Adam The God

What are you talking about? He's never run a national economy. He had a massive tax free bank loan that started it all in NYC, before overseeing six business bankruptcies and starting over again - in the meantime, those that had equity in his businesses lost it all, each time he claimed bankruptcy. This was a guy that lived off government grants to finance his building empire (handed to him by his father) and finally took off when he managed to negotiate the biggest tax break in NY's history ($160mill). You can't run a country like a business. As we saw with Thatcher and Reagan, the corporate elite get richer, and an underclass develops. As to your point about stopping the flow of money out of the country, you realise he employs vast amounts of Muslims from multiple areas in the Middle East (those countries not included in his travel ban), so not quite true either.

I think it'll be Iran too. They have the least ties. The Russians are on al-Assad's side in Syria. The Saudi's have long-standing ties with the US government dating back to Roosevelt's administration. Nothing happening there, even though the US have less reliance on them for oil nowadays. From an Australian perspective though, I hope we pull our troops out from Iraq and Afghanistan, and revoke ANZUS if need be, otherwise our soldiers and resources will be wasted. Trump's Yemen catastrophe has already cost American lives. The man is not only a fascist, but a menace to global democracy and peace. His own military don't trust him and rightly so. He's a brash child. We don't need Australians being needlessly killed. I hate to think what's in store for us in the South China Sea under this idiot. Our US military bases in Australia and our proximity to China are major issues. We need to attempt to act as an intermediary between our US allies and China. Both are integral trade partners and cosying up to China/remaining neutral between these disagreeing super powers for as long as possible must be the goal. Bannon has actually said "we're going to war in the South China sea... no doubt". He is far more dangerous than Trump, as Bannon, despite being a Nazi, is an extremely intelligent and articulate Nazi. What do you actually mean by draining the swamp? People like these catch phrases, but they're never really elaborated on. You know Trump initially hated that slogan and said so, but then it played well, so he thought he'd keep it. It's actually hilarious watching him say it: It's just a meaningless slogan. He's playing all these stupid, helpless people to gain power and now he's sitting back and laughing at them.

Because we didn't meet the 40,000 members during Roos' tenure? Maybe we didn't quite hit the targets we were after and it's left a gap? Or perhaps we're aiming high.

As long as it's applied to everyone I'm all for it. I thought they set up the wall really well, but as you say they too often kicked blindly and seemed to lack structure, because players didn't or couldn't work hard enough to support. That said, I thought we dominated the numbers around the football. We just struggled with our poor disposal and decision making. It was like watching Melbourne 2013-2014ish.

Well, I'm here and I've never seen this happen before. Would this happen at a men's game? Or did Gil write some sexist legislation that said the women's competition would mean they go off with lightening? Urgh. Pathetic.

Why have they stopped the game?

Thanks guys. I knew it was unticketed, but they've no doubt got a legal license number that they cannot exceed. First in best dressed makes sense.

Right. You don't appear to listen to reason or logic, yet you started the thread to debate a point. If you don't wish to actually engage on any of these issues and just throw insults instead, it's pretty pointless. You're just after an echo chamber, which I'm not going to provide you, nor is Demonland, to be honest. Anyway, I'll leave it at that.

