Random Politics & Religion #00

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Random Politics & Religion #00
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 Leviathan.Chaosx
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By Leviathan.Chaosx 2014-11-22 09:44:56
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A Saudi citizen who has spent the past 12 years detained at Guantanamo Bay has been released, the Pentagon said Saturday, amid a push to whittle down the prison population at the U.S. base in Cuba.

Muhammad al-Zahrani was sent to his homeland based on the conclusion of a U.S. government board that has been re-evaluating the need to continue holding some of the men as prisoners, the Pentagon said in a statement. He will take part in a Saudi program to rehabilitate militants.

Al-Zahrani, who is about 45, had been held at Guantanamo since August 2002, according to military records. A report by the Periodic Review Board said he traveled to Afghanistan in 1999 and "almost certainly" joined al-Qaida, trained in military tactics and fought the Northern Alliance.

His lawyers, in a statement to the board, described him as a "middle-aged, ailing man who desperately wants to return to Saudi Arabia." They said his father died while he was in U.S. custody and "his only wish is to see his ailing mother before she passes away."

The board cleared him for release in October, citing a number of factors including his willingness to participate in the Saudi rehabilitation program. He left Guantanamo on Friday.

Al-Zahrani is the 13th prisoner to leave Guantanamo Bay this year and the seventh in just the past two weeks. Officials have said more prisoners will be released in the coming weeks as part of a renewed effort to close the site where 142 men now are held, including 73 already cleared for release.
US releases Saudi prisoner from Guantanamo Bay
 Leviathan.Chaosx
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By Leviathan.Chaosx 2014-11-22 16:12:05
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Since the IS/ISIS/ISIL thread got bombed...

Quote:
Hundreds of Germans have left their home country to fight alongside jihadists in Syria and Iraq, Interior Minister Thomas de Maiziere said.

"We estimate 550. Just a few days ago we had 450," the minister told German television channel Phoenix on Friday.

"These young people... were radicalised in Germany, within this society. That's why prevention must be accompanied by repression," he added.

Most of those who have joined the Islamic State of Syria and Iraq (ISIS) organization's jihadist cause are men, although some women have also travelled to the two war-torn countries.

De Maiziere said authorities are keeping a close watch on some 230 more people who are considered potential threats on German soil.

"We cannot exclude, and in certain cases it's actually quite possible, that they are preparing an attack," the minister said.

In mid-October, Germany announced new measures to prevent its citizens from travelling to join the jihadist cause in Iraq and Syria, including confiscating their identity papers.

Concerns are mounting in Europe over the growing national security threat posed by jihadists returning from war-ravaged Syria and Iraq.
Berlin says 550 Germans joined jihadist cause in Syria and Iraq
 Leviathan.Chaosx
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By Leviathan.Chaosx 2014-11-22 16:44:16
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And for the climate change fanatics.

Quote:
The United Nations’ Green Climate Fund is supposed to fund projects in developing nations to help cut emissions and stem global warming. These are the countries least responsible for—but most susceptible to—climate change.

But who’s ponying up the cash?

The top contributors to the fund are also some of the top greenhouse gas emitters, with the United States putting in $3 billion, Japan following with $1.5 billion, and European countries like France, Germany and Britain all giving around $1 billion each.

At the first pledging conference for the fund on Nov. 19 in Berlin, Germany, 21 countries pledged up to $9.3 billion—nearly meeting the $10 billion goal set by United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon in 2009.

The pledges are seen as a first, if small, step toward the UN goal of obtaining $100 billion a year for the fund by 2020.

Countries keeping their wallets closed include Australia and Russia.

“It’s a shame that countries like Canada, Australia and Russia did not come forward with pledges today,” Stefan Krug, head of the political unit for Greenpeace Germany said in a statement. “Several European nations like Austria and the Baltic states did not even show up in Berlin.”

But while Australia has no intentions to pledge, Canada did announce Friday a pledge of $265 million to the fund.
Who's Really Paying to Fight Climate Change?
 Bahamut.Ravael
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By Bahamut.Ravael 2014-11-22 20:13:15
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I stumbled upon this one after seeing a video from these guys in the LOL thread. It's rather fitting.
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 Leviathan.Chaosx
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By Leviathan.Chaosx 2014-11-23 10:43:13
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Marion Barry, the scandal-plagued former mayor of Washington, D.C., who was jailed for smoking crack cocaine before making a surprising return to office, died early on Sunday aged 78.

Before his fall from grace, Barry had been one of the nation's most promising black politicians. Years later, many Washingtonians would consider him a scoundrel but he remained a hero to many others in impoverished parts of the city, even as his continuing battles with substance abuse went public.

Barry, who was serving as a city councilman, was hospitalized briefly last week and collapsed hours after being released on Saturday night, media reports said. He died at the United Medical Center in Washington, spokeswoman Natalie Williams said. The cause of death was not disclosed.

