Elections-not only sunk but removed

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

@JohnInCarolina - at least the real deal about the ease of access via visas (as you pointed out) got some run time.  Of course, lots of handwringing and comments about the bluster from Trump and Carson.  Short news week on the horizon (thanks to those friggin Pilgrims and the way they treated the Indians   ) but no lack of arm-chair experts.  

Did you watch some of the talking heads this AM?  Props to you my friend - I usually can't make it through much more than 5 min.

DoubleEgger

@Jeepster47 I bet @Tspud1 's table thread was sunk because the mothership sells Challenger tables. 

pgprescott

DoubleEgger said:

@Jeepster47 I bet @Tspud1 's table thread was sunk because the mothership sells Challenger tables. 

Actually there is a specific rule against any kind of give away contests. They kill them all. Good bad or indifferent. 

FarmerTom

JohnInCarolina, I read the Samaritans Purse article you referenced.  It states that by far most of the refugees are young men.  WTH?  Are the women, children, and elderly dying along the way, or are these men (?) leaving their families behind and just looking out for themselves?  If the former, I truly sympathize with their plight. If the latter, I seriously question the ethics, morals, and value of one who would abandon his family.  Though on second thought, I guess they would fit right in over here, since ethics and morals seem in short supply these days.

lousubcap

@JohnInCarolina - I generally have the 9 AM (EST)  weekly NBC and ABC shows on if there is a hot-button issue or two.  I catch most of the audio but am doing other things along the line.  Many times it's adult supervisory beverage consumption while overseeing the L&S cook on the BGE but today it's a hot and fast menu so the window was there.  

DoubleEgger

pgprescott said:

DoubleEgger said:

@Jeepster47 I bet @Tspud1 's table thread was sunk because the mothership sells Challenger tables. 

Actually there is a specific rule against any kind of give away contests. They kill them all. Good bad or indifferent. 

They didn't kill the "guess the number" cutting board giveaway from that newbie that I called about and received a couple of flags...

I was right in calling out that BS upfront because the winner never got the board. 

pgprescott

DoubleEgger said:

pgprescott said:

DoubleEgger said:

@Jeepster47 I bet @Tspud1 's table thread was sunk because the mothership sells Challenger tables. 

Actually there is a specific rule against any kind of give away contests. They kill them all. Good bad or indifferent. 

They didn't kill the "guess the number" cutting board giveaway from that newbie that I called about and received a couple of flags...

I was right in calling out that BS upfront because the winner never got the board. 

Negligence. Idk? Maybe that's why they are paying closer attention to them now. 

DoubleEgger

Three pages and we're not taking about climate change? It's our biggest threat you know... 

JohnInCarolina

FarmerTom said:

JohnInCarolina, I read the Samaritans Purse article you referenced.  It states that by far most of the refugees are young men.  WTH?  Are the women, children, and elderly dying along the way, or are these men (?) leaving their families behind and just looking out for themselves?  If the former, I truly sympathize with their plight. If the latter, I seriously question the ethics, morals, and value of one who would abandon his family.  Though on second thought, I guess they would fit right in over here, since ethics and morals seem in short supply these days.

The explanation in the article is that it is simply much more difficult for women, children, and the elderly to travel long distances.  

But did you watch the video?  Plenty of women and children in those boats my brother.  I don't know about you, but I try not to judge people fleeing terrorists.

pgprescott

JohnInCarolina said:

FarmerTom said:

JohnInCarolina, I read the Samaritans Purse article you referenced.  It states that by far most of the refugees are young men.  WTH?  Are the women, children, and elderly dying along the way, or are these men (?) leaving their families behind and just looking out for themselves?  If the former, I truly sympathize with their plight. If the latter, I seriously question the ethics, morals, and value of one who would abandon his family.  Though on second thought, I guess they would fit right in over here, since ethics and morals seem in short supply these days.

Did you watch the video?  Plenty of women and children in those boats my brother.  I don't know about you, but I try not to judge people fleeing terrorists.

If only we had seen this coming and there was some sort of line in the sand to guide our actions or inactions. What a shame. Quarter million dead and millions displaced. Oh well, I guess this is what a real genius leader looks like. Idk? I know this, this is now what a business man would call a lose-lose situation. 

