I'm still not sold on the idea of latitude being the only condition for lighter skin. Unless I'm greatly mistaken the Inuit aren't that much lighter than the Navajo.
Also, the mutation that led to white skin colour is only 8000 years old, according to the source I found. ๐
If I'm at the doctor's office, I don't want to listen to bullshit about 'I need happy news about whatever health issue I'm facing'. I want to hear what's the situation, what I can do, and how to prepare if there's nothing that can be done.
Same shit for the environment. The situation is not a smiley happy one; it's dire. The leadership of one of the world's largest economies says the idea is bullshit; he wants to mine more coal. He wants to make the situation worse. We need to know what the result of that policy is going to be.
There's an analogue in history for this too. Way back, when the British conquered Quebec, they sent an asshole out to make some recommendations. Lord Durham, IIRC. He said that the French were barbarians, never produced any music, nor art, nor published works. Within the decade the French were gleefully proving him wrong.
Does the author of the article think we would do any less?
You're being too broad with that criticism. Health care is a business, as is nearly every other activity that humans engage in.
Doctors, nurses and the staff need to earn money to survive too. They've got to pay for their upgraded training too.
Eventually, the hospitals need to be torn down and replaced. During the lifetime of that building, it needs to be cleaned and repaired/upgraded. All of that costs money.
What shouldn't be a thing is not being able to see a doctor because you can't pay for it.
Do the healthy 'pay' for the sick people in a civilized society? Since we started to live in caves, we have.
If you wanted to use the old religious argument, just remind Cain that he's his brother's keeper. ๐
I really don't think the current generations are going to judge the people who voted for this insanity. I doubt there are going to be future generations. Not with these reactionaries in charge.
At least we'll not have to worry about retirement anymore.
If the report is true, I hope Mr Bannon is successful. A campaigning president isn't a governing president. And the last thing I want to see is Trump doing any governing.
*by governing, I mean being somewhat efficient and effective at getting what he wants implemented by the government.
Fix it? I really don't think this error can be 'fixed.' The Republicans control the levers that would be used to remove him from power; then they get Pence.
Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, eh?
I fully expect Trump to stay in power, until he's done most of what the R's in Congress want; then they'll impeach him, or invoke the 25th amendment.
The other ways of 'fixing' the problem would be worse. A coup d'etat by the military would destroy the Republic. A civil insurrection could provoke the establishment of a full on authoritarian state. Or civil war...
Resigning would be an admission of error, on their part and/or the part of the Authoritarian. And that just can't be done, not if you want to build an authoritarian state.
Lower level minions might get sacrificed, from their pov I'll bet that includes the Flynn guy, but the leader and his closest comrade will be privileged. I think that if Trump knows anything, he knows he needs Bannon to stay.
As a foreigner, I'd have thought your fellow citizen's job was to prevent a demagogue from taking over.
Now that one has, our leaders know what their jobs might include in the future. Trump's unpredictability is become a threat to every nation on Earth. For us to ignore that would be criminal.
You're right, but even if you were wrong there is nothing in the world to prevent another nation from interfering in the US elections. After all, doesn't the government of the USA interfere in the elections of other nations?
Eventually those weapons will be used again. Unless they're banned, which according to the terms of the NPT is supposed to be happening. The rest of the world did agree not to build them, and the nuclear powers did commit to disarmament.
But the USA is violating their obligations under that treaty, aren't they? (as are the rest of the nuclear powers, who aren't pressing the USA to abandon the modernization of their arsenal.)
Why not re-make that movie? Can you name any actor who could match the performance of Peter Sellers? The movie is better in black and white, the colour matches the theme of the film; life or death - madness versus sanity.
I still don't understand why they asked the question in the first place. It's one of the dumbest examples of irresponsible governance since their Parliament provoked the 13 colonies into revolution.
It's not just the violence that they're fleeing, it's the environmental collapse of the region as well. Much of the violence is caused by the environmental collapse. It's a nasty feedback loop, one that's exacerbated by the feedback loops that global warming is causing.
Either we save them, or we'll also lose ourselves.
I've always said that the people who want to assassinate politicians are idiots. If you succeed, you'll make a martyr out of them, and their polities. (I'll bet that Britain will vote to stay in the EU, thanks -in part- to the assassination of the Labour MP there.)
The only thing worse than succeeding at assassination is failing at it. e.g. Reagan would have been crushed by the Iran-Contra scandal, had it not been for the failed attempt on his life. It also gave him cover for his obvious mental decline due to Alzheimer's.
The cynical part of me is sure that the attempt was faked. If it was that easy to take a gun from a police officer, it'd have made the news long before now. I understand that their holsters are designed to prevent someone from 'grabbing' their guns.
LBJ was a president who delivered the Civil Rights Act. But he was also a warmonger, who escalated the war in Vietnam and was forced to avoid running for re-election.
Whatever civil rights Clinton brings to Washington, few are likely, her warmongering will bring her down too. The USA is supposed to be a republic, not an empire. Like the Romans, you can be one or the other.
Peace has been beyond reach for many years now. Religious fundamentalists cannot be reasoned with, they believe they have their god on their side. It's a recipe for disaster, and it's a feature of all religions.
