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Post History:
lk2fireone (0)
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| 1651-1700 of 3618 Posts | < Previous Page | 1 | 2 | 7 | 12 | 17 | 22 | 27 | 33 | Page 34 | 35 | 41 | 47 | 53 | 59 | 65 | 72 | 73 | Next Page > |
| 11-12-17 04:11pm - 2597 days | #8 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User  Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THE EFFECTS OF SMOKING CREEP OVER YOU GRADUALLY. I SMOKED OVER 40 YEARS. TRIED GIVING IT UP MANY TIMES. BECAUSE IT WAS EXPENSIVE. (BUT NOT AS EXPENSIVE AS IT IS TODAY). WHEN I STARTED SMOKING, A PACK OF CIGARETTE WAS ABOUT $0.20. TODAY, A PACK COSTS ABOUT $7.00. BUT ASIDE FROM THE OBVIOUS EXPENSE, IT CAN MESS UP YOUR HEALTH. CANCER, ETC. I HAVE COPD. SO IT'S HARD FOR ME TO BREATHE. BEFORE I GAVE UP SMOKING, I NEEDED ALBUTEROL SPRAY EACH MORNING, BECAUSE I WOKE UP GASPING FOR BREATH. AFTER I GAVE UP SMOKING, IT WAS MUCH EASIER TO BREATH, AND I ONLY TAKE ALBUTEROL IN AN EMERGENCY. THE PROBLEM WITH SMOKING IS THAT YOU ONLY REALIZE THE DAMAGE THAT IT CAN CAUSE AFTER IT HAPPENS. | |
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| 11-12-17 08:38am - 2597 days | #5 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
AS A CONSUMER, I AGREE 100% THAT MOVIE COUNTER PRICES ARE WAY HIGH. BUT FROM A BUSINESS POINT OF VIEW, I CAN UNDERSTAND, BECAUSE I'VE READ ARTICLES THAT MOVIE THEATERS ARE NOT IN THE BUSINESS OF SELLING MOVIE TICKETS, BUT IN THE BUSINESS OF SELLING POPCORN, CANDY, SOFT DRINKS. AND THAT'S BECAUSE THE STUDIOS ARE SQUEEZING THE THEATERS FOR MOST OF THE TICKET PRICES. IF THE MOVIE THEATERS DIDN'T HAVE THE CONCESSION STANDS, THEY WOULD BE GOING BROKE. VERY FEW THEATERS WOULD SURVIVE IF THEY HAD TO OPERATE ON TICKET SALES ONLY. SAD, BUT TRUE. EVEN WITH TICKET PRICES SKY HIGH (A SENIOR TICKET TO A 2D REGULAR MOVIE COSTS $11.50 IN MY AREA, NO DISCOUNT FOR MATINEE), THE STUDIOS GET MOST OF THE REVENUE. MY GUESS IS THAT MOST MOVIE THEATERS ARE OPERATING AT A LOSS, IF YOU ARE ONLY CONSIDERING THEIR TAKE FROM MOVIE TICKETS (WHILE THE STUDIOS GRAB MOVIE OF THE CASH FROM MOVIE TICKET SALES). I HAVEN'T GONE TO A LOT OF MOVIES AT A THEATER UNTIL RECENTLY. SOMETIMES THERE ARE LESS THAN 10-15 PEOPLE IN THE THEATER WATCHING A MOVIE THAT'S BEEN OUT FOR A COUPLE OF WEEKS. AND STUDIOS CAN TAKE UP TO 100% OF THE MOVIE TICKET SALES FOR THE FIRST WEEK OF A BLOCKBUSTER MOVIE. SO WHEN DISNEY IS INCREASING THEIR TAKE OF MOVIE TICKET SALES, THAT ONLY HURTS THE MOVIE THEATERS. THAT'S WHY I TITLED THE THREAD: DISNEY: THE MOUSE THAT ROARED GREED. IT'S ONLY BUSINESS AS USUAL. BUT DISNEY'S PROFITS ARE OFF THE CHARTS, WITH THEIR BLOCKBUSTER MOVIES, THEME PARKS, MERCHANDISING, ETC., AND THEY STILL WANT MORE AND MORE PROFITS. | |
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| 11-12-17 08:22am - 2597 days | #6 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
ARE YOU OFF ALL MILK-RELATED PRODUCTS: ICE CREAM, CHOCOLATE, ETC.? I WOULD GUESS THAT PIZZA AND CHEESE ARE ONLY THE TIP OF THE ICEBERG, IF EATING CHEESE CAUSES LIMP DICKS. BUT THERE ARE MANY OTHER FACTORS INVOLVED, AS WELL. LEVEL OF MALE HORMONES, SMOKING, DRINKING, STRESS, ETC. ETC. | |
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| 11-11-17 09:41am - 2598 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
ARTICLE CONTINUES: Other films are scared away. This happens specifically on release dates that Disney effectively owns. These now include effectively the first half of December (mid-month now the “Star Wars” date), the first weekend of May (the top Disney Marvel date), Thanksgiving (most years a Disney animated release) that scare away other studios from counter-programming. This works to increase Disney’s power. Despite the strong showing for “Thor: Ragnarok” last weekend, total box office was down with only one other release rather than the two that had come out As they succeed with fewer films, others will play copycat. It’s not easy: Disney controls more top brands than anyone else. But as they succeed, the already dominant trend to limiting movie content to familiar and already established properties, to devote more resources to fewer movies, will only increase. Studios will cater to core moviegoers, domestic and foreign. Targeting regular attendees will become the focus of internationally-driven production funding. That means turning their backs on stories aimed at older viewers, minorities, and women. We could see an ever smaller portion of the public remain in the habit of going to theaters. Producers will continue to become more risk averse. They will extend more control over directors. Marvel took a chance –as it likes to do– on acclaimed New Zealand director Taika Waititi for “Thor: Ragnarok” (whose film “Hunt for the Wilderpeople” transcended core art house interest) and Warners and D.C. Comics’ bet on Patty Jenkins paid off for “Wonder Woman.” But these are exceptions. With such high risks, providing the expected sure-fire mass audience formula film becomes central. More personal filmmakers and modest budgeted films will stream. Disney is setting up their own Netflix operation which will include substantial original programming and made-for-streaming movies. In recent years, Disney released titles like “The Queen of Katwe,” “The Hundred Foot Journey,” “Bridge of Spies,” and “Saving Mr. Banks.” Films like these no longer exist on their release schedule. Their streaming site may include some similar titles. That could accelerate the ease of accepting feature films as initial at-home deliveries as a norm. Keep an eye on Disney’s moves, which are more crucial to where the industry is headed than anything else distracting our attention these days. This Article is related to: Film and tagged Box Office, Marvel Cinematic Universe, Pixar, Star Wars, The Walt Disney Company Sponsored by Tribeca Shortlist | |
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| 11-11-17 09:39am - 2598 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
http://www.indiewire.com/2017/11/disney-...r-owners-1201894552/ Indiewire How Disney is Changing Hollywood Rules with ‘Star Wars: The Last Jedi’ Pay attention to Disney's moves, because as Hollywood's most powerful studio, it's leading the way to the future. Tom Brueggemann 1 hour ago Star Wars: The Last JediPhoto: Film Frames Industrial Light & Magic/Lucasfilm  2017 Lucasfilm Ltd. All Rights Reserved.“Star Wars: The Last Jedi” Disney is flexing its muscles in the marketplace. The studio is not only launching a streaming site to compete with Netflix, but demanding from domestic exhibitors a firm 65 per cent aggregate film rental –the percentage of ticket sales that theaters return to studios– for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi.” This is yet another sign of the top-ranked studio’s confidence and assertiveness. There’s reason for cock-of-the-walk status. Over the last two holiday seasons, Disney’s first two reboots in the “Star Wars” franchise amassed nearly $1.5 billion in domestic gross, in both cases the biggest release of their respective years (on the all-time adjusted charts, #11 and 57). Disney’s bold move is underscores its proximity to becoming more powerful than any studio in the history of Hollywood. And it comes as their successful brand label strategy looks impossible to replicate for the foreseeable future. The company is all over the news, with the strong opening of “Thor: Ragnarok,” their brief banishment of the Los Angeles Times media from screenings due to negative coverage of the studio’s Anaheim theme park Disneyland, their proposed sky-high film rental terms for “Star Wars: The Last Jedi,” and now the possibility of a takeover of key assets from 21st Century Fox, including their television and movie production and distribution entities. The strategy behind that move is unclear, although buttressing their international prowess remains a key motive. These Fox discussions (which may or may not prove productive) come at a time when Disney is arguably the most dominant studio ever. (The conglomerate boasts other media holdings and resorts/parks.) Here’s what distinguishes Disney from its competitors. UNLIKELY DUET -- In Disney•Pixar’s “Coco,” aspiring musician Miguel (voice of Anthony Gonzalez) teams up with charming trickster Hector (voice of Gael García Bernal) on a life-changing journey through the Land of the Dead. Directed by Lee Unkrich, co-directed by Adrian Molina and produced by Darla K. Anderson, Disney•Pixar’s “Coco” opens in U.S. theaters on Nov. 22, 2017. 2017 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.Disney will win total market share for the second straight year While they are currently ranked second for the year, behind Warner Bros. (17 per cent to the other Burbank studio’s 20), they will dominate the rest of the year, and by December 31 the grosses of “Thor: Ragnorak” (perhaps $175 million), “Coco” ($250-300 million) and the first weeks of “The Last Jedi” (at least $450 million) could add up to $900 million in additional gross, putting them at around $2.4 billion for the year. They are currently about $250 million behind Warner Bros., which has the D.C. Comics juggernaut “Justice League” ahead as well as the comedy “Father Figures” ahead. Disney will easily overtake them. That would give Disney top spot for two straight years, and both over 20 per cent (they set an industry record at 26.3 per cent for 2016, beating Universal which topped a one-fifth share in 2015 for the first time in history). Disney should also end up between 21 and 22 per cent. Anything over 21.3 per cent would make it the second highest share ever. MEET THE LEGENDS — Lightning McQueen comes hood to hood with a group of characters who represent the roots of stock car racing—and provide a link to Lightning’s late coach and mentor, Doc Hudson. From left: River Scott (voice of Isiah Whitlock Jr.), Junior “Midnight” Moon (voice of Robert Glenn “Junior” Johnson), Smokey (voice of Chris Cooper), Louise “Barnstormer” Nash (voice of Margo Martindale), and Lightning himself (voice of Owen Wilson). “Cars 3” opens in U.S. theaters on June 16, 2017. 2017 Disney•Pixar. All Rights Reserved.They will win with only eight releases The lowest number ever from a studio in the #1 share position is 13. Most years it is double that or more. Warner Bros. will have 18 new releases by comparison to Disney’s eight. It was little noticed at the time, but Disney managed to go a third of the year — four months — without a single new film. From mid-June (“Cars 3”) until “Thor: Ragnarok” this past weekend, nothing was in release. This is the apotheosis of what most studios have been heading toward. Disney Studios have become the equivalent of their parks. They have Pixarland (“Cars 3,” “Coco,”), Marvel World (“Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2,” “Thor: Ragnarok”), Fairytale Village (“Beauty and the Beast”) Disneyworld (in-house animation like “Moana”), even a long-running franchise named after a ride (“Pirates of the Caribbean”). And currently the biggest asset of all — the Star Wars series. The studio has honed down their release schedule to a handful of high-end projects with worldwide appeal, rarely if ever standalone (their live- action fairy tales are more or less a series). When they go with a non-franchise film, it’s a top-end event (“A Wrinkle in Time” next year). The mantel clock Cogsworth, the teapot Mrs. Potts, Lumiere the candelabra and the feather duster Plumette live in an enchanted castle in Disney's BEAUTY AND THE BEAST the live-action adaptation of the studio's animated classic directed by Bill Condon. If projections play out for the rest of the year, they should end up with five of the ten biggest grossing titles, including the top two and three of the top five (“The Last Jedi,” “The Beauty and the Beast” and “Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 2”) if not better. Their tentpole emphasis means they are abandoning other lower-profile genres