Raider of the lost Ark

I may be wrong, but wasn't there a story that One Million Moms is actually only one mom?

Great explanation. A few days ago, Iraqs parliament voted that all foreign troups have to leave. I think the Germans are already out. They did not support the US in the invasion. Germany later sent troops on request of Iraq to train police and armed forces, to provide assistance in re-building Iraq, just as you mentioned above.

Is Iran supporting ISIS? - No. In fact, Iran provided western nations, the US among them, with Information through backchannel communication. On this matter the recently killed Soleimani was an even ally. Is Russia supporting Iran? - Of Course. Add China. The enemy of my enemy, is my friend. Here is the truth. There should not have been a war in Iraq in the first place. There was simply no justification. Unfortunately only France and Germany said NO back then. And remember how they were scolded by the US for it? Remember the "coalition of the willing"? The whole Invasion together with the interference in other parts and a complete ignorance and lack of understanding of the life and politics in the near and far east has destabilized the whole region and have created the situation people are in right now. All of this is the direct result of a failed US policy for decades now in all parts of the world. The US made the Taliban strong in Afganistan in their fight against the Soviets by providing weapons to them (now they are at war with them, a war they can't get out of), the US has basically created ISIS. The list goes on and on. And Iran is a particular example how vindictive the US are. It basically goes back to the hostage situation at the US Embassy in 1979. Which was a direct result of the US, granting asylum to the much hated Shah after the revolution. Ever since the US are going for a regime change there. Of course, it is really helpful that most (well, the Repulican) presidents are not really bright and need advisors. And we all know how this worked out in the past with advisors that have had their very own agenda (mostly for ecomonic reasons, war and oil are promising huge profits). People should read or watch some documentaries about the history of Iran (Persia) to understand that the narrative of the US Government can be seen as extreme manipulation in order to make US citizens believe Iran is nothing but a terrorist, islamic country. I bet most people believe that Iran is an Arab country. And you know how the average US brain works, thanks to Fox News and Co.: Arab = Muslim = Terrorist. Interestingly, no one ever questions Saudi Arabia over their the human rights record based on their religion, the most extreme form of Islam. But hey, they are allies. Which means they are buying US weapons for billions, the crown prince (seen everywhere else as a murderer) is a friend of Trump and his "I will bring peace to Israel and Palestine" son in law Jared Kushner. And they are socially progressive. Women can drive a car now and cinemas are showing Marvel movies. So all is good. The hypocrisy makes me wanna throw up. In case the US go to war with Iran, I predict there will be no allies to join them. No matter if they call for NATO, the very organisation the US believe is useless. Every government that will send troops to support the US will commit political suicide. There is absolutely no support around the globe for such a war. There'll be demonstrations / riots of proportions never seen before. I wonder if the US even realize how isolated there are. And all of this is self-inflicted.

Because what she said is technically correct? Ever heard of the Geneva convention and other treaties that deal with humanitarian treatment in war? Bombing cultural sites is a war crime. Period. Besides that, bombing and therefore destroying cultural sites puts the US in very bad company. The first things The Tabliban and ISIS did, was destroying heritage sites.

By the way, have you seen that black girl at the Trump rally in Michigan? Wearing a t-shirt "Keep Trump - Impeach Congress"? Do These People have an idea, how stupid they are? Why just not get rid of Congress? But I suppose this is the implication anyway? It is really scary to see the lack of knowledge how democracy works. And his attack on the Michigan representative, filled with hatred and of course lies. How disgusting can one human be?

At this moment the articles of impeachment will not be passed to the senate because of the unwillingness of Mitch McConnell to call witnesses and his declaration he will not be impartial on the issue. Keep in mind, this is a trial (not a criminal one) and you have a member of the jury or the judge himself has already declared he will not be impartial, why go on with this trial in the first place. It is highly disrespectful of the Republicans in the Senate, they are denying the Democrats a fair trial. They (the Republicans) had their chance in those congressional hearings to question and present witnesses. All they did was basically giving rambling speeches why they think the impeachment is a sham, a witch hunt, a Hoax. Using all the terms that Trump is using for months on Twitter. The level of lunacy of some of those Republicans was unbearable and it revealed that they are not interested in the issue itself and therefore will ignore facts no matter what. They say, this impeachment is the end of democracy. The truth is, when represenatives, people voted into a public office to work for and in the interest of the public, are no longer doing their job, making use of the powers they have to uphold democracy, turn a blind eye to the events that threaten democracy, that is the end of democracy.

