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Post by bjd on Jun 17, 2021 11:07:55 GMT
Yes, Putin is pretty short -- 1m68 according to the internet. He used to have a prime minister called Medvedev who was also short -- that was probably his qualification for the job. All that bare-chested horseback riding and thrilling sports are probably compensation for his height.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jun 17, 2021 15:23:39 GMT
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Post by mickthecactus on Jun 17, 2021 15:46:22 GMT
Trump not telling the truth? Surely not....
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Post by Kimby on Jun 17, 2021 16:10:46 GMT
You know his medical report included carefully selected numbers for height and weight that would put him just below the BMI threshold for “obese”. No way does he weigh 239.
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Post by casimira on Jul 1, 2021 18:29:23 GMT
This may sound catty and petty but, I have to say what a pleasant alternative our current First Lady is to the previous person assigned that role. In a word, "class" versus "trash".
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Post by kerouac2 on Jul 1, 2021 18:38:29 GMT
The test will be to see how she handles the annual Christmas crap.
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Post by mickthecactus on Jul 1, 2021 19:16:26 GMT
I’ve heard of extreme constipation but just once a year?
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Post by bjd on Jul 1, 2021 19:31:05 GMT
This may sound catty and petty but, I have to say what a pleasant alternative our current First Lady is to the previous person assigned that role. In a word, "class" versus "trash". Not catty and petty at all. She has a lot more class than Melania Trump and has better taste in clothes too.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2021 21:02:56 GMT
I’ve heard of extreme constipation but just once a year?
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Post by lagatta on Jul 1, 2021 22:35:57 GMT
Can't a medical doctor get in trouble for signing such obviously false bills of health?
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Post by Kimby on Jul 1, 2021 22:44:38 GMT
He was a military doctor, and obligated to follow his Commander In Chief’s orders.
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Post by bixaorellana on Jul 1, 2021 23:33:45 GMT
I cannot imagine that is the case! Wouldn't a doctor's oath supersede all else? Bornstein, the doctor who claimed that El Dumpo would be “healthiest president ever”, was not a military doctor. Conley, the one who treated Trump's coronavirus, is military. There is something quite off about him. www.bbc.com/news/election-us-2020-54410180
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 16, 2021 23:35:09 GMT
No matter how much President Biden justifies his actions, he is going to be remembered as the president who lost the longest war in United States history.
Even though I think most people knew the outcome was inevitable, the opposition is going to rake him over the coals until the next election. Then there's the war on covid-19 (and stupidity). Can he win that one?
But as has been said in the past, "it's the economy, stupid!" If throwing trillions of dollars into infrastructure doesn't work, he is doomed.
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Post by lugg on Aug 17, 2021 20:04:36 GMT
The press here is not kind to Biden and his speech yesterday re Afghanistan. But something I read today summed it up for me ... ie the US is no longer wanting to take centre stage in promoting democracy across the world; so the questions are ... can other countries/ do other countries have the will to step in ; not least that there would need to be an alliance of willing partners ? And more importantly - is it even right to do so?
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Post by bjd on Aug 18, 2021 6:15:25 GMT
I think it's the last part of your comment that is the most interesting, Lugg. Are Western "democracies" justified in trying to impose their systems on other countries? Of course, we assume that all those things lip-service is paid to, like freedom of the press, human rights, liberal capitalism, are the best that are available, and that everyone else should strive for it.
But my growing impression over the years is that most people care about their immediate families and close relations, want to have food on the table, some health care and will keep on voting for people like Trump, Duterte, Bolsonaro and others like that who will promise them a lot. How many people in Hong Kong are putting themselves on the line for democracy, while everyone else just tries to make a living?
I put democracy in quotation marks above because what the US has been pushing all these years is not especially democratic. Just ask the Iranians, Chileans, Cubans, Central Americans, etc. The political philosophy was, "He might be a bastard, but he's our bastard."
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Post by Kimby on Aug 18, 2021 22:51:02 GMT
No matter how much President Biden justifies his actions, he is going to be remembered as the president who lost the longest war in United States history. Even though I think most people knew the outcome was inevitable, the opposition is going to rake him over the coals until the next election. Then there's the war on covid-19 (and stupidity). Can he win that one? But as has been said in the past, "it's the economy, stupid!" If throwing trillions of dollars into infrastructure doesn't work, he is doomed. Americans (73%) wanted out. But we citizens don’t have access to military intelligence so could not anticipate the consequences the way Biden should have been able to. Bush 2 “started” the war in retaliation for Afghanistan sheltering the terrorists who brought down the trade towers on 9/11/01. Bush got distracted by avenging his Daddy in Iraq and weakened the military in Afghanistan to send them to Iraq for a meritless war, justifying it with lies about weapons of mass destruction. Obama WANTED to leave the mess in Afghanistan but ended up having to send MORE troops there to keep the s**t from hitting the fan. After Osama bin Laden was killed, he could have declared victory and exited, but didn’t. Trump didn’t give 2 s**ts about foreign policy, but liked the idea of getting credit for negotiating an agreement to “end the war”, so he did. But neglected to involve the Afghan government in the process. It was obvious to the Afghan soldiers and government that the US was going to abandon them, so they were ripe to cut deals with the Taliban to not resist being taken over. Biden “was bound by” the Trump agreement, and (foolishly) announced the US pullout months ahead of time, giving the Taliban plenty of time to set up the dominos so that they all began to fall quickly, before we could complete our pullout. A clusterf**k all around, but the blame isn’t solely Biden’s. He could’ve ended the war (US involvement) better, but Afghanistan is where empires go to die, right?
