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@ILikePie5
Ron can’t win the Rust Belt.
Why not? What is lacking in appeal to the Rust Belt?
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@coal
->@oromagiAny law making people recite an affirmation of a single, present deity is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Better to toss that silly pledge written by a newspaper out the window and if any pledge seems necessary, write one that adheres more closely to the spirit of our Constitution.The words "under God" were added to the pledge of allegiance during the Cold War to distinguish the United States from the Soviet Union. It was, oddly enough, during that same time that the United States' closest alliances with the Muslim world were formed.The idea was, from the Capitol to the CIA, that the Christian West and Muslim East shared a common opposition to godless, atheistic communism that was as destructive to Christianity as it was to Islam. As "men of the book," their interests in preventing their religion from being driven from this earth was shared and existential. That was at least the thinking in Washington, Riyadh and Tehran at the time. Strange to conceive of all three as allies now, but once we were all on the same team.
While I'd agree that offering counterpoint to the state atheism of the Communist Bloc was certainly one argument favoring the addition, I'm skeptical that the Daughters of the American Revolution were thinking about their fellowship with the Muslim world when they awarded Louis Bowman for coming up with the notion. I'm sure Eisenhower had the bigger picture in mind but made no mention of the Sons of Ishmael at the 1954 ceremony signing the "under God" bill into law:
"In this way we are reaffirming the transcendence of religious faith in America's heritage and future; in this way we shall constantly strengthen those spiritual weapons which forever will be our country's most powerful resource, in peace or in war."
the United States does not compel its citizens' allegiance any more than it compels recitation of any pledge.
Except the presidential oath of office and Article IV of the Constitution which requires that members of Congress, state legislatures, and all executive and judicial officers are to be bound by oath to uphold the Constitution and all branches of the US military likewise require the same oath. By any road, an oath is a solemn pledge but of course all such offices are held voluntarily (except drafted soldiers which we haven't done since Vietnam).
You do not have to say the pledge. Laws requiring any compelled speech are themselves unconstitutional, not for violating the establishment or free exercise clauses; but for intruding onto the domain of free thought (i.e., the principle behind each of the rights protected by the First Amendment). So your point is moot. There is no law compelling anyone to recite the pledge of allegiance. You can do it. Or not. It is your choice. The government cannot compel you to do otherwise.
Well, that has not always been true. Mandatory pledges were popular and seldom challenged during the WWI Era and the Supreme Court ruled as recently as 1940 in Minersville School District v. Gobitis, that public schools could compel Jehovah's Witnesses to recite the pledge. The Court reversed that 3 years later in West Virginia State Board of Education v. Barnette specifically relying on the Free Speech clause which set the standard that the government may not compel the pledge from students although the demarcation line for "compulsion" is a rather restless front. New laws and new legal challenges seem to pop up every year or two. It is still true in several places that State government can compel you to recite the pledge if you are a student lacking your parent's permission.
So while I'd agree generally that the govt. does not compel the pledge, I'd hardly call my point, which was that pledging to flags was silly and the whole thing needs a rewrite, moot.
Off topic, I'm also a little skeptical about placing Washington and Tehran on the same team in in 1954, considering the CIA's 1953 overthrow of the democratically elected Prime Minister to prevent oil nationalization. I mean, I'm sure the Shah and the clerics were relatively pro-US in 1954 but can we really say that the people of Tehran were our friends after we imprisoned Time's Man of the Year 1951 and the new govt was still executing his ministers?
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@Wylted
Democracy,the institution that brought you slavery, 9/11 and men getting their dicks cut off and being called heroes for it.
Yah, cuz Kings never gave us slavery, terrorism or eunuchs.
(TBH, I don't know what you're referring to with that last point but I'm confident that it is irrelevant.)
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@Wylted
I think Augustus caesar did a better job than any democratic institutions could with the hand he was dealt.
Tell that to Cicero. Tell that to Cato. Tell that to Jesus (not to suggest that you two ever might meet).
Also like it or not, democracy invites undemocratic people to be a part of the process in determining how government should be ran.
Well, we don't muzzle them or anything but we can express our contempt for their weakness.
Look, nobody would ask Augustus his philosophy of parliamentary procedure anymore than anybody would ask Trump because the answer with dictators is always locked in and always the same: "whatever makes me king"
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@Wylted
If I was in Senate, I would only sign this if point number 3 is removed.Just noticed number 5Number 5 is stupid also. We don't need more apathetic voters. Only ugh people who give. Fuck about policy should vote
But as we have already established, you think American values are "shitty" and oppose democratic institutions like the Senate in favor of dictatorship for all, right?
Why don't you leave the discussion of free and fair elections to the people who actually believe in elections and when we want some advice on craven capitulation to authority or how to kowtow to Grand Wizards, we'll be sure to ask for your feedback.
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@Unpopular
@oromagi1. Make election day a public holidayI do not see the need for this, it wouldn't help many of the people who struggle the most to vote. People who get off for federal holidays are public employees, like workers at schools, banks, and government jobs where they do not usually work late hours and have paid time off, and those people usually have transportation to voting sites. What happens when schools are off, is parents can't find childcare for their kids sometimes making it even harder to vote.
