Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Precious Doll
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Precious Doll »

Well, this is promising:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2018-03-28/b ... na/9596176

The last thing China wants (though I believe they would take advantage of a conflict) is a war on there doorstep, particularly one with nuclear weapons. Also forgot to mention in the post below that apparently China has been building 'camps' to house a huge influx of refugees from North Korea in the event of a war.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
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Precious Doll
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Last year I strongly believed that Trump would not launch a pre-emptive strike on North Korea. That view has now changed to more chance than not that by the end of the year he will, particularly given the changes in his administration.

The article from Newsweek is surprisingly spare. Though I suppose that it because it's based on what Castro has said.

The results of a pre-emptive strike on North Korea would not only be devastating for the people of North Korea & Seoul but other major cities throughout South Korea and Japan. Make no mistake the two countries that North Koreans have had drummed into them are the ultimate enemies are the U.S. and Japan. Not helping is that China has cordial but hardly close relations with Japan. The grudges from WW2 still run deep amongst the ruling class of China.

The very thought of nuclear warheads, even smaller ones, dropped on Seoul, Pyongyang, Busan, Tokyo, Kyoto is simply beyond comprehension. It will be a humanitarian crisis that the world has not seen since WW2. It's also no wonder China tries to keep on the good side of North Korea because Shanghai & Beijing are both within easy striking distance. Nothing worse than a cornered nation has nothing to loose because they will even potentially lash out at their only alley (China).

To make matters worse there is nothing any of them can do. Japan has a missile defence system but to date have not used it when North Korea flies missiles over their territory. Two reasons for this. One because they don't want to escalate the situation with North Korea. The second is way more disturbing. The is only something like a 1 in 4 or 1 in 5 chances that the missile defence system would even work and that primary reason Japan hasn't used it is because the domestic issues that will cause the Japanese Government with the general population.

Also, a conflict in this area of the world, even a relative 'minor' one opens up the doors for other countries to enact illegal and immoral actions themselves whilst the worlds attention is focused on a ramifications of a limited nuclear exchange.

Russia is eager to have the Baltic states back in it's control, as is China with Taiwan. This would also give China an opportunity to become more hardline with Hong Kong.

There is also the economic fallout from this which will be global and could be the tipping point to another GFC, which is inevitable anyway.

Not to mention the highly possible isolation of the U.S. from the rest of the human race. Trump has recently started a trade war which is an incredibly stupid thing to do. The rest of the world can adjust itself over time and deal between themselves. Isolationism doesn't work in the 21th Century. Just ask North Korea who would be fucked if it wasn't for China.

I think the only thing that may stop Trump and his friends for this week is the fact that so many Americans, both military and civilians are in South Korea (and Japan) at any given time. It is virtually impossible to evacuate them without the South Korean's knowledge and I think this is probably the only dilemma that Trump faces.
"I want cement covering every blade of grass in this nation! Don't we taxpayers have a voice anymore?" Peggy Gravel (Mink Stole) in John Waters' Desperate Living (1977)
Greg
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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TRUMP IS ‘DETERMINED’ TO ‘GO TO WAR WITH NORTH KOREA’ IN CONFLICT THAT COULD KILL ‘MILLIONS,’ SAYS LEADING DEMOCRAT:

Representative Joaquin Castro, a top Democrat on the Foreign Affairs Committee, said Tuesday that he believes President Donald Trump is determined to launch a war with North Korea. Castro made the comments in the aftermath of Trump tapping former ambassador to the United Nations John Bolton as his national security adviser to replace the departing H.R. McMaster. Bolton has argued that it is “perfectly legitimate” for the United States to launch a preemptive strike against North Korea.“I just think that this president, based on everything that I've seen and heard, is determined at some point to go to war with North Korea," Castro said on MSNBC’s Morning Joe. Castro added that the appointment of Bolton "is an affirmation of that.”Castro then laid out what he sees as the stark dangers of a conflict with North Korea. “You’re talking about at minimum hundreds of thousands of people dead, if not millions of people,” he said. “That’s what’s at stake here.”. . .

http://www.newsweek.com/trump-north-kor ... ton-861716
Big Magilla
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Very hopeful. No more trying to win the cold, cold hearts of the deadhead congress and the fake president. "Vote them out!" is trhe only way to go.
The Original BJ
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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I marched in LA. (Right next to, randomly, Marisa Tomei!)

Hugely inspiring to see the number of young people out there, who are, quite frankly, humiliating the NRA (and the elected GOP officials) in a way we haven’t really seen before on this issue. There just isn’t really a way to fight against these children demanding something as simple as the right to survive without coming off like a complete asshole, and the kids are so obviously winning this battle in the court of public opinion. (Hopefully, that will translate to winning at the ballot box in a few months.)
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Because they had the courtesy to schedule the march just blocks from where I live, I abandoned my traditional root-from-the-couch position and joined the crowd in NY today. People, as they say, as far as the eye can see. Proud to be a small part of the number.

