for answers, might look at causes and things that haven't worked. possibility of realizing what ISN'T the leading cause -

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Z7tEc5t-Wg&ab_channel=RobertReich

- and addressing those that DO and the answers reveal themselves more readily.

altering the subject a bit, OPEC is working on throwing a wrench into the works. i'd suggest not letting them alter our course by re-electing the group that has no desire/experience/answers in solving anything. *

kinda like...if the boat is sinking locate the ones helping to bail and those who aren't - and toss the R̶e̶p̶u̶b̶l̶i̶c̶a̶n̶s̶ slackers overboard and keep the actual help.

rather have folks that try, than all those that cry, cry, cry.



*sans deals w/the devil, war mongering, or weathering the rich while damning the poor = last forty years

i have to agree that when the election was nearing the end,and it was time to vote.the choice was pretty clear.

i never liked the "lesser of two evils" argument,but when faced with a choice of:

soft fascist,narcissistic used car salesman,who spoke in bombastic and racially charged rhetoric,but really said nothing.

or...

a war-mongering corporatist,who never saw a war she didn't want to send your kids to go die in,or a corporation she didn't want to extract donations from for political favors and who basically said nothing as well.except for 'well,at least i am not that THAT guy"--->points to trump.

i am still gonna say...go with the corporatist.

because in the end,at least on domestic policy,hillary would have been adequate.oh she would have signed the TPP,and fucked millions of american workers,and she would have most likely expanded the drone campaign,and continued with the american empires policy of "regime change",but she had/has the knowledge and capabilities to actual lead a government.

hillary knows how to politic,and understands how shit gets done in washinton,and things would have remained relatively unchanged here in america.maybe..maybe.... some incremental change due to the political pressure the sanders campaign brought.

so i get it,and maher is not exactly wrong per se",but i think he is missing the bigger picture that so many in the beltway have missed,and CONTINUE to miss,because they reside in their own,tiny and insulated bubble.

the american people were desperate for change,and they have been for decades.after obama's campaign of 2008,and his "hope and change" platform,which ignited the american people,only to see,not "hope and change" but rather "more of the same".

and what was hillary offering?
a new message or vision? a new path for america that would include everybody to blaze a new path of invention,creativity and imagination to create an america everyone could be proud of? and feel a part of?

nope..she was offering "more of the same".

well,americans had already had their fill of "more of the same".they had lost faith in a system that appeared to no longer represent them.so they chose the nuclear option for change.terrifying and horrifying change.

so go ahead and blame the "bernie bros".feel free to slap responsibility on those "uneducated and redneck hillbillies".cry and whine and point the finger at those liberals who refused to abandon their principles,and by all means bask in the glory of your own self-righteous moralizing,and condescendingly condemn anyone who voted for trump,or who refused to vote at all.

you can sit in a small room with everybody else who voted for hillary,and self-righteously smell each others farts and call it a rose,because you are obviously a better quality human being than the rest of us.

and by all means,refuse to examine the fact that hillary ran a shit campaign,and had no real message,vision or path to the future.ignore the corruption and blatant,and politically motivated shenanigans of the DNC.god forbid you experienced a moment of honesty.

is trump going to be a disaster of presidency?
well,it sure is shaping up to look that way isn't it?
but we have survived horrible presidents before,and we shall survive trump.

and on a positive note:
trump has brought many people out of their apathetic slumber,and they are scrutinizing everything he does with a fine toothed comb.the amount people who are becoming politically engaged is quite impressive.

there is nothing in our representative democracy quite as powerful as people gathering together to put pressure on our elected representatives.

town hall meetings,that used to be wastelands,are now being packed to over-flowing.with citizens calling out their representatives..to their FACE..on how unhappy they are.

so go ahead and ridicule those who voted for trump,but it is due to trump that so many have gotten off their couches and are taking it to their congressmen and senators.

just a non-controversial,and easily predicted side effect,when you put someone like trump in power.

man,the politics in my country is getting really fucking interesting!i cannot WAIT to see what happens in the next episode!

what do you guys think?
/end rant

*promote

$314 million for one bomb that does more damage to terrain than any enemies.

You could have dropped 1000 cluster bombs for the same price and done way more targeted damage, or 10000 JDAMS / Laser guided bombs.

This is all just Trumps ego. He wanted to show how serious he is, and nobody would let him drop a nuke, so they used his short attention span to dangle this MOAB in from of him to make him feel good.

"Yeah, yeah, it's the biggest one we have"

He's not even good at war mongering.

That's basically all there is left to say about TTIP, TPP, CETA, TiSA, etc, isn't it...

-------------------------------------
"It is of the utmost importance to work alongside other world leaders."

Just a small note on that one: thanks to the actions of Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland and the Nazi-supporting, oligarch-empowering regime of Yanukovich/Poroshenko in Ukraine, the "working alongside" part seems to fall awfully short when it comes to the Bear in the East. The Putin administration does some fucked-up shit, but all those tanks taking part in Anaconda 16, the biggest excercise since the end of the Cold War, they don't sport Russian insigniae. That's NATO, excercising a "Invasion of Russia" scenario at the border of Russia.

