America - The Official Thread

[Liquid]

This video is from March 2013 but having watched it today I thought it interesting enough to share. Skip to 6:37 for the most pertinent question.

Subsequently, of course, we knew what was said to be a lie. Was DNI Clapper prosecuted for lying under oath in front of a committee?

 

[mustafur]

Americas government system needs overhaul badly, it's completely dictated by lobbying to the point the politicians are not even hiding it any more.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Americas government system needs overhaul badly, it's completely dictated by lobbying to the point the politicians are not even hiding it any more.

I'm not a fan of lobbying, but the advantage of it being out in the open, is that it's out in the open. If you found a way to get rid of it, it would still happen, just behind closed doors and you'd never know until the inevitable scandals hit.

 

[Liquid]

Serious but trivial question:

Why is so much 'federal land' in the western United States? Some states like Nevada and Utah are almost completely covered in federal land. I thought it might include places like forests and deserts under the care of governmental agencies but is there really so little woodland in the east?

 

[RC45]

Serious but trivial question:

Why is so much 'federal land' in the western United States? Some states like Nevada and Utah are almost completely covered in federal land. I thought it might include places like forests and deserts under the care of governmental agencies but is there really so little woodland in the east?

And to further qualify, 95% of Texas is still privately owned. Federal land ownership is all about control.

But don't kid yourself, by way of the EPA the Feds still in a brutal and controlling way are able to force private land owners to do the bidding of the Feds under the guise of "protecting the environment".

 

[PeterJB]

Those areas all have very low population densities, so I guess the government can get up to whatever without disturbing civilians.

 

[FoolKiller]

It should also be noted that a large portion of the Eastern US was being settled when the Federal government still treated states as primarily independent entities united as one to form a country. I know Kentucky would be very different if you added in state owned land.

 

[Keef]

Serious but trivial question:

Why is so much 'federal land' in the western United States? Some states like Nevada and Utah are almost completely covered in federal land. I thought it might include places like forests and deserts under the care of governmental agencies but is there really so little woodland in the east?

It's got a lot to do with the era of natural conservation/preservation, state and national parks, Theodore Roosevelt, John Muir, etc. I don't have time to dig through my notes because class is starting soon but we covered this time period at length during a landscape architecture class last semester.

I can point out one interesting thing though. See that weird snake-like line that curves through the north of Nevada, Utah and southern Wyoming? It looks polka-dotted and then disappears into the white privately owned land of Wyoming. That is a visual representation of a policy the US used to have where they granted free land to railroad companies after the Civil War, starting with the Pacific Railroad Act of 1862, in an effort to speed guarantee a route to the Pacific and to bolster private development along this land. The Railroads could do with their land as they pleased and the idea was that they'd sell it to private owners to make money. You can see in those three states above how some of that land was sold off but once these policies were ended the government took the rest of it back.

Here's a map of Nebraska (directly east of the lower half of Wyoming):

Township and Range, baby. Jefferson was a mad scientist. You Brits and your metes and bounds...that nonsense won't work when you've got this much land to organize.

 

[DK]

What the hell, America?

 

[Dennisch]

Maybe they did it so that the first job of the James Webb scope will be the search for heaven.

 

[Dotini]

Maybe they did it so that the first job of the James Webb scope will be the search for heaven.

The only hope is the reelection of a Democrat. I'm pushing Jim Webb, ironically enough.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jim_Webb

 

[Johnnypenso]

What the hell, America?

You didn't expect they'd leave a Democrat in charge did you? Don't worry though, the climate will still change even with the Republicans running NASA.👍

 

[DK]

You didn't expect they'd leave a Democrat in charge did you? Don't worry though, the climate will change faster with the Republicans running the science committee.👍

Fixed.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Fixed.

Climate change will change faster if you change the guy monitoring climate change. Fascinating.

 

[Liquid]

You didn't expect they'd leave a Democrat in charge did you? Don't worry though, the climate will still change even with the Republicans running NASA.👍

Fixed.

Climate change will change faster if you change the guy monitoring climate change. Fascinating.

I don't give a damn whether the bloke in charge is an elephant or a donkey, if he's a moron unsuitable for the job then he is a moron unsuitable for the job.

 

[Dennisch]

I don't give a damn whether the bloke in charge is an elephant or a donkey, if he's a moron unsuitable for the job then he is a moron unsuitable for the job.

