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Post Election Thread: Democracy Dies In Darkness And You Can Help


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11 hours ago, Donward said:

Getting back from the theoretical and more towards the practical, much of the driving factor for this "March for Science" is the fact that the current Administration is "Draining the Swamp" and a lot bureaucrats in DC and elsewhere are finding themselves out of a job or part of a hiring freeze. And so because the Federal government needs to become slimmer and more efficient, a sentiment shared by the voters who have elected politicians to do this, we have a "March for Science" all because some mid-level pencil pushers and political appointees with the EPA and other agencies aren't able to feed at the public trough to the tune of six-figures a year plus retirement and benefits. 

 

There's a LOT of money to be made "saving" the environment. Which is why a career politician like Algore, who has never made more than $230,700 a year when he was Veep, is now worth close to $200 million. 

 

http://www.cbsnews.com/news/report-al-gores-net-worth-at-200-million/

From what I understand, they still hire actual technical workers like engineers and actual scientists but trimming away the bureaucrats through funding cuts.

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17 hours ago, Toxn said:

The thing is, the issue is settled.

 

There is a broad consensus amongst climate scientists that, you know, returning all that carbon from the carboniferous era into the atmosphere is having an effect on our climate. And, as we don't have too many ways to plausibly stuff it back into the ground, most are now talking about mitigation and adaption rather than prevention.

 

I'm an optimist, in that I think that it might be a good thing in the long term to have lots of CO2 around for photosynthesis (so long as we don't end up like Venus). But then I also like the idea of dragonflies the size of eagles.

17 hours ago, Sturgeon said:

The issue is "sort-of-settled". There are a lot of things that are real facts, and a lot of things that are speculation, and a lot of things that are obvious bullshit. That's pretty much "science as usual", though. The problem has come because of the politicization of the issue and the way they've tried to sell the public on it. I mean, sure, there's some culpability to assign to the climate skeptics' equivalents of anti-vaccers (not all climate skeptics qualify as this, though), but a lot of this skepticism was a self-inflicted wound.

I mean, for one thing, the climate change folks' narrative has dramatically changed multiple times within a lot of people's lifetimes. It was an impending ice age, then global warming, then "climate change" (a noncommittal euphemism that sure is perhaps more technically accurate but still sounds like a weaselly copout to literally everyone). Throw in the fact that you can't even ask questions about it anymore* without people jumping down your throat and calling you anti-science, and yeah.

16 hours ago, EnsignExpendable said:

"I fucking love science" has very little to do with actual science and just latches onto whatever headline is the most sensationalist.

 

Part of what made that article so funny IIRC was that a couple months earlier they were decrying Trump's declared intention to withdraw from the Paris Agreement. Like everyone else was on that train and we were just holding back the saving of the world.

 

Suddenly there's no hope no matter what we do for the next several centuries. 

 

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On 4/22/2017 at 10:27 PM, Sturgeon said:

This video by Nidget is pretty hilarious.

 

W42FJvY.png

 

I love how describes science as a system of peer review, but then is like "the longer you delay accepting global warming, the longer you delay us doing anything political about it!" Then he decries that back in his day nobody questioned science. Dude, that's because back in your day your side didn't use science as a political bludgeon, which is what you're doing IN THIS VERY VIDEO.

 

Maybe BSM should listen to Dilbertman:
 


 

 

Upon reconsideration, I think this video is evidence of two things:

1. Nidget has been triggered to action by the right being "anti-science", but he takes being a scientist seriously enough to attack all sides, including anti-vaxxers and anti-GMO people (who are traditionally leftist or a mix between right and left). So he's taken an apolitical action as a result of a political trigger.

2. The left is absolutely freaking out with worry that their label as "pro-science" will be stripped from them.

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http://www.cnbc.com/2017/04/26/house-freedom-caucus-announces-it-will-support-amended-obamacare-replacement-bill.html

In a statement, the Freedom Caucus said its members would support the plan if it includes the MacArthur amendment, which would allow states to waive some key Obamacare provisions. The compromise was negotiated between moderate GOP Rep. Tom MacArthur of New Jersey and Freedom Caucus leader Rep. Mark Meadows of North Carolina

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10 hours ago, Donward said:

Dat AK at 2:14...

 

Edit: I suppose now we must do an AK vs AR torture test to see which one can best survive a MOAB blast.

 

 

"Hello, this is MAC, today we added another medium to water, sand and mud in our torture test - thermobaric fire, that we packed in this bin. We will drop tested weapon there on one side and than on the other. After this we will take it our and shoot 10 rounds" 

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Am I supposed to take literally the things that come from our presidents mouth? Cause the President of the USA just said he would be "honored" to meet with that freak from North Korea.

