Petro-Euro could easily replace Petro-Dollar (but ask Saddam Hussien how that turned out).
Only when the EU decides to try its hand at keeping the Middle East stable. You might wish to keep the Brits (and French) out of it though, I hear they like to draw borders with no regards to ethic or tribal history.:)
Hell, one Ohio class submarine has more destructive capacity than the entire Navy from 1945.
Which means absolutely nothing because you can't actually use any of that firepower in any conflict short of "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end." That's not to dispute the rest of your points, which are mostly valid, but let us leave the SSBN out of the calculation of modern naval firepower. They have a specific mission: deterrence. The day they are called upon to loft their birds is the day that mission has failed.
Why would you want more men when the ships have become more efficient and have so much more firepower?
There is an argument to be made that we need more ships, particularly attack submarines and surface combatants. The former will prove decisive in any conflict with the PRC and the latter are needed for missile defense, amongst other missions. Unfortunately most of the shipbuilding budget is going to the Gerald Ford CVNs while the looming Ohio replacement is going to consume billions more. Both are needed at the end of the day, so unless we're going to throw more money at the Navy I'm not sure what the solution is. I'd opt for throwing more money at them, since it takes decades to build a modern Navy, and it can't be used (as easily) for interventionist adventures in the same manner as a standing army....
What would you think if NK released a movie about killing a US president?
They've released propaganda films about nuking us. We didn't mobilize the cyber or real armies over the matter; I guess that's the difference between a modern nation-state and one held together with a pygmy's cult of personality....
Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'
Star Trek's II, III, IV, and VI weren't watchable? Amazing how they managed to combine both action, a compelling story, and respect for the Star Trek mythos into commercially successful films....
IV even had an oddball plot about whales and was still the highest grossing film in the whole series, including the TNG movies that later came, and which totally sucked.
There's nothing preventing you from building a Faraday cage around your home.
Not the best idea in the World for a hotel though. Killing your guest's cell phones is not liable to earn you many repeat customers and there's always the issue of First Responders needing working communications if there's ever a disaster or EMS call on your property....
These are people that probably have a valid conceal carry permit, don't normally fly, and just worked out of habit only to have their stuff confiscated. Meaning, that while it was an error they can't get their stuff back.
If you forget that you're carrying a firearm you probably shouldn't have a concealed carry permit in the first place I say this as a Second Amendment supporter and holder of a concealed carry license in a State (New York) where it's pretty damned hard to get them. What excuse is there for neglecting to remember the fact that you're carrying a firearm?
I concur with your sentiment about meas rea, FWIW, but still....
So will a million other factors, most of which can't be foreseen or predicted. Would your Grandparents have foreseen the day that you could access the entirety of human knowledge on a device that fits into the palm of your hand?
The Earth and humanity have never been and never will be static entities. The climate has changed a great deal during the geologically insignificant amount of time that humans have been around. Most of those changes occurred before we started digging carbon out of the ground. Changes will continue long after we've moved past carbon based energy supplies. The notion that the climate was "ideal" during some specific period would be laughable if there wasn't a serious movement trying to use it to make public policy.
No, actually it's not. This is the kind of hyperbolic nonsense that makes it so hard to take the alarmist crowd seriously. It also gives ammunition to the deniers/skeptics/whatever-you-want-to-call-them. Project the worst case scenario for climate change and the human race survives. People in developing countries don't do so well and even the developed world takes a hit (higher food prices, greater frequency of natural disasters, and so on) but the human race isn't going anywhere. Homo sapiens quite probably survived a super-volcanic eruption, without the benefit of modern technology and scientific understanding. You think you can kill them off with melting ice caps, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels? Best of luck with that.
I'm in the crowd that believes the climate is changing and that homo sapiens are a contributory factor to that change. I get off the bus when the green crowd starts talking about pie in the sky solutions that sound great on paper but invariably result in a lower standard of living and greater Governmental control over our lives. Unless you're willing wholly embrace nuclear power (to their credit a few greens actually are) there's no way you can generate enough energy to maintain our current standard of living without sourcing some of that energy from carbon based sources.
