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bladan

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Posts posted by bladan

  2. Posted

    3 hours ago, CarolAnn said:

     

    You completely miss the point.

     

    Yes, El Salvador, etc.,  are horrible places. Even "lefties" like me don't argue that point. The objection is to the idea that someone from El Salvador, etc., is not worthy of coming to the United States simply because s/he is from a country that is - shall we say - a shithole. American mass immigration has not historically been based on what the immigrant can do for the United States but rather what the United States can do for the immigrant. The idea that an immigrant should arrive prepared to raise the GDP by a point is a recent phenomenon.

     

    Ironically, most Norwegians wouldn't lower themselves to come to the US, and I don't blame them. They would lose a lot and probably gain a neighbor with an AR-15 pointed out the window warning the local kids off the lawn.

     

    As presented by Trump, immigration selection based solely on country of origin is anathema to most Americans as it reeks of racism. Most of us are here because our less-than-Norwegian ancestors emigrated from comparable mid- to late-19th century European shitholes - places that are perfectly acceptable now but that at that time were cesspits of famine, poverty and disease. *cough*mid 19th century great famine*cough*  Anything that suggests the exclusion of a group of people based on their race touches a deep well of societal guilt in the US, as it well should. We do not have the greatest track record of treating "the other" very well at all.

     

    As an aside, 1/3 of the American population hold passports. We do not travel outside the US as much as many other people do, but we have an incredibly large and diverse country that we would be hard pressed to see in one lifetime. It's hardly necessary to go to the expense and inconvenience of an international trip when you live here and can do most anything domestically. London or Paris or Tokyo or Shanghai or Johannesburg, et al, are many times what it would cost me to go to New York or San Francisco. If there isn't a driving force sending me to any of them I would just go to San Francisco and hang out at Alcatraz and be perfectly happy with no need for a visa or an international flight. 

     

    Some countries are indeed shitholes.

     

    US should return stolen land to Indian tribes, says United Nations

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/may/04/us-stolen-land-indian-tribes-un

     

    US Country Overshoot Day is 14 March. If all of humanity consumed like the people of US, 4.8 Earths would be needed

    https://www.footprintnetwork.org/

     

    US is the only country where climate change denial is still broadly accepted

    https://matadornetwork.com/change/united-states-country-climate-change-denial-still-broadly-accepted-heres/

     

    US is the only country where 80 % of the people live in poverty or near poverty

    https://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/07/28/poverty-unemployment-rates_n_3666594.html

     

    US  is the only developed country in the world without national health insurance, aside from Bulgaria, White Russia, and a couple small countries created by the break up of Yugoslavia

    http://slippedisc.com/2017/09/an-american-musician-grapples-with-lack-of-health-insurance/

     

    US has started 81% of the wars since WWII

    http://investmentwatchblog.com/america-has-started-81-of-the-wars-since-wwii/

     

    US is the only country to have used nuclear weapons against another country

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

     

    US is the only country that has Ku Klux Klan

    https://www.cbsnews.com/pictures/the-kkk-today/

     

    • Like 2

  3. Posted

    21 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

    The heroic mother-of-three who dragged actress Jessica Falkholt and her sister from a car wreck has been left horrified after witnessing the scene of another fatal crash just weeks later. 

    Lisa Elmas, 44, was one of the first witnesses on the scene of a horror head-on crash that has left a former Iranian Olympian and his five-year-old son in critical condition, and his wife Tamara Mobarrez, 36, dead.  

    Former swimmer Hamid Mobarrez, 36, and his son Eli continue to fight for life in hospital with critical head wounds after the family's Subaru Forester was ploughed into by a Volvo driven by a 39-year-old man. 
    SC



     

    Subarus and Volvos and horrific crashes. Why are we driving all the time? Why not just stay home on benefits and drink.

    Anthropocentrism is is the belief that human beings are the most significant entity of the universe.

  5. Posted

    4 hours ago, Vinegar Tits said:

    She had breast cancer back in 1993 but made a full recovery and was out touring within months.

     

    Needless to say I'm devastated by the news. One of my favourite singers and the person who got me into French pop music in the first place, which since 1999 has changed my life so much for the better and made new friends because of it. 

     

    I wonder if she'll be buried with Michel Berger - his family were never overly found of her and there was a hoohah when daughter Pauline died.