The nasty thing about those weapons is that they'll kill the survivors as well. I'm not referring to the survivors in the 'nuked' nations either, it'll be the rest of the world which will suffer their use.
The ecological effects of a large scale nuclear war are known, but the uncontrolled fires at the nuclear plants in the 'victim' nations are not fully understood. Even a 'small' nuclear war between India and Pakistan would be enough to cause the end of life on the Earth.
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but it's better that the weapons fall into a state where none of them can be used. Ever. It's one thing to kill yourself, but taking everyone with you when you go is utterly dishonourable.
"Although it is true that Obama has been the least successful president in some time in reducing nuclear stockpiles,"
I should say not. He has ordered a trillion dollars to be spent on making new nuclear weapons. Including smaller weapons that make their use more 'acceptable' (to those who are firing them off, anyhow).
What were the terms of the NNPT again? We don't build them and the nuclear nations disarm. IIRC.
Treaties, the rest of the world is to respect them, but the 'exceptional' nation gets to view them as suggestions.
In the Guardian I saw that Khan was called the first elected mayor of a western city who was Muslim. I couldn't help myself and wrote to thank them for excluding the Western Canadian city of Calgary from 'western civilization'.
I finally bought a package of Halal burgers this week. Just to see what the fuss was about with the food. When I looked at the burger patties, I thought they'd cook up to be small little things barely worth eating.
To my surprise they held their size, the first time I've seen packaged foods do that. They tasted like burgers. They haven't poisoned me. I've not been converted from eating them.
I don't see why we're scared of the religion that others have. It's not like their beliefs, or ours, are the things that are threatening this world.
Our actions, burning fuels for power, are threatening our lives. Rather than deal with that, we seem to be focused on what we can do to attack others.
We do have a phobia, but it's not just limited to another person, or their religion, or whatever. We're fearful of what we've done to ourselves. I'm not sure many of us can admit that either.
There was an article on counterpunch that went into the comparison between the Native American tradition of the Potlatch and the spending on the military.
In short, the military is what 'we' in the west view as an acceptable form of potlatch.
A James Bond villain would have come up with an unbelievable method of executing one spy. Exxon has run business as usual, which is likely to kill many millions in a believable manner.
โThe question we ask is a simple one: what is Israelโs strategy?โ
To incite a Third Intifada and then expel everyone who resists the will of Israel (god).
With the recent narrowing of choices available in the USA's election, it'll be full speed ahead for the annexation of Judea and Samaria.
If there's a god, and that god really wants us to live in peace with our neighbours, now's the time for it to intervene. We're not going to be listening to each other for a while otherwise.
Strange how God never seems to be punishing living humans for not being 'respectful' enough. It's always other humans who have got to do the god's work, almost makes it seem that there is no god. (whichever god you choose to think of)
I wrote to the university that employs the writer of the article.
Let me quote part of the reply from him;
"I agree with you that any suggestion to bomb or "flatten" Beirut (or any other city) would be beyond horrible and outrageous. As you see from the body of my article, I never mentioned such an act."
He just asked who would rid the world of some troublesome group. Like Henry II did when he complained about the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1100s (date?)
I suggested on another website that the professor's article should be re-written with some terms switched. Replace Beirut with Jerusalem, as well as the other nouns with their opposites, and see what the reaction would be.
I'll go look for an online copy of his 'modest proposal'.
My father took early retirement from Imperial Oil (a Canadian division of Exxon) in 1982. He lamented the corporate culture at the time, he advised me never to try to work for the people who paid his retirement pension until 2011.
I wonder if he had read that internal memo, he might have been placed high enough to have heard about it at the least.
I really can't see the man getting elected, neither him nor Cruz. I still believe that 'we' get the governments that 'we' deserve, and I can't see the USA deserving either Trump or Cruz. Nothing you've done, nothing that even those who hate your nation claim you've done, would merit the election of either of those two boobs.
Shouldn't they have thought about the risk of what happens if the guys who you're supporting lose?
A post civil war Syria will not have the money nor the troops needed to pursue foreign adventures. While they might not be cooperative with anything that the Government of Israel proposes, I'm not sure the Israelis have anything to worry about from their immediate neighbours.
While the USA might not have done well in Canada, indeed most of us who are honest would admit that had the USA not invaded Canada in 1812 we'd have joined the USA voluntarily later on.
On the Southern hand, the war went much better. A guy named Andrew Jackson made a name for himself as a mass murderer and slave dealer who could get the natives killed. The Southern States were secured from foreign invasion during that war, it might have given them a bit more confidence than they ought to have had too.
In some ways I wonder if the people who are supporting the ISIS nuts are the same sorts of people who are supporting the Bundy nuts (and the other groups of anti-government nutters).
People who have been left out of the marketplace, or thrown out, don't have much interest in fighting for their society and will lash out against those whom they think are the 'real' threat to them.
With the warming we have now it's restricting the use of ice roads in the Northern communities of Canada. They're not freezing in a timely manner, and they're not freezing as 'hard' as they used to freeze a decade ago. Permanent roads aren't likely to be built quickly enough to replace them, and portaging things in the summer isn't really an option anymore.
