... it's an open thread.
Consider shopping through the simple device of doing your Amazon shopping through The Althouse Portal.
१२ सप्टेंबर, २०१७
At the Koi Kafé...
... it's an open thread.
Consider shopping through the simple device of doing your Amazon shopping through The Althouse Portal.
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Another compelling reason to shut down the Pentagon and our huge military machine.
They're poisoning us.
I curious to see how reliable Apple's "Face ID" facial recognition is for their new iPhone ends up being. Can it be defeated with an identical twins or a really ultra realistic face mask?
"Robert Cook said...
Another compelling reason to shut down the Pentagon and our huge military machine."
Because the whole world would stay exactly the same, except us having a military.
No carping about the theme of this open thread now....
what a great mix of colors and textures!
I seriously, really want a koi pond for my back yard...but I live in the desert and my yard is regularly visited by wild animals and the neighborhood cats.....
Keep the faith Cookie...there's still hope for the USSR yet!
This Apple presentation was the closest to 1984 yet. Big Brother Steve constantly referenced to lend credibility to the effort.
He has become to Apple what Walt Disney is to Disney - a deceased person who is constantly referenced to convince people that they are getting an authentic product or experience.
We sell Wyoming, Dakota, and Montana federal land for 21 trillion.
We could make more off of land in Alaska, California and Nevada.
Cookie still isn't over the death of Stalin.
Today's presentation: Apple Watch 3 does not suck.
Look at a picture of Steve Jobs smiling while I tell you how much he would have liked it.
"Here's the deal. We sell Wyoming, Dakota, and Montana federal land for 21 trillion."
Wrong. We sell New England to Canada for a box of cracker jacks.
Then without 12 liberal anti-American Senators, we Make America Great Again.
And Canada gets New England. Its a win-win for everyone.
We could make more off of land in ... Nevada.
Well, Nevada is a special case. The federal land is mostly radioactive or for dropping bombs.
There's also an area where they do cadaver research, by dropping bombs and seeing how the bodies explode. Kind of worthless land there...
The two main languages in Maine are French and Arabic. I'd go for selling that shithole to Quebec. Give them a discount on the ragheads.
Robert Cook said...
Another compelling reason to shut down the Pentagon and our huge military machine.
They're poisoning us.
Yet I cannot find anything about this at the American Thyroid Association page, thyroid.org, and the table here does not seem to support that article.
https://www.statecancerprofiles.cancer.gov/incidencerates/index.php?stateFI
Nor can I find any record of any independent study, by a non-government body or non-environmental group, that addresses the question.
"Keep the faith Cookie...there's still hope for the USSR yet!"
Are we any different than the USSR at this point, (except that we spend far more of our money on our War Department than they do)?
Are we any different than the USSR at this point,
Well we haven't deliberately starved tens of millions of people or made a deal to divide up a country with the NAZIs...so yes we are different.
"Well we haven't deliberately starved tens of millions of people or made a deal to divide up a country with the NAZIs...so yes we are different."
Neither has anyone alive and working in the present Russian government. We did hire many former Nazis to work for us after the war, and we turned away Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany during the war, so we're not free of the taint of moral compromise.
"We did hire many former Nazis to work for us after the war"
Not as many as the Soviets and East Germans did.
This Apple presentation was the closest to 1984 yet.
I said this when those two bald guys from the gaming company were on stage.
This post reels 'em in to fund the vacations.
"We did hire many former Nazis to work for us after the war, and we turned away Jewish refugees fleeing Nazi Germany during the war, so we're not free of the taint of moral compromise."
Fleeing nazi's? What a joke. We hired German scientists to work for us. 200,000 Americans died fighting Hitler, and instead of saying thank you, you talk about Jewish refugees.
Amazing.
Robert Cook said...
"Are we any different than the USSR at this point, (except that we spend far more of our money on our War Department than they do)?"
Well, there is the fact that we (meaning the USA, if that wasn't clear) still exist, while the USSR is defunct and has been for decades. But I grant you, the situation is fluid.
200,000 Americans died fighting Hitler...."
Millions of Russian soldiers died fighting Hitler. Our cost was relatively small.
But when we try real socialism ....
"Not as many as the Soviets and East Germans did."
That's not the point. The point is we're really not much different than they.
Cookie's point, with which I have some sympathy, is that we have an awfully large military establishment for a nation whose Founders regarded a standing army as an invitation to tyranny. It is certainly worth asking how we got into the position of constantly creating new and hitherto undreamed of ways to slaughter people, only to have them turned against us. Consider how much safer we would all be had we never invented ICBMs. Why on Earth did a nation with huge oceans between it and all likely enemies invent ICBMs? Oh, yeah. Just in case we needed to kill everyone on Earth. Right, I forgot.
On a larger scale, if you are looking for an indictment of Western Civilization in general, the two God-awful wars we could not seem to avoid inflicting on ourselves doesn't say much for our overall sensibility. Was that really the best use of a decade? Granted, the Japanese played a part, but they learned it all from us. Sigh.
Asks question --
Robert Cook said...
Are we any different than the USSR at this point, (except that we spend far more of our money on our War Department than they do)?
9/12/17, 4:00 PM
Answers question --
Robert Cook said...
Millions of Russian soldiers died fighting Hitler
9/12/17, 4:34 PM
Cook's remark about how we are no different from the Russians, War. Thethe determination of the media to try to drive wedges between all of as Americans, the identity politics made me think of
This Song...by War! Why Can't We Be Friends?
Wrong. We sell New England to Canada for a box of cracker jacks.
Then without 12 liberal anti-American Senators, we Make America Great Again.
And Canada gets New England. Its a win-win for everyone.
And to complete the transactions, trade California to Mexico in exchange for the Wall.
