Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa

[Alan Klein]

Now wouldn't that be interesting?  What goes around comes around.

Senate Republican threatens impeachments of past Democratic presidents
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/23/senate-republican-john-cornyn-impeachment-trump-past-democratic-presidents

[kers]

Now wouldn't that be interesting?  What goes around comes around.

Senate Republican threatens impeachments of past Democratic presidents
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2021/jan/23/senate-republican-john-cornyn-impeachment-trump-past-democratic-presidents

They have a point if Jimmy Carter and his followers will storm the Capitol.

But maybe they should focus on what country they want the US to be in the coming years and how to achieve that.

[Alan Klein]

Biden continues Trump's show-of-force policy over Taiwan.  Good for him. Our other friends in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere in the western Pacific must be breathing a sigh of relief. Even past enemies like VietNam must be happy. Of course, we can't afford it.  But that's another story.

The U.S. reaffirms Taiwan support after China sends warplanes
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/taiwan-china-warplanes-461774

[Alan Klein]

They have a point if Jimmy Carter and his followers will storm the Capitol.

But maybe they should focus on what country they want the US to be in the coming years and how to achieve that.

I agree.  That's why the impeachment of Trump is silly and hurts the country.  The Democrats should be focusing on problems too, not playing silly political games like the Trump impeachment.  It seems like they can't let go, like an ex-wife who keeps you up at night. 

[faberryman]

Biden continues Trump's show-of-force policy over Taiwan.  Good for him. Our other friends in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere in the western Pacific must be breathing a sigh of relief. Even past enemies like VietNam must be happy. Of course, we can't afford it.  But that's another story.

The U.S. reaffirms Taiwan support after China sends warplanes
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/taiwan-china-warplanes-461774

Why should we be worried about Taiwan? It's not our problem. We should let them settle their own disputes. I thought that was your rationale for not supporting the Kurds.

While we are at it, let's not interfere with China taking and/or keeping those South China Sea islands. What do we care? Hawaii is bad enough. We could save a lot of gas our military boats are wasting "patrolling" over there. Then we wouldn't need to import oil from the Canada tar sands and build the Keystone XL pipeline. It's a win-win.

[Robert Roaldi]

Oh, I forgot to mention.  If the government didn't have all these student loans, tuition at your college wouldn't have been $20K but much less.  It's the "free" loans that are driving up the cost of college.

Is this a new low in incoherence?

[Robert Roaldi]

I agree.  That's why the impeachment of Trump is silly and hurts the country.  The Democrats should be focusing on problems too, not playing silly political games like the Trump impeachment.  It seems like they can't let go, like an ex-wife who keeps you up at night. 

Is that why they wanted to lock Hilary up?

[faberryman]

But, there are plenty of state universities where the cost is offset by state government.  There are also smaller private colleges that have reasonable tuition.

How come those colleges didn't jack up their tuition to take advantage of all the free federal student loan money? Why would you want to go to a college so dumb it didn't jack up its tuition too? Speaking of dumb, I guess those colleges get bottom of the barrel professors who couldn't compete for the higher paying jobs at the higher tuition colleges. I bet the food is lousy too.

[Jeremy Roussak]

Is this a new low in incoherence?

That's an amusing thought, but no, it's not even close.

Jeremy

[faberryman]

I agree.  That's why the impeachment of Trump is silly and hurts the country.  The Democrats should be focusing on problems too, not playing silly political games like the Trump impeachment.

Well, if Trump hadn't played the silly incitement to insurrection political game, the Democrats wouldn't have to play the silly impeachment political game. It's Trump's fault, not the Democrats'.  You need to think these things through a little better.

It seems like they can't let go, like an ex-wife who keeps you up at night. 

Sort of like not being able to let go of Hillary stealing the White House china. Speaking of china, old Melania lollygagged around and waited until the last minute and now there won't be any Trump White House china. That's not necessarily a bad thing. It probably would have been pretty tacky. It might even have had Trump's picture or a giant "T" on it.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/there-will-be-no-trump-china-collection-due-to-cost-and-time-source-says/ar-BB1cXJKM?ocid=uxbndlbing

Did you know that Trump commissioned a Trump coat of arms when he bought Mar-A-Lago? It is a duplicate of some other guy's coat of arms but instead of the Latin word for "integrity", Trump substituted the word "Trump". How fitting. Thank God that doesn't appear on any White House china. We really dodged a bullet there.

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-mar-a-lago-crest-a-scam-new-york-times-finds_n_592c6f40e4b053f2d2ad7e75

[Chris Kern]

If the stormers of the Capitol who were arrested end up convicted, will that remove their right to own guns?

It depends on the specific statute(s) they are convicted of violating and the state of their residence.  Gun licensing requirements and restrictions for the most part are within the jurisdiction of the individual states.  Typically, persons convicted of felonies will not be permitted to possess firearms for a specified number of years.

[TechTalk]

Biden continues Trump's show-of-force policy over Taiwan.  Good for him. Our other friends in Australia, Japan, South Korea, and elsewhere in the western Pacific must be breathing a sigh of relief. Even past enemies like VietNam must be happy. Of course, we can't afford it.  But that's another story.

The U.S. reaffirms Taiwan support after China sends warplanes
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/01/24/taiwan-china-warplanes-461774

There is no "Trump's show-of-force policy over Taiwan" for Biden to continue. What are you talking about? What is it we can't afford?

[faberryman]

In the old days, people used to save for things they wanted.

I guess you saved up and paid cash for your first house.

Did you save up and pay cash for your college degree? In the old days, a lot of people relied on Stafford Loans which were student loans direct from the federal government like what we have today. That program began in 1965. Student loans from the federal government aren't exactly a new thing. The amount of student loans of course has increased because the population has increased as has the number of students pursuing college and graduate degrees.

[chez]

I agree.  That's why the impeachment of Trump is silly and hurts the country.  The Democrats should be focusing on problems too, not playing silly political games like the Trump impeachment.  It seems like they can't let go, like an ex-wife who keeps you up at night. 

Trump coaxed on something that turned ugly and had potential to be really ugly. I believe in if you do the crime...you must do the time. Why should Trump get a free pass for his part in trying to overrun the capital?

[Alan Klein]

Trump coaxed on something that turned ugly and had potential to be really ugly. I believe in if you do the crime...you must do the time. Why should Trump get a free pass for his part in trying to overrun the capital?

He encouraged his supporters to protest at the capital, perfectly legal.  He didn't tell them to invade it.  They got carried away and should be punished for any laws they violated. 

You've been going after Trump for five years, crying wolf all the way.  Just more of the same.  First he was a traitor conspiring with Russians, all phoney and unproven by Mueller.  It went on and on.  It finished with the first impeachment.  Who even remembers what the charges were?  You can't let it go. You still want to punish him for beating Hillary. Time to move on and address the country's issues.  Or are you so worried about Trump coming back in four years?

[faberryman]

Of course, you can't pay for college working as a caddy during the summer.

Do they even have caddies any more? My dad preferred a caddy to a cart but that was sometime in the Dark Ages. I don't think I have seen caddies at a golf course in 40-50 years. I have always preferred to carry my own clubs. I hate carts. The only downside to carrying your own clubs is you can't have one of those gigantic golf bags. Some people think that having a gigantic golf bag means you are a better golfer. I mean all the pros have gigantic golf bags so that must be true. The good thing is, with free federal student loans, you can borrow enough to pay your tuition, room, and board, and still have enough left over to buy a gigantic golf bag and pay cart rentals. Greens fees too.

Do you know what surprises me? Trump actually drives his own golf cart. I would have thought he would have a chauffer. A real man of the people. Not really; he probably just doesn't want anyone to see him kick his ball from behind a tree back into the fairway.

[John Camp]

In the old days, people used to save for things they wanted.  Plus most kids have parents to help them out.  In Hollywood, the parents there even pay for smart kids not their own to take SAT tests for their kids.   

Of course, you can't pay for college working as a caddy during the summer.  But that helps out.  In any case, in NYS, it's around $11000 a year for a state university. That's not much more than it costs for a small car lease per year plus the cost to run it.  If you really want to get a college degree, give up the car.  The problem is kids borrow money for tuition, room and board, AND to lease a car to get around.  So they go hugely into debt at the taxpayer's expense. They and their parents should save up for their kid's education.  The government even has a tax exempt program where you can save tax-free for your child's college education.  Their kid isn't my problem.  I've got enough problems with my own.

Actually, SUNY tuition is around $8,500, but the university website estimates that total costs (you gotta eat) at a SUNY campus will be about $21,000, slightly higher than my midwestern school now estimates.

https://www.suny.edu/media/suny/content-assets/documents/financial-aid/suny_financial_aid.pdf


Grammar question. Would it be "a SUNY campus" (Soonee) or "an SUNY campus" (S-U-N-Y)?

[Robert Roaldi]

Grammar question. Would it be "a SUNY campus" (Soonee) or "an SUNY campus" (S-U-N-Y)?

My inclination would be "a".

This https://owl.purdue.edu/owl/general_writing/grammar/articles_a_versus_an.html is basically the guideline we followed on my last job. I suppose that if "SUNY" were regularly spoken this way "ess you enn why" then you could argue that the leading S sounds like "ess", which is more vowel-like than consonant-like, so "an" might sound better. I don't find that convincing, but if everyone said it that way, then that's the way it would be.

[faberryman]

He encouraged his supporters to protest at the capital, perfectly legal.  He didn't tell them to invade it.  They got carried away and should be punished for any laws they violated.

I think Trump ought to be impeached for lying to his supporters. He said he was going to go down to the Capitol with them. Instead, he took a limo back to the White House to watch the riot on TV. If he had gone down to the Capitol with them like he said he would, he could have stopped them from misunderstanding him when he said they had to fight, and instead the rioters would have just sung Kumbaya as he intended. The problem is his supporters are all morons, and took what he said literally. Really, don't you think the riot looked a lot like an episode of Duck Dynasty. Can you see any of those guys down at Mar-A-Lago sipping champagne and eating canapes? They are not exactly polite company, if you know what I mean. Besides, unless they took out one of those free federal student loans, they would never be able to afford the initiation fee.

[Robert Roaldi]

He encouraged his supporters to protest at the capital, perfectly legal.  He didn't tell them to invade it.  They got carried away and should be punished for any laws they violated. 

McConnell seems to disagree with you, as do others.