Sure, but this would mean that the Dems actually want to recapture the House. Far easier to do post-election hand-wringing about what they’d like to do than to actually have control of the House and be expected to act.

My guess is that it’ll actually never brought to the floor, or else defeated by “unanimous consent” (with no-one asking for a roll call). This makes far too much sense for anyone in Congress to be willing to put their vote on record.

Good morning, folks. As for perris’ comment, Texas DOES have 26-plus million in total population, so an extra 12k per year in births — the estimate was over two years — wasn’t that surprising to me. Of course, the Times didn’t source their original estimate, so it’s hard to check that part. (YMMV for such population ballparking.)

As a couple of other commenters, I rarely post, but your to-the-point writing kept me coming back to FDL every day — you will be sorely missed! Very best wishes from South Florida, including success with your future endeavors.

Funny, I remember the U.S. government threatening similar actions against Manuel Noriega when he hid in the de facto Vatican embassy during the invasion of Panama. However, I’m not sure the Brit neighbors to the Ecuadorian embassy would like the psy-ops tactic we used there of blasting rock music at the embassy grounds. Then again, we played the Clash for that tactic, so maybe they would.

The biggest issue seems to be whether Sweden would hold on to Assange or simply engage in a mid-flight course course correction for Fort Leavenworth or Quantico.

Wasn’t it the U.S.S. Wisconsin down at Nauticus, the Norfolk Marine Museum? If so, the ship is now “owned” by the Wisconsin Foundation; it’s not an active U.S. Navy warship any longer. I have no idea about the rental rates, but I’m sure it’s available for the right price.

I would suggest that FDL look into providing a spot for live, ongoing action w/r/t these protests; perhaps some sort of automatic top-listing? More folks at the Lake calling the Boston and/or Atlanta PD now would certainly help, for example. Wish I could do more now than a few phone calls, but hearing from Miami in Boston surprised the BPD person on the phone!

Yeah, that too — they’re not mutually exclusive, especially with rum!

South Florida, amongst the ex-pats, the boat folks (and not just Cubans), and palm trees. We have to live with Governor Scott, but there’s always a price for paradise, right?

And I wish I could remember more of it! Good times…

Actually first saw Hornsby in 1991, playing keyboard with the Dead at RFK in Washington, D.C. — didn’t find out until later from my (double graduate) University of Miami wife that he was an alum as well. Strange circles and all, but at least more enjoyable to think about than the rest of D.C. lately.

There are LOTS of other ways for the federal government to spend money that don’t have the negative effects of defense contractor spending, such as infrastructure maintenance or construction. You’re just being contrary for the sake of being so.

On the other hand, there’s indeed a case to be made that “taxing the rich” isn’t punitive, but rather a fair assessment of the gains in productivity that have accrued at a proportionately higher rate to the upper 5% — having gone to both undergrad and grad school with those folks, you can’t convince me for a second that they all “earned” it themselves.

Probably because there’s an agenda to fulfill? You’re right, that’s not really what I’d intended, at least not directly. The issue with the budget is that we’re running at a deficit — there are lots of ways to reduce that (e.g., ending wars, allowing Bush-era tax cuts to expire) without “new” taxes designed to help ameliorate the bad effects of those prior problems.

The idea of a transaction tax on Wall Street has been floated here and in other places before: not only would it raise revenue for the federal government, but also act as a brake on “reckless” trading. You’d get a two-fer, no?

Glad that I didn’t watch — hard to believe indeed how far we’ve come as a nation in just the past ten years (or even three, depending on perspective). As for emigration, I’m thinking to an off-the-beaten path island… Dominica, perhaps. Papayas and coconuts, with the occasional chicken and mahi — consider it the south Florida version of living off the land.

Thanks for the welcome folks, and tuezday, I expect I’ll hear from you again. With two little ones by myself this weekend, and a big proposal due on Monday, I’m calling it a night. Happy chatting, all.

Well, I had hair in the ’70s…

Thanks, and precisely why I kept coming back — whether for advice on regional resource extraction policy or the best mango-apple pie recipe, fire pups are indeed always there (note that I didn’t specify which was more important… I am a cook at heart).