I voted today, and while I'm confident Harris/Walz will carry the state, there are nearly a dozen candidates on the ballot for the presidency.

(October 24, 2024 at 6:37 am)europeanatheist Wrote: Do you wee what I mean with China growing more and more illiberal? You are a honest owrker, on holiday you relax with a couple of joints, you do not smoke joints in China, but they detect traces in your blood and they expell you from the country.
20 years ago, when they needed western technology and expertise they would have never done it

Administrator Notice
Link removed per 30/30 rule.

I didn't see the article, so I'm not clear on how China discovered that the fine upstanding young man had been smoking. Why did they do a blood test? 

If you tell me the title of the article and the name of the publication I can probably Google it. 

It's easier than ever to visit China these days. I'd be very surprised to hear that they're doing random blood tests. 

I knew a bunch of Americans who were teaching English in Japan who went to the Great Wall and dropped acid. They had no trouble. I'm sure it's illegal there, but it's not like there was a spy behind every bush looking out for them. 

Anyway, every country has different laws about which drugs are OK. I'd get in big trouble for having marijuana here in Hiroshima. We from the Enlightened West think that all the find upstanding young men deserve a little cannabis, but that doesn't mean that all over the world they have to adopt the same policies in order not to be evil.

(October 24, 2024 at 10:23 pm)Belacqua Wrote: We from the Enlightened West think that all the find upstanding young men deserve a little cannabis, but that doesn't mean that all over the world they have to adopt the same policies in order not to be evil.

I think the evil in China's gov't is more centered upon "re-education camps" and slave labor ... not to mention the government's support of autocracies around the world.

(October 24, 2024 at 11:07 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(October 24, 2024 at 10:23 pm)Belacqua Wrote: We from the Enlightened West think that all the find upstanding young men deserve a little cannabis, but that doesn't mean that all over the world they have to adopt the same policies in order not to be evil.

I think the evil in China's gov't  is more centered upon "re-education camps" and slave labor ... not to mention the government's support of autocracies around the world.

Remember when Kamala Harris's office in California was keeping prisoners in jail past their release time in order to use their labor to fight seasonal fires? 

When the story came out and it looked like a political liability, Harris claimed that as Attorney General she was unaware of what lawyers from her office were arguing in court. 

Also China is Bad. Also Donald Trump is Bad.

And if you're against one country supporting autocracies, you might look into the history of US foreign relations sometime. Like Pinochet and those guys.


Also China is bad.

(October 24, 2024 at 11:26 pm)Belacqua Wrote:

(October 24, 2024 at 11:07 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: I think the evil in China's gov't  is more centered upon "re-education camps" and slave labor ... not to mention the government's support of autocracies around the world.

Remember when Kamala Harris's office in California was keeping prisoners in jail past their release time in order to use their labor to fight seasonal fires? 

When the story came out and it looked like a political liability, Harris claimed that as Attorney General she was unaware of what lawyers from her office were arguing in court. 

Also China is Bad. Also Donald Trump is Bad.

I knew when I hit "post" that whataboutisms would be your go-to reply. Thanks for not disappointing me.

(October 24, 2024 at 11:26 pm)Belacqua Wrote: And if you're against one country supporting autocracies, you might look into the history of US foreign relations sometime. Like Pinochet and those guys.


Also China is bad.

Having lived in Iran for four years and lived through the overthrow of the Shah as a result of America's (and Britain's) interference in 1953, I'm very clear on that. However, none of that justifies China's shit.

Here: let's you go back to China next week, and criticize plainly President Xi online. I can do that here. Can you do that there? I can convert to Islam and not be thrown into a camp. You feel comfy-cozy doing that there?

No, you haven't answered my points, you've only used them to launch your rehularly-scheduled complaint against America's own flaws. They are admittedly extant. But you have not addressed my points.

Also noted is your subtle but present personal attack, that anyone who disagrees with you has been programmed, when you don't even know my history or what I've lived through.

But hey, you do you. I hope they're paying you, but even so they're getting ripped off, because your arguments are that weak.

We need a polity that sees Bel's shit for exactly what it is. Big problem, in the US.

(October 24, 2024 at 11:44 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(October 24, 2024 at 11:26 pm)Belacqua Wrote: Remember when Kamala Harris's office in California was keeping prisoners in jail past their release time in order to use their labor to fight seasonal fires? 

When the story came out and it looked like a political liability, Harris claimed that as Attorney General she was unaware of what lawyers from her office were arguing in court. 

