Lurker > red sox 777

Mr Lasastryke posted...

TFA did at least as much to advance the plot as ANH did!

ANH introduced the whole universe, including concepts like the Force.

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I also thought Episode 7 was a big part of the problem. It didn't do enough to advance the plot for the first part of a trilogy.

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I actually thought splitting it into 2 movies would have helped a lot. The problem is they went in a completely different direction from episode 8 so they basically had to set up and resolve episode 9 in one film.

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Mr Lasastryke posted...

i'm fine with the idea in theory but then the story should have played out differently. in TFA they introduce snoke without explaining anything about him (why is his skull half crushed? why is he obsessed with the empire? why is he apparently the big leader now that kylo answers to?) and in TLJ he just dies ("well guess you'll never get the answers to those questions lol!"). that's dumb. johnson obviously wanted to tell a different story than abrams but you can't just do this when a ton of groundwork for the story has already been laid. the sequel trilogy feels like one of those board 8 fanfiction projects about the character contests from back in the day, with a bunch of different writers continuing the same story (and even those felt less disjointed, really).

in fairness, i think they made the same mistake (to a lesser extent) in the OT with boba fett. in ESB they're all like "hey here's this mysterious new (not counting the holiday special) villain he's really going to do some awesome shit in the next one!" and then in RotJ they're like "oh he unceremoniously died whoops."

this just reminds me of how rare something like the lord of the rings trilogy is. when you don't have a story that was meticulously planned out from start to finish, you always get stupid shit that doesn't make sense from a narrative standpoint.

Well LOTR is one book that was published like 50 years before the movies so it couldn't really be disjointed as the source material wasn't. The OT is more of a miracle in that sense - the emperor barely gets a mention in the original, and ends up as the overarching villain. It doesn't feel planned out but it worked very well.

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Forceful_Dragon posted...

She will have been 35 years old for less than a month when the election takes place. So technically yes?

Guess she's the next candidate then.

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Is AOC old enough to run in 2024?

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MariaTaylor posted...

I have spent a solid week trying to figure out if JJ Abrams knew that the power to heal the dead was explained to us as a Sith power, was the crux of the entire prequel trilogy and anakin's transformation into darth vader. like maybe he was intentionally making Rey use this ability to make some kind of point. or was this just a total coincidence as a result of him not caring about star wars

Rey also uses force lightning and ends up killing Palpatine 10 minutes after he explained that doing so would complete her journey to the Dark Side, so I am going to go with yes.

It's poor writing that Rey can match Palpatine in power and has his abilities apparently entirely due to bloodline/chance. Palpatine is "all the Sith" because he's the culmination of 1000 years of Sith efforts to improve themselves and develop their skills. Rey talked with Luke for 5 minutes. And can use force lightning instinctually.

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By kill ratio the US has never lost except possibly to the CSA and Britain. The US definitely lost by kill ratio to the CSA in the East, not sure if the West made up for it.

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And considering the Taliban are about to retake all of Afghanistan, I'd say we are on the path to decisive defeat there too.

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Germany also had an 8:1 kill ratio with the USSR and lost.

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Uh, we were losing in Vietnam. That's why we gave up.

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I'm considering donating to the DNC as they'll probably manage to use it to hurt the Democratic Party!

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LordoftheMorons posted...

To I hope no one's surprise, Trump's North Korea photo-op bullshit was a complete failure, and Kim Jong Un has announced that they're going back to testing nukes:

https://twitter.com/Cirincione/status/1212140841348878336

Not a failure at all. There isn't a deal yet. The framework of the deal has already been found - it will need to involve a massive flow of capital into North Korea so that it can be rebuilt on the China model while also giving NK enough security for Kim Jong Un to feel safe.


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xp1337 posted...

For a change in topic: Here's Buttigieg claiming that the writers of the Constitution didn't understand that slavery was a bad thing.

https://twitter.com/keithellison/status/1211460414770417665

Ellison is subtweeting and doesn't name Buttigieg, but it was him and the first reply in the thread has the video. Aside from the instance Ellison points out, even Ted Cruz dunked on him by quoting John Adams decrying slavery as evil.

Oh come on, Thomas Jefferson also blamed King George III for inciting slave revolts. Beyond the Preamble, the Declaration of Independence is a list of articles of impeachment, and they are more unfair than the articles of impeachment the Democrats have passed against Trump. King George is blamed for absolutely eyerything.

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Corrik7 posted...

If the President assesses that eliminating a threat is a greater protection to US citizens than not, it almost assuredly should be done. The President's goal is to protect United States Citizens and their constitutionally protected freedoms

So basically, might makes right. We don't attack North Korea precisely because they have nuclear weapons. They have the ability to strike back and therefore it's in our best interests not to start a war.