It seems like you stand for your own liberty, but like many sharing your views, clearly don't believe others are worthy of the same privileges. If you believed in total liberty you'd be saying that our borders should be completely opened and unvetted, because I don't think I have to cite the definition of liberty to someone who is a total libertarian. Or do I? Not even a crazy commie, you've insinuated my stance as being, believes we should have totally unvetted borders. In the modern age, it's an unfortunate byproduct of 9/11, that people have a right to feel safe and thus upon entering a country, everyone should be thoroughly checked - and held in humane living conditions, whilst those background checks are being carried out. And I'd debate the 'hard won ideals'. A 50,000 year old society was almost crushed completely to allow us these 'hard won ideals'. So it wasn't that hard to win ideals. But the only people destroying our hard won ideals are neoliberal and centre right governments. The centre left in Western politics moved moderate in the late 80s. They represent the majority of people. The Liberals represent corporates. They don't represent small business owners, such as myself. That is an absolute fallacy and one that is continually rolled out. They are also historically the poorest economic managers in the history of our country. Here ya go. Enjoy: What are you talking about? My uncle is a Muslim and he's happy to interpret the book whichever way he likes (hence the problem with ALL religions). Let me guess. All those "alternative thinkers" that you associate with are Muslims, Jews, Christians, atheists, right? Nah. Congratulations. You've met some gay men. How very progressive of you. Once again... not saying I like radical Islam. Just putting it out there again, in case you missed it the last time I said it... in my previous post. And Milo Yiannopoulos is one of the more obvious cases of 101 defence mechanism in the world. Don't bag me, I'll bag myself first. Therefore you'll respect me. Noooope. Once again... I might quote myself because you seem to be having trouble keeping up. A F says: "I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. We are the lucky country." Are you with me yet? I abhor fundamentalist, conservative, violent and hateful religion of any kind. Nazis are patriots. Wow. Okay. I'll use another dictionary definition here. Patriot - "a person who vigorously supports their country and is prepared to defend it against enemies or detractors". Let's use the German Jews as an example here. How were German Jews enemies or detractors of Germany and the German people? They were only enemies because Goebbels ran a wide-reaching propaganda smear campaign that pinned the German peoples problems on the Jewish people. Not only that, his ministry invented lies about a Jewish financial conspiracy. So the Jews were the scapegoats for Nazi Germany, as was anyone who wasn't white, heterosexual, and followed the party line. This time, Muslims, the majority of whom are peaceful, law-abiding citizens have been made the scapegoats, by a white male fundamentalist Christian political class. Donald Trump failed to denounce David Duke and the KKK... - http://edition.cnn.com/2016/02/28/politics/donald-trump-white-supremacists/ - http://www.nbcnews.com/nightly-news/video/donald-trump-fails-to-denounce-former-kkk-leader-s-endorsement-633148995760 - http://time.com/4240268/donald-trump-kkk-david-duke/ The Liberals here have failed to denounced Donald Trump's xenophobic Muslim laws, which were today ruled by the Washington State Attorney General Bob Ferguson to be "illegal and unconstitutional". http://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-38864253 In fact, the Liberal Prime Minister old Malcolm the Ego said it was "not his job" to comment on Trump's fascist policies. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2017-01-30/turnbull-refuses-comment-on-trump-travel-ban/8222616 And why do I call these fascist policies? Here is the poster that the American Holocaust Museum is selling at the moment regarding the "Early Warning Signs of Fascism". Try disputing most of these (I'm sure you'll try): http://www.dailydot.com/irl/early-signs-of-fascism-holocaust-museum/ I actually said you held a racist position. And you've further proved this by saying: "When a Muslim is capable of free thought and the right to express ideas contrary to the book then we have won. You won't see it happen without some threat to this persons life." Therefore, you've cast every Muslim in the same light. And very deliberately, unless you're unaware of what you're actually typing. Let me define racism for you in two ways, both from the New Oxford American Dictionary: 1) the belief that all members of each race possess characteristics or abilities specific to that race, especially so as to distinguish it as inferior or superior to another race or races. 2) prejudice, discrimination, or antagonism directed against someone of a different race based on the belief that one's own race is superior. Now, you might try and say, well, yeah, my position is better than cutting someone's head off in the Middle East and then, somehow cast me as championing that sort of violence. But this is where your racist position remains, in thinking that ALL Muslims will cut your head off. No. They won't. A very small portion are radical, and particularly given there are an estimated 1.6 billion Muslims as of 2010 (Source: http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/07/22/muslims-and-islam-key-findings-in-the-u-s-and-around-the-world/), the amount who are violent is tiny. Surely, you can see the double standard of failing to mention fundamentalist Christianity in this debate. And remember here, before you go off at me again, I am an atheist. The Right have very cleverly or stupidly, or maybe a bit of both, shaped