Raider of the lost Ark

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.

What kind of nonsense is that? And that Lakisha statement? Seriously? EVERYONE would use simpler words talking to someone named Lakisha. Is that even real name or just a character on Mad TV?

While this is certainly a good thing, it has been said that this is most definately not a cure. Keep in mind, those bone-marrow transplantations were meant to treat cancer, not HIV. It appears that in both cases, the patients were "cured", the bone-marrow came from HIV resistent donors. I would like to believe that HIV resistance is a rarity so donations on large scale are rather unlikely. Furthermore it is not known how this procedure would work with HIV infected but otherwise healthy patients. We may not find out anyway since a bone-marrow transplantation is a highly agressive, to a certain point life threathening procedure. That's why it is often used with very ill patients only, as a last ditch effort. That said, it may be a new (?) approach to find a cure wich hopefully comes sooner than later.

I will never understand when someone who is part of a minority (and as a disabled person he is) goes after another minortity. My countries history should teach him a lesson, once your country becomes a totalitarian regime, no minority is safe. You get killed, no matter what. Leaders will think of you as "unworthy living" because you will damage the oh so pure gene pool of the master race. And because they are nice, the call it Euthanasia. This guy is an asshole.

You know when they say "save the best for last". I'm pretty sure, this applies to Don jr. It is still not really clear what happened at that Trump Tower meeting. About Russian adoptions it was not, we know that. I sincerely hope, they have something on Don jr. and it will be fun to watch what his despicable father will do. Throw his son under the bus or pardon him. Anyway, as horrible as his presidency is, there is a glimmer of hope. Once it is over, he will be the most depised president ever. And where will he go? Where will he live? Will he ever be able to go out in public? If he moves back to NYC, I can see him totally shunned everywhere. I doubt anyone will invite him. He will sit in his ugly tower, in his faux Versailles in the sky, alone, isolated. And Milania will be gone, the minute his presidency ends.

I'm afraid, the rest of the world will never really understand that kind of patriotism. Even worse, the tradition of rallying around the flag. But I guess being German makes me especially suspicious about those things. After all, the history of my country shows clearly what happens when patriotism turns into nationalism. Now most Germans are only patriotic when there are championships and Germany is playing a great game. Other than that, no one really cares. The concept itself seems so superficial. The whole "I'm proud to be American (or German)"? While I'm proud of the many achievements of my country in so many fields, I never felt pride for the mere fact that I was born in this particular country. As if I had any choice? Ridiculous. It's the same when people claim the U.S. (or any other country) is "the greatest country ever". Such thing simply does not exist.

We will have to wait and see what happens. But that does not mean Germany is not prepared. I'm pretty sure, preparations started immediately after the Brexit vote. You know, if Germany wants one thing above everything else, it's stability. Of course, Germany will no longer export so much to the UK but I don't think it will be a desaster of epic proportions. Afterall there are certain industrial things where Germany is the sole producer or the producer of the premium product. If people want it, they will pay for it, even if it's more expensive. That's why I always found Trumps threats about higher taxes for German cars laugable. As if someone in the US who can afford an expensive Audi, Mercedes, BMW or Porsche cares about a few thousand dollars more. I also think that Spain should not really worry about their agriculture or tourism. The UK will still buy fruits and vegetables from Spain. Where else are they supposed to get these things? From the US? That will be just as expensive. And keep in mind they don't have trade deals immediately after the Brexit. UK citizens will still travel to Spain. A 2 Hours flight to get in the sun. What's the alternative? UK citizens will end up paying more when the pound crashes but will they stop travelling or buying Spanish fruit and vegetable. I don't think so.

And there are still some British politicians who claim Germany and France will cave in the very last minute "because those countries need the UK". Obviously they still have not understood how it works, that every EU member needs to agree to such deal. It really shows how unprepared the UK really is in case of a hard Brexit. It's frightening.

Fasten your seatbelt, it's gonna be a bumpy ride. But we should stay civilized. Therefore Europe would like to thank you for all the banks, insurances and companies that move their headquarters to Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt because they are no longer able to do business with the EU from the City of London. We would like to thank you for the heavily needed workforce in healthcare and care for the elders by kicking all those Wonderful Polish and Baltic workers out. We would like to thank you for strenghtening European universities and research institutes by sending top people, because staff has no longer access to European research funds at British research hubs. And the list goes on. So much to be thankful for. Be proud of yourselves, you did it all on your own. Of couse, when the shit hits the fan, there will be mass amnesia and all of the UK will claim it's all the evil EUs fault. But that's fine. We are used to this fairytale. By the way, Scotland and Northern Ireland are very welcome in the EU, if they want to join. Wales? Well, I guess they really need to come crawling. They were especially ungrateful considering the EU probably did more for Wales than the British government ever has.

I don't get the whole "democracy" and "people have spoken" argument. What do they think elections are? Every four years people change their minds and vote a new government or parliament. It happens all the time. And what I will never understand is that for such a radical move as the Brexit a simple majority is sufficient. Most countries have huge hurdles when it comes to really important legal matters like changing the constitution or things that affect the majority of the citizens of a country. For those things usually a two third majority is needed and to make it even harder they have a quorum set. Without these hurdles a minority is very well able to change things in a way that they might be negative for certain parts of society or society in general. Exibit A) Brexit.

^^^ This is getting ridiculous. Do they know that this was exactly the way, former communist countries voted for their leaders and how dictatorships still do it today. And people thought George W. Bush ruined the reputation of the United States after the invasion in Iraq.

So true. I have not heard of them in ages here in Germany. I think the nail to their coffin was a campaign where they compared the situation of caged animals to the Holocaust.

Oh look, only the super evil and super stupid are left. And Ivanka and Jared. Of course, no nepotism here. By the way, what happened to peace between Palestine and Israel?

Ahead of the curve? Well, only if begging the OPEC to not lower the oil output so US citizens can still get their cheap fuel is ahead of the curve? The truth is, his loyal subjects will get very angry with winter coming and they may need to pay substantially more money for fuel and heating oil, not to mention for products that contain oil, so basically everything plastic. Say goodbye to the money you saved by lowered taxes. And emmissions went down in the US? How is that possible considering the hundreds of coal mines re-opened and giving tens of thousands of workers their jobs back. …. Oops, that never happened.

Socialist by name only.