Comments by "Louis Giokas" (@louisgiokas2206) on "Fox News"
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You know, the people who say this is a unique time, are just full of crap. When I started at university, in the third quarter of the last century of the last millennium, we were all commies. I mean that. My ethics professor, who we often got high with (actually that was lots of our professors) had us reading Marx and Lenin on the side. We would discuss these ideas with the janitorial staff (who worked second shift), who were mostly African American, and they through we were nuts. Don't forget that even Robert Bork was writing socialist screeds in his high school newspaper. What you are, and what you think, is not set in stone in your college years. All the companies bowing down to the leftist orthodoxy will find themselves hurting very soon. We have a very dynamic society, and things will change.
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Actually, it has been worse. It should not be as it is today, but this is not the worse it has been. When I lived in Washington, DC (where I was born, at Georgetown University Hospital) I would see helicopters patrolling with the artificial daylight. This was in the 1970s. Why, you might ask. Well, it was because previously patrol cars would go down the alleys and the criminals would throw grenades under the patrol cars and blow them up. I believe that the current state of affairs is horrendous. On the other hand, I have lived through worse.
We need a real dialog about where the country is heading. Under Trump that was possible, Trump did a lot to help groups that did not vote for him. He was for Americans, all Americans, no matter how you voted, as a group. He got unemployment down to historic lows among ALL groups, He pushed for empowerment for minority groups. Those that voted for Biden from minority communities are reaping the whirlwind. They are proving themselves as stupid and uneducated.
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I like Tulsi, and often agree with her. On this, I think she is being short sighted, as is Tucker. First, the numbers we are talking back are a pimple on the a** compared to what we spent on Iran or Afghanistan. Get over that. This is peanuts. The difference is that in this case we are supporting people willing to the fighting themselves (as opposed to South Vietnam, or Afghanistan for both the Soviets and the US, or Iraq). The other thing they both forget, or decide to ignore, is that most of the major wars of the last many hundreds of years have started in Europe. This is still the most developed part of the world, along with North America. China is big, as is Japan. On the other hand, both are in demographic decline and will be irrelevant in a couple of decades. In addition, China has a number of people living in poverty that is twice the population of the US. They are not the long-term threat. All their industries were developed by "Western" firms, and these are starting to move out. There are lots of alternatives. If you ignore war in Europe, then you ignore the next big war, and perhaps the final war. That is what NATO is about.
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@turnerfamilyinozi Well, yes, when they are younger. This is a well known phenomenon. In the UK they are fond of saying that in your youth you are a leftist, and then when you get older, acquire a family and career you become conservative. This is actually well proven by the data.
I remember when I got a good job, got a house (I have had my own since I was 24), had to pay substantial taxes and all my own expenses, that I really appreciated my father. He was very conservative but did not really make known to us his leanings. He came from a factory town in Massachusetts. Many of his relatives were union members and fairly left wing (at the time very different from the leftists today). Most of them were not well educated. In fact, my grandparents came from the central Peloponnese in Greece with 4th grade educations. Some of the children went to university, ALL their grandchildren did, many with advanced degrees.
When I would go to my parents' house (it was only a few blocks away) I would give him a kiss. I was grateful for how we were raised. We were not wealthy, perhaps lower middle middle class. But we had a good life growing up and good support. We were taught to think for ourselves. Sometimes that led us down strange paths.
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This is not the direst health emergency we have faced. The worst, in the 20th Century was the Spanish Flu. There were anywhere from 25M to 100M deaths worldwide. So far, we have about 5.5M deaths, and there is reason to believe that the reporting inflates the numbers. And don't forget, the population in 1918 was 1.8B. In 2020 it was 7.8B. Do the numbers. The US population is also much larger than in 1918, of course (by a factor of over 3).
My financial advisor, who is a total numbers geek pointed out that in the US we didn't even have a recession. In fact, the Spanish Flu preceded a decade of massive economic prosperity.
The whole idea of science based, or facts based, decision in government is TOTALLY bogus. Just as an example, let's look at start times for schools. Everywhere I am aware of, high school starts first, then middle school and then elementary school. This is just the opposite of all the facts about sleeping patterns for children. It should be just the opposite. Why is it the way it is. Because of sports. We do not give a CRAP about science or evidence-based decision making in this country.
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I am over 65. I am not immunocompromised. I have not had a headache for over five years. About that time, I was served with divorce papers and changed my diet. I have had one day (just one) of fever, from a flu, in all that time. That was pre-COVID. I eat right, and exercise, and many of my, admittedly minor, health problems have eased or disappeared. I lost weight, I have no more joint pain (probably the weight loss), my blood pressure is down (without the drugs, which I stopped taking anyway), and my bowel movements are normal. Diet and general attention to health are much more important than all this crazy stuff. I am vaxed, I thought that was prudent. I am not boosted, but plan to be (probably tomorrow). I have never taken a flu vaccine, for example, and have never had a problem with that. I drink scootch and smoke cigars, and that is probably the best thing I can do to ward this off. Very few of my friends who do have gotten COVID, and none seriously.
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Actually, I hate to point this out, but this is nothing compared to Korea, Vietnam, the Soviet invasion of Afghanistan, the US invasion of Afghanistan, the Gulf War and Operation Iraqi Freedom. Oh, and did I mention the Iran/Iraq war.
Not to minimize the suffering of the Uranian people, or the immorality of what Russia is doing, but this is not the biggest thing that has happened, by a long shot. The difference is that it is taking place in the continent if Europe.
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My two boys are in their mid to late 20s now. The school district we are in is actually very, very good. About 20% of the students take Advanced Placement (AP) courses. My sons took just about all there were and entered college with a full semester of college credits. In addition, the facilities are top of the line, from academic to music to arts to sports to vocational training. I am in the suburbs of Chicago, and with all this, we spend just 2/3 of what the city spends per pupil. Believe me, the schools are palaces compared to what the city has. When the second high school was opened in our school district (we now have three), Jesse Jackson came out and said this is what all our schools should be. The vice premier of China visited our third high school and was amazed at the facility and how happy and engaged our students were. Don't ever forget, in education rankings, that the rest of the world teaches to the test. I was a governor of a school in the UK in the early 21st century. I have a good idea of how other systems work. That is why ours is superior, no matter what the so-called rankings show. We have a big problem in inner city school systems, but many of our suburban systems are vastly superior.
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@marlenestockton2269 Don't doubt that is true. But music is a malleable thing. People tend to listen to what they liked in their youth. It is habit. When most of the boomers (and I am one) are gone, it will change to a new set of 50-year-old songs. So, I don't know what your point is. If these songs were not available, people would find something else to listen to.
As for better than the new stuff, that is a matter of taste, but as I said in my comment, it is all just what is popular at the time. I don't listen to any of it, so I don't care. I don't need to be entertained by something I heard when I was a teenager.
Except for a small amount of the music produced, that is always true. It is a matter of taste. If the people who like Joni Mitchell more than anything else are upset, they will go somewhere where her music is available. So what?
Spotify has about 155M subscribers worldwide. About 61% were in Europe and North America. Those regions have a population of just over 1B people. Thet means most people do not listen to Spotify. So, why are we talking about this?
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I live in the Western Suburbs of Chicago. We have facilities that are WORLD CLASS. We spend, per pupil 2/3 of what Chicago does. This is typical of the suburbs. We have attainments that are stellar compared to Chicago (although not as good as where I went to school in the third quarter of the last century of the last millennium, where 100% graduated and went to university).
Just a little aside. The school district I am in has one of the best music programs in the country. In fact, of the three high schools we have, it is often not unusual to have all three at the top of the national rankings. And we are at the top in the STEM fields as well. In fact, our jazz program at one school had an all-day clinic with the faculty of the NIU jazz department (one of the best in the country). There were a couple of professional jazz musicians with them. At one point in the program, between numbers, they mentioned that our auditorium was nicer than Carnage Hall, in NYC. These guys had played at Carnage Hall more than once. Heck, the acoustic screen on the stage cost $500K. The sound board (digital, of course) cost $70K. We even had a black box performance space behind the auditorium which cost $500K. And yet, our cost per pupil is much lower that Chicago. And don't get me going on the sports, home economics and vocational facilities we have.
