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http://thedailyshow.cc.com/extended-interviews/8kct30/exclusive-rand-paul-extended-interview I was impressed with Paul's interview here. His statements on liberty vs security were spot-on, and thought what he had to say on abortion sounded uncharacteristically mature (for politics). He's...

I was wondering when you'd get to the Pavlov's dog act again (to be fair, I've given up reading your posts, so you've probably been at it the whole time). I'll just save everyone the trouble of trying to see if the misleading title fits what Bernie Sanders thinks with a quote from your article...

Source?

As a firm supporter of your basic premise, I must nevertheless call you out on this specific premise: Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. Do you have any numbers/expert opinions to back this up? What potential tax revenue are we losing to churches? That much should at least be...

This has always been the foolishness of the Republican party. As Maddow says, you talk to Republican voters, they all want small, leave-me-alone government - just talk to any of them on this board. Yet their party never delivers this. And yet they keep voting for them. To their credit, at least...

Sadly, the demographics with which social media plays the biggest role are the ones who turn out the least. Which is too bad, considering now unlike any other time can an individual place his/her ideas on par with a newspaper owner's. I'm wondering if it's worthwhile to switch registration just...

I don't suppose there's a possibility of taking all the lovers' quarrel posts (there's more than one couple) and throwing them into one single thread? That would be swell.

Just wanted to second this. In Mannheim a significant proportion of the population is Muslim (a quarter of the city center is often called Little Istanbul), and nobody's bothered. There was even one of those protests from the Muslim community against Islamic extermism that some folks on this...

You two are spot on the money - I say this as holder of both US and EU passports. In my opinion a large part of the problem is that most Americans have no outside perspective. We're taught in school - explicitly or even in the least patriotic corners, still implicitly - that the US is by far...

That comes from this study: http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0191886913002778, which isn't a conservative versus liberal comparison, but a study of happiness plotted against right-wing authoritarianism. Here's the Washington Post's breakdown: The "ignorance is bliss"...

Sources man, sources. I've long since stopped taking anything in a forum at face value. The numbers I've seen (and admittedly I didn't look long or hard) don't show the UK doing anything special that most of northern Europe isn't also doing post-worldwide recession. Even that jobs number looked...

Let me just skip this whole thread about Russia to talk about the UK for a moment... I'm disappointed in the election results. There seemed to be some real momentum for change (I say this not having lived in the UK for almost three years now, so my perspective here is unfortunately purely...

- http://www.ontheissues.org/senate/bernie_sanders.htm The more I see, the more I like him. I wonder if that'll last.

Here's a very familiar topic... I've got more where that came from, but I think the idea is pretty clear. I've yet to get any decent rebuttals to these points (or much of rebuttals at all, really). Especially the last sentence, which I want to reiterate: Anybody? I know the answer for...

This is definitely a plus. This is also in my mind a plus. Sadly, here's where the downhill starts. Indeed - moreover, being a brilliant surgeon doesn't make the man brilliant (doesn't make him not - they're simply unrelated). There will simply be many huge hypocrites. But they'll convince...

It's pretty simple: size.

We've seen two examples already folks. Ferguson. Boston. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1033_program It's not as far-fetched as it sounds - it just might not be coming from the federal level.

Bernie Sanders looks like the most promising candidate so far. - http://benjaminstudebaker.com/2015/04/30/candidate-evaluations-bernie-sanders/ (each of those points are cited) Further down the blog there's a few criticisms that I also agree with (i.e, knocks against Sanders) and this list...

Oh, it's already there. There's been a program running where local *************** can receive military surplus supplies. Which, considering how much we spend on the military, is substantial. Ferguson riots? Boston marathon bombing? Just a couple demonstrations of ***************'s ability to...

And here Jagger sums up almost all of the debate that happens in this board section: "I've seen a correllation in a complex system between one variable and another, and without looking any further than that I've declared causation!" Guns, religion, racial issues, it's all here. I'd rep you...

Don't mistake cause and effect. America is responsible for dumbing down the liberal (and conservative) media, not the other way around. The media sells only what is being bought, and it seems by and large we like buying stupid.

Right there with ya.

And this is why I can't support him; all the good of the tea party already existed: in libertarians. All the bad of the tea party already existed: in the Republican party. They opted/were *******/hijacked/whatever to the latter rather than former. That and his foreign policy ideas: -...

Therein lies the problem with the average American voter; we know it's bullshit, but we vote for it anyway. Republicans lap up promises made by their would-be and actual presidents to shrink the government - one Republican president in living memory has delivered on that* (Eisenhower, and he...

Not a whole heck of a lot of analysis, but still a nice comparison to see where the parties are: http://politicalcompass.org/uk2015

Alas, the uncomfortable truth. I only said boots on the ground was their greatest recruitment tool, certainly not their only: - http://www.cato.org/publications/policy-analysis/ancient-history-us-conduct-middle-east-world-war-ii-folly-intervention (and yeah, I just posted a link from the Cato...

