It seems that everything is in flux.
https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.politico.eu/article/finlands-government-collapses-over-failed-health-care-reform/amp/
I don't think most knowledgeable folks would consider a tour of duty with the US military the same as "living in Europe" except geographically, even living off base. Immersion with the public, the culture, daily life, living with locals and speaking the language fairly fluently are essential. Better still having some good local friends or relatives. Of course being stationed somewhere in Germany or Italy does permit a much better appreciation of the difference in culture, etc. than a two week tour.
CMStPnPAmericans like to romanticize and take a Walt Disney tourist view of Europe a lot of times which is just not reality. You really need to live there over a year and experience the ins and outs as an earlier poster stated. Repeated tourist trips really are not what I call culturally immersive. Had this same argument in the Next Door App among some of my neighbors, guess what? The folks that lived in Europe for a few years generally agreed with me.
So a question - have you ever lived in Europe?
It's been fun. But it isn't much fun anymore. Signing off for now.
The opinions expressed here represent my own and not those of my employer, any other railroad, company, or person.t fun any
He finally does something worthwhile
SD70Dudeis very different than the democratic socialism being promoted by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, etc. Their vision is more in line with what is currently found in certain northern European countries, and only a ignorant, bigoted fool would argue that they are not free.
OK, so the problem there is not the bigoted fool, it's in Bernie's AOC's use of the phrase "socialist countries". As each PM of Sweden, Norway, Denmark, etc has stated to the press. They are not "socialist" countries and they get a little irritated when characterized as such publicly. As for the United States attempting to cherry pick from them. Your going to find quickly that you have to take items as a package and there is not an ala carte menu. For example, expanded health care cannot be achieved without rationing of health care and much higher income taxation and the weathy can fly to a medical system of their choice they are not stuck in their country of birth........so it is not exactly a classless medical system either.
Their system of Police is funded and operated Federally not locally and definitely Americans are not ready for that change or for tripling the length of your average Police Academy.......that comes with a steep price tag as well. Some individual liberties are lost of course. The list goes on further of course.
Americans like to romanticize and take a Walt Disney tourist view of Europe a lot of times which is just not reality. You really need to live there over a year and experience the ins and outs as an earlier poster stated. Repeated tourist trips really are not what I call culturally immersive. Had this same argument in the Next Door App among some of my neighbors, guess what? The folks that lived in Europe for a few years generally agreed with me.
There are parts of Florence, Italy much worse than Detroit as far as drug use and discarded needles and other unsanitary items found on the ground. Most tourists stay on a path and would never see this though. Then there is the Reeperbahn in Hamburg. Most Americans would never tolerate that.
charlie hebdoIn any case you probably wouldn't be very happy in Canada either, with all those "socialist" programs.
Probably not.
If I had my way, give me a nice boat to live my life out aboard on the Great Lakes near the shipping lanes and within sight of train tracks on land.
You all can have the land.
On a less serious note, most of these rightists (not conservatives at all) probably only crawled out from under their rocks 4-5 years ago.
SD70Dude Gramp A friend of mine whose family owned and operated a family farm in East Germany (German Democratic Republic, lol) had their farmland and all their equipment confiscated by the authorities in 1949-50. Left them with no livelihood. When he reached age 18, he was to be conscripted into the military "to fight West Germany". He figured out a way to escape to West Germany. Once there, he was told he had to join the West German military to fight East Germans. He emigrated to the US. He loves the US, and has had an enriching life here. Emphatically said he would never go back to Germany. I asked him how does one get through to the socialism-minded here what the reality is? He told me, "forget them. You won't get through to them. They are fools." I know I'm talking to a brick wall here, but a wannabe-communist dictatorship (as found behind the Iron Curtain, and still found in North Korea) is very different than the democratic socialism being promoted by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, etc. Their vision is more in line with what is currently found in certain northern European countries, and only a ignorant, bigoted fool would argue that they are not free. Military conscription and mandatory service is not limited to communist nations, the U.S. and Canada have had it in the past and Israel still does. Modern Canada would be considered a socialist nation if measured by the standards of the American political right, as we have universal health care, easy access to abortion, and a comparitively progressive tax system (though all three of those need improvement up here). And yet it is your NSA who will track me down after I type this.
Gramp A friend of mine whose family owned and operated a family farm in East Germany (German Democratic Republic, lol) had their farmland and all their equipment confiscated by the authorities in 1949-50. Left them with no livelihood. When he reached age 18, he was to be conscripted into the military "to fight West Germany". He figured out a way to escape to West Germany. Once there, he was told he had to join the West German military to fight East Germans. He emigrated to the US. He loves the US, and has had an enriching life here. Emphatically said he would never go back to Germany. I asked him how does one get through to the socialism-minded here what the reality is? He told me, "forget them. You won't get through to them. They are fools."
