Bormio

Poor, poor, picked on Cool Whip

I guess Lee is going to the national championship game.

28 points in regulation in 2 games - but it’s the refs

Packer fans are like Byrnes fans (“it’s a conspiracy”)

Yeah, with the US and USSR pointing missiles at one another, and populations totally decimated by and fatigued from war, I can’t see why France and Italy did not go to war over some territorial dispute, like in the good old days.

Italy is going to do what is best for Italy, Germany for Germany, Britain for Britain etc. Their governments are elected by their people, and ultimately respond to them - not other European citizens. If the EU gets in the way - it will collapse. Already there is significant sentiment in many countries - not just Britain - to leave. That is why the EU is making it so hard for Britain to leave - if people saw it was easy, the EU would be on the ash heap of history. Nationalism is not going away anytime soon - the world has to be determined to restrain nations who become bad actors via the application of wielded power - political, economic and military.

You are so struck by 70 years of European peace. It is not due to European integration - rather due to 40 years of a Cold War that had the US and the USSR staring at each other, and another 30 years of US intervention and military might overseeing Europe. That cannot last forever - and Europeans are tiring of it anyways. So yes, they will have stronger militaries and will have to live with them - Germany included. And yes, Germany does run the EU and has not had to worry about military defense - because of the US military.

If you think that US military hegemony is going to persist ad Infinitum you are nuts. Russia, China, even Europe want military power to compete with the US (see Macron’s comments about a European military). We may like being the only superpower, but it is bound to be temporary. In a world of limited wars, US troops cannot fight them all and we do not want them to.

For all intents and purposes, Germany does not - cause they don’t play nice with others.

Yes, Europe is going to have to pay for its defense and have actual militaries. The US taxpayer cannot underwrite that forever. And yes, European interests are going to clash with US interests - so be it.

Europeans remain anti-semitic. The British Labour Party is chock full of them.

Such as? Who knows - we might think it a good idea

We have done that quite a bit over the years. Trade deals have also provided jobs in overseas countries - trade is not a negative - as long as it is fair to US workers as well.

You giving up your computer, phone etc? We also produce a lot or invest in other countries to produce.

As long as we don’t send it to corrupt plutocracies. Exporting “ideas” can work. After WW2, cheap “Made in Japan” goods flooded our country. People wondered how to fight back. My wise granddad said - “We will just have to export the AFL-CIO”. And lo and behold, rising Japanese wages did the trick.