Greed knows no specific political affiliation, nor does charitability. We should all insist on policies that do more to help those in actual need of it, and to reduce rampant profiteering at the expense of human suffering. Squeezing your captive customers just because you can is a pretty universal "dick move." Imagine if we had solid policies in place that actually encouraged giving a hand up to those who've encountered misfortune, rather than treating them as suspicious and dangerous.

I think a big part of the problem, which I was sad to see go entirely unaddressed by the show, is that owning rental properties is such an appealing option for wealthy private investors. The long-term (and generally short-term) returns on real estate in the US have been absolutely bonkers for many years, and it's a much more stable investment than the stock market can prove to be. Professionally, I've been in a position to have an understanding of the finances of many wealthy people, and damn near everyone with net worth of more than a couple million ends up having quite substantial real estate holdings.

How about we instead find a way to award stable profits to those investing in schools, or public parks, or the arts, or... I don't know, anything else which doesn't ultimately take people out of their homes?

I do NOT want to see what building Minecraft in Minecraft would look like. I've seen some of the redstone calculators and such and those are already bonkers.

That video is just absolutely bonkers. I sucked at drumming, but loved doing it. This guy clearly put in his 10,000 hours and then decided he was done warming up...

I watched the video, and was mildly shocked that it was an official Trump ad. The story is absurd on its face. If it were legitimate, the FBI would be confirming it. Instead it's being promoted exclusively by partisan hacks with zero credibility. Hell, in Giuliani's case it's already a known fact that he's compromised by the Russians. It's also known that the Russians have been planning to promote disinformation. Text is by far the easiest evidence to fake.

But I'm quoting you because after watching the video and going into the comments on an ad this stupid, you managed to follow it up with some absolutely batshit projected attacks, and reading your comment honestly made me guffaw. I fucking guffawed Bob, good-naturedly at the actual hilarity of it. No joke, the upside-down topsy-turviness of it actually legitimately tickled my funny bone because what you wrote was so insanely bonkers. There aren't just *hints* at Trump having actually fucking raped children, it's damned near certain when you look at the various evidence. He's a fucking child fucker. Trump. He almost certainly did it, and it's goddamned obvious. So this whole line of attack of "Biden = pedophile" is hilarious. Ghastly too, but hilarious.

You're such a weird enigma, Bob. I don't like to buy into conspiracy-esque shit like "Bob's a Russian account with multiple people behind it," but... sometimes it feels on point.

I had no idea this was an issue. It's also bonkers how low the starting pay is, given what's needed to even get to day 1 at an airline.

<iframe src="https://player.vimeo.com/video/343803753?color=ffffff&title=0&byline=0&portrait=0" width="640" height="360" frameborder="0" allow="autoplay; fullscreen" allowfullscreen></iframe>

PMU BRONZE from BONKERS UNITED on Vimeo.

This Saudi Arabia shit is totally bonkers. Is it more sucking up to his beloved totalitarian regimes? Is it a step towards war with Iran? They're (the country from which came most of) the fuckers that attacked us on 9/11! They straight-up brutally murdered a critical journalist, who lived in the US and worked for a US newspaper! They're ideologically closer to ISIS than Iraq's former government was! I mean... what the fuck? It's like he's trying his hardest to piss off even the Republicans at this point, just to see what it'll take...

this right here is what drives me absolutely bonkers.

you proceed from a false premise:
that "wealth" translates to being less corruptible.

blindly ignoring what wealth actual not only IS,but what it represents to the elite class in America.

power.

so could we please STOP with how much trump is actually worth,as if it has any inherent meaning in terms of power?


i do not understand wasting time with an ideologue,or dissecting his obviously conflicting comments as somehow expressing a clear and definable philosophy.these people play in the realm of cult of personality,spectacle and magical thinking.

their adoration for a particular public figure is cultish,and has very little to do with reality but more how their idol represents an ideal that they feel very strongly about.

so are we really surprised that bob will give Alexandria ocasio cortez a nod for exposing how easy it is to corrupt the system,but then conveniently excuse his idol and give him a pass based on the flimsiest of reasons:wealth.

when it was Alexandria ocasio cortez's lightning round that exposed how it is actually EASIER for the executive branch and the president to sell their influence for money.

but to bob,and how he sees things,the very idea that trump would ever engage in a breach of morality,and break his promise to the American people...is preposterous,...because trump already has money,why would he sell his integrity?

because BOB has integrity.
because BOB would never break a promise.
this is basic projection of ones morality onto a figure they admire.
we can apply the exact same metric to those who voted for Obama.same thing.same results.

you will never get bob to admonish his hero,because that hero represents the IDEA of what bob is projecting,not the actual reality.

fundamentalists engage in the exact same magical thinking.

so how can i get mad for bob,and the other trumpsters of the world?
i pity them.
because delusional dreams always crash on the shores of the real eventually.

and that is going to be a sad day for bob.

