Lurker > pure_temper

CHM_Punk posted...

Countries that embrace open borders, markets, and trade see universal decreases in poverty and increases in standards of living.

This is true, although there does appear to still be a need for additional work to eliminate poverty. We still have poverty in all of these countries, and it could be the case that free market capitalism and trade are bootloaders for a more evolved form of economy. There is no Star Trek future, for example, where our current economic systems are still the prevailing ones.

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sabin017 posted...

Refund? No. Free credits for a degree program? Yes

The time cost of going for another degree is significant. It's better than nothing, but if you're going to foot the bill anyway, why not just write off the debt and leave it up to the individual if they want to try again with their time?

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nemu posted...

Even if they are serious and not trying to skirt rules, these animals are not trained properly. Proper service animals can deal with a chaotic environment. Your standard pet or farm animal will not react normally in most cases.

This sounds reasonable, thanks!

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cuh posted...

Have you ever met people

Yes, and from that experience I'm (anecdotally) not convinced any significant number of people is doing it just for attention. The question still stands - why are you happy about something that never really affected you to begin with?

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Why is everyone happy about this? It doesn't affect you if someone wants an emotional support animal on a plane, does it? What if they're going through PTSD or something like that? Surely they are not just putting themselves into a spotlight with their animal for shits and giggles.

I am curious to see what actual airline companies will say about this.

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kirbymuncher posted...

I dunno about racist but I definitely do think a bit les of people who often use the word

Agreed - if someone loves anime or Japan and that is what they are passionate about, I want them to be happy and to enjoy what they enjoy. I'd never personally call someone a weeb.

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legendary_zell posted...

We have very very very different definitions of concrete if you consider a taskforce report concrete. A report is a piece of paper, it does not obligate anyone to do anything or ban anything, it doesn't change the resources available to police or the public, it doesn't prevent a single arrest or death or lead to a single cop being fired.

The closest to concrete actions he took were the consent decrees actually demanding that specific police departments change practices. Those were a fairly good start, but those were extremely piecemeal and limited in scope, and have been eliminated by Trump.

We've known the problems with policing since the police brutality riots of the early 20th century. The problems are police impunity, racism, poverty, segregation, and a punishment and control focus by police and the public toward the policed.

The man gave them recommendations and implementation guides, with the expectation that they implement what was in them. 15 police departments agreed to them. Scant number, but they must be accounted for if you're insisting he did nothing concrete.

He also "banned federal transfers of certain types of military-style gear to local police departments, including tracked armored vehicles, bayonets, grenade launchers, ammunition of .50-caliber or higher, and some types of camouflage uniforms."

I mean, you can certainly argue he didn't do enough and ask why. But to say he did nothing concrete seems unreasonable. Did these task forces find and compile meaningful data? Did they push actual police departments to change on the basis of this data? The answers to both of these seem like they are yes.

But you are right that it is activists at the local level who are doing a lot of ground work for more immediate and substantive changes. I would bet that without Obama's efforts they'd have gotten a much later start at doing that. Idk.

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I don't think it's intended to be disparaging towards anything Japanese. It's more so calling out the type of person who is excessively fetishizing anime and downtown Tokyo and etc. Someone who has their entire personality built around the most cringe anime you can imagine.

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legendary_zell posted...

Obama, didn't do anything that concrete. He issued reports, created task forces to issue reports, and said that police departments shouldn't discriminate. That's it.

How are those not concrete? You can't understand the lay of the land without doing that type of thing first. Seems like you're being unfair.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/06/17/trumps-false-claim-that-obama-never-even-tried-fix-police-brutality/

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Balrog0 posted...

I mean millions of people have free health care because of the aca

And also access to private options that were previously excluding them if they had pre-existing conditions, even when those pre-existing conditions were not relevant to general health. Obama definitely did well with what he had, and I'm excited for Biden to show us what he can do. I'm generally optimistic about Biden as a president and I believe we'll see a lot of meaningful progress on the climate, prisons, and even police.

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IMNOTRAGED posted...

If you're capable of discerning between ideological groups and the circumstances that lead to certain events it absolutely makes a difference.

Either way this really isn't an extremist thing. How many millions of people have been killed and pushed into poverty by US imperialism and capitalism in the middle east and south America? How many lives in this country have been torn apart by the military and prison industrial complex?

You cannot account for America's mistakes abroad without also including its massive successes. No country is perfect. I believe America has been a force for good, in the bigger picture. This doesn't mean we can't improve by removing superstitions around harmless drugs that send people to prison, reforming prison in general so it is about rehabilitation, advocating for fairness in markets and in jobs, etc.

In fact, you'll see that it's a decidedly American tradition to work on this type of improvement and to call out the state and to demand it improve. It's part of our foundation as a country. The founding fathers did not believe themselves to be the final say or authorities on how the land should be run, or that they had everything figured out.

Everything you brought up, particularly the middle east and South Africa, are incredibly complex issues. It'd be easy to just dismiss America this way, but I personally am not satisfied with the offhanded approach the left has in this regard. Just doesn't feel substantive enough for me. We have a lot of work to do, but consider how much progress in every area (technology, medicine, science, law) is due to the American experience which is still ongoing and must continue.

