Dr. Strangelove

Well yeah, if they did that they'd vote for Democrats. Can't have that! It's a slippery slope to the wealthy paying taxes, a higher living standard citizens in Europe enjoy, and god knows what else.

I highly disagree. His chances if he decides to run are higher than 50%, probably north of 60. Even with people who dislike him, never Trumpers included, it's offset by the structural advantages built into the electoral college. The Republican advantage in the Electoral College was ~2.7% in 2016 and ~4.4% in 2020. This advantage is growing, likely reaching 5-5.5% in 2024. It may not be possible to win a popular vote by enough to offset the Republican electoral college advantage in 2024 or 2028. Things may flip when Texas turns blue in the 2030s.

This proves my point. None of the things I mentioned are debatable. But by seeing reality for what it is, you would call it a liberal news source. I guess facts and reality have a well known liberal bias.

If by reporting facts you mean talking about a scientific consensus that humans cause Climate Change, masks are safe and effective at mitigating the spread of disease, vaccines save lives, etc? Would you consider a news source with that reporting liberal or conservative?

I think you're giving them a lot of credit by implying they ever had common sense to begin with. The rot of the right wing goes back decades, Trump just decided to say the quiet parts out loud by appealing to the xenophobic wing of the party. But because Liz doesn't blindly support a democracy hating idiot supports of Trump dislike her.

I think all of that is fair, but it depends on the individual. I go to shows at the Lied Center 3 or 4 times a year, and I make it to the Orpheum in Omaha once or twice too. Lincoln's restaurant scene isn't that great for its size, but I can see how people in larger cities really look forward to trying new places. As far as jobs, they can be found but it's much more difficult. The slow death of rural areas isn't a coincidence and isn't limited to just the United States. The migration to urban areas is a worldwide phenomenon, it's a positive feedback loop that seems unstoppable. A tech company moves to a city to hire recent college grads, suppliers to that company also move there to lower costs, the university in that city expands to help supply talent to the new companies moving in, new restaurants and service industries start up, housing construction starts to boom, this all attracts more tech firms to move to that city... this has been going on for awhile, but it's accelerating. It's quite fascinating in my opinion.

Not to be snarky, but make 100k a year? Hike a mountain? See a play, musical, visit an art exhibit, try a brand new restaurant, go to a professional sporting event, ski or snowboard in the winter, etc. I used to live in Hastings, and even compared to Lincoln it's somewhat boring. That's at least my opinion. However, the reason small towns are dying and larger cities are thriving is based around economics. Cities offer a pool of talented employees for firms to hire. The tri-city area, for example, will never lure a major technology company because there simply isn't enough talented employees to hire.

Well, the problem with wanting news media to report "accurately" is that this is based on perception. To some, Newsmax is the only "accurate" news source, to others it's MSNBC. My point is that when it comes to comparing both sides of the political rhetoric, one is CLEARLY more harmful than the other. Is Biden, Newsome, or other Democrat politician ignoring mask mandates annoying? Absolutely. Looks dumb too. But are people dying as a result? No. Is the Republican rhetoric on vaccines/masks dumb and annoying? Absolutely. Are people dying as a result? Yes. Do you see how these are different? Let's not act like the actions of "both sides" are equal. They are not. One is annoying, the other is actively bringing harm to people.

Agreed, after the GOP destabilizing democracy by spreading unfounded claims about voting, causing untold harm to its main voting bloc with their rhetoric on masks and vaccines, and destroying the planet by dismissing science on climate change. Nobody should treat them seriously.

I mean, I agree that a lot of leaders haven't abided by their own rules. But getting up from their table holding their masks in a 5 second video isn't that damning. But perhaps you're more into your President's attacking democracy and spreading unfounded lies about voting?

Exactly. I do think the rest of the B1G has gotten better. Indiana earned a ranking last year, Purdue this year, MSU this year, Maryland and Rutgers are improving. Winning in the B1G is difficult. But Nebraska played a first half against Minnesota and seemed lifeless and shell shocked. It doesn't take half a decade to build a program willing to wake up and be ready for a conference game. This program is actively regressing and has been for years. For all the talk of progress, our best win is against a hapless Northwestern team.

It's mind boggling to think that Frost shouldn't be fired. Mel Tucker inherited a program in bad shape and turned it around in a more difficult division in a year. Frost is in over his head. He hasn't developed a foundation to build off of. There is no offensive identity other than the cute option wrinkle they developed a few weeks ago. They don't do a good job of developing players. Recruiting is a dumpster fire. They're going to finish last in the B1G this season. It's painful, it sucks. But it's pretty clear the schemes they've developed just don't work in the B1G. That's fine to admit. Frost isn't the guy and it's clear - with 4 years of evidence - that Nebraska needs a change.