@Jinx
my main point is the the fringe of both ends of the political spectrum dominate the discussion,and BOTH are fucking horrible,ill-thought,narrow-minded and petulant.

they are part of the disease.

not every person who identifies as left is a snowflake,nor is everyone who identifies as right a bed wetter.

i wrote extensively on why trump won,and would happy to share if you would like me to,but to answer your question:no.snowflakes are not to blame (and i am struggling how you conflated that to be honest).

i have been:pepper sprayed,maced and beaten by three cops.
i have been thrown in solitary for days without food or water,and no working toilet.
i have been punched in the face by a supposedly devout christian,and i have been publicly harrassed for mistaking a young woman for a man at a gay bar.

is there anything else you would like to know to assuage the MASSIVE presumptions you made in your comment?

look dude,if you can't see that both the ultra left and ultra right are fucking bonkers and have lost their way.they co not even come close to representing the majority,and by their behavior..i do not think they really care.

so why should we?
the people who recognize that shit has gone sideways.that the politicians are purchased corporate whores,and this binary politics is just a device to keep us divided.

i am an anarchist,but i am not stupid,and refuse to be coddled or manipulated into buying into shitty philosophies and even worse politics.

the ultra left are fucking cry-babies,and the ultra right neo-fascists are bed wetters.

and both have lost their way.

Pauline Hanson and her party are completely bonkers don't get me wrong.

But they are also one of the only parties addressing the immigration issue, which is why they got some seats. No other party is really making as much of a fuss about immigration, so people that don't want Australia to turn into Germany/Sweden, have no sane person to vote for.

It's lose/lose unfortunately, until someone reasonable stands up and even addresses the concerns.

I'm all for multiculturalism, but not if some cultures don't reciprocate, which is what we are seeing throughout Europe.

The conversation of those two is glorious. He's the stereotypical "hold my beer and watch this"-kinda guy while she's scared shitless.

That said, there was a pair of tornadoes in Minden as well, maybe two weeks ago. That's 60km from where I live and I can't remember ever hearing about tornadoes, no matter how small, in this area.

Ah, well. Weather's bonkers anyway. Massive downpours for three days straight, followed by clear, blue skies and 30°C yesterday. This morning, fog. Some consistency would be nice...

Bonkers.

@Jinx

I am a bit confused. Earlier you used the word "conned" to describe the game, now you say it's not a hoax.

Aside from that, you certainly have voiced legitimate concerns. I'm also sick and tired of the usual pre-order business model. I decided that after playing the utter mess that was the Halo: Master Chief Collection for Xbox that I would never pre-order a game again. It's one thing to buy a game on day one, but yeah, in the usual sense, pre-orders need to die.

Thing is though...this is a kickstarter, thus the rules are different, by it's very nature, you HAVE to sell promises and pre-orders, or at the very least, contribution promises/swag/perks/etc. It's an alternative to going to a publisher and begging them for money to make the game and risk having the publisher exert creative control over the game/product/etc and whatever other compromises a publisher might force a developer to make. How many games have been utter shite because the publisher meddled and forced a game out before it was ready. Too many.

With kickstarters, it's the other way around. Backers demand that a game not be released before it's ready, but now the hype train has to start chugging along WAY earlier than a publisher-backed game in order to generate interest, because now the publishers are the backers and this is happening long before a game even gets to an alpha stage.

There is a risk with any kickstarter. If it was anyone other than Chris Roberts, I doubt I would have backed it. I backed the Shadowrun games mainly because it was being run by the guy who created the game originally and that turned out to be successful...twice. I'll be going for the hat-trick with the Battletech game they're working on now. Chris Roberts and Jordan Weisman both have solid reputations and have demonstrated they can make solid games. If it was Derek Smart or someone relatively unknown, I doubt I would have backed.

I find it interesting how the detractors are coming from various levels. Some of the detractors seem to be against kickstarters in general. Some seem to be against SC specifically and I think others are simply against it just because they want to see something ambitious crash and burn....and then there's Derek Smart who seems to have a personal, unhinged, vendetta against Chris Roberts.

Regardless of how successful SC will or won't be. SC is still a niche game by the very fact that it's a space sim. Even if it is a complete and total success, it's going to be a very complex game with a crazy amount of information to absorb and it will be difficult to be good at it. It is not for the casual gamer. So it will never reach mass appeal or become a widely recognized franchise like, say, Halo or Call of Duty. I think that is part of the appeal. A couple decades ago, publishers as a whole gave space sims the middle finger, but now thanks to crowdfunding, space sims are making a comeback.

Roberts has clearly tapped into something or people wouldn't be giving him money. He originally only asked for 2 million dollars, so even he didn't think it was going to be this big. (Europe is going absolutely bonkers for Space Citizen, they're way more into SC than we are in America)

Tbh, it pains me that a result like this happened AFTER a referendum on voting reform. If more people had realised that voting for the 3rd/4th/5th party was going to result in a majority Tory government with only a 1/3 of the votes maybe less people would have listened to Labour/Conservatives propaganda.

It's pretty funny how maybe a decade ago this narrow of a win would have been reported as vote of no-confidence for any party. This time around it seemed people were so relieved to not have a hung parliament that they seem to have let the blues off the hook completely while they enact their bonkers plans for austerity without a real mandate from the people.

ps. I totally predicted the election result and I'd just like to tell all those political pundits that I am ready to accept their resignation and yes I told ya so.