Such nonsense.
Biden did not approve, nor is he helping build this pipeline. He chose to not sanction one Swiss company helping build the last 90 miles, but is still sanctioning Russian companies involved, and is likely to block it's certification and insurance (by banning any insurer from using international or US banking) without guarantees the Ukrainian pipeline won't be abandoned.
He decided not making Germany go dark was a better plan, not alienating a long term ally and strategic partner that we are trying to repair our severely damaged relationship with.
He also decided putting Russia in bed with the Chinese, their other option for selling their gas, was not a smart move.
He is clear, he is against this pipeline and is still sanctioning many Russian companies involved in it's construction.
https://www.cnn.com/2021/05/18/politics/us-nord-stream-decision/index.html

Those grapes must be really sour today @bobknight33, they've got your yummy tears flowing like a firehose....keep em coming. So yummy, you guys.

Edit: I'm curious why America SHOULD hold veto power over international projects approved by all involved countries on other continents. Should we stop pipelines because Putin says so? He could stop hacking them and just tell us to quit. It seems ridiculous that we are telling Germany they can't have more natural gas, and telling Russia they can't sell it.
For clarification, I'm against it for ecological reasons, yes gas produces less CO2 than coal and oil, but produces way more methane which is >25 times more destructive per molecule in the short term. 11 billion could have built any number of wave/tidal generation facilities that run 24/7 without a new source of greenhouse gases.

I 100% agree with you! Further, I hope those 100 GOP leaders choose to split and form their own party and take 10% of the Republicans with them. Hell, I hope all the red states bail from the US and form their more perfect union where they can all get together and enjoy the 26% of GDP fruit of their labors -- hell, they can even keep it!

Y'all just stay over there and we'll put up some nice fences on Highways 2, 90, 80 and 50 to keep you from straying into our horrible socialist paradise. Then, after pellagra sets in, we'll even provide you with a nice new life as organ donors to rich Chinese, but we will want to keep the $.50 a head we get for your worthless bodies.

Fair deal?

Wouldn't a P-90 be a better choice in a small space like that? I mean, with an AR-15 you'd have both a limited area to swing the barrel and would be more likely to shoot your driver than the dudes shooting at you.

See, I'm Davey Crockett kinda guy. If you're gonna defend yourself, better to do it when your attacker is a few miles away and not well-shielded against gamma prompts. Also, everyone loves a good firework show, so win-win!

There's a multi-lane roundabout in Long Beach, CA where I used to live. It also has an outer concentric circle for 90-degree traffic (the equivalent of a right hand turn) so they don't have to enter the circle itself. I'm sure it happens, but I've never seen an accident in that circle.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Los_Alamitos_Circle

The strobe didn't get the kid shot.
The kid got shot because he had a gun, shooting ( him and his thug buddy) in the middle of the night .
He should not have run.
Chased by cops with gun in hand and ditching it and turning around at last moment got him shot. The kid is 90% responsible for his death.

Strobe, cop and all other factors 10%.

This is a non story except by fake media to divide Americans.

I thought I addressed that. Travel was also open between states, and many countries with "free travel amongst nations" had no-travel/stay at home orders in place, unlike the U.S., and afaik, mandatory quarantine for all international travelers.

Again, because he eradicated the international Global Health Security and Biodefense unit, I can legitimately ascribe every single non Chinese death and most Chinese deaths to his actions directly. A pandemic on this level WAS foreseen after SARS, Ebola, and Swine Flu, it's why we created the GHSB. It's why we had a pandemic response plan that Trump completely ignored and actually denied it existed for months and months.