I think childcare is a good point while also noting that many large polling places already offer childcare. Further, a huge amount of voting happens at public schools where small spaces are partitioned off for election days. If the schools were closed, there might be more space for accommodating voters. The objective here is to get rid of the 8 hour lines for voting and particularly the traffic jam that develops in the couple of hours between the end of work and the closing of polls. Hopefully, the bank and public employees would be more likely to go earlier in the day, improving poll availability for those minwage workers who get no holidays or time off from work.
3. Ban partisan gerrymandering and use computer models.I do not see how people can argue with this.
and yet partisan gerrymandering is the strongest tentpole left in the Republican party's circus. GOP control in Congress is entirely built on unrepresentative partitioning. There has never been a time in the last century when registered Republicans outnumbered registered Democrats, so the GOP is fundamentally structured on unrepresentative voting.
A GOP congressman has implied that his party’s path to commanding a majority in the House of Representatives is through manipulating congressional districts, known as gerrymanderingRep Ronny Jackson was speaking at a conservative conference hosted by Faith & Freedom Coalition on 18 June about the Republican party’s future and the upcoming 2022 midterm elections. It was caught on video as he seemed to hint that gerrymandering was a method his party was relying on to “get back the House”.Democrats took control of the House in the 2018 midterms, and as Mr Jackson acknowledged they retained it in 2020, despite Republicans gaining a few seats, which therefore weakened the Democrats’ majority.Gerrymandering is a method of drawing up voting districts in an effort to create a political advantageous geographic area.The representative for Texas’ 13th Congressional District said, "We have redistricting coming up and the Republicans control most of that process in most of the states around the country," he told the audience. "That alone should get us the majority back.”
The majority of congressmen, that is. Never, ever a majority of Americans
4. Require voter ID with allowable alternatives (utility bill, etc.) to prove identity to voteMinimal ID should be fine, but if I have a utility bill how can I prove my name is the same name on the bill? A lot of people who have no ID have no utilities. It's homeless people, or maybe some teens without a license, but this looks like a funny compromise that doesn't serve much purpose.
the GOP theory is that people without ID all vote democrat anyway so requiring ID filters out democratic voters. To that end, in some states, a handgun license or concealed carry permit is a valid ID but a state university photo ID is not permitted. Dems generally have opposed any voterID but at least this law would allow some non-partisan standardization.
5. Automatic registration through DMV, with option to opt out.I do not see a problem with this if it is through the DMV, because you're already proving your identification there, and the opt out option is good. What about states where they want to give drivers licenses to non citizens?
Such licenses are already required by Fed law to be clearly marked as "Not valid for Federal identification, voting, or public benefit purposes"
7. Prohibit providing false information about elections to hinder or discourage voting and increases penalties for voter intimidation.How would this be enforced?
Mostly under existing voter intimidation laws. Most of the small scale stuff is already illegal but this would address deliberately false info on a national scale, Donald Trump's false claims about mail-in voting before 2020, for example.
9. Require the Election Assistance Commission to develop model training programs and award grants for training.What is this?
Require the Federal Commission tasked with promoting election guidelines, training, certifications to actually develop a plan to do so and disperse federal funds to states for such tasks. The Republican majority commission has been negligent in its responsibilities since 2015 and has been under court injunction since 2017, leaving states to to take up the slack.ation derived from state and federal documents.
As long as they are accurate, ok
12. Establish standards for election vendors based on cybersecurity concerns.Very important! We need to have faith in our elections!
That's the EAC above's job which they have actively refused since Republicans took over. It is convenient that Republican both complain about election vendors while actively blocking standards, testing, and certification. If Republicans were forced to do their job, then they couldn't make complaints about Dominion voting machines without answering why they certified the machines to begin with.
13. Allow provisional ballots to count for all eligible races regardless of precinct.Will have to look more into this- depends on voting security and accessibility
That is, if you got your polling place wrong and voted anyway rather than going to the right place to vote, your vote still counts on election day (instead of only counting if the race is close and contested). Personally, I'd rather get voting wait times down to short or nothing and then when people show up at the wrong poll, tell them to vote at the right place (and provide transportation assistance if needed).
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@fauxlaw
I'm convinced it was the Chinese government, and some other willing players I will not mention who developed and released it to weaken the West; the US in particular.
I don't think we have resolved COVID's origin story but that's a long ways away from "China did it on purpose." I think anyone who has studied the traumatic impact of the first SARS epidemic on China would be skeptical that China would deliberately re-invoke that disease for political gain.
Being unwilling to mention players likewise smacks of conspiracy theory nonsense.
I've seen a lot of theory and rhetoric but nothing like hard evidence supporting this claim (but yes, let's agree that China's lack of openness and suspicion of any outside influence is the primary obstacle to continuing research regarding origin). What evidence has convinced you?
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@Unpopular
Greatest is pretty subjective but I don't think there's much question that the oldest and most influential democracy in the world , the most profound example of liberty and equality succeeding in the most heterogeneous culture in history, the inventor and master of the modern global economy, the most powerful military in human history has to be recognized as "greatest." The world learns to speak English because Americans speak English. The world trades in dollars because Americans back the dollar. The world spends its days looking at itself on screens- TV, PC, phones invented by Americans and on which American culture increasingly defines world culture. The world dreams of democracy because Americans made democracy work. The world hopes for peace and prosperity so long as America persists.
