Kiho said:
Worse than that actually, if you live in a voting district that is primarily Democrat, or primarily Republican and you don't register as such, you have NO vote since you will not be allowed to vote in the primary elections - that is where the victor is chosen, when one party dominates a voting district. Another sinister facet of the two party system with primary elections.
Oh boy. The world we live in :)

otaku_emmy said:
That's exactly why I registered as "Independent".
Hey girl

...Oh, Kiho just said that. Sorry.
You’re so cute

The only thing I ever feel felt passionate about voting for and about getting passed was to do with the liquor laws around here. We used to be a dry county. Now we can buy beer and wine and whatever without having to drive somewhere else.
What do u mean by “somewhere else”? Like another state? Sorry if I sound stupid
mattiasc02 said:
What do u mean by “somewhere else”? Like another state? Sorry if I sound stupid
The county I live in, Davidson, used to not allow the sale of alcohol. So if you wanted to buy beer, wine, rum, liquor, vodka, gin, moonshine, etc. you'd either have to go to Lexington (which was no big deal for us) or you'd have to drive to a different county.

While Lexington is within the borders of Davidson county, they operate on their own rules. So they had alcohol already.

Buuuuuuuut we voted to change the law and now you can get your booze closer to home.
Oh I get it. Thank u!
Haven't they learned from the Prohibition period?
"Ah believe women shuld be kayupt in tha kitchen!"

Jk haha.

I do have pretty controversial beliefs at times. Well actually it's more like, my mind is pretty much open to some notions that others might find hard to believe. I definitely accept certain spiritual concepts as being, if not definite, at least possible.

I dunno because some people really bite back against religion which I often find premature.

Besides that IDK if my thoughts are all that controversial. All I know is I find myself disagreeing with people pretty frequently.
Kiho said:
eclimial, you are deluded.
Many years ago, as student in college, one of our lecturers taught us:

Never respond to a person who's argument opens with an insult
But in your case I'll take the chance!

Kiho, you are being overly cynical, ignorant and showing your naivety

Are you actually suggesting this world would be better off without a free press, only because you say much of it is supported and owned by multinationals and have lost their independence? True for some maybe, but not all.

Are you suggesting that ALL media are totally compromised by big business? This is not true!...

(I do concede, in some cases such as the deplorable Fox News they are totally bias, BUT, honest journalism has a history of not towing this line.)

In regards to Fox, yes Murdoch makes me ashamed to be Australian, Fox News are a bogus, bunch of right wing fascists, but, unfortunately, you are taring all journalists with the same brush.

Over the years investigative journalists have exposed not only corporate corruption and government crooks but also the huge amount of proven incidents of child molestation in the Catholic church.

Holy mother of god man, are you serious?

Take the case of corrupt collusion between the US government and private contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan which ripped billions out of the pockets of US taxpayers

Who were the first to uncover this scandal? - The Financial Times

The US has overwhelmingly borne the brunt of both the military and reconstruction costs, spending at least $138bn on private security, logistics and reconstruction contractors, who have supplied everything from diplomatic security to power plants and toilet paper.
An analysis by the Financial Times reveals the extent to which both American and foreign companies have profited from the conflict -- with the top 10 contractors securing business worth at least $72bn between them.
None has benefited more than KBR, once known as Kellogg Brown and Root. The controversial former subsidiary of Halliburton, which was once run by Dick Cheney, vice-president to George W. Bush, was awarded at least $39.5bn in federal contracts related to the Iraq war over the past decade.
Two Kuwaiti companies -- Agility Logistics and the state-owned Kuwait Petroleum Corporation -- are the second and third-biggest winners, securing contracts worth $7.2bn and $6.3bn respectively.
The US hired more private companies in Iraq than in any previous war, and at times there were more contractors than military personnel on the ground.
Keep in mind, private contractors where given luxurious living conditions in Kuwait, with fine food while US soldiers lived in tents in a windy desert and fed on sub standard rations. The contractors received on average 3 times the salary of the troops, the real heroes.

Would you be content to have never received this information?

(Important note, some of these contractors had multiple advertising accounts with The Financial Times, but it didn't stop the Times from publishing the facts).

Now lets look at the leaked documents pertaining the murderous actions of some US troops and corrupt behavior by the military in Afghanistan.

