You said "A democracy cannot function well (if at all) if political races become a battle between good and evil". But the opposite of that is the actual truth. A democracy cannot function is a political race cannot become a matter of "this is fundamentally wrong". To do otherwise is to normalize extremist ideas and policies and individuals who are corrosive to the health of democratic societies.
Calling your opponent evil has limited political and practical benefits, is completely subjective, and does nothing to stop anyone from saying that candidate's views are fundamentally wrong. It does, however, lower you to their level and contribute to a substance-free mudfest. Didn't work last time, probably won't work next time.
It's not substance-free. That you think it is demonstrates that you really don't get it at all. There is a great deal of substance to the accusation based on the criteria I've already given you.
And fyi, the GOP just succeeded brilliantly with the strategy you are currently poopooing.
To say we should "respect contrary opinions without “impugning the motives” and “maligning the character” of one’s opponents" is bullshit because it makes of their dangerous motives a policy disagreement rather then an issue of fundamental danger to a just and stable democracy. We should not respect all contrary opinions nor those that make them. That shit is dangerous.
Where did I say we should respect all opinions? That's exactly the point of attack where they are most vulnerable and we need to focus. It's certainly more important than going after Trump's motives and character, which you inexplicably see as more dangerous than his actual political maneuverings. Focusing on his character also puts that front and center in media coverage instead of the actual policy, which is what really matters.
There's nothing inexplicable about it. It has, in fact, been one of the major things basically everyone is terrified of with Trump. You really really ought to pay more attention to what's going on. Trump's character is the scariest part of him being President. He's dumb, actively against learning information that contradicts what he wants to believe, vindictive, thin-skinned and in love with macho strongman authoritarianism. These are all aspects of his character that will determine how he reacts to the crises that will arise during his presidency. And based on his motives and character, his reactions will be really really dangerous for the whole world.
Trump is so dangerous because of who he is. The rest is gonna be more on Congress and his hires then anything but at the end of the day, the President makes alot of decisions. And that goes right back to who Trump is.
Your argument is terrible. The character and motives of those we invest with power are extremely important because those people make decisions. And their motives and character and policy can all be fundamentally dangerous to a just and civil society and trying to act like we can't say "No, these people and their ideas are fundamentally wrong and dangerous" just aids in the normalization of these people and ideas and policies and the like.
I mean, fucking Nazis. There's your easy example. And not even out there anymore considering who just won the fucking Presidency.
Actually if I remember right, the Republicans gutted the ethics committee the last time they had the Presidency and Pelosi restored it as one of the first actions of the Democratic Congress in 2007.
Par for the course. This is basically what every Conservative party does on gaining power. It's happened in the US ... at least 3 times in my life-time alone (90s, 2000s and I assume later this year). Happened up here in Canada too. And plenty of other countries. And of course, at the state level all over the place.
Your argument is terrible. The character and motives of those we invest with power are extremely important because those people make decisions. And their motives and character and policy can all be fundamentally dangerous to a just and civil society and trying to act like we can't say "No, these people and their ideas are fundamentally wrong and dangerous".
I know? I'm saying the decisions are more important than the character, and 'character' is too nebulous and subjective to be useful when discussing the actions of the President. My point (well, Shirley Chisholm's point that I agreed with earlier) that I'm supporting with this terrible argument is that politics should be an exchange of ideas, not personally insulting rhetoric (even if true). You keep saying I'm averse to criticizing ideas, and that's not the case. And with Trump, personally insulting attacks seem to have limited effect--lots of the people who voted for him know he's an asshole and don't care. In dealing with the Trump administration, for example, we would be better off demonstrating how his actions will materially harm American women than continually attacking Trump himself as a misogynist.
Your argument is terrible. The character and motives of those we invest with power are extremely important because those people make decisions. And their motives and character and policy can all be fundamentally dangerous to a just and civil society and trying to act like we can't say "No, these people and their ideas are fundamentally wrong and dangerous".
