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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#175601: Feb 23rd 2017 at 5:55:23 PM

It doesn't help that the Allies more or less enabled the white-washing instead of guilt-tripping Japan the way they did Germany.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#175602: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:11:48 PM

Scary to believe that Trump and his policies are making people downright afraid to visit a first world democracy...

This is going to cause more suffering to people who really don't deserve it, isn't it.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#175603: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:13:28 PM

So did anyone else hear about how Jeff Sessions is already back to being a terrible pile of shit and rescinding the order to start shutting down private prisons?

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#175604: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:14:30 PM

[up][up][up]I think that might be an over-simplification. We forced their emperor to admit he was not a god which in effect ended State Shinto, the religious structure that propped up the Empire. We made Japan write into their constitution that they were not allowed an offensive military. And the atom bomb scarred several generations for life. We did a lot of things that de-fanged them. But the generation that remembers WWII is dying out.

I would guess that what revisionist nationalisim hung on has some root in the culture and history and some things to do with the fact that holding on to a national shame is difficult.

edited 23rd Feb '17 6:15:02 PM by Elle

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#175605: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:17:30 PM

[up][up]It was posted on the last page, I believe. Haven't read it yet, but in general, private prisons are A-ok as long as you don't see inmates as human beings.
Actually, I have to look, but I'm pretty sure the EU already considers our penal system to be unbecoming, to the extent that the Irish refused to extradite a prisoner back in the single digit 2000s. (The Norwegians did it in the 90s).

edited 23rd Feb '17 6:20:04 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#175606: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:24:14 PM

[up] One Adam Ruins Everything episode and a mini-series of Last Week Tonight with John Oliver episodes covered just how shitty the US penal system is. The Adam Ruins Everything episode in particular covers why private prisons suck.

@theLibrarian

I never thought he stopped being a terrible pile of shit in the first place.

edited 23rd Feb '17 6:26:27 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#175607: Feb 23rd 2017 at 6:45:01 PM

I've seen Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, at least the "justice" system segments.
The part about putting sugar into a pregnant woman's c-section, I could almost understand, because private prisons run on being criminally undersupplied and someone thought outside the box note , but the warden's reaction really gave me imagine spots about who I wanted to try in front of the ICC.
And taking human beings into your custody and deliberately neglecting them is a crime in and of itself.

edited 23rd Feb '17 6:48:16 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
Zendervai Since: Oct, 2009
#175608: Feb 23rd 2017 at 7:01:29 PM

The other thing about private prisons is that they almost invariably cost the state more than a public prison. It literally costs more per prisoner in a private prison. The difference is that a public prison just shows up in the accounting as one huge block of money, while private prisons show up as "per prisoner" charges. If no one bothers to add up all the charges, no one notices the increase.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#175609: Feb 23rd 2017 at 7:04:54 PM

[up] Not that the people in the state gov'ts who approve such things actually give a shit about such paltry things as "debt" or "budget". They're just after those sweet kickbacks from the owners of private prisons.

Disgusted, but not surprised
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#175610: Feb 23rd 2017 at 7:06:38 PM

Re: Drop in tourism: I fucking called this back during the election. I really wish I had been proven wrong. It's going to take years, if not decades, to repair our image to the world and convince other countries that, yes, it's okay to come here on vacation.

Of course, his loyal followers probably don't care and actually prefer this, even if it means losses of jobs.

edited 23rd Feb '17 7:07:16 PM by speedyboris

Bat178 Since: May, 2011
theLibrarian Since: Jul, 2009
#175612: Feb 23rd 2017 at 8:17:40 PM

[up][up] I was thinking during the election period that this was a test of character for the US: if Trump won the election, we'd do our reputation serious damage.

I mean yeah, more people voted for Clinton than Trump, but the fact that he still won the election still damages the country's image, not to mention everything he's done in the month since he took office.

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#175613: Feb 23rd 2017 at 8:18:46 PM

American soft power has basically been destroyed overnight.