A friend of mine whose family owned and operated a family farm in East Germany (German Democratic Republic, lol) had their farmland and all their equipment confiscated by the authorities in 1949-50. Left them with no livelihood. When he reached age 18, he was to be conscripted into the military "to fight West Germany". He figured out a way to escape to West Germany. Once there, he was told he had to join the West German military to fight East Germans. He emigrated to the US. He loves the US, and has had an enriching life here. Emphatically said he would never go back to Germany. I asked him how does one get through to the socialism-minded here what the reality is? He told me, "forget them. You won't get through to them. They are fools."
I know I'm talking to a brick wall here, but a wannabe-communist dictatorship (as found behind the Iron Curtain, and still found in North Korea) is very different than the democratic socialism being promoted by Sanders, Ocasio-Cortez, etc. Their vision is more in line with what is currently found in certain northern European countries, and only a ignorant, bigoted fool would argue that they are not free.
Military conscription and mandatory service is not limited to communist nations, the U.S. and Canada have had it in the past and Israel still does.
Modern Canada would be considered a socialist nation if measured by the standards of the American political right, as we have universal health care, easy access to abortion, and a comparitively progressive tax system (though all three of those need improvement up here).
And yet it is your NSA who will track me down after I type this.
lol, you're apparently not listening to the Dear Leader. Don't you know the NSA is part of the Deep State bent on overthrowing Trump?
On a more serious note, I can guarantee you that most of these so-called conservatives who think Europe is a bunch of commie pinkos have never spent any substantial time outside their own time zone.
Leo_Ames charlie hebdo Perhaps those rural malcontents in NY should emigrate, if any nation would take them. As a fellow upstate New Yorker, why should we? It's our state, our land, and our heritage too. We're not here on this Earth just to serve the Albany and New York City area.
charlie hebdo Perhaps those rural malcontents in NY should emigrate, if any nation would take them.
As a fellow upstate New Yorker, why should we? It's our state, our land, and our heritage too. We're not here on this Earth just to serve the Albany and New York City area.
It was a facetious statement. In any case you probably wouldn't be very happy in Canada either, with all those "socialist" programs.
zugmann alphas Wolf might have grown up in the York area (which is not a small town but also not a big city) but his political mentor was governor Rendel, former mayor of Philadelphia, who he served as his Budget Secretary. His actions as governor reflect that. He has gotten far more liberal since he was elected for a second term against a weak republican candidate who couldn't come close to his spending level in 2018--but it was surprised Wolf won by only 3% in what was a very good year for the Democrats. Rendel saw to it that the Philly machine came through for him in a big way and that's what saved him. Wolf like Como sent positive testing residents back from the hospitals to the nursing homes resulting in a large share of the fatalities but the state's news media barely mentioned it if at all. He also clamped down hard on many of the counties where there never was that much of a problem. He isn't that well liked in much of the state but Philadelphia anymore determines the elections since the Dem machine there is turning out unbelievable large amounts of voters for all elections. And many do find it unbelieveable since the city has been averaging 110%-120% of registered voters in various precincts since the 2008 elections, many of whom record zero or only a couple of Republican votes. Plus Philly has a long history of voter fraud dating back for years--biggest being the 1960 election when the city working with the mob fradulantly secured JFK's victory in PA, which along with the same combination in Chicago allowed him to become president. Yeah, that's a load of crap. For starters - Wolf had a clsoe to a 18% margin of victory. The rest is just the typical boogey-man under the bed crap that gets spread around.
alphas Wolf might have grown up in the York area (which is not a small town but also not a big city) but his political mentor was governor Rendel, former mayor of Philadelphia, who he served as his Budget Secretary. His actions as governor reflect that. He has gotten far more liberal since he was elected for a second term against a weak republican candidate who couldn't come close to his spending level in 2018--but it was surprised Wolf won by only 3% in what was a very good year for the Democrats. Rendel saw to it that the Philly machine came through for him in a big way and that's what saved him. Wolf like Como sent positive testing residents back from the hospitals to the nursing homes resulting in a large share of the fatalities but the state's news media barely mentioned it if at all. He also clamped down hard on many of the counties where there never was that much of a problem. He isn't that well liked in much of the state but Philadelphia anymore determines the elections since the Dem machine there is turning out unbelievable large amounts of voters for all elections. And many do find it unbelieveable since the city has been averaging 110%-120% of registered voters in various precincts since the 2008 elections, many of whom record zero or only a couple of Republican votes. Plus Philly has a long history of voter fraud dating back for years--biggest being the 1960 election when the city working with the mob fradulantly secured JFK's victory in PA, which along with the same combination in Chicago allowed him to become president.
