BruceVC

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

You are going to think this is an excuse or justification but she was deeply conflicted and depressed about her sexual orientation, that should have been considered surly ?

She had to face some sentence, you cant be an intelligence analyst in any army and then distribute confidential cables and information. But 35 years was a bit harsh

This is true, this is what she said “I need help,” she wrote. “I am living through a cycle of anxiety, anger, hopelessness, loss, and depression. I cannot focus. I cannot sleep. I attempted to take my own life.”

No He went hormone treatment and gender reassignment surgery so reshaping the male genitals into the shape and function of a vagina. He effectively becomes she....why GD do you think she is hot and feel guilty? Its okay, no judgement on this forums

I saw this development earlier and I'm a little conflicted, she did betray her country but were there mitigating circumstances....is this pardon warranted ? But no clemency for Snowden, thats a different situation IMO

The cruelty to animals charge comes from the use of a bullhook in training (which IIRC is a hold over from training of elephants in India) paired with the need to separate young animals from mothers as part of training. Good points raised, that does sound cruel

I am having a really frustrating time with new games simply not working for me, so Dishonored 2 : Waiting for patch 1.4 as the game plays for 10 minutes or so and then crashes, this is something many people are experiencing and has something to do with low framerate Assassins Creed: Black Flag : This is even worse, my framerate is consistent yet the game just crashes to windows. According to Steam forums this happens to some people and has never been fixed End of last year I finished Witcher 3 and all the extensions and clocked 200 hours and that whole time the game crashed maybe 3-5 times

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pOXx3Hr3vAY This is SNL parody interpretation of Trumps long anticipated first press conference since being elected...it is very accurate in some things and utterly hilarious :lol:

What protests are you referring to? Because most of the protests are people addressing the bombast and hyperbole that Trump said to win the election...so far I'm not sure what he has done since winning the election legally that warrant protests? Twitter updates from Trump are divisive and unhelpful but should not be seen as policy

No dude thats just wrong

I was watching this development on CNN. It does seem sad that an event that has been in operation for over 100 years is now closing and as the article mentioned the main reason is they dropped the live elephant act from the show and the overall ticket sales are down.....is it cruelty to animals to have a live elephant act? I am no expert so I am reticent to comment

" boxlessness "

Yes post some pics

Also you Czechs have an active and memorable red light district Really? I thought we are top in porn business, never heard about red light district there much (except highway E55 which was know for prostitution) Remember I told you I have an aunt who was married to a Czech man, he passed away but they 2 kids who are cousins and his mom still lives in Czech. They call her babička, I met her several times She is very sweet and friendly, she didn't speak English but my cousins translate Yes to be fair its not a red light district but a street with curtains that are different colors and that means different experiences

Hungary is fine and recommended but not a place where the Russians are involved in a war or have annexed....like Crimea Remember he is from the USA and doesnt need to be exposed to that type of belligerence

Also you Czechs have an active and memorable red light district

This is good info, some people may differ on some views you have but thats fine. Red can decide for himself

But give him some details around each place you suggest, just a brief summary of why each place is worthwhile. And remember he has never been to the EU and doesn't know much about each culture so Im sure it will be appreciated

Oh my hat you are going to have such an amazing time, I cannot express how entertaining it will be So English is fine, everyone should speak a semblance of English so dont stress But yes your funds will dictate the holiday and how you will travel, so if you dont mind how money will you take ? And you dont have anywhere specific you want to see because then you need to think about what you enjoy as there is everything in the EU and I can give you many recommendations

You don't need a degree but it does require some historical understanding and empathy around the history of the Europeans But things get complicated around this topic and its not necessary to go into details unless you really want to get a different perspective ?

According to you it is, the thing is do you consider yourself someone who has a deep understanding and view of bigotry?