skinny21

Mondragon, lol. Wheel of Time, eh? Was big fan early on, I'll be interested to see what comes of it... though my expectations are depressingly low.

Good Idea or Bad Idea: Dems fighting against the 'demonization' of the term "Regulation".

Well, on one hand, everyone outside of Trump's loyal base should want a check on him. On the other hand, I can see why an area that is pretty solidly GOP would stick to their guns (no pun intended). Actually, I can't at all - the Republican platform is such crap in so many ways and this Congress has often been spiteful and hypocritical - but that's people for ya'.

@Kilmer17 I know I will. And if Dems have control of the congress in 2020 and gerrymander the ever loving **** outta this country, I'm still gonna ***** about gerrymandering. If, by some miracle, I joined the ranks of the top 1%, I'd continue to ***** about the tax loopholes too. To be fair though, it'd probably be more like criticizing than *****ing.

Maybe in a pissing match. Otherwise, no. As someone said, Putin is playing chess, Trump is playing Hungry, Hungry Hippo.

I'd say that's a fair point @twa, though I'm not sure whether it jives with the viewpoint of many (GOP) voters... hence the 'need' for the article. Ties into the blurred attitude between illegals and refugees.

The Hard Truth Keeps Trickling Out, Little by Little It increasingly looks like Russian hackers may have affected actual vote totals. http://www.esquire.com/news-politics/politics/news/a55603/russia-hack-voting-totals/ I'm not sure why the article keeps saying 'ratfcking', but it's pretty damn funny... I was convinced it was a BS article because of it.

Senate overwhelmingly passes Russia sanctions deal with new limits on Trump http://www.politico.com/story/2017/06/14/senate-passes-russia-sanctions-trump-limits-239553?cid=apn Wow, 97-2 vote. Let's see what the House does with it... (nice to see McCain putting some action to his words)

If you're up to your ears in cotton @twa, that might explain your political leanings.

Just finished (and enjoyed) the newly released 2nd season of The Last Kingdom. Think they do a lot of things really well with it.

I don't know man, pigs are very clean, organized animals. Your garden variety housefly works for me - a general nuisance and highly attracted to ****.

So everyone keeps mentioning the one (main?) difference between US and Russia right now is the lack of political killings... Moscow having Flynn killed would be a hell of a monkey wrench in this whole thing.

As best as I can tell, holding the stance that is no big deal requires a few things: 1) denial that Russia is working very hard to destabilize Europe - from Ukraine, Montenegro and Brexit to elections in Norway, Denmark, France, Germany and the US (along with our relations with Europe). 2) denial that Russia has a hand in the Syrian crisis which is also helping to cause this destabilization. 3) denial of the belief that Putin has turned against the West. 4) denial that this information our President gave to the Russians is reported to be intel that we were not given permission to share. 5) denial that this latest story compounds the leaking we've already seen from the intelligence community as well as the WH. 6) denial that other countries (that we share intel with) would deserve to be highly alarmed... at minimum, over the conduct of this administration wrt intelligence 7) denial that this (unprecedented) situation is very likely to cause intelligence partners to likely alter the amount/type of info they share. 8) denial of the numerous reports of former and current intelligence official (Republican/Democrat/non partisan) that think this situation is essentially insane and possibly (very) damaging to the efforts of our our intelligence community (and therefore, possibly our military and law enforcement). All the while cleaving to the belief that this unbelievably narcissistic, ignorant, petty man surely can't be taking us down the road we appear to be on. If you want to step to the speculative side of things, throw in the Ukraine platform shift, the numerous dead Russian officials, Trump meeting Kisleyev and Lavrov (at Putin's request, and in the Oval Office). The treatment of our State Department (one of Putin's nemesis'), and the Russian ties to Trump via banking, real estate, and to Tillerson with the massive Exxon interests. Trump's tactics following the Russian script - delegitimizate the media, question Judges, Investigators, etc. aren't endearing either. And on and on... It all leads back to major (again, unprecedented) conflicts of interest with a country that most experts deem extremely hostile to our interests, and those of our top allies.

^ I'd like to see a pitchfork rally in response.

Pretty sure they're shooting for a second win... BTW, I thought for sure that was a joke... I guess I haven't learned my lesson yet. Edit: Ok, so this is a different law firm I believe. But I thought this was interesting... Jones Day Law Firm has a Moscow office now. Oh, and they're listed as the contact info on this beauty... http://www.jonesday.com/new-russian-legislation-on-massive-telecoms-surveillance-07-12-2016/ It's also the firm Don McGann and others have left to join the administration. Nothing inappropriate there of course... but they sure do like to make everything looks shady.

Am I right in assuming large loans from Russian banks would not fall under "income"?

Definitely some good points here. Lets say that Russian influence has (in part) led to Brexit and Trump's election. This has led to a less robust EU, a change in our Ukraine platform, the appointment of a very pro-Russian Flynn, and a weakened State Department. Seems the lifting of sanctions was on tap as well until the **** hit the fan. Russia attempted involvement in other countries as well (a few at least), and now France is next in line. If Russia pushes countries to become less proactive internationally (i.e. Isolationist), it opens up the possibility of further Russian aggression in terms of remaking the USSR. Lastly, it's possible that Russia has had a hand in destabilization in the M.E. and has potentially aided NK with their missile program. All in all, it's very different situation from the 30's (and it's a very different goal than Germany's), but... it's a concerning trend. And again, I fear that the response has been less effective than a slap on the wrist.

I mean, I'd sure hope that's the case... and I admit this is far from an apples to apples comparison. Yet here we are - Russia knows they can attempt to influence any election they desire with essentially no consequences. It's a big problem, and all that's been done is an attempt at mitigating the damage in future instances. They're a dangerous game and we're (the West) relegated to defense only.

Lot of crossover between this thread and Brexit (obviously). So... what are the chances anything gets done to stop Russia going forward? What could be done effectually? Personally, I'd like their teeth kicked in. Reminds me too much of the West ****footing around while Germany began to roll.

That Inhumans pic looks like an advert for a futuristic version of the Adams Family.

Was watching 10 moments that meant more than you knew (was kind of neat actually). One was from Iron Man - when he's meeting with Fury, there's a Shield map in the background with three red dots. One was in Africa (can't remember the 2nd) and one was in the middle of the ocean. They presumed it was location of superheroes (and speculated Namor).

Going really general here with a broad brush... I wonder if this ties into the findings of the polls regarding Russia and bombing Syria - that R's are seemingly much more prone to massive stance swings based off... whatever (right wing media, their leaders, etc.). Easier to play on their emotions is my guess. Actually, it could also be that right wing media/leadership is more likely to play to the emotions. Trump is the epitome of this. As my brother in law says - anyone appealing to your emotions is trying to sell you something. Anyway... makes sense to me that they'd be far more vocal about 'scandals', more harsh in terms of judgement, and more likely to want to fast forward to the end verdict.

That. Looks. Awesome. Happy to hear the wait for the Defenders won't be too long. GOTG II, Spider-Man, Thor and the Defenders... looks to be a good time for SH/comic fans.

Maybe not too relative, but I was just listening to Andy Borowitz talking about how it's tricky to satirize Trump because nothing seems outside of the realm of possibility. Edit: regarding the arrested programmer... for a second I was like "why didn't he just stay in Russia?", and then I thought "oh, right... Russia (and their loose ends)".

Not entirely sure about the voracity, but I heard that 10,000 have died in Ukraine so far. The other Baltic states/Eastern Bloc are lined up like dominos for Russia and given the lack of any substantive reaction from other countries, I understand their fear.