Nolgroth

From your mouth (well, keyboard) to the ear of whatever gods there may be.
 
I will say, the last two days I've been hearing Learned Experts interviewed on the BBC and All Things Considered have been saying similar things about China. Latest was that the Chinese government specifically said it would *not* back North Korea if it struck first.
 
Earlier, I've heard news stories that the Chinese people feel contempt for the Kim dynasty. Public opinion is not as strong a force in the PRC as it is in the US, but I would not totally count it out. At least, it suggests the Chinese leadership will not be making its decisions with an eye to pleasing a large pro-NK constituency.
 
Dean Shomshak

I actually see Trump taking such a call. The siren song of deal making and the subsequent "Look ma, No Nukes" self-congratulatory campaign would be too much to resist.
 
But do you seriously think that someone who executes his very own family with such gleeful abandon would make such a call?

@Tech Priest Support: Not scared. I grew up during the Reagan administration and heard the exact same fears expressed time and again, only then it was the Soviet Union on the other side. Now that filled me with dread.
 
North Korea might turn out to be a catalyst for a much bigger and worse conflict, but by itself I am not so concerned. What concerns me more is that China or Russia may create an opportunity while we are distracted by the gnats in North Korea. Maybe even leverage their support at great cost to the United States.

I have no fear that I will live a very long life. In fact, I expect that I will be a burden for my children and perhaps even my grandchildren before I die blissfully ignorant of my own name.
 
This whole North Korea thing is not nearly the bugaboo for me as it is for others. I suppose I could be wrong, but I have literally spent more time worrying about China's response to us putting down their mad dog than I have been about the dog biting us. China's support for sanctions tells me that they are starting to realize that a mad dog can lash out at anybody, including them. I am not worried anymore.
 
I think that Li'l Kim is about to be taken on a one-way trip to the vet, no matter how this plays out.

I have no fear that I will live a very long life. In fact, I expect that I will be a burden for my children and perhaps even my grandchildren before I die blissfully ignorant of my own name.
 
This whole North Korea thing is not nearly the bugaboo for me as it is for others. I suppose I could be wrong, but I have literally spent more time worrying about China's response to us putting down their mad dog than I have been about the dog biting us. China's support for sanctions tells me that they are starting to realize that a mad dog can lash out at anybody, including them. I am not worried anymore.
 
I think that Li'l Kim is about to be taken on a one-way trip to the vet, no matter how this plays out.

Just got back from seeing The Dark Tower. Elba is Roland (though relegated in this version to the supporting role). The kid is good as Jake. MccConaughey makes a good villain, but he is not the Man in Black from the books. I know it is supposed to be Canon and a continuation of the books, but I don't see it. My reaction is, He who says this is based on the books has forgotten the face of his father. And I am usually a huge fan of Ron Howard.
I understand there is a divide on this movie of those who have read the books and those who have not.

If I had to deal with NK and my people were telling me the best Intel said there was a danger of that maniac actually launching a nuke, I think I would go for a massive conventional strike at all major government and military installations plus communication facilities.
 
Also I would, as soon as I believed most of their anti air power was neutralized, use massive high altitude cargo planes to drop huge amounts of packaged basic food on the population centers of NK. those poor plops have been starving for decades, it's become a way of life to them. They may not understand that there are alternatives. They may not believe anything else is possible. Also they've been told the west is evil incarnate.
 
Most of them have had no contact with the world outside NK. If we make the first contact they have with the world food literally dropping down from heaven onto them in packages labeled in Korean and claiming it to be aid from South Korea, it might create an unstoppable paradigm shift in the people's view. "Hey people! There are alternatives to lifelong hunger! The rest of the world does not hate you! You have been lied to, started and abused for decades! Have some bread already!"
 
They say to win a war against tyranny you need to win the hearts and minds of the people. Maybe in NK we should start with the people's stomachs and let the rest come around.
 
We won ww2 by sending bombs to the people of Germany and Japan. We won the cold war by sending food and aid to them. Let's see if that model still works.

While many things are flawed in the concept of bribing a sitting POTUS to resign, the VP can only be involuntarily removed through impeachment. That process could take a year or more and honestly, Pence is an establishment guy. I don't see Congress pursuing that agenda. 
Still, you are right about the dollar amount versus the alternative.