Maybe it's because I live in what would have been the battlefield of WW3, maybe it's because parts of my family come from Königsberg/Kaliningrad, but I support the old notion of "There is no safety in Europe against Russia, there is only safety in Europe with Russia".

Somehow, he doesn't seem to have issues working alongside the Saudi royalty who support all kinds of extremism while waging a war of aggression against Jemen. You know, the kind of extremism that gave the war mongerers in Washington an excuse to wage war in multiple nations.

How's Clinton doing, by the way? Still hailing her push to turn Libya into a failed state as an accomplishment and a sign of her experience in foreign policy? Still defending her vote for the illegal war of aggression in Iraq? Still pushing for more war in Syria? I would be interested in what Justice Robert H. Jackson, Chief Prosecutor at the Nuremberg Trials, would have to say about the Bush administration, the Obama administration and our cherished Presidential Candidate in spe, HRC. Maybe he'd commend them on their oratory prowess or sense of fashion...

Oh, so now pathetic PC is coming into play too? Ever thought about that I too am a human, who cant just swallow all that shit without venting, especially when confronted with ignorance that caused all this shit in the first place? I mean WTF... people are dying, and you expect me to pretend like them that all is well? I am starting another war with words like those? If that is the case, we are beyond hope anyway, and I am glad I make people like those uncomfortable.

Oh my gawd, I vented my frustration a bit at the end. Damn me into oblivion for being... a war mongering, conflict seeking troll hypocrite... or something...
... in less than 1% of what I wrote!

scahill keeps bringing the pain to the american foreign policy war-mongers.
*promote

The more we fight the more blow-back we will have.

WE should not be doing any fighting. They will bring it to our streets. WE are wrong.

When a drone kills my family I would also vow revenge. Blow-back.


Obama does not want boots on the ground and when the Republicans sweep control in November, they will insist on on boots on the ground. When the soldiers start dying, President Obama and the Left will blame Republicans to regain the President in 2016.

I can not support any Republican candidate who will continue this madness.
Hillary Clinton is also a war monger.

Evil begets evil.

Wrong. The US gov needs shrills like FOX to keep the public 'on-board'. Classic example being the whole WMD charade. The US public needs to think they are 'spreading freedom'. If they were ever aware of the terrorism it's own government dishes out, the American psyche would collapse and there might be actual protests (and more). Which is why I like Brand's debunking of said propaganda and war mongering.
Do you think it's a coincidence the bitch is brown ? I even think they darkened her a bit.
CNN also did it with some other war mongering Lebanese cunt recently.
Here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rZKqxxoUoYs

nah, the Tea Party loses all credibility when they argue that they're for responsible spending and completely ignore Bush/Cheney's war-mongering.

When you bitch about spending and ignore the guy who got us in debt in the first place then you're deserving of zero respect

If they had shown up during the beating of the war-drums you might have a leg to stand on, but they didn't, so you don't.

Do all the haters here not understand the Olympics is not about idolatry it's not about making money it's not even about the sports. It's about the ENTIRE world coming together every 2 years and regardless of our differences, regardless of the petty wars we have started, and regardless of our prejudice. That for the span of time during the games we as a planet engage in a single combined cooperative effort to have fair competition in the spirit of peace and goodwill and not to bicker, fight, and kill each until it ends. The Olympics even got Hitler to stop fighting during the Berlin games. ANY symbolic event that can stop an entire world war is something we should cherish and uphold till the end of time. And if supporting and believing in a symbol of PEACE like the Olympic Flame is idolatry than mark me a pagan and God have mercy on the soul of any moron who would extinguish one of the few true symbols of peace this world as a whole still holds dear. I for one hope they take that moron to the Hague and charge him with treason against the world. I mean really people how can you seriously hate the Olympics unless you hate peace. Are you all war mongers?!

damn you, you war-mongering americans, with your wars and your reunions...........



sniff....



WHAT? I got something in my eye, OK???

>> ^messenger:

You're putting words in the commentators' mouths by assuming the answer to your opening question. These two would not characterise Islam moderate, and they suggested nothing of the kind. That's equivalent to me just assuming that you support the actions of Anders Brevik because you're afraid of a European takeover of Islam. Fair?
And FWIW, everything you said about Islam and the Quran also holds true for Christianity and the Bible (except of course for the etymology). For example, the Bible is very clear on the mandate to spread Christianity -- where do you think Islam got the idea? These commentators are derisory of the material taught in this course, derisory of the same things you just said were "extreme" and "ridiculous", so I'm not sure what point you're making except that you're a wee bit xenophobic.>> ^A10anis:
So, how would these two guys characterize the islamic faith? Would they say islam is benign and wants to co-exist peacefully with the west, allowing freedom from religious intrusion, equality for woman, gays, and those of other faiths? The evidence shows the opposite. The very word islam means submission, it is not just a faith, it is a theocracy and dictates every facet of daily life. Dooley's first comment about Hiroshima was extreme, and the FBI comment about Obama being influenced by islamic extremists was ridiculous. But the quran -despite people claiming it is taken "out of context"- is very clear on the propagation of islam. The quran must be followed by every muslim and In 50 years- it has been predicted- muslims in europe will have the balance of voting power. If that happens the commentators, who are so derisory today, will be able to see just how "moderate" islam will be.


