EPTedit: the aladdin thing isn't really surprising. It sounds arabic, so lets go there and fuck shit up. It's actually really worrying to see how many people are fine with bombing shit even though they don't even know what exactly.
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Read the rules in the OP before posting, please. In order to ensure that this thread continues to meet TL standards and follows the proper guidelines, we will be enforcing the rules in the OP more strictly. Be sure to give them a re-read to refresh your memory! The vast majority of you are contributing in a healthy way, keep it up! NOTE: When providing a source, explain why you feel it is relevant and what purpose it adds to the discussion if it's not obvious. Also take note that unsubstantiated tweets/posts meant only to rekindle old arguments can result in a mod action. | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
edit: the aladdin thing isn't really surprising. It sounds arabic, so lets go there and fuck shit up. It's actually really worrying to see how many people are fine with bombing shit even though they don't even know what exactly. | ||
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Deathstar
9150 Posts
I don't know the name of every city in Iraq and Syria and that's more of an honest mistake. | ||
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Simberto
Germany12000 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:46 Deathstar wrote: We don't know what questions came before that. People could have been primed to think of the middle east and jihadis in the middle east before that question. I don't know the name of every city in Iraq and Syria and that's more of an honest mistake. One could take the position that if you don't know anything about a place at all, NOT bombing it is usually the best decision. | ||
KwarK
United States44307 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:46 Deathstar wrote: We don't know what questions came before that. People could have been primed to think of the middle east and jihadis in the middle east before that question. I don't know the name of every city in Iraq and Syria and that's more of an honest mistake. Most rational people will err on the side of not bombing a place until they've checked where it is. That said, 30% of Americans will say anything. Earth orbits the moon, sure. Earth 7000 years old, no problem. Canada is an American state, yep. Obama is a Muslim, well of course he is. 30% can just be discounted. | ||
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m4ini
4215 Posts
edit: I don't know the name of every city in Iraq and Syria and that's more of an honest mistake. Me neither. But i certainly wouldn't say "bomb all the things that i don't know because arabic". | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:40 Mohdoo wrote: I think this is a little excessive. I think it's totally possible to value and praise, from a purely power/results perspective, the work that Putin has done. At the end of the day, the upper elite that make our world's leaders are athletes/competitors in a sick kind of way. The ability to manipulate, force and persuade is highly valuable and can have real consequences. I think it should be possible for Trump to fully appreciate Putin's 'athleticism' in this sense while still saying it's shitty that he kills journalists. Whether he is leading democratically or not is irrelevant. While obviously less extreme, I don't see it as any different from recognizing the career accomplishments of athletes who turned out to be rapists or murderers or that sort of thing. There is the athlete, then there is the person. Putin's career is outstandingly impressive. Putin’s career is impressive because he steps on, kills, threatens and attempts to destroy anyone who stands in his way. It is only impressive if you don’t care about the people he hurt and killed getting to where he is. To praise him for this “accomplishments” without taking the human cost into account show a basic lack of empathy and callousness towards the suffering of others. Which doesn’t shock me in Trump, since he is a narcissist of the highest order. | ||
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oneofthem
Cayman Islands24199 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:40 Mohdoo wrote: I think this is a little excessive. I think it's totally possible to value and praise, from a purely power/results perspective, the work that Putin has done. At the end of the day, the upper elite that make our world's leaders are athletes/competitors in a sick kind of way. The ability to manipulate, force and persuade is highly valuable and can have real consequences. I think it should be possible for Trump to fully appreciate Putin's 'athleticism' in this sense while still saying it's shitty that he kills journalists. Whether he is leading democratically or not is irrelevant. While obviously less extreme, I don't see it as any different from recognizing the career accomplishments of athletes who turned out to be rapists or murderers or that sort of thing. There is the athlete, then there is the person. Putin's career is outstandingly impressive. i'll have to disagree. putin's sucess is due in large part to the nature of russian politics, particularly the extremely powerful security state aka kgb. guy basically used the FSB, and the state media organs, to rekt the opposition and herd the sheep. it's straight out of soviet era manuals https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russia_and_return_fsb nowadays the security state has all sorts of connections and control of both underground and aboveground businesses. it's a modern mafia state, probably something trump prefers to work with. but so would many many us and uk businesses. | ||
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Deathstar
9150 Posts
They should have chosen Not Sure but you know what, a lot of Americans are nervous and want the country to be proactive against jihadis. They are voting Americans just like any other and their emotions shouldn't be dismissed. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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KwarK
United States44307 Posts
On December 19 2015 01:10 Deathstar wrote: I'm sure the same game can be played on Democrats. It's no secret our country has a weak education system. They should have chosen Not Sure but you know what, a lot of Americans are nervous and want the country to be proactive against jihadis. They are voting Americans just like any other and their emotions shouldn't be dismissed. You're arguing that we shouldn't dismiss the opinions of the large segment of the American population who are scared and just want to lash out at the unknown without facts or justification? I feel like the very reason we have a representative democracy, rather than a direct democracy, is so we can ignore those. | ||
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Deathstar
9150 Posts
36 oppose 19 support And like I said earlier, ignorance goes both ways. | ||
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KwarK
United States44307 Posts
