Why is America the Greatest Country in the World?

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It isn’t.

I am so sad that Republicans have destroyed this country.

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67 thoughts on “Why is America the Greatest Country in the World?

  1. “I am so sad that Republicans have destroyed this country.”

    Even worse — they want to continue to remake it into something it never was — they seem to be indicating they’d like an apartheid style system.

  2. Also, so called “independents” … half of them are Republicans lacking the guts to define themselves, or at least, lacking the wit to know that they are supporting Republicans by not opposing them.

    1. And the other half are Democrats lacking the guts to define themselves, or at least, lacking the wit to know that they are supporting Democrats by not opposing them.

  3. I would rather live here than anywhere else on Earth! So I happen to think the USA is the best country in the world. Of course, everybody is entitled to their own opinion.

    But if anybody thinks another country is a better place to live, than that person is free to move to that country. Nobody is forcing anybody to stay in a country which they think is worse than some other country.

    I am curious which country in particular you think is better than the USA? And why?

    1. Well, a key measure might be infant mortality rates. How many children under 5 die per 1000 live births.

      The US on 2016 data scores a surprisingly poor 6.5 average. It is beaten by:

      Iceland
      Finland
      Slovenia
      Luxembourg
      Norway
      Japan
      Estonia
      Sweden
      Czech Republic
      Italy
      Spain
      South Korea
      Austria
      Portugal
      Ireland
      Israel
      Australia
      Greece
      Germany
      Netherlands
      Belgium
      France
      Switzerland
      UK
      Denmark
      Latvia
      Poland
      Canada
      Hungary
      New Zealand
      Slovakia

    2. OK, a few more just in case the message isn’t sinking in…

      Per capita wealth:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult

      or GDP growth rates:

      http://statisticstimes.com/economy/countries-by-projected-gdp-growth.php

      or protection of the environment:

      https://epi.envirocenter.yale.edu/epi-topline?country=&order=field_epi_rank_new&sort=asc

      So, Rick A, by what measure do you gauge “best,” and how does that measure negate the collective import of all the ones that I’ve listed above, in addition to BBD’s?

    3. Bernard J:

      Thank you for the links.

      I see that Iceland has the top mean wealth per country, with the USA coming in 5th. So the way I am looking at this is – would I move to Iceland because of their better mean wealth score? Answer – no. So I see the USA as better than Iceland, because I would rather live here than in Iceland. Remember this is my personal opinion. I am not advocating that you have to agree with me, as I clearly say you are entitled to your own opinion of which country is the best in the world.

      Iceland is a very nice country and I do want to visit it someday.

      I am sure the other factors are similar – does the USA rank no. 1 for every factor – no. Do I want to move out of America – no. It is a personal opinion after all.

      I just looked at the net migration rate for Iceland and see it was negative in 2015 (although positive in earlier years). If Iceland is no. 1 on mean wealth per person, I wonder why more people are leaving than coming? Hmmmm.

    4. Bernard J (and I) ask:

      So, Rick A, by what measure do you gauge “best,” and how does that measure negate the collective import of all the ones that I’ve listed above, in addition to BBD’s?

      RickA – with tedious predictability – asserts his ‘opinion’:

      I am sure the other factors are similar – does the USA rank no. 1 for every factor – no. Do I want to move out of America – no. It is a personal opinion after all.

      So, there we are. RickA’s claim that America is “great” is just unsubstantiated bullshit. Confronted with confounding facts he retreats into ‘opinion’. As usual.

      But opinions are not facts. And opinions that are contradicted by facts are bullshit.

    5. RickA, it’s telling that you look at the link listing wealth

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_wealth_per_adult

      and take away from it that the US has the 5th highest mean (especially when it requires particularly motivated searching to arrive at this conclusion…) when the better measure is the median, which indicates that the US comes in at 21. This shows either:

      1) your ignorance of the difference between the mean and the median as measures, and why median is a better descriptor in this context (ie, when relating a parameter to the ‘average’ person), or

      2) the medacity in which you are willing to engage in order to make evidence appear to conform to your personal view.

