How does the World view America these days?

taiwan's summarization of the GOP debate

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zlEz_PLFBIg

I love statements like these, where people from the administration try to make clear to their governmental counterparts that if they want to block international agreements, they should be aware of their position/influence on the rest of the world. I really hope their political counterparts are just playing the political game (read: they're saying "yeah, you'll get what you want, but it'll cost you imaginary political money! i want something for my constituents in return for my support.") and don't believe they actually have answers to any problem that's outside of us-borders.

  Quote

 

The release came as Secretary of State John F. Kerry said U.S. allies were “going to look at us and laugh” if the United States were to abandon the deal and then ask them to back a more aggressive posture against Iran.

Not only would U.S. global credibility be undermined, Kerry said, but also the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency would be threatened.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Kerry said in a public question-and-answer session at Reuters news service headquarters in New York . “But I’m telling you, there’s a huge antipathy out there” to U.S. leadership. Pointing to efforts by Russia and China to join forces with rising, nonaligned powers, he said that “there’s a big bloc out there, folks, that isn’t just sitting around waiting for the United States to tell them what to do.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/retired-generals-and-admirals-back-iran-nuclear-deal/2015/08/11/bd26f6ae-4045-11e5-bfe3-ff1d8549bfd2_story.html

https://twitter.com/TheIranDeal/status/631907653447389184

http://www.businessinsider.com/white-house-iran-deal-straight-outta-compton-uranium

  On 8/12/2015 at 6:48 PM, goDel said:

I love statements like these, where people from the administration try to make clear to their governmental counterparts that if they want to block international agreements, they should be aware of their position/influence on the rest of the world. I really hope their political counterparts are just playing the political game (read: they're saying "yeah, you'll get what you want, but it'll cost you imaginary political money! i want something for my constituents in return for my support.") and don't believe they actually have answers to any problem that's outside of us-borders.

 

 

  Quote

 

The release came as Secretary of State John F. Kerry said U.S. allies were “going to look at us and laugh” if the United States were to abandon the deal and then ask them to back a more aggressive posture against Iran.

Not only would U.S. global credibility be undermined, Kerry said, but also the dollar’s position as the world’s reserve currency would be threatened.

“It’s not going to happen overnight,” Kerry said in a public question-and-answer session at Reuters news service headquarters in New York . “But I’m telling you, there’s a huge antipathy out there” to U.S. leadership. Pointing to efforts by Russia and China to join forces with rising, nonaligned powers, he said that “there’s a big bloc out there, folks, that isn’t just sitting around waiting for the United States to tell them what to do.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/national-security/retired-generals-and-admirals-back-iran-nuclear-deal/2015/08/11/bd26f6ae-4045-11e5-bfe3-ff1d8549bfd2_story.html

the iran thing is a weird one. I do think that they're playing them like they did with ghadaffi, say we're your friend, open the place up a little, get their agitators in there on mass. Turn on the regime when they have an alternative set up, no fly zone, daish, israel and turkey bombing campaigns. That said, they do seem to want to counter russian gas in to europe with a pipeline from iran, so who knows what the fuck. The long term plan was to merge parts of iran with south and non kurdish eastern iraq.

gah too tired to rationalise this to people that probably don't know what i'm talking about in the first place.

  On 8/14/2015 at 12:44 AM, Blank said:

a lot of people in this thread need a hug

*opens arms*

godbless

florida LOL

american economy in such poor state that people are forced to look for valuables in human waste

Kim Davis, clerk of court in Rowan County, Kentucky is still refusing to issue marriage licenses to gay couples, against a court order, and conveiently she's on vacation:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/14/us/kentucky-rowan-county-same-sex-marriage-licenses-kim-davis.html?_r=0

its not often i drink, but god damn this special delivery was delicious, 2 finger's worth w/ice........... come to butthead

Yeah a top shelf bourbon shits all over Euro & Canadian whiskeys, easily.

  On 8/15/2015 at 1:33 AM, DerWaschbar said:

florida LOL

What does that have to do with Florida... other than seeming like it should be a story from Florida...

idk i didnt read the article

Mike Fuckabee doesn't think an 11 year old girl deserved to have an abortion after she was forced to give birth to a baby by rape. I'd like to see him repeat that if he was the girl's father. What a piece of shit.

[youtubehd]XUMV4hoabYY[/youtubehd]

I think he probably would, actually. He's an evangelical, so suffering is probably reasoned away as being Gods will. And God is always right (and some kind of dominatrix, apparently)

He's reasoning is sound, given his (admittedly faulty) starting assumptions (and I doubt it has anything to do with suffering). If you happen to have a belief that the soul is created at the moment of conception, and your belief system prioritises the sanctity of life, then his position makes sense. Of course, he's probably also in favour of the death penalty, and thus a hypocrite, though so were the writers of the bible as well, so he's in good company I suppose. The bit where he talked about the guilt felt by women who have abortions is a flat out lie though, all the research I've seen on that puts it at a tiny minority.

He has repeatedly proved himself to be a damn moron, and what this is like his third run for President?

http://wonkette.com/592429/mike-huckabee-worried-all-the-military-ladies-will-want-fancy-new-sex-boobies-now

http://crooksandliars.com/2015/05/huckabee-president-can-ignore-gay-marriage

http://www.cnn.com/2015/08/07/politics/mike-huckabee-transgender-military-hrc/

https://www.thisispersonal.org/mike-huckabee-proves-he-doesnt-understand-birth-control

"helpless without Uncle Sugar coming in and providing for them a prescription each month for birth control because they cannot control their libido or their reproductive system without the help of the government. . . . And women across America have to stand up and say, ‘Enough of that nonsense.”

He toes the worst of the party line. I'm betting as usual, he will flame out quickly for a more viable candidate.

  On 8/17/2015 at 12:35 AM, caze said:

He's reasoning is sound, given his (admittedly faulty) starting assumptions (and I doubt it has anything to do with suffering). If you happen to have a belief that the soul is created at the moment of conception, and your belief system prioritises the sanctity of life, then his position makes sense.

And that's why religious beliefs are so insidious.

If you believe that children who die before the age of 5 or so automatically go to Heaven, then it is rational to kill your children before they turn 5. (not only is it rational, but you would have to be a terrible mother to allow the possibility of your child burning in Hell for eternity.)

http://www.chicagotribune.com/suburbs/aurora-beacon-news/news/ct-abn-christensen-st-0513-20150512-story.html

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2875975/Mother-33-stabbed-son-10-beat-death-rock-thought-better-heaven-face-world-s-problems.html

Of course such mothers are never praised as moral heroes, but rather as mentally ill.

But the thing is, if we are genuinely going to respect the beliefs of people who think that children who die before the age of 5 automatically go to Heaven, it should follow that we respect the subsequent decision to kill their children to ensure their eternal salvation. (And if we don't, then we never actually respected that belief in the first place.)

Similarly, if we are going to respect other goofy beliefs then we shouldn't be suprised (or perhaps even outraged) when people actually act on them.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LxcD0q-Zd8k

a new low.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kAYGizJ4vEg

Jesus that's just grotesque.

More on it here: https://medium.com/matter/i-watched-14-police-officers-take-down-a-one-legged-homeless-black-man-outside-twitter-hq-1b3a9bf10e0f

appalling. and there's 5 of them.

An old friend of mine protesting Home Depot putting Roundup Weed Killer back on the shelves: