Cameroni

A perfectly rational negotiating position completely vindicated by China's means. Since 2014 they have been outbuilding Vietnam and Philippins in that area and it's not as if Philippines and Vietnam were not building artificial islands and militarising the place, you do realise?

I do find the adoration of the US in the Phililppines quite distasteful, but I suppose the Philippines is a very young nation that has not even implemented a common language properly yet. When it grows up the Phillippines may see the US differently.

If the US did do that in the Spratly islands chain it would be no different to Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, PRC doing it. I just don't think China has been unduly aggressive in that region. There have been minor handbags, but mostly due to China giving the FIlipinos fishing rights. And yes, that standoff in 2012. But in essence all the neighbours in that region have been flocking to that area to stake claims that are flimsy at best. All for economic exploitation. What the Philiippines is doing of late, sending boats with reporters etc, smacks of outright provocation. It's like they want an incident to happen, so they can involve the States, which has clearly stated it doesn't really want to be involved when push comes to shove.

That's a pretty ludicrous statement, in fact it after Vietnam it was the Philippines that has been most active in "claiming" the Spratly islands and building artificial islands there. The sole purpose was to lay claim to the region for economic exploitation. It was only from 2014 that China outpaced those two countries in building artificial islands. All China did was the same as Vietnam, Philippines, Taiwan, Malaysia and Brunei. No aggression at all. In about 2012 China started to militarise the islands, but Vietnam did the same. As for the Filipino view of the US, it is like that of an adoring teenage fifteen year old girl, however, already the Philippines should have unerstood it can never rely on the USA. The 2012 Scarborough Shoal standoff between China and the Philippines led to a situation where access to the atoll was restricted by the People's Republic of China. The expected intervention of the United States to protect its ally through an existing mutual defence treaty did not commence after the United States indirectly stated that it does not recognise any nation's sovereignty over Scarborough Shoal, leading to strained ties between the Philippines and the United States. The current fisherman disputes are a direct result of China being accomodating to the Phippines. In late 2016, following the visit of Philippine president Rodrigo Duterte to seek warmer ties with China, the PRC gave "fishing rights" to Filipino vessels to access the atoll for fishing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Scarborough_Shoal There is no aggression by China here. China has just been doing what all the others were doing. Then gave fishing rights to the Filipinos.

Most of the EU, including Germany still buy Russian gas. It just doesn't get there via pipelines. Belgium and Netherlands buy Liquified Natural Gas. In 2023 Russian LNG gas imports rose by 41%. Belgium and France then convert that into gas and send it over pipelines to Germany. About 26% of German gas comes from Belgian and Dutch pipelines. About 11 percent of those are Russian gas.

No, the father is not the source of the interview where Kamala admits she smoked weed. "Harris, D-Calif., told the nationally syndicated radio show "The Breakfast Club" earlier this month that she supports marijuana legalization at the federal level, and acknowledged that she's smoked pot in the past... The senator re-emphasized her use when asked by the hosts about rumors that she opposes marijuana legalization. “That’s not true. Look, I joke about it, I have joked about it. Half my family is from Jamaica, are you kidding me?” Harris said, laughing. https://www.foxnews.com/politics/kamala-harris-dad-says-parents-are-turning-in-their-grave-over-her-comments-on-weed-and-being-jamaican The source of the interview is the radio show "The Breakfast Club". This is on record and was covered by all national media from the Washington Post to the New York Times.

The source is given, https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/kamala-harris-father-pot-1176805

Fair point. I suspect Harris' team will have learnt from that mistake. No wonder both are focusing on the swing states.

Kamala Harris made headlines last week when she joked in a radio interview that of course she smoked marijuana in her younger years: “Half my family’s from Jamaica. Are you kidding me?” But the crack didn’t go over well with at least one Jamaican: Donald J. Harris, her father. “My dear departed grandmothers (whose extraordinary legacy I described in a recent essay on this website), as well as my deceased parents, must be turning in their grave right now to see their family’s name, reputation and proud Jamaican identity being connected, in any way, jokingly or not with the fraudulent stereotype of a pot-smoking joy seeker and in the pursuit of identity politics,” he wrote. “Speaking for myself and my immediate Jamaican family, we wish to categorically dissociate ourselves from this travesty,” he added. Kamala Harris’ campaign had no comment. https://www.politico.com/story/2019/02/20/kamala-harris-father-pot-1176805 It should be noted that Donald J Harris was not a deadbeat father but took his duties as a father very seriously, until his ex wife prevented him from doing so.

