Drowsy Emperor

The more I look at these modern comics the more it seems the high quality artists are swallowed up by design industries.

When I think back to how little post-electoral policies reflect pre-election promises and perceptions (not necessarily in the US, but everywhere) I can't help but think that this whole discussion is a tad pointless. I mean, look at characters like Clinton or Trump, they'll say anything just to back into the presidential throne. Clinton has backtracked, flipped and outright lied so much I don't know if there's one solid thing to grasp and point towards being "her" policy. Trump's entire campaign is more a 5 beers in game of free association on the topic of politics than anything resembling coherence. I'd say that no one knows what these people will actually do should they win, because they themselves have idea other than their own self interest.

I saw Elerond doing the same thing earlier, its like I awoke in a parallel universe where no one knows Bruce. If I dared to go outside I'd probably find that the Axis powers won WW2.

Geppetto failed

There is nothing stopping them on paper but in practice the first-past-the-post system makes it practically impossible for a third (fourth or fifth) party to establish itself because of the prohibitive costs and organizational issues in running so many simultaneous campaigns coupled with the punishing loss of votes in every constituency where someone else sweeps the majority vote. Its simply not feasible, not just due to the political culture but also to what is essentially an insurmountable technical-financial barrier. Its much cheaper for a smaller party to make a parliamentary list, run one campaign, jump over the minimal percentile barrier (where they exist) and have a presence in the parliament. Which practically guarantees it a long term media presence thus leading to more space and time to "establish" itself in the minds of the voters. A small party in a majority system can easily get a double digit percentage of overall votes and not get a single seat in parliament.

The key thing that the US elite would never allow is a transition to a fully proportional system with a single constituency for the whole country. In a single electoral cycle it would show just how tired the 2 party political system is and the whole house would come crashing down. The first past the post voting is what gives the 2 parties the stranglehold they have on the political system.

Finished Walter Miller Jr.'s Canticle for Leibowitz. Its a decent Cold-War era, anti-nuclear weapons tale (about the human propensity to constantly repeat the same mistakes) infused with the authors Catholicism.

^ What he said. I don't see a single original or remarkable trait in Ex Machina. Its atmosphere is suggestive of something artistic and intelligent but the actual script doesn't reflect that. The Maritan is one of those films that celebrate know-how and technological omnipotence, practically a Victorian novel. Its naive and silly but passable. I suppose we should be grateful that they're something new at all, but I can't help hoping for something more substantial.

Sci fi films could be so good now if they weren't all wasted on superhero trash and reboots/remakes.

I love Americans and the drama they infuse their politics with - Trump is Hitler and Bernie is a Socialist. **** Europe, history and political ideologies. xD

AHAHAHAHAHAH Triump chasing Ted Cruz: Triumph: Hey, Ted, I love your smooth skin... tell me, when did Geppetto make you a real boy?!

Now that the "GOP is at war with Trump" it becomes even more obvious that he's the best candidate. When the likes of Bush, Mitt Romney and McCain are criticizing you its practically a compliment

For most countries borders are a symptom more than anything. For some (Greece) it would approach an almost existential problem if the multi multi hundreds of thousands of refugees that have transited Greece stay there- they simply don't have the money and have problems with geography as the vast majority of refugees arrive on small islands with low populations and infrastructure which are also important for tourism. But for most it's a symptom of how the theoretically fair and equal EU with collective responsibility etc isn't, really. EU is supposed to be an inevitable, irreversible march to more integration; practically that has hit some snags and the inevitable and irreversible bits are looking more evitable and reversible. It may be true that nothing of substance has changed- personally I'd disagree since things clearly have changed since Merkel's "Wilkommen alles" last summer- but the intangibles of being big E European as opposed to or in addition to being German/ French/ British/ Hungarian etc should not be underestimated. The Euro crisis, UK referendum, existing opt outs for Denmark and the UK and the refugee crisis damage the prestige of the EU as an existing institution and do even more harm to the dream of a 'United States of Europe'. Essentially, the end game for the EU is for there to literally be no borders between the countries. Re-establishing them, even in a manner which still allows trade and free movement of citizens is a retrograde step. Ah but the EU was never an unimpeded march towards integration. The political and security aspects were notoriously back and forth with more failures than successes. It was the economical advantages that glued EU countries together when all else failed. So while closing the borders (for immigrants, because that's what it boils down to) is a step back, it doesn't really disturb entrenched interests that much. I think at this point everyone is aware of how unequal the EU is towards its smaller members - and not just Greece, nor just on this issue. If Germany is going to do its own thing without caring for the impact that will have on everyone else... well then, maybe the EU integration should reverse, no?

That's something that the media is saying but its not supported by reality. Borders are still open for EU passport holders and the countries with schengen agreement, trade (the key thing around which EU integration revolved) is still flowing. Nothing of substance has changed. Controlling the flow of people across borders is not sufficient reason for EU "disintegration".

Countries like Turkey etc. can keep on piling the immigrants for as long as they like. All any Afghani or whatever has to do is rip up his passport once he crosses into the EU and then good luck guessing if he's a refugee or an economic migrant. This process could last for years. In fact, it will probably last for as long as it can be done with a high probability of success. Ergo, the states of Europe should close their borders before Germany and Sweden ruin everyone else.

