tvc184

  Geez.   Article III Section 1 of the US Constitution says "The judicial power of the United States, shall be vested in one Supreme Court".    Section 2 goes on to say: "The judicial power shall extend to all cases, in law and equity, arising under this Constitution".    So the SCOTUS has the judicial power of the USA. That power shall extend to "all" cases arising under the Constitution.    Cases have come before the SCOTUS regarding your question and under the Constitution, they have rendered verdicts which they have the constitutional authority to make (See Article III, Sections 1, 2).      I can understand when people say they do not like or agree with a ruling. I can say that about Obamacare but the case was presented and a verdict was rendered. If you don't like some decisions, great. When you ask "why deem" if something is "constitutionally correct", read the aforementioned sections.    It is like people only want to read the parts of the Constitution that they like and ignore the sticky parts. 

  Too easy.   The Constitution was around when there was slavery. The Constitution was around when women could not vote. The Constitution was around when the police got confessions without allowing the Fifth or Sixth Amendments and before Miranda came out in 1966 (almost 200 years as a country). The Constitution was around when the police could arrest for "suspicion" and did not have probable cause. The Constitution was around .........   So where do you want me to stop?   Under your premise, there is no longer a need for the Supreme Court because all constitutional issues have been rendered. 

    I hate to weigh in on this again but that argument is invalid and the very reason for our constitution. The majority does not rule if it violates the constitutional rights of another. If the majority votes that the police can search your house without cause or without a warrant, would that simple majority vote invalidate the Fourth Amendment?    I could go on with almost endless examples but the majority does not rule if it is in conflict with the Constitution. 

  As me in 6 weeks.

These nonsensical posts attributed to famous people are almost always false. They are either the words of the person that started the rumor or they are real words of someone else that is falsely linked with another person.    It doesn't matter what Lou Holtz thinks as he may agree with the article but I always stop to think, why would Lou Holtz even make such a political comment? He might answer a question in a sentence or two if asked as a guest on a talk show but why would he sit down and take quite a bit of time to pen such an article? The answer is likely that he wouldn't and neither would most of the other people that such articles are credited to.    I guess attributing such words to Lou Holtz (or Ollie North or Gary Sinise or Stacey Dash or Peyton Manning or.................. ) seems to make it appear to be more valid than giving credit to an actual author such as a little known conservative talk show host like Bob Lonsberry.    [Hidden Content]

  Yes. Maybe I am getting too old but I have never heard of or even contemplated school buses giving kids a ride home in such a way. 

Any time I see a "famous person says" letter, I figure the likelihood is that there is about a 98% chance if it being bogus.

Nonsensical to the extreme. Unfortunately the DA and judge skipped over the part that a 2"x4" is exactly that before it is made nice and oretty by planing. This is more to do with stupid laws than anything else. All lumber has been labeled as the raw wood dimensions since the lumber business began and in all states. This was nothing but a money grab by a (likely liberal) DA. Next we will find out that a 6' extesion cord is actually 6'1" and it will cost a million dollar lawsuit because the cord is too long and someone might not know how to handle that extra inch.

    Standard for KBMT sensationalism. 

  Got to be an opening first.    If the Dems don't do very well in this upcoming election, they may not have the votes to confirm anyone. 

  Yes, after the elections.    November every other year seems to be a great time for action with this administration. 

I am not surprised it happened in Texas.    This was a story from a couple of weeks ago. This had nothing to do with WH other than it was one of their employees. It was beat up on another forum (hunting) where some people called for boycotting them and blah blah blah.   I see these stories from time to time and especially about police officers. Almost every time you find out that it was a rogue employee that didn't like cops or was too stupid to understand rules. In almost every occasion the corporate headquarters stepped in almost immediately (as in this case) and corrected the problem.    If I boycotted every business that has had a stupid employee then I would not be able to eat or buy clothes to wear. That WH probably has a manager (as many of those kinds of places which is why I am not surprised it happened in TX) with a lengthy criminal record and had his chance to strike back but then claimed stupidity (which I tend to agree with).    Assuming a national chain comes out with a stupid rule like on duty police officers have to disarm themselves to enter the property then I can see an issue. Having a stupid employee, while it might be an interesting news story, is not an issue other than to point out how stupid some people really are. 

