The reason Switzerland is the safest place in case of a war is not its bunkers and fall out shelters (though, referencing the book "Place de la Concorde Suisse" by McPhee, this video does do a good job explaining Swiss paranoia)

Switzerland is the best place to hide in a war because:

Everyone from oligarchal and totalitarian states hides their assets there. In Swiss banks. And no one has been stupid enough in 200 years to blow up the bank holding their assets.

Your video, Trump Threatens to Blow Up Obamacare: A Closer Look, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.

I half expected it to blow up at the end.

That thar blowed up REAL good!

And that's why dragsters have 4 super strong straps attached to the blower. Without them, it could easily have launched into the stands/pits.

It sure did blow up good, though.

Where did I say this is proof? I did not. The title is the title. You are in the weeds, as usual on this . All I said that this was the source story that caused this story to blow up all over the other weekend.


Again there is ZERO, proof yet provided about Trump colluding with Russia. ZERO. But go ahead and feed you dark sole with fake news.

Trump may colluded, Obama may be involved with taps I do not know But I being the better man that you are open minded to FACTS....


Who cares if he knows Putin. If they are friendly as you say then great. Trump can negotiate better then not knowing.

Obama/ Clinton were shit in dealing with Putin. Hopefully Trump will do better.


But Russia is not the problem North Korea is and Obama/ Clinton did zero in 8 years to lesson this issue. WE sure feel safer don't we.

Okay, folks. History is converging here through six degrees of separation.

Long story. I think it is worth your time.

I grew up with a father who said terribly racist things, the n- word, disparaging remarks about all races. There was much screaming and bitter words from me for a lot of my childhood and well into my 20s.

After he died, I got into a short email exchange with someone I didn't know at all. A former co-worker of my father.

My dad's job, as I have said here before, was Range Safety Officer. His job was to blow up missiles that went off course. (No person has blown up more missiles, and no one will ever catch up to him, since they know how to do it now.)

In my email exchanges with "Teddy", I find out slowly that Teddy is a woman. The first woman in the Range Safety Flight arena. She tells me that she was treated horribly in those early days. Except for three of her co-workers, who mentored and helped her.

One of those men was my father.

Oh.

And then she reveals that she is Hispanic.

Dang.

So my dad talked nasty at home, and acted MORE THAN honorably at work. I wish I had known that when he was alive.

Then she tells me that her daughter became an engineer also, and is currently working in Range Safety.

Wow.

Fast forward to last week. I watch Hidden Figures, the movie about black women helping in the first manned space launches. They were in Langley VA, while my dad was stationed in Cape Canaveral, not NASA but the Air Force, working on unmanned missions. But still. It all came flooding back to me -- how my dad was one of the good guys. (It was also cool to see all the actual news footage of people on the beach and parades and what-all -- I was there with my family, doing those things.)

This reminded me of Teddy. I sent her an email, telling her that I was reminded of her story and how touched anew I was.

Then the Falcon 9 launch happened. This launch on this video.

The next day, I got a response from her. Here is her email to me, lightly edited:

Thank you so much for thinking of me. The 60's were a time quite different than today. This morning It came to me just how far we women have come since then.

I stood on the balcony of my house and watched the launch of a Falcon Rocket take off in all its glory from Vandenberg knowing my daughter was the Lead Flight Safety Analyst on that mission. For the last couple of months I have listened to her tell me about all the problems she has had to deal with in preparing all the destruct lines, impact limit lines and all the other things that go into getting the mission package ready for launch and knowing what she was talking about. Boy, was I jealous. I really miss being in the middle of all that. I was/am very PROUD of my little girl being part of the missions leaving out of Vandenberg and knowing I played a small part in making all that happen just like those ladies in Hidden Figures. I have not seen the movie yet but my friends and I are looking forward to it coming to Lompoc so I can see it

Your Dad would be surprised to learn that most of the new Flight Safety Analysts are now all women.

Oh certainly, there are definitely glaring flaws with Rogue One.

