society and life for EVERYONE, not just the few wealthiest fucktards that will buy them into office (as the republicans believe), or that only-the-strongest-and fuck-everyone-else as conservative libertarians do.

As for the big government democrats, maybe you need to do just a little smattering of research before continuing to use a stupid talking point that is basically propagandized projectionism utilized by con men preying on the willfully ignorant conservative base.

The largest state governments by percentage of population are red states: http://247wallst.com/special-r...

.... red states that siphon more money from the federal coffers (takers) than blue states (makers) who have to subsidize them so they're not even worse shitholes than they already are: http://wallethub.com/edu/state...

... perhaps following the path republicans in the white house that have increased government jobs more than democrats in the white house have, while failing to come close to the private sector jobs that are created under democrats: http://www.politifact.com/trut...

http://politicsthatwork.com/de...

http://www.politicususa.com/20...

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Maybe the biggest reason for the hatred is, libertarians and republicans continue to push policies that simply DO NOT WORK, and actually harm this country, all the while lying through their teeth about the disasters they've created. Clinton had to work to clean up after Reagan (Bush Sr. started that cleanup, and the GOP threw him out), and Obama has had to work to clean up from Bush Jr. Red states are leeches off the federal coffers, while blue states have to dole out money to help the sad sack red states who apparently don't have bootstraps of their own. All the while republican politicians lie like bitches so they can HAVE POWER.... instead of actually govern the country for the betterment of everyone.

As a former resident of NC, I call BS. Attorneys General are not puppets for the states. They are lawyers, but they're also elected (NOT appointed!) officials that offer legal advice and represent state governments in courts, but also have the right to represent the citizens of states and take legal action on their behalf as well. NC's Attorney General is also the state's highest law enforcement officer. They swear an oath not just to uphold NC state laws, but to uphold federal laws - and federal laws always take precedence. AGs have WIDE discretionary power to decide for themselves what action the state should take regarding legal challenges and court rulings.

As Attorney General, one can advise a state NOT to contest a federal ruling that strikes down the state ban. NC has no law compelling an Attorney General to contest federal rulings that strike down state laws, either.
http://www.ncdoj.gov/About-DOJ...

The AG of VA did nothing that his previous AGs hadn't already done - he chose not to contest a ruling. He did not fail in his duties. VA is trying to pass a law requiring the AG to defend the state's position, but good luck - as it's in conflict with the AG's responsibility to protect citizen's civil rights and uphold federal law. Any attempt to argue that the gay marriage bans are constitutional given the legal precedents set by even SCOTUS themselves would be spurious at best - and any good AG would advise against a lawsuit and not go forward with one.
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

NC is very upset with its AG for the statements he made declaring the state law indefensible as well as his personal belief that it's a bad law. Sure, he'll prepare the best case he can should the state force him to go to SCOTUS to defend their crap law, but anyone that's read the SCOTUS rulings and the federal court rulings based upon them knows there's no other way to interpret the law. SCOTUS will have to issue a ruling contrary to their earlier opinions for any state to have a chance to argue their marriage ban laws are constitutional within the framework they've been given.

http://equalitync.org/latest/n...

It should be noted that the NC AG is only now giving up after exhausting ALL options because all arguments his office has proposed have been rejected by various federal courts in other cases. To continue would be expensive and futile. The VA AG simply came to the same conclusion much earlier.

http://www.csmonitor.com/USA/L...

There are no left parties in the US.

You are one of the ignorant majority I see.

There seem to be one or more gaps between what you believe and what actually is. Unpopularity and non-existence are not the same.

"Left" parties do in fact exist in the US, more than one in fact. Here are a couple:

Communist Party USA
Revolutionary Communist Party, USA

And they work hard to move their agendas forward.

Communist Party USA: 'Working with the Democratic Party' is key

Thankfully there are few Americans that are given to this ideology which has proven so murderous over the last century.

The Black Book of Communism

The other method is to simply be born a psychopath with an absence of conscience. So what point the test when 1% of the human population, 20% of the prison population and 50% of violent crimes are the statistics for psychopaths.

And, apparently, many (most?) CEOs are psychopaths. Which Professions Have the Most Psychopaths? (there's a list):

CEO is the profession with the most psychopaths.

Also noted here and here and ... oh just Google "ceo" "psychopath"

"Truth, Justice, and the American Way" made me think of Superman's decades long heroic ideal of justice, and overwhelming power deployed in the most postive and helpful ways possible. Interestingly, Superman renounced his US citizenship because it "wasn't enough anymore".

                            http://www.washingtontimes.com...

but all you have to do is hire one tax lawyer/accountant

All you have to do is forego hiring 3-4 $60k workers that actually add value and instead hire a $200k lawyer to fend off all the grifter politicos and their apparatchik bureaucrats.......................

Or, you can fuck off up out of NY and go somewhere that isn't run by anti-business fascists.

I did not say that there was a law, I said that the presiding popular opinion seems to be that pastors should be forced to marry homosexual couples. As an example...example the 2nd

Again: not talking about law, talking about opinion and what the loudest voices are shouting for.

Well, since you asked for it Law that forces pastor to marry gays in Idaho city

Except that law didn't actually force any pastors to marry any gays and the law has a specific religious exemption built into it. From further reading, it appears there was a dispute on the nature of the business of those particular pastors (they run what appears to be a commercial wedding chapel called "The Hitching Post") and the city was determining if it was a commercial enterprise or a religious enterprise. It's not like these are practicing preachers that marry people, they marry people for a living. They have since reorganized their business and made it clear they are a religion-based business, therefore they are exempt from the law.

Well, since you asked for it Law that forces pastor to marry gays in Idaho city

What Clinton surplus? If we had an actual surplus, would our national debt have increased every year (meaning we spent more than we brought in)? The fact is the "Clinton surplus" NEVER existed. It was a nicely crafted lie. The annual debt has increased EVERY YEAR since Ike was a President. Clinton's "surplus" was from the same set of lies that allowed President Obama to claim a $486 billion deficit in 2014 even though we added nearly $1.1 trillion in new debt. How the debt goes up when you supposedly have a surplus, or how a $486 billion deficit creates $1.1 trillion in debt is a mystery that can only be solved in Washington DC.

It's only those damn Russians are doing this, all other countries are saint.

Excluded middle much? Other countries may be doing this — or planning to catch-up — but Russia has been doing this on massive scale for many years — all the while, in a classic fit of projection, accusing others of it.

Another difference is, the US, for example, may consider such propaganda a war-fighting tool to be used outside, but Putin's regime — according to TFA — is happy to use it to prop the government domestically.

Then, I suppose, for knuckle-dragging simpletons happy to equate Joe McCarthy with Lavrenty Beria, none of the above makes any difference...

Well, that and the fact that the WMD's were there and the Russians moved most of them.

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

...Rajendra Pachuri, former head of the IPCC, who stated “For me the protection of Planet Earth, the survival of all species and sustainability of our ecosystems is more than a mission. It is my religion and my dharma.” AGW - the religion of the IPCC!

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Our government is filled with bad and/or stupid people.

Unlike the private sector?

It's harder to fire govt employees, even if they do stuff like this: http://www.washingtontimes.com...

the american revolution wasn't actually a revolution, it was a war of independence

independence movements always existed, and always will

many factors go into whether or not they succeed

the most important factor is the cohesive quality of the idea a group is fighting for

some may go nowhere

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/L...

even with interesting backing

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

other movements may ignite convulsive earthquakes of power balances into orgies of death and destruction

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/B...

http://www.history.com/topics/...

and there are many such ideas. they range from the noble ideas of the founding fathers, to degenerate violence loving "revolts"

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/C...

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M...

the point is, terrorism, in the name of vile efforts, is real, and should be opposed, and is a separate concept than genuine reasons for revolution or independence

and no, whoever wins does not decide it's legitimacy, the *concept behind the effort* is what matters

just fighting society is not noble in and of itself, the question is: what exactly are you fucking fighting for?

and if your ideas suck (even if you mean well, your ideas may not be intended with malevolence, you just might be a fucking moron), and actually represent more injustice and suffering, like fundamentalist religion, or racist twattery, or whatever, then yeah: you're a fucking loser terrorist and fuck you

just fucking with society isn't noble. for many reasons it just means you're a pathetic socially retarded douchebag

Mum and/or Dad are not teachers. We're not qualified to be, and re-assurances from the homeschooling organisation are vacuous. Don't kid yourself about this. Being a teacher is a career choice, and there are very specific skillsets involved.

You're gonna have a hard time explaining why homeschooled kids score ~90th percentile across the board on standardized tests vs 50th for public schools. Or why they have a 0.25 GPA higher than public, private, or catholic after 4 years of college, and the highest graduation rates (page 23).

In fact I have yet to see any study that contradicts the well known heirarchy, public used for cost per pupil (4/5th of the way down).

Incidentally, I didnt attempt to bias-check the numbers too heavily, because two of them are government provided and all of them claim to use gov't data; I've also never seen anything to contradict this despite googling several times. However, if you take particular issue with a source, I would love to see a counter-study -- preferably one that does not introduce its own bias by "attempting to control for socio-economic factors" in an arbitrary way.

Somehow homeschooled kids score across the board higher than public education.
Five areas of academic pursuit were measured. In reading, the average home-schooler scored at the 89th percentile; language, 84th percentile; math, 84th percentile; science, 86th percentile; and social studies, 84th percentile. In the core studies (reading, language and math), the average home-schooler scored at the 88th percentile.

Foot, meet mouth.

when did we become a nation of wimps?

It was all downhill since we decided (contrary to the Founding Father's advice and implorations) to make it the government's responsibility to take care of "the most vulnerable". The list of "vulnerable" has been increasing since and the number of the benevolent and caring government officials needed to take care of them has been increasing along with it. As has been the "caring" class' voting power — while you were kept focused on the "military industrial complex"...

The lost "War on Poverty", for example, has cost $22 trillion — three times more than all of America's military wars combined (inflation-adjusted). If the overhead costs (pay and other expenses of the government officials doing the wealth-redistribution) was at the idealistic 23% of that, we paid them about $5 trillion dollars over the 50 years.

If it is acceptable for 15% to remain on the dole, is it really that much of a stretch, that the 100% need to be told, when to stay home a few days (weeks, months) per year?

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Fair enough - http://www.washingtontimes.com... And, BTW, the Washington Times is not like, say, the Huffington Post so you cannot dismiss it immediately. Cheers!

At least one study suggests that gun owners are more likely to be racist.

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

More importantly, as opposed to the unarmed, gun owners are far more likely to shoot someone, intentionally, unintentionally, justly, unjustly, or otherwise. For some reason, it seems that individual gun owners always disagree with this obvious fact, because "they know" their weapon better than anyone else. I'll shut up when they stop shooting people.

At least one study suggests that gun owners are more likely to be racist.

http://www.washingtontimes.com...

So the Postal service is still the most secure legally protected method for sending data. Just mail CDs.

The USPS scans all mail
The USPS monitors mail on behalf of the feds without any authorization.
What's to stop them from opening it without a warrant? Sorry but the whole system is controlled and abused by your favorite government officials.

Sidenote: CDs were replaced by DVDs and now Blu Rays. Just fyi if you want to send more than 700mb of crap.

However, the saving grace for Christianity is that it always left "Caesar's to Caesar" and preached obeying secular powers. As in: "yeah, we really should stone him, but that's illegal, so we will not".

Islam dispenses with such wussiness — it allows only one social order: a Sharia-based Theocracy... And even France already has entire enclaves where local government is run not by French laws, but those given by a pedophile living 1300 years ago...

No, it really is kind of a big deal. WebMD is for-profit and largely funded by advertisers such as pharmaceutical companies. The site uses clickbait-style headlines to drive page views and actively preys on fear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02...
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

(I replied to the wrong post above, sorry for the dupe)

No, it really is kind of a big deal. WebMD is for-profit and largely funded by advertisers such as pharmaceutical companies. The site uses clickbait-style headlines to drive page views and actively preys on fear.

http://www.nytimes.com/2011/02...
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

> ...the United States has Creationists and such, but they tend to move in their own circles, and even in academia they are found at private Christian universities...

...And in government...

Lets call some of this out and see how true it rings?

The western world has a strong economy, robust freedoms, and a government that the people have a say in. When an American military shoots civilians, the government is directly accountable to the people. When the Chinese government guns down demonstrators, nothing happens because the people have no say.

1) http://www.brillig.com/debt_cl...
Yes, 18 TRILLION in debt is clearly a sign of a robust economy.

2) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/I...
SO when the USS Vincennes shot down a commercial jet and asked for an apology the US was forthcoming with one?

Weird how the wiki article contradicts what you wrote:
You said "the government is directly accountable to the people."

they said:
As part of the settlement, the United States did not admit legal liability but agreed to pay on an ex gratia basis US$61.8 million, amounting to $213,103.45 per passenger, in compensation to the families of the Iranian victims.

So clearly they did it but refuse to admit it? Is that 'accountable'?

3) Read the washington times review of the US (hint, it is not what you think) http://www.washingtontimes.com...

"having a government that cannot be criticized? "
how about you find some intellectuals from the 1950's who were "blacklisted" in the US for "un-american" ideas and ask them how they felt about having a government that cannot be criticized? That way you can hear it first-hand and in English.

