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Reports of protests are overblown. A few incidents around the country, but nothing major.

5 (45.5%)

A few major incidents in capitals, but nothing much in DC.

5 (45.5%)

A major incident in DC, but nothing much around the country.

0 (0%)

More than 10 capitals have major upheavals, but nothing much in DC.

0 (0%)

A major incident in DC plus more than 10 capitals with significant upheavals.

1 (9.1%)

More than half the capitals around the country have problems with protesters, but DC is quiet.

0 (0%)

DC has major problems, while more than half the capitals around the country also have considerable trouble with protesters.

0 (0%)

Huge disruption to the day.

0 (0%)

Total Members Voted: 9

Voting closed: January 19, 2021, 10:49:21 PM

[bodiddley]

Tokyo is huge.
I really like Tokyo, but it might be the only city I've been to that might be too big for me.  Very pricey too.

I sorta liked HK in the 90's.
Now everything I liked there before has closed, except one terrific vegetarian restaurant.  And the ferry.  And it's become more of a shopping mall city, with a ferry.

I was thinking of countries I could semi- or permanently retire too.  Guess I have a few years up on josh.  So thinking more lifestyle, people/culture, location.  More than specific city.

I also quite liked Slovenia, and it has a nice location next to Italy and Austria and atop the Balkans, which they are very eager to avoid.  Ljubljana was a bit smallish but pretty nice.  Good place, though they tend to stick lots of J's into their words...

[bodiddley]

Robert Reich
Walmart made $129B in profit last year, but at least 14,500 of their employees receive SNAP benefits.

McDonald's made $11B in profit, but at least 8,780 employees receive SNAP benefits.

Execs are paying workers poverty wages to boost stock prices and line their pockets.

My simple solution is companies pay a minimum tax of 15% on profits.
No more zeroing out their taxes.
That's be Mickey D's kicking in nearly $2B and Walmart nearly $20B.

Also, should raise minimum wage as obviously these companies can make profits even absurdly large ones while paying a few dollars more per hour.

Sad and bizarre that these companies  don't want to treat their own employees fairly and decently because they want to make sure their very wealthy execs and shareholders have slightly more wealth.  So the gov't has to subsidize a living standard for these working poor.  Very wrong.

[kidcarter8]

So you want McDonalds to zero out its profits with plus employee pay?

Nice.

[josh]

Tokyo for 3 days...walked almost all of of the city.

If we assume that Mrs. Bambi walks at a brisk rate of 5mph and slept a grand total of 0 hours while she was there, eating only from places from which she could grab portable food, and the average accounting for potty breaks, that would have allowed her to walk 360 miles.

If everything she walked was a mile wide, she'd have seen almost half of it... since Tokyo is 847 sq miles. Another mph and she'd have gotten to half!

But she doesn't walk 5mph. She didn't do it for 72 hours straight, let alone without substantial stops. A "mere" 8 hours of sleep per night, at 4mph while walking, still without breaks in the day, brings it down to 192 miles walked.

Helluvan athlete, that Mrs. B.

8 hours a day at a pretty healthy 3mph is probably still pushing it, with no repetitive walking somehow. Quite an aggressive pace to manage for three days in a row, but let's grant it.

72 miles covered.

I leave it to you to figure out the rest of it.

[josh]

So you want McDonalds to zero out its profits with plus employee pay?

Nice.

Your math is as bad as Bambi's.

[josh]

President Trump is broadening his push to overturn the election outcome and threatening Republicans who challenge his refusal to concede, as looming deadlines for key states to certify their results are set to narrow the path for his legal challenges.

WSJ

Yeah, "let the voters decide" is so what Trump is doing.

[josh]

https://www.cnn.com/2020/11/21/politics/wisconsin-election-official-conspiracy-theory/index.html

I love Spindell's claiming he knows nothing.

But then again, Spindell said, "there isn't any evidence that there isn't any" fraud in Wisconsin.

