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There is no evidence that Joe Biden received any money from a private Chinese company.

Typical inane comment. You've got nothing.

Some people may believe that tests for marijuana use are comparable to tests for blood alcohol level via a breathalyzer. But alcohol doesn't linger in the body the way marijuana cannabinoids and metabolites do. https://www.testing.com/tests/marijuana-thc-testing/

Russia is due to take its turn as Security Council President. Not Putin,

No. It's incumbent upon the person who makes the claims to provide support. I'm not your fact checker.

Study links 35 percent of Chinese Belt and Road Initiative projects to scandals involving corruption, environmental problems, labour violations Over the past several years, hidden debt and problematic projects have begun to emerge as a feature of Chinese leader Xi Jinping’s signature Belt And Road Initiative (BRI). A new deep-dive study from AidData, a research center at the College of William and Mary in Virginia, adds to this body of research and paints a picture of growing headwinds against Beijing’s infrastructure initiative. The study found 42 low- and middle-income countries that now have debt exposure to China exceeding 10 percent of their annual gross domestic product (GDP). https://www.business-humanrights.org/en/latest-news/study-links-35-percent-of-chinese-belt-and-road-initiative-projects-to-scandals-involving-corruption-environmental-problems-labour-violations/

The Western world was predicting China's collapse? Really? Did foreign investment in China collapse in that year? There's a rule on the landing page of this forum which you should acquaint yourself with. "Any alleged factual claims must be supported by a valid link to an approved credible source." So share a link with us to prove your claim.

I assume you meant "toting a gun". Do you know if the gun was loaded? Do you know where it was stored. The fact is that the same right wingers who usually jump up and down in defense of the first amendment are here stating that it's a strike against this couple that there was a gun in the car. A gun which is completely legal to carry in the state of Tennessee. The fact is lots of Americans own guns. What Percentage of Americans Own Guns? Thirty-two percent of U.S. adults say they personally own a gun, while a larger percentage, 44%, report living in a gun household. Adults living in gun households include those with a gun in their home or anywhere on their property. https://news.gallup.com/poll/264932/percentage-americans-own-guns.aspx The demographics of gun ownership Two-thirds of gun owners say they own more than one gun, including 29% who own five or more guns. About seven-in-ten say they own a handgun or pistol (72%), while 62% own a rifle and 54% own a shotgun. Among those who own a single gun, most (62%) say that gun is a handgun or pistol, while far fewer say they own a rifle (22%) or a shotgun (16%). https://www.pewresearch.org/social-trends/2017/06/22/the-demographics-of-gun-ownership/ About 75% of Americans are 18 or older. So that would number about 250 million Americans. 32% of 250 million is about 83 million Americans. So what's your point about deer or duck hunting? And you're claiming that they are probably heavy drug users to boot? Really? Based on unreliable follicle tests. What's worse, even if follicle tests were reliable, the state claims that they didn't actually keep the results of those tests. So there's now way to prove whether they're being truthful or not. That doesn't strike you as being bizarre? Care to comment on any of this? Or are you just going to continue to make unsupported allegations that demonstrate only that you didn't read the article carefully and that you know very little about America. Edit. I should have noted that 70 percent of those gun owners own handuns. So that would bring the total number of handgun owner to somewhere around 58 million.

What an evidence-free comment. Just because the car wasn't stopped because of the race of the occupants, what does that have to do with how the police reacted once they did see the race of the occupants? This couple was not in possession of dangerous drugs at the time of their arrest. And the only alleged evidence was the results of unreliable follicle tests. What's more, when challenged to produce the documentation supporting that claim, the agency in question maintained that they didn't keep the documentation showing results of those tests. Which is bizarre. So there is absolutely no existing evidence that the results of the test actually showed what the agency claimed. So share with us, what are the obvious problems these people have? That the father tested positive for marijuana use? A test which doesn't even show whether or not someone is currently under the influence? A mother who tested negative for marijuana use? A gun in the car which is perfectly legal in Tennessee? What more, do we even know if the gun was loaded? Do we know where that gun was stored? You've got nothing except nonsense to support your case.

So much nonsense here. The first link is not about criminal corruption at all, but rather about the inherently corrupt American political system where political donations of all sorts have skyrocketed since the right-wing supreme court ruled that cash donations are protected by the 1st amendment. You know, money talks.The author of that Guardian articles predicted that Biden would go easy on the wealthy because of those contributions.But, in fact, as it turned out, Biden introduced bills that had they passed as he intended, would have taken a substantial tax bite out of wealthy. As it is, it took enough of a bite to pay for the new programs he introduced. As for that dishonest New York Post piece... First off, the sentence cited from Hunter Bidens email about the "big guy" was not "10% for the big guy." but "10% for the big guy?" And even if it was Joe Biden who was being referred to, there was a subsequent email from Hunter Biden which said the chairman gave an "emphatic no" when asked if he wanted to be involved in the China business.

