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mrandyk

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Everything posted by mrandyk

  1. I never imagined that I'd consider moving to Canada, but these past 4 years have me thinking about it a lot. The next few years will be pivotal for me. I really hope what we've experienced has been this nation being pushed to the brink and not the status quo moving forward. If the current form of the Republican party is going to continue having this much influence then we are all f#&%ed. They either need to reform or die off. Otherwise we are only seeing the beginning of the decline.
  2. You had my interest until I saw the 'February 2013' mark at the bottom. We're going to be flying or driving forever here. Amtrak is a joke if you don't live in the northeast. I can't for the life of me understand why anyone elsewhere would use it. I just looked at a trip to NYC and it cost the same as flying but is a 30+ hour trip.
  3. Forgive my ignorance, but why is Omaha always the dissenting vote on the national map? Surely there are other blue districts in states that vote red. Yet those states don't split off an electoral vote or two for that district. Regardless of the answer, I will say that I hate the electoral college.
  4. Trump will be interfering in everyone's lives until he finally drops dead. Then we will continue to hear about his fail children until the house of cards falls in on them. The cult will never go away though. It existed before Trump, they just didn't have a prominent central figure legitimizing their dips#!ttery on the world stage. Now that all of their worst qualities have been justified and they've seen each other out in the open they can all be mobilized. They'll keep rallying around the Trumps in the short-term until someone equally deplorable takes leadership of the cult. We've seen that 40% of the country will never break from the party line under any circumstance and that will keep the cult alive indefinitely. How much of that 40% is part of the cult? Hard to tell. I'd wager it's an ever growing number though as the party has shifted to the alt-right making it seem inevitable for more extreme hate mongering politicians to fill our government.
  5. It doesn't matter who is president, this problem is only going to get worse. Trump is just a symptom of the problem. I think the only cure is for the true conservatives to break off from the radicals and form their own party.
  6. I have a hard time trusting a potential vaccine. I fear it will have been pushed through without proper vetting and with political motives. Honestly, I'm more afraid of the vaccine than the virus. I've been saying for months that I'd welcome a positive test so that I could get two weeks off work. (I do still wear a mask at all times in public and for 6+ hours a day at work).
  7. France has had about 324,000 cases in a country of 67 million. US has had about 6,400,000 cases in a country of 328 million. Standing near people on bicycles is not the same thing as linemen breathing in each others' faces for a couple hours, followed by sharing locker rooms, hotels, flights, etc. and then returning to a campus where the pandemic is spreading like a wildfire. Comparing the Tour de France to college football in America makes no sense. Whatever football winds up being played this year is doomed from the start. It is the worst team sport for this pandemic, and no one has done a damn thing to make it work like the NBA or NHL did. I'd wager college football is called off entirely in about a month, if not sooner.
  8. It's honestly insane that Trump is even on the ballot. How anyone could watch the past 4+ years and let this go on is insane. The Republican Party has truly become a cult.
  9. The cost of higher education is its own topic entirely. States need to return to funding this common good. Just as a child-less individual pays taxes to educate the children of their community, states should be willing to do the same for their public universities. Education is a common good that benefits us all. We are all much better off with an educated workforce. I've worked in college admissions at the first-time, transfer, and graduate levels, and no one ever talks about retention. I'd wager that controllable retention is very specific to each department and so it isn't a big point of discussion. I think it's also worth pointing out that public universities are state-run entities that are horribly inefficient. It all trickles down from a lack of leadership running your state. The higher education strategy across the nation this Fall was to drag in as much tuition money as they possibly could, pandemic be damned because there are bills to be paid. This meant telling everyone that things are fine and normal and that school would go on as planned. Obviously things are not normal and now thousands of Covid breeding grounds have been created across the nation, from which students will inevitably be sent home to spread the disease in their own communities. This wouldn't have happened with any sort of leadership from above. State/federal aid to responsible universities who went remote from the start would have saved many lives.