Oh really when?
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#175614: Feb 23rd 2017 at 8:21:43 PM

[up][up] The people in other countries who believe in the "Ugly American" idea have just gotten a lot of validation since the embodiment of that is now the POTUS.

Whoever becomes POTUS after Trump is going to have to do a lot of damage control and bridge repairing.

edited 23rd Feb '17 8:22:34 PM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#175615: Feb 23rd 2017 at 8:34:51 PM

Perhaps the worst part is that the administration of President Bush already taught us this lesson.

I don't think we're institutionally capable of soft power anymore. President Obama's every bridge-repairing move was harshly criticized (IIRC, the popular term was "apology tour.") The US was considered the greatest threat to world peace in that earlier survey, and that was during President Obama's term.

Intellectualism and curiosity, beneficence, high culture, capable economic management, and human rights probably make people of the world think of Germany or Canada before anywhere else. And we're only a month into the Trump regime and his ambassador has put the ambassadors of the UN "on notice."

edited 23rd Feb '17 8:36:18 PM by CenturyEye

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
TheHandle United Earth from Stockholm Since: Jan, 2012 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
United Earth
#175616: Feb 23rd 2017 at 8:41:17 PM

[up]Note that Obama never actually apologized for anything. John Paul II, he is not.

Darkness cannot drive out darkness; only light can do that. Hate cannot drive out hate; only love can do that.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#175617: Feb 23rd 2017 at 9:09:22 PM

[up][up]In fact, many of Trump's supporters outright reject many of those things.

"High culture" and "intellectualism" are for the "elites(tm)". Never mind that Trump himself is an elite by any reasonable definition of the term, being the son of a wealthy family who was a relatively well-known celebrity years before he campaigned for president. "Curiosity" doesn't fit in with fundamentalist dogma or fascism, which insists people should be mindless tools to be used by institutions like organized religion or the government.

"Beneficence" doesn't matter to people who would rather see America turn its back on the world and let it rot and burn as long as they perceive themselves to be on top again.

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175618: Feb 23rd 2017 at 9:10:31 PM

[up] And benevolence?

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#175619: Feb 23rd 2017 at 9:51:18 PM

If you thing benevolence is a thing people who voted for Trump value highly, I have a bridge to sell you.

rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#175620: Feb 23rd 2017 at 9:51:20 PM

Is for the weak, as far as they're concerned.

edited 23rd Feb '17 9:51:34 PM by rmctagg09

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.
Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175621: Feb 23rd 2017 at 10:11:01 PM

[up]So, they apparently fit this song then.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2dPaVk4G1jg

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#175622: Feb 23rd 2017 at 10:14:56 PM

[up]Steve Bannon and the GOP's theme song.tongue

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#175623: Feb 23rd 2017 at 10:20:58 PM

[up] At least they won't be fucking invincible.tongue

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#175624: Feb 23rd 2017 at 10:25:29 PM

Yeah, Obama did for the US what Pope francis did for the vatican: It didnt draw new people but it manage to damage control and stop the naisayer for getting more anmo, even chavez here get quiet after Obama was elected for obvious reason.

B Ut yeah, trump suporter think the US whould be the biggest super power who does nothing except when it concern them, in that case they should move and bully others, they want the two worst steriotypes: the US as world police and US as bystander who dosent give a shit about others.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
MadSkillz Destroyer of Worlds Since: Mar, 2013 Relationship Status: I only want you gone
Destroyer of Worlds
#175625: Feb 23rd 2017 at 10:33:44 PM

"High culture" and "intellectualism" are for the "elites(tm)". Never mind that Trump himself is an elite by any reasonable definition of the term, being the son of a wealthy family who was a relatively well-known celebrity years before he campaigned for president.

Yeah but he's their elite. Trump is Batman to his supporters.

Republicans hate intellectuals but love CE Os not from the Silicon Valley.

Eggheads bad. Make money good.

"Curiosity" doesn't fit in with fundamentalist dogma or fascism, which insists people should be mindless tools to be used by institutions like organized religion or the government.

I mean that's similar to the neoliberal government order we've been living in for the past few decades except replace organized religion and government with companies.


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