The biggest problem for me was how every character conveniently dies IMMEDIATELY as soon as their narrative purpose is done with. And strangely, every character seems completely ready to die in a way that makes the deaths fairly laughable.

Saw: "I'm gonna stare out this window and not even try to escape."

Bodhi: "I'm gonna close my eyes and not even try to toss that thermal detonator back out of the shuttle."

Baze: "Welp, my best friend is dead so I'm just going to Leroy Jenkins those Deathtroopers."

They missed major dramatic opportunities for each character death. Think "Saving Private Ryan" where each character death is meaningful. Caparzo disobeys a command to do something decent and gets himself killed. Wade dies because Tom Hanks wanted to do the right thing and clear the machine gun nest. Fish dies because Upham is too cowardly to climb the steps and fight. And none of those guys resigned themselves to death--they all wanted desperately to live.

A couple of other things that bothered me about Rogue One:

Why did Admiral Raddus take Princess Leia--a Galactic Senators daughter--into a major battle with the Empire, one which most Rebels were convinced was a trap designed to draw out the fleet?

Why didn't Vader just Force pull the Death Star plans out of the escaping rebels before massacring them all?

Why did the Death Star "miss" Scarif base and hit the ocean instead despite them showing it had pinpoint accuracy when blowing up Jedha?

All that being said, TFA disappointed me big time. It was just trying waaaaaaaay too hard to evoke the original trilogy. If I wanted to watch the original trilogy again I'd, you know, watch the original trilogy. And don't even get me started on Kylo Ren. I haven't wanted to punch a character in the face so hard since whiny Anakin from Attack of the Clones.

EDIT: To keep this on topic, I'm annoyed that Plinket didn't point out the actual flaws in the movie and instead focused on the "they didn't explain the Force" bullshit.

Here's the thing. If all his past "fuckups" as you put it were supposed to completely discredit him as a canidate, why the hell did the following happen:

a) Be allowed to Run
b) Get nominated for the Republican nomination
c) Win the Election

We knew all the shit in his past, but you know what? He was still voted in not by fellow Republican politicians, but the people who saw that Trump could do what the people in DC can't do. That's one thing you, I and everyone else needs to accept. If this was "Such an issue that should have disqualified him from running and instead he should be in Jail," Why is he not in jail? Legit question because whatever that you might respond to that could be the same reasons why people feel like Hillary should be in Jail but still isn't.

"Republicans would be embarrassed to admit they'd backed a candidate that spent more of his first four years in jail than in the office. It would blow up the party and they're too self-centered to do that."

What's there to be embarrassed about? They never supported Trump to begin with! If it was a case where they were singing his praises, then the "grab them by the pussy video" came up, that would be embarrassing. Instead, they didn't show their support for Trump and then when that video came up, those who didn't support Trump basically doubled down on their "No supporting Trump."

The Republicans aren't going to act all "cheerful" now that Trump has won. They are cautious as all hell now more than ever. Even Paul Ryan calls Trump's win the "Most unprecedented win in the history of our country." The Republican party already strapped on the suicide vest the moment Trump accepted the nomination, and that vest isn't going to come off just because he won. They are going to watch him like a hawk and impeach him the moment he screws up. Impeaching Trump for if he screws up is not the same as "the party blowing up," but if Trump makes constant failed policies and they decide to stand by Trump, that is just watching the boat sink with all passengers on board.

Trump is not your average politician. As such we can't assume that should action be taken against Trump, that won't be average either.

What he needs to do now is prove that the trust that has been to put him by the people was well placed and that he will do the things he promised to do. All what the Republicans can do is just watch him carefully.

Sorry for the wall of text, but the only reason why I'm infuriated is that people honestly think we're turning into a fascism when really it would be easy to prevent such things from happening. Especially if there was no party loyalty to begin with.

He's fucked up his whole life.

