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morolf: I don't really like leopards...but I suppose prospects for African wildlife look pretty bleak anyway given the enormous population growth in those countries.
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catpower1980: If you don't like leopards then what about the giraffes? :o)
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/08/extinction-getting-closer-for-giraffe-many-more-bird-species-crop-wild-relative-plants/

Joke aside, here's a complete recent study on the subject of African wildlife species extinction:
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/10/160498
yes giraffes are good because i can do deep throat with them since my dick is sooo loooong! (^_^)
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morolf: I don't really like leopards...but I suppose prospects for African wildlife look pretty bleak anyway given the enormous population growth in those countries.
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catpower1980: If you don't like leopards then what about the giraffes? :o)
http://voices.nationalgeographic.com/2016/12/08/extinction-getting-closer-for-giraffe-many-more-bird-species-crop-wild-relative-plants/

Joke aside, here's a complete recent study on the subject of African wildlife species extinction:
http://rsos.royalsocietypublishing.org/content/3/10/160498
Sounds bad...probably not going to read more than the abstract, too depressing...especially the part about "hunting for bushmeat and medicinal products" being a major factor..."medicinal products" being, I suppose, an euphemism for superstitious nonsense and concoctions from the local witch doctor.
Post edited January 01, 2017 by morolf
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RWarehall: Yup, look at all the assholes downvoting everything I say! What a wonderful year it has been. Fuck you to all the assholes who think bullying and harassing people on the forum is acceptable. Each and every one of you jerks who are downvoting anything I say, may 2017 bring you ill health and may you die a horrible death. May God bring justice to your souls! And when you are on your deathbeds, may you look back on your life and realize how you've been a jerk to others and you will have much to atone for in your afterlife. So let it be.
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morolf: Hey, you're not alone in this...I went from 188 rep to 180 within two days...really lame behaviour.
I don't think God (if he exists) will care about that though :-)
I've been losing 5 rep a day for 6 months or more, the only thing keeping it at bay is the occasional uprep.
I once had 4 stars (twice). I've been getting hit with downrepping for almost 2 years because of certain forum assholes. So don't think your 8 rep lost in 2 days means much to me.

But having all these self-centered losers decide to downrep all my posts regardless of content is fucking lame. This is why GoG's forums suck. Forum regulars who think their own fucked up opinions are the only ones worth expressing and these assholes downrep anyone who disagrees with their own poorly thought out opinions.

I had a post which just liked the 3 official unemployment statistics (for the U.S.) get downvoted. Factual information, no opinion expressed, but the downvoting loser brigade low rated it anyway.

GoG, YOU SUCK! Fix your forums! This is bullshit!
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morolf: Hey, you're not alone in this...I went from 188 rep to 180 within two days...really lame behaviour.
I don't think God (if he exists) will care about that though :-)
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RWarehall: I've been losing 5 rep a day for 6 months or more, the only thing keeping it at bay is the occasional uprep.
I once had 4 stars (twice). I've been getting hit with downrepping for almost 2 years because of certain forum assholes. So don't think your 8 rep lost in 2 days means much to me.

But having all these self-centered losers decide to downrep all my posts regardless of content is fucking lame. This is why GoG's forums suck. Forum regulars who think their own fucked up opinions are the only ones worth expressing and these assholes downrep anyone who disagrees with their own poorly thought out opinions.

I had a post which just liked the 3 official unemployment statistics (for the U.S.) get downvoted. Factual information, no opinion expressed, but the downvoting loser brigade low rated it anyway.

GoG, YOU SUCK! Fix your forums! This is bullshit!
I agree...it's also annoying that you can't even be sure who's downrepping you...bad system, needs to be reformed.
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RWarehall: I've been losing 5 rep a day for 6 months or more, the only thing keeping it at bay is the occasional uprep.
I once had 4 stars (twice). I've been getting hit with downrepping for almost 2 years because of certain forum assholes. So don't think your 8 rep lost in 2 days means much to me.