When Wikileaks received this massive amount of information, they knew it was to big for them to handle by themselves, so who did they turn to?

The Guardian
The New York Times
Der Spiegel

All these media outlets agreed to publish! In spite of the threat of loosing millions in advertising revenue.

Should I go on? I think not, if you don't get it by now, then God help the first amendment.

In the words of investigative journalist Bob Woodward who together with Carl Bernstein exposed the Watergate scandal which ultimately led to the downfall off a corrupt president

“It was accountability that Nixon feared.”
And who made Nixon and countless other corrupt corporations, governments and religious organisations such as Scientology and The Catholic Church accountable? ... it was the free press!

Donald Trump, you're next!

Like Nixon, Trump fears accountability, he is intrinsically linked to the huge multi national corporations that support him and he is waging a war against the free media who, on behalf of the people, seek to expose him for the crook, lying bastard he is.
eclimial, your rebuttal is all over the map. You made many statements none of which either refute or support Trump's claim re: Fake News.
  • Are you actually suggesting this world would be better off without a free press?
  • Are you suggesting that ALL media are totally compromised by big business? Not true!
  • In the case of Fox, yes Murdoch makes me ashamed to be Australian, but you are taring all journalists with with the same brush.
Several Historical references to investigative journalism:
  • Who were the first to uncover this scandal? - The Financial Times.....
  • All these media outlets agreed to publish!
    • The Guardian
    • The New York Times
    • Der Spiegel
    • ......
  • When Trump tweets "Fake News Again" what he is referring to is:
    • The persistent and systematic personal attacks on him by the MSM and a selection of politicians and unelected officials with the intent to discredit him personally, undermine his administration and compromise his policy initiatives. These attacks become especially vicious when Trump tries to deviate from the "plan" - Attempts to withdraw Miltary forces from middle east quagmires or diplomatically reaproach Russia. Traitor, traitor, traitor they cried after Trump met Putin in Helsinki.
    • Trump is not claiming that all news is Fake or that there is no investigative Journalism, rather that the MSM is protecting H Clinton (and friends) while persistantly attacking him with innuendo, rumor and outright lies. Not a single substantiated shred of truth to the RussiaGate mantra has been presented to the public.
  • The best investigative journalist in the world, without an effective venue to reach a significant audience, is no more than some common person with an opinion. This is why consolidation of so many media outlets into the control of a small handful of media oligarchs can control the public's exposure to alternative viewpoints. Both Google and Facebook have also taken action to limit access to alternative media and curtail popular bloggers.
  • The US government also exerts significant control over news organizations via control of access, whether that is to state department or white house briefings, DoD briefings or to accompany the President on Air Force One (most of the passengers are reporters btw).
  • Of course an independent, free and responsible press is crucial toward the maintenance of good governance. I do not see how you inferred that my earlier statements contradicted this statement.
  • While you point out many good historical examples of investigative journalism, there are also many historical examples of effective propaganda (fake news) as well. Both are irrelevant to the question at hand.
Never respond to a person who's argument opens with an insult.

Kiho, you are being overly cynical, ignorant and showing your naivety.
The pot calling the kettle black, eclimial?

Deluded (v): make (someone) believe something that is not true.
synonyms: mislead, deceive, fool, take in, trick, dupe
My statement, that you were deluded referred to you being in fact "duped" by the fake news and far too trusting of what you read. That is not an insult, but to call someone ignorant is....I accept that I am cynical - everyone should be at least a little cynical, especially of what they read in the news.

To infer someone is both cynical and naive is an oxymoron.

Unless you read Russian and/or Chinese news sources, you are getting only the US/UK/Australian (same thing) narrative. From your statements, it is clear that you do not. Question more eclimial.
Kiho said:

The pot calling the kettle black, eclimial?
This subject (Trump vs The Free press) is dangerously headed towards little more than a mud slinging competition, for which, to my shame I am 'partially' responsible. I stress the word 'partially', ... however I offer no apologies. It wasn't me who drew first blood. I angrily responded in kind, a bad decision on my behalf.

To suggest I am deluded was deeply offensive to me, it was an attack on my personal opinions and mental state.

