"It’s unclear if Perry’s attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts."
I guess I'll hold my judgement on the actual legality of it, until someone representive of a legal branch flat out says "That shit was illegal".
But yeah, apparently it pays off to have friends in high places.
Well - lets be frank. The idea that Trump cares "at all" about corruption, especially in another country, is ridiculous and requires significant cognitive dissonance when compared to his own administration's record.
So, in regards to that witness in the Amber Guyger trial getting murdered last night, I was waiting for the inevitable smearing of gang affiliation or whatnot to pop up. But it hasn't. But was has come out is......disturbing to say the least. Because it appears he was shot in the mouth. Now we can pretend we don't know what that might mean, but it's pretty damn hard not to go to "you wouldn't shut up, so now we're shutting you up for good." Even if you are going to kill someone, shooting someone in the mouth is deliberate overkill meant to send a message, or why would you take the time to do so?? Now I don't know where this is going to go. Maybe these thoughts ARE hysteric nonsense. But I can tell you based on what I'm seeing on social media that a very large part of the African-American population of Dallas BELIEVES he was killed for testifying in the trial. I'm certainly going to be paying attention to where this leads.
Edit: I'm now reading more conflicting reports about where he may have been shot. The initial information came from a lawyer for the family, and he is now saying we need to wait for an autopsy, so I'll withhold judgement until that time. I still don't like the way this one smells, but don't want to jump to conclusions without knowing more.
How the police handle the murder is going to be telling IMO.
For now, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and blame some right-wing racist blue-lives-matter Q T-shirt wearing scumbag on the murder.
If he was killed in the parking lot of the building that he lived in as first reported and how much international attention this trial received, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was hunted down and ambushed by someone of that ilk. Civil war and all.
But if they dismiss it as gang-related or some other load that I’ll probably flip my stance and not give them the benefit of the doubt and call for an national inquiry about the incident.
So something really interesting is going on in the sports world tonight. Daryl Morey, the GM of the Houston Rockets, came out in favor of the Hong Kong protesters (as any decent person should). The NBA makes ALOT of money in China. Needless to say, the Chinese government is apparently so pissed about this that the Rockets ownership have given serious thought to FIRING Morey even though he is one of the most successful GMs in the league over the last decade. And the NBA is actually apologizing to China. Needless to say, they are getting EXCORIATED over how they are handling this on social media tonight, and this is a moment where, unlike the NFL, they can actually step up and do the right thing for a change on a significant issue, because the NBA really likes to sell itself as a league that is better than that. This a chance for them to actually do so, but telling China to go shove it will require eating BILLIONS in revenue.
@ThacoBell@Verticor: This thread is not here for semantic debates, and this tangent is going nowhere. Picking apart the meaning of a single brief comment from another page of the thread is not going to shed light on any issue--and I can tell that neither of you are enjoying this argument, either, which is the only other reason to keep it going. At the risk of seeming bossy, I would recommend referring to the first paragraph of Rule 5 and the second sentence of Rule 2 of the thread rules.
I would recommend just dropping it. I don't see any future in this tangent, and it costs nothing to drop it.
Very well, henceforth I swear I shall stop reciprocating to baseless accusations directed towards me. Good enough?
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I thought something smelled fishy with Pompeo in Greece this weekend. Greece has been hiding Kurds from the Turks for at least 100 years. Can't save them anymore.
There is a Trump Tower in Istanbul. Go figure. It's one thing to oppose foreign intervention, be against war on principle. But to enter into an alliance with someone, have them fight on your side and then abandon them to get wiped out by an autocratic thug is so beyond the pale. The details of this are actually even worse. Trump is completely bought and sold. They never asked us to fight with them, only arm them and support them. We are not losing soldiers in Syria. But this basically ensures an ethnic cleansing.
How long should we have illegally occupied Syria for? Forever? Even though Syria itself wants us gone? Withdrawing troops is always sold to us as being dangerous and irresponsible, with permanent occupation being treated as the Serious Option.
We only have 1,000 troops there anyway. Not like we have a large military presence in the first place.
