Jump to content
Forums Rules Staff Themes Leaderboard Quick Links Clubs Awards Member Shop OH! Press

Yggdrasil

Member
 View Profile  See their activity

  • Content Count

    2,026

  • Joined

  • Last visited

  • Won

    1,701,183 [ Donate ]

Posts posted by Yggdrasil

  5. Posted

    So Yoon Seobin, the former JYP trainee that was kicked off of Produce X 101 and out of JYP for smoking underage and bullying rumors that turned out to be false, just uploaded some pretty gay pics of himself with another guy...already the Twitterverse is debating whether it's a case of the gay...or good dudebros being bros. What are your thoughts?

     

    • Like 2
    • Love 2
    • Dislike 1

  9. Posted

    Source

    The Trump administration plans to end subscriptions to The Washington Post and the New York Times held by federal agencies, the latest sign of presidential displeasure with news coverage he deems unfair.

    White House press secretary Stephanie Grisham told the Wall Street Journal that the White House would instruct agencies not to renew their subscriptions to the papers when they come up.

    She characterized the decision as a cost-saving measure, telling the Journal that “hundreds of thousands of taxpayer dollars will be saved” by the cancellations.

    Trump has made no secret of his dislike for both newspapers, dubbing the Times “the failing New York Times” and The Post “the Amazon Washington Post” in his frequent broadsides against the two news organizations.

     

    Neither description is accurate: The Times’s parent company, the New York Times Co., is highly profitable and its subscription base has been growing smartly, particularly since Trump took office. The Post is owned by Amazon founder and chief executive Jeff Bezos but is otherwise unaffiliated with Amazon itself.

    Trump turned his animus toward the Times and Post up a notch in an interview with Fox News host Sean Hannity on Monday, saying, “We don’t even want [the Times] in the White House anymore. “We’re going to probably terminate that and The Washington Post. They’re fake.”

    The White House has already canceled its subscriptions to the papers, according to several accounts.

     

    The two papers have been among the leading news sources in investigating Trump, and have closely covered the impeachment inquiry in the House that threatens his presidency.

    The Times won a Pulitzer Prize earlier this year for a series of stories detailing Trump’s inheritance from his father and his family’s history of using questionable and possibly illegal strategies to avoid taxes.

    The Times and The Post shared a Pulitzer in 2018 for documenting Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election and its connections to Trump’s campaign and his transition team and administration. During the 2016 campaign, both papers aggressively covered allegations that he sexually assaulted women. And The Post’s David Fahrenthold won a Pulitzer for coverage “casting doubt on Donald Trump’s assertions of generosity toward charities.”

    Trump responded earlier this year by saying in a tweet that the Pulitzer committee should withdraw the Russia prize awarded to the papers. In June, he tweeted that a Times story about the United States’ cyber campaign against Russian targets was “a virtual act of Treason by a once great paper so desperate for a story, any story, even if bad for our Country.” He repeated his now-familiar mantra: “Enemy of the people.”

    It’s not clear how many subscriptions federal agencies have to the newspapers, and whether these are to the physical paper itself, to its digital equivalent or to both.

    Spokespeople for the Times and Post had no comment.

    Presidents have canceled newspapers in fits of pique at their coverage before. President Kennedy canceled the White House’s subscription to the New York Herald Tribune in the early 1960s. According to historian Arthur M. Schlesinger Jr. in his account of Kennedy’s presidency, “A Thousand Days,” Kennedy was angry at the newspaper’s editorials about impropriety in his administration, complaining that the newspaper underplayed similar behavior in the Eisenhower administration.

    The White House eventually renewed its subscription.

  14. Posted

    Source

    L3ds66p.jpg

    The state department has completed its years-long internal investigation into Hillary Clinton’s use of private email and found “no persuasive evidence of systemic, deliberate mishandling of classified information”.

    The investigation, launched more than three years ago, did find violations by 38 people, some of whom may face disciplinary action.

    Investigators determined that those 38 people were “culpable” in 91 cases of sending classified information that ended up in Clinton’s personal email, according to a letter sent to Republican senator Chuck Grassley this week and released on Friday. The 38 are current and former state department officials but were not identified.

