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

wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#272776: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:19:13 PM

Losing cities and industries and jobs and homes and lives to climate change is gonna be more expensive.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#272777: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:20:40 PM

OK, what is Beau of the Fifth Column (linked to in this post by Oruka) like? The self-description of "a southern journalist who is tired of a lack of common sense" can go either way, and I don't want to waste my time listening to the ravings of a fundamentalist right-winger who tries to masquerade as a "centrist"/"moderate" or something like that if I can help it.

Separately, the Trump Organization asked the House Judiciary Committee to stop its investigations related to the company, claiming a conflict of interest because the panel hired a lawyer whose firm once represented Trump's company.
How is this a conflict of interest?

The White House will select a group of federal scientists to challenge the scientific consensus that greenhouse gas emissions and burning of fossil fuels are driving global warming. The panel is an initiative of the National Security Council and will not be subject to the same level of public disclosure as formal advisory committees, which are required meet in public, are subject to public records requests, and require representative membership.
And there will be absolutely no bias in their conclusion, of course.

Russian state television aired a list of U.S. military facilities that Moscow would target in the event of a nuclear war and noted that Russia is developing hypersonic missiles that would be able to hit those targets in less than five minutes. The targets include the Pentagon and the presidential retreat at Camp David, Maryland. The unusually aggressive broadcast comes just days after Putin said Russia was ready for a "Cuban Missile"-style standoff with the United States if Washington deploys more intermediate-range nuclear missiles in western Europe.
They only do this because they know the current POTUS wouldn't dare to actually respond to this sabre-rattling in kind.

The Taliban and American diplomats are scheduled to begin the highest-level negotiations yet to end the 18-year war in Afghanistan. The talks will be held in Doha, Qatar, and will focus on working out the details of an agreement both sides said they reached in principle last month, which includes the Taliban agreeing to keep Afghan territory from becoming a haven for terrorists if the U.S. moves toward a withdrawal of American forces from the country.
Ugh, why is the Taliban getting to keep the territory they've acquired even a thing?

GOP donors are worried that Trump doesn't have a strategy to win reelection. In particular, donors are concerned how Trump intends to win in Rust Belt states that swung to Democrats in the midterms.
You know, the question that should be asked here is "Do they even have other options?"

CNN agrees it’s super-expensive.
CNN, which had already been infamous for their "both sides!" fetish, also recently hired a Republican with no journalistic experience/credentials to be their political editor for the 2020 election. I have no faith in their credibility.

Edited by MarqFJA on Feb 25th 2019 at 4:21:37 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#272778: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:28:19 PM

Ugh, why is the Taliban getting to keep the territory they've acquired even a thing?

Generally, when a treaty is made, there's going to more than complete unconditional surrender. The trick is to negotiate a way to make sure that as many people can be protected as possible and end the violence.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Ramen Fairy
#272779: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:33:52 PM

Apparently the GND doesn’t actually plan to phase out air travel, which is one of the main reasons I was hesitant about it. I apologize to anyone whose views I misrepresented or dismissed.

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#272780: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:36:27 PM

[tup] The plan is to reduce air travel by increasing high speed trains etc. I would totally take a train instead of flying; I hate flying.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#272781: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:37:47 PM

[up][up][up] I meant to say "Why is the Taliban even in a position to gain that much favorable terms into the treaty?" Like, how did they go from being forced into hiding in caves within the inhospitable mountains to resurging as an actual force that you should seriously take as a legitimate power-player within the country that the US had already put a (nominally) democratic (but unfortunately corruption-ridden) republican government in place of the Taliban's horribly opressive and backwards authoritarian theocracy?

Edited by MarqFJA on Feb 25th 2019 at 4:38:08 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#272782: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:41:18 PM

[up][up] That would be good. The rail infrastructure in this country needs updated anyway.