Among the highlights of 2017 domestically have been “It” (horror film), “Get Out” (Hitchcockian race-themed thriller) and “Dunkirk” (older audience historical epic). Disney is no longer interested in those market niches. As usual, Disney’s focus for the Oscar race is largely animation and tech recognition, in a year when hits like “Get Out,” “Dunkirk,” and “Wonder Woman” look to raise studio involvement to an above-average level. That means Disney needs to win commercially with their expensive films. That is working. Universal is scoring with high-end series like “Fast and Furious,” “Despicable Me” and its sequels, but also cheap genre titles like “Get Out” and “Split.” Warners has expensive D.C. Comics tentpoles but also the major profit maker “It.” They and others mix franchises and originals. Disney has doubled down on a far more narrow emphasis. There’s no question that more times at bat increases the chance for a breakout success. But Disney’s strategy manages to save money. Every wide release, whether the production budget is $5 million or $250 million, requires an expensive marketing and distribution outlay (for domestic $25 million or more low end). So that adds huge costs to a large slate packed with titles. Bob IgerLACMA Art and Film Gala, Arrivals, Los Angeles, USA - 29 Oct 2016 Disney has maximized its market power What Disney has accomplished goes beyond what any studio in history has managed. MGM was dominant in the 1930s and 1940s, but that was in part because they controlled more important theaters (in that era, owning theaters defined a major studio like MGM, 20th Century Fox, RKO, Warner Bros. and Paramount). Back then theaters didn’t play all the studios movies. Until the majors were stripped of their theaters by anti-trust decrees in 1948. Today that is impossible. If one studio provides up to one quarter of your annual ticket sales (concessions also provide a substantial amount of theaters’ profits), these days the idea of living without their product is impossible. Nearly all multiplexes play the same movies, many within close range of competitors, and cannot risk not playing key titles. Until recently, studios maintained a regular flow of product through their pipeline because they felt it most effectively utilized their distribution staff and kept theaters dependent on them year round. But Disney has changed this model. Indeed, the downturn in box office starting in July paralleled the company’s absence from screens. At the end of June (two weeks after “Cars 3”) year to date was actually slightly up. After two months of no Disney films, down 6.3 per cent. September with “It” improved things, but October brought another down tick. The strong Disney slate for the rest of the year will improve things somewhat, but not enough to match last year’s total. The message seems clear: exhibitors can’t live without Disney. The downside of Disney’s power Not all film grosses return the same amount to distributors. Studios get a bigger return from theaters than independents. big grossing films get more than smaller ones. But as they push out smaller, mid-level films (including what Disney used to make), they ensure that for exhibitors, showing films costs more. The rough guess is big chains pay around 55 per cent for wide releases on average. But as more of the business shifts to presumed blockbusters (as opposed to surprises like “It” or “Get Out”) film rental inevitably rises. With box office at best steady or declining, theaters make less money with this kind of output. Also the terms tend to favor the exhibitor the longer a movie stays in theaters–a rarity these days. ARTICLE CONTINUES ON FIRST REPLY BELOW: | |
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| 11-08-17 12:24am - 2602 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I BELIEVE SKIPPY (A FELLOW PU MEMBER) IS INTO VR PORN. HE'S POSTED SOME REVIEWS AT PU ABOUT VR SITES. IF HE HAPPENS TO NOTICE THIS THREAD, HE MIGHT RESPOND. BUT YOU (DARIUS) COULD READ HIS REVIEWS, TO SEE IF THEY HAVE ANY USEFUL TIPS AS TO WHAT VR SITES YOU MIGHT JOIN. | |
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| 11-07-17 01:33pm - 2602 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I THINK THERE WAS A RECENT POLL ON VR USAGE RECENTLY AT PU. YOU MIGHT WANT TO CHECK IT OUT. FOR MYSELF, I HAVEN'T USED VR YET. DIFFERENT REASONS. BEFORE I SPEND ANY MONEY, I WANT TO KNOW THE COST. AND ALSO HAVE SOME PRACTICAL EXPERIENCE AT A STORE/KIOSK USING THE EQUIPMENT TO SEE HOW IT WORKS. I KNOW VR HAS ARRIVED, BUT THEY'VE BEEN TALKING ABOUT IT FOR OVER 20 YEARS ALREADY, AND I WANT SOME PROOF THAT IT'S CHEAP, USER-FRIENDLY, AND WORTH THE MONEY. I WENT TO A THEATER A FEW YEARS AGO, SAW A 3D MOVIE WITH GLASSES. I GOT A HEADACHE. SO I HAVEN'T GONE TO ANOTHER 3D MOVIE YET. BUT THAT'S JUST ME. I HAVEN'T HEARD TOO MANY PEOPLE COMPLAINING ABOUT HEADACHES FROM WATCHING 3D. | |
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| 11-07-17 09:57am - 2602 days | #14 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I USED TO GO TO MCDONALD'S FOR COFFEE. WHEN I FIRST MOVED TO MY CURRENT HOME, A SENIOR COFFEE WAS $0.42 INCLUDING TAX, WITH ALL THE REFILLS YOU COULD DRINK. THAT WAS 1990. IN 2017, A SENIOR COFFEE IS NOW $1.09 WITH TAX. BUT I CAN'T DRINK THAT MUCH COFFEE ANY MORE. PART OF GETTING OLDER. THE ACID IN THE COFFEE BOTHERS MY STOMACH. I USED TO DRINK SEVERAL CUPS OF COFFEE PER DAY. ONE OF LIFE'S PLEASURES. BUT NO MORE. I'VE SWITCHED TO TEA. BETTER FOR MY STOMACH. SAD, BUT TRUE. TEA SEEMS TO HAVE A DIFFERENT IMAGE. LESS KICK, LESS MANLY, MORE REFLECTIVE. BUT I HAVEN'T SEGUED INTO THAT MINDSET FULLY YET. I STILL MISS MY COFFEE AND CIGARETTES (I GAVE UP SMOKING JUST BEFORE MY HEART ATTACK, AND IT MADE A BIG DIFFERENCE: I COULD BREATHE MORE EASILY. Edited on Nov 10, 2017, 10:00am | |
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| 11-05-17 05:52pm - 2604 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I LOVE PIZZA. BUT NOW I'M GOING TO TRY CUTTING WAY DOWN. A LOT OF THE FOODS LISTED AS BAD ARE ON MY FAVORITES LIST. SO I'M GOING TO TRY EATING HEALTHIER. NICE ARTICLE. BUT SCARY. NOT JUST ABOUT ERECTIONS. BUT HEALTH, IN GENERAL. http://www.eatthis.com/worst-foods-for-erection/ | |
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| 11-05-17 05:40pm - 2604 days | #12 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
EXACTLY RIGHT. BUT I DID BUY A STARTBUCKS GIFT CARD FOR MY BROTHER'S BIRTHDAY. MAYBE I CAN TALK HIM INTO TAKING ME TO STARBUCKS. I DON'T THINK I'VE EVEN BEEN INSIDE ONE OF THEIR STORES. WAIT. I TAKE THAT BACK. I HAVE VISITED STARBUCKS, TO READ THE FREE NEWSPAPER THAT IS SOMETIMES OUT. BUT I DIDN'T BUY ANY COFFEE (OR WHATEVER OTHER DRINKS THEY SELL). | |
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| 11-05-17 01:42am - 2605 days | #10 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I THINK OF MYSELF AS A COFFEE SNOB BECAUSE I ONLY BUY TASTERS CHOICE INSTANT COFFEE. I HEAT THE CUP OF WATER FROM THE TAP IN THE MICROWAVE, ADD COFFEE, STIR, AND SIP SLOWLY. MUCH EASIER THAN USING A COFFEE POT. NOT SURE WHAT FRENCH PRESS IS, BUT IT SOUNDS COMPLICATED, AND ANOTHER PIECE OF EXPENSIVE EQUIPMENT TO BUY. INSTANT COFFEE IS THE WAY TO GO: SIMPLE, INEXPENSIVE, EASY TO MAKE, EASY TO CLEAN UP (JUST THE CUP AND THE SPOON, NO OTHER EQUIPMENT NEEDED. SOMETIMES I WILL ADD A BIT OF SUGAR. BUT I GOT AWAY FROM COFFEE CREAMERS, MAYBE 50 YEARS AGO OR MORE. | |
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| 11-04-17 08:09am - 2605 days | #23 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/11...-sanctions/23266485/ North Korea calls for a halt to "brutal" sanctions Thomson Reuters John Revill Nov 3rd 2017 9:06PM GENEVA, Nov 3 (Reuters) - North Korea called on Friday for a halt to what it called "brutal sanctions", saying the measures - imposed after its latest nuclear test - constituted genocide. "Today the U.S.-led racket of brutal sanctions and pressure against the DPRK constitutes contemporary human rights violation and genocide," the North Korean mission to the United Nations in Geneva said in a statement. The sanctions regime "threatens and impedes the enjoyment by the people of DPRK of their human rights in all sectors", it said. The call for an immediate end to the sanctions comes as U.S. President Donald Trump sets off on a trip to Asia - including China, South Korea and Japan - looking for help to pressure North Korea to stand down from the nuclear crisis. The global community has been ramping up the pressure on the isolated country after it conducted its sixth and most powerful nuclear test so far, on Sept. 3. Last month the United States unilaterally imposed sanctions on seven North Korean individuals and three entities over what it called serious human rights abuses, including forced labour. In September the U.N. Security Council strengthened its sanctions, including export bans as well as asset freezes and travel bans on various officials, North Korea's response follows a U.N. expert last month saying international sanctions may be hurting key economic sectors and hampering the human rights of Pyongyang's citizens. The sanctions meant that "some unprincipled countries have blocked the delivery of medical equipment and medicines", the North Korean mission said on Friday, with the supplies destined for children and mothers in the country. "All types of anti-human rights and inhumane sanctions against the DPRK should be terminated immediately and thoroughly," it said. (Reporting by John Revill; Editing by Alison Williams) | |
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| 11-04-17 03:19am - 2606 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
https://www.aol.com/article/news/2017/11...on-a-horse/23266173/ Florida woman arrested for DUI on a horse Alex Lasker, AOL.com Nov 3rd 2017 2:16PM A 53-year-old woman was arrested and charged with driving drunk while riding a horse down a busy Florida highway -- and yes, you read that right. Deputies from the Polk County Sheriff's Office responded to a call about a woman who appeared confused and possibly in danger riding a horse on Combee Road Thursday afternoon, reported the Orlando Sentinel. Authorities arrived at the scene to find Donna Byrne riding the animal in the middle of the road. She had red, watery eyes and reeked of booze, according to Polk County Sheriff’s Office spokesman Brian Bruchey. A field sobriety test revealed that Byrne's B.A.C. was a staggering .161, more than two times the legal limit. Along with the DUI, Byrne was charged with animal neglect for failing to provide proper protective gear for the horse, placing it in jeopardy. NBC News reported that Byrne's prior criminal record includes five felony and ten misdemeanor charges, consisting of cruelty to animals, drug possession, probation violation and criminal traffic. “Ms. Byrne was obviously not in any condition to be on the road," said Polk County Sheriff Grady Judd. "She not only put herself and the horse in danger but also anyone who was driving on the road, which is typically very busy," | |
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| 11-02-17 02:42am - 2608 days | #246 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
DELETED POST. Edited on Nov 02, 2017, 04:45am | |
