Right, as opposed to the previous guy, who went into Iraq to settle his daddy's score

His daddy has kicked Saddam's ass so bad, there were no score left to settle. But let's not change the subject, Ok?

blunder around with pointy objects in the dark making a lot of noise and hoping everyone swoons over your manliness

Oh, I guess, you just can't help it, can you?

the country you did invade is falling into civil war.

Had we withdrawn from Germany in 1955, that country would've fallen into a "civil war" as well... Whatever you blame Bush for, the rise of ISIS in Syria and Iraq are squarely Obama's doing. As is the emboldened Russia, to bring us back on topic.

The US can't afford to perform any surgeries.

Of course, we can. Obama's economy may be weak, but it is still greater than that of Russia and Ukraine combined. Many times greater.

We don't need to send "boots on the ground" — just help Ukrainian defenders with weapons. Like, for example, precise ground-to-ground missiles to let them destroy a Russian "Grad" parked behind an apartment building without hitting the building too. Or all that surplus equipment, that Pentagon has been sending to police departments nation-wide, militarizing them against fellow citizens . But the charlatan-in-chief would not even send Ukrainians the perfectly defensive helmets and body armor...

pissing it all away invading Afghanistan and Iraq?

We pissed nothing away invading those two. We pissed it away by withdrawing prematurely.

What? Hell no. Classics are: checkers, chess, a deck of cards, a pair of dice, dominoes and backgammon. Everybody has heard of them, everybody has seen them, (almost) everybody have played them in their lives...

Anything invented in the past few decades simply has not been around long enough to become a classic.

Chairman Mao, Ho Chi Minh and Hitler, not so much with the bluffing.

We fought Hitler and now Germany is a free and prosperous country at peace with its neighbors. China — where we dithered — not so much. Nor is North Korea — in the 60 years since we decided to "give peace a chance" there and not use nukes against the invading Chinese "volunteers", generations of millions lived in dire poverty and suffering, that they deserved even less than the Chinese soldiers.

Some times non-invasive therapies are indicated, but quite often the best course is surgery. Sadly, what we have in the White House is a "herbal remedies" charlatan...

I don't know how Russia, you know, the big one, reacts if the US decided to support

I wonder, what happened to:

Let every nation know, whether it wishes us well or ill, that we shall pay any price, bear any burden, meet any hardship, support any friend, oppose any foe, in order to assure the survival and the success of liberty.

Perhaps, the author of the above was a war-mongering neocon teatard — not a Nobel "Peace" Prize laureate...

There is no good solution to any of this, both governments will be pushing to the end. Ukrainian government doesn't want to lose a large chunk of territory and Russian government doesn't want to let go now, since the loss will be seen as weakness and there is a huge interest in controlling the gas supplying line to Europe. Putin's reaction to Ukraine attempts to become part of NATO was going to be met with this type of violent reaction from Putin, who doesn't want to see NATO missile launchers even closer to the western border. AFAIC the American hands are all over this one, trying hard to create yet another distraction from its failing economy. Putin was easy to manipulate to start the war, but how do you end this war? A war with Russia can turn nuclear, so that is why there are no Americans or British or German or Canadian or other visible troops there yet.

Putin has a war now that everybody understands Russia is leading, but at the same time it is not an openly declared war, you can say it is an open secret war. Putin cannot win against the West but West doesn't want to fight a real shooting war with Russia either.

Stalemate. The only losers are the people who are forced into it on all sides, be it death due to bombing or bullets or sickness or be it economic sanctions (which by the way are not declared against 'others', economic sanctions are declared against your own. So economic sanctions imposed by Putin 'against West' are actually economic sanctions by Putin against Russians, it is just that the propaganda is strong, economic education and understanding is low and there is a tribal thing going on there as well).

USA provoked another conflict that may not end and definitely will not end well, good job. Putin is throwing fresh meat into the meat grinder, good job. Ukrainians are stuck between these two, like so many others before it, too bad.

