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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
At least, that's how it is in French: "proche-Orient".
edited 23rd May '17 12:57:45 AM by Medinoc
"And as long as a sack of shit is not a good thing to be, chivalry will never die."
The Middle East page points out that "Middle East" isn't clearly defined. However, Israel traditionally is considered part of the Middle East.
edited 23rd May '17 1:04:35 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedIf you oppose Trump, you should want him to stay in office at least until the next election because his continued presence could be the thing that swings that election your way. The last thing you should want is for his party to be able to shed responsibility for 'his' fuckups under the guise of impeachment, while continuing to do the exact same things under a different figurehead. The face may change but the nature of the beast always stays the same. Trump's continuing presence in the white house is a national embarrassment, but it is also the single best chance the Democrats have of gaining control over the senate next year.
Personally I suspect that the republicans will impeach Trump, but will wait until shortly before the 2020 election. Presidential candidates are carefully vetted and they would never have put him up there if they didn't have something on the guy. I predict they will get rid of him some time in late 2019 and try to ride the wave of public relief to the next presidential election.
A comment left on a Cracked article titled "Your anti-Trump efforts are working".
The idea that Trump is just a fall guy and the same policies will be continued without him wouldn't surprise me. The Republicans have after all not gone ahead with all his ideas, so I imagine if they go along with an idea of Trump's, then that means the party itself likes it, and we need to see that The Republican party itself is fucked up and should be rejected.
Yeah, that was my concern all along. Trump himself isn't that evil (or too incompetent), other Republicans are. And he did learn most of his stuff at their feet. Such as the recent budget proposals, which were written by dyed in the wool Tea Partier Mick Mulvaney and are really his work and ideas rather than Trump's.
"For a successful technology, reality must take precedence over public relations, for Nature cannot be fooled." - Richard FeynmanI give Trump credit for phrasing it like that!
But did he really have to bring up ideology in that speech? Terrorism is not an ideology. Unless, of course, that was a dogwhistle for Islam. Again.
Yeesh. Leave it to Trump to find a way to fuck up expressing sympathy for the victims of a suicide bomber.
Ugh, I would not be surprised if this causes his approval rating to go up again since people are grasping at straws to convince themselves that the POTUS is not a POS.
edited 23rd May '17 7:57:37 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised
It did go up, according to Five Thirty Eight's aggregate it increased from 38.8% to 39.1% today, due to a new poll by Rasmussen Research which puts it at 41%.
So apparently, Corsica now belongs to Italy
. Nice to see that the Trump administration is already leaving its mark on the world.
@What Art Thee: Trump did not change anything-he never cared about them anymore than anyone else he could not screw over for personal gain, and he never will. He was just reading whatever they put in front of him because he does not care-the difference being this time, someone with a couple of neurons to rub together wrote his official statements.
edited 23rd May '17 8:29:14 AM by ViperMagnum357
@What Art Thee He hasn't changed his tune. Wait until he makes the same kind of speech in the USA itself. And he's still talking shit about Iran.
edited 23rd May '17 8:29:56 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprisedDemocrats Don’t Need Trump’s Voters To Retake The House
. In other words, hardcore Trumpistas are not enough to carry a House majority. I'll also add that partisan redistricting does not by default account for demographic or demographic-political shifts such as those that cost Trump the majority in Orange County (there was an article a while ago that said that California's OC is a good example for a number of suburban and - so far - Republican held districts in the South)
Trump to sell half of the US strategic oil reserve.
When Obama released part of the strategic reserve to offset the soaring prices during the gas hike republicans completely lost their shit.
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Even most other Republicans couldn't get away with half of what Trump does. At this point, Trump could tear near-term fetuses out of the womb and eat them, then use the American flag as a napkin afterward while singing Satan's praises, and the GOP would love him for it.
edited 23rd May '17 9:33:17 AM by TrashJack
"Cynic, n. — A blackguard whose faulty vision sees things as they are, not as they ought to be." - The Devil's Dictionary![]()
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Honestly, that's not a particularly bad decision from what I know. the rise of fracking has dramatically reduced the United States's dependence on imported oil, and like it or not other forms of power generation are becoming increasingly economical. The strategic oil reserve, at least at our current volume is something of a relic at this point in time.
@Septiums: Trump's hardcore supporters aren't needed of course, but not everyone who voted for Trump is a hardcore supporter, as you've pointed out on several occasions. Thinking of the electorate in such binary terms is really not a winning strategy.
edited 23rd May '17 9:35:23 AM by CaptainCapsase

Moving things away from Trump a bit...
For your viewing pleasure, a couple of opinion articles on what's going on with Puerto Rico, the US territory in the hole for over $70 billion (on top of $50 billion for pensions) which plans to hold a referendum to see if they should push for statehood next month.
From The Hill: Hundreds of thousands of Puerto Ricans may be screwed out of healthcare by next January.
Basically, the ACA money they received as a territory is going to run out by next year. And right now they have no way of getting more money.
This is on top of the island's financial woes making it difficult to keep hospitals open, doctors leaving the island in droves, and the current Zika epidemic on the island.
And for a change in perspective, an opinion article from Investor's Business Daily: Puerto Rico's bankruptcy issues may not only make things far worse for the island in the future, they may also create a bad precedent for the states too.
The commentary takes issue with the demonization of Wall Street investors in Puerto Rico's woes, pointing out that Puerto Rico also shares responsibility for making bad decisions too. It also points out that states like Illinois are starting to take a page out of Puerto Rico's book in blaming Wall Street. The writer believes this is a bad thing since while such populist rhetoric might win voters over, indulging in it too much will make it more difficult to attract investors in the future.
edited 23rd May '17 12:21:05 AM by M84
Disgusted, but not surprised