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

Gilphon (4 Score & 7 Years Ago)
#172026: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:08:40 PM

@Protagonist: Indeed. Putin is the kind of villain you can't help but respect- although he may be amoral, he's also cunning and effective. Trump, though? Entirely too one-dimensional- with the writers appearing to cram in as many villain tropes as humanly possible, ending up with an inconsistent, over-the-top mess. And the fact that so many people were conned into voting for him isn't believable at all.

[up]Another in the 'no longer even bothering to pretend they're not racist' column, I see.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:11:45 PM by Gilphon

pwiegle Cape Malleum Majorem from Nowhere Special Since: Sep, 2015 Relationship Status: Singularity
Cape Malleum Majorem
#172027: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:09:56 PM

I'm still expecting Trump to go out on stage, tear off that ridiculous hairpiece, rubber mask, and fat-suit and say, "It's me, Andy Kaufman! Donald Trump doesn't really exist; there never was any such real person. He's just a character I invented, like Tony Clifton and Latka Gravas. This has all been a big practical joke. Gotcha!"

This Space Intentionally Left Blank.
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#172028: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:10:58 PM

[up][up][up] Basically, that Bill says "Hey! We really want you to come over here! Sure, we want to treat you like Crap and make sure you never get any power over White peop- err, I mean, Americans... But we'll pay you more for your trouble!"

Yeah, I don't think that'll go over well with either Foreigners or the American People.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:11:17 PM by DingoWalley1

Protagonist506 from Oregon Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: Chocolate!
#172029: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:20:55 PM

Well with Trump I think I'd say his main advantage politically is Refuge in Audacity. He's so obviously evil that it's hard to wrap the mind around.

Leviticus 19:34
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#172030: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:23:09 PM

Russia arrests 2 FSB agents for Cybersecurity 'treason' that was US backed.

Make or Break, Trump. Either you condemn this publicly, and you "prove" that you're not a Russian Puppet, or you either stay public or praise this, and prove that you are!

Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#172031: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:25:37 PM

Of course, I don't really believe that Trump is going to actually use hard power on Canada (soft power, for sure). Something like 85% of Americans have a positive opinion of us, with under 10% having a negative view (and negative doesn't mean they want us invaded).
Yeah, I can't see "invade Canada" exactly being at the top of their to do list. But, it's probably going to be a rough four years economically and politically. And if the US and Russia decide they want access to our Arctic territory (there's huge potential for oil and other resource development up there), I get the feeling there's fuck all we could do about it.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:28:41 PM by Pseudopartition

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?
#172032: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:27:20 PM

German Opinion of the US has changed/been made more public, but then, they've seen this already:

German warning
How the transatlantic tone has changed.
For all his German heritage, Germans have not taken to Donald Trump.
His campaign rhetoric repulsed many here. A poll for a national broadcaster in the run-up to the US presidential on 8 November election found just 4% thought he was the right candidate for the job.

...Clemens Fuest, president of the institute for economic research, said there was a risk Mr Trump would not achieve his targets of more industrial jobs in the US and fewer imports, and that he could identify a scapegoat in the German economy and its reliance on exports.

...Mrs Merkel ...[defends] - perhaps single-handedly - the integrity of an EU whose fragmentation, it appears, would be welcomed not just by Moscow but by the new US administration too.

So Mr Trump's disdain for Nato, which he described as "obsolete", and his apparent contempt for the EU are causing concern at the highest level - and not just in Berlin.

French Foreign Minister Jean-Marc Ayrault said that European unity was the best response to Donald Trump.
Echoing that sentiment, Mrs Merkel said ...Europe's fate...lay in its own hands.
Is it seditious to try and get an open letter out there explaining how most Americans value their allies and to beg them to take us back in four years?

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
Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#172033: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:32:01 PM

From the military thread...remember that convoy of unmarked military vehicles with a Trump flag. It apparently belonged to the goddamn Navy Seals.

http://abcnews.go.com/US/military-convoy-flying-trump-flag-belonged-seal-unit/story?id=45207477

This is fine.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
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
#172034: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:38:00 PM

That military convoy spotted flying a Trump flag was that of a SEAL team. An inquiry is now in progress.

FSB arrests: A (Russian only, sadly) report suggests that they are related to Kremlin politics, with the treason accusations as a smokescreen.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:38:44 PM by Krieger22

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot
LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#172035: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:39:19 PM

We've talked about the arrests in the Russia thread. They're all internal politics and unrelated to Russian interference in the election.

Oh really when?
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#172036: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:39:31 PM

[up][up]They're also in violation of regs, mind you, and it's being investigated. Some idiot's joyride as opposed to something coming from the top.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:39:41 PM by Elle

Rationalinsanity from Halifax, Canada Since: Aug, 2010 Relationship Status: It's complicated
#172037: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:47:50 PM

I doubt the SEA Ls will get nailed too hard, they are valuable operators that can't be replaced easily. Their careers are safe. And we know who they are loyal to, and its not the American public.

Politics is the skilled use of blunt objects.
TropesForever God forbid women do anything from wait where is she Since: Sep, 2016 Relationship Status: I wanna be your dog
God forbid women do anything
#172038: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:49:28 PM

There's a Trump Flag???

thebeatles.com/careers
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#172039: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:54:52 PM

Basically a flag of the campaign poster. It's not official in any capacity.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:57:08 PM by Elle

LeGarcon Blowout soon fellow Stalker from Skadovsk Since: Aug, 2013 Relationship Status: Gay for Big Boss
Blowout soon fellow Stalker
#172040: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:55:54 PM

[up][up][up]I dunno about that. The military has been getting really fed up with the SEALs lately. They've been doing lots of stupid shit, lots of real shady shit, and generally being a real thorn in the Navy's side.

