Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats

Huh, yeah we really ARE talking about different things. I don't even know how you would look at peoples descent in the US other than by race, most of this country hasn't been here for more than 3 or 4 generations. Anywho, where in that link are you getting that data you're showing me? I couldn't seem to find it.
Well, sadly, apparently, a lot of the site in Dutch doesn't actually exist in English :p I figured it'd be pretty much the same, but it isn't - it's a heavily tailored version of it. Neat.
 

Necronic

Staff member
Ah ok, well don't worry about it. I'll just accept that we're really dealing with an "apples and oranges" debate here. Immigration, and the problems it brings, mean two totally different things in our two countries.
 
Oh, Japan knows why its population is shrinking.
View attachment 18047
...they just don't consider it a problem.

--Patrick
You joke, but one of the leading reasons young people in Japan give for not having sex/being in a relationship is the simple fact that they can't stand each other. There's a reason why Japanese women/Foreign Man marriages are way more common than Japanese Man/Female Foreigner ones... and there's also a reason why anime/manga series featuring men falling in love with loli robot maids is a multi-million dollar subgenre in Japan.
 
I was not actually joking.
I really do believe that quite a bit of Japan's failure to breed is due to the fact that an uncomfortably large proportion of the population prefers artificial stimulation instead of that provided by other people, whether it be provided by porn, games, entertainment, hobbies, or what have you.

--Patrick
 
You had a bad experience. What's the excuse of one-third of all of Japan?

--Patrick
No privacy, a social system of behavior that is almost pathologically passive-aggressive, and the insane demands of school and activities basically leave their social skills more stunted than if reddit and tumblr raised a baby.
 

Necronic

Staff member
Oh yeah and take a shower before you take a bath. This may not be as big a deal as it used to be.[DOUBLEPOST=1429125607,1429125576][/DOUBLEPOST]well this is the wrong thread....
 

GasBandit

Staff member


It’s always a party at the European Central Bank.

A protester jumped up onto a table at a press conference in Frankfurt on Wednesday, dumping a bunch of confetti onto president Mario Draghi.

“End the ECB dictatorship!” she screamed. (Her shirt read “dick-tatorship.” Clever.)

The protester is a 21-year-old woman from Hamburg, Germany, reports The Guardian.

She’s part of the feminist group FEMEN which has since claimed responsibility for the attack.
 

GasBandit

Staff member


A 61-year-old mailman named Doug Hughes flew his gyrocopter into restricted airspace and onto the Capitol lawn Wednesday in a publicity stunt to fight “corruption in Washington, D.C.”

Hughes had been planning the flight for years, and he relayed his intentions to a reporter at the Tampa Bay Times in advance in case the Capitol Police shot him down in the process.

“No sane person,” he said, “would do what I’m doing.”

His plan involved writing 535 letters to members of Congress and delivering them in person via his gyrocopter.

“I’m demanding reform and declaring a voter’s rebellion in a manner consistent with Jefferson’s description of rights in the Declaration of Independence,” the letters read. “As a member of Congress, you have three options. 1. You may pretend corruption does not exist. 2. You may pretend to oppose corruption while you sabotage reform. 3. You may actively participate in real reform.”

He planned to livestream the flight from the copter and provided a link to the stream to media outlets along with a brief message.

This is a non-violent demonstration. I have no intention of hurting anyone – I have taken every precaution to prevent any injury to anyone, including me. There is no way I can prevent over-reaction by the authorities, but I have given them as much information and advance warning as my fuel supply allows. When I took off, I was over an hour away from the no-fly zone.
A witness on the National Mall captured part of the landing on video, which you can watch above.

You can read more about Hughes in this article on the Tampa Bay Times, and the reporter, Ben Montgomery, also Tweeted about the flight from D.C.
 
I feel really, really bad for the Log Cabin Republicans.

In principle, there should be no reason why they can't be included under the conservative political umbrella, but the litmus test nature of the national GOP's social policy denies them a voice in a party that otherwise (on paper) agrees with them on multiple issues. It shows pretty clearly what the GOP believes its core issues are, and what their priorities around them are.
 

GasBandit

Staff member


Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack was trying to speak, when “Let It Go” started blaring from across the room.
The culprit turned out to be Republican Sen. Pat Roberts from Kansas, who is apparently a closet “Frozen” fan.
“Aw, come on,” he said, turning it off while everyone in the room laughed. “Just let it go mister.”
A spokesperson later clarified to The Washington Post that the ringtone is actually for his kids. he also
“He balances it with Johnny Cash’s ‘I Walk the Line,'” she said. “He changes depending on the day.”
Riiiiight. Whatever you say Roberts.
 

GasBandit

Staff member


New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will “crack down” on those states that have ended prohibitions on marijuana. When asked by Hugh Hewitt if he would enforce federal drug laws in those states that have legalized and regulated cannabis, Christie responded unequivocally.

