Raider of the lost Ark
-
Posts
3,957 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Raider of the lost Ark
-
-
15 hours ago, Jazzy Jan said:
The Democrats are pushing for Universal HealthCare while thousands of people are marching in the UK because their U system is going broke and not working. Dems want to greatly raise taxes for really bad and non-personal medical care. No thanks!
What an idiot. He has no idea about universal healthcare. If there is one thing, the overwhelming majority of citizens (rich and poor) in basically every developed country would never question it's universal healthcare, which is much more cost efficient than whatever is going on in the U.S.. If anyone ever tried to get rid of universal healthcare in Europe, Canada or Australia, there would be a revolutions. Almost funny that Trump believes that taxes need to be raised to finance this stuff. In Germany, where it's not tax based, the public healthcare insurance companies are sitting on billions and billions of Euros in savings, despite all of the refugees Germany has allowed to come in. All of it because those insurers are technically not allowed to make profits. Is the system perfect? Certainly not. Yes, sometimes you have to wait a few weeks for special examinations. But an emergency has always priority. That people die while waiting for an operation is a complete lie and only used to discredit universal healthcare.
-
It was so funny to watch how the Dow started to plummet the moment he started giving his "speech" in Ohio. I could say something about the people sitting behind him but I'm a decent person. And I would never make fun of People whose parents are obviously brother and sister. It's not their fault. Well, a better haircut may improve the appearance. Anyway.
Not so funny was to watch how the Dow lost and gained around 500 points in a matter of minutes. Why? Because there were no human beings that created that up and down. Computer programs, algorithms that traded billions of shares in minutes without any control or real oversight. Now that is scary! And it clearly shows that the stock market has hardly anything to do with the real economy. It has become all a big game. Speculation of the worst kind. Basically placing bets (puts and calls) left and right. It's only a matter of time when governments will have to save banks. Every politician will cry foul. But will they actually do something? I doubt that.
-
In Berlin they are working on a project that is called "House of One". Constructing will start around 2019. It is a church/synagogue/mosque. From my point of view, peace will only come to the area if they do something similar with Jerusalem. All parties involved need to give up their entitlement to Jerusalem that is the very reason for two thousand years of wars. It is no ones capital or everyones capital. Period. From my perspective, Jerusalem should be a place free of state politics for once and all, let it be the holy place it is for Jews, Muslims, Christans that come to this place peacefully. Let it be the symbol that it was meant to be in the very first place but was destroyed over and over and over again by peoples own interests and entitlements. A capital has nothing to do with religion. Especially in 2017. A captial has to do with administrating and organizing a country. It is as easy as that. Maybe this is the sacrifice and ultimate conclusion. Israel should move its governing bodies to Tel Aviv and Palestine should have its government in Ramallah or Bethlehem.
-
4 minutes ago, jaron said:
Jerusalem is now Israels capital according to Trump administration
But this move is going to bring peace to the region. ... He is such an idiot.
-
39 minutes ago, karbatal said:
There's a plan to undermine the euro and the EU. It's been clear for 10 years. The risk rate sky rocketing in several European countries was orchestrated and only aimed to break the common currency. How could Spain for almost 2 years have a higher risk in the debt than most center African countries? The same for Portugal or Ireland. Even Greece, being on the veirge of bankrupt, had more risk than countires desolated by poverty. It was a plan from the main rating companies, that very suspiciously never put the USA in a bad situation or a higher risk.
Then there's Brexit. The far right rise, now Catalonia. Those are things that start with a real feeling from the people, but that later have either a big support by troll farms in countires like Russia or funds from other billionaires in USA.
There's something fishy here. Nobody outside the EU profits from a strong European Union and a common currency. Now they can't speculate with a dozen of coins as they did before, and they have to agree to hard and strict rules in health and practices in terms of agriculture to land here in Europe products, for example. The fracking industries have problems too because of European environment rules...