Which did not matter. But true yes. In a way that made it even sweeter to see Hilary have the door shoved in her face. Would be nice if it happens again this way with Kamala.

And she famously admitted to smoking weed in an effort at identity politics which her own father called out as in bad taste.

Well, it's awesome you're privy to the interior state of the Trump family, including the daughter. When did she tell you she was "utterly creeped out"? Over croissants? Was it before or after she penned on X: "I love you Dad, today and always." https://www.irishstar.com/news/us-news/ivanka-trump-speaks-out-heartfelt-33238741 Doesn't look like she's "creeped out".

My God, only 4.25 billion USD now? How will he pay his electricity bill? Poor guy, only 4.25 billion USD from ONE of his companies. He's clearly in the poor house, LOL.... You guys cannot be serious.

A rapist only? You forgot Pedophile this time....hahaha

Is this the same media company valued at 5 BILLION USD? I think you'll find that IT consulting and software licensing expenses linked to the new TV streaming service are the cause of the loss. But the company will easily stomach those losses, they're playing a long term game. https://edition.cnn.com/2024/08/12/business/trump-medias-massive-bet-could-fix-its-biggest-problem-it-brings-in-almost-no-money/index.html I wouldn't mind if my assets shrink from 6.9 to 2.9 billion USD lol!

You don't even believe that yourself. Harris is outmatched if anything.

Because it worked very well with Biden and everyone realised that. If they keep interrupting each other everyone will be turned off. But if they don't Trump can give his bon mots to maximum effect. I think he prefers them off now since Biden.

She's not a debate Queen. She's all about looks, she'll posture, but she won't deliver convincing arguments. I dont' think she even understood the points Gabbard was making. She said Harris had put an innocent man on death row and then refused to hear new DNA evidence. Rather than deal with this accusation she replied with some general deflection "I do the real work". Nobody bought it then and nobody will buy it now.

Hahahahaha, like she destroyed sweet little Tulsi Gabbard. Oh wait, beautiful Tulsi Gabbard made her look a bit of a fool and the media laughed at her and she then dropped out of the race with 1 per cent. I can't wait to see how Harris "destroys" Trump, lol. I think you'll be in for a nasty surprise, CJ.

I don't think he really did care if the mics were on or off. He would have debated either way, because this is a close race and he is so vain he'll believe he'll win the debate easily either way. What he did care about was not to be messed around by Harris or ABC. That's why he made it clear that he'll not accept any rule change. Because even if ABC had fallen through he knows another network would have done it for him on his rules. Easy Peasy. It all makes sense.

Well since I would have been aware that this case will drag out to 2025 anyway, I would not have seen this as a big priority. And given that there were two presidential election campaigns under way I would have thought it fairer not to interfere in that process. However, that's just me, as a fair minded individual. I'm not a Jack Smith, trying to make a career out of pleasing my Democrat employers. Smith knows very well this case will drag on til 2025. Why would he have to bring the indictment now? Surely only because it's a political maneuvre to make Trump look bad, make him look like a criminal again. But this tactic is like howling at the moon. Pointless. Expeditiously? Everyone knows it will not be before 2025 that this case is decided. Assuming Trump doesn't throw it out when he's in the White House.

He's already won one though. So that will be the second one. And Harris doesn't want more then? Is she chickening out?

Food waste is a serious problem. The key is to check the fridge and freezer constantly to realise what you have and what goes bad. For some reason the spring onions bought at the market go bad within a day or two here even in the fridge. You have to do that laborious Chinese trick of putting them in water, cutting off the bad parts and covering them. Thank God for the girlfriend. Otherwise, sauces you can multi-use for pasta and mash, yes, agreed, But otherwise of course leftover mash with a fried egg and a Chinese sausage makes a great breakfast, you can get creative. I toasted one large slice of white bread too many. It got hard. Did I throw it away? No, I used the grater to make A Grade breadcrumbs for pasta and Tonkatsu.

Ummm, Trump is very much in control. Harris tried to move the goalpost and change the rules last minute in her benefit. Trump basically said "either my rules or no debate". Harris caved in. The debate will take place, but on the rules Trump wants. How is he not in control???

He seems in an awful hurry to file that indictment. I wonder why, lol.