      Neither is a recommendation of the strength of your argument.

      As for migration rates in Iceland, with a population of around only 340,000, on an island that is small and resource-constrained, you should understand why the net rate would and should be expected to fluctuate between positive and negative without that rate reflecting the quality of life of the society itself. But again this would require statistical insight, and you have demonstrated again and again and again over the years that you are completely uneducated in this regard.

      There’s a third statistical concept that’s worth alluding to here, and that’s the idea of statistical power. When it comes to your evidence and its value, the ‘power’ it offers is so low as to be worthless…

    6. RickA, it’s also interesting that of all the links I provided to you, you focussed on wealth…

      But let’s run with that, and consider a permutation – income equality:

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_income_equality

      In particular look at the GINI index – the USA is basically in banana republic territory… It’s not a country of equality, but one of opportunity for a few at the expense of the most, and with little chance for merit to play a part.

      What you’re really saying, even if your subconscious won’t admit it to itself, is that the USA is the best country in the world – if one is privileged, and if one is cognitively blind…

  4. There is also the issue of continued erosion of rights, privacy, racial hatred spewing daily from the president and his supporters, families seeking asylum being separated and housed in abysmal conditions (based on lies about the “threat” that would result from allowing them into the country), removal of environmental and work safeguards, the rise (with approval of the folks in the White House) of antisemitism, white supremacy, and more.

    I do realize oppression, discrimination based on sex and race, and lack of care for women, minorities, and the poor in general are all things, scum like rickA endorses, but totalitarianism and its consequences don’t make any country great.

    But if anybody thinks another country is a better place to live, than that person is free to move to that country.

    “America love it or leave it” was the pet phrase of assholes in the 60s. It seems to have made comeback among today’s assholes.

    1. So, Rick A, by what measure do you gauge “best,” and how does that measure negate the collective import of all the ones that I’ve listed above, in addition to BBD’s?

      Dollars to donuts rickA won’t give a firm answer to any of your questions. That’s his operational style.

    2. and I am sure rickA feels that all my Latino hermanos should also be ones who are”free to move” to this country…..

  5. RickA said:

    if anybody thinks another country is a better place to live, than that person is free to move to that country.

    Hey, I never would have guessed that RickA was a proponent of open borders! I suspect in his mind this only applies to other countries, that people can just move there if they want to.

    I am so sad that Republicans have destroyed this country.

    I disagree. It’s apathy and lack of engagement that have diminished the US. The political class (especially the left) hasn’t had their feet held to the fire in a very long time and so legalized corruption has run rampant. Democrats haven’t taken any steps to prevent this, and though they didn’t implement the most egregious steps, they also didn’t roll anything back when they have been in power. Democratic voters haven’t done anything to reform the party. Voters haven’t held them accountable – allowing the lesser of two evils to be good enough for too long. Maybe a resurgence is coming with the progressives, but all signs are that it’s too little too late.

    1. StevenE:

      Good point. I should have gone on to say that each country has the right to decide if they will admit the person who desires to move there. So the person is free to move to that country if that country lets them in.

  6. As the Climate Crisis gains momentum and we recognize how ecology is us, I find the notion of “nation state” [a pretty recent phenomena BTW] to be laughable and tragic….

    1. What do you see as the climate crisis and how is it gaining momentum?

      Fucking trolling again.

    2. Rick A, you deny the import of human-caused climate change, and you are firm about keeping out of the USA refugees fleeing chaos.

      If you’re upset by the current flow of people seeking safe hobour in the USA just wait until 2030, and 2040 – the mass movement across the global will completely overwhelm current geopolitical mechanisms to cope, and with them will go a rather significant chunk of your own personal safety and security.

    3. Bernard J says “Rick A, you deny the import of human-caused climate change, and you are firm about keeping out of the USA refugees fleeing chaos.”

      First, I admit that it is warming. I just question how much of the warming is caused by humans and how much would have occurred naturally even in the absence of humans. I do not believe that the consensus of more than 100% of the warming since 1950 is caused by humans is correct. I personally think it is more like 50% human and 50% natural.