Ted Cruz for President!

 

[Johnnypenso]

I don't give a damn whether the bloke in charge is an elephant or a donkey, if he's a moron unsuitable for the job then he is a moron unsuitable for the job.

So he's a moron and he can accelerate climate change. Even more fascinating.

 

[Dotini]

Ted Cruz for President!

Heh heh!
The problem with Cruz is he's no moron. He's received an elite Ivy League education, and is sharper than a razor in debate. He knows what he wants and he has a plan to get it. A dangerous man, just as Hillary is a dangerous woman.

 

[Johnnypenso]

Ted Cruz for President!

Prime Minister maybe, he was born in Canada.

 

[Dennisch]

Prime Minister maybe, he was born in Canada.

Aww. Bummer, eh!

 

[Johnnypenso]

Aww. Bummer, eh!

Not for us, I'd vote for him

 

[DK]

The only thing he has going for him is he's not Michelle Bachmann.

 

[Johnnypenso]

The only thing he has going for him is he's not Michelle Bachmann.

I wouldn't mind sharing my hot dog with Michelle

 

[Sanji Himura]

Joe Morrissey will start his term in the VA State House in jail. He pled guilty last year of delinquency of a minor for sleeping with a 17 year old receptionist in his law office, enviably getting her pregnant. Under the terms of a plea deal, he had to say that there was enough evidence to convict him, not that he did the crime. Morrissey was sentenced to a year in jail with 6 months suspended. Virginia officials allowed him to get out in a work-release arrangement so that he could practice law and campaign by day, and return to jail at night.

Other representatives are thinking of ways to throw Morrissey out of office since the voters will not do the job. [Since his district, the 74th, voted him in with 42% of the vote, 2,840 votes out of the district's 205,000 registered voters.]

 

[Johnnypenso]

Heh heh!

The problem with Cruz is he's no moron. He's received an elite Ivy League education, and is sharper than a razor in debate. He knows what he wants and he has a plan to get it. A dangerous man, just as Hillary is a dangerous woman.

Speak of the devil:
http://www.breitbart.com/texas/2015/01/14/ted-cruz-we-need-more-space-exploration/

Sounds like he's going to bring America back to the forefront of space exploration and the NASA boys love it!

 

[Danoff]

Serious but trivial question:

Why is so much 'federal land' in the western United States? Some states like Nevada and Utah are almost completely covered in federal land. I thought it might include places like forests and deserts under the care of governmental agencies but is there really so little woodland in the east?

Because the west is where all the really pretty nature is. Also they needed vacant desert to detonate bombs in (and that's in the west too).

 

[Sanji Himura]

Six Fatal Shootings Rock the St. Louis Area in 24 Hours:

1. At 7:30pm Leon Rivers was shot during a home invasion. Police has arrested a 29 year old man on the murder.

2. Shortly after Midnight, Kenny Burgett, 19, was shot after getting into a fistfight with his girlfriend's ex. The ex was 22 years old.

3 & 4. Eight minutes later, two men was shot during a robbery. The deceased were identified as 21 year old Eric Lee and 20 year old Jerivon Taylor.

5. 32 year old Cheri Simpson was shot dead while waiting at a stoplight. Police in that case have arrested her ex-boyfriend

6. Scott Knopfel, 50, was shot trying to prevent a robbery at the hotel that he worked at.

http://www.theblaze.com/stories/201...-rocked-by-seven-fatal-shootings-in-24-hours/

 

[Keef]

Criminals haven't been empowered, they just don't give a **** anymore. They think if the cops can get away with killing people then they can too. They're just following an example.

Or it could just be St. Louis which is a craphole of a city. It's like Detroit but still has enough people that they can shoot each other.

 

[FoolKiller]

Finally! The Albuquerque police officers who shot and killed James Boyd are facing criminal charges.
http://krqe.com/2015/01/11/charges-to-be-filed-monday-against-apd-officers-in-boyd-shooting/

Video of the shooting is at the link. There was another video that surfaced that showed the officers preparing to head into the park to look for Boyd when one of them says that he is going to shoot him in his 🤬.

I am happy to see one district attorney that is willing to take one of these cases to trial.


It is better than this shooting being called justified after a character assassination by law enforcement.

 

[Keef]

Screw Australia, I want this guy on my side! Possibly some foul written language in that article.