President Donald J. Trump

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Trump's company is private.  He doesn't issue securities to the public.  His company isn't subject to any of that, that I know of.

He has no fiscal disclosure issues with the government, other than filing corporate tax returns.

Except for that one time which didn't end too well for the shareholders who bought DJT.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-market-disaster-2015-07-22

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

Okay, this is interesting: I loved Spitting Image, and I eventually came to assume that it was run by a government ministry of propaganda.

You forgot Poland and Bowling Green, fucko.

[Jackstar]

Correct the record?

Why do only faggots use rhetorical questions poorly?

[Jackstar]

You forgot Poland and Bowling Green, fucko.

[Jackstar]

Was Spitting Image responsible for the Genesis music video, Land of Confusion, which I hated with a passion? I got tired early on of people making fun of Reagan.

Okay, this is interesting: I loved Spitting Image, and I eventually came to assume that it was run by a government ministry of propaganda.

You say tomato, I say tomato.

[WOTR]

Its a common idiom in the UK; I know what it means. Isn't my fault you speak Americanish.

Common in Canada as well.  I suppose it is because the queen teaches it to each of her subjects, personally. 

[aldousburbank]

This post did not get the fellatio that it deserves. I heard that from a friend.

Fellatio sucks.

[PB the Deplorable]

Except for that one time which didn't end too well for the shareholders who bought DJT.

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/donald-trump-was-a-stock-market-disaster-2015-07-22

How much did Hilary's investors, er, contributors lose in 2016 alone?

[paladin1991]

Personally, I feel that religion has no future. The more technologically advanced human civilization becomes, the less sense ancient superstitions will make. You do not need an afterlife when you can download yourself into a computer and become, for all intents and purposes, immortal. What is a soul when computers pass the Turing test? What does humanity and the universe matter if you can run off and live in virtual reality? The list goes on.

Come on dude.  That sounds like a piece of Science fiction--   Wait.

[albrecht]

I think the contradictory thing is a trait of the Bannon era. Put out headline grabbing hyperbole to satisfy the supporters, and then pull it back later to either "We didn't say that'' (they did), or "My 'expert' is dealing with it, and I value his opinion".

Which makes me a bit dubious about anything that the WH comes out with. We should all now be just treating any statement with a reaction somewhere between hilarity and horror, and then leave it a couple of hours/days and go for somewhere in between; As for where that 'in between' is, is problematic, because Bannon doesn't even tell the staff, Congress and Senators what they should be informed with, so the rest of the world is way down the pile.

This is nothing new, but, of course, it is "Trump" or his blackshirted Bannon's fault.  For decades those on the left have said "no truth," "everything is relative," "a matter of perspective," "cultural misunderstandings," "who are we to judge," "gender- even race- is a social construct," "truth is only resolved by contradiction," and so on. From pseudo-Hegel to "post-modernism" or "post-structuralism" etc. But NOW, because an election didn't go your way, there is NOW fundamental truth and good, war is good, intelligence agencies and military- once vilified- are praised, and violence is an acceptable way to "dissent." So bizarre.

[paladin1991]

Yeah, credit where credit is due. In the sense of philosophy, the idea of unconditional love and turning the other cheek is remarkable. I would extend that beyond Christianity however and give kudos to Buddhism as well. But, the unfortunate thing is that I suspect they were formulated originally as responses to the seething pit of carnage and horror that creation is. In a universe where the lowest common denominator is that you must murder other things to eat as a hard and fast rule, it's helpful to focus on love and an idealized perfect afterlife while living a life in ancient times where a large percentage of your kids won't survive infancy and at any moment you could contract one of God's wonderful genius creations like the plague, syphillis or cholera and meet a horrible death. Or get sent off to war and take an arrow for some king that says God chose him for the throne.

Come on dude.  Thatsounds like a piece of Science Fiction--  Wait.

[albrecht]

Fellatio sucks.