USA. USA. USA.
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@fauxlaw
so let's ask you directly, call it a straw poll of one
DeSantis- Yale History, Harvard Law, Navy Seal, popular Gov of critical swing state
vs.
Trump- most prolific liar in human history, Russian stooge, famous idiot
Where do you come down?
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@Theweakeredge
@oromagiI don't really see any major flaws here - I actually think the plan's a good one - are there any bits here that you don't like or something you would want to add?
It's more the stuff we had to give up on
- same day voter registration and registration correction
- online voter registration and registration correction
- the voter purging is a big one- essentially states with GOP Secretaries of State have been purging between Presidential elections- so if you voted in 2020 but don't vote in 2022, a Republican will look at your registration and make a judgement based on perceived race- if your name sound white enough you can stay but if your name sounds non-white, Republicans will probably toss you out and you will have to re-register before voting in 2024. Voting purging overseen by George Bush's older brother in Florida in 2000 was the principle cause of Bush's win and with that win 9/11, the War in Afghanistan, the Gulf War, Katrina, etc.
- The purge system in Florida proceeded on the premise of guilty until proven innocent. In 1998, the Florida legislature enacted a statute that required the Division of Elections to contract with a private entity to purge its voter file of deceased persons, duplicate registrants, individuals declared mentally incompetent, and convicted felons without civil rights restoration, i.e., remove ineligible voter registrants from voter registration rolls. This purge process became known as list maintenance. Once on the list, the process places the burden on the eligible voter to justify remaining on the voter rolls. The ubiquitous errors and dearth of effective controls in the state’s list maintenance system resulted in the exclusion of voters lawfully entitled and properly registered to vote.
- African American voters were placed on purge lists more often and more erroneously than Hispanic or white voters. For instance, in the state’s largest county, Miami-Dade, more than 65 percent of the names on the purge list were African Americans, who represented only 20.4 percent of the population. Hispanics were 57.4 percent of the population, but only 16.6 percent of the purge list; whites were 77.6 percent of the population but 17.6 percent of those purged.
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The Western Conservative Summit, an annual gathering of conservatives in Denver, was a scaled-back event this year, but that didn’t stop it from making headlines on Monday.
In a straw poll conducted at the summit, 371 attendees were asked who they would vote for in the 2024 presidential election, and out of 31 potential Republican and Democratic candidates, Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis finished at the top.
Western Conservative Summit 2021 non-partisan approval voting poll results:
1. Ron DeSantis - 74.12%
2. Donald Trump - 71.43%
3. Ted Cruz - 42.86%
4. Mike Pompeo - 39.35%
5. Tim Scott 35.58%
If Trump want to maintain his current domination of the Republican Party, it looks like he's going to have to take out the Governor of his own home state.
Naturally, I'm no fan of DeSantis's governorship but I have to believe that a guy who holds a bachelor's from Yale in history and a Harvard law degree would make a improvement in intellect over Trump and I have to believe that a Seal Team One member who fought at the 2nd Battle of Fallujah would make an improvement in loyalty to country over Trump. I'll hope that Republicans lose generally but I certainly would like to see a better Republican shut out of that party the worst American citizen ever.
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Nobody can deny that the Democrats have come more than halfway on the two major bills before Congress right now. Today is the first and largest test of Republicans willingness to actually do the job they were elected for.
Yesterday, Barack Obama threw his support behind Joe Manchin's scaled back voting rights compromise that must pass Republican filibuster today. Following Stacey Abrams endorsement last week, Obama is giving in on two long held principled objections to National VoterID and voter roll purging.
From this point forward, the only reason that VoterID, which enjoys 80% support nationally (84% minority voter support)is not law is Republican pigheadedness and pantswetting over Trump's stranglehold on the party apparatus. If Republicans block this bill today, Republicans will have unarguably justified the structural changes Democrats are considering to regain America's capacity to make law- first and foremost shifting the filibuster.
Here are the main points of Manchin's compromise bill:
1. Make election day a public holiday
2. Mandate at least 15 consecutive days of early voting for federal elections
(include 2 weekends)
3. Ban partisan gerrymandering and use computer models.
4. Require voter ID with allowable alternatives (utility bill, etc.) to prove
identity to vote
5. Automatic registration through DMV, with option to opt out.
6. Require states to promote access to voter registration and voting for persons
with disabilities and older individuals.
7. Prohibit providing false information about elections to hinder or discourage
voting and increases penalties for voter intimidation.
8. Require states to send absentee by mail ballots to eligible voters before an
election if voter is not able to vote in person during early voting or election
day due to eligible circumstance and allow civil penalty for failure.
9. Require the Election Assistance Commission to develop model training
programs and award grants for training.
10.Require states to notify an individual, not later than 7 seven days before
election, if his/her polling place has changed.
- Absentee ballots shall be carried expeditiously and free of postage.
- Require the Attorney General to develop a state-based response system
and hotline that provides information on voting.