JohnInCarolina

pgprescott said:

JohnInCarolina said:

FarmerTom said:

JohnInCarolina, I read the Samaritans Purse article you referenced.  It states that by far most of the refugees are young men.  WTH?  Are the women, children, and elderly dying along the way, or are these men (?) leaving their families behind and just looking out for themselves?  If the former, I truly sympathize with their plight. If the latter, I seriously question the ethics, morals, and value of one who would abandon his family.  Though on second thought, I guess they would fit right in over here, since ethics and morals seem in short supply these days.

Did you watch the video?  Plenty of women and children in those boats my brother.  I don't know about you, but I try not to judge people fleeing terrorists.

If only we had seen this coming and there was some sort of line in the sand to guide our actions or inactions. What a shame. Quarter million dead and millions displaced. Oh well, I guess this is what a real genius leader looks like. Idk? I know this, this is now what a business man would call a lose-lose situation. 

You can try to make this about Obama I guess, but I really haven't seen any concrete suggestions as to what might have prevented the refugee crisis.  Aside from calls for "strong leadership," which is just empty rhetoric.

Jeepster47

When are we going to be as passionate about coming to the aid of our veterans who are currently suffering from physical and emotional problems? 

lousubcap

Hindsight is 20-20 and Syria is a cesspool.  If there were easy answers it would have been sorted out by now.  There are too many factions with different agendas to make for any unilateral approach.  The Islam factions have been going at each other since Muhammed died around 650 AD and it won't stop any time soon.  
If you want to get a good appreciation for what's going on in the Middle East, look at a Sunni-Shia map and forget the country boundaries.  That gives a good representation about who's who.  Just an opinion and we all know what those are worth...  
I need to get off the soap-box.

JohnInCarolina

Jeepster47 said:

When are we going to be as passionate about coming to the aid of our veterans who are currently suffering from physical and emotional problems? 

Is it either one or the other?  Why not both?

YukonRon

We as veterans are of a different sort, I think. We tend to take the steps to watch after our own. I have done things to support our brothers and sisters, and will continue doing so.
Take some time to go to a veterans hospital, or the veterans homes. Just visit or volunteer. It does not take much, if most of us step up. It helps them, and it helps you. A couple hours a week, month or year. It helps them and you.

blasting

JohnInCarolina said:

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/refugee-crisis-in-europe?&utm_source=SPFacebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=m_Y000-SOCM_SocialMedia&utm_content=10-07RisingTideVideo

I watched this video, and it at first was heart warming, but then it hit me at what a dishonest donation grab it was.  Btw, I am commenting as someone who has given to Samaritans Purse for many years.  

The produced video shows almost a majority of women and children.  They knew this was a dishonest representation, as evidenced that they felt inclined to admit in the accompanying write up that the majority were actually young men, and not needy families that they showed in the video.  

The endless raw news footage of these refugee masses paints a very different picture, in fact, it's difficult to even spot a woman or child among all the young men.  

JohnInCarolina

blasting said:

JohnInCarolina said:

I'm just going to leave this here:

http://www.samaritanspurse.org/disaster/refugee-crisis-in-europe?&utm_source=SPFacebook&utm_medium=referral&utm_campaign=m_Y000-SOCM_SocialMedia&utm_content=10-07RisingTideVideo

I watched this video, and it at first was heart warming, but then it hit me at what a dishonest donation grab it was.  Btw, I am speaking as someone who has given to Samaritans Purse for many years.  

The produced video shows a majority of women and children.  They knew this was a dishonest representation, as evidenced by the fact that they felt the need to admit in the write up that the majority were actually young men, and not needy families that they showed in the video.  

The raw news footage of these refugee masses paints a very different picture, it is difficult to even spot a woman or child among all the young men.  

It certainly could be a shameless donation grab, I don't know.  I don't have any connection to Samaritan's purse.  

But I think there is a big difference between the refugees crossing on land by foot, and those that have been trying to escape via the sea which is what the video is focusing on.  

For what it's worth, when we talked to our visitor from Munich Friday night, he said there were plenty of women and children in the tent cities that have been set up.  So much so, that figuring out how to arrange for schooling of the children is a major issue there.  Perhaps the situation is much more complicated than many of us care to admit, or have come to understand as presented to us by our media.  

pgprescott

JohnInCarolina said:

pgprescott said:

JohnInCarolina said:

FarmerTom said:

JohnInCarolina, I read the Samaritans Purse article you referenced.  It states that by far most of the refugees are young men.  WTH?  Are the women, children, and elderly dying along the way, or are these men (?) leaving their families behind and just looking out for themselves?  If the former, I truly sympathize with their plight. If the latter, I seriously question the ethics, morals, and value of one who would abandon his family.  Though on second thought, I guess they would fit right in over here, since ethics and morals seem in short supply these days.

