It makes no sense to me to dream up a dystopian future only to feel sorrow or fear in what I just created. I’ll let you know how I feel if your fortune-telling comes to fruition.

There isn't going to be an American Revolution because we're going to be too busy annexing Canada due to climate change. You'll get to see that American fascism close up.

I can’t wait. A warmer climate is sure to raise the value on my property, and I wouldn’t mind a first and second amendment.

That's basically what Trotsky was until the shit hit the fan.

Ha. Trotsky was in a much different context. The communists I have in mind require the products of capitalist innovation to spread their gospel, and have self-exiled in their mother’s basement.

Living languages are fluid. It's ok if people make it up as they go.

What's clear is that Antifa is presently impotent, so understanding it would be a rambling psychological quest.

There isn’t much to understand. Antifa is wholly composed of reprobates role-playing their protest fantasies in the public square, virtue-signalling into tyranny.

I fear it’s more arbitrary than that. The term “fascist” is thrown about pre-emptively, before any fascism can be demonstrated. “Fascism” is thus used in the Orwellian sense, as a pejorative, but even worse, as a means to dehumanize and incite violence against political opponents.

Do you see this version of fascism somewhere?

Not “what is fascism”, but “what fascism”?

But thank you nonetheless.

All right-wing nutters agree with this.

What fascism?

American police, you mean?

I think you know what I mean. Of all the people who have been assaulted, have had their businesses and property destroyed, none of them had anything to do with the death of any criminal.

And yet there are a hundred thousand instances of anti-fascists protesting fascism, but we should judge them on the few instances of them assaulting -- not killing, just pissing off -- bad people. That's your hypocrisy, and what it says is loud, clear, and in no way good.

As far as I can tell the so-called “fascism” they are protesting against doesn’t exist beyond their own skulls. What fascism? But while they protest the figments of their fantasies, they arbitrarily disrupt the lives and destroy the property of innocent people, none of whom meet their absurd criteria of “fascist”. In other words, this is an unjust and violent movement worthy of contempt.

His haters are getting desperate.

A package containing the poison ricin and addressed to President Donald Trump was intercepted by law enforcement earlier this week, according to two law enforcement officials.

Two tests were done to confirm the presence of ricin. All mail for the White House is sorted and screened at an offsite facility before reaching the White House.

The FBI and Secret Service are investigating the matter.

A package containing the poison ricin and addressed to Trump intercepted by law enforcement

Very interesting. Expect Romney and the Lincoln Project neocons to agree. Just like impeachment, the RINOs will stick together to the very last. Only the uniparty benefits.

I got Trump-exhaustion a long time ago. When you have a figure in office who is so stupid, so shameless, and so morally unscrupulous, it ceases to be interesting when they say or do anything. It's like trying to guess the next number that a PRNG will output.

As such, I'm a little behind. Can anyone tell me how anti-fascists became the bad guys on Cloud Trump? Being an anti-anti-fascist doesn't seem like an obvious recipe for political success.

That’s like saying if you oppose the Democratic People's Republic of Korea you’re anti-Democracy and anti-Republicanism. What they oppose is their activity, not the name.

Pennsylvania Supreme Court election rulings are big wins for Biden

In a 5-2 decision, the top Pennsylvania state court ruled that Green Party candidate Howie Hawkins hadn't followed proper procedures when submitting his nomination forms to get on the ballot.

The ruling eliminates the final hurdle blocking Pennsylvania from sending out absentee ballots to voters who requested them. The state had been stuck in a holding pattern while the litigation played out in court.

The Green Party "failed to comply with the Election Code's strict mandate" for how nomination paperwork must be handled, and its attempts to fix the problem "did not suffice to cure that error," the justices said in a 28-page majority opinion. As a result, "that defect was fatal" to Hawkins' request to get on the ballot.

Hawkins' campaign manager, Andrea Mérida Cuéllar, said the Democrats are playing " legal shenanigans just to knock legitimate competition off of the ballot. I think that they should be afraid of having Greens on the ballot because their party is not offering anything that the working class of this country is actually asking for. We are."

All five Democrats on the court voted to remove the Green Party, while the two Republicans dissented. The decision came a week after a similar ruling in Wisconsin, where Hawkins was also kicked off the ballot.

Dems are using lawfare to get their Green Party opponents off the ballot. The fix is already in.

