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Ouze wrote: I think it's pretty clear that every single child that DHS loses track of gets promptly shoved into an oven, no exceptions.
Man WTF, you guys.
Wait... don't they get on trains first or something?
Have you seen the condition of our rail system? We need to crank up our national infrastructure spending if we want to have an efficient genocide network. That’s why we should let the private system handle the murder or migrants
Ouze wrote: I think it's pretty clear that every single child that DHS loses track of gets promptly shoved into an oven, no exceptions.
Man WTF, you guys.
I don't mean to say that ICE is currently operating extermination camps. Not that I know yet, anyway. I'm saying that what they are doing is building all the infrastructure needed to get there. Both the practical side of assembling a corps of unaccountable agents to whisk off undesirables and of the propaganda effort to mark a population as undesirable. Not caring precisely how it was done and wanting a part of the population just gone was how the Nazis ended up with the extermination camps, after all. We already know that ICE doesn't much care whether the people they take die. There aren't many steps more needed for that to become inofficial policy and then official policy.
I know a lot of folks in the federal government who are working to make sure people held by ICE get good healthcare. Even had some friends spend some short deployments away from their family to provide care to the children during the influx of unaccompanied minors.
This while thing is “death panels” and “FEMA extermination camps” level stupid.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/25 17:57:57
Ouze wrote: I think it's pretty clear that every single child that DHS loses track of gets promptly shoved into an oven, no exceptions.
Man WTF, you guys.
Wait... don't they get on trains first or something?
Have you seen the condition of our rail system? We need to crank up our national infrastructure spending if we want to have an efficient genocide network. That’s why we should let the private system handle the murder or migrants
But...but... I thought one of the good things of having a genocidal despotic dictators is that TRAINS.WLL.BE.ON.TIME!!!
Those are old news. Guess you missed the last update where your president decided to say he would go in the end. Until next time he decides not to do so or whatever.
Those are old news. Guess you missed the last update where your president decided to say he would go in the end. Until next time he decides not to do so or whatever.
To be fair to Trump and I don't like being fair to Trump
I don't think the North Korea talks were ever going to happen.
They do this every few years - hold out an olive branch and then shake down the USA and South Korea for some bags of grain and a few barrels of oil...
Their state media then tells the people that the great leader scored a great propaganda victory against the evil capitalists or North Korea had to 'reluctantly' withdraw in the face of imperialist 'aggression.'
Delete as applicable.
And we'll be back here in a few years time.
I did like those commemorative coins though...
"Our crops will wither, our children will die piteous
deaths and the sun will be swept from the sky. But is it true?" - Tom Kirby, CEO, Games Workshop Ltd
That's crazy. If I was moving and had a house to sell, odds are I'd be happy to sell it to someone I had a problem with, because that guarantees they won't wind up living next-door to me. Bonus points if it'll piss off the neighbors too.
I'd be thrilled with the knowledge that my house is going to look even better than I left it.
People should put out giant "no homosexuals allowed" sign next to the "for sale" sign and see how many people take a walk-through. If you care that much about someone else's life, don't be afraid to flaunt it .
feeder wrote: Frazz's mind is like a wiener dog in a rabbit warren. Dark, twisting tunnels, and full of the certainty that just around the next bend will be the quarry he seeks.
I'd be thrilled with the knowledge that my house is going to look even better than I left it.
People should put out giant "no homosexuals allowed" sign next to the "for sale" sign and see how many people take a walk-through. If you care that much about someone else's life, don't be afraid to flaunt it .
H.Res.907 - Expressing the sense of Congress that the Attorney General of the United States should appoint a Special Counsel to investigate misconduct at the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, including an investigation of abuse of the FISA warrant process, how and why the Hillary Clinton probe ended, and how and why the Donald Trump-Russia probe began.
H.Res.907 - Expressing the sense of Congress that the Attorney General of the United States should appoint a Special Counsel to investigate misconduct at the Department of Justice and Federal Bureau of Investigation, including an investigation of abuse of the FISA warrant process, how and why the Hillary Clinton probe ended, and how and why the Donald Trump-Russia probe began.
