Do you know what a "Dixiecrat" is?

Doesn't sound like it. None of you "Lincoln was a Republican!!!1!1" idiots do. Well, either that, or your cynicism knows no bounds.

Or you can refuse to get into the hash table.

I always found it quite amusing that it's much easier to immigrate to US as a relative (and I don't mean someone really close like a spouse or a child, but e.g. parents?) than it is as a skilled worker. Of all the countries that I've looked into, US is the only one like that. All others (of interest to me) had shorter immigration tracks through work than through family.

Hi, another libertarian-turned-liberal through life experience here. Well, not liberal, in truth, I prefer the term "left libertarian" as well - but hardly anyone in US knows what it is, and many people think it's like hot snow.

And the philosophy you describe is pretty much exactly what I came to espouse, as well. Freedom and minimum intervention as a foundation, but I've come to recognize that the degree of intervention that's necessary for a functioning society in practice is way more than most traditionalist libertarians consider their limit.

Also 100% in agreement on GOP needing to go libertarian if we are to see any true inter-party competition moving the society in the right direction. And I think this will happen sooner rather than later. They can try to cheat the demographic shifts for a while (with gerrymandering, voter ID laws and such), but those still give only a brief respite, and the clock is ticking. They'll have to go libertarian or yield the system to Democrats in its entirety. In fact, barring any tectonic changes in GOP platform, 2004 shall remain the last year this country had a Republican president for a long, long time.

And you can already see signs of the coming fracturing in the party. Sure, GOP "libertarians" are still insanely conservative, but the difference between a guy like Bush or Romney, and Rubio or Paul, is quite impressive. A few more electoral cycles and they will grudgingly accept that their "small government" platform contradicts their messaging on social issues - if only pragmatically, just to get more votes.

Or maybe we'll actually make electoral reform happen first, and then there will be more parties. I can't really call any specific one my own, but of all the small parties out there, the Modern Whigs approach and platform appeals to me most.

You can, if the benefits aren't instant, but rather kick in gradually as you work and pay taxes (possibly the faster, the more taxes you pay - hell, why not even let people dial their own rate above the certain required minimum).

In fact, it would probably make all the social programs solvent again, at least so long as the rest of the world still has people left in it (who have enough money for a ticket, but you could hand out loans for that, too). ~

I think he is referring to all immigrants, not just H1-B.

The only catch is that if you also have a sponsored green card application with the original employer, you have to start from scratch if you switch.

And the queue for green cards is, what, about 5 years currently?

This is very messy code.

It could have been a lot shorter, too, with something like bottle.

because I am not anti vax, but i am pro choice.

You are free not to get a vaccine. But you shouldn't be able to work at Disney if you don't. Being free to choose doesn't mean you get to avoid the consequences. Same deal if you want to be a doctor or nurse, teacher, or probably even a chef or waiter. That's true of the flu vaccine and doubly so of the measles vaccine.

For example, im not a flue shot kinda guy

Yes, god forbid you do something that will result in less personal misery for you and help prevent the thousands of deaths per year caused by the flu virus.

Do tell what reasons you have for not getting the flu vaccine. I'm sure it'll be wonderfully entertaining.

He may well have been as smart as he thought (I'm not saying that is the case for sure, mind) but turns out others were smart enough, and more knowledgeable in the ways that mattered.

Hans Reiser is a good example. Man is unquestionably very smart. However, he had the geek hubris that I call SMFU, Smartest Motherfucker in the Universe syndrome. He figured he was so much smarter than everyone else, he could easily get away with his crime. Turns out that the police have some smart people too, and those people know a lot more about criminal investigation than he did.

Right in that yes, they already have a lot of evidence, and are just working to seal the deal. They like to have everything in a row and an overwhelming amount of evidence before going to trial.

Wrong about the contempt thing. If you look it up in the US you find out that the courts have decided the 5th amendment applies to passwords. So you can keep your mouth shut and they can't compel you to hand over a password. If it is locked with something physical like a key fob or fingerprint, that you have to hand over. Basically if something is solely in your mind, they can't compel you to hand that over if it can be used against you.

But but but last year I had a flu shot and right after I was super duper mega sick! (not even with flu symptoms). I never get sick! Im never getting a flu shot ever again! /sarcasm.

Is the sniffle even part of the symptoms for the flu? Even the toughest will usually be on their ass with heavy muscle pain and cough.

But yes, generally the flu shot is for the young and the old, and _people exposed to them_, since its easy to be contagious before you know you're sick.

The FBI may not be all up to date on the latest technologies and they aren't great at dealing with things purely in the digital world. However they are one of, if not the best investigative organizations in the world. They have a lot of experience investigating crimes of all kinds, often committed by experienced criminal organizations that are quite clever.

So there's a good chance if they are interested in getting you, they will. They are quite literally professionals at it, and they institutionally learn from their experience. You very well may know a lot more about computers than they do, but they almost certainly know way more about criminal investigations than you do.

Not completely through fault of theirs thought. You have one of the most complex tax codes in the world (with several times the population of the only other first world country i can think of with a tax code thats just as fucked up), and a population who, because of heavy government distrust, is doing everything it can to stick it to the man (not counting corporations which always are).

That will end up making it a much more complicated problem to deal with than the FBI has to. Its employees are also going to be much, much less efficient. Who in their right minds want to work for the IRS?