@Doctor-Phibes said in Please call me "Doctor.": I have to say, it felt pretty good to be Doctor for a day. You're a doctor every day... [image: 1649463501304-screen-shot-2022-04-08-at-7.16.54-pm-resized.png]

@Mik I agree. The term genocide gets bandied about too often without regard to its true legal definition. I have a close friend who worked on the War Crimes Tribunal investigations in Bosnia Herzegovina and Rwanda. He too agrees all too often the word is improperly used. I spoke with him at length on a Zoom call this am about the article and Snyder’s essay. The Russian article is explicit about eradicating not only Ukraine as a sovereign state but the very notion of Ukrainian as as a national and cultural identity. If it can be determined that both are intended outcomes of Russian policy and actions against Ukraine and Ukrainians, the charge of genocide may very well be warranted against the Russian state and its officials.

@xenon said in "Excess" Votes?: @Jolly said in "Excess" Votes?: I think we have a problem. The majority of the American public thinks we have a problem! So quit sitting on your mounds of data analysis shit, admit that the general public might be right, and help solve the problem. I'm all for some hyper-centralized, national ID voter system. No issue with it. And, I agree, there is much less faith in our election now than there was during the 2016 cycle. But this whole problem has been manufactured by irresponsible people. Step 1 is for the accusers to put up or shut up. Innocent until proven guilty and all that shit. Where's the evidence? Where are the court cases? Again - Trump's chief law enforcement official though Trump was off his rocker on this. You are correct that it was manufactured by irresponsible people. Where you lose the plot is in deciding who those irresponsible people are. You don't seem to see the irony of saying you support a national voter ID, but then call those calling for just that the guilty ones. One side wants voter ID, the other side says that is racist, and wants to 1. Harvest votes 2. Extend vote by mail with no checks on it, . No ID required because,... well... black people are too stupid to go out and get an ID,..... every attempt to bring any of this in front of a court has been blocked, yet you want them to "put up or shut up" - and in a thread dealing with the very issue of "putting up" you have, without any evidence to support your claims, done nothing but ridicule them for it. But at the same time you are utterly convinced that you have it right, no need or reason to entertain the notion that you might be wrong. As a result, trying to discuss this with you is like trying to warn a petulant 3 year old not to stick a fork in an electrical socket. But it's ok. This seems to be a common problem among your generation. God I hope my generation wasn't this logic challenged at your age.

Want. The flame thing, that is. It wouldn't have to happen too many times in say, Chicago, for carjackings to drop like a hot rock.

@89th said in Flip Tax: @Ivorythumper said in Flip Tax: I’m pretty sure that selling things for more than you paid for them is, in the eyes of the iRS, always a taxable event. Kinda. If you sell your car, you don't have to pay the IRS. If you sell your house, you don't have to pay the IRS on profits up to $500k (if married) or $250k (if single). The first $500k is excluded from gains by tax regulation but that demonstrates my point that government claims the right to tax all profits. It’s smart policy to exclude some profits so to make society more mobile and to encourage upward mobility and economic stimulus. As for cars, there are casual sales vs business transactions— even if you did sell your car for a few thousand more than you paid, it’s not worth going after low sums from individuals.

Do all Ukrainian refugee hosts go to heaven?

@Axtremus said in The Resident's Financial Problem: @Mik said in The Resident's Financial Problem: Have you ever known, in nigh on 20 years, of George citing scripture to buttress his argument? Reading this thread inspired me to ask “What Would Jesus Do”, so I looked it up. (Of course Deuteronomy is OT so if you really want to and don’t mind overlooking the Trinity idea you can claim that Deuteronomy predates Biblical Jesus and thus disqualify it from answering any WWJD question. But I digress.) With regards to “student debt” and it’s funding via the public purse, I am still trying to sort through a few things: Is all higher education a public good? The implication is that if it’s a public good, then maybe there is a rationale to fund it via the public purse. Is some higher education a public good but some other higher education is not? If so, who gets to decide what higher education is a public good and what other education isn’t? If you’re going to allow the public purse to fund some higher education but not some other higher education, who do you let decide which portions of higher education to fund via the public purse? An agency of the (people’s democratically elected) government using criteria set forth by the same government, or individuals (such as private schools’ financial aid officers and private banks’ loan officers) making these decisions using the private schools and private banks’ respective criteria? The ship to not use any public funds to finance higher education has long sailed, pretty much very state has a public university system that’s supported by public funds. Then you have folks who like to draw a line separating “federal funding” and “state funding.” This federal vs. state split isn’t very practical either because all states take federal money. Maybe it’s fine to use the public purse to fund only the sort of public education that satisfies government criteria. (Sounds like the status quo.) And we are left to argue over what those criteria should be. (Also sounds like the status quo.) Maybe we publicly fund only the institutions but never the individuals. E.g. give public money to public universities (so they keep tuition low for all students) but don’t give any public money to any individual student. (Will wreak havoc to well understood concepts like school funded “work study”, “research assistantship,” “teaching assistantship,” etc.) Maybe we let private lenders do whatever they want with regards to “student loans,” and resist the urge to not treat private “student loans” any different from other private loans. (The private lenders themselves do not want this, though, they lobbied hard to make “student loans” ineligible for discharge through bankruptcies. Heck, they also want the government to guarantee the loans too if they can get it.) Still left with the status quo. Alpha and Omega. Period.

Amazing. Does this person make money doing that?

@brenda not at all… she’s a force of nature and he’s a very sweet guy.

@Renauda said in Green Onions: Green Onions, a great early funk tune. Big hit for Booker T & the MGs. Based on a blues riff associated with Sonny Boy Williams’ tune Help Me Here’s a cover version of Green Onions featuring the late, great Jon Lord and the Hoochie Coochie Men: https://m. Link to video Ok...... THAT. Is how it's done.

Reminds me of a story.... An eccentric billionaire wanted a mural painted on his library wall, so he called in an artist. Describing what he wanted, the billionaire said, "I am a history buff, and I would like your interpretation of the last thing that went through Custer's mind before he died. I am going out of town on business for a week, and when I return I expect to see it completed." Upon his return, the billionaire went to the library to examine the finished work. To his surprise he found a painting of shit with a halo. Surrounding this were hundreds of Indians in various sexual positions. Furious, he called the artist in. "What the hell is this?" screamed the billionaire. "Why that's exactly what you asked for," said the artist smugly. "No! I didn't ask for a mural of pornographic filth. I asked for an interpretation of Custer's last thoughts!" "And there you have it," said the artist. "I call it, 'Holy shit , look at all those fucking Indians.'"

@Catseye3 This is my favorite time wasting app. My 9 year old loves it too. You can get it at the app store. https://brainitongame.com/

Never forget that millions and millions of American pop culturalites do in fact take Greta seriously. You don't have to go far to find them. That's the level of idiocy readily acceptable to the indoctrinated progressive mind.

How come there are Pop-tarts but no Mom-tarts? Because of the pastryarchy

@Doctor-Phibes said in Anybody like red wine?: @89th said in Anybody like red wine?: NICE! We have one nearby. I don't drink red wine much these days, but that's mainly because we have a 1 year old who doesn't believe in sleeping through the night so I need to have all my wits at midnight, and 2am, and 5am....when we're taking care of the kid. You could always try giving him the wine Well I try not to mix wine with liquor