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| 11-01-17 09:10pm - 2608 days | #22 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TRUMP'S LAWYER SAYS A SITTING PRESIDENT CANNOT BE SUED IN STATE COURT. TRUMP'S LAWYER ALSO SAYS THAT STATEMENTS MADE BY TRUMP DURING HIS PRESIDENTIAL RUN CANNOT BE JUDGED BASED ON FACT, BUT ON THE RIGHT TO SAY ANYTHING BASED ON POLITICAL TRUTH (POLITICAL TRUTH IS WHATEVER LIES/STATEMENTS YOU WANT TO SAY). ====== ====== http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr-esq...famation-law-1053758 November 01, 2017 11:15am PT by Eriq Gardner Trump Argues His Sexual Assault Denial Is "Political Speech" Outside Reach of Defamation Law The president's lawyer asks a judge to take a fairly broad reading of the First Amendment. Donald Trump's lawyer is presenting a theory on when politicians can be sued for defamation. Spoiler: It's fairly limited circumstances. The theory was outlined in court papers on Tuesday in an ongoing lawsuit by season-five Apprentice contestant Summer Zervos, who alleges being forcibly kissed twice in 2007 and attacked in a hotel room. Zervos is suing over Trump's denials during the heat of his presidential campaign including a statement of how allegations from many female accusers were "100 percent fabricated and made-up charges, pushed strongly by the media and the Clinton campaign." Trump wants a New York state judge to stop the lawsuit on constitutional grounds by arguing the Supremacy Clause bars state lawsuits against a sitting president. If that argument doesn't work, Trump's lawyer is also asking the judge to take a fairly broad reading of the First Amendment by holding that whatever he said isn't defamatory as a matter of law. "Ms. Zervos cannot hold the President liable for engaging in political speech in the context of a public debate because such speech is clearly protected by the First Amendment," states Trump's memorandum in further support of a motion to dismiss. "Political statements in political contexts are non-actionable political opinion." Trump's denials of committing sexual assault happened after the release of a bombshell video showing him boasting to Access Hollywood's Billy Bush about grabbing women's genitals. The video ignited a firestorm, and as Trump denied any misbehavior, several women, including Zervos, came forward to identify themselves as victims. Trump issued more denials and even threatened to sue his accusers once the election was over. Trump never did sue, but he's now defending himself in court and presenting his statements as part of a "back and forth" public debate, even if the discussion over sexual assault hardly touched on any area of public policy. "This is a politically driven action, brought against a sitting President for exercising his First Amendment right to speak on political and public matters concerning, among other things, his own qualifications for President, the media’s role in the election process, and the tactics of his opponent, Hillary Clinton," writes his attorney, Marc Kasowitz. Kasowitz then puts forward the Trump theory on when politicians can be sued for defamation. "Contrary to Ms. Zervos’ argument, President Trump is not seeking 'blanket immunity' or 'carte blanche' for a candidate 'to say what he likes' 'in the midst of a political campaign[.]' As a matter of First Amendment principles, 'courts shelter strong, even outrageous' political speech, which the audience would reasonably view as part of a free, political discourse, rather than defamatory. However, there are limits to the 'wide latitude' campaign speech is given in defamation cases. For example a candidate’s specific, false allegations of criminal conduct might not be protected, as the cases Ms. Zervos cites demonstrate. But this case does not come anywhere close to that. Here, Mr. Trump was merely defending his character and qualifications for office from the false attacks Ms. Zervos leveled against him just a few weeks before the Presidential election." To restate, Trump says if a candidate falsely accuses someone else of criminal conduct, that's not protected. (Lock her up!) However, Trump essentially says if a candidate denies criminal conduct (because sexual assault is against the law), that's political opinion. Trump is a bit self-referential when it comes to legal support. About a week before Trump assumed the presidency, he beat a libel lawsuit over tweets directed at political strategist Cheryl Jacobus. The judge in the Jacobus case, in weighing Trump tweets how Jacobus "begged" for a job and had "zero credibility," concluded that "a reasonable reader would recognize defendants' statements as opinion, even if some of the statements, viewed in isolation, could be found to convey facts." In coming to that conclusion, the judge also remarked, "Indeed, to some, truth itself has been lost in the cacophony of online and Twitter verbiage to such a degree that it seems to roll of the national consciousness like water off a duck's back." The Jacobus decision is on appeal, but Trump's lawyer writes it is "directly on point," that it is relevant that "Ms. Zervos both directly and through her politically motivated counsel, continuously and readily accessed the media to debate Mr. Trump's fitness for office." For those who heard Trump's pledge to loosen libel laws to make it easier to sue the media, realize that whatever he pledged, it's far outstripped by reality. Here, Trump is not only holding the First Amendment up as his salvation and arguing a judge needs to create a safe space for political discourse, he's also asking the New York judge to import California's anti-SLAPP statute — which is designed to deter impingements of First Amendment activity — for the purposes of weighing Zervos' claims, shifting the burden of proof, and potentially winning attorneys' fees. If successful, Trump will have participated in gifting defamation defendants in the media capital even greater special protection. Eriq Gardner | |
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| 11-01-17 02:40am - 2609 days | #21 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
2017-10-31 PRESIDENT TRUMP TO THE RESCUE. TRUMP RESPONDS TO NEW YORK CITY TERROR ATTACK, WHEN A DRIVER DELIBERATELY DROVE ONTO A BIKE LANE, KILLING AT LEAST 8 PEOPLE AND INJURING 12 MORE, ON 2017-10-31. TRUMP TWEETS THAT LAW ENFORCEMENT IS FOLLOWING THIS CLOSELY. SO HAVE NO FEARS. THE STRONG ARM OF THE POTUS WILL DEFEND US FROM EVIL DOERS. JUST LIKE IN THE SUPER-HERO COMICS. HURRAH FOR PRESIDENT TRUMP. EVIL MIGHT EXIST ELSEWHERE, BUT NOT IN THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. STAY TUNED FOR FURTHER TWEETS FROM THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES. HE WILL KEEP US SAFE.   | |
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| 10-31-17 07:35am - 2609 days | #7 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
iknowwazzup, DID YOUR COUSIN AT LEAST HAVE PLENTY OF GOOD LIQUOR TO KEEP HER COMPANY, AND TO DROWN HER SORROWS? I REMEMBER GETTING INTO AN ELEVATOR ONE DAY, YEARS AGO, AND SUZANNE PLESHETTE (THE ACTRESS FROM THE BOB NEWHART SHOW) WAS INSIDE. I THINK I SAID I WAS A FAN, AND REALLY ENJOYED HER ACTING. HER RESPONSE: SHE SAID SHE COULDN'T TALK TO ME, BECAUSE A FRIEND OF HERS HAD JUST DIED. SOME ACTORS ARE VERY APPROACHABLE, AND WILL TALK TO FANS, OR AT LEAST ACKNOWLEDGE THEM. BUT OTHERS PREFER TO REMAIN PRIVATE. I ALWAYS WONDERED, AFTERWARD, IF A FRIEND OF HERS HAD REALLY DIED, OR IF IT WAS A POLITE WAY TO SAY BUZZ OFF. | |
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| 10-30-17 08:14pm - 2610 days | #26 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THERE ARE SO MANY ATTRACTIVE OR CUTE MODELS COMING OUT ALL THE TIME, THAT IT'S IMPOSSIBLE TO KEEP UP WITH THEM. IT WOULD TAKE A TEAM OF DEDICATED SEX FANATICS TO LIST THEM ALL. SOME OF THE PORN MODEL INDEXES HELP, OF COURSE. BUT THERE'S ONLY 24 HOURS IN A DAY. AND THE MODELS KEEP COMING.    | |
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| 10-26-17 03:41am - 2615 days | #242 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THIS YEARS MODEL.COM LOOKS LIKE A SOFTCORE GLAMOR SITE. ALREADY LISTED AT RABBITS REVIEWS, WITH A SCORE OF 66. SO THAT'S A POOR REASON TO JOIN. BUT THE MODELS LOOK ATTRACTIVE. I'M WONDERING IF I'VE SEEN MOST OF THE CONTENTS FROM OTHER SITES, WHICH WOULD BE A WASTE OF MONEY. THE PREVIEW PAGE IS POOR, GIVES LITTLE INDICATION WHAT IS INSIDE THE SITE. | |
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| 10-26-17 03:31am - 2615 days | #9 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
KNITTING IS PROBABLY THE BEST WAY TO WORK OUT THE INVOLUNTARY SPASMS FROM A BOUT OF SEX. AS THE PROPHET MAHMOUD STATES: THE PATHWAY TO HEAVEN IS ENABLED BY A WELL-KNITTED SCARF. (THE AIR GETS COLDER THE HIGHER YOU GO.) JOKE. | |
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| 10-25-17 01:53pm - 2615 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
FATS DOMINO HAS DIED. 1928-2017. I DIDN'T REALIZE HE WAS STILL ALIVE. I REMEMBER LISTENING TO HIS RECORDS BACK IN THE 1950s AND 1960s. READ THE REST OF THE WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHO HE WAS. HE WAS ONE OF THE BIGGEST ROCK-AND-ROLL STARS AT THE START OF ROCK AND ROLL. FROM WIKIPEDIA: Antoine "Fats" Domino, Jr. (February 26, 1928 – October 24, 2017) was an American pianist and singer-songwriter of French Creole descent. Five of his records released before 1955 sold over a million copies and were certified as gold records and he had 35 records in the U.S. Billboard Top 40. [1] During 1955 to 1960, he had eleven top 10 hits and his record sales were reportedly surpassed only by Elvis Presley.[2] Domino's musical style was based on traditional rhythm and blues, accompanied by saxophones, bass, piano, electric guitar, and drums.[1] Domino was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana, the eighth and final child of Antoine Caliste Domino (1879–1964) and Marie-Donatille Gros (1886–1971). The Domino family was of French Creole background. Louisiana Creole French was his first language. Antoine was born at home with the assistance of his grandmother, a midwife. His name was initially given as Anthony on his birth certificate but was later corrected.[3] His family had newly arrived in the Lower Ninth Ward from Vacherie, Louisiana.[4] His father was a well-known violinist.[citation needed] Domino learned to play the piano from his brother-in-law, the jazz guitarist Harrison Verrett,[1][5] while studying shipping management at his local community college. Even after his success, he continued to live in his old neighborhood. His large home was roomy enough for his 13 children, but he still preferred to sleep in a hammock outside. | |
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| 10-25-17 09:17am - 2615 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
https://www.newscientist.com/article/212...avoid-male-advances/ New Scientist 27 April 2017 Female dragonflies fake sudden death to avoid male advances By Sandrine Ceurstemont Female dragonflies use an extreme tactic to get rid of unwanted suitors: they drop out the sky and then pretend to be dead. Rassim Khelifa from the University of Zurich, Switzerland, witnessed the behaviour for the first time in the moorland hawker dragonfly (Aeshna juncea). While collecting their larvae in the Swiss Alps, he watched a female crash-dive to the ground while being pursued by a male. The female then lay motionless on her back. Her suitor soon flew away, and the female took off once the coast was clear. “I was surprised,” says Khelifa, who had never previously seen this in 10 years of studying dragonflies. Female moorland hawkers are vulnerable to harassment when they lay their eggs since, unlike some other dragonflies, they aren’t guarded by their male mates. A single sexual encounter with another male is enough to fertilise all eggs and copulating again could damage their reproductive tract. Khelifa found that the females often retreat to dense vegetation near ponds at this time, probably to hide. And they often act dramatically when they emerge. High-speed plunge He observed 27 out of 31 females plummeting and playing dead to avoid males, with 21 of these ploys successful. Plunging at high speed is risky though, and according to Adolfo Cordero-Rivera at the University of Vigo in Spain, it may be a strategy that they use only in areas with lots of dragonflies. “Females may only behave in this way if male harassment is intense,” he says. Few animals have been caught feigning death to trick suitors. The behaviour has been seen in a species of spider (the males use it to improve their chances of mating), two species of robber fly and a type of mantis. Playing dead to avoid predators, however, is more common and has been observed in dragonflies. “It’s likely that females expanded its use to overcome male coercion,” says Khelifa. Khelifa is interested in finding out whether the behaviour is unique to species that lay eggs alone or whether it is more widespread. Using extreme tactics to resolve sexual conflict isn’t unique to moorland hawkers: in their damselfly relatives, for example, females eat their partner. Journal reference: Ecology, DOI: 10.1002/ecy.1781 Copyright New Scientist Ltd. | |
