Master-Debater131

Theres not really a lot of info on a passport that they wouldnt already have. Its not like he has made secret trips outside of the US. Once you are a President your location is monitored 24/7 for the rest of your life.

The PA race may be one of the most interesting in the country now. Fetterman was the single strongest candidate Democrats had in the entire nation before his stroke. Oz is a horrible candidate who is running at the same time as a uniquely dangerous GOP nominee for Gov. Normally this should be an easy pickup for Democrats. But you may notice I said that Fetterman was the strongest candidate. His stroke has clearly knocked him down a lot. The videos from his last campaign even are not great and people are openly questioning if he is healthy enough to campaign and then serve for 6 years. Ive been saying for a while that I think PA goes Democrat, but now Im not so sure. Fettermans progress is really great, but is it good enough to convince voters to go for him?

So the FBI returned Trumps passports this morning. They claim that it was a mistake on their part and they never meant to confiscate them. Totally believable that the FBI would fuck that up. I think that also means that the odds that Trump is charged is extremely low. As much as people were saying he is going to be charged, odds were honestly always small. The reason for that is pretty simple actually, its already set precedent to not charge high-ranking former US Officials for having classified information. Its not entirely uncommon for former officials to have classified materials that find there way back to the Gov after someone figures out they are missing. Granted, they dont typically take an FBI raid, but its not uncommon. Most famously, Hillary Clinton was never charged for running a server with classified information on it. Trump wont be charged for having a few boxes of classified information at his house. People can scream "whataboutism!!!" all they want, but its true. The DoJ set the precedent back in 2016. If they change it now then the GOPs attacks on the DoJ being a partisan institution will be absolutely true. It would be the final nail in the DoJs credibility for a huge portion of this country. Thanks to the precedent set in 2016 it would take something truly extraordinary to charge Trump with having classified materials. Hate it all you want, but thats what has been established by the DoJ. Now, if they find something else illegal or related to January 6th then all bets are off. But its going to take something truly extraordinary for him to ever be charged, let alone do time, for having classified materials at his house.

Normally I would agree with you, but the GOP is such a dumpster fire that Im not so sure. The Dobbs decision also has totally scrambled the electorate this year. I still expect the GOP to flip the House, but Im not so sure it will be in a wave type election. They may wind up with a 5-10 seat majority, which for the GOP will be completely unruly.

Sure starting to look like the GOP are going to blow it this year. Theres a long way to go, but the momentum is clearly on the Democrats side right now. The GOP have an amazing ability to nominate the absolute worst possible candidates and blow easily winnable races. If I had to handicap it right now, theres a 75% change the Dems hold the Senate, and a 50-50 coin flip in the House. The GOPs blind loyalty to Trump is going to cause the party to die. Which, frankly, it deserves to. If your loyalty to Trump is greater than loyalty to the country then you deserve to fail.

Whatever the plan is, they better not fuck it up. If they go for Trump and miss it will make him a martyr and absolutely enrage a bunch of mentally unstable people. Not to mention probably lead to him being elected in 2024. If he is charged, convicted, and sentenced then there will be a lot of rage, but nowhere near the amount if they fuck this up. That whole saying of "if you come at the king, you better not miss" is really applicable right now.

They absolutely are a sign of whats going on. In the early stages of the pandemic they were a very clear sign that we had no way to stop the virus other than to wear a mask. As treatment got better, and vaccines became available, they became a sign of another tool to try and fight the virus. That was also the point where people started to openly ask "why get a shot if I still have to mask?" That was the first real push back on the mandates from a growing number of people. Now that we are multiple years into the virus, with widely available vaccines and treatments, mandates are absolutely seen as government overreach. Outside of a very small number of people support for mandates has collapsed. We are firmly in the "its up to you" phase of the virus. It is now another virus just like the flu. Its here forever, causes a lot of people to get sick, and kills a bunch of people. Its up to each individual person to decide what their acceptable risk level is and how to react accordingly. Theres nothing stopping someone from wearing a mask if they want. But the idea that mask mandates enjoy some sort of popularity or are coming back isnt based in reality. Unless some new variant starts killing 30% of the people it infects we arent going to see mandates return.

Mask mandates are a sign of an out of control pandemic where we have no way to fight it. They made a lot of sense early on, but have made less and less sense as time goes on. Instead of being a tool to fight the virus they have become to be seen as a sign of an overly powerful government. You can argue all you want about how effective the mandates may or may not be, but we are well beyond the point where masking is our only, or even best, way to fight the virus. The CDC even said in their statement that the combination of vaccines, natural immunity, and growing number of treatments that its time to move beyond the idea of using mandates. Covid isnt going anywhere, ever. Swinging constantly between mask mandates doesnt make a lot of sense anymore.

Other than being a giant douche, nothing. It costs you absolutely nothing to wear a mask if you have the sniffles or think you are sick. And by doing so you help prevent the spread of another illness that kills a ton of people every year. I really hope that this whole thing has helped push personal masking into the norm. Thats how it works in places like Japan, and it works well.

The thing with masking is that its really a personal responsibility. If you are sick, think you are sick, or just want to take extra precautions then wear a mask. Nothing is stopping you from putting one on. When flu season really kicks off I hope people mask up if they have the sniffles. I know that I will be masking up if I have the sniffles, or if/when the flu really starts to get going this year. Also, masks are great if you dont feel like wearing a bunch of makeup that day. Wake up late or just feeling lazy? Mask it is! Just cover up half your face and call it good.

This is the CDC saying we have moved past the pandemic phase and into the endemic phase of Covid. Its here forever, and we need to get on with our lives. I think its also where a lot of people have been for a long time already. Its been about personal risk for quite a while, and this is the CDC admitting that thats where we are at.

