Comments by mark94 (page 14)

North Rim of the Grand Canyon would be a nice day trip, if you’ve never seen it. Avoid the airplane tours unless you have a lot of life insurance.

One of the reasons we have inflation is all the “free” stuff provided by the government. It’s actually not free but the people who pay for it are different than the people who benefit. Imagine there were a grocery store where the person standing behind you would pay for your groceries. You’d fill your cart with steak and lobster. That’s our health care system. Medicare. Medicaid. No wonder we have the highest cost health care in the world.

One table shows spending/GDP. The other debt/GDP. These are different things only partially correlated. The first table about spending was chosen to support my contention that government has grown dramatically. The second table about debt was used in response to your unrelated statement about debt after the civil war.

“I believe after the civil war was the highest debt to gdp ratio we’ve had” Not according to this: https://www.fraserinstitute.org/blogs/wartime-presidents-added-most-to-us-federal-debt-to-gdp-ratio

Why did government spending grow AFTER the Civil War ? Well, lots of reasons but I think it was mostly because spending expanded during the war and was allowed to continue after the War. Once established, government programs never die. Never let a crisis go to waste. https://fee.org/articles/the-economic-costs-of-the-civil-war/

Federalism works: “New York state is reeling from a COVID-era exodus to low-tax locales as revenue during this fiscal year is down nearly 20%, according to a report. New York and California saw the steepest drops in tax-generated revenue this fiscal year while Florida and Texas saw their coffers fill up thanks to a pandemic-fueled migration.”

Here’s an interesting historical table of federal government spending as a percent of GDP. It tells a tale of how government has gotten more involved in all our lives. From 3% in the 1930s to 25% in recent years. https://www.whitehouse.gov/wp-content/uploads/2023/03/hist01z2_fy2024.xlsx

In London, environmental protesters have disrupted the gay pride parade because of corporate sponsors. Hilarious.

Why do gay men keep asking Christian bakers to bake wedding cakes ? I’m guessing there are a few gay bakers out there who would like the business.

“what is the check on the power of the court” 1. Naming new Justices/Judges 2. Impeachment 3. Legislation 4. Amendments to the Constitution

The majority of spending done by the federal government is income redistribution. Taking money from one group of people and giving it to another. Medicare. Medicaid. Social Security. Welfare. None of this is specified as a power allotted to the federal government under the Constitution. The States could each choose to redistribute as they see fit, but not the federal government. The money used for these benefits doesn’t magically appear. It comes out of the pockets of other people. Some would call that theft. This system of redistribution is the mechanism by which Congressmen and Senators become multi millionaires while in office as “ public servants”. Every time they pass legislation to reward a group of people, or corporations, they find a way to get rewarded by those who benefit.

Our society is based on the rule of law. The Constitution explains the framework for our law and Federalism is the key component. Federalism says that the federal government has very limited and specific powers. These include foreign affairs, resolving issues between States, and assuring individual rights listed in the Constitution were followed, but not much else. Most governmental powers are reserved for the States. The intent was to allow the people of each State to decide how they would be governed. Citizens would be free to live in whatever State they preferred. Unfortunately, the federal government found ways to take on more and more power not allowed in the constitution. And, the power centralized in Washington resulted in just the sort of corruption the Founders were trying to prevent. That’s where we find ourselves today.

Our system of checks and balances is primarily intended to prevent the President from acting like a King. Congress controls the purse strings. The Supreme Court assures that Congress and the President adhere to the Constitution. By dividing power in this way, it is more likely the government will act in ways that reflect the will of the people. Since FDR, the Court has too often allowed Congress and the President to take on powers not enumerated in the Consitution. In fact, in cases like Roe, the Court has acted more like a legislature than a court. These 3 cases help move us back to a proper system of checks and balances as wisely intended by the founders.

Among the business strategies that work: - Having the highest quality at a premium price - Providing the best value for the dollar - Meeting a specialized need Any business can succeed if they do a great job with one of these strategies. Most airlines have tried to serve both the premium market and the low cost market. As a result, they don’t serve either market very well.

While I would support decriminalizing drug use at a federal level, I would also support employers right to drug test, conditioning welfare benefits on drug testing, and strongly enforcing DUI laws for all substances.

I was referring to the Constitution when I said a foundation of our country is personal freedom. As someone who leans libertarian, I’d support an end to criminal penalties for personal use. The severe drug laws can be traced back to Joe Biden when he was a Senator. It’s another example of government going beyond the powers enumerated in the Constitution. Under the concept of Federalism, drug laws should be the purview of State government. Each State could, and should, decide the criminality of drugs. Citizens could then decide in which State they want to reside. The laboratory of democracy. That’s the same way abortion law is being handled in a post Roe world.

There are two basic concepts that underly our constitution. 1. We have freedom to do whatever we want as long as it doesn’t harm another person. 2. The government’s power is limited to those powers specifically granted under the constitution. The three rulings are consistent with these principles.

Now that Twitter allows all viewpoints, I find it useful and entertaining. The trick is to set it up to follow the right people. Starting tomorrow, Trump is no longer required to stay off Twitter under his contract with Truth Social. Will he return to Twitter ? I hope so.

IMO, all three of these rulings correctly interpreted the law. If someone doesn’t agree, they need to get Congress to pass a law. The mainstream media is responding with the normal emotional accusations. The Supreme Court is racist, homophobe, and doesn’t care about college students ! Those on the left think the court’s job is to rule in favor of Democrat policies, without considering the law.

The airline industry might be the least profitable industry in history. Successful strippers understand the concept of customer service and repeat business.

Doing the math on “ how much do strippers make” often ignores that very, very few strippers work 40+ hours a week, 50 weeks a year. A more typical schedule might be 4 hours, 3 times a week. The few strippers I’ve known who work 40-60 hours a week were foreigners who were trying to bank as much as they could before returning home. It wouldn’t surprise me if their income was well into 6 figures. Enough money to start a small business in the Philippines or Eastern Europe.

I was in Spain years ago. A Spanish Civil Guard pointed his machine gun at my head. Suddenly, my two years of high school Spanish came back to me.

I have a few problems with the Cuban dancers I’ve encountered - Most are significantly overweight - Limited English - More likely to have nasty personalities - Demand money they didn’t earn Anyway, that’s my experience

^ So, I’m assuming it won’t list the top 100 blowjobs.

I’d rather ask AI to search social media for the 100 hottest women in Arizona.