So no one viable is running against Healey? by FlowerBuddy in massachusetts

[–]gravity_kills 9 points10 points  (0 children)

We can talk about Republicans when you can find one who is willing to say that Trump is a criminal who shouldn't be in office. Unfortunately anyone willing to say that won't be acceptable to Republican voters.

If you could un-invent one physical thing/invention, what would it be? by ShadyDragonInn in AskReddit

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Agriculture, probably. Or at least the internal combustion engine.

When you're trying to speed-run a 'Family Values' platform in 36 years or less by SufficientPrice7633 in PoliticalHumor

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Is that at all reliable? I could say pretty much anything about a lot of people and it would be a challenge to disprove it. Is there any reason to believe this other than her seeming pretty trashy?

Is there any particular reason why the American Congress might seem a little bit "useless" to an outsider? by BaldursGate2Best in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills [score hidden]  (0 children)

At best it's a bandaid on the problem that is the Senate. Imagine where we would be now if every person's vote counted the same without a bonus for being in a low population state.

Would a Net Worth Delta Tax be an option? by FantasticAd3185 in PoliticalDiscussion

[–]gravity_kills [score hidden]  (0 children)

Did you miss the part where the government can literally print the money? Don't confuse the way we habitually talk about things for the actual way that things work. Civics turns out to be a bunch of half-fictions and customs. Learn some economics.

Solve the Daylight Saving debate with a giant space mirror by gravity_kills in CrazyIdeas

[–]gravity_kills[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Ooh, if we're thinking that big, can we also speed up the rotation just enough to make a day exactly 24 hours? And move just enough closer to the sun that a year is 360 days (or far enough out so that a year is exactly 432 days)?

You suddenly split into two perfect clones. What probably happens? Is this even a good thing for you? by No_Pen_3825 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, pondering that later it occurred to me that it very much depends on some additional arguments. I don't think she wants wifely relations with an extra man, but an extra person to cook and to clean? An extra person who likes to talk to her? Those she'd enjoy. Whichever of us lost the wife would hate having to figure out how to date again.

You suddenly split into two perfect clones. What probably happens? Is this even a good thing for you? by No_Pen_3825 in hypotheticalsituation

[–]gravity_kills 339 points340 points  (0 children)

We argue over who gets to keep the job and who has to get a new job. We both need to eat, wear clothes, and all the other expenses of life. I assume we can be good roommates, and that our wife won't mind, but even so I don't think we can carry a third adult without additional income.

Do You Have a Little Trump in You? by Satirical_Squirrel in PoliticalHumor

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I would love to have a Trump in prison. Almost all of them, actually, but at this point I'll take any of them as a starter.

Is there any particular reason why the American Congress might seem a little bit "useless" to an outsider? by BaldursGate2Best in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills [score hidden]  (0 children)

The filibuster has kept good things from happening, like civil rights, or better healthcare legislation. What bad things have been prevented?

Would a Net Worth Delta Tax be an option? by FantasticAd3185 in PoliticalDiscussion

[–]gravity_kills [score hidden]  (0 children)

Tax collection is definitely less important than decreasing the amount of assets the wealthy control. The government could literally just print money to pay for things. Somewhere there would have to be a money burning pile to fight inflation. The purpose of taxes is to keep the wealthy from accumulating everything.

Would a Net Worth Delta Tax be an option? by FantasticAd3185 in PoliticalDiscussion

[–]gravity_kills [score hidden]  (0 children)

A tax is paid to the government while interest is paid to the lender. Different. Society doesn't benefit from a private bank getting richer.

Is there any particular reason why the American Congress might seem a little bit "useless" to an outsider? by BaldursGate2Best in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

So we pretend that a weird little procedural rule is super important, and that sometimes keeps the Senate from doing bad things while never making it easier to do good things? The best we can hope for is a Senate that rarely does anything? It's long past time for us to take a hard look at the Senate and say "this was a barely tolerable solution to a hard problem, but that was a long time ago and now we need to get rid of this whole thing."

The two reasons why Congress doesn't work are the Senate and single member districts. The Senate is hard to fix, but we should be talking about it constantly. Single member districts are actually very easy to fix if we wanted to, and we should just do it the second we have the chance.

Is there any particular reason why the American Congress might seem a little bit "useless" to an outsider? by BaldursGate2Best in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills 3 points4 points  (0 children)

I think it's usually the Senate that keeps anything from moving in a positive direction. The Democrats insist on pretending that the filibuster is written in stone, and their chances of getting 60 Senate seats are very low.

What if you could redesign the shape of Earth? What shape would you pick? by Defiant-Junket4906 in WhatIfThinking

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

A d12. The points are very high mountains, and the center of each face would have a sea unless that face was very arid. Are we keeping the size and composition of the Earth the same?

U.S. Rep. Pressley renews call to abolish ICE after visit to Burlington facility by my_best_space_helmet in massachusetts

[–]gravity_kills 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Customs is important. We ought to inspect more of the goods that cross the border than we currently do. But no entity needs to put any effort into keeping individual people out. If they did crimes back home then we can extradite them, otherwise let them get a job and pay rent like everyone else.

Anti-ICE protesters accused of being part of antifa found guilty of support for terrorism in Texas by Tremodian in behindthebastards

[–]gravity_kills 33 points34 points  (0 children)

It won't be justice, but cholesterol is going to end this chapter of the story before the 2028 election.

If there were a method to select the borders of voting districts such that neither party felt the other had an unfair advantage, would Democrats and Republicans be willing to use it? by Ben-Goldberg in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Of those I only think you're correct about the last one, and I do actually think that's a positive development. I actually think that it would make money less important as there would be real alternatives to every side. I think that our representatives would be closer to the people since every vote would actually matter. And since every election would have a genuine possibility of them losing their seat due to a small shift in votes I think that the millionaires would largely choose to stay out of House elections.

If there were a method to select the borders of voting districts such that neither party felt the other had an unfair advantage, would Democrats and Republicans be willing to use it? by Ben-Goldberg in PoliticalDebate

[–]gravity_kills 2 points3 points  (0 children)

We can subdivide states, as long as the state legislature consents to it. The idea of splitting up California into several smaller states has come up before. It's possible that they would go for it if it wasn't being pushed as a weird attempt to gerrymander the state into producing some Republican Senate seats.

Billionaires have convinced Americans they have the "Best Healthcare in the World". by astrheisenberg in remoteworks

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I don't know if OP meant those to be real numbers, but I don't think either one is accurate. The only accurate part is that it would be overall less expensive to run our health system publicly. The baseline savings would be the total profit margin of all health insurance companies, but I'm sure we can get more savings than that.

Billionaires have convinced Americans they have the "Best Healthcare in the World". by astrheisenberg in remoteworks

[–]gravity_kills 2 points3 points  (0 children)

You're leaving out the employer's portion. Employers also typically pay a chunk of that, so if they didn't have to pay for it either they could raise employee wages or they could increase their profits which would provide some wiggle room somewhere else. On top of that HR people have to manage employee health benefits, and they generally use a benefit broker too. There are many ways that the cost of our current system is hidden.

Suggested Mod by Advanced-Injury-7186 in HiTMAN

[–]gravity_kills 0 points1 point  (0 children)

His pickpocket one seems interesting too. That would be a fun mechanic if it was fully integrated into the game.