sometimes the truth reveals itself at the most unexpected moments.

but it wasn't wholly one man that launch the [redacted] war against Saddam. it was the work of many.

SIDEBAR: recall during those times, the administration tried five 'slogans' to sell the war. wasn't until WEAPONS OF MASS DESTRUCTION (WMDs) that they found a 'winner'.

Colin Powell forever gave up his chance at the US Presidency when he tried to sell the UN on the idea. Remember it well. Watch it live, at work, with w/boss. We saw nothing to warrant a war.

Remember it well, indeed. Hunter S. Thompson was a guest on Letterman the following night and said something to the effect of "you couldn't get a search warrant for a known mobster's house w/that kind of evidence". (have looked on YouTube for it but can't find it)

Also, remember Angela Merkel saying she couldn't ask her people to go war w/info given. A comedian remarked later that when you can't Germany to agree to invade a country - there has to be something terribly wrong w/the idea.

Sadly, this was the moment the Republicans must have believed they could sell any lie, anytime, anywhere, about anything.

They might be correct.

Holy shit sticks! We're all numb to the nazi Germany comparison being thrown around during arguments.

But the fact is, a description of the social and cultural state at the time of the rise of the nazi movement by a man WHO WAS THERE and fought against it....is identical to what's happening with maga/fox. Trump literally IS a new age, American, Hitler, and Bob and his ilk, the modern brownshirts.

Neo nazis are just niche bigoted haters, but the maga crowd are the literal successors of the historical nazis with the power to actually destroy our society.

LOL, Murdoch's Sky News Australia - the channel issuing more racist apologies (to avoid fines) than reporting on real news.

What's wrong with news of a NYC incident (with the criminal already caught) "disappearing from the headlines" in Australia? Don't have your own country's news to report? Besides, when the NYPD dig up more details, no doubt the networks will come rushing back again, they always do.

Tell you what. There's narily a peep of Australian news in the US media any given day. You don't hear any of the shit f**kery Morrison is doing now in the USA. Ask an American where Australia is in a map, a half of them will point their fingers somewhere near Germany. Or Brazil. Same chance.

Oh Bob, American don't care about other countries' existence, except for political reasons. This is just another example right-wing ugliness.

Similar to his answer to the question..”do you think this (Putin invading Ukraine) is evil.”

Trump “I think in 100 years people are going to look back and they’re going to say “how did we stand back and nato stand back” which in many ways I’ve called a paper tiger don’t forget I rebuilt nato because when I became president the first thing I noticed when I went there to the first meeting was that most of the countries were not paying or were paying far less than they were supposed to. There were only 8 out of 28 countries that were paid in full the United States was not only one of them, we were making up the deficits in order to protect Europe. We were paying POSSIBLY 80% of nato to protect them and then they take advantage of us yet on trade because on trade they’re every bit as bad as Gina. They treated us very badly on trade. We changed a lot of that around but they were very tough on trade I asked, Angela Merkel how many chevrolets are you selling this month in Munich or Berlin, and she looked at me and said “well probably none” I said you’re exactly right, none and yet we had the Mercedes Benz and the Volkswagens and all of them. We had all of the German companies, and the same thing with farmers, our farmers sell virtually nothing to Europe, you take a look at what we sell and yet we take their product.
They treated us very badly in trade and we defended them and we really if you look at the real numbers I bet you it’s close to 80% and I said “you have to pay and if you don’t pay we’re not going to defend you, and it’s one way or the other I knew Putin very well…almost as well as I know you, Sean, and I will tell you, we talked about it. We talked about it a lot. He did want Ukraine but I said “you’re not going into Ukraine”. He would never ever have gone into Ukraine and President Xi of Gina would never have even thought about going into Taiwan ..not doing windmills because they’re killing eagles. They’re killing the bald eagles and other eagles and other birds and we have these windmills all over the place and the environmentalists pretend they love them, but they’re really hurting our country they’re driving down values, they’re just absolutely killing us it’s one of the most expensive forms of energy…the turbines are all made in Gina or Germany, so they get the advantage of that….it’s…uh…just ridiculous but the real problem…”

Again, the question was “Do you think this (referring to the Russian invasion) is evil?”
This is the second interview where Hannity asked him that very question and he completely ignored it to ramble nonsensically.

Just as rambling, disjointed, fact free, casting blame, flattering himself, and completely ignoring the question because he cannot say anything rational, certainly nothing remotely against Putin or the pee tape goes public….or something worse.

@bobknight33…this is you guy? This is want you want? Mr stream of consciousness word salad spewing Trump? My 97 year old grandmother could still think and talk circles around him with her teeth out … and she’s been dead for 8 years.

I disagree. Timing matters. Had the pipeline been halted in 2019, it may well have sparked this invasion years earlier when the US couldn’t be counted on to give the aid promised or oppose Putin at all, and when there was no unity in the UN or NATO.

By not halting the pipeline then, two years ago +, Germany let them invest hundreds of millions more in a project that’s now cancelled, causing far more pain for Russia.
Also, it allowed them to use the project as both carrot and stick….true that failed to stop Russia, but was a tool used to try to cajole them out of invasion, and is now a stick whacking their disabled economy.

Of course, it’s all supposition about what may have happened….but moderately informed supposition.

Trump was right about the pipeline. There.

Except Trump being right about something has zero information value because he was wrong about so many things. Cherry picking and whataboutism only gets you so far.

Even Germany is now somewhat reluctantly coming around.

How exactly would Trump stop Putin I wonder? Any ideas beyond wild guesses?

There is no excuse for what is happening in the Ukraine now, there is no propaganda that can put this on the shoulders of anyone but Putin.

The danger in this situation is powerful people in the west are being friendly to rich russians and apologetic about the Russian regime. Business deals are less important than national safety. Being best buddy with Putin does not give Trump the power to stop him.

No, he lucked out, but Trump’s foreign policy was worse. He just capitulated to international thugs, cozied up to them except Iran. That’s why Ukraine was already occupied and Crimea recognized. It’s why N Korea advanced their capabilities so much. It’s why the Taliban gained so much power in 2020. He actually claimed China used biological warfare against us (utter bullshit, but his position), but made no moves against them in retaliation. No wars happen if you don’t oppose our enemies.

Biden isn’t my god, he’s far from perfect, he’s just an improvement. Being instrumental in opposing Assad gassing his own people is a bad thing? I was disappointed we didn’t depose him quickly with international support.

The Ukrainian parliament threw Yanukovych out in Feb 2014 on the grounds that he "has restrained himself from performing his constitutional duties" and effectively resigned. He had surprised everyone by abandoning an agreement made with Europe to be part of a free trade union, shocking the country, and instead intended to strengthen ties with Russia, and had been murdering protesters in the streets when he fled the country.

The people of Ukraine and Russia will suffer. Germany too. Probably all NATO nations….and all countries dependent on Russian aid.

My idea would have been to threaten Putin months ago that if one MORE Russian soldier or piece of military equipment crosses the border into Ukraine, we will fast track Ukraine into the UN immediately, permanently recognizing their actual borders, if he doesn’t send more military, we can negotiate peacefully with UN status on hold…and get solidarity with our allies on the plan. Maybe simplistic, but it’s what he fears, use it.

A German mark had value….until it didn’t. Your opinion of “fiat money” isn’t universal by any stretch. You say it’s universally better. I wholeheartedly disagree, and point to Germany and Venezuela as proof. They aren’t outliers either, (looking at Africa).

Gold is useful and valuable. Digital footprints aren’t. Paper notes aren’t. Printed circuits, connectors, anti oxidation, actual physical money, jewelry, etc. gold has intrinsic value, a dollar bill has about 13210 joules, so its intrinsic worth is about 1 small 1 gram stick as kindling and little more….no matter if it’s a $1 or $500 bill or a check for billions. Again, see Germany, where bills were more valuable as firewood than money.