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| 10-24-17 02:17pm - 2616 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THOR RAGNAROK IS COMING NOVEMBER 3. I DON'T USUALLY SEE SUPER-HERO MOVIES. BUT THIS MOVIE HAS BEEN GETTING GREAT REVIEWS. AND I WOULD LIKE TO SEE CATE BLANCHETT AS THE EVIL GODDESS REMAKING ASGARD IN HER OWN IMAGE. HOPEFULLY, SHE WILL SMASH THOR AND THE OTHER WIMPS TO SMITHEREENS, AND DROP THEM INTO THE DEEPEST PITS OF HEL. BUT I KINDA DOUBT IT. HOLLYWOOD IS RUN BY MEN, WHO TREAT WOMEN AS PLAYTHINGS. MEN RULE. WOMEN SERVE.   | |
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| 10-24-17 01:59pm - 2616 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TWO TV SERIES THAT I REALLY ENJOYED: DEADWOOD, A WESTERN WITH TIMOTHY OLYPHANT AND IAN MCSHANE. ROME, ROME IN THE TIME OF JULIUS CAESAR, WITH KEVIN MCKIDD AND RAY STEVENSON. LOTS OF BLOOD, FURY, DEATH, PASSION, DYING, AND SEX. | |
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| 10-24-17 10:30am - 2616 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I HAVEN'T SEEN THE LAST KINGDOM SERIES YET. BUT I'VE BEEN READING BERNARD CORNWELL FOR SEVERAL YEARS NOW. CORNWELL IS A POPULAR AUTHOR WHO HAS WRITTEN SEVERAL SERIES. THE LAST KINGDOM IS BASED ON HIS SAXON STORIES SERIES. THERE'S LOTS OF BLOOD, FURY, DEATH, PASSION, DYING IN HIS BOOKS. | |
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| 10-19-17 11:36am - 2621 days | #20 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TRUMP AND NORTH KOREA IN WAR OF WORDS: WOULD NORTH KOREA ACTUALLY SEND NUCLEAR WEAPONS AGAINST A U.S. TARGET? BUT TRUMP'S BRAVERY KNOWS NO LIMITS: HE'S NOT AFRAID TO RAG ON THE LITTLE ROCKET MAN, THREATENING NORTH KOREA WITH FIRE AND FURY. AFTER ALL, TRUMP IS A MAN WITH A VAST MILITARY BACKGROUND: TRUMP NEVER SERVED IN THE MILITARY. HE GOT 5 DRAFT DEFERMENTS: 4 FOR COLLEGE, ONE FOR BAD FEET. BUT SINCE HE WAS ALIVE AT THE TIME OF THE VIETNAM WAR, HE IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE SMARTEST MILITARY ADVISORS WE HAVE TODAY, ESPECIALLY SINCE HE SERVES AS THE COMMANDER IN CHIEF OF THE U.S. ARMED FORCES. ====== ====== North Korea vows to unleash 'unimaginable' nuclear strike on US New York Daily News DENIS SLATTERY Oct 19th 2017 12:42PM North Korea issued another threat of nuclear annihilation against the U.S. on Thursday, vowing to unleash an “unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time.” The warning comes as American military forces conduct ongoing joint naval exercises with South Korea. “The U.S. is running amok by introducing under our nose the targets we have set as primary ones,” North Korean state news agency KCNA said in a statement. “The U.S. should expect that it would face unimaginable strike at an unimaginable time.” North Korea also targeted President Trump directly. “The rabid man in the White House … will first face the immense volley of nuclear fire if he hopes to settle (this) confrontation with nukes,” KCNA said. Trump has engaged in a heated war of words with the rogue nation since taking office. He has dubbed North Korean leader Kim Jong Un “Little Rocket Man” and threatening “fire and fury” as Pyongyang continues to pursue a nuclear arsenal. North Korea stepped up its missile tests and threatened to bomb the U.S. territory of Guam as Trump repeatedly vowed military actions following intelligence assessments that the country produced a miniaturized nuclear warhead. In recent months, North Korea has tested what it said were a thermonuclear weapons and intercontinental missiles. It has also launched two midrange missiles over Japan while threatening to fire similar weapons at Guam. North Korea’s deputy U.N. ambassador, Kim In Ryong, said Monday at the United Nations that the situation on the Korean Peninsula had “reached the touch-and-go point and a nuclear war may break out any moment.” Trump is preparing for a 12-day tour of Asia next month and the White House is debating whether or not the President will visit the demilitarized zone separating North and South Korea. Some administration officials fear a visit will stoke tensions, while others fear for the President’s safety, according to a Washington Post report. Officials in Seoul denied reports Thursday that South Korea president Moon Jae-in is opposed to Trump’s visit to the DMZ. | |
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| 10-18-17 10:24am - 2622 days | #19 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
The Washington Post Fallen soldier’s mother: ‘Trump did disrespect my son’ By Anne Gearan and Kristine Phillips October 18 at 1:10 PM The furor around Trump's call to a soldier's widow President Trump's response to the deaths of four soldiers in Niger is causing an uproar after Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla) said he told Sgt. La David Johnson's widow that her husband "knew what he was signing up for." (Jenny Starrs/The Washington Post) The mother of a soldier killed in an ambush in Africa said Wednesday that President Trump “did disrespect my son” with remarks in a condolence telephone call. Sgt. La David T. Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Washington Post that she was present during the call from the White House on Tuesday to Johnson's widow, Myeshia Johnson. Johnson's mother also stood by an account of the call from Rep. Frederica S. Wilson (D-Fla.) that Trump told Johnson's widow that her husband “must have known what he signed up for.” “President Trump did disrespect my son and my daughter and also me and my husband,” Jones-Johnson said. Trump lashed back. He denied Wilson's account in a Twitter message Wednesday. He said he had “proof” that the exchange did not go as Wilson had described. Trump did not elaborate, but the claim again raised questions about whether the president tapes calls and conversations. Later Wednesday, Trump expanded on his denial. “I didn't say what that congresswoman said; didn't say it all. She knows it,” Trump said when asked about the exchange by a reporter. “I had a very nice conversation with the woman, with the wife who was — sounded like a lovely woman. Did not say what the congresswoman said, and most people aren’t too surprised to hear that.” Trump spoke at a meeting at the White House with members of the Senate Finance Committee. Wilson had said that the Johnson family was “astonished” by Trump's remarks during the phone call, which Wilson said she heard via a speaker phone while riding in a car with the Johnson family. “She was crying the whole time, and when she hung up the phone, she looked at me and said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’ That’s the hurting part.” Wilson told MSNBC on Wednesday that Johnson's widow was shaken by the exchange. Wilson went on to say Trump “was almost like joking. He said, ‘Well, I guess you knew’ — something to the effect that ‘he knew what he was getting into when he signed up, but I guess it hurts anyway.’ You know, just matter-of-factly, that this is what happens, anyone who is signing up for military duty is signing up to die. That’s the way we interpreted it. It was horrible. It was insensitive. It was absolutely crazy, unnecessary. I was livid.” “She was in tears. She was in tears. And she said, ‘He didn’t even remember his name.’” On Tuesday, Wilson told The Washington Post that Trump had told Johnson's widow, “He knew what he was signing up for, but I guess it hurts anyway.” Wilson said she was riding in a limousine with Johnson when the president called, and said she heard the conversation on speakerphone. “He made her cry,” Wilson said. Jones-Johnson, speaking to The Post via Facebook Messenger, declined to elaborate. But asked whether Wilson's account of the conversation between Trump and the family was accurate, she replied: “Yes.” The White House did not confirm or deny Wilson’s account on Tuesday. “The President’s conversations with the families of American heroes who have made the ultimate sacrifice are private,” a White House official said in a statement. The White House had said Tuesday that Trump placed calls Tuesday to the families of all four service members killed in Niger on Oct. 4. The calls followed Trump's claims Monday and Tuesday that his Democratic predecessor, President Barack Obama, had not often made such calls to families. Former Obama administration officials strongly dispute that claim, saying Obama engaged families of fallen service members in various ways throughout his presidency. Johnson, 25, of Miami Gardens, Fla., was found dead after initially being reported as missing after the attack. He was a driver assigned to 3rd Special Forces Group (Airborne) based in Fort Bragg, N.C. John Wagner and Philip Rucker contributed to this report. | |
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| 10-18-17 09:54am - 2622 days | #18 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
ARTICLE BELOW READS MORE LIKE A POORLY WRITTEN SPY NOVEL FROM THE 1960s. THE COLD WAR BETWEEN RUSSIA AND THE US IS LONG PAST. BUT THE DEPARTMENT OF DIRTY TRICKS (RUSSIA'S, AND MAYBE THE U.S. AS WELL) IS ALIVE AND WELL. ========= ========= Search Aol.com 'Our task was to set Americans against their own government': Details emerge on Russia's troll farm Business Insider Sonam Sheth Oct 18th 2017 7:34AM Recently-revealed details about how an infamous Russian "troll farm" operated and its role in Russia's disinformation campaign shed new light on Russia's interference in the 2016 presidential race. One former troll, who was interviewed by the independent Russian news outlet Dozhd and went by "Maxim," or Max, spoke of his experience working for the Internet Research Agency, a well-researched Russian "troll farm" located in St. Petersburg, whose function is to spread pro-Russian propaganda and sow political discord in nations perceived as hostile to Russia. The secretive firm is bankrolled by Yevgeny Prigozhin, CNN reported, a Russian oligarch and close ally of President Vladimir Putin. Up to a third of the IRA's staff was tasked with interfering in US political conversation during the 2016 election, according to an investigation conducted by Russian news agency RBC and detailed by Meduza. The IRA, Max told Dozhd, consisted of a "Russian desk" and a "foreign desk." The Russian desk was primarily made up of bots and trolls, which used fake social-media accounts to flood the internet with pro-Trump agitprop and made-up news throughout the campaign, especially in the days leading up to the election. The foreign desk had a more sophisticated purpose, according to Max, who worked in that department. "It’s not just writing ‘Obama is a monkey’ and ‘Putin is great.’ They’ll even fine you for that kind of [primitive] stuff," he told Dozhd. In fact, those who worked for the foreign desk were restricted from spreading pro-Russia propaganda. Rather, Max said, their job was more qualitative and was geared towards understanding the "nuances" of American politics to "rock the boat" on divisive issues like gun control and LGBT rights. "Our goal wasn’t to turn the Americans toward Russia," he added. "Our task was to set Americans against their own government: to provoke unrest and discontent, and to lower Obama’s support ratings." The IRA had an entire department, called the "Department of Provocations," that was dedicated to that goal: its primary objective was to disseminate fake news and sow discord in the West, according to CNN. The troll farm also had its own "Facebook desk," whose function was to relentlessly push back against the platform's administrators who deleted fake accounts as they began gaining traction. When IRA employees argued against having their accounts deleted, Max said, Facebook staffers would write back, "You are trolls." The trolls would in turn invoke the First Amendment right to free speech — occasionally, they won the arguments. Facebook is currently at the center of congressional and FBI Russia probes, which are examining the extent to which Russia utilized social-media platforms to influence American political opinion. Facebook has turned over more than 3,000 Russian-bought ads to Congress. RBC's investigation found that in 2016, Russia's propaganda network on Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter could have reached 30 million people per week, and a Columbia University social-media analyst published research which found that Russian propaganda may have been shared billions of times on Facebook alone. In addition to spreading fake news, Russian Facebook accounts went one step further by organizing events, rallies, and protests, some of which galvanized dozens of people. To be sure, RBC found that the IRA hired 100 American activists over the internet to hold 40 rallies across different US cities. Those people did not know they were working for a Russian organization, according to the investigation. | |