An earlier spring, a later fall (winter really, there isn't much of a fall in the North) means a longer summer melting season. The permafrost is already melting, and the situation is far more dire than many want to admit.
homo sapiens sapiens is misnamed. We should have called ourselves homo perniciosasque fatuis
It would be surprising to hear a national leader say that about his own nation's violence while condemning the violence of others. Indeed, I might respect a leader who did such a thing.
If they want to make peace, they're going to have to talk to someone. Or be able to kill everyone who is fighting (a bad option, even if it was possible)
BTW, you've got a typo in the second last sentence.
"It isnโt surprising that is unscceptable to al-Assad."
I have no doubt that a Trump presidency would result in my death; I'm a gay white male who isn't rich.
Trump is a fascist. He will do what fascists do when they get elected. Murder people, steal stuff that belongs to their victims, destroy the reputation of the nation. (Spain might have been an exception to the last rule, but that's only because of the Inquisition.)
The only thing worse than a tRump victory would be a victory by any of the republicans who are running against tRump.
An interesting idea, but I don't see how calling them pirates would reduce their appeal to young people who think of the Pirates of the Caribbean when they hear talk of pirates.
Some idiots might pack some rum for their trip to Syria.
They're people who have learned to love war and chaos, they're still people, killing such people becomes the only civilized thing to do. Of course, if we really were civilized we'd be killing the local wanna-be pirates and armchair warriors along with the pirates of Syria. (of every violence-advocating religion, or violent cult)
no, nothing is wrong about asking people to condemn terrorism. What's wrong is ignoring it when they do, and then claiming that they (whoever) never condemn terrorism in the first place.
We do that all the time. So do they. I think it's a human thing.
Oooo, kill Hitler as a baby. You've got to love the way the mind works at times, eh?
Let's just say that that was possible. What would have been the most likely outcome of that event? Bupkiss.
If everything else that happened over Hitler's life happened, then it would be another man who led Germany's rightwing nutters off on a mission to get revenge for the Treaty of Versailles. One who might have been a better leader, and won that war.
Heck of an idea. Really.
If you wanted to prevent the second world war, prevent the first one from happening at all. To do that, you'd need to stop the Franco-Prussian war. To stop that one well, you'd likely have needed to stop the revolutions of the 1840s as well as the Napoleonic wars. And the French Revolution, the Seven Years War, the wars of...
"Britain launched the War of 1812 and burned down the White House"
What?!? It was President Madison who launched that war of aggression against the UK. If you'll recall, the UK was fighting a guy named Napoleon at the time when the USA decided that taking Canada would be a 'mere matter of marching'.
The fact that your White House got torched was YOUR fault.
That is a strange thought. I have a memory of telling a politician that I though his life wasn't worth the price of a bullet. I also told him that defending his life was worth the gunpowder though, so not to take my opinion as any sort of threat.
Politicians who get assassinated are also, in some ways, martyrs. Anyone who knows anything doesn't want more of them.
Think of the pols that have been shot, even the nastiest of them get a popularity boost from an attempt. The ones who die, well, their successors usually don't cooperate with the ideals of the assassins.
I'd not want any of the bozos who are running for office to suffer as much as a hangnail. Hangovers are encouraged. ๐
Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?
If he's going to be shutting down places of worship that are loaded for bear, I would point out that there are a few 'Christian' churches and groups that are loaded for more than mere bears.
But, of course, we all know that the Donald's just a racist blowhard, wannabe demagogue dictator. The USA isn't stupid enough to elect him to an...
A non-starter. For a UN peacekeeping operation to go forward both sides have to want them, and they also have to agree to let the UN soldiers shoot at anyone who is firing.
That's just not going to happen. BDS is the best way out of the mess they're in.
Is it just me, or does that map look a bit like the participants in the World Series of Baseball. (A good thing there's no Canadian sites, yet anyhow.)
Seems a lot of very religious people want a holy war, maybe they could do everyone a favour and let the gods fight it for us. We should all step back and watch them go at it. Holy wars should be fought by holy beings, right?
Seeing lots of solders with guns makes me feel less secure. The 'officers' you describe in this piece are soldiers, not 'officers' who knew WTF their job was.
Actually, having a 'no fly' list disciplines everyone. No one 'needs' to be on it in the first place for it to do that job. Watch your mouth, you wouldn't like to end up in jail now.
But hey, at least you can still criticize the president. for now.
Favouring one religion over another is a great way to spark a major religious war though. If you are crazy, and a fundamentalist (do I repeat myself?), then the end of the world will sound like a grande idea.
The 'red line' was for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, IIRC, not ISIS which is already behind the 'red line'.
It would be better if the nations in that region were the ones who were suppressing ISIS. I've read some reports that they're fueling the movement with money and weapons though. I'm not sure their neighbours want them 'contained' at all. Whatever their governments actually say.
"Later on he could easily have ordered the bombing of the rail heads and crematoria at Auschwitz and elsewhere, thereby perhaps saving several hundred thousand Jewish lives"
Had the west done such a thing, we'd have been damned for helping Hitler kill the Jews. Less than 5% of those air-dropped bombs fell within a mile of their targets. They weren't dropping laser guided weaponry, they were dropping them blind.
