US Politics Mega-thread - Page 3416

On March 22 2016 05:06 Sent. wrote:
I don't think Trump wanted Germany to put on their superpower pants and take care of the Ukrainian crisis. I can only guess but more reasonable interpretation would be that he used Germany as an example of a Western European country. His voters seem to like simplifications and scapegoating so it would make sense for Trump to just point his finger at Germany and say some angry words.

On March 22 2016 04:01 oneofthem wrote:

he will get rekt so hard

morons would be trying to REGISTER VOTERS only to find out new york is closed already hahaha.


hillary should really try to make supporting cuny an issue in new york. the state is apparently trying to kill it

MAIL REGISTRATION (N.Y. Election Law Section 5-210(3))
Application must be postmarked no later than March 25th and received by a board of elections no later than March 30th to be eligible to vote in the Primary.

On March 22 2016 05:12 Ghanburighan wrote:


I think that's likely. Especially as he also called out South Korea for not pulling its weight, while South Korea spends a lot of its GDP on defense; South Korea's military spending as percent of its GDP is roughly in the same ballpark as the US, but because it's poorer, this means South Korea spends roughly 10% of their annual budget on defense.

On March 22 2016 05:01 oneofthem wrote:
don't think germans are predisposed to be militaristic and aggressive, but they are also a bit behind on modernization of teh military, particularly their airforce.

it would be nice if they could buy 300 f35s. but eads would not allow that.

On March 22 2016 05:38 CannonsNCarriers wrote:
Trump is coming out as Pro-Putin. His previous Putin praising remarks were not quite enough, but calling for a NATO pull out is definitive. If you want the USA to be able to pressure Russia into NOT invading its neighbors, then you need the USA in NATO. If the USA pulls out of NATO, we can expect its strength to collapse and conventional deterrent forces in the East to be dilapidated shells.

For reference, contrast Trump's concrete call for a NATO pull out and all the poo flung at Obama over Putin over the years. Trump is legitimately calling for capitulation against Russian expansion here. Obama has maintained our commitments and moved a few brigades east.

On March 22 2016 05:44 FuzzyJAM wrote:

Who's Russia going to invade?

On March 22 2016 05:41 farvacola wrote:
"Trump is afraid/in cahoots with Russia" seems like a nice line of attack

More than 40 millionaires on Monday asked New York state to raise taxes on the wealthy, under what they called a “1% plan for tax fairness”.

“As New Yorkers who have contributed to and benefited from the economic vibrancy of our state, we have both the ability and the responsibility to pay our fair share,” the millionaires said in an open letter to Governor Andrew Cuomo and state lawmakers.

Saying they were “deeply concerned that too many New Yorkers are struggling economically, and the state’s ailing infrastructure is in desperate need of attention”, the millionaires urged “the governor and the legislature” to pass “the 1% Plan for New York Tax Fairness”.

The letter was put together with the Fiscal Policy Institute, a left-leaning think tank, and the Responsible Wealth project, a network of hundreds of the wealthiest Americans who support “fair taxes and corporate accountability”.

Among the backers of the plan are Steven Rockefeller, a fourth-generation member of the Rockefeller family; Elspeth Gilmore, who works to get wealthy people under 35 to donate to philanthropic efforts; and Joshua Mailman, son of the inventor and philanthropist Joseph Mailman.

The signees emphasized that funds are needed to address issues such as child poverty, homelessness and crumbling infrastructure.

“It is a shameful fact that child poverty in New York state is at a record level,” they wrote, “exceeding 50% in some of our urban centers. New York State has a record number of homeless families – more than 80,000 people – struggling to survive across the state. And far too many adults in our state do not have the work skills needed for the 21st-century economy.”

The millionaires added: “These human and physical infrastructure investments will pay off in the creation of new jobs, a workforce prepared to fill them and a reduction in the extreme income inequality that currently exists in our state.”

Lewis Cullman, retired chief executive of the At-A-Glance appointment book company, said he supported the plan because philanthropy does not pay for things such as street maintenance, food inspections or public schools.

On March 22 2016 05:50 CannonsNCarriers wrote:


Belarus, Latvia, Estonia, and Moldova are under threat.

Check out the troop movements:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/defence/12149403/Nato-may-deploy-thousands-of-troops-in-Europe-to-ward-off-Russia.html
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/02/02/world/europe/us-fortifying-europes-east-to-deter-putin.html

On March 22 2016 05:35 puerk wrote:

for one of those symmetrical big air battles between comparable airforces that happen all the time?

it is weird how people think europe is still a place held together by military power, when trade and prosperity (which are currently suffering, and should be looked at from a redistributive policy perspective) proved to be a much stronger and lasting force.

nobody thinks about a reeruption of a french german war, that has gone on as a sincere rivalery for centuries, because we are closer and better off than at any time someone tried to war or build an empire.

europes economy is not based on resources, it is mostly about services and advanced know how, you do not get that by invading, there is literally zero reason to expect any kind of symmetric conflict (regarding actors) to happen on european soil. an other way to put it: the land is useless, the humans are everything. (and u usually don't get the humans by genociding and carpetbombing)

On March 22 2016 06:03 Velr wrote:
Thing about europe is, as weak as it looks soetimes, if it really wants to, it still could outspend basically any other power in the world. There is enough money, there is enough tech, there is enough of everything...

But let's hope it will never come to that...

On March 22 2016 06:06 KwarK wrote:
A few tens of billions? So like one F-35?

On March 22 2016 06:06 KwarK wrote:
A few tens of billions? So like one F-35?