If we can't make our arguments without personal insults, then we loose the spirit of this thread.

In closing:

I have conveyed, with deep conviction ALL I needed to say about Trump vs Free Press and I've made ALL the points I wanted to make. I'm content with that. It was good to get it off my chest and have no need to go further. Everything after this would only be arguments for arguments sake.

In the words of Forest Gump

... and that's all I have to say about that!
Jack Ma examines why the American economy is broken and broke:

“Over the past thirty years, the Americans had thirteen wars spending 14.2 trillion dollars,” said Ma, speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos. “What if they spent a part of that money on building up the infrastructure, helping the white-collar and the blue-collar workers? No matter how strategically good it is, you’re supposed to spend money on your own people.”

“And the other money which I’m curious about is that when I was young, all I heard about America was Ford and Boeing and those big manufacturing companies. The last 10-20 years, all I heard about is Silicon Valley and Wall Street,”

“And what happened? The year 2008: the financial crisis wiped out 19.2 trillion dollars in the USA alone and destroyed 34 million jobs globally. So what if the spent on Wall Street and the Middle East was spent on the Mid-West of the United States, developing the industry there? That could change a lot.”

“So it’s not that other countries steal jobs from you guys, it is your strategy! You do not distribute the money in a proper way,”

“The WTO was great but it was mainly designed for developed countries and big companies. There’s no opportunity for small business. We want to build up an EWTP – an Electronic World Trade Platform – to support young people, small business.”

“And the other thing is that the WTO is a very interesting organization. When you put 200 government officials in one room, ask them to agree on something – it’s impossible! I can never imagine that they agree on something together. Business should be designed by business people, so we believe the EWTP should have businessmen sitting down together, agree on something, negotiate on something, then get endorsement from the government.”
I agree with what Jack Ma has to say.

The Question: The US is waging an economic war against much of the rest of the world through Tariffs and sanctions in an attempt to fix the US economy (at least the trade deficit), but without addressing the internal problems. At the end of the day, the US economy will be even less competitive and even more battered. So what is the right strategy?
Kiho said: At the end of the day, the US economy will be even less competitive and even more battered. So what is the right strategy?
Wow, that's a really good question, but hard to answer. I'm not an economist, but as a lay person, I will attempt to offer one clumsy idea, namely the demise of Detroit, Illinois. (I cover that below, but first a preamble)

“Over the past thirty years, the Americans had thirteen wars spending 14.2 trillion dollars,”
I was astounded that America has spent 14.2 trillion dollars on mostly failed wars, I knew the figure was very high, but never imagined it was that excessive, I'm shocked!. Ever since the Vietnam war America has taken the role of the worlds police force, butting their nose in other countries conflicts where they don't belong, much to the determent of the US people and their economy.

If nations wan't to tear themselves apart, then let them, The only corporations who benefit from interfering in those conflicts are the American industrial military complex, who contribute next to nothing to the US economy as they are funded by the US government and pay next to nothing in taxes.

I also totally agree with Jack Ma's comment

“What if they spent a part of that money on building up the infrastructure, helping the white-collar and the blue-collar workers? No matter how strategically good it is, you’re supposed to spend money on your own people.”
Which brings me back to Detroit, it was once the power house of auto manufacturing in the world, however it has been reduced to little more than a ghost town with thousands of jobs lost. Surely if the US government had diverted a fraction of that 14.2 trillion to auto manufactures for research and development, the American car industry would not be in such dire straits.

If we look at the list of of top 10 selling cars sold in the US in 2017, we find that that only 3 American manufacturers made the grade, and they are at the bottom of the list, how the mighty have fallen ... coming in at number one:

1. Honda Civic (Japanese)
2. Toyota Camry (Japanese)
3. Toyota Corolla (Japanese)
4. Honda Accord (japanese)
5. Nissan Altima (Japanese)
6. Nissan Sentra (Japanese)
7. Ford Fusion (USA) ... however it's manufactured in Sonora, Mexico
8. Hyundai Elantra (South Korea)
9. Chevrolet Cruze (USA) .... but, mainly Manufactured by Suzuki in Japan.
10. Chevrolet Malibu (USA) Assembly Kansas City, Kansas, not Detroit!

