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13th July 2017, 05:15 AM | #521 |
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“Don’t blame me. I voted for Kodos.” |
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13th July 2017, 06:00 AM | #522 |
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"I kayak, therefore I am" |
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13th July 2017, 06:07 AM | #523 |
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Sufficiently advanced Woo is indistinguishable from Parody "There shall be no *poofing* in science" Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Force ***** on reasons back" Ben Franklin |
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13th July 2017, 06:58 AM | #524 |
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So Gary D. Cohn and H. R. McMaster just had their oped
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They don't bother to respond to the pointed criticisms of Trump's foreign policy. Instead it's just a bland and overly lengthy description of how Trump's foreign policy wonks wished his foreign policy is or at least how it was perceived. The highlighted bit is a part of the problem: other countries rightfully see America's foreign policy under Trump as exhibiting egotism and being self-centered even to the point of harming its own interests. Trump is completely indifferent to how his trade partners fare as long as he's convinced that the US somehow comes out the "winner". They don't bother to counter the perception that most observers had of G-20 meeting as yet another example of how America has ceased to have any kind of grand strategic vision and plan for the future. They end their piece with acknowledging that other countries are going to have a hard time swallowing Americas new foreign policy yet don't bother to mention what kind of "extraordinary opportunity" other countries are offered. Presumably its the "extraordinary opportunity" of working to make America great again, as if they would have any other use for other countries. America first will end up making America alone. |
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We would be a lot safer if the Government would take its money out of science and put it into astrology and the reading of palms. Only in superstition is there hope. - Kurt Vonnegut Jr And no, Cuba is not a brutal and corrupt dictatorship, and it's definitely less so than Sweden. - dann |
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13th July 2017, 09:08 AM | #525 |
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Much has now been said on the midterms, so could we perhaps leave it till next year and award points? Just a thought.
Touching on foreign policy (French foreign policy, that is) With UK sidelined, Macron forges unlikely alliance with Trump https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...ance-uk-brexit
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 09:17 AM | #526 |
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Confronting Trump on climate change might make Macron look good, but I can't imagine it changing anything with regard to Trump's policies. If anything, I could see it making him dig in his heels to avoid looking weak.
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13th July 2017, 09:18 AM | #527 |
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 09:31 AM | #528 |
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It can't make the situation worse, and it works for Macron. He hasn't got Trump there for Trump's benefit, after all.
I think what Macron will want Trump to take away is an image of mutually-respecting strong leaders devoted to their national interests, able to work together where those interests don't conflict. |
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 09:46 AM | #529 |
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Not necessarily, no.
Because the US is one of the largest polluters by capita, and the second largest over all. When there's three branches of government and one party has effective control over all three, there's no effective opposition. You can call that a "no true Scotsman" fallacy, but it would be ridiculous. Not the election. What he and the rest of the GOP does with the power given to them. No, not any conceivable voter suppression activities, especially combined with foreign meddling. In short, no, it's still not Clinton's fault that Trump was elected. Why stop at the 1950s? Do you believe the people who have no actual need for the concept of democracy will stop there? |
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Before you say something stupid about climate change, check this list. "If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. " Karl Popper, The Open Society and Its Enemies Vol. 1 |
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13th July 2017, 09:46 AM | #530 |
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13th July 2017, 10:10 AM | #531 |
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 10:17 AM | #532 |
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Donald Trump greeted with military fanfare in Paris
https://www.theguardian.com/world/20...nfare-in-paris
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 10:26 AM | #533 |
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13th July 2017, 11:16 AM | #534 |
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Teh Donald to Macron at presser: "You better do a good job [at making Paris peaceful] or you'll make me look bad"
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13th July 2017, 11:42 AM | #535 |
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13th July 2017, 11:47 AM | #536 |
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13th July 2017, 12:35 PM | #537 |
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That's not at all how I remember it. As I recall, aside from the Bernie Bros, they were pretty sure Clinton would win right up until Comey stepped in - but the House was out of the question, and the Senate would be tough to gain a majority in.
I have no actual confidence in the people of the US in general - in fact, I'm not at all surprised that, thanks to white racism, we followed up a hyper-competent black president with an incompetent and outright malignant white guy. But the truth is, the dems did reasonably well at the federal level. It's at the state and local level that they keep dropping the ball. |
13th July 2017, 12:37 PM | #538 |
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Sufficiently advanced Woo is indistinguishable from Parody "There shall be no *poofing* in science" Paul C. Anagnostopoulos Force ***** on reasons back" Ben Franklin |
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13th July 2017, 01:55 PM | #539 |
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POTUS to Mrs. Macron (who is 24 years his older and fell in love with him when he was 15 and she his teacher): "You're in such good shape. She's in such good physical shape. Beautiful."
This guy is unbelievable. |
13th July 2017, 02:35 PM | #540 |
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Now they've sorted it out age-wise...