I suggest you read my comment again, slowly. Far from putting words in their mouths, I pose the legitimate question; "how would they characterize islam?" Please observe the question mark which, funnily enough, denotes a question NOT a statement. However, they certainly DID suggest what their answer would be. My inference is based upon their demeanor of derision and incredulity at anything said by Dooley, and the fact that they openly condemn him as a war monger. The two comments that I said were "extreme" and "ridiculous," were just that. The other comments made by Dooley were legitimate. Your Brevik comment is absurd and, as such, is not worth commenting on. As for you comparing islam with christianity? What are you talking about? I am an atheist and deride ALL myths. However, in defence of Christianity; When was the last Christian suicide bomber? When was the last time Christians flew planes into buildings? When was the last time a Christian stoned a woman to death or carried out an "honour" killing, or hung gays from a crane? When was the last time a christian beheaded a non-believer, etc, etc? Comparing the two is ignorant and intellectual laziness. If by xenophobic you mean I am afraid of those who wish to radically change our lives and drag us back to the bronze age, then yes, I am very afraid. Islam is an insidious threat, one we ignore at our peril. Finally, If you wish clarification on any other points that you don't understand, I will happily explain them.

>> ^kevingrr:

@ghark
1 - I'm not sure which swipe of Chris Hedges you are referring to. If it is in regard to the Moral Landscape I can only comment that Hedges takes every opportunity to inject himself into the spotlight. Having read the Moral Landscape I can say that the ideas Harris presents CAN be challenged by legitimate thinkers, of which Hedges is not.
Hedges game has been to misrepresent Harris' point of view as written in End of Faith. I would go so far as to call Hedges an all out liar. See my post in this thread:

2 - Where here is Sam blindly racist? He states that acts of terror are more likely to be carried out by young Muslim men than by 5 year old girls or grandmothers.
If I said that black athletes are more likely to be basketball players and white athletes are more likely to be baseball players would that make me racist? Because in terms of professional sports that simply IS the case. Note I am not saying WHY that is the case - I am simply saying it is and the statistics prove it.
As I have said before Sam is not racist, but he is honest about who is most likely to have some bad ideas and he does not like bad ideas.
3. Sam is not a pacifist but he is not a warmonger either. As I listened to the entirety of the interview I noted he had a very nuanced idea of when war, or physical violence of any kind, is justified.
One last link regarding Hedges:
Here


Shouldn't the definition of terrorism (of which there are many) be carefully examined before making that statement? I assume you are using the 'American mainstream media' version, which of course means, an act in which a colored person with a beard tries to inflict injury or death on other (usually white) people. If the definition is not looked at with mainstream-media-tinted spectacles then it would not be a stretch to say that the 105,000+ documented Iraqi civilian casualties since 2003 were caused by American (and allied troops) terrorism. Political and resource motivated civilian slaughter on a massive scale (and on foreign soil) sounds very terrorist-like to me. Using this line of logic, would it not make more statistical sense to worry about young to middle aged white males having access to military training than scanning middle aged Muslim men at airports.

My point is not to blame the US troops, Australian troops were also involved, my point is simply that someone of Harris' intellect should be above the simple fear mongering and use of blatant misleading generalizations that he's demonstrating in this video. He was one of my hero's for a while there, and seeing him for what he truly seems to be leaves me a bit hollow inside.

As far as Hedges goes, he seems to be on the mark most of the time, and is an excellent speaker, however I thought his shots at Harris were pretty poor form (during his book launch) because it just seemed to be a blatant publicity stunt, so I agree with you on that to a degree.

Please take in mind My BS meter couldn't handle more than about 25-30 mins of the video, and as @LukinStone mentions, Harris explains some of his comments in more detail later in the video, I just couldn't make it that far unfortunately. Most of what I was hearing was self-gratification, "a large American city has about a 50% chance of having a nuclear bomb set off in it within the next decade or so", racist comments and some war mongering, there's only so much I can take

I have not served myself, but I have many friends who have. This applies to at least the crowd I know.

>> ^criticalthud:

Any veteran i ever met who actually saw combat has been typically quite reticent to talk about it or even be public about their service.
The ones waiving the flag and advertising their service seem to invariably be rear-echelon-motherfuckers who never fired a shot, but are, opinion-wise, lock-step with the war mongering cowards we have for elected officials.
thoughts?

Any veteran i ever met who actually saw combat has been typically quite reticent to talk about it or even be public about their service.
The ones waiving the flag and advertising their service seem to invariably be rear-echelon-motherfuckers who never fired a shot, but are, opinion-wise, lock-step with the war mongering cowards we have for elected officials.
thoughts?