Cookie, have you actually been to Russia? My brother, a leftist like you, visited Russia twice and came away both times unimpressed with just about every facet of Russian life. He was followed constantly and his rooms were bugged, his phone conversations tapped. The food was awful, the infrastructure crumbling and communications and transportation woefully obsolete. He did enjoy many of the people.
Oh, and if we're selling New England to Canada [good idea!] let's buy BC so we can travel to Alaska without looneys, tooneys, liters and kilometers.
"Millions of Russian soldiers died fighting Hitler. Our cost was relatively small."
Who is "Our"? You asshole.
Fuck you - anti-American prick.
"Cookie, have you actually been to Russia? My brother, a leftist like you, visited Russia twice and came away both times unimpressed with just about every facet of Russian life. He was followed constantly and his rooms were bugged, his phone conversations tapped. The food was awful, the infrastructure crumbling and communications and transportation woefully obsolete. He did enjoy many of the people."
Sounds like the country we are becoming.
"Are we any different than the USSR at this point"
Seriously, Cookie, I thought you were a lot smarter than this. My mistake.
" The point is we're really not much different than they."
I think we all know what circles you move in. How is deBlasio's bedroom ?
Sounds like the country we are becoming.
Comrade Marvin strikes again.
I bet you're a lot of fun at cocktail parties.
Why on Earth did a nation with huge oceans between it and all likely enemies invent ICBMs?
Because the Germans started developing them during WW II and the Russians stole much of their research. Thankfully we got most of the German rocket scientists.
so we're not free of the taint of moral compromise.
Nobody is...but we're less tainted than everyone else.
"Because the Germans started developing them during WW II and the Russians stole much of their research. Thankfully we got most of the German rocket scientists."
Oh, I know, I know. There were reasons, and they were good reasons. There are always reasons, and they are always good reasons. But sometimes I look at my kids and I wonder where all these good reasons are leading us.
If I were you, I would worry a bit less about your armed forces and a great deal more about your non-military intelligence and security services.
These are very dangerous things, above all, because they are most likely to be drawn into domestic surveillance and domestic politics. And we see that they already have been, regularly, since WWI. These days they have multiplied and are enormous.
Aircraft carriers don't shift US elections, but spies keeping dossiers on US politicians, businessmen and public figures do.
But sometimes I look at my kids and I wonder where all these good reasons are leading us.
I'm placing my hopes with Elon.
If Stalin had not devastated / purged his officer corp, believed that Hitler would not attack him, and then went into depression / shock right after the attack, there might have been few Soviet Casualties.
The US is not perfect, but our system seems to work a lot better than anyone elses. The Bill of Rights is such a positive differentiator. An interesting question is why does the US system work better than anyone elses?
The US military, especially Navy, has enabled a huge amount of growth world wide since WW2. And through the use of alliances, the cost has not devastated the US economy.
If Stalin had not devastated / purged his officer corp, believed that Hitler would not attack him, and then went into depression / shock right after the attack, there might have been few Soviet Casualties.
There might have been zero, absent the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact!
Also, you spelled "comatose drunk" wrong.
Also, human lives were worthless, meaningless, a commodity in the former Soviet Union, so casualties? Who cares? He just didn't want to be one of them.
"Nobody is...but we're less tainted than everyone else."
No. We're not.
"I bet you're a lot of fun at cocktail parties."
I don't go to cocktail parties.
I don't go to cocktail parties.
I can actually hear you saying that in Marvin's voice.....
>>"Nobody is...but we're less tainted than everyone else."
>No. We're not.
Is there any country more tainted than the US?
Tainted in what way? Cost of food, environment, people starving, slavery, murder rate, rape rate, racism, religious hatred, inter-marriage, ethnic hatred, freedom of speech, or ?
And is this present day, or some time period in the past?
Personal two cents - there is a reason that so many people want to come to the US, and not many people in the US want to leave.
Read the article - perchlorates. OK.
I believe there are bigger environmental issues.
I worry more about the hormones coming from birth control pills into the water supply. There is a lot about pollution that is not known yet. Some current regulations are too strict, and others not strict enough. Indoor pollution is another headache. Plus the hormones used for live stock. And the pollution / contamination in imported food. What happened to those poor dogs a few years ago due to Chinese contamination in pet food was horrible.
Unfortunately I don't have any magical solutions feasible now, I wish there were. A couple that would be nice is a super cheap way to filter water to get rid of contaminates. More use of factories to grow food. And grown meat to get beyond the test tube stage.
Pumpin Spice Latte is racist!
https://twitchy.com/brettt-3136/2017/09/12/why-so-bitter-womens-group-exposes-the-shot-of-racism-in-each-pumpkin-spice-latte/
How far did this jump the shark? Incredible the damage it does to real racism accusations.
Indoor pollution is another headache. Plus the hormones used for live stock. And the pollution / contamination in imported food. What happened to those poor dogs a few years ago due to Chinese contamination in pet food was horrible.
https://www.chronoleaks.com/
Good article on the ABM Snafu.
Michael K was right on spirit of the ABM Treaty, Wow! I did not know.
ABM state of
"I can actually hear you saying that in Marvin's voice...."
I do sound remarkably like Lee Marvin. How did you know?
"If I were you, I would worry a bit less about your armed forces and a great deal more about your non-military intelligence and security services.
"These are very dangerous things, above all, because they are most likely to be drawn into domestic surveillance and domestic politics. And we see that they already have been, regularly, since WWI. These days they have multiplied and are enormous."
"...likely to be drawn into...?" This is what Edward Snowden alerted us to several years ago...that the U.S. Intelligence agencies are spying on all Americans all the time. I am worried about our spy agencies along with the military. They are all part of the "complex" of dangerous services that needs to be drastically cut to the bone.
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