And here you hit the nail on the head. It is also the sole reason why Trump stopped TTIP, claiming it was bad for the U.S.. An explanation that probably left everyone in Europe stunned considering the EU people were much more critical of the agreement in the first place, out of fear that the stricter European rules and laws meant to protect the people were undermined by the U.S. side. It appears the negative results of the agreement, that would have only worked in favor of the U.S. and its corporations, were still not favorable enough to go on with the negotiations. I'm also convinced we will hardly ever get to know the true scale of this agreement. There was a reason why those negotiations were done so secretly that even members of the National Parliaments were unable to attain information about the content. Remember that the papers were leaked and made public when the secrecy became highly suspicious and resistance in Europe grew how this was handled.
And people want to know who has an interest? Follow the money!!!! But here the problem starts. My impression is that most governments are not really interested in solving issues as it may reveal how much outside influence on politics really exist and how vulnerable democracy is. Did someone ever find out who made a lot of money a few years ago when Moody's out of the blue downgraded Frances rating? Those rating companies are doing some shady business. There are supposed to control things but who actually controls them?
-
3 hours ago, Nick said:
Went to Berlin several years ago & it was so interesting to see the big differences between the eastern & western part of the city. Guess the division of city still has real lingering effects today. It’s such an eccentric & fascinating place even with the horrors of not that long ago. Was honestly pretty disturbed after visiting Sachsenhausen concentration camp which was very close to the city. Would still recommend experiencing it.
Anyway, best of luck to Germany & the rest of EU! The next ten years or so should be very interesting to say the least....
As a Berliner I hardly feel that there is any division left. It's all very mixed by now. At least in all the city centre districts of Berlin. Also you have so much influx nationally and internationally. A little bit politically, the West is a little bit more conservative whereas the East is a little more socialist. Overall Berlin is and has always been a proletarian city with the social democrats running the city (one of the reasons Hitler hated Berlin). Anyway. Are there places you hardly go? Sure. But this has more to do with the fact that Berlin is such a huge city and it is sometimes quite time consuming to get from A to B despite the fact that Berlin has a great public transport system. You create your life around the place where you live and as in any other metropolis you don't really need to leave this area/district/borough except for work maybe. Let's compare that to NYC. How often do people living in the Bronx go to Queens or Brooklyn?
-
While everyone will agree that this was a very exciting and emotional moment in history and I still get goosebumps watching what happened back in the day because I can personally relate to the events. I'm old enough to remember what happened in the weeks before the Fall of the Wall and in the months until the German re-unification. Let me just say that a lot of re-writing history has taken place ever since. Well, much of it already started right after the peaceful revolution. There are a lot of false assumptions that are historically incorrect. Especially when history is told by foreigners. I remember watching a documentary when Ronald Reagan died and historians spoke about his legacy. There were quite a few that claimed it was Reagans speech at Brandenburg Gate where he said "Mr Gorbachev, ... tear down this wall" that was responsible for the fall of the wall. This is just as wrong as claiming it was David Hasselhoff singing "looking for freedom" (okay, he was drunk when he made that claim). First of all, the former USSR had nothing to do with the Berlin Wall, the wall was not build by the Soviets and it was not secured by the Soviet army. Believe me, many people in the former GDR found those words highly disrespectful and despite the fact that many people were critical of the political situation there was some kind of patriotism as well and if there comes an American president that basically considers your country a Soviet colony, that didn't go over well. Another thing a lot of people do not remember is that the peaceful revolution happened because people wanted to rebuild the political system of the former GDR. This is what those Monday demonstrations in Leipzig and later all over the country were about. It all culminated in that huge demonstration on the 4th of November 1989 at Berlin Alexanderplatz with approx. 1 million people. No one was there to talk about a German re-unification. Then the unthinkable happened on the 09th when Schabowsky made that "mistake" declaring that the new travel regulations would go into effect immediately. The thing is, those regulations were put together so quickly, he had no real idea what he was talking about considering those regulations were meant to deal with the expected emigration of hundreds of thousands of GDR citizens. It was the staff member who wrote that legislation who put a paragraph about normal travels into that thing. It is highly questionable that those in power wanted to address that particular issue at that point of time. Everyone was really excited for a few weeks, all the political changes and everyone really seemed to be interested and involved in the process. It really was a feeling that people can achieve change. And while there were different political ideas about how the GDR should be reformed, it was done in a very respectful way. And then it happened what always happens. Money talks. And the whole movement was basically hi-jacked by the FRG