Kiho said: So what is the right strategy?
At this late hour I can only offer one part of the solution, but, maybe some of those 14.2 trillion dollar war funds should have been spent on head hunting some brilliant Japanese Auto Industry strategists.

It was a damn good question Kiho, has anyone have any other straightedges?
To revisit ... What do you think of Donald Trump!

In my opinion he is the worst US president ever, he is a total embarrassment to the Western world, most of my fellow Australians and many other nations think he is a joke!

He has embarked on a trade war with China (bad mistake, China now has the strongest economy in the world) China is loaning billions of dollars to Pacific nations who cannot repay their debts so China are forgiving these debts and claiming huge portions of their counties infrastructure in return.

Trump has sacked almost all his advisers (memories of his pathetic reality show The Apprentice, in which he delighted in firing people, which translates into a failure of management)

He is currently under investigation from the FBI (due to Russian collusion in influencing his election)

He badly lost the mid term elections, thereby putting him under threat of impeachment from the Democrats.

Personally I think this fool should go ... he is a disgrace. How in hell did he get elected is beyond me. Tear of his stupid toupee and what is left? Nothing but a stupid, silly bald headed idiot who benefited from his parents wealth.

Why oh why did the US vote for this bumptious fool?

Could this be the end of the US being the leaders of the free world or could we see the ushering in of China taking that roll?

History proves all empires fall, The Romans lost theirs, Britain lost theirs, next to go The USA? Trump is the the modern day Caligula who fiddled (or in case of Trump tweeted) while Rome burnt.
Why is an Australian so invested in US affairs?
Cade said:
Why is an Australian so invested in US affairs?
That is a very good question Cade, and deserves a comprehensive response.

Australia and the US are traditionally very close allies, we have fought many wars together, and shared friendship for many years, however, Australia has become globally and economically very isolated. In the past we have had very close trading agreements with the US and the EEC, but that is changing. Australia, by necessity is now identifying itself as an Asia Pacific nation and our economic ties have become critically linked with our closest neighbors China, South Korea and Japan. We do not wan't to compromise our ties with the US but we are torn between a rock and a hard place.

If the US sneezes we all get the flu, so Trumps trade war with China places us in jeopardy, that's why we are so concerned with Trumps idiotic confrontational economic policies. Compared to the US we are a small populated but smart country and rely on the US and China to agree. Sadly we now see Trump as threat to world peace.

Australia is now faced with a massive dilemma, we wan't a US president who can negotiate with China and not antagonize them, and the deliberate antagonizing of China is what Trump is stupidly doing. His US first policy is tantamount to dissing his allies. We in Australia are feeling abandoned.

Yes, we are invested in US affairs, but we are dependent on strong and intelligent US leadership, which Trump is NOT offering. To put it simply, if Australians could vote in the US presidential elections, Trump would not be there. We collectively think he is a fool and an embarrassment, he is embarking on a course of confrontation with our Asia Pacific neighbors. thereby placing us in danger. Trump is forcing us to make a choice and it's not one we wish to make, and we are fast loosing faith in our US allies for electing such a fool as president, it was a really dumb move. We now see the US as reality TV worshipers, so sad! What's next? Kim Kardashian for president?. God help us all.

We Australians, as a nation are now, as never before, feeling very nervous!
My god ... no response as usual Cade, I took the time to comprehensively answer your question and you offer no reply? No as usual you just run away, only to likely return latter and diss a new member or someone else.

I can find no posts that you ever made that where more than a dozen words of meaningless negative, provocative junk.

I swear, I'm trying to add new light to the Konachan forum, and help make us a loving and caring, and open minded community who share a mutual bond, that is the love of anime and freedom of expression. A place where we can express our emotions and make friends, and in spite of your negativity I won't give up!
Bro, I wanted your perspective and you gave it. Nothing else to say. What, are you trying to pick a fight?
Cade said:
What, are you trying to pick a fight?
Certainly not Cade, I wan't NO fight with you, no way, but from day one you replied to many of my posts with minimalist negative comments, e.g. one liners like 'hippie fagot' in reference to my quote from John Lennon, a man I deeply respected, this was one of your many posts and put downs.

When I was a new member you seemed intent on wanting to discourage me from the day I joined.

