The White House isn’t ordering State to destroy that phone?  That’s what I’d expect from these lawless bozos.

I’m sure some people are able to squint and convince themselves that Trump’s Syria pronouncement makes sense. But nobody can approve of this (lack of) process.

I think that would galvanize the opinion of the Chinese people against the NBA.  It would be better to try to separate the actions of the Chinese government from China itself.

I had seen Sam and Dean split up and pine for each other a few too many times and the big bads were feeling contrived.

You’re conflating communist and authoritarian.  I guess you could say that the Chinese government is seeking to restrict commerce in some sense, but I don’t think banning the Rockets is communist in any meaningful way.

It’s true that Republicans are hypocrites on this topic in many ways, but they’re not wrong about this. They’re wrong about the other things that conflict with the views they’re expressing now.

It’s true that Republicans are hypocrites on this topic in many ways, but they’re not wrong about this. They’re wrong about the other things that conflict with the views they’re expressing now.

It’s OK to talk politics as long as you don’t venture into controversial topics like the value of democracy, the right to protest your government, or the right to due process.

The advantage of this type of serialized monster of the week show is that there are good monster of the week episodes even when the serialized story is meandering to nowhere.

I guess I’ll have to get around to watching the last few seasons. I loved seasons 1-5 and liked 6-8 in dwindling amounts. I checked out around season 9 or 10.

A James Comey film could be useful if it highlights the mistakes he made in addition to how he was fired.  It probably won’t.

Immigration:

The only derangement is thinking Donald Trump should be president. He’s one of the biggest pieces of shit in America.

I don’t understand your point. You object to the word authoritarian? OK, but I don’t see what substantive point you’re trying to make and I don’t think your linguistic point holds water.

Fair enough. I agree that things weren’t perfect after WW2 or the Korean War, but I was thinking in terms of counterfactuals. It seems like both counterfactuals are significantly worse for both wars.

What do you think the long term negative consequences of US involvement in WW2 were?

I think people conflate authoritarianism and socialism. They can be related, but not in the way most people use them when discussing US politics.

It’s one thing for an idiot President to sell out Hong Kong (not to mention the Kurds, but they don’t buy a lot of NBA merch so let’s leave them out of this for now). But Harden and the rest of the NBA can’t even say they support the people of HK while also kissing Xi Jinping’s ass.

Maybe it’s best for the US to reduce our involvement in Syria, even if it hurts the Kurds.  One thing I’m sure of: Donald Trump is not the person who should be making that choice.  I sincerely doubt that he’s bothered to learn anything about the situation on the ground in Syria, as evidenced by the misinformation in…

I don’t think Trump’s brain is all that mysterious. He’s a grifter who’s gotten away with white collar crime and low rent scamming his entire life. He’s not interested in pursuing anyone’s interest except his own.