I also am going by facts. My facts say that at least four things Trump did against professional advice took us from prepared to minimise any pandemic to at worst a foreign epidemic to a place where months after pandemics start our leader denied any danger and made no moves to stop it.
1) Eradication of the GHSB, missed opportunity one to have zero US cases and avoid a pandemic completely.
2) Repeated early public denial of the danger while encouraging others to do the same and go about business as usual, missed opportunity two to have zero US cases, and a missed opportunity to minimize any spread if quarantining travelers (something else he failed miserably to even consider early on) failed.
3) Encouragement of those who trust him to ignore all mitigation efforts, don't mask, don't social distance, don't shut down non essential businesses, don't close schools, don't listen to medical professionals....missed opportunity number three to minimize US infections to thousands instead of hundreds of thousands. Remember the many months he said grandma would gladly die to get people back to work, pretending many months in that only feeble octogenarians get sick?
4) Denial of a prepared response plan, never following it and claiming total ignorance, missed opportunity number four to follow prepared plans based on science from day one, missing the opportunity to keep our infection rate at S Korean levels.

That's four well researched and vetted moronic, irrational, and irresponsible mistakes he personally made that multiplied our infection rate by 100- infinity times (if we could have had zero without his multiple massive and stupid mistakes, which is not just possible but likely, he can be said to have CAUSED every single US case, multiplying our infections by infinity.). There were more, but I'm beating a dead horse.
Remember, his real plan was natural herd immunity, with an expected 3-60 million deaths depending on who you asked.

I say if intelligent decisions could have avoided all US infections, and that's undeniable IMO, you can lay the blame for as high a percentage as you like on the leader who made bad dangerous decisions out of pure narcissistic ignorance and hatred of his predecessor...up to 100%. 80-90% still seems like I'm coddling him, at least two failures could have made cases zero, and others minimized it to under 10% of what we have. All four I listed almost certainly allowed >90% giving every doubt and giving him all possible credit....so yes, I'm satisfied I'm not exaggerating.

Obama's responsible and responsive planning and execution stopped Ebola from ever spreading here despite it making it to our shores, and it was FAR more contagious and deadly. Had we had Trump then doing the same things, there would be tens of millions dead and likely still spreading disease, imo.


Edit: let me try analogy...If a mayor removes the stop signs from 4 way highway intersections, they are responsible for every wreck that happens, even though other towns with stop signs still have wrecks at intersections. Trump pulled the signs, removed the flashing red light, and cut first responder funding, and claimed there never was a highway code to follow and he takes no responsibility for the jump in highway deaths.

I'm regurgitating the numbers Dr Birx used, and comparing our outbreak to other nations that took it seriously like S Korea and New Zealand. If we had used the same serious action S Korea had, our death rate per 100000 would be an astonishing 1/60th of what our death rates were in the first 6 months or so. Just universal mask wearing would have cut our deaths by an estimated >1/4, 130000 fewer deaths, and slowed the rate of new cases significantly, but Trump fought against them.

Here's the link on that data...., granted slightly dated.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2020/10/23/how-many-coronavirus-deaths-are-truly-attributable-trump/

Remember, the Whitehouse said 100000-240000 possible deaths, around the same time Trump said deaths would never rise over 20000, using the lower of those numbers and blaming Trump's policies for the excess we are >80% his fault now, using Trump's promised numbers over 96% are blood on his hands.

There's also the fact that after knowing about the uncontrolled epidemic in WuHan Trump let over 40000 people (just not Chinese nationals) back in the country from that region with no tests available and no quarantine except for those obviously extremely sick. An immediate and actual travel lockdown could have made our deaths zero, and definitely would have made them exponentially lower.

Then there's the dismantling of the Global Health Security and Biodefense unit he closed that likely could have identified the outbreak in China much earlier and again, made our numbers zero. It's exactly what they were created to avoid.

I honestly feel 80- 90% was being generous, in fact there's a real possibility that a thoughtful adult president would have made any number of intelligent decisions, any one of which could have avoided the pandemic altogether or minimized infections enormously, even minimizing the Chinese epidemic.

I do agree, Biden is doing much better at taking it seriously and acting like rapid vaccination is important, but still isn't doing enough. I would prefer an enforced national mask mandate, mandatory social distancing, school closings until vaccination saturation, etc until we have herd immunity....not half assed measures like 50% capacity at bars and restaurants, with few business shutdowns and zero enforcement, pretending it's over every time infection rates dip.

