Random Politics & Religion #00

I'm curious. Elaborate.

Since when have you ever agreed with me, other than this first time?

Like constant threats and ultimatums, drone strikes and air raids, and collusion. Simply taking the threat of ground invasion off the table is full retard isolationism.

I don't disagree with you as often as you think. I often disagree with how you say things.

Everyone knows the US wouldn't engage in a ground invasion so the threat is empty. EU knows the US has no commitment to engaging in IS in a ground war. Putin knows and so does Assad and IS.

The only way we get engaged in a ground war is if they hit us (in the US) and we reactionarily get in there a la 9/11.

At best we get a coalition of players who all hate eachother to haphazardly throw themselves at IS.

I disagree with all this disagreeing to agree with different/same words!

That may be, but it doesn't change that Obama's isolationist approach is neither effective nor isolationist. If you want to do isolationism, even voicing an opinion about conflicts is pushing it, much less meddling and coercing.

The US doesn't have a hope of actually being isolationist anytime soon, and I'm not saying we should be, but simply using passive rhetoric while you bomb and strongarm other countries isn't even headed in the right direction.

why doesnt US work with RU and w/e nation and fight isis/isil first then do w/e about the regime later?

Putin and Obama don't even respect eachother as world leaders, the tension and mutual antagonism hanging in the air at every event they're at is stifling at a distance. Makes it difficult to work together when you don't even respect the guy.

The US has obligations to countries like Turkey actively working to undermine the Assad regime, to the detriment of Russia. Russia is working with Iran, whom we antagonize. Hard to pick sides when you're locked into agreements and both sides that should be working together hate eachother. So you get ineffectual bombing campaigns and active undermining that plays to IS, despite IS 'losing' overall.

Then you have to consider what each players endgame is. Remove Assad and install who? Leave Assad and eat crow? What about those refugees? Will they go home? To what? Shia/Sunni proxy wars gonna continue to proxy.

And the whole bit about 'destroying IS' cuts back to the 'war on terrorism'. How exactly can beat an ideology? Especially one backed with Saudi money? A US 'ally' no less?

In all honesty, we need to either sterilize the area or get out for good. We also shouldn't work with Russia or Assad. They can get in line or get in the way, but if we're in there, getting the job done should be priority one.

The Obama isolationist strategy is more like a 'pass the buck' strat except the POTUS' heart isn't in it to rally a visible coaltion.

Press our allies to do things because another ground war isn't going to play well at home, despite the uptic post-Paris is the will of the people but at the same time, there is a void surrounding who is the spearhead against IS. The Arab states also look like a bunch of weak fools unable to deal with a pop up Islamic 'state' despite a sustained bombing campaign. France has its hands full in North Africa.

Putin is more than happy to occupy the power vacuum to play up his home politics.

(long discussion about birthrates.)

No. Its a host of factors. Common ones are delaying having children for school / career and the fact that the better educated breed less. There are local ones like Japan's herbivorous males and vodka in Russia.

Some videos on birthrates

There is also the big fear of lawsuits here in the states. Donate food that expired yesterday? There will be some lawyer trying to argue that you made the homeless sick with your bad food.

Poll: 56% Of Voters Say Country Better Off Than It Was 4 Eons Ago

Kinda funny when satire echoes some of the ridiculous arguments made here.

Yeah, some protections would need to be worked into any kind of regulation for it, obviously. I still see no reason why perishable foodstuffs that are past a sell-by date by a day or two should be thrown in a landfill while people starve. Hell, give stores a tax incentive for their donations as well as immunity if they operate in good faith.


I'm convinced the first horseman of the apocalypse is when satire becomes vaguely credible compared to serious news media.

The whole sell by date thing is pretty much nonsense.
Even products that never spoil (such as salt) are required by law to have an expire date and be tossed out by businesses at a certain point.
Even if there is no law to not sell/serve these items, there are plenty of lawyers ready and more than willing to make it illegal/a liability for you.

I think that has to do with the packaging

Well, the integrity of the packaging is a valid concern. Even if something doesn't technically spoil, it can become contaminated or no longer be viable.

Still, as long as those rules exist, there should be a backup plan for goods that can no longer be sold but are still fit for consumption.

Edit: stupid Drac typing fast.

Considering most packaging for our daily things will still be in an undecomposed state for around the next thousand years (estimate) really makes me doubt that these rules are a precaution against packaging contamination.

Blister packaging, maybe, but products like salt are in paper or cardboard packaging and even a lot of petroleum based packaging relies on adhesives that break down over time. And, more and more, manufacturers are using biodegradable paper packaging. Sell-by dates, for the most part, are not arbitrary.

That may be true but these rules have been in effect far before these new eco-friendly methods were implemented.

What I'm trying to get at is this has little to nothing to do with consumer safety and almost everything to do with selling more product by making it appear more perishable than it really is.

Just for fun I checked my salt to verify this claim. Diamond Salt has no expiration date on it. Not sure how a preservative could go bad but yeah.

My Bigelow Tea, Cinnamon Stick flavored, expires in *three years* 2018.

A can of tomato sauce expires in two years.

Not sure how sell by dates are part of some conspiracy here. The items with sell by dates you'd actually care most about are things like milk which are well known perishables.

I am gifting a lot of David's Tea this christmas. Just throwing that out there. I wish they made a cologne that smelled like their store.

NATO invited Montenegro to join them.
Russia: "if they accept we won't do things with them anymore."

I'm dying. These reactions are just so funny.

Why would anyone respect Obama in the first place? All he ever does is make threats and doesn't back them up, or promise one thing but does something completely different.

Yeah, that's an unsubstantiated conspiracy theory, not actual fact.

I did like however when people complained about the doughnuts that 7-11 throws away daily. Seriously, those things are barely edible when fresh, they're not fit for human consumption after they've been in the case all day.

Already done.

What does one buy in such a store? Is it only tea?

Website says it all.