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

Fourthspartan56 from Georgia, US Since: Oct, 2016 Relationship Status: THIS CONCEPT OF 'WUV' CONFUSES AND INFURIATES US!
#288976: Aug 30th 2019 at 1:48:07 PM

Don't even get me started.

Right-Wingers trying to shift the blame of Nazism to the left wing is one of my biggest Berserk Button's. I mean, how intellectually dishonest and stupid can you be?

Is North Korea a democratic nation? It's in the name, after all!

Preach it, it's extremely obnoxious and intellectually vacuous.

Though, thinking about it further, if you're going to preach it you should probably take it to the General Thread wink

Alright, that's theoretical talk now. While I agree that "Real Communism" hasn't been practiced yet (as it is pretty much incompatible to human nature, lets be honest), the term "Communism" is too much tied to totalitarian regimes to be used in positive context, imO.

Sure, you're probably right.

Edited by Fourthspartan56 on Aug 30th 2019 at 1:49:55 AM

"Einstein would turn over in his grave. Not only does God play dice, the dice are loaded." -Chairman Sheng-Ji Yang
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#288977: Aug 30th 2019 at 1:55:17 PM

Reposting this bit of news since it's at the top of the page:

In Incompetent In Chief news, Trump tweeted out a photo that SHOULD have been classified using his phone to take a pic of it, saying "I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One."

This, naturally, has led to accusations of US sabotage of the satellite's launch, as this was some pretty blatant taunting on Trump's part.

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#288978: Aug 30th 2019 at 2:01:00 PM

My fear is that Iran might retaliate with state sponsored terrorist attack ie.blowing something of Donald's up in return,like one of his hotels-

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#288979: Aug 30th 2019 at 2:21:12 PM

I think Iran is well aware that Trump is primarily a blowhard. They benefit as the more of an asshole he looks like, the more they look like the reasonable ones. Obama already granted them a reasonable amount of legitimacy in state matters.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#288980: Aug 30th 2019 at 2:27:08 PM

I honestly think Israel is a bigger danger for a potential war with Iran at the moment.

They are feeling too safe with Trump as their ally, prone to more provocation.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
Grafite Since: Apr, 2016 Relationship Status: Less than three
#288981: Aug 30th 2019 at 3:00:00 PM

Neither of those is probable at the moment. Israel is not suicidal, status quo suits them better than an adversary with far more population than them. Plus, they may be even less likely to consider it once the new legislative election is done with and Netanyahu's finally booted.

Life is unfair...
Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#288982: Aug 30th 2019 at 3:05:24 PM

Natenyahu did freak out and try to keep Trump from meeting with Iran's foreign minister at the G7.

Forenperser Foreign Troper from Germany Since: Mar, 2012
Foreign Troper
#288983: Aug 30th 2019 at 3:11:47 PM

[up][up] Iran has a bigger population, but I'd say Israel is far ahead in terms of military strength/technology.

Certified: 48.0% West Asian, 6.5% South Asian, 15.8% North/West European, 15.7% English, 7.4% Balkan, 6.6% Scandinavian
DrDougsh Since: Jan, 2001
#288984: Aug 30th 2019 at 3:19:07 PM

It seems highly optimistic to assume Netanyahu will be booted in the next election.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#288985: Aug 30th 2019 at 5:46:07 PM

To get back to my original point I never said that such kinds of radical leftists necessarily make up a majority of the overall populace or any such thing, just a callout of the behavior that does exist because I see it a lot, particularly in fandom spaces, and it's always extremely frustrating when it comes up. I don't care about all the radical leftists who don't do such things (and good on them for that matter), because they're not relevant to the post I was making calling out the behavior from those who do. And I figured my post was clearly enough about being critical of certain kinds of behavior as opposed to people. Nothing to object to except from the kinds of people who actually support such behavior in the first place as otherwise it's not aimed at them.