I know? I'm saying the decisions are more important than the character, and 'character' is too nebulous and subjective to be useful when discussing the actions of the President. My point (well, Shirley Chisholm's point that I agreed with earlier) that I'm supporting with this terrible argument is that politics should be an exchange of ideas, not personally insulting rhetoric (even if true). You keep saying I'm averse to criticizing ideas, and that's not the case. And with Trump, personally insulting attacks seem to have limited effect--lots of the people who voted for him know he's an asshole and don't care. In dealing with the Trump administration, for example, we would be better off demonstrating how his actions will materially harm American women than continually attacking Trump himself as a misogynist.
There are a number of problems with the claim. The first is empirical. This did not work against Trump and Trumps bull worked against Clinton.
The second is structural. If "don't attack them as evil" is a strategy then "evil" has an easier time winning. The natural response to "don't attack them as evil even if they are" is to be evil
Its true that politics should be about a nice and neat exchange of ideas. That the nation should be in a position where each side has differing views but still has the nations best interest at heart. But if those days ever existed we are past them.
Actually if I remember right, the Republicans gutted the ethics committee the last time they had the Presidency and Pelosi restored it as one of the first actions of the Democratic Congress in 2007.
House Republicans, defying their top leaders, voted Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
The move to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics was not public until late Monday, when Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change with no advance public notice or debate.
In its place, a new Office of Congressional Complaint Review would be set up within the House Ethics Committee, which before the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics had been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.
Why is he tweeting this? Who in Chicago criticized him?
He wants to bring stop and frisk back, expect Chicago to be his focus
He wants to bring the eighties back.
Well, at least violent race riots will receive more coverage from the courtier press, as opposed to them doing their level best to ignore things like OWS.
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KetarCome on upstairswe're having a partyRegistered Userregular
Actually if I remember right, the Republicans gutted the ethics committee the last time they had the Presidency and Pelosi restored it as one of the first actions of the Democratic Congress in 2007.
House Republicans, defying their top leaders, voted Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
The move to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics was not public until late Monday, when Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change with no advance public notice or debate.
In its place, a new Office of Congressional Complaint Review would be set up within the House Ethics Committee, which before the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics had been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.
The lack of public notice or public debate is probably the worst part of this.
They'll just do what they want, regardless of the public's input.
But, ya know, drain the swamp, government never works, etc. etc.
Actually if I remember right, the Republicans gutted the ethics committee the last time they had the Presidency and Pelosi restored it as one of the first actions of the Democratic Congress in 2007.
House Republicans, defying their top leaders, voted Monday to significantly curtail the power of an independent ethics office set up in 2008 in the aftermath of corruption scandals that sent three members of Congress to jail.
The move to weaken the Office of Congressional Ethics was not public until late Monday, when Representative Robert Goodlatte, Republican of Virginia and chairman of the House Judiciary Committee, announced that the House Republican Conference had approved the change with no advance public notice or debate.
In its place, a new Office of Congressional Complaint Review would be set up within the House Ethics Committee, which before the creation of the Office of Congressional Ethics had been accused of ignoring credible allegations of wrongdoing by lawmakers.
The lack of public notice or public debate is probably the worst part of this.
They'll just do what they want, regardless of the public's input.
But, ya know, drain the swamp, government never works, etc. etc.
The whole thing goes to an open vote with the whole House of Representatives tomorrow. Not much hope, but at least a little with how several high ranking republicans oppose the change. The main thing they did was completely sidestep any debate outside of the party conference. But really, fuck having party conferences in the government in the first place.
Why is he tweeting this? Who in Chicago criticized him?
He wants to bring stop and frisk back, expect Chicago to be his focus
He wants to bring the eighties back.
I was just thinking the other day how I'd kind of like to go back and live in the actual 80s, knowing what I do now (e.g., that I'm not gonna die in a global thermonuclear war before I'm 20) and being able to enjoy my teen years and the pop culture with that perspective.