Did you watch the video?  Plenty of women and children in those boats my brother.  I don't know about you, but I try not to judge people fleeing terrorists.

If only we had seen this coming and there was some sort of line in the sand to guide our actions or inactions. What a shame. Quarter million dead and millions displaced. Oh well, I guess this is what a real genius leader looks like. Idk? I know this, this is now what a business man would call a lose-lose situation. 

You can try to make this about Obama I guess, but I really haven't seen any concrete suggestions as to what might have prevented the refugee crisis.  Aside from calls for "strong leadership," which is just empty rhetoric.

He drew a line and sat back and watched them piss all over it. He drew the line, not me, not congress, him alone. He could have taken action and coalesced others to do the same,as others have done before him. He could have wiped Isis out back when they were JV team as he called them, instead he does nothing. All he cares bout is his misguided grade school domestic policies. But, these foreign issue will be domestic soon enough I guess. It is all about him and his staggering inaction. Even now he insists everything is going as planned. His sec of state suggested the Charlie hebdo massacre was justified. Leadership is not just "rhetoric" except in his case. We need someone who will make the tough decisions. We are a laughing stock. Sorry, that's what I see with my eyes wide open. Hard to believe I admit. These things don't happen in a vacuum. If you haven't seen or heard any suggestions you are willfully blind and deaf. You don't want to hear or see. The solutions all require the one thing he will not do. Everybody knows it too. 

JohnInCarolina

pgprescott said:

He drew a line and sat back and watched them piss all over it. He drew the line, not me, not congress, him alone. He could have taken action and coalesced others to do the same,as others have done before him. He could have wiped Isis out back when they were JV team as he called them, instead he does nothing. All he cares bout is his misguided grade school domestic policies. But, these foreign issue will be domestic soon enough I guess. It is all about him and his staggering inaction. Even now he insists everything is going as planned. His sec of state suggested the Charlie hebdo massacre was justified. Leadership is not just "rhetoric" except in his case. We need someone who will make the tough decisions. We are a laughing stock. Sorry, that's what I see with my eyes wide open. Hard to believe I admit. These things don't happen in a vacuum. If you haven't seen or heard any suggestions you are willfully blind and deaf. You don't want to hear or see. The solutions all require the one thing he will not do. Everybody knows it too. 

What is that one thing?   

Jeepster47

JohnInCarolina said:

Jeepster47 said:

When are we going to be as passionate about coming to the aid of our veterans who are currently suffering from physical and emotional problems? 

Is it either one or the other?  Why not both?

Not necessarily John, but we are currently $18.5 trillion in debt.  The future of our own children are a part of the equation.  We as a nation have made promises to our veterans that we haven't kept.  We've made promises to our retirees that can't be met.  What would you like to stop funding so that we can come up with the ~$160 million that it will cost just to bring those 10,000 refugees to the states.  I don't think that covers the cost of resettlement ...

Here in Illinois we have a constitutional requirement to have a balanced budget.  We've been without a budget since this summer because the legislative branch sent in a budget that was about $4 billion short of balancing.  There has been a flood of crying about how cruel the executive branch is for not signing off on that budget.  I can't survive long running my house like that, how can our state or our country get away with it?

We seem to have become a country where promises are like wisps in the wind, laws ignored, and divisions exploited.

@YukonRon ... I understand your point my friend, but it seems that helping the vets is last year's cause and helping the refugees is this year's cause.  As long as veteran administrators are being paid bonuses while there are homeless vets, we have our head up our ass as a country.

Okay, I'll put the soap box away ... now where is that rack of pork ... and how should I cook it?

pgprescott

Really? You'll see, because it is unavoidable.
  Hey, I have cooking to do. We will have to agree to disagree as usual. Best to you JIC. 

