JCauto

3 hours ago, ThailandRyan said:

Once again a man child has a hissy fit and throws a tantrum when told that he can not do what he wants, and to wear a mask.  Sometimes, one has to believe that if parents would be held responsible as to the wrongs there offspring commit, even at a later age, because the parents did not kick there rear ends and teach them the difference between right and wrong and respect, but instead believed in this FACE issue to much, if that would change anything.  OK, with that being written now I will put the inside voice away and go slap myself because after reading what I wrote I know it would never occur and is laughable.

 

Yes it is sarcasm

Well, I suppose that's good, because all the research tells us that corporal punishment is not the best way to raise your child and more likely contributes to those sorts of negative outcomes in adults. But don't let the facts get in the way of a good rant, and a nostalgia trip back to the good ol' days.

8 hours ago, Emdog said:

Bear in mind Thailand's lese majeste laws also include insulting foreign heads of state, unless they took that part out when I wasn't looking....

Pathetic. Trying to censor people who's point of view is different than your own. Typical of a Conservative who supposedly wants "freedom of speech" and "no government intervention", but as soon as he can restrict others' speech or subject them to the whims of authoritarianism, he's ready to roll! That is, so long as he doesn't have to do the actual soldiering. That's for suckers and losers.

6 hours ago, thaibeachlovers said:

Given that neither IMO said anything that meant anything, Biden would have "won" just for looking more presidential.

I doubt anything said changed anyone's mind about who to vote for. Trump looked like a playground bully, IMO, and Biden looked weak, IMO.

At least you can be honest sometimes.

7 hours ago, Baerboxer said:

 

More or less sums up the state of all "Western democracies".

 

All politicians and big business now see themselves as the rulers rather than the servants of their electorates/customers.

Not quite all, but in agreement with the gist of it. 

Would you agree that, as far as the US is concerned anyway, overturning Citizens United would be a good start to getting money out of politics?

On 10/1/2020 at 7:24 AM, Credo said:

Well here's 175:   
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/biden-endorsements-law-enforcement

 

 

I haven't gone to the next five pages yet, but I'm sure your posting a direct and irrefutable rebuttal to the straw man postulated by ironically-named EVENKEEL, will no doubt result in an acknowledgement of error and an apology for posting misleading information. Anyway, that's it for me on this one, I'm off to watch the flying pig migration.

Bounmi and Khai.

9 hours ago, Brunolem said:

Who let the d.. s out... 

Whoof whoof whoof... 

 

Really funny to see so many convinced that who is president matters... it doesn't! 

 

The US president is a figurehead, totally controlled by the "swamp" that Trump never drained for the obvious reason that the "swamp" swallowed him like all the others...

Geez, Brunolem, not even the Trump Brigade is riding into your rescue this time. I think they're a bit embarrassed that you pulled the "Ann Coulter" card and then sat back thinking you'd just won the game when you'd actually lost. There's a hidden message being given to you - up your game!

28 minutes ago, Cryingdick said:

It gets worse than that. They not only neglect the forests but make harvesting any of it illegal. Some of that dead fall is perfectly marketable timber. Then you have the cities in CA sucking the water from everywhere they can. They are using it now to douse the fires. 

 

Most of the species out west rely on fire to propagate. The cones do not open and release seeds in the absence of fire. 

 

If the thesis of the Californian is that it is climate change, they are right. They are the very people causing it. The Colorado river runs dry before it hits Baja CA, look at Oroville and the reservoirs they build for water, such projects have disastrous effects. 

 

Make having a swimming pool in CA illegal. You can put away the rakes (I am talking about responsible logging actually) at this point because it is too late for fire breaks. 

 

Californians do not want a single tree cut down but suck the water out of every crevice. Nature is indifferent, if Californians won't thin the forests there will sooner rather than later be no forests left. As the forests get smaller every year localized climate change will become more severe. 

 

The best time for forest management was decades ago the second best time is today. They simply don't get it.

We don't agree on much I've noticed, but we're in accordance here.

On 9/4/2020 at 8:59 AM, Pattaya Spotter said:

The United States has more Nobel Prize winners in hard sciences (and in general) than any other country...but we're always striving to do better. Your country?

Ah yes, this old canard. I think you had a different username before, no? When I called you out on it a couple of months ago, you quietly failed to respond. I suppose you must have been banned and come back.

On 9/4/2020 at 8:01 AM, thaibeachlovers said:

IMO it's going to get to the stage that cops won't go near such persons as damned if they do and damned if they don't, but at least refusing to do their duty will attract less penalty than being accused of murder when just trying to do their thankless job.