This deflation idea again. Give me 3 examples of deflation harming/ending a nation on the gold standard please, I’ve never heard of it happening. (Edit: as far as I can find, I’m no economics professor, for the most part the gold standard was abandoned worldwide in the early 1930’s and the last remnants removed in the early 70’s by Nixon)

Explain how unsecured notes guard against speculation….don’t just claim it. I don’t see it, people made a mint short selling Venezuelan (and other failed) dollars….speculating they would crash….they did. What?

GDP is the metric that imparts value to unsecured notes offered by countries.

I think you had a mini stroke, the paragraph starting USofA is a word salad with no meaning.

Name 3. I named Germany post ww1….they didn’t get to borrow or ignore their debts. What are you talking about?

So, the only ones that don’t/can’t borrow are all the ones that need to.

Pretending basing your dollar on Bitcoin is the same as basing it on gold is outrageous idiotic bullshit. Just nonsense. Utterly moronic and pure fantasy. Don’t try moving the goalposts, that’s what you said.

Yes, the fed will take gold. They don’t take Bitcoin, do they? How about shells? Pebbles?

Jesus, you just want to argue. You’re rambling, switching positions and going off on tangents.
It’s not about whether someone might accept it, it’s about whether it’s universally accepted at one value and about holding its accepted long term value. People once gladly accepted beanie babies as payment….stupid people.
Arcata Ca printed up Arcata dollars….you could get them cheap, businesses took them. Wanna put your nest egg into them? You say that’s good money, as good as dollars. I’ll sell them to you for gold, and let’s see who’s doing better in 10 years. Or I’ll sell you pebbles for gold. Any currency you want, I’ll sell you for gold. How’s that working with pebbles or shells? Can you buy currency with them?

It has everything to do with how much it’s worth. Stop jumping subjects because your point is failing to convince. An economy based on pebbles fails because their neighbors don’t value pebbles, but if their pebbles are gold, they succeed because gold is valued universally.

What are you talking about, the gold standard’s ability to keep up? Huh?! No keep up necessary, no slow down required, gold trades exactly as fast as everything else. What is this nonsense?!?

You mean you can’t overspend and go deep into debt?! And that’s bad?! In your opinion, not many economists….and what makes you think you can’t borrow against gold? Secured loans are easier and cheaper to come by. WHAT?!?

Yes, unsecured paper money can just be printed forever, you CAN “sell the universe”. (Or sell dollars who’s overall value is based on your country’s value) over and over, then print more and sell 9/10 again, print more, sell again. Eventually that money is worth less than it costs to print, and your creditors get paid off in dollars worth a tiny fraction of what they lent you. Not if it’s backed with gold.

Miracle cure?!? Quote it. I think you misread. Secured notes being better than unsecured notes is not “miracle cure” or perfection, it’s just measurably better, safer, and more stable. No system is perfect.

Just incase you're afraid of- you know- facing reality

========================================


IQ testing and the eugenics movement in the United States

Eugenics, a set of beliefs and practices aimed at improving the genetic quality of the human population by excluding people and groups judged to be inferior and promoting those judged to be superior,[39][40][41] played a significant role in the history and culture of the United States during the Progressive Era, from the late 19th century until US involvement in World War II.[42][43]

The American eugenics movement was rooted in the biological determinist ideas of the British Scientist Sir Francis Galton. In 1883, Galton first used the word eugenics to describe the biological improvement of human genes and the concept of being "well-born".[44][45] He believed that differences in a person's ability were acquired primarily through genetics and that eugenics could be implemented through selective breeding in order for the human race to improve in its overall quality, therefore allowing for humans to direct their own evolution.[46]

Goddard was a eugenicist. In 1908, he published his own version, The Binet and Simon Test of Intellectual Capacity, and cordially promoted the test. He quickly extended the use of the scale to the public schools (1913), to immigration (Ellis Island, 1914) and to a court of law (1914).[47]

