TrickstaPriest

Dislikes:
Agreed--General Haldo took way too long to react to the attack on the transports. WAY too long.
So...the Rebellion spent years fighting to overthrow the Empire and succeeded...only to get their asses kicked, and get nearly wiped out, by The Order only a few years later. Whiskey Tango Foxtrot. I guess the idea is that the rebels always have to be the underdogs, but it's getting really old. Plus, I don't care who they have on their side, a group that could fit comfortably in my living room is very unlikely to succeed at liberating a city, much less a galaxy. At least they didn't drag out another Deathstar-like superweapon (the battering-ram beam doesn't count).
The endless, endless, endless battle scenes. I almost left the theater at the two-thirds mark because I was bored by them. As far as I was concerned, the battle scenes were like videogame cutscenes. Nothing of consequence to our heroes was going to happen in those battles, so I don't really care about them. I stuck it out, and was glad I did because I got to see some other interesting stuff, but my personal fan-edit of the movie would drastically cut the battle scenes in favor of the more personal stuff.
 
Likes:
Snoke is dead. These obnoxious, arrogant, physically-deformed Evil Emperors are getting old. Kylo is at least normal looking.
"I want every gun we have trained on that man!" "Do you think you got him?"
I like Rose.
 
Miscellaneous:
Was what Kylo told Rey about her parents true? I think it was, in essence if not in detail. She was clearly abandoned (no matter how desperately she wanted to believe otherwise), and she has no pedigree worth mentioning.
I thought it was funny how attached Luke was to the Jedi manuscripts given his history. I've seen it commented on elsewhere (tumblr, mostly) that Luke was successful as a hero mostly because he *ignored* the well-meant training of Obi-Way and Yoda when it went against his sense of right and wrong...whereas Anakin became Darth Vader because he tried so hard to be the perfect Jedi. I did like Luke's comment that the history of the Jedi was one of failure and hubris. Yes. Yes, it was.

We've been watching this too. I'm not really a murder mystery guy, but the clever writing and charming acting make it worthwhile. I think the next Pulp character I play is going to be a Miss Fisher homage.

I should probably re-read a thread before I assume I went on a drunken rant-bender last night...

https://www.politico.com/story/2017/12/20/house-republicans-quietly-investigate-doj-fbi-310121
 
As a historical matter, this is extraordinary: a secret working group in the House running interference for the President, working hard to undermine and discredit the Steele dossier, the FBI and the Mueller investigation, even though they are supposed to be conducting a national security investigation and performing oversight of the WH.  

I should probably re-read a thread before I assume I went on a drunken rant-bender last night...

I should probably re-read a thread before I assume I went on a drunken rant-bender last night...

Your heart is in the right place
 
 
even if it sounds like your liver might be in danger 
 

This chart is a good look at how the tax bill would effect income groups collectively, but I was curious what it would do to average individual tax bills.  Unfortunately, the Joint Committee on Taxation's report didn't have a chart addressing individual average tax payers.  However, it did have all the information that I needed to make my own.
 
Here it is.
 

 
Notice that while there are some nice take breaks in the beginning, nobody is coming all that far ahead by 2027.  If you are making over a million dollars a year, that $13,506 tax break is going to be virtually unnoticeable.  On the other hand, if you are earning between $10,000 and $20,000 that $318 dollar tax increase is going to devastating.  People making between $10,000 and $20,000 are usually watching every dime and don't have an extra $318 laying around.
 
Really, this bill is a huge amount of pain for very little gain, and is going to add over a trillion dollars to our national debt.  Just a colossal turd sandwich no matter how you look at it.

I have barely been banned ever, yet I am still making conversation here.
It is not a mater with you being to political. It is a mater with you being to bannable. That is a property of your personality you can work on.
 
Doing stuff that get's you banned only results in entrenching people agaisnt your position. So it is not even like you archeive anything for your goal.
 
Looking from across the ocean, I do not understand how anyone could ever think Trump was the "lesser" of anything.
What would have needed to do for those people to get this. Actually murder someone on 5th Street? He was winked with teh lamppost so energetically, he was about you busts someoens head in. And you still elected him.

And if they are found to be in violation of a lawful order, they will be fined and have to pay penalties.
If the judge you're referring to is Roy Moore, that act of defiance cost him his job at the time, and the beliefs behinds that act cost him the recent election.  If there's another case, please provide a fact checked citation.
 
 
 
And it got him jailed and the ensuing presidential pardon doesn't provide relief form further legal actions (last I saw, anyway).  And the entity has stopped all actions that lead to his arrest.
 
 

Badly. The Conservatives could not organise a drinking party in the brewery. They are riddled with infighting and as a result they are having trouble coming up with anything coherent.
Then the Irish MPs that the Conservatives need to hold on to power scuppered a European deal that favoured Northern ireland at the expense of the rest of the UK. One thing that the rest of Europe does not want are border crossings between Northern Ireland and Eire and neither do the people as it will significantly constrain trade. So enter the DUP.
However the rest of Europe are now satisified that enough progress has been made that talks can enter the next stage.

Hey, TP...remind me:  have I mentioned cutting the histrionics?  I'm pretty sure I have.  Did I also mention familiarizing oneself with the rules of the thread?

That's the attitude that leads to Republican Congressmen being shot at baseball games. Cut it out. I want the overton window shifted the other way.

So... exactly how do you imagine this would look?  

In total agreement with the anti "but what about..." statements.

