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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
An Empowered United Nations won't happen without the consent of the US. And it would be kind of silly to ask us to give up our imperial power.
Don't forget that on the other side of the continent Tropical Storm (now Hurricane) Olivia
is going to pass over Hawaii.
I'm more surprised no one else referenced it, even as we got a Seinfeld reference
Edited by sgamer82 on Sep 10th 2018 at 11:32:08 AM
I wonder how much DeSantis’ racist jerkassery will effect the contest.
Speaking of which, he’s apparently spoken multiple times at conventions for white supremacists and various alt-Reichers, and spoken with approval of the guy in charge, who said “The only race war is the one against white people.” Link 1
Link 2
The Post reports that Ron De Santis, the Republican nominee in the nationally watched Florida gubernatorial race, has spoken four times at conferences organized by the David Horowitz Freedom Center. The group’s conferences have featured a parade of alt-right, white nationalist and Islamophobic heroes, as well as speakers who claim that refugees and immigrants are destroying European culture and that diversity is dumbing down America.
Horowitz himself has said that “American blacks are richer, more privileged, freer than blacks anywhere in the world, including all black run countries.” He responded to the news that a man was arrested after vowing to kill “all white police” at the White House by saying: “Meanwhile, the country’s only serious race war — against whites — continues.” De Santis is running against Democrat Andrew Gillum, the African American mayor of Tallahassee.
These revelations need to be read alongside one of the big revelations in Bob Woodward’s book: that Trump privately insisted he did nothing whatsoever wrong in blaming white-supremacist violence and murder on “hatred, bigotry and violence on many sides,” and raged at his advisers for making him backtrack from this, which he called a huge “mistake.”
De Santis’s spokesperson is stressing that De Santis is not “responsible for the views and speeches of others.” But in 2015, De Santis praised Horowitz for doing “great work” and said his organization “tells the American people the truth and is standing up for the right thing.” And De Santis’s spokesperson did not disavow any of these views, which presumably means, at a minimum, that De Santis does not see the claim that there is an ongoing race war against white people as worthy of condemnation.
I have no idea, it will depend on how bad things get and how the public reacts to it.
It could be nothing or it could impact some close races.
Oh certainly, they've encouraged myopia and selfishness amongst their politicians as a consequence the kind of people who become Republicans aren't likely to risk their careers in the name of some kind of Greater Good.
Especially considering of their anti-intellectualism they inherently distrust any scientific apparatus which could be used to suggest that things could go poorly for them, so they're strongly incentivized to bury their head in the sand.
I would be rather surprised if they were actually wise enough to ditch Trump.
Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Sep 10th 2018 at 5:21:08 AM
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji YangA new CNN poll has Trump down to 36% approval rating (from 42%), largely driven by record lows among Independents (47% to 31% now).
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/cnn-poll-trump-approval-independents/index.html
If this is accurate, this a good sign for November, that Trump's numbers can fall despite the economy doing well.
Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2018/09/10/day-599/
Day 599: Quite enthusiastic.
1/ The Trump campaign team was "fully aware" of George Papadopoulos' efforts to setup a Trump-Putin meeting. "I actively sought to leverage my contacts with the professor to host this meeting," Papadopoulos said. "The campaign was fully aware what I was doing" and that Trump was "open to this idea," but deferred to Jeff Sessions, who was "quite enthusiastic." (ABC News / NBC News)
2/ Trump is expected to declassify documents about the government's surveillance of Trump campaign adviser Carter Page and the investigative actions by Justice Department lawyer Bruce Ohr. Republicans on the House Intelligence and Judiciary committees allege that Ohr was an improper intermediary between the Justice Department, Christopher Steele, and Fusion GPS — the opposition research firm that created the Trump-Russia dossier. (Axios)
3/ Trump won't enforce the $130,000 hush-money nondisclosure agreement between Stormy Daniels and Michael Cohen, claiming he has "never taken the position that he was a party" to the NDA because Trump never signed the agreement. Trump's attorney, Charles Harder, called for Daniels to "immediately dismiss" Trump from her defamation lawsuit. (ABC News / CNN / New York Daily News)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/08/politics/donald-trump-michael-cohen-stormy-daniels/index.html
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/07/politics/michael-cohen-stormy-daniels-deal/index.html
Stormy Daniels said she "vigorously opposes" Trump and Cohen's offer to not enforce her nondisclosure agreement, claiming their "sudden desire to escape" the agreement is a signal that they have been "shamelessly deceiving this Court and the American public for more than six months." (Daily Beast / Courthouse News)
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/09/Stormy-Trump-Stormy-Reply-Trump-Suppl.pdf
4/ The Trump administration discussed plans for a coup in Venezuela last year with rebels who were rebuffed by the Obama administration. The secret meetings involved a Venezuelan military commander who is on the American government's own sanctions list of corrupt officials in Venezuela. The U.S. eventually decided not to help the rebels, and the coup plans stalled. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/world/americas/donald-trump-venezuela-military-coup.html
5/ Jeff Sessions defended the Trump administration's "zero tolerance" immigration policy as "perfectly legitimate, moral and decent." He also argued that in order to deter a large number of migrants, the U.S. need to adopt a tougher stance on immigration, saying: "The world will know what our rules are, and great numbers will no longer undertake a dangerous journey." Sessions plans to increase the number of immigration judges by 50% by the end of the year. (NBC News / Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/10/sessions-immigration-judges-813573
poll/ 38% of Americans approve of the job Trump is doing as president – down three percentage points since August. 60% say Trump is not honest, 55% say he doesn't care about Americans, 55% also say he is not fit to serve as president, and 42% say Trump is not intelligent. (Quinnipiac)
https://poll.qu.edu/national/release-detail?ReleaseID=2567
Notables.
