Other side note: I needed a clearance because I was working in a radome, protecting us from Russians entering US air space. Technically, I was supposed to be escorted by someone with a clearance any time I was in the radome. But because there were only 4 of us and the radar technicians had other stuff to do, they just gave me the combination to let myself in. (I was the sole radio technician.) So much for "security".

It was either Reagan or H. W. Bush. Definitely a Republican. And, as others have mentioned, the getting paid to do nothing while waiting for a clearance has existed for decades, it's not confined to any one president.

Yeah, they worked on my clearance for a couple months back in 1980 and never even got around to noticing I hadn't registered for the draft. They fact that it took a month seems to indicate Lockheed Martin did something to expedite the clearance. Of course, the guy was a boyscout, so they didn't find anything remotely suspicious. The other weird thing: They had to run a check on me when I became his housemate, to make sure he wasn't associating with communists. He definitely didn't keep any classified information at home, but I think someone did break into his car and steal his ID.

Quantum entanglement communicates information faster that light, doesn't it? Seems like advanced civilizations would abandon good ol' RF as soon as they figured out how to do FTL communication. Sending a "You up?" message and waiting for several centuries for the response to be returned isn't a viable way of making a booty call, and the only reasons aliens would want to contact us is to have sex with us!

If there are little green men, we should make every effort to get in touch with them... and have sex with them!

You, my friend, have just explained the business model behind the Large Hadron Collider!

I keep hoping there is some form of FTL party line, and advanced civilizations simply wait for the other ones to figure it out before they communicate with them. The only benefit of contacting other civilizations is to exchange information; transporting cargo for sale would be far too expensive. If there is an FTL communication media that anyone can drop in on, then transporting a physical presence to other civilizations becomes pointless. Unfortunately, I doubt one can quantum entangle particles with particles on the other side of the galaxy, but one can always dream.

Species stupid enough to advertise their whereabouts to the entire universe don't last very long. I wish we didn't do that, but we've already sent out messages with sufficient information to accurately target our planet.

I wouldn't be able to afford it! I once had an apartment mate who worked for Lockheed Martin. He didn't have a security clearance when he started, so he couldn't do any actual work on the missile systems he was hired to work on for a month until they finished the clearance. Despite that, Lockheed Martin insisted he come to work and sit at his desk 8 hours every day... doing absolutely nothing.

Obama deported more people than Trump did.

Well, she's faster and cheaper, anyway... I don't know about "more accurate".

Alaska held a referendum on becoming a state. They voted against it. They became a state any way. Alaska held a referendum on moving the capital from Juneau to the middle of the state. They voted in favor of it. The capital has not moved. Remember the golden rule: he who has the gold... makes the rules!

Is Ryan still using pay toilets?

Anybody surprised by the blatant corruption? I'm not...

“The Capitalists will sell us the rope with which we will hang them.” Vladimir Ilich Lenin, talking about AI