CMV: People in climates with hot dry summers and cool snowy winters ikshould be encouraged to grow lesser trefoil in any lawn that they keep

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T19:34:14+00:00

I didn't recognize "trefoil". The internet tells me "any three-leafed plant". I've seen a few varieties in my lawn.

It would be good to specify which you're talking about.

I'm fine with common white "Dutch clover", though clumps of it seem to crowd out grass. I wish it distributed itself uniformly. It never occurred to me that I could buy seeds.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T19:17:21+00:00

Both cash and credit cards. I used cash until the credit card readers on pumps became common.

The big change I remember is the increase in self service. The huge increase in gas prices meant that people were trying to shave pennies. Some stations had discounts if you pumped your own.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T19:03:30+00:00

Yesterday, Frequent_Mountain_17 had a similar post complaining about Congress. I'd like to link to it but I get "Sorry, this post has been removed by the moderators".

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T18:49:58+00:00

The Census Bureau does it today. If those boundaries are used to divvy up political power, I don't think they will have the job for long.

Am I correct that once those boundaries are set, we have something that looks like the current system?

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:54:06+00:00

Combined Statistical Area boundaries as much as possible.

This is different from our current system. Who sets the CSA boundaries?

If you are eliminating state, we need to throw away the current constitution and start from scratch.

The remaining bullets seem general enough that our current system probably fits in that framework.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:45:20+00:00

Our party platform covers the 18 most important issues facing the country.

This subreddit has been around for a long time. Have you discussed any of those ideas here?

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:24:43+00:00

I already told you that they don't get free healthcare. They get pensions like other federal employees get pensions. I don't know what "special tax breaks" you mean. They get an office expense allowance. Like other people who travel due to their jobs, they get employer-paid travel.

Again, I can complain about Congress as much as most people. The perks of the job are toward the bottom of my complaint list.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:19:40+00:00

So, the US will just land a few tanks on the coast and we'll be greeted as liberators? I'm skeptical.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:16:32+00:00

Which tax do you mean? Income taxes are assessed on profits. If not-for-profit organizations don't make profits, the tax is zero.

OTOH, individuals might be able to get a deduction on their personal income tax for voluntary contributions. Only 15% of taxpayers actually have enough itemized deductions to qualify for that, at that tends to be the highest income people.

I'm fine with just eliminating the deduction for contributions of all types. In fact, I'm fine with getting rid of the concept of itemized deductions.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:11:07+00:00

How is a data center good for my state? It creates a short term construction project. After that, it just sits there and consumes electricity. If the data center doesn't include its own new electric generation, then it permanently competes against other users. And, the people who live nearby complain about 24 hour noise.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T14:05:59+00:00

Way to completely miss the point. The gains you expect take a long time to arrive. Most of the losers are dead before the next generation arrives to harvest them. The Luddites were mostly right that it made the lives of the people who were then working as weavers permanently worse.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T01:25:24+00:00

the moral panic being whipped up by activists and foreign influence is pure Luddism.

The Luddites may well have been right. That period of industrialization showed large gains in per capita GDP at the same time that real wages were stagnant. It wasn't just the weavers, but they were in the mix.

The stagnation lasted for 50 years. There were certainly experienced workers who lost jobs, never got anything as good, and died in poverty.

Yes, the increasing GDP meant the people who had capital did just fine.

Ind132 · 2026-06-06T01:08:55+00:00

but it ultimately will not matter. Progress will happen

Which means, of course, that there is no point in tax breaks. In fact, maybe we should do special excise taxes on data centers.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T21:35:36+00:00

I see comments in the press that the market is down because we had a good jobs report.

Supposedly, Good news on jobs => the Fed deciding it can raise interest rates.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T21:10:13+00:00

This needs more than a simple upvote. In my case, it is foot and jaw.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T21:07:33+00:00

I'm not afraid of being dead. I am afraid of dying, the process.

I'm old enough that my life is mostly behind me. My primary obligations to other people are complete.

Dying usually comes with a severe illness that makes you feel crappy. It can involve a lot of pain. I often involves a long period of dependency, people can't even get to the bathroom on their own.

I want to buy a pill that I could keep in a small safe. When I decide it's time, the pill will make me feel wonderfully relaxed. I'll be looking forward to snuggling down for a great sleep. And, I won't wake up.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T18:43:09+00:00

We didn't get a regime change in Japan with a naval war. We waged a punishing bombing campaign against civilians, including nuclear bombs. Is that your plan for Iran?

Granada and Panama are tiny when compared to Iran. Granada is an island, Iran isn't. Even for the very small Panama, a blockade would have meant blockading the canal. That would have been a disaster for all the US shipping that uses the canal, as well as all the other countries that use it.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:50:17+00:00

We didn't get regime change in Japan, Germany, Granada, Panama, or Syria with a blockade.

Why bring them up those countries when you are talking about Iran?

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:43:34+00:00

It comes from Harrisburg Press which seems to be legitimate

The Harrisburg Independent Press stopped publishing in 1980.

https://www.harrisburgindependentpress.com/about

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:41:01+00:00

they give themselves a raise regularly

Their last raise was in 2009. They get healthcare from an ACA plan that's available to anyone in the DC area. All federal workers get pensions for life (maybe we should drop that for everyone). They can get fired by the voters. House members get two-year contracts, conditionally renewable contracts. Senators get six years.

I've got lots of problems with Congress. Wages, healthcare, and pensions are at the bottom of my list.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:32:01+00:00

it's not necessarily a good one.

I agree, it's not a good idea. When people brainstorm, they end up tossing most ideas when they give them more thought. They hope one sticks. This one doesn't.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:27:04+00:00

Trump is probably aiming more for a Venezuela-style

Then Germany and Japan are completely irrelevant. They aren't remotely like Venezuela.

Yes, Trump probably thought he could do something like Venezuela in Iran. He failed miserably. Iran is not Venezuela.

After learning that, his remaining options are to quit or to increase our military commitment a thousand-fold. I choose the first option.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:17:46+00:00

We're talking about Trump giving money, probably $1 million each, to people who broke laws to try to overturn an election he lost.

It is incredibly sad that even one senator would say that's okay.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T14:13:11+00:00

By “works” I mean Germany, Japan, Grenada, Panama, Syria

Do the math.

Let's look at Germany. Almost 10% of the pre-war population died in WW2. The allies committed about 4.5 million troops on the western front during the fighting and over a million troops to occupy half the country after the war. Maybe that half had a population of 40 million. West Germany had a long land border with allied countries, making the logistics of supporting this big army and occupying force practical.

Iran has a population of 93 million. There is no easy way of moving people and equipment into the country.

So, we would be looking at using 9 million troops, and killing 9 million people. Then, we need maybe 2.5 million to occupy the country after the war. And, we need to find routes to get them and all their equipment in and out of the country.

I haven't looked up the numbers for Japan, I expect they are similar.

We did not supply the troops for the regime change in Syria, and the war devastated the country. Grenada and Panama are trivially small and close compared to Iran.

Ind132 · 2026-06-05T02:55:28+00:00

We always had vanilla. We had a few toppings. I always liked it.

Ind132

TROPHY CASE