  10. Never said anything about room and board. Enrollment numbers are top priority. If any university announced a remote delivery plan from the start plenty of students would not have come to school. The university wants the kids to come to school, get them past the refund date, and ensure they count in enrollment numbers. Like any business, universities are incredibly number driven. Unlike most businesses, they should have had support from the state and federal government to ensure they could continue to exist without introducing the clusterf#&% that is going to impact all of us.
  11. Scamdemic. My god. Yep, the entire world has fallen victim to a scam perpetrated by...........?
  12. Welcoming thousands of 18-22 year olds to live on top of each other is a disaster that every university is fully anticipating. Enrollment will always be top priority though. Make it two weeks into school so that kids can't get a refund, count them in the enrollment numbers, then go remote and send them home to spread the pandemic there. This country is so f#&%ing stupid.
  13. This country is going to be an absolute s#!thole if conservatives can't regain or form their own party. Until that happens we have a spineless "left" trying to compromise with an alt-right white nationalist party that would never give an inch the other way. Imagine if someone competent were heading up that group. We truly have the foundation in place for a dictator to seize power. That should scare the hell out of everyone.
  14. The platform for the party now is spite and hatred. Everything they do is motivated by those guiding principles. If more people would leave the party we could get some progress in this country, and perhaps a party that aligns with Ashley's ideals.
  15. I was dejected when he sealed the nomination but still would be over the moon to have a functioning human being running the country.
  16. People who value a letter above any intrinsic values. It's a cult. Party above country.
  17. Say that ballots are sent out to people who didn't request them. We can make the following assumptions: The ballots were sent to registered voters These voters have a signature and identifying information on file with the state The validity of the ballot can be guaranteed by the voter providing said information What's the problem? Do you think mailboxes across the country are going to be broken into nonstop over the next few months? And that the perpetrators will have already stolen the identity of each of those residents? P.S. Your second-hand anecdote sucks. It implies the state of California worked to track down someone who moved away just to give them a free vote. If it even happened it's because that person registered that address with that state, and anyone registered in two states must know you can only vote in one. If South Dakota somehow found out my current address and sent me a ballot I would know that I can't mail in that ballot and also vote in Minnesota.
  18. I work with the general public in a state where it is law that you have to wear masks inside public buildings. I still can't get adults to wear the damn things properly. God help the teachers who are expected to get kids to do it...40 hours a week.
  19. You would be shocked then I guess. Come to terms with reality. NDSU has an excellent program, and has absolutely fielded better teams than Nebraska has each of the past several years. FBS teams will not play them anymore for a reason. Common sense says they are a better team. Look at their past FBS wins, tell me Nebraksa has been any better than those teams recently, and then consider that NDSU has improved upon those past teams. The truth hurts.
  20. Pay more attention. FBS schools won't schedule NDSU anymore. Last FBS game they had was a win in 2016 against #13 Iowa. Nebraska lost to that same Iowa team by 30. Scary thing is NDSU has gotten better since then. Lord knows Nebraska hasn't. It's not even a question that NDSU has been a better program than Nebraska the past several years.
  21. NDSU has been a better program than Nebraska for many years. It's not even debatable.
  22. I can't imagine having my head so far in the sand to: 1) Vote for Donald Trump 2) Maintain it was the right choice after 4 catastrophic years It is okay to admit you were wrong and form a new opinion after learning new facts.
  23. Unfortunately, I think the only way we get a third party is if the conservatives and alt-right extremists split. The middle of our aisle will still be very right.
  24. Republicans know that universal voting access will end their party and they will do anything to suppress it. Trump knows he stands zero chance and will do anything to disregard it. This is a perfect marriage.
  25. I'm submitting my mail in ballot for my Minnesota primary. Here are the precautions I immediately recognize: It was sent directly to me as a registered voter. My wife, who is not yet registered, did not receive a ballot. The ballot has a barcode specific to me. You must write in your driver's license or social security number. You must sign the form, which can be cross-referenced with what the state has on file from your voter registration. You must have a witness sign and provide their address. I mean, who doesn't have their mail stolen all the time by people who have already stolen your identity? And also have a witness sign off that can be researched?
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