11. Allow for maintenance of voter rolls by utilizing information derived from
state and federal documents.
12. Establish standards for election vendors based on cybersecurity concerns.
13. Allow provisional ballots to count for all eligible races regardless of
precinct.
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@fauxlaw
@FLRWClearly, Melania disdains communism,
Does she? I've never heard her speak about economics, period. I do note that her father, VIctor Knavs, was a member of the ruling Communist Party of Yugoslavia and worked for that Party as a manager of state-run car dealership- no minor position in Tito's Yugoslavia.
Trump's first father-in-law, Miloš Zelníček, was also a card carrying member of the Communist Party of Czechoslavakia. Declassified STB (Czech Intelligence) files now reveal that Czechoslovakia was intensely interested in Trump's career beginning in 1977. Zelnicek secretly informed the Czech government of Trump's doings and particularly advised whenever Trump's three children came to Czechoslovakia for the summers.
Ivana, Ivanka, Don Jr., Eric, and Melania all speak Russian fairly well. Trump's Russian is not very good by all accounts.
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@fauxlaw
@oromagi
I saw nor heard any shots at anybody.
I'm not surprised. American Right-wing media stopped reporting American victories over Russia pretty immediately after Trump took office.
Biden is probably incapable of shooting anybody, even his own foot.
On May 13th, 6 days after the Colonial Pipeline attack, Biden publicly confirmed Darkside as the Russian pirates responsible and suggested the US would take action to disrupt their activities and the 780th Military Intelligence Brigade out of Ft. Meade immediately attacked the Darkside server and the 3 major clusters of machines involved with attacks on the US UNC2628, UNC2659, and UNC2465, successfully locking Darkside out of its own data servers, fund servers, client lists, hacked data caches, webservers, and bitcoin account. The Dept. of Justice announced it had successfully recovered 63.7 of the 75 bitcoins paid in ransom. Bitcoin dropped about 40% over the next couple of days as the news sunk in that the US has the ability to trace and impound bitcoin transactions- costing cybercriminals, blackmailers, extortionists and Republicans billions of dollars in bitcoin value. Tesla stopped accepting bitcoin as legal currency the next day.
Biden has not closed the back door by any means, That is a Biden failure. Trump is no longer the President. So, celebrate
We should celebrate that Trump is no longer President. Darkside was responsible for 70 or so successful large ransomware attacks in the last 4 months of Trump's presidency and reports suggests that many corporate cybersecurity firms were reluctant to report or work with Trump's Dept. of Justice since that agency has demonstrated a reluctance to prosecute any Russian attacks. Trump begged Russia to hack American servers "Russia, are you listening?" and when the DoJ reported that Russia had hacked into US election databases in 2016 Trump publicly denied the truth told by his own government and preferred to believe his best friend and pirate-in-chief Putin. It goes without saying that Trump took no action in response to the wave of cyberattacks (probably hoping to benefit electorally).
There have been no further attacks by Darkside or those three cluster of servers anywhere in the world since Biden ordered them shut down.
When Putin met Biden last week and drew a line around the cybersecurity of American infrastructure, he did so with the knowledge that the US Army can shut down sophisticated cybernetworks within Russian domains and trace the cryptocurrencies of modern crime without being detected. Putin and Trump must now be wondering what other Russian-American conduits have been less secret than previously supposed.
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Gun N' Roses
Foo Fighters
Bon Jovi
Maroon 5
Yes
AC/DC
Dave Matthews
Nickelback
Motley Crue
Garth Brooks
Rihanna
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FIREFLIES in the GARDEN
Here come real stars to fill the upper skies,
That though they never equal stars in size,
(And they were never really stars at heart)
Achieve at times a very star-like start.
Only, of course, they can't sustain the part.
-Robert Frost
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Shall I compare thee to a summer’s day?
Thou art more lovely and more temperate:
Rough winds do shake the darling buds of May,
And summer’s lease hath all too short a date;
Sometime too hot the eye of heaven shines,
And often is his gold complexion dimm'd;
And every fair from fair sometime declines,
By chance or nature’s changing course untrimm'd;
But thy eternal summer shall not fade,
Nor lose possession of that fair thou ow’st;
Nor shall death brag thou wander’st in his shade,
When in eternal lines to time thou grow’st:
So long as men can breathe or eyes can see,
So long lives this, and this gives life to thee.
-William Shakespeare
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@fauxlaw
@oromagiSo, it's okay to remind Putin?So, it's okay to ramble on Trump, because he can take it [TLDR], but Biden is weak, so let's cut him a break?So, it's okay to pontificate, and it comes down to just that? It takes so much blab to justify Biden?Somebody has has a nose pushed out of shape, and it's all just snot.
The TL;DR is that your boy was treasonously soft on Putin, don't waste your time trying to scapegoat GOP's spectacular foreign policy failures on Biden. Trump left the back door to the store unlocked for Putin, Biden just advised Putin that the door is locked again and trespassers will be shot.
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Summer in Winter in Summer
The bottom teeth of summer
in winter, braided into
whomever stood on the green green bridge watching her shadow lengthen.
Sun-pocket. Sunflower. Seedling, you
brittle blossoming something the room clears of dailyness.
