Ah_so comments

How about planting more trees in Tokyo instead of laying more concrete?

Because Japanese people love nature, but they love concrete more.

So you are essentially saying that the murders of white farmers are justified?

Murders are never justified, whether the farmers are black or white.

White farmers have been murdered in South Africa. But those murders account for less than 1% of more than 27,000 annual murders nationwide. South Africa is a dangerous country - I would never live there, but it has some great spots too.

"I would never be one to turn down that kind of an offer. I mean, I could be a stupid person (and) say 'no we don't want a free, very expensive airplane.'"

If it's free, you are the product. And a man who scrabbles for any dollar, such as flogging cheap Chinese watches, cheap Chinese Bibles, and ridiculous NFTs, is obviously one who will easily be bought by an obvious bribe.

Typical racism from Trump. White people own most of the wealth and power in the country. Yes you are definitely at risk of you walk around, but despite the black African elite, whites still run the country economically, nearly 30 years following apartheid (speaking as someone who does business with the country).

I have a super expensive Japanese knife, hand made in Subame Sanjo in Niigata. It is fantastic. I also have a 100 yen shop knife I bought to take on a picnic. The Japanese one is better but not by much.

One thing with Japanese knives like they make in Tsubame Sanjo is that they need regular sharpening to stay super sharp. But a 100 yen knife will often be adequate.

It is strange given that there are semi-legal soaplands around.

Yes we all have the right to choose according to the host nation cultural norms without imposing our culture on others .

Why are you inserting culture into this? First you say it doesn't matter what you are called, and the next moment is does according to culture. Which is it?

The majority of Japanese want this change.

The most corrupt President since #45

Habeas corpus was included in the Constitution as an import from English common law. Parliament enacted the Habeas Corpus Act of 1679, which was meant to ensure that the king released prisoners when the law did not justify confining them.

A core constitutional document. It just shows that Trump has no interest in democracy or the constitution and is just looking at establishing a dictatorship.

Sounds like someone's been reading too many White House press briefings or of Trump's Truth Social comments.

Uncritically repeating Whitehouse talking points is essential to the MAGA cult, along with the surrender of critical thinking skills.

But otherwise intelligent people are rationalising Trump's bizarre behaviour

Not when activist judges are breaking the law in the name of personal politics.

This seems to be primarily a tactic to intimidate judges. Under Kash Patel, there is an activist FBI.

The FBI has now started arresting judges who get in their way...this is how democracy dies.

https://apnews.com/article/immigration-judge-arrested-7997186bbca5730e70a25f2347e631f6

"Brand new traditional" - great oxymoron!

They receive a lot of things for free from our federal government that they would otherwise need to pay for.

But CA contributes more into the Federal budget than it receives. All the tax goes into subsidising all of the poor red states.

Poor woman - what a hard life. She never realised what a bad move it would be when she took a job at Mar-a-Largo as a teenager amd started to come to the attention of those in Trump's inner circle, like Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell.

The Republican president says he's actively negotiating with the Chinese government on tariffs — while the Chinese and U.S. Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent have said talks have yet to start.

What should one believe?

Who indeed? LOL.

Chicken feed. This is no incentive for Amazon to change anything. They probably make far more in commission from these fakes than they were fined.

Just an attempt to suppress votes because the Republicans don't believe in the ideal of democracy, but rather as an inconvenience that most be circumvented in reading power.

The EU is the world's largest economy and China the 3rd. They need to stand during for a bit and allow Trump's tariffs to take effect, because they hurt America more than they hurt them.

And after a while, Trump will do anything to get a deal.

There is $300bn of Russian money in G7 country bank accounts, of which $200bn sits in Europe. It is about time this money was freed up so that Ukraine can defend itself properly.

Then don’t like Trump said, he’s right, if Zelenskyy doesn’t want to capitulate or give into any concessions fine, Trump will most likely walk away 

In every meaningful sense, Trump walked away on day one. He has made no effort to use any leverage on Russia, and instead pressures Ukraine to surrender.

The US has walked away not just from Ukraine, but "the West" more generally. It is unfortunate for the rest of the West, but Russia poses too great a global threat to allow Putin to succeed. And it is unfortunate that Trump is too myopic to see that he's been played by Putin.

Wherever Trump goes, instability and chaos follows.

so a weak dollar is bad for the USA?

Not necessarily, but this was never claimed as the strategy before. Of course it can have certain benefits - and it is one of the side effects of a weaker economy - its "price" falls. Yes, it can make exports more competitive and profitable, but it also makes imports more expensive and increases inflation, which is bad for consumers.

The Euro is the only currency big enough to really share the dollar's position as a means of exchange in international markets.

Given that the ISA is no longer part of "the West" in the traditional sense, itay be appropriate to plan a transition to the eurozone's currency.

Just let the ICE do their job. If everything is correct, he will be out.

We know for a fact that this isn't the case - people have already been deported as a result of mistakes. If they make a mistake and transport you to some hellish prison in El Salvador, they will lie and say you are a terrorist and literally ignore the rulings of the Supreme Court.

Within the space of a few months, the US has turned into an authoritarian regime.

And remember, this is just the start....

"First they came for the asylum seekers..."

124 light years is a very long way, anything we see, from Earth, happening there happened 124 years ago.

If they are looking at us, they can see Queen Victoria's funeral taking place live.

The move followed the highly publicized acquittal last year of 89-year-old Iwao Hakamata, who had spent nearly half a century on death row following a quadruple murder conviction.

He wasn't executed because they knew he didn't do it. He wasn't released to save face.

The criminal procedure law stipulates that a retrial will be opened if there is "clear evidence to find the accused not guilty."

If there's clear evidence of being not guilty, you shouldn't even need a retrial.

Silicon Valley massively moved into the DJT camp in Nov vs. 2020, because under the Biden Admin, they were over-regulated, M&A and IPOs dried up etc.

Turns out Tech is not right or left, but rather Libertarian, the want the right to innovate and create. These days, much innovation is hardware and manufacturing related

@HopeSpringsEternal - while I don't agree with you, it is nice to read someone from the right who puts coherent arguments together. It looks like now that you're the only one on the topic who does.

Chaos, utter chaos.

But it looks like Trump has got the message that tariffs might actually increase prices in the USA.

Good, keep them on edge

ROFL.

Firearms are allowed in luggage with the proper declaration in the US. The shoe thing is odd but still the adult thing to do would not be to jail him.

It depends on what is the punishment for trying to smuggle a gun into Japan. Gun smuggling, along with drug smuggling, is taken pretty seriously in Japan.