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By Corrik's logic the US and USSR would have already destroyed each other decades ago.

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Jakyl25 posted...

Also right now at the American Embassy in Iraq there is a threat to American citizens

What do?

An immediate investigation at the State Department into Secretary Clinton's responsibility in designing and maintaining the infrastructure and security at the embassy. We probably can't finish the investigation without finding her emails though.

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Corrik7 posted...

You would be a fool to not take threats credibly until they bring your destruction. This is no different than Israel pre-emptively striking Iran who said the day they have nukes they would wipe Israel off the face of the Earth. Who in their right mind waits to see if they are full or shit or not. You, as a government of the people, are responsible to protect them.

And when did Iraq make threats like that to us? Iran has threatened Israel over and over, I'm not aware of any time when Iraq initiated such threats against the US or the threats had any credibility (the Iraqi information minister's bluster about driving the infidels to London and Washington really didn't feel threatening at all).

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Corrik, there was zero threat to Americans from Iraq until we invaded. Saddam wasn't a fool, he wasn't going to attack us.

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Corrik7 posted...

No point to make lines in the sand and not enforce them. This was Obama's weakness.

But what if the UN tells the US to do something and we refuse?

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Power! Unlimited Power! Once more the Republican Party will rule this country......and we shall have peace.

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Which politician made the most impact on 2019?

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xp1337 posted...

I'm legitimately not following you here. Yes, I remember that tweet and no one bought it for a second other than as that cheap pandering attempt you're rightfully calling it out for.

If you're saying there is racism present in both parties, well duh. What I'm saying is that one party - the Democrats - at least rhetorically, acknowledges it and tries to address it with various redresses, whether it be criminal justice reform, affirmative action, changes in housing policy, wage gap, etc. While the other party either dismisses the problem entirely/considers it resolved and uses dogwhistles (and now has done away with even that) to pursue its other goals ("welfare queen" language to attack the social safety net), otherwise actively pursues policies that have a documented and proven disproportional effect on minorities.

It is not difficult to see which category Trump falls under. Now, or back during the campaign, or during Obama's presidency.

Is the point you're trying to make here that both the Democrats and Republicans are different faces of the same coin? Because if so this discussion isn't going to go anywhere because I disagree with that premise in the strongest way.

I think he's saying that the Democrats' policies for dealing with racism are just as bad (even worse?) for minorities than the Republican ones.

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Democratic policies favored by Trump:

Tariffs
Protectionism
Using government to create jobs
Cronyism
Corruption
Racism

Republican policies favored by Trump:

Tax cuts

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Not_an_Owl posted...

who exactly was the democrat in this situation

Trump obviously.

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I feel it could a long run mistake though. Denying a huge segment of the electorate someone they can vote for is what led to the resentment that elected Trump. Although the left might deal with resentment by turning it into apathy, so maybe it'll be a brilliant stroke to ensure Republican power for decades.

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I don't think the Republican Party would have a problem with one of them running with Biden. Even a loss wouldn't be total that way.

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Bernie's spent a lifetime in opposition and gotten nothing done other than establish that his heart is in the right place. He might decide it's time to see what he can accomplish in power.

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Forceful_Dragon posted...

What is even the point of hypothesizing a Trump/Sanders ticket. He already has a VP.

Trump keeps comparing himself to Lincoln, and Lincoln also ditched his VP after 1 term to pick someone from the other party.

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I think Trump/Sanders vs. Biden/Romney would be great and would really drive the nail into the coffin of neoliberalism.

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How about Trump/Sanders vs. Biden/Romney?

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Libertarianism lost its appeal when it proved to be unpopular. You can't get to unlimited power that way.

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Who is the best Star Wars character?

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Based on this poll Trump is winning.

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Trump confessed to everything. Hillary denied it.

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What do you plan to do if your preferred candidate is not nominated? Republicans should feel free to vote - you can have a preferred candidate in the Democratic primary even if you don't ultimately support him or her.

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LordoftheMorons posted...

There was a very sharp change in the polls (several points) immediately after the Comey letter, and no other drastic such change in the week before or after. Obviously its impossible to definitively prove that it was decisive, but I think the evidence for that conclusion is pretty strong (indeed, stronger than for other things which conceivably were also decisive but which stretched out over the whole campaign, like sexism or the actions of the Russians).

What did the state by state polls show? If the move in the national polls came from pearl clutching moderates in safe blue state and red states, then it didn't really change anything in the EC, just the national popular vote.

Also, if the Democrats had nominated a candidate who wasn't obviously guilty, they might have won. Comey bent over backwards to avoid prosecuting her, and his letter seemed to be some weak attempt to pretend to be impartial. Comey came up with an entirely new term "extremely careless" to describe Hillary's actions just so he could avoid prosecuting her. So she was either guilty, or she was extremely careless. People very reasonably didn't want either as president.

