Fnord

I'm not talking about advocacy, I'm talking about expertise. Vance can put on a good show, but he's a politician. He doesn't know any more about the logistical steps or the realities of what needs to be done than you or I. But he's ready to support shutting down the government agency that is charged with knowing what needs to be done. The intense disdain from MAGA for expertise is among the most alarming aspects of the movement. It shows a lack of curiosity, deep mistrust, and ultimately will compound problems when shlt hits the fan and the government finds itself with no answers because those that may have had them were deemed "deep state" and were fired.

Given that it is one of their core responsibilities, yes I do. I cannot guarantee the efficacy of their "solutions" because I am not an expert in toxic chemical spill mitigation. Are you?

LOL. We've been in a declared national emergency for decades. Just another excuse to consolidate power under the executive branch. While you're right in your second paragraph, POTUS does not have legal authority to hold up funds allocated by Congress.

Fukkin A! We agree!

Wut? I am pointing out that POTUS does not have unilateral authority to halt congressionally authorized expenditures. The preoccupation with rainbows in this place from the MAGAmafia is something else.

You make some good points, though I think the bolded is a way too simplistic outlook. I won't argue that cutting administrators is a good starting point, but wonder if unilaterally removing half of them is a good idea. I also wonder about whether very small school districts lacking a decent tax base would suffer even more without a dedicated federal program to keep them afloat, though that could be separate from the DOE. Ultimately, we have to figure out a way to get more bang for our educational bucks. School vouchers allowing taxpayers to subsidize well-off individuals sending their kids to private schools is not the answer.

Not the word choice I would have used, but it is certainly noticeable.

I know a few dyed-in-the-wool Trump voters that were VERY turned off by those comments.

Can we get back to the reason I bumped this thread in the first place? Dismantling the EPA. What happens when there is a legitimate environmental disaster and Trump's corporate cronies and lobbyists have no clue about how to mitigate it because they fired all the experts?

And you support him doing that by circumventing the constitution. You are too deep into your own "brain" and conspiracy bullshit to see the absurdity of your position. And you REALLY need to stop calling other people here morons. The vast majority of posters here are smarter than you, which is obvious to everyone BUT YOU. Which tracks, since you really are an idiot of the highest order.

Stuck? He's anchored in the Bermuda triangle. I have given up hope of ever reading another SOIAF book. IMO the books took a downturn after the third volume, which roughly correlates with when the series started to lose quality. I read the Shining in junior high and saw the movie a couple years later. Both are brilliant, despite divergence.

I wonder if some of the things you mention are being blown out of proportion by those with an agenda, but we can argue about that some other time. Personally, I see the drag on our education system being more a result of parents and the teacher's unions than anything else. Parents that are inclined to sue over every little thing, lack of involvement in their children's educations, taking the side of their degenerate little kids over that of the teachers, generally not reinforcing discipline or behavioral issues with their kids. The unions and the issues they present are common knowledge and something we probably agree on. My experiences with unions has been overwhelmingly negative, and I do not believe that the union has the best interests of the students at heart, even if the teachers themselves do. In my experience the unions do more to protect crappy employees than they do to improve the lives of the membership at large.

George RR Martin is horrible for this. The Song of Ice and Fire series are some of the best books I've ever read (back when I had time to read novels- HA!) but that fukker would spend a full page describing every dish on the table at a feast, including the seasonings. Tell me more about what's happening with Tyrion and Jon Snow, dammit!

By INCREASING his own power. Since when did you learn how to have a real conversation anyway? I have yet to see any evidence of that ability from you.

This is not true.

Ol' Donny wouldn't be able to comprehend that quote. But that was a beautifully written sentence.

NEIN! It'll cost too much to make the medals. Elon gonna shut that shlt down! Deep cuts means no recognition! Heil!

I'd have to research that, and I'm not going to. At least not right now. What are your thoughts? Just let the states muddle through it?

Of which there are plenty, a perfect example being the poster who replied directly before you.

Like everything else he proposes, it lacks any details or forethought to final outcomes. On its face I don't have a huge problem with this, but what takes the DOE's place? How will eliminating it help educational outcomes? What is the plan? Anyone?

Memories are short and right wing media is good at pummeling the same messaging all day, every day. I won't deny heavy disappointment at the whitewashing of Jan.6. I do try to be civil, that's just who I am. Respect for others is foundational in my life. When someone here or IRL shows me they are not worthy of my respect, I will react appropriately. In this place, that means punching back. Which I do plenty. I just try to be careful that I'm only punching my target, not everyone that agrees with them politically.

No they are not. We will get nowhere until we all realize that these are our fellow countrymen. We disagree on some things. But we agree on a whole lot more. Demonizing and dehumanizing each other with language like this got us to this point. I know a lot of people that voted for Trump IRL. I would not call a single one of them a horrible person. Even the biggest pieces of shlt posting here are mostly decent people (obviously there are some exceptions like @Horsemanure, who truly does seem to be a human fecal repository). We just need to figure out how to listen to each other.

No they don't.

And then promptly ignoring the answer.

This will not end well. EPA demotes career employees overseeing science, enforcement, and more So, understanding that Trump has little taste for examining potential unintended consequences of his actions, what happens the next time a train derails and spills toxic chemicals everywhere? Or we drill baby drill ourselves into a huge oil spill? Or 3M pollutes more groundwater? One of these fukkers is trying to reverse the ban on ASBESTOS, FFS. Regardless of whether you "believe" in humans causing global warming, don't we all need clean air and water? MAGA includes a great many outdoors enthusiasts that care deeply about environmental preservation. How TF can you support this?