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Lazarus

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Posts posted by Lazarus

  1. On 2/15/2018 at 7:22 PM, Bananas said:

    I don't really know anything about the NRA but f**k mate, who are they ?  Gods ? 

    A reference on CNN:  Why the NRA is so powerful on Capitol Hill, by the numbers

    ...So why does the group hold such sway? Partly because more than half of congressional incumbents have gotten money and organizational help from the group, with many members having long-standing financial relationships with the NRA that date back years....

  2. 6 hours ago, Bananas said:

    I'm not sure why you're disappointed.  Because I'm not a fan of Hillary ?  She did two things that left a bad smell.  The first was how she dealt with Bernie.  And the second was her use of a private email address.  The private email debacle in particular left me flabbergasted.  What, I mean WHAT was she thinking ?

    You can like or dislike whomever you want. It's the justification or lack thereof that I'm interested in. I know US politics is not your cup of tea, but expect that once you enter a conversation and express an opinion to be evaluated for it. And I expect you (or anyone reading this) to evaluate my post and opinion accordingly.

    While this is not the topic to discuss the Democratic 2016 Presidential campaign, this is how I see the two issues that you touched. a) Hillary Clinton has never committed a crime when it comes to the handling of the private email server  (her predecessor Colin Powell did the same) - it was however a political misjudgement. Given the choice of candidates and what they brought to the table, she was my choice for leadership in the US. b) Bernie Sanders is a populist, albeit a little more on the socialist side. Just like Trump he was promising things he would not have been able to deliver. He too benefited from the Russian misinformation campaign.

    5 hours ago, AchillesHeel said:

    By now we should all be aware that both sides get funded by the same backers and deal with the same banks and financiers....why would there be any different outcome in their decisions and policy making of who ever is in power.

    There is always a difference in the policies of governing parties. Sometimes smaller than others. Sometimes policies don't make it into laws. But to say it is all the same is ill advised and exactly what conservatives would like people to believe and keep them from exercising their voting choices. Why go vote if it doesn't make a difference?

    Every vote counts and one should make sure their vote is cast at every election.

    4 hours ago, Bananas said:

    Although that really ties into the main issue of income inequality.  How do you fix it ?  The people in power that can change it have no incentive to (unless forced).  And to be fair, I don't think they really know how to "fix" things.  Any talk of fixing income inequality is screamed down with words like "socialist" and that's pretty much the end of the discussion at that point.  Sad state of affairs really.

    Thumbs up my friend! Now, you really hit the nail on the head! That would be a great subject to discuss, and if you were to start a topic on that I would jump right in.

     

    4 hours ago, Bananas said:

    GTFO you commie bastard!

    :applause-597229:You're onto something here... Do I smell a little Marx (not the Groucho kind )? So many things to talk about, so little time.

    5 hours ago, AchillesHeel said:

    Just because one side is wrong doesn't automatically mean that the other side is right.

    While that is true, it does mean however that the side that is wrong is ...wrong. And one weighs the alternatives that both sides offer and the cost to coexist with the 'lesser evil.' It buys time and keeps things moving. And when the next election comes, one still has to evaluate the alternatives. Who do I vote for, what will I get in return and what will it cost me?  Life goes on  - and if one is lucky they will see small improvements along the way. Sometimes one has to look at things short term. Not every vote is going to be a home run.

  3. The Asshole in Chief held a listening session with survivors of mass shootings.

    This is what he held in his hands:

    5a8df85187faf221008b4753-960-480.jpg

    1.) "What would you most want me to know about your experience?"

    2.) "What can we do to help you feel [unclear]?"

    And the last visible point on the sheet was not a question, but seemingly a reminder to be empathetic: "5.) I hear you."

    A freakin' cue card? He has no words of empathy for people that lost kids, family and friends? Instead he proposes arming teachers with guns? Is this the Twilight Zone we are living in?

  4. 13 hours ago, Bananas said:

    Her last name is Clinton after all. 

    Huh? I'm really floored (and disappointed) to hear this far-right wing unsubstantiated name calling coming from you. Even though this could be a separate topic on its own (The Bill Clinton Presidency), please be informed that the US experienced an extended period of economic prosperity during the Clinton presidency, and that Bill Clinton left office with high approval ratings - these are the facts.

    Back to the subject though... The Russian interference in the US 2016 elections is not simply about leaking information. Athinaios was kind enough to provide a couple of links referencing the latest developments. It's about the active involvement on the ground and in the digital world to influence, penetrate and alter the outcome of the US Election system. It is part of an active and ongoing war and the US finds itself on the receiving end.

    One could argue that the US has been engaging in such behavior in other countries for decades now. That's a valid point and (again) a topic for a different discussion.