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| 10-18-17 09:32am - 2622 days | #16 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Family of slain sergeant says Trump showed "disrespect" [Associated Press] Jonathan Lemire and Calvin Woodward, Associated Press Associated PressOctober 18, 2017 WASHINGTON (AP) -- The mother of an Army sergeant killed in Niger said Wednesday that President Donald Trump, in a call offering condolences, showed "disrespect" to the soldier's loved ones as they drove to the airport to meet his body. Trump, engulfed in controversy over the appropriate way for presidents to show compassion for slain soldiers, strongly disputed that account. Sgt. La David Johnson was one of four American military personnel killed nearly two weeks ago whose families had not heard from Trump until Tuesday. Rep. Frederica Wilson said that Trump told the widow that Johnson "knew what he signed up for." The Florida Democrat said she was in the car with the widow, Myeshia Johnson, on the way to Miami International Airport to meet the body when Trump called. La David Johnson's mother, Cowanda Jones-Johnson, told The Associated Press Wednesday that the congresswoman's account was correct. "Yes the statement is true," Jones-Johnson said. "I was in the car and I heard the full conversation. That's simply not so, Trump said Wednesday. He declared on Twitter: "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" And in a White House meeting on tax reform, Trump said that he "didn't say what that congresswoman said, didn't say it at all. She knows it." Wilson did not back down from her account, suggesting that Trump "never wants to take ownership" of a mistake. "If you are the leader of the free world, if you are president of the United States and you want to convey sympathy to a grieving family, a grieving widow, you choose your words carefully," Wilson told the Associated Press Wednesday. "And everyone knows that Donald Trump does not choose his words carefully." "She was crying for the whole time," Wilson said of the new widow. "And the worst part of it: when he hung up you know what she turned to me and said? She said he didn't even remember his name." Like presidents before him, Trump has made personal contact with some families of the fallen but not all. What's different is that Trump, alone among them, has picked a political fight over who's done better to honor the war dead and their families. He placed himself at the top of the list, saying on Tuesday, "I think I've called every family of someone who's died" while past presidents didn't place such calls. But The Associated Press found relatives of two soldiers who died overseas during Trump's presidency who said they never received a call or a letter from him, as well as relatives of a third who did not get a call. And proof is plentiful that Barack Obama and George W. Bush — saddled with far more combat casualties than the roughly two dozen so far under Trump, took painstaking steps to write, call or meet bereaved military families. After her Army son died in an armored vehicle rollover in Syria in May, Sheila Murphy says, she got no call or letter from Trump, even as she waited months for his condolences and wrote him that "some days I don't want to live." In contrast, Trump called to comfort Eddie and Aldene Lee about 10 days after their Army son was killed in an explosion while on patrol in Iraq in April. "Lovely young man," Trump said, according to Aldene. She thought that was a beautiful word to hear about her boy, "lovely." Trump's delay in publicly discussing the men lost at Niger did not appear to be extraordinary, judging from past examples, but his politicization of the matter is. He went so far Tuesday as to cite the death of chief of staff John Kelly's son in Afghanistan to question whether Obama had properly honored the war dead. Kelly was a Marine general under Obama when his Marine son Robert died in 2010. "You could ask General Kelly, did he get a call from Obama?" Trump said on Fox News radio. A White House official said later that Obama did not call Kelly but not respond to questions whether some other sort of outreach was made. Kelly, who was absent from a pair of public White House events on Tuesday, was sitting near the president in his tax reform meeting on Wednesday but did not address reporters. Democrats and some former government officials were livid, accusing Trump of "inane cruelty" and a "sick game." Democratic Sen. Tammy Duckworth of Illinois, an Iraq veteran who lost both legs when her helicopter was attacked, said: "I just wish that this commander in chief would stop using Gold Star families as pawns in whatever sick game he's trying to play here." For their part, Gold Star families, which have lost members in wartime, told AP of acts of intimate kindness from Obama and Bush when those commanders in chief consoled them. Trump initially claimed that only he among presidents made sure to call families. Obama may have done so on occasion, he said, but "other presidents did not call." He equivocated Tuesday as the record made plain that his characterization was false. "I don't know," he said of past calls. But he said his own practice was to call all families of the war dead. But that hasn't happened. No White House protocol demands that presidents speak or meet with the families of Americans killed in action — an impossible task in a war's bloodiest stages. But they often do. Altogether some 6,900 Americans have been killed in overseas wars since the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks, the overwhelming majority under Bush and Obama. Despite the much heavier toll on his watch — more than 800 dead each year from 2004 through 2007 — Bush wrote to all bereaved military families and met or spoke with hundreds if not thousands, said his spokesman, Freddy Ford. Veterans groups said they had no quarrel with how presidents have recognized the fallen or their families. "I don't think there is any president I know of who hasn't called families," said Rick Weidman, co-founder and executive director of Vietnam Veterans of America. "President Obama called often and President Bush called often. They also made regular visits to Walter Reed and Bethesda Medical Center, going in the evenings and on Saturdays." Trump feuded with one Gold Star family during last year's campaign, assailing the parents of slain Army Capt. Humayun Khan, who died in Iraq in 2004, after they criticized him from the stage at the Democratic National Convention. ___ Lemire reported from New York. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay in Miami, Russ Bynum in Savannah, Georgia. Jonathan Drew in Raleigh, North Carolina, Kristen de Groot in Philadelphia, Jennifer McDermott in Providence, Rhode Island, Michelle Price in Salt Lake City, and Hope Yen and Robert Burns in Washington contributed to this report. | |
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| 10-18-17 09:15am - 2622 days | #15 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TRUMP WANTS INCREASED NUCLEAR MISSILE TO DROP ON OUR ENEMIES. SECRETARY OF STATE REX TILLERSON CALLS TRUMP A MORON. ===== ===== Trump wanted tenfold increase in nuclear arsenal, surprising military NBC News COURTNEY KUBE, KRISTEN WELKER, CAROL E. LEE and SAVANNAH GUTHRIE Oct 11th 2017 8:00AM WASHINGTON — President Donald Trump said he wanted what amounted to a nearly tenfold increase in the U.S. nuclear arsenal during a gathering this past summer of the nation's highest ranking national security leaders, according to three officials who were in the room. Trump's comments, the officials said, came in response to a briefing slide he was shown that charted the steady reduction of U.S. nuclear weapons since the late 1960s. Trump indicated he wanted a bigger stockpile, not the bottom position on that downward-sloping curve. According to the officials present, Trump's advisers, among them the Joint Chiefs of Staff and Secretary of State Rex Tillerson, were surprised. Officials briefly explained the legal and practical impediments to a nuclear buildup and how the current military posture is stronger than it was at the height of the build-up. In interviews, they told NBC News that no such expansion is planned. The July 20 meeting was described as a lengthy and sometimes tense review of worldwide U.S. forces and operations. It was soon after the meeting broke up that officials who remained behind heard Tillerson say that Trump is a "moron." Revelations of Trump's comments that day come as the U.S. is locked in a high-stakes standoff with North Korea over its nuclear ambitions and is poised to set off a fresh confrontation with Iran by not certifying to Congress that Tehran is in compliance with the 2015 nuclear deal. Trump convened a meeting Tuesday with his national security team in which they discussed "a range of options to respond to any form of North Korean aggression or, if necessary, to prevent North Korea from threatening the U.S. and its allies with nuclear weapons," according to the White House. The president's comments during the Pentagon meeting in July came in response to a chart shown during the meeting on the history of the U.S. and Russia's nuclear capabilities that showed America's stockpile at its peak in the late 1960s, the officials said. Some officials present said they did not take Trump's desire for more nuclear weapons to be literally instructing the military to increase the actual numbers. But his comments raised questions about his familiarity with the nuclear posture and other issues, officials said. Two officials present said that at multiple points in the discussion, the president expressed a desire not just for more nuclear weapons, but for additional U.S. troops and military equipment. Any increase in America's nuclear arsenal would not only break with decades of U.S. nuclear doctrine but also violate international disarmament treaties signed by every president since Ronald Reagan. Nonproliferation experts warned that such a move could set off a global arms race. "If he were to increase the numbers, the Russians would match him, and the Chinese" would ramp up their nuclear ambitions, Joe Cirincione, a nuclear expert and MSNBC contributor, said, referring to the president. "There hasn't been a military mission that's required a nuclear weapon in 71 years," Cirincione said. Details of the July 20 meeting, which have not been previously reported, shed additional light on tensions among the commander-in-chief, members of his Cabinet and the uniformed leadership of the Pentagon