Recent Comments

1. about 8 hours ago on Clay Jones

   On the whole, the initial economic effects of Prohibition were largely negative. The closing of breweries, distilleries, saloons , truckers, waiters, and other related trades led to the elimination of thousands of jobs. Prohibition cost the federal government a total of $11 billion in lost tax revenue, while costing over $300 million to enforce.The growth of the illegal liquor trade under Prohibition made criminals of millions of Americans who were tempted by the inflated profits of illegal activity. As the trade in illegal alcohol became more lucrative, the quality of alcohol on the black market declined, killing on average 1000 Americans each year. The effects of Prohibition on law enforcement were also negative. Police officers and Prohibition agents were tempted by bribes or the lucrative opportunity to go into bootlegging themselves. Many stayed honest, but enough succumbed to the temptation that the stereotype of the corrupt Prohibition agent or local cop undermined public trust in law enforcement. The jails and courts were overflowing demanding time that could have been devoted to other crimes.We need to learn the lesson of prohibition. Cops are spending too much time fighting the drug war. Instead, legalize everything. Let the drug companies produce it. Sell it at cost plus taxes. If the drug lords come up with something something popular on the street, legalize and produce that too. History shows that taking the “naughty” factor out of it actually decreases use. Drug lords will have no reason to “hook” young customers, since they won’t remain customers. Allow sales in bars, pharmacies. People gonna do what people gonna do. Give up the “drug war”, reap the tax rewards, cut down on the number of people we are feeding in jails and put a whole lot of drug dealers out of business, while their profits go to better causes.

2. about 8 hours ago on Clay Jones

   They could quite likely have visited, or at least orbited long enough to pick up some broadcasts. That should be enough to convince them never to come into this solar system again.

3. 3 days ago on Maintaining

   Yeah, but he trusted the vetters, who obviously missed a few things.

4. 3 days ago on Jeff Stahler

   It’s interesting that the addition of IRS agents was a very important issue for the GOP to delete from the budget. I pay my taxes, so I could care less if there are enough people working there to do audits of “complex” returns. Why do you suppose that worries the Republicans so much?

5. 3 days ago on Real Life Adventures

   By the time you figure in gas to drive to the store, and then the other stores because the first one didn’t have what you wanted, the shipping comes out about even. And, if you have Prime, it’s free and comes with a mediocre TV channel.

6. 3 days ago on Maintaining

   McCain was the last Republican I could actually respect.

7. 4 days ago on Jen Sorensen

   The electoral college has done more damage to this country accidentally than any other organization could have done on purpose. Wonder what would have happened if Gore had won in 2000. His focus ( obsession actually) is climate change. Would the west coast be burning down if we had actually done as much as possible to prevent global warming starting 20 years ago? Would hurricanes and tornados be getting stronger and more wide spread every year? I doubt it.

   Then they gave us Trump, who has given us the Trump plague which has caused the middle class to lose jobs and die a lot. Would this have happened it Obama’s pandemic response team hadn’t been cut out of the 2018 budget, just months before the plague hit? Again, I doubt it.

   Everything we are dealing with would have been less of a problem if the electoral college hadn’t installed a president that the American people voted against.

8. 4 days ago on Clay Jones

   I’m not sure what percentage of the population can be described with any combination of letters. I am sure that there are a whole lot more people than that who believe that everyone has a right to be whatever they happen to be, and who are offended a lot more by people sticking their nose in other people’s business.

9. 4 days ago on Clay Jones

   Thinking is hard, but not thinking when you are presented with this puzzle we call life is much harder.

10. 4 days ago on Tim Campbell

    Amy Klobuchar, Cory Booker, Sherrod Brown, and Beto O’Rourke all would be stronger VP candidates than Harris. My first choice would be Brown, because he is solidly liberal and would make a great president. And, cause he’s just a nice guy. Actually, he is my third choice, but Liz and Bernie are too old. Although Warren may be 73, but she looks and acts like she’s 50.