Daily, the bottom teeth of summer
in winter, chewing through
ropes, raree show rapunzeled, which is realism
like this that there can be. These are really happened
tell me again stories I will. I will again against it.
Diving bell in a glass of water. Cacti atmosphere.
A perfect piece of pink cake
complicating perfection’s tendency to falter.
Who left it on the counter? Who walked through the room
as though through a composition? The speaker enters quietly,
closes a window, clearing dust from the chair
to sit in the center of the poem, invigorated
with inky awkward blankness.
The bottom teeth of summer
in winter chattering: here’s the moon. Here’s the moon
splashed over two dozen calendars. Here, the kids are grown.
The day is long. The bed, wide as a battleship, waits
in its buoyancy. Imagine a life and live in it. Imagine dead as ever
walking a cut lily back to water. Crazy epic crazier still trying
to put down roots. Summer in winter like a speaker
in water. The loudest electric sound is nothing compared
to the soundest perforation. My paper life. My paper doll.
Your paper boy. Sun sun sunflower seed summer you
can say you love in a poem’s inky blank awkwardness
your paper boy. Sun sun sunflower seed summer you
to the soundest perforation. My paper life. My paper doll
in water. The loudest electric sound is nothing compared
to put-down roots. Summer in winter like a speaker
walking a cut lily back to water. Crazy epic crazier still trying
in its buoyancy. Imagine a life and live in it. Imagine dead as ever
the day is long. The bed, wide as a battleship, waits,
splashed over two dozen calendars. Here, the kids are grown
in winter chattering: here’s the moon. Here’s the moon.
The bottom teeth of summer
with inky awkward blankness
to sit in the center of the poem, invigorated,
closes a window, clearing dust from the chair.
As though through a composition, the speaker enters. Quietly,
who left it on the counter? Who walked through the room
complicating perfection’s tendency to falter.
A perfect piece of pink cake.
Diving bell in a glass of water. Cacti atmosphere,
tell me again stories I will I will. Again, against it
like this that there can be. These are really happened
ropes, raree show rapunzeled. Which is realism
in winter: Chewing through
daily the bottom teeth of summer?
Brittle blossoming something the room clears of dailyness?
Sun-pocket. Sunflower. Seedling, you
whomever stood on the green green bridge watching her shadow lengthen
in winter, braided into
the bottom teeth of summer.
-Noah Eli Gordon
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Summer Stars
Bend low again, night of summer stars.
So near you are, sky of summer stars,
So near, a long-arm man can pick off stars,
Pick off what he wants in the sky bowl,
So near you are, summer stars,
So near, strumming, strumming,
So lazy and hum-strumming.
-Carl Sandburg
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That's Biden's approach to peace through strength: give concessions. You know, kind of like giving Putin open season on a pipeline to Germany, but shut down ours. Maybe we could cede Alaska back to Russia?
So before the pipeline was built and while almost all but the last 5% was built, Trump made no objection. But now when the thing is built and paid for, now Republicans would like to scapegoat Biden for all that Russian dick Trump sucked? No way. If it is on Biden to object to the last 5% than it is on Trump for bowing to Putin the first 19 times the pipeline grew by five percent. Trump let Putin build that pipeline and since its far too late for any real objection in 2021, history will lay 100% of America's doughy response to that pipeline upon our doughiest donut of a president, Trump.
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The Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA) was established by (Republican controlled) Congress and signed into law by Donald Trump in 2018. The 16 sectors of Critical Infrastructure were developed by that law and have been published online since inception.
Whatever your machine of perpetual misinformation might tell you, the list Biden gave Putin is well publicized, quite general, and intuitively sensible.
This is Biden giving Putin fair warning after Russia's recent attacks on our Energy and Agriculture Sectors- any Russian based cyberattack on American assets in these areas will be responded to as direct attacks on America by Russia- as if Russia blew up a dam or bombed one of our airbases. Too bad Trump never thought to establish such obvious limits with his chum Putin.
Critical Infrastructure Sectors
- Chemical Sector
- Commercial Facilities Sector
- Communications Sector
- Critical Manufacturing Sector
- Dams Sector
- Defense Industrial Base Sector
- Emergency Services Sector
- Energy Sector
- Financial Services Sector
- Food and Agriculture Sector
- Government Facilities Sector
- Healthcare and Public Health Sector
- Information Technology Sector
- Nuclear Reactors, Materials, and Waste Sector
- Transportation Systems Sector
- Water and Wastewater Systems Sector
TRUMP SIDES with RUSSIA AGAINST FBI at HELSINKI SUMMIT
16 July 2018US President Donald Trump has defended Russia over claims of interference in the 2016 presidential election.After face-to-face talks with Russian President Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump contradicted US intelligence agencies and said there had been no reason for Russia to meddle in the vote.Mr Putin reiterated that Russia had never interfered in US affairs.The two men held nearly two hours of closed-door talks in the Finnish capital Helsinki on Monday.
- Even Trump allies shocked by Putin summit
At a news conference after the summit, President Trump was asked if he believed his own intelligence agencies or the Russian president when it came to the allegations of meddling in the elections."President Putin says it's not Russia. I don't see any reason why it would be," he replied.US intelligence agencies concluded in 2016 that Russia was behind an effort to tip the scale of the US election against Hillary Clinton, with a state-authorised campaign of cyber attacks and fake news stories planted on social media.
