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

Wryte Since: Jul, 2010
#182901: Apr 13th 2017 at 11:30:31 PM

@hardcore: The adult is more dangerous to his intended target. The toddler is more dangerous to everyone else.

^^^ I mean, we pretty much knew that was going to be the case from the start. It was always obvious that Trump never gave a shit about the actual job that came with the title and power, and that he was going to shuffle as much of that as possible onto whoever he could.

edited 13th Apr '17 11:31:50 PM by Wryte

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182902: Apr 13th 2017 at 11:33:34 PM

[up] He supposedly "works weekends" at Mar-a-lago, but it's not clear how much actual work he is doing between rounds of golf. Nor is it clear how much of that work is actually related to his duties as President.

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#182903: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:09:12 AM

Looks like Trump is going after Yemen now, though Congress is trying to stop him this time: http://www.al-monitor.com/pulse/originals/2017/03/congress-raise-alarm-us-confrontation-yemen-houthis.html

edited 14th Apr '17 12:17:24 AM by Bat178

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182904: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:20:14 AM

Yeesh, is Trump so eager for a war to distract people from his domestic fuckups that he's trying to start a bunch of them all at once and hoping one of them escalates?

Disgusted, but not surprised
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#182905: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:28:51 AM

Well, him focusing on Yemen would probably be better than him focusing on North Korea and/or Syria, there is less at risk there...

edited 14th Apr '17 12:31:22 AM by Bat178

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182906: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:34:58 AM

[up] I suppose if you're going to start a war, it's better to start one where the other side doesn't have nukes too. North Korea's ally China has nukes, and Syria's ally Russia has nukes. Iran doesn't have nukes at the moment.

Trump is really trying to out neo-con Dubya and Cheney, isn't he?

edited 14th Apr '17 12:56:40 AM 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?
#182907: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:43:49 AM

In Hawaii, the Legislature was sooooo dominated by Democrats and it seemed like none of the issues I cared about - cost of living, affordable housing, income inequality, etc. were being addressed. It often seemed like the powerful and rich just kept getting more powerful and rich because that's what happens when you have a supermajority. The Democrats were running the Legislature like an old boys' club behind closed doors, and it was doing a disservice to the public.

So, I ran as a Republican. Then as a Republican, I pushed issues like lowering taxes on our lowest income earners (Hawaii taxes the working poor very heavily), a REIT tax that would require wealthy investors who are currently not paying taxes to contribute to our state funds like everyone else, a restructuring of the income tax base so that top income earners paid a little more and the middle and lower income earners paid less, etc.

I think those kinds of policies could have always fit well in the Democratic Party even though I pushed them as a Republican. It would probably help to explain that, in my world, Democrats seemed like they were speaking only for special interests and Republicans, the underdogs, had the opportunity to make meaningful changes for middle income and lower income earners. It's almost embarrassing to say now, but I really believed that the Republican Party in Hawaii could be the party of Lincoln and Teddy Roosevelt - their Republican parties always took on powerful interests and fought for the rights of the underprivileged.

(emphasis added) Well, she isn't wrong. If one can take Fukumoto at face value, that says as much about the Hawaii Dems as her...and not too much good about US politics in general. OTOH, does prove one might find at least one Rep who remembers Lincoln and Roosevelt. Now if there were but nine more...

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
Bat178 Since: May, 2011
#182908: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:50:43 AM

[up][up] And the only big US ally near them that they could harm is Saudi Arabia, which is much, much bigger and more powerful than them and nobody really likes anyways being pretty much the Token Evil Teammate of US allies, while Syria has Israel next to it and North Korea has South Korea and Japan (Two of the most important US allies) nearby.

edited 14th Apr '17 12:51:03 AM by Bat178

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#182909: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:51:11 AM

If Korea's such a problem why don't they just send someone in to geek the psychotic little doughboy?

You can't tell me the option isn't available.

If you mean ending the entire country of North Korea, it's because the one thing worse than North Korea continuing to exist is North Korea suddenly ceasing to exist. Either you all of a sudden have roughly 25 million completely unskilled and uneducated malnourished refugees that will make the Syrian refugee crisis look like a handful of tourists, or North Korea is utterly annihilated in nuclear fire, which should be bad for super obvious reasons. At least on paper, North Korea wouldn't be all that hard of a war to win (messy for sure, but not technically difficult - for all of the size of their military, it's incredibly out of date and lacks the supplies it would need to actually operate), but the peace would be the most unwinnable thing ever conceived of and everyone with half a brain knows it.

If you mean "just" icing the reigning head of the Kim dynasty and obese god-emperor of the Norks, Kim Jong Un, killing him would at best result in Meet the New Boss, same as the old boss, and at worst, also start a war and lead us back to the other problem - the only thing worse than North Korea being there is North Korea suddenly ceasing to be there.

Basically, everyone lets the Kims have their little fiefdom because nobody wants to deal with what would happen if they took it away, and for all their bluster, the Kims are reasonably rational insofar as they wish to continue to rule their little fiefdom and know that actually starting shit would lead to the rest of the world taking their toys away.

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182910: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:54:45 AM

[up] That said, it's debatable how "rational" the current Kim in charge really is. He's done some really fucked up shit that even his late asshole grandpa and dad would find objectionable in a Pragmatic Villainy way.

edited 14th Apr '17 12:55:24 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
PolarPhantom Since: Jun, 2012
#182911: Apr 14th 2017 at 12:58:16 AM

True on North Korea, but I do fear Kim Jong Un. He's not like other leaders. He's desperate and scared. I think he could pull the trigger, though I of course don't want him to. I hope he's more rational than I think.