Moreover, dropping bombs wouldn't have stopped them from killing the unwanted in other locations.
Could 'we' have done more to take in refugees, yes. However, nobody in 1939 expected the Holocaust to happen. Nobody.
Yes, of course. But I'm not sure if the electoral system has been rigged enough for that to happen. I doubt it could be done in by 2016, maybe by 2020.
It's easier to blame the other, than to accept your own part in that f-up. After all, what was JEB's role in getting his brother elected in 2000? If he hadn't helped Dubya get elected, would Iraq have been invaded in the first place?
One could argue he's as responsible for the invasion of Iraq as his brother is.
"As the US Secretary of Defence, Robert S. McNamara, famously reflected: โIf weโd lost the war, weโd all have been prosecuted as war criminals.โ"
I had thought that quote was about the entire war. It wasn't just the atomic bombing that was a crime against humanity. There were some in the UK who wanted to prosecute the U-boat commanders, but were stopped when the Yanks pointed out that what the Germans had tried to do to the UK is what the USN had done to Japan.
That's the true horror of any major war, the nations involved will end up breaking any 'rules' in order to win, or survive. It happens in minor wars too, just look at what GW Bush ordered in Iraq; torture in the prisons and collective punishment in cities like Fallujah.
If you think you're being attacked, it's a simple matter to convince yourself that anything that you can use to defend yourself with is allowed, and damnable when the other side does a similar thing.
I'm still not sold on the idea of latitude being the only condition for lighter skin. Unless I'm greatly mistaken the Inuit aren't that much lighter than the Navajo.
Also, the mutation that led to white skin colour is only 8000 years old, according to the source I found. ๐
http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2015/04/how-europeans-evolved-white-skin
That said, I couldn't agree with your post more. Humans are human, no matter their colour or beliefs.
So much for any chance of a peace...
Wasn't very likely anyhow, what with the amateurs trying to work it out.
It's far worse than you say, it's a renunciation of the rule of law by the leader of the USA.
Either he is removed, or the USA won't be a republic a year from now.
Reason is overrated. What's it ever done for us?
Other than modern medicine, engineering, communications, transportation and industrialism. I might have missed one or two things.
It's a sad thing to see religious nutters demand that their book is right when the evidence says otherwise.
If I'm at the doctor's office, I don't want to listen to bullshit about 'I need happy news about whatever health issue I'm facing'. I want to hear what's the situation, what I can do, and how to prepare if there's nothing that can be done.
Same shit for the environment. The situation is not a smiley happy one; it's dire. The leadership of one of the world's largest economies says the idea is bullshit; he wants to mine more coal. He wants to make the situation worse. We need to know what the result of that policy is going to be.
There's an analogue in history for this too. Way back, when the British conquered Quebec, they sent an asshole out to make some recommendations. Lord Durham, IIRC. He said that the French were barbarians, never produced any music, nor art, nor published works. Within the decade the French were gleefully proving him wrong.
Does the author of the article think we would do any less?
As more energy becomes available, it will be used. This is one of those markets that's not going to be saturated for quite some decades. ๐
You're being too broad with that criticism. Health care is a business, as is nearly every other activity that humans engage in.
Doctors, nurses and the staff need to earn money to survive too. They've got to pay for their upgraded training too.
Eventually, the hospitals need to be torn down and replaced. During the lifetime of that building, it needs to be cleaned and repaired/upgraded. All of that costs money.
What shouldn't be a thing is not being able to see a doctor because you can't pay for it.
Do the healthy 'pay' for the sick people in a civilized society? Since we started to live in caves, we have.
If you wanted to use the old religious argument, just remind Cain that he's his brother's keeper. ๐
I really don't think the current generations are going to judge the people who voted for this insanity. I doubt there are going to be future generations. Not with these reactionaries in charge.
At least we'll not have to worry about retirement anymore.
If the report is true, I hope Mr Bannon is successful. A campaigning president isn't a governing president. And the last thing I want to see is Trump doing any governing.
*by governing, I mean being somewhat efficient and effective at getting what he wants implemented by the government.
Maybe they should have tried to help Bernie win instead.
It might have worked out better, for everyone.
My cat does the same thing, but with a glass of water. Reaches up, and dunks his paw...
Cute little things. ๐
Fix it? I really don't think this error can be 'fixed.' The Republicans control the levers that would be used to remove him from power; then they get Pence.
Talk about jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire, eh?
I fully expect Trump to stay in power, until he's done most of what the R's in Congress want; then they'll impeach him, or invoke the 25th amendment.
The other ways of 'fixing' the problem would be worse. A coup d'etat by the military would destroy the Republic. A civil insurrection could provoke the establishment of a full on authoritarian state. Or civil war...
Should they? Yes. Will they? Of course not.
Resigning would be an admission of error, on their part and/or the part of the Authoritarian. And that just can't be done, not if you want to build an authoritarian state.
Lower level minions might get sacrificed, from their pov I'll bet that includes the Flynn guy, but the leader and his closest comrade will be privileged. I think that if Trump knows anything, he knows he needs Bannon to stay.
I tried listening to him, but that was two minutes of idiocy.