I don't disagree that Trump could have handled many aspects of the pandemic better, but I think your numbers are a bit off.

One, because with the lack of a vaccine, experts are unsure of how many of the deaths can be laid specifically at Trump's feet. In other words, they are unable to put a solid number to how many would have died had he done anything different. It certainly would not be 80-90%, that is a nearly unproveable claim in the face of no vaccine being available. The closest estimate is from the Lancet Commision, which suggests that 40% could be Trump's fault, along with four decades of "long-standing flaws in US economic, health, and social policy" that compounded inefficiencies in the country's public-health systems before the pandemic. https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lancet/article/PIIS0140-6736(20)32545-9/fulltext

If you look at statistics, Biden's administration was running at similar death numbers than Trump's for a couple of months after he took office. They only began to decline rapidly since the vaccine became more available. Vaccine availability is more of a factor of how fast the companies were able to make the vaccine, versus anything Biden could have done. His contribution, if you will, is primarily not stockpiling a reserve and sending it out as fast as possible. The current death rate is running about the same as from May 2020 to November 2020. The winter surge was about as bad as everyone expected.

Here is a link that shows the deaths on a timeline. Select "deaths' instead of "cases". https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2021/04/01/coronavirus-covid-live-updates-us/

@bobknight33 you ignorant slut.....

80-90% of all US covid deaths are because of Trump's total bungling of the pandemic. Most due to his denying it was anything but flu for months and encouragement of his followers to ignore and fight against public health measures. Every death since July is because of Trump's disastrous response, and most deaths before July but not all. After two months, Biden's administration has cut deaths by 60%+.

So yes, anyone responsible for that many deaths should not remain president, and he didn't despite the fraud fraud and attempted overthrow of democracy he perpetrated.

You are projecting.

Marriage takes the honesty away from a relationship.
It's no longer me and you.
It's me and you and uncle sam.
I want *consensual* relations where me and my partner set our rules, not some 3rd party, and not when the rules are stacked against me.

Congratulations to your brother. Lucky him.

I never said women don't work.

I said that men make more personal sacrifices for their work - a true statement about men as a group. Exceptions don't alter the rule.

Yes, women under 35 out earn men now. And as legacy earners retire, we will be facing a situation where women out earn men at any age. Preferential admittance and hiring tend to have that effect. It's by design.

And women don't get paid less for the same work - the studies saying that don't account for hours worked and don't provide any breakdown of job title. E.g. Women doctors get paid less - because the type of doctor they choose to be is more likely to be a pediatrician than a heart surgeon or anesthesiologist. But within each category of doctor, per hour worked, and per year experience, their income is essentially identical.

And you don't need to be a home maker to get paid in a divorce. Just make less than your partner.
Historically the divorce rewards scale higher for women given mirror situations.

Why would I want to deal with a 50/50 split when I brought 90% of the assets into the marriage? A 50/50 split would set me back decades. I just want to keep my stuff, I did pay for it after all, which cost me money, which cost me time, which cost me life.

And why should /anyone/ have their life supported by anyone else?
(*context=spouses. Not interested in some bad faith out of context argument bringing up children or retirees supported by taxes, etc)
Are you able bodied? Then get working.
Is it tough? Too bad.
It's harder for both people supporting themselves alone, you aren't special. You were in this situation before you got married, you can go back to it.

In any case, the homemaker job argument is senseless. There are benefits (time with kids), and there are pitfalls (hole in your resume). You make your choice, and you deal with the consequences.
You are paid by the home over your head and the money you're given while you are a home maker. What other job do you get to leave and still be paid. People act as if the working partner was just chilling this whole time. Where are the working partner's continuing post divorce benefits?


I have no mindset about women. More projection.
I couldn't care less if I marry a stripper with 2 kids - so long as in the event of a divorce we go our separate ways with ZERO obligations to one another.