Yeah, that's a load of crap. For starters - Wolf had a clsoe to a 18% margin of victory. The rest is just the typical boogey-man under the bed crap that gets spread around.
I thought the Mob killed JFK, and his brother.
Not sure what to say about all the rest of that nonsense.
Greetings from Alberta
-an Articulate Malcontent
charlie hebdoPerhaps those rural malcontents in NY should emigrate, if any nation would take them.
alphasWolf might have grown up in the York area (which is not a small town but also not a big city) but his political mentor was governor Rendel, former mayor of Philadelphia, who he served as his Budget Secretary. His actions as governor reflect that. He has gotten far more liberal since he was elected for a second term against a weak republican candidate who couldn't come close to his spending level in 2018--but it was surprised Wolf won by only 3% in what was a very good year for the Democrats. Rendel saw to it that the Philly machine came through for him in a big way and that's what saved him. Wolf like Como sent positive testing residents back from the hospitals to the nursing homes resulting in a large share of the fatalities but the state's news media barely mentioned it if at all. He also clamped down hard on many of the counties where there never was that much of a problem. He isn't that well liked in much of the state but Philadelphia anymore determines the elections since the Dem machine there is turning out unbelievable large amounts of voters for all elections. And many do find it unbelieveable since the city has been averaging 110%-120% of registered voters in various precincts since the 2008 elections, many of whom record zero or only a couple of Republican votes. Plus Philly has a long history of voter fraud dating back for years--biggest being the 1960 election when the city working with the mob fradulantly secured JFK's victory in PA, which along with the same combination in Chicago allowed him to become president.
Quote from Charlie: "Subsidizing rail in a heavily populated region is a lot cheaper than taking land from individuals and building more highways."
I agree. But that in no way contradicts my main point.
What you are saying is that good reasons for being unfasir are possible.
Overmod charlie hebdo Ironic that all those "component [Soviet] Socialist Republics masquerading as independent nations" have been mostly independent nations for many years. Once they weren't little rubber stamps for Stalin any more... there was an anusing political cartoon at the time showing the 'effect' on a General Assembly packed with identical little Stalin faces. The fun part of that was how the United States policy in the containment years was sooooo enthusiastic about the idea of the different republics 'seceding' from the 'Union' as a good thing. The other side of the coin is, now that so many of the republics are independent states, to what extent are they rubber stanps for Putin? I think not very many...
charlie hebdo Ironic that all those "component [Soviet] Socialist Republics masquerading as independent nations" have been mostly independent nations for many years.
Once they weren't little rubber stamps for Stalin any more... there was an anusing political cartoon at the time showing the 'effect' on a General Assembly packed with identical little Stalin faces.
The fun part of that was how the United States policy in the containment years was sooooo enthusiastic about the idea of the different republics 'seceding' from the 'Union' as a good thing.
The other side of the coin is, now that so many of the republics are independent states, to what extent are they rubber stanps for Putin? I think not very many...
Belarus, Moldova, Latvia, Estonia, Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, Turkmenistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, and even Ukraine. If Russia wants to maintian its staus quo in Eastern Europe and South Central Asia.. The buffer states are going to remain "rubber stamps". As long as Putin's in power he will make sure this doesn't change. As will his sucessor..
daveklepper If you believe that all voters should count equally in all cases of representation and that Alaska should have far fewer Senators than New York and California than you must support subsidies for long distance trains. Because although the actual subsidy per mile or per triip for the corridor rider is far less than the long distance rider, the very fact fhat the long distance rider used the train only twice a year, while the corridor rider between 50 and 500 times a year, the 50 as a regular business traveler and the 250 as a daily commuter, means the subsidy for the corridor rider is actually much greater. Both are citizens and both should get the subsidy they require. But perhaps the Senate and the Electoral College should remain as is? The USA needs its agraculture and forestry. As much as it needs the intellectual and physical products of the urban areas ---even when the vast majority of the population live in the urban areas. The present system can protect the interests of the rural population.
If you believe that all voters should count equally in all cases of representation and that Alaska should have far fewer Senators than New York and California than you must support subsidies for long distance trains.
