Azalin

Yes, but we're mostly gun-totin' rednecks out here, so....

Why are people so against automation when they don't give a crap about any of the other ways that changes bring about job loss? I never see people speaking out against ride sharing because it takes away jobs from taxi drivers or bus drivers. How many people treated the advent of cable television as a threat? After all, it takes viewership away from traditional television networks, costing them jobs and money as well. Do you have a wireless phone? Have you canceled your land line service? Do you know how many union technician jobs have been lost because of that? Similar examples are endless. It's called progress, and it happens in every industry, large or small, and people are too easily made to fear it for it's inevitable loss of jobs. While jobs are eliminated by progress, new ones are created. The automation of factories and assembly plants not only ensure a consistent product, but also move people out of unskilled and often dangerous jobs, while creating the need to people to engineer, operate, and maintain them. I think that people are allowing themselves to be manipulated into having what's nothing more than a selective fear of progress.

Wouldn't someone who graduated cum laude know that the word "alumni" is plural and "alumnus" is singular?

If that won't do it, nothing will.

I got a laugh out of it anyway.

I'm still not certain that they were, however I saw no school buses and traffic was unusually light across the city. I'm pretty sure that there just were too many teachers and local government employees taking the day off in solidarity to bother opening the schools and agencies.

Well, it's no wonder you're disabled.

I guess it's a good thing for me that I said "I'm not certain" and didn't make any blanket statements, eh?

Romantic attachment? Spin? Nope, that's the way it was back in those days, and the fact that we have so much contribution to our culture by African Americans just goes to prove how accepting and accommodating most Americans are; the difference in racial equality between 1963 and 2017 is a reflection of our willingness as a nation to accept each other. This issue is obviously a really big deal to you, and that's fine. You can carry on as you wish, but I'll keep treating everyone with equal respect regardless of what they look like.

I'm not certain about the radio stations themselves - that article claimed that they don't pay royalties on broadcast music, but I would tend to question why they should if what they're doing is promoting that music, so that part of it might be a big heap of BS. You're absolutely correct about ASCAP suing bar owners if cover bands are playing, unless they have a license that allows them to do that. My band played a show along with Billy Milano and M.O.D. to raise funds for a local bar, Headhunters, who was facing just such a lawsuit from BMI. In fact, ASCAP and BMI will hire college students to find & report such bar owners.

We have that today in Austin as well, and it's made a noticeable impact locally. The schools are apparently closed, and there's a hell of a lot less traffic, so I made it to work much more quickly than usual, was in & out of the grocery store on my lunch break, and drove straight up to the drive through at the Whataburger instead of waiting in a long line like usual. At this rate, they're not really doing much to help their cause.

Sorry, I just believe that focusing on each others differences will keep us divided, with plenty of politicians lining up to exploit one group or another as being victims of one sort or another. Yes, there are cultural differences among the different American ethnicities, but those cultural differences are due to the fact that we have all evolved as separate communities, not because there's any true difference between us. That can and will be overcome in time. I was alive and in grade school when Dr King rose to prominence, and he was not reviled by most people. He had tremendous support from a large segment of the populace, and it was considered to be a tremendous loss to our nation when he was assassinated. I remember it well. To characterize his movement as anything else is to do him and his supporters of the day an injustice. Yes.

You demand they stop using it?

The only way to do that is to ignore race altogether. If we can not be divided as Americans, then we can not be pitted against each other by agenda-driven groups. Racial disparity will only become a thing of the past when people stop seeing race as something that makes us different from one another.

I've always liked Williams. He and Sowell both come across to me as heirs to Friedman's general philosophy of economics, and he's always had a pretty keen insight into American culture, especially with regard to African Americans. Thanks for posting.

You know who else used to roll squirrels' heads down the stairs?

You can't place a tap on people's phones without a warrant. Remember, a tap has to be in place on the phone that's receiving the call, and they have to be monitoring the citizen's phone to even know where the call is coming from. If any of that is incorrect, please cite your source. Dude, seriously. Why do you even bother? Half to three-quarters of us have him blocked, but between you and Tom quoting him all the time there's no escape.

I apologize if this was posted elsewhere, but it's just too funny pass up: "After spending more than $22 million on the Dakota Access pipeline protest, North Dakota wants to make sure any paid activists remember to submit their state income taxes." http://www.washingtontimes.com/news/2017/jan/30/north-dakota-wants-hired-pipeline-protesters-to-pa/

The funny thing is that one of my closest friends is named Tom Godwin. Now it's as if I know two of them.

It's all way too convenient if you ask me. I'm not trying to defend Flynn - if he did violate rules or laws, then there should certainly be consequences, but the manner in which this is coming about doesn't pass the smell test at all. It looks too much like a sour grapes campaign on the part of the Hillary camp/DNC with all the innuendo and accusations of supposed Russian interference in the election, of which there's been no evidence. But lack of evidence hasn't seemed to matter - news agencies gleefully pass this crap along as if it were a legitimate story, fueling a democrat electorate already spastic with anger to even higher levels of outrage. If there is any evidence against Flynn that warrant his disqualification for the post, then they should be made known. Once he's in office and actually working for the public, then that's one thing. Since he was still presumably a private citizen at the time, then he still has all the same rights as the rest of us. Still seems fishy to me. Maybe it's not all that big a deal, but I tend to share DR's concerns with regard to privacy.

Use the emoji, dammit!

But the call(s) supposedly took place before Trump was sworn in, therefore I would assume there wouldn't even be access for Flynn to use a White House phone line. But again, If he was not yet active in his job as national security advisor, by what right does any intelligence or law enforcement agency have in "intercepting" (whatever the hell that means) any of his phone calls, emails, or anything without a warrant. In addition, has anyone from intelligence or law enforcement even been named as being the one to provide this evidence?