There is no Constitutional requirement for a public education system. In fact, public safety (fire, police, etc.) could all be provided privately. Either have people pay the private companies directly or collect the money centrally and contract out the services.
A great example was a city I lived in in the Philadelphia suburbs. Trash collection was not contracted for by the city. Trash collectors could get certified by the city, and then each household would decide among the certified companies. At the time I was there, there were five. This, of course fostered competition. This can be done for any service, even police. What is a police officer? You have heard the term "sworn personnel". Well, these are just individuals that have been sworn in to have the ability to use force, perhaps deadly, to enforce the law. Who cares who they work for? That is irrelevant. The designation is for the individual. Not every employee of a police department is a "sworn" officer.
The fact is that we can easily reimagine every aspect of our public sector. The only exception is the military. This is the only organ of government that MUST be part of the government.
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I like Fox News. I am not a big fan of Hannity. At about 3:40 he interjects his opinion. Why? He has a much more experienced and knowledgeable guest. What he is saying is just a repeat of what everyone knows. He is like most politicians, on all sides, that in response to questions repeat the talking points. The sound bite lists. Actually, I think that is the limit of his intellectual capability. Many of these talking points are valid, but anyone who is half sentient already knows them. Just repeating them on and on is what gets politicians as a group such a low approval rating. ALL interviewers should let their guests do most of the talking. The interviewer is not an opinion maker. If you think that I clicked on this video because of Hannity, you are sadly mistaken. In fact, the interviewers are to some extent, a negative for their audience. Rush Limbaugh, with whom I would agree on most things, did this. He helped get Barak Obama elected twice. He pilloried the Republican candidates in both elections with his audience (which was huge) and gave the election to Obama. No one was conservative enough, or pure enough. What he didn't understand is that the bulk of the electorate is centrist. What he didn't understand is that no one is pure enough/ The truly conservative will never be a bulk of the electorate. By suppressing the vote for the Republican, he guaranteed a Democratic win. Any Republican would have been better.
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@kyarl6311 Well, there are instances where a campaign that was basically funded by the individual running, who was not wealthy, and who won. The latest is in New Jersey. If I recall correctly it was for the State Senate. There have been others over the years.
I do agree that there is a level of corruption in the system. I was an election judge for a number of cycles. In presidential election years if we got over 60% participation, we were ecstatic. But that means 40% did not vote. Any election could go any way if everyone voted. Actually, one year, in an off election for local government officials, where the turnout might be in single digits (I always vote), there was an unusual result. The city I am in is very Republican, but the Democrats did a great get out the vote campaign and won many of these local elections (township, etc.). Turnout is key. Maybe we should make voting mandatory.
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I hear you about the Episcopal Church. It was the original church of the Republic. I married into it. I was a member for over 30 years. Having grown up in the Greek Orthodox Church, it was a different experience. But, over the years it has become something unrecognizable. Actually, one thing I experienced and saw, was the movement in the US of formerly Episcopal churches to associate with more conservative Anglican congregations, often in Africa. Don't forget, the Episcopal Church is NOT a part of the Anglican Communion. I was, actually, an Anglican when I lived in England at the beginning of the Millenium. The church I went to, in Winchester, was founded by Henri du Blois, nephew of William the Conqueror. His chair is still there in the Brethren's hall, almost 1,000 years later.
All this is a long and convoluted way to say, in agreement with you, that many of our institutions have changed unrecognizably. Often these changes have not been supported by the majority of the original supporters. NPR is a good example. I am fairly conservative, and my ex-wife was (not sure now). We were avid listeners and contributors. Then the change came. For a long time, they were very balanced. We noticed and commented in it often. They would always have on a government official and someone from the other side. Sometimes they would actually agree to look into an issue together.