      Second, I do not believe that large numbers of people are coming to the USA because of climate. They are coming for jobs and to escape drug gang violence. 99% of the refugee claims will be denied, because making money and drug gang violence are not valid claims for refugee status.

      The temperature has gone up 1C (about) since 1850 and my sense is that very little (if any) of the migration worldwide is driven by climate – but by other reasons (mostly economic). Maybe hordes of people will come to the USA in the future due to climate issues – maybe not. Personally, I am skeptical.

      No matter who comes to the USA in the future – my position is that the USA gets to decide if we let them in (or not). People should not be allowed to just sneak in. I would say more than 50% of the country agrees with this position, so it is pretty mainstream.

    4. I do not believe that the consensus of more than 100% of the warming since 1950 is caused by humans is correct. I personally think it is more like 50% human and 50% natural.

      But you have absolutely zero evidence to support this and all the evidence-based scientific exploration of the question points to it being entirely us.

      But in your astonishing – frankly comical – arrogance, you actually think your ‘opinion merits serious consideration.

      Get real.

    5. RickA – I will hold back on the links so Greg has an easier time moderating this- but you might want to google the recent [April 019] surges in both atmospheric CO2 and CH4 [worrying because A ]it is as yet unexplained as to origin and B ]has been definitely delinked to permafrost melt and C] the surge was unaccounted for in the ’15 paris accord – so may already render even those earlier assumptions moot.

      Also- what evidence would you accept for an accelerating anthropogenic Climate Crisis….?

    6. RickA, you say that 50% of the warming is “natural.” OK, provide the forcing data that demonstrate this.

      Please.

    7. Bernard asks “RickA, you say that 50% of the warming is “natural.” OK, provide the forcing data that demonstrate this.”

      The null hypothesis has been and still is that all climate variation is natural. The burden of proof is actually on you (well really scientists) to prove that the latest climate variation is caused by humans.

      Science has not been able to prove this yet – all they have is correlation. That is why we have not been able to narrow down ECS from 1.5C – 4.5C in the last 30 years. The signal is so small it is lost in the noise. Maybe in another 100 years we will have better data. We will see.

    8. That’s complete and utter bollocks. The radiative properties of CO2 are well understood, so we know how and why it is an efficacious climate forcing. There is also overwhelming evidence from palaeoclimate behaviour that high CO2 worlds are hot.

      So there is *much* more than simple correlation.

      You are bullshitting because you cannot provide a single shred of scientific evidence to back up your claim that modern warming has a significant naturally forced component.

      The usual dishonesty.

    9. That is why we have not been able to narrow down ECS from 1.5C – 4.5C in the last 30 years.

      Another deceitful misrepresentation. It is well understood that the upper and lower bounds of the range are highly unlikely and the most likely value is close to 3K. There is now also very low confidence that the lower bound is below 2K. So the range is 2 – 4.5K with a most likely value of 3K.

      Now scientists have long held ~3K to be the most likely value and they do so with ever-greater confidence as the years roll by.

      Contrast that factual and honest statement with your bullshit.

    10. The null hypothesis has been and still is that all climate variation is natural.

      And the null hypothesis has been discounted by scientific study after study after study.

      The burden of proof is actually on you (well really scientists) to prove that the latest climate variation is caused by humans.

      That burden has been shouldered, and carried to a destination where all known natural forcings do not account for the observed warming:

      https://www.bloomberg.com/graphics/2015-whats-warming-the-world/

      You have made an extreme claim that is at odds with the science that quantifies both the natural and the anthropogenic forcings, so the burden of proof now rests with you. So, what is the mechansim that overpowers all known natural forcings, and what is the mechanism that diminishes the determined human forcings, such that you arrive at the conclusion that there is a net 50% natural contribution to warming? Note: your desire that it be so is not a scientific argument.

    11. So, what is the mechansim that overpowers all known natural forcings, and what is the mechanism that diminishes the determined human forcings, such that you arrive at the conclusion that there is a net 50% natural contribution to warming? Note: your desire that it be so is not a scientific argument.

