ek, how can you possibly be so callous? Does not your blood boil and you soul cry out for vengance?
Look, I’m an avid war gamer and have been for decades so I not only appreciate firepower, I admire it in the way only someone who’s never, ever worn a uniform or even owned a gun (though I am an NRA certified Pro-Marksman which means mostly that I can hit an 8 and a half by 11 inch sheet of paper more often than not from up to 10 full yards away!) can.
So you may justifiably call me under-qualified for the judgement I’m about to make.
The United States, and by extension the rest of the Western World, is a nation of cowards.
In 2012 92 people a day died in traffic accidents. You could look it up. Some were drunken assholes and some were mommies and daddies who’s families were left broken.
That’s 10 World Trade Centers a year, 30,800 all told.
Does that scare you? Have you stopped driving?
The answer is- of course not. People die every day.
So why this fetish about terrorism? Is it somehow more unexpected than that telephone pole which jumped in front of you? I lived through one of those and was lucky to do it, all it wrecked was my car (and the pole, but it deserved it’s fate, it tried to kill me).
It’s the intent ek. Looking down the barrel at your sure extinction.
Which is different from seeing the 90 mile an hour headlights heading at you on the wrong side of the road how? Yes, survived one of those too.
What bothered me the most is that the cops, in hot pursuit, adrenaline enraged, were ALSO driving down the wrong side of the highway.
Folks, driving down the wrong side of the interstate is no solution to any problem except the continuing pain of existence.
And once again we are at one of those moments where we can chose which side of the road. We know what doesn’t work. Is more of the same the solution? If you answered yes I can only suggest Albert Einstein’s College for the Congenitally Insane.
Instead I offer this- Leave. Now. We don’t need an empire and it doesn’t need us.
As for my title. I strongly suspect that momentary passions will drive the Democratic candidates (including Bernie who totally fails the squish test already despite being rock solid on other issues, who says I am not a pragmatist?) into making bellicose comments that are wrongheaded (what about insane are we not understanding?) and counter-productive.
Greetings, Professor Falken.
Hello, Joshua.
A strange game. The only winning move is not to play. How about a nice game of chess?
The whole point was to find a way to practice nuclear war without destroying ourselves. To get the computers to learn from mistakes we couldn’t afford to make. Except, I never could get Joshua to learn the most important lesson.
What’s that?
Futility. That there’s a time when you should just give up.
What kind of a lesson is that?
Did you ever play tic-tac-toe?
Yeah, of course.
But you don’t anymore.
No.
Why?
Because it’s a boring game. It’s always a tie.
Exactly. There’s no way to win. The game itself is pointless! But back at the war room, they believe you can win a nuclear war. That there can be “acceptable losses.”
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And you can consider this an open thread about tonight’s stupidity.
The “great debate” is to watch the debate or “Dr. Who.”
I can DVR either but where is the fun of that when I can get really blotto with a drinking game by taking a drink every time ISIS (ISIL, Diesh, whatever} is mentioned tonight. The stupidity that was on MSNBC today was astounding.
Did you know that the Paris attacks are all Edward Snowden’s fault??? Yup, because now those dastardly terrorists are either not using cell phones or using encryption that the NSA/FBI can’t crack. MSNBC kept dragging out a couple of war mongering hacks to spout that nonsense.
Deputy NYC Police Com. John Miller on the pre-date show babbling about how the FBI can’t crack encryption codes on new smart phones, so we can’t spy on everyone. No, John, you neocon ass, it’s so crooks can’t steal my private information. Idjut
Oh I can tweet this, too??? #DemDebate. Let’s see just how dumb this gets
And two minutes of commercials. Walmart of course
Opening statements: Bernie first
Now Hiillary
Now Hillary
Andd last, but not least, Martin
ISIS question to Hillary. ISIS cannot be contained. It must be defeated. Use diplomacy and support those who will take up the fight. this cannot be an American fight
Hillary is setting the moderator straight about the situation in Iraq when Obama took office
Martin say ISI is America’s fight. Spouts misinformation about Egyptian airline crash and paris
Bernie wants international coalition to fight ISIS.Blames vote on Iraq
Hillary responds to Bernie’s criticism of her vote
Martin responds that Iraq had consequences when US disbanded the Iraqi army.
Bernie: Middle East countries need to get boots on the ground and stand against ISIS
Hillary asked about Libya
Hillery calls North Africa- ME an Arc of Instability. Yes, and the US created it
Bernie shifts the consequences of war to caring for our vets
Hillary: term “radical Islamists” is not a helpful term. Need for respect.
