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Winning a majority of the electorial votes is what’s required to be elected president. There is no federal requirement that the electors of the electorial college vote in accordance with the popular vote of the state they represent. If enough fraud is proven that Harris should have one won it doesn’t change the outcome of the electorial vote. According to the laws as they currently are Trump would still be president.

So basically, the Karman line is the theoretical highest point that an airplane can fly, or at least it was when it was calculated. If it were recalculated today it would be higher because of technological advancement. The definition used by the agencies that define it as the edge of space set an altitude near the originally calculated line. The functional difference between being above the line and below the line is that the keplar force will keep an object above the line from falling to Earth within 24 hours while drag will slow the object below the line enough for it to fall back to Earth within 24 hours. It’s fine as a functional definition but I see no reason that it should be universally applied. In the scope of this discussion why should we consider something that will fall back to Earth in 25 hours not be on Earth but something that will fall back to Earth in 23 hours to be on Earth?

The ISS was launched from Earth, in pieces but still it’s of Earth origin, and will eventually fall back to Earth. It’s inside the Earth’s atmosphere and experiences drag. It’s orbit has to be adjusted and maintained.

I like pedantry but want to go the other way. The ISS orbits in the thermosphere, still inside Earth’s atmosphere. I say that you haven’t really left Earth until you exit the atmosphere.

I don’t know how common this sentiment is but I see a major military parade on US soil as an embarrassment. No uninvited foreign troops have set foot in the contiguous US since the Mexican American War ended in 1848. There hasn’t been a military battle in the contiguous US since Wounded Knee in 1890, inasmuch as Wounded Knee was a battle. Part of the privileges that Americans enjoy is that that level of conflict happens elsewhere. Large displays of military power at home deminish us.

I guess it’s worth a shot but you’d a few hundred years after the Norse abandoned their settlements in North America and about 120 years before Columbus’s first voyage.

I’m in the US and in a place that native Americans didn’t have settlements. I’m very familiar with the area and have hunted, hiked, and camped here my entire life. With no preparation or modern equipment I give myself about a week before I get eaten by wolves or a bear, maybe gored by an elk or bitten by a venomous snake. I don’t expect that I would see another human during that week. Native hunting parties visited the area so it’s not impossible that I would see someone but it’s very unlikely.

This is a big part of the Democrats problem, it feels like their stance on every topic is “Trump is worse”. Harris supports genocide in Gaza, yeah but Trump is worse. Harris embraces fracking, yeah but Trump is worse. Harris embraces the criminal migrate narrative, yeah but Trump is worse. Running to the right and yelling but that guy’s worse has always been a losing strategy for Democrats but they just keep doing it. Why did Bill Clinton and Obama win? They embraced progressive policies and offered a vision of hope. Why did Biden win? He tried to go right but between some early issues like “working with segregationists” and the crime bill along with Bernie’s success in the primaries he was dragged back left and there was meaningful policy separation. Why did Hillary Clinton and Harris lose? They ran right and yelled “but the other guy is worse.”

Not that recently, urban dictionary has a post from 2006 that defines goon as a chronic masturbater or as the act of masturbation.

https://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=goon

I think this is made from an exceptionally hard wood. It looks a lot like walnut or pecan. I would be concerned about cutting across the grain with a powered saw causing chipping and ruining the piece. I think I would repair the current joint and add a center leg or probably a leg on both sides to support that joint.

NASA is definitely a target. Musk wants to make SpaceX America’s privatized space agency.

but the more time she spends chasing Senate seats and climbing the political ladder, the more dulled that “political outsider” edge gets.

I think it’s possible to serve in Congress and still be considered a political outsider. It’s not easy, the secret seems to be a strong commitment to principles outside of the mainstream but at least a couple of people have done it.

Bernie has been in the legislative branch since 91 and was in state government for a decade before that. Being a political outsider is still part of his appeal. On the other end of the spectrum Ron Paul was first elected to the House in 76 and retired from politics in 2013 without ever having become a political insider.

Someone who didn’t eat the Mona Lisa.

People don’t revere the framers, they treat our founding mythos similarly to religion. They embrace what they like and what reinforces their beliefs while ignoring things that they find inconvenient. Primarily they ignore that very little was universally agreed upon by our framers and that the Constitution is the result of significant compromise. When someone says, “The framers believed…” they are almost always wrong and actually only framing what they believe in a way that they think gives it more credibility.

Townhalls are a type of political event. They are typically small forum events held in places like town halls or school gyms and involve the politician giving a short speech typically limited to a single issue or current event followed by a longer period where the audience asks the politician questions. It’s not limited to campaigning, legislators often hold these events outside of elections. Theoretically they give the politician the opportunity to hear issues and concerns that their constituents most care about but mostly they are used to drum up support for legislation that the politician already supports.

It’s much less than 50%. 2020 had the highest percentage of eligible voters actually vote in US history, it was about 67%. About 70% of Americans are eligible to vote and of that 70% about a third voted for Biden, about a third for Trump, and about a third didn’t vote. So a little over 20% of Americans chose to vote for Trump last time. That number is still too damn high but it’s not as bad as half.

Is it bad that I get most of my non-local news from foreign sources? I do look at the AP and NPR but I usually go to the BBC or Reuters first and I almost always check the CSM for international stories I want more information on.

If I were in the friend’s position I doubt I would have gotten a close enough look to differentiate. The autopsy said the victim had “multiple chop wounds” including to the skull so it was probably a machete or ax attack. With lots of long deep wounds and blood there wasn’t much chance he was alive when the friend found him so it’s plausible that the friend didn’t actually go into the campsite, just saw the blood and assumed it was a bear because what other animal could do that much damage.

They pulled a Nixon!

William Clifford might call it a problem of credulity and he might even have an idea about one of it’s root causes.