But having all these self-centered losers decide to downrep all my posts regardless of content is fucking lame. This is why GoG's forums suck. Forum regulars who think their own fucked up opinions are the only ones worth expressing and these assholes downrep anyone who disagrees with their own poorly thought out opinions.

I had a post which just liked the 3 official unemployment statistics (for the U.S.) get downvoted. Factual information, no opinion expressed, but the downvoting loser brigade low rated it anyway.

GoG, YOU SUCK! Fix your forums! This is bullshit!
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morolf: I agree...it's also annoying that you can't even be sure who's downrepping you...bad system, needs to be reformed.
you can't be sure? it's that sick demented old piece of shit tiny and painted doll. i even made screenshot as proof when painted doll deleted a thread of mine in the first minute i wrote it. people talk about rights and shit but those retards, their only purpose in life is to harm / harass / annoy others. i asked tinye why didn't you kill yourself! and he tells me bullshit like he's curious how the future will be. these shitheads must be killed like the mad dogs they are they lost their minds.. they're not human anymore - IF they ever were...
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Maybe they need to add a feature where you can hover over the negative votes and see who downvoted you. Remove the anonymity of the trolls/losers who can't handle a conversation.
the common denominator is islam.
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flanner: the common denominator is islam.
It seems to be pretty obvious but unfortunately many westerners have been brainwashed into the idea that all religions are equal.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZZMXV_PRXk
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flanner: the common denominator is islam.
Shhh people will hate you on here for saying that.
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flanner: The common denominator is a specific faction of Islam.
Let me correct that for you...

Look...
There are over 1.5 BILLION Muslims in the world. If they were so blood thirsty and dangerous, don't you think there would be "just a few" more problems than we have?

If it's all about Muslim domination of the West, why attacks in Turkey?

It's so easy to paint people by a single brush, especially when they look the same. But how did that fare when Bush attacked Iraq for 9/11 and non-existent weapons of mass destruction? Especially when that radical sect were at odds with Saddam Hussein? Bush was wrong then just as many of you are wrong now by trying to blame the whole religion. And as I've explained by counterpoint, if you are blaming all Muslims for any attack, then you better blame all Christians for every military intervention in the Middle East given how we have had nothing but Christian Presidents in our history.

So many of you talk reform, but it wasn't that long ago Protestants and Catholics were bombing each other in Ireland.

Funny thing is you look at things like the Christmas market attack in Berlin, and the guy came from Tunisia, spent 4 years in an Italian jail. He was not one of these refugees. Not saying that these terrorist groups might not be using the Syrian refugee crisis as a smokescreen to get in, but at least is it concerns terrorism, the refugees are not committing it.

I'm not saying that there should not be concern over admitting refugees. Certainly there is a question on whether it's a strain on resources and questionable how quickly these refugees might become a productive member of your society. As well as how one can screen them for the real bad actors. But that is a different question...

But when it comes to people in this thread judging the Muslim religion with clearly so little knowledge of it nor it's culture and implying it's backwards or in need of reformation or beyond reformation, who the heck are you to judge? Clearly, many of you are displaying your own religious intolerance. Why don't you look in your own good book and read the passage "Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged". And when you decide "the religion has to go", what do you think should be done about it? Some mass extermination of all things Muslim? Because that is the next step when you declare a religion "unreformable"...
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flanner: The common denominator is a specific faction of Islam.
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RWarehall: Let me correct that for you...

Look...
There are over 1.5 BILLION Muslims in the world. If they were so blood thirsty and dangerous, don't you think there would be "just a few" more problems than we have?

If it's all about Muslim domination of the West, why attacks in Turkey?

It's so easy to paint people by a single brush, especially when they look the same. But how did that fare when Bush attacked Iraq for 9/11 and non-existent weapons of mass destruction? Especially when that radical sect were at odds with Saddam Hussein? Bush was wrong then just as many of you are wrong now by trying to blame the whole religion. And as I've explained by counterpoint, if you are blaming all Muslims for any attack, then you better blame all Christians for every military intervention in the Middle East given how we have had nothing but Christian Presidents in our history.