I have a mindset about the dangers of divorce, and the fact that most marriages end in divorce, and most divorces are initiated by the female partner.
I am on average more likely than not to face a divorce.
Hence the risk reduction by being more 'picky'.


I am in a nearly 20 year happy relationship - unmarried.
She's the boss of the relationship. And I'm fine with that because I *consent* to it. I can always walk away if I decide otherwise.

So long as laws and family court are how they are, I won't even consider marriage.

-scheherazade

Nice additional info from APOTD:

The Russian Soyuz-FG rocket was launched in November 2018 from the Baikonur Cosmodrome in Kazakhstan, carrying a Progress MS-10 (also 71P) module to bring needed supplies to the ISS. Highlights in the 90-second video (condensing about 15-minutes) include city lights and clouds visible on the Earth on the lower left, blue and gold bands of atmospheric airglow running diagonally across the center, and distant stars on the upper right that set behind the Earth. A lower stage can be seen falling back to Earth as the robotic supply ship fires its thrusters and begins to close on the ISS, a space laboratory that celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2018.

This is a nicer version of the *related=https://videosift.com/video/Breathtaking-rocket-launch-as-seen-from-the-ISS

So now it’s one hour. Consistency, bob. You lack it.

Yes...but 5 second clips out of context are all you’ve been fed for the last 5 years....just as your statement about Biden tripping suggests, because it is a non story on real news, mentioned but not dissected to imply he’s on deaths door. Trump made his ramp crawl a story by denying it and claiming he ran down the ramp unassisted, without the denial it would have been a nothing burger....Thanks to Trump's dumb denial it became a story about his health AND his lack of honesty.

Don’t make up lies, Bob. I’ve never “secretly agreed” Biden isn’t presidential, I’ve said he’s not the best Democrats had to offer. You are the one who is consistently inconsistent between your private conversations and public ones, that’s why I won’t talk to you in private anymore. In private, you can occasionally be rational and honest, but then publicly you are bat shit crazy and contradict your private positions. That’s not me, it’s you, buddy.

No sir, Trump and right wing media are far more likely to be outright lying to you than telling the truth, something like 90% lies 5% misdirection and 5% truth...main stream media is closer to 90% truth, 5% misdirection and 5% lies or mistakes they retract when caught. It’s nothing similar. Right wing media excuses this by saying they are 90% opinion and only 5-10% news, and they have no obligation to tell the truth on their opinion programs. Indeed, they've successfully argued in court that no reasonable person could possibly think they were ever telling the truth so they aren't responsible for their lies. Main stream media doesn’t do that, they are maybe 20% opinion shows that actually do care if they’re correct and voluntarily correct themselves often and 80% actual news that follow ethical guidelines absolutely missing on right wing media.

For instance, you don’t see footage from clan rallies presented as Trump rallies on CNN, but Fox OANN and Newsmax all replayed year old riots in the Midwest labeled as Portland burning all summer, photoshopping armed ANTIFA into the fake pictures to scare you into voting out of fear of the terrifying black man, and lied to you claiming ANTIFA, the anarchist movement, is somehow part of the Democratic Party of big government and also in cahoots with BLM so much your ilk use ANTIFA and BLM as interchangeable terms....and you believe every word without question.
You don't see main stream media pretending there was massive election fraud based on nothing but the word of consummate liars, actually accusing American companies of being foreign entities run by America's long dead enemies in efforts to invalidate an election. You don't see them pretending a DOJ rule that denies a prosecutor the ability to press charges against the president explained as proof and official verification of his innocence on main stream media.
The right spread the absolute lies about vote fraud for so long they are being sued for billions and have convinced their viewers a dictator dead for a decade personally stole the election from their guy (who received 8 million fewer votes, and who’s never won an election by getting more votes).
If right wing media were held to the same standards as real news media not one right wing outlet would still exist.

*talks *cinema *90s *wtf

Adding video to channels (90s, Cinema, Talks, Wtf) - requested by ant.

Man, the 90s were wild...wtf. *promote *quality