      The shitbag refused to answer me when I asked the exact same questions. But when you point out that repeating bullshit is dishonest, he whines about name calling and plays the victim, which is contemptible.

      Mind you, what can you expect from a lying rightwing troll trying to argue a counterfactual?

  7. What do you see as the climate crisis and how is it gaining momentum?

    It’s been explained to you dozens of times. You continue to lie about the science and what it means.

    Just as you lie about, well, essentially everything.

    1. Science has not been able to prove this yet – all they have is correlation. That is why we have not been able to narrow down ECS from 1.5C – 4.5C in the last 30 years. The signal is so small it is lost in the noise.

      Coin flip here about whether you’re so stupid you don’t understand the science and statistics or whether you’re just lying.

      Coin flip because, based on your history, stupidity and dishonesty are the two primary factors in your makeup, with equal contributions.

  8. No mention of dead babies by RickA. But that figures. Bit awkward explaining a frankly rather shocking level of childhood mortality in the great USA. Because numbers like that speak to profound inequality, not to mention the vicious profiteering by the medical-insurance complex. Of course it’s all hunky-dory if you are affluent and white, like our resident blind idiot.

    Speaking of blindness, idiocy and dead Americans, there’s also the huge and ever-growing pile of American corpses with gunshot wounds to consider. Not the war dead, but US citizens killed by profit-seeking US gun manufacturers who colluded with rightwing judges to twist the interpretation of the 2nd A to keep the coffers brimming and never mind the coffins.

    Great country. Envy of the world. Just mind out for the heaps of dead citizens.

    1. Yep – that is why our net migration is still positive. Despite our slightly higher child mortality rate and the gun deaths (2/3 are suicides), more people are coming to the USA than leaving.

      Of course, each person is entitled to their own opinion about how great the USA is. I personally wouldn’t leave to move to Canada for example, even though their child mortality rate is lower than the USA rate.

      Perhaps others would prefer to move to Canada – that is up to them (and Canada has to give permission, of course).

      My opinion is that the USA is the greatest country in the world.

      The fact that about 26,000 children died in the USA (child mortality from 2017) and about 40,000 died from guns (2017) doesn’t change that – but your mileage may vary.

    2. My opinion is that the USA is the greatest country in the world.

      There is much to admire, and much that is quite horrible. The fact that you simply wave away the latter demonstrates an ugly nationalistic bias.

      Wave your flag, count your dollars and your blessings, and keep your eyes tight shut to reality. It’s always been the American way, son.

    3. RickA, you start with an anchoring bias and reinforce it with confirmation bias, conservatism bias, normalcy bias, and a host of others. All people have some degree of cognitive bias, but your collection of biases is especially notable for its great size…

    4. Bernard J. says “RickA, you start with an anchoring bias and reinforce it with confirmation bias, conservatism bias, normalcy bias, and a host of others. All people have some degree of cognitive bias, but your collection of biases is especially notable for its great size…”

      I am sure I do have biases. But so does everybody else.

    1. Even some people who didn’t vote for Trump think the USA is a great country.

      But do they fill stadia with their chants of race hate?

  9. “I am curious which country in particular you think is better than the USA? And why?”

    Ward Churchill, in his powerful book “On the Justice of Roosting Chickens” (2003) described the history of US domestic and foreign policy as ‘200 years of senseless butchery and democracy deterred’. In the book he chronicles the evidence, painstakingly showing that pretty well every year since its inception, US military has been killing people at home and abroad. The record speaks for itself: tens of millions of victims across the world over the past 60 years. Churchill is American. Indeed, most of the strongest critics of American policies I read are Americans. They love their country but the loathe what their country has done in support of outright elite/corporate expansionism and the suppression of alternative, more humane political and economic systems. I spent several years in the US at universities and in my view it is the most beautiful country in the world, with breathtaking scenic wonders and diversity. It is also a very open society. The tragedy is that it is politically gumbified. Democracy is an epic farce, stage-managed by the corporate class. The election of the dotard is the ultimate humiliation. The fact that government agencies tasked with protecting human health and the environment are headed by corporate lobbyists reveals what a farce their democracy is. Today Trump confirmed the appointment of Aurelia Skipwith to head the Fish and Wildlife Service. Skipworth probably can’t tell a mole cricket from a giraffe, but that doesn’t matter. As a former Monsanto executive, she is well tasked to dilute the endangered species act, reducing regulations preventing the use of pesticides that kill bees in National Parks and protecting migratory birds. Then we have former coal lobbyist Andrew Wheeler heading the EPA. Under Wheeler, regulations on water and air quality are being eviscerated.