Plenty of disagreement. I disagree with your false definition of the word “lies” and I also disagree with your area of concern. While you focus on crowd size (ironically) and Trump’s opinion of it, you can say nothing of political violence and persecution against your fellow citizens and democratically-elected officials. You can say nothing about what should be the peaceful transfer of power because you cannot get over Trump’s opinion of crowd size.

Level-2. No doubt. Trump repeatedy claimed that his electoral college victory was the biggest. What do you say? Was he right or was he lying?

I don’t think he was right. But I also don’t think he was lying. Were you aware that event goers had to contend with riots and a violent mob? What are your views on terrorism against fellow citizens?

It is a fact, by their own statements, that they intended to disrupt the inauguration, and attempted to do so.

The idea, one, is we want to undermine Trump’s presidency from the get-go. There has been a lot of talk of peaceful transition of power as being a core element in a democracy and we want to reject that entirely and really undermine the peaceful transition. We would like the headline the next day to be “Trump Inauguration a Complete Meltdown and Clusterfuck.”

What is being planned is over the next several days, starting with this past weekend, we have had an Action Camp running all of MLK weekend. We are doing a lot of non-violent direct action trainings. Then, on Wednesday, we are doing a queer dance party at Mike Pence’s house. Thursday there is an action at an Alt-Right Trump inaugural ball called the Deploraball, trying to shut that down. Then, starting on Friday morning, which is the big day, we are having blockades go into action at all the checkpoints around the inauguration parade route and to get into the viewing area. We are also doing transit blockades all day. Then, there is going to be several unpermitted marches, an especially big one at Logan Circle at 10:00 AM. Then, at noon we are doing a permitted march and we have got stuff going on all evening, too.

The media was astroturfed, the inauguration was disrupted, and you guys ate a propaganda platter.

You weren’t even aware of that, were you.

Obama’s was bigger. He didn’t have professional agitators and anarchists blocking the entrance and threatening attendees.

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2017/jan/20/inauguration-protesters-police-washington-dc

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DisruptJ20

Like a god he speaks and brings ruin and pestilence. And they say I’m in a cult. Meanwhile the politicians of the last 40 years receive your endorsements because you can be sure they‘ll pay your causes lip service.

Does the United States subsidize the drug prices of wealthy countries with governments that regulate their own drug prices? Trump and his council of economic advisers seem to think so and have devised an E.O. to counter it.

It will be interesting to see if the new “payment model” will lead to higher drug prices abroad, lower drug prices in terms US. If such is the case, we might come to realize that the American taxpayer has been subsidizing the health care of foreign governments all along, without a single thank you.

Executive Order on Lowering Drug Prices by Putting America First

The administration’s foreign and domestic policy has had such an affect that only a once-in-a-century global pandemic could injure it. With a few exceptions I agree with nearly every executive order.

My family lives where Democrats have reigned for decades—currently under lockdown, on fire, and always under threat of mob violence. They aren’t looking to the president to furnish them with stately behaviors and lullabies. They see him as the last bulwark between America and its ruin.

You tell us what you think Trump is - you have spent so much effort conveying what you think he isn't.

As for the what, he is a man. As for the who, his life is a matter of public record, and is probably the most scrutinized and famous figure of the 21st century.

People such as yourself and the foreign meddlers are concerned with his breath, his combinations of words, whatever shape his pixels take on Twitter. In the absence of the Hitler you were promised but never arrived, this is all that you really have to work with.

I’m concerned with what he can do, and so far so good.

Say what you want, but you’ve deviated so far from the topic into a tirade of histrionics. Are you able to approach the topic without the typical Trump throat-clearing? Not once in that salad of words could you mention any racism, let alone any of the systemic type.

More mail-in ballot failures, this time in 4th congressional primary in Massachusetts.

A recount could be looming in the 4th Congressional District race between two Democrats as more uncounted ballots surfaced on Thursday.

Officials in Newton, Wellesley and Franklin on Thursday restarted counting primary ballots after Secretary of the Commonwealth William Galvin filed a court order to authorize local poll workers to continue counting ballots that were received on time and had not been tallied by the end of Tuesday night.

In Franklin, poll workers Thursday evening were counting about 3,000 uncounted ballots — much more than the previously estimated 600 uncounted ballots, according to a spokeswoman for the Secretary of the Commonwealth’s Office.