I wouldn't describe being rather annoyed at this demagogue blowhard as 'bourgeois revulsion'. Pretty sure lower income people aren't entirely meshback boors obsessed with flexing nuts all the time. It's comedy, sure, but then you end up with Rob Ford. Look, I'm not enthralled with Trump and consider the outcome of the elections irrelevant either way. But the way Trump is being criticized rubs me the wrong way, because the same people that attack him in the media (especially his political opponents) are just as racist, narrow minded and imperialist as he is - they just have a better veneer of civility. Eg: for all his posturing all Hillary's husband did apart from banging his secretary was to feed the war in former Yugoslavia and increase the body count while endorsing racism and discrimination that wouldn't be out of place in Hitler's Germany against my country. The same CNN that's "horrified" with Trump, has been encouraging demolishing other nations "for their own good" for years. So I fail to see the democrats as the "better side of American politics", in fact I see them as worse because the pretense of civility and humanism they wear makes it that much more bitter to watch. Trump is a ****, but at least he's not pretending. Also this:

220000 in Sweden, in a country of 10 million. 2.2% population shift in just 2 years. Settling an entire middle eastern city. Gawd that country is insane..

They'll give up when they realize what the weather is like

That's just a calculated way of building up his votes by bragging. Many people are susceptible to ineccessant and extravagant bragging because they see it as a sign of confidence, and over time even believe some of it. Just because he said it doesn't mean he believes his own bull****. He's got nothing on her spontaneous outburst of psychopathy "He bull****s on purpose, so he shouldn't be held accountable for bull****ting"? The easiest way to hold him accountable is not to vote for him. Other than that he did nothing illegal. Neither did Hillary, but my point was that her outburst speaks of her true character whereas he's not hiding anything in that regard. He's a showman who knows his act and audience. Even so, he isn't an advocate of wars and mass murder like she is. Methinks you've become too complacent with the piss warm pool of western politics, where everyone is disgorged from the same cloning vat and now that something a tad different has appeared everyone is suffering from an acute case of petite bourgeois revulsion. Its true, you really dont have a clue about how US politics works "Away from me you beggar!" - generic Baldur's Gate noble

That's just a calculated way of building up his votes by bragging. Many people are susceptible to ineccessant and extravagant bragging because they see it as a sign of confidence, and over time even believe some of it. Just because he said it doesn't mean he believes his own bull****. He's got nothing on her spontaneous outburst of psychopathy "He bull****s on purpose, so he shouldn't be held accountable for bull****ting"? The easiest way to hold him accountable is not to vote for him. Other than that he did nothing illegal. Neither did Hillary, but my point was that her outburst speaks of her true character whereas he's not hiding anything in that regard. He's a showman who knows his act and audience. Even so, he isn't an advocate of wars and mass murder like she is. Methinks you've become too complacent with the piss warm pool of western politics, where everyone is disgorged from the same cloning vat and now that something a tad different has appeared everyone is suffering from an acute case of petite bourgeois revulsion.

That's just a calculated way of building up his votes by bragging. Many people are susceptible to ineccessant and extravagant bragging because they see it as a sign of confidence, and over time even believe some of it. Just because he said it doesn't mean he believes his own bull****. He's got nothing on her spontaneous outburst of psychopathy

Most "memorable" (because it's recent memory) for me would be the improved relations with Cuba and a possible normalisation of relations. One more small cold war leftover on the way out. For me the most memorable thing was the preemptive Nobel Peace prize. A case of lol wut? if I ever saw one. Another memorable thing was the misconception that he was "weak", when in fact some of his foreign policy decisions made more political sense than any of his predecessors. Like in Syria, when he (and the administration naturally) realized that the mediocre forces the US controlled in the conflict had shifted allegiances, leaving the US without a horse in the race so to speak - and subsequently decided not to waste national resources to empower Saudi Arabia, Turkey etc. even with all the domestic clamoring for intervention. The fact was that in Syria Russians have genuine interests to defend and the US doesn't really have any, or at least not any they can realize to their own benefit (not Saudi or Turkish benefit). In the media frenzy this was spun as Putin's victory, because Obama failed up to follow the chemical weapons threat - even though in politics its plainly better to sometimes bluff to maybe achieve something, rather than following up at all costs and losing out in the long run.

I keep on thinking to read the odd Discworld novel that I missed but Pratchett's euthanasia related activism soured his work significantly for me. Which is a shame since I loved the carefree way the first Discworld novels were written and enjoyed the more sophisticated tales he spun once the setting was established. It is my opinion that his whole campaign was an extremely cowardly way to offload the responsibility for his death (which he quite able to arrange, on his own, had he the courage) from himself to others, just so that he could eke out that last "good bit" and then have someone else do the morally questionable part. Mind you, there are people who spent their whole lives ill and perhaps unable to make that decision, who have more ground to make the claim he made - but he certainly was not one of them, nor could he represent them. Its a funny thing how perception of the artist can influence the enjoyment of his work, even though the two don't have to be seen as one and the same.

Another problem with Hillary is that she wants to be president for the wrong reason. That being a self-centered obsession to prove her worth after her husband humiliated her in front of the whole nation.