    If corporate cronies like Skipworth and Wheeler are Trump’s idea of ‘draining the swamp’, then I would hate to see what he would interpret as a refill would be.

    1. Very interesting – but you didn’t answer the question. Which country is greater than the USA and why?

    2. Very interesting – but you didn’t answer the question. Which country is greater than the USA and why?

      You haven’t defined ‘great’. Do that first, and perhaps it may be possible to answer your question.

      There are number of ways in which the US is really quite repellent, some of which are listed on this thread. Since you have simply dismissed them – despite their seriousness – you aren’t in a position to demand an answer to nebulous ‘question’.

  10. The fact that about 26,000 children died in the USA (child mortality from 2017) and about 40,000 died from guns (2017) doesn’t change that – but your mileage may vary.

    That does at least two things quite well.

    a) Demonstrates the libertarian “philosophy” of might makes right; screw everyone else, I got mine”
    b) Reinforces why rickA is viewed as a spectacularly vile person

    You could also say that it shows how he never addresses the responses to his questions, but we already knew he is never interested in an honest discussion.

    1. dean:

      You never give anything to respond to. You seem to agree with my facts. You disagree with my opinion and have your own (nothing to respond to their). You engage in ad hom and name calling (nothing to respond to their).

      If you want to engage in a discussion you have to state your position and provide reasons to support your position.

      Why do you think the USA isn’t the greatest country in the world? Or which country do you think is better than the USA and why?

      It is very hard to talk to somebody who merely wants to tell you what a vile person they are and call them names. Try it in person and see how that conversation goes.

  11. Hey Greg, if you’re reading this a couple of posts of mine, with three links each, appeared and then disappeared. Any idea what might have happed?

  12. They should not have disappeared. Initially they are held because of number of links. I did approve them. I’ll look into it!

    1. I did check, both in the comments and the list of commenters. They did evaporate but they’re back so all it well in BJ OCD world! 😉

  13. The libertarian dipshit asks:

    Why do you think the USA isn’t the greatest country in the world?”

    Didn’t you effing read anything? Or were the big words too much for you?

    Oh — the fact that the issues listed don’t impact well-off whites mean they aren’t important to you, I forgot. You’re perfectly fine with icky poor people and children suffering.

    Identifying a “best country” is as foolish a task as identifying “best places to live in the US” or any other country: any finite set of metrics selected will necessarily omit at least one that another person can use to say “but what about…?”

    “It is very hard to talk to somebody who merely wants to tell you what a vile person they are and call them names.”

    If you don’t want to be identified as being a vile, dishonest, racist, lying, bigoted shitbag — stop exhibiting those behaviors. The existence of people like you is another reason the US isn’t at the top of places to live.

    1. Thank you for validating everything I just said.

      He didn’t. You’re bullshitting again.

  14. Just as expected — nothing of substance from you. No statement about reading the comments, nothing. You seem to be much worse than I pegged you.

  15. I think Chicago is one of the best places in the USA to live, but New York and New England both seem pretty good too. A lot of places in the USA are pretty repellent. Most, if not all, really. I’d be happier in England, but not so much I’d go through the trouble of moving. OTOH, if I had to leave, anyplace with some sort of universal healthcare would be fine.France would be nice. I’m told that bad French is tolerated outside of Paris, if your at least making an effort, but mine is really, really, bad. Same problem with most of Western Europe. And I’d need a multi-region DVD player.