Also China is Bad. Also Donald Trump is Bad.

I knew when I hit "post" that whataboutisms would be your go-to reply. Thanks for not disappointing me.

(October 24, 2024 at 11:26 pm)Belacqua Wrote: And if you're against one country supporting autocracies, you might look into the history of US foreign relations sometime. Like Pinochet and those guys.


Also China is bad.

Having lived in Iran for four years and lived through the overthrow of the Shah as a result of America's (and Britain's) interference in 1953, I'm very clear on that. However, none of that justifies China's shit.

Here: let's you go back to China next week, and criticize plainly President Xi online. I can do that here. Can you do that there? I can convert to Islam and not be thrown into a camp. You feel comfy-cozy doing that there?

No, you haven't answered my points, you've only used them to launch your rehularly-scheduled complaint against America's own flaws. They are admittedly extant. But you have not addressed my points.

Also noted is your subtle but present personal attack, that anyone who disagrees with you has been programmed, when you don't even know my history or what I've lived through.

But hey, you do you. I hope they're paying you, but even so they're getting ripped off, because your arguments are that weak.

What I said about my personal experiences in China is true.

What I said about Kamala Harris is true.

What I said about the US supporting Pinochet is true. 

You've added a lot of other stuff so you can have a fight.

Also, China is bad. Also, Trump is bad.

(October 25, 2024 at 12:05 am)Fireball Wrote: We need a polity that sees Bel's shit for exactly what it is. Big problem, in the US.

Many influential people are calling for government censorship of misinformation. So they also want to live in a polity which controls speech.

Most recently, the Atlantic Magazine ran an editorial declaring that the First Amendment was not longer useful.

But since the largest purveyor of dangerous misinformation is the US government, what this means in practice is that the people who attempt to correct US government lies will be silenced by some kind of Ministry of Truth. 

This is already happening to some degree. Zuckerberg admitted banning some opinions from Facebook during Covid, because the government asked him to, even though several of these opinions turned out to be true. Pro-Palestine voices are suppressed on Twitter. 

The sad thing is that while screaming "Fascist!" at Trump, many Democrats are arguing that the government should control our polity's speech.

(October 25, 2024 at 1:57 am)Belacqua Wrote: What I said about my personal experiences in China is true.

What I said about Kamala Harris is true.

What I said about the US supporting Pinochet is true. 

You've added a lot of other stuff so you can have a fight.

No, what I pointed out is that you did not actually address my objections to China's approach to things. I don't fight mice and I won't make an exception for you. You can either answer my points or have your refusal to do so thrown into your face. No my problem; I'm about ready for bed and won't waste time on your non-sequiturs.

(October 25, 2024 at 1:57 am)Belacqua Wrote: Also, China is bad. Also, Trump is bad.

Right, because when you cannot answer a point or three, you must dig around in your kit-bag for the personal attack -- and try and make it the last word.

America bad, China good, baa baa baa you sheep. I can do that too. I do it here not because I think you're stupid -- that's open to conjecture -- but to show you how limp that shit looks. If that's your heaviest round, pfft.

You either want a discussion or you don't. Show me, don't tell me. Answer my points or stop replying with stupidities.

So Harris just did a "town hall" meeting hosted by the extremely rich and privileged son of Gloria Vanderbilt.

When a citizen asked her about Gaza, she made a generic statement about how nice it would be to have peace and security, but said nothing about what a President could or should do.

Anderson followed up and asked what she would say to someone who was on the fence about voting due to the genocide issue.

First she said well, of course people are concerned about Gaza, but also the high price of groceries, and Trump is bad, and women's right to choose, and a laundry list of other issues where (apparently) she thinks she has the advantage. But she said nothing about any plan to end the genocide.

Biden recently said there's no genocide, so he's clearly senile. In another interview a few days ago, Harris said that while she has "sympathy" for all the suffering Gazans, no policies will change.

A poll back in August showed that pick up thousands of votes in swing states if she promised to work for an arms embargo. But apparently the AIPAC money is more important than those votes.

So that seems to be the answer. Vote for Harris if you want the genocide to continue.

Trump has said Israel is doing the right thing but he wants them to hurry up and finish it. So things will no doubt get worse if he's elected, too. In fact I wonder if Netanyahu, seeing that Trump is very likely to win, has decided to speed things up and take on Lebanon now while he clearly has no push-back at all from America.

In other words, both candidates support the oppression and massacre of a subject people.

Also China is bad. Also cholera is bad. Also Nazis are bad. I say this just in case people think I support those things.