(*) Actually the progressive philosophy really got started with Wilson but that asshat didn't have FDR's cojones. I guess FDR did save Western Civilization as we know it; that probably should count for something....
I on the other hand have stayed away from all drugs (including alcohol) for years, but have enjoyed and used marijuana on a regular basis.
I hate to break it to you but THC is a drug by any definition.....
Mind you, so is caffeine, and I'm not passing judgment on you for using THC, been there done that. You just can't claim that you have stayed away from all drugs while simultaneously admitting that you use marijuana on a regular basis....
The yield doesn't have anything to do with how deliverable the weapon(s) are. You said that North Korea's nukes are WW2 sized in a comment about missile technology. I'm curious what you based on that assumption on? Or perhaps you were speaking about yield all along, rather than deliverablity, though in that instance I'd wonder why it came up in a discussion about missiles. In any case, a 7kt weapon is enough to kill tens of thousands of people in an urban area. Even a fizzle might manage to do that, via prompt radiation. North Korea's nukes can't be casually dismissed....
but not likely with a nuke as their nukes are freaking huge (like WWII huge...).
Do we actually have evidence of that or are you just making assumptions? North Korea is known to have exchanged nuclear technology with Pakistan and Pakistan does have warheads small enough to be mounted to missiles.
The real problem is it showed the fragility of American media companies (movie chains) to blackmail and exposes a problem with freedom of speech. When an outside power can effect freedom of speech to this extent, it becomes a serious issue.
A couple of airstrikes in Libya counts as a war now?
Yes. Dropping bombs on a sovereign nation is considered an Act of War under any definition of the phrase. Bonus points for not being bothered to get Congressional approval for the measure.
But hey, since were comparing economic apples to oranges, lets note that in the 60s the "real" unemployment rate was >40%, since most families weren't dual income and as a result overall labor participiation was far lower
There are a multitude of different "real" unemployment rates that one can quote; I've never heard of one that includes people who willingly decline to participate in the workforce (i.e., students and homemakers) The traditional definition includes people who desire work but whom have abandoned all hope of finding it. In any case, if you actually believe the <8% number I have a bridge in the Sahara that you might be interested in...
If Obama cured cancer, they would blame him for putting doctors out of work.
Just so you know, I'm not one of "them." I had very high hopes for BHO, voted for him in 2008 (primary and general), and even campaigned for him against HRC in the primaries. It would require thousands of words to tell you all the reasons why I'm disappointed with him; rather than subject you to that I'll just say that my biggest takeaway from BHO was the loss of all optimism towards politics with resulting massive increase in my cynicism level.
I made no comments about tax policy. As a point in fact I do believe that we need to do something about wealth inequality but that has fuck all to do with the fact that the real unemployment rate is considerably higher than the <8% number being touted by BHO supporters.
Cuba sucks, but their healthcare doesn't suck as bad as it ought to and that's not "Michael Moore fapping".
Frankly I don't know enough about Cuba to give you an informed opinion on the quality or lack thereof of their healthcare. There are two things I'm sure of though:
1) Fidel Castro leaving the country for treatment actually happened, which is very obviously an option not available to the vast majority of Cubans, hence my quote from Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others." 2) They could have the best healthcare system in the World and I still wouldn't want to live there. Nor would most people who value freedom and liberty...
Hooray though, we added 300,000 jobs in the last quarter. The economy did that in most years of the 1960s, when the population of the United States was significantly less than today. Success!
Slashdot Mirror
Petro-Euro could easily replace Petro-Dollar (but ask Saddam Hussien how that turned out).
Only when the EU decides to try its hand at keeping the Middle East stable. You might wish to keep the Brits (and French) out of it though, I hear they like to draw borders with no regards to ethic or tribal history. :)
Hell, one Ohio class submarine has more destructive capacity than the entire Navy from 1945.
Which means absolutely nothing because you can't actually use any of that firepower in any conflict short of "Civilization as we know it is coming to an end." That's not to dispute the rest of your points, which are mostly valid, but let us leave the SSBN out of the calculation of modern naval firepower. They have a specific mission: deterrence. The day they are called upon to loft their birds is the day that mission has failed.
Why would you want more men when the ships have become more efficient and have so much more firepower?