At least he wasn't skilled at oration.
This sounds a bit too much like that old slogan that some socialists had in the 1930s; after him, us.
It didn't really work out that well for them.
As a foreigner, I'd have thought your fellow citizen's job was to prevent a demagogue from taking over.
Now that one has, our leaders know what their jobs might include in the future. Trump's unpredictability is become a threat to every nation on Earth. For us to ignore that would be criminal.
I really doubt he'll have a tombstone. As I'm more and more certain that he'll get everyone on Earth killed.
I hope I'm wrong, but...
As always, if you do a bad thing then the thing wasn't really so bad after all.
If someone does that same bad thing to you, then it's the most evil thing ever done.
You're right, but even if you were wrong there is nothing in the world to prevent another nation from interfering in the US elections. After all, doesn't the government of the USA interfere in the elections of other nations?
If ya don't like it, don't do it to others.
The only reasonable reply, to such an attempt at extortion, would be to nationalize the health care insurance industry.
But the Corporations already rule over all, so such a response won't be happening.
Usually tin-pot dictators wait until they have the power before they start threatening to have their foes murdered.
Trump is the quintessential ugly American Tourist. Crass, loud and happily, willfully ignorant about everything.
Eventually those weapons will be used again. Unless they're banned, which according to the terms of the NPT is supposed to be happening. The rest of the world did agree not to build them, and the nuclear powers did commit to disarmament.
But the USA is violating their obligations under that treaty, aren't they? (as are the rest of the nuclear powers, who aren't pressing the USA to abandon the modernization of their arsenal.)
Why not re-make that movie? Can you name any actor who could match the performance of Peter Sellers? The movie is better in black and white, the colour matches the theme of the film; life or death - madness versus sanity.
Yes, they are.
Not that that's very hard to do. I'm a better American than Donald Trump; and I'm Canadian.
I still don't understand why they asked the question in the first place. It's one of the dumbest examples of irresponsible governance since their Parliament provoked the 13 colonies into revolution.
It's not just the violence that they're fleeing, it's the environmental collapse of the region as well. Much of the violence is caused by the environmental collapse. It's a nasty feedback loop, one that's exacerbated by the feedback loops that global warming is causing.
Either we save them, or we'll also lose ourselves.
I've always said that the people who want to assassinate politicians are idiots. If you succeed, you'll make a martyr out of them, and their polities. (I'll bet that Britain will vote to stay in the EU, thanks -in part- to the assassination of the Labour MP there.)
The only thing worse than succeeding at assassination is failing at it. e.g. Reagan would have been crushed by the Iran-Contra scandal, had it not been for the failed attempt on his life. It also gave him cover for his obvious mental decline due to Alzheimer's.
The cynical part of me is sure that the attempt was faked. If it was that easy to take a gun from a police officer, it'd have made the news long before now. I understand that their holsters are designed to prevent someone from 'grabbing' their guns.
The Roman Republic lasted for how many centuries, before it became an Empire? Was it two?
LBJ was a president who delivered the Civil Rights Act. But he was also a warmonger, who escalated the war in Vietnam and was forced to avoid running for re-election.
Whatever civil rights Clinton brings to Washington, few are likely, her warmongering will bring her down too. The USA is supposed to be a republic, not an empire. Like the Romans, you can be one or the other.
Lizzie Warren took an axe,
gave the Donald forty whacks.
When she saw that she was done,
she gave the 'Baggers forty one.
Yah, I'm mature. ๐
Peace has been beyond reach for many years now. Religious fundamentalists cannot be reasoned with, they believe they have their god on their side. It's a recipe for disaster, and it's a feature of all religions.
You cannot be both a democracy and an Empire.
If you try, you'll end up like the UK used to be - and still is in some ways.
Triumph of the Will, eh?
Lucky us...
The nasty thing about those weapons is that they'll kill the survivors as well. I'm not referring to the survivors in the 'nuked' nations either, it'll be the rest of the world which will suffer their use.
The ecological effects of a large scale nuclear war are known, but the uncontrolled fires at the nuclear plants in the 'victim' nations are not fully understood. Even a 'small' nuclear war between India and Pakistan would be enough to cause the end of life on the Earth.
I'm sorry to disagree with you, but it's better that the weapons fall into a state where none of them can be used. Ever. It's one thing to kill yourself, but taking everyone with you when you go is utterly dishonourable.
"Although it is true that Obama has been the least successful president in some time in reducing nuclear stockpiles,"
I should say not. He has ordered a trillion dollars to be spent on making new nuclear weapons. Including smaller weapons that make their use more 'acceptable' (to those who are firing them off, anyhow).
What were the terms of the NNPT again? We don't build them and the nuclear nations disarm. IIRC.
Treaties, the rest of the world is to respect them, but the 'exceptional' nation gets to view them as suggestions.
I do believe that Netanyahu wants piece. I don't believe he or his government wants peace.
The EU proposal will not work, just like Oslo didn't work. One side has all of the power, the other has none.
#4 If he had 'killed himself' wouldn't he be dead?
Even if they had rejected an offer, that does not imply that they rejected a decent offer. Some offers have to be refused.