 

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,"

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1 hour ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

Am I supposed to take literally the things that come from our presidents mouth? Cause the President of the USA just said he would be "honored" to meet with that freak from North Korea.

 

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,"

 

No absolutely not. More people need to realize this.

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We're playing the Will-The-President-Sit-Across-The-Table-With-An-Evil-Dictator game again?

Cool.

Because I can remember in 2008 when candidate Obama said he'd sit at the same table with the leader(s) of Iran and Republicans lost their shit and Democrats said it made Obama an honest broker and a diplomat. Sen. McCain wasted part of two Presidential debates on the subject.

 

It's like the media recycles the same tired narratives.

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On 5/2/2017 at 2:04 AM, Donward said:

We're playing the Will-The-President-Sit-Across-The-Table-With-An-Evil-Dictator game again?

Cool.

Because I can remember in 2008 when candidate Obama said he'd sit at the same table with the leader(s) of Iran and Republicans lost their shit and Democrats said it made Obama an honest broker and a diplomat. Sen. McCain wasted part of two Presidential debates on the subject.

 

It's like the media recycles the same tired narratives.

 

US Presidents shake hands with scumbags all the time.  It's part of the job description.

 

The one who looks like he's trying not to cry at the terrible visage of John Kerry is Teodoro Obiang Nguema Mbasogo, to give his full, made-up Africanized name:

 

us-secretary-of-state-john-kerry-greets-

 

Teodoro Nguema is not a nice man.  The only good thing anyone can say about him is that he's a much nicer person than his uncle, whom he killed to take power in Equatorial Guinea.  While Francisco Nguema was a flamboyant supervillain who ordered men dressed as Santa Claus to machine-gun his opponents in a sports stadium while Mary Hopkin's Those Were The Days played on loudspeakers, his nephew, after he pulled a Hamlet, proved to be a boring, run-of-the-mill corrupt autocrat.

 

Teodoro Nguema personally steals the majority of his nation's GDP.  The people of his country suffer from diseases that are trivially preventable like polio.  The country isn't poor; it has a miniscule population and produces almost as much oil as Libya.  The government is just laughably corrupt and awful.  In a right and just world, Equatorial Guinea would be invaded by a stronger, somewhat less corrupt neighbor and have its entire government fed to sharks feet-first on live TV.  But if you do that sort of thing there would be gigantic hue and cry in the UN defending the rights of Equatorial Guineans to be arbitrarily jailed and tortured by a man who steals all their mineral wealth.

 

Here is Teodoro Nguema looking upset to be shorter than Michelle Obama, who could probably kick his ass:

article-2053554-0E88ECDB00000578-386_634

 

And here he is again with Secretary of State Rice:

Secretary_Rice_and_President_Obiang.jpg
 

Here is President Obama with Gurbanguly Mälikgulyýewiç Berdimuhamedow:

Gurbanguly_Berdimuhammedov_with_Obamas.j

 

Berdimuhamedow is a megalamaniac, but he's got goddamn nothing on the previous president of Turkmenistan.  Saparmurat Niyazov, who ruled until 2006, named the month of January after himself, and had a golden statue of himself that rotates to face the sun built, was definitely setting the standard for eccentric despots.  Again, his successor is just sort of run of the mill oppressive and corrupt, but the US plays nice with him because it needs bases in Turkmenistan to support operations in Afghanistan.

 

Here's Nixon meeting with Mobutu:

Mobutu_Nixon.gif

 

Most won't remember, but Mobutu was a darling of the Western press early in his reign.  Presumably this is because journalists were just as fucking stupid back then as they are now, although their writing was considerably more polished at that time.

 

6XQT00I.jpg

 

The man on the left is Robert Mugabe, who was when this picture was taken already notorious for using child soldiers.  The man on the right who looks like he wants to get on his knees and gag himself unconscious is of course, the Peanut Farmer.  Three years after this picture was taken Mugabe was ordering mass rapes and ethnic cleansing.

 

Here's the shrub with Islam Karimov:

bushkarimov.jpg

 

Karimov is notable, among other things, for having people executed by boiling them to death.

 

 

 

 

I could go on.  My point is, Ruhollah Khomeini called the USA the Great Satan, and the USSR the Lesser Satan.  And we fucking earn it.  So suck it Russia!  We're the biggest Satan in the world!

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11 hours ago, Walter_Sobchak said:

Am I supposed to take literally the things that come from our presidents mouth? Cause the President of the USA just said he would be "honored" to meet with that freak from North Korea.

 

"If it would be appropriate for me to meet with him, I would absolutely, I would be honored to do it,"

 

You are 'supposed to' think about who that statement is aimed at and what it means in the game of diplomacy.

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