  Yep. You have to read the entire statement to see the intent and not a single sentence.... which when it happens in the media we call it taking something out of context.    It is not meant for people protesting here even with arms as they have a constitutional right to plea their case in court.  For people that leave this country and become a foreign combatant should be no rights remaining and they have made a de facto statement giving up their citizenship or at least that should be the law. Apparently right now it only applies if they join another "country's" military and not a free lance or mercenary fighter for the same reason. It is a loophole in the law and I think Cruz tried to rectify it. If that was the intent (and I believe it was) then this law should be passed and it really just clarifies current law. 

  Not so fast. If the article is correct (and I read it on more than one website including the Washington Post to see how credible it was) then current law says that if you go to a foreign nation and take up arms against the USA, you have constructively given up your citizenship.    ISIS is not a country but they are rebels trying to be. It appears that by the a stretching of the law, Americans can go fight for ISIS against the USA or against our interests and because ISIS is not a country (yet), the law does not apply. I believe that the intent is to say that if you take up arms against the USA, you lose your citizenship period and not say that it only counts if you take up arms against the USA..... but it has to be attached to some known country.    I don't care if you are Catholics, Muslim, gay or atheist. If you leave this country's borders and join a fighting force against the USA, you should lose your citizenship and I think that is all that the bill is asking.    Under that idea, I am all for it because now it appears that traitors can get around the law by simply saying that ISIS is not a country but in every other aspect, it is the same as if they joined the Syrian or Iranian army. 

    Then let the contract carriers deliver a package as cheap as the postal service and letters for less than 50¢ to every address.    I still do not think it can be done. What happens if you eliminate them next week and half the country can't pay their bills without sending it FedEx at $10 for a letter and you have 12 bills to pay? 

I wonder what "inappropriate" or "relationship" is?   The TX law in such cases is very clear and there has to be a sexual act. The Penal Code is very specific and detailed on what is the crime and having a "relationship" or being "inappropriate" is meaningless. Without a sexual act, it might be and likely is a school rules violation but not a Penal Code crime.    If someone gave false information about the accusation (as defense attorneys are almost obliged to claim) then that person(s) needs to be held accountable. It is nonsense that someone claim such a serious charge and get away with it both criminally and civilly if it isn't true. On the other hand, if the accusations are correct.............    

Please do not use words that need to be disguised by using symbols such as &%@$ as it is against the rules of this forum. Also do not use people's names in unsubstantiated rumors or flame individuals, again against the rules of setxsports.com.    .......... and the Open Meetings Act (Texas Government Code Chapter 551) applies only to governmental bodies such as city councils, school boards, TX legislature etc., and certain private but public boards such as as some homeowner's associations and non-profit groups that receive federal funding. Unless the federal government is funding the STJFL, it does not come under open meetings laws. 