That's equivalent to saying not believing in the tooth fairy is a leap of faith. ;) Good observation. Offense - in many realms, not just the religious - is often a sign of weakness in belief, a fear that the offense could be true. Great quote. Here's one from Richard Dawkins along the same lines:

Does it all boil down to charisma? I don't think so - but I'd say you're right that it plays a bigger part than it should. But that's been clear since the first televised presidential debate, when people listening on the radio largely thought Nixon had won, but those watching it on TV largely...

Osama Bin Laden himself told us more or less the same thing. So did Robert Pape's research in Dying to Win. Stopping all involvement today wouldn't make threats or hatred disappear overnight, but it would rapidly diminish the power of those threats to materialize. The greatest recruitment tools...

The flat tax seems like a good idea on the surface, but as you point out, even if the percentage is the same for everyone, the burden is not. Does someone who makes $1,000,000 notice $100,000? Sure, but that other $900,000 is ample. The person who makes $100 will definitely be feeling the loss...

I apologize for my part in that. Two books come to mind; This Town, which is a rather frightening and sad psychological profile of our politicians in Washington (I've mentioned it a few times already), and a humorous yet surprisingly insightful little book called On Bullshit. Between the two...

His ****** would've easily got my vote. Rand though, not so much. I'm surprised to hear a European say this. One of my favorite things about elections here is that they don't start the day after the last one. 'Finally' indeed - I'd prefer them not to say anything until a couple months before...

Uh...what? That was all quite nonsensical so I didn't get much out of it, but this is definitely worth reading:

Ah yes, very busy with that...one...post... Way to avoid everything of substance, like you do every time. Know the difference between you and I? You just call me an idiot. I gave documented evidence why you're an idiot. I'm sure the rest of the board has already decided on their opinion of you...

You two have a bit of a perception problem. It's not uncommon, considering how hard the media is selling it. But I warned the board once about what the media sells on this topic...

I've just perused his Wikipedia article. He sounds more or less like you describe - as well as another party establishment silver-spooned (potential) candidate. I can't see him being any different to the Democratic party mold as our current Democrats. At gunpoint I'd take him over, say, Hillary...

No, you obviously don't. What does it make you when someone who doesn't 'have the slightest idea about much of anything' has more ideas about things than you? I can stake claim to whatever I like. It's the internet after all - which is why such claims mean jackshit. Take your claims of...

You don't have the slightest idea what 'left' really means, do you?

I tried arguing here that it isn't the special interest money that's the problem; it's the voter. Debates and policies could matter now, but they don't, because the voter doesn't care. Special interest money in the form of nonsensical TV, radio, newspaper, etc ads would be next to meaningless if...

If I were a betting man, I'd bet that you're genuinely oblivious to how full of **** you are. Consistantly, constantly, and demonstrably. My exasperation of bullshit aside, I still don't understand the special fascination with Isreal. It's an ally, yes, but so are dozens of other countries...

Careful; "we" have done no such thing. "We" sit complacently voting away our freedoms and opportunities with every election in stupid partisan fighting. Some men a few hundred years ago did it with muskets and a strong unwavering will to be free. This is a sentiment I see a lot of, and I want...

Points for recycling. They've got themselves a good position when you look at it this way: they argue that government doesn't work, while being in a perfect position to make that come true. But to be fair, if I understood it correctly McConnell is changing up tactics and trying to get the...

As I said before in this thread, people voting against their own interests is hardly unique to the States. Here's a poll in Germany that, among other things, found this: Here again is that disconnect. This poll's coming not so long after the main party of power, CDU, gained even more...

As others are touching on the religion, splitting hairs and so on, I just want to speak directly to the logic and say this doesn't follow (a lack of belief == belief). To say this is to say that you are 'believing' in this way with regards to Santa Claus, the Tooth Fairy, Tolkien's Mordor...

That's what I was afraid of, which is why I was hoping you could shortcut that for me and show me the numbers you're using (and preferably what you used to cross-check CCW legislation enactment) to make your assertion. Was there meant to be a link, or were you referring to the general main FBI...

Agnosticism as a logical position only makes sense when the evidence for either case is relatively equal (I've only watched a couple of the videos posted here, so it's possible any number of them talk about this specifically; BusterLoads' last one in this post at least points out why the...

This is a problem - it should, or at least continue to be an affront. But you're hardly alone here; it seems most folks have shrugged and accepted this as the status quo. Or, at least that's the perception one would take from the media - but it's hard to say, given that the media has long since...

Can you provide these numbers please? I'd be very interested to see them.

Frustrating, no? And yet when I argue that we should be working on getting actually new management, the response is either knee-jerk partisanship, "Hey look cats", or arguments that no, as a matter of fact, the current bosses are best for us. The times they are a-(unfortunately not)-changin'.

I've got to hand it to you, BC, you'd make a damn fine politician. You twist words, avoid evidence, and take whatever opportunities to jump onto new tangents faster than a whip. I'm not convinced that's something you can fake, either - I'll bet you're completely earnest. After reading This Town...