stemming from vastly different world views, experiences and knowledge bases. Moreover, the president's comments reveal that Trump, who suggested before his inauguration that the U.S. "must greatly strengthen and expand its nuclear capability," voiced that desire as commander-in-chief directly to the military leadership in the heart of the Pentagon this summer. Some officials in the Pentagon meeting were rattled by the president's desire for more nuclear weapons and his understanding of other national security issues from the Korean peninsula to Iraq and Afghanistan, the officials said. That meeting followed one held a day earlier in the White House Situation Room focused on Afghanistan in which the president stunned some of his national security team. At that July 19 meeting, according to senior administration officials, Trump asked military leaders to fire the commander of U.S. forces in Afghanistan and compared their advice to that of a New York restaurant consultant whose poor judgment cost a business valuable time and money. Two people familiar with the discussion said the Situation Room meeting, in which the president's advisers anticipated he would sign off on a new Afghanistan strategy, was so unproductive that the advisers decided to continue the discussion at the Pentagon the next day in a smaller setting where the president could perhaps be more focused. "It wasn't just the number of people. It was the idea of focus," according to one person familiar with the discussion. The thinking was: "Maybe we need to slow down a little and explain the whole world" from a big-picture perspective, this person said. The Pentagon meeting was also attended by Vice President Mike Pence, Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, Defense Secretary James Mattis, Chairman of the Joint Chiefs General Joseph Dunford, Vice Chairman Gen. Paul Selva, Undersecretary of Defense Patrick Shanahan, Stephen Bannon, who served then as Trump's chief strategist, Jared Kushner who is a senior adviser to the president and Reince Preibus who was then chief of staff. Sean Spicer who was then White House spokesman, and Keith Schiller who was Director of Oval Office Operations at the time, also accompanied Trump to the Pentagon that day. Asked for a response to the president's comments, a White House official speaking only on the condition of anonymity, said that the nuclear arsenal was not a primary topic of the briefing. Dana White, spokesperson for the Pentagon said "the Secretary of Defense has many closed sessions with the president and his cabinet members. Those conversations are privileged." At the time of the meeting, White told reporters the meeting "covered the planet," and that the president's advisers "went around the world," outlining what she described as the challenges and opportunities for the U.S. Two senior administration officials said the president's advisers outlined the reasons an expansion of America's nuclear arsenal is not feasible. They pointed to treaty obligations and budget restraints and noted to him that today's total conventional and nonconventional military arsenal leaves the U.S. in a stronger defense posture than it was when the nuclear arsenal alone was larger. Still, officials said they are working to address the president's concerns within the Nuclear Posture Review, which is expected to be finalized by the end of 2017 or early next year. "He's all in for modernization," one official said. "His concerns are the U.S. stopped investing in this." Officials present said that Trump's comments on a significantly increased arsenal came in response to a briefing slide that outlined America's nuclear stockpile over the past 70 years. The president referenced the highest number on the chart — about 32,000 in the late 1960s — and told his team he wanted the U.S. to have that many now, officials said. The U.S. currently has around 4,000 nuclear warheads in its military stockpile, according to the Federation of American Scientists. The Pentagon is currently undergoing the long-planned posture review. Modernizing the arsenal is a step presidents continuously take that doesn't put the U.S. in violation of treaty obligations, Cirincione said. "You don't get in trouble for modernizing. You do get in trouble if you do one of two things: if you increase the numbers. The strategic weapons are treaty limited. Two, if you build a new type of weapon that is prohibited by a treaty," he said. It's unclear which portion of the Pentagon briefing prompted Tillerson to call the president a "moron" after the meeting broke up and some advisers were gathered around. Officials who attended the two-hour session said it included a number of tense exchanges. At one point, Trump responded to a presentation on the U.S. military presence in South Korea by asking why South Koreans aren't more appreciative and welcoming of American defense aid. The comment prompted intervention from a senior military official in the room to explain the overall relationship and why such help is ultimately beneficial to U.S. national security interests. Trump has been inconsistent with regards to his stance on nuclear weapons. At one of the earliest Republican debates, in December of 2015, then-candidate Trump seemed to stumble through a question about the nuclear triad, the land, air, and sea-based systems present in a traditional nuclear arsenal. Asked three months later about U.S. policy on nonproliferation, Trump said on CNN: "Maybe it's going to have to be time to change, because so many people, you have Pakistan has it, you have China has it." | |
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| 10-18-17 08:28am - 2622 days | #14 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
WHO YOU GONNA BELIEVE (THE OLD GHOSTBUSTERS CLAIM TO FAME, REPHRASED). POTUS, OUR BELOVED PRESIDENT IN RESIDENCE, SAYS A CONGRESSMAN MADE FAKE NEWS WHEN THE CONGRESSWOMAN TOLD THE STORY ABOUT TRUMP BEING INSENSITIVE TO A WAR WIDOW. TRUMP IS PROBABLY ONE OF THE MOST SENSITIVE MEN ALIVE, FAMOUS FOR SINGLING OUT ANY AND EVERY PERSON WHO MIGHT HAVE SLIGHTED HIM. LOOSE LIPS MIGHT SINK SHIPS, BUT BEWARE THE POWER OF THE TWEET! FLORIDA REP. FREDERICA WILSON IS QUAKING IN HER BOOTS, AFTER TRUMP EXPOSED THE CONGRESSWOMAN'S LIES. ========= ========= Trump says congresswoman 'totally fabricated' story that he told a soldier's widow 'he knew what he signed up for' Business Insider Alex Lockie Oct 18th 2017 8:06AM President Donald Trump denied Florida Rep. Frederica Wilson's claim that he told the wife of a soldier slain in an attack on US forces in Niger that the soldier "knew what he signed up for." "Democrat Congresswoman totally fabricated what I said to the wife of a soldier who died in action (and I have proof). Sad!" Trump tweeted Wednesday morning. Wilson told local ABC affiliate WPLG that when Trump spoke to Myeshia Johnson — the widow of Sgt. La David Johnson, one of the four US Army Special Forces troops killed in action during a mission in the African country of Niger earlier this month — Trump said, "He knew what he signed up for ... but when it happens, it hurts anyway." "It's so insensitive. He should have not have said that. He shouldn't have said it." Wilson told later CNN's Don Lemon. Wilson claimed to have overheard Trump say it as she rode with Johnson on the way to the airport to receive the fallen soldier's body. | |
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| 10-17-17 04:08pm - 2623 days | #13 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Business Insider Allan Smith Oct 17th 2017 1:53PM President Donald Trump responded Tuesday to Republican Sen. John McCain's pointed Monday night speech, suggesting that the senator should "be careful" because Trump will "fight back." "I hear everything," Trump told WMAL radio when asked if he heard what McCain said in his speech Monday. "People have to be careful because at some point I fight back." In his Philadelphia speech, where McCain was to accept the National Constitution Center's Liberty Medal in recognition of his service to the US, McCain blasted "half-baked, spurious nationalism." "To refuse the obligations of international leadership and our duty to remain the last, best hope of Earth for the sake of some half-baked, spurious nationalism cooked up by people who would rather find scapegoats than solve problems is as unpatriotic as an attachment to any other tired dogma that Americans consigned to the ash heap of history," McCain said. He added that "we live in a land made of ideals, not blood and soil," referencing a Nazi slogan that white nationalists chanted during a Charlottesville, Virginia, rally in August. "We have a moral obligation to continue in our just cause, and we would bring more than shame on ourselves if we don't," McCain continued. McCain responded to Trump's comments on Tuesday, denying that he was attacking the president specifically but also saying that he's "faced some pretty tough adversaries in the past." "I'm not interested in confronting the president," he said. "I'm interested in working with the president." McCain said that he was referring to "America Firsters" in his Monday speech. "America First" is a slogan Trump has often used to describe his foreign policy agenda. McCain and Trump have often been at odds during Trump's presidency. The senator was the decisive vote that crushed the Republican healthcare effort this summer, and he has often been publicly critical of Trump. In turn, Trump has chastised McCain. Elsewhere on Tuesday, 2012 GOP presidential nominee Mitt Romney, who lost to McCain in the 2008 Republican presidential primary, took to Twitter to call the Arizona Republican's speech "Lincolnesque." "Ran against him, sometimes disagree, but proud to be a friend of @SenJohnMcCain: hero, champion of character and last night, Lincolnesque," he tweeted. | |
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| 10-16-17 04:17pm - 2624 days | #9 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I'VE READ SOME ARTICLES THAT CLAIM VR IS ALREADY PAST ITS PRIME, AND THAT AR IS THE WAVE OF THE FUTURE. SORT OF LIKE CDs, THEN DVDs, AND NOW WE HAVE THE CLOUD, SO CDs AND DVDs ARE ONLY GOOD FOR COASTERS TO PROTECT YOUR GLASS/WOOD TOPS FROM CONDENSATION. I HAVEN'T HAD ANY EXPERIENCE WITH EITHER VR OR AR, BUT I'M HOPING THEY WILL HIT MAINSTREAM SOON, WHILE I CAN STILL ENJOY THEM.   | |
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| 10-12-17 01:46pm - 2628 days | #5 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THE TRUE STORY IS THAT NEW YORK IS THE LAND OF PIMPS AND WHORES. WHICH I ALREADY KNEW. BUT IT'S NICE THAT HBO IS CONFIRMING THAT FACT WITH A DRAMA.  | |
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| 10-12-17 10:46am - 2628 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
HOLLYWOOD FICTION. THAT'S WHY THEY STATE AT THE BEGINNING OF A LOT OF MOVIES: "BASED ON TRUE EVENTS". 1% FACT, 99% HOLLYWOOD SPIN, TO MAKE TO MAKE IT MORE COMMERCIAL. | |
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| 10-08-17 10:05am - 2632 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
BATTLE FOR WORLD DOMINATION. WHO WILL BE THE TRUE VICTOR? WILL GODZILLA, THE SUPER LIZARD FROM THE DEPTHS OF HELL, OVERCOME ALL OPPONENTS, TO WREAK VENGEANCE ON NEW YORK CITY, FOR CAUSING NUCLEAR BOMBS TO BE DROPPED ON HIM WHILE HE WAS RESTING PEACEFULLY? OR WILL DRACULA, THE UNDEAD PRINCE OF DARKNESS, FINALLY OVERCOME THE WEAK WRITING SCRIPTS OF ALL HIS PREVIOUS MOVIES, AND SINK HIS FANGS INTO THE DESCENDANTS OF ABRAHAM VAN HELSING AND DESTROY THEM FOREVERMORE? STAY TUNED TO THIS PAGE FOR UPDATES! PS: I HAVE LEARNED THAT DRACULA HAS A SECRET WEAPON. A DAUGHTER. WHOSE UNEARTHLY BEAUTY WILL ENSLAVE ALL HUMANS, BOTH MEN AND WOMEN, AND EVEN CHILDREN, TO HER EVIL DESIRES. WHAT WILL HAPPEN WHEN DRACULA'S DAUGHTER MEETS GODZILLA? WILL SHE RIDE HIM TO HELL, OR TRANSFORM HIM INTO LIZARD-SKIN SHOES, BELT, AND OTHER ACCESSORIES? | |
