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?
Gotta love the South Park creators' response to their show being banned in China:
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts," they said in a statement on Twitter. "We too love money more than freedom and democracy."
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:
Okay, so basically, the sob story about Trump dismantling border fortifications was just not true. It was part of a larger agreement on a mutual safe zone. Looking into this further, Turkey began going back on the deal starting around the 1st of October, and announced his intentions to invade on the 5th. 2 days later, we get the announcement for U.S forces to pull back. This is starting to look a lot less random. I'm no military strategist but pulling your 1,000 troops back to potentially spare their lives is a good bet. No American should have to sacrifice their life for this.
For my part, I care not a whit about establishing a Kurdish ethnostate using parts of Turkey and Syria. Giving support to them is of course going to damage relationships with the countries they inhabit. Neither do I care to be part of a permanently and illegally occupying military force acting as a shield between various enemy factions that are of little threat to us at home. Given that when our forces occupy an area our intelligence agencies covertly support rebel groups to overthrow foreign govts, our presence makes further involvement and entanglement more likely, It seems that we may do less harm in the long run by removing ourselves. Ideally other countries would step in to help the Kurds, if not why won't they? Why wouldn't the United Nations help? Everything should not the responsibility of Americans, particularly events going on the in the European backyard. Getting ourselves out of these pointless bloodbaths is precisely what I wanted.
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.
Seriously, I don't know why any non-European nation or group takes us at our word. Throughout our nation's history we've only been trustworthy to a select few.
Gotta love the South Park creators' response to their show being banned in China:
"Like the NBA, we welcome the Chinese censors into our homes and into our hearts," they said in a statement on Twitter. "We too love money more than freedom and democracy."
Hindering an impeachment inquiry that's Obstruction of Justice.
But there is no justice with Barr and Trump and lawless Constitution hating Republicans.
We need law and order Democrats to sweep these criminals out of office and into prison.
Be that as it may, from what I understand, historically it's been notoriously difficult to convict American Presidents of anything, even if the evidence is stacked against them.
Hindering an impeachment inquiry that's Obstruction of Justice.
But there is no justice with Barr and Trump and lawless Constitution hating Republicans.
We need law and order Democrats to sweep these criminals out of office and into prison.
Be that as it may, from what I understand, historically it's been notoriously difficult to convict American Presidents of anything, even if the evidence is stacked against them.
That doesn't mean you have to cover for and encourage MORE law breaking lol which is what Republicans are doing. They're so scared of getting a mean tweet that they'll bend over backwards to cover up crimes. Truly a bunch of cowards.
That doesn't mean you have to cover for and encourage MORE law breaking lol which is what Republicans are doing. They're so scared of getting a mean tweet that they'll bend over backwards to cover up crimes. Truly a bunch of cowards.
Yes, because that's literally the modus operandi of every Republican I've ever seen. To lie their asses off in fear of tweets.
A lot of Republican constituents listen to Trump's tweets. It's the administration's primary form of communication, and a Trump tweet criticizing a GOP official could indeed damage their reelection chances.
It appears the witness in the Guyger trial was killed in an altercation involving a drug sale. Many people don't appear to want to accept this, but being as one of the suspects is in the hospital with a wound suffered in said altercation, it makes further theorizing kind of pointless.
And the Administration has now declared the impeachment inquiry "illegitimate" and have issued a blanket statement saying there will be NO cooperation. They are, effectively, seeking the nullification of Congress itself as one of the 3 branches of government. This stance ALONE, by itself, is ground for removal from office. And it will be added to the list. Not for nothing, and I hardly even care about the numbers, but the polls on this issue have moved 20-30 points in two weeks. That is unheard of. A solid MAJORITY favor the inquiry. A plurality favor removal even at this juncture. Refusing any and all testimony and cooperation is not going to help those numbers, nor does it do anything but bolster the case that grave wrongdoing took place.
