Is there an actual reason for Ross and Mnuchin to be in that room? Curious.

i think we fundamentally disagree on foreign affairs and how to approach them. there's really little he could've done that different in north korea and i'm not sure what you'd have done in regards to Crimea that wasn't done?

we have no claim to actually stop China from building those islands. we can condemn but we can't actually stop them from doing that without changing our relationship with them.

i'm not about going to war with Russia. you are between a rock and a hard place there; they will take advantage on the margins as a result of that stance. perhaps you disagree.

CFP wrote:Is there an actual reason for Ross and Mnuchin to be in that room? Curious.

only reason i can think of is hashing out the movie rights

but the real reason is they were at Mar-a-Lago to meet with Xi and Trump basically said 'hey, come watch!'

pacino wrote:i think we fundamentally disagree on foreign affairs and how to approach them. there's really little he could've done that different in north korea and i'm not sure what you'd have done in regards to Crimea that wasn't done?

we have no claim to actually stop China from building those islands. we can condemn but we can't actually stop them from doing that without changing our relationship with them.

i'm not about going to war with Russia. you are between a rock and a hard place there; they will take advantage on the margins as a result of that stance. perhaps you disagree.

This mentality is what got us here

The Savior wrote:

pacino wrote:i think we fundamentally disagree on foreign affairs and how to approach them. there's really little he could've done that different in north korea and i'm not sure what you'd have done in regards to Crimea that wasn't done?

we have no claim to actually stop China from building those islands. we can condemn but we can't actually stop them from doing that without changing our relationship with them.

i'm not about going to war with Russia. you are between a rock and a hard place there; they will take advantage on the margins as a result of that stance. perhaps you disagree.

This mentality is what got us here

explain the correct mentality then. what would you have done and what would you do now?

pacino wrote:

Bucky wrote:

swishnicholson wrote:

pacino wrote:The theory behind it being the rebels is it was in the building they bombed...pictures have surfaced showing the building being empty, however

I'm realizing how ill-informed I am. I need more facts to understand this sentence.

Sorry. There's a theory that the rebels had the gas in a building and when assad dropped bombs it released the gas. This is what russia/assad is pushing; pics of the building they bombed show it being empty and not full of sarin gas reserves.

Ah, got it.

More than 24 hours on, still amazed McConnell was able to hold the entire caucus for the nuke. Also will wonder for years what the Democrats thought they were doing. Any possible leverage likely for the rest of his term (barring miracle Sen 2018 takeover) which might contain court shifting openings where fringe GOP senators would become squeamish, tossed away for a futile, base pleasing filibuster on an uber qualified nominee who didn't shift the court that started and ended in the amount of time I was trying to decide between Chipotle and Sweetgreen for lunch. Really amazing stuff. The Dems have become us.

The vast majority of the remaining days of Trump's term in office will be embarrassing as a Republican, but with Gorsuch's confirmation today was one hell of a good one.

jerseyhoya wrote:More than 24 hours on, still amazed McConnell was able to hold the entire caucus for the nuke. Also will wonder for years what the Democrats thought they were doing. Any possible leverage likely for the rest of his term (barring miracle Sen 2018 takeover) which might contain court shifting openings where fringe GOP senators would become squeamish, tossed away for a futile, base pleasing filibuster on an uber qualified nominee who didn't shift the court that started and ended in the amount of time I was trying to decide between Chipotle and Sweetgreen for lunch. Really amazing stuff. The Dems have become us.

The vast majority of the remaining days of Trump's term in office will be embarrassing as a Republican, but with Gorsuch's confirmation today was one hell of a good one.

Gorsuch may be the most conservative member of the court right now. He was replacing Scalia, there was very little room to shift to the right. His vote won't change the calculus on many of the Court issues, but he is a continuation of a type of Justice than many on the left find untenable. Bowing now to confirm a Justice of Gorsuch's ideology (but excellent bona fides) will not effect the next Justice elected. 50 was always going to be the magic number after the Garland debacle. Trump merely had to appoint a conservative Justice with a stellar Judicial and Academic record to pass that threshold.

You stole a seat. Enough moralizing.

jerseyhoya wrote:The vast majority of the remaining days of Trump's term in office will be embarrassing as a Republican, but with Gorsuch's confirmation today was one hell of a good one.

and a few people around here call me weird

traderdave wrote:Thanks for the responses. I had no doubt that he was an otherwise outstanding candidate and likely would have gotten into any school to which he applied (see Yale and Princeton). I guess I was just immediately struck by the seeming lack of effort in answering the questions asked.

My apologies for going off the rails for a minute or two but this is just a very sensitive issue for me currently as my daughter just went through close to three months of medical hell (which she will endure, on differing levels, for the rest of her life) but worked her ass off to pull six As and one B in the last marking period (including four honors classes) and now she is sweating the one B and her class standing. I just hope that when the time comes, Penn State - even now, her #1 choice - can see the forest for the trees the way Stanford did with this guy.

Okay, now back to bashing this Administration.

Late to this party, but I think what this story shows about the #BlackLivesMatter student, and even the story shared by The Crimson Cyclone and his friend with the juggling picture and "see page 81" caption, is that they are willing to think outside the box and take a risk even on something that can become as all-consumingly important to a young person as the college application process. Colleges receive thousands upon thousands of these essays, and particularly so at the top-flight institutions. No matter how beautifully written, a standard essay response to something like "Write a page from your autobiography" or "Tell us about something that is very important to you" isn't going to stand out in a crowd, especially at places in that top tier, because almost everyone seriously applying can write a high-quality college application style essay: it's why they are plausible candidates for getting into Harvard, Stanford, Penn, et. al., in the first place.