China is still benefiting from the time before Xi began putting a stranglehold on the private sector. Before Xi, there was a certain collegiality among the top officials. No more. It's now one man rule. This hasn't been the case since the Mao era. We know how that ended.

You sure about that? https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-9881213/Unearthed-video-shows-naked-Hunter-Biden-claiming-Russian-drug-dealers-stole-laptop.html

Did you actually read the article? First of all, the only person who tested positive for drugs in the system was the father. and the drug was marijuana which is hardly in the same league as methamphetamines or opiods. What's more, unlike alcohol, the thc metabolites persists in the blood long after the effect has worn off. So it's not even clear he was driving under the influence. As for the hair follice test, first off it's unreliable. Second, even if was correct, it tests for past use. It reveals nothing about the current state of the person tested. Third, the state couldn't even produce and written documentation for the test results because they claimed that they don't keep them. Does that sound like standard operating procedure. So how do we even know that the alleged findings are even actual? And I noticed you turned "gun" into "guns". Do you know if the gun was loaded? Do you know where the gun was kept?

Actually, I think this whole thing is overblown. It was one thing for Trump to call for a demonstration that was going to be "wild" when he was President. It's quite another thing now. For all the dire consequences predicted in the wake of the FBI's search of Mar y Lago, and the threats made by MAGA supporters, nothing consequential followed.

Tell your American friend to relax. The same thing was predicted for Trump's impeachments and also that the FBI search would result in a Republican red wave in 2022.

I have never claimed that there aren't other processes at work. What I have pointed out is rate of change and how anomalous the present situation is. What I have objected to is those who use semantics to claim that there has always been climate change and that therefore the present situation is not anomalous. Here is a quote of mine from this thread: "Thanks for the silly word game. But the issue is based in science not semantics. It's not about climate change per se, but about rate of change. To make it clear to you, if you had a choice to make 2 equally safe investments, but one paid 1 percent and the other 10 percent, which one would you chose? According to your way of thinking, since both are increasing, it wouldn't matter which one you invested in. Not only is the average global temperature increasing, but it's doing so at an accelerating rate. The last 8 years have been the hottest on record. And that's despite some of those year occurring during a phenomenon called La Nina, which actually make global temperatures lower than they would otherwise have been."

Where was the gun being stored? Was the gun loaded? And, of course, in Tennessee, it's perfectly legal to be in possession of a gun. So how would that constitute legal grounds for taking away their children? As for weed, if parents were to lose their children for having weed in their possession, should they also have their children taken away for having alcohol in their possession? Are these substances dangerous just because they are in the possession of individuals? How many tens of millions of parents would liable for having possession of either of these substances?

At the time, his goal may have been to encourage Chinese cooperation. It may have been a forlorn hope, but worth a shot.

Because his legal appeals have been mostly successful until now?

The follicle test does not show that. What it might show is that sometime in the past they might have had them in their system. And I wrote "might" because these tests give lots of false positives. Also, when the state was asked to produce the test results, they said they couldn't because they don't keep them. So the state can offer no proof that this was the case. I do think it's interesting that the same party who casts so much doubt on documented evidence offered by the govt in some regards, places such trust in govt when it lacks the evidence to support its claims.

If FI doesn't eventually go electric, most likely it will eventually go the way of the dinosaurs.

On the one hand, in Russia, it's a serious crime to call Russia's invasion of Ukraine a war. Which it is. But to call for the extermination of millions is not a crime. And yet Russia claims that it's the Ukrainians who are the Nazis.

So, if some fundamentalist type claims that the earth was created 6000 or so years ago, because I'm not a geologist, I can't disprove that claim by citing what geologists say is the age of the earth? If that same Bible thumper claims that there is no such thing as evolution, that God created all species as they are, because I'm not a paleontologist or an evolutionary biologist, I can't disprove their claim by citing what paleontologists and evolutionary biologists say? Once again, you've come up with another ridiculous objection.

Woman who fled to Thailand for fatal hit-and-run of MSU student extradited to U.S. The Oakland County woman charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run that killed a 20-year-old college student before fleeing the country has returned to the U.S. Tubtim "Sue" Howson was taken into federal custody after being extradited from Thailand, the FBI confirmed to FOX 2 Friday. She had her initial court appearance in San Francisco and is scheduled for a detention hearing on Feb. 28. The Oakland County Sheriff's Office, which is the lead agency investigating the death of Ben Kable, could not confirm Howson's return to the U.S https://www.fox2detroit.com/news/woman-who-fled-to-thailand-for-fatal-hit-and-run-of-msu-student-extradicted-to-u-s The Bangkok Post also says she was extradited but quoting or linking to that organization is against the rules. But it's easy enough to google it.

Israel has a parliamentary system. And it's a very fractured one. So the country didn't vote Bibi in. The eventual coalition did.