Greentiger wrote on Mar 16, 2022, 21:25:

TheBigVlad wrote on Mar 16, 2022, 21:17:
White fragility is alive and well, I see. I'm as white and male as anyone and I can't imagine how someone could actually think this.

My brother thinks this (we cannot be more different). He's convinced that white, straight, Christian men are a persecuted minority in America, that BLM is a terrorist organization, and see no irony in passing anti-LGBTQ laws. Needless to say, we don't talk much.

And to me this is an example of what's doing the most damage. We act like someone with this belief, or that opinion, as if that sums up their whole existence. I don't agree with their opinion? Have nothing to do with them. I don't agree with their beliefs on abortion/sexuality/pronouns/etc? Don't talk with those family members, sorry my kids shouldn't even know of your existence.
What a shame. We're more than our opinions, and we have more to offer each other than letting us know where we stand on this stuff. But we'd prefer to discard loved ones, because our own opinions are more important.

RedEye9 wrote on Oct 31, 2021, 16:44:

NSFW
Jenifer Lewis: Oppression Mentor | The Problem With Jon Stewart | Apple TV+
https://youtu.be/-9RP_BXCdCo

Ok that's great, gave me a good chuckle.
"They picked cotton. You just have to wear it."

It's really great to see them continually improve it, they've more than made up for the initial release.

RedEye9 wrote on Aug 16, 2021, 08:33:
History will praise President Biden for exiting and our allies will totally understand and agree with the action.

Since invading Afghanistan in 2001, the United States has spent $2.26 trillion on the war, which includes operations in both Afghanistan and Pakistan.

I think it's about time to cut all funding for overseas. Don't we have a massive debt we're doing nothing about?
I'd hate to know how much taxpayer money we send on a yearly bases to other countries overall.

El Pit wrote on Aug 16, 2021, 03:05:
Anything invading my home and having more than 4 legs is dead meat. This is an ongoing take no prisoners operation. But outside of my home - let the critters roam freely.

I find spiders somewhat terrifying, but they are such amazing creations of beauty, power and ability. Every time I find one of them in my home...don't tell the rest of my family, but I tolerate them to the point they get aggressive or seem harmful. Jumping at me is a sure way to become a spider pizza.

eRe4s3r wrote on Aug 16, 2021, 08:28:

Mr. Tact wrote on Aug 16, 2021, 07:02:

eRe4s3r wrote on Aug 16, 2021, 06:45:
After watching the news today I am unsure whether to call Biden a US president or a Taliban sleeper agent.

I find it absolutely fascinating any US citizen (know you're not eRe4s3r) would argue for a continued US military presence in Afghanistan. So, if you are put in charge, what is your plan? And what makes you think it can be accomplished after twenty years of effort seemingly accomplished nothing. Tell you what, I suggest a US military presence in the Afghanistan completely manned by volunteers. You think there should be troops there? Sign up and volunteer to go over and help implement your plan.

Could the withdrawal have been better planned? Maybe. But it was never going to be pretty. The Taliban were literally waiting for it and would have been whenever it was scheduled. It isn't like it was something which could be done in secret. And to the people who raise the point that we have had troops in your country eRe4s3r and Japan for 80 years, it doesn't compare. In Germany and Japan US forces were not consistently in battle with local forces. Even our presence in the DMZ between North and South Korea is a vacation spot in comparison to Afghanistan.

It is was a no win situation. I applaud Biden for finally acting and getting our forces out of that pointless, endless conflict. I think it was one of the few things Trump had right. This was effectively setup by him negotiating a May 1st withdrawal with the Taliban. Hell, Trump wanted to invite the leaders to Camp David.

