BruceVC

I'm sure thinking positive thoughts will feed a thousand chinese families. Look, I'm the first to admit people can focus on the negative and forget the good but the more research into poverty the easier it will be to find the critical areas to solve, and sweeping comparative statements just mean that information will reach further. You're not even getting your statistics "that matter" from someone who researched how much better people are doing. You're getting them from someone who researched how many people are still in deep **** and said "gosh, it's bad but still, it's not as bad as last time". Being well-intentioned and positive doesn't always help - ever heard stories of well-intentioned and positive people holding clothes drives for people in third world countries, effectively neutering the local tailoring industries and leaving their economies worse off in the long run? You need to diagnose the disease before starting treatment because otherwise you're treating cancer with aspirine. Yes I dont dispute much of what you say but at least my data paints a much better and improving picture of global poverty The Oxfam report presents the facts is a negative and counterintuitive way and they dont offer any real solution that can be realistically implemented. For example they say " Oxfam called for fundamental change to ensure that economies worked for everyone, not just “a privileged few” These reports of how to " address poverty and inequality " are generally the same, they highlight all this inequality and tell other people. corporations or countries what they need to do....its easy to tell other people how to fix global problems when you not involved or need to make the sacrifice

Yes self-help books are always a good idea or books on exotic holiday destinations always help to motivate the poor to pull themselves out of poverty ....you need to give the poor something to aspire to If you ever end up broke, sick, or otherwise in need, I'll be sure to toss a self-help book at your hat and say something infuriatingly closeminded as well. Geeeeeeeeez, feel the love This is about positive ideas and making people feel they can get out of poverty ..if you throw a book at someone you may unintentionally hurt them ? But dont worry about me, I have a trust fund

Yes self-help books are always a good idea or books on exotic holiday destinations always help to motivate the poor to pull themselves out of poverty ....you need to give the poor something to aspire to

Me and Bruce were just kidding around, honest. Is TN talking about us? Yes of course we joking, its just mild badinage Unless he's talking about Volo, but Volo was referring to the mayor, not to anyone here. I doubt he was talking about us ....but I doubt he was talking about volo as his comments also seemed normal?

The full thing: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50?openedFrom=todaywidget&campaign_id=A100&articleList=worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50,pound-falls-lowest-level-since-october-flash-crash-fears-britain,donald-trump-condemns-russia-vladimir-putin-syria-michael-gove-a7528876.html,ms-and-swedish-supermarkets-ditch-sticky-labels-for-natural-branding Now this obviously is a quite shockinv figure. Me personally I find it simply obscene. It is beyond ridiculous, and I think it shouts for reforms. Now obviously tackling global inequality isn't particularly easy, thus I'm taking it to this beautiful board. So what do you think? Should something be done, and if so what, or is this not worrying at all? Its a frustrating, divisive and unhelpful report. We have been debating this in SA since its launch, the people from Oxfam discuss the report and there comments are basically anti-Capitalist and full of pseudo-economic suggestions They offer no real solutions but diatribe against the private sector and globalisation Well what about you? What do you think of the problem itself, leave aside oxfam. The entire Oxfam report is designed in a way to just create consternation and negativity Ignore it, we should be focusing on the positive and how many people have been pulled out of extreme poverty. These are real statistics that are meaningful The millenium development goals set in 2000 around reducing extreme poverty have been met in 2015https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2015/jul/06/united-nations-extreme-poverty-millennium-development-goals Since 1990 there are 61 % of the total number of people pulled out of extreme poverty http://www.goodnewsnetwork.org/200-million-people-lifted-from-extreme-poverty-in-two-year-record-low/

Me and Bruce were just kidding around, honest. Is TN talking about us? Yes of course we joking, its just mild badinage

The full thing: https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2017/jan/16/worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50?openedFrom=todaywidget&campaign_id=A100&articleList=worlds-eight-richest-people-have-same-wealth-as-poorest-50,pound-falls-lowest-level-since-october-flash-crash-fears-britain,donald-trump-condemns-russia-vladimir-putin-syria-michael-gove-a7528876.html,ms-and-swedish-supermarkets-ditch-sticky-labels-for-natural-branding Now this obviously is a quite shockinv figure. Me personally I find it simply obscene. It is beyond ridiculous, and I think it shouts for reforms. Now obviously tackling global inequality isn't particularly easy, thus I'm taking it to this beautiful board. So what do you think? Should something be done, and if so what, or is this not worrying at all? Its a frustrating, divisive and unhelpful report. We have been debating this in SA since its launch, the people from Oxfam discuss the report and there comments are basically anti-Capitalist and full of pseudo-economic suggestions They offer no real solutions but diatribe against the private sector and globalisation