Last time President Trump tweeted about the Inspector Generals Office I had this comment;
Hang on!
Did the President just ask/tweet why the Inspector General -
( The oversight division of the state aimed at preventing inefficient or illegal operations within their parent agency, whose employees are charged with identifying, auditing, and investigating fraud, waste, abuse, embezzlement and mismanagement of any kind within the executive department )
- is set to investigate potential massive FISA abuse?
Is he slowed?
Well, Donald, it's because it's what Inspectors General do.
It is their job.
It is the very reason we have Inspectors General in the first place.
It is their sole purpose in life to investigate just this kind of issue.
In addition, does President Trump know that there are more than one Inspector General?
You know, it's been months now, and I still can't quite believe that the current PotUS is a pretend billionaire with an 11 year old's understanding of how the world works.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Trump to Naval Academy graduates: "Our country has regained the respect that we used to have long ago, abroad. Yes, they're respecting us again. Yes, America is back."
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
We just got you a big pay raise. First time in 10 years. We got you a big pay increase. First time in OVER 10 years.
More important, military pay increases are, by law, tied to the employment cost index, which measures private-sector wages — although the president or Congress can ask for more or less.
The Pentagon requested, and Congress enacted, pay increases smaller than the index’s growth rate from 2014 through 2016. But both before and after that time — from 2011 to 2013 and 2017 to 2018 — pay for troops rose at the exact rate as the index grew.
Mr. Trump’s proposed budgets for 2017 and 2018 had requested pay increases of 1.6 percent and 2.1 percent — rates that were lower than the statutory formula, and that were ultimately ignored by Congress.
classy as ever.
The poor man really has a stake in the country. The rich man hasn't; he can go away to New Guinea in a yacht. The poor have sometimes objected to being governed badly; the rich have always objected to being governed at all
We love our superheroes because they refuse to give up on us. We can analyze them out of existence, kill them, ban them, mock them, and still they return, patiently reminding us of who we are and what we wish we could be.
"the play's the thing wherein I'll catch the conscience of the king,
reds8n wrote: Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
To be fair, Trump like a lot of Republicans seems to think that being able to scream "feth you" at the top of your lungs is what being respected means
I know a lot of folks in the federal government who are working to make sure people held by ICE get good healthcare. Even had some friends spend some short deployments away from their family to provide care to the children during the influx of unaccompanied minors.
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
The most important/powerful country on that list happens to be the only one where the confidence rose. Russia is also the only one on the list capable of using both its soft and hard power to further its interests.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/25 22:45:56
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
The most important/powerful country on that list happens to be the only one where the confidence rose. Russia is also the only one on the list capable of using both its soft and hard power to further its interests.
Russia is 12th on the list of world's GDP, behind everyone on that list. Russia has virtually no soft power and it's hard power is limited to it's geographical area.
Why do you think Russia is going so hard with it's virtual maskirovka? They are trying to drag the rest of the world down to their level.
edit: quote derp
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/25 22:54:37
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
The most important/powerful country on that list happens to be the only one where the confidence rose. Russia is also the only one on the list capable of using both its soft and hard power to further its interests.
Russia is 12th on the list of world's GDP, behind everyone on that list. Russia has virtually no soft power and it's hard power is limited to it's geographical area.
Why do you think Russia is going so hard with it's virtual maskirovka? They are trying to drag the rest of the world down to their level.
edit: quote derp
they have been able to pretty much do whatever they want on the world stage and noone has done anything significant about it. They simply took large chunks of the ukraine, shot down an airliner and are calling the shots in syria.
Automatically Appended Next Post:
LordofHats wrote: And yet we're dependent on all the countries where confidence fell for our own soft and hard power.
with the possible exception of Japan, none of those other countries are militarily significant., Europe just isnt as important as Asia on the world stage. only Germany and Japan even make our top 5 for export and they are behind China (arguably by far our most important relationship) without veto power in the UN, France and England are of no real consequence to the US.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/25 23:00:05
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
The most important/powerful country on that list happens to be the only one where the confidence rose. Russia is also the only one on the list capable of using both its soft and hard power to further its interests.