No "Cars For Kids" commercials suck. You usually do much better, though, ok with this, considering the "dumbed down" web standard. 

[paladin1991]

I see Trump and Swarzenegger are fighting. It's probably just fake and intended to bump The Apprentice's ratings, but it is the first time that I will criticize Trump. He should leave it alone and focus on his new job. He is no longer a celebrity, he's a president.

Fucking A Skippy, he is.  Some folks should remember that. 

[paladin1991]

You'll buy into anything. Everyone knows that the U.K. sank into the ocean thousands of years ago and is now populated with mermen. Gay ones.

Come on, dude.  That sounds like--  oh hell, forget it.

[paladin1991]

I just witnessed a bit of a dust up between Shep Smith and Chris Wallace live on air. Shep was giving Wallace a hard time about not going to the game and he replied Well, if you must know my wife had a bit of an accident and I'll be at home taking care of her. How about you, Shep? Will you be going to the game with your husband? A few more words were exchanged before Shep cut to a commercial and gleefully announced that Wallace would be gone when they come back from break. 

I'll have to look that up on youtube.  Shep is a peter puffer?

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

How much did Hilary's investors, er, contributors lose in 2016 alone?

I don't know, and likewise have no idea how much was lost by anyone who invested in Bernie Madoff, Jack Abraham, Enron, Teapot Dome, or Consolidated Lint (I blame Gomez Addams for that one and regret taking his advice). False equivalencies are a fool's errand, so stick to the subject. DT had a company that was listed on the NYSE, and it ended in disaster. That's irrefutable.

[21st Century Man]

I'll have to look that up on youtube.  Shep is a peter puffer?

Yep. As gay as a 3 dollar bill.

[albrecht]

I don't know, and likewise have no idea how much was lost by anyone who invested in Bernie Madoff, Jack Abraham, Enron, Teapot Dome, or Consolidated Lint (I blame Gomez Addams for that one and regret taking his advice). False equivalencies are a fool's errand, so stick to the subject. DT had a company that was listed on the NYSE, and it ended in disaster. That's irrefutable.

Addams Family so much better than The Munsters.

[paladin1991]

Yep. As gay as a 3 dollar bill.

Way I heard that, it's 'queer as a 3 dollar bill.'  And, 'Gay as the day is long.'

[21st Century Man]

Addams Family so much better than The Munsters.

Depends on my mood.  Some days I like the Munsters. Other days I like the Addams Family.

[21st Century Man]

Way I heard that, it's 'queer as a 3 dollar bill.'  And, 'Gay as the day is long.'

Right.  I'm ashamed of myself.  I  did a Noory. 

[albrecht]

Depends on my mood.  Some days I like the Munsters. Other days I like the Addams Family.

There was some in Munsters but I think Addams Family was way better, both for the comedy and satire on things. I like the actors and actresses in both but Addams, in my mind was far better.

[Robert Ghostwolf's Ghost]

There was some in Munsters but I think Addams Family was way better, both for the comedy and satire on things. I like the actors and actresses in both but Addams, in my mind was far better.

The Munsters was basically a sitcom, while the Addams's Family was a surreal delight with an amazing cast chemistry that gave the characters way more depth and exuberance than the cartoons. Gomez and Morticia were arguably the most mutually doting and devoted married couple in sitcom history, and Ted Cassidy was brilliant as Lurch (especially the utter rapture he displays while playing the harpsichord), and Thing.

And Jackie Coogan deserves special mention for his consummate professionalism in owning the role of Uncle Fester instead of just mailing it in for the paycheck he probably need after his mother and step-father squandered the millions he made as a child star in the Twenties.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jackie_Coogan

[Taaroa]

http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38847139

The Trump-Turnbull phonecall has caused a flareup of articles like this again.
The media and washed up politicians can't resist to parrot on about Australia needing to ditch the mutual defence agreements with the USA, and seemingly become China's lapdog instead. They always seem to ignore that the country already has defence and trade ties with Singapore, Malaysia, NZ, South Korea, and Japan while forgetting that the basis of the cooperation was America coming to the rescue in WW2 and a fear of Asia as a distant Western outpost.