Because it was a flat-out betrayal of the people doing the actual fighting and dying. Actually, it's worse, it was more like we lured them into a trap. These are foreign correspondents for major newspapers, who do their reporting on the front lines. I'm not for permanent occupation, I'm for not stabbing brave peope in the back:
What a joke. We wouldn't be holding off a Turkish invasion with 1,000 stationed troops as it is. Furthermore, it's not our job. Fighting foreign wars is the exact opposite of the stated military policy of this administration. Neither was this a sudden event, but something in the works and was intended almost a year ago, according to previous reporting.
I ask again, how long should we have illegally occupied Syria for, against the wishes of Syria?
We aren't fighting the war. We were having OTHER peope fight it for us. All they asked for is support. Obviously, having the backing of the United States is worth far more than any troop number, but you know this. We asked them to draw down their defenses, then Trump gets on the phone with Erdogan, gives him the greenlight to move forward, and now the people who have already lost 11,000 soldiers so WE didn't have to in that fight are defenseless because of OUR request and we're saying "good luck, suckers". I wonder how much money Trump made on that phone call. We'll probably never know, since it likely went into a secret server.
Whenever they interfere somewhere, people yell "Imperialist scum!", "Babykillers!" or whatever at them in droves. When they finally give the people what they want and withdraw/never get involved in any random global crisis, the same people seethe and foam EVEN MORE at the mouthes, than if they got involved.
Weapons and supplies and other forms of material support are more important than troop numbers, I agree, but there hasn't been anything said about ending material support, as far as I know. Are we ending this?
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
Whenever they interfere somewhere, people yell "Imperialist scum!", "Babykillers!" or whatever at them in droves. When they finally give the people what they want and withdraw/never get involved in any random global crisis, the same people seethe and foam EVEN MORE at the mouthes, than if they got involved.
That always puzzled me as a non-American.
That is an incredibly simplistic view of what is taking place here. Whatever the view of the presence in Syria is, we made an alliance with the Kurds to do the actual fighting and dying in that region. That decision was already made. And we aren't just abandoning them, we are doing it after we specifically asked them to draw down their defenses, and on the spur of the moment with no warning, so a dictator can move in HIS army and almost certainly wipe them out. And the Kurds have NEVER thought that about the US. But they will now. This is a bridge too far.
Weapons and supplies and other forms of material support are more important than troop numbers, I agree, but there hasn't been anything said about ending material support, as far as I know. Are we ending this?
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
Yes, he has absolutely been talking about Turkey this morning.
That is an incredibly simplistic view of what is taking place here. Whatever the view of the presence in Syria is, we made an alliance with the Kurds to do the actual fighting and dying in that region. That decision was already made. And we aren't just abandoning them, we are doing it after we specifically asked them to draw down their defenses, and on the spur of the moment with no warning, so a dictator can move in HIS army and almost certainly wipe them out. And the Kurds have NEVER thought that about the US. But they will now. This is a bridge too far.
Weapons and supplies and other forms of material support are more important than troop numbers, I agree, but there hasn't been anything said about ending material support, as far as I know. Are we ending this?
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
Yes, he has absolutely been talking about Turkey this morning.
Weapons and supplies and other forms of material support are more important than troop numbers, I agree, but there hasn't been anything said about ending material support, as far as I know. Are we ending this?
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
Yes, he has absolutely been talking about Turkey this morning.
This is the breakdown of what HAS BEEN going on in Northern Syria. Essentially, there is a semi-autonomous region called Rojava that is fighting for a democratic independent area and state, caught between Assad on one side and Erdogan on the other. This goes into DETAIL about how the Kurdish forces were convinced, in an agreement facilitated by us, to stand down and dismantle their border fortifications. And then, a couple weeks later, we flat-out betray them. Or, to be more specific, Trump betrayed them in one conversation with Erdogan. Everything agreed to in principle just two weeks ago is now out the window:
There is a Trump Tower in Istanbul. Go figure. It's one thing to oppose foreign intervention, be against war on principle. But to enter into an alliance with someone, have them fight on your side and then abandon them to get wiped out by an autocratic thug is so beyond the pale. The details of this are actually even worse. Trump is completely bought and sold. They never asked us to fight with them, only arm them and support them. We are not losing soldiers in Syria. But this basically ensures an ethnic cleansing.