“Absolutely,” Christie said. “I will crack down and not permit it.”

Christie maintains there’s an “enormous addiction problem in the U.S” and doesn’t think states should profit from legalizing marijuana. This is not good news for the Christie Presidential run, if he in fact chooses to run for office. Colorado raked in $60 Million in tax revenues in just one year– and saved the $145 Million they spent on fighting it in previous years, and study after study continues to prove the medical benefits of marijuana.

My take: Christie didn't have a chance to begin with, and this is just another nail in the coffin. He alienated a lot of the GOP base by getting cozy with Obama in the Sandy aftermath, is still embroiled in that bridge scandal (and unlike Democrats, he can't rely on the press to dismiss his scandals as old news), and this is probably just a poor attempt (that will fail) to win back the base, and will in fact simply alienate moderates and libertarians.
 
Swing states be damned, amirite?

Honestly, I don't make use of the legal marijuana industry, but it raises a lot of money, so have fun with that idea. Even the numbers in his own party don't back him on that initiative.
 


New Jersey Gov. Chris Christie says he will “crack down” on those states that have ended prohibitions on marijuana. When asked by Hugh Hewitt if he would enforce federal drug laws in those states that have legalized and regulated cannabis, Christie responded unequivocally.

“Absolutely,” Christie said. “I will crack down and not permit it.”

Christie maintains there’s an “enormous addiction problem in the U.S” and doesn’t think states should profit from legalizing marijuana. This is not good news for the Christie Presidential run, if he in fact chooses to run for office. Colorado raked in $60 Million in tax revenues in just one year– and saved the $145 Million they spent on fighting it in previous years, and study after study continues to prove the medical benefits of marijuana.

My take: Christie didn't have a chance to begin with, and this is just another nail in the coffin. He alienated a lot of the GOP base by getting cozy with Obama in the Sandy aftermath, is still embroiled in that bridge scandal (and unlike Democrats, he can't rely on the press to dismiss his scandals as old news), and this is probably just a poor attempt (that will fail) to win back the base, and will in fact simply alienate moderates and libertarians.
Let's not forget his screwing NJ out of over 8 billion dollars that Exxon-Mobil owed the state for environmental damages, and THEN exempting Exxon-Mobil from paying for the clean up on 16 of the sites they contaminated... without disclosing which ones.

Or giving $102 million in tax breaks to Lockheed Martin to transfer dozens of jobs from one facility in NJ to another. No NEW jobs were created.

Or how he hasn't had the state contributing the public employees' pensions despite that being one of the terms of their contracts, to the tune of $2.4 Billion http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/nj_pension_funds_sue_christie_over_pension_grab.html


Or how he's diverted FEMA funds for Sandy reconstruction into his campaign ads, starring his family, and to areas barely damaged by the storm, specifically into developments of luxury apartments being built by some of his supporters. http://newbrunswicktoday.com/articl...ent-fund-luxury-apartment-tower-new-brunswick

In short, he's a corrupt thug who would better serve the public as a head on a pike than in high office.
 

GasBandit

Staff member
Let's not forget his screwing NJ out of over 8 billion dollars that Exxon-Mobil owed the state for environmental damages, and THEN exempting Exxon-Mobil from paying for the clean up on 16 of the sites they contaminated... without disclosing which ones.

Or giving $102 million in tax breaks to Lockheed Martin to transfer dozens of jobs from one facility in NJ to another. No NEW jobs were created.

Or how he hasn't had the state contributing the public employees' pensions despite that being one of the terms of their contracts, to the tune of $2.4 Billion http://www.nj.com/politics/index.ssf/2014/12/nj_pension_funds_sue_christie_over_pension_grab.html


Or how he's diverted FEMA funds for Sandy reconstruction into his campaign ads, starring his family, and to areas barely damaged by the storm, specifically into developments of luxury apartments being built by some of his supporters. http://newbrunswicktoday.com/articl...ent-fund-luxury-apartment-tower-new-brunswick

In short, he's a corrupt thug who would better serve the public as a head on a pike than in high office.
I say this in all sincerity, and with knowledge of the cynicism it implies: I don't think any of that would have stopped a presidential run because your average voter would fall asleep in the middle of you telling him about it.

But "I BAN ALL WEED" is instant campaign death.
 
It's one thing to encourage the people who were going out to vote to vote for you.
It's quite another to encourage the people who weren't otherwise going out to vote to go out and vote against you.

--Patrick
And another still to say, "Gee, that's making money on one end, saving money on another, and lessening the strain on law enforcement and the prison system for petty offenses. THIS MUST BE STOPPED IMMEDIATELY!" It is, quite simply, poor judgement, and an irrational, belligerent need to interfere with something that's working quite well.
 
So what I'm hearing is that the GOP ticket will be Walker-Christie in 2016?

(EDIT: Dangit, I keep forgetting the </sarcasm> tag...)
 
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