- What has US reaction been?
In a strongly-worded statement, US House Speaker Paul Ryan said Mr Trump "must appreciate that Russia is not our ally"."There is no moral equivalence between the United States and Russia, which remains hostile to our most basic values and ideals," he said, adding that there was "no question" Moscow had interfered in the 2016 election.Senior Republican Senator John McCain said it was a "disgraceful performance" by a US president."No prior president has ever abased himself more abjectly before a tyrant," Mr McCain said in a statement.Another senior Republican, Senator Lindsey Graham, who is a member of the Senate Armed Services Committee, tweeted that it was a "missed opportunity... to firmly hold Russia accountable for 2016 meddling".In a series of tweets, Senate Democratic leader Chuck Schumer said Mr Trump's actions had "strengthened our adversaries while weakening our defences and those of our allies".The US Director of National Intelligence, Dan Coats, also issued a statement saying that the intelligence community had been clear about Russia's "ongoing, pervasive attempts" to undermine US democracy.Mr Trump responded by tweeting that he had "great confidence in my intelligence people", adding: "I also recognise that in order to build a brighter future, we cannot exclusively focus on the past - as the world's two largest nuclear powers, we must get along."Vice-President Mike Pence, in a speech at the US Department of Commerce, defended the summit and praised President Trump.Some US politicians had called for the summit to be cancelled after 12 Russian military intelligence agents were indicted last week, accused of hacking the presidential campaign of Democratic candidate Hillary Clinton.Speaking on Monday, President Putin offered to allow US investigators to visit Russia to question the officers.He made it clear that, in return, Russia would want similar access to people in the US it suspects of criminal activity.Trump targets opponents back homeAnalysis by Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondentBefore their encounter started, Mr Putin was already winning on points, by the mere fact that President Trump was meeting him in the first place.But while Mr Putin came over as the seasoned professional, eager to present his country as an equivalent to the US in terms of being a nuclear superpower; an energy provider; and a key actor in the Middle East, Mr Trump seemed more intent on castigating his opponents back home.A lot of the questions focused on Russia's intrusion into the US election campaign (the considered position of the key US intelligence agencies) and specifically the indictment by the Mueller probe of 12 Russian intelligence agents.Mr Trump would have none of it. He visibly seemed happier with Mr Putin's assurances than he did with the evidence of his own intelligence agencies. And he even welcomed Mr Putin's suggestion that Russia could join the investigation and interview the alleged perpetrators itself! Washington's Nato allies and many seasoned observers on Capitol Hill must have been watching in horror.Mr Putin described the Helsinki meeting as "candid and useful" while Mr Trump said there had been "deeply productive dialogue".Mr Trump said US-Russia relations had "never been worse" than before they met, but that had now changed.Relations between Russia and the West were severely strained by Moscow's annexation of Crimea in 2014, which President Putin acknowledged in the news conference."President Trump's position on Crimea is well known. He talks about the illegality of the Crimean reintegration to Russia. We have another point of view... that a referendum was held in accordance with international law. For us, it's a closed question," he said.Both leaders also said they would work together to help resolve the Syrian crisis. The US and Russia back opposing sides in the eight-year-old civil war.On a lighter note, Mr Trump congratulated President Putin on the successful staging of the World Cup football tournament in Russia and Mr Putin responded by giving the US leader a tournament football.The US will co-host the 2026 World Cup with Canada and Mexico.
Certainly, Oba'a didn't know how many States there were, so its all good.
That's a mighty beige suit you're sportin there, dude. Do your really want to suggest that Trump was an improvement on Obama in terms of geographic understanding? The guy who thought Brussels was a town in Northern France? The guy who once asked Prime Minister Modi "now,what's all that stuff between India and China? Who does that belong to" and then offered to find Modi a date for the evening? You really want to match Obama against the "shithole countries" guy?
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@Wylted
Not 100 votes overall - 100 new votes starting now
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How about the first candidate to legally vote on one hundred debates gets to be President of the Voter's Club?
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@TheUnderdog
@TheweakeredgeIf they want to run, they are welcome to run. In the meantime, Wylted wants the presidency and I want to run against him.If Oromagi wants to run, I'd probably support him over me which is saying something. I'm unsure if he wants to though.I am neutral towards HistoryBluff. It would be like you supporting bmdrocks. I'd nominate Oromagi vs Blamonkey.
So, yesterday you argued anarchy=freedom and today you're running for President? Are you running on an anti-Freedom platform?
I'm normally an advocate for good government but I can't really see how this beauty contest might amount to that.
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Yes to honest opinions.
Yes to US teaching foreign students and encouraging immigration from that exemplary group. If you want to world to see things your way, teaching the world's best and brightest is one excellent and effective method.
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@Conway
@Reece101I don't understand the point of saying "Allah", assuming someone is already speaking in English. Do you?I think it would seem to be some sort of reference to the Qur'an, which is properly rendered in Arabic.