When I lived in England, we listened to the BBC. We bought a radio there that was rather nice, and had two alarms. I think it is broken, though, since I can't get Radio 4 anymore. Actually, several years ago there was a big scandal regarding BBC News. I forget the particular issue, but I stopped listening to it, or watching it, because of it. Now, the whole thing has become politically biased and woke. Therre is a massive movement in the UK to remove public funds, and either shut it down, or let it continue with either a subscription model or advertising.
The whole idea of a state funded (even in part) broadcaster, or any kind, in the 20th century is ludicrous. Actually, it has been for at least 40 years. In an open, democratic society, there is no technical or moral justification for it.
NPR should be shut down in the US. It is actually UNAMERICAN!!!!!
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Candace, you are quite right that it is unacceptable that, as a member of Congress she says these things. But you have to understand that she is elected. The original sin in this situation is the with the electorate. This is a part of the bedrock of our system. Political parties distort this. Don't forget that they are not part of the Constitution. The idea is that each Representative or Senator represents a constituency and speaks for the same.
She speaks for her constituency, and we should recognize that. Any business that locates there or has anything to do with such a constituency is defrauding their shareholders and should be sued.
NYC is a dead issue. There is no reason, in our networked, connected world, to locate in a particular place. Businesses should be looking to disperse their workforces and move to less costly venues. Frankly, the era of the big city in the US should be at an end.
One thing we need to understand is that in the US decisions about political demarcations are purely local. I was born in Washington, DC and grew us there and on the edge. It spans three states/federal districts. In any other country it would be one municipality. In most of the US we have cities and municipal areas. None are politically unified. In other countries, this is not the case. I did a lot of work in Canada. I notice that, over time, they decided to merge the suburbs with the city of Toronto into one political entity. They did this at the provincial level, without any kind of local referendum or consent. In the US this cannot happen. The only issue is that it makes comparisons between US cities and foreign cites, bogus.
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My God, what is this January 6th crap? I was born in Washington, DC, grew up there and basically am a political junkie as a result. Funny, my brother and sister are not. I no longer live in the area but have been back many times to lobby my Congresspeople. There were lots of security people around at all times, with automatic weapons. And this was before9/11. The dweebs that attacked on January 6 had no fricking chance. This was a non-event. I know, because I was a part of the whole government, military, industrial complex. Take over the Capitol. Who the heck cares? That is not where the power lies, Get a fricking grip!!! If the people making a big deal out of this don't know what is going on, then they are not a part of the system. If they are then they are gaslighting you. If you don't know that, then you are the real problem. You are the ones that need to be dealt with.
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Tucker, they already have "hostile" governments, members of NATO, on their border in the Baltic states. The movement of western leaning democracies is only accelerating. Now, both Sweeden and Finland are seriously considering NATO membership, and they collectively have a long border with Russia. Russia is being hemmed in because of their own policies, not because of something the West has done. You need to study up a little more on the geopolitical situation. Today's Russia is not the Soviet Union, or the Russian Empire. It cannot reliably call upon the central Asian republics or the former central European states, except for Belarus. Even China is not fully supportive because of his declaration of the breakaway of the regions in the east of Ukraine. China has several regions that would break away, such as Tibet, Inner Mongolia and Xinjiang. The Russian approach to this situation in Ukraine is a real problem for them.
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You know, I am a big fan of Fox and especially of this show. On the other hand (you knew that was coming), with serious issues like this, sometimes the stupidity of the discussion amazes me. First, the Department of Energy is involved because they run the national lab system. Those labs were first set up for nuclear research. So, they bring expertise in running such a system, not in the content of research. Second, and I am surprised the former detective did not understand this, that confidence level in the report is based on how comprehensive the sources are. Because no one can get into China to do on the groundwork, there will never be a high confidence level. All the evidence we have on the virus itself and issues around what China did externally can be "known". What happened inside of China cannot. That is the whole issue.
The media needs to up its game. Fox is one of the better ones, but they still don't have enough people who understand how things work. Disappointing.
