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Discussion: Bring Out Your Dead! The celebrity death thread....

[i really think this thread needs a ‘tears’ button rather  than ‘like’]

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Discussion: Bring Out Your Dead! The celebrity death thread....

Sadly, we lost Donald Sutherland. 

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Discussion: What does Putin want (and whatabout it)

nan said:

nohero said:

Russia chose to send its military across the border into Ukraine. That's a fact. Russia could have chosen not to do so, and nobody has presented any facts demonstrating that Russia did not have that choice.

Ukraine, on the other hand, was invaded, and so could choose to defend or surrender, and they chose to defend. Again, that's a fact.

There's no "opinion" that changes the above facts.

This is typical of the mainstream media that often lies with omission.  Let me fix that for you:

In 2014 the US backed a coup in Ukraine and installed an anti-Russian government.  They then fomented war in the Donbas and provoked Putin, hoping he would invade.  This went on for 8 years, during two Minsk agreements which western leaders have now admitted were treated as a joke and to bide time while Ukraine was armed and trained.  The NATO-ization process had begun.

After 8 years and two Minsk agreements broken by the West, and no listenting by the other side, Russia chose to send its military across the border into Ukraine. That's a fact. Russia could have chosen not to do so, and nobody has presented any facts demonstrating that Russia did not have that choice.--except they have -- see first sentence in this paragraph.

Ukraine, on the other hand, was invaded, and so could choose to defend or surrender, and they chose to defend.They had no choice in this matter as the West, who controlled their government decided to use them as a proxy against Russia. Boris Johnson flew in and stopped the peace negotiations and told Zelensky that he was going to fight and they were sending weapons.  Again, that's a fact.

There's no "opinion" that changes the above facts.

puhleeze look up the definition of "fact"

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Discussion: Bring Out Your Dead! The celebrity death thread....

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Discussion: What does Putin want (and whatabout it)

Russia chose to send its military across the border into Ukraine. That's a fact. Russia could have chosen not to do so, and nobody has presented any facts demonstrating that Russia did not have that choice.

Ukraine, on the other hand, was invaded, and so could choose to defend or surrender, and they chose to defend. Again, that's a fact.

There's no "opinion" that changes the above facts.

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Discussion: HEAT WAVE

June 17th, 2024

Heat Wave

The NWS has issued a Heat Advisory starting Tuesday for our area. Excessive heat should continue through at least Friday.

Today, warm, clear, and dry with a high in the upper 80s.

Tuesday through Friday, a building upper ridge will drive daytime temperatures into the low to mid 90⁰s each day. A southern wind will bring some humidity, and take the heat index ("feels like temperature") to the mid to upper 90⁰s. The same southern breeze will keep the nighttime lows in the upper 60⁰s or 70⁰s here in MAPSO.

Warm weather could continue through the weekend and into next week, although a cold front might bring some relief over the weekend (along with showers).

A heat wave is defined as heat index temperatures over 95⁰ for three or more days (this definition is location specific a heat wave in Texas is hotter than one in Maine. The use of the heat index takes humidity into account).

I expect that, in New Jersey, will will come close or break some June heat records this week. Please be mindful of the heat. Stay cool. Stay in the shade, and indoors during the midday heat. Check on the elderly and disabled, check on your neighbors. Drink plenty of fluids.

Because of the sea breeze, temperatures will be hotter in MAPSO than in the city, and likely hotter here than at the airport. Most apps report the airport temperature, so if your local thermometer says 97⁰ and the app says 92⁰, believe your thermometer not the app.

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Discussion: The Rose Garden and White House happenings: Listening to voters’ concerns

mtierney said:

I agree that Kamala was selected as a running mate because she checked off so many required boxes. So, what actually happened. Biden did not use her in a collaborative way right from the get-go. I am not saying women are naturally  gifted with more empathy on issues such as the crisis at the border or the invasion of Ukraine, but I do think she could have been more effective but Biden didn’t want to share the spotlight on the world stage.

Harris needs — desperately — right now — as Biden appears more impaired by the day, to learn how not to burst into raucous laughter and giggles on camera. It is off-putting to many viewers, especially in these grave times. Gravitas in these times of threats of war on multiple fronts would be valuable.Surely, there are “people” who could help her — as she is just a heart beat away from sitting behind that Oval Office desk. Also, mumbles that Joe would prefer someone else on the ticket in November are heard on the stump. A seat on the SCOTUS when expected retirements come to pass might be a good fit.

I've posted a few times, videos of VP Harris when she was in Congress and she was intense. As for her laughter, I haven't watched it but I would remind everyone that we seem to focus more on the demeanor and dress of female politicians in a more critical way than males. Recall the criticism of Hillary Clinton. I believe you have felt put off by Pelosi's speech patterns. Manner and dress were discussed about Warren, another favorite of mine. Klobuchar, Gillibrand, the list goes on. I'm not turned off by any of these things, just give me wicked smart and strong.

But I realize that people do respond to delivery so if that's the case, you may have a point that some coaching would work for certain audiences. If I were an advisor, I'd put her in front of metropolitan women, big business, wall street, entertainment, and design and use her as a fundraiser. Get her in an editorial piece in Women's Wear, Vogue, Marie Claire, (they published an article on four of the female candidates 4 years ago.) Get her together with Taylor Swift. She was in the 50 Over 50, Mika Bryzinski's successful picks. Let the female power brokers figure out the way to make her appealing to the Independents. Perhaps among the aforementioned crowd there are Independents, I've never met one, they are like Unicorns.

Like you, I don't like to generalize that women are more gifted with empathy but many women have a different perspective on certain issues and can come at a topic with a different approach.  We'll see.

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Discussion: The Rose Garden and White House happenings: Listening to voters’ concerns

Morganna said:

Smedley said:

I appreciate you posting but unless I'm missing something, neither of these show any evidence of video manipulation which is what I was looking for. The video is just an expanded video of the clip that was in the news and the AP interview is just the reporter talking about the stage walk-off. Of course both instances are open for individual interpretation but these are hardly evidence of video manipulation / cheapfakes at work, like the WaPo article was for the G7 video. 

At any rate, I'm done here. If I'm holy-cow gullible for believing certain videos show Biden looking too old to be running for president, then just call me holy-cow gullible.   

Smedley, one thing to keep your eye on is the lighting on the person and their outline. Studying in art school, we were warned about combining reference. The lighting on the subject might be different than the shadows on the background or the horse he rode in on.  We were also warned about hard outlines which made the subject appear cut out and pasted on the background. On a video, similar rules apply. 

Can't say I can always spot manipulation but it's helpful to watch for those things. Not saying it removes the age factor but It may help to put some of these videos in perspective.  Hope that helps.

these misleading videos aren't even manipulated to that extent. They are zoomed in and cropped or they are edited to leave out relevant information that preceded or followed the clip. And then it's given a misleading narrative frame. 

And people who want to believe the lie get suckered 

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Discussion: T**** is your 2024 Republican candidate - OWN IT!

 

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Discussion: The Rose Garden and White House happenings: Listening to voters’ concerns

whatever anyone wants to say about Joe Biden, the fact that Donald Trump has any chance of being elected president is a symptom of a very, very sick country.

even if Trump is defeated in November our country still has a lot of work to do to push back on the MAGA philosophy, and push back on the war on truth and reality. It's going to take decades if we can ever accomplish it at all.

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