As if this has anything to do with Trump. Look around the so called "first world countries". They all have record low numbers in unemployment, they all have growth (not as high as the U.S. but I would like to argue that the financial sector in the U.S. is much stronger than in any other country and contributes to the growth of GDP at higher rates than elsewhere). BUT different to other countries he introduced a tax legislation that will backfire at some time. Making the rich even richer until the end of time but leaves nothing for the poor and middle class. They may currently save some money on taxes, but nothing that great actually, but in a few years they will start to pay more because Trump and his cronies have created a shady construct that has certain parts run out by then. But of course, he will have left office by then and it is no longer his responsibility. Wait, I forgot, he is not responsible for anything negative, he is a perfect stable genius. And did we already talk about the 1 trillion dollar deficit? And did we already talk about the artificil stimulus of the American economy by putting tariffs on bascially everything that is better or at least has a better value for money than any U.S. product, which in result makes people buy the subpar American product, simply because they are now cheaper. All of this disguised as trade talks/deals, because other countries take oh so much advantage of the U.S. Unfortunately those tactics do not work forever. Internationally, among many other things, this leaves a very bitter taste and at this point the General consensus is that Americans cannot be trusted. It's a pity that most people with their U.S. centric worldview do not realize the damage done.

I don't think this is mutually exclusive. There are lots of ideas that impose restrictions on big companies and certain industries that I fully support. Interestingly those ideas affect younger generations the most. Prohibit cheap flights immediately. There should be no flights within Europe less than 150 EUR one way. Have people pay for their returns when they bought stuff (especially clothes) online. These things can be easily implemented and will help to reduce carbon emmissions big time. Have railroads reactivated or invest in new ones for transporting goods, get the goods of the road. Everything that is delivered from further away than 50 or 100 kilometres must be transported by trains, not by trucks. There are other things, not limited to carbon emmissions. Only have glass bottles, no plastic, no cans.Those glass bottles must be returned to supermarkets and from there on recycled. Works already perfectly fine with water bottles, beer bottles in Germany. Why not extend this system to all beverages. And while we are at it. Why do we need to have dairy products in plastic? Put it in glass. Prohibit all those paper/plastic mugs you get at Starbucks etc. People can easily bring their porcelain or stainless steel mugs to be filled up. All of the aformentioned things can be easily implemented (except reactivating and building new reailroads) and from my perspective it something people will absolutely support (well, of course not the people who are used to fly 10 times a year to Mallorca for EUR 19.00 just to get drunk and of course the people who are used to buy the same pair of trousers in 5 different sizes just to send 4 or all of them back for free). I think all those things are common sense and in result resistance from the general population will be minimal. Let's start with those things, not with the most controversial thing like prohibiting cars.

The hate she gets is not okay. And it's not helpful to spread hate when a serious, a civilized discussion about the issue is needed. Unfortunately it appears that both sides are not really interested in having a serious discussion. Peoples egos get in the way. I have lots of discussions about the whole thing at work and at home. And the general opinion among adults is that this radical, agressive approach of Fridays for Future makes it really hard for people to join this movement, especially when you get told all the time how irresponsible your lifestyle has been and that you are unwilling to do anything. Truth of the matter is that much has been done in the past. The problem is, that no 16 year old remembers the 80s, when there was acid rain, forests were dying, the rivers were polluted with toxines. People did something and nowadays, the rivers and lakes are cleaner than ever before, the forests are okay. Now add the reduction of coal burning to create electricty and heat. Is that nothing? What about the big amount of hypocrisy from those children, every year a new mobile phone, drinking coffee and stuff from those highly problematic paper/plastic mugs and of course still flying around the world big time (funny enough, those demonstrations were not that successful when school was out in Summer.) I don't see them lowering their lifestyle. And all of this when they have not worked a day in their lifes. There is a lot of entitlement from their side. Now add the psychological aspect. I would like to think many people worked and work hard to achieve a certain lifestyle. A car, the chance to fly away on holidays etc. Not really excessive, if you ask me. And now you have young people basically telling you, you are irresponsible, you can't have that anymore? Also, those Young people have no understanding of history. Especially German history. Keep in mind that Germans did lose everything they had. Twice. After WWI and WWII. (wars we were responsible for, no question). A nation suffering from poverty, rebuilt twice by hard work. Of course, older generations are very hesitant and reject the agressive approach, especially when the side that wants to prohibit so many things does not acknowledge the achievements of older generations.