You must be new. ( Sarcasm ) America has been doing this since it became a Nation. Trump isn't the issue on this, he's not the first and certainly will not be the last.
Weapons and supplies and other forms of material support are more important than troop numbers, I agree, but there hasn't been anything said about ending material support, as far as I know. Are we ending this?
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
Yes, he has absolutely been talking about Turkey this morning.
Unfortunately it doesn't matter if it's Trump, Obama or a giraffe, the US is not free unless they cut ties with the Federal Reserve. Same coin, different side.
Aaaaaand... we've got politics in gaming as well, folks! A break from corporate tyrants turned Presidents! How about that? Now it's only about... well, corporate tyrants, some might say.
At least enough of Activision Blizzard's fans are raging to catch the attention of various gaming media outlets. Blitzchung, a Hearthstone champ, has been awarded with the ban hammer by what many call the "evil moneygrabbing corporate entity" AB for speaking out in defence of Hong Kong in a live stream. Watching the two interviewing folks physically DUCK under the table, as he does it, is... well... both extremely sad and morbidly amusing at the same time.
Anyways, he's not allowed to participate in any tournament of theirs for 12 months or so. And that has a lot of people in an uproar. Some Blizzard gamers are rather outspoken about the company seemingly censoring on behalf of dictator states just to preserve their spot in future cash cow markets (Diablo Immortal). Or so the saying goes, at least. People are seething even more about the fact that comments were disabled by AB under their official statement. "Cowards!!!" and similar phrases are hurled. Very intense in some places.
So, whaddya think? Is AB pandering to Communist China, or is that exclusively a Microsoft/Apple move?
I don't think it is worth discussing much, compared to everything else going on in the world.
Blizzard wants to operate in China and not coming down on the Blitzchung would public support for the Hong Kong demonstrants - since the rules do not allow political statements in general, tolerating it specifically here would have been a tacit endorsement.
At the same time the 12 months & coming down on the casters seem fairly excessive on their part.
Bottom line: do not expect corporations to champion democracy and free speech out of the goodness of their heart. If you want companies to do so, pass laws that require them too. I support those kinds of regulations.
Comments
"It’s unclear if Perry’s attempts to replace board members at Naftogaz were coordinated with the Giuliani allies pushing for a similar outcome, and no one has alleged that there is criminal activity in any of these efforts."
I guess I'll hold my judgement on the actual legality of it, until someone representive of a legal branch flat out says "That shit was illegal".
But yeah, apparently it pays off to have friends in high places.
Well - lets be frank. The idea that Trump cares "at all" about corruption, especially in another country, is ridiculous and requires significant cognitive dissonance when compared to his own administration's record.
It undercuts his argument utterly
How the police handle the murder is going to be telling IMO.
For now, I am going to give them the benefit of the doubt and blame some right-wing racist blue-lives-matter Q T-shirt wearing scumbag on the murder.
If he was killed in the parking lot of the building that he lived in as first reported and how much international attention this trial received, it wouldn’t surprise me if he was hunted down and ambushed by someone of that ilk. Civil war and all.
But if they dismiss it as gang-related or some other load that I’ll probably flip my stance and not give them the benefit of the doubt and call for an national inquiry about the incident.
CUPE Workers have hammered out a Tentative deal ( needing ratification ) with the Ontario Government. Schools will be open Monday morning.
https://globalnews.ca/video/5998503/cupe-announces-tentative-agreement-with-ontario-government-to-avert-strike
If you have any questions or concerns, you can send a PM to a member of the moderating team.
I thought something smelled fishy with Pompeo in Greece this weekend. Greece has been hiding Kurds from the Turks for at least 100 years. Can't save them anymore.
We only have 1,000 troops there anyway. Not like we have a large military presence in the first place.
https://www.nytimes.com/2019/09/28/world/middleeast/syria-war.html
I ask again, how long should we have illegally occupied Syria for, against the wishes of Syria?