And only the SEAL teams. None of the other special forces units have these kind of problems.

edited 1st Feb '17 7:56:20 PM by LeGarcon

Oh really when?
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?
#172041: Feb 1st 2017 at 7:57:42 PM

By the way, a parallel to the H-1B bill—aside from the pay scheme—already exists in the H-2 guest worker program. The result:

...businesses go to extraordinary lengths to deny jobs to U.S. workers so they can hire foreigners instead [and stand aside while the public blames illegals].
...before a company wins approval for a single H-2 visa, it must attest that it has already made every effort to hire domestically.

Yet a Buzz Feed News investigation, based on Labor Department records, court filings, more than 100 interviews, inspector general reports, and analyses of state and federal data, has found that many businesses go to extraordinary lengths to skirt the law, deliberately denying jobs to American workers so they can hire foreign workers on H-2 visas instead.
A previous Buzz Feed News report found that many of those foreign workers suffer a nightmare of abuse, deprived of their fair pay, imprisoned, starved, beaten, sexually assaulted, or threatened with deportation if they dare complain.
From: All You Americans are Fired The article goes on to list the various creative means businesses go about this, including flat out not advertising the job then claiming no one applied or inventing qualifications are relaxed for guest workers. Visas like this, incidentally, are also one the key weak points where human trafficking thrives. Illegal status is no paradise, and even one overstaying her visa may not exactly be voluntary. (Many businesses do not bother to tell their employees that there are more steps to becoming a citizen).

Part of the purpose of the many immigration loopholes was to undercut that threat of deportation to enhance cooperation, and keep the 13th amendment from being a dead letter when no one's looking.

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
Elle Since: Jan, 2001
#172042: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:04:41 PM

I thought this class of visa was geared toward skilled workers? IT, for example?

The sort of exploitation of illegal immigrants you talk about (do what we say or you'll be deported) is a thing I associate in my mind with unskilled labor. Farm workers and so on.

RisingStar Since: Nov, 2016
#172043: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:07:51 PM

[up][up]@Le Garcon: if it's not too much trouble, could you elaborate a little?

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?
#172044: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:09:24 PM

They're different visas. I was referring to the "protections." Lack of oversight combined with lack of care and threats of deportations make any protection dead letters. Under either visa scheme. One expects skilled workers to be less vulnerable, but that's where research misconduct—any undue influence really—comes in. Plus, before the lack of oversight and lack of care didn't apply. With the climate of anti-intellectualism, I don't think the skilled workers will be as protected even as much as they had before.

Abuse of skilled workers is less obvious but neither impossible nor unlikely. I don't know enough about the field to comment on how IT workers might be affected unfortunately. Researchers of all kinds though may see their ability to give a second opinion or even point out fabricated/falsified/plagiarized data disappear.

edited 1st Feb '17 8:18:24 PM by CenturyEye

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
DingoWalley1 Asgore Adopts Noelle Since: Feb, 2014 Relationship Status: Can't buy me love
Asgore Adopts Noelle
#172046: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:26:04 PM

[up] I have 2 worries with this "Riot":

1) That Anarchists are infiltrating each and every protest just to burn down whatever they can, regardless of the fact that they're making these Protesters look like violent morons.

2) That by the time a Democrat President does take charge in the USA, they're going to try their best to make "Hate Speech" illegal, which I think would be crossing a line.

Pseudopartition Screaming Into The Void from The Cretaeceous Since: Dec, 2013 Relationship Status: YOU'RE TEARING ME APART LISA
Screaming Into The Void
#172047: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:31:31 PM

The article goes on to list the various creative means businesses go about this, including flat out not advertising the job then claiming no one applied or inventing qualifications are relaxed for guest workers. Visas like this, incidentally, are also one the key weak points where human trafficking thrives. Illegal status is no paradise, and even one overstaying her visa may not exactly be voluntary.
It's amazing to me that middle-class Trump supporters and conservatives consistently blame immigrants, etc. for their problems when rich corporate types are screwing us all over for personal gain. Instead, they vote for these people because they equate wealth with good. I'm starting to think that 'bootstrapping' is the most dangerous myth in American democracy.

Thread about blocking the Supreme Court nomination.

edited 1st Feb '17 8:32:40 PM by Pseudopartition

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?
#172048: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:31:35 PM

The laws against hate speech seem to work for Germany though. And it wouldn't necessarily take an amendment, considering SCOTUS does not protect obscenity (whose standard is I know it when I see it) or fighting words.
They're both stretches, but in this country money=speech so...

[down]Everything can fall into the wrong hands: the presidency, the void left by the very lax media regulation that free speech yields, nuclear codes, police forces, neighborhood associations, each and every scientific discovery with security consequences...procedure slows and makes decisions predictable. They do not protect on their own. But they do put a society on notice and give it more tools for good or ill.

edited 1st Feb '17 8:41:31 PM by CenturyEye

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
CaptainCapsase from Orbiting Sagittarius A* Since: Jan, 2015
#172049: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:33:23 PM

[up] What happens when said system falls into the wrong hands though?

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
#172050: Feb 1st 2017 at 8:33:27 PM

Rioting: That's the American antifa movement for you. Apparently the protests were peaceful until they showed up.

That said, hate speech is already illegal, it's just that the tests for something to count as hate speech in the US are extremely stringent.

edited 1st Feb '17 8:34:08 PM by Krieger22

I have disagreed with her a lot, but comparing her to republicans and propagandists of dictatorships is really low. - An idiot

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