Russia is 12th on the list of world's GDP, behind everyone on that list. Russia has virtually no soft power and it's hard power is limited to it's geographical area.
Why do you think Russia is going so hard with it's virtual maskirovka? They are trying to drag the rest of the world down to their level.
edit: quote derp
they have been able to pretty much do whatever they want on the world stage and noone has done anything significant about it. They simply took large chunks of the ukraine, shot down an airliner and are calling the shots in syria.
Yep, that's the hard power in their backyard I was talking about.
Note they were suffering punishing sanctions, and would have suffered further if their Useful Idiot had not squeaked into power. Russia gets away with what America lets them get away with. Right now Putin's cock holster is letting his daddy run amok.
We were once so close to heaven, St. Peter came out and gave us medals; declaring us "The nicest of the damned".
“Anti-intellectualism has been a constant thread winding its way through our political and cultural life, nurtured by the false notion that democracy means that 'my ignorance is just as good as your knowledge.'”
Confidence in US leadership, change from Obama to Trump:
-75%: Germany
-71%: South Korea
-70%: France
-57%: UK -54% Japan
+42%: Russia
(Pew Research 2017)
The most important/powerful country on that list happens to be the only one where the confidence rose. Russia is also the only one on the list capable of using both its soft and hard power to further its interests.
Russia is 12th on the list of world's GDP, behind everyone on that list. Russia has virtually no soft power and it's hard power is limited to it's geographical area.
Why do you think Russia is going so hard with it's virtual maskirovka? They are trying to drag the rest of the world down to their level.
edit: quote derp
they have been able to pretty much do whatever they want on the world stage and noone has done anything significant about it. They simply took large chunks of the ukraine, shot down an airliner and are calling the shots in syria.
Yep, that's the hard power in their backyard I was talking about.
Note they were suffering punishing sanctions, and would have suffered further if their Useful Idiot had not squeaked into power. Russia gets away with what America lets them get away with. Right now Putin's cock holster is letting his daddy run amok.
the more that the arctic opens up, the more in our backyard they will be.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/25 23:16:34
thekingofkings wrote: with the possible exception of Japan, none of those other countries are militarily significant.
Try projecting power across Europe, Africa, and the Mid-East without bases in Europe. With the loss of projection ability comes a loss of clout (what most of the rest of us actually consider to be respect as opposed to just throwing out middle fingers for the hell of it).
Try having anywhere near the international clout we currently have without the support of France and the UK. You're talking about dissolving the international power bloc that made the US the strongest nation on the planet, a core component of our ability to tell the rest of the world to feth off without ending up like any number of other countries who tried and found it didn't work. That will effect our economy long term. Countries don't like making deals with countries that don't keep them, and the US is already terrible at it and has only gotten around paying for the consequences by having friends.
Meanwhile, Russia is a country that is geographically locked, doesn't have any soft power outside of the convenience of cultural enmity that tends to cut both ways for them, and can't really give us anything we want.
And that's the country you want to trade all the other countries who do give us what we want for?
thekingofkings wrote: with the possible exception of Japan, none of those other countries are militarily significant.
Try projecting power across Europe, Africa, and the Mid-East without bases in Europe. With the loss of projection ability comes a loss of clout (what most of the rest of us actually consider to be respect as opposed to just throwing out middle fingers for the hell of it).
Try having anywhere near the international clout we currently have without the support of France and the UK. You're talking about dissolving the international power bloc that made the US the strongest nation on the planet, a core component of our ability to tell the rest of the world to feth off without ending up like any number of other countries who tried and found it didn't work. That will effect our economy long term. Countries don't like making deals with countries that don't keep them, and the US is already terrible at it and has only gotten around paying for the consequences by having friends.
Meanwhile, Russia is a country that is geographically locked, doesn't have any soft power outside of the convenience of cultural enmity that tends to cut both ways for them, and can't really give us anything we want.
And that's the country you want to trade all the other countries who do give us what we want for?
