viking68 comments

Posted in: Amber Heard cross-examined about fights with Johnny Depp See in context

Watched a bit of the cross and attempted redirect.

Craziest lie was "I consider pledge and paying to be the same thing". With regard to paying the ACLU and children's hospital.

The rest of her testimony was just not believable. Too many other witnesses contradicted her.

This trial is important because it shows when MeToo can be used as a weapon.

5 ( +5 / -0 )

Posted in: Jury sees photos of Heard's swollen face after fight with Depp See in context

Is the Associated Press covering their butts with this article?

They don't seem to be watching the same trial, and the photos were damning, for AH.

If she were punched repeatedly with a fist full of large rings, it would be impossible to hide.

9 ( +10 / -1 )

Posted in: U.S. special forces launch raid in Syria; civilians also reported dead See in context

People too easily forget. ISIS is not your friend.

The leader responsible for killing and terrorizing so many people blew himself up along with women and children in his care. Cowards to the end.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Trump dangles prospect of pardons for Jan 6 defendants if he becomes president again See in context

no thanks, I will take the guy who did the autopsy and the official results of that over an "expert on CNN" (of all places)

The guy???

You mean the doctor? An expert, trained in science and who publishes factual conclusions based on physical and clinical observation?

4 ( +7 / -3 )

Posted in: U.S. puts 8,500 troops on heightened alert amid Russia tension See in context

Russia and China have both been staging for military action and we could be looking at a minor WWIII.

Those on the right talk about everything happening now because of Biden, but this has been a long game that was ignored for some time and probably made worse by the placation by Trump, mistaking Putin and Xi as his friends and overstating the power of his personality.

The risks in the EU (aside from the Ukraine) is less than the risks in the AP from China. I don't think an EU conflict will escalate, but a China invasion of Taiwan could escalate quickly.

2 ( +4 / -2 )

Posted in: Biles says FBI turned 'blind eye' to reports of gymnasts' abuse See in context

These women are heroic.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: 'Dune' director longing for sequel See in context

So, do I have time to order *Foundation *and read it? Or, … just enjoy the TV series first?

Foundation is a bit of a task to read. Asimov is a sci-fi legend and his concepts are deep and thought provoking but quite frankly...he's not the smoothest writer. 

I have considered reading the Foundation series again. Asimov was one of my favorite authors, and I read maybe 60 of his books, fiction and non-fiction.

Read Dune for the first time in anticipation of the movie. There is a lot of depth in the "history" that begins each chapter, but the story seems a little basic after having seen the Lynch adaption and the SyFi series. I actually liked those adaptions. Herbert was a very good writer though. Will try to read the rest of the series.

I will certainly see Dune on IMAX, but I am looking forward to Foundation a little more. The only disappointment with Foundation is that it will stretch over many seasons.

For me, Villeneuve has been flawless. He makes movies I want to see. I'm hoping Villeneuve can do more with the source material than just make a workable film.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: What is umami, the mysterious taste of Japanese cooking? See in context

Not! That stuff will kill you . . . literally!

Doritos and many popular chips are popular because of MSG, although people don't realize it has MSG to boost the flavor.

3 ( +3 / -0 )

Posted in: Biden sets Aug 31 for U.S. exit from Afghanistan See in context

The shame is that the area will be overrun by the extremists.

How long until we start seeing women forced to beg for money, and then are killed for doing even that. Sure, it is already happening, but there would be more widespread.

We can only do what was done with Vietnam, wait for the country to develop into an international citizen and hope that they don't take umbrage at our freedoms. That same tactic got us 911.

1 ( +5 / -4 )

Posted in: Ghosn pledges lengthy fight to clear his name See in context

the Japanese justice minister criticized the panel, saying its conclusions were based on factual errors.

Seriously doubtful.

Watched a Bloomberg interview of the Nissan General Counsel getting the Ghosn treatment when he started pointing out conflicts of interest to the Board of Directors. He was followed and eventually served with a court order by Nissan investigators to seize a company laptop and phone that had incriminating evidence against Nissan people.

No, this was a company hit job, and many people at Nissan pointing fingers at Ghosn got immunity from prosecution for doing the same things Ghosn did, under reporting compensation.

Nissan wanted to stop the Renault-Nissan alliance, a business goal, by trying to put people in prison, and Nissan conspired with the prosecutors to achieve that business goal. That behavior should not be normalized.

3 ( +7 / -4 )

Posted in: Seoul court rejects slave labor claim against 16 Japanese firms See in context

The court determined that Japan had already settled its commitments.

The plaintiffs need to speak with the S Korean government to get their share of the settlement.

39 ( +45 / -6 )

Posted in: COVID lab origin theory gains traction in U.S. See in context

This "lab" story has been debunked by ALL credible scientist worldwide. 

The only people who believe this nonsense are the extreme right.

Not true.

The Chinese government has been supressing evidence from day 1, and they are responsible for the pandemic. They buried evidence just like they buried a maglev train that crashed. Even the last WHO trip to China was a farce, and they could not get access to data on the earliest people infected.

