Drowsy Emperor

I'm not absolving them of their own stupidity, but for quite a while they haven't been calling the shots in anything of relevance.

Its an effort to portray an image of unity in a critical time. Without some real moves, at this point its no more than a PR stunt. Realistically speaking, it should have happened long ago, but the influence of the US on European politicians, their own divisions and some practical issues have kept it from happening for decades. I don't see it happening now either as I sincerely doubt that the French and the Germans have the spine to make it happen (although Brexit is definitely a plus as the British were always keen to sabotage anything that would lead the EU away from the US). There's also the matter of immense expenditures it would entail and the inevitable hit social services would take in a situation where the economic crisis dictates less spending. And the masses are already displeased as it is. Its feasible but it would take the kind of statesmanship not seen in Europe since De Gaulle's time (and even he backtracked on France's NATO exit). However, it is the only way the EU could create its own policy instead of have it dictated by NATO. And then we would be spared such stupidity as the quasi war with Russia over Ukraine, the inexplicable involvement in Syria or Libya (although european elites were amazingly keen to participate in such obviously catastrophic ventures). There is a sort of delicious irony in which the country that led many of the false flag propaganda efforts and smear campaigns against Assad eventually lose its EU membership partly over the refugee crisis it was instrumental in creating.

You should send this to our PM, he's convinced we're getting into the EU soon. One thing I'll never understand is Turkey's application for joining the EU. Who is this bright mind of the European project that thinks Turkey is in any shape or form, European.

Don't see why all the Farage hate. As politicians go, he's pretty straightforward. You can't really blame him for having presented his position more clearly than the opposition and, after almost two decades of holding the line, swayed the masses to his side. Its actually a significant success in a voting system that is designed to strangle smaller parties (and has robbed the UKIP of a lot of places in parliament). Farage is also not to blame for EU's many structural problems and overall lack of democracy in the whole project from its inception. They had ample opportunity to fix things over the years. His criticism of the Brussels bureaucracy is usually correct and has won him many points over the years.

Why would you possibly say Cameron is a loser? You dont understand the reality Cameron promised the UK he would have this referendum, he kept his word and he understandably stepped down when Brexit won, he isn't required to now navigate the UK exit He is a man of his word and he has integrity, do you see that as a weakness? He's a loser because he thought it would be an easy win for his side and he's a loser because he allowed intra-party politics to dictate national policy.

Late to the party but better late than never. I didn't see it coming. I thought that even push come to shove, they'd rig it to stay in since it was destined to be close. American interests in Europe took a stab in the gut with this. No longer will the UK be able to influence European foreign policy (such as it was) to the same extent. As for the EU, the unthinkable has become thinkable. Grexit would have been a nuisance, the eventual economic collapse of Spain and Italy an even bigger one but this is a critical hit. If the present course of the economy and refugee crisis continues, the France is the next significant weak link. The current government will never organize a referendum but an FN one might and Le Pen's chances were never as good as they are now. That is admittedly, the most extreme scenario - but if it came to pass and succeed the EU would be gone overnight. Even if it doesn't happen, there is nothing but the problems ahead. A clever politician would use this opportunity to patch up things with Russia, now that the key anti-Russian player is as good as gone (Erdogan certainly is, for some reason). I wouldn't hold my breath though. Cameron possibly the biggest political loser in 21st century history so far. From "a plan so cunning you could put a tail on it and call it a weasel" to a zero and loser overnight. I don't expect them to flip it somehow. The political fallout is so bad already I can't see a reversal happening.

I wasn't referring to anyone here, just making a general comment. The last two or three times I went to a restaurant some women brought their dogs with them. Even the worst redneck farmer in my country wouldn't dream of allowing an animal into a place where people are consuming food. It struck me how self obsessed some pet owners are that it never occurs to them that watching their dog lick its balls while I'm eating an expensive dinner is not the most appetizing sight in the world. Then a couple of my female friends got cats and now all they do is talk about them and post pictures online. Its a cat. There are a million others like it. listening about the last "clever" thing it did makes me want to gouge my eyes out

IMO this obsession with pets being equated with people is unhealthy. Most people today are too divorced from country life to remember that dogs (which I love) are primarily tools. Villagers mostly regard them as no different from other farm animals, because a life in which you raise animals and then cut their throat or break their neck and eat them teaches you to stay detached and firmly separate them from us. That juicy steak was once a gentle cow. Of course, this is not some hard and fast rule, and to many people in the country their dogs/cats are dear to them - but I think they have a much more sensible attitude than city dwellers who often use pets to substitute human interaction and idolize them (cat pictures anyone?) because of boredom or loneliness. PS: an obsession with the well-being of animals is a form of mental disease in a world where people starve and kill each other. Until people learn to be nice to one another things will never be good for man, let alone any other animal.

