megaplayboy Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 On the flip side, completely understandable that the former Warsaw Pact countries, and former republics of the USSR would want the protections of NATO and Eastern Europe from that Russian paranoia and aggression. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kaspar Hauser Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 "For in tremendous extremities human souls are like drowning men; well enough they know they are in peril; well enough they know the causes of that peril;--nevertheless, the sea is the sea, and these drowning men do drown.” --Herman Melville Yeah, that sounds just about right...for Russia, for the former Republics, for all of us. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pattern Ghost Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 That Melville, such a ray of sunshine. Pariah 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Donald Trump Voters: We like the president's lies. Some fascinating insights into the thought processes of Trump's supporters who continue to stand by him. (Written for the Toronto Star, and noticeably less partisan than the title might suggest.) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 60k people across Russia participated in protests against the corrupt government there. More than 89 cities saw demonstrations. Hundreds of arrests. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Including the leader of the opposition, arrested before even getting to the protest. I don't like his odds of living to a ripe old age. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BoloOfEarth Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Having people talk / write about "post-truth environment," "evidence-free accusations," and the ever-famous "alternative facts," I have to wonder if George Orwell was simply 33 years early. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Nah, 1984 was already present in 1984, just a lot more subtle than Orwell envisioned it. Many politicians today have lost their grip on subtlety, which is why it's all more obvious now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 26, 2017 Report Share Posted March 26, 2017 Having people talk / write about "post-truth environment," "evidence-free accusations," and the ever-famous "alternative facts," I have to wonder if George Orwell was simply 33 years early. Nah, 1984 was already present in 1984, just a lot more subtle than Orwell envisioned it. Many politicians today have lost their grip on subtlety, which is why it's all more obvious now. 1984 was already present in 1948 when it was published. Orwell even originally planned to title the book 1948. World War II had just ended, but the groundwork for the Cold War and all its offenses against truth and logic were well underway. And we've only been going downhill since. assault 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Enforcer84 Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Mildly alarmist title or should we be scared? http://thehill.com/policy/energy-environment/326380-house-votes-to-restrict-epas-use-of-science Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 If you weren't scared already you haven't been paying attention. DasBroot 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Trump at 35 in Gallup. Lower than Clinton, Obama, Ford, and Ike ever hit. Equal to the lowest ever for LBJ and Reagan. It's been 10 weeks. 22 is the all-time low. At this pace he might beat that in his first(only?) year. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lord Liaden Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 While Trump's personal popularity makes no legal difference to his continuance as President, since the election dates are fixed, it definitely emboldens his Congressional opponents among both Democrats and Republicans. They realize that if they defy the President they probably won't pay for it in their own state elections. That leaves Trump without a lot of leverage to push forward his agenda. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Michael Hopcroft Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 While Trump's personal popularity makes no legal difference to his continuance as President, since the election dates are fixed, it definitely emboldens his Congressional opponents among both Democrats and Republicans. They realize that if they defy the President they probably won't pay for it in their own state elections. That leaves Trump without a lot of leverage to push forward his agenda. Assuming he even still has one. His pronouncements seem to be becoming almost random, and ruffling feathers has become pretty much the only thing on which he spends significant time. The President does not even want to govern and seems to be in it solely because everyone now has no choice but to pay attention to him. It's like the country is being run by a petulant child. There's a vaguely terrifying-sounding animated film coming out tomorrow called The Boss Baby, with Alec Baldwin voicing the lead role. The timing could not be better. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pariah Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 The old bit about politicians and diapers seems particularly timely right now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 There was a bit in Vox about how Trump is behind on several things that he could do relatively easily. He'd promised to get China labeled a currency negotiator, and to start renegotiating NAFTA. He hasn't started either of those. That . . . isn't really a complaint, I guess. If the President wants to just coast by and not do anything nation-changing for the next four years . . . I'm fine with that. I'm fine with no Trade Wars. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sociotard Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 The journal Science is not an objective periodical. Congress said so. http://www.snopes.com/2017/03/29/smith-journal-science-not-objective/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 There was a bit in Vox about how Trump is behind on several things that he could do relatively easily. He'd promised to get China labeled a currency negotiator, and to start renegotiating NAFTA. He hasn't started either of those. That . . . isn't really a complaint, I guess. If the President wants to just coast by and not do anything nation-changing for the next four years . . . I'm fine with that. I'm fine with no Trade Wars. My concern is that he'll do nothing about Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Baltics and the Balkans. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Putin hired 1000 people in fake news psyops campaign targeting swing states in US presidential election Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted March 30, 2017 Report Share Posted March 30, 2017 Gen. Flynn reportedly contacted the FBI asking for immunity in exchange for an interview. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vurbal Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 My concern is that he'll do nothing about Russian aggression in Ukraine, the Baltics and the Balkans. I don't worry that he'll do nothing. I'm more worried he'll do something dangerously stupid. But, yeah, this is the real problem IMO. Putin is a world class player at global brinksmanship. Trump can't even manage to negotiate with his own party - keep his own top secret documents behind closed doors for that matter. Putin is playing chess and Trump is still trying to wrap his head around tic tac toe. Lord Liaden, Lucius and Doc Shadow 3 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Man Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 I don't think he'll do anything dangerously stupid that he hasn't already. Keep in mind that Putin owns Trump, having bought him for an 0.5% share of Rosneft. Trump, Manafort, and Carter Page have been working with Russian oligarchs and oil tycoons for decades. The Russian mafia ran a money laundering operation right out of Trump Tower ffs. Putin also probably has plenty of kompromat on Trump. The good news out of all that is that Trump is really unlikely to provoke Putin into doing anything other than spike Trump's coffee with polonium. Ukraine and the Baltics are Putin's if he wants them though. Here is an in-depth article about Trump aides' Russia-Ukraine oil and money laundering schemes over the past fifteen years. Warning: long read, and it may make you feel a little queasy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vurbal Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 I don't think he'll do anything dangerously stupid that he hasn't already. Keep in mind that Putin owns Trump, having bought him for an 0.5% share of Rosneft. Trump, Manafort, and Carter Page have been working with Russian oligarchs and oil tycoons for decades. The Russian mafia ran a money laundering operation right out of Trump Tower ffs. Putin also probably has plenty of kompromat on Trump. The good news out of all that is that Trump is really unlikely to provoke Putin into doing anything other than spike Trump's coffee with polonium. Ukraine and the Baltics are Putin's if he wants them though. Here is an in-depth article about Trump aides' Russia-Ukraine oil and money laundering schemes over the past fifteen years. Warning: long read, and it may make you feel a little queasy. Sure, but he's not exactly known for letting pragmatism get in the way of his ego. Or let anything get in between his ego and his mouth, for that matter. He has no experience in the real world, where words and actions can have consequences that all the lawyers in the world can't litigate away. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DasBroot Posted March 31, 2017 Report Share Posted March 31, 2017 If you weren't scared already you haven't been paying attention. It's truly appalling how fast some (perhaps many) people seem to have accepted the idea of a 'post-truth society' as being 'just the way things are'. It. Is. Not. OK. Old Man and Kaspar Hauser 2 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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