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@MachiavellisThePrince That's a skewed view of reality. Regan did not have control of Congress, and they continued to spend, spend, spend. To put it another way, there was no fiscal discipline.
What would you do to help the majority of people? Asking for a friend.
If you hadn't noticed, politicians say lots of things about each other and other people. Trump did not join the Republican Party until 1987. He was a Democrat from 2001 to 2009, then a Republican again. He was also involved in some third parties in between. Regan was a Democrat from the beginning of his political career until 1962 when he switched to the Republican Party. A lot of sitting members of Congress changed parties, after their election, while Regan was President. These were southern Democrats who were very conservative. The Democratic Party had moved left. We are seeing a similar shift today. These are periodic and have happened throughout American history. Frankly, even people like Winston Churchill in the UK shifted parties over their careers, so this phenomenon is not totally unique to the US. I point all this out because political opinions change over time. You may want to consider that.
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A retirement age for elected officials? That is not only stupid, but there is also no way it could be implemented. In the Federal Government, for bureaucrats, there is no retirement age. Hence, we have Fauci. The only Constitutional requirements to be in the Congress or the Presidency are citizenship and minimum age, and of course, winning the election Anything else is antithetical to our system. Suggesting something else is Un-American.
People within parties need to deal with this, if indeed the party feels it is a problem. Nancy Pelosi is there because of her fundraising, nothing else. Joe is there because was the antidote to another primary candidate, just as old, who was too far to the left for party leaders. None of the younger party members were perceived to have the ability to compete. This is a party issue.
In Congress, seniority is the main factor in determining leadership positions. This is considered the least contentious criteria. It helps keep the party together. Does it the produce the best choices? Of course not, but party cohesion is considered more important. None of this is baked into the Constitution or the rules of each chamber. The parties decide on this. It could change in an instant.
The fact is that you are trying to solve a problem that you have no right to solve. You ignore the sovereignty of the people. A bunch of pundits trying to decide how we select our leaders is an insult.
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KT, look at the history of amphibious assault. China is not a military superpower. Their last major conflict was with Vietnam (now an ally of the US). They were trounced. On the border with India, they have been severely trounced. China is a true "paper tiger" as defined by Mao. Read the little red book.
Another thing to consider is the WWII situation vis-a-vis Taiwan. Some of our leaders wanted to invade Taiwan so we could more easily support China. The only problem was this invasion would have required a bigger invasion force than the D-Day landings. Just think on that. China has no experience or the material resources to mount such an invasion. And that is assuming that Taiwan has no allies. China is the paper tiger. For better or worse, the US has been involved in wars, many large, from the end of WWII. NO other country has. When we went into Kuwait to throw out the Iraqis, we had 350K US troops and a total of 500K coalition troops. The battle lasted three days. Don't forget, the Iraqis were the fourth largest army in the world, with a decade of combat experience. China has none of that. In the second Gulf War we went in with 160K or so US troops. We wiped out the national army of the fourth largest army in the world in two weeks.
Russia, and China have done nothing like this. They are both paper tigers. The US is the only country that has been in the fight continuously. Even in Syria, there was a well-armed grouped of Russian mercenaries. They were wiped out, with few, or no, US casualties.
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Talking about depressing wages. In the UK, after Brexit, wages for blue collar workers in the UK are up substantially. A while ago, I read that one of the states bordering Mexico, which had stemmed illegal immigration, had experienced a surge in worker income, while having a somewhat lower GDP. GDP is not the measure of success we need to worry about. It is personal income. The sooner we understand that, the better.
Stopping immigration, either legal or illegal, puts up the wages for the citizen population. If the workers in these countries cannot see this an still vote for left or center left parties that support immigration, then they are stupid and deserve what they get. The educated, and skilled, will continue to do well. It is as simple as that. Uncontrolled immigration is only useful to business owners and the 1%. Again, if the workers do not understand this, then they are rubes (a mild form of what I wanted to say). In the US, the Democratic Party has become the party of the 1%. If workers cannot see this, then they will continue to suffer. We don't need more workers from outside. Technology, a major strength of the US, will make us stronger. Not importing unskilled workers, who drive down wages.