parties, first and foremost the CDU under Helmut Kohl. They went to Dresden, the only place in the GDR, people were not able receive any western television channels because of its geographical location. It was called "valley of the clueless" for that very reason. People in Berlin or in other places knew from those TV channels that not everything in the West is golden. That there are social problems, unemployment, poverty. People in Dresden got the same information from the proganda news in the East. Although it was the truth, people in Dresden considered it a lie. Does all of that sound familiar and very recent? Now add the financial situation of the GDR, which was basically broke. Of course, the re-unification was the easiest way to go. The term "re-unification" is kinda questionable because it was basically an annexion or to be correct in legal terms the GDR "declared accession to the FRG". While there were negotiations, those were never really negotiations between equal partners. This is basically the reason why many East Germans back then felt highly disrespected. Still feel. Many felt that their achievements were declared null and void and their life was worthless. Very unfair considering the economical situation in the Soviet occupied sector after the war. West Germany had the Marshall plan. East Germany had to deal with the fact that almost everything was destroyed and everything that was not destroyed was send to the USSR. Factories, rail roads etc. Everything had to be rebuild out of nothing. You can add a certain lack of interest from the West Germans for their brothers and sisters in the East. They are statistics that show that even today, much more East Germans have visited the former Western part of Germany than West Germans have visited the former Eastern part. Furthermore, there were quite a few things the GDR was arguably more progressive than the FRG. Especially when it comes to social issues and education. Of course those were ignored completely. It was very much a winner mentality from the western side. The thing is, for many East Germans the personal living conditions after the re-unification became worse. Many lost their jobs because the companies they worked at had to close because they were not competitive enough (or too competitive, yes that happened too, there were some innovative companies and they were pushed out of the market by their west german competition, huge companies). This whole chapter how the assets of the GDR were liquidated by the Treuhand is the true scandal. Panama Papers? Paradise Papers? You find it scandalous what was revealed? You wont believe the things that went down at the Treuhand. Assets worth billions, especially in the banking and real estate sector were sold ridiculously low amounts. And all of this legally. There was even a law or something that granted the staff members an exemption from liability. Legalized corruption if you will. The Treuhand actually had two jobs. They were supposed to sell the assets and they were supposed to create possibilities for Western companies to settle down in the former GDR, built factories, produce stuff. In return they would receive a lot of subsidies. Of course, many companies were more interested in those subsidies than anything else. And other companies were not interested at all. For them the former GDR was just another market where they could get rid of their over-production. So many things went wrong back then, many ugly things happened. Don't look at me wrong, for those people who had a job after the re-unification, it was certainly better than before because you were able to enjoy all the possibilities. Consuming and most of all travelling around the world. But those who were left behind, without a job, unable to travel etc, they were the losers and see many things differently. What are all those freedoms worth if you can't afford them?
-
9 hours ago, LSD said:
OMG. This is the most amazing thing ever.
And yes please, lock Kellyanne Conway up. I bet there is incriminating evidence taped from microwave somewhere.
-
2 hours ago, sotos8 said:
Yes ,fuck it all up because this world is a failure .I'm with all of them that want the world to be different than it is .But frankly i'm trying to explain who's behind all this .Is it Putin who he's appearing from the West responible for everythinh or maybe Germany that wants to get rid of a strong country and a big economy like Spain is ,in order to rule Europe?
Well, I guess Germany is already ruling Europe. The German economy is roughly three times the size of the Spanish one and represents roughly 30% of the Eurozones GDP. Why would Germany want to destroy a country it does lot of trade with? Destroying would also mean to lose billions of Euros Spanish companies and institutions are in debt with German companies.
Putin will definitely enjoy this. It is no secret that he wants Europe to fall apart to gain back power. Just as it is no secret that the Kremlin in supporting a lot of right wing parties and organizations in France, Germany, Austria etc.. Parties that are very anti Europe. Let's face it, Russia may have nuclear weapons. But this is basically the only reason they are considered powerful. Politically and economically Russia is not really a powerhouse.
-
Wrong on all levels. Maybe it's time for all the companies, especially Hollywood studios, to re-consider their production there. Nutjobs like this woman only understand the power of money and if their words and actions will result in the loss of thousands of jobs and millions in tax dollars those ideas will be buried really quick. From my perspective she can believe in whatever she wants, no matter how sick those beliefs are. But as a representative you have the responsibility for other people. Unfortunately we live in times when it's really hard to find politicians who embody that principle to do good for the people. It appears the majority of representatives are only doing this for their own good.