I am not convinced that we need to project power over the world. those bases in Europe were made to keep the Russians out of western Europe for a war that never happened and to prevent the Germans from doing what seemed to be their national hobby in the early 1900s. We have bases in the middle east and Africa, of the two the middle eastern states are the ones most important to us, Saudi Arabia being the key. Russia has considerable pull with Syria and Iran, and those countries are involved in things directly relating to our national interest. Especially concerning affairs in Yemen. Russia still has clout with the central republics around Afghanistan and its ports at Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk are open to Pacific trade.
thekingofkings wrote: I am not convinced that we need to project power over the world.
We barter power projection for international prestige which we then use for economic gain. It's what we do. Literally nothing else justifies the mind boggling monetary pit hole that is the US military. Certainly not that whole spreading democracy thing cause that's been a massive failure. Which just goes back to the complete incoherence of Trump's nonexistent international strategy.
We have bases in the middle east and Africa, of the two the middle eastern states are the ones most important to us, Saudi Arabia being the key.
Those bases are dependent on ones in Europe. Not just in terms of functionality and logistics, but in existence. Saudi Arabia doesn't just give us stuff to be nice with us. They do it because its worth being nice with us because we bring everyone else to the table. Western support is the shield their international position depends on. Good luck maintaining it while pushing Iran toward Russia and Europe away.
Russia has considerable pull with Syria and Iran, and those countries are involved in things directly relating to our national interest.
Russia wouldn't have any pull with Iran if we weren't constantly shooting that relationship in the foot. Russia doesn't have any pull with Syria. They have pull with Assad who is likely finished no matter how things pan out there. Maybe not tomorrow or next year but his government will never have hold again.
Especially concerning affairs in Yemen.
Yemen goes with the Saudi's go. Always have always will.
Russia still has clout with the central republics around Afghanistan and its ports at Vladivostok and Petropavlovsk are open to Pacific trade.
Afghanistan is internationally insignificant. Russia can have all the pull in that part of the world it wants. There's nothing there which is really pointing out that they don't have any real pull outside of some puppets who don't really give it much more than immediate security and resources to exploit.
And seriously. Someone already pointed out that Russia is smaller economically than every other country listed and you're going to throw out two ports that are meaningless in the scheme of US trade as a pro? Trade isn't just about port locations its about having things to trade. Russia doesn't have anything we can't get elsewhere cheaper. How many "Made in Russia" products do you think anyone in America buys? Russia's primary exports are things we get from Mexico and the rest of South America for less and their ports are closer. There's a reason they've never at any point in time been a big trading partner here.
This message was edited 1 time. Last update was at 2018/05/26 00:14:10
Aside from the value right this minute is it really that hard to see the value of maintaining power and relationships in the long run? The whole point of maintaining alliances is that you may need them in the future, and therefore you invest in them even when there is no immediate return. It takes a lot of time and effort to build up a strong alliance and Trump is busy throwing all of that away out of sheer incompetence. The idea that France and the UK are expendable is short-sighted madness, and it's unbelievable that we're having to have a serious conversation about this.
There is no such thing as a hobby without politics. "Leave politics at the door" is itself a political statement, an endorsement of the status quo and an attempt to silence dissenting voices.
Peregrine wrote: Aside from the value right this minute is it really that hard to see the value of maintaining power and relationships in the long run? The whole point of maintaining alliances is that you may need them in the future, and therefore you invest in them even when there is no immediate return. It takes a lot of time and effort to build up a strong alliance and Trump is busy throwing all of that away out of sheer incompetence. The idea that France and the UK are expendable is short-sighted madness, and it's unbelievable that we're having to have a serious conversation about this.
I dont agree, interests change over time and countries that were once useful allies don't always remain that way. I think its time to move on from the old world and start looking more to the rising economies of asia for alliances and trade. We could invest in South America more and Africa. be as incredulous as you want but are you seriously suggesting that Europe has more to offer than Asia?
.
3100+
shocking.
18.000 
8.200 
3.300 
2.400 
3.100 
5.500 
2.500 
3.200 
3.000