In a good sign, Democrats are apparently tell precedent to go fuck itself and are going to oppose cabinet picks as strenuously as possible. At least eight of them, anyway:
McConnell's office is, of course, blatant hypocritical about the whole thing:
“It’s curious that they’d [Democrats] object to treating the incoming president’s nominees with the same courtesy and seriousness with which the Senate acted on President Obama’s nominees,” Antonia Ferrier, a McConnell spokeswoman, said in an email. “Our committees and chairmen are fully capable of reviewing the incoming Cabinet nominations with the same rules and procedures as the same committees did with President Obama’s nominations.”
Fuck McConnell, and fuck whoever has the gall to say this shit as a supreme Court nominee is just sitting there without even a finger lifted to confirm him.
McConnell is easily one of the main people responsible for the US government being pretty close to the brink. Fucker does not give a single shit about anything.
You know, I used to hear stories about people in the UK celebrating Margaret Thatcher's death. And my reaction for so long was "That's just distasteful, no matter what the woman was like."
Folks like McConnell have slowly been changing my opinion over the years.
The thing is that ultimately these people make decisions that impact or destroy people's lives and they do so without care or consequence. So why would you give them any more consideration?
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
With Love and Courage
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OrcaAlso known as EspressosaurusWrexRegistered Userregular
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
This article on the two new Virginia delegation members, has me wondering if maybe we're not completely hosed when it comes to fighting climate change at the federal level. We'll see how much of that pans out, but if Taylor sticks to believing climate change is a problem, there might be hope that there are a few more republicans in Congress that agree with him or are forced to by their voters. Unfortunately, we're not going to see any Trump vetoes get overwritten until things go to shit. That said, Trump and his shitty oil buddies, might not get as much support from Congress as we feared.
Why is he tweeting this? Who in Chicago criticized him?
He wants to bring stop and frisk back, expect Chicago to be his focus
You mean Stop and Trump. Because if he passes some federal mandate demanding city police forces do it, I very much hope that the cities pass a rule saying that before you do it you have to tell people that you are under orders from the president to do it and that he's laid out where you have to be groped.
I honestly don't see what their plan is here. They are going to need to implement some pretty titanic voter suppression plans if they don't shut up about all this nonsense, and I don't think gerrymandering alone combined with disenfranchising black people is going to do it for them. If trump doesn't calm the hell down and shut up, I'm not sure we'll get past June with the California still In the union.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
Why is he tweeting this? Who in Chicago criticized him?
He wants to bring stop and frisk back, expect Chicago to be his focus
You mean Stop and Trump. Because if he passes some federal mandate demanding city police forces do it, I very much hope that the cities pass a rule saying that before you do it you have to tell people that you are under orders from the president to do it and that he's laid out where you have to be groped.
I honestly don't see what their plan is here. They are going to need to implement some pretty titanic voter suppression plans if they don't shut up about all this nonsense, and I don't think gerrymandering alone combined with disenfranchising black people is going to do it for them. If trump doesn't calm the hell down and shut up, I'm not sure we'll get past June with the California still In the union.
I don't see why, Trump can abuse blue america as much as he wants with no consequences to the GOP
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ShadowenSnores in the morningLoserdomRegistered Userregular
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
He could be of the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
he might be off the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
he might be off the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
China's now the global #1 source for a lot of raw materials.
Also major purchasers of Russian oil right now.
Also 2.3M active military personnel and neighbouring many Central Asian states that Russia relies on for natural resources.
Soft power is a thing and Russia's economy remains its weakpoint.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
he might be off the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
He doesn't control the U.S. He played a fucko game attempting to give Trump an advantage, because he wanted to prove (probably mostly to himself, because lol inferiority complex) how much bigger & tougher he was than Obama. As a nice side effect, Trump potentially paves a road for Russian dominance on the world stage.
I doubt that Trump is going to be his buddy. They'll brofist until U.S. & Russian interests inevitably clash (or rather, perhaps, until Putin & Trump interests inevitably clash) and then suddenly they'll probably want to pop each others' heads.