But let's again ask the question: given this stance (that Congress is illegitimate), what in the world makes anyone thinks he is going to go quietly whether he is removed by an impeachment conviction OR an election?? They are not just telling you who they are and what they will do, they are screaming it from a bullhorn. That letter is a declaration of war against the entire American system of government.
One of my daily 3 Trumpmails today called the call for impeachment a "coup". Tells you Trump's mindset.
They have their talking points. Calling impeachment a coup is along the same line as 'build the wall'. It's a talking point.
Trump's arguing that he can't be investigated for impeachment. He's also arguing that he can't be investigated for crimes because the only remedy is impeachment. These two things can't go together in a democratic republic. He's a tyrant.
They, between their official arguments in court and letter today, are arguing Trump is immune from any consequences whatsoever. Period, full-stop. They are saying there is no mechanism in law OR Congress to hold him accountable. As a matter of fact, their argument basically retroactively argues that info during Watergate should have never been given to Congress either. Which is what I've been arguing is the end-point they would arrive at for WELL over a year in multiple posts. The Republican Party believes the power of the President is absolute and without any restraint.
It's interesting that in the UK the Conservatives also argue against restrictions on the executive, it's a common tendency among authoritarians to seek the centralisation of power with few restrictions. Japanese militarists did it with the Emperor too, so they could 'borrow' the royal prerogative, and every president in a variety of countries who tries to turn themselves into a lifelong ruler seems to go through this sort of larval stage of identifying themselves as being or abovethe law. Usually appealing to some higher threat or goal or crisis that is beyond the capabilities of the present constitutional arrangements to solve... Someday we may get some dictators purporting to solve climate change.
I don't know if you're joking or serious? Sarcasm does not translate well over the internet.
Same coin, different side.
Compared to Republicans, Democrats easily are the party of law and order. The whole law and order thing is branding anyway, Republicans don't deserve it - never did.
I don't know if you're joking or serious? Sarcasm does not translate well over the internet.
Same coin, different side.
Compared to Republicans, Democrats easily are the party of law and order. The whole law and order thing is branding anyway, Republicans don't deserve it - never did.
Neither do, everyone has skeletons in the closet. What we should be doing is pushing for change, not vote in the same hypocrites every four years.
I don't know if you're joking or serious? Sarcasm does not translate well over the internet.
Same coin, different side.
Compared to Republicans, Democrats easily are the party of law and order. The whole law and order thing is branding anyway, Republicans don't deserve it - never did.
Neither do, everyone has skeletons in the closet. What we should be doing is pushing for change, not vote in the same hypocrites every four years.
Well voting change just for fun doesn't always work either - look at Trump. He's made everything much worse.
I don't know if you're joking or serious? Sarcasm does not translate well over the internet.
Same coin, different side.
Compared to Republicans, Democrats easily are the party of law and order. The whole law and order thing is branding anyway, Republicans don't deserve it - never did.
Neither do, everyone has skeletons in the closet. What we should be doing is pushing for change, not vote in the same hypocrites every four years.
Well voting change just for fun doesn't always work either - look at Trump. He's made everything much worse.
Temporarily. Maybe Trump will be beneficial in the long-run. I, for one, have learned something from this debacle...
Looks like Trump's "umatched wisdom" and threats to obliterate Turkey's economy if they did anything to the Kurds fell on deaf ears, almost like it was total bullshit to get through a news cycle. I wonder what it must be like to constantly defend this man to have those argument shot to shit within 24-48 hours every single time. The Kurds shouldn't have fought ISIS for us if they wanted protection, they should have just agreed to dig up dirt on Elizabeth Warren or Kamala Harris:
Trump has been talking himself up for years about he has "totally destroyed" ISIS. What, with those much derided "50 troops"?? No, the Kurds are the ones who wiped out ISIS in the region, at the expense of 11,000 of their people and, as far as I am aware NONE of ours. So to compare our material support and being essentially their bodyguard by our presence to forever wars like full-scale ground invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan is fatuous nonsense. Our presence wasn't getting American soliders killed in any capacity, it was simply protecting the people who had done our dirty work. And we couldn't even live up to that end of the bargain. Trump took some calls from his authoritarian paymasters in the region and stuck a knife in their back. This has nothing to do with protecting American troops. This offensive never takes place if he holds his ground. Erdogan and Putin own his ass lock, stock and barrel. God only knows what has been promised on those phone calls.