To give you an example of why I don't feel your approach is substantive enough, consider how you'd feel if I pointed out how China treats its own citizens when they contradict Xi or the state, or how the Soviet Union was responsible for millions of deaths and tens of millions in poverty, or etc. You'd believe that there's more to unpack here, which would be fair.

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CHM_Punk posted...

On another note, Donald Trump and his repulsive national populism have more in common with Socialism than they do with Capitalism.

https://giphy.com/gifs/lol-futurama-humor-cFgb5p5e1My3K

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ThyCorndog posted...

while you were out fucking, he was following the way

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Demon1050 posted...

Too far either way is bad.

I like to hang out in the middle and stay laid back.

Like for example I voted Trump 2020 because he convinced me in the 4 years that he was a good guy. Seems like it anyway. This election fraud thing will prove who he really stands for though.

If it's all bullshit, it proves he's a piece of egotistical shit that I'll never vote for again. If it does hold true, it proves he truly loves the USA and he just saved us from a world of shit.

With so much information out there I honestly don't know what to believe anymore. In the next few months though, we're gonna find out once and for all if the man is the real deal or not.

Ehhh we already found out it's bullshit. Barr and DoJ found no evidence of fraud that would change the election. Sure, there's always going to be some dead people who vote but the evidence shows those are rare cases. Why do we need a few more months? If they had evidence, wouldn't they have presented it in court by now, instead of having their lawsuits thrown out even by judges who were appointed by Trump?

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@VipaGTS deleted my previous post because I mis-read your post and was responding to a strawman. Yeah, the ones who see corruption and keep quiet about it are doing the wrong thing.

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Historically, whenever far left or far right groups obtained power, lots of people have died. Not sure that I'd brag about which extreme killed more people as if it makes a difference.

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Shablagoo posted...

Obama also drone struck American citizens and went after a whistle blower who was trying to secure the rights of Americans by exposing the NSA. Point being I doubt he has any meaningful insight when it comes to cops abusing Americans and ignoring our rights. Anything he has to say on the matter can be summed up with an image of a tongue wrapped all the way around a boot.

I'm sure you can understand why this is just not a serious approach. It'd be the same as someone dismissing anything you have to say because they believe you want an anarchist state in which the rich and the enemies of the revolution are violently deposed. There's just too much to unpack in the moment for that to be the starting point when someone is addressing an unrelated or tangentially related view of yours.

It's the same here with Obama and what happened with matters of national security or abroad. Too much to unpack in a handful of posts. So to base the validity of his commentary on policy around police reform on unpacking all of that first...is just not going to go anywhere.

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Shablagoo posted...

Basically, yeah. Obama was particularly bad with the ramping up of drone strikes and abuses against immigrants, but I dont place it solely on his head its the inevitable march of the American machine. In other words, I think it all would have ramped up regardless of who happened to be president from 2008-2016, but that doesnt make Obama any less complicit.

Okay then, so if you believe that every American president is as a matter of principle a war criminal, I don't see how it's meaningful refutation of Obama's commentary on policing to just dismiss it by calling him a war criminal. There's a time and place to discuss America's global presence and failures, and this doesn't seem like it's a logical place to do it.

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Blue_Inigo posted...

https://twitter.com/IlhanMN/status/1333946901868195840?s=20

I mean, I believe she is fundamentally a decent person, so I'd be happy to hear exactly what she means and what she envisions, in the form of serious policy proposals. Not just tweets that sound good and say all the right words on the surface. Has she proposed or supported any specific and clear proposals on what the plan is?

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Antifar posted...

AOC weighs in
https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1334191063557414919

Idk it's not just activists that are using the language

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4maDJ4O4IA

And it would be incorrect to say that there was no traction to do anything until this slogan became more popular. I mean, you could say that the George Floyd murder was the catalyst for much more than before, but I see from searching online that governors were pushing and signing bodycam laws even a few years ago.

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Veggeta X posted...

Don't talk to Shab. He promotes socialism and not because he wants everyone to be treated fairly, but because he wants to stick it to rich people.

it's certainly interesting to encounter those two flavors of socialists. on the one hand you have the ones who want fair treatment for everyone and increased wealth / opportunity for all, as a means to building a better society with the technology we now have

those seem to me to be good people who are genuinely trying to improve stuff.

on the other hand you have the ones who have as their central belief the idea that the rich are all bad people who need to be deposed through any means. i can sort of understand why this reasoning is attractive to some wrt the Devos family, Mitch McConnell, etc, but I do not have confidence that we'd have anything resembling, say, Star Trek, if this type of socialist was given power.

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SmidgeIsntBack posted...

Oh good, I was just thinking, "you know what this topic needs? Proudclad."

me too

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Shablagoo posted...

Why should I care what a war criminal has to say on this subject?

Do you believe that every American president is a war criminal on account of enforcing American hegemony and imperialism?

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Veggeta X posted...

Far leftists on this websight are unable to see how unreasonable they are and then go on believing they're the good guys. What's new? Love how this topic is bringing out this kind of awareness, and it's the usual suspects that are going hard and doubling down on their horrible logic.

