jerryskids

I didn't state it well. The relevance is that we have a new class of people coming. Until recently we had something of a manageable flow of mostly hard-working people who would sneak over the border from Mexico, stay mostly in the shadows, work some menial jobs, often go back with money to support family... since Biden took over the word is out that the gates are open, and a bunch of people are crossing through Mexico to get some of that awesome American free stuff.

This report has been discussed here before; I don't recall if you were part of it. I do recall finding some major concerns about the methodology, but I haven't gone back to reconstruct. I will say, however, that figure 2 on page 10 (Country of Origin of Undocumented Immigrants in Texas, 2016.) shows that at the time the data was collected, 71% of the illegal immigrants in Texas were from Mexico. This does NOT appear to be the case now -- the vast majority seem to be coming from countries south of Mexico. Also the volume is much higher. Also also, we are increasingly providing services that weren't provided at the time. It is essentially using data for past behavior to justify current behavior. As a side note, that 71% number (86% if you include other Latin American countries) seems in contrast with your claim that the majority of illegal immigrants are visa overstays.

No, but thanks for the rec.

You've got such a simplistic Leftist mind, I view you as somewhat special needs. As such, it's hard to hate you too much.

Personally, I love @Frozenbeernuts new commitment to manifestation and his posts about it. It's a topic a I find very interesting on my spiritual journey. I'm not sure I buy it, but keep it up FBN, I'm open to the concept. I'm not looking to get rich, as I've done well enough to retire comfortably. Although extra money never hurts. But I do like the idea of becoming a vortex of positive outcomes.

I'd have to do the math to compare our ages (suspecting I'm older, 56), but Yes 90215 is on my Mount Rushmore of disappointing albums. Styx Mr. Roboto is also on it. I loved the earlier stuff from both bands, and these were just... eesh. I'd have to think of the others. Sounds like a good spinoff topic.

LOL, the oldest Gen Z'er is 27, they are maybe 5 years out of college. And payments were on hold during big chunks of Covid, IIRC. Have they been traumatized by student loan debt?

Timmy told me that $60B for Ukraine is mice nuts, so $5B is 1/12 of mice nuts$#@!

You seem to follow a faulty dichotomy logic: if we can't deport all of the illegal aliens, we shouldn't do it at all. Do you see the fault in this logic? The gun analogy is OK, but the problem is that the more onerous you make gun ownership, the more you affect law-abiding gun owners, not the criminals or psychos who don't really care about laws. That analogy doesn't apply to illegal aliens.

To be fair, to Tim the ongoing influx of illegals is a fait accompli, and deportation is a non-starter, so it kinda takes away the two most obvious and effective solutions.

Presuming that MA data was correct, a family of 4 migrants gets $93K per year for food, PLUS hotel costs and the other benefits provided by taxpayers (things like roads, emergency services, emergency medical, schooling?). Can we conservatively call the total $150K? Do you think a family of 4 migrants, on average, provides > $150K/year of value to our society?

Looks good, thanks for the heads up.

Nice

I believe there is lots of life on other planets, but I'm a little more skeptical about how advanced it is. The moon for instance, while not critical for the creation of life, keeps us at a 23 degree angle wrt the sun, which along with other things like our atmosphere, keeps our temperature remarkably constant. Also our planet is thought to be relatively old, and billions of years were spent with basically lichen as life on land. So we may be at the forefront of such developments throughout the universe. Speaking of lichen, I took a class yesterday on ground biota in the desert. Lichen is fascinating (a symbiotic/parasitic relationship between basically algae (photobiont) and fungus (mycobiont)) but not relevant for this. What is relevant is "rock varnish," this weird stuff that is very prevalent but we don't quite understand. It seems to come from very slow growing microbes which "eat" manganese and iron. Anyway, there are some photos of rocks on Mars which look a lot like rock varnish. The hope is eventually to get a sample back to earth. Scientists are not 100% sure that the microbes are required to generate it, but if they can reach that conclusion... that would prove life on Mars. This link calls it "earth varnish". https://earthsky.org/space/purple-rocks-mars-perseverance-rover-desert-varnish/

Fock off, doosh.

I'm currently listening to a Freakonomics podcast about Richard Feynman, who most would agree was a pretty smart guy. Mostly, I've learned, he was very inquisitive. From the transcript of the show: All that poking had proved fruitful for Richard Feynman. In 1965, he won a Nobel Prize for his work in quantum electrodynamics, which helped deepen our foundational understanding of how light and matter interact. Earlier in his career, he’d helped create the first nuclear weapons, as part of the Manhattan Project; he’d even made contributions to biology. His work intersected with the widespread embrace and application of scientific thinking over the course of the 20th century. But this also included a variety of practices that Feynman thought of as junk science. Things like faith healing and mind-reading, even some practices within psychology and psychiatry. But Feynman also believed in challenging assumptions, even his own — with data if possible, or at least intense observation. “First, I started out by investigating various ideas of mysticism and mystic experiences,” he wrote. “I went into isolation tanks and got many hours of hallucinations … Then I went to Esalen, which is a hotbed of this kind of thought.” So Feynman began going to Esalen as something of a skeptic — but he had always been interested in just how flexible and versatile the human mind can be, if you just let it. I'm not putting myself anywhere near the level of Feynman, but this is how I feel about investigating this topic. Others, perhaps smarter than Feynman, know better than him it seems. This is the episode, which is #3 in the series. https://freakonomics.com/podcast/the-vanishing-mr-feynman/ You can back out and go to #1 if you want to listen to the whole thing (which doesn't talk about these topics).

I would ask you to go back and re-read the post you originally quoted, because I cannot see how you drew this conclusion from what I said. If anything, I told Horseman that he is (to summarize what you just said) viewing things through his world view, not some irrefutable facts.

I just sent @edjr$5 for the ace. That seems what we've concluded

Well, as I addressed if you bothered to read, there might be a middle ground between zero support and outfunding all of NATO. I don't get where you get this "cast aside" trope. And I'm not a big Trump fan. Otherwise, good post, good effort, typical for you.

Help me to understand how, in the extreme of Russia taking over all of Ukraine, a non-NATO country, that this benefits "American safety and prosperity" sufficiently for a nine-figure price tag? Keep in mind that I do not subscribe to your position, as you've said several times recently, that any amount of money is mice-nuts in our budget and thus essentially free$#@!

It's like you didn't read a word I said, quite impressive.

I don't understand what you are saying here. Can you explain?

@Pimpadeauxor @The Real timschochet, response?

I am an engineer and analytical, and my beliefs actually align closer to yours. I believe there is likely a scientific explanation for everything, we just don't know it. But that explanation might cross over into something we can label as God. An energy which we are a part of. I have faced death, and I find myself increasingly pursuing spirituality. Meditation, and prayer. Prayer is not asking for stuff, but opening your mind much like meditation, but instead of nothingness, it is an opening of the heart to positive energy, which some may call God. That's where I am, anyway. I hesitated to respond to you last time because I suspected you would dig your heels in and argue. I won't do that, because there is no winning in that. I will say however that the most "unscientific" thing you can do is presume you know the answers when you really don't. Your belief is a theory, strongly rooted in observation. But not a law or fact.

Regarding the existence of a creator: I'm looking at an ash tree blooming in my yard right now. Some might look at that and see the existence of God. Others, I presume yourself, would say "aha, that's not God, we understand how photosynthesis works!" Yet others may look at the process of photosynthesis and see in it the existence of God. And we can continue to dig down into molecular, atomic, quantum and wave levels, each with increasing knowledge. But none of that addresses... how is it all here? and perhaps, why is it all here? Let's give the answer to those questions a word: God. I'll start with that.