    While there were no findings of deliberate mishandling of classified information, the report made clear that Clinton’s use of the private email while serving as the secretary of state in the Obama administration had increased the vulnerability of classified information.

    The Associated Press sent an email seeking comment to a Clinton representative.

    The investigation covered 33,000 emails that Clinton turned over for review after her use of the private email account became public. The department said it found a total of 588 violations involving information then or now deemed to be classified but could not assign fault in 497 cases.

    For current and former officials, culpability means the violations will be noted in their files and will be considered when they apply for or go to renew security clearances. For current officials, there could also be some kind of disciplinary action. But it was not immediately clear what that would be.

    The report concluded “that the use of a private email system to conduct official business added an increased degree of risk of compromise as a private system lacks the network monitoring and intrusion detection capabilities of state department networks”.

    The department began the review in 2016 after declaring 22 emails from Clinton’s private server to be “top secret”. Clinton was then running for president against Donald Trump, and Trump made the server a major focus of his campaign.

    James Comey, the then-FBI director, held a news conference that year in which he criticized Clinton as “extremely careless” in her use of the private email server as secretary of state but said the FBI would not recommend charges.

    The justice department’s inspector general said FBI specialists did not find evidence that the server had been hacked, with one forensics agent saying he felt “fairly confident that there wasn’t an intrusion”.

    Grassley started investigating Clinton’s email server in 2017, when he was the chair of the Senate judiciary committee. The Iowa Republican has been critical of Clinton’s handling of classified information and urged administrative sanctions.

    Clinton has frequently lampooned the Republicans’ ongoing obsession with her email controversy (“lock her up” is still a popular chant at Trump rallies). An exhibit at the Venice Biennale in September saw her sitting behind a replica of the Oval Office’s Resolute Desk and reading from the 62,000 pages of emails.

  15. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    On 10/13/2019 at 6:52 PM, KoreaxxLove said:

    Or because Trump doesn't think that American lives shouldn't be lost in a conflict that doesn't involve us. Because he believes that his first allegiance is to the American people and our soldiers who don't want to die and who will be put in harm's way for a conflict that shouldn't affect them. It's funny how you Democrats were against war until Trump wants to end it. It's pathetic. 

    No, it's not possible for Trump to consider the Kurds as a military priority without undermining his top priority to keep American lives safe. Use economic warfare and other ways to fight--but it's not worth spilling American blood. 

    Then why is he sending troops to Saudi Arabia? And why wasn't that his position before on the Kurds (see above comment)?

  16. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    Source

    99D5fcR.jpg

    Relatives of Halil Yagmur, 64, who was killed Friday during mortar shelling from Syria, mourn over his grave at the cemetery in the town of Suruc, southeastern Turkey, at the border with Syria, Saturday, Oct. 12, 2019.  Associated Press/Emrah Gurel

    • As the Turkish invasion into northern Syria proceeds, the region has seemingly descended into violent chaos, with videos emerging of Turkish proxies slaughtering US allies. 
    • In addition, about 700 relatives of ISIS fighters fled a Kurdish-run detention camp after a Turkish airstrike hit nearby, prompting 13,000 people, mostly displaced refugees, to flee.
    • The humanitarian aid group Save the Children confirmed to The New York Times that all foreign nationals, including the women and children who are relatives of ISIS fighters and were being held in a secure facility, had left the camp.
    • It is unclear whether the women and children escaped entirely or were apprehended by coalition forces who brought them to a central facility. Sources told the Times "a mix of the two" happened.
    • The Turkish invasion began shortly after President Donald Trump announced US troops would be repositioning away from Kurdish forces, who have been US allies in the fight against ISIS.
    • On Sunday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper announced that the remaining 1,000 US troops in northern Syria would be withdrawn, as intelligence shows a more expansive Turkish invasion and a possible Kurdish counter-attack in conjunction with Syrian and Russian forces. 

    As the fifth day of the Turkish invasion into northern Syria continues, seemingly prompted by President Donald Trump's announcement that US forces would be repositioned away from Kurdish US allies, reports of violent chaos have emerged from the region.

