cdemundo

As far as UK interest in the US, watch the Graham Norton show, or HIGNFY. Without American guests or American stories they would be at a loss. Obsession, probably not, but a high level of interest. Also witness the large number of Brits who are fascinated by the US presidential election and participate in discussion here. Americans generally don't take an interest in how you elect your king. (JK for the irony deficient).

I think this is a pretty reasonable assessment of the state of knowledge of a lot of Americans. Do you imagine that the average Brit understands the British government any better?

This is very true. The UK is now a cultural colony of the US.

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Not clear what you are saying. The Denver municipal budget? Don't see how that has any bearing on Federal spending programs.

Social security is funded by worker payroll tax contributions to ... Social Security. Those funds are not part of the general federal budget to ba allocated elsewhere. The elephant in the room is the "defense" budget. Cue the sheeple to stand up and put their hands over their hearts and shed a tear for our fighting men. Wrong. The defense budget fattens the wallets of stockholders in General Dynamics, Lockheed, Honeywell and a thousand other defense contractors, the money isn't going to soldiers, sailors and airmen.

The terminology is the Social Security Trust Fund. That money is held in trust for the workers that paid into the trust fund. Unfortunately the person who is gonna look into waste and fraud, Elon Musk, is a beneficiary of the biggest area of waste and fraud in the Federal budget, the "defense" budget.

It seems like there is no downside for Biden in pardoning his son. What are Biden's detractors going to do, stop being nice?

I would guess it's a yawner for most of the US electorate. Even died in the wool Dem haters will forget since Biden is out of the picture anyway.

Is there a Senior Olympics event in missing the point?

The OP made the point that within large government agencies there can be responsibilities for the protection of the public that are not obvious from a superficial examination. He gives an example or the plutonium waste at Hanford that is the responsibility of the DOE. Trump and Musk have talked about eliminating entire Federal agencies and Trump has stated he will change many government positions to be filled by appointment. Trump tends to favor action over examination and so the risk exists that eliminating agencies without thorough examination could subject the public to dangers such ignoring the Hanford waste problem. Similarly making positions in government agencies patronage posts with unqualified people filling them could lead to neglect of important responsibilities in other agencies. His example is telling. Most people, if they are aware of DOE at all, think its responsibilities are limited to banning incandescent light bulbs and promoting wind and geothermal power. How many readers here were aware of the stored plutonium waste at Hanford? So there is one point. Can you respond?

Interesting how so many are responding to the OP as if this was a partisan rant. It is nothing of the kind and anyone who read it would know that. One of the things people like about Trump seems to be that he makes things seem simple. Things aren't simple. This post describes the dangers that this attitude entails. Walker88 is one of the few posters on here who is actually thoughtful and knowledgeable, I thank him for his intelligent post.

I wonder if we can still say "master cylinder" when talking about the cars brake system? I have just gotten used to saying "conjoined cat" for that local breed.

Yes, the more formal teachers at Catholic school would call the boys "Master Smith" etc. I was in elementary in the 1960s, never heard it past elementary school.

"Surely out of a population of 330 million plus, in addition to other countries input there is sufficient knowledge to commence targeted campaigns, " DARE (drug abuse resistance education) program was started in 1983 and continues in 50 states. It targets young people with the hope to prevent them beginning drug use. Apparently unsuccessful. "California's drug education programs, D.A.R.E. being the largest of them, simply don't work. More than 40 percent of the students told researchers they were 'not at all' influenced by drug educators or programs. Nearly 70 percent reported neutral to negative feelings about those delivering the anti-drug message." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Drug_Abuse_Resistance_Education

"My first trip to that area was in 2000. A different vibe back then, I think." My first trip as well was in 2000. I agree, it was a blast then. There was a song "Sim Salabim" being played everywhere, some Eurovision artist?, Tiggy? I remember that in the Nana plaza bars the dancers shoes were the most remarkable part of their costumes, because that was all they were wearing. Now that was entertainment!

"A good start would be to reduce demand for illegal drugs " No matter what drug is in question, how can demand be reduced? Draconian penalties? That has been tried in the US and result has been a failure. I am not trying to give you a hard time, but what ideas exist for reducing demand for drugs? Anything new besides threat of punishment which doesn't seem to work?

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