The newly discovered 3,000 uncounted ballots were mail-in votes that appeared to have never made it to polling locations on Election Day.

https://www.bostonherald.com/2020/09/03/massachusetts-4th-congressional-district-thousands-of-ballots-found-in-franklin-jesse-mermells-campaign-solicits-recount-signatures/

3000 uncounted mail-in ballots.

We’ve been conditioned to believe words and thoughts can affect a listener in ways beyond simple physics. We are taught that, though a word can barely move a blade of grass, it can cause pain and anxiety and stress in human beings. We should rid ourselves of this magical thinking because it gives power to those who would use thoughts and words against us. Rather, we should learn that this pain, anxiety and stress is caused by, finds it’s genesis within, the listener, and seek ways to mitigate and strengthen them for future interactions.

Devaluing another group of people based upon the color of their skin is not in short supply.

Your head is currently up the ass of a bonafide racist.

Calling peaceful protestors "sons a bitches" for quietly kneeling during the national anthem, and then not ever considering the grievance, but rather insisting that that demonstration was somehow anti-American and disrespectful to American armed services, was a blatant act of denying black Americans the right to peaceful protest and the redress of grievances.

You cannot deny the rights of Americans by criticizing ultra-wealthy athletes. Have you gone mad?

I’m not sure whether it is a crime or not, but it seems to me that phones and data payed for by the taxpayer should be a matter of public record and transparency, for the same reason we have the Freedom of Information act.

Whenever I agree with @NOS4A2 over someone else, I feel they can just instantly be disregarded as a thinker with any possible merit.

Though I can understand the insult as a means to remind everyone of your bona fides, I’m sure we agree on much more.

It doesnt even make sense

It is pretty absurd for the reasons you stated. But also the idea that the KKK or neo-Nazis are not racist because they lack power is morally repugnant. It makes no sense.

I myself have always thought that you can judge individuals, but never larger groups of people especially by their nationality, ethnicity, or race (whatever that means), but perhaps that's not the politically correct way to think about things now as denying the importance of race is racism itself.

That isn’t only an ethical, but also the reasonable way to go about treating others. One cannot derive any important information about an individual from levels of melanin, beyond what his parents may have looked like. It is better to learn from someone rather than make such assumptions. I’d stick with it if I were you.

That being said, this post-modern, critical theory stuff is a blight on the history of knowledge, and will go the way of all racial superstitions.

Right, forgetting your passcode is "stupid". But I don't think I know anyone who hasn't forgotten a passcode now and then. I guess we're all stupid. How about you NOS, ever forget a passcode?

Anyway, why is wiping your phone clear, before it was requested for examination, an example of corruption? I can see how wiping it after it was requested is corruption, but I think many people commonly wipe their phones.

I’ve never forgotten the passcode to my phone, and I’ve never typed a wrong passcode numerous times (a process that would take over an hour given the timeouts on an iPhone).

The fact that numerous people on the same team “accidentally” wiped their phones in such a fashion is a sign of a prevailing stupidity or of corruption in my opinion. At the very least it is worthy of investigation.

Racism is in such short supply these days that those who profit off its existence have relegated it to the invisible and nowhere, or in fact have become racists themselves. It’s like St. George forgetting to retire after slaying all the dragons. Pretty soon he’s just there, all alone, swinging his lance in the wind.

It looks like the Mueller team wiped their phones before the OIG could review their devices.

The records show at least several dozen phones were wiped of information because of forgotten passcodes, irreparable screen damage, loss of the device, intentional deletion or other reasons -- and came before the DOJ’s Office of Inspector General (OIG) could review the devices.

The documents show that Mueller deputy Andrew Weissman "accidentally wiped" his phone twice after entering the wrong passcode too many times in March 2018. Lawyer James Quarles’ phone “wiped itself” without his intervention, the records say.

The records indicate Attorney Greg Andres phone was also wiped due to a forgotten passcode. And they say the phones of both Mueller deputy Kyle Freeny and Rush Atkinson were wiped accidentally after they entered the wrong passcode too many times.

The records say that a phone belonging to FBI lawyer Lisa Page – whose anti-Trump texts with FBI agent Peter Strzok were of interest to investigators -- was restored to factory settings when the inspector general’s office received it.