  16. Re: RickA “more people are coming to the USA than leaving”

    Ah, but from where are they coming? Could it be mostly from places other than those that score higher than the U. S. hmmm? And/or from places that are even higher than the U. S. in violence and lower in affordable modern health care?

    Why aren’t more Americans leaving? I can think of a number of reasons based on my admittedly limit knowledge on the subject. Perhaps they have family and friends that depend on them emotionally or even financially. Perhaps they are old, not affluent, and not eligible for the tax-funded advantages people have in other countries for which they have been paying taxes. (As in the U. S., where Social Security payments depends mostly on how long you have been paying into the system unless you are old enough to have been grandfathered in.) Older people have more difficulty learning new languages and cultural norms and so need to gain more in other ways to justify such a move. Perhaps the American dollar is not able to buy them much in countries with a more desirable mix of services, safety, etc. Perhaps many more desirable countries are also small and crowded and do not welcome any but rich immigrants, or they may have already absorbed a great number of refugees.

    1. Trevor:

      Yes – I would say they are mostly coming from those that score lower than the USA. Here is a link to my data on this issue (the table is hard to read – indented is a major category and the non-indented are the sub-categories):

      https://www.dhs.gov/immigration-statistics/yearbook/2017/table2

      The point is that more people want to come to American than want to leave – which makes one wonder how awful America can be (by comparison). The blame America crowd always find reasons to hate on America – and that is ok.

      BBD worries about dead babies (child mortality about 26,000 in 2017), but ignores the 638,000 abortions that year. If BBD were really worried about dead babies maybe he should focus on unwanted pregnancies, since abortions lead to much greater numbers of dead babies than child mortality – but whatever.

      I have provided my personal opinion and believe each can have their own. I am not trying to change anybodies opinion, merely stating my own (in response to Greg’s from the post). And that is one of the things which makes America great – free speech. Why in America there is no such thing as hate speech! You can get fined or go to jail in some countries for just stating your opinion. In American you can simply disagree and talk right back. Nobody goes to jail. Yeah 1st amendment.

      Well off to bowling. I will check in later and see how the 1st amendment is being used (grin).

    2. BBD worries about dead babies (child mortality about 26,000 in 2017), but ignores the 638,000 abortions that year. If BBD were really worried about dead babies maybe he should focus on unwanted pregnancies, since abortions lead to much greater numbers of dead babies than child mortality – but whatever.

      The fact that the US has troublingly high infant mortality is evidence of inequality in the US and arguably undermines the (still undefined) claim that it is a “great” country. Just look at the evidence: the US is ranked 32nd among the 35 OECD countries compared. Only Chile, Turkey and Mexico do worse.

      I can see you struggling with this, as you should. Perhaps you need to define “great” in such a way that accommodates the rather shockingly high rate of infant mortality for a supposedly developed and “great” country. I look forward to the result with interest.

      Abortions are utterly irrelevant in this context, so you can stop that particular attempt to divert attention away from the facts that confound the claim that America is a “great” country.

  17. “but ignores the 638,000 abortions that year. If BBD were really worried about dead babies maybe he should focus on unwanted pregnancies, since abortions lead to much greater numbers of dead babies ”

    You are fundamentally stupid as well as fundamentally dishonest.

    “The blame America crowd always find reasons to hate on America – and that is ok.”

    Stating facts does not is not equal to “blaming America” — moron.

  18. RickA,

    In terms of foreign policy, the US, with its abominable historical record and the carnage I alluded to, ranks near the bottom. No dispute there. When people around the world are polled on the question as to which country is seen as the greatest threat to peace, the US ranks #1 easily. No other nation is even close.

    In terms of domestic policy and in particular the way in which the country (1) looks after the poor, sick and elderly, and (2) its natural environment, it is better, but still nowhere as good as many European countries. In terms of safety ditto.

    The US dominates the world in areas of entertainment and (once upon a time) science and technology, and for that reason is alluring to many foreigners.

