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Fighteer Lost in Space from The Time Vortex (Time Abyss) Relationship Status: TV Tropes ruined my love life
Lost in Space
#326351: Sep 5th 2020 at 3:52:50 PM

[up] Republican voters don't need any police. They're white Trump supporters, after all. Police are for black people and Democrats.

"It's Occam's Shuriken! If the answer is elusive, never rule out ninjas!"
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#326352: Sep 5th 2020 at 3:58:38 PM

@Imca: Fair enough, China is very much a 1000 pound gorilla in the history of eastern and southern Asia that can't really be ignored. With that said, in terms of direct territorial ambitions (as opposed to hegemonic ambitions), I do think Taiwan the extent of what China wants. Out of the remaining territories of the Qing Dynasty that modern China doesn't control, Mongolia is mostly empty grassland (hence the countries continued existence between Russia and China), and outer Manchuria is owned and largely populated by Russians who in contrast to Uighurs have a major state to advocate their interests even if China somehow managed to take it. Hegemonic intentions are another story, because.

@protagonist: If If we're looking at precedents of peer/near peer states in a state of total war (which is what a high level of commitment by the US would amount to), we have to go back to World War 2 since there's been no great power wars since. Back then, the losers built their strategies around being able to win a lightning war against enemies with vastly larger industrial and population bases, and ended up being ground down in bloody wars of attrition when it turned out their enemies didn't roll over and capitulate as easily as their initial projections. That's not encouraging in the slightest since the US is on the wrong side of that comparison in the present day.

Now, a modern great power war probably wouldn't resemble World War 2 any more than World War I resembled the Franco-Prussian war, which is another issue; we have at best a rough approximation of what this kind of conflict in the modern era would look like, all we can really say is that it would prove ruinous for both sides, and end either with a stalemate or Armageddon, since nukes will start flying the moment one party side does something that threatens the territorial integrity of the other.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Sep 5th 2020 at 7:41:26 AM

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#326353: Sep 5th 2020 at 4:07:26 PM

The US specifically has a problem dealing with disorganized militias and insurgents. These are loose, divided organizations that can just sort of pop up, kind of like fighting weeds or large swarms of insects. The War On Terror, for example, has become a Forever War, essentially, because there's nothing to beat.

My sense of dread was tremendous when George W. Bush made it clear that the war was not on destroying Al-Qaeda but all terrorists everywhere. It's a tactic and his measures created far more than its killed.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#326354: Sep 5th 2020 at 4:31:43 PM

[up][up] They would no doubt like to restore historical tributary relationships with the neighbours that have not been directly controlled, at the least.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#326355: Sep 5th 2020 at 4:47:33 PM

I apologize in advance if this is too provocative/controversial for this thread, but Anita Hill has endorsed Biden.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/anita-hill-joe-biden-voting/index.html

She believes he has evolved since 1991 (where he lost control of the Senate hearing and let the Republicans harass the hell of out her and basically do everything that you shouldn't do to a sexual harassment victim) and would listen to her and other victims on gender issues. Whereas Trump wouldn't give her the time of day.

Edited by Rationalinsanity on Sep 5th 2020 at 9:20:27 AM

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#326356: Sep 5th 2020 at 4:52:39 PM

[up][up] Historically in most eras the Chinese tributaries were de facto independent, and in many cases "paying tribute" to China was more a diplomatic ritual and a pretense for trade relations that was inoffensive to Confucian values versus a reflection of any real political control by China. The extent to which Chinese officials understood the actual state of affairs versus the propaganda varied between different eras. China's hegemonic ambitions aren't going anywhere until they figure out how to conduct actual diplomacy and Public Relations.

Edited by CaptainCapsase on Sep 5th 2020 at 7:55:12 AM

sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#326357: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:04:43 PM

[up][up] In all honesty, that strikes me as one hell of an endorsement.

AlleyOop Since: Oct, 2010
#326358: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:14:49 PM

[Biden] would listen to her and other victims on gender issues. Whereas Trump wouldn't give her the time of day.

Sounds like the inverse of Wants a Prize for Basic Decency, in that it's fair to still believe that Biden is sub-optimal and unreliable, and that it's worth holding some degree of skepticism over how full his attempts to improve over the years have been. But nevertheless Biden does at least pay respect to basic decorum and respect for human individuals in a way that Trump absolutely does not, and is thus worth supporting in order to keep out the latter for that reason alone. No matter how dark and close to black the shade of gray Biden may be (fwiw I don't think he's actually that close), he's still the gray to Trump's Vantablack in Black-and-Gray Morality.

