blazes

Oooh, scientists? (In medieval times, the priests of the Holy Roman Catholic and Apostolic Church were the ones who had to be obeyed, often on pain of death for those who disobeyed. Today, scientists have taken over that role, and they too have punishments they can mete out. Instead of facing an inquisition, today's scientists have "peer review" to censure dissenting voices.) Scientists are human and are as fallible as any of us on this thread. As academics, they must all sing from the same hymn sheet (regarding whatever the "consensus" may be on any particular subject at the moment). Any dissenting voice regarding the consensus will soon find his or her research grants from government or corporations drying up. And academic "manhood" is determined ONLY by the number of research grants you receive. Cancellation (career stagnation) awaits those who sing off-key....

In the face of this breathtaking naïveté about the way government policy is constructed, all one can say is perhaps well summed up in this shameful (actually, shameless) claim made before a recent murderous invasion: "Weapons of mass destruction."

What was it like? $crewing a corpse? No KY? Difficult job, no?

Well, that's his choice, innit?

You switched subject and gender mid sentence or what? Clearly you did not read attentively and notice that Luuk Chaai had switched from the (alas) POTUS to the "vice" potus. Thus from ...er...male to (apparently) female. Don't know about vice, but anyone who saw her trying to savage Justice Kavanaugh at his confirmation hearing will know that she is definitely vicious.

Well, did you (mind)?????

Rather a simple, old-fashioned, my-country-right-or-wrong view. In all the years since WW2, with all those American invasions into 3rd world countries, did Washington ever think to ask the people of those countries whether they wanted the murderous "help" America delivered from the sky by napalm? No, thought not.

I did (think again) and find the exact same answer through a lifetime of seeing American failure after failure after failure to impose its view of the world upon one 3rd world country after another. It's only just over 12 months since the shameful retreat from Afghanistan after 20 years of showing the Taliban and company the values of the Western way of life. You'd think someone in Washington would, after all these failures, "think again".

Precisely the one thing that will guarantee the war will go on and on. Who benefits from this war supported by the American taxpayer to the tune of (at least) $39 billion? The main beneficiaries clearly (see their stock price increases through this year) are Northrop Grumann Lockheed Martin, Raytheon and other such armament manufacturers. It has been ever thus, via Korea, Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan and all similar countries who failed in some way to toe the Western political line.

Welcome to Wokeville....

The absence of a nincompoop like Biden from this or any other conference worldwide is a matter for celebration. If he attended the meeting he would probably assume that Prayut was a Christian with a name like that. But fear not, he is sending the brilliant VICE president to do the heavy lifting, the woman who just this week referred to the Republic of NORTH Korea as having been in an alliance with the US since 1953. She uttered these breathtaking words at the DMZ, which, one would think, might have helped her to distinguish between North and South.

I'd have to agree that Sterling plays much better when he is on the right.....

Am I Am I the only one who thinks that the phrase "hit the ground running" is the worst cliché ever imposed on the English language and that it should be banned as a form of hate-speech upon said language? Needless to say, it is most frequently used by losers about to take over some job previously occupied by yet another loser.....

My guess would be that Trump did the cowardly thing and refrained from pardoning because he didn't want to be called (for the umpteenth time) a "Russian asset." Trump tested the wind and saw that pardoning Snowden would not be good for business. (Might even encourage the perpetual liar Adam Schiff to try another impeachment.)

A bit dodgy?

Pathetic piece of prose, chum. Sounds like you read too much of the Daily Mail and have absorbed their style. A kind of unconscious plagiarism. No, wait a minute: you sound just like Piers Moron. As an Arsenal supporter, I am ashamed of him - and you.

Oh dear. I don't bother replying to opinions that are clearly the result of a total inability to see that the original remarks were IRONIC. (My fault for sure, since obviously the irony was not clear enough to save this poor soul from going to all the trouble to inform us [what all of us already know] that Eva Air is from Taiwan.) Maybe re-read the original squib and see if you can see where the (admittedly lame) humour was going? Sorry if it's confusing....

So Eva Air will be bringing the Russians in via Taipei? Did Xi Xi suggest to Vlad that this would be an excellent way to irritate the Taiwanese?

https://asiatimes.com/2022/09/spasm-escalation-russias-last-weapon-has-been-spent/?mc_cid=4bbfd90020&mc_eid=dcfbcb0104 This is a cool (in the sense of non-heated, as in this thread) analysis of military policy, which concludes with the view that Russia has only one card to play (assuming that nuclear weapons remain in their silos, for ever). It comes from the Yorktown Institute, whose president is the author of the article. It's the most interesting analysis of East-West military relations I have read for some time.

The "sads" always came from the usual suspects and my own sads were, equally, aimed at the usual suspects. Though, more and more often lately, I have tended to refrain from aiming a "sad" because it was either otiose or merely a little cruel.

Indeed. And the above sentence demonstrates cruelly the quality of mind producing this sad statement.

Er, wasn't this what Italy did in WW2 when they saw which way the military wind was blowing? Few today hold this sensible change of tack against the Italians....

I must say I am missing the "SAD" icon (as well as the others). I wonder if their removal is a temporary attempt to enforce upon us a greater sense of civility (possibly as a mark of respect for Her Maj, which would be a much better motive than if the removal were a contemptible woke attempt to spare some of us from hurt feelings.) One of the supreme delights in participating in these opinion bun-fights is being able to simply click on "sad" rather than have to write: "Utter nonsense, you are seriously deluded."

What the MSM fail to mention (though the info is hiding in plain view) is not just the existence of incriminating laptops but the amount of profiteering that American defense companies are making out of this war. We know that $39 Billion has been shovelled over to the corrupt Ukraine regime (as bad for the people as anything that Putin can lob over to them), but we don't know exactly how much Northrop Grumman and Lockheed Martin (to name only two merchants of death) have been able to scoop up in this war. (Reuters mention "more than $10 Billion".) This might give some clue: Share price of Northrop Grumman Feb 3: $369.75 Sept 9: $491.35 Lockheed Martin Feb 3: $389.33 Sept 9: $421.53 (on Aug 16 it was $440.16) So, in conclusion, the American tax-payer is being told he or she is funding this expensive boondoggle that brings not the slightest sliver of extra security to the American citizen.

The USA would be a much better place today if this age amendment were voted into the constitution. (And not just for Presidents, either. All too many members of Congress are clearly unfit for purpose.)