Yes! That's how it is with most defense spending. But, to be fair, Patriot missile defense systems are proving to be very effective at shooting down incoming missiles, saving countless lives and preserving infrastructure from destruction. A rare but welcome exception.

Everything can be debated. I just watched a debate on the proposition that darwinian evolution doe/does not explain the origin of all species on Earth. But anyone who is familiar with the evidence from the fields of cell biology, comparative anatomy, comparative embryology, molecular biology, paleontology, biogeography, radiometric dating, and plate tectonics would know that evolution is a natural fact and there is really nothing to debate.

Sorry, had to laugh. Bad timing on your part to comment about " flail about on the floor". This is your President. Luckily he didn't hit his head or you would have POTUS Harris now.

@BufftonBeotch Is America so bereft of political talent that those two losers are the best you can come up with?

@puff Is Bruce Springsteen feeble too, then? He is 73.

[google.com]

@BufftonBeotch WTF has that got to do with the position of POTUS?

@puff I will take Biden over the orange fungus any day.

@BufftonBeotch I'm just saying both bad choices. It's like asking "What would you rather? Syphilis or Gonorrhea?

I think we all should be concerned about the national debt. But we should also be willing to do something about it. We could start by reversing Trump's tax cuts for the rich. Besides, a huge wealth gap is not healthy for any society.

@puff Trump has had to grab someone's hand when negotiating stairs. So what?

@Petter Trump Trump Trump. The highest office in the land and the best America can come up with regarding political talent is Trump and Biden. No wonder youth are disenfranchised from politics.
America really needs to get rid of the 35 year old rule for POTUS and get some young blood in there, someone who will have to live with the legacy of their policies because both those geriatrics won't be.

@puff Rather than the 35 year year old rule the USA needs to bring in an 80 year old rule for both SCOTUS and POTUS to be put out to grass, and only allowed to serve in an advisory, non-executive capacity.

@Petter I'd go for 70. If they haven't made it in public life by then, bad luck.

@puff I was allowing for a 70 year old being elected and serving 2 terms. After all, pensionable age is rising everywhere in the world. (despite French objections.)

@Petter All the great historic leaders have been in their 20's and 30's when they made names for themselves.

@Petter And two hands to drink a bottled water. Like a 2 year old.

@Petter, @puff When? 500 years ago?

@puff, @Petter I was in HS when Reagan invested the land, and saw the way things the wealth serving right wing was going to move things. And I predicted to all my friends that we were going to pay into Soc Sec and Medicare our entire lives and never see a time.
Repug filth want the working class to work until we drop dead.

@Petter, @puff There is not a single 35 year old I would trust with that responsibility. They only think they are experienced and more likely to act impulsively.

@Petter, @puff Bad analogy. The difference between Biden and dtrumph is more like choosing between a paper cut and a spurting femoral wound.

@Petter, @puff Everyone falls. Especially on stage where tripping hazards are everywhere. No one is doubting The Boss, even though he is 73.
There is probably footage or knowledge of every President in the modern era falling, except maybe FDR, but the press discretely did not disclose to the public that he was using a wheelchair. And diaper don doesn't walk enough to trip. He is driven in a golf cart onto the putting green next to the ball.

@Petter, @puff It is a choice between what the majority of voters decide. The candidates are not selected by fiat.

The 14th Amendment option is interesting, but untested. With the current makeup of the Supreme Court, it would be a roll of the dice. And the concessions were not all that drastic. Anyway, our whole system is designed to work through compromise.

@Flyingsaucesir Sporkfoot has no legitimate reason for impeachment at this point.
Untested 14th solution? She might have.

@Flyingsaucesir Not until now has the option of not paying the bills been an "option" to negotiate. Also I would relish the Supreme Court telling Biden that he can't pay the bills given that the Constitution explicitly says it must be done. It would only make them less legitimate than they already are and a reason to expand it. The Constitution explicitly says that, "The validity of the public debt of the United States, authorized by law, ... shall not be questioned." Any legal argument to give the Republicans an option to ignore what it explicitly states would do nothing but expose the court to be the corrupt institution that they've become and would rile up even more people who actually give a shit where this country is going.

@Flyingsaucesir, @BufftonBeotch Go ahead and make that argument. The POTUS should be impeached for making sure that the bills of the USA are paid as the Constitution demands. I'd like to hear the argument that makes that BS a viable option for impeachment.

@BufftonBeotch I had to Google "sporkfoot." That's hilarious!

@redbai They impeached Clinton for consensual fellatio. They will leap at anything.

@Flyingsaucesir Google Image? lmao

@redbai I agree that the 14th Amendment route was a viable option, but it would definitely be litigated. And it would not look good for the USA to be having a constitutional crisis, financially or diplomatically. Negotiation was the thing to do here. And it worked out. Nobody got everything they wanted, but everybody got something.

@BufftonBeotch Actually they impeached Clinton for lying about consensual fellatio. Still stupid but details matter.

@BufftonBeotch, @Flyingsaucesir

And it would not look good for the USA to be having a constitutional crisis, financially or diplomatically.

How good would it look if the USA didn't pay it's bills? Also, how would this "constitutional crisis" manifest, in the paying of the bills of the USA? How is that bad? What arguments would be made to create this crisis, that the USA was going to default and the POTUS had the gall to stop that from happening?

All negotiating did was set up the precedent that now the ability of the government to pay it's bills is "negotiable" and not something that cannot be questioned as the constitution stipulates.

@redbai It was stupid to go under oath for something that was not in any way a crime.
And do you know who helped right those embarrassing and humiliating questions because he clerked for Ken Starr at the time?
Brett Kavanaugh. Yes. that same one. Wimpy, quiver chin when he was questioned.
The corruption and the desire to overthrow the government has been a plot since Nixon.