AFAIC the only quick way out of this is for Putin to be assassinated or for Ukraine to give up and for the West to fuck off. All of these are unfortunate, but the alternatives do include a possibility of a nuclear war.

That's a pretty strong claim considering you have no evidence...

I believe much of that cabling was actually replaced when the bridge was last rehabbed (not the current project working on the ramps and roads)

/they kept the substandard cabling in though because the bridge was built with several different support mechanisms, each one sturdy enough for the bridge on its own, Roebling was being paranoid with his design
//the cable crosshatching *is* because of the inferior wire however, though in the end they really are a just decorative feature since they aren't needed for support

You can't turn it off even now. The GPS tracking is built into the circuitry and there is no way to disable it.

I doubt, that's entirely true. While I'm sure, cell companies keep track of each phone's approximate position (relative to their towers), the phone's battery drains considerably quicker, when the "location service" (an iPhone term) is turned on. If it really were on all the time, there would not have been such a pronounced effect on the batter from starting the "Maps" application or "Uber"...

Many are under the false impression that ability to drive a car without government interference is a privilege and not a human right. These people are wrong, owning a car is not a right (as in nobody owes you a car), however if you own a car and you drive the car on private property then ability to drive the vehicle is not a privilege that government should be able to revoke. Driving a car on private property is an agreement between you (the driver) and the private property owner/operator. Getting in between the private property owner/operator and car owner/driver is in violation of your human rights. It is a violation of private property right, violation of freedom of association, violation of freedom to attempt and make your living, by the way, without interference by the State.

The real problem is of-course existence of so called 'public roads'. First automotive roads were private and many are private now and there should be no public roads at all, but to the extent that they exist, the rules and licensing that happens on the State level should only be applicable to those roads.

And your solution to this problem, is, of course, to jail people who took pictures of rabbits.

If jailing is what the law prescribes for this offense, then everybody breaking it ought to be jailed — not just those, who pissed the policeman off doing something perfectly legal.

requiring the limit as a condition of each state receiving highway funds

Thank you for providing an example of the abuse of power I too am decrying.

You need citations for Congressional use of the "power of the purse"? Really?

Here in the United States, the term Power of the Purse refers to relationship between Legislative and Executive branches of the same government.

The relationship discussed in this sub-thread is between different governments: Federal vs. local ones...

Because communities are often not as in charge of their police departments as they should be or think they are

In other words, you do think, Washington "knows better" than the local doofuses . Right... Why, I wonder, even bother with elections there — instead of letting the sophisticated Washingtonian nobility appoint one of their own...

Where's the injustice here?

Your granpa can demand you do something in exchange for his contribution to your pocket money — that's Ok, because it is his money... On contrast, the monies the Feds disburse as subsidies are not theirs to attach strings to. They use this method to get around the 10th Amendment — and I consider it unjust.

Congress has the power of the purse.

Only over President... This was, indeed, part of the "checks-and-balances" from day one. Congress was never supposed to have the same power over States and towns however. And — contrary to your earlier assertion — did not have it, until Federal taxes grew up so much...

It's not a bad idea

Anything, that is "not a bad idea" for a personal vehicle, is also not a bad idea for a person. The argument for mandatory license plates (which we have accepted so long ago, freaks like me objecting appear as, well, freaks), for example, would apply just as convincingly to mandating people not only carry identification at all times, but also keep it visible from distance.

Would you support a law mandating, that people carry personal beacons at all times? Those can be made small enough to make it practical already... In fact, if you aren't careful, your cellphone is already acting as just such a device — should a law prohibit you from turning it off?

Thankfully, we have the most open and technologically-savvy Administration in history. He uses e-mail like, OMG, daily (!!11!) and has, like, the most Twitter-followers of any US President too. Seriously, like, ever!..

Nothing to worry about... Our lives, rights, and freedoms are in good hands. Please, don't hate.