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So, basically Palpatine made this movie and the ST. The whole Rey/Kylo Ren story was boring, the First Order v. Rebellion war never made sense, and the other characters were all boring.

And Palpatine didn't really make sense, but he was awesome, and I was rooting for him to win by this end of this one.

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xp1337 posted...

And they were wrong too! The PUMA movement wasn't looked on favorably in 2008 either, at least not in the circles I read from!

And, fair or not, the critical difference between the situations is the margin of victory. 2008 Obama won in a blowout, PUMA defectors didn't appreciably change anything.

Sanders -> Trump voters, while only 12% of his primary support from 2016, was well over Trump's margin of victory in each of WI, MI, and PA. More than double in all of them, up to nearly five times as high in MI. If you flip those three states... well I shouldn't need to tell you why such a situation is such a sore spot compared to 2008.

If you wanted their votes, you should have actually tried to win their votes. What did Hillary do to win their votes? What did the Democratic Party do? What did Donald Trump do? Don't be surprised that people vote for the party that welcomes them, that promises policies they support, and don't vote for the party that bullies and threatens them.

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I wish Bernie would just come out and say that Trump is categorically better than a number of the Democratic candidates because unlike them, he actually sees and understands the pain people are going through. And is doing something about it.

Then the centrist Democrats can go join the Never Trumpers and form their own party which will get thumped in the elections.

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Dancedreamer posted...

Of course they do, but the problem is that Bernie has supporters who also essentially want to hold the candidacy hostage unless their guy gets it. Which is largely what makes them douchebags. I mean most of Tulsi's supporters are probably douchebags! So it's no wonder a large percent of them wouldn't vote 'blue no matter who'.

Donald Trump is a uniquely terrible person who repulses even some staunch conservatives. If this were Mitt Romney vs Joe Biden I could see people making the argument against "Blue No Matter Who". (Though with RBG getting older, if that seat turns conservative we're truly fucked)

Imagine if the Democratic party were as unified as the Republican party is. The Republican party as we know it probably wouldn't exist today. It certainly wouldn't be as far right-wing as it is.

A Democratic Party that was united the way the Republican Party is would be truly terrifying. They could achieve all their bad ideas. But I think it can't happen because foundationally, the Democratic Party is a coalition of interest groups while the Republican Party is a coalition of people with shared ideas. Every Republican knows the party has his back through thick and thin, every Democrat knows he is one misstep away from being thrown under the bus.

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Trump never pressured Republicans to vote for him - he let them form their own conclusions. And they saw how awful Hillary would be and fell in line behind Trump. These vote blue no matter who people are going to drive away swing voters in droves.

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I really question this theory that the Comey letter had much of an effect. That movement in the polls could have just been Republican and independent voters finally facing the reality that Donald Trump was their only way to avoid a Hillary Clinton presidency. And they made the inevitable choice when faced with that horrible prospect.

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I give him an 80% chance. And called the last election almost perfectly. 48/50, and off by less than 1% in the other 2.

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Who would you want most as an ally?

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LordoftheMorons posted...

There are many reasons, but here's a random one of the top of my head: Russia, unlike America, murders journalists

Yes, but that doesn't imply everything Russia does or supports is bad. It only implies Russia is evil in some sense. Just like Hillary's environmental policy might have been good even if she gave speeches to Wall Street banks for money.

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I'm serious LOTM. You frequently say things are bad just because Russia supports them. Why?

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LordoftheMorons posted...

You're definitely wrong about that!

In any case, I'm certainly not going to argue that America hasn't done bad stuff, but I'd certainly rather that we influence the world than China or Russia doing so.

Why all the enmity for Russia? What do you have against Russia?

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Nelson_Mandela posted...

The moral foundation of the US was the enlightenment, not Christian doctrine. If you believe the American moral has failed, then do you believe the enlightenment is also an antiquated school of thought?

I disagree with this. The moral foundation of the United States was always Christianity, and that is what made it so successful. The moral foundation of the French Republic was the enlightenment, and that produced people being guillotined for being accused of political crimes, with the flimsiest of trials, after not even 5 years. And 17 constitutional systems in the last 200 years while the US has had 2.

As for failing, it has not yet failed. Although the liberals are trying!

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LordoftheMorons posted...

Modi's seriously fucking up India:
https://apnews.com/cb0a460f417b5ea87d8c86b175dd4ffb

Gotta wonder how much of the democratic backsliding across the world in the past few years could have been prevented by a competent and morally credible United States

You mean like a United States that nominated Bernie Sanders over Hillary Clinton?

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