The Off Topic Topic

[Valmy]

BB you have a family and responsibilities. You would recklessly put all that in danger just to gawk at Stalinism?

[Barrister]

I would totally visit North Korea if I could.  Tours there are all tightly controlled in where you can go and what you see (and no unauthorized photos!) but it would still be an opportunity to see a completely despotic stalinist country up close and personal.

Have you fucking lost your mind?  Why would anyone want to see that "up close and personal?

There are safer ways of doing that.

http://www.denverpost.com/2006/05/02/lithuanias-stalins-world-theme-park/

Myself, I'd never go to NK, for a bunch of reasons.

- gives cash to an evil regime
- not safe
- bad taste to view the suffering victims from a position of relative privilege

I've already been to something similar - Budapest's Memento Park. 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Memento_Park

It was quite cool.  But visiting a statue park is pretty different from visiting a living stalinist country.

[Barrister]

BB you have a family and responsibilities. You would recklessly put all that in danger just to gawk at Stalinism?

Given that I have zero plans to actually go there, no probably not.

But it would be interesting to see.

[Grey Fox]

I find it weird that you guys focus on the action of North Korea so much.

Whose actions should we be focusing on?

Warmbier's

The kid was accused of stealing a poster of their beloved leader.

Assuming he's guilty (and given the state of trials in NK, that's a big assumption), he stole something worth - what - a couple of bucks at most?

Not usually considered worthy of a death sentence in civilized countries.

Ah, I understand.

The problematic action is going there at all.

[Zanza]

Looks like Merkel did a U-Turn on gay marriage. She was always against it to keep the conservatives in her Christian Democratic Union behind her, but the public opinion swung too far in favor of gay marriage. As all three of her potential coalition partners for the election in September have stated that they will not join a coalition without gay marriage, Merkel all of a sudden says that it should be vote of conscience (i.e. not along party lines) and some MPs want to vote on it as early as next week. That will defuse a potential topic that could have only lost her votes and made coalition building harder and all before the election. She is the complete realpolitik non-ideologue who is only opportunistically seeking power. But she's extremely good at that.

[Admiral Yi]

Inviting every refugee in the world to come to Germany was not the act of someone guided purely by realpolitik.

[Zanza]

Inviting every refugee in the world to come to Germany was not the act of someone guided purely by realpolitik.

Yeah, but that was the exception to the rule.

[Valmy]

So how have they handled the refugees? Do they have them in refugee communities or something? Is the idea for them to return to Syria should the war ever end?

[Josephus]

I'll wait until they open up beach resorts.

[Razgovory]

Razgovory computer down.  Can't post much anymore.

[Ed Anger]

Had 6 calls to my landline from the IRS scammers. Sadly all computer messages and nobody to verbally abuse. 

I wish the Jamacians would call me and threaten me again. I liked telling them I'd shove their bodies into the pig pen.

[DGuller]

Looks like Merkel did a U-Turn on gay marriage. She was always against it to keep the conservatives in her Christian Democratic Union behind her, but the public opinion swung too far in favor of gay marriage. As all three of her potential coalition partners for the election in September have stated that they will not join a coalition without gay marriage, Merkel all of a sudden says that it should be vote of conscience (i.e. not along party lines) and some MPs want to vote on it as early as next week. That will defuse a potential topic that could have only lost her votes and made coalition building harder and all before the election. She is the complete realpolitik non-ideologue who is only opportunistically seeking power. But she's extremely good at that.

I think the good guys in other western countries would do very well to learn from Merkel.  It's better to be pragmatic to do half as much good as you think should be done, than stick to your guns and watch imbeciles set your country back 100 years because the world becomes a better place too fast for their liking.

[Josquius]

Couldn't they follow the UK path?
Easy quick win of civil unions that are marriage in all but Name, let conservatives see the sky doesn't fall, then it's a easy change to call it marriage.

[celedhring]

40 years since the Spanish democratic election of 1977. Despite all the ups and downs, the longest democratic, prosperous,  and peaceful period in the history of this little corner of Europe.

[Grey Fox]

Looks like Merkel did a U-Turn on gay marriage. She was always against it to keep the conservatives in her Christian Democratic Union behind her, but the public opinion swung too far in favor of gay marriage. As all three of her potential coalition partners for the election in September have stated that they will not join a coalition without gay marriage, Merkel all of a sudden says that it should be vote of conscience (i.e. not along party lines) and some MPs want to vote on it as early as next week. That will defuse a potential topic that could have only lost her votes and made coalition building harder and all before the election. She is the complete realpolitik non-ideologue who is only opportunistically seeking power. But she's extremely good at that.

I think that's very sensible. The population's will as move from no to yes. Enact it.