Nothing wrong with that. ASMBNN - Your trusted source of news with completely unfiltered opinions

Nuclear documents seem like a pretty damn good reason to do this to me........

"THE DOJ IS DOING TOTALLY UNCOOL THINGS! THEY WONT EVEN LET ME SHARE THE WARRANT BECAUSE ITS SO BAD!" - Trump "Bet" - DoJ "THE DOJ IS DOING TOTALLY UNCOOL THINGS BY TRYING TO UNSEAL THE VERY PRIVATE WARRANT!" - Trump in like, 30 minutes.

I must say, seeing this meme move feels wrong.

Interesting press conference. Pushing to unseal the warrant basically calls Trumps bluff. Trump is bitching and moaning about it, but he can release what he has been given. He wont, so instead the DoJ will try and force the issue by unsealing it. It also confirms that the AG knew of the raid and approved it. Thats a good thing IMO. If the DoJ were to do this without having the AGs approval then that raises all sorts of questions about a rogue agency. Its not like this is a special prosecutor, its a DoJ operation. As for Biden not knowing, I dont know. I dont fully believe that, but I can see how he wasnt informed. I also can easily see two sides to the argument about him knowing or not knowing, and if thats a good or bad thing. This has never happened in US History before, so a lot of the old rulebooks go out the window.

That assumes that anyone in government cares about the long-term. I totally get it. HSR absolutely is a better form of transportation, but its a long-term thing that our elected leaders just dont have the will for anymore. If we tried to launch NASA and get to the Moon today it would be laughed off and never go anywhere. I would absolutely love it if I could hop on a train and be in Vegas a couple hours later. A current flight is 90 minutes, but its like a 5 hour ordeal when you count all of the BS that goes into flying. Do you know how much more often I, and likely many others, would travel and vacation if we had true HSR? The economic benefits radically outweigh the costs. But its all in abstract terms, and those terms dont sell when your trying to convince people that the initial cost makes sense. Im all for trains. I want more of them from local, to commuter, to national HSR. Theres just no real will to think big anymore. Its really depressing honestly.

Whos up for some mid week must-watch TV? Really curious whats going to come out of this.

Theres a lot more political will to add lanes to a highway than to build HSR from scratch. Its also a lot cheaper to add lanes to a highway than to build HSR.

Thats a problem with construction, engineering, and the materials required. HSR requires ultra-precise engineering and more expensive and precise materials. Your standard rail that Amtrak uses doesnt require that same level of engineering. So you would basically be completely removing current Amtrak rail and converting it to HSR rail. That could work, but then you are taking that rail out of service for non-HSR uses. Amtrak also leases some rail from the freight companies. And there is no chance in hell they will give up their lines. Those old rail companies are some of the most powerful in the country. Probably behind only water boards in terms of raw "we dont care what you say, we are doing it this way" power. We wanted to lease some of the existing freight rails out here for some light rail and were told that we could, but the freight companies would not alter their schedule to make room for any light rail passenger trains. Theres absolutely nothing that we can do to force the issue because of how powerful those companies, and the laws behind them, are.

A lot of reasons really. Theres intense lobbying from the Airline industry to kill any HSR projects because its a direct threat to their business model. The US is far more spread out than other countries, and our population density shows it. The few routes where HSR would really work also include some of the highest land prices in the country. So that drives cost way up. Then theres the other costs of building HSR. For added fun, a lot of the places that make the most sense for HSR also have the most NIMBYs. So they get super active for HSR, just not where they live. Culturally, rail doesnt have a great history in modern America. Even though the transcontinental railroad is iconic in our history, modern rail isnt looked on as highly. So that depresses the public demand for big expensive HSR projects. Logistics and scale also matter. A few HSR lines scattered throughout the country, and that dont really get into the heart of big cities, doesnt make a lot of sense. Theres plenty of places that make sense for HSR, but they have to all be built and connected for it to really make sense. If you are trying to get from LA to NY you would need a full network of lines. It doesnt make sense to take HSR to Vegas, then fly from Vegas to somewhere like Chicago, then take HSR from Chicago to NY. You would just hop on a plane and fly at that point. Im all for a true national network of HSR, but the logistics and challenges of it really make it a tough build. It also requires political will, and accountability, that just doesnt exist at a Federal level anymore.

Not entirely true. I took the concept seriously, but not because of him. There is another company in my area that is not connected to Musk that has leased land from a toll road to build a segment of test track. So while Musk may have pushed it to spike HSR, there are others out there who are actually trying to pursue the technology.

https://www.coloradopolitics.com/elections/2022/abortion-ban-fails-to-make-colorados-november-ballot/article_544be64e-175c-11ed-9c29-ff3a3d49bd0d.html?ana=9news Abortion ban fails to make Colorado's November ballot Not really a big surprise honestly. While there is a significant pro-life movement out here, this ballot measure was extreme. Like, really extreme. No chance in hell was it ever going anywhere in a state that is Purple-Blue like Colorado. This also is another big warning sign to the pro-life movement. The full blown no-exception bans are absolutely toxic. Only the most hardcore of pro-life people will support that. Kansas was a big warning sign that the bans will cause all sort of blow back. The more moderate position of abortions until the 20-22 week frame, and then some restrictions and exceptions after, will eventually be the place where most laws wind up. Thats where the vast majority of Americans tend to fall on this issue.

This is fairly common sadly. The trend became "Assembled in America" where 99% of the work was done in China, and a couple of guys in the US slapped something together to get that tag on it. We dont make a damn thing in this country anymore, and thats a big problem.

See, I almost went with the intentional misspelling of unpresidented, and now you made me regret not going that route.