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If this man, and those who think like him, is not removed then we might as well pack it in and fend for ourselves. We should all arm ourselves and use those arms in a preemptive way. Actually, we are well on our way to arming ourselves as a society. Gun sales have massively increased in the last few years, and surprise, many first-time gun owners are liberals.
Why do I say this? Well, any government official, who is not a legislator, is pledged to follow the laws as passed by the legislators, who are the representatives of the people. Any prosecutor, or other executive branch official, who claims that a crime is not a crime, is himself committing a crime. If this is what our elected officials are going to do, and this includes the president on down, then we need to seriously consider whether we should pay taxes to our government. We pay taxes, in the first place, for the government to protect us, both from foreign and domestic threats. The next level is public services. If the government won't fulfill those needs, then we will have to procure those services privately, and the government becomes irrelevant. This is not a controversial stance. In many of our large cities, private citizens, in their local communities, are hiring private security. I am outside of Chicago. Fortunately, we are relatively sane here (i.e., not Democrat) and very safe. But, the City of Chicago has fallen apart.
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I generally support Ukraine. On the other hand, Biden has been a disaster for Ukraine. The key is the lack of a plan, or strategy. This is not just me saying this, but a number of retired generals who are supporters of Ukraine have pointed this out as well. The last aid bill required Biden to produce a strategy document. When he finally did, he classified it, so we still don't know, as a country, what the plan is. The only thing Biden has said is that we will support Ukraine as long as it takes. He never said what "it" is. If there was a plan we could have a debate on it. If we agreed that Ukraine should win, on their terms, then we would be obligated to provide the resources they need. As it is, Ukraine gets weapons in dribs and drabs.
Ukrainians have fought valiantly and well, but they most certainly do not have the ability to defeat Russia militarily. Frankly, with the incompetence the Russians have shown, Ukraine might eventually prevail, but at what cost to Ukraine and how long will that take? Trump is absolutely correct; the killing must stop. Both Russia and Ukraine were in demographic decline before the war started. This war is just accelerating that tragic trend.
Finally, the Europeans certainly should provide the full support for Ukraine. Pompeo hits the nail on the head. It is their territory that is threatened. The economy of the EU plus the UK is at least ten times as large as Russia's. Their population is three times as large. Two of the European countries even have their own nuclear deterrent. This is not the beginning of the Cold War when NATO was created and Europe was on its knees.
Then the video ends with Biden's comments about the bombings. Biden does not have a strategic thought in his head, and actually never has. Disgusting.
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The Democrats and the teachers unions are either stupid, insane, or both. ALL research has shown that parental involvement in education of young people is essential.
In addition, offering advanced teaching to students of ability is a big boost to our children and economy. All advanced economies do this. I will make a comment here. I was a school governor in the UK while I worked there. As a foreigner I had to get permission from the Home Office to run. Schools in the rest of the world teach to the test. That is, in fact, the only thing they really teach. Our students are much more well rounded. This has a lot to do with the greater creativity of our people, which contributes to our greatness.
When I started high school in 1969 they were getting rid of the track system in all subjects, except English. This was in one of the best school systems in the country, Montgomery County, Maryland. At my school, 100% graduated, and 100% went to college.
My kids went to a very good school system in the suburbs of Chicago. They have a very strong gifted child program. In the high schools 20% of the students take AP classes. My sons took almost all of them. They even offered the first semester of college calculus, which they took. This was taught by a university professor, remotely, with the in class teacher being more of a TA. And, there are special schools, such as the Illinois Math and Science Academy.
Dumbing down education for gifted students, from whatever background, is pure insanity. If they are going to do that I want a corresponding cut in the taxes I pay.
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Oh, my gawd! Only part way through this video, but if she really thinks this stuff, she is even dumber than I thought. What's worse is that her constituents are even dumber. They are the ones who should be called out. If she was one of your choices for a legislator, and you chose her over almost anyone, twice, you are idiots. New York City is a spent force. It is at this point, a welfare state.
