Very nice.

On the topic of election, have you heard The death and funeralmach of Siegfried?

from Wagners the ring.

Siegfried symbolizes honesty and bravery. He is killed as the prelude to the doom.

in other words wagner composed music for the death of europe.

Oh yeah. Wagner is good. Love the orchestration in The Ring Cycle.

reading Spengler to Götterdämmerung, while drinking Cabernet is the perfect Triad. 😄

jesus...now I sound like Frasier Crane...

Europe has changed a lot since I've been there. There are places I used to frequent in Germany, Belgium, and France where westerners aren't welcome anymore.

Those countries no longer exist. The EU denationalization politics did them in in 25 years.

Its why the brits pulled the yellow and black cord.

Master alarm.

They might have waited too long. You know how fighter pilots are, I suppose.

Too brave for their own good sometimes.

I was in Germany in 2001 when they moved from the marks to the euros. Lots of immigration while I was there. There were a lot of military members being threatened and attacked all over the place by the time I left. It was a big change in only a few years.

Germany....a very sad story and a very sad end.

You know, I was in Berlin the night the wall came down.

Everyone thought they had a magnificent future.

If you had told us back then that it was actually the end, everyone would have called you dillutional.

or...."outside interference"...perhaps. 😄

Really? I watched it on TV. I was still in school. I know a lot of Germans that are very unhappy with their government right now.

They dont have a government.

They have feudal lords.

Rheinmetall and Siemens.

Yeah, France is in the same boat.

So I hear.

anyways...it is 0700 here.

Ill have a go at sleeping again, I think.

Have a good morning.

@linuxace, you just advanced to level 5!

Thank you for a good conversation, sir.

Take care, @Doc ...

You too! I'll be around from now on so hope to talk to you again.

Man I step away for a few minutes and miss a ton.

Yeah, we were just discussing fine music and the fall of the western world.

@linuxace You mentioned your belief that Democrats working to tear down checks and balances. Democrats feel that is what McConnell and Trump have been doing with the Judiciary. How do you reconcile that? I feel that the there is plenty of blame to go around. Both sides have a win at all costs mentality that fundamentally seems un-American to me.

I don't feel that way because appointments have happened within the bounds of tradition and the law, it's just been publicized more than when Democrats tilted and maintained a left-leaning supreme court for decades. I don't have a problem with either side doing that within those bounds. It's the court packing, changing a states electorial votes to match the national popular votes, stacking electorial votes by adding new states or districts, and calls to abolish the electoral college and eliminate the 2A that I have problem with. I would have a problem with either side doing those things.

I fully expect the SC to swing the other direction before too long. Some areas of the country might never have a voice again if some of the other things are done.

I don't think you have to worry about the 2nd amendment any time soon. Since the pandemic, liberals have decided they aren't that opposed to it.

I'm not sure how that is going to pan out. It's not getting a lot of press but Biden is getting a lot of pressure to go full steam ahead on a lot of bad gun legislation and executive orders from what I've heard. NFA or mandatory buybacks of AR rifles, additional taxes for any gun owner, no magazine over 10-rounds, etc. I'm hoping that those are just token offers and are serious policy goals.

Regarding the SC, 20 of the last 24 justices were nominated by Republican presidents. It hasn't been a liberal court for more than 40 years. Until the last 4 years, Presidents seemed to be interested in maintaining a balanced court 3 Conservative, 3 Liberal, 1 Center Right, 1 Center Left, 1 swing... Roughly.