So many of you talk reform, but it wasn't that long ago Protestants and Catholics were bombing each other in Ireland.

Funny thing is you look at things like the Christmas market attack in Berlin, and the guy came from Tunisia, spent 4 years in an Italian jail. He was not one of these refugees. Not saying that these terrorist groups might not be using the Syrian refugee crisis as a smokescreen to get in, but at least is it concerns terrorism, the refugees are not committing it.

I'm not saying that there should not be concern over admitting refugees. Certainly there is a question on whether it's a strain on resources and questionable how quickly these refugees might become a productive member of your society. As well as how one can screen them for the real bad actors. But that is a different question...

But when it comes to people in this thread judging the Muslim religion with clearly so little knowledge of it nor it's culture and implying it's backwards or in need of reformation or beyond reformation, who the heck are you to judge? Clearly, many of you are displaying your own religious intolerance. Why don't you look in your own good book and read the passage "Judge Not Lest Ye Be Judged". And when you decide "the religion has to go", what do you think should be done about it? Some mass extermination of all things Muslim? Because that is the next step when you declare a religion "unreformable"...
Nah...but measures like stopping Muslim immigration to the West, closing down extremist mosques, stripping known Islamists with dual-citizenship of their Western citizenship and deporting them to their country of origin, stopping the funding of mosques by countries like Saudi-Arabia that are promoting Islamic expansion etc. surely should be up for discussion.
And while technically you may be correct that the terrorist in Berlin didn't come with the refugee wave of 2015, it's still part of the whole open borders issue. And there have been several cases in my own country of Syrians and other refugees that had come in 2015/16 plotting terror attacks.
Post edited January 02, 2017 by morolf
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morolf: Nah...but measures like stopping Muslim immigration to the West, closing down extremist mosques, stripping known Islamists with dual-citizenship of their Western citizenship and deporting them to their country of origin, stopping the funding of mosques by countries like Saudi-Arabia that are promoting Islamic expansion etc. surely should be up for discussion.
And while technically you may be correct that the terrorist in Berlin didn't come with the refugee wave of 2015, it's still part of the whole open borders issue. And there have been several cases in my own country of Syrians and other refugees that had come in 2015/16 plotting terror attacks.
^^^ This. Actual discussion of the real issues without the fear mongering of the "Islamic boogeyman". Real questions like how open the borders should be; to what extent they are open what can be done to better vet the refugees, among others. Because it is not all Muslims. That doesn't mean there aren't extremists that are a real problem and the associated issues which need to be dealt with.

Also of concern should be questions of whether a given country can meaningfully absorb refugees. Are jobs there? How many? Is there any existing cultural "anchor", other Arab minorities who can help the refugees adapt? There are cultural challenges if one cannot speak the language. I get the feeling the refugees were let in without real answers to many of these questions.
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RWarehall: ^^^ This. Actual discussion of the real issues without the fear mongering of the "Islamic boogeyman". Real questions like how open the borders should be; to what extent they are open what can be done to better vet the refugees, among others. Because it is not all Muslims. That doesn't mean there aren't extremists that are a real problem and the associated issues which need to be dealt with.

Also of concern should be questions of whether a given country can meaningfully absorb refugees. Are jobs there? How many? Is there any existing cultural "anchor", other Arab minorities who can help the refugees adapt? There are cultural challenges if one cannot speak the language. I get the feeling the refugees were let in without real answers to many of these questions.
I agree with you about the jobs issue, and that is another reason why I think Merkel's open borders policy will be a disaster for Germany...imo there's no chance many of those who came in the last few years will ever be able to get a well-paid job, their educational level and skill set is simply too low for skilled work. And given the trends in automation and robotics (which might even permanently destroy many middle-class jobs) many low-skilled jobs might disappear (e.g. if automated driving ever becomes a reality, taxi and truck drivers might be obsolete). The likely end result imo will be a permanent underclass of resentful young men who are perfect candidates for Islamist radicalization.
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RWarehall: Also of concern should be questions of whether a given country can meaningfully absorb refugees. Are jobs there? How many? Is there any existing cultural "anchor", other Arab minorities who can help the refugees adapt? There are cultural challenges if one cannot speak the language. I get the feeling the refugees were let in without real answers to many of these questions.
To quickly answer from a Belgian perspective (don't have the time to dig through my bookmarks)

Are jobs there? How many?