-
The governments in Europe especially in Germany are totally pissed at Trump in regards to decertifying (which basically means nothing, just another smoke and mirror tactic for his dumb supporters) that Iran deal. Not only because Trump was lying through his tees when he read that speech yesterday but because the decision makes all parties involved look really bad when it comes to reliability in honoring agreements. It is very harmful to Germany which has tried many times over the last 15 years, ever since it decided against fighting in Iraq, to solve conflicts by using diplomacy. From time to time successfully. It was Germany's way to become a political powerhouse on the world stage without being a constant member on the UN security counsel and without using its military force. While the U.S. obviously no longer cares about its reputation, Germany still does. Of course, you worry about your reputation when the most important thing in the last 80 years has been to rebuild a good reputation from being the most hated and despised nation on the planet.
And once again he was talking about how bad the deal was for the U.S. I wonder what all the U.S. companies, first and foremost Boeing, have to say about that. Billions and billions worth in contracts are considered bad? Hypocrisy much.
-
Wasn't that in the works even before Trump? And it all has to do with the fact the UNESCO is basically acknowledging Palestine as an independent state. Many people (governments) feel that the UNESCO is crossing a line here. Simply from a technical point of view. I'm sure most governments on this planet (except Israel and in consequence the U.S.) have any problem with an independent Palestine. If only for the fact that Israel has pissed off way to many countries over the years by acting like a spoiled brat. Especially its current prime minister. I mean, who is he to talk anyway. Isn't he under criminal investigation?
Does that mean, if they leave they'll no longer have "world heritage sites"? Well, in the U.S. it's basically National Parks. And Independence Hall and the Statue of Liberty. Exactly the two buildings/monuments or better said the values those buildings stand for, the current government is trying to undermine big time. I guess, we are coming full circle here.
-
22 hours ago, Kim said:
It's no surprise that every Emirates flight is chock full of stupid Essex-man, gold-watch-wearing tossers and their orange fake-titted girlfriends posting on Instagram about their fab holiday in Dubai. Tack-o-Rama.
Can we send all the people from the Geordie Shore and Ex on the beach to Dubai and have them arrested?
-
I remember a thread from years ago and I remember I got into hot water because I did not appreciate the great architecture in Dubai. I was heavily criticized for mentioning that "great" is always in the eye of the beholder and that people should not forget who is building those structures and under which circumstances they have to work and live. Of course this is not limited to Dubai. It applies to the whole region.
-
^^^ LOL. What a great response. And look at the numbers. Much more Likes and Re-Tweets than Trumps original posts. And this is what Trump probably bothers even more than the clever response itself.
-
It's all about legacy. So far he hasn't left any. Not with his ugly ass buildings, not with branding his name to the most ridiculous products. His brand is in severe decline. With his presidency he has achieved basically nothing except for managing to fulfill some promises he has made to his voters. Many of those by even cheating to get these things done, like getting his Supreme Court judge approved. He desperately wants to make his mark so people may remember him in the decades and centuries to come. Since he is unable to do it in a "positive" way he is turning aggressive. I can totally see him going to war for the sole reason to be remembered. The strange logic behind it? Look at all the evil people in history. I would like to argue that they are better known than the people who did good things. And even worse, those mass murderers still have a following and the adoration of a lot of (evil or dumb) people. Trump has sworn to work for the good of the American people. All I can see is that he is damaging the reputation of the U.S.A. and God forbid he uses nuclear weapons.
-
Yesterday I watched CNN Quest means Business and there was the chairman (or something) of the Gun Owners of America. It's on youtube but I wont link it because it's the account of those f*ckers. It was insane. The arguments and facts presented were so laughable. He seriously said that in Europe much more people die in massacres than in the U.S. but no one knows because the media is not reporting on it. And the media never mentions all the incidents when a gun owner prevented a mass shooting. Also, if you want to forbid guns you need to forbid trucks as well because those are used by terrorists to kill people. Again, it was insanity. I may have suffered from a seizure watching this sh*t.