    As I said earlier, in terms of cultural and geographical diversity, it is #1 in my opinion. As a biologist I love the country. I can think of no other country that has sub-tropical biomes in the south and tundra biomes in the far north with a myriad of diverse ecosystems in-between. Moreover, some states, like Wyoming, are sparsely populated and wonderful for wilderness trips. I was in New York City last weekend and although I am not a person who likes to live heavily populated areas, it is a magnificent place to visit. I was at Colorado State University on a sabbatical in 2017 and I loved it there.

    One thing the US lacks, being the empire that it is, is humility. In the Netherlands, where I live, we don’t often hear politicians or people telling everyone how much greater it is to live here than anywhere else. Despite that, in many social and economic indicators it is better here than in the US. Two American colleagues who came here on short-term research contracts don’t want to leave because they love living here. So it is all relative. These discussions about ‘greatness’ are far more frequent over there than they are here and I am happy about that.

  19. Well, Greg

    You certainly hit a lot of nerves with this post! May as well add my own reaction – I won’t add to the wealth of information and misinformation above – just chyming in w/my own personal and historical take on the topic:

    1. The USA may or may not survive in some fashion ? Future Tense.

    2. Mass Extinction is already here ? Past and Present Tense. WAY WORSE than the options in #1.

    3. I had (as did you) the good/bad/indifferent fortune of growing up in the time of JFK’s “Ask not what your country can do for you,” blah blah. Which I still believe, with utterly no regrets.

    4. But #3 means that I was also innoculated/infected [pick your verb] with a bad case of patriotism. See – as we approach the centennial of the Armistice ending WWI (the worst war ever fought; sorry, WW-II ‘buffs’) – Wilfred Owen’s immortal “Dulce et Decorum Est”
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d7MuMnss4Rw

    5. And so, having swallowed in my callow youth “the old lie” – swallowed it hook, line and sinker – I served out the final years of the Vietnam War in the U.S. Army. (Less than 18 months after demonstrating in the wake of the Cambodian incursion and Kent State … but hey, that’s the draft for you.)

    With, I might somewhat bitterly add, a top secret cryptographic clearance that Jared Kushner et al in their wildest dreams would never ever have obtained …
    ________
    I do at least TRY to adopt the putatively impassionate long view, inculcated in me by a damn fine higher education in biology & anthropology: Shit happens. Little shit, as in empires rising and falling. Medium-sized shit, as in Homo sapiens departing the scene. Big-time shit, as in – did I mention this already? – mass extinction.

    Doesn’t help much, frankly. And so I still try to fight the good fight – the TRULY patriotic fight – in my own pathetically tiny way. As we all circle, no – make that spiral down – the drain …

    Coda:
    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_JCLEQALjiU

  20. Three more papers, two in Nature Geoscience and one in Nature just published reaffirm what pretty well 100% of scientists agree on: that the late 20th century/early 21st century warming is unprecedented over the past 20 centuries, and that humans are completely responsible. Read those words RickA: COMPLETELY RESPONSIBLE. Now of course a know-nothing right wing troll like you can continue to bleat on about natural variation, the lack of proof etc., but this is nothing more than your own warped political views camouflaging the truth. You are wrong. Wrong. Wrong. You and other deniers/ luke warmers without a shred of expertise or dignity won’t, of course, admit it, but it is time that you were ignored.

  21. You are wrong. Wrong. Wrong.

    I would go further and use Wolfgang Pauli’s description for RickA’s obfuscation; ‘not even wrong.

    Now I have had to use a ; instead of a comma for my key for comma and  < no longer works. All other keys work fine including the others on the multiplexed group.

    To get that < I used Alt 060 from the numeric key pad but for some strange reason using Alt 044 for the comma shuts this page down. Tried numerous times. I can get a comma using Alt 044 in a text processor without trouble.

  22. I have just been trying Alt 0184 to get a comma with the same result; page closes as happens on Facebook too and other blogs.

  23. Thanks Bernard I have discovered that Alt44 with NumLock on works as here , . It looks like the NumLock is the key (‘scuse pun) to this.

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