I said I'm not sure if it was staged or not so I don't know where that's coming from. I'm on your case because you're behaving like a jackass then deny you're behaving like a jackass.
You don't know if it's staged like you don't know if I'm actually the prince of Denmark, and it should be taken about that seriously.
I am impressed that MrD KNOWS what I think even though I never posted as fact that the photo was staged. My mind IS made up that the facts that we know strongly suggests it was staged or manipulated. I wasn't aware speculating was not allowed.
Welcome to SeattleHusker's world. Pull up a chair and stay awhile. Sorry, I know that's not helpful but I enjoyed posting it. First time I used the MJ emoticon.
Yeah, you didn't do anything wrong and that's why I called Deez out on it. You, Deez, and I weren't there so nobody knows what happened except the people who were there when it happened.
Gentlemen, gentlemen! Let's not let speculation, however well constructed build walls between us. It's hard not to be cynical about the political stakes involved in the caravan. I have no doubt that someone is coaching them about asylum and that some in the media are covering it in a deceptive manner in order to enable exploitation by politicians on the Left wishing to embarrass Trump or convince moderates and suburban moms that Trump is an uncaring monster. I also have no doubt that there are some who are genuinely concerned about the tragedy of the human condition in the ranks of the poor and forgotten people of the world. There are those who believe the United States to be the answer for their problems however naive or idealistic they may be. Then there are the rest of us who mix compassion with reality. Many of us are not comfortable pledging the money of others for strangers from another land when there are those in our country in as much need. We want the law to be enforced (just like Obama who deported over 3 million people) because we understand anarchy and the judgment of politically and emotionally impaired people does not a great country make. Short of a confession by the photographer there is nothing we can say except that the picture does beg questions. Anything is possible. Speculation is all we can do short of facts. I don't like absolute statements of fact absent absolute proof. But there is always more to the story than we know. Always. Don't beat each other up over it.
I'm just not willing to go into Alex Jones territory without evidence. If someone has some, my mind's open. It's not an impossibility, but I do need something to start taking it seriously.
Back when popular music was more than just regurgitated "poppy" 14 year old girl and bootie-shakin' music.
By great points in your post. To your point about how much the US should give to other countries when we have Americans in need. Honduras has 9 million people. We give them over 150 million a year.
I was into a couple of glasses of wine when I made the post above ("Gentlemen Gentlemen") and had the head-phones (ear-buds) on and happened to click on this Steve Miller clip. The opening line, "What about the children..." made me put my compassion hat on so I posted the video here. I ran into this video a couple of years ago. Miller was on his game back then and his band was tight. Love the sound, the groove, the beat and the message on this one. And you're right about comparing it to today. Live music, sophisticated pop and fearless delivery.
I know I had a good time! Too good. I set myself back a bit but righted the ship and got my CPA when I was 36 years old. Never too late to figure it out. Not too many regrets. The good times are part of who I am. That music was right there the whole way.
Honduran woman who traveled with the caravan, climbs wall, plops out anchor baby on American soil. Calls the birth "a big reward for her family's journey", like she'd just won the lottery. I wonder how much she and her family (new baby, baby Daddy, and 3-year-old son) will cost taxpayers over their lifetimes? Honduran woman, 19, in migrant caravan scales border wall to give birth in US after 2,000-mile trip
https://www.washingtonexamby will get of course the delivery free, then get WIC for next 5 years, TANF,SNAP ,further medical care, housing assistance and free education. How many pregnant illegals will now do the same thing? We must get rid of anchor baby policy
It's incredible to me that we have to fight the Left on this so much when the laws are clear concerning illegal immigration and the games being played. Meanwhile, we have our situation with China which some on the Left are finally acknowledging is a problem and not one of Trump's making. But because of the political stakes we have hatred involved where none should exist and even if there is some sort of understandable emotional component it still should not affect our foreign policy. But it does, because they need to hate Trump and everything he does must be seen as evil.
An old boss always said "assume positive intent". There isn't enough of that these days in political discussions. The extremists on the left and right look at any situation that goes against their bias and assume conspiracy. Soros, deep state, neocons (which I believe to a point), etc. are all boogie men for "I disagree with the direction XXX is going". In today's politics there's an inherent need to find an enemy as an excuse for why you may be in the minority on an issue.