It depends on the danger posed by those diseases. Have any of them killed more Americans than World War I, World War II, Korea, Vietnam, Desert Storm and The War on Terror combined? If so, yes, they should absolutely be mandated. My point is, it's not uncommon for the government to mandate vaccines. They do so in the interest of public health. Other vaccines are not mandated, however, COVID is far deadlier and causes a far bigger strain on our healthcare system compared to the diseases you've listed. For the record, I do think the HPV vaccine should be mandatory. It would prevent cancer in thousands of women, and HPV is prevalent in a huge number of adults. It does not, how, spread by breathing next to them in the grocery store so I can understand why it isn't.

It means that the government imposes vaccine mandates all the time. In order to attend school, children must be vaccinated. In order to travel to certain countries, vaccines are mandated. There are a lot of scenarios where the government imposes rules regarding vaccines. What I was asking is if you're for our against those rules and if your views on those rules are consistent with your views on a COVID vaccine mandate.

I trust you hold similar views regarding vaccines for school attendance, traveling abroad, at birth, etc. I want you on the record because I'm sure your views don't change based on the party line here.

God bless America. Easily the greatest country in the world.

I think that would be quite surprising, but I did see Lincoln's mayor give an interview to the NYTimes, who identified Lincoln NE as a city poised to be one of the biggest beneficiaries of the infrastructure packages in Congress. https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.nytimes.com/2021/05/05/upshot/biden-agenda-middle-america.amp.html " That could be a boon to places like Lincoln, Neb. Its population has grown slowly but steadily in recent years; investments in things like high-speed internet have helped it avoid the cycle of decline affecting many other smaller cities in the Midwest. It is home to the University of Nebraska, which has strong programs in computer science and engineering, and it has a vibrant agribusiness sector."

I'm hopeful, but I think cities like Lincoln and Omaha will see modest growth. Smaller towns are all mostly dying. Companies are mostly having an issue basing themselves in an area with tech-talent. UNL produces some, but there are other cities with more. So composites will move there first. Places like North Carolina, home to many big universities will continue to see explosive growth. Austin TX has been growing rapidly for the last decade.

All we need now is for the Right wing to blame all of society's problems on minorities, appealing to xenophobia, and to develop some sort of strange fetish for the military and to claim that anybody that doesn't hold these beliefs aren't true Americans. Oh wait.

It's possible. We'll see how the inevitable lawsuits shake out. OSHA has broad authority to require safety precautions on behalf of employees as long as they can prove there is serious harm that an employee could face at work. It's pretty obvious - and extraordinarily easy - for OSHA to prove that COVID poses risk to employees at work. However, the court system is dominated by Republicans, which might mean there is some momentum to get it overturned there. However, there is long standing precedent requiring vaccines for things like schooling, traveling abroad, etc. Long story short, get the vaccine. There is no legal reason to fight this and any Republican governor banning mandates should be laughed out of office by the voters. (Sadly we're living through a right wing race-to-the-bottom so I'm not holding my breath).

It's almost like dozens of studies have been done concerning this very topic and you'll ignore them all to support your pre-existing views. Look, I agree that personal decisions affect outcomes. But in our society minorities - especially black minorities - are not treated equally. They get less representation in government relative to their population, worse prison sentences for the crimes, worse education outcomes because minority school districts receive less funding, etc. The list goes on. There are hundreds of studies on topics of systemic racism in Healthcare, education, policing, housing, etc. Many of these exist in the South and stem from decades of repression because of Jim Crow laws and other policies in other states dating back relatively recently. It's been essentially 1 generation of black minorities enjoying anything close to equality - that doesn't undo 200 years of laws specifically designed to repress and treat them like inferior p people.

Decades of systemic racism can be fix with some good 'ol American pick-yerself-up-by-the-bootstraps. There are dozens - if not hundreds of studies that address systemic racism. But there isn't a number we can link for him to believe it. His mind is made up. But I'll try: One about healthcare: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0277953613005121 Education: https://scholar.google.com/scholar?q=studies+systemic+racism&hl=en&as_sdt=0&as_vis=1&oi=scholart#d=gs_qabs&u=%23p%3D53baAMW7E_QJ There are hundreds of these.

Exactly. The thousands of sexual assaults on college campuses or in schools isn't news - sadly its common enough that it's not national news when it happens. But when the perpetrator is transgender - despite no evidence they're anymore likely to sexually assault somebody - it's international news.

Coming from a guy not sure if humans are causing climate change, this is hilarious.

Exactly. Just because you don't regard minorities as lesser - which I'm glad that @B.B. Hemingway does not do - it still misses the point of what systemic racism does. Do liberals overplay the impact? Perhaps. But systemic racism is present in many aspects of society, it's important to acknowledge that. As far as homosexuality, it's clearly natural and evolutionary. If you're curious, read up on Bonobos - a close relative of Chimpanzees and humans - and how that species uses sex in its society (hint: homosexuality is extremely present in that animal. Sex is also used by females in interesting ways that explains a lot of sexual evolution in humans as well).