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| 09-30-17 12:31pm - 2640 days | #10 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
WHILE RUNNING FOR PRESIDENT, TRUMP PROMISED HE WOULD NEVER TAKE A VACATION WHILE SERVING AS PRESIDENT. HOWEVER, THE FACTS TELL A DIFFERENT STORY. TRUMP REPEATEDLY CRITICIZED OBAMA FOR TAKING VACATIONS WHILE OBAMA WAS PRESIDENT. BUT AS OF AUG 4, 2017, TRUMP HAS TAKEN FAR MORE VACATIONS THAN OBAMA DID IN THE SAME TIME PERIOD OF HIS PRESIDENCY. ============================= Donald Trump has taken off three times as much holiday as Barack Obama The US President regularly criticised his predecessor, Barack Obama, for taking time off Gabriel Samuels @gabs_samuels Friday 4 August 2017 09:36 BST Donald Trump, who regularly condemned Barack Obama for taking too much time off, has now enjoyed more than three times as many holiday days as his predecessor had enjoyed at the same stage in his tenure. The US president announced he is to spend the next 17 days at his private golf club in New Jersey. It means that by the end of August, Mr Trump will have taken 53 days of leisure, since his inauguration in January, while Mr Obama had taken 15 days during the same time span, according to The Washington Post. The US leader has spent 13 of his 28 weekends away from the White House - mostly at his Mar-a- Lago resort in Florida’s Palm Beach or in Bedminster, New Jersey. His aides described the latest break as a “working vacation”, saying it will be similar to the time he hosted Shinzo Abe of Japan at his luxury Florida resort. They also pointed out that the holiday is partly driven by necessity, as the White House is to be vacated of staff to allow for heating maintenance works. It comes shortly after it emerged that Mr Trump will have played at least 33 rounds of golf since taking office, nearly double the 17 rounds Mr Obama played over the same period. It has been reported that the current president's aides have declined to report the full extent of his golfing activity. In his 2004 book Think Like a Billionaire, Mr Trump wrote: “Don’t take vacations. What’s the point? If you’re not enjoying your work, you’re doing the wrong job.” He tweeted the quote in 2012 as part of a long string of attacks on Mr Obama’s vacation habits. “Can you believe that, with all of the problems and difficulties facing the US, President Obama spent the day playing golf?”, Mr Trump asked in 2014. In a similar attack two years earlier, he tweeted: “President Obama's vacation is costing taxpayers millions of dollars - unbelievable!”. Mr Trump's trips have already cost the taxpayer $30m (£22.9m) on private travel to his estates, according an estimate from the liberal think tank, Center for American Progress. Donald Trump's international Presidential trips Much of this has gone on round the clock secret service protection, as well as coast guards and other agencies. Travel costs for his entourage have also raised costs. Mr Obama incurred costs of $100m (£76m) during his eight years in power, the group said. Mr Trump is notably guarded about his golf trips. Pool reporters assigned to cover his movements are left outside the club, and often are not told what the President plans to do inside, despite him arriving in slacks and golf shoes. | |
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| 09-30-17 08:44am - 2640 days | #9 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
TRUMP'S KINDNESS HAS A LIMIT. TRUMP HAS BENT OVER BACKWARD, TRYING TO HELP PUERTO RICO. BUT THE MAYOR OF PUERTO RICO IS BEGGING FOR MORE AID, BECAUSE PEOPLE ARE SUFFERING AND DYING FROM THE EFFECTS OF THE HURRICANE. IN RESPONSE TO THE CRITICISM BY PUERTO RICO'S MAYOR, WHO IS A WOMAN, AFTER ALL, TRUMP, THE MAN, OUR PRESIDENT, TWEETS THAT PUERTO RICANS HAVE POOR LEADERSHIP. WHY DOESN'T TRUMP DROP A NUCLEAR BOMB ON PUERTO RICO, TO END THEIR SUFFERING? TRUMP LOVES PEOPLE. EVEN WHEN THEY DON'T LOVE HIM. TRUMP HAS DONE AN INCREDIBLE JOB HELPING PUERTO RICO. HE EVEN SAYS THIS HIMSELF. SO YOU KNOW IT MUST BE TRUE. ============= ============= Puerto Rico crisis: San Juan mayor pleads for federal aid, Trump hits back NBC news PHIL HELSEL and SAPHORA SMITH Sep 30th 2017 8:11AM X The mayor of Puerto Rico's largest city earned a rebuke from President Donald Trump Saturday after pleading more federal assistance in the wake of Hurricane Maria. "We are dying, and you are killing us with the inefficiency, and the bureaucracy," San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said Friday at a news conference. She highlighted donations from companies and others, including 200,000 pounds of food donated by Goya, as a contrast to federal help. "This is what we got last night. Four pallets of water, three pallets of meals, and 12 pallets of infant food — which, I gave them to the people of Comerio, where people are drinking off a creek," she said. "So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell." Criticism has been mounting over the Trump administration’s response to what is being called an unfolding humanitarian crisis, with some likening the situation to the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina. However, Trump hit back early Saturday, accusing Cruz of "poor leadership ability" and criticizing Puerto Rican officials. "They want everything to be done for them when it should be a community effort," he wrote on Twitter. "10,000 federal workers now on island doing a good job." Hurricane Maria knocked out power to most of Puerto Rico when it struck as a Category 4 storm on Sept. 20. The storm came on the heels of Hurricane Irma, which skirted past the island but still knocked out power to more than 1 million. Some 18 people have been confirmed dead in Puerto Rico in the wake of the storm, while 16 died on the island of Dominica and one on the French territory of Guadeloupe. Initially, the Trump administration named a one-star general to run U.S. military operations, then upgraded the command to three-star Lt. Gen. Jeffrey Buchanan, who headed to Puerto Rico on Thursday. An Army spokesperson said that as of 4 p.m. ET Friday the Army has more than 4,900 soldiers and Army Corps of Engineers civilian personnel in Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands, which were also hit by the hurricane. Thirty aircraft and more than 500 trucks are committed to relief efforts, the spokesperson said. The National Guard said it projects 1,400 guard forces will be sent to Puerto Rico over the next four days. The Federal Emergency Management Agency said this week that Puerto Rico has received 4.4 million meal kits, 6.5 million liters of water. Yulín Cruz said help has not been reaching residents quickly enough. She said FEMA "has collapsed" in Puerto Rico. "I cannot fathom the thought that the greatest nation in the world cannot figure out logistics for a small island of 100 miles by 35 miles," she said. "If we don't get the food and the water into people's hands, we are going to see something close to a genocide," she said later. "I am asking the president of the United States to make sure somebody is in charge that is up to the task of saving lives," Yulín Cruz said. FEMA Administrator Brock Long said on MSNBC Friday that progress is being made. He said airport and port capacity is increasing. "We are making progress, every day capacity is coming open," he said. "We've worked to clear 11 highways, we’re continuing to push forward and open up those arteries to be able to pump more in," Long said. "The bottom line is that the capacity will continue to increase." President Donald Trump has praised the government’s response after the hurricane. “We have done an incredible job, considering there’s absolutely nothing to work with,” Trump said, adding that “the power grid is gone." Vice President Mike Pence tweeted Friday that he had called the Governor of Puerto Rico, Ricardo Rossello, "to ensure we're doing all we can to back his recovery efforts." The vice president also announced that he would travel to Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands next week. Department of Homeland Security Acting Secretary Elaine Duke said Friday that "clearly, the situation here in Puerto Rico after the devastating hurricane is not satisfactory, but together we are getting there.” Florida Governor Rick Scott said Friday he was offering military support to help with the recovery operation on the island. The governor, whose own state was hit by Hurricane Irma earlier this month, said Florida's National Guard was assisting with coordination of the emergency response. | |
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| 09-29-17 03:45pm - 2641 days | #7 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
BUSINESS MORALITY/TRUTH CAN BE STRANGE. MY MOTHER HAD A HEALTH CARE PLAN FROM AN HMO. THEY SENT HER A LETTER: THEY SAID THEY WERE REDUCING HER COVERAGE. BUT RAISING HER MONTHLY RATE. THE CHANGES WERE FOR HER BENEFIT, THEY SAID. THE REASON WAS THAT THE HMO WOULD GAIN INCREASED FINANCIAL STRENGTH, SO MY MOTHER WOULD BENEFIT. REDUCED COVERAGE, HIGHER PREMIUMS. FOR HER BENEFIT? | |
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| 09-29-17 03:31pm - 2641 days | #6 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
NEW YORK TIMES ARTICLE: 9-28-2017 TRUMP SAYS THE NEW TAX PLAN WOULD NOT BENEFIT HIM. BUT A STUDY BY TAX EXPERTS SAYS TRUMP WOULD SAVE OVER $1 BILLION WITH HIS NEW TAX PLAN. TRUMP ALSO SAYS THE NEW TAX PLAN WOULD NOT BENEFIT THE VERY WEALTHY. I GUESS THAT TRUMP BELIEVES THAT REDUCING THE TAX ON THE VERY WEALTHY BY BILLIONS OF DOLLARS IS NOT A BENEFIT, BECAUSE GREAT WEALTH IS A BURDEN ON THE WEALTHY, WHO SHOULD BE ADMIRED FOR THEIR STAMINA OF HOLDING SUCH GREAT RESPONSIBILITY. IN OTHER WORDS: TRUMP HAS THE INTEGRITY OF A GREAT BUSINESSMAN OR POLITICIAN. THE MORE HE CHARGES YOU, THE BETTER OFF YOU ARE. ============ ============ Trump Could Save More Than $1 Billion Under His New Tax Plan By JESSE DRUCKER and NADJA POPOVICH SEPT. 28, 2017 Highlighted areas show what parts of President Trump’s 2005 tax return could have been affected by the new tax plan. President Trump could cut his tax bills by more than $1.1 billion, including saving tens of millions of dollars in a single year, under his proposed tax changes, a New York Times analysis has found. On Wednesday, the White House announced a sweeping plan to cut a variety of taxes that would overwhelmingly benefit the wealthy. The estimate of Mr. Trump’s savings is based in part on information from his 2005 federal tax return. The analysis compares what his tax burden would be under current law with what it would be under the proposal. Mr. Trump’s 2005 return is the most recent available publicly and was released in March by David Cay Johnston on the website DCReport.org. The Times’s figure also relies on an estimate of Mr. Trump’s net worth, calculated by the Bloomberg Billionaire’s Index to be $2.86 billion. “I don’t benefit. I don’t benefit,” Mr. Trump said on Wednesday. “In fact, very, very strongly, as you see, I think there’s very little benefit for people of wealth.” In fact, high-income earners like Mr. Trump are likely to benefit disproportionately if the White House proposal becomes law. The estimates, calculated with the help of Robert Willens, an accounting expert, and Stephen Breitstone, a tax lawyer, provide a view into precisely how. Savings of about $1.1 billion from repealing the estate tax Though it would not be reflected on his income tax return, Mr. Trump’s proposal to eliminate the estate tax would generate the largest tax savings. If his assets — reportedly valued at $2.86 billion — were transferred after his death under today’s rules, his estate would be taxed at about 40 percent. Repealing the federal estate tax could save his family about $1.1 billion, though it could still be subject to New York estate taxes. Savings of $31 million from repealing the alternative minimum tax 45.png Line 45 of Mr. Trump’s 2005 tax return shows he paid $31.3 million because of the alternative minimum tax. The decades-old alternative