Black lives matter to me . If any of my kids paticipated in a black lives matter rally I would be very proud of them. @sovereigndebt it is called freedom speech. Minimum wages help the economy and there has been study after study to prove it , Lots of cops make 100k per year. Many of them are grossly overpaid. We have the largest prison population in the world. We dont need that.
The people who feel the most entitled are the one percenters who want to keep all the wealth to themselves. We need to be investing in education and infra structure not in bombs. Teachers should make twice as much as cops not the other way around
The latest defense budget has 11 billion for a new fighter plane that has never been used and 6 billion for an attack submarine. Who are we going to use the attack submarine on? Certainly not Isis. That money could be used to provide free public community college educations for all the current students in the US.
@justonedad I think you are looking at base salaries . You have to add in overtime, shift differential, equipment allowances , length of service differentials and other factors
Since it takes up to ten years to design and build a new submarine, most people think it’s a pretty good idea to have a few of them ready. Just in case.
I don’t get the controversy. The taxpayers already pay for free college. If a student is poor he is eligible for a Pell grant. The average is above $5700. In my state, VA, community college is $4200 per year. A student with a Pell grant would have money left over for books. It’s not Northeastern, but government cheese is not brie either.
Having a few attack submarines ready just in case of what? I apologize I am having great trouble what we might need a 6 billion dollar attack submarine used against. But then the military has had $2000 toilets just in case. I guess in that vein it makes sense.
I forgot about the 43 million gas station in afghanistan. That would have paid for 12000 community college students. I wonder if for that price it was full service and included complimentary windshield washing at no cost Priorities!!!
$400,000 and up is the top 1% in this country. Her family had to be making close to that at one time to afford a $1,000,000 house
just felt compelled to comment on this since I see it said a lot here. it is not necessarily true that someone needed to be making 1% type income to afford a million dollar house. there are plenty of people who were fortunate to turn their “starter homes” into serious money if they bought smart and sold at the height of the market and oh happy day if they lived in an area that benefited from gentrification…at least in my neck of the woods. if one turned those profits into a downpayment on that million dollar home, it is very conceivable that the MORTGAGE they needed to qualify for was in the good old fashioned middle class range. and while they may now have a boatload of EQUITY in said house, it doesn’t necessarily mean they can afford to leverage it…they might not have any extra to squeeze from the monthly budget to pay back whatever they can cash out on.
I just know that when one makes a lot of assumptions about someone else’s money they are often dead wrong.
Freedom of Speech is about state action. And there are many,many restrictions (exceptions) to Freedom of Speech very clearly defined by the US Supreme Court and other federal courts over more than 100 years.
Beyond that, how one presents their bill of concerns matters a great deal. And how one presents their concerns often tells listeners what the complainer is really seeking…
respect for authority. #lawandorder #civilitynotYELLING #copslivesmatter #GodBlessOurTroops
Civil disobedience has its place in very narrow circumstances. But disrupting the lives of law abiding people and being RACIST while doing it (BlackLivesMatter is vehemently racist) is unacceptable.
Going to college is a privilege for those who did the work and got the scores to get in. Its not a RIGHT. And if you violate the rules of civility and code of ethics and criminal code and campus security rules, you can be expelled and dismissed and banned from campus. I fully support College administrators doing just that.
Take your antimilitary hate speech to a classroom in a class on topic. I am sure you can find friendly faculty there who are supportive of your military hate speech.
Fwiw, I am VERY empathetic to the concerns of all students and parents about the extraordinary expense of college education. Its repulsive what college costs now. There is a rational, reasonable and civil way to address that, even in a union-style boycott or sit-in.
I am also on board with criticizing colleges for being bloated bloviating bastions of bureaucracy and underworked faculty. Most of whom are extreme liberals. BLAGH! They are inefficient and arrogant and way over priced and overpaid. Administrators as well. And they use FEDERAL funds to do it.
So I am very empathetic to the student loan problem. My solution is to tell kids DO NOT PILE UP HUGE DEBT in undergraduate school (over their expected first year salary for their expected job profession, i.e. 30k for teachers and 60k for engineers etc.) And pick a school you can afford. Too much prissy prestige seeking is unhealthy and unwise. Frankly it doesnt matter. Elite schools want you to think it matters, but it doesnt.
Too many kids think its a personal reflection on their self worth and self image which college they are accepted to and enroll. Its not. They will learn that once they enter the work force. In fact, I can make a powerful argument that the graduates of elite schools are often some of the most disliked people in many work environments. EQ matters as much as IQ in getting ahead. Notwithstanding Donald Trump…but he worked for himself…
@tiger1307 I have a great idea. Since you are so ignorant about national security and the U.S. military in particular, and you want the government to pay 100% for your college education, why don’t you join the military and qualify for the Post 9/11 G.I. Bill? That way, you can start to answer all of your questions about what the military does and why it is needed, and at the same time qualify for a very generous program that will fund all or almost all of your costs at a wide range of colleges and universities.
Your naivete and idealism are refreshing… let’s hope that you quickly lose the former while preserving the latter.
@belknap that is so refreshing that you called me “ignorant” I sincerely hope if you are a parent you dont use those terms with your kids. Amazingly you still havent justified the 6 billion attack submarine nor the 41 million gas station. Please do so. Lets hope that more people learn that spending more money than the other 9 largest military budgets combined is a waste of taxpayer money
ig-nor-ant: lacking knowledge, information, or awareness about something in particular
Based on your posts here, this describes you and your level of knowledge regarding national security and the U.S. military. It’s not necessarily a put down; it just means you lack knowledge. The remedy to ignorance is education. Others have already explained to you why a 6 billion attack submarine is a justified military expense, but you choose to ignore those explanations (apparently it fits your narrative better to remain ignorant about theses things). And yes, I wouldn’t hesitate to use the word ignorant with my kids, if they lacked knowledge about a particular subject. There are many things that I am ignorant about, but the U.S. military is not one of them.
Sorry but many people believe that the military wastes an excessive amount of money myself included. You can call me ignorant if that makes you feel good, I choose not to call people “ignorant” to make my point. What do you base your knowledge of the US military on @Belknappoint? And since you are so knowledgeable I would love to hear your justification for a 6 billion dollar attack submarine and a 41 million dollar gas station in the desert
@zoosermom I am not saying we should have no military. I am saying our military budget should be more in line with other world powers. We have 5 per cent of the world population. How about we spend 20 per cent of the total world military expenses. What do you think?