    In addition, a US official told CNN that the campaign to defeast ISIS in Syria is "over for now," and that ISIS "has a second lease on life with nearly 100,000 [people] who will rejoin their jihad." The official said, in their opinion, "US policy has failed."

    The US State Department confirmed that reports show Havrin Khalaf, the civilian secretary general of the Future Syria Party, which is the Kurdish movement, has been captured and killed by Turkish-backed Syrian opposition fighters, in addition to other Kurdish fighters killed by the Turkish proxies. 

    Videos have surfaced online showing the Turkish-backed rebel forces slaughtering Kurdish fighters. In one video published by The New York Times, two Syrian Arab fighters restrain a Kurdish prisoner on the ground with his hands tied behind his back and shoot him multiple times. 

    A Turkish MP from President Recep Tayyip Erdogan's party condemned the execution of unarmed war prisoners on Twitter in response. Turkey considers the Syrian Kurdish People's Protection Units (YPG) to be a terrorist organization. It is the dominant force of the Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF), which has partnered with the US to dismantle ISIS' hold in Syria. 

    On Sunday, US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said the remaining 1,000 US troops in northern Syria would be withdrawn, but US officials told The Daily Beast they will just be moved further away from the advancing Turkish forces. A Turkish airstrike nearly hit a small group of US soldiers stationed in Syria on Friday.

  17. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    On 10/9/2019 at 11:21 PM, KoreaxxLove said:

    We owe no allegiance so strongly to the Kurds that US lives should be at risk. If we disagree on that, we're just going to have to disagree. 

    Of course they are. They're war hawks--the same ones Democrats have (rightfully) criticized for getting us involved so heavily in the Middle East in the first place. 

    They fought ISIS for us. You know, that issue Trump likes to take credit for all of the time. And again, THIS DIDN'T NEED TO HAPPEN. You're acting like it was completely inevitable. And give me a break on the supposed antiwar talk when Trump and his buddies have been trying to start a war with Iran since day 1. Just because we fucked up big time and got caught in a quagmire doesn't give us the right to betray our allies and leave them to die just because Trump is too much of a coward to stand up to dictators. 

    • Dislike 1

  18. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    On 10/9/2019 at 11:25 PM, KoreaxxLove said:

    He's the US President. The Kurds aren't his top priority and shouldn't be. 

    Are you kidding me? Isn't it possible to not have them be the top priority while also not leaving them to be slaughtered in a completely needless conflict? Again, they fought ISIS for us. We owe them. And we've seen this movie before. After we abandoned the Mujahideen in Afghanistan after they fought a proxy battle with the Soviets, many were radicalized and joined the American Frankenstein's monster that was Al Qaeda. This situation is arguably even worse than that. ISIS prisoners are going to escape, and the Kurds will rightfully despise us. All because Trump doesn't want to piss off his dictator buddies.

    • Love 1

  19. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    1 hour ago, KoreaxxLove said:

    We've made more diplomatic progress with North Korea than ever before in history. 

    But I forgot, Trump was going to hit the nuke button his first day in office. 

    And what would that progress be? Kim Jong Un has expanded his arsenal and now has the privilege of saying he was legitimized by the most powerful country on Earth. No progress was made towards denuclearization at all, Kim had Trump grabbed by the balls the entire time, or should I say pussy?

  21. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    1 hour ago, KoreaxxLove said:

    Let's lose more American lives in a conflict that doesn't involve us. 

    It's ironic how this is becoming an issue at the same time as Ellen being blasted by Democrats for laughing with George Bush because he started a war--but should Trump take our troops home, those same people will blast him! 

    How about we not let the conflict happen in the first place? The Kurds literally fought ISIS FOR us, Trump didn't do jack shit. And now we repay them by abandoning them and letting them possibly be slaughtered. How can any allies take our word seriously ever again? Just because Trump's business model is using people and stabbing them in the back doesn't mean it should be how we approach foreign policy. But keep it up, this sure seems to be a winning issue for you. Even Republican senators are turning on Trump over it now.