I also know that such people absolutely exist in the US without being trolls from personal experience. I went to school with many of them, and some of them had the myopia to be aggressively anti-Stalin yet heavily pro-Mao on top of the usual tankie apologetics trotted out for capital C Communism never having been done before/failing because the people in charge were too brainwashed by their capitalistic surroundings. A few of them grew out of it toward being more "mainline" progressivism, while others did not.

I also consider adjectiveless communists to be fairly distinct from the anarcho- side of things (including anarcho-communists who IMO are not the same as the former communists) and from socialists, and that their behavior online is markedly different compared to the latter two. As we've just recently seen.

Edited by AlleyOop on Aug 30th 2019 at 9:08:48 AM

tclittle Professional Forum Ninja from Somewhere Down in Texas Since: Apr, 2010
Professional Forum Ninja
#288986: Aug 30th 2019 at 7:01:12 PM

Hurricane Dorian becomes a cat 4.

Also, I've been hearing some models want to have Dorian scrape the Florida coast. I'm not sure what's worse, a direct hit or a scrape.

"We're all paper, we're all scissors, we're all fightin' with our mirrors, scared we'll never find somebody to love."
Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#288987: Aug 30th 2019 at 7:22:43 PM

A scrape is much, much worse, because the hurricane will retain its strength as it sweeps up the coast. Going overland is what kills a hurricane by removing the warm water from which it draws energy. If the eye remains offshore, it won't lose strength nearly as quickly. The best possible case is it veering back out to sea, but that's a very low probability.

Edited by Fighteer on Aug 30th 2019 at 10:23:05 AM

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#288988: Aug 30th 2019 at 8:39:37 PM

https://whatthefuckjusthappenedtoday.com/2019/08/30/day-953/

    Day 953: Cone of uncertainty. 

1/ Trump's longtime personal assistant was fired after bragging to reporters that she had a better relationship with Trump than Ivanka or Tiffany Trump – his own daughters. Madeleine Westerhout also told reporters that Trump did not like being in pictures with Tiffany because he thought she was overweight. Westerhout comments happened at an off-the-record dinner with reporters in Bedminster, N.J. (Politico / New York Times / CNN)

https://www.politico.com/story/2019/08/30/trumps-personal-assistant-fired-ivanka-tiffany-1479226

2/ Trump formally established the U.S. military's Space Command, which will be responsible for protecting American interests in what he called "the next war-fighting domain." Space Command will consist 287 personnel, but could draw troops from other branches of the military, as well as from Trump's proposed Space Force, the sixth branch of the military that is currently waiting to be approved by Congress. Space Command's location has yet to be determined, but the Pentagon is currently considering six locations at bases in Colorado, Alabama and California. (Politico / Washington Post / CNN / New York Times)

https://www.cnn.com/2019/08/29/politics/trump-space-command/index.html

3/ The Federal Election Commission no longer has enough commissioners to legally meet after the vice chairman resigned earlier this week. With Matthew Petersen gone, the FEC will be down to three members and won't have a quorum. The agency is supposed to serve as the watchdog over how money is raised and spent in American elections. (NPR / New York Times / USA Today)

https://www.npr.org/2019/08/30/755523088/as-fec-nears-shutdown-priorities-such-as-stopping-election-interference-on-hold

4/ Trump canceled his planned trip to Poland to monitor Hurricane Dorian, which is threatening to strike Florida near Mar-a-Lago. The storm is projected to make landfall as a Category 4 hurricane on Monday, with Melbourne as the most likely landing spot – about 115 miles north of where Trump's ocean-front hotel is situated. Mar-a-Lago remains in the "cone of uncertainty." Trump had been set to travel to Poland to participate in a World War II commemoration ceremony. Pence will make the trip instead. (NBC News / Tampa Bay Times / Washington Post / CNN)

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/trump-cancels-trip-poland-deal-hurricane-dorian-n1048036

NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#288989: Aug 30th 2019 at 10:12:13 PM

A scrape does less damage over a much wider area, while a direct hit does a lot more damage in a small area and then trails off more quickly. In terms of monetary damage, scrapes tend to be worse unless the direct hit lands on a very dense/high value area.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
Imca (Veteran)
#288990: Aug 30th 2019 at 11:48:22 PM

Welp, in Incompetent In Chief news, Trump tweeted out a photo that SHOULD have been classified using his phone to take a pic of it, saying "I wish Iran best wishes and good luck in determining what happened at Site One."