They may be successful, unless this leads to some conclusion:

A quote from David Baltimore, a virologist and former president of the California Institute of Technology: “When I first saw the furin cleavage site in the viral sequence, with its arginine codons, I said to my wife it was the smoking gun for the origin of the virus. These features make a powerful challenge to the idea of a natural origin for SARS2.”

2 ( +9 / -7 )

Posted in: U.S. proposes 15% minimum tax on global corporate profits See in context

Individuals should be taxed through sales, not income.

Of course, every CPA would disagree.

Sales tax is a great idea at first, but it disproportionately impacts lower income earners. Having only a sales tax would increase class disparity. The rich would always be rich, and the poor would always be poor.

That result is already happening. Wealth itself has more political power to support the creation and ability to maintain that wealth. So, the tax rules favor the wealthy.

So, you could add, every politician would disagree because they benefit from keeping wealthy people wealthy.

The complexity of tax rules is also because the main job of the tax rules is not just generating revenue for the government. It has also been used to affect economic policy. The best examples are deductions allowed for home ownership. Remove that deduction, then home sales would crash until they stabilized, assuming that the financial industry itself didn't crash before it stabilized. Business arrangements are also complex and a simple tax code would not reflect economic realities, so there would be vast differences in taxes collected from sophisticated and less sophisticated businesses.

I've never seen a simple solution to reducing the complexity of taxes. OK, maybe a universal wealth tax on individuals but it would have to be uniformly applied otherwise people would just move their wealth to the lowest tax location. You would also have the problem of tax cheats undervaluing their wealth. HMM, I believe there is an investigation in NY of a wealthy person doing just that.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: 'Great day for America': Vaccinated can largely ditch masks See in context

Only 30% of the state population where I am is vaccinated and the total US is only 35%.

The WP is reporting 55.2% of eligible population (12 and older) and 46.6 of the population has received have received at least one dose, or 154.6 million people.

35.8% are fully vaccinated.

-1 ( +3 / -4 )

Posted in: Japan to establish agency to speed up digitalization See in context

First goal, digitize a fax machine.

Fax to a phone number that then sends you an email with the document.

I am sure it hasn't been done before.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: Glenn Close on 8 Oscar nods with no wins: I am not a loser See in context

She's brilliant.

Agreed.

2 ( +2 / -0 )

Posted in: 1.4 bil but no more? China's population growth closer to zero See in context

China still is a middle-income country with labor-intensive farming and manufacturing.

Henry Kissinger once said that he wasn't concerned by China because 700m were still pre-agricultural.

Looks like there has been some improvement.

Chinese projects in other countries are mostly to hire Chinese workers

Africa is learning the hard lesson that it is more than just that. The goal is to spend money on Chinese goods. Hardly any money is spent locally. An even bigger problem is that the other countries are taking out loans made by China to fund projects that will be eventually be owned by China.

Need a dam to improve access to water and reduce floods, China will help you.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Bipartisan police reform talks open in Congress after Biden speech See in context

Qualified immunity is a difficult thing.

Acting under the color of law is a gateway out of immunity, but police tactics mix consensual encounters with demands that resemble being detained, and many times those demands are not legal, e.g., to produce ID, identify yourself if you are not suspected of a crime, asking about what you are doing, where you are going, denying permission to search as a reason to search, asking to search without probable cause. There are just so many tactics that impair a persons rights, and most people are either not educated to understand their rights or are pressured to comply with demands in a consensual encounter. Seen good cops and bad cops, and bad cops do mess up people lives, assuming they live through the encounter.

Consider downloading an ACLU application that records police encounters and uploads the video to the cloud.

Don't talk to police unless you need to. "Do you know why I pulled you over?" sounds conversational, but it is a tactic to get the driver to admit to a traffic infraction, and traffic stops should only cover the reason for the stop. Giving the police more information by answering their questions could lead to further delays and investigation. The better tactic is to make them answer questions.

Don't know, there is a lot that needs to be done to improve policing.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Trump calls probe of his ex-attorney Giuliani 'very unfair' See in context

he suggested that the investigation of his client was politically motivated 

Just because he was acting for political purposes and committing crimes while doing so doesn't mean an investigation of illegal acts is politically motivated.

The investigation started 18 months ago and has already been subject to a grand jury. So, prosecutors found evidence of illegal activity and took the step to convene a grand jury. Not good for Rudy.

6 ( +7 / -1 )

Posted in: China says U.S. increasing military activity directed at it See in context

“The U.S. frequently dispatches ships and planes to operate in seas and airspace near China, promoting regional militarization and threatening regional peace and stability," Wu said at a monthly briefing held virtually.

International waters near China

Read that the concrete on some of their phony islands was breaking down and the whole island could sink with a typhoon.

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Posted in: Japan to open large vaccination centers in Tokyo, Osaka: report See in context

For Tokyo to vaccinate its 10 million inhabitants it would require about 6 years to do everyone at 10,000 per day (at 2 shots per person).

