We tried that in the late 1930's and early 1940's. We called it isolationism

It works fine as long as we are talking about tiny countries. But when major world powers start taking over countries just because, we found out what a moronic idea it was.

Go here: http://wh.gov/lVoFm to sign a petition to the US requesting that the US lease land in Ukraine near Crimea as an Naval/Air base.

We already have an air base in Kyrgyzstan, but it is set to close next year.

This would be the perfect replacement.

This article idea is founded on multiple bad theories. Specifically:

1) Our tests are accurate enough to detect the very best.

2) The very best are there almost solely because of innate talent, not a bit of talent, a bit of luck, and a lot of hard work.

Neither is accurate. Most of them time out test are only good enough to find the guy that is in the top 20% or so, not the top 1%. After that luck is mostly in control. Was the athlete born the right month? If not, then when he is a child he will compete with kids 8 months older who surprise surprise routinely beat him at sports. No one ever realizes he has the skill and is never given the training.

Finally, the real difference between most 'prodigies' and everyone else is that the prodigy spend every last minute they can working on their skill.

I was a 'gifted' child - in large part because my father was originally told I was bad at reading and took huge steps to get me to fall in love with reading. He encouraged me to read comic books, then fantasy novels etc. He made me a huge nerd - and I love him for it.

I assure you if a camera was supposed to be 'on', and it wasn't, any reasonable prosecutor will throw out the case if the defense refuses to plead guilty. Don't be surprised if jurys are told that the footage should have existed but doesn't.

While it is true that theoretically scientifically, we have clean coal technologies available, Coal is still the dirtiest and worst of the power technologies.

This is because of two reasons. 1) Truly clean coal technologies are expensive - more expensive than solar powered or wind power. So practically nobody uses it. and

2) Coal companies - more than any other power industry - have found ways to avoid complying with regulations. Specifically, they campaigned hard to allow existing plants to go unregulated until after they 'modernized' in the normal course of time. Then they refused to modernize - for the past 60 years.

Tuna fish is one of the healthiest cheap foods you can eat - or rather would be EXCEPT for the mercury in it which comes from coal. Coal burning plants are more radioactive than nuclear power plants because small bits of thorium are in coal and when you burn it, it gets wafted up into the air and settles around the coal plant. Not to mention the acid rain and the green house gas issues.

Actually, most of it is dead people subsidizing the old. The break even point is currently around age 72. That is, if you die at 72 or younger, you pay more into Social Security than you get out.

Now there is some youth subsidizing age, but 30% men of die before they get more out of Social Security and 20% of women.

Which also means men subsidize women.

Social Security is at heart an insurance program that made a huge profit in the early years of it's existence, but currently is running a deficit.

You are not actually correct. There are multiple ways to tax the rich to pay for it without taxing the middle class.

Most methods of doing so involves killing the various loopholes the rich use to hide their wealth and pretend that it is not 'income' because they have not 'realized capital gains'.

The simplest way I know is to simply put in an annual federal 1% tax on all current equity worth more than 2 million. Equity to include real estate, private trusts, stocks, gold, etc anything of real value.

This rule would increase federal tax revenue by about 10%, all of which coming directly from the wealthy.

Quite a lot of landscapers have illegal ID's that they need to get work.

They DO pay into the system and do not get any benefits.

In fact, more illegals pay into the system and get no benefits then the other way around.

When the government writes a direct check to soldiers, FBI agents, Federal Judges, that is called a 'paycheck', not wealth transfer.

Idiots need to double check their assumptions.

1) A bunch of sites that insist on using a password when they don't really need one. Prime example: Amazon. They don't really need a password as long as they don't keep your credit card on file - which they certainly should NOT do. My neighborhood grocer does not ask to keep my credit card # on file no matter how 'convenient' (for whom???). If you want to discuss past trades use the last 4 digits of the credit card you used for those trades as an ID.

2) A bunch of sites that have legitimate needs for passwords but do NOT need 'secure' passwords. Slashdot is a great example - we need to confirm who you are but if someone steals your Slashdot password it is not a big deal. So they use your identity to Praise Senator Cruz, and destroy your reputation, no big deal. Let people use 4 character passwords - just like for your ATM card.

3) Websites with a real need for secure passwords - 'primary' email accounts, credit card accounts, etc. They could easily use stream ciphers - little electronic devices that constantly update the password. You have 1 minute to enter the password before it changes. Or if you prefer anonymity for your email account a downloaded program that resides on the PC you use to establish the email account and to log in, you must use that PC (with a 'move my account' program that must be initiated from that PC). Of course that limits your functionality, but at least it gives you anonymity.

I routinely come across websites that I can see, but for some reason my Verizon account refuses to stream the video for. I wait a day, and boom, they can stream again.

Companies develop issues all the time. Sometime it is on the website end, sometimes on the ISP end.

Not much you can do about it.

It's not "Victim Blaming" unless someone attempts to punish the victim. Yelling at an idiot to stop throwing his mone the ground while closing his eyes is not victim blaming.

See Adrienne Brown, who really was victim blamed.

Or the poor woman in the Steubenville Rape case.