Oh, by the way, we haven't left Syria at all. Americans are still there. All that happened was these troops were moved so Turkey could begin their offensive. We betrayed them in both Iraq Wars as well, but it was never THIS blatant. I seriously hope not a single country in the world trusts us ever again. We don't deserve their help, nor can we be trusted to stick to our end of a bargain, whether it's climate change or war. If the US wants to make an alliance or deal, run as fast as you can in the other direction.
It sort of makes me sick to my stomach to have to agree with Lindsey Graham and Liz Cheney on ANYTHING since they are some of the most odious individuals in our government, but when they're right, they're right. And let's get real here. When even Noam Chomsky is arguing for staying in a foreign theater because it's a vital thing to do, you know there must be a damn good reason for it. He's probably the leading anti-imperialist voice on the planet and he says protecting the Kurds in this situation was the right thing to do.
So how far back does the practice of blaming games for "moral failings" go? How about this 5th century B.C. quote from the Buddha himself:
“some recluses…while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations; that is to say…games on boards with eight or with 10, rows of squares.”
So how far back does the practice of blaming games for "moral failings" go? How about this 5th century B.C. quote from the Buddha himself:
“some recluses…while living on food provided by the faithful, continue addicted to games and recreations; that is to say…games on boards with eight or with 10, rows of squares.”
What is "moral decline" anyway?? Because as long as I've been conscious of the concept, all it's ever seemed to be about is people having more sex and going to church less than other people deem appropriate.
Understanding moral decline is subject to how an individual views themselves. If you think it comes down to just sex and church then that's cool for you. For others it is much more than that.
If old people were correct about generational moral decline, we'd have been back to living in caves and bashing each others' brains out over coconuts 1000 years ago...
Edit: I sometimes think evangelicals would be perfectly fine going back to the glory days in which whether an old woman floated or not when thrown in a river would determine if they were a witch, or when healthcare was basically superstition and "God's will". That's somehow preferable to allowing anybody to not see things their way (because everybody knows that Jesus condemned every sinner and never preached about forgiveness, or did he?). Sigh...
Comments
Gotta love the South Park creators' response to their show being banned in China:
South Park creators give 'official apology'
Okay, so basically, the sob story about Trump dismantling border fortifications was just not true. It was part of a larger agreement on a mutual safe zone. Looking into this further, Turkey began going back on the deal starting around the 1st of October, and announced his intentions to invade on the 5th. 2 days later, we get the announcement for U.S forces to pull back. This is starting to look a lot less random. I'm no military strategist but pulling your 1,000 troops back to potentially spare their lives is a good bet. No American should have to sacrifice their life for this.
For my part, I care not a whit about establishing a Kurdish ethnostate using parts of Turkey and Syria. Giving support to them is of course going to damage relationships with the countries they inhabit. Neither do I care to be part of a permanently and illegally occupying military force acting as a shield between various enemy factions that are of little threat to us at home. Given that when our forces occupy an area our intelligence agencies covertly support rebel groups to overthrow foreign govts, our presence makes further involvement and entanglement more likely, It seems that we may do less harm in the long run by removing ourselves. Ideally other countries would step in to help the Kurds, if not why won't they? Why wouldn't the United Nations help? Everything should not the responsibility of Americans, particularly events going on the in the European backyard. Getting ourselves out of these pointless bloodbaths is precisely what I wanted.
Seriously, I don't know why any non-European nation or group takes us at our word. Throughout our nation's history we've only been trustworthy to a select few.
The burn is felt...
But there is no justice with Barr and Trump and lawless Constitution hating Republicans.
We need law and order Democrats to sweep these criminals out of office and into prison.
