rcch comments

[ Speaking Saturday at a rally in Conway, South Carolina, Trump recalled how as president he told an unidentified NATO member that he would “encourage” Russia to do as it wishes in cases of NATO allies who are “delinquent.”

“‘You didn’t pay? You’re delinquent?’” Trump recounted saying. “‘No I would not protect you. In fact, I would encourage them to do whatever the hell they want. You gotta pay. You gotta pay your bills.’” ]

Well, as usual, the meaning behind Trump’s words is being distorted by the press (but he makes it easy to criticize his stupid comments–he doesn’t care if he sounds presidential or not but)—only a fool would think that Trump, or any other American President would let the Russians do “whatever the hll they want” with an ally of the US,

but(!)

and this is important:, the way the US looks at “ NATO's front-line countries, like Poland and the Baltic states of Lithuania, Latvia and Estonia … “ aka Eastern Europe is a little bit different…; but

Trump needs to be aware of the importance of Article 5(!);

“‘One for all and all for one.’ This NATO creed keeps more than 950 million people safe," it said.

…

Under NATO’s mutual defense clause, Article 5 of its founding treaty, all allies commit to help any member who comes under attack. The article has only ever been activated once – by the U.S. in the wake of the Sept. 11, 2001, attacks.

Well deserved, Nolan, congratulations.

I’d like to add something to my previous post: I’m still young and I know three, four, maybe five songs… and of course, I’m not alone in this… not everyone who doesn’t know Swift’s work needs to be “old”; but, like I said, I’m gonna check some songs and videos including her latest album, I mean, now I’m curious…; as for her connection to Travis, well, who cares—real football fans only care about the game and the game is in a completely different universe.

I was reading this article last night, and at that time, she was already on her way to Las Vegas, relaxing in her private jet(!)…, so… reading this now makes me wanna lmao…; “epic”? Pfff, no. It’s hard for me to understand this whole Taylor Swift fever thing, hmmm, … but I don’t have anything against her or her success…, … I guess I should check some songs and videos on YT later, hahah…; now let’s talk about the important stuff—tomorrow is national holiday in Japan(!) so we can all watch the Super Bowl tomorrow morning—how cool is that(!) :), … to all the fans: have a great time.

“ Putin made the comments in a more than two-hour interview … “

Well, two hours(!)… and I don’t wanna say anything before I hear the whole thing; some of you have a lot of free time and spend the whole day commenting on JT but not me, I’m at work and kinda busy so I’ll leave this for later…; … but it looks like the same old dirty Russian propaganda…; hard to justify an armed invasion and the torture and deaths of thousands of innocent people…; … still an interesting interview, though.

Yes, it’s irritating, annoying, disgusting… but my mom always told me to respect and accept other cultures—at the end of the day I choose not to be an ignorant a-hole. “Yes, that’s disgusting… but I hope you’re enjoying your noodles.”

[ “ The justices sounded highly skeptical of the effort. “

…

“ From across the court's ideological divide, there was near consensus that the Colorado arguments were flawed. “

…

“ The provision doesn't spell out any procedures or even the meaning of “insurrection.” It just says anyone who engaged in one can't hold office. “

…

“ They hoped for a Supreme Court affirmation that the former president did engage in insurrection and threaten the Constitution with his campaign to stay in office after his 2020 loss. But the justices weren’t going there. “

…

“ Kavanagh noted there is a federal law against insurrection and it bars those convicted from holding office. Trump has not been charged with violating that law.

Trump would like the high court to declare him not responsible for the violence on Jan. 6. There was little indication that would happen because the matter barely came up. “ ]

This ain’t rocket science—most people from both sides agree that Trump should be on the ballot…; it ain’t pretty to see the democrats and some republicans doing everything they can to bring him down…; we’ll have a Trump–Biden rematch this year—get used to it.

[ "We don't give a damn about the 'feelings of the Japanese' concerning the so-called 'Northern Territories.' These are not disputed territories but Russia," said Medvedev. "And those samurai who feel especially sad can end their life in a traditional Japanese way, by committing seppuku (Japanese ritualistic suicide by disembowelment). If they dare, of course." ]

Lmao, what a clown.

Note:

In my previous post, the “greater than” symbol was supposed to be between “men” and “women”. = “gender inequality”.

( 1 ) [ “ But Professor Toko Tanaka from the University of Tokyo, a specialist in gender studies, criticized Aso's comments for perpetuating stereotypes that a woman's value lies in her looks and youth, noting that male politicians would not be subjected to such value judgments.

Japan continues to lag in gender equality within the political sphere, with a dismal ranking of 138th out of 146 countries in the Political Empowerment subindex of the World Economic Forum's gender gap report. “ ]

( 2 ) [ “ In a Mie Prefectural Assembly committee session last December, a male member commented on the appearance of two high school girls he saw at a local event, saying, "The two were very beautiful. I thought they scored 100 points without a doubt."

