SoylentNews

Original source for this seems to be NPR member station WABE but I found it via antiwar.com.

I'll excerpt a bit but do read the whole thing.

President Donald Trump called former President Jimmy Carter for the first time this weekend.

Just that initial sentence was enough to brighten my day. I'm not a big fan of living Presidents, but Carter is the exception. If anyone can give Trump some good advice it will be Carter - and the fact Trump made the call indicates he just might listen to that advice.

So what kind of advice was given? Let me skip ahead a little.

(Carter) said Trump said he is particularly concerned about how China is “getting ahead of us.”

Carter agreed that’s true.

“And do you know why? I normalized diplomatic relations with China in 1979. Since 1979 do you know how many times China has been at war with anybody? None. And we have stayed at war,” he said.

The U.S., Carter said, has been at war for all but 16 years of its 242-year history. (China and Vietnam actually fought a brief border war in early 1979, weeks after normalization of U.S.-China relations.)

The last two sentence probably got reversed in an editorial mistake, because that reads quite awkwardly as is, but that's how my source has it.

He called the United States “the most warlike nation in the history of the world,” because of a tendency to try to force others to “adopt our American principles.”

And this is where, unfortunately, many of us obey our training, cover our eyes, stuff our fingers in our ears, and start saying something like 'hates America.'

No. This has nothing to do with hating anyone or anything. It has to do with the ability to set aside tribal sentiment and look at things objectively. What are the facts? As laid out above, China has been at peace since right about 1980, and focused single-mindedly on improving their economy, on building their originally pathetic industrial base until they are now the word leader. Over the same period, we've been at war virtually every year, and our military spending, already much larger than that of any other nation (or several put together) just keeps expanding.

We have to be able to acknowledge what that means, or we live in a dream, disconnected from reality, unable to understand the context of events we're therefore unable to respond appropriately.

Carter suggested that instead of war, China has been investing in its own infrastructure, mentioning that China has 18,000 miles of high-speed railroad.

“How many miles of high-speed railroad do we have in this country?”

It's definitely worth the click. Carter knows of what he speaks.

Including to my many enemies and those who have fought me with TOTAL BULLSHIT and lost so badly they just don’t know what to do. Love!!! pic.twitter.com/h3wgLZ4mxS

Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) went where the Democratic Party is unwilling to tread on Monday, participating in a lengthy town hall interview on Fox News. The questions posed by Fox anchors Bret Baier and Martha MacCallum aimed at poking holes in Sanders’s political rhetoric, but, by the time the event had ended, it was Fox News’s bubble that had been pierced.

Rest assured: The damage was quickly repaired as the network’s programming continued over the course of the evening.

Bernie Sanders pierces the Fox News bubble — but for only a flickering moment (opinion)

Personally, I think this was a great move by Sanders. I've been leaning towards Warren but this might've put him at the top in my book. I like Warren's policy positions better, still, but that's not all that makes a good candidate or president.

Last night Jasmine dumped me. That's two in a week, and a new personal best.

I had felt some distance between us over the last month or so. The biggest sign was slower responses to text messages I would send to her. Normally she would respond within minutes, but it started dragging out to hours, then days. She said she had some busy weeks (and I'm sure she did).

Last time I saw her, I asked her what she wanted in our relationship. I asked if she wanted me to integrate her more into my life. Things like meeting my wife and coming over for dinners every once and a while. She said she didn't know, and that she would think about it.

I guess she thought about it, and decided it was time to move on. I think that she is seeing someone else, and I'm guessing that it's going well and she wants to see where that goes. I understand that. Our relationship was never going to be permanent. I knew I was just a transition between her ex-husband and her getting another 'real' relationship.

We started dating sometime in September, so we dated for 6-7 months. She was a good person and I will miss her. I appreciate the memories we made together, and I will remember her with fondness. I hope she finds what she is looking for. She deserves someone that can offer more than I.

All in all, I would say our relationship was a success, even if the ending hurt a bit. I wish her well.

Godspeed Jasmine. Godspeed.

Just came across an exceptionally disturbing article on the state of US-Russia relations

https://apnews.com/b0d2b33596fc4604b2cd4384c9e2bd32
First two paragraphs

It has the makings of a new Cold War, or worse.