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 25th 2019 at 8:44:08 AM

Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Ramen Fairy
#272783: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:42:13 PM

[up][up][up] Trains are good! smile

I still have reservations about the nuclear part, although this piece alleviates them somewhat.

Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Feb 25th 2019 at 8:42:26 AM

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#272784: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:47:23 PM

[up][up][up] Even hiding in caves the Taliban are a permanent destabilizing force in Afghanistan. They know that it takes them minimal resources to throw the entire project off balance and that’s why they’re able to negotiate from a position of power.

Any negotiation with them is obvisouly going to be somewhat limited, but at least bringing them to the table is a good step.

Edited by archonspeaks on Feb 25th 2019 at 5:48:06 AM

They should have sent a poet.
wisewillow She/her Since: May, 2011
She/her
#272785: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:48:53 PM

One jackass with a stick of dynamite can break a bridge that took 100 people to build.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#272786: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:49:12 PM

The short version for the Afghanistan War issues are:

  • The Taliban rule a country. It's Northern Pakistan. It's smaller than Afghanistan but they can recruit, train, and arm there.
  • Northern Pakistan is part of Pakistan so it can't be attacked without becoming Cambodia.
  • The Taliban control about 10% of Afghanistan and the government controls about 30% with everything inbetween controlled by local tribes and warlords.
  • The Taliban is disunited and has no central leadership but they all agree on attack USA.
  • The US has trained the Pakistan military as entirely commandos because they don't have any air support or infrastructure for larger vehicles. They work sometimes but it's not capable of actually fighting like a modern war.
  • The US presence in Afghanistan is tiny.

Edited by CharlesPhipps on Feb 25th 2019 at 5:54:42 AM

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
megaeliz Since: Mar, 2017
#272787: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:51:55 PM

[up]x4 Some more ideas:

  • There also needs to be more overhead (aka federal, not local) investment in public transportation and infrastructure, since a lot of places outside of cities, driving is necessary to get around, and there's not a lot of alternatives.
  • Another thing that would be good is creating a Federal program that's dedicated to creating sidewalks and crosswalks in low income neighborhoods, to make it easier and safer for people to walk to jobs or stores, and really improve quality of life
  • Public transportation infrastructure grant programs, that is meant to help cities invest in new public transit systems or improve current ones. This would also offer support to cities in negotiating right of ways, technical support. (This one would need a lot of oversight.)

Anyone else have any other ideas for what type of programs they would like to see?

Edited by megaeliz on Feb 25th 2019 at 8:56:15 AM

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#272788: Feb 25th 2019 at 5:58:01 PM

CNN agrees it’s super-expensive.

CNN's highest cost estimate for part of the GND is $1 trillion, with caveats that they don't actually know the cost since the GND is more about goals than concrete policy. There's additional numbers thrown around, but I'm pretty sure all of them added up don't equal the AAF's $50 trillion projection. So somebody is fudging numbers it seems.

The AAF's projection also states some really weird things. It says there are costly and pointless redundancies, highlighting the GND's proposal for both clean energy grids and clean energy retrofitting for buildings. This seems to be missing the point that we want to transition to clean energy as fast as possible, so pursuing both at the same time is ideal. Not to mention they ignore the fact that building producing their own clean energy would be less reliant on the grid, avoiding issues such as surges when everyone is using power at the same time, which is an issue concerning energy transition experts as people transition to electric cars, heaters, etc.

It also says it doesn't see the point of promising a guaranteed job and fair pay while also promising fair housing and affordable healthcare. The people who wrote this don't seem to realize that there are people out there who because of health, or disabilities, or family issues, can't participate in the regular work force. Or that even people who make $15 an hour can be ruined by high medical costs.

archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#272789: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:02:48 PM

[up][up][up] Well, sort of.

The Taliban don’t really properly “control” any territory. It would be more accurate to say they loosely occupy territory. Territory that’s under their control is simply denied to US and Afghan forces, it’s not ruled by anyone.