Edited by AlleyOop on Sep 5th 2020 at 8:16:53 AM

Xorn15 Nurse Mordred Attending from R&D Platform, Seychelles Waters Since: Aug, 2014 Relationship Status: Showing feelings of an almost human nature
Nurse Mordred Attending
#326359: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:26:38 PM

https://www.cnn.com/2020/09/05/politics/joe-biden-lead-analysis/index.html

So some analysts think that Biden's lead is smaller than it looks. Thoughts on this?

Parable Since: Aug, 2009
#326360: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:29:29 PM

"Yet, it continues to be clear that the national polling will continue to overstate Biden's edge. An examination of the state polls shows a race that, while not a tossup by any means, is closer than the national polls would indicate."

We already knew that.

CharlesPhipps Since: Jan, 2001
#326361: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:39:02 PM

Basic Decency gets the Presidency as its reward versus what we have now.

Author of The Rules of Supervillainy, Cthulhu Armageddon, and United States of Monsters.
CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#326362: Sep 5th 2020 at 5:57:19 PM

[up][up][up]If it's not smaller than it appears, CNN will give Trump free airtime to make it so.

"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."
Ayasugi Since: Oct, 2010
#326363: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:00:45 PM

Funny thing you bring up China seemingly wanting to bring back the tribute system, I recently had a thought that Trump's version of America First is very much like everyone else paying tribute to the US.

ScubaWolf from South Carolina Since: Feb, 2020
#326364: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:08:55 PM

[up][up] What's sad is that they really would do it. CNN is as much of a "centrist" network as you can get.

"In a move surprising absolutely no one"
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#326365: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:09:02 PM

Granted, it really hasn't worked. CUMSA/NAFTA 2 gave the US less than they would have had under the TPP, for example.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Draghinazzo (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: I get a feeling so complicated...
#326366: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:21:19 PM

I would have expected Hill to vote for Biden anyway, negative feelings or no, but what she says makes perfect sense from a pragmatic and moral POV, and from a political POV it makes sense to endorse him. Regardless of his shortcomings and past mistakes he is in no way equivalent or close to equivalent to Trump if you care even slightly about racial justice or institutional sexism.

MorningStar1337 The Encounter that ended the Dogma from 🤔 Since: Nov, 2012
The Encounter that ended the Dogma
#326367: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:50:59 PM

@alleyOop, Vantablack? Is this new term for "pitch"?

Edited by MorningStar1337 on Sep 5th 2020 at 6:51:09 AM

RainehDaze Nero Fangirl (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
Nero Fangirl
#326368: Sep 5th 2020 at 6:54:42 PM

A specific method of coating an object in the blackest known black.

Also one person bought the rights to using it in any artwork, and he's kind of a jerk.

So someone else started making a bunch of other things, like the pinkest pink, which everyone except that one guy is allowed to buy and use. [lol]

Memers Since: Aug, 2013
#326369: Sep 5th 2020 at 7:57:04 PM

Hopefully CNN’s antic are going to push more people to go vote.

On Hill, will that carry any weight? Voting wise.

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#326370: Sep 5th 2020 at 8:07:24 PM

[up]I doubt Hill is going to sway too many people. If anything, it undercuts any attempts by the GOP to use her against Biden.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
Clarste One Winged Egret Since: Jun, 2009 Relationship Status: Non-Canon
One Winged Egret
#326371: Sep 5th 2020 at 9:26:11 PM

Vantablack is a kind of paint, basically, that produces a ridiculous void of light with no reflection whatsoever. It looks very striking compared to ordinary black paint.

Ingonyama Since: Jan, 2001
#326372: Sep 5th 2020 at 9:54:29 PM

It's really becoming frustrating how every few days (sometimes more often), someone comes in with a poll, or several polls, and some pundits' analysis of how "narrow" or "bad" things look for Biden and asks "Should we be worried??" Isn't this just another form of doomsaying? Plus, there's only so worried I can become before I just shut down.

Edited by Ingonyama on Sep 5th 2020 at 9:55:58 AM

PhysicalStamina i'm tired, my friend (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: Coming soon to theaters
i'm tired, my friend
#326374: Sep 5th 2020 at 11:18:42 PM

Holy fuck, the man was obsessed.

i'm tired, my friend
TitanJump Since: Sep, 2013 Relationship Status: Singularity
#326375: Sep 5th 2020 at 11:23:22 PM

Trump is sick in the head and should have been removed from the office long ago.

His dementia probably devours his memories and making him think that Obama is still the President of the united states.

Just as he think that the year is still 2016 and is running for the first term as a president.

People like that shouldn't hold the office.


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