In the Guardian I saw that Khan was called the first elected mayor of a western city who was Muslim. I couldn't help myself and wrote to thank them for excluding the Western Canadian city of Calgary from 'western civilization'.
Any excuse to bash Calgary is a good one.
I finally bought a package of Halal burgers this week. Just to see what the fuss was about with the food. When I looked at the burger patties, I thought they'd cook up to be small little things barely worth eating.
To my surprise they held their size, the first time I've seen packaged foods do that. They tasted like burgers. They haven't poisoned me. I've not been converted from eating them.
I don't see why we're scared of the religion that others have. It's not like their beliefs, or ours, are the things that are threatening this world.
Our actions, burning fuels for power, are threatening our lives. Rather than deal with that, we seem to be focused on what we can do to attack others.
We do have a phobia, but it's not just limited to another person, or their religion, or whatever. We're fearful of what we've done to ourselves. I'm not sure many of us can admit that either.
I'm an old white guy, and I loved his performance at the dinner. He had a damn tough act to follow as well.
President Obama was in fine form also.
I don't give a damn about the talking heads that Wilmore mocked.
In the USA, if you help commit the crime, are you not equally guilty as those who actually do the crime?
Would that include those who covered up, or pardoned, or failed to prosecute the crime?
If so, then can't Bush et al be joined by Obama et al in the Hague for the crime of torture?
Of course, we'll have to wait for someone else to impose justice. It's quite rare for the rich and powerful to face justice in this world. Isn't it?
There was an article on counterpunch that went into the comparison between the Native American tradition of the Potlatch and the spending on the military.
In short, the military is what 'we' in the west view as an acceptable form of potlatch.
A James Bond villain would have come up with an unbelievable method of executing one spy. Exxon has run business as usual, which is likely to kill many millions in a believable manner.
So, they're not Bond like.
Obviously it's a plot. Concocted by those elitists in their scientific ivory towers to make the deniers look more foolish.
He is, and is likely to continue being, very well treated.
Few nations would be as compassionate towards this person. He is insane.
โThe question we ask is a simple one: what is Israelโs strategy?โ
To incite a Third Intifada and then expel everyone who resists the will of Israel (god).
With the recent narrowing of choices available in the USA's election, it'll be full speed ahead for the annexation of Judea and Samaria.
If there's a god, and that god really wants us to live in peace with our neighbours, now's the time for it to intervene. We're not going to be listening to each other for a while otherwise.
I apologize for being so cynical.
Those whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.
For what it's worth, I don't think the bozos who are running for office are representative of all Americans.
Strange how God never seems to be punishing living humans for not being 'respectful' enough. It's always other humans who have got to do the god's work, almost makes it seem that there is no god. (whichever god you choose to think of)
I wrote to the university that employs the writer of the article.
Let me quote part of the reply from him;
"I agree with you that any suggestion to bomb or "flatten" Beirut (or any other city) would be beyond horrible and outrageous. As you see from the body of my article, I never mentioned such an act."
He just asked who would rid the world of some troublesome group. Like Henry II did when he complained about the Archbishop of Canterbury in the 1100s (date?)
I suggested on another website that the professor's article should be re-written with some terms switched. Replace Beirut with Jerusalem, as well as the other nouns with their opposites, and see what the reaction would be.
I'll go look for an online copy of his 'modest proposal'.
My father took early retirement from Imperial Oil (a Canadian division of Exxon) in 1982. He lamented the corporate culture at the time, he advised me never to try to work for the people who paid his retirement pension until 2011.
I wonder if he had read that internal memo, he might have been placed high enough to have heard about it at the least.
I really can't see the man getting elected, neither him nor Cruz. I still believe that 'we' get the governments that 'we' deserve, and I can't see the USA deserving either Trump or Cruz. Nothing you've done, nothing that even those who hate your nation claim you've done, would merit the election of either of those two boobs.
Shouldn't they have thought about the risk of what happens if the guys who you're supporting lose?
A post civil war Syria will not have the money nor the troops needed to pursue foreign adventures. While they might not be cooperative with anything that the Government of Israel proposes, I'm not sure the Israelis have anything to worry about from their immediate neighbours.
While the USA might not have done well in Canada, indeed most of us who are honest would admit that had the USA not invaded Canada in 1812 we'd have joined the USA voluntarily later on.
On the Southern hand, the war went much better. A guy named Andrew Jackson made a name for himself as a mass murderer and slave dealer who could get the natives killed. The Southern States were secured from foreign invasion during that war, it might have given them a bit more confidence than they ought to have had too.
About dang time.
Imagine how much longer the occupation would have gone on had the Bundy's been Muslim.
Oh, wait.
In some ways I wonder if the people who are supporting the ISIS nuts are the same sorts of people who are supporting the Bundy nuts (and the other groups of anti-government nutters).
People who have been left out of the marketplace, or thrown out, don't have much interest in fighting for their society and will lash out against those whom they think are the 'real' threat to them.
I'm probably wrong.
Sad article, but shouldn't the headline be "Emigration...", Immigrating is going to another nation, emigration is moving away from the one you're in.
Why would you send them money for reconstruction?
They're just going to have their 'lawns mowed' again in another year.