The question in the OP was about private industry operating more efficiently than the USPS.    I fail to see how they can and I think my numbers are correct or nearly so. While the contract carriers may be good at delivering a limit quantity of parcel post items, they hardly deal with anything near the quantity of the USPS.    I see a FedEx truck on my street about 15 times a year and a UPS truck about one a week. Even when I see those, they usually deliver to a single home and then leave. That is a far cry from stopping at virtually every address in the US six days a week. If they can deliver a first class letter at less than the USPS then let them do so, noting that the USPS delivers to all addresses for the same cost so a letter to Guam or Puerto Rico is still 49¢.  I am all for free enterprise and if FedEx, UPS and others can do that, feel free to jump on it.    Lastly, since you are talking about efficiency...................   To put it in perspective, $16 Billion per year even at the cost of taxpayer's money (which in this case everyone actually benefits), is 0.004% of our annual budget. So even if you are paying $15,000 a year in income taxes, only $60 goes to the USPS to make up for their shortfall. Just think of it, you will only pay $14,940 instead. I would bet that most people reading this forum are not paying $15K per year in income taxes so their cost for the USPS would be less and sometimes a lots less than $60 per year. So for $60 or less for an entire year (a bit over $1 per week) you get delivery of any number of letters and packages, usually to your front door and six days a week. If we give FedEx $16B a year in tax dollars, can they deliver to every address, six days a week, including Guam, Puerto Rico, US Virgin Islands, etc.? No wait, they would have to do it cheaper so they need to do it for a lot less.    I just don't believe it that it will be any more efficient in this case by contract carriers and even if so, only by a couple of pennies per item.  Out of all the stuff we pay for with our taxes, it seems like the USPS is the least offensive and has a benefit for virtually every person. Compare that to where other places our money is spent.    A comparison with Solyndra is meaningless. Solyndra was a private company that tried to manufacture a product that would be used by a minuscule percentage of people. I got nothing out of Solyndra and likely would not have if had they made it. I benefit from the USPS daily and I would bet that you do also.    And lastly, I ran FexEx for a 10 pound standard rate package from Houston to NY (no overnight or emergency delivery). It was $14.71. The same 10 pound package from the USPS Priority Mail is $10.65. Hmmmm............    Maybe if the USPS charged "private" for profit rates, they wouldn't be in the red. 

If the plaintiffs continue with their appeal, look for a possibility of the SCOTUS to take up this issue.    The 9th Circuit has in most recent years been the most overturned circuit in the US but I think the 6th Circuit might have overtaken them. This case looks ripe for overturning, if the high court takes it up. 

  The USPS is not intended to make a profit. With all that you stated, can a private carrier deliver a letter for 49¢ or less.    Looking at a news report from the NY Times, the USPS loses between $800 Million to $1.5 Billion a quarter. That comes out to a worse case scenario of $6 Billion per year loss. My proposal could save up to $8 Billion per year or them actually making a profit.    Also from the Times article, the USPS delivers about 38 billion pieces of mail per quarter. Raising the rates by 5¢ per piece, it will raise $1.9 Billion per quarter or almost $8 Billion per year, again more than making up for any loss.    So even with an increase of 5¢ per article, can FedEx, UPS and others deliver a piece of mail for 54¢? 

I've already posted the solution and I honestly think it would work.    Currently the USPS delivers six days a week to every (or nearly so) address. Cut the service to 3 days at each address. It will be Monday-Wednesday-Friday for half and Tuesday-Thursday-Friday for the other half.    You can cut about 35% of the local carriers (or maybe 50% but I was being conservative). No need to cut support staff such as large trucks that deliver mail between post officers, aircraft, etc. By cutting a third of the carriers, it would save enough to make it more profitable or in their case, breaking even is good enough since they aren't privately owned. From my quick calculations it will save about $8 Billion a year or about 20% of their current budget.    As far as the private industry doing a better job, I agree in most cases but is it true in this case? The USPS delivers mail for 49¢ for a first class letter (I think that is the current rate). I have never seen UPS or FedEx offer anything for 49¢ (much less cheaper if they can do it more efficiently) but maybe I missed it. 

No, I do not do that and I am not "you guys". You were responding to my comment and if you feel like using the search feature and finding where I have brought God into a conversation to prove a point, please do so. I do not use God as an excuse for anything and do not bring it up in political discussions.

This area is heavily industrial where people can make close to six figure salaries without a four year degree. A lot of it is simply supply and demand.

Beaumont ranks dead last in the USA or as the poll states, they are number one in the least educated. So Beaumont can rightfully say..... "We're #1 !!!"....."We're #1 !!!"....."We're #1 !!!"....."We're #1 !!!"....."We're #1 !!!".....

I can't believe that you invoke God as a political argument.    On the other hand, like the other trump cards, when you run out of options.....................