I would bet that there was no particular strategy in mind for Putin at all aside from achieving the objective of beating Obama (Clinton being his proxy). What of the consequences of that? Eh, whatever. Imma put this trophy I made for myself in a glass case.
The Ender on
With Love and Courage
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TraceGNU Terry Pratchett; GNU Gus; GNU Carrie Fisher; GNU Adam WeRegistered Userregular
Thing is, Russia doesn't have to worry about China so much if his best buddy Trump promises to back him up on any moves in the Central Asian/East Asian territories. It's one of the scarier outcomes of all this in my opinion.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
Unlike China, North Korea isn't too rational to swing first.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
he might be off the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
He doesn't control the U.S. He played a fucko game attempting to give Trump an advantage, because he wanted to prove (probably mostly to himself, because lol inferiority complex) how much bigger & tougher he was than Obama. As a nice side effect, Trump potentially paves a road for Russian dominance on the world stage.
I doubt that Trump is going to be his buddy. They'll brofist until U.S. & Russian interests inevitably clash (or rather, perhaps, until Putin & Trump interests inevitably clash) and then suddenly they'll probably want to pop each others' heads.
I would bet that there was no particular strategy in mind for Putin at all aside from achieving the objective of beating Obama (Clinton being his proxy). What of the consequences of that? Eh, whatever. Imma put this trophy I made for myself in a glass case.
He doesn't really need to be any more buddy buddy with China. He just needs to make the US a bigger opponent of them, which is already well under way if Trump's little phone call is any indication.
Russia already does good business with China, and both don't care for the US that much. Russia can sit back and watch as Trump makes the US/China relationship ever worse and then step in at any occasion where it benefits Russia on the world stage.
He doesn't need to invade or take over a damned thing (although I'm sure there are several more targets he'd love to get his hands on). All Putin needs is for the US to become less important on the world stage so he can maneuver Russia into the gaps.
Trump is absolutely a perfect imbecile to spearhead that.
President-elect Donald Trump has publicly dismissed North Korea's announcement that the country is on the brink of conducting its first test of an intercontinental ballistic missile.
"North Korea just stated that it is in the final stages of developing a nuclear weapon capable of reaching parts of the U.S.," Trump tweeted Monday. "It won't happen!"
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
he might be off the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
China gives no fucks when it comes to their direct backyard. They tolerate Taiwan because of the straight, there is no straight between china and North Korea, or Mongolia, or wherever else Putin would want to mess around in.
They gave no fucks in the Korean war, they gave no fucks in the Sino-vietnamese war (even though from a purely military perspective it was a disaster, because don't invade Vietnam ever, the fact that the Soviet Union threatened war if China invaded and they told them to fuck off and invaded anyway and the USSR capitulated basically was a huge element in the fall of the soviet union, because if China why not Poland?)
Never underestimate the willingness of the Chinese to intervene in any war they can walk to, or their potential threat if they do.
Though China would love to see the US pull back from Asia so they could dominate more of the SE Asia like Vietnam. Say what you will about the TPP but cutting China out of those growing states was it's main purpose.
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Wait, important question.
Why is he tweeting this? Who in Chicago criticized him?
The harder the rain, honey, the sweeter the sun.
It was on 60 minutes, apparently
It's not substance-free. That you think it is demonstrates that you really don't get it at all. There is a great deal of substance to the accusation based on the criteria I've already given you.
And fyi, the GOP just succeeded brilliantly with the strategy you are currently poopooing.
There's nothing inexplicable about it. It has, in fact, been one of the major things basically everyone is terrified of with Trump. You really really ought to pay more attention to what's going on. Trump's character is the scariest part of him being President. He's dumb, actively against learning information that contradicts what he wants to believe, vindictive, thin-skinned and in love with macho strongman authoritarianism. These are all aspects of his character that will determine how he reacts to the crises that will arise during his presidency. And based on his motives and character, his reactions will be really really dangerous for the whole world.