With the warming we have now it's restricting the use of ice roads in the Northern communities of Canada. They're not freezing in a timely manner, and they're not freezing as 'hard' as they used to freeze a decade ago. Permanent roads aren't likely to be built quickly enough to replace them, and portaging things in the summer isn't really an option anymore.
An earlier spring, a later fall (winter really, there isn't much of a fall in the North) means a longer summer melting season. The permafrost is already melting, and the situation is far more dire than many want to admit.
homo sapiens sapiens is misnamed. We should have called ourselves homo perniciosasque fatuis
As a man who grew up with a learning disability called dysgraphia; a pox on all calligraphy. ๐
It's not terrorism when we do it!!!111
Said by every nation's leadership.
It would be surprising to hear a national leader say that about his own nation's violence while condemning the violence of others. Indeed, I might respect a leader who did such a thing.
Well, a major war would help the price of oil to go up.
Profits all round for the war industries too.
Win win for the rich, lose lots for everyone else.
If they want to make peace, they're going to have to talk to someone. Or be able to kill everyone who is fighting (a bad option, even if it was possible)
BTW, you've got a typo in the second last sentence.
"It isnโt surprising that is unscceptable to al-Assad."
Should be unacceptable.
" Steal $2 trillion and you arenโt corrupt, youโre respectable."
Murder one human and it's a crime, kill a few million and you're a great warlord.
Rob a train and you're a crook, swindle ownership of the railroad and you're a great investor.
One unconsensual partner makes you a rapist, but...
I have no doubt that a Trump presidency would result in my death; I'm a gay white male who isn't rich.
Trump is a fascist. He will do what fascists do when they get elected. Murder people, steal stuff that belongs to their victims, destroy the reputation of the nation. (Spain might have been an exception to the last rule, but that's only because of the Inquisition.)
The only thing worse than a tRump victory would be a victory by any of the republicans who are running against tRump.
You are ever so cruel. ๐
An interesting idea, but I don't see how calling them pirates would reduce their appeal to young people who think of the Pirates of the Caribbean when they hear talk of pirates.
Some idiots might pack some rum for their trip to Syria.
They're people who have learned to love war and chaos, they're still people, killing such people becomes the only civilized thing to do. Of course, if we really were civilized we'd be killing the local wanna-be pirates and armchair warriors along with the pirates of Syria. (of every violence-advocating religion, or violent cult)
I hesitated to comment on this one,
no, nothing is wrong about asking people to condemn terrorism. What's wrong is ignoring it when they do, and then claiming that they (whoever) never condemn terrorism in the first place.
We do that all the time. So do they. I think it's a human thing.
If you really want to be outraged, just compare and contrast the invasion of Afghanistan by the USA to the invasion of Afghanistan by the USSR.
Please write that up as a story, or publish someone who could write that in a decent manner.
Hmmm, maybe I should look up that paper I wrote in university way back when...
Take but degree away, untune that string,
And hark, what discord follows! each thing meets
In mere oppugnancy.
Ulysses, scene iii
If one were able to change anything in the past, everything would be changed. Including the change that was made.
It's an illogical topic, eh?
Oooo, kill Hitler as a baby. You've got to love the way the mind works at times, eh?
Let's just say that that was possible. What would have been the most likely outcome of that event? Bupkiss.
If everything else that happened over Hitler's life happened, then it would be another man who led Germany's rightwing nutters off on a mission to get revenge for the Treaty of Versailles. One who might have been a better leader, and won that war.
Heck of an idea. Really.
If you wanted to prevent the second world war, prevent the first one from happening at all. To do that, you'd need to stop the Franco-Prussian war. To stop that one well, you'd likely have needed to stop the revolutions of the 1840s as well as the Napoleonic wars. And the French Revolution, the Seven Years War, the wars of...
Damn.
"Britain launched the War of 1812 and burned down the White House"
What?!? It was President Madison who launched that war of aggression against the UK. If you'll recall, the UK was fighting a guy named Napoleon at the time when the USA decided that taking Canada would be a 'mere matter of marching'.
The fact that your White House got torched was YOUR fault.
๐
Refueling aircraft?
Wasn't it pointed out that the reason Israel couldn't strike Iran was that they didn't have refueling aircraft?
Giving weapons to help defend yourselves is quite different from giving weapons to help launch a major Middle East war.
I still think that Netanyahu is trolling everyone. Too bad that he's doing it IRL, online it might have been funny.
That is a strange thought. I have a memory of telling a politician that I though his life wasn't worth the price of a bullet. I also told him that defending his life was worth the gunpowder though, so not to take my opinion as any sort of threat.
Politicians who get assassinated are also, in some ways, martyrs. Anyone who knows anything doesn't want more of them.
Think of the pols that have been shot, even the nastiest of them get a popularity boost from an attempt. The ones who die, well, their successors usually don't cooperate with the ideals of the assassins.
I'd not want any of the bozos who are running for office to suffer as much as a hangnail. Hangovers are encouraged. ๐
You mention that Turkey might bomb their allies, is it also possible that the USA might attack Turkish forces?
Well, what's good for the goose is good for the gander, eh?