I was the kind of student who was very, very interested in getting "good" grades, but in high school what that functionally means is providing the "right answer" (and in college too). But the ability to do that is not equivalent to real creative genius, the kind of intelligence that allows people start and run successful businesses, innovate in science, create great music, or write great novels. Indeed, that kind of obsession with the "right answer," I think, really leads to a constricting of thought process; the smartest people I know demonstrate at all times mental flexibility, particularly when dealing with a problem - not getting locked into looking for one and only one approach, or solution, to the current predicament.

Using a college essay to demonstrate that you are not totally bound by convention, and are able to slough off the pure pursuit for the Platonic form of response to some silly essay question, is bound to be impressive to college application reviewers, because they get so many kids (particularly at the top schools) who are so grade-centric that they have no ability - and perhaps an even outright fear - of doing just that.

jerseyhoya wrote:More than 24 hours on, still amazed McConnell was able to hold the entire caucus for the nuke. Also will wonder for years what the Democrats thought they were doing. Any possible leverage likely for the rest of his term (barring miracle Sen 2018 takeover) which might contain court shifting openings where fringe GOP senators would become squeamish, tossed away for a futile, base pleasing filibuster on an uber qualified nominee who didn't shift the court that started and ended in the amount of time I was trying to decide between Chipotle and Sweetgreen for lunch. Really amazing stuff. The Dems have become us.

The vast majority of the remaining days of Trump's term in office will be embarrassing as a Republican, but with Gorsuch's confirmation today was one hell of a good one.

Your party nominated and got elected Donald Trump as president.

The Dems are a weak opposition party. By my count there are less than a handful that came out against Syria strikes...both parties love them some war! Also, Russia investigation will simmer down and leave public consciousness as we are in a time when we need to support the war effort.

Roger Dorn wrote:The Dems are a weak opposition party. By my count there are less than a handful that came out against Syria strikes...both parties love them some war! Also, Russia investigation will simmer down and leave public consciousness as we are in a time when we need to support the war effort.

Of potential interest:

http://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/ ... syria-left

It's the Syrian air strike which will fade. The Russia investigation is staying around for a long time.

Roger Dorn wrote:The Dems are a weak opposition party. By my count there are less than a handful that came out against Syria strikes...both parties love them some war! Also, Russia investigation will simmer down and leave public consciousness as we are in a time when we need to support the war effort.

Rs almost unanimously were against a missile strike when O wanted it after an even worse chemical weapon attack. Now even dems are coming out in support. Less than 50% of the missiles hit the target. Raytheon stocks went up the next day, Trump showered with near universal praise. The only lesson he will take from this episode is that doing war gets him praise

Oh and some of the missiles that missed actually hit civilians and 4 kids were killed

idk, i think donald trump really became president when he launched 60 million worth of missiles that inconvenienced assad for 24 hours, pissed off russia, and killed 4 civilians.

mozartpc27 wrote:

traderdave wrote:Thanks for the responses. I had no doubt that he was an otherwise outstanding candidate and likely would have gotten into any school to which he applied (see Yale and Princeton). I guess I was just immediately struck by the seeming lack of effort in answering the questions asked.

My apologies for going off the rails for a minute or two but this is just a very sensitive issue for me currently as my daughter just went through close to three months of medical hell (which she will endure, on differing levels, for the rest of her life) but worked her ass off to pull six As and one B in the last marking period (including four honors classes) and now she is sweating the one B and her class standing. I just hope that when the time comes, Penn State - even now, her #1 choice - can see the forest for the trees the way Stanford did with this guy.

Okay, now back to bashing this Administration.

Late to this party, but I think what this story shows about the #BlackLivesMatter student, and even the story shared by The Crimson Cyclone and his friend with the juggling picture and "see page 81" caption, is that they are willing to think outside the box and take a risk even on something that can become as all-consumingly important to a young person as the college application process. Colleges receive thousands upon thousands of these essays, and particularly so at the top-flight institutions. No matter how beautifully written, a standard essay response to something like "Write a page from your autobiography" or "Tell us about something that is very important to you" isn't going to stand out in a crowd, especially at places in that top tier, because almost everyone seriously applying can write a high-quality college application style essay: it's why they are plausible candidates for getting into Harvard, Stanford, Penn, et. al., in the first place.

I was the kind of student who was very, very interested in getting "good" grades, but in high school what that functionally means is providing the "right answer" (and in college too). But the ability to do that is not equivalent to real creative genius, the kind of intelligence that allows people start and run successful businesses, innovate in science, create great music, or write great novels. Indeed, that kind of obsession with the "right answer," I think, really leads to a constricting of thought process; the smartest people I know demonstrate at all times mental flexibility, particularly when dealing with a problem - not getting locked into looking for one and only one approach, or solution, to the current predicament.

Using a college essay to demonstrate that you are not totally bound by convention, and are able to slough off the pure pursuit for the Platonic form of response to some silly essay question, is bound to be impressive to college application reviewers, because they get so many kids (particularly at the top schools) who are so grade-centric that they have no ability - and perhaps an even outright fear - of doing just that.

Yes.

They are looking from courage, vision, a willingness to take academic risks... When the rest of the application is a winner, that "essay" is a good tiebreaker.

A Strike In Syria Restores Our Credibility in the World

Tom Cotton, everybody.

FFS, Senator, those jets roaring off the "bombed" runway this morning to go bomb those same civilians who got a shot of gas tells you all you need to know about that whole "credibility restoration" thing.

Cotton is the Rs foreign policy bookend to Paulie Walnuts Ryan's domestic policy "wonk" reputation. He even approvingly resurrects the discredited Flynn's putting Iran "on notice". What a maroon.