     

    And no, I didn't put her on my list. Perhaps I should have done and so granted her eternal life 

    You mean Michel Berger is still not buried? That's awful

  6. Posted

    48 minutes ago, gcreptile said:

    Dutch/Kiwi former 5000m world record holder and silver medal winner at the 1976 Olympic games who then turned local politician and also became an internet meme, Dick Quax, has throat cancer since 2013, has undergone all kinds of treatment already, and it's currently being managed after it had initially spread to lungs and brain:

    http://www.nzherald.co.nz/sport/news/article.cfm?c_id=4&objectid=11962735

     

    He got his cancer Michael Douglas-style.

    " silver medal winner at the 1976 Olympic games " Silver medal loser – Viren won. I saw it

  8. Posted

    30 minutes ago, Davey Jones' Locker said:

    Here is the other article about him becoming "increasingly unstable" that I was trying to find earlier:

     

    https://www.cnbc.com/2017/12/01/psychiatrists-warn-trump-becoming-more-mentally-unstable.html

     

    To quote:

     

    "Lee, the editor of the book "The Dangerous Case of Donald Trump: 27 Psychiatrists and Mental Health Experts Assess a President," said in her letter to the Times that "thousands" of mental health professionals are deeply worried about Trump's state of mind.

     

    They have formed a group called the National Coalition of Concerned Mental Health Experts, whose website is Dangerouscase.org.

     

    "All agree that he's dangerous," Lee told CNBC.

     

    In her letter to the Times, Lee wrote: "We are currently witnessing more than his usual state of instability — in fact, a pattern of decompensation: increasing loss of touch with reality, marked signs of volatility and unpredictable behavior, and an attraction to violence as a means of coping.""

     

     

    Wouldn't "an attraction to violence as a means of coping" apply to most Yanks though? 

    The missiles are flying, hallelujah... hallelujah.

    – Greg Stillson, President

  14. Posted

    38 minutes ago, Sir Creep said:

    True!
    On a serious note, both deaths were in winter, and a sad commentary on how the poor are treated worldwide, but esp here in America.
    SC

    Exactly. I'm glad when all this sadness is over. As Skip James (then Cream) put it: I'm so glad, I'm so glad, I'm glad etc.

  18. Posted

    My hero Kim Jong-Un could be in danger! 20% chance Kim is assassinated

     

    James (Jim) Rickards is an American lawyer, economist, investment banker, and best-selling author. On Tuesday Rickards wrote:

    The most important financial or geopolitical issue in the world today is a coming war between the U.S. and North Korea, probably in the next twelve weeks.

    How can I be so sure about the timing? The Director of the Central Intelligence Agency told me.

    https://www.dailyreckoning.com.au/us-attack-north-korea-march/2017/12/19/

  19. Posted

    7 hours ago, Vinegar Tits said:

    I could put this in any number of threads but I'll stick it in here as Eurovision is probably what she's most famous for in the UK.

     

    France Gall hospitalised with "severe infection".

     

    Apparently she was admitted into hospital on 19 December and has been/is in intensive care. It may explain why she didn't attend Johnny Hallyday's funeral, as she was one of the main noticeable absentees.

     

    I hope she gets better. She's one of my favourite singers and was my gateway into the wonderful world of French music and culture.  Courage, France.

    Interesting! When I read that, Poupee de Cire, Poupee de Son began to play in my head and I had to visit youtube and check out if it was playing in correct pitch in my head. Success! Does that mean that I have absolute pitch?

    Or is everyone capable of doing that?

  20. Posted

    15 hours ago, Sir Creep said:

    Damn near 'Ironic Deaths'.....Stuart Wenham, who invented groundbreaking technology that significantly increased the efficiency of solar panels while cutting their cost, died on Saturday from malignant melanoma, age 60.

    Solar power.....melanoma..... I mean cmon.  Had to see that one coming.
    SC

    He died on Saturday – day of Saturn, the planet of darkness which is the enemy of Sun and solar power

    two days after Northern Hemisphere Winter Solstice

    • Like 1

  24. Posted

    Polish high jumper Elżbieta Krawczuk-Trylińska, two-time European indoor medalist died on December 13in Saint-Remy, France, in the town where she lived since 1989. She was 57 years old.

    In 1980 she competed in the Olympic Games in Moscow; half a year after the competition in Łużniki, she won the silver medal in the European Indoor Championships (1.94). Six years later in another French city - Lievin - she won in this event bronze (1.91).

  25. Posted

    Donald Trump made a state visit to Uganda and got a monkey as a part of the gift exchange.

    Back in the White House, he had no idea what to do with the monkey.

    He decided to eat humble pie and called Hillary. She told Trump to take the monkey to the zoo.

    Next week Trump again called Hillary. "Thank you for a great tip. We had a lot of fun in the zoo! Today we're going to the Museum of Modern Art!""

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