If he's going to be shutting down places of worship that are loaded for bear, I would point out that there are a few 'Christian' churches and groups that are loaded for more than mere bears.
But, of course, we all know that the Donald's just a racist blowhard, wannabe demagogue dictator. The USA isn't stupid enough to elect him to an...
Oh, crap. They are that dumb aren't they?
A non-starter. For a UN peacekeeping operation to go forward both sides have to want them, and they also have to agree to let the UN soldiers shoot at anyone who is firing.
That's just not going to happen. BDS is the best way out of the mess they're in.
Because pointing out that they're rabidly paranoid and violent neo-fascists is not good for the advertising revenues.
Is it just me, or does that map look a bit like the participants in the World Series of Baseball. (A good thing there's no Canadian sites, yet anyhow.)
Whom the gods destroy, they first make mad.
I wonder when the gods decided to destroy us all? We seem to be quite mad, and have been for quite some time now.
Seems a lot of very religious people want a holy war, maybe they could do everyone a favour and let the gods fight it for us. We should all step back and watch them go at it. Holy wars should be fought by holy beings, right?
yes, I'm being sarcastic. Sorry.
I know I'm being bad, but I couldn't help but notice that one of the signs in the video seemed to say 'repeal the pork'.
If they're so anti-Islam, shouldn't they be calling to shove pork down people's throats?
Separation of church and state is the best way... ๐
Seeing lots of solders with guns makes me feel less secure. The 'officers' you describe in this piece are soldiers, not 'officers' who knew WTF their job was.
Actually, having a 'no fly' list disciplines everyone. No one 'needs' to be on it in the first place for it to do that job. Watch your mouth, you wouldn't like to end up in jail now.
But hey, at least you can still criticize the president. for now.
Favouring one religion over another is a great way to spark a major religious war though. If you are crazy, and a fundamentalist (do I repeat myself?), then the end of the world will sound like a grande idea.
ISIS as big a threat as Nazi Germany?
Ridiculous.
The 'red line' was for the use of chemical weapons by the Syrian government, IIRC, not ISIS which is already behind the 'red line'.
It would be better if the nations in that region were the ones who were suppressing ISIS. I've read some reports that they're fueling the movement with money and weapons though. I'm not sure their neighbours want them 'contained' at all. Whatever their governments actually say.
I'd be more charitable in my opinion of her, if she had been refused a marriage license for 3 of her 4 weddings.
On religious grounds, of course.
Of course, her, and the other cafeteria Xtians, will cry about being persecuted. Jesus wept.
It's not interesting at all. It's base racism.
How many other children have been washed ashore over the last few years?
No, when the bible prohibits murder it prohibits the unlawful killing of another. Justification has nothing to do with that.
That book is filled with stories about killing people. As well as making slaves of them. Not to mention advocating a brutal form of religious rule.
Book of morals? Only if you have none.
peter foges
"Later on he could easily have ordered the bombing of the rail heads and crematoria at Auschwitz and elsewhere, thereby perhaps saving several hundred thousand Jewish lives"
Had the west done such a thing, we'd have been damned for helping Hitler kill the Jews. Less than 5% of those air-dropped bombs fell within a mile of their targets. They weren't dropping laser guided weaponry, they were dropping them blind.
Moreover, dropping bombs wouldn't have stopped them from killing the unwanted in other locations.
Could 'we' have done more to take in refugees, yes. However, nobody in 1939 expected the Holocaust to happen. Nobody.
Yes, of course. But I'm not sure if the electoral system has been rigged enough for that to happen. I doubt it could be done in by 2016, maybe by 2020.
Why rebuild when you know it's going to be attacked again in another year or two?
It's easier to blame the other, than to accept your own part in that f-up. After all, what was JEB's role in getting his brother elected in 2000? If he hadn't helped Dubya get elected, would Iraq have been invaded in the first place?
One could argue he's as responsible for the invasion of Iraq as his brother is.
"As the US Secretary of Defence, Robert S. McNamara, famously reflected: โIf weโd lost the war, weโd all have been prosecuted as war criminals.โ"
I had thought that quote was about the entire war. It wasn't just the atomic bombing that was a crime against humanity. There were some in the UK who wanted to prosecute the U-boat commanders, but were stopped when the Yanks pointed out that what the Germans had tried to do to the UK is what the USN had done to Japan.
That's the true horror of any major war, the nations involved will end up breaking any 'rules' in order to win, or survive. It happens in minor wars too, just look at what GW Bush ordered in Iraq; torture in the prisons and collective punishment in cities like Fallujah.
If you think you're being attacked, it's a simple matter to convince yourself that anything that you can use to defend yourself with is allowed, and damnable when the other side does a similar thing.
I keep on reading stories about lower fuel prices, but the price at the pump for us is about the same as it was last year.
The price of a barrel might be down, but the price of a litre is the same.
Traditional marriage has always been between one man, and all of the slaves he can afford.
Some of the slaves might have higher status than the others, but ... Yah.
When does this sectarian conflict become a religious war?
I've never respected Colin Powell. Ever since I read about him being a Major who helped whitewash the My Lai massacre.
If you want to respect someone who only follows orders, that's your call. It does put you in some disagreeable company though.