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Post by bixaorellana on Aug 18, 2021 23:33:15 GMT
The press here is not kind to Biden and his speech yesterday re Afghanistan. But something I read today summed it up for me ... ie the US is no longer wanting to take centre stage in promoting democracy across the world; so the questions are ... can other countries/ do other countries have the will to step in ; not least that there would need to be an alliance of willing partners ? And more importantly - is it even right to do so?I think it's the last part of your comment that is the most interesting, Lugg. Are Western "democracies" justified in trying to impose their systems on other countries? Of course, we assume that all those things lip-service is paid to, like freedom of the press, human rights, liberal capitalism, are the best that are available, and that everyone else should strive for it.... I put democracy in quotation marks above because what the US has been pushing all these years is not especially democratic. Just ask the Iranians, Chileans, Cubans, Central Americans, etc. The political philosophy was, "He might be a bastard, but he's our bastard." Bjd has summed it up perfectly -- all those positives she lists are used to justify interference by the US. And to be really cynical, that interference usually benefits the US in ways that are neither ethical nor touted in the news. Yes, yes, YES to everything Kimby said above!
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Post by Kimby on Aug 19, 2021 0:39:00 GMT
Thanks, bixa. When I saw that you had quoted me I was expecting it was to set me straight! (Or tell me how Bernie or Liz would’ve done a better job…)
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Post by kerouac2 on Aug 19, 2021 3:29:12 GMT
The vast majority of people are not going to analyze the history of what happened. They will just blame the last person in charge. And everybody knows that Trump didn't do anything. He didn't even send in the Space Force.
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Post by fumobici on Aug 19, 2021 20:19:25 GMT
Biden's done the right thing and the only correct thing to do here. Those criticizing him really have offered no constructive alternatives beyond doing some naïve reiteration of the same failed approach that has been failing for twenty years there. The only people who will be talking about this during next year's mid-term elections will be the same nutbar neocons who've been consistently wrong about everything for decades and Trumper Republicans who won't mention the plan to leave was actually an idea put forward by their Dear Leader himself. 71% of Americans wanted us out of Afghanistan, Biden to his credit did what the people actually want and although the bizarrely neocon corporate US media and the opposition are and will be making performative displays of outrage and anguish over the inevitable denouement, the only remotely sensible path has been taken there.
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Post by lugg on Aug 21, 2021 20:04:25 GMT
My question was is it right was simply that ...
Bjd , Kimby , Bixa and Fumobici - your comments are so relevant to how I was thinking
But ... maybe a side effect of Western gluttony / idealism ( however you wish to view it) is a degree of emancipation for women , better rights for children, particular females and that is now under significant threat/ absolutely unlikely under a Taliban regime. Sacrificial lambs ...that those who wanted their troops out of Afghanistan failed to consider.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 1, 2021 15:21:49 GMT
So we have seen a lot of bluster and threats over losing the Afghanistan war. The United States just cannot accept to move on. A "forever" war? How could Biden have actually said that? As ridiculous as Biden's threats are concerning the Taliban, one wonders why he has lost his testicles when talking about voting and abortion rights or gun control or even vaccinations. It is so easy make hollow threats to other sovereign countries when he can't stand up to his own country.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 2, 2021 10:27:43 GMT
Yeah, the Texan "foetal heartbeat" abortion law is certainly worthy of the Taliban.
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Post by kerouac2 on Sept 2, 2021 11:56:55 GMT
Unfortunately every president shuts up about states' rights because contesting them is political poison.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 2, 2021 13:44:10 GMT
Yeah, the Texan "foetal heartbeat" abortion law is certainly worthy of the Taliban. I advise buying stock in companies that make home pregnancy tests. Testing monthly or even biweekly will become a fact of life for sexually active women who DON’T WANT A BABY!
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Post by bjd on Sept 2, 2021 14:28:03 GMT
The aspect of that law that has been emphasized on the French news is the $10,000 offered to anyone/anywhere in the States who tells on anyone complicit in abortion, even driving a woman to a clinic. That really opens the door to so much abuse that even a right-leaning Supreme Court should have said something and not washed their hands of it.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 2, 2021 14:59:58 GMT
Well, I've had the menopause, but yes, for those who are fertile. Perhaps I can book appointments for them in Montréal.
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Post by lagatta on Sept 3, 2021 1:40:05 GMT
In the US, the worst Bible-Belt nutcases are Protestant. Though it is true that Catholics have the historical lead in selling stuff, such as indulgences.
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Post by bjd on Sept 3, 2021 6:43:29 GMT
Yesterday I heard an interview with an American professor at Florida State U who has written a book about abortion in the States. She said voting Republican or Democrat was a much better predictor of whether someone was for or against abortion than their religious affiliation, despite the large numbers of evangelical Christians in the States. No surprise that Republicans tended to be anti-abortion and Democrats pro. Generally. She also said that women (or people in general) identifying as feminists was also not clear-cut when it comes to being for or against.
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Post by Kimby on Sept 4, 2021 3:44:37 GMT
I object to the terminology of the debate. No one is “pro-abortion”, they are actually pro-choice. No one loves abortions, even those who perform them. Every abortion is sad in some way. But some of them are necessary.
I am pro-choice, but very glad I never had to make that choice when I was still fertile.
BTW, the “pro-lifers” are only pro-birthers: once the unwanted product of conception is born, too many of them wash their hands of it, leaving the unwilling parent to fend for themself and their child without much help or care from the anti-abortion crowd.
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