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/08/us/politics/maria-butina-sex.html
The Trump administration is expanding U.S. drone strikes in Africa. The Obama administration curtailed the program toward the end of his term after a series of highly publicized civilian deaths as a result of the strikes. (New York Times)
https://www.nytimes.com/2018/09/09/world/africa/cia-drones-africa-military.html
John Bolton will threaten the International Criminal Court with sanctions and other penalties if it proceeds with an investigation into alleged war crimes committed by Americans in Afghanistan. "The United States will use any means necessary to protect our citizens and those of our allies from unjust prosecution by this illegitimate court," reads a draft of Bolton's upcoming speech. The Trump administration is also expected to announce the closure of the Palestinian Liberation Organization (PLO) office in Washington due to concerns over Palestinian attempts to convince the ICC to launch an investigation into Israel. (NBC News / Washington Post / CBS News)
https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/bolton-wants-sanction-icc-judges-who-probe-alleged-u-s-n908011
Omarosa Manigault Newman released a recording of Trump discussing Hillary Clinton and the Russia investigation. In the October 2017 meeting with the White House communications and press teams, Trump claimed that the "real Russia story is Hillary and collusion." He alleged that the Clinton campaign paid $9 million for an unidentified "phony report." Manigault Newman added that Trump frequently crashed meetings at the White House, "rambling from topic to topic," because he got bored "very often." (NBC News / The Hill / Daily Beast)
The White House changed its phone policy believed to be in direct response to Manigualt Newman's recordings. Staffers will now have to put their White House-issued devices in their offices or in lockers with their personal phones near the West Wing entrances before being buzzed into the Situation Room. (CNN)
https://www.cnn.com/2018/09/10/politics/white-house-phone-policy-situation-room/index.html
Pence offered to take a lie-detector test "in a heartbeat" in order to prove that wasn't the anonymous author of the New York Times op-ed. He also said he is "more than willing" to sit down for an interview with Robert Mueller's team as part of their investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. (Washington Post / The Hill)
Trump promised to "write the real book" about his administration, calling Bob Woodward's new book a "joke." Trump claimed that Fear: Trump in the White House is "fiction" because it uses "now disproven unnamed and anonymous sources." (Politico)
https://www.politico.com/story/2018/09/10/trump-woodward-book-write-813569
Why yes, I have way more resentment towards the USA than anything more positive/benign. Thank you very much.
Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 10th 2018 at 1:09:04 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.>Not having the military and economic dominance.
Okay, so when is Europe going to get guns that don't melt
? Ships that don't have the missiles explode in the tube
? Aircraft that are actually flight worthy
? Tanks that the soldiers can actually fit in? And all of this is overlooking the US's blatantly absurd Military Bulk... there Dominance is completely unapproachable in the military sector under any kind of current, or conceivable conditions.
And the Economy? They basically won the Geographical jackpot, with a large amount of resource rich, easily defensible land, with ease of transport across it... There is a reason that even with Trump and the Republicans constantly fucking up the economy the US remains the economic powerhouse that it is, and that the Dollar is used as a global standard currency.
Any Empowered UN would fully need the US's consent, and there not going to give that unfortunately. :/
Edited by Imca on Sep 10th 2018 at 3:23:55 AM
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In all of human history, no empire has ever endured the test of time; sooner or later, they inevitably fall due to internal and/or external factors. And the higher they fly, the harder they fall. I do not believe the USA is an exception to this rule, and nobody can actually prove it without somehow producing some sort of cosmic timeline spanning the entire lifespan of our universe that shows the USA continuing to exist until the end of human existence.
So no, the USA's consent is only a factor under the current conditions... which themselves are changing rather quickly such that the supposed unipolar state of world affairs after the end of the bipolar Cold War is shifting to a multipolar one.
Edited by MarqFJA on Sep 10th 2018 at 1:20:59 PM
Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.We know, thanks.
We're an empire?
Edited by PhysicalStamina on Sep 10th 2018 at 6:24:15 AM
i'm tired, my friend
Technically the US is indeed an Empire.
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That is fair, but they all exist on a time scale that is literaly not even close to any kinds of practical concerns for us, numbering in the thousands of years.... of which the US has existed only for less then 300, and been a power for less then 73.
That is correct, AFIAK the last remaining Empire.... unless China counts.
Edited by Imca on Sep 10th 2018 at 3:30:09 AM
It depends upon how "Empire" is defined. It's definitely not a traditional empire, but it's also the closest thing to an empire the world currently has so I do consider it fair to call the US an empire. Personally, I don't mind the term.
Having said that, while empires "don't last the test of time" they can last a very long time. I honestly would not be surprised if the United States remained, at the very least, an influential nation-state for over a thousand years.
Edited by Protagonist506 on Sep 10th 2018 at 4:02:15 AM
Leviticus 19:34Agreed, it's factually accurate and I don't have any moral problem with it.
Anyway our hegemony is a far better reason to consider the US an empire then the fact that we unified from smaller subgroupings (the same as literally any nation that exists).
"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang> AFIAK the last remaining Empire...
Nope,they rebranded as Globel Super powers,we still have our United kingdom though,and of course the common wealth but it's a far cry from when there was such as an thing as a empire
Edited by Ultimatum on Sep 10th 2018 at 11:08:18 AM
have a listen and have a link to my discord serverTo me, calling something an empire raises two questions: "How did it become an empire?" and "How is it still an empire?"
The answers are almost never pleasant, so...well, I'm kind of iffy about not having a problem with that. I don't think that's a label to be accepted so readily.
Oh God! Natural light!

I don't think any other nation has a law mandating military action to prevent members of its government or military from being made to answer for their actions in The Hague though.
"Yup. That tasted purple."