Thing that choked me up: Paul McCartney, in the march near the Park, says "One of my best friends was killed by gun violence right around here".
Big Magilla
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Big Magilla »

Yes, and John Bolton as National Security Advisor just about guarantees that the freak show we've been living with for the last two years has been just the beginning. The end of the world could well be at hand.
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Mike Pompeo, Trump’s pick for secretary of state, talks about politics as a battle of good and evil:

"President Donald Trump’s Cabinet is full of evangelicals, many of whom seek to bring a specifically Christian perspective to social issues from abortion to LGBTQ rights to health care. But the addition of CIA Director Mike Pompeo — who is set to replace Rex Tillerson as secretary of state after Tillerson’s shock Twitter firing — could bring an unsettlingly theocratic attitude to America’s foreign policy.

That Pompeo is an evangelical Christian is, on its face, not particularly notable; 25 percent of Americans are. But Pompeo’s specific brand of evangelical Christianity, with its insistence on seeing Muslim-Christian relations as an apocalyptic holy war, makes him an unnerving choice for such a senior foreign policy position."

https://www.vox.com/identities/2018/3/1 ... -christian
Sabin
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Sabin »

That's one check in the left column for Kirsten Gillibrand. One in the right column is her support for Andrew Cuomo today, which is getting substantially more news.

I wasn't excited at all at the prospect of a Kirsten Gillibrand presidential candidacy but she's been a very interesting politician. She's carved out several progressive positions designed to win over voters like me, but she doesn't give the impression of being pushed like Hillary Clinton. She's backed Medicare for All, renounced corporate contributions, and now government jobs. The only downside is I do wonder how much she will stick to these positions if elected. She is also the politician the most at the forefront of the #MeToo movement, which I suspect will be a double-edged sword politically. Trump's insinuating tweet about how she would do "anything" for money frames her in a particularly gratifying lens to defeat him, but her encouraging of Al Franken to resign before an investigation made me uncomfortable. And I largely support the movement.

The only prediction I'll make about the 2020 primary is that it's going to be very crowded, but I like that Kirsten Gillibrand is running like she means it.
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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Here is a potentially-very-interesting development for the 2020 Democratic Presidential Nomination:

"For decades, the idea of government-guaranteed jobs for all Americans has stalked the outer edges of political debate. It has been promoted by labor unions and has ideological support among some progressive thinkers, but in recent years hasn’t been seen as a mainstream policy issue for the Democratic party. Now, that may be changing.

Senator Kirsten Gillibrand told The Nation she supports a government-backed jobs guarantee. 'Guaranteed jobs programs, creating floors for wages and benefits, and expanding the right to collectively bargain are exactly the type of roles that government must take to shift power back to workers and our communities,' she said. 'Corporate interests have controlled the agenda in Washington for decades so we can’t tinker at the margins and expect to rebuild the middle class and stamp out inequality. We need to get back to an economy that rewards workers, not just shareholder value and CEO pay.' "

https://www.thenation.com/article/why-d ... guarantee/
Sabin
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

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If there was ever a moment in my life when I wish the Me from ten years ago could see what I'm doing now, it would be ten seconds ago when I googled: "Donald Trump Space Force."
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Greg »

Trump just fired Secretary Of State Tillerson. Apparently, Tillerson found out about this from one of Trump's Tweets. Considering that Trump has treated his own staff with more contempt and disrespect than any President in modern history, I can only imagine the tell-all books that will be coming out, non-disclosure agreements, if any, be damned. If I had Tillerson's money and was treated like this, even if I had signed and NDA, I would still spill my guts and just dare Trump to sue me.
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Big Magilla »

All the coverage of this jackass is obscuring a truly horrible bit of news that has gotten scant attention in the last few days.

Russia allegedly vetoed Trump's selection of Romney for Secretary of State, delighted that he made a last minute switch to Russia's favorite oil guy, Tillerson. Both Trump and Tillerson have failed to impose the sanctions demanded by Congress. That's high treason if it can be proven and all that is needed to prove Trump was a witting tool of a foreign country.

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Okri
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by Okri »

Not gonna lie, couldn't even finish the Tur interview without wanting to reach through my monitor and <insert random violent act here>. She should be canonized for that.
flipp525
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Re: Everything Is Great and Amazing

Post by flipp525 »

Okri wrote:I'd like to congratulate Katy Tur on that. Holy fucking shit.
Did you see his insane interview on Ari Melber’s “The Beat” at 6pm? It was incredible.
Last edited by flipp525 on Tue Mar 06, 2018 7:46 am, edited 1 time in total.
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