this argument ever since Trump got in via the Electoral College system. It wasn't me who brought about massive job cuts, failing infrastructure and an underclass in America. It was an aggressive neoliberal political machine that has been going in tandem with Europe since Thatcher was in power. When self interest and the self is at the centre of every decision, most people are left behind. In fact, this is the basis for Ayn Rand's 'teachings' (if you can call them that) and the entire neoliberal movement. The thing that Trump and his team managed expertly, was to pin the blame, as Hitler did on the Jews, on the liberal media, liberals in general, even the GOP establishment, as well as Muslim people. We were all the scapegoats this time and amazingly, people don't vote simply because their feelings have been hurt. They vote, as they have always done and will always do, in self interest and on the hip pocket. They bought his lies about drowning the swamp of the corrupt 1% and richest, yet look what's happened. Cronyism is rampant already in this government. Trump even targeted Hillary for speaking at a Goldman Sachs function (http://www.ibtimes.com/political-capital/donald-trump-said-goldman-sachs-had-total-control-over-hillary-clinton-then), saying Goldman Sachs had "total control" over her and then appointed a former Goldman Sachs partner, Gary Cohn, to a position as a top economic advisor in his own administration (https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2016-12-22/goldman-is-back-on-top-in-the-trump-administration). People have been duped and some of them, if you look across Twitter, are starting to realise this fact. That's fine, but you understand people are being harmed on places like Manus Island, right? You know that Muslim Americans, even those holding green cards, are being harmed by these anti-immigration laws. You can see your 'liberty' to pick and choose who enters countries is harming people, right? Or maybe you can't. Wow. You can't be over educated. That's something a fascist might say. Now careful, petal. I'm not calling you a fascist, I'm just saying that being educated isn't a bad thing. In fact, it's important. Fascists, for example, don't want their people educated, because education leads to questioning. And it's interesting, you throw all these words at me, but the moment I call you out, you break down and say how dare I. I'll just make a quick point about the nonsensical term femme Nazi. So I'll go back to my education. And remember, I'm overeducated, and I'll use a dictionary again to back up my argument, rather than just basing things on fear and emotion. The definition of Nazi is: "a person who holds and acts brutally in accordance with extreme racist or authoritarian views." I'm sorry, but women's rights and their right to protest and demand equality is not authoritarian. Neither is their view to equality racist. Actually, this has nothing to do with it at all. And outdated would mean things from the past, correct? Things that are no longer needed or should be changed. Given the wage gap has always been slanted in a male's direction; given most of the laws have been written by men; given most of society's 'outdated' social constructs have been based on texts written by men in a time when people were superstitious and before the proper advancement of science - I don't think you can say equality is outdated at all, because we've never had equality. The only people who are scared of equality are those who benefit or think they benefit from the current inequitable paradigm. There might be more important things happening to you, but ask most women whether they like it when men have a say over their reproductive rights, or when they have to pay tax on tampons as a necessary item. It's all lovely to be a libertarian knight in shining armour if you're just going to be a selfish person, but while you're worrying about all those terrorist attacks we've had on Australian soil since 9/11, please let a woman decide whether she'd like to express her own liberty and protest an inequitable situation. That's liberty. Yes, we did manage that terrific feat. So that's enough equality for you is it? Of course it is. Because you're only thinking about yourself and your own interests. If you want to be selfish, go and be selfish, but don't impose upon other people their right to fight for equality and their own liberty. Sorry? We're being bombed? Have you been reading Australia's answer to Breitbart? Where are we being bombed in Australia? The only person trying to bomb us is Gina Rinehart. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2012/feb/08/gina-rinehart-australian-mining-magnate "She once looked into the feasibility of using a nuclear bomb to create a harbour on the north-west coast of Australia". You've been had by politicians and a right wing media machine of Rupert Murdoch that's told you to fear Muslims, when in actual fact, you're far more likely to be killed by a white supremacist and other radical non-Muslim extremists than a jihadist. https://www.nytimes.com/2015/06/25/us/tally-of-attacks-in-us-challenges-perceptions-of-top-terror-threat.html?_r=0 And that is the danger of being 'overeducated'. You learn things that disprove fearful and socially controlling conspiracy theories that are aimed to keep a select few on top. You can't just decry an entire religion of people on a feeling that you might have picked up in a media that consistently pedals anti-Muslim sentiment. You need facts. Something that in a post-Truth world, the Right side of politics make up on the fly. Like, for example, the 'Bowling Green Massacre' that even the Murdoch press has denounced. http://www.news.com.au/world/north-america/truth-behind-the-bowling-green-massacre-described-by-trump-aide-kellyanne-conway-that-never-really-happened/news-story/187db0692bb8f429bbd9b63e4b037a6f