Can't prove anything to anybody.

[josh]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201110-the-largest-dam-removal-project-in-american-history

[barton]

 I hear the Dalmatian coast is lovely,  but service can be....

spotty.

[bambu.]

So you want McDonalds to zero out its profits with plus employee pay?

Nice.

Your math is as bad as Bambi's.

She walked around in the city of Tokyo.

I didn't.
International (and domestic for that matter) travel is dangerous.
Dangerous to my body, mind, soul, spirit, and wallet.
So I watch videos on YouTube of those European countries, Japan, Canada, USA etc.
The scenery is beautiful, summer and winter...and the cultures and history interesting.

[barton]

I don't mind extreme/bizarre weather (northern plains guy) but I probably wouldn't deliberately choose retirement in Baltic nations or Canada.   I am partial to places where English or French is spoken,  so I can semi fit in and not seem like a permanent tourist.

New Zealand has pretty much everything I'd look for.   Or Midi-Pyrenees area of France,  near Toulouse -  affordable,  temperate, with hills nearby to hike in.   

[barton]

https://www.bbc.com/future/article/20201110-the-largest-dam-removal-project-in-american-history

Saw this a couple weeks ago,  thought I posted it over in Science thread,  but no,  I posted at my science website.   I like the Yurok's philosophy of sustainability. 

[kidcarter8]

Levying explosive claims of widespread voter fraud specifically tied to Dominion Voting Systems and potentially a pay-for-play scheme with GOP Gov. Brian Kemp, Trump campaign lawyer Sidney Powell vowed to deliver a "biblical" voter fraud case this week.

"We've got tons of evidence; it's so much, it's hard to pull it all together," Powell told Saturday night's "The Count" co-hosted by Rob Schmitt and Mark Halperin, teasing the explosive allegation of the Georgia governor in a contested and key battleground state.

"Hopefully this week we will get it ready to file, and it will be biblical."

"It's a massive project to pull this fraud claim together with the evidence that I want to put in," she added.

"You name the manner of fraud and it occurred in Georgia."

Among the most explosive claims alluded to by Powell were:


Joe Biden votes being "weighted" at 1.25 times and President Donald Trump votes being parsed at 3/4.
Algorithms that gave Democrats 35,000 extra votes.
Modifications made to voting machines after statutory cutoff dates for changes.
Past election victories, including Hillary Clinton's primary victory over Sen. Bernie Sanders, I-Vt., being forced decided by Dominion Voting Systems.
Alleged pay-for-play kick backs to public officials, potentially even Georgia GOP Gov. Kemp for a late grant to use Dominion Voting Systems.


whoa

[josh]

https://nypost.com/2020/11/21/pa-congressman-claims-states-mail-in-ballots-are-unconstitutional

Judge: And why are you filing this lawsuit now?

Litigants: Your honor, we only realized it was unconstitutional after we lost and everything else that President Trump tried was defeated. Up until then, we thought it was constitutional.

[bodiddley]

I'd be more excited about dam removal and salmon runs if folks weren't all lined up to capture and slaughter the fishies ...

You'd be surprised how good the English is in some Euro countries.
In Slovenia for instance, they were laser focused on becoming part of modern Europe and leaving the ethnic strife and scars of commie Yugoslavia behind, that they made a huge push to use English throughout society.  So everyone you meet speaks English well.

Whenever I meet anyone from Denmark, their English is better than most Americans.  Remarkably unaccented.
Lithuania, like Slovenia on the fringe of the core EU and eager to be in the mix, seemed real fluent in English. 

For Slovenia, Lithuania and Estonia English represents not only joining the global economy but perhaps moreso a secure link to modern Europe and therefore a safeguard against Russian revanchism.   English represents the possibility of wealth and modernity and freedom, but also existential security.

Even in the UK, English is widespread and fairly intelligible despite an odd strong regional accent ...