This protest isnt an " I dont accept Trump " protest, its an " anti-Trump " protest You will see this often as he really offended people and minorities

So the US authorized itself, therefore it was legal. In other words, "might makes right". Can't really argue with that. Great philosophy while you're top dog, not so great when you cease to be. It was legal inasmuch as the standards for going to war under the US Constitution were met. It was "legal" if for no other reason than there is no international body to whom sovereign states are beholden to justify themselves to or has power to redress the wrongs they do. Was it just? Was it moral? No, I'd have to say it wasn't. With Iraq at least. Add to that it was extraordinarily ill-advised and what you have left is, I hope, an object lesson to future administrations to use military force more judiciously and sparingly. Sometimes the status quo is better than all the possible alternatives. And I'm sorry to say, might does make right. When Russia invaded Crimea did the "international police" go arrest Putin? Did anyone do much of anything meaningful? Not really. So to me that means it is incumbent on those with might to learn from past lessons and use their power responsibly. Which brings me back around to Manning going public with bad deeds which just puts everyone's back up rather than be a true whistle blower and give the information to people who might have done some good with it. Afghanistan was 100 % legal, necessary and absolutely should be supported by all Americans who are patriotic Al-Qaeda was behind 9/11, AQ was using Afghanistan as a base...the Taliban were housing AQ and refused to hand Bin Laden over. The USA and its coalition was completely justified to invade Afghanistan

You right WOD.....so that means Im stoned how many days out the week

WOD you probably missed something in translation, what language did you listen to them? You guys wont believe this....I have just heard an accusation on a radio station by some loser that said " there is a new social problem driven by people called SJW " .....now people are using the words SJW in a radio discussion !!!!! I am going to have to move very quickly to explain these words should only be used on the Internet Believe me, I know English better than you do. And I'm not stoned all the time, so I can actually think logically. Im not stoned all the time? Only 6 days out of the week

WOD you probably missed something in translation, what language did you listen to them? You guys wont believe this....I have just heard an accusation on a radio station by some loser that said " there is a new social problem driven by people called SJW " .....now people are using the words SJW in a radio discussion !!!!! I am going to have to move very quickly to explain these words should only be used on the Internet

What a **** move. He should have shown some balls and turn himself in. Assange has again shown what a complete parasite and disingenuous person he is He has no integrity and I hope one day he is jailed

Bennie I know you mean well but there are several serious issues with the refugees and the spread of Islam, I cant speak for other members but my list is EU is predominantly Christian, most countries in the EU aren't interested in adopting more Islamic religious practices The EU has real challenges around the rise of right wing partitie, this right wing could even upset the EU so until we have elections in Germany and Merkel wins we really don't want too many refugees coming into the EU There is uncertainty where all the refugees are actually coming from. This needs to be resolved There are real concerns about ISIS infiltrating groups of refugees Refugees need to understand and accept Western values, for example we believe in womens right and gay rights

Why did you never say that about Obama's speeches, they are much better

I have been watching the Trump auguration It was good and had some awesome moments, I loved the last singing of the US anthem....one of the most beautiful and evocative versions I have heard

The difference has been explained, Manning was treated very badly after being arrested and was deeply mentally unbalanced. He was kept in solitary confinement and denied hormone treatment. His crime was leaking military and international cables Snowden betrayed his country's internal state secrets as he worked for the NSA and ended up living and finding shelter in an enemy country, he made no attempt to return to the USA to face his sentence

we have. numerous times. given the tone o' the thread, this is not the place for us to discuss our feelings regarding obama's gutting of nasa. in the spirit o' the thread, we will observe how obama deserves credit for killing the absolute asinine don't ask, don't tell policy o' the us military. I appreciate the historical analysis of Trump going forward, it helps to ameliorate the angst for some But I see the Trump presidency as unique .....and something we are living through. Im not saying it will be terrible or ignominious but we just don't know what he will do around some global realities or how his new advisors will impact change

This is a true and accurate post. But its belated, you should have been honest years ago/ You see its not hard to like Obama, he really was well liked and did a good job in many places in the world and the USA Now we have Trump and he is very unpredictable and undermines all your ideological views and certain counties

Everyone is free to exercise their own religion and culture, as long as they behave by the laws set. That's how freedom in a republic should work. It was intended as a response to you saying you don't know which culture they should adapt to as there is no European Culture Mind you, I agree with your response to me. As long as people aren't hurting anyone or breaking the law I'm fine with them doing whatever they want.. and I'm not even 100% on the law part of that In Germany and places like the EU you need to obey certain rules and observe culture and respect Western values And this includes more analysis and a slower intake for groups like the refugees. So they need to follow a structured migration framework. Your suggestions seems like the old days when Merkel said " welcome " And of course this created real issues