The deep chill in U.S.-Russian relations is stirring concern in some quarters that Washington and Moscow are in danger of stumbling into an armed confrontation that, by mistake or miscalculation, could lead to nuclear war.

American and European analysts and current and former U.S. military officers say the nuclear superpowers need to talk more. A foundational arms control agreement is being abandoned and the last major limitation on strategic nuclear weapons could go away in less than two years. Unlike during the Cold War, when generations lived under threat of a nuclear Armageddon, the two militaries are barely on speaking terms.

Calling the situation we are in

mistake or miscalculation

Is the biggest farce and lie I have seen yet from the media. I will cut some slack to the AP because they are not as bad as the rest, but it's the fake news media who have been pushing us to the brink of war and rabid anti-trumpers in the government risking pushing us closer to conflict out of spite

I think our country does plenty of killing also, Joe, so you know. There's a lot of stupidity going on in the world right now, a lot of killing, a lot of stupidity

Said by Trump on "The Morning Joe"

Trump made the remark during an interview with Fox News' Bill O'Reilly, saying he respected his Russian counterpart.
"But he's a killer," O'Reilly said to Trump.
"There are a lot of killers. You think our country's so innocent?" Trump replied.

Said by Trump on "The O'Reilly Factor"

https://www-m.cnn.com/2017/02/04/politics/donald-trump-vladimir-putin/index.html?r=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.google.com%2Fsearch%3Fq%3Dtrump%2Bquote%2Bbill%2Boreilly%2Bputin%26ie%3Dutf-8%26oe%3Dutf-8%26client%3Dfirefox-b-1-m

Putin sucks, the US leadership has always sacked, maybe we should just bury the hatchet, strengthen our defenses, start trading, and stop the Saber rattling. Maybe admitting our own faults in the relationship while pointing out theirs will give us a situation where MAD is less necessary

Update -- spoke to Tiger and I will be presenting him with the PRESIDENTIAL MEDAL OF FREEDOM!

Great day, and great game for Tiger Woods. Winner of the Masters today. I'll tell you, it could not happen to a nicer guy. Unless it happened to me. And I was part of his magnificent victory. I gave him that edge that really took him over the top. He's wearing one of those beautiful Green Jackets. And he should be wearing, very proudly, a MAGA Hat with that one. Because I played a round with him and Dustin at Trump National Golf Club. Very special!! foxnews.com/sports/tiger-woods-wins-masters-for-first-time-since-2005

NEVER FORGET & NEVER FORGIVE!!!! pic.twitter.com/VxrGFRFeJM

I am a Firefox user. Firefox has Pocket, which will suggest articles to read when you open a new tab.

Today, one of the articles was: Can We Touch?

I love being touched. One of my favourite things in the world, probably more than sex, is my wife rubbing my back. She uses the tips of her fingers to gently run her fingers up and down and side to side. When she comes across an imperfection like a little bump or tiny scab or whatever they are, she will use her nails and pick it/scrape it off. Sometimes she will look for tiny blackheads and squeeze them, which is quite painful, but I love it. It's gross, but strangely intimate. My girlfriend from High School would do the same thing, so it can't be that uncommon.

It's almost like some sort of primal ritual. You see monkeys grooming each other in a similar way. Searching each other and removing bugs or parasites or whatever else they find.

My Love Language is Physical Touch. I just love being touched. There is a guy at work who is Persian or something and he is really touchy. When you pass him in the hall he might greet you and touch your shoulder. He super friendly, and I find his touch comforting, even if it's a little weird.

I'm not sure where I'm going with this, but the article was about how being touched in the right circumstances can bring health benefits. However, modern society (probably in large part because of the Me Too movement) is moving away from casual touching. I get it. I don't initiate touch hardly ever because it's just too risky. Even on a date when touch is pretty much expected, it can be scary to break the touch barrier. In normal day-to-day life, being touched is a very rare occurrence.

Maybe I'm just feeling a little down/lonely because Annie dumped me earlier this week, but I would love a nice hug right now :)

Nice work, nice hair, you're fired. Next!!!! foxnews.com/politics/trumps-homeland-security-shakeup-continues-with-acting-deputy-secretarys-abrupt-resignation