Allah is the Arabic pronunciation of the Aramaic word Elah- which is the name Jesus would have used for God when preaching. Islam incorporates Judaism and Christianity into its belief system and uses one the old names for God that goes back to Levantine polytheism, preceding even our oldest languages and religious beliefs still in practice.
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@Conway
The phrase "under God" is certainly reverent, but not connotating any religion.
Not connoting any religion but specifically excluding a bunch of people who don't believe humans live "under God"- polytheists, atheists, Buddhists, Jainists, Shintos, some sects of Hindus, Quakers, Satanists, etc., etc.
Any law making people recite an affirmation of a single, present deity is a clear violation of the First Amendment. Better to toss that silly pledge written by a newspaper out the window and if any pledge seems necessary, write one that adheres more closely to the spirit of our Constitution.
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@ebuc
Mike Lindell who promotes the belief that Democrats eat their children and begged Trump to suspend the US Constitution and sold toxic poisons as fake coronavirus cures and is facing a $1.4 billion lawsuit for spreading lies so awful that even crazy right-wing news outfits can't interview him anymore? That Mike Lindell?
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@bmdrocks21
its the troubling ignorance Republicans demonstrate while actively outlawing the freedom of some groups to speak on unpopular topics.
I’m sure you’d be up in arms if tax dollars went to groups teaching federal workers or school children the benefits of segregation, wouldn’t you?
Well, I might be "up in arms" in the sense of making ready for a political fight , depending on circumstance but I would also be "up in arms" if my State legislature tried to pass a bill prohibiting any mention much less endorsement of segregation in schools. In my school district, my tax dollars regularly pay for the speaking fees of Klan members and other white supremacist groups who come to local high schools to speak annually, as well as for some rather expensive extra security for those speakers.
Traditionally, the protestors greatly outnumber the attendees at these talks but the public schools strongly endorse the right to unpopular speech and teach the necessity of listening to and engaging with even the most sinister of philosophies.
Keep in mind that CRT academics spend a lot more time criticizing classic American Liberals like me than they do the racism of the Right-wIngers, where they get no hearing anyway.
Critical race theory scholars question foundational liberal concepts such as Enlightenment, rationalism, legal equality, and Constitutional neutrality, and challenge the incrementalist approach of traditional civil-rights discourse. They favor a race-conscious approach to social transformation, critiquing liberal ideas such as affirmative action, color blindness, role modeling, or the merit principle with an approach that relies more on political organizing, in contrast to liberalism's reliance on rights-based remedies.
It's not that Liberals are on the side of CRT, it's just that Liberals still believe in Freedom of Speech which is certainly not true of most Republicans outlawing particular unpopular words and ideas these days. You can't reconcile these anti-CRT bills with the First Amendment, period, so what are we teaching our children ultimately?
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@fauxlaw
@oromagiThat's wrong. The liberals didn't change, Trump changed.Liberals didn't change? You want to take a read of Roe v. Wade and its very limiting third trimester allowances for abortion, and then read the proposed legislation last year of NY and VA, allowing partial birth abortion as an allowed procedure?Both legislative bodies fortunately found common sense and turned both bills away; but to say liberals have not changed on the issue is a head in the sand.
I'd remind you that the majority that carried Roe contained 3 Nixon appointees, 2 Eisenhower appointees and the restriction of government from excessive interference in any citizen's healthcare decisions should satisfy any American Conservative's ideology just as much as any American Liberal. Liberals endorsed Roe as an advancement of civil rights for Women and that position has not changed, while the people and policies that endorsed Conservatism fifty years ago are entirely exiled from the rabid dogpack of radical extremism that is the American Right Wing today.
Roe made no mention of partial birth abortions and did not every try to decide on healthcare's behalf which medical procedures were acceptable. Rather, Roe allowed States to prohibit abortion in the third trimester so long as the mother's health was not an issue.
New York's 2019 Reproductive Health Act was not turned away and was entirely consistent with Roe so I can't figure out what bill you are talking about in New York.
Virginia's 2019 Repeal Act sought to bring Virginia abortion law closer to alignment with Roe to the extent that it removes a considerable degree of big government nonsense standing between a patient and her doctor. Since the Repeal Act only sought to limit government interference in a doctor's capacity to provide healthcare and a patient's private decision-making, I think political science would call that failed bill traditionally conservative in political outlook, however unpopular and offensive to the radicals of the Right.
Since Roe made no mention of partial birth abortion or indeed interfered in any way with what surgical procedures doctors could employ, I can't see any ground for your claim of some change in Liberal philosophy on this subject between Roe and today.
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@Wylted
@oromaginot long. I probably could have come up with 50 of 'em.Ooh ooh, do a best of thread
best of?
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@Wylted
-->@oromagiAbsurd. Are you saying that because police know that more men commit murder than women it must follow that police suspect all males of murder?Police are generally low IQ people with an average IQ of only around 105, it is only higher than the general population because it isn't weighed down by literally retards. Remove retards from the average IQ for the general population and you may be looking at a real average of 110, so you can expect your average cop to be stupid.
Bullshit. Reminds me of rioters calling out "pig." It's easy to act like you're tough when your target is constrained by law.
