UT alum

No, you didn’t get my point. American Enterprise Institute is biased to the right, American Progress to the left. My guess is that the answer is somewhere in the middle. That’s the point of representative democracy. Competing ideas are aired in public and debate and compromise create policy reflected in laws. Ugly names and insults are not conducive to progress in this form of governance.

Since when did we start separating veterans from their children?

Really

Oooh...that’s a hit on your credibility.

I think maybe you got my message.

Sorry, I was referring to the post industrial revolution economy.

Ummm...I think hoboes came to prominence in the Great Depression.

I pay my share of income tax. I prefer MY money go to that than to Don Quixote’s windmills.

Maybe the homeless guy is suffering from mental illness and can’t perform sequential tasks. Maybe a lack of access to basic medical care has diminished his physical abilities. I don’t like it when political rhetoric utilizes straw men to make its point. Homelessness in our country is a far more complex issue than that catchy little story illustrates.

[Hidden Content] Here’s another point of view. I don’t buy the tripe peddled by Koch Brothers (AEI main backers) any more than you do Soros.

First question: I think he was acquitted. No policy is going to keep all the bad ones out. I’m wondering if there’s anything we can do as a nation to make it more difficult for these bad actors to obtain firearms. Think a universal check might catch some? If your answer is that “when guns are outlawed only outlaws will have guns”, I reply that that theory has wound up putting far too many guns on the street for illegal purchase. I support the second amendment, by the way, just not the NRA’s interpretation. Second question, comportment. Look at how Clarence Thomas comported himself during the Anita Hill hearings. He acted like a man of even temper who could take criticism and keep a calm demeanor. Kavanaugh looked like a frat club officer insulted that anyone would question him or the brotherhood. His arrogance disqualified him in my opinion.

Citizens United case turned money into votes. That ain’t good for anyone without that kind of dough, be you liberal or conservative.

Marx and Engels have been dead over 100 years.

I don’t use the racist term lightly, nor do I use it often, and certainly not to delineate political affiliations. I think sometimes prejudice and racism are mistaken for the same thing. Prejudice is a pre-conceived judgement without just grounds or sufficient information . Racism is the idea that race is the primary determinant of human traits and capacities and that racial differences produce an inherent superiority of a particular race. Neither is an attractive trait, but they are not interchangeable terms. In my time, going back to my youth, I have heard many white people proclaim that they were not equal with a black person, but superior. I have never heard a black person claim racial superiority, only an insistence that they were equal, not less than. Black people in my experience are not racist, but deeply prejudiced. There’s a big difference. All prejudiced people are not racist, but all racists are prejudiced.

You spell check, too? Well, check Merriam Webster. It lists my usage of “piece” as a proper way to spell the word in the context used. Sheesh.

Not automatically. Hey, let's lighten up a minute. Did ya'll see where Prince Philip rolled his Toyota Landrover? Ninety-seven, and the guy walked away. The vehicle looked like it took a pretty good beating.

I would believe my son, and tell him to tough it out. I would also believe my daughter and tell her to speak her piece.

What if it was your daughter? Would you lol then?

I don't think that the Senate hearings were allowed enough evidence or testimony to decide if the man's character was suitable for the Supreme Court. It was ugly, no doubt, but you think the accuser should have just been ignored?

So, your idea of negotiation is give your side everything they want or walk away? A bill passed both houses with 1.7 billion in border security funding. Both houses. McConnell didn't know Trump was going to throw him under the bus with a veto. Trump screwed the pooch not realizing the Senate Majority leader is responsible for bringing any bill to vote in the Senate. He's painted himself into a corner, and I can't wait to see how he gets out of it.

Explain how Democrats are doing exact same thing?

But never denied anybody a hearing. You don't hear what I'm saying. I don't recall a Democrat Senate Majority Leader ever announcing on inauguration day that his/her only objective was to make the President a one termer. That is obstructionism prima facie.

Correct me if I'm wrong, but I don't think the Democrats have ever refused to even hear a Republican president's nominee. That was a great disrespect to the presidency, not just President Obama, when they refused to even listen to Garrick Marland whether the vote happened or not.

Merrick Garland