-
17 minutes ago, Kim said:
Why don't you find a Catalan and ask them?
This narrative that the ignorant populace of a country or region have no idea what they're doing or voting for is shockingly arrogant and out of touch, and as someone said earlier, the very essence of fascism.
With that thinking, the good old British Empire would still be ruling half the world.
WTF is the matter with you recently? I was asking a simple question in hope one of the Spanish members on this board could answer, if the broader consequences of the independence were addressed properly. I mentioned the Brexit for a very specific reason. It has clearly shown that politicians fighting for their own interest have no shame spreading false information or were downright lying to their voters. It is not arrogant to believe that parts of the populace are ignorant and that they don't know what they are voting for. It is facing the reality. On what planet have you been living in the last 2 years to not see that? It is exactly the ignorance of the populace that makes things like Brexit, Trump, Marine LePen, AFD happen.
-
May I ask, what the plans of the the Catalan government for an independent Catalonia are? I mean what do they think is going to happen to their economy. In a way this feels like the Brexit where people are not fully thinking about the consequences. Does the Catalan government thinks everything remains the same? Yesterday evening on the news they said a Brexit situation for Catalonia would result in a decrease of a minimum of 25% of its GDP. Do they understand that they will not be part of the EU any longer? That they will have to have their own currency? That this means borders, customs and the list goes on and on.
-
May I ask why the Catalan government believes they have enough votes to declare independence (besides the constitutional problems)? 90% may have voted in favor BUT what about a quorum? From what I heard, only 50% voted. Does a quorum exists? If not, this referendum should not be considered democratic. I don't know how this works in other countries but in Germany there is always a quorum added to a referendum about important issues. Issues that affect all citizens. Usually you have to have a 66,67 percent participation. Otherwise the results will not be acknowledged. It is the same with important laws, like the Grundgesetz. It needs the absolute majority to change them. A simple majority is not enough. This all is meant to protect people, especially minorities. I think we have discussed this here many times why a referendum as part of direct democracy may not always be the best thing for democracy and why there need to be restrictions, especially in times when there is a huge disinterest in the democratic process from the general public while certain interest groups (dare I say conservatives, alt-right) are much better in mobilizing their base. There is a reason why most (well, I guess all) democratic countries have a representative democracy.
-
28 minutes ago, Gâteau said:
Danke für die (wenn auch sarkastisch gemeinten) Glückwünsche. Schau dir doch mal den unterstehenden Link an - dann wird's vielleicht auch irgendwann was mit der Matura bzw. dem Abitur.
http://www.udoklinger.de/Deutsch/Grammatik/Kommaregeln.htm
P.S.: Glaubst du, dein Musikgeschmack interessiert mich?
Mein Abitur habe ich bereits vor geraumer Zeit erfolgreich bestanden. Und noch den einen oder anderen Abschluß in den Jahren danach. Und das alles, ohne in meinem Leben jedes einzelne Komma immer an der richtigen Stelle gesetzt zu haben. Ein kleiner Rat zu guter Letzt: Niemand mag Klugscheißer! Früher oder später, wirst Du im richtigen Leben mit verschiedensten Menschen zusammen arbeiten müssen. Ich bezweifele, dass Du mit Deiner rechthaberischen Art weit kommen wirst. Du solltest dringend an Deiner Sozialkompetenz arbeiten. Anderenfalls, werden Dich alle links liegen lassen. In dem Sinne ...
-
6 hours ago, Gâteau said:
Meine Wortwahl mag täuschen? Sag mal, was bist du denn für ein peinlicher Affe?
Diese Nachhilfe in verstehendem Lesen wäre relativ unnütz, da jedwede deiner Aussagen bisher absolut unnütz waren. Wo kein Inhalt ist, gibt es auch nichts Tiefgründiges zu verstehen. Du brauchst dir auch nicht nochmal die Mühe machen, den Antwort Button zu drücken und diese "gelangweilte-Hausfrau-vom-Lande-spielt-Politik-Expertin"-Meinung in schlechtem Deutsch zu artikulieren.