Be that as it may, from what I understand, historically it's been notoriously difficult to convict American Presidents of anything, even if the evidence is stacked against them.
That doesn't mean you have to cover for and encourage MORE law breaking lol which is what Republicans are doing. They're so scared of getting a mean tweet that they'll bend over backwards to cover up crimes. Truly a bunch of cowards.
Yes, because that's literally the modus operandi of every Republican I've ever seen. To lie their asses off in fear of tweets.
Really?
But let's again ask the question: given this stance (that Congress is illegitimate), what in the world makes anyone thinks he is going to go quietly whether he is removed by an impeachment conviction OR an election?? They are not just telling you who they are and what they will do, they are screaming it from a bullhorn. That letter is a declaration of war against the entire American system of government.
They have their talking points. Calling impeachment a coup is along the same line as 'build the wall'. It's a talking point.
Trump's arguing that he can't be investigated for impeachment. He's also arguing that he can't be investigated for crimes because the only remedy is impeachment. These two things can't go together in a democratic republic. He's a tyrant.
I don't know if you're joking or serious? Sarcasm does not translate well over the internet.
Same coin, different side.
Compared to Republicans, Democrats easily are the party of law and order. The whole law and order thing is branding anyway, Republicans don't deserve it - never did.
Neither do, everyone has skeletons in the closet. What we should be doing is pushing for change, not vote in the same hypocrites every four years.
Here are some more fear tactics they use. Synchronization takes coordination to happen and coordinated they are.
This is another tactic, the bait and switch.
Well voting change just for fun doesn't always work either - look at Trump. He's made everything much worse.
Temporarily. Maybe Trump will be beneficial in the long-run. I, for one, have learned something from this debacle...
Trump has been talking himself up for years about he has "totally destroyed" ISIS. What, with those much derided "50 troops"?? No, the Kurds are the ones who wiped out ISIS in the region, at the expense of 11,000 of their people and, as far as I am aware NONE of ours. So to compare our material support and being essentially their bodyguard by our presence to forever wars like full-scale ground invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan is fatuous nonsense. Our presence wasn't getting American soliders killed in any capacity, it was simply protecting the people who had done our dirty work. And we couldn't even live up to that end of the bargain. Trump took some calls from his authoritarian paymasters in the region and stuck a knife in their back. This has nothing to do with protecting American troops. This offensive never takes place if he holds his ground. Erdogan and Putin own his ass lock, stock and barrel. God only knows what has been promised on those phone calls.
Oh, by the way, we haven't left Syria at all. Americans are still there. All that happened was these troops were moved so Turkey could begin their offensive. We betrayed them in both Iraq Wars as well, but it was never THIS blatant. I seriously hope not a single country in the world trusts us ever again. We don't deserve their help, nor can we be trusted to stick to our end of a bargain, whether it's climate change or war. If the US wants to make an alliance or deal, run as fast as you can in the other direction.
It sort of makes me sick to my stomach to have to agree with Lindsey Graham and Liz Cheney on ANYTHING since they are some of the most odious individuals in our government, but when they're right, they're right. And let's get real here. When even Noam Chomsky is arguing for staying in a foreign theater because it's a vital thing to do, you know there must be a damn good reason for it. He's probably the leading anti-imperialist voice on the planet and he says protecting the Kurds in this situation was the right thing to do.
Games blamed for moral decline and addiction throughout history
What is "moral decline" anyway?? Because as long as I've been conscious of the concept, all it's ever seemed to be about is people having more sex and going to church less than other people deem appropriate.
Understanding moral decline is subject to how an individual views themselves. If you think it comes down to just sex and church then that's cool for you. For others it is much more than that.
Edit: I sometimes think evangelicals would be perfectly fine going back to the glory days in which whether an old woman floated or not when thrown in a river would determine if they were a witch, or when healthcare was basically superstition and "God's will". That's somehow preferable to allowing anybody to not see things their way (because everybody knows that Jesus condemned every sinner and never preached about forgiveness, or did he?). Sigh...