Barry served three terms from 1979 until 1991 when he went to prison for six months. He reclaimed the job in 1995.
Scandal-plagued former Washington mayor Marion Barry dies
 Odin.Godofgods
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By Odin.Godofgods 2014-11-23 16:33:49
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The State Of The End of The Millennium Address
Released: 1998
Video: Fan made

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 Leviathan.Chaosx
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By Leviathan.Chaosx 2014-11-24 09:01:02
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Breaking News!

I don't often turn to NBC or MSNBC for any kind of news, but this was too good to pass up.

Quote:
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel is stepping down amid criticism of the president’s national security team on a series of global issues, including the threat posed by the militant group known as ISIS.

Senior defense officials confirmed to NBC News Monday that Hagel was forced to resign.

The officials say the White House has lost confidence in Hagel to carry out his role at the Pentagon. According to one senior official, “He wasn’t up to the job.”

Another senior administration official said that Hagel has been discussing a departure from the White House "for several weeks."

"Over the past two years, Secretary Hagel helped manage an intense period of transition for the United States Armed Forces, including the drawdown in Afghanistan, the need to prepare our forces for future missions, and tough fiscal choices to keep our military strong and ready," the official said. "Over nearly two years, Secretary Hagel has been a steady hand, guiding our military through this transition, and helping us respond to challenges from ISIL to Ebola. In October, Secretary Hagel began speaking with the President about departing the Administration given the natural post-midterms transition time."

President Barack Obama is expected to make the announcement at the White House at 11:10AM ET. A successor will be named "in short order," an official said, but Hagel will stay in the job until his replacement is confirmed.

Hagel, the only Republican on the president's national security team and the first enlisted combat veteran to lead the Department of Defense, has served in the job since February 2013.

The news of Hagel’s departure was first reported by the New York Times.
Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel to Step Down
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By volkom 2014-11-24 09:17:00
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Hmmm...quite interesting
 Shiva.Nikolce
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By Shiva.Nikolce 2014-11-24 09:57:34
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Leviathan.Chaosx said: »
Breaking News! I don't often turn to NBC or MSNBC for any kind of news

Neither does anyone else...More people rely on The Onion for news than nbc the rodney dangerfield of news
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 10:50:46
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Where Oil And Politics Mix

But still, everything's cool on the fracking front. It's great for everyone! Nothing to see here, move along.
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 11:00:06
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Ramyrez said: »
Where Oil And Politics Mix

But still, everything's cool on the fracking front. It's great for everyone! Nothing to see here, move along.
I would like to finish reading that, but I can't stand the way they loaded their pictures, very annoying.

IIRC, parts of ND you can go and get a salary making severe bank up there, only downside is the pollution and general shitty weather, I remember reading about it a couple of years ago now. That being said, how's that PA fracking going along?
 Siren.Mosin
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By Siren.Mosin 2014-11-24 11:05:46
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Jetackuu said: »
only downside is the pollution and general shitty weather

the cost of living there is one of the highest in the nation at the moment, also there is a huge lack of housing, & terrible man-to-woman ratio.

the downsides outweigh the upsides, in case anyone is dumb enough to be thinking about moving up there.
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 Siren.Mosin
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By Siren.Mosin 2014-11-24 11:08:43
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unless maybe you're a rich, gay, eskimo.

all in your perspective, I guess.
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 11:21:28
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Siren.Mosin said: »
Jetackuu said: »
only downside is the pollution and general shitty weather

the cost of living there is one of the highest in the nation at the moment, also there is a huge lack of housing, & terrible man-to-woman ratio.

the downsides outweigh the upsides, in case anyone is dumb enough to be thinking about moving up there.
well of course, goes with the territory.

I like my East Coast, I'll stay over here.
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 11:24:45
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Jetackuu said: »
I would like to finish reading that, but I can't stand the way they loaded their pictures, very annoying.

It is a bit grating.

Jetackuu said: »
only downside is the pollution

That in and of itself is enough for me to think it's a practice worth abandoning, but people love short-term boom jobs and the (questionable, dubious) boost to local economies too much to worry about anything else. Short-sighted ***.

Jetackuu said: »
That being said, how's that PA fracking going along?

It's happening, and for the next couple of months it's still happening with a minimum of benefit to Pennslyvanians. Wolf undoubtedly has little to no interest in cracking down on them from an enviromental standpoint, but maybe he'll at least get them paying a more fair share of their profits to actual Pennsylvanians via taxes and fees. Though they'll keep bringing in their itinerant workers and saying they're providing lasting jobs to Pennsylvanians, I'm sure. Admittedly there's some present work for people repairing equipment and the like, but I've yet to see the boost to local economies back in my hometown/region.
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 11:46:35
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When the Shale Runs Dry: A Look at the Future of Fracking

Also a good article/blog entry. My dad lived in Bradford for a lot of years, and I lived in McKean County and neighboring Warren County in some capacity through 23 years; I can promise you that the descriptions they provide of the reach of oil's decaying infrastructure is accurate in Bradford and the surrounding areas.