I agree. By the way, I owe you a response on this thread somewhere. I get caught up in moving forward. I like the "positive intent" frame of reference. There are reasonable people out there and most issues due have legitimate concerns on both sides. Why can't we hammer things out? That's where the "assume negative intent" comes in: Power. As for the Neo-cons, I recall their PNAC (Project for a New American Century) vision statement. There was an unapologetic tone that the United States was to be the world's pre-eminent power and they wanted to achieve "Total Spectrum Dominance." Land. Air. Sea. Space. Cyberspace. The question being is total spectrum dominance actually achieving it in a Roman Empire like imperialistic form or just to be able to dominate in case someone decides to F with us. The positive intent of all that requires a view that a hegemony of the United States is the only answer for a free world. In the absence of the US (or in the face of a passive US), then we would possibly suffer a Russian, China or some combination of both as the prevailing hegemony. I do not believe Europe has the will or the wherewithall to counter China and/or Russia. It's up to us. The negative intent would be that neo-cons are just a bunch of ruthless greedy imperialists and that Russia and China is the blow-back. There's some of that. I believe in our capacity for good. I also believe that our enemies would over-run the planet in our absence. We have to stand up to them while trying to get along in some way shape or form. My patriotism is unquestioned towards the US. But I'm not going to be a "Good German" as so many used to rationalize allowing the Nazi's to do what they did. We need to come together somehow behind our leaders but I don't see them asking that from us. They only want us to follow them and condemn the other.
I love how people who supposedly hate conspiracy theories take the "Trump colluded with Russia" conspiracy theory seriously. However, these same people ignore all the evidence that this investigation was heavily tainted from the very start.
Yeah, the Project for a New American Century and the signatories to is really effed my head. It was a full declaration of US supremacy and a stated desire to lean on the rest of the world (including by force) to make them be like us. I believe in American exceptionialism but that site was a bridge too far.
I'm not an expert on these things but I believe the United States has maintained a policy of being able to conduct and win multi-theater military operations similar to what happened in WWII. You can argue whether or not this is a desired goal or even necessary. But that is what we were exiting 1945; a true military super power. We also can read the following from Wikipedia: "According to the Federation of American Scientists, an organization that assesses nuclear weapon stockpiles, as of 2018, the Russian Federation possesses 7,850 total nuclear warheads, of which 1,600 are strategically operational.[2] This is in large part due to the special bomber counting rules allowed by the New START treaty, which counts each strategic nuclear bomber as one warhead irrespective of the number of warheads—gravity bombs and/or cruise missiles carried by the aircraft. The figures are, by necessity, only estimates because "the exact number of nuclear weapons in each country's possession is a closely held national secret."[4] In addition to nuclear weapons, Russia declared an arsenal of 39,967 tons of chemical weapons in 1997.[5][6] The Soviet Union ratified the Geneva Protocol on April 5, 1928 with reservations. The reservations were dropped on January 18, 2001. Russia is also party to the Biological Weapons Convention and the Chemical Weapons Convention. The Soviet Union had a peak stockpile of 45,000 nuclear warheads in 1986.[7] It is estimated that from 1949 to 1991 the Soviet Union produced approximately 55,000 nuclear warheads.[8]" My Father, a Cuban emigre to the US in 1955, was a political science professor (Ph.D.) and he always told me that Russia was our main threat because of those warheads. He was cheered by the break-up of the Soviet Union, but the military power remained. He was also very concerned about Communism as you can imagine. This was the context of the Cold War and many of our national security decisions and actions. That's another debate. It is what it was. Today, we have a decision to make, just as we have always had a decision to make; what is our role and what is the right level of military and "spectrum" capability? What is the goal? Do we believe the world is a bad place that would be even worse in the absence of a fully armed (the greatest military power in the history of the world in terms of our capability if unleashed without moral concerns) United States? Who can even define such a thing? What is keeping Putin from annexing all of Ukraine? Us? His conscience? I don't have the answers.
If we could feed clothe and keep the whole world safe how great would that be? But don't we need to take care of our own first? How many Americans who did not break any laws get this kind of treatment" " Since 2014, American taxpayers have been billed nearly $30 million to fund school supplies, toys, clothing, and coloring books for migrants returning to Central America after being deported from the United States. A new Government Accountability Office (GAO) report reveals that USAID has spent $27 million worth of U.S. taxpayer money, since 2014, on departing gift bags for migrants deported from the U.S. back to Central America. The GAO report found that the taxpayer funding is used to give “short-term reception services” to deported Central American migrants in Honduras, Guatemala, and El Salvador. The funding also goes towards “counseling services and employment assistance” for the deported migrants to “make it easier for migrants to readjust to and stay in their home countries,” the report claims." Americans Billed $27M in 'Reintegration' Gift Bags for Deportees So in addition to backpacks of goodies we pay for counseling for readjustment to their home country that they left to sneak into our country illegally??? What do these Central American countries do with the hundreds of millions we give them every year? Why are we so stupid?
both can be true at the same time. there is no doubt that dem's are playing this for as many political points as they can and politics is what is driving this and the MSM is helping them, but if there is confirmation of collusion, collaboration and even just cooperation between Trump and the Russians I want the guy impeached. I don't care if there is a provable crime to satisfy the letter of the law. If my president went to a foreign power, that has historically been hostile to my country, in order to win his election...I want that person impeached.