FarmerTom

I don't want to sound unsympathetic.  I am truly sorry for what these people are experiencing.  And unfortunately there are many more places besides Syria with the same conditions.  I am not a wealthy person and I don't see how we can continue to keep adding people to our welfare system when it is already overloaded.  I am not against helping and assisting these folks, and admit I don't fully comprehend the political/economic situations of all these areas, but it seems to me they need to resist rather than flee.  Assist them, give them the means to defend themselves and restore order.  
I don't know the answer, I just don't see how we and the few other western countries who have fought for and developed  democratic forms of government can continue to be responsible for the welfare of the rest of the world.
There is a lot of truth in the simple old proverb that if you give a man a fish you have fed him for a day, but if you teach him how to fish then he can feed himself.  Of course this assumes he's willing to learn and is a gross simplification of this situation.  I wish there were a good solution to this problem, unfortunately, I fear it will persist forever.

YukonRon

We seem to have become a country where promises are like wisps in the wind, laws ignored, and divisions exploited.

@YukonRon ... I understand your point my friend, but it seems that helping the vets is last year's cause and helping the refugees is this year's cause.  As long as veteran administrators are being paid bonuses while there are homeless vets, we have our head up our ass as a country.

Exactly my point. That is why it is even more important for us, as veterans that are capable, to do what we can, to help our brothers and sisters. " If not me, then who? If not now, then when?"
I learned a lesson in the service. We are all general issue. Next up.

JohnInCarolina

pgprescott said:

Really? You'll see, because it is unavoidable.
  Hey, I have cooking to do. We will have to agree to disagree as usual. Best to you JIC. 

I think this is what we generally refer to as "cutting and running" !

pgprescott

JohnInCarolina said:

pgprescott said:

Really? You'll see, because it is unavoidable.
  Hey, I have cooking to do. We will have to agree to disagree as usual. Best to you JIC. 

I think this is what we generally refer to as "cutting and running" !

All class. 

pgprescott

Finally sinking. They work on Sunday's. 

Davec433

I think their is 60 million refugees worldwide this year. The USA taking 10k in is the right thing to do but until we solve or address the issue it'll never stop.

@Jeepster47 I agree completely and unless we stop giving away free stuff and balancing our budget as a Natiom we are going to end up like Cypress and Greece.

lousubcap

Trying to assign $$ to the refugee issue is like pi$$ing in the ocean and expecting to change sea level.  The reality is that our "refugee program" vets those people in a process that takes more than a year.  So, we start the process today and if no corners are cut than in Winter 2016 the first ones roll thru the door. 
I am far from a bleeding heart liberal but this issue is the "flavor of the month".  There are more Important issues-like educating the politicians who have no spine and no will to offer solutions to anything.  Heard the Senate Majority leader in an interview last week offer that the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is to establish safe havens in Syria.  Of course, no follow-up on how, and when and how much it would take  Clearly he was just trying to move along and ignore the responsibility those elected officials have to do the country's business.  But their bottom-line agenda (regardless of party affiliation) is "What do I have to do to stay in power?"  
Give Hedrick Smith's book "The Power Game" a look some time.
Still trying to get off the soap-box.  
Maybe a thread about lump or chips vs chunks  ...:)

JohnInCarolina

lousubcap said:

Trying to assign $$ to the refugee issue is like pi$$ing in the ocean and expecting to change sea level.  The reality is that our "refugee program" vets those people in a process that takes more than a year.  So, we start the process today and if no corners are cut than in Winter 2016 the first ones roll thru the door. 
I af far from a bleeding heart liberal but this issue is the "flavor of the month".  There are more Important issues-like educating the politicians who have no spine and no will to offer solutions to anything.  Heard the Senate Majority leader in an interview last week offer that the solution to the Syrian refugee crisis is to establish sage havens in Syria.  Of course, no follow-up on how, and when and how much it would take  Clearly he was just trying to move along and ignore the responsibility those elected officials have to do the country's business.  But their bottom-line agenda (regardless of party affiliation) is "What do I have to do to stay in power?"  
Give Hedrick Smith's book "The Power Game" a look some time.
Still trying to get off the soap-box.  
Maybe a thread about lump or chips vs chunks  ...:)

One of the current candidates suggested setting up a no-fly zone around Syria, and then shooting down any Russian jets that try to come through.  You know, because that wouldn't have any repercussions or anything...

JohnInCarolina

pgprescott said:

JohnInCarolina said:

pgprescott said:

Really? You'll see, because it is unavoidable.
  Hey, I have cooking to do. We will have to agree to disagree as usual. Best to you JIC. 

I think this is what we generally refer to as "cutting and running" !

All class. 

Don't you have cooking to do?  Not sure why you felt the need to hop back in to this thread but couldn't answer a simple question in the first place.