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

megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#270326: Feb 6th 2019 at 4:19:24 PM

Russia is developing new hypersonic missiles that travel at more than five times the speed of sound and will be "invincible" in response to Trump's decision to pull out of the nuclear arms treaty. The new hypersonic missile is expected to be ready by 2021. (New York Times / NPR)

Wasn't Russia already working on that? Or are they just now making it public?

[up][up] Wasn't there something a few months back, where they showed off a video simulation of the "Super Weapon" or whatever, they were supposedly developing, but it was like early 2000s level graphics.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 6th 2019 at 7:23:18 AM

RedSavant Since: Jan, 2001
#270327: Feb 6th 2019 at 5:28:48 PM

I remember seeing a video like that in an article Charles linked about the Satan-2 MIRV missiles, I think.

It's been fun.
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#270328: Feb 6th 2019 at 6:30:42 PM

"I found a fun article on The Root about the State of The Union Address, Nancy Pelosi: House Speaker or Congressional Gangster?

If anyone has a few minutes free I'd recommend reading it."

Best few minutes I spent all day. Thanks for the laugh.

I distinctly remember a time when Pelosi was incredibly unpopular, even among Democrats. Amazing how much opinions have done a 180.

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#270329: Feb 6th 2019 at 6:53:24 PM

[up][up][up],[up][up] The hypersonic boost-glide vehicles are one of the potential payloads for the Satan 2 missile. They’re basically just a way of extending its range and making a terminal phase interception much more difficult. Of course, terminal phase interception of an ICBM was already almost impossible, and the US evaluated and moved on from this particular technology decades ago in favor of more capable re-entry vehicles.

They should have sent a poet.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#270330: Feb 6th 2019 at 7:42:35 PM

On another note, Senator David Jimenez of New Mexico just announced he’s running for President.

TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#270332: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:06:55 AM

My takeaway from Pocahontasgate is that this is the most damning possible scandal that the Republicans can find to tear down Elizabeth Warren and that's a good sign for her candidacy.

Even at its worst possible interpretation, the scandal is "Elizabeth Warren said she was Cherokee and she actually wasn't."

That's a piece of trivia, not an allegation of international crimes like what Republicans kept trying to turn BUT HER EMAILS THO into. There's not going to be a years-long FBI investigation into Elizabeth Warren's grandmother. Especially since she already did a blood test so they can't, like, try and get a court order to make her take one in the middle of her campaign.

If this is the best the GOP's got, Warren has a strong chance of taking the Presidency.

Edited by TobiasDrake on Feb 7th 2019 at 8:07:13 AM

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#270333: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:10:29 AM

It's stolen identity and that's not a small deal. I only hesitate that it's a BIG deal because it was decades ago.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#270334: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:15:08 AM

We seriously have to stop eviscerating our own candidates over stuff like this. We cannot constantly go around demanding perfection considering what we're up against. Heck, imagine how many wonderful people we might have running for office who refuse because of minor issues in their past that they know would get dragged up and used to tear them apart.

In sixth grade, I smashed a kid over the head with my lunchbox for bullying me. I played (and enjoyed) Leisure Suit Larry: Magna Cum Laude. Goodness knows what would get made of those tidbits in the public arena. Well, I guess being an atheist would cause more problems.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 7th 2019 at 10:21:34 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
Soban Since: Aug, 2009 Relationship Status: 700 wives and 300 concubines
#270335: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:24:54 AM

[up]

Fighteer is right, and I'd add that we need to be gracious and extend it to the other parties as well for the same reasons.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#270336: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:27:51 AM

[up][up]Wow. Leisure Suit Larry? How can you hold your head high in polite society, you rake! winktongue

But, seriously... When it's "but her actual Cherokee ancestor" vs "but rampant corruption and the deliberate distortion of democracy for the highest dollar/ Ruble"...

Yeah... I know where the high crime is, here.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 7th 2019 at 3:28:40 PM

M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#270337: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:33:21 AM

[up][up][up]TBF, it's not like Warren was a child at the time. That card was dated 1986. Meaning she was 37.

Imagine if you assaulted someone by bashing them in the head with a blunt object at age 37.

Edited by M84 on Feb 7th 2019 at 11:34:44 PM

Disgusted, but not surprised
PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#270338: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:34:12 AM

Problem is, that'd likely be enough of a problem for enough leftists to decrease turnout significantly were she to win the primaries.

i'm tired, my friend
math792d Since: Jun, 2011 Relationship Status: Drift compatible
#270339: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:37:37 AM

[up]x5 And the closest you've ever been to power is poorly moderating a site full of nerds who get obsessive over definitions of cultural narrative shorthands. Meanwhile, the President of the United States is one of the most powerful people on the planet, and the office has a bad habit of screwing over indigenous people.