Oh, das Kind wird bockig? Wenn man keine Argumente hat (und Du hast kein einziges geliefert), wird man persönlich. Einmal mehr. Wenn hier einer peinlich ist, dann bist Du das. Jeder blamiert sich so gut er kann. Und darin bist Du Spitze. Viel Glück bei Deinem Studium. Mit Deinem hier gezeigten Umgang mit den Meinungen und der Kritik anderer, wirst Du es sicherlich weit bringen.
P.S. Fuck Helene Fischer!
-
23 hours ago, Gâteau said:
Und du meinst - sofern deine Interpretationsweise bezüglich meiner Nachfrage überhaupt stimme -, wäre sie nicht in der Lage sich ohne deinen Interventionsversuch selbst zu verteidigen, oder wie?
Deine Abneigung gegenüber Meinungs- bzw. Parteienpluralismus hast Du dir durch das Denunzieren jener Parteien, die nicht in erster Reihe für das Proletariat einstehen, selbst attestierst. Selbiges gilt für deinen gesamten geschriebenen Bullshit in der Hoffnung, "einen wunden Punkt zu treffen". Hast Du nicht, wirst Du nicht. :)
Und wieder: lauter Unterstellungen. Besonders amüsant, mit meiner persönlichen Meinung und Kritik in Bezug auf die FDP denunziere ich "jene Parteien ...". Also bitte wo habe ich mich denn über andere Parteien geäußert, außer in meinem Hinweis, dass die AFD (genauso wie die FDP) bei den nächsten Wahlen wieder aus dem Bundestag fliegen werden. Bleiben noch jede Menge andere Parteien, zu denen ich mich in keinster Weise geäußert habe. Und meine persönliche Meinung und Kritik ist Denunziation? Und das von jemandem, der mir eine Abneigung gegenüber Meinungs- und Parteienpluralismus unterstellt. Aus meiner Perspektive solltest Du Nachhilfe in verstehendem Lesen nehmen. Kontext ist nicht gerade deine Stärke. Deine hochtreibende Wortwahl mag andere täuschen, mich nicht.
-
21 hours ago, Gâteau said:
Was das mit der Aussage zu tun hat? Neugierde und demographisches Interesse, falls es Dir tatsächlich nicht im Vorhinein ersichtlich war.
Den Begriff "die Gesellschaft" in politischen Kontext zu setzen ist nicht nur dämlich, sondern auch brandgefährlich. Es gibt keine homogene Gesellschaft. Also gibt es ebensowenig kein Gemeinwohl oder Gemeinnutzen für "die Gesellschaft". Wenn es dir nicht passt, dass ich mich nach politischer Kritik erkundige, um auch andere Perspektiven zu erfaßen als die eigene, solltest Du dir Gedanken darüber machen, ob dir das Prinzip der Demokratie und der darin enthaltene Meinungspluralismus tatsächlich gefallen.
Sorry, aber deine "Nachfrage" (und das von dir genutzte Emoticon) nach der DDR kam nicht gerade wie Interesse rüber, sondern eher wie eine Unterstellung/Vorwurf, dass es sich bei Lolo auch um so eine Ewig-Gestrige handeln muss, die der DDR hinterher trauert und deshalb ein Problem mit der FDP hat. Und um bei Unterstellungen zu bleiben, wie kommst Du darauf, dass mir was in dem Zusammenhang nicht passen würde? Dein wenig diskreter Hinweis, ich hätte wohl ein Problem mit Demokratie und Meinungspluralismus, schließt den Kreis dann wieder zur DDR. Offensichtlich muss auch ich ein so Ewig-Gestriger aus dem Osten sein, dessen Ausführungen zur FDP "dämlich" und "brandgefährlich" sind. Genau die Art an Überheblichkeit eines "Wessis", die die Leute im Osten auch in die Arme der rechts-außen Parteien treibt. Angesichts dessen, dass Du weder mich noch meine vita kennst, sind derlei Aussagen schon reichlich arrogant. Nun gut, womöglich habe ich einen wunden Punkt getroffen? Du studierst nicht zufälligerweise BWL und planst später mal bei PWC und Co. tätig zu werden?
Demonic child screams through 8 hour flight.
in Politics and World Events
Posted
Here is an opportunity for airlines to make more money: sell kids free flights. People are more than willing to pay a premium. Just like they are willing to pay more money for kids free hotels and resorts.