Cheated contractors, investors, the IRS. Sexually assaulted women, then bragged about it. He runs a false charity that only works to benefit Trump himself. He openly espouses Putin's policies on topics of Russian interest, even when it conflicts with American interest. He condones and encourages violence. Threatens to use the power of the office to imprison his perceived enemies. Threatens to jail journalists and comedians who disagree with him. Can't even UNDERSTAND why nuclear weapons are not to be used except in cases of existential threat.

He IS a fuckup.

Republicans nominated him.

Republican politicians backed him (some less enthusiastically than others, but it's hard to tell what was political expediency and what was genuine angst).

If they're going to impeach him, there's plenty of material already. He could see jail before he sees the Oval Office.

Two problems.

1) Republicans would be embarrassed to admit they'd backed a candidate that spent more of his first four years in jail than in the office. It would blow up the party and they're too self-centred to do that.

2) Even if they DID impeach him, Mike Pence is only slightly better. Republicans will still have a 100% lock on the Supreme Court in 4 years, they can shut down more polling stations, kick everyone they don't like off the voting rolls for flimsy excuses (it happened in North Carolina this election in spite of a court order).

It would take an overwhelming majority of Americans voting against Republicans in four years to tip the scales. If they have another four years, they're only going to push things further. Watch California get reduced to fewer electoral votes than Arkansas.

The US is bordering on failed state/despotism. The Republicans in congress and the senate are the only ones who could stand in the way, but if they stand in the way, they give up their own power.

Do you really think they're going to do that? Really?

Yeah, I think he pretty much nailed it.

If you are dismayed by what has happened, please consider:

* Perhaps some of your anger should be directed at the Democrat party brass. They pulled hard for Hillary from day one. They have superdelegates because they don't trust Democrat voters to choose "correctly". All of them swung for Hillary, without even seriously considering any alternative. The brass dismissed Sanders as unelectable and nutty. Oops.

If there were no superdelegates, and the party hadn't consistently propped up Hillary as their highly favored candidate, the primaries would likely have been very different. And my contention is that Trump vs Sanders would have ended in a landslide victory for Sanders. Because Sanders would have appealed to these "blow up the system" people too, AND been much more palatable to people on the fence than Trump.


I think Trump is an idiot blowhard. I think he will make a terrible president (not apocalyptically terrible, but terrible). BUT, I am willing to give him a chance to prove me wrong. I would have been willing to give Hillary a chance if she had won, too.

Outside of the immediate setback that this represents to the Democrat party, I think the future of the party is actually extremely bright -- IF they learn the lesson that they need to from this election. Choose candidates that people like. People that are actually worth voting FOR, rather than propping up someone that you hope will be seen as the "lesser of two evils".

While the cynic in me kind of agrees with you I would still be left asking the question, if not this, then what?

I suppose they could be just chasing each other around New York throwing lightning bolts and fireballs at each other or similar magical tropes. But it would probably come off feeling like just another action movie battle scene where shit gets blowed up good. It feels to me like they're trying to make magic feel like something other than just another super power, so I'll give them points for trying.

*quality blowed up real good!

The argument of "defensive measures" sounds quite different if you take into account:
1) Operation Mongoose, 2) the history of US-led terror campaigns and regime changes in Central America (Guatemala, anyone?), 3) the killing of Soviet technicians on Cuba by Cuban exiles, armed and trained by the US, 4) the century-long almost pathological need by the US to control Cuba. Not to mention of the Soviets had knowledge of the secret deployment of missiles to Okinawa just months earlier.

Don't make JFK out to be a man of peace. He signed National Security Memorandum No 181 in August of '62, which detailed regime change followed by an invasion of Cuba. He put into place a terror campaign against Cuba to bring them back into line. A terror campaign that was resumed a mere week after the crisis by blowing up a factory, causing the death of 400+ on November 8th.

Also, the offer came from Khrushchev, not the other way around, if I remember correctly. And while the Soviets didn't wage a terror campaign against Turkey or Italy once the outdated Jupiter missiles had been removed, we all know what has been done to Cuba over the following decades.