I was wondering the same thing and came up with 5.47 years.

Wonder who is doing the math at the J.Gov?

There would need to be 50k per day to inoculate 10M within 365 days. If by the end of the year, it would need to increase to about 100k per day.

Of course, there are a significant number of people who are too young or unwilling to get the vaccine. I don't know those numbers. That will cut it down some.

Even so, if the goal is only 70% for herd immunity, then it would still take years at this rate.

10 ( +10 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan rolls out vaccine slowly, despite looming Olympics See in context

Is acting rationally a given and 100% the same across all cultures and people? It depends on how and where you were raised and rationalizations change with times and public sentiment.

Acting rationally and rationalizations are very different.

"In Japan, people consider equality important," said Koji Wada, a professor at Japan's International University of Health and Welfare.

"So if there are only 9,000 items for 10,000 people in need during a disaster, for example, some municipalities wouldn't provide them," he told AFP.

Equality is a rationalization and unimportant and is in no way acting rational.

17 million doses from Europe so far -- but only around 1.5 million people have had a first shot, with just over 827,000 fully vaccinated.

The U.S. has been able to vaccinate that many people and more in a single day.

Japan, 90 days and counting...

12 ( +12 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. expels Russian diplomats, imposes sanctions for hacking See in context

and yet as big of a threat China is, the Dems continue to never bring up the looming and serious threat of China

You must have missed congressional testimony from nearly everyone in the cabinet stating differently.

FBI, CIA, DNI, DoD.... have all stated China is the biggest threat.

That must not fit the narrative you are reading and regurgitating.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: McConnell warns CEOs: 'Stay out of politics' See in context

Short answer, the GoP is upset because there is too much voting going on, by voters and companies, and it is hard for the GoP to remain relevant and regain power if people can vote.

Can't say that I ever liked Citizens United, but corporations making decisions to move out of places like Georgia makes me feel a little better about the decision.

Of course Citizens United isn't directly working here, it allowed corporations to contribute to campaigns as a legal "person."

Corporations are only doing this because of the current cancel culture and hedging against the risk of being black balled by internet activists. One potential positive of social networks.

3 ( +5 / -2 )

Posted in: West sanctions China over Xinjiang abuses; Beijing hits back at EU See in context

never ever again will China be humiliated again.

Very childish to use humiliation to justify committing atrocities and abuse of its citizens and its international obligations.

Would have thought China was an adult by now.

6 ( +11 / -5 )

Posted in: Espionage trial starts behind closed doors for 2nd Canadian detained in China See in context

Yes, why is she still in Canada? An extradition hearing should be a relatively simple affair, isn't it up to the Americans to prove her guilt?

She's been at home (in a very large mansion) on bail while she exercises her rights under Canadian law to contest the extradition. It should be a simple affair, but she keeps appealing the extradition, which is her right. If she loses, she will be sent to trial in the U.S. where she will also have rights.

These Canadian men were afforded absolutely no rights.

It shows how dangerous China is to foreigners.

If Biden wants to look tough on the Chinese, then give him a shot.

Biden will have nothing to do with the trial and will not interfere with the proceedings.

The Department of State in conjunction with the Department of Justice requested extradition before Biden became president. Assuming she is extradited, DOJ prosecutors have to present the case in front of a federal judge, and she will have ample opportunity to defend herself and hire legal counsel. She has more rights and more opportunities to defend herself than any person in China.

11 ( +11 / -0 )

Posted in: Taiwan kicks off vaccination drive with AstraZeneca shots See in context

Taiwanese law bans import of Chinese vaccines made for human use. 

Almost laughed after reading that one.

8 ( +12 / -4 )

Posted in: 'Put me in jail': Fierce COVID vaccine resistance for Republicans See in context

I can only guess who is filling these people's minds with the idea that they would be put in jail or be held down in order for the vaccine to be forced on them.

According to a poll last week, 41 percent of Republicans nationally said they would not get the vaccine, compared to just 11 percent of Democrats.

I thought the number of Pubs would be higher.

10 ( +16 / -6 )

Posted in: Biden, Harris offer solace to Asian Americans, denounce racism in Atlanta visit See in context

The loser, whatever his motives, also killed 2 white women.

But they don't rank on the victimology totem pole these days

All those attacked were victims.

The right has been focusing on the victimization of the killer and the above White victimization.

Tucker is just a well spoken white supremacist. David Duke was the one who said that he is the new face of white supremacism and should have been Trump's running mate because he can talk about it without using the same words that get the KKK and neo nazis in trouble.

The problem here the president is trying to address is the current trend of attacks on Asians. The orange guy would have made it all about him and the victimization of whites by the "Chinese flu", which would only rile up the base by scapegoating a group of Americans.

3 ( +4 / -1 )

Posted in: U.S., China wrap up testy face-to-face talks See in context

You can start with your smart phone.

Assembled in China. Not made in China.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

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