    What we have here is a case where the Russian government is actively trying to alter the electoral landscape in many countries across the globe using similar tactics. In the US, they succeeded in changing the (anticipated) electoral outcome. What remains to be seen is how exactly did they accomplish it. Hopefully, time and investigations will show.

    There is a lot of misinformation going on and it is difficult to navigate through the streams of falsehoods. That being said, we need to stick to proven facts and not perpetuate rumors, falsehoods and unproven facts.

     

    An Op-Ed, by Thomas L. Friedman, worth reading from the New York Times: Whatever Trump is hiding is hurting all of us now

    Maybe non-US citizens can understand the magnitude of what is at stake in the US after reading the op-ed.

     

  5. Let's look at some facts....

    Is there anybody on this planet that thinks that Russian meddling in the USA 2016 elections had zero impact on the outcome?

    Anybody that thinks that the Russians are wasting money and resources in world wide interference campaigns and are doing so without getting the results they seek?

    Anybody else that thinks that this Orangutan of ours is elected fair and square? Anybody, other than scary Pence, that is....

  6. 3 hours ago, tantra129 said:

    He was not old enoug to buy booze but guns. No problem. 

    The US has a big-big problem. We are surrendering to the NRA (National Riffle Association) and the Republican Party. Has nothing to do with religion, nothing to do with constitution - it's all about money, profit and political power. The Republicans get greased by the gun lobby and in turn stifle the US Congress from passing laws that would regulate guns. In return the NRA helps politicians fund their election campaigns. And then you have the intellectually challenged individuals that voted for Trump, that do not understand what the Second Amendment of the US Constitution is about, don't want to know and don't want to discuss.

    Cornell Law School has an interesting reference on the Second Amendment and it's interpretations by the US Supreme Court over the years.

    And since we're talking about States regulating gun control (my reference to Cornell) this is about Florida:

    CNN: You don't need a permit or license to buy a gun in Florida. (And you don't have to register your gun either)

    @tantra129 How big is your igloo?

  7. And this is the other bozo, the Speaker of the House, Paul Ryan, touting their tax cuts: a full $1.50 a week. Paul Ryan received $500,000 in campaign contributions from the Koch brothers after passing the tax reform bill. Wells Fargo, fresh off of defrauding millions of Americans, gets $3.4 billion. An extra $1.50 a week should be good enough, right?

    DVIqwsCU8AAw1SF.jpg

    Following public condemnation, he deleted his tweet.

  8. It's draining living in the time of Trump. Really! For somebody living in the USA and used to following political life and paying attention to his elected officials, it's like a black hole sucking you down. Can't escape it and that sinking feeling just adds to the agony.

    Here's from CNN:

    52 major news stories. 31 days. One month in Trump's Washington.

    President Donald Trump demonstrated a unique ability during his first year: He can bend time. Never before have more twists and turns been packed into each day of a presidency. 

    Read the story

    Anybody have any good ideas of how to "drain the swamp"?

     

     

  9. 23 hours ago, Bananas said:

    We got LOTS of it down under.  And according to all the advertisements (or is it propaganda) from the coal companies, yeah man, it's pretty clean.  Australia, good at digging stuff out of the ground, not much else.

    Something to read, something that could get us thinking:

    Dream Coal: Clean coal is more of an idea than a reality, and many scientists doubt it will ever become an effective countermeasure to the emission of carbon dioxide from fossil fuel combustion. -- From Snopes, a project that begun in 1994 as an expression of his interest in researching urban legends that has since grown into the oldest and largest fact-checking site on the Internet.

  10. 9 hours ago, tantra129 said:

    i'm wondering if we can build a wall made of frozen molson up here

    Best idea I've heard in a long time! :applause-597229:One little modification (maybe). Drink the Molson, build the wall with piss. :beer-817053:

    We're really screwed.... It's not just the orangutan. Both bodies of Congress (controlled by the Republicans) are complicit in this savage dismemberment of Democracy, our Judicial and the US Constitution.

    Dark times are coming. :vampire:

  11. 1 hour ago, athinaios said:

    If the Norse god were portrayed by purple or green people, it wouldn't bother me a bit.

    It would bother me if there were no justification in doing it. Now, if those purple or green people added a twist to the story (i.e. Odin was a Martian), then I'd say "OK. give this one a chance. Let's see what the movie has to say." But having a person painted green for no apparent reason, and performing his character in a traditional interpretation, would have either an ulterior motive of some kind, or the director had 100 buckets of green paint stashed in his garage and wanted to dispose of them. See where I'm headed with this? Let's say we put together a play where Odin was green and Zeus black. [Now comes the important part.... ] Why so? What is the reason for taking this initiative?

    If somebody does watch the BBC series maybe they can answer my question.

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