I wonder how many of them get rewarded by China...

[Jackstar]

Fellatio sucks.

Hey, can I get her number?

[Juan]

I see that Justin/Yorkie's neighbors were yelling Allahu Akbar while they were being sentenced to long jail terms for molesting children. 

[Meister_000]

I'm aware of the book. The problem is that I consider anyone that claims to know anything about God to be engaging in a delusion or is an outright liar. This includes atheists, which definitively say one doesn't exist, and religionists which definitively say one does. Neither actually knows, but it does remain possible that some sort of god, or a computer programmer, does in fact exist and created the universe. That possibility is responsible for why I remain an agnostic.

As a result, books like that don't really attract me. I can neither connect with the atheist, which tend to be the most preachy fuckers on earth somehow, nor the confused quasi/former/whatever ex-Muslim that's trying to figure shit out.

Personally, I feel that religion has no future. The more technologically advanced human civilization becomes, the less sense ancient superstitions will make. You do not need an afterlife when you can download yourself into a computer and become, for all intents and purposes, immortal. What is a soul when computers pass the Turing test? What does humanity and the universe matter if you can run off and live in virtual reality? The list goes on.

That said, I don't really care if people engage in collective delusions like religion so long as they don't hurt anyone else. Believe whatever you want. But don't use it as an excuse to beat your wife. Or ram a plane into a building. An unacceptably large swath of Islam fails in this regard. To the trash heap of history it must go, though I doubt it will be happy there and instead fight with the other dead religions. Something tells me that Big Mo's suicide belt won't be worth much in a fight against Zeus or Thor.

Having heard the title of a book somewhere does not make you "familiar" with it's content. You automatically assume you know what the book contains and what it's two authors have to say about contemporary Islam. The book has nothing to do (per-say) with God, Muhammad, *or* Atheism. It's about identifying the real difficulties the world faces if/when pondering the notion of how to confront or reform Islam, radical Islamism specifically, and which sectors of the larger Muslim population might be helpful in such an opposition -- when, where, and why (or why not).

The key to the book is Maajid -- his background and insights. He's a converted/reformed one-time Radical Islamist come Western Liberal Progressive Democratic type, well educated, and is our guide though the maze of real modern-day Islamic brain-frames. He's very much on "our" side, but can see things from numerous perspectives. It's akin to learning how to deal with inner-city gangs -- you get a smart ex-gang-member to give you the lay-of-the land. Neither of the two authors are (in any way) apologists for Islam nor are they sympathetic to Left-Liberal-types who are. This is really the thing which distinguishes the book. The authors are both very clear-eyed and matter-of-fact about the disservice of trying to sweep the ugly truths about Islam under the rug. They face them head on.

Meanwhile; these two vids might help get a feel for the tone of the players. [The first 35mins of each is probably enough.]

Islam & the Future of Tolerance - Maajid Nawaz & Sam Harris
https://youtu.be/YTd4-WXw2SM

Ayaan Hirsi Ali with Maajid Nawaz
https://youtu.be/SV_GMeZ_XmA

and again, the (very short) book [$10]:
https://www.amazon.com/Islam-Future-Tolerance-Sam-Harris/dp/0674088700/ref=tmm_hrd_swatch_0?_encoding=UTF8&qid=&sr=

[Kidnostad3]

As long as we're talking about TV shows I want to cast a vote for the Rocky and Bulwinkle Show.  Wry, often adult and self deprecating humor and amazing characters:  Boris Badinoff and Natashia' Dudley Dooright of the Mounties and Nel, etc.  It was a classic.

[Dr. MD MD]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GzsaCIky2Bw

[Kidnostad3]

Fucking A Skippy, he is.  Some folks should remember that.

Hey, it's just about penis size.  What's the problem?