One wonders whether you will be able to visit this page to reply, because of the forbidden words (democracy, vote, Tianenmen, Xiaobo) on it.

Here is an idea, perhaps they are not in china?

'The Interview,' Greeted By Sold-Out Shows, May Net Millions This Weekend
'The Interview' Opens to Singing, Sold-Out Crowds as Sony CEO Explains His Decision to Show Film
'The Interview' Draws Sell-Out Crowds After Sony Flips On Release Cancellation
New York showings of âThe Interviewâ(TM) sell out

Oh yeah, it's "bombing" in the US alright...

Even if 1% of that money gets to the people (and, pragmatically speaking, more of it will for sure), then they are going to be better off.

More importantly, if it prompts economic reforms along the lines of what most other communist countries did - the closest example here probably being Vietnam - the people are going to be vastly better off even if the authoritarian political system remains in place.

Either way, while we can only guess what will happen without sanctions, we know full well what happens with the sanctions: absolutely nothing. So what exactly is their purpose then?

And the proof or evidence that this will happen is where? Are we so naive that we trust their government and corrupt to do what we think they should for the good of the people? All of Europe has been in free trade with Cuba. By your logic, if it were to really help, it would already have. But the return on investment for the Cuban people has been zero. They're still abused and given dirt and dead cats and dogs to eat (literally.)

Here is your magic reform for you, straight from Raul Castro's mouth.
http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Blame them for feeling that way, no (well, it depends on who they were before Castro; if it's one of Batista's cronies, or the members of the top ruling elite supporting him, I'd say they can suck it and go cry in a corner; I have no sympathy for people robbing others under gunpoint when they get robbed themselves in a similar fashion). But I will blame them for letting that emotion guide their political decisions, and especially for pushing the same onto others.

Oh, as for my comfy chair. I was born in a communist country. Don't try that "you rich American asshole can't understand" on me.

I didn't say you were American or rich and neither do I care. Don't put words in my mouth. I don't know your situation but many people (and there are a lot) who are born into communist countries nowadays still don't go through what Cuban people went through in the revolution and to this day, especially with no free market.

There are many reports of SERIOUS, career-ending eye damage to pilots due to lasers. Here's just one, why not google your heart out until you're convinced the threat is real. http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Maybe not.

The myth of gun battles in the street due to citizens legally carrying weapons is a product of ignorant, agenda pushing, wussies.

http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2014/oct/6/diseases-still-problem-illegal-immigrant-families/?page=all

http://www.judicialwatch.org/blog/2014/07/illegal-alien-minors-spreading-tb-ebola-dengue-swine-flu/

Most of the citations, alas, are in the right wing media, but the left wing media mostly buries the story.

It does make perfect sense, many illegal aliens come from countries without mandatory vaccination, many come from countries with exotic tropical diseases. Diseases are popping up where there are concentrations of illegal aliens: big cities, border towns, and places where the Obama administration has shipped bunches of new arrivals.

****** It takes 2 things for an attack against the United States to be successful: disarmament and an attacker. This applies both to warfare and disease. *******

No. He was armed. There was no visual way to distinguish between a bb-gun and a real gun. On the footage, the car pulled over a few meter from the kid, which was a really bad tactical position. If the gun had been real, it wouldn't have left much time to the officer to protect their lives from a close threat. The thing you fail to consider is that LEO have to make split second decision which might cost them their lives. How to prevent this ? Don't let your 12 years old kid alone with a bb gun in the park... that seems to be common sense to me. If the kid had been white, MSM wouldn't have given a crap about it, and they don't... it... http://www.washingtontimes.com... http://www.washingtontimes.com...

No. He was armed. There was no visual way to distinguish between a bb-gun and a real gun. On the footage, the car pulled over a few meter from the kid, which was a really bad tactical position. If the gun had been real, it wouldn't have left much time to the officer to protect their lives from a close threat. The thing you fail to consider is that LEO have to make split second decision which might cost them their lives. How to prevent this ? Don't let your 12 years old kid alone with a bb gun in the park... that seems to be common sense to me. If the kid had been white, MSM wouldn't have given a crap about it, and they don't... it... http://www.washingtontimes.com... http://www.washingtontimes.com...

Ever heard of the Secretary Of State Project?

I'm surprised no one has blamed Snowden for the rise of ISIS and their ability to now avoid identification on-line...

Sarcasm?

Islamic State using leaked Snowden info to evade U.S. intelligence

Given a history of crap China has pulled, like this , yes, some precautions are needed against Chinese nationals.