    • Like 1

  23. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    1 hour ago, frozentear said:

    No need to wish when it already came true. Thanks Obama! 

    Isn't is sad that their sole defense of Trump is "well, he inherited an already good economy and kept it good, so therefore he's the greatest president ever and deserves a second and possibly third and fourth term." 

    Meanwhile, over half of Americans polled want him impeached and removed from office.

    • Like 1
    • Love 1

  25. Posted · Edited by Yggdrasil

    Source

    Ezs4oAT.jpg

    When President Donald Trump announced that his signature wall at the U.S.’s southern border would be “virtually impenetrable” while visiting San Diego last month, Rick Weber, who co-founded the Muir Valley rock climbing park in Rogers, Kentucky, was listening.

    “You don’t tell a bona fide rock climber something’s impossible to climb,” Weber tells TIME.

    Weber took the President’s claim as a challenge. He says he constructed his own replica of the wall, relying on the wall’s official dimensions as well as recent images of the structure. This weekend, Weber is planning to invite climbers attending the “Rocktoberfest” rock climbing festival at the nearby Red River Gorge canyon system in Kentucky to climb the model. Guests will be challenged to compete to climb up and over the wall in the fastest time.

    Several people have already managed to climb up the wall replica, including 8-year-old Lucy Hancock. Hancock didn’t use any ropes or other tools to climb the wall, but wore a belay, a safety device designed to catch a falling climber. An adult climber, Erik Kloeker, was up and over the wall in about 40 seconds.

    Lucy’s mother, Karla Hancock, tells TIME that her daughter has shown a natural inclination toward politics and rock climbing from a young age. Recently, Karla says Lucy has been interested in immigration, although the third-grader has found the national dialogue about immigration policy to be confusing.

    “To her, it’s black and white: If somebody’s hungry, and you have the means to give to them, why couldn’t you?” Hancock says.

    In 2017, the Government Accountability Office said that Customs and Border Protection had reported that there were 654 miles of fencing on the border. TIME reported in August that all the walls constructed so far this year have replaced older fencing, but last month Defense Secretary Mark Esper authorized a plan to reallocate $3.6 billion initially set aside for military construction projects to build Trump’s long-touted border wall without congressional approval for the funds. The Defense Department is now aiming to redirect $6.1 billion toward building 295 miles of wall since Trump declared a national emergency in February.

    President Trump has said that 20 mountain climbers claimed the border wall design is difficult to climb, but Weber and other climbers have said that seems unlikely.

    “We were all very puzzled because none of us in the climbing community had heard of these 20 people that had supposedly tried this wall,” Weber says.

    The bollard-style wall at the border, which could also be described as a fence, consists of long, thin columns, with a flat panel that sticks up out of the top. Trump’s wall at the border will be 18 or 30 feet tall in different areas, and Weber says that he decided to construct the smaller, 18-foot dimension to save money. However, Weber says that since the top panel is the same size regardless of the wall’s height, the experience of climbing the higher wall should not be much more difficult, as climbers would only need to “shimmy” a bit further up the pillars.

    Weber also says that he decided to allow the climbers to grab the edge of the top panel because he learned that this would be possible when climbing the actual border wall. According to Weber, he’s seen that there are gaps between each panel in photos of the proposed border wall.

    Weber says that grabbing the panel’s edge makes climbing the wall a “piece of cake” for a climber. If there were no gaps, Weber estimates that climbers would need to be significantly taller than Lucy — at least about five feet 10 inches tall — to climb up and over the wall.

    Weber says that he meant for the climbing competition to be fun, but also wants to point out that the border wall may be “ineffective.”

    “I’m not making an argument that we shouldn’t have a secure border. I’m not doing that at all,” he says. “What I’m trying to do is to make sure that we’re not blowing a lot of money on some silly nonsense of putting up something that he thinks can’t be climbed. Because it can. And will be.”

×
×
  • Create New...

Important Information

We have placed cookies on your device to help make this website better. You can adjust your cookie settings, otherwise we'll assume you're okay to continue.

  I accept
Back to Top