Balmung Since: Oct, 2011
#182912: Apr 14th 2017 at 1:10:46 AM

I continue to operate on the assumption that the current Kim would rather not get his walls caved in with a trebuchet.

Humor aside, I'm pretty sure Kim Jong Un knows that he can't actually win a war with South Korea (plus its allies), especially if China says "fuck this shit, you're on your own, now" and would rather the rest of the world doesn't actually take his cake away, which he seems reasonably certain won't happen unless he actually starts a war. Really, the biggest worry I have is that Mango Mussolini might, through his repeated statements of disinterest in supporting our allies, embolden Kim with the idea that the US would sit out a renewed NK-SK war (though I question the ability of NK to win against even just SK alone - shell Seoul, sure, but not conquer their neighbor to the south).

edited 14th Apr '17 1:11:45 AM by Balmung

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#182913: Apr 14th 2017 at 1:13:59 AM

[up] Probably doesn't help that the Mango only recently decided that Nationalist Protectionist Populism wasn't working out too hot and decided to give Neo-Conservatism the old college try instead.

Disgusted, but not surprised
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#182914: Apr 14th 2017 at 3:27:32 AM

Some good news. The campaign to elect local democratic officials is working.

http://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_58efd21de4b0bb9638e270c1/amp?ncid=APPLENEWS00001

And more good news, hundreds of Amazon employees asked the company to pull advertising from Brietbart

http://thehill.com/blogs/blog-briefing-room/news/328784-hundreds-of-amazon-employees-ask-company-to-pull-advertising?amp

edited 14th Apr '17 3:56:33 AM by megaeliz

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#182915: Apr 14th 2017 at 4:30:19 AM

It is remarkable how after Trump's election - a win for the outspoken versions of racism, sexism and bigotry - the outspoken versions of racism, sexism and bigotry appear to be in more trouble than before. Possibly the election has convinced them to push the envelope? And other people have become more savvy about the outspoken versions of racism, sexism and bigotry?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Linhasxoc Since: Jun, 2009
#182916: Apr 14th 2017 at 4:57:23 AM

I think part of it is we got lucky—the overt racists in the Trump administration (e.g. Bannon) have proven themselves to be completely incompetent which has discredit them.

unknowing from somewhere.. Since: Mar, 2014
#182917: Apr 14th 2017 at 5:28:10 AM

[up]in párt because they barely win and in the case of Trump he is what I call a lazy racist, sure he dislike Black and chinise but anything but Beyond that is just too much work for him.

"My Name is Bolt, Bolt Crank and I dont care if you believe or not"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#182918: Apr 14th 2017 at 5:29:24 AM

TRUMP: Hatred is haaaaaaard...

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#182919: Apr 14th 2017 at 5:43:58 AM

First Trump protest in space

http://asan.space/aphrodite-1-first-protest-in-space/

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=damWIvQn1Eo

(And yes, ASAN is NASA reversed, and the quote is from an an Astronaut from the last Apollo Mission)

Full quote:

“You develop an instant global consciousness, a people orientation, an intense dissatisfaction with the state of the world, and a compulsion to do something about it. From out there on the moon, international politics look so petty. You want to grab a politician by the scruff of the neck and drag him a quarter of a million miles out and say, ‘Look at that, you son of a bitch.” - Edgar Mitchell, on perception of the world as viewed from space

edited 14th Apr '17 6:22:03 AM by megaeliz

Luigisan98 A wandering user from Venezuelan Muscat Since: Oct, 2013 Relationship Status: I <3 love!
A wandering user
#182920: Apr 14th 2017 at 5:45:58 AM

Hatred is weaknessssss....

The only good fanboy, is a redeemed fanboy.
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?
#182921: Apr 14th 2017 at 6:14:31 AM

@That sign [lol]. One small step for man. One giant flip off from mankind.

@ The local races: Great to see that energy is still there and that local races are a focus. Plus this:

In the case of Illinois, a number of Democrats who just won got a boost from a program launched by Rep. Cheri Bustos (D-Ill.) called Build The Bench. It’s an all-day boot camp that offers nuts-and-bolts details for running a successful campaign. Bustos came up with the idea last year when she noticed a dearth of new Democratic candidates for Congress, and decided the best way to help build up her party’s ranks was at the local level.

She’s held two boot camps in her district so far ― The Huffington Post attended one of them in March ― and she’s already seeing tremendous payoff. Twelve Build The Bench alumni ran for local seats in this election cycle, and eight of them won. A ninth alum, Rita Ali, is currently down by one vote in her race for Peoria City Council.

“I am incredibly proud that the majority of our graduates who were on the ballot in April municipal elections won their races,” said Bustos. “If we want to be successful in the heartland, we need to connect Democratic candidates for office at all levels with the best practices, skills and expertise needed to run winning campaigns.”

We ARE Struggling Together People might want to call their own representatives to help out with this kind of thing.

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
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#182922: Apr 14th 2017 at 6:27:55 AM

To brighten the mood a little, apparently the fine folks at the Navy are already drawing up plans for the USS Donald Trump.

https://www.reddit.com/r/MarchAgainstTrump/comments/5yx4ua/navy_releases_photos_of_the_uss_donald_trump/

Majestic, isn't it?[lol]

edited 14th Apr '17 6:28:27 AM by Rationalinsanity

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#182923: Apr 14th 2017 at 6:55:48 AM

[up]It should be painted orange, instead of Navy Gray.

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#182924: Apr 14th 2017 at 7:41:06 AM

Took me a day, but I found the survey!

Reorganizing the Executive Branch

StarOutlaw Since: Nov, 2010
#182925: Apr 14th 2017 at 7:56:21 AM

Before I take the survey, I'd like to know if there are any that actually should be reorganized or eliminated, because otherwise I'm going to choose none.


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