I then sent PM to you asking to put our differences aside and agree to be friends, which you basically dismissed.

No, no no, I don't wanna fight, I just wan't to bring out the best in you and encourage you to express yourself more fully with more than one liner put downs,

In the case of your above question 'Why is an Australian so invested in US affairs?' I acknowledged it was good question and I was really hoping that you would give a detailed reply to my well thought out response. I was inviting you to exercise your freedom of expression and expand on a wonderful exchange of ideas.

I deeply believe you are a very intelligent person and have valid opinions, I just wish you would express then in more detail. I love a good friendly argument, and I believe intelligent discussion does not equate to fighting each other

I apologize if I have offended you in any way, but you drew first blood bro and almost left me wanting to quit this wonderful community.
Well here we go.

In the last few days Australia have experienced the weirdest phenomena ever. In the North East of our country (Queensland) we have experienced the warmest last few days on record and the state is burning from the fiercest bush fires ever ... yet in the neighboring South East state of New South Wales, just a few miles away we are suffering from torrential rains, flooding and winter like temperatures.

Our rural areas are suffering from the worst droughts ever, the fire is burning crops in Queensland, yet in spite of torrential coastal rains in New South Wales none has has fallen inland where it is desperately needed. This is not normal.

What the fuck is going on?

Anyone who denies climate change is off their rocker. Meteorologists and climate scientists are not surprised by these freak weather conditions, yet climate change deniers are scratching their collective heads.

When are we going to wake up? Carbon emissions are destroying our environment, our children's future and our planet, when do we stop listening to stupid politicians and start to trust the massive consensus of peer reviewed scientists.

Man made climate change is a reality!!

We need to urgently invest in re-newable energy, the sun will heat our solar panels for millions of years and the wind will turn our turbines for just as long but politicians like Donald fucking Trump and sadly Australia's Prime minister have put economics and coal before our future. Trump (the fool) has now abandoned the Paris accord, this is a disgrace!

We need to kick these idiots out of office and elect some science savvy politicians ASAP!!

I do, however, remain optimistic, the future is in the hands of our children, who are much smarter than we give them credit for.
No. You need to kill every moron in the world. Am I like that Thanos person? IDK, he's just a personification of most of our thoughts. Idiots have no place in a "better future", yet we're saving human lives because "human lives", as if they matter that much considering that liberals want to go for globalism, aka everybody has the same face, nobody is special anymore.
Tensa said:
No. You need to kill every moron in the world.
That is harsh Tensa and if we took that attitude it would bring us back to the fascist views of Hitler and Stalin who both murdered millions simply because of their race or political persuasions, God forbid, surely we as a human race we have evolved enough to never tread that path again.

To bring us back to the topic of man made climate change I could never endorse the murder of skeptics, all I am saying is that they should simply be removed from office by democratic process and I believe this will be eventually achieved.

As to your comment:

Tensa said:
nobody is special anymore.
I strongly disagree, our children are very special and my hope is they will one day change the future of our planet, and many young science and other students now believe in climate change. They will be the enlightened ones and finally put an end to the carbon emissions madness!

Students strike for climate change
All our problems stem from an overpopulation crisis. As long as we allow stupid people with no mentionable practical skills and even less common sense to reproduce themselves and their poor habits, it doesn't matter what arbitrary laws you pass. Mass incentivised sterilisation is the only humaine option we have remaining that doesn't involve a humanity ending world war.
eclimial said:
....would bring us back to the fascist views of Hitler and Stalin who both murdered millions simply because of their race or political persuasions....
You cannot equate Hitler and Stalin. While Stalin was ruthless and paranoid, he was no facist and did not "just exterminate people". If he were, after the Nazis killed 23 million Soviet Citizens (not just Russians!) and devastated so many cities do you think there would be a single East German alive today after the Red Army Captured what became East Germany?

And when Stalin believed the Crimean Tatars were Nazi sympathizers, do you think he would have only deported and dispersed them?

Stalin is blamed for the famine in Ukraine, but in fact throughout the rule of the Czar, there was on average a famine somewhere in Russia every 3 years, many of which were severe, because of the backward agricultural subsistence farming system.

