Azalin

Not only will the investigation continue, she won't have a biased justice department looking out for her.

That's because our soon-to-be-former president is a man of insight and wisdom.

Don't I remember a storm of ridicule from Californians every time a Texas governor talks about secession?

A national popular vote movement is really, really stupid. You may as well go ahead and dissolve the Senate as well, if we're going to deny the states' will in favor of straight up majority rule.

Apparently there's at least one cousin like that in every family. I hope your mother-in-law gets well soon, and that your wife gets there & back safely.

My sister is generally pretty bright, and is a kind-hearted sort, but she's relatively new to the topics of politics and social issues. Her first big influences were from her "research" into GMOs. She has rheumatoid arthritis and blames it on Monsanto. This led her into areas where she's become heavily influenced by things like the Occupy Movement, Bernie supporters, etc. Now she's a self-proclaimed expert on all things political and social. Her stock reply to almost anything she disagrees with always starts with the phrase "I can't believe (emphasis on 'believe') that you blah, blah, blah...". As far as I'm concerned, there is no discussing anything remotely related to social topics or politics with her until she takes a step back, stops simply repeating propaganda she's read here or there, and starts trying to get to the truth of a few things. You can't have either an argument or even a simple discussion with anyone who hasn't even been honest enough with themselves to actually develop real convictions yet. So, no talk of such things at Thanksgiving dinner, and holiday helmets at the table, just in case. Want to come to my sister's place this Thursday?

"Everyone put on your helmets, dinner is served!"

Has anyone else noticed the complete lack of gun control advocates coming out of the woodwork because police officers are now being routinely targeted by gun-wielding maniacs?

Your sister sounds rather a lot like mine. My mother and I will be attending Thanksgiving dinner at my sister's place, and we plan to keep our heads down when the inevitable tantrums and pontificating begin. I'm just hoping to make it through dessert before the silverware starts flying.

You know, we laugh at stuff like this, but if this could actually be done, I don't think anyone doubts that construction would already be underway.

Don't be ridiculous. Not that I think Trump is the next Hitler - but I can see the argument - it's not like Hitler started right in with genocide - ridiculous, empty pragmatism - I see both sides blah blah blah bull%$@#. I read your posts and I know you're smarter than that. People need to acquaint themselves with Godwin's Law.

Awesome. If they want to try attacking me with their bodily fluids, that means I can retaliate in kind. They will learn the true meaning of regret.

No, I'm not. There's significantly more to their culture than Islam. If it was only about Muslims hating Christians, my Muslim friends would attack me whenever they see me. There's a violent, homophobic, misogynistic element throughout much of the middle east that some of the refugees bring with them, which is thankfully only held by the minority in western culture. Some of it undoubtedly stems from their interpretation of their faith, but to simply state that's a Muslim vs Christian thing doesn't seem accurate to me. .

I'm saying that the difference in cultures in as much the cause for the violence, if not more so, than the difference in religion.

That's not even close to what I said, but if that's an easier way for you to look at it, then by all means.

You can think whatever you want, but anyone who believes that anything as fluid as climate science is even close to being settled is the one who has their head in the sand, and are proving nothing more than they don't know %$#@ about science.

Any data that I've ever seen can't be scientifically analyzed without establishing a benchmark, and I have yet to see any climate science that uses a common, consistent benchmark that makes any sense at all. Not only that, but the analysis itself is too laden with presumption.

I don't doubt for a second that it's true, but I think I need to point out that the problem is as much a cultural one as it is a religious one, if not more so. Western culture allows for the open practice of religion within a primarily secular society, which is completely different than it is in many middle eastern countries where religious doctrine forms the basis for their societal structure. While people in the US and Europe are comparatively open-minded and tolerant of cultural differences, they're not nearly so. I don't have the ability to explain my point as well as I'd like, but I think that despite the fact that the refugees in Germany are being said to target Christians, what they're attacking is as much 'westernism' as it is people of a differing faith.

That could be a significant warning to anyone holding stocks in Aquanet.

I've heard quite a bit of blowback against the notion of our taking a closer look at the Syrian refugees we're talking about bringing here, not to mention the ones already settled here recently. Have you not?

This was interesting: Refugee camp translator reveals how German migrants ‘despise’ Christians and want to ‘Islamise’ the country https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2206253/refugee-camp-translator-german-migrants-despise-christians-islamise-country/ But it's racist to make sure any refugees coming here are thoroughly vetted, right?

I'd be inclined to attribute the spike in atmospheric ammonia to Eskimos writing their names in the snow, so the science is obviously not settled.

I thought it was pretty cool that Elon Musk played himself on the show last night, and got a kick out of his automatic door not opening after hosting a tour of all his sophisticated research at SpaceX.