A female councilor swiftly condemned the comments, saying individuals are unique and should be accepted for who they are. She expressed concerns about the impact of objectifying young people and called for the government to address the issue. “ ]

Great article(!)—some smart, courageous people out there but(!) Japan still has a long way to go—you see… it’s all connected—the whole { “men women”/“women have to be cute”/kawaii culture } thing is a web of outdated beliefs and ideas that are deeply ingrained in Japanese society.

Japan's moon lander comes back to life…

よかった！ :)

[ “She speaks her mind and arranges meetings with the people she needs to meet by herself without the help of diplomats.”

…

He was impressed that Kamikawa met many of her counterparts one-on-one at the United Nations General Assembly soon after she became foreign minister last September. “No Japanese foreign minister has done something like that before. She is a new star and could inspire new stars to emerge in politics.” ]

You couldn’t say that without a “but”, right, Mr. Taro(?), there’s always a “but”, smdh; Japan needs to get rid of these useless dinosaurs—these oyajis “expired” a long time ago.

Haaa NemuiJan. 27  08:24 pm JST

Cool…; but… after True Detective, people usually don’t wanna stop there (because, again, it’s that good) so let me just say this: Mare of Easttown and Fargo (S1, 2 and 5). ;)

If by political stability you mean that there’s a healthy political system with at least two political parties that can actually win general elections and where people actually vote for change then the US is in a better condition than Japan; Japan seems to be politically “stable”… because the people of this country are perpetually shrugging their shoulders but the ignorance and submissiveness of the electorate in Japan is affecting the country—people confuse liberalism and the left with communism; the rural areas were “swallowed” by the ldp—they dominate rural Japan (which means old faithful/ignorant voters) and apparently, there’s nothing the opposition can do…; also, clientelism is deeply embedded in the Japanese political system (I’ll give you/do something, you’ll give me/do something) and, like I said, the submissiveness of the Japanese people—they tend to vote for/obey/support/admire the ones already in the top, the winner, the strong—the ldp can have a bad, incompetent leader and that same person can automatically become the next PM of Japan. I’d say that this fake “stability” (if you can call it that) is hurting the country; imho, depending on how you look at it, the US, with all the turmoil and division (my guess is that we need a little bit of that around here), can be more “stable” than Japan.

Not a TV show but… the extended editions of the Lord of the Rings trilogy on a rainy weekend—great experience (it’s gonna be hard to beat those 11 hours). Another one that always crosses my mind is True Detective (Season 1), 8 hours—not too long, not too short, perfect; easily one of the best in the history of television—the level of quality of the first season is unbelievable(!); I also remember spending a lot of time watching The Sopranos—a very rewatchable series. ( I binge-watched a lot of stuff but I’d like to recommend these to my fellow JT readers; imho, your time is not gonna be wasted. )

[ The ministry, however, added that the visit itself to the Shinto shrine on Jan. 9 was a private one and "based on their free will," and thus not subject to any penalty. The trip was made by 22 GSDF members in total including Lt. Gen. Hiroki Kobayashi, the vice chief of staff.

According to the ministry, Kobayashi had invited his colleagues to take the afternoon off and visit the shrine, which is a 30-minute walk from where they worked. ]

January 9?—Missed them by just 2 days; my place is kinda close to Yasukuni and I go there when I want to say a few prayers…; love the statue honoring the widows and children of soldiers that died in the war … and the Kamikaze (some of those kids were sixteen, seventeen years old)…; it’s a special place, no doubt, and every Japanese citizen should be free to go there; as for Mr. Kobayashi and his buddies, you should’ve taken a walk, heheh.

[ Past visits to Yasukuni shrine by Japanese lawmakers have been a source of diplomatic friction with China and South Korea as the shrine honors the World War II dead including Japanese leaders who were convicted as war criminals in an international tribunal. ]

Let them talk…; there are 2466532 names there…; of those 2466532, 1054 were convicted war criminals and 14 were A-Class war criminals…; “do the math” as I usually say.

(Let me explain my previous posts)—a) she was born in Ukraine / her parents are from Ukraine and b) there are more beautiful women out there—I see them everyday (harsh, I know, but this is a beauty contest, isn’t it); BUT (I’m gonna say it again—) this is a step in the right direction…; she’s one hundred percent Japanese – end of story.

Note:

My post goes hand in hand with some of the most upvoted comments in this thread but somehow it’s being heavily downvoted.

”Oh, the mystery, the mystery.”

Fighto!Today  06:56 am JST

“Anything can happen”, that’s why we love this sport but that doesn’t change the fact that three, maybe four candidates out of 47(!) is still a miserable number…; I got downvoted yesterday for criticizing the quality of Asian football (go figure); every team has the right to dream but I didn’t say any lies.

mountainpearToday  11:34 am JST

Hm, assuming that everyone there has been living in Japan for some time that they would be able to understand an old guy speaking in Japanese is even more ridiculous.

