So now he's dismissing George Takei experience and thoughts because of his occupation. A man who it's a matter of public record was interned in a camp and insisting he's been to a camp without a shred of evidence  and saying any of us should accept his opinions even though he's demonstrated he's an extremely biased party .Now he's using overcrowding and lack of resources as an excuse for the conditions reported at the camps .Where have I heard that before ?

(November 11, 2024 at 4:20 am)TheWhiteMarten Wrote: First and foremost; I appreciate the respectful response and I intend to respond as honestly and truthfully as I can in response.

Off the top of my head and without a short search of specific instances, no; I don't have evidence that the government of California is directly linked to Hollywood and that it influences it decision making; nor do I have evidence that other powers, such as national political parties and even international interests such as corporations and foreign governments, use the massive money they donate to "the media/Hollywood" (for lack of a more specific way of wording it) to influence politics.

I can be polite when merited. I make change in the coin tendered. Courtesy begets courtesy; rudeness brings out my inner asshole.

Okay, so no evidence. It's true that money in politics is corrupting, but I don't read you complaining about the Koch brothers, and other right-wing megadonors who have financed the talking points you're regurgitating. As FDR once said, "He may be a sonofabitch, but he's our sonofabitch," right?

Note that I'm not defending Hollywood or California's government, so please don't posit another excluded-middle fallacy.

By the way, I'm a native Texan who's lived a long time in California -- Oxnard, Paso Robles, and Ventura -- so I know a little what I'm talking about. How long did you live there?

(November 11, 2024 at 4:20 am)TheWhiteMarten Wrote: What I do know is that whenever this much power and this much money is gathered into one place only the worst of the worst are drawn to it; and that those within the media paid by those scum (both foreign and domestic) have been caught lying to me on multiple occasions about a variety of issues, both Trump related and in unrelated fields; I don't "blame" them as actors and commentators, it's their job and paycheck (and at the higher end of it, it's likewise their business at stake), but it leaves a bad taste in my mouth and makes it hard to trust them.

You think Trump hasn't been corrupted by money? No, really? Of course Hollywood spins, as do many but not all mass-media outlets. But you here are acting like Trump has brought truth down from the mountaintop on tone tablets, and that is verifiably false. When you criticize Trump for his corruption and dishonesty this vigorously, I'll believe you're not biased.

(November 11, 2024 at 4:20 am)TheWhiteMarten Wrote: I don't question Takais experiences with the camps in the least; I think it's a - bluntly - fucking disgusting part of our history and one I've been aware of for just about as long as I've been politically aware; several musicians I was big fans of growing up talked about them and brought my attention to them by probably the age of 12-15. I grew up on Star Trek and have nothing but respect for him as an actor and... probably, though I don't know him... as a person.

Rather I question that the detention facilities are comparable to the camps, and by all evidence presented I cannot see them as being so; no more so than any other checkpoint could be compared to a camp. I have worked at McAllen, Silver City and in El Paso - both in a religious and secular context - with immigrants over the last decade and yeah; there were cages and simple cot beds, but it's because of both a lack of funding and the reality that we were dealing with *large* influxes of people and needing to build stuff on the fly as it was needed.

Did they look like this?

June 2018:



Same month:



Here's one from the Inspector General of Homeland Security, later that year:



That from a Trump Administration official!

When did you work in those refugee camps?

Note once again  we have zero evidence he has ever been to a camp we have overwhelming George has been.

(November 11, 2024 at 12:56 pm)arewethereyet Wrote:

(November 11, 2024 at 11:28 am)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: It pains me to admit it, but he's right. There's that Broken-clock theory at work. Of course it's not a documentary; movies like that do serve as ads for the military. How successful, as ads, they are is open to question, but they certainly paint a picture of the military which is, shall we say, not entirely realistic -- and usually erring to the positive.

I should have noted my smartassery.  I was in the military too...it ain't always pretty but then neither is everything in military movies.

I would be surprised if military movies didn't have guidance from DoD in the same way that medical shows have medical advisors on staff.

Put it this way: If "Top Gun" ended with American pilots complaining about dropping bombs on targets that achieve nothing, do you think the USN would have offered them the use of multi-million-dollar jets and the pilots who fly them?

Forgive my citing Wikipedia, but here:

Quote:In Hollywood, many movie and television productions are, by choice, contractually supervised by the DoD Entertainment Media Unit within the Office of the Secretary of Defense at the Pentagon, and by the public affairs offices of the military services maintained solely for the American entertainment industry in Hollywood, Los Angeles [citation needed]. Producers looking to borrow military equipment or filming on location at a military installation for their works need to apply to the DoD, and submit their movies' scripts for vetting. Ultimately, the DoD has a say in every U.S.-made movie that uses DoD resources, not available on the open market, in their productions.[10]

[...]