Plus there is a difference between saying some men are pedophiles and then issuing a chartnofnhow to find pedophiles and then saying that if they are a man they most likely are one.
but you have failed to demonstrate that the Missouri Information Analysis Center ever told the State Patrol that cars with Ron Paul bumper stickers were likely neo-Nazis. All they said was some neo-Nazis prefer independent candidates. There's no evidence that the State Patrol ever investigated a militiaperson on the sole basis support for Ron Paul.
In the present, everybody knows that all neo-Nazis now support Donald Trump but I've never heard of Missouri State Patrol pulling someone over just for supporting Trump, hell I am assuming that just about every Missouri State Patrolperson voted for Trump herself.
No. Intelligent investigators collate a wide variety of attributes and characteristics before making an analysis and then a judgementInvestigators are about 120 IQ, they are almost as stupid as cops.
I was using police and investigators synonymously in the above context.
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@Wylted
I paid Wylted $20 to blow me but when he refused to swallow I took my money back.
I'm not sure if that counts as an exchange, per se.
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As I recall this position as established on DDO and particularly the regular elections for that position quickly devolved into vicious popularity contests, the primary purpose of which was to manufacture contention and gossip within the ranks and added not one ounce of value to content or increased order or improved functionality. Quite the opposite, seemingly.
DDO called it an election for president but the exercise would have been more accurately described a gladiatorial match from which the winner was rewarded with an increased measure of hate.
I oppose any such contest and promise to totally ignore the authority and advice of any jerkwad so elected.
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@ebuc
Am I wrong in supposing that wearing masks and other newly adopted public hygiene measures are the main issue for unruly passengers?
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@Reece101
Pledging allegiance to a flag makes no sense anyway. Flags and Gods and what they represent change over time but our allegiance to our Republic should never. I think we should rewrite our pledge a little to highlight our mission and emphasize that the pledge is a promise that we make to one another to stick together in support of a shared principle.
How about this:
"I pledge my allegiance to the citizens and nation of the democratic Republic of the United States of America as founded upon the Constitution in order to establish justice and secure the blessings of liberty, peace and prosperity for ourselves and our posterity. I honor this inheritance and devote myself to our cause and common purpose: that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from this earth."
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MY DICK: Like a pink lightsaber
YOUR DICK: like a space invader
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D.S. is the best in the business
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It's time that we let the world know
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It's time that we let the world know
Dude, you gotta let your girl go
D.S. is the best in the business
P.S. we got dicks like Jesus (like Jesus, we got dicks like Jesus, dicks like Jesus)
Songwriters: Armen Melick / Yeshe Perl / Simon Rex
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@Polyglot
re these students unreasonable in asking for their 5 minutes?
One approach might be tell them that what is unreasonable is to have no questions after 55 minutes of English language. The English language is a messed up thing- a nasty tangle of influences.
What if you didn't let them loose but instead started asking them questions to see how well they understood but told them they could interrupt with questions of their own at any time. That might motivate them to think of questions and free you up from lesson planning and yet give the learners their full five minutes.
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@Wylted
I'm sure there's something to debunk since you are a bunky monkey but don't make me click on 4chan, pls. It smells there.
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@Wylted
-->@Double_RBetter to just get rid of party allegiance.I don't disagree, but you have no room to talk. It is funny how half of Trump's policies were popular with liberals until he put an R behind his name and then we had liberals in congress vote against stuff they were pushing for just a few years before and conservatives opposed to things now pushing for them just because it was Trump.
That's wrong. The liberals didn't change, Trump changed.
Trump's views on abortion have changed significantly, for example.
wiki:
In 1999, Trump described himself as "very pro-choice" and said "I believe in choice." Although he said he hated the "concept of abortion," he said he would not ban it, nor the specific procedure sometimes called "partial-birth abortion". That year, he gave interviews describing himself as "totally pro-choice" and claiming that abortion should be "removed from politics. I believe it is a personal decision that should be left to the women and their doctors."
Let's recall that Stormy Daniel's non-disclosure agreement with Trump specifically forbids her from revealing any "paternity information" but Stormy Danielle's first child came 5 years after Trump. And hey, so lot's of people used to be pro-abortion and change their minds about the issue, even after having some themselves. I'm just saying, liberals haven't changed their minds, Trump did.
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@Wylted
not long. I probably could have come up with 50 of 'em.
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@Wylted
Also, what did they expect to happen with the information they were providing? If you track domestic terrorists with that information than clearly you are targeting people who have anybone of those attributes.
Absurd. Are you saying that because police know that more men commit murder than women it must follow that police suspect all males of murder? No. Intelligent investigators collate a wide variety of attributes and characteristics before making an analysis and then a judgement. Cops don't see a hijab and assume there's Muslim extremist underneath. Cops don't see an Atlantic City Casino owner and assume he's a crime boss.
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@Wylted
@oromagiMissouri Information Analysis Center =/= the governmentWho owns the Missouri information analysis center?
State of Missouri- I think its like an intel center for Missouri state patrol
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@Wylted
@HistoryBuffOromagi proved my claim that the government was targeting ron Paul supporters. I am not sure how he thinks he disprove me
Missouri Information Analysis Center =/= the government
Ron Paul supporters =/= neo-Nazi militiamen
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