In the UK it's the classic death penalty argument. The majority has always supported the death penalty and yet it was abolished fifty years ago because a more detailed analysis of the death penalty than the average man on the street is willing to do shows that it's really stupid. In the US interracial marriage would be a good example, the majority opposed legalization of it for decades after it was legalized. The people elect their betters to make the kind of decisions they recognize they are not qualified to make. They may support the bombing of fictional cities filled with innocent apple thieves but the system assumes that somewhere further up the totem pole someone is going to look into Agrabah and conclude that bombing it runs contrary to American interests. The mob should not be listened to. That's the point of representative democracy. | ||
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Plansix
United States60190 Posts
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TheTenthDoc
United States9561 Posts
An interesting read. Probably because it reaffirms a preexisting belief I had and want to have reaffirmed though. + Show Spoiler + Again with that awful interpretation of a 95% confidence interval though...just ugh. Neyman is rolling over in his grave at this point. | ||
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{CC}StealthBlue
United States41117 Posts
The clean-energy boom is about to be transformed. In a surprise move, U.S. lawmakers agreed to extend tax credits for solar and wind for another five years. This will give an unprecedented boost to the industry and change the course of deployment in the U.S. The extension will add an extra 20 gigawatts of solar power—more than every panel ever installed in the U.S. prior to 2015, according to Bloomberg New Energy Finance (BNEF). The U.S. was already one of the world's biggest clean-energy investors. This deal is like adding another America of solar power into the mix. The wind credit will contribute another 19 gigawatts over five years. Combined, the extensions will spur more than $73 billion of investment and supply enough electricity to power 8 million U.S. homes, according to BNEF. "This is massive," said Ethan Zindler, head of U.S. policy analysis at BNEF. In the short term, the deal will speed up the shift from fossil fuels more than the global climate deal struck this month in Paris and more than Barack Obama's Clean Power Plan that regulates coal plants, Zindler said. This is exactly the sort of bridge the industry needed. The costs of installing wind and solar power have dropped precipitously—by more than 90 percent since the original tax credits took effect—but in most places coal and natural gas are still cheaper than unsubsidized renewables. By the time the new tax credit expires, solar and wind will be the cheapest forms of new electricity in many states across the U.S. The tax credits, valued at about $25 billion over five years, will drive $38 billion of investment in solar and $35 billion in wind through 2021, according to BNEF. The scale of the new projects will help push costs down further and will stimulate new investment that lasts beyond the extension of the credits. Source | ||
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Deathstar
9150 Posts
Direct democracy will probably be our future so more debate is good. Challenge the right wing and engage them. Dismissing only leaves people in their own bubbles. | ||
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Mercy13
United States718 Posts
On December 18 2015 23:03 jcarlsoniv wrote: Source It will be interesting to see how this develops. I work in the Farm Credit industry, and I know that if a patch administered by my company caused our customers to be able to see other customers' data, the person responsible in my company would be heavily disciplined and likely fired. I find it very strange that Sanders' campaign is the only one being prevented from using the database if it was in fact caused by a software issue within NGP VAN. Sanders' data director has been fired due to this. I'm not entirely sure I agree with that decision. The article says 4 users were associated with this - it seems reasonable to me that someone could stumble upon something weird while querying the database and ask peers to look as well to verify an issue (this isn't too far from what my job is related to). But I admit I'm biased, so I'm not going to ignore the possibility that it could be malicious rather than happenstance. I'm not a die hard Sanders supporter, but this seems pretty shitty of the DNC... Unless there's evidence that Sanders himself knew of the breach, there's no reason to punish him personally. The responsible people should be fired, but damaging Sanders's campaign as a whole doesn't seem fair. Not surprising this is the approach the DNC is taking, however. | ||
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xDaunt
United States17988 Posts
On December 19 2015 02:19 TheTenthDoc wrote: Looks like someone at 538 thinks Sanders still has a shot at Iowa. An interesting read. Probably because it reaffirms a preexisting belief I had and want to have reaffirmed though. + Show Spoiler + Again with that awful interpretation of a 95% confidence interval though...just ugh. Neyman is rolling over in his grave at this point. Nah, he doesn't have a chance. The DNC has so badly rigged the the democratic primary in favor of Hillary that the whole process for the democrats is a joke. For what it's worth, I don't think that Bernie would win anyway, even with a fair process, but democrats should still be outraged. And I'll just restate that Hillary is a very problematic candidate for the democrats for all of the reasons that she has had problems in the past, plus some additional ones that she has picked up since her last campaign. Her election is very, very far from a fait accompli. | ||
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IgnE
United States7681 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:52 oneofthem wrote: i'll have to disagree. putin's sucess is due in large part to the nature of russian politics, particularly the extremely powerful security state aka kgb. guy basically used the FSB, and the state media organs, to rekt the opposition and herd the sheep. it's straight out of soviet era manuals https://www.stratfor.com/weekly/russia_and_return_fsb nowadays the security state has all sorts of connections and control of both underground and aboveground businesses. it's a modern mafia state, probably something trump prefers to work with. but so would many many us and uk businesses. It's funny to hear the biggest proponent of the NSA say this about the Security State without a sense of irony. | ||
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Rebs
Pakistan10726 Posts
On December 19 2015 00:46 Deathstar wrote: We don't know what questions came before that. People could have been primed to think of the middle east and jihadis in the middle east before that question. I don't know the name of every city in Iraq and Syria and that's more of an honest mistake. http://www.publicpolicypolling.com/pdf/2015/GOPResults.pdf It took me literally 2 clicks to find it. But then again you cant be expected to even slightly investigate something before making a dismissive claim about it either. | ||
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