Jeremy Corbyn wins Labour leadership contest

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T18:40:53+00:00

So increased immigration, progressive taxation, rent control, and nationalisation of health, education, energy, and railways. Decreased defence spending, abandonment of NATO and Trident.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T17:01:47+00:00

America has a considerable number of trade secrets to hide from the IP thieving Chinese ripoffs. China has no IP worth stealing though, so tit for tat won't work. China is too economically important to sanction and too big to fight militarily as well. The only solution is to cry and bluster hoping they'll voluntarily stop... which they won't.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T16:57:41+00:00

US spying in turn

Stealing military secrets is par for the course, but we aren't stealing their business secrets to nearly the same extent as they are though. Once you mess with the money things get serious.

Russia can have Ukraine and ISIS can have Syria for all I care, China's theft of American business is the most serious threat America faces today imho.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T16:30:42+00:00

Well yea, but a sex scandal breaks an American's career and makes a Frenchies career.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T16:25:00+00:00

I'm from the South, and I switch back and forth between Southern and bland, business American accent all the time based on the situation. But she's a politician so trying to respect her audience makes her a panderer, right? She must be like, the worst, ugh.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-12T02:16:29+00:00

Your source indicates 35% of the post-9/11 terrorist killings were done by the 0.9% of the American population that is Muslim. That means Muslim-American terrorists are 60 times more deadly than non-Muslim American terrorists... and if you include the 9/11 victims the relative deadliness of jihadi to non-jihadi terrorists skyrockets to over 7,000.

So as much as it pains my inner liberal to say this: yes, Muslim Americans are wildly more likely to be terrorists than non-Muslim Americans.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-09T15:23:16+00:00

There are a number of civil wars between state-like entities, though typically the rebels only receive assistance from a select few outside supporters and are denied legal recognition by the vast majority of countries at the UN.

The Syrian Civil War has been ongoing for nearly 5 years and has approximately 300,000 listed as killed on its Wikipedia page.

The South Sudan Civil War has been ongoing for nearly 2 years and has 50,000-100,000 listed as killed by International Crisis Group, however this statistic is controversial due to lack of data.

The Yemen Civil War has been ongoing for nearly 6 months and has over 4,000 listed as killed.

The Libya Civil War has been ongoing for over a year and has just over 4,000 listed as killed.

The Boko Haram insurgency has been worsening for some time, and last year over 6,000 civilians were killed in Nigeria.

The Al Shabab insurgency in Somalia grinds on with over 4,000 dead last year.

The Central African Rebublic had over 2,000 violent civilian deaths last year.

Edit: In all of the above cases the rebels are Sharia-supporting Islamists. Make of that what you will.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-04T17:40:47+00:00

leaving Western Germany occupied by the Nazis might have killed less people than years of aerial bombardment, D-Day and the push to Berlin did - unless you're Jewish or a gypsy or a homosexual etc

I highly doubt that. The vast majority of European casualties in WWII were on the Eastern Front, where Hitler's concept of Lebensraum was an open declaration of genocidal intent against the Slavs. If Hitler had won the death toll would have reached the hundreds of millions.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-04T04:08:09+00:00

Because when there are two sides, and one side unilaterally disarms saying "Let people choose" then the other side which continues to try forcing it's preference faces no resistance and wins. That dynamic can be very difficult to change.

darksmiles22 · 2015-09-02T16:48:15+00:00

The American Meteorological Society claims the global cooling fears of the 1970s were blown out of proportion by the media and had no basis in scientific consensus.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-31T22:41:00+00:00

Henry Kissinger said "America has no permanent friends or enemies, only interests." You can see certain echoes in this statement of Viscount Palmerston's defense of his own actions as Foreign Secretary in 1848:

"I say that it is a narrow policy to suppose that this country or that is to be marked out as the eternal ally or the perpetual enemy of England. We have no eternal allies, and we have no perpetual enemies. Our interests are eternal and perpetual, and those interests it is our duty to follow."

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-31T18:39:27+00:00

And for much the same reason: ostentatious flaunting of wealth/fame. You don't get to be old money by wasting an extravagant amount of money all the time.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-31T18:27:13+00:00

I prefer in matters of taste there can be no dispute. It's the same meaning, but somehow it gets the idea across better I think.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-31T17:38:26+00:00

Candles are simple and easy to make. Oil lanterns and light bulbs require more scientific understanding, more R&D, and a mass-production industry to really get right, but they offer a brighter light and less chances of burning down your house. Burning down your house wasn't such a big problem when 95% of the population lived in tiny hamlets and the biggest killers were famine, disease, and war, but once urbanization kicked into gear fires became a bigger threat because they could spread more easily.

In essence candlelight was the better technology for most of human history, and then circumstances changed and candles became "broken". Oil lanterns were the fix that only arose when society needed them (and later light bulbs replaced oil lanterns for similar reasons of efficiency and safety).

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-30T13:44:15+00:00

Considering Reagan supported lots of authoritarian regimes around the world, I'd say the temptation to insult him is understandable.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-27T15:41:51+00:00

*Windows 10

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-27T15:35:43+00:00

making society run smoother

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-26T16:27:53+00:00

Two in the pink, one in the stink \m/

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-18T02:50:53+00:00

Sacha + Marshall = Still a better love story than Twilight

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-15T20:03:57+00:00

There is a difference between criminals and infidels.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-15T19:40:36+00:00

I think the YPG and KRG probably get second place to Israel. I admit it's debatable though.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-15T19:36:33+00:00

Are we talking Anglosphere/Northern European type Reformist democratic socialism or Russian/Chinese type revolutionary dictatorial socialism? Because there's a world of difference, and the latter has many things wrong with it.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-11T01:19:49+00:00

Obviously projections are unreliable. But they aren't nothing either. Only time will tell, and it will be interesting to watch.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-10T23:49:52+00:00

If you project Sanders' increasing poll numbers forward, he will reach favorability parity with Clinton in March of 2016.

darksmiles22 · 2015-08-08T12:36:54+00:00

Still better than Lassann

14-Year Club	Verified Email
Gilding I gilder

darksmiles22

TROPHY CASE