Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread [5]

[azriel]

None of us want half the things that happen here (UK) To me, its all done & dusted. Government has made its mind up about what IT wants 5-10yrs into the future. They give us little scraps to chew on, like voting, to makes us feel we are helping to make decisions that will help run this country.....like Hell ! Government are clever enough at manipulation. They make you feel as though they understand you etc etc, like Hell ! No one watches my back, no one gives a toss if I live to be 100 yrs or die tonight. I'm a number, your a number, all us numbers are calculated on how much production we can generate. We should be bar coded when born. That's all we are, a means to an end, & not the end we want.

[malickfan]

Anyone else getting slightly more concerned about North Korea after today's developments?

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/north-korea-nuclear-latest-warhead-missile-report-miniature-us-intelligence-a7883101.html

https://www.cnbc.com/2017/08/08/trump-warns-north-korea-threats-will-be-met-with-fire-and-fury.html

I'm not necessarily convinced Kim Jong Un would be insane enough to actual order a nuclear attack, but tensions between North Korea and the USA haven't been this high for many years and I'm beginning to think something or someone is going to snap...and frankly Trump's boisterous attitude over Korea in recent weeks (not to mention the reports of his general incompetence as a leader, divided cabinet and declining domestic support...) does make you wonder who would actually trigger a hypothetical second conflict on the Korean Peninsula, Trump's phrasing certainly implies he'd be willing to order a nuclear strike (or at least pretending he would be...) and that is in itself a terrifying thought.

Also makes you wonder if this is just a distraction announcement, perhaps another big Trump administration leak is imminent...

*Shit, just read that the President apparently has complete unilateral control to order a nuclear strike without the backing of Congress or the Chiefs of Staff...well, that's slightly worrying...

[Mrs Figg]

yep its bloody scary.


if we have nuclear armageddon before the end of Game of Thrones I will be truly pissed off. 

[halfwise]

Well to be clear, the only way nuclear deterrence works is if both sides are convinced the other side will pull the trigger in response to a first strike. I'm not saying Trump isn't an incompetent bozo, but even if he wasn't, his duty is to promise retaliation.

[malickfan]

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/donald-trump-north-korea-latest-nuclear-war-kim-jong-un-god-given-authority-robert-jeffress-white-a7883746.html

[halfwise]

Ok....now I'm scared.

[malickfan]

Ok....now I'm scared.

I'm just utterly baffled that the President has 'evangelical advisers' (not least because I doubt Trump is a christian) for a nation that preaches a separation of Church and State right wing Christians do seem to have a disturbing amount of lobbying power, most UK Prime Ministers have been religious but if they openly invoked religious beliefs or banged on about church every five minutes they'd be laughed out of office, the UK is predominately Christian in name only these days, the vast majority of my peers are atheists...

[halfwise]

As long as we're on the topic:

https://www.yahoo.com/news/david-letterman-once-gave-trump-091804122.html

[halfwise]

"Spiritual Advisor" is not an official role. It's sort of like mentioning someone's doctor. But yeah, the separation of church and state has never been seen here as a way to ignore religion, rather as a way not to trample on it.

[halfwise]

https://www.popsugar.com/news/Donald-Trump-Kim-Jong-un-Hair-Swap-Meme-43868468?hl=1&noRedirect=1

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ So Trump finally responds to the white supremacists, two days late and off a pre written tele-prompter before exiting without any questions.
Didn't Trump used to berate Obama for using pre-scripted speeches off teleprompters?
And whilst Trump might have used the right words this time it all smacked to me watching it, off a little boy being forced to apologise and getting it over with as quick as they can. What it did not seem was sincere, just expediency.

What I dont get is why Trump is so unwilling to call them out- not like e is shy with his twitter opinions. They do make up a portion of his base as he did appeal to them in his campaign. 'America First' sounded very much like 'Whites First' to certain ears that's clear enough. And Trump having spent the previous Presidents entire term trying to undermine the black guy in the White House as not being a real America probably helped there. But they are a tiny percentage of the voting populace- seems to me Trump risks losing far more than he gains with his attitude to these groups. }}}

[Pettytyrant101]

{{open question- has Trump finally crossed a line for fellow Republicans?}}

[Eldorion]

It'd be nice to think so but I'm not sure. It's been my impression for a while that most GOP politicians are too worried about the electoral costs of provoking (more) infighting with their base to do more than finger-wag at Trump. But on the other hand, Charlottesville does seem to have been a genuine moment of reckoning for some people. Maryland's Republican governor reversed his stance on removing Confederate monuments this week, though he's not representative of national Republicans on many issues.

[David H]

{{open question- has Trump finally crossed a line for fellow Republicans?}}

I'd say not. Avoiding taking a strong position is usually a safe move for any politician. He seems to be getting criticism from both sides, so I'd guess this is just going to add a bit more to the slow decline in confidence in this presidency. We'll see, but I think Trump is a tire with a slow leak.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{{you've got to laugh! }}}

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I see there has been another police shooting in the US, this one on a campus-

'A student at the Georgia Institute of Technology died early Sunday after police shot him on campus the previous evening -- when they said he refused officers’ orders to drop a knife he was holding.'

Now what I will never understand is why the US tolerates a police force who bring guns to a knife fight? Its not like in today's tech is at all necessary to protect yourself.





Seems to me the problem with US cops is when facing any threat at all, no matter the level, their first line of response is to open fire, when it should be at the end of a very long list of other options to try first. }}

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