The 1986 film Top Gun, produced by Don Simpson and Jerry Bruckheimer at Paramount Pictures, and with DoD assistance, aimed at rebranding the U.S. Navy's image in the post-Vietnam War era. During the showings of the film, military recruiters set up tables in cinemas during its premieres. However, claims enlistments spiked as high as 500% are a myth, and enlistments only rose by approximately 8% in 1986.[12][13] By the end of the 1980s and early 1990s, Hollywood producers were stressing script writers to create military-related plots to gain production power from the U.S. military.[14]

That article contains an extensive list of movies made with DoD approval and support. Notable by their absence are antiwar films such as "Born on the Fourth of July", "Platoon", "Sand Pebbles" and others.

That's not to mention the expensive flyovers for sporting events which serve no purpose other than the ooooh-factor, or Navy Day in New York and San Fran.

You and I are both vets, and we both know how much horseshit comes from the higher chain of command. Pointing that out is not denigrating our service -- you know that as well as I do, we suffered their cockamamie bullshit too.

But it's true, the Pentagon is much less interested in presenting the truth as it is co-opting formats like the media, Hollywood, or the NFL in order to sell our service to the American public.

(November 11, 2024 at 1:59 pm)The Architect Of Fate Wrote: So now he's dismissing George Takei experience and thoughts because of his occupation a man who it's a matter of public record was interned in camp and insisting he's been to a camp without shred of evidence  and saying any of us should accept his opinions even though demonstrated he's extremely biased party and overcrowding and lack of resources as an excuse for the conditions reported at the camps .Where have I heard that before ?

Holy run-on sentence!

Dude, punctuation is the written equivalent of pausing, taking a breath, raising your voice, changing your inflection, and so on. Use it! It makes it much easier to understand your point.

(November 11, 2024 at 2:31 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote:

(November 11, 2024 at 1:59 pm)The Architect Of Fate Wrote: So now he's dismissing George Takei experience and thoughts because of his occupation a man who it's a matter of public record was interned in camp and insisting he's been to a camp without shred of evidence  and saying any of us should accept his opinions even though demonstrated he's extremely biased party and overcrowding and lack of resources as an excuse for the conditions reported at the camps .Where have I heard that before ?

Holy run-on sentence!

Dude, punctuation is the written equivalent of pausing, taking a breath, raising your voice, changing your inflection, and so on. Use it! It makes it much easier to understand your point.

Sorry the Translation and Spell checker I used didn't pick up the problem I guess an I just posted copy and pasted it because it said it was good. My bad.

I made some edits a hope that helps. Again sorry

(November 11, 2024 at 2:36 pm)The Architect Of Fate Wrote:

(November 11, 2024 at 2:31 pm)Thumpalumpacus Wrote: Holy run-on sentence!

Dude, punctuation is the written equivalent of pausing, taking a breath, raising your voice, changing your inflection, and so on. Use it! It makes it much easier to understand your point.

Sorry the Translation and Spell checker I used didn't pick up the problem I guess an I just posted copy and pasted it because it said it was good. My bad.

I made some edits a hope that helps. Again sorry

It's not a huge things, it's just that the English freak in me went all

Here’s an interesting scenario that will never, ever come to pass.

-Biden resigns the presidency.

-Harris becomes the 47th president until 20 January 2025.

-Trump has to re-brand all the ‘Trump 47’ merch.

Boru

Some other thoughts 

1. If wealth makes you corrupt, then Elon Musk should be Satan himself. So why is Trump best buddies with him ?

2. Trump had no issue with Hollywood, hell he used to be in movies and worked in entertainment industry if it was so corrupt and evil how come he's not corrupt and evil ?

3. If wealth corrupts, why are virtually all of Trump close associates millionaires and billionaires. How are those people not corrupt?

Quote:You think Trump hasn't been corrupted by money? No, really? Of course Hollywood spins, as do many but not all mass-media outlets. But you here are acting like Trump has brought truth down from the mountaintop on tone tablets, and that is verifiably false. When you criticize Trump for his corruption and dishonesty this vigorously, I'll believe you're not biased.

To address both an earlier question and this - I don't care that rich people are involved in politics, I care when rich people's politics run contradictory to the American constitution and her national interests.

Some DNC and RNC behavior - at least that of Pelosi and McConnells' branches - falls into that later camp, and I believe Trump exists outside that sphere of influence.

Quote:Did they look like this?

I'm not sure about under Obama, but during Biden's admin - yeah, they still have looked like that.

That is a symptom of a surge of immigrants straining an underfunded and understaffed system that is actively being hamstringed by the DNC. It's creating a problem and then crying that you must be elected to fix it.