Because although the actual subsidy per mile or per triip for the corridor rider is far less than the long distance rider, the very fact fhat the long distance rider used the train only twice a year, while the corridor rider between 50 and 500 times a year, the 50 as a regular business traveler and the 250 as a daily commuter, means the subsidy for the corridor rider is actually much greater.
Both are citizens and both should get the subsidy they require.
But perhaps the Senate and the Electoral College should remain as is?
The USA needs its agraculture and forestry. As much as it needs the intellectual and physical products of the urban areas ---even when the vast majority of the population live in the urban areas. The present system can protect the interests of the rural population.
Apples and oranges. Subsidies are not people or voters.
Subsidizing rail in a heavily populated region is a lot cheaper than taking land from individuals and building more highways.
Alphas: As expected you turn a non-political discussion about our system into a purely partisan political one, throwing around GOP myths like nickles.
[quote user="charlie hebdo"]
CT, NY and CA governors are all suburban-urban. PA governor Wolf grew up around York (small town). I imagine very few governors grew up in truly rural areas.
Wolf might have grown up in the York area (which is not a small town but also not a big city) but his political mentor was governor Rendel, former mayor of Philadelphia, who he served as his Budget Secretary. His actions as governor reflect that. He has gotten far more liberal since he was elected for a second term against a weak republican candidate who couldn't come close to his spending level in 2018--but it was surprised Wolf won by only 3% in what was a very good year for the Democrats. Rendel saw to it that the Philly machine came through for him in a big way and that's what saved him.
Wolf like Como sent positive testing residents back from the hospitals to the nursing homes resulting in a large share of the fatalities but the state's news media barely mentioned it if at all. He also clamped down hard on many of the counties where there never was that much of a problem.
He isn't that well liked in much of the state but Philadelphia anymore determines the elections since the Dem machine there is turning out unbelievable large amounts of voters for all elections. And many do find it unbelieveable since the city has been averaging 110%-120% of registered voters in various precincts since the 2008 elections, many of whom record zero or only a couple of Republican votes. Plus Philly has a long history of voter fraud dating back for years--biggest being the 1960 election when the city working with the mob fradulantly secured JFK's victory in PA, which along with the same combination in Chicago allowed him to become president.
charlie hebdoMaybe Georgia and Moldavia pending tinkering by the Kremlin.
Maybe Georgia and Moldavia pending tinkering by the Kremlin.
charlie hebdoIronic that all those "component [Soviet] Socialist Republics masquerading as independent nations" have been mostly independent nations for many years.
Ironic that all those "component [Soviet] Socialist Republics masquerading as independent nations" have been mostly independent nations for many years.
The formal elimination of the Texas right to succession is found, succinctly worded, in the March 15, 1866 ordinance declaring their Ordinance of Secession null and void.
Interestingly, the act for the readmission to Congress says nothing about abrogation of the right to succession. The Constitution, even as amended to date, says nothing about the right to leave the Union once admitted to it; although the states have to ratify a voluntary request for admission to the Union, do they necessarily have to ratify a request to leave it? That's not how any institution requiring a vote of members for admission has worked in my experience... if you choose to quit, you can do so alone.
The issue in Texas is the right to subdivide into four further regions, and as long as Texas v. White is precedent, that arrangement, squirrelly as it may be, remains in force. It reminds me amusingly of Stalin's attempt to 'pack' the United Nations with all the little component 'socialist republics' masquerading as independent nations. There are questions, though: are new subdivided states considered 'grandfathered' with respect to Constitutional provisions applying to 'new states', and are the new states bound to remain in the Union once the Texas Constitution that prohibits secession no longer applies to them? ...
Boy is this far from the topic. Seperatism isn't just confined to this sort of thing. Quebec has been another example for a long time.
The governers of CA, CT, PA, NY, etc., primarily from farm-country or urban-and suburb?
SD70Dude tree68 Heck, a good many residents of this area relate more to Canada than to NYC. If we build a wall to keep you out, will you pay for it?
tree68 Heck, a good many residents of this area relate more to Canada than to NYC.
Heck, a good many residents of this area relate more to Canada than to NYC.
If we build a wall to keep you out, will you pay for it?
Perhaps those rural malcontents in NY should emigrate, if any nation would take them.
When a TX delegation was readmitted to Congress, a condition was the elimination of its right to secession, as I recall.
IIRC, only Texas (the Lone Star state) can legally secede from the Union. It can also break up into up to six states. Meanwhile, the pandemic has supposedly accelerated e-commerce trends 10 years. Lots of change in commercial real estate to come I imagine.
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