Of course, I was born in Washington, DC. My mother is from Annapolis, MD. My father is from western Massachusetts. So, NYC was kind of the bad place in between. I have worked for companies based in NYC over the years and spent time there. So, I thought my opinions would be more balanced, but the last few years have blown that away. NYC is no longer necessary, or viable. Lots of major businesses are moving out, as are many people. Unless there is a major shift, NYC is on a permanent decline. It was never that great to begin with.
I live in the Chicago area and worked for a very large company based in NY state. When my NYC colleagues would come to meetings, I was hosting in Chicago they would always say, I love Chicago, it is like NYC without the dirt. Never a truer word spoken.
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@lati long Can't agree with you there. While Russia deployed about 150K (more if you include troops from the breakaway regions, Chechens and mercenaries), their total army before the war was almost 1M. So, they theoretically could have pulled in other forces from around Russia.
As for the west supporting Ukraine, there are at least two very good reasons for it to do so. First, to facilitate Ukraine giving up their nuclear weapons, Russia, the US and UK signed the Budapest Memorandum. The obligation to support Ukraine's territorial integrity has a solid geopolitical basis. Second, the fact is that Russia, if successful in Ukraine, will not stop there. Because of their population situation, this is their last chance to do anything along those lines. For the western allies it is best to support the Ukrainians in destroying the Russian military on their territory. Cheap at twice the price, and quite possible.
I personally do not think that Russia and China will exist in their current forms in ten to twenty years. It may be sooner. They will both likely devolve into a grouping of regional warlords. This has happened in China many times in the past. The last time only 100 years ago.
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Um, they have been given "defensive" intelligence, as I have seen reported.
As for comparisons to Afghanistan, that is sort of silly. There are no active US troops in Ukraine. The US did not conquer Ukraine. It's not the same, or even similar, situation. The other thing is that the Europeans should be able to take up the slack. Their economies combined are ten times as large as Russia's. Their militaries, while too small, are much more powerful than Russia's, or Ukraine's, as far as weaponry, tactics and training.
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I am not supportive of the US giving money to help people in other countries unless they are allies of the US, or at the very least, supportive. That is aside from stopping all the social engineering crap listed here.
This whole humanitarian thing started out as a way to buy off countries to keep them out of the Soviet orbit. Then, after we defeated the Soviet Union in the Cold War, it became something of a guilt trip. That we, the successful western democracies, are rich because of exploitation of poorer countries is the justification. There was some of that with the Europeans, but the poorer countries have had time to change course, and many haven't. Just look at how many of them spend their own money. It will make you sick.
No, all this crap and the whole foreign aid thing is a combination of deep state intel operations and wokeness DEI crap. STOP IT NOW! If it does not materially advance America's interests and benefit the American people, STOP IT!
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Indians do not migrate to Russia. They come to the US. I live in an upper middle-class suburb of Chicago. I have lots of Indian neighbors. My two best friends when I first went to university, in the early 1970s, were Indian. I was studying physics (I later switched to computer science). Of the students in the physics department at the time, a third were Americans of European descent, a third were Chinese (from Taiwan) and a third were Indian. It was a very international place. It was just outside of Washington, DC. where I was born. India does a lot more business with the US and the EU than it does with Russia. They need to break the defense relationship. It is not in their interest, and the Soviet equipment is inferior. In fact, they pulled out of an agreement to help develop and fund Russia's 5th generation fighter, which basically put the program on hold. They also recently bought French fighters. The Soviet/Russian planes they have did not do well against US planes supplied to Pakistan (F16s vs Migs). When will they realize their mistake? You really cannot be non-aligned in this world. They need the Quad (India, the US, Australia and Japan) to counter China in the South China Sea and the Indian Ocean. They are playing a dangerous game, and will suffer for it if they don't alter course.
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The decorum thing is a red herring. These are the requirements for being elected to the House of Representatives, from the Constitution:
No Person shall be a Representative who shall not have attained to the Age of twenty five Years, and been seven Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State in which he shall be chosen.