Well you are of course right, the entire mission was botch job from day 1, but to me Biden is now exactly as unreliable as Trump. And Germany had troops there too. What an absolute absurd waste of money and life. Why were we (Nato - Not US) in Afghanistan and what were these troops doing the past 20 years? It doesn't matter what Trump did or Biden didn't, the fact is history will remember this as "Biden giving Afghanistan in the hands of Taliban"

Or how do games say it -> [Your allies will remember this]

Because you might have forgotten but your CIA signed deals with local militias to fight Taliban. I am sure they are THRILLED by how reliable the US is

Yeah, right now the US looks as reliable as a bungie jumping with noodles. But, maybe we can take even more taxpayer income, and send it over, or we can just ask "pretty PRETTY please don't burn down our embassy."
Trump may have been a blowhard, and a bit nutty, but the alternative is a feeble, impotent display to the rest of the world. History will cover up how pathetic it all turned out.

RedEye9 wrote on Aug 10, 2021, 07:51:

GamerGoat wrote on Aug 10, 2021, 07:36:

VaranDragon wrote on Aug 10, 2021, 02:48:

Cutter wrote on Aug 9, 2021, 18:46:

The Half Elf wrote on Aug 9, 2021, 12:41:
Holy shit that fentanyl story....

Yeah, that's fucking crazy.

And speaking of crazy I was reading yesterday that in the first week of August there have been almost 200 shootings - including several cop murders in Chicago. I thought I was misreading it at first and they meant for the entire year so far. Nooooo. They meant the first week of August. Year total for Chicago so far? 2200+. In all of Canada it's less than 300. 2021 is shaping up to be America's deadliest year on record. Violent crime and shootings are all up across the board everywhere. I'm sure the pandemic factors into a lot of it but that's still fucking cuckoo bananas anyway you slice it.

This quote is from an article in 2019:

In 2017, firearms killed 39,773 people and traffic deaths killed 38,659; in 2016, firearms killed 38,658 and traffic deaths totaled 38,748. Other figures also paint a stark reality of the uniquely American threat. People in the U.S. are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide than people in other wealthy countries, a 2016 study in the American Journal of Medicine found. In 2017, the most recent year with available data, nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. died from firearm injuries, more than eight times the number of U.S. military members who died overseas during Operation Iraqi Freedom between 2003 and 2010. Most of the U.S. gun deaths in 2017 were suicides, but statistics show that if someone is murdered in the U.S., there’s a high probability it will be with a gun. According to an FBI breakdown of homicides, more than 70% of murder victims were killed by firearms in 2017.

That's still a bit lower than drug overdoses, according to the cdc over 70 thousand died in 2019. Big pharma shares in the blame, but it's odd that nobody wants to talk about drugs flooding across the border. For some reason, nobody wants to say "don't do drugs, they're bad". It's just not cool.

Ok Nancy Reagan.
Will bring back your "Just Say No" campaign if it will make you happy.

What's your solution? Guns, drugs...two sides of the same coin, really. You have people who want their things, those things "kill" people (when really people are making the decisions). Are you really going to say one is fine, the other is bad? You think those guns are sprouting legs and killing people on their own? You think those drugs are jumping down peoples throats, up their noses on their own? B.S.
At least the vast majority of gun owners use them responsibly, that's a hell of a lot more than I can say for drug users. But keep on crying about guns, while not caring about the devestation that drugs have caused on everyone, especially in the entertainment industry.

And...we're comparing gun deaths to drug deaths. What about those suffering from addiction, but still alive? That's a lovely hidden number. Do you really think there are an equivalent number of people suffering the same way because daddy goes skeet shooting every now and then?

VaranDragon wrote on Aug 10, 2021, 02:48:

Cutter wrote on Aug 9, 2021, 18:46:

The Half Elf wrote on Aug 9, 2021, 12:41:
Holy shit that fentanyl story....

Yeah, that's fucking crazy.

And speaking of crazy I was reading yesterday that in the first week of August there have been almost 200 shootings - including several cop murders in Chicago. I thought I was misreading it at first and they meant for the entire year so far. Nooooo. They meant the first week of August. Year total for Chicago so far? 2200+. In all of Canada it's less than 300. 2021 is shaping up to be America's deadliest year on record. Violent crime and shootings are all up across the board everywhere. I'm sure the pandemic factors into a lot of it but that's still fucking cuckoo bananas anyway you slice it.