Unlike Galton, who promoted eugenics through selective breeding for positive traits, Goddard went with the US eugenics movement to eliminate "undesirable" traits.[48] Goddard used the term "feeble-minded" to refer to people who did not perform well on the test. He argued that "feeble-mindedness" was caused by heredity, and thus feeble-minded people should be prevented from giving birth, either by institutional isolation or sterilization surgeries.[47] At first, sterilization targeted the disabled, but was later extended to poor people. Goddard's intelligence test was endorsed by the eugenicists to push for laws for forced sterilization. Different states adopted the sterilization laws at different paces. These laws, whose constitutionality was upheld by the Supreme Court in their 1927 ruling Buck v. Bell, forced over 60,000 people to go through sterilization in the United States.[49]

California's sterilization program was so effective that the Nazis turned to the government for advice on how to prevent the birth of the "unfit".[50] While the US eugenics movement lost much of its momentum in the 1940s in view of the horrors of Nazi Germany, advocates of eugenics (including Nazi geneticist Otmar Freiherr von Verschuer) continued to work and promote their ideas in the United States.[50] In later decades, some eugenic principles have made a resurgence as a voluntary means of selective reproduction, with some calling them "new eugenics".[51] As it becomes possible to test for and correlate genes with IQ (and its proxies),[52] ethicists and embryonic genetic testing companies are attempting to understand the ways in which the technology can be ethically deployed.[53]

Lol at the German woman comparing vaccine passes with Nazi Germany.

I can sort of understand being afraid of the vaccine and not wanting to take it, but why come up with all those extreme excuses?

I don't know, but there's a few things that concern me:

1. Underestimating your advisory. We did this with Japan in the lead up to WW2. Great powers always fight the last war they won. In our case, that's WW2. China learned from the war they lost as well: WW2, and they're not going to make the same mistakes twice.

2. Ambiguous defense posture. This is how England got dragged into WW1 due to an uncertain position if Germany invaded France. Germany gambled that England wouldn't get involved because it had no spoken mutual defense agreement with France. Had the defense pact been made readily clear, it's possible Germany wouldn't have invaded.

2. Use it or lose it weapons. In WW1, one of the main issues with the initial invasion was train schedules. Things had to go perfectly to get men and material to the front line and any hiccup could delay a military victory. Once the very first German troop train left the station, there was no way to stop the invasion. Now we've got a situation where a war over Taiwan would be won or lost in about an hour of the first shot. China knows that should the US get involved, China's military assets are going to be blown up and fast. This puts China in a situation where they might choose the launch everything in a maximum impact first strike. Faced with overwhelming damage, the US would be forced to make some hard choices about how to respond. Would it go nuclear? It's according to how much Taiwan means to us.

"It won't happen". Go to Europe and see how many tombstones bear that inscription.

I'd say 50/50.

laowhy86, who made the underlying video, lists his sources in his YouTube description as:

* https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/health-china-bgi-dna/
* https://www.defenseone.com/ideas/2019/08/its-high-time-germany-fund-and-fix-its-military/159149/
* https://www.armyupress.army.mil/Journals/Military-Review/Directors-Select-Articles/Nanatechnology/
* https://nonproliferation.org/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/scientific_risk_assessment_genetic_weapon_systems06_cover.pdf

I've not checked the video's claims against his sources, but didn't hear anything about bioweapons or the PRC/CCP's interest in them that seemed surprising.

The video did strike me as partisan: I have no doubt that the USG is also working on weaponizing precision medicine. While I don't like partisan presentations, I recognize that may be acceptable to keep a topic tractable (thus, "Chinese genetic bioweapons" v "all genetic bioweapons").

I think this is a very important topic, so would like to see the _ideas_ discussed - not just our political differences exposed.

Can anyone expressing concerns about the original video indicate which _ideas_ they think are incorrect or overstated? (I'm not interested in the partisan aspect of the video: I'm aware of that already.)

Fun fact...
The Nürburgring was built to alleviate unemployment in the Eifel region of northwest Germany. From 1925 to 1927, some 25,000 persons were hired to construct the racetrack. *promote

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Your video, Trains in Germany after flooding, has made it into the Top 15 New Videos listing. Congratulations on your achievement. For your contribution you have been awarded 1 Power Point.