@Tech Priest Support: Not scared. I grew up during the Reagan administration and heard the exact same fears expressed time and again, only then it was the Soviet Union on the other side. Now that filled me with dread.
 
North Korea might turn out to be a catalyst for a much bigger and worse conflict, but by itself I am not so concerned. What concerns me more is that China or Russia may create an opportunity while we are distracted by the gnats in North Korea. Maybe even leverage their support at great cost to the United States.

Respectfully, I don't think you're giving the American people and system of government enough credit. The founding fathers built checks and balances into the Constitution to prevent that scenario from happening. We're already seeing them come into play: the legislature and the judiciary are aligning, in surprisingly non-partisan fashion, to restrain some of the Donald's excesses and bypass his obstructions. His core supporters still cheer him, but that core is a minority of the public, and isn't growing or is shrinking, depending on which poll you believe.
 
IME the one thing that American ultra-conservatives revere even more than Trump's rhetoric, is their Constitution. If President Trump starts treading on that, I believe his support will melt away..

@Tech Priest Support: Not scared. I grew up during the Reagan administration and heard the exact same fears expressed time and again, only then it was the Soviet Union on the other side. Now that filled me with dread.
 
North Korea might turn out to be a catalyst for a much bigger and worse conflict, but by itself I am not so concerned. What concerns me more is that China or Russia may create an opportunity while we are distracted by the gnats in North Korea. Maybe even leverage their support at great cost to the United States.

I think it's a bit like how everyone assumes Japan is full of sex weirdos. It's not, but it fills the media that we get imported from Japan. The most extreme of anything is what rises to attention. So we assume that all conservatives are xenophobes because of reactions like that, even though most conservatives would abhor that reaction.

Many thanks.
 
I forgot to include the six o'clock news as a resource.
 
I don't mean to say I blatantly insert current events into my RPGs, (I don't) but taking a bit of real-life politics or socio-economics here and there and using it in the background can really make a setting ring true. If you do it right, players will look at what's going on and instinctively "get it" without needing everything explained to them, because they've seen it before and they know how it works.

Better that than Cherenkov radiation from spent fuel rods.

Well duh! The poor are just some abstract concept beneath the dignity of the upper class. Rich people, on the other hand, have a direct kinship. "That could have been ME!!!!"
 
People tend to lash out at perceived threats. Defraud those with wealth and power at your peril. Not only will you be smacked down, it will be done loudly and publicly as an example to others who might be thinking that they can get away with it.
 
Just part and parcel of life.

Oh darn? Not sure if it is socially acceptable to cheer just yet.

tl;dr version: No surprises here.
 
As much as I dislike the guy, some of his ideas make sense. It seems only natural for the opposition to try and rebrand those ideas into their own. It's just as natural as, for instance, trying to use the opposition as scapegoats for failed policy. It's politics and there is a discernible methodology that becomes obvious when you step back and look at it with a detached eye. Right now, the American Left (read Democrats) are playing the field better than the Republicans. Despite being the minority party, they are outmaneuvering the Republicans at every turn it seems. The only Republican victory I have seem, is the appointment of Neil Gorsuch to the SCOTUS. There might be a lot of little things that the Republicans have won on, but even the Right-slanted media isn't reporting on those.
 
If the Democrats successfully convince the voters that it is they, not the Republicans that are going to get tough on China and look out for the little guy, the sitting Republicans are legislating on borrowed time. With the Keystone Republicans running around in circles, waving their collective hands in the air, the thought is not at all outside of bounds of reality.

TPS, I sympathize with the downer you're feeling now. But I've lived nearly sixty years, and seen plenty of things far more frightening and demoralizing than Donald Trump. We survived them, we can survive him.
 
But I admit, every time I see his smug, smirking, orange face, I feel the urge to step on it.
 
EDIT: Maybe you'll find some catharsis from this:

Good for Ms. Larson. It IS a tired concept, leastways I'm tired of it. I was very happy that Wonder Woman did so well. Maybe we can ditch the whole "lady leads are for rom coms" attitude and embrace that females can play up just about any type of role. 

Abstinence is the only way of making sure you don't get infected by this show.

That would explain the burning and itching, I suppose.

Realistically, short of crapping his pants and giggling, "Oops I made a poopy!" I doubt that Trump is going to be removed because of his relative ability. More's the pity.