Trump is so dangerous because of who he is. The rest is gonna be more on Congress and his hires then anything but at the end of the day, the President makes alot of decisions. And that goes right back to who Trump is.
Your argument is terrible. The character and motives of those we invest with power are extremely important because those people make decisions. And their motives and character and policy can all be fundamentally dangerous to a just and civil society and trying to act like we can't say "No, these people and their ideas are fundamentally wrong and dangerous" just aids in the normalization of these people and ideas and policies and the like.
I mean, fucking Nazis. There's your easy example. And not even out there anymore considering who just won the fucking Presidency.
Par for the course. This is basically what every Conservative party does on gaining power. It's happened in the US ... at least 3 times in my life-time alone (90s, 2000s and I assume later this year). Happened up here in Canada too. And plenty of other countries. And of course, at the state level all over the place.
I know? I'm saying the decisions are more important than the character, and 'character' is too nebulous and subjective to be useful when discussing the actions of the President. My point (well, Shirley Chisholm's point that I agreed with earlier) that I'm supporting with this terrible argument is that politics should be an exchange of ideas, not personally insulting rhetoric (even if true). You keep saying I'm averse to criticizing ideas, and that's not the case. And with Trump, personally insulting attacks seem to have limited effect--lots of the people who voted for him know he's an asshole and don't care. In dealing with the Trump administration, for example, we would be better off demonstrating how his actions will materially harm American women than continually attacking Trump himself as a misogynist.
He wants to bring stop and frisk back, expect Chicago to be his focus
There are a number of problems with the claim. The first is empirical. This did not work against Trump and Trumps bull worked against Clinton.
The second is structural. If "don't attack them as evil" is a strategy then "evil" has an easier time winning. The natural response to "don't attack them as evil even if they are" is to be evil
Its true that politics should be about a nice and neat exchange of ideas. That the nation should be in a position where each side has differing views but still has the nations best interest at heart. But if those days ever existed we are past them.
2008.
http://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/02/us/politics/with-no-warning-house-republicans-vote-to-hobble-independent-ethics-office.html?smid=tw-nytimes&smtyp=cur&_r=0
He'll get a lot more cops shot, and a lot, lot more black people shot.
fits his narrative perfectly
stay classy Trumps
He wants to bring the eighties back.
Well, at least violent race riots will receive more coverage from the courtier press, as opposed to them doing their level best to ignore things like OWS.
It's been a long time since I saw an El Rukn tag in Chicago. Maybe it will feel nostalgic.
The lack of public notice or public debate is probably the worst part of this.
They'll just do what they want, regardless of the public's input.
But, ya know, drain the swamp, government never works, etc. etc.
The whole thing goes to an open vote with the whole House of Representatives tomorrow. Not much hope, but at least a little with how several high ranking republicans oppose the change. The main thing they did was completely sidestep any debate outside of the party conference. But really, fuck having party conferences in the government in the first place.
I hope the artist who made that is getting a cut.
Everyone? Like, literally everyone. The city went 83.7% to 12.5% for Clinton.
http://www.chicagomag.com/city-life/November-2016/Chicago-Election-Results-President/
Emmanuel and CPD are not going to take his advice or "help" even if he offers something more than disdainful tweets.
It's being sold by a Trump, so I'm gonna say no.
Cut off, maybe.
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I was just thinking the other day how I'd kind of like to go back and live in the actual 80s, knowing what I do now (e.g., that I'm not gonna die in a global thermonuclear war before I'm 20) and being able to enjoy my teen years and the pop culture with that perspective.
Not like this. Not like this.
As RiFF RAFF would say, that's some middle of the mall shit.
slowjerk.gif
The safe money is that the vehicle is going to just explode on the pad (they'll probably get a longer range missile working eventually, since they seemed to eventually get their sub-launched missiles & semi-ICBM missiles working fairly reliably, but it's pretty unlikely they'll nail this test on the first try).