==>> I'll take the case of Brussels has it's the city with the most immigration.

Unemployment rate in August 2016: 17,8%
http://www.7sur7.be/7s7/fr/3007/Bruxelles/article/detail/2850902/2016/09/05/Le-taux-de-chomage-en-baisse-d-un-point-a-Bruxelles.dhtml

But like how our job system is, new refugees would be on the job market at the same level (odds to get a job) that the "NEET" demographic ("Young people neither in employment nor in education and training" according to Eurostat). The NEET percentage in Brussels is 24%
http://www.rtbf.be/info/societe/detail_17-5-des-belges-de-20-a-24-ans-sans-emploi-et-sans-formation-en-2015?id=9489091

Also, I couldn't retrieve the article (although it got well shared when it came out 2-3 months ago) but many societies have left Brussels (to settle in Brabant) and there aren't enough new companies created to replace them (it's worth noting at this point that there aren't many Brussels citizens going out of the city for their job).

Is there any existing cultural "anchor", other Arab minorities who can help the refugees adapt? There are cultural challenges if one cannot speak the language.

There you go on the main difference between the US/UK point of view and the rest of Europe mindset as US/UK has a communautarist approach.

As a rule of thumb, new immigrants in a country will tend to go where there are "pools" of jobs (not necessarly meaning they will get it as pointed above). In this article, you have a Belgian map of the recent refugees who left out the towns they were assigned to in order to reach those "pools" (Brussels, Antwerp, etc.):
http://www.sudinfo.be/1709545/article/2016-11-03/de-plus-en-plus-de-refugies-quittent-la-wallonie-pour-rejoindre-la-flandre

Once in Brussels or Antwerp, they're very likely to settle in Borgerhout, Schaerbeek, Molenbeek, etc. as their communities are already there because it's in human nature to get acquainted with the people you're closer to. That's how ethnic communities grow up exponentially in big cities.

The question of the language is interesting as to take an extreme example, I knew a Turkish guy who lived in Netherlands for many years but couldn't speak Dutch better than me (it's not my primary language) because he lived among his community and after moving in Brussels, he couldn't speak in French neither. Thus that led to situations where he couldn't even speak with the local Arabs (as they don't speak Turkish). Not every foreigners's case is like that (and I've met many) of course but that shows how being "overly integrated" in your community can prevent you from participating and being included in your host country.

As hinted by your post, Molenbeek should be the "community host" of refugees and well, the failure of that district on every level (social/economics/culture) speaks for itself.

Interestingly, there has been recently a recent official report in UK about the communities model which fueled some debates in the medias. I haven't read it as a whole (199 pages) but you might find some answers from your US/UK point of view:
https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-casey-review-a-review-into-opportunity-and-integration

PS: Fuck, got carried away and spent too much time writing this post, I should leave this thread for a while :D
Post edited January 02, 2017 by catpower1980
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catpower1980: ,
As hinted by your post, Molenbeek should be the "community host" of refugees and well, the failure of that district on every level (social/economics/culture) speaks for itself.
iirc even the New York Times stated there was a "fifth column" in existence in Molenbeek given how some of the perpetrators of the Paris terror attacks could hide there for months.

Off-topic, since not terror-related, but still quite interesting (and scary) about automation and what it might mean for the future of work and of democracy:
http://nationalinterest.org/feature/when-the-robots-rise-16830
Post edited January 02, 2017 by morolf