At that time the western powers had imposed a "golden embargo" on Russia, not accepting Russian Gold for trade, but initially only raw materials and grain in trade, then later only grain for the machinery that Russia desperately needed to modernize its economy. This particular famine also happened when the country was still far from recovered after years of not only WWI but also the ensuing 10 year long civil war. It took over a month to travel from Moscow to Kiev at that time, many train tracks were still in ruin and rolling stock was in short supply for example. By the time word of the famine got back to Moscow, a lot of people had already died. At that time, you did not just call up a commodities broker and order a few hundred tonnes of grain to be delivered tomorrow! Europe would not sell grain to Moscow - Europe in fact WANTED Russia to starve and collapse. It was in fact Iran that sold the Soviet Union the needed grain to curb the famine, but only after much death. Western history of the Soviet era is sparse and often misleading or completely wrong while the Czar is portrayed as a "good person" - he possibly killed more Russians than Stalin by entering Russia into WWI on his ego trip 40 million causalities ....(The condensed version)
Yep, I agree with Tommy. Some people just shouldn't have kids. Of course, said sterilization should never be forced or based on race.

I also think people should try harder not to get pregnant in the first place because it's actually insanely easy to avoid. It boggles my mind how accidental pregnancies are even a thing.
Unless it's felons, no need for criminals to reproduce in my opinion.
TommyGunn said:
Unless it's felons, no need for criminals to reproduce in my opinion.
What if it's a non-violent offense though?

I mean, not everyone in prison is actually a bad person or someone intent on harming others. People don't ever think about that.

And prison does change some people. The way it's supposed to.
Human sentimentality has no place in logic and rationality. It is human sentimentality that brought us here, it will be our own downfall. Oh look, we're so many, but we can't kill each other, it's an act against humanity. But there's not enough food for all of us. What do we do? Keep thinking of ways while normal people begin to kill each other for food while you're wondering why they're doing that. Weaving a drivel would just slow down realism. As if a sentimentalist needs a good wake up call. Wish people would stoop trying to be some kind of paragon to get the sheep's approval.

But let's look it at this logically if you bring both Hitler and Stalin into the brink. Kiho talked about Stalin and he did bring the Soviet Union to new heights. Now let's view Hitler. What of it? Face in fact, if I were a German back in that day I'd follow him to death too. Because he brought economical prosperity to a place that was plagued by inflation and poverty. Imagine living off scraps of food and rags until this charismatic person comes around and actually, ACTUALLY, creates a functioning society. Before Hitler, during that democratic period, things were getting worse and people honestly had enough of the drivel being weaved around. The greatest mistake of WW1 was imposing heavy sanctions on Germany. So what did Hitler do? Take a bloodied, beaten and starving country and nursed it back to health.

You may be old, and that's your problem. You grew up in a world where human sentimentality was the issue. We, we grew up in all this climate change and polution issue. Imagine, that one solution is outright slaughter. Because we're the big consumers. We're the ones demanding, and we're the ones producing. This biosphere can only take so much. In your eyes, I'm a "traitor of humanity" and an "ally of the biosphere". Willful ignorance, greed, negligence. Humanity is full of that. If only we'd all strive to become the "overman". Wishful thinking, I guess.
I said it was the only humane solution, not that it was the one I'd recommend. The only way we can save ourselves from a food, energy, space, and environmental apocalypse in time will be if it's done draconianally. Even then if it's successful, we'll most likely be crushed under the weight of our own infrastructure as our current population ages out without enough replacements to keep up.
Bingo. In case of a great calamity, few humans would survive. Reason being all the hunting and "pest control" that we've done, all the deforestation that has happened and whatnot. There will be no source for food. And if you think of a farm, unless properly organized then it's just a place to be raided by people, like, say, criminals that some people dare want to save.

Imagine Horizons Zero Dawn. But without the robots.
Well, we are facing a bacterial apocalypse as more and more nasty bacteria develop immunity to our arsenal of antibiotics. We may soon find ourselves effectively unable to defend ourselves against infections. That will cut the human population down real quick like, especially anyone who must spend some time in a hospital.
Honestly I believe a custom made virus with a high infection rate and low outward symptoms would be the best solution. Bonus points if it only serialized on second generation so that the panic to find a cure only occurs after the virus is well propagated.
I don't think people should die. Not even people we hate.