Martin: Muslim Americans are our front line defense
Hillsry: AUMF needs to be updated by Congress
Bernie: need for major military reform to make it more effective and efficient
All agree about screening incoming refugees
I’m not hearing anything about getting out of the Middle East
Next topic:: Economy
Hillary: tax the wealthy more; closing loopholes
Hillary: Fix the way we negotiate drug pricing with the pharmaceutical industry
Martin: tax capital gains the way other wages are taxed, raise taxes on wealthy
Bernie: end corporate loop holes, tax wall street, tec
Healthcare
Hillary: build on and improve ACA; keep costs down
Bernie: ACA can be improved. Fix the pharmaceutical mess. All people should have healthcare. US spends too much on healthcare
Martin: doesn’t get a chance to respond
Immigration Reform:
Martin: We have been focusing border security to the exclusion of immigration. Need for comprehensive immigratikion refoem with pathway to citizenship
Hillary: Addresses presidential authority with regard to immigration.
Bernie: Need for a living wage of $15/hr. Reason for high unemployment is low waegs. Higher wages would increase jobs & help the economy
Martin: We did it in Maryland and it worked
Bernie: It works in other cities
Hillary: It doesn’t cause jobs to be lost. National minimum should be $12. Big cities could & should go higher
Wall Street/Campaign Finance
Hillary: Wall St. Billionaires already opposing her. Wants to go after hedge funds and shadow bankers
Bernie: doesn’t think her answer is good enough. Wants to break up the big banks and reinstate Glass–Steagall
Hillary: Reinstating Glass–Steagall is not good enough
Bernie: attacking taking money from big corporations to run her campaign.
Martin: I won’t be taking orders from Wall St. Calls Hillary’s proposal “weak tea”. Reinstate Glass–Steagall
Hillary: We need to look at what works. I will break up the big banks and go after the executives
Bernie: Business model of Wall. St is fraud. Wall St. representatives will not be in my cabinet
Guns
Hillary: Bernie & I have different records. Admits she made a mistake about Iraq. We should reverse the immunity of gun sellers
Bernie: refuses to reverse his decision on immunity.
Martin: Accuses Hillary of reversing her stand.
Bernie: Baltimore is not exactly the safest city. We need to work on agreement where ther is broad consensus
Hillary: There is broad consensus, 92% want gun control. We need leadership to do it
Back to Wall St.
Bernie: Hillary is influenced by Wall St. because she doesn’t think Glass–Steagall would get the job done
Hillary: Paul Krugman agrees with her
Martin: We need to protect the little guy. Agrees with Larry Sanders (who was an abomination and part of the current problems)
Question to Bernie: How are you going to deal with the conservative revolution. Bernie goes into a stump speech.
Asked about background checks for guns: more campaign speech
Asked about Hillary’s e-mails. still sick of it. We need to talk about the real issues facing America
Hillary agrees. There is a need for more Americans to be involved. Republicans are doing the opposite with voter suppression.
On-mails; after 11 hours there is no problem with her e-mails
GOP is putting forth alarming plans that are destructive
Race Relations/Policing
Martin: babbles about something he did as governor.Wouild do the same as president. Learned that black lives matter
Bernie:Reform criminal justice system. hold police responsible. Fix minimum sentencing. Reclassify marijuana
Hillary: Activism is justified on college campuses. Talks about meeting with mothers who lost their children to violence.
Sanders: Free higher education an investment. Works in Germany. Make public colleges and universities free. Lower interset rates on student debt
Martini: Need more Pell grants and block grants. Lower interest rates on education loans
Hillary: Agrees. However, tax payers should not finance Donald Trump’s kids education
Bernie: Guaranteed healthcare, regulate drug companies. Take on insurance & drug companies to contain costs
Hillary: Revolution never rose for single payer/ Best solution is fix ACA
Bernie: Expand Medicare and Medicaid. Healthcare is a right
Final Segment: What Crisis have you faced that qualifies you as president?
Hillary: Advising Obama going after bin Laden
Martin: There is no crisis at the state or local level but i have learned certain disciplines. Babbles
Bernie: Helping our veterans and writing bills passed.
Closing Statements
Martin campaigns with his stump speech. Vote for me. I need your help.
Hillary: President’s job is to help people. I will help people and work hard. Then campaigns
Bernie: Will fix the economy to help people. Then campaigns
And it’s over