The Political Discussion Thread

[aretood2]

Litvinenko was poisoned with polonium in the UK in 2006. The FSB has had a free hand in the UK for much longer than Trump's been President .

P.S. While you guys were arguing Trump, free will and whatnot, I got married, so there!

Congrats! I assume you had your honeymoon already?

Oh our kids will have enough to keep them busy without getting involved into this thread. We are still scratching our heads over how to teach them all the necessary languages. Hebrew will be first language, but my side of the family speaks Russian, wifey's side of the family speaks Bisaya, English will be needed for career... Four languages just to get by. Oh the perils of marrying a Filipina!

We are lucky that high IQ runs in the family!

I once met a Russian married to a hispanic who lives here in the US. Their children grew up/are growing up with three languages. Around here, it amazes people that there are those in the world who grow up speaking more than one, let alone more than two, languages. And forget four.

Wow that sure is a lot of languages. Please do not omit Ancient too, can come in handy

Best of luck Sir!

Latin would be very helpful....see what I did there?

[Womble]

Congrats! I assume you had your honeymoon already?

Yes and no. We married in Georgia (the country in the Caucasus not the USA state) and spent 12 days there on a rather amazing trip. We plan to have more than one honeymoon though

I once met a Russian married to a hispanic who lives here in the US. Their children grew up/are growing up with three languages. Around here, it amazes people that there are those in the world who grow up speaking more than one, let alone more than two, languages. And forget four.

Wifey and I are both fluent in 3 languages (Russian, Hebrew and English for me and Tagalog, Bisaya and English for her). Hopefully our kids will inherit that talent.

P.S. I plan to learn Bisaya. Can't have my wife know more languages than I do, and she is about to study Hebrew...

[Chaka-Z0]

Latin would be very helpful....see what I did there?

You bet, sneaky Tood!

Well I'm sorry ladies and gentlemen but this is the political thread, there's been too much positive in the recent posts we must get back to business.

Trump announced the USA might start taxing China's big ''500''. I can't believe he's that dense, I'm not sure what he's trying to accomplish but this is going to cause the opposite reaction and ultimately devaluate China's Yuan, therefore advantaging its exportations.

[mad_gater]

I doubt that particular proposal would gain much traction in China as China could very easilypull the "you have now power here" card...meaning that I doubt the USA has any jurisdiction to levy taxes on China

[aretood2]

Yes and no. We married in Georgia (the country in the Caucasus not the USA state) and spent 12 days there on a rather amazing trip. We plan to have more than one honeymoon though

I also realized, being a travel agent really does come in handy, no?

Wifey and I are both fluent in 3 languages (Russian, Hebrew and English for me and Tagalog, Bisaya and English for her). Hopefully our kids will inherit that talent.

P.S. I plan to learn Bisaya. Can't have my wife know more languages than I do, and she is about to study Hebrew...

I'll teach you Spanish, that way your kid will at least get a watered down version of Latin

[jelgate]

Who is going to teach you Aretood?

[aretood2]

Who is going to teach you Aretood?

Spanishtood

[jelgate]

Figments of your imagination don't count

[Coco Pops]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/esti...ry?id=56715855


Ooh military parade with shiny things and 50 planes.

Really? Do we need this?

[Gatecat]

Yes and no. We married in Georgia (the country in the Caucasus not the USA state) and spent 12 days there on a rather amazing trip. We plan to have more than one honeymoon though


Wifey and I are both fluent in 3 languages (Russian, Hebrew and English for me and Tagalog, Bisaya and English for her). Hopefully our kids will inherit that talent.

P.S. I plan to learn Bisaya. Can't have my wife know more languages than I do, and she is about to study Hebrew...

Congrats on your wedding.

I would think Arabic could also come in handy in your part of the world, but I guess speaking the language of a second class citizen is not befitting anymore.

I would love to learn Arabic.... or Farsi. If I had time for lessons I would ask some Syrian/Iraki or Afghan/Iranian refugees to teach me.

[Womble]

Congrats on your wedding.

I would think Arabic could also come in handy in your part of the world, but I guess speaking the language of a second class citizen is not befitting anymore.

I would normally burn you for that whole "second class citizen" nonsense. But I'll limit myself to saying that I would have little use for Arabic. Most of the countries where that language would be of use would either kill or jail me on arrival just because I carry an Israeli passport. And their airlines would not let me board because they respect the anti-Semitic laws in their home countries. Which somehow makes discrimination legal in Europe.

[Womble]

I also realized, being a travel agent really does come in handy, no?

Absolutely.

The trick was to find a country where we could get married as marriage law quirks in both Israel and the Philippines complicated the living daylights out of the process. Israel has no civil marriage as such; we have a convoluted mess of marriage laws inherited from the British mandate that our government never got around to normalizing; basically you can marry someone of the same religion no problem, but there is no mechanism for cross-religion or religion-indifferent marriage. Typically, Israelis who want to marry someone not of the same faith go to Cyprus or Prague, which is easy and painless when you don't need a visa; but wifey with her Philippines passport needs visa everywhere. In the Philippines, the process takes up to 3 months; I can't afford to be out of work for that long. We considered Thailand, but it still takes 3 weeks and puts us into dependency on the Philippines embassy bureaucracy. Georgia, on the other hand, is like Caucasian Las Vegas, but a hell of a lot cheaper. Visa for wifey was like ordering something on Amazon; go to website, pay $20, send passport scan and photo, wait one week for delivery. Marriage took 2.5 hours from start to finish. The country is absolutely perfect for a honeymoon: gorgeous mountains, waterfalls everywhere (our restaurant had a waterfall in the courtyard!) amazing food and the wine is so cheap that you get offers of free wine with anything - apartment rental, sightseeing tour, river cruise, whatever. I just wish we'd gone there in September; it was far too hot in July.

[Annoyed]

https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/esti...ry?id=56715855


Ooh military parade with shiny things and 50 planes.

Really? Do we need this?

Not so fond of the idea, it's a waste of resources.

But I wonder if ABC knows what it's talking about.

The figures are according to a presentation briefed to local Department of Defense leadership earlier this month on the progress of the planning, said the official who was not present for that briefing.

ABC News has not viewed a copy of the plan.

[aretood2]

Figments of your imagination don't count

Your face is a figment of my imagination...>.>

Congrats on your wedding.

I would think Arabic could also come in handy in your part of the world, but I guess speaking the language of a second class citizen is not befitting anymore.

I would love to learn Arabic.... or Farsi. If I had time for lessons I would ask some Syrian/Iraki or Afghan/Iranian refugees to teach me.

Iranians would probably be better suited for teaching you Persian. And what's with that second class citizen crack? If only every oppressive oligarchy treated their second class citizens the way Israel treats Arabics...the world would be a slightly better place.

I would normally burn you for that whole "second class citizen" nonsense. But I'll limit myself to saying that I would have little use for Arabic. Most of the countries where that language would be of use would either kill or jail me on arrival just because I carry an Israeli passport. And their airlines would not let me board because they respect the anti-Semitic laws in their home countries. Which somehow makes discrimination legal in Europe.

First circumcision is illegal, now this...huh...and in Germany to boot. I'll refrain from making historical allusions concerning these two things and Germany's history. Apparently that'll trigger some. Oops...I guess I kinda made an allusion there...

[jelgate]

To phase me, you need better insults