Comments by Josh43 (page 2)

@shark: where do find this amazing shit? My hunch is that the Walton family is preparing for Armageddon --the possibility that we elect Bernie or Liz to take out the top oligarchs.

I love basketball and Kareem is probably my favorites of all time. He’s also a thoughtful, intelligent, guy into writing, charity, and politics. Hope he does okay. I remember that he was always into yoga and fitness—but cholesterol levels and heart disease have a huge genetic component (for some it doesn't matter how much discipline they put into their diet).

“The group says it raised $30,000 last year to hire an attorney and file the lawsuit.” With a mammoth budget like that, how could they possibly fail? *sarcasm* "Social science clearly demonstrates that the criminalization of prostitution puts sex workers at risk of abuse because it discourages them from reaching out to law enforcement," Maybe, but what effect does legalization have on trafficking? Criminalization of prostitution in Sweden brought the level of trafficking down. When you bring trafficking into the equation it becomes a pretty complicated issue with no clear answers.

Gawker wrote: "I'd rather Reich ran." It must be hard for a talented guy like Reich to be trapped in a body that's 4' 11". I think it would be impossible for anyone to take him seriously as a leader. And you can bet he never had a real chance with Hillary in the dating pool. GACA wrote: "They are going to try to drag her through the mud. " Someone put it in a nicer way: "Republicans plan a seamless transition of hate from Obama to Hillary." @James: I know that Jeb has the big money right now, but my gut feeling is that Walker or Rubio will take the nomination. In the general election, I *don't* think Hillary is inevitable; it may depend on how well the economy does before the election.

" I love how others seem to have the opinion that only THEIR thoughts are correct, that only THEIR thoughts matter... " ------------------- @Clubber: Thanks for another wonderful sermon, but you should know that your opinions here are protected by the TUSCL Religious Freedom Restoration Act, an executive action signed into law by Founder. We value your ideas no matter how archaic or aberrant. In the real world, your "thoughts" begin to "matter" when your net worth reaches $10B. Even Romney is too poor to have thoughts that matter in modern America. You can thank the Supreme Court.

"And they won't take your soul even if you have no money whatsoever." ------------------------ Not true. Where to you think Dugan got "The System" and unlimited OTC action with strippers. Duh!

So what's your expert opinion on this takeover rumor?

"Reagan's obscenely useless military spending." -------------------------- I absolutely can't get to sleep tonight! Useless? Reagan's military spending might not have had much to do with the fall of the USSR, but the rise in military spending probably provided a much needed stimulus to the U.S. economy during the late 1980s. On a per capita basis, government spending under Reagan was much higher than gov spending under Obama. This always sparks a fiery debate since the Republicans are anti-Keynesian (I.e., government spending is the root of all evil).

" Iran is run by fanatical Muslims" ------------------- @John: Hope you got a chance to sign Tom Cotton's letter to Iran!!! Peace process is for pussies; let's go in and bomb 'em! Seems to me the younger Iranian president Rouhani is far less fanatical than his much older (and perhaps gravely ill) boss, the Supreme Leader. So maybe there's at least some chance that Iran will turn more pro-Western in the future, as the old guard dies out. Still this framework to limit Iran's nuclear program seems like a great deal, with huge concessions, and would slow down their nuclear program for at least a decade.

Sinclair- Take a look at Garrett Epps' article: http://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2015/03/what-makes-indianas-religious-freedom-law-different/388997/

@Meat: I think George Will was credited with making the comment about Apple and Saudi Arabia. Valid point, but Tim Cook has only been CEO since 2011. Perhaps he can bring other changes to Apple without dismantling a 30-yr-old jewel of a multinational. Cook has gone on record that he is giving away nearly all his fortune to charity before he dies. He has a genuine social conscience and I have deep respect for the guy. He's *not* a hypocrite.

Parital list of companies openly critical of "religious freedom act (RFA)" in Indiana: (1) Angies List (2) Anthem (3) Lilly (4) Subaru (5) Dow (6) NCAA ...and the pressure from corporations resulted in Arkansas governor relenting and refusing to sign his state's RFA. So Dougster has it right. All 10 GOP candidates support the RFA in Indiana.