Other officials, whose names are redacted, claim to have unintentionally restored their phone to its factory settings, deleting all records of communication.

https://www.foxnews.com/politics/doj-records-mueller-team-wiped-phones

The Mueller team was either stupid or corrupt or both, but either way, by applying Clintonian destruction of records, they’re going to get away with it.

CNN telling people to commit voter fraud.

Most states, with help from USPS, give your ballot a code. After you've requested it, you can go to the Secretary of State's website and see where you are in the process.

It looks sort of like ordering a pizza from Domino's and being able to see on your phone when it comes out of the oven. Or filing your taxes! The federal government notifies you about that, too.

But not all states offer this feature. And they're not all Southern states opposed to mail-in voting you might suspect. You might expect Texas to require an excuse for voting by mail and not offer a tracking system. But New York also requires an excuse and also does not track your ballot. Connecticut is an example of a Northeast state temporarily allowing absentee voting by mail, although they do not track your ballot.

If it doesn't arrive, you might want to head to your polling place and explore your options, which are probably filling out a provisional ballot.

https://www.cnn.com/2020/08/15/politics/what-matters-august-14/index.html

While Trump’s opponents play “trump said”, more progress in the Middle East, this time between the Taliban and the Afghan government.

Afghanistan’s government and the Taliban are set to begin their first-ever direct talks next week toward ending nearly two decades of fighting, after the U.S. signed a deal with the insurgent group to extricate America from its longest war.

Representatives of the warring factions are expected to convene as early as Monday in Qatar’s capital to agree on a road map for reconciliation, officials said. Doha was also the venue for the signing of the U.S.-Taliban accord in February,

The Afghan government is prioritizing an immediate cease-fire, while the Taliban is likely to focus on a power-sharing arrangement and a transitional government.

The talks reflect a concerted push to end a war that began with the U.S.-led invasion in response to the Sept. 11, 2001, terrorist attacks that al Qaeda orchestrated from Taliban sanctuary in Afghanistan. The conflict has claimed more than 90,000 Afghan lives, displaced tens of thousands of people and destroyed schools, hospitals and other vital infrastructure. About a third of Afghans need urgent humanitarian aid, the United Nations has said.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/afghanistan-and-taliban-begin-first-ever-direct-peace-talks-11599892222

The reconciliation is tenuous at best, but progress is being made. So much for the world’s police. America is quickly becoming the world’s peace-keepers.

The senses, too, have a boundary. The eye has the cornea; the the tongue has a mucosa; and so on. Direct contact between the boundaries of the self and the world is a necessary condition for perception, without which we would not perceive anything. Perception, as much as "experience", "identity", "memory", occur at and within the boundary and never outside of it. As such, the self begins and ends at the boundary, as finite as it is transient, as individual as it is particular.

1.1

But I have a lot of haters.

If I recall that Bahrain or UAE never submitted forces to fight Israel. Saudi-Arabia contributed troops only during the Israeli war of Independence, if I remember correctly. Those who have fought Israel apart of it's neighbors have been Iraq, Libya, Saudi-Arabia, Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, that I know.

Bahrain is a member of the Arab League, which in 1967 issued the Khartoum Resolution: “no peace with Israel, no recognition of Israel, no negotiations with it”.

In 2002, the Arab League declared the Arab Peace Initiative, which Prince Abdullah said was based on two issues: “ normal relations and security for Israel in exchange for full withdrawal from all occupied Arab territories, recognition of an independent Palestinian state with al-Quds al-Sharif as its capital, and the return of refugees.”

I’m not saying the end of some imaginary war is over, but that progress is being made in a voluntary, diplomatic process between the Arab League and Israel, the likes of which could offer economic and diplomatic stability to the entire region, and in my opinion throw water on an ancient sectarian and racial feud.

That in no way addresses my question. Was Israel at war with either of those nations, or at least military conflict of some kind? If not, it can hardly be considered making peace.
It seems like a symbolic gesture, which isnt a bad thing but its not really due the framing of making peace you have given it. (But I may be ignorant of certain facts that make this a more significant move towards a peaceful middle east, hence my question).

You never asked if Israel was at war with Bahrain. You asked if the move was symbolic. It isn’t. It’s official.

Have you heard of the Arab-Israeli conflict? It’s a long and bloody one.

Isreal had formal diplomatic relations with only two Arab states, neighboring Egypt and Jordan, established in 1979 and 1994 respectively. Now we can include UAE and Bahrain.