You guys shit on Trump supporters for having to re-explain what they say and actually mean and yet here you far leftists spinning and using speech gymnastics to re-explain what you mean. You aren't much different from the people you hate.

Keep in mind most leftists are not like this. It's only really a small subset that is of the view that policing exists to protect property for the rich or something. They're just a vocal bunch because of how Twitter / social media amplify hot & spicy takes in headlines.

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bknight posted...

I swear this is taught in basic biology in all US schools, isn't it?

pikachupwnage posted...

Please tell me what school you went to.

It clearly needs to be burnt down and every teacher slapped and blacklisted.

you are both assuming that TC had opportunities like these and that they are being dishonest in simply asking. there is no harm in simply asking, and we should not deter someone from education on the subject if they are asking and if we know something. at least not unless they are showing that they're trolling

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Vaccinations are precautions, not a cure for when you already have the illness.

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VipaGTS posted...

The thing is, many conservatives who just resort to it means abolish! Wont listen to anything they say. If it was reform theyd find some way to be against that too.

Again, this is simply not true considering that you do have prominent voices saying "we literally mean abolish"

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/06/12/opinion/sunday/floyd-abolish-defund-police.html

That is just one example from a quick search. I'm no longer a conservative, but that doesn't mean it's just a conservative thing to call out this trend.

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King_Hutton posted...

I almost missed this gem, Id definitely agree here. I hope we could get a lot more agreement if we discussed what should actually be criminalized.

Marijuana/drug decriminalization and legalization is certainly a step in the right direction here.

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Balrog0 posted...

You think there are millions of murders a year?

Please read my post more carefully, because that is not what I said. I said - "there are millions of homicides and violent crimes that hurt regular people."

https://www.fbi.gov/news/pressrel/press-releases/fbi-releases-2019-crime-statistics

I also did not qualify that to just the United States, even though doing so would not necessarily be incorrect.

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Antifar posted...

Are police actually good at this, though? In major cities their success at solving homicide cases is often below 50 percent. They are famously bad at handling rape and sexual assault, between untested rape kits and the people who don't trust them enough to even report these incidents.

That may be because of the inherent difficulty of solving all of the cases, not because they don't want to do that or because they are terrible at doing it. There are certainly enough murders and violent crimes happening to justify the need. Have you read this?

https://www.cnn.com/2020/07/09/politics/pew-poll-police-funding-policies/index.html

The underlying Pew research is worth reading too.

https://www.pewresearch.org/politics/2020/07/09/majority-of-public-favors-giving-civilians-the-power-to-sue-police-officers-for-misconduct/

All this to say that significant reform is necessary, but the calls to "actually dismantle/abolish" the police are just unreasonable and not rooted in what most people need and want imo.

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COVxy posted...

I mean, I just wish people would be honest. It's not a coincidence that these types of rallying cries are set up the way they are. They are meant to be bombastic to get attention, "to get people talking".

But at some point it is necessary to pivot to make progress. And when that doesn't happen there's a bunch of people pretending like the original slogan wasn't crafted to incite emotion and grab attention, without much care about the reflection on the overall goals.

right, but you have prominent people saying no we actually mean dismantle and abolish the police and when i see that i just take them at their word at that point

policing is not perfect and needs more regulation and oversight for sure. what obama is addressing is a real problem where what may have started as a rallying cry is being used as means to hurt a lot of people in the long run

i mean we all realize that there are millions of homicides and violent crimes that hurt regular people and need to be responded to by officers who are authorized to do so, right?

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As long as it doesnt involve any of your alien wildlife.

Unless of course this alien wildlife is the bbq.

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Im all for more holidays for the working class!

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Are we allowed to discuss...further details about the subject here? Been ages since Ive been around, not sure how the ToU approaches this given blossoming legality across the US and other countries?

@FabIe any guidance?

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Obama is right.

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no

how you been, man?

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If theyre now saying Barr is a deep state operative and resorting to the shittiest alt-media available to prove it, then yes, they are cultists.

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maybe morning CE more active

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Drpooplol posted...

holy shit

i said the same thing when i tried it

modena posted...

This...sounds good.

try it!

FabIe posted...

oh man youre a mod now! Congrats!

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ZMythos posted...

Conspiracy theory: Lathissamus is actually the gameFAQs account of Rudy Giuliani, and he's fighting a losing battle in the courts so he can keep his precious account.

lmfao

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DoctorPiranha3 posted...

Current me would destroy me from 7 years ago.

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what a wonderful smell

the dank i mean

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BlueTigerLion posted...

What is taking US so long.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/30/health/covid-vaccine-moderna.html

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add some sliced carrot to the peanut butter when youre making your sandwich

the taste of the carrot will be subtle since it will get overpowered by the peanut butter

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*unzips pants*

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SkillUp gave it a good review and it looks awesome.

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Smackems posted...

That's a lot of penis

not nearly enough imo

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For medicine, yeah it can. But for things like how you want to identify or who you want to pork, nope.

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how much time commitment would you estimate for beating it?

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