One-by-one the states are lifting their ban on gay marriage. At the same time, about 20 states (all red states) are enacting "religious freedom acts" to stand in the way. The wording of the Indiana law is probably the worst. There's still a long way to go...

Clubber, you sound like Lester Maddox keeping blacks out of his restaurant after the civil rights act.

@SJG: Thanks for a good article. New Republic : "Tiger Mother and The Triple Package are instruction manuals in how to be a rich, arrogant, miserable asshole." LOL! That sounds about right.

Chanting about fucking a dead prostitute is more ludicrous and adolescent than offensive. Certainly less offensive than jokes about killing your wife on a ski trip. When these young women get older, they will realize which battles are worth fighting. Still, what is the university president supposed to do under the situation? Suspending the rugby team activities is a slap on the wrist and diffuses the situation. Seems like a good response. The case of the frat boys over in Oklahoma is far more pernicious. Chanting about hanging n......s from a tree is hate speech and thoroughly repulsive. Two of the kids were expelled from school, which may be a first amendment violation, and I'm just fine with that.

^^^ Most lions are fierce hunters, at the top of the food chain, and would not hesitate to fight it out with an angry mob of wildebeests. However, RickTheLion is more likely to retreat into his lions den and put the attackers on ignore.

+1 for the Oppenheimer reference!

Peewee has a better chance than Liz -- but would like SJG's expert opinion.

I don't understand the list? If you have Christie on the list, why not the other major GOP contenders like Walker, Bush, Paul, and Rubio? Watch out for Rubio -- he may be a dark horse.

I think this kind of hacking is not that uncommon. I know personally of a kid who hacked into his teacher's laptop. The story made the local newspapers and was a huge embarrassment to the parents (who were very wealthy). They hired an attorney and the kid got off, easy. The kid himself went on to an ivy education and became a successful lawyer.

Example of uber nerds working on algorithm to predict overall market swings using Twitter feed (to get a nearly instantaneous read on market psychology). When they succeed, human analysts will be cleaning bedpans: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S187775031100007X

Great title, GACA. Like regulating the nookie is a serious political issue as important as regulating the shadow banking system. Maybe you can organize some sort of petition or formal appeal to get the nookie you deserve.

@4got: I wish Pikey and Che would post more often -- both are interesting dudes. I suspect that Pikey is doing some of this tongue-in-cheek, but I could be wrong. :)

Pikey wrote: " That is an awful lot of internal hostility you have going on there Josh43. Here are the thoughts of another complete waste of time guy for you to dismiss out of hand if you still are harbouring such rage. (Oh and “climate change”? Really? Really? How very passé.): " ---------------------------------------------------------------- This is a late response Pikey since, frankly, I thought you were just some sort of whack job. Didn't realize until your more recent posts that you are a true intellectual force here on TUSCL. I'm truly in awe!!! First off, I don't see why you feel the need to bring two physicists into a thread devoted to Jehovah's Winessess? Are you saying that faith and religion can't stand up on its own? Do you need the credibility of science to justify religion? Do you understand that both Jastrow and Einstein were agnostic? Jastrow wrote whole books trying to find connections between science and religion. If that's your cup of tea, then fine -- I find the whole subject a waste of time. Jastrow didn't have (1/1000) the stature of Einstein, but he was the head at NASA / Goddard and he had a lot of connections in Washington. The fact that he went against nearly every other scientist on climate change was a disgrace. I haven't got a clue why you think climate change is "very passé " since over half the GOP in Congress still thinks the science is bogus. And we've got are first official presidential contender (Ted Cruz) who thinks the whole think is a hoax. Duh! Einstein was probably the second smartest dude to ever walk the Earth. He was not the least bit religious. Here is one of his quotes: "The word God is for me nothing more than the expression and product of human weakness, the Bible a collection of honorable, but still purely primitive, legends which are nevertheless pretty childish. " Here is the original link: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2009/10/word-god-is-product-of-human-weakness.html