Goading Pyongyang is nevertheless fucking dumb. JFC this is exactly what I thought it would be.
I hope Jong Un just remains so drunk so often that he never realizes that Trump doesn't understand the difference between a warhead & a launch vehicle or what the current paradigm is on the peninsula. And God knows what South Korea is going to do, knowing that their key ally is under the command of a useless moron at best.
We're fucked.
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Nice chart to figure out how honest a news source is.
You mean Stop and Trump. Because if he passes some federal mandate demanding city police forces do it, I very much hope that the cities pass a rule saying that before you do it you have to tell people that you are under orders from the president to do it and that he's laid out where you have to be groped.
I honestly don't see what their plan is here. They are going to need to implement some pretty titanic voter suppression plans if they don't shut up about all this nonsense, and I don't think gerrymandering alone combined with disenfranchising black people is going to do it for them. If trump doesn't calm the hell down and shut up, I'm not sure we'll get past June with the California still In the union.
No, that's Ivanka Frump. You've fallen for one of the long list of bots which have attached themselves to Trump's twitter account.
The more I think about this situation, the more it occurs to me what a Goddamn idiot Putin is. What better an example of someone who just cut off their nose to spite their face; he'll be right in the middle of the mess if that part of Asia begins to implode, but hey, totally worth it to get one over on LAME DUCK OBAMA, LOL.
He sure showed him!
>.<
I don't see why, Trump can abuse blue america as much as he wants with no consequences to the GOP
He could be of the opinion that he might be able to meddle in the chaos the same way he did in Ukraine.
The problem being that doing so in this case would invoke the wrath of China.
What can China really do against Putin when he controls both Russia and the United States?
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China's now the global #1 source for a lot of raw materials.
Also major purchasers of Russian oil right now.
Also 2.3M active military personnel and neighbouring many Central Asian states that Russia relies on for natural resources.
Soft power is a thing and Russia's economy remains its weakpoint.
He doesn't control the U.S. He played a fucko game attempting to give Trump an advantage, because he wanted to prove (probably mostly to himself, because lol inferiority complex) how much bigger & tougher he was than Obama. As a nice side effect, Trump potentially paves a road for Russian dominance on the world stage.
I doubt that Trump is going to be his buddy. They'll brofist until U.S. & Russian interests inevitably clash (or rather, perhaps, until Putin & Trump interests inevitably clash) and then suddenly they'll probably want to pop each others' heads.
I would bet that there was no particular strategy in mind for Putin at all aside from achieving the objective of beating Obama (Clinton being his proxy). What of the consequences of that? Eh, whatever. Imma put this trophy I made for myself in a glass case.
Unlike China, North Korea isn't too rational to swing first.
Looks like Team Trump is on board with this.
#draintheswamp
He doesn't really need to be any more buddy buddy with China. He just needs to make the US a bigger opponent of them, which is already well under way if Trump's little phone call is any indication.
Russia already does good business with China, and both don't care for the US that much. Russia can sit back and watch as Trump makes the US/China relationship ever worse and then step in at any occasion where it benefits Russia on the world stage.
He doesn't need to invade or take over a damned thing (although I'm sure there are several more targets he'd love to get his hands on). All Putin needs is for the US to become less important on the world stage so he can maneuver Russia into the gaps.
Trump is absolutely a perfect imbecile to spearhead that.
China gives no fucks when it comes to their direct backyard. They tolerate Taiwan because of the straight, there is no straight between china and North Korea, or Mongolia, or wherever else Putin would want to mess around in.
They gave no fucks in the Korean war, they gave no fucks in the Sino-vietnamese war (even though from a purely military perspective it was a disaster, because don't invade Vietnam ever, the fact that the Soviet Union threatened war if China invaded and they told them to fuck off and invaded anyway and the USSR capitulated basically was a huge element in the fall of the soviet union, because if China why not Poland?)
Never underestimate the willingness of the Chinese to intervene in any war they can walk to, or their potential threat if they do.