Bam!

Great retort! Doubt I could come up with anything that good.

A former co-worker once told me that "all Canadians hate their healthcare system

I used to work with a guy that became a fanatical Trumper. He once told me that “all Canadians hate their healthcare system“.

at the time, I lived in a neighborhood that was heavily populated with Nortel employees. Many of these people were my friends and I often asked them how they felt about their healthcare system and how they felt about the US system.

Every single one of them told me that they had loved their healthcare system while living in Canada and found the US system (even with excellent insurance) to be confusing and very expensive.

So, I challenged him on this and asked him where he’d heard this. He came back with that he had a cousin who is married to a Canadian that hated their healthcare system and therefore all Canadians hated their healthcare system.

I pointed out to him that this was a glaring logical fallacy and that one person saying that they hated the Canadian healthcare system could not ever be construed as all Canadians hated their healthcare system. Needless to say, I had absolutely no impact on his view.

Stupidity combined with willful ignorance is America’s greatest threat. This kind of attitude is what has led to the massive death toll from Covid. None are so blind as those who will not see.

A thought along similar lines

Causation is hard and reality is stubborn.

Both choices are bad but there is really no choice

Merrick Garland is squarely on the hot seat.

If he doesn't follow the law and go after the powerful, famous, and rich people that incited this terrorist act he will pound the final nail in the coffin of our constitutional system of government. If he does act there will be howls of outrage over political bias and persecution. There also may be armed insurrection.

By not acting he will confirm that we have a two-tier system of justice. The wealthy, white, and well connected are virtually immune from prosecution and incarceration. All others, such as the hundreds of lower echelon insurrectionists will suffer at least some legal and financial repercussions. Trump, Navarro, Bannon, Guliani et al will skate and go on to continue to foment revolution.

Garland is not a stupid man. But the question is, is he brave enough to follow the law?

This nightmare has landed in his lap after the federal judiciary has been co-opted by the radical Federalist society and the right wing billionaires that fund the right wing ecosystem. The Supreme Court is now clearly partisan. But so are most of the appellate courts. There are also clear signs that the right wing infection is surging through federal and local law enforcement.

I've thought for many years that we have been lurching toward civil war. But now the storm clouds are dark and looming. Our institutions seem to be crumbling. Everywhere you look there's evidence of right wing capture. The legislative branch is being taken over by insane zealots who are fundamentally uninterested in legislating, but are focused only on fanning the flames of conflict. There are many judges in place that have a scant legal education from august institutions such as Liberty University--their only qualifications being the extremity of their views and their contempt for precedent and the rule of law in general.

The one bright spot has been the presidency--where the voters have for most part rejected Republican extremism. Now the termites in our system are seeking the power to simply overturn the will of the voters.

It looks very grim.

I'm not a prayerful man, but I find myself praying that we can somehow dig our way out of this.

We need Merrick Garland to have a very stiff spine. But, by acting, he may spark civil war. I would bet he knows that. But, in the end, what alternative does he (and we) have?

Yes!

I have gotten these kind of messages from USPS, Fedex, and UPS. I delete them immediately for fear of picking up malware if I clicked the link. There’s always some sort of tell—usually the syntax is off in some way.

I get these via email and SMS.

Quisling

Joe Manchin is another Democrat quisling. He’s playing out of Joe Lieberman playbook.

That he announced his betrayal of his President and his caucus on the Republican broadcast network is very significant. He has been playing for the other side the whole time.

Reminds me of Joplin

This must have been an F4 or F5.

The destruction is absolute.

KY governor was quoted as saying as many as 50 died.

Very sad.

Happy Thanksgiving and thanks for posting this

Watched the first video and then found part 2. Very interesting.

Thanks for posting. Never would have seen this without you.

Happy Thanksgiving!

I love reading your posts and looking at your pics. I wish I could have a cat but with an allergic spouse that remains a fond wish.

Enjoy all the mischief.

You talking about Madoc knocking things off reminds me of my childhood cat, an almost 4 foot long 25 lb black and white angora who delighted in knocking ornaments off the Christmas tree. He would casually saunter by the tree--not even looking in its direction. He would walk by his intended target. And then he'd wheel around and strike and then, before the ornament had even hit the floor, run like hell while we all yelled, "Sylvester! No!" But it was always too late. Thing is we always knew what he was going to do, but we couldn't ever prevent it. Finally had to leave the lower branches bare.

A fond holiday memory. Wrong holiday, but the general holiday feeling is the same.

Again, Happy Thanksgiving!

Altoids