If you want to talk about what Hillary did (or did not) do, that's fine.  But it's entirely separate from what anyone else did.  There is no equivalency.  If you're accused of murdering someone, you don't get to point at Jeffrey Dahmer and say "but he murdered and ate people!".  That's not a defense, it's a deflection.
 
In regards to Hillary Clinton, listen to Old Man -- I work in "security" as well.  What she did in regards to a private email server wasn't great, but is NOTHING compared to what goes on daily at all levels of DC politics.  Not deflection, just case in point of her actions being par for the course:  do you think that Trump's cell (from which he constantly tweets) is secured?  How about the email services of Pence, Ivanka, Jared Kushner, or other top-ranking officials?  Think they're not using their own?  It's a depressingly common occurrence....and not actionable (yet) without flagrant disregard for safety/security.

Here is where the matter of viewing differently that I mentioned comes into play.  Perhaps I have a significantly higher view of politicians than you or maybe I have a lower view of people in general and don't view politicians as harshly as a result, but whatever the case, Nixon and Trump are the only top party nominees of my life time that I consider to be bad people.  All the elections not involving one of the two of them have been matters of choosing the greater good.
 
Ford - Good man. I have nothing negative to say about him.
Carter - An extremely good man, but a poor president.
Reagan - A good man (or an actor who did a good job playing one) but who fell in with a bad crowd
Mondale - Good man.
Dukakis - Good man. I have nothing negative to say about him.
Bush Sr - Good man and tireless public servant, but due to a life of wealth and privilege held a very inflated view of the importance of rich people.
Bill Clinton - A complex figure.  I believe that he really did his best to make the world a better place, but had a deep rooted insecurity due to abandonment by his father and a serious zipper problem.
Bob Dole - Generally a good man though as Speaker of the House he had obviously had to make some compromises over the years.
Al Gore - Like all politicians enjoys the spotlight, but a good man nonetheless.
Bush Jr - A good man, but not really smart enough for the job and his vice president/puppet master was a piece of work.
Kerry - Very ambitious and probably did exaggerate his Vietnam heroic, but still a tireless public servant and a good man.
Obama - Good man.  Perhaps better than we deserved.
Romney - See description for Bush Sr
Hillary Clinton - A complex figure like her husband.  She has fought hard for the people and has done much real good, but life under partisan attack has left her very secretive and guarded.
 
I have little doubt that your mileage differs considerably, but that is my take on the presidential candidates of my life time. 
 

Before Doug Jones can be sworn in, the election results must be officially certified.  This is normal and it takes time.  When McConnell said that Strange would serve until the end of the session, he wasn't making some big, unconstitutional power grab as your article writer asserted.  He was just looked at the calendar, and stated the realistic facts.  Please avoid linking to articles that are long on hyperbole and short on accurate facts.
 
 
All elections are an effort to chose the lesser of two evils or viewed differently chose the greater of two goods.  People  are never black and white, they are always shades of grey and this includes politicians.

Are you kidding? For all the talk of Free trade and competitive marketplace, the last thing any corporation in the us WANTS is competition. What you have are instead agreed upon chunks of turf in different large swathes between a few. A good metaphor might be having the city you live in cut up by Mafia bosses each claiming they offer protection, and if you complain to the cops about the shake down you find out they've been on the take from the crimelords for a long long time.

I knew about his relationship with Epstein, but when did Trump admit to child rape?
 
I didn't see anything in that article to support the assertion that Trump confessed to child rape. In fact, it looks like his statement was exactly the opposite.
 
So, absent any actual quote other than the one in the Snopes article, I'm going to assume that the original comment was hyperbole.
 
I'm not going to count the quote about Epstein being a great guy who likes his ladies young as a confession. 
 
This isn't to defend Trump, but this thread is supposed to stick to facts, AFAICT. (Edit: Obviously, we're allowed to give our opinions, or the thread would be utterly pointless, but declarative statements should be factual, I think.)
 
 

Actually authorizing air support to help topple a guy we'd promised not to topple if he stopped sponsoring terror and never developed nukes (and he complied with both, making the US feckless)
vs.
A narrative that maybe helps question the legitimacy of a CNN report.
 
Nope. I don't see the equivalency. I'm just sorry I'll never get to vote for a humble foreign policy that seeks stability and peace.

Histrionics are reaching actionable levels, folks.  Tone it down.

Except Lybia was a proper NATO Mandate, not some custom American action without International approval. So was the ending of the Mandate. There was never even a ground invasion, only air support:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2011_military_intervention_in_Libya
 
And even despite all taht, Trump somehow manages to make it worse:
 
Trump is a Troll. Distraction is Troll tactic 101. This action was expected.
 
I would prefer a Euroean Nuclear Arsenal. France already has a decent one (people often forget that).

Yes, thank God that turmoil in the Middle East never, ever, ever spills over onto American soil. 

The Legitimate part is where it all lies.
Claiming Obama got campaign money from ISIS or was not born in Hawai is clear rightwing bullshit.
6 of the 8 Investigations into Bengazhi had no reasons to exist.
 
A thought I once had in the Bush Jr. days crosses my mind:
The US needs a Republican to start problems (Iraq War, now Israel Conflict)
That a Democrat has to fix.
So you can blame the Democrat for his reallife solutions (Obama made more dronestrikes).
And can vote for a Republican next time.
 
We have somethign similar in germany:
The conservate Government delayed a rework of the pension and social secutiry systems for 16 years.
So the socialists had to do it. So everyone was pissed as the socialists and the conservatives got elected again after 8 years.
 
This pattern of convervatives creating problems that the others have to fix so the consveratives get re-elected next time is really getting tiresome.