There is an argument to be made that we need more ships, particularly attack submarines and surface combatants. The former will prove decisive in any conflict with the PRC and the latter are needed for missile defense, amongst other missions. Unfortunately most of the shipbuilding budget is going to the Gerald Ford CVNs while the looming Ohio replacement is going to consume billions more. Both are needed at the end of the day, so unless we're going to throw more money at the Navy I'm not sure what the solution is. I'd opt for throwing more money at them, since it takes decades to build a modern Navy, and it can't be used (as easily) for interventionist adventures in the same manner as a standing army....
What would you think if NK released a movie about killing a US president?
They've released propaganda films about nuking us. We didn't mobilize the cyber or real armies over the matter; I guess that's the difference between a modern nation-state and one held together with a pygmy's cult of personality....
That one sucked too, when you stop and think about it.....
First Contact sucked too. I hate to admit that, because TNG was my favorite show, but it did.
This guy says it better than I can.
His skills in filming exciting race scenes will allow this incarnation of Star Trek to really do justice to the pod-racing scenes.
Cool, we can finally re-film the worst scene in Star Trek history. The Dune Buggy chase from Nemesis....
Trekkies Bash New Star Trek Film As 'Fun, Watchable'
Star Trek's II, III, IV, and VI weren't watchable? Amazing how they managed to combine both action, a compelling story, and respect for the Star Trek mythos into commercially successful films....
IV even had an oddball plot about whales and was still the highest grossing film in the whole series, including the TNG movies that later came, and which totally sucked.
There's nothing preventing you from building a Faraday cage around your home.
Not the best idea in the World for a hotel though. Killing your guest's cell phones is not liable to earn you many repeat customers and there's always the issue of First Responders needing working communications if there's ever a disaster or EMS call on your property....
These are people that probably have a valid conceal carry permit, don't normally fly, and just worked out of habit only to have their stuff confiscated. Meaning, that while it was an error they can't get their stuff back.
If you forget that you're carrying a firearm you probably shouldn't have a concealed carry permit in the first place I say this as a Second Amendment supporter and holder of a concealed carry license in a State (New York) where it's pretty damned hard to get them. What excuse is there for neglecting to remember the fact that you're carrying a firearm?
I concur with your sentiment about meas rea, FWIW, but still....
The same guy who missed the "/sarcasm" tag at the end of the GP's post?
Finland is a Nordic country, not a Scandinavian one....
So will a million other factors, most of which can't be foreseen or predicted. Would your Grandparents have foreseen the day that you could access the entirety of human knowledge on a device that fits into the palm of your hand?
The Earth and humanity have never been and never will be static entities. The climate has changed a great deal during the geologically insignificant amount of time that humans have been around. Most of those changes occurred before we started digging carbon out of the ground. Changes will continue long after we've moved past carbon based energy supplies. The notion that the climate was "ideal" during some specific period would be laughable if there wasn't a serious movement trying to use it to make public policy.
Sorry dude, but it's already been sold.
The fate of the human race is at stake.
No, actually it's not. This is the kind of hyperbolic nonsense that makes it so hard to take the alarmist crowd seriously. It also gives ammunition to the deniers/skeptics/whatever-you-want-to-call-them. Project the worst case scenario for climate change and the human race survives. People in developing countries don't do so well and even the developed world takes a hit (higher food prices, greater frequency of natural disasters, and so on) but the human race isn't going anywhere. Homo sapiens quite probably survived a super-volcanic eruption, without the benefit of modern technology and scientific understanding. You think you can kill them off with melting ice caps, stronger hurricanes, and rising sea levels? Best of luck with that.
I'm in the crowd that believes the climate is changing and that homo sapiens are a contributory factor to that change. I get off the bus when the green crowd starts talking about pie in the sky solutions that sound great on paper but invariably result in a lower standard of living and greater Governmental control over our lives. Unless you're willing wholly embrace nuclear power (to their credit a few greens actually are) there's no way you can generate enough energy to maintain our current standard of living without sourcing some of that energy from carbon based sources.
That would quite probably be a violation of the Equal Protection Clause....
