The coverage the fire department provides is affordable. And my Library. And my streets. And the storm water system. And K-12.

Mmmmm... I haven't read the article but I suspect it's not true when factoring the Harding administration and inflation.

Might need to exclude Musk, but I bet it's not far off.

The saving grace is that our federal government relies HEAVILY on state workers and agencies.

A lot of states can simply say no, or "yeah, we'll get around to it."

It's on the same level as loan sharking

Little camps for homework. Where you can concentrate.

The case raises questions about executive security,

Of course this is the lesson. Not that everyone hates you, your company, the business, etc. It's not our actions. We just need security.

I agree. I was challenging OP's offence to the attitudes expressed.

It's stereotypical liberalism. One that says we can vocally criticize a private institution but not actually act against it. And we must deplore any actions against that private institution.

Go out and be the change you wanna see! 😂

This could be you!

Conservatives have been wanting and trying to dismantle the SS since its inception.

I'm not that concerned just yet. There's a reason it's called the third rail of politics.

If I had to bet on the future outcome, they'll raise the contribution cap to around $300k, maybe cut benefits a bit, fixing the solvency problem for at least a generation or two.

I'd also bet on an immigration deal in a future administration. Getting more workers/contributors into the system.

It honestly wouldn't shock me if the Trump admin pivoted to amnesty just like Reagan. He's a lame duck from day one. He's not beholden to anything from the campaign trail. If he's gotta choose the adoration of his voter base vs the donor base, he'll choose the wealthy. He hates being excluded from the elites. You can't buy class. But you can be invited to their parties, their clubs, their scene. His working class base has nothing left to offer him.

Curious for you to explain why you see it as "revenge"?

That term seems to imply that Thompson had caused harm of some sort.

Care to help me understand better?

He could pardon everyone of the dreamers.

I guess both 'identity' and 'heritage' are doing a lot of heavy lifting.

And I know this is mostly pedantry, but there're terms that actually do fit better. Like immigrants, settlers, etc.

My great grandad was from Sicily. I'm from Minnesota. I don't have any heritage or identity that has much to do with Sicily. I do have heritage as the progeny of immigrants from Sicily. But not Sicily.

But the golden rule presents the flaw of self interests. The golden rule relies on you presuming others want to be treated the same as you.

You shouldn't treat others as you'd like. You should treat others as they'd like.

Self is group, group is self.

Dog is cat

Water is dry

Up is down

I call that the Costanza maneuver

(checks username) mmm hmm

They're called temples

• Couldn't care less

But they're not Irish or Cuban or Italian.

They're Americans.

I think there's a big difference between knowing your family's history and drawing an identity from it.