Edit: "Bradford" is a city in nothern Pennsylvania, not related to Bradford County. I provide this clarification because Bradford County is currently home to the largest number of fracking wells in the state, so I wanted to clear up any potential confusion.
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 11:49:11
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word

edit: we have similar issues a bit west of here, considering I'm only a few hours south of you, damn limestone.
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By Caitsith.Zahrah 2014-11-24 11:51:24
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Ramyrez said: »
When the Shale Runs Dry: A Look at the Future of Fracking

Also a good article/blog entry. My dad lived in Bradford for a lot of years, and I lived in McKean County and neighboring Warren County in some capacity through 23 years; I can promise you that the descriptions they provide of the reach of oil's decaying infrastructure is accurate in Bradford and the surrounding areas.

Edit: "Bradford" is a city in nothern Pennsylvania, not related to Bradford County. I provide this clarification because Bradford County is currently home to the largest number of fracking wells in the state, so I wanted to clear up any potential confusion.

The description sound eerily like SE Texas's old oil boomtowns.
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 11:52:49
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Caitsith.Zahrah said: »
Ramyrez said: »
When the Shale Runs Dry: A Look at the Future of Fracking

Also a good article/blog entry. My dad lived in Bradford for a lot of years, and I lived in McKean County and neighboring Warren County in some capacity through 23 years; I can promise you that the descriptions they provide of the reach of oil's decaying infrastructure is accurate in Bradford and the surrounding areas.

Edit: "Bradford" is a city in nothern Pennsylvania, not related to Bradford County. I provide this clarification because Bradford County is currently home to the largest number of fracking wells in the state, so I wanted to clear up any potential confusion.

The description sound eerily like SE Texas's old oil boomtowns.

As I've said before to the Texas folk for the forum, cliche jabs at Texas aside, Pennsylvania and Texas have a lot of similarities.
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 11:57:46
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Western VA and parts of WVA do as well, I mean VA is another commonwealth... poor PA.
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By fonewear 2014-11-24 13:09:31
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 13:37:17
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 13:40:21
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Ramyrez said: »
I need to borrow yours, will you rent it?
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By Ramyrez 2014-11-24 14:14:45
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Jetackuu said: »
Ramyrez said: »
I need to borrow yours, will you rent it?

Sorry, I'm not allowed to sublease.
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By Jetackuu 2014-11-24 14:23:10
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>.>
 Ragnarok.Nausi
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By Ragnarok.Nausi 2014-11-25 10:33:48
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Altimaomega said: »
Something amazing happened while I've been away. Didn't think it would have been possible to get everyone to agree the warming has stopped for 15-18yrs. Then Nausi say this.

Ragnarok.Nausi said: »
Quote:
In the big picture, it really isn't. The whole fulcrum of the alarmist's attitude is more CO2 = more warming. The last 18 years have seen the HIGHEST concentrations of CO2 since the industrial revolution. Yet there has been is NO warming.

Clearly CO2 (human existence) isn't driving the climate car.

Which should have been /thread. But No.

Pleebo does this.

Cerberus.Pleebo said: »
I realize there's no point talking to you about this because it isn't really about science. With deniers, it's solely political as demonstrated by your complete avoidance or incoherence when actually confronted with the evidence. It does help me refamiliarize myself with the topic though since I don't much deal with climate studies anymore. Thanks!

But us conservatives are branded the "crazy irrational ones".


Pleebo's answer to this is 'there hasn't been any warming because the oceans have absorbed it instead'. Somehow conceding the point while attempting to nullify it at the same time. Also attempting to change previous goal posts of "more CO2 = more warming" to "no actual warming = more warming".

What's the mechanism behind this? Maybe that's what oceans do, stabilize temperatures. Or maybe the warming in the ocean has very little to do with CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Maybe there are like underwater volcanoes in the ocean or some other unseen factor heating up the oceans as well.

I mean do we have any other measure of ocean temperature prior to when we started measuring it in the 1960s? How do we study that? Are scientists really in a position to argue that they know with 100% certainty every factor involved in the equation of how the ocean holds it's temperature?

Of course not. Shouldn't we be you know, SKEPTICAL because they we so wrong in the past?
 Ragnarok.Nausi
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By Ragnarok.Nausi 2014-11-25 10:44:58
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Also the Benghazi report don't mean ***!

RAWR!
 
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 Cerberus.Pleebo
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By Cerberus.Pleebo 2014-11-25 12:16:56
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Ragnarok.Nausi said: »
Or maybe the warming in the ocean has very little to do with CO2 levels in the atmosphere. Maybe there are like underwater volcanoes in the ocean or some other unseen factor heating up the oceans as well.
Interesting theory. Climate science hasn't really taken magic into account. Keep up that healthy skepticism.
 Ragnarok.Nausi
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By Ragnarok.Nausi 2014-11-25 12:17:13
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Right, pointing out how incorrect one side has been has nothing to do with it, the skeptics are just "flat-earthers" and bible thumpers.
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