Why are you annoyed? Does (s)he get tax breaks that you don't for having a court recognize him as a woman or something? Only affects him*, really, which is why your King of England analogy doesn't hold water. That being said, if you can get the British Parliament to recognize you as the King of England, I'll be happy to address you as befitting your station. Let's imagine for a second that tomorrow gene therapy allows these people to have their chromosomal endowment rearranged. Would you still be uncomfortable referring to him a she? *to be fair, it affects everyone, because the whole pronoun thing is a total cluster**** You know, I really don't know why it bothers me. It always irritates me when someone refers to their car engine as a motor too. An engine and a motor are two different things. I guess I'm just kind of anal retentive like that. I demand people call a thing what it is. But if they could magically replace Manning's Y chromosome with another X, well that would make him a her. Heck they don't even need to go that far. Once the surgeries are finished that's close enough. But until then he is a dude in a dress taking pills. ...And here I thought the entire point of your stupid language having two different words for the concept of physical sex (ie. sex) and the concept of gender identity (ie. gender) was so you can make that distinction (Hungarian doesn't have gendered pronouns nor does it differentiate between engines and motors, so it's clearly a superior language.) alum how are the LGBT rights in Hungary under your current PM? Under scrutiny I imagine?

Not really I have been in that pasture since day 1 , I have never changed my view and its become more trenchant and justified actually since the Syria crisis I knew many people in that war and we had civilian contractor work ...so I have first hand view. I encourage people to tell me what is wrong with anything I have said and we can have a debate

Yeah. You do know that kind of reasoning was thrown out by the US in, er, the Nuremberg Trials, right? Following orders is not a valid defense to justify supporting illegal wars or wartime acts, let alone some twisted interpretation of "patriotism". And by the way, unlike in the US, there was conscription in Germany. Dat victor's justice doe I guess, following the same logic, that you'd be on the side of All-American gangbangers mugging and killing foreign tourists, "once the shooting starts". Provided they proudly wear the US flag on their shoulder, ofc. First of all I am only addressing Manning leaking information. I didn't say anything about WHAT was leaked or what I thought about it. Don't comment on points I didn't make. Second of all your example of "all-American gangbangers" assaulting tourists and somehow conflating that wit the actions of an armed service in a combat zone is about the most intellectually vacant thing I've read this year. I am a little surprised it came from you. For the record this thread is about Manning and his actions. Some of the info leaked describes activity that could credibly be called war crimes. But not all or of or even most of it. The body to deal with this kind of information in the US is the Congress, and the DoD. Had Manning sent information of illegal acts to the Senate Armed Services Committee instead of Wikileaks his story would likely have gone down completely different. GD dont let 2133 try to enforce this spurious notion of an illegal war " , this is just a generalisation and anti-USA sentiment. Some people love to blame the state of Iraq and ISIS on the USA...its not as I'll explain later I like 2133, he is clever and supports deep SJ issues and has a way with words. But he constantly attacks and criticizes global finance markets and institutions, He thinks the EU is an unjust, mercurial and biased union....all this would be acceptable in a forum debate except for the incongruous and contradictory view he has of why his own country is undergoing necessary and self-inflicted austerity ....he refuses to accept Spanish responsibility for the austerity and blames the EU and Germany. See the reasons for the austerity in Spain http://www.economicshelp.org/blog/5525/economics/spanish-economic-crisis-summary/ This also covers the negative but things are better than this article. In summary factors like inflexible labor markets, rising government debt and failure to regulate there banking sector which left them susceptible to the 2008 crisis. Spain need to take responsibility for sustaining there own economy like many African countries do ..i have faith in them, just drop the siestas and try to work a full day And now Iraq, yes the USA initially went into iraq under the wrong pretense. But the Shias and Sunni were truly offered a chance at peace and there interpretation of Democracy. Are we suggesting the Iraqis aren't capable of understanding peace? Of course they can but they wanted to annihilate each other, we saw this enhanced in aspects of the Arab Spring and the rise of ISIS and there ideological objective of total war on most of the ME But the USA still left iraq with a functional government in 2011 under a Shia majority and Nouri al-Maliki as PM, all he was told was " integrate the 20% Sunni minority " ...but they ignored this as they were aligned to Iran..they marginalized the Sunni who then joined ISIS You can blame the West for Arab leaders failing to follow good governance and support human rights I wont ....nope the West can take some blame but the majority lies in the ME

He did many positive things and ensured the USA didnt go into a deep recession in 2008 He has one of the highest popularity rates considering the normal view people have after 2 terms The space program? That is the first time anyone has mentioned that.....dont you think the cost wasnt worth the other pressing issues the USA faced in 2008?

Do you mind sharing why? I know you will have an interesting reason