This, naturally, has led to accusations of US sabotage of the satellite's launch.

Using just that photo, armature satellite watchers were able to triangulate the exact satellite that took the image, and declasify its picture resolution.....

....

I don't want to know what a determined hostile goverment could do.

It was USA 224, a Key Hole-11 spy satellite if any one is curious....

Edited by Imca on Aug 30th 2019 at 11:52:41 AM

Reflextion from a post-sanity world (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: What's love got to do with it?
#288991: Aug 31st 2019 at 4:27:30 AM

[up] The Greatest Threat to the United States is its President, Exhibit #9001

Someone did tell me life was going to be this way.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#288992: Aug 31st 2019 at 5:16:50 AM

Interestingly, that image seems to indicate significantly greater optical capabilities than what it was previously believed EECS satellites possessed.

They should have sent a poet.
ironballs16 Since: Jul, 2009 Relationship Status: Owner of a lonely heart
#288993: Aug 31st 2019 at 6:11:40 AM

[up], [up][up][up]

So in other words, Trump fucked up even worse than I'd initially thought.

Whee.

Edited by ironballs16 on Aug 31st 2019 at 9:21:02 AM

"Why would I inflict myself on somebody else?"
MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#288994: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:33:07 AM

Isn't there any procedure besides the 25th amendment that authorizes the intelligence services to not give any classified information to the POTUS on grounds that they have too much of a consistent track record of unilaterally publicizing classified information?

Hell, how difficult it is to get it into his head that publicizing classified information willy-nilly like that makes him look incompetent? You'd think that would be an easy way of getting him to shut up; it's not like he walks around spilling his own dirty secrets, after all, so he knows what secrecy is and its value.

Edited by MarqFJA on Aug 31st 2019 at 6:35:18 PM

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#288995: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:35:33 AM

I'm not sure. I don't think the Founders ever envisioned the seat occupied by such a liability.

"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."
Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#288996: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:37:16 AM

They might have decided "Look,whatever we tell him not to leak he'll do it anyway,if we show their failed launch it will intimidate them

have a listen and have a link to my discord server
CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#288997: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:37:28 AM

As stated otherwise, incompetence is no longer the best explanation versus active collaboration with foreign powers.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
archonspeaks Since: Jun, 2013
#288998: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:39:20 AM

The president has access to any classified material he wants. His authority bypasses every clearance and codeword. The only real recourse here would be to have the CIA unlawfully hide information from the executive branch, but that’s not really a precedent we want to set.

They should have sent a poet.
Ramidel Since: Jan, 2001
#288999: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:42:10 AM

@Marq: No. Intelligence officials keep as much actionable intel away from the President as they can already, but they do have to respect civilian control of the military. If the President wants to know something, he's got the clearance to ask for it and then tell everyone on national TV.

Of course, civil servants have all kinds of ways to stall requests from elected officials they don't like. But it's the people's job to keep someone like Trump from getting into office in the first place.

Edited by Ramidel on Aug 31st 2019 at 7:43:24 AM

Ultimatum Disasturbator from the Amiga Forest (Old as dirt) Relationship Status: Who needs love when you have waffles?
Disasturbator
#289000: Aug 31st 2019 at 8:45:46 AM

> But it's the people's job to keep someone like Trump from getting into office in the first place.

Its not,it's not even a job its a choice,if people really want someone like Trump in office again they'll vote for them regardless how much it wil suck

have a listen and have a link to my discord server

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