minimum tax is meant to prevent America’s wealthiest from using deductions to pay very low or no federal income tax. In 2005, it accounted for about 80 percent of Mr. Trump’s overall income tax payment. His plan to repeal the tax would save him $31.3 million. Savings of about $16 million from taxing certain types of business income at 25 percent 12_17.png Lines 12 and 17 of Mr. Trump’s tax return show the income he earned from businesses, rental real estate and other kinds of business partnerships, totaling $109.76 million. Mr. Trump’s proposed changes could allow individuals to qualify for a significantly reduced tax rate of 25 percent on certain types of income they receive through business partnerships and similar entities. That is up from the original proposal in April of 15 percent, but far lower than the top tax rates currently faced by high-income earners of 39.6 percent. Mr. Trump could save as much as $6.2 million on business income and $9.8 million on income from real estate and other kinds of partnerships under this plan, compared with his tax burden under current law. (In 2005, much of this taxable income was offset by a $103.2 million write-down in business losses.) The proposal released Wednesday “contemplates” that Congress will adopt measures to prevent the wealthy from recharacterizing their income to take advantage of the new, lower rate and avoid the top personal rate. If that happens, it could have a big effect on Mr. Trump’s tax bill. Savings of about $0.5 million from cutting the highest tax rate 7_8a_9a.png Lines 7, 8a and 9a show $10.79 million in wages, taxable interest and ordinary dividends that Mr. Trump earned in 2005. The proposal to reduce the highest tax rate to 35 percent from 39.6 percent would save high-income earners similar to Mr. Trump a relatively small amount compared with the repeal of the alternative minimum tax. The $500,000 in savings is a rough estimate because Mr. Trump has not specified income levels for his proposed tax brackets. Increase of $3 million to $5 million in taxes from repealing most deductions 40.png Line 40 shows Mr. Trump itemized his deductions instead of using the standard tax deduction, claiming $17 million. Mr. Trump would probably lose most of the deductions he reported in 2005. Depending on his effective tax rate under the proposal, Mr. Trump could pay roughly $3 million to $5 million more in taxes. As a resident of New York City, the largest portion of Mr. Trump’s deductions probably came from his local and state income taxes. Under his proposal, mortgage interest and charitable giving would still be deductible. Additional reporting by Audrey Carlsen. 2017 The New York Times Company | |
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| 09-29-17 11:48am - 2641 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THE DEPT OF JUSTICE/ATTORNEY GENERAL GOING AFTER TRUMP ENEMIES YOUR TAX PAYER DOLLARS AT WORK: ENEMIES OF TRUMP ARE EVIL. SPEND TAX PAYER DOLLARS TO HARASS THEM, MAYBE PUT THEM IN JAIL. CERTAINLY USE THE LAW TO HARASS THEM WITH THE MIGHT OF THE US DEPARTMENT OF JUSTICE TO TEACH THEM THE PERILS OF CRITICIZING OUR BELOVED LEADER. The Department of Justice is going after the Facebook accounts of anti-Trump activists Mic.com Alison Durkee Sep 29th 2017 2:01PM The Department of Justice is targeting the Facebook information of three anti-Trump activists — and many more might be exposed in the process. According to the American Civil Liberties Union, which filed a motion on behalf of the targeted activists Thursday, the Department of Justice obtained three separate search warrants in February for the Facebook page of activist organization DisruptJ20 — now calledResist This — which is owned by Emmelia Talarico, as well as the personal Facebook accounts for Lacy MacAuley and Legba Carrefour. DisruptJ20 organized protests against President Donald Trump during his inauguration in Washington, D.C., and the targeted individuals have been described by their attorneys as “anti-administration activists who have spoken out at organized events and who are generally very critical of this administration’s policies,” according to CNN. The government’s warrants are requesting full access for 90 days to the Facebook pages’ activities between Nov. 1 and Feb. 9, when the warrants were first issued. The warrants initially had a gag order that prevented Facebook from notifying the individuals about the government seizing their information, CNN noted. It was then lifted in mid-September, prompting the ACLU’s legal response. “In short, the warrants sought a complete record of anything the three users communicated or received from a third party via Facebook, everyone with whom the users associated via Facebook and everything the users searched for on Facebook, during the specified time period,” the ACLU filing reports. AdChoices The ACLU’s filing to quash the government’s warrants cites the “overbroad” nature of the warrant as violating the Fourth Amendment, which prohibits “unreasonable searches and seizures of property by the government” and requires warrants to “particularly [describe] the place to be searched, and the persons or things to be seized.” “My Facebook page contains the most private aspects of my life — and also a frightening amount of information on the people in my life. There are intimate details of my love life, family and things the federal government just doesn’t need to see,” MacAuley said in a statement. “Jeff Sessions doesn’t need to see my family photos.” While only three people may have been officially targeted, the broad nature of the warrants means that many more could have their information exposed, the ACLU filing noted. In addition to Facebook users who have interacted directly with the targeted accounts, the government’s access to the DisruptJ20 page would include seeing everyone who liked the organization’s Facebook page as of February — approximately 6,000 people, according to the ACLU — revealing their “political predilections” against the current administration. “What is particularly chilling about these warrants is that anti-administration political activists are going to have their political associations and views scrutinized by the very administration they are protesting,” ACLU attorney Scott Michelman said, as quoted by CNN. This isn’t the first time that DisruptJ20’s online supporters have been targeted by the government in the wake of Trump’s inauguration. The Justice Department has also issued search warrants to DreamHost targeting DisruptJ20’s website and those who have interacted with it. Though the government initially wanted access to every IP address that merely clicked on the organization’s website, the warrant has since been modified to simply demand information about membership lists and the email accounts of users who had signed up to the website, CNN noted. | |
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| 09-29-17 10:35am - 2641 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
NO OFFENSE TAKEN. IN MY REVIEWS, I NORMALLY STATE MY REASONS FOR WRITING IN CAP LETTER: IT'S EASIER FOR ME TO READ AND WRITE IN CAP LETTERS, INSTEAD OF LOWER CASE LETTERS. I AM NOT TRYING TO SHOUT OR BE RUDE. IT'S JUST EASIER FOR ME TO SEE CAP LETTERS, WHERE I HAVE TO PUT MORE ENERGY AND EFFORT INTO FIGURING OUT WHAT THE LOWER CASE LETTERS MEAN. JUST A CASE OF GETTING OLDER. EYESIGHT IS NOT AS SHARP AS IT USED TO BE. I APOLOGIZE IF MY WRITING IN CAPS OFFENDS, OR SEEMS RUDE. BUT IF PEOPLE WANT TO IGNORE MY POSTS, THAT'S FINE BY ME.  | |
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| 09-29-17 10:19am - 2641 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
SINCE TRUMP BELIEVES BILL CLINTON AND OBAMA CAUSED MANY OF THE PROBLEMS THE US IS FACING TODAY, WHY DOESN'T HE HAVE THEM ARRESTED? AND SINCE HE WAS CALLING FOR HILARY CLINTON TO BE IN JAIL DURING HIS PRESIDENTIAL CAMPAIGN, WHY DOESN'T HE HAVE HER ARRESTED, AS WELL? IS TRUMP A LIAR, WHO CAN'T BE TRUSTED TO CARRY THROUGH ON HIS PROMISES? WHO CAN'T BE BELIEVED, WHEN HE SAYS HE IS SPEAKING THE TRUTH? IN HIS LATEST TAX CUT PROPOSAL, TRUMP SAID THE PLAN WOULD NOT BENEFIT HIM. HE WAS DOING IT FOR ALL AMERICANS. TRUMP HAS REFUSED TO RELEASE HIS TAX RETURNS. SO THE IMPACT OF THE NEW TAX PLAN IS UNCERTAIN REGARDING TRUMP. BUT IN 2005 TRUMP WAS FORCED TO PAY AN ADDITIONAL $31 MILLION IN TAXES BECAUSE OF THE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX. THE NEW TAX PLAN WOULD ELIMINATE THE ALTERNATIVE MINIMUM TAX. I RESPECT A MAN WHO SAYS HE WOULD NOT BENEFIT BY NOT PAYING AN ADDITIONAL $31 MILLION IN TAXES. IT SHOWS THAT TRUMP IS A MAN WHO DOES NOT CARE ABOUT MONEY. IT SHOWS THAT TRUMP IS A MAN WHO LOVES HIS FELLOW AMERICANS, AND IS SPEAKING THE PLAIN TRUTH, THAT HE IS THE GREATEST PRESIDENT THAT EVER WAS-THAT EVER WILL BE. PRESIDENT TRUMP, OUR HERO, WE DON'T DESERVE YOU. Edited by Staff on Apr 03, 2018, 07:59am | |
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| 09-29-17 09:50am - 2641 days | #2 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
WHAT IS THE POLITICALLY CORRECT TERMINOLOGY CHANGES OVER TIME. SHEMALE AND LADYBOY WILL PROBABLY BE USED FOR MANY YEARS TO COME, BUT TRANS SHOWS RESPECT AND ACCEPTANCE, AS SEEN IN THE HOLLYWOOD RECEPTION OF TRANSPARENT, WHICH HAS WON GOLDEN GLOBE AWARDS. | |
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| 09-28-17 11:18am - 2642 days | #3 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
NOT MUSICALS. BUT MORE LIKE SOFT-CORE EROTIC WITH A PLOT. INTERESTING MOVIES, WELL-ACTED. Emmanuelle (1974) The Story of O (1975) ALTHOUGH BOTH MOVIES WERE RELEASED WIDE IN THE US, AND MADE A LOT OF MONEY, THE DVD COPIES AT AMAZON ARE NO-WHERE NEAR AS CLEAN AND CRISP AS THE ORIGINAL MOVIES. WHICH IS A SHAME. I'VE BOUGHT THE DVDs AT AMAZON FOR BOTH, AND WAS DISAPPOINTED. BECAUSE I SAW THE ORIGINALS IN A THEATER IN THE 1970s (NOT AT A PORN THEATER, BUT A REGULAR MOVIE THEATER), AND THOUGHT THEY WERE GREAT. BUT THE VISUALS WERE A LARGE PART OF THE MOVIES' VALUE, AND THE DVDs SEEM LIKE A DEGRADED VERSION OF THE ORIGINALS. | |
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| 09-28-17 04:14am - 2643 days | Original Post - #1 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
HE WAS 91. FOUNDER AND EDITOR OF PLAYBOY. THE MAGAZINE REACHED ITS PEAK POPULARITY IN THE 1960s and 1970s. | |
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| 09-27-17 01:41am - 2644 days | #7 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
Jay G, IF A POINT IS WELL MADE, IT'S WORTH MAKING TWICE. LOL. | |
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| 09-26-17 02:24pm - 2644 days | #4 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
I'VE NEVER USED UBER. BUT I VERY RARELY USE A CAB. CHEAPER AND EASIER TO DRIVE MYSELF. DRIVING IS ONE OF THE LAST GREAT FREEDOMS. WHEN I HAD OPEN HEART SURGERY, BESIDES BEING STUCK IN A HOSPITAL FOR WEEKS, I COULDN'T DRIVE A CAR AFTER I WAS RELEASED (WHILE MY CHEST HEALED FROM THE SURGERY). IT FELT LIKE I WAS A PRISONER, UNTIL I WAS ABLE TO DRIVE AGAIN. YOU DON'T APPRECIATE YOUR ABILITY TO DRIVE, UNTIL IT'S TAKEN AWAY FROM YOU. | |
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| 09-16-17 01:21pm - 2654 days | #225 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THANKS, MBAYA. I'VE HAD VERY FEW TRIAL MEMBERSHIPS. ONCE I GOT DINGED BY A CROSS-SALE ON A SIGNUP PAGE, AND THE BILLER/CUSTOMER SERVICE SAID IT COULD NOT BE VOIDED-EVEN THOUGH I TRIED TO VOID THE CHARGE MINUTES AFTER SIGNUP (I GOT AN EMAIL THAT I WAS SIGNED UP FOR THE CROSS-SALE). I DON'T THINK I'VE EVER WRITTEN A REVIEW BASED ON A TRIAL SUB. BUT I'M TEMPTED. IT'S A CHEAP WAY TO SEE WHAT A SITE HAS TO OFFER. | |
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| 09-15-17 12:11pm - 2655 days | #223 | |
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lk2fireone (0)
Active User Posts: 3,618 Registered: Nov 14, '08 Location: CA |
THANKS FOR THE QUICK RESPONSE, AMANDA. | |
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