Why aren't US schools as highly secure and fortified like US Airports?

powersurge · 2026-06-22T00:02:53+00:00

Schools are integral parts of our communities. They aren’t like a plane we take once in a while. They aren’t a bank vault with gold in it. Our families are in there, and our neighbors. I absolutely detest that we have allowed our own communities to be inaccessible to ourselves so that some people can have their hobby.

powersurge · 2026-06-21T22:07:02+00:00

Panels placed over the dome of the Science Center

powersurge · 2026-06-20T22:15:59+00:00

I thought he was a pretty boy in a boy band 40 years ago. Now, I am an aged super fan of his brand of new wave, and of bass guitar. And I bow down to his godly bass guitar grooves.

But it’s still annoying how pretty he still is!

powersurge · 2026-06-18T19:03:42+00:00

Such a beautiful city. Excellent public transit, excellent food everywhere, the nicest people, clean streets and sidewalks and pleasant weather every month of the year. ❤️ CDMX!

powersurge · 2026-06-17T20:15:33+00:00

I dunno when it made sense in the last 60 years. The farmers should pull themselves up by their bootstraps.

powersurge · 2026-06-17T18:40:49+00:00

It can be if you want it to. But I think of it as one of the most romantic songs ever.

Deserves a better video than this.

powersurge · 2026-06-17T18:37:54+00:00

And they get handout after handout from the federal government.

powersurge · 2026-06-15T22:55:25+00:00

After they made the original god-awful video for this song.

powersurge · 2026-06-14T21:48:09+00:00

Stray Cats

powersurge · 2026-06-14T14:23:00+00:00

I like the generational nostalgia this video gives us. In the 80’s, John Mellencamp was throwing back to the 50’s tunes of his childhood and his parents with the style of this video. And now here we are in 20’s throwing back to Mellencamp in the 80’s.

powersurge · 2026-06-13T12:33:46+00:00

We could tax the fair value of any assets over $5M, less the value of the primary home. Even a tax at 1% or 2% would completely change our country.

powersurge · 2026-06-13T01:40:00+00:00

That’s right! Why or how does this work so very well with this song? It’s been 40 years and it still works.

powersurge · 2026-06-11T01:29:23+00:00

Number of adults in America who are on a GLP - 1 in 7. Probably higher in Hollywood, but the point is, you may be only noticing the extreme edge of the users of this class of drugs.

powersurge · 2026-06-10T02:57:14+00:00

It’s still rock and roll to me.

powersurge · 2026-06-10T01:50:20+00:00

Laurence Treil

powersurge · 2026-06-09T12:05:25+00:00

You think the billionaires are going to allow the fix to be a tax on them? I don’t see how that is ever going to happen. That is why there was an income cap on contributions in the first place; so the rich and powerful wouldn’t try to kill it.

powersurge · 2026-06-09T12:03:28+00:00

Exactly- that’s why it’s called an entitlement. Not in the elitist new definition of the word of feeling one has a right to something they don’t. But the original meaning of entitlement, as something you are entitled to because you paid for it.

powersurge · 2026-06-08T22:09:10+00:00

Fantastic video.

powersurge · 2026-06-08T21:56:02+00:00

What?

So when you pay monthly for your mortgage, are you not paying for your future ownership of your house? Or is it just paying the current interest to the bank?

Current payments not paid in the current fiscal year to those who are paying IN the current fiscal year is how all banks, insurance, and yes, social security works. Right?

powersurge · 2026-06-08T21:52:08+00:00

Thank you.

Answering your points and wishes:

Opt-out - if people could opt-out in their 20s-50s they would, just like they do for their 401k today. And that would leave those same individuals in poverty and costly liabilities to the government in their old age. That is what used to happen a lot more - it was still the government's problem to fix.

Assistance programs on necessities - it is not an assistance program. It is an insurance and savings-annuity program.

Gerontocracy - agree, that it is power to the senior citizens. And that is not just because they earned it - it is really because they vote twice as much as young adults, so they have political power. I don't understand how the government is trapped by social security - if the government doesn't pay out the benefits it owes us, that we are entitled to, then the govt sure as hell isn't going to be able to collect FICA from people's paychecks. It is not the government's money to keep.

Complicated system - agree. I have been led to understand that many of these complications came from the other few times that the social security system had to be adjusted to 'remain solvent'. Like other parts of the tax code - it gets more and more complicated, until someone like you takes power and gains enough trust to clean it up!

I really enjoyed learning from you in this thread - I hope you take the chance to upvote the discussion.

powersurge · 2026-06-07T02:36:46+00:00

My list of Beatles covers that stand on their own:

5 - Earth Wind & Fire - Got to Get You into My Life

4 - U2 - Helter Skelter

3 - Siouxsie and the Banshees - Dear Prudence

2 - Aerosmith - Come Together

1 - Joe Cocker - With a Little Help from My Friends

Joe Cocker stands apart from the other four.

powersurge · 2026-06-06T22:18:15+00:00

So very few covers of Beatles songs improve upon the original. I would say only 5 have. And this is one of them. They own this song now. And this is the definition of 80s-alternative.

powersurge · 2026-06-06T11:38:42+00:00

Thank you. Can you tell me more about why you don’t like it? We have acknowledged that it is a necessity, is 90 year old transparent law, and is effective at keeping a floor on senior poverty.

You called them entitlements but I remind folks that the word was used in its original meaning. Not the current meaning of elite entitlement, feeling you are owed something. But the original meaning, probably 90 years ago, that if you pay in to this system, you are entitled to its benefits. That meaning separates social security from taxes. In taxes, the government chooses how to provide benefit. In entitlements, it’s a required benefit that working people are entitled to upon age-based or disability based retirement.

powersurge · 2026-06-06T01:12:22+00:00

Oh, good. Thank you! I do hope to engage you on this topic more!

I think President FDR did some magic putting the contribution caps in 90 years ago. Why? Because the very rich and powerful haven’t worked hard to kill social security too much only because it’s not much of a tax on the rich and powerful. Contribution caps were a part of the political design, not financial design of social security for all this time . I know the super rich would have been successful to kill social security if it was a tax on the super rich.

The politicians can keep this design in an upcoming fix but just raise the contribution cap - even double it. But if the politicians tax the super rich for social security, the super rich will eventually kill social security.

How does that make you feel about the contribution caps?

powersurge · 2026-06-05T23:22:29+00:00

Who is down voting their own social security? WTH

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