It started with FDR (*), the New Deal, and a little known SCOTUS case involving wheat....
Thanks Democrats!
(*) Actually the progressive philosophy really got started with Wilson but that asshat didn't have FDR's cojones. I guess FDR did save Western Civilization as we know it; that probably should count for something....
I on the other hand have stayed away from all drugs (including alcohol) for years, but have enjoyed and used marijuana on a regular basis.
I hate to break it to you but THC is a drug by any definition.....
Mind you, so is caffeine, and I'm not passing judgment on you for using THC, been there done that. You just can't claim that you have stayed away from all drugs while simultaneously admitting that you use marijuana on a regular basis....
The yield doesn't have anything to do with how deliverable the weapon(s) are. You said that North Korea's nukes are WW2 sized in a comment about missile technology. I'm curious what you based on that assumption on? Or perhaps you were speaking about yield all along, rather than deliverablity, though in that instance I'd wonder why it came up in a discussion about missiles. In any case, a 7kt weapon is enough to kill tens of thousands of people in an urban area. Even a fizzle might manage to do that, via prompt radiation. North Korea's nukes can't be casually dismissed....
but not likely with a nuke as their nukes are freaking huge (like WWII huge...).
Do we actually have evidence of that or are you just making assumptions? North Korea is known to have exchanged nuclear technology with Pakistan and Pakistan does have warheads small enough to be mounted to missiles.
The real problem is it showed the fragility of American media companies (movie chains) to blackmail and exposes a problem with freedom of speech. When an outside power can effect freedom of speech to this extent, it becomes a serious issue.
This has already happened, sadly.
A couple of airstrikes in Libya counts as a war now?
Yes. Dropping bombs on a sovereign nation is considered an Act of War under any definition of the phrase. Bonus points for not being bothered to get Congressional approval for the measure.
But hey, since were comparing economic apples to oranges, lets note that in the 60s the "real" unemployment rate was >40%, since most families weren't dual income and as a result overall labor participiation was far lower
There are a multitude of different "real" unemployment rates that one can quote; I've never heard of one that includes people who willingly decline to participate in the workforce (i.e., students and homemakers) The traditional definition includes people who desire work but whom have abandoned all hope of finding it. In any case, if you actually believe the <8% number I have a bridge in the Sahara that you might be interested in...
If Obama cured cancer, they would blame him for putting doctors out of work.
Just so you know, I'm not one of "them." I had very high hopes for BHO, voted for him in 2008 (primary and general), and even campaigned for him against HRC in the primaries. It would require thousands of words to tell you all the reasons why I'm disappointed with him; rather than subject you to that I'll just say that my biggest takeaway from BHO was the loss of all optimism towards politics with resulting massive increase in my cynicism level.
I made no comments about tax policy. As a point in fact I do believe that we need to do something about wealth inequality but that has fuck all to do with the fact that the real unemployment rate is considerably higher than the <8% number being touted by BHO supporters.
Cuba sucks, but their healthcare doesn't suck as bad as it ought to and that's not "Michael Moore fapping".
Frankly I don't know enough about Cuba to give you an informed opinion on the quality or lack thereof of their healthcare. There are two things I'm sure of though:
1) Fidel Castro leaving the country for treatment actually happened, which is very obviously an option not available to the vast majority of Cubans, hence my quote from Animal Farm: "All animals are equal, but some are more equal than others."
2) They could have the best healthcare system in the World and I still wouldn't want to live there. Nor would most people who value freedom and liberty...
end 2 wars
While starting completely new ones. Hooray!
bring unemployment below 8%
*cough* bullshit *cough*
Hooray though, we added 300,000 jobs in the last quarter. The economy did that in most years of the 1960s, when the population of the United States was significantly less than today. Success!
Here are some other facts that actually count:
CIA World Factbook Infant mortality rates:
Cuba: 4.76 / 1000 live births USA: 5.2 / 1000 live births
Here's a list of countries with even better infant mortality rates that don't control the media or oppress free speech:
Japan: 2.17 / 1000
Sweden: 2.73
Iceland: 3.17
Italy: 3.33
France: 3.34
Finland: 3.38
Norway: 3.47
Germany: 3.48