[ Despite Japan being a G20 nation with nearly 600,000 foreign nationals living in Tokyo alone, it ranks 87th (out of 100) on the world English Proficiency Index — lower than China, South Korea, and Vietnam. This is painfully reflected at the immigration office, arguably the most crucial place in the city where English services are needed for navigating documentation, complying with immigration laws and ensuring a seamless experience for non-Japanese speakers. ]

I remember being there and hearing an old guy calling someone’s number in JAPANESE, five, ten, fifteen times…; I thought: well, maybe they went to the toilet or busy with something else…, but then he started calling another number… five, ten, fifteen times—and then he went on to the next number—no one was coming—but he didn’t give up—he kept doing the same thing over and over again…; I remember I wanted to go to him and say “Excuse me, sir, no one’s answering because you’re speaking in JAPANESE and they probably don’t understand” but nah, I just kept checking my cellphone and thinking how ridiculous that situation was.

Context is everything. Business and politics, my friends…; but(!) I’d say that this is a step in the right direction…; whatever it takes to prevent millions of Japanese people from drowning in their vast sea of ignorance.

Today  08:06 am JST “ A soft penalty and an own goal against the might of Indonesia, hardly a convincing win but certainly better than the Iraq performance. “

”… against the might of Indonesia”… hahah…

..

Today  02:12 pm JST “ Because of the slip up against Iraq, the second-round game is shaping up as a real game of death! The Samurai Blue taking on the Taegeuk Warriors - assuming SK beat Malaysia tonight. A tough one, no doubt - especially with the might of Son leading the line. A mouth-watering match-up for sure - the winner may well win the whole thing! “

Geez, the Asian Cup is so predictable…; … not a surprise (you pretty much described football in Asia, at least the one that matters)—the quality of Asian football is mediocre (and I’m being nice)—let’s see: we have Japan and SK which are both decent teams and… that’s it.

Good luck, Japan.

Maybe it wasn’t as good as some people thought it would be…; I watched the movie and, imho, the best thing that came out of it was Ryan’s performance and my favorite part was the “I’m just Ken” scene (what a coincidence…)… and a lot of people are saying the same thing—Ryan Gosling is amazing and the I’m just Ken song is incredibly popular…; idk… maybe that means something(?). Congratulations to all the nominees.

I love Jon Stewart but(!) this is an attempt to influence the masses and “brainwash” people in order to keep old Joe in office…; I guess Trump is becoming a real threat, huh(?)…; sorry, Jon… but four years of Biden and the US is a complete mess(!)…; they had four years to realize that he wasn’t the right man to lead the nation but no: “let’s give him five(!) more years”…(seriously?); also, the current President of the United States of America can’t even say “United States of America” (yes, I know, that sounds like a joke but it’s not).

I’d say that two thousand and three was a very good / very important year for cinema

Oops, excuse me—two thousand and twenty three—2023.

See, Haley(?)—you can’t stop the inevitable.

[ Though Nolan is regarded as the big-canvas auteur of his era, he’s never won an Academy Award — nor have any of his films won best picture. This, though, could be his year. ]

This is the year, Mr. Nolan, congratulations; you will finally be recognized as one of the greatest directors of all time (of course we already know that but an Oscar is always an Oscar).

[ In heaping nominations on “Oppenheimer,” Oscar voters are poised to do something they haven’t done in a long time: Hand its top award to a big-budget blockbuster. Granted, “Oppenheimer” isn’t your average big-screen spectacle, but the academy has for years favored smaller films for best picture, … ]

— Part of the reason why some people never took Nolan seriously…; (smdh).

[ The 10 films nominated for best picture were: “Oppenheimer,” “Barbie,” “Poor Things,” “Killers of the Flower Moon,” “The Holdovers,” “Maestro,” “American Fiction,” “Past Lives,” “Anatomy of a Fall” and “The Zone of Interest.”

…

The best picture collection of films — all of which played in theaters for at least a month, including Netflix’s “Maestro” — reflected the industry’s rebalancing after years of experimentation during the pandemic. Netflix came away with the most nominations of any studio with 18, but industry consensus has, for now, turned back to believing cinemas play a vital role in the rollout of most movies. Apple and Amazon, which in 2022 acquired MGM, have each made theatrical releases a priority. ]

I’d say that two thousand and three was a very good / very important year for cinema (and I’m not against streaming, sci-fi/superhero/comic book movies and sequels…).

And

good luck to Godzilla Minus One and Perfect Days and of course, when I say “luck”, I mean that those movies deserve to win the Oscar ( Best Visual Effects and Best International Film).

It’s over, Nikki. There’s a storm called Donald Trump aka The Donald coming this year and you can’t stop it.

Congratulations, Japan. :)