Or, perhaps, we provide the same kind of training and insist upon the same sorts of qualifications that people who have to deal with those with mental health and drug issues undergo. Nurses need to study for several years to get qualifications, need certification, regular update training and testing, and are licensed and reviewed externally on a regular basis, especially when something goes wrong. These same people often show up at hospitals, where the orderlies somehow manage to take care of them without shooting them dead. 

Instead, we get the High School Bully/football player who can sign up after failing out of community college, take six months of training and be given a gun, a badge, and complete authorit-eh. And the pay they receive for being society's bullies is astonishing - they're literally being paid like Oil Rig and Logging workers without any of the concomitant danger.

I say make becoming a Police Officer much more difficult and require much more training and review, remove selective immunity and reduce their mandate so that those who have already demonstrated that they CAN deal with society's problems without extreme violence do so. 

On 9/3/2020 at 4:23 PM, Pattaya Spotter said:

It's Donald Trump's fault that people who never wanted him to be president are protesting him and his administration's policies...not sure that really scans. And a viral pandemic originating halfway around the world that causes the shutdown of major sectors of the economy, in the name of public health (and called for by his political opponents as well), is also the President's fault? Maybe Joe can sell this narrative to the American people but I have my doubts.

Perhaps you might explain why this then hasn't happened to all the other leaders around the world for whom, similarly, there was no fault in terms of the virus pandemic? Perhaps because they were judged based on how well they marshaled their country's resources to combat the threat and worked to unify their people for a response. That is why Trump is being judged incompetent, to have a lack of empathy and to have failed to lead which is, you know, the primary job of an elected Leader.

5 hours ago, Poet said:

The whole mail-in voting thing is a disaster waiting to happen. The postal service already struggles to deliver the relatively small number of legitimate absentee ballots on time.

You are going to end up with Trump winning on the night but, then, having the result reversed a month later when all the mail trucks finally turn up. The whole mess will add to the existing acrimony and, either way, half of Americans will believe their government to be illegitimate.

I have yet to hear anyone explain why it is safe for Americans to go to a supermarket but not a polling station.

 

How's this?

1. Supermarkets are large high-ceilinged spaces open 7 days a week, often 24 hours a day. Polling stations are open one day a year, for a limited time, and often in relatively small spaces. Therefore the traffic is going to be astronomically higher, the polling station will be smaller, the spacing will be less, and the people will be forced to stand in long lines with other voters for a much longer exposure than on a shopping trip.
2. Older voters are the most vulnerable to the virus, and should not increase their exposure to potential infection. There are alternatives to their grocery shopping such as delivery or having a relative do it for them and drop it off. You are saying they should not be able to vote without this risk.
3. The Postal Service was able to function perfectly well for all previous elections. Why is it no longer functioning well enough for this one? What changed? \

4. The Postal Service manages to handle a MUCH larger mail load over Christmas, why can they suddenly not handle a smaller mail load over the election?

I'm looking forward to the Militia members who were with the kid to be charged as accomplices to First Degree Murder. I know that, for example, when there is a drive-by shooting, those in the car are also charged as if they were the triggerman. 

1 hour ago, scammed said:

he was particularly bad, because he had the majority to balance budget,

but instead he went in the opposite direction and wasted tax money on 'green alternatives' through subsidies, and didnt even try to balance budget.

the rest at least to a degree can be excused for being blocked left and right,

but obama had a unique opportunity through popularity to get anywhere

I see - so if you have a majority in the Congress and the Presidency, then you should balance the budget is your point. You are of course aware that Trump had a majority in the Congress and the Presidency, as well as no pressing financial crisis and a strong economy, so therefore he obviously balanced the budget. Right?

You know of course that he didn't even attempt to. As jcsmith has ably pointed out, the Republicans only care about deficits when they're in the opposition, they've never been fiscally responsible when they're in power in modern times. No, YOUR President actually gave away 2 Trillion (that's a "T", not a "B") in deficit spending as a free bonus to wealthy corporations who then promptly spent it on stock buybacks to raise their stock prices so that they could then claim massive bonuses in salary for being such fine CEOs. Of course, then COVID-19 hits and they're caught without cash reserves and have to go straight back to the government trough to beg for more money after having just been handed a Brinks' truckful a few short years prior. 

What's that you fiscally conservative Republicans always say about the poor? Why don't they save for a rainy day? Why do they always depend on government handouts? If only they behaved like wealthy corporations, eh?

On 8/26/2020 at 5:17 PM, riclag said:

You got a source claiming he's a idiot

Sure. James Mattis, former Secretary of Defense appointed by Trump.