Pakistan doesn’t really want it either, in fact they spend a significant amount of money and effort keeping the region lawless as a play against the Afghan government. It’s basically a continuous uphill battle because of their influence there.

The Afghan insurgents trained by the US are more or less gone at this point. The groups we’re fighting now are the descendants of those insurgents, while the US could be considered broadly responsible for the rise of these militia-type groups in Afghanistan it doesn’t run training camps or anything silly like that.

Edited by archonspeaks on Feb 25th 2019 at 6:03:03 AM

They should have sent a poet.
Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Ramen Fairy
#272790: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:03:27 PM

[up][up][up]

  • Lab-grown meat.
  • More nuclear (the current plan keeps the existing plants but adds no new ones).
  • A ban on hunting any bird or mammal species not listed as Least Concern by the IUCN. Revenue-neutral carbon tax.
  • More seaweed farming.

Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Feb 25th 2019 at 9:21:37 AM

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
Imca (Veteran)
#272791: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:15:37 PM

[up] The hunting one is kind of problematic.

Hunting is one of the bigest contributors to conservation ironically.

Edited by Imca on Feb 25th 2019 at 6:17:35 AM

Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
Ramen Fairy
#272792: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:17:09 PM

Nvm

Edited by Spinosegnosaurus77 on Feb 25th 2019 at 9:19:38 AM

Peace is the only battle worth waging.
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#272793: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:18:24 PM

Yeah, hunting is very strictly regulated and all the money from fees and licenses from the government goes to conservation and regulatory efforts.

Oh really when?
Imca (Veteran)
#272794: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:19:38 PM

As far as I know you cant hunt any species that is at risk in the US legally, I do know that the hunting licensees do fund the conservation programs....

And that the restrictions on at risk species are causing a tone of them to die because people will just kill them in the night rather then reporting them because there existence stalls developments and costs companies millions.... so its easier to just pay some one to deniabley shoot them and carry on like nothing happened. :/

Which is kind of something that needs to be addressed itself because just making it illegal to bother them isn't working.

Actually I do wonder how you could fix that? Offer compensation for the property if an endangered animals is on it? That way it is less "Turtle lives there so your out millions in property" and more "Turtle lives there, take compensation and build somewhere else"

Allowing relocation may be cheaper, but I don't know if you can reliably relocate most critters.

Edited by Imca on Feb 25th 2019 at 6:23:23 AM

Spinosegnosaurus77 Ramen Fairy from Ontario, Canada Since: May, 2011 Relationship Status: All I Want for Christmas is a Girlfriend
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#272796: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:27:33 PM

Actual Positive Thing About Kentucky:

One of the things that city folk don't tend to comprehend is hunters really really like nature. It's the reason their hobby exists and they are strongly for the protection of wilderness.

They're not captain planet villains.

Generally, many hunters consider their actions as becoming part of nature.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#272797: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:38:08 PM

Yeah, hunting's something you only do if you really like the outdoors and 'living off the land. It's also a pretty natural thing to do.

A good (if perhaps very literal) metaphor would be The Lion King, actually. The Lions protect and maintain the pridelands, and look out for the welfare even of the animals they hunt, because that's where they eat.

Leviticus 19:34
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#272798: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:47:27 PM

[up]There is such a thing as the safari tourist who hunts without much knowledge or interest in conservation, just so he can get a head on the wall. One of the running bitchfights up here in Alaska is over jackasses who literally shoot wolves from the air and call themselves sportsmen.

LSBK Since: Sep, 2014
#272799: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:48:40 PM

[up]Aren't the Trumps exactly those kind of people?

HailMuffins Since: May, 2016 Relationship Status: Shipping fictional characters
#272800: Feb 25th 2019 at 6:50:27 PM

Most hunters are pretty enviromently minded, with rules on never killing pregnant females or infants and such.

Most problems with hunting comes from places where it is not regulated and endengered animals aren't protected like, well, more African countries than you can shake a stick at.

Or my own glorious homeland.


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