The labels never consistently gave consumers what they wanted. As soon as a band started doing well, the music companies created 50 sound alikes. Those weren't what consumers wanted, they wanted new variety...which is anathema to music executives. How would they find it? How would they know when they heard it? They'd have to take chances, but chances cost money. They are in the business to make money, not spend it.

Musicianship is still alive in older metal and hard rock bands and progressive rock bands as well as jazz. However, there are not as many good young bands as there used to be, so yeah, musicianship is being downgraded...dunno if it will ever finally die.

I am a staunch 2nd Amendment doctrine believer also. You get to keep as many muzzle loading/black powder and ball firearms you like. However, you must enroll in a well regulated militia which will decide when and where you may discharge your firearms.

What you want is a rail gun, then you can blow down the front door as part of the package delivery.

Or start delivering at night..."Honey, what's that buzzing sound...hey, there's a drone outside our window!!" "Relax sweetheart, let me give you some instructions on how to fire this here shotgun."

Sheesh, after all this time you still don't get that everyone in the MidEast is chewing gum and walking at the same time. They all have multiple agendas. Calling something over there this or that in its entirety is simply Western hubris, i.e., if we think this way, everyone thinks this way.

Serbia wants Kosovo back to finish the job of depopulating it from Muslims and repopulating it with Serbs. Serbia thinks it will make their collective dick look bigger.

"And He who made kittens put snakes in the grass"

Better it be Microsoft, then we won't have Twitter around for much longer.

WWI, WWII, colonialism, the slave trade. Need we remind Europe of any more of their "start ups"?

A sense of proportion matters. The most expensive version of the F35 costs about $115 million. The last year I could find figures for on Afghanistan was 2011 and it cost $123.9 million...per year. So, now that you have pulled stupid figures out of your ass. The space program has turned out many benefits, enough to cover its costs. I won't bore you with the details since it is clear google searches to prevent you from talking out of your ass do as well.

"If you want a more general purpose computer which can run Linux, you certainly still have that option."...for now.

Sounds okay. Now let's figure out what we'd like to cut from Government. Defense? That's part of the constitutionally limited responsibilities (CLR). That's roughly half of discretionary spending (about $600 billion). The other $500 billion is things like EPA, NiH, FDA, NSTA, etc. Those are the agencies we use to protect us from those Americans which would not feel bad about making a buck off soiling America, sickening America, killing Americans, etc. The roads and bridges are in disrepair, we'll want those, we find them useful by and large. Science budgets are useful too, they help create the industries so your sproggs can have a shot at being employable in the future.

That leaves 2/3 of the budget for entitlements. Grandma doesn't really need her SS, she can come and live with you. By the way, her meds are expensive, you'll be wanting to pay for those as well. That's part of Medicare. In fact, the Blue Haired are now the Me Generation and they will demand you pay your fair share to support their Depends and other needs. Not a chance of cutting that back. Oh, we could privatize it. Sheesh, we can trust Wall Street to administer those funds without making off with the loot like they did in the last bubble.

There's Medicaid. That's for poor people so they don't die on your front lawn. They clearly can die anywhere without medical attention so we'll chop them off. Unemployment is popular, it turns out what Corporate America hates most of all is...err...us. So let's whack unemployment payments because it is your own damn fault if Corporate America disowns you. There's wellfare. Your sister who had 5 kids from 5 different fathers can simply raise them herself and keep them educated and out of gang-related activity, drug dealing, etc.

Okay. Now tell us again about all the untold savings we'll be realizing by restricting Government to CLR activities.

In the hopes that caring might give you back your soul?

You don't get it. Oracle's cloud is Uncle Larry's ego. It has infinite storage capacity, able to out-lie even Trump, and is more irritating than Jeff Bezos.