Whenever they interfere somewhere, people yell "Imperialist scum!", "Babykillers!" or whatever at them in droves. When they finally give the people what they want and withdraw/never get involved in any random global crisis, the same people seethe and foam EVEN MORE at the mouthes, than if they got involved.
That always puzzled me as a non-American.
Who asked who to draw down defenses, why, and when? I don't know. Do you know? I need more information before I start forming unfounded opinions. Right now I don't even know where the source of that demand came from.
Even now, congress is trying to put forward measures to punish Turkey for wrong moves, sanctions and kicking them out of NATO (should have been done before) etc, and Trump has been retweeting things hinting that he is already arriving at a deal with Turkey when they visit soon.
I find these variety of soft power techniques to be far more palatable than getting involved in foreign wars, endless occupations, and using the limited resource of military power and good will on every problem.
That is an incredibly simplistic view of what is taking place here. Whatever the view of the presence in Syria is, we made an alliance with the Kurds to do the actual fighting and dying in that region. That decision was already made. And we aren't just abandoning them, we are doing it after we specifically asked them to draw down their defenses, and on the spur of the moment with no warning, so a dictator can move in HIS army and almost certainly wipe them out. And the Kurds have NEVER thought that about the US. But they will now. This is a bridge too far.
Yes, he has absolutely been talking about Turkey this morning.
"I am OZ, the Great and Powerful!!!"
Well, I was speaking in general.
What the hell kind of tweet is that?
That tweet ALONE should be grounds for 25th Amendment removal.
"My great and unmatched wisdom"? "Totally destroy and obliterate the economy of Turkey (I've done it before)"?
Does that SOUND like a rational person?
I feel like we're about a week or two away from him telling his pyromancers to plant jars of wildfire beneath the streets of DC.
https://www.greenleft.org.au/content/rojava-revolution-what-does-safe-zone-deal-mean
Trump was never a fan of US involvement in Syria in any capacity and tried withdrawing before.
He was talked out of it, but just like the border, everyone who talked him out of it is has been pushed out of his administration.
This wasn’t his fight and anything that happens in the region after this, he’ll just point to Obama (and Biden) and say it was their fault.
You must be new. ( Sarcasm ) America has been doing this since it became a Nation. Trump isn't the issue on this, he's not the first and certainly will not be the last.
I also agree his attempts at trolling and memes are getting harder to swallow now. They ain't funny anymore.
Unfortunately it doesn't matter if it's Trump, Obama or a giraffe, the US is not free unless they cut ties with the Federal Reserve. Same coin, different side.
At least enough of Activision Blizzard's fans are raging to catch the attention of various gaming media outlets. Blitzchung, a Hearthstone champ, has been awarded with the ban hammer by what many call the "evil moneygrabbing corporate entity" AB for speaking out in defence of Hong Kong in a live stream. Watching the two interviewing folks physically DUCK under the table, as he does it, is... well... both extremely sad and morbidly amusing at the same time.
Anyways, he's not allowed to participate in any tournament of theirs for 12 months or so. And that has a lot of people in an uproar. Some Blizzard gamers are rather outspoken about the company seemingly censoring on behalf of dictator states just to preserve their spot in future cash cow markets (Diablo Immortal). Or so the saying goes, at least. People are seething even more about the fact that comments were disabled by AB under their official statement. "Cowards!!!" and similar phrases are hurled. Very intense in some places.
So, whaddya think? Is AB pandering to Communist China, or is that exclusively a Microsoft/Apple move?
BTW, here's one article with a quick glance of the infamous "duck and cover"- maneuver. Enjoy.
https://kotaku.com/in-post-game-interview-hearthstone-player-calls-for-th-1838839215
Blizzard wants to operate in China and not coming down on the Blitzchung would public support for the Hong Kong demonstrants - since the rules do not allow political statements in general, tolerating it specifically here would have been a tacit endorsement.
At the same time the 12 months & coming down on the casters seem fairly excessive on their part.
Bottom line: do not expect corporations to champion democracy and free speech out of the goodness of their heart. If you want companies to do so, pass laws that require them too. I support those kinds of regulations.