We've all known for a long time...

trump is but a symptom of a deep-seated rot characteristic of the Repug party - in my memory since Nixon.

Sort of like taking the bandage off a severely infected wound. But, no surprise here because the patient has been running a bad fever for a long time.

We Democrats are the only antibiotic for this infection.......

A good review of what the Parkland kids are doing...

A bit more on this story....

From the AJC in Atlanta...

Link: https://www.ajc.com/news/rep-john-lewis-resting-very-comfortably-hospital-sunday/n18sdXLEQkuLDe1KrX6xDJ/

Snip)

If you want to lose your breakfast.....

just click on that Crystal Smith twitter link. You'll get at least 10 years worth of Bible quotes, James Woods posts and sickening accolades for tRump. Demonstrates exactly how so many are trapped in the anti-American right-wing bubble.

It appears that many responders posting the most outrageous lies are bots. These people are totally brainwashed and insane......

Good response, Shred!......

Our biggest battle is obscene amounts of money.....

corporations and the ultra-wealthy pour into the GOP - both from national and international sources. What pisses me off most is that they are using our money from profits from our purchases of goods and services to finance right-wing causes because of their greed.

It seems even more immoral that big money people have to lie, cheat and steal elections when they're already at a huge advantage financially. Their hunger for power is ravenous and they just cannot seem to buy enough.

Without a constant infusion of dark money and the parallel financing of right-wing media, today's GOP would be nothing. So long as the equation money = power holds true, this will be a never-ending human crisis.

Out of control capitalism and a huge boatload of very selfish, greedy people is what's destroying our Democracy....

Yes, you have them pegged.

Resentment of our progressive taxation system was always at the root of GOP policy as long as I can remember, back into the early 60s.

However, I believe there's a more sinister element at play: when most people become very wealthy, after a period of time the fear of losing it sets in. But the worst effect is that these people start to believe they are entitled to political power because of their wealth, and thereafter use part of their wealth to gain that control.

And, tied to that belief is the thinking that the teaming masses of everyday folks must be controlled by whatever means necessary - including lying, deceiving, and starving us to death if necessary.

I think recorded history has shown those propositions to be correct many times over......

Kurt, I'm not an anthropologist but..

I like to philosophy on our heritage as an amateur. I do that - mainly referring to our primitive roots - to try and understand and perhaps accept human behavior that seems disturbing to me.

I do think we have inherited a degree of tribalism genetically from our ancient ancestors, probably from when we were early hunter/gatherers and became social creatures. I would guess those groups were highly suspicious of any outsiders, particularly if they looked or behaved differently - as groups competed for food and security. And, I'm thinking back to times when there was no language, things were very brutal and humans struggled to survive.

If I'm right, then as our children instinctively socialize and identify with a group (as they do in most societies), then that would be when that tribal nature would become a part of their psychology and they may feel suspicion or even fear toward anyone "different".

After that point, then youth may become infused with specific racist tendencies that are learned from parents and peers in their environment. However, as logical and rational adults, we should see the dangers in this and reject that behavior - as most progressives do. Unfortunately, those raised in fearful conservative authoritarian groups usually bypass that phase and become life-long racists.

Just some thoughts to throw your way!......

Blatant hypocrisy all around. The international community is a failure.

It's a failure when we look at the history of this conflict which started as a local demonstration against Assad. Now we have a nation bombed to rubble, a half-million lives lost, and millions more displaced. Then, we also look at recent actions in Burma and Yemen, and further back at Iraq, the utter disregard for human life and security astounds me.

It's as if the international players consider it their right to intervene in any way they please to defend their "interests", and to hell with the interests of the affected nation's populace, existing structure and resources.

My knowledge of the U.N.'s structures is limited, but from what I know, I don't see a way to end these bloody cycles. As long as we have massive quantities of guns and bombs under the control of stupid, selfish psychopaths, it probably will never end.

.... ..... ......

Yes, and that strikes their technique dead in its tracks.

You hit the nail in the head. Most all right-wing talking points they parrot are supposed to be instant emotional or patriotic triggers, so as to leave you with no defense.

Your technique immediately quenches that trigger process by using a contrary emotional trigger (angst).....

Some reality.

Sprinkler systems for high-rise buildings are very expensive to install and maintain. That's probably why New York developers fought to avoid the installations, and they probably made compromise deals with the code people for installation of extra fire walls, automatic-closing doors, etc. to avoid sprinklers.

The primary reason they are so expensive is because of water head. If you were to supply one sprinkler head at the top of Trump Tower from a street level water source with no intermediate booster pump(s), it would require around 300psi of pressure - which is not practical. Therefore, booster pumps have to be installed in equipment rooms at various levels to achieve sufficient sprinkler head pressure at nominal flow. And, it may well be that an emergency electrical power supply (diesel or NG generators) for the pumps would be required as well.

Further, city water mains must be able to supply adequate volume for worse-case fire situations, and do so without completely starving the mains of water for other fire fighting needs.

In addition to all that, the codes always require stringent annual maintenance, inspection and testing of these systems, further adding to long-term cost.

It's very complex and requires a lot of design and planning to implement. Retrofitting an existing building is an even bigger mess. I'm just trying to provide an off-the-cuff perspective to help explain why Trump and other developers would fight against sprinkler codes.