To act as if Warren's mishandling of the situation is not a legitimate part of the conversation is kind of disingenuous, especially this early in the debate over who should represent the Democratic Party. That doesn't mean there's some magical unicorn candidate that's never done naything wrong ever, just that it should be part of the discussion the same way that Biden or Sanders' age or Kamala Harris' increasingly poor criminal justice track record also are.

Edited by math792d on Feb 7th 2019 at 4:41:16 PM

Still not embarrassing enough to stan billionaires or tech companies.
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#270340: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:38:35 AM

It seems to be that the fact this is only coming out now, after all this time, suggests that she wasn't ever making an especially big effort to portray herself as Native American.

Edited by sgamer82 on Feb 7th 2019 at 8:39:11 AM

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#270341: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:38:37 AM

[up]x4 And she was wrong about the family history she based her presentation of herself as at the time... how? Given that the terminology and "rules" governing who could or couldn't be Cherokee were not quite as they are currently (and isn't that a can of worms)?

That nuance and language use in this has changed?

That identity doesn't stand still or stay easily definable, whichever box you or others try to put you in at any point?

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 7th 2019 at 3:39:56 PM

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#270342: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:42:31 AM

On the one hand, yes, if that’s the worst thing she did, well, that’s a good sign.

On the other hand, there’s a long tradition of completely ignoring/erasing Native American perspectives and concerns. It’s crappy that she claimed, at 37, to be American Indian based on a family story and zero interaction with the community. Like, my family is like 1/8 Scottish/Irish descent, but it would be absurd if I put that on a form because it was hundreds of years ago and I have no ties to the Irish-American or Scottish-American community.

I see why Native Americans are pissed off, and I think she needs to do a better apology that shows she understands *why* people are hurt and upset and promises to do better.

Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#270343: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:47:43 AM

Personally, I think they're pissed off for the wrong thing.

A Cherokee descendant is a senator. Why aren't there more? And, why are so few willing to throw a light on this?

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#270344: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:51:59 AM

The governor of New Mexico is withdrawing the state's National Guard from the border, citing Trump's national crisis as a pointless charade.

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#270345: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:52:21 AM

[up][up]She’s not a Cherokee descendant. She’s a white lady who might have a remote Native American ancestor. That’s like demanding that black Americans be delighted if a white lady with a black great-great-great-great-great-grandmother got elected. In other words, it’s nonsense.

Here’s an article on the history of white people claiming Native ancestry and why it’s harmful.

[down]She needs to apologize *better.* Her apologies so far don’t seem to actually understand what she did wrong.

Edited by wisewillow on Feb 7th 2019 at 10:54:51 AM

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#270346: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:53:54 AM

Right,but she's apologised,what more does she need to do,quit?

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
Euodiachloris Since: Oct, 2010
#270347: Feb 7th 2019 at 7:57:48 AM

[up][up]She has grounds for that family history. Somehow, I think writing off the woman who was Native American and contributed her life to the family tree enough to be remembered for it as somehow being unimportant to the discussion is just as bad.

By any side deciding to do that. Because Elizabeth Warren looks too white for it to matter.

However you slice it, she has a descendant. Who is a senator. And says as much.

Edited by Euodiachloris on Feb 7th 2019 at 4:03:01 PM

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#270348: Feb 7th 2019 at 8:04:27 AM

Part of being a Native American is the lived experience, so I can see why tribal groups are upset that a white woman, raised as a white woman, who looks like a white woman and has always benefited from the structural privilege of being white, but with something like 1/128th Native ancestry, is claiming to be one of them.

It wsould have been a nothingburger issue, but Warren's attempts to control the narrative have done more harm than good. The DNA test was a PR disaster because now she's getting criticism from the left about it.

"For all those whose cares have been our concern, the work goes on, the cause endures, the hope still lives, and the dream shall never die."
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#270349: Feb 7th 2019 at 8:05:02 AM

[up][up]Read the article. And Warren doesn’t even know the supposed ancestor’s NAME, so giving credence to a family legend that is extremely common and often baseless is gross. I’m pretty sure my mom’s family has a supposed nameless Native American ancestor, but it would be absolutely absurd and offensive for me to claim Native American heritage based on so little information.

Edited by wisewillow on Feb 7th 2019 at 11:06:59 AM

Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#270350: Feb 7th 2019 at 8:14:16 AM

Well, if she has DNA from a Native American ancestor, that is a simple fact, just like I have DNA from Irish ancestors. Now, if I call myself Irish and start prancing around in stereotypical clothing while affecting an accent, that's obviously going to offend some people.

Okay, she presented herself in an insensitive way. I get it. I don't think she's a perfect candidate. But if we continue to let the perfect be the enemy of the good and demand candidates that offend absolutely zero groups of potential voters, we will waste so much energy on infighting that the GOP will march to victory after victory.

This isn't just about Trump, although he's the immediate problem, nor is it about Warren per se. The Republicans are laughing their asses off at us right now as their philandering, know-nothing, felonious fraudster of a President tears our country down.

Edited by Fighteer on Feb 7th 2019 at 11:15:31 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"

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