Overall, that's not possible. At least for a few decades. It already has busted for a lot of people, myself included (for me, the series ended with dancing Ewoks, and Luke looking over to a smiling Obi-Wan, Yoda, and an old Anakin on Endor). But there's no shortage of fanbois and gals out there who will slobber up anything and everything Star Wars. It's a franchise that arguably has the largest fan base in the world. Busting the franchise for all those people would be hard to do even if you tried. The profit margin may go down (I'd wager a lot it will) from J.J. Abrams movie, but it will still be there for a very long time to come. I don't know what it is that makes people so enamored with Star Wars thirty years after its release. Granted they were fun films, but for a grown man to be a "fan", wear a shirt with a stormtrooper on it etc. in 2016 is downright embarrassing. Its like someone saying their favorite films are Snow White and their favorite film character is Grumpy. Sure, everyone can admire a nice fairy tale... but they're made for children, not adults. Hell, even George Lucas said so, many times, and you can see on his face that even he doesn't understand the idiotic fan obsession with the films (or regard them as highly as they do) - but the show just keeps on lurching on 20+ years past its prime. am not sure o' the point being made. beowulf & gilgamesh is stories 'bout heroes killing monsters and btw, snow white and the seven dwarves is top ten all-time for box office receipts. (insert the same old Gromnir rant 'bout art o' the narrative... include ye' olde' standbys wherein we draw parallels 'tween tdkr and beowulf, lament how underappreciated is great young fiction such as , the phantom tollbooth, a swiftly tilting planet, and multiple gaiman and pullman works. observe that youth fiction often gets at core storytelling w/o pretension, and observe that popularity o' myth has been a true constant likely going back before written history.) am gonna posit that the actual peculiarity is that writers and directors is in a constant cycle o' denial regarding the origins o' storytelling. yeah, Gromnir's favorite movies is not star wars, but lament or disparage the storytelling that went into lucas' mythology is a mistake. the most popular stories, the stories that touch the most folks, will always be star wars, and beowulf and... whatever. HA! Good Fun! I never said Lucas's storytelling was poor, merely that the story was made for children and that the franchise is 30 years past its prime. The marketing machine has resurrected it for these films and now its literally everywhere. The other day I logged onto ebay only to have a who STAR WARS SHOPPING EXPERIENCE with a stormtrooper in a bathtub plastered all over the front page. Its suffocating. At least if the new film brought something genuinely new instead of being a lazy and mediocre mish-mash of previous films it would have a justification for all this popularity. But its just another of those incessantly pushed pieces of garbage film-making like Hunger Games, Divergent, Avengers xzy, Transformers that scoot through on a carefully calculated mix of absolute mediocrity designed by committee to appeal to everyone and supported by incessant media bombardment to convince you that what you're eating is not in fact, a burger made of ****.

Overall, that's not possible. At least for a few decades. It already has busted for a lot of people, myself included (for me, the series ended with dancing Ewoks, and Luke looking over to a smiling Obi-Wan, Yoda, and an old Anakin on Endor). But there's no shortage of fanbois and gals out there who will slobber up anything and everything Star Wars. It's a franchise that arguably has the largest fan base in the world. Busting the franchise for all those people would be hard to do even if you tried. The profit margin may go down (I'd wager a lot it will) from J.J. Abrams movie, but it will still be there for a very long time to come. I don't know what it is that makes people so enamored with Star Wars thirty years after its release. Granted they were fun films, but for a grown man to be a "fan", wear a shirt with a stormtrooper on it etc. in 2016 is downright embarrassing. Its like someone saying their favorite films are Snow White and their favorite film character is Grumpy. Sure, everyone can admire a nice fairy tale... but they're made for children, not adults. Hell, even George Lucas said so, many times, and you can see on his face that even he doesn't understand the idiotic fan obsession with the films (or regard them as highly as they do) - but the show just keeps on lurching on 20+ years past its prime.

84% 81% 650 million Hunger Games Your point?

Disney is going to milk this cow beyond undeath A large part of me hopes they push it so far that the franchise finally busts

1307'th hour of Team Fortress 2. Dayum, I wish I got paid for this

/thread

Two games to look out for: Stellaris - Paradox 4x/grand strategy inspired by Master of Orion. Has a lot of nice touches, such as a sophisticated race creation, a lot of random exploration related events that influence things like leaders, the game's tech tree (opening unique tech), decent visuals (most games of the type are horrible to look at), interesting social engineering choices. No Man's Sky - Procedural generated space exploration/trading/fighing game with an infinite universe. Stunning visuals.

Comission the Longevity Vaccine secret project, rush build it with supply crawlers, hit end turn and laugh in the face of death I plan to live forever, of course, but barring that I’d settle for a couple thousand years. Even five hundred would be pretty nice. —CEO Nwabudike Morgan,

I don't see what the end goal for Russia is here. They're not committing enough for a total victory and at this rate the war could drag on for years to come. On the other hand, they can't really leave it like this now that they have invested so much.

You guys are taking this far too seriously

If correct, it just reinforces my argument that the deal with Turkey was tantamount to admitting defeat. It turns out that Erdogan is not only controlling the flow of people but also shuffling terrorists around (arresting them when he feels like it, letting them go when he doesn't) while 28 countries in EU run around like headless chickens. Unless the EU political elite is finding all this insecurity useful to deflect public attention.

Guardian:

Well I recently watched Ant Man and it was tolerable

Deadpool - God what a juvenile piece of **** Watching: Forsaken (the new one)

Found it

Surprisingly well stocked on explosives. There was one vest at the airport that wasn't used, at least 2 bombs that went off and now this. I wonder how they got so many components and how the bombs were made.

Pinocchio has been a naughty boy