This is the typical argument used by Republicans to keep the current system of presidential elections. The electoral college works in their favor and they have made gerrymandering a science. The electoral college is an ancient system and sould be overturned. One vote should count as one vote. The may keep the electoral college, but should get rid of "the winner takes it all" methology. In the end the results will reflect the overall voters will. The current voting system is unfair as the number of electoral votes are accounted disproportionately to the number of inhabitants or people eligible to vote. Why does a voice in Wyoming count approx. 3 times as much as a voice in California? Back to your question: how do you prevent it? Well, there already is a system in place. The House of Representatives and the Senate. They are the legislative branch. Not the president. Unfortunately, all the sh*t going on at the moment with that president, it rather appears as if their major job is to fight for or against that president. In their regular daily work they very much represent their states and the interest of their people. That's what they have been elected for in the first place.

What I find so funny is that much about the Brexit was supposedly about the NHS. I wonder if people have really thought this through. Especially with that "really great" trade deal with the U.S. that will come soon (well, I guess that's "soon" the way Madonna understands it). Do people realize that the U.S. will most definately demand the opening of the U.K. Health market to U.S. companies, which will most likely be the last step to bring down the NHS. Conservatives for years have cut the budget of the NHS to create the impression of ineffectivity and a lack of care. All of this was supposed to open the system to private insurances etc. The trade deal will be the moment those attempts will come full circle. Do people remember TTIP? That deal that was negotiated behind closed doors between the EU and the U.S. Negotiations were so secret that not even members of the national parliaments were granted information about the content. When someone leaked parts of it, all hell broke loose because of chlorine chicken, dismanteling workers rights, environmental rights etc., dubious courts to rule over cases where U.S. companies sue European countries over damages they allegedly have to suffer because those parliaments, as the representive of the people, dare to introduce or change certain laws. A democratic act that may cost countries billions of dollars in damages. Let's just say, TTIP was very much in favor of the U.S. Trump claims it was bad for the U.S. and that's why he called it off. The truth is, the deal was off the moment those documents saw the light of day. Now imagine what the U.S. will demand from the U.K., which is obviously in much weaker position than the EU.

It's so funny to watch the English TV channels, including BBC World, which appears to have become a propaganda tool for the current government. Maybe it has always been, but much of their current political reports are far from award winning. And considering the audience they are catering to are foreigners, it's borderline embarassing and laughable at times. Especially their reporting on the Brexit. All the reporting is like watching the twilight zone. All these politicians still pretending the EU is highly dependable on the the UK market, while the UK doesn't really need the EU at all. Hence the Brexit. All statistcs, all projections say otherwise. Someone, I don't remember who it was, said, that when it eomes to economics there are always several opinions and forecasts. But in regards to Brexit everyone from scholars to Business leaders says the same. That is downright scary. Even more scary that people still do not listen. They should not say, they have not been warned.

As someone not from the U.S., I have the Feeling that the attitude in Europe towards those mass Shootings ín the U.S. has changed. Back in the past, there were discussions (of Course, it is very very vey hard to find anyone who understands the Obsession with guns in the U.S. and the lack of Control.) and People were sorry for the victims. With those recent Shootings it seems like an "okay, another one. what's new?". People do not care anymore. And quite frankly, why should they if the U.S. do not really care and get the issue solved. But it's not only with this issue. It's also with military operations. Most of Europe (well, not the UK of Course) no longer joins the U.S. military. Example: Iran - street of Hormuz. They have all learned their lesson and Trump with his lies about military spending and the lies about the U.S. army protecting Europe has burned so many bridges that the U.S. is so isolated like they have never been before. Obama had a hard time rebuilding trust after Bush jr. and his illegal invasion in Iraq. I feel sorry for any democrat president that comes after Trump. The amount of shit he or she needs to clean up is so huge, it's a Herculian task and requires something that U.S. politics is not really familar with: humility.

I have a hard time to understand what personal damage he has suffered that is worth 74.000? False advertising is one thing and certainly not okay, although I would like to believe that Belgian Chocolate is more a type of chocolate, not neccessarily the place where it is produced. Do people sue about French Fries, French Toast, Blackwood Cherry Cake. And if this is really about false advertising then this is case for Costumer Rights Groups. On the other hand, when it comes to chocolate in the U.S. they need to sue left and right for even calling most of what is produced there as chocolate.

Watching it on TV. It looks absolutely horrible. Must be devastating for France and Parisians in particular. Just sad. The fire is moving forward so fast, it has almost reached the front facade.