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NativeJovian Jupiterian Local from Orlando, FL Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: Maxing my social links
Jupiterian Local
#166326: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:27:53 AM

Did you know that he actually said "Be polite. Be professional. Have a plan to kill everyone you meet."
Do you know the context of that line? It was directed at troops serving in Iraq and Afghanistan, in reference to dealing with the locals — most of which were innocent civilians, but some of which were terrorist insurgents.

He was saying "be nice to everyone, but be prepared in case they turn out to be one of the bad guys". Given that they were fighting terrorists hiding among the civilian population at the time, this is entirely reasonable advice.

Really from Jupiter, but not an alien.
TobiasDrake (•̀⤙•́) (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Arm chopping is not a love language!
(•̀⤙•́)
#166327: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:28:22 AM

America has a problem where the common folk think that America is special and immune to tyranny, which leads to political apathy and a resistance to getting off their asses and marching. Protests have also been stereotyped as something only overly sensitive and overly dramatic people who can't deal with reality participate in.

We also have a lot of people for whom hardship has been romanticized. Suffering is a badge of honor in America, and a lot of people who are actively suffering are therefore unwilling to actually participate in measures meant to alleviate that suffering.

A popular conservative rallying cry that's been going around since the election is, "Suck it up, Buttercup." It's the latest variant on a variety of similar statements such as "Man up", all of which mean, "Life is hard for everyone, so stop whining and just suffer contently like the rest of us."

My Tumblr. Currently side-by-side liveblogging Digimon Adventure, sub vs dub.
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#166328: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:34:47 AM

I honestly don't understand how Kissinger thinks that Trump is in anyway a good idea, even ignoring long term problems Trump is a terrible move strategically for the US. Intelegence sources and allies are going to clam up something fierce now for fear of information working its way to Russia, the Russians aren't going to want or be able to make up for the loss in intelegence and support that Trump will bring about.

Kissinger used to be smarter than this, having a Russian puppet in the White House is terrible for the US strategically, a realignment towards Russia would have to be done slowly, competently and independently, not in a rushed dash by someone already compromised by the Russians.

Dear god having a president comrpamised by anyone is insane strategically, even if it was the British of French who'd comrpamised the president to would be bad, but the Russians? That's fucking terrible.

Kissinger has basically set himself up as a single point of failure, for the US to not suffer massive geopolitical losses he has to have his claws into Trump deeper than Putin does.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#166329: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:34:51 AM

[up][up] Meanwhile, people who are shot because of their skin color, aren't allowed to use public bathrooms, are denied access to basic healthcare because, and/or are afraid to practice their religion publicly, are like "sorry, we're whiners?"

edited 12th Jan '17 7:35:05 AM by RBluefish

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
M84 Oh, bother. from Our little blue planet Since: Jun, 2010 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
Oh, bother.
#166330: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:36:14 AM

[up][up] Remember when there were people worried about HRC and her ties to Kissinger?

Those were the days.

edited 12th Jan '17 7:42:16 AM by M84

Disgusted, but not surprised
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#166331: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:39:13 AM

@Silas: Trump seemingly listens to Kissinger rather than simply name dropping him for street cred, and I imagine that's part of it.

Krieger22 Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018 from Malaysia Since: Mar, 2014 Relationship Status: I'm in love with my car
Causing freakouts over sourcing since 2018
#166332: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:40:44 AM

Hey, Kissinger isn't immune to senility - he probably will have fully succumbed to it or something else before the world can agree on whether he was genre savvy or wrong genre savvy the entire time.

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
Silasw A procrastination in of itself from A handcart to hell (4 Score & 7 Years Ago) Relationship Status: And they all lived happily ever after <3
A procrastination in of itself
#166333: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:44:40 AM

Sure Trump listens but does Kissinger honestly think that he alone is enough? I mean I could see Kissinger playing damage control but he's doing a piss poor job if that is his plan, otherwise he's banking on being able to play Trump better than Putin can? Unless Kissinger is also sitting on the file that Putin has on Trump I don't see that happening.

Strategically Trump is simply a terrible choice for president, so Kissinger has either lost the plot (possible, he is in his 90s), is playing damage control (in that case he sucks at it), or thinks he can control Trump well enough to make things work strategically (in which case his ego in huge).

Ignoring morality for a second I just don't see how Kissinger thinks that the US can come out of this stronger than it goes into it.

“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#166334: Jan 12th 2017 at 7:46:01 AM

[up][up] Eh not really; he doesn't have dementia or Alzheimer's at this point as far as we can tell, and at his age it's not particularly likely to start all of the sudden. More likely is that he dies mid way through Trump's tenure and the administration turns into a deer in the headlights midway through some grand maneuver he was planning.

[up] Trump also clearly buys into Kissinger's Realpolitik worldview, and nominated his recommendation for Secretary of State, and at least insofar as he picked out Putin as a man with potential back in the 90s, Kissinger has an eye for a certain sort of talent.

edited 12th Jan '17 7:47:19 AM by CaptainCapsase

CenturyEye Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign? from I don't know where the Yith sent me this time... Since: Jan, 2017 Relationship Status: Having tea with Cthulhu
Tell Me, Have You Seen the Yellow Sign?
#166335: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:09:33 AM

Trump Organization handover plan slammed by ethics chief but "Mr Shaub said the [Office of Government Ethics] was waiting to assist Mr Trump if he decided to "adjust his plan."

So who wants to start a pool on when that call will come?

Look with century eyes... With our backs to the arch And the wreck of our kind We will stare straight ahead For the rest of our lives
FluffyMcChicken My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare from where the floating lights gleam Since: Jun, 2014 Relationship Status: In another castle
My Hair Provides Affordable Healthcare
#166336: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:13:21 AM

Newsweek: How Donald Trump's economic policies will bring back the 1980s

Since Trump was elected, the behavior of the stock market has represented the triumph of hope over common sense.

SeptimusHeap from Switzerland (Edited uphill both ways) Relationship Status: Mu
#166337: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:14:14 AM

A new variant of the older "bubble" paradigm?

"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard Feynman
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#166338: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:16:26 AM

Looks like Trump's picks are taking a 180 on NATO, at least in front of the Senate.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
speedyboris Since: Feb, 2010
#166339: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:52:46 AM

Trump wants our good friend Rudy Giuliani to be an advisor on cyber-security. Man, with that guy at the helm, all those surveillance reforms are gonna be thrown out, won't they?

edited 12th Jan '17 9:56:36 AM by speedyboris

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#166340: Jan 12th 2017 at 9:58:28 AM

A grim prediction of what kind of game Russia's playing with Trump kompromat material.

TL;DR: Russia, having installed a puppet as president, will now be free of checks on their power and will seize the opportunity to go after their geopolitical objectives. They'll escalate up to the point of a major international crisis, like an invasion of the Ukraine. Then, when pressure starts to mount for the US to intervene, they leak whatever they have on Trump.

All hell breaks loose in the US, and we become to embroiled in constitutional crisis and brutal infighting - possibly violent - that Russia is allowed to continue accomplishing their goals unopposed. And by the time we've sorted our shit out, it's too late to do anything about it and a new world order has arisen.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#166341: Jan 12th 2017 at 10:21:06 AM

Just got a Reuters notification. Nothing more specific yet

"Justice Department will examine whether FBI decisions in Clinton email probe were based on improper considerations"... - Get updates at Reuters.com

edited 12th Jan '17 10:26:11 AM by sgamer82

RBluefish Since: Nov, 2013
#166342: Jan 12th 2017 at 10:30:55 AM

Two months after the election and eight days before inauguration?

Talk about being a day late and a dollar short.

"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."
sgamer82 Since: Jan, 2001
#166343: Jan 12th 2017 at 10:50:20 AM

Nothing in depth, but at least an actual article on the matter that might update with more info:

"DOJ watchdog investigating FBI decisions in Clinton email probe" - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14W2NT

Also, one I saw earlier:

"French far right leader Marine Le Pen seen at Trump Tower" - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14W2EO

And, maybe already brought up:

"Trump says intelligence director denounced 'fictitious' report" - http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSKBN14W1R8

It sounds more like he was told the report was not leaked by intelligence agencies.

edited 12th Jan '17 10:52:40 AM by sgamer82

rmctagg09 The Wanderer from Brooklyn, NY (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: I won't say I'm in love
The Wanderer
#166344: Jan 12th 2017 at 1:07:58 PM

So Biden just got the Presidential Medal of Freedom.

Hugging a Vanillite will give you frostbite.
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#166345: Jan 12th 2017 at 1:25:07 PM

Is that kosher?

I mean no one deserves a medal for being Joe Biden more than Joe Biden, but it does seem a bit odd to have a medal awarded by the President to his VP. Ditto Obama being awarded a medal the other day by some federal department (forget which), although apparently that's something that's happened at least once previously with other Presidents.

MarqFJA The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer from Deserts of the Middle East (Before Recorded History) Relationship Status: Anime is my true love
The Cosmopolitan Fictioneer
#166346: Jan 12th 2017 at 1:55:11 PM

Can someone explain to me what Kissinger did that makes him a war criminal? What I know about the guy is basically summed as "He was US Secretary of State during the Yom Kippur War, in which he was instrumental in brokering a peace that was blatantly in favor of Israel" (which may or may not be completely accurate).

edited 12th Jan '17 1:56:03 PM by MarqFJA

Fiat iustitia, et pereat mundus.
kkhohoho (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#166347: Jan 12th 2017 at 1:59:21 PM

[up]Something something Nixon Veitnam.tongue

CrimsonZephyr Would that it were so simple. from Massachusetts Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
Would that it were so simple.
#166348: Jan 12th 2017 at 2:00:51 PM

[up][up]Look up American involvement in Cambodia to get a taste.

"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."
Hodor2 Since: Jan, 2015
#166349: Jan 12th 2017 at 2:01:43 PM

I think it has to do with bombings carried out in Cambodia (this is just one of the missions I think) which not only killed tons of civilians itself but helped prop up the genocidal Khmer Rouge regime, which for complicated/stupid reasons the United States preferred over Communists (even though the Khmer Rouge were themselves Communists, but unlike the Communists we didn't like were genocidal nuts).

[nja]

edited 12th Jan '17 2:01:53 PM by Hodor2

Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#166350: Jan 12th 2017 at 2:06:00 PM

Wasn't Vietnam pretty much all on his watch?

(Cambodia...never mind. But variations on the same theme.)

edited 12th Jan '17 2:06:55 PM by Elle


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