Similarly, for a Senator:
No Person shall be a Senator who shall not have attained to the Age of thirty Years, and been nine Years a Citizen of the United States, and who shall not, when elected, be an Inhabitant of that State for which he shall be chosen.
Notice that there are no educational or other requirements, other than winning election. The Representatives and Senators represent their constituents. That is all. It up to those constituents to determine who represents them.
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I have also been against this for a long time. I happen to know where I come from. I don't need a DNA test to tell me that. Most people are in the same boat. I always said that the NSA will have your data as soon as you take a test. I also used to joke with friends about their remote start for their cars. Now I have one. All these conveniences come with enhanced exposure, either to our government, bad actors, or foreign governments. On the other hand, there is so much data out there that they would need more than the computing power of the world today to do something with it.
As far as medical privacy, give me a break. Once, when I was about 15, one of my father's friends asked him about how he was and we went into a full medical history. This was just a casual conversation, which is why it has stuck with me over 50 years later. The whole medical privacy movement was all about AIDS, and the fact that mainly homosexual men got it. That is what it is all about. Most people are very free with their ailments. Many people get annual medical assessments, sponsored by their companies. When I got a vasectomy I asked the urologist about the various procedures that my friends had. He was astounded. He didn't think anyone would talk about He was wrong. Everyone talked about it. Medical privacy is a myth. Most people do not have strange ailments. Most people do not care.
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Everything I see from the traditional media, including the broadcast, cable, and even august publications like the Wall Street Journal, is similar. These outlets and those that support them, it has become clear, are the keepers of the status quo. Fox is not too caught up in it, but you still get the questions when someone (Trump) does something different that presume the status quo. I hear media reports about Trump and what he is doing then I hear the President in his own words, and it is two different stories. The media, instead of reporting what is being done questions it. Who the heck are these people to question it?
Do people really want to support the status quo in foreign policy, border policy, economic policy, etc., etc., etc.? Is that the hill you want to die on? Really?
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Considering the obesity epidemic, I don't think that less food on the shelves is a real problem. I used to volunteer at a "deluxe" food bank in the city where I live. It was, quite frankly, deluxe, not an exaggeration. I would sometimes see "clients" in a local supermarket buying high end products. Many of the clients were overweight, and a significant proportion of those were obese. They would often talk about trying to reverse that, and some did. That was comforting. We tried to push foods that were healthier. We measured carts at the end of their sessions, and they typically left with 200lbs of product a week.
I have, for personal reasons, changed my diet over the last five years or so, I have reduced my intake of wheat products, cut out sugar, and most meat. I am getting down to my weight I had in my 20s (I am now in my mid 60s). My high blood pressure has gone away (without pills). I have no more joint pain. I have not even taken an aspirin in the last five years. I have not zeroed out anything, except sugar, but have minimized many things that are counterproductive to health. We have more food available, at low prices than we need, at least in the West. Food shortages in the west are a mirage. The food bank I mentioned got 2M lbs. of donated food from local grocery stores and restaurants a year.
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Hey, in my school district the kids are more than proficient. When are we going to stop talking about "all" schools? My kids were using PowerPoint in 4th grade. They are in their 20s now, but the schools here are not backing off. I also see them exercising the kids year-round. The elementary school my kids went to is right behind me. I see them out there, in almost all weather. I also don't see obesity in the kids. In fact, one of my son's friends who was the only one overweight as a child, is no longer. We can make this work for our kids. It takes parental involvement. In the elementary school I mentioned, in a well-funded school district, the amount of money that the parents add, in addition to their taxes is insane. This one school got $10k per year in funds and an equal amount in services. The extra funds let kids whose family might not be able to afford extra-curricular activities to participate, No one was left behind. And this is all local money. By the way, we are in a suburb of Chicago. Our schools are deluxe facilities. We spend 2/3 of what Chicago spends per pupil. This is true of all the suburban school districts. So, go figure.
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