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13th July 2017, 03:41 PM | #541 |
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I've always believed that cluelessness evolved as an adaptation to allow the truly appalling to live with themselves. - G. B. Trudeau A person is smart. People are dumb, panicky dangerous animals and you know it. - Kay, Men in Black. Enjoy every sandwich. - Warren Zevon |
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13th July 2017, 04:27 PM | #542 |
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You just know Macron's going to send a personal thank-you to whoever did the flowers.
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It's a poor sort of memory that only works backward - Lewis Carroll (1832-1898) God can make a cow out of a tree, but has He ever done so? Therefore show some reason why a thing is so, or cease to hold that it is so - William of Conches, c1150 |
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13th July 2017, 06:02 PM | #543 |
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13th July 2017, 07:35 PM | #544 |
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13th July 2017, 07:40 PM | #545 |
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13th July 2017, 07:47 PM | #546 |
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13th July 2017, 07:50 PM | #547 |
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In general I agree with you in your discussion with uke2se except for this. Global warming cannot be "reversed" by subsequent administrations. The chances of a 2C rise in temperatures by the end of the century is very dicey now. If we have 8 years of delay by Trump/GOP and then a couple (or more?) years to turn the situation around, then parts of the planet become uninhabitable in 30+ years. Given a population of maybe 9+ billion by then, war, which will be inevitable will make WWII look like a prom dance.
In that, uke2se is too optimistic. |
13th July 2017, 07:59 PM | #548 |
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13th July 2017, 08:26 PM | #549 |
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No, he ordered the The The McGangBang off the secret menu.
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13th July 2017, 11:26 PM | #550 |
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Trump's into transparency regarding his Mexican wall. NO! Damn it, the wall. Not the bidding or location or funding or anything else. He wants to wall to be transparent:
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13th July 2017, 11:41 PM | #551 |
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See-through solar panels, man.
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13th July 2017, 11:49 PM | #552 |
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I'm exactly looking at the total picture.
The article you linked to earlier which pointed out that a sitting president has only increased their House and Senate seats on two occasions since the 1930's also pointed out that on a number of other occasions increased one but not suffered a significant reverse in the other. OTOH the Republican Party needs a significant reverse in both and counting against that are the fact that the Democratic Party are defending the majority of Senate seats this time around and the Republican Party have done a lot of gerrymandering in the House. Yes, it is possible that the Democratic Party could gain control of one or both houses but it would require a much bigger swing than the raw number of seats required would imply. If the Democratic Party are relying on "not Trump" and/or "the President always gets a shellacking in the mid-terms then I think they are going to be disappointed. Here's an article from fivethirtyeight which explains some of the electoral mathematics: https://fivethirtyeight.com/features...-both-parties/
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13th July 2017, 11:53 PM | #553 |
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I'm not suggesting that global warming will be reversed by subsequent administrations but the policies can be reversed. We've also had individual states come along and say that they will continue to adhere to the terms of the Paris Accord (or even pick up the slack from other states) and countries like China are outperforming their Paris Accord commitments.
I'm not saying that 8 years of Trump is anything other than a bad thing for the environment but I don't think it so catastrophic that it's worth starting an armed uprising (which will fail miserably and allow the Trump administration to take all kinds of emergency powers) if elections don't go the way of the Democratic Party. |
13th July 2017, 11:55 PM | #554 |
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14th July 2017, 12:10 AM | #555 |
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....and yet despite there being "no effective opposition" many of his headline policies are stalled in the House or Senate or by the judiciary.
The things he has got done are the things he can do by decree (like pulling out of treaties and accords). They've been able to do comparatively little - so far. What they have done (and plan to do) is unfortunate and regrettable but nothing that the US hasn't taken in its stride in the last century or so. OTOH you are suggesting that if elections don't turn out the way you think they ought* to then there should be a civil war which would usher in a period of the death of democracy. * - also don't underestimate the proportion of Americans who will be happy with the GOP because they'll stop abortion or the teaching of evolution or make sure that people can have as many guns as they want or whatever other bull people seem to believe. You seem to be working yourself up into a lather about political catastrophe porn. The numbers involved in voter suppression are comparatively small. That's not to say that it's a good thing but the US has dealt with far worse in the past. Never said it was Then again, if the next Democratic Party presidential candidate can get voters to turn out in the proportions that Obama managed then GOP attempts at voter suppression will be irrelevant. What do you think they will do ? I think they'll try to do some tactical voter suppression (nothing new there) and some "off the books" policies (again nothing new there). It's not good but neither is it a reason to panic. |
14th July 2017, 12:12 AM | #556 |
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14th July 2017, 01:14 AM | #557 |
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14th July 2017, 02:41 AM | #558 |
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14th July 2017, 03:24 AM | #559 |
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14th July 2017, 03:53 AM | #560 |
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The trouble is that, as TofuFighter points out, people in the US have become inured to it and it's the new normal. This should be a damaging embarrassment but instead it's just the way that Presidents act these days - nothing to see
Trump has learned that as long as he keeps a ****-storm of gaffes coming then no-one can get to focused on any one of them and there are no negative consequences |
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