This quote is from an article in 2019:

In 2017, firearms killed 39,773 people and traffic deaths killed 38,659; in 2016, firearms killed 38,658 and traffic deaths totaled 38,748. Other figures also paint a stark reality of the uniquely American threat. People in the U.S. are 25 times more likely to die from gun homicide than people in other wealthy countries, a 2016 study in the American Journal of Medicine found. In 2017, the most recent year with available data, nearly 40,000 people in the U.S. died from firearm injuries, more than eight times the number of U.S. military members who died overseas during Operation Iraqi Freedom between 2003 and 2010. Most of the U.S. gun deaths in 2017 were suicides, but statistics show that if someone is murdered in the U.S., there’s a high probability it will be with a gun. According to an FBI breakdown of homicides, more than 70% of murder victims were killed by firearms in 2017.

That's still a bit lower than drug overdoses, according to the cdc over 70 thousand died in 2019. Big pharma shares in the blame, but it's odd that nobody wants to talk about drugs flooding across the border. For some reason, nobody wants to say "don't do drugs, they're bad". It's just not cool.

I mean, how much effort does it take for a strong willed person to squish a weak willed invalid?

jdreyer wrote on Aug 7, 2021, 03:02:
I wonder why they'd just go off and arrest celebrities...

Kris Wu: K-Pop star arrested on suspicion of rape

Oh, that's bad. Hmm, let's see what's happening in Xinjaing...

Uighur camp detainees allege systematic rape

Ah, so it's got to be government sanctioned rape. Got it.

Interesting that you aren't hearing more about the Uighur roundup and abuse. It's almost like some folks would rather deflect than hear this.

Can't wait to see the follow-up: Academics ban facebook...

Probably the smartest thing she's done. Delete fb next.

TLDR...yeah, probably China. Apparent shocker to some folks. Anyway...how about uh...gosh, what else can we talk about?

Uh...yeah the US gives money to Israel, far better than sending it to BurnLootMurder or some other wretched organization. But ignore the fact that the rest of the Arab world gives money (and weapons also) to the Palestinians. I guess all those rockets just...sprouted from some magic rocket tree.
And ignore the fact that the Palestinians and the rest of the Arab WORLD want Israel exterminated off the map. But hey, Israel is the meanie, how dare they fight back and even win.
If Hamas and the rest of the world gave a damn about Palestinian civilians, they'd ask Hamas to stop using civilian centers as launch points. But that's not going to happen, let's just pretend that isn't a thing. Let's just do the typical dumb leftist thing and blame Israel.

"The bottom line: Pay standards fluctuate wildly depending on factors like location, studio size, and employee bonuses."

What's interesting is, of the 4 quotes provided, 3 basically said "Know what you are worth, say something, and be willing to go somewhere else." I felt like the article's conclusion kinda ignored that employees DO have the power, and they are their own representatives when it comes to their salary. Unions, probably useful in some cases, but the worst thing you can do is be a slave to your own lack of confidence and knowledge.

Cutter wrote on May 5, 2021, 15:19:
Another liberal rag making a mountain out of a molehill with their woke bullshit. Shocker. It's the only way they can stay in business.

Kinda makes me wonder what virtue signaling crusade "the left" would go on without racism. I guess there's always
- Turn some democracy into a socialist hellhole
- Somebody deserves free stuff (paid for by someone else)
- Those guys don't deserve their stuff because of (their skin color/ancestors/they make more than me)
- Go to a legalize drugs rally right after they attend funeral #563,217 for some entertainer who OD'd.

Nah, I'm not sure how current this is, but there is (or was) plans for a Diablo inspired netflix series. So Blizzard would definitely get dibs on that, I would think?
https://diablo.fandom.com/wiki/Diablo_(Netflix)

China's semiconductor industry still five years behind despite decades of stealing tech and intellectual property from any country it could? I guess Communism and thievery will always suck and accomplish less than...well, pretty much anything else other than anarchy.

For the most part, nobody seems to have an issue with big tech companies that focus on their products. It's when they get political and start wielding that power that it becomes abusive. Glad to see Democrats are finally seeing the light. But it's not like they were the ones being targeted for the last while.