Sorry, RM. I should have been more specific. I've heard the Melbourne v Brisbane game is a sellout.

TWIN PEAKS is back after 26 years on a cliffhanger, this April. Cannot wait. Will be getting Stan just for that, although they've started to amass a really good catalogue, by licensing most of Amazon's catalogue from them, making their entrance into the Australian market pointless. I cancelled by Amazon subscription and got refunded as they literally have three drama series on the Australian catalogue and hardly any of their big shows. As for other shows, THE MAN IN THE HIGH CASTLE season 3 is my most anticipated show of 2017. Finished season 2 a couple of weeks ago and boy, is that show getting good. THE FALL season 3 was forgettable, should have stopped at 2. THE AFFAIR's season 3 was all over the place. They should have stopped at 2 too, but it's been renewed for season 4. BOSCH season 3 will be back this year as well, while GAME OF THRONES should be interesting in its second last season.

I've heard via second or third hand information that this game is a sellout. Is this true? Can someone confirm or deny, please?

Hang on. Nazis are patriots? Right. Okay. Matter of opinion there. They don't represent my country. My country is a place that welcomes diversity and has been enriched by it and strengthened by our difference. I wouldn't want to live anywhere else. We are the lucky country. Doesn't mean I wouldn't want to change aspects about it though. You have a racist opinion, don't sit on the fence. Own it. Or do you know it's not acceptable in a democratic society to champion white supremacy? Just because you're in a democracy and there is freedom of speech, doesn't give you the right to be a racist. It's funny how the Right are quite happy to dish out their racism, but the moment someone questions their views they think they're being 'quelled' or attacked. And the Left is referred to as soft. FCS. FCS. It was only these guys then, was it? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ku_Klux_Klan If I had a festering hatred of individual liberty, I wouldn't be for things like gay marriage or immigration. I'd say the definition of individual liberty would be... individual liberty. Liberty meaning "the state of being free within society from oppressive restrictions imposed by authority on one's way of life". Or is the New Oxford American Dictionary fake news as well? Yiannopoulos' sexuality had nothing to do with why they tried to stop him from appearing. They protested, which is within their civil rights, to stop a sexist, racist, homophobe from sprouting his hateful views. Just because he thinks homosexuality is 'aberrant', doesn't mean everyone else does. But it's not surprising he believes homosexuality brings homosexuals 'pain and unhappiness', given how self-loathing he is and so apparently brainwashed by the conservative media that he's consumed. And this is the problem with the Right. Like crazy little Tomi Lahren's, all you see is difference. Whereas the Left welcomes difference, hence its support and advocacy of marginalised and targeted communities and groups of people. What I don't like from the Left is the assumption that because someone is gay, for example, that they should share the views of the Left. That is prescriptive and only ends in reinforcing those views in the person, however nonsensical they may be. I'm not a fan of religion. I'm atheist, so I don't agree with any religious chapter that doesn't allow a person to be out. But if you want to be religious, that's none of my business. It's when religion gets prescriptive that I have a problem. For example, why aren't we talking about the ridiculous and ineffective conversion therapy championed by Christians? Or is this just bash the Muslims day? And I am a feminist, who's been dating the same woman since the second year of University. I don't feel like I'm being attacked because a woman is allowed a choice over her own reproductive rights and I don't feel any less a man because I believe a woman shouldn't have to pay more for her tampons, while I suffer no tax on condoms. As long as you don't sprout ignorant and hurtful abuse at people, I won't have a thing bad to say about you. Unless you mock my football team or support the opposition. Then you're in trouble.

I was thinking more West Coast. If they can look like legitimate contenders, instead of pretenders, I think they're a chance to lure him. Based on absolutely nothing, btw.

You understand the links between white nationalism and Christianity right? You're right. I'm gonna make some assumptions about you. They wouldn't hurt you based on the fact that you're probably a white, heterosexual male. For anyone else falling outside of those boxes, they would. And it's less cutting off heads and more burning, hanging and shooting people. It sounds like you're more of a fan of the burning, hanging and shooting.

I see this as a direct response to Trump's fascist laws in the United States. As soon as you ban people, you dehumanise them, you class them as somehow different from yourself, you welcome this sort of attack. A Texas mosque was also burnt down (Source: http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/victoria-islamic-centre-mosque-fire-texas-jews-give-key-synagogue-muslims-worship-gofundme-a7556331.html). It is exactly the sort of thing that the Nazis did and it's time the rhetoric changed towards the 'Alt-Right' and 'white nationalists' and called them out for what they are and that is Nazis. They are Nazis - pure and simple. Steve Bannon is one of the most powerful men in the world and he's a Nazi. I fear for my American friends and as Trump's administration is now requiring vetting of social channels (now and retrospective) and questioning people's attitudes towards the new administration as a prerequisite for entering the country, I can now no longer do business in the country or in good conscience, contribute to a fascist economy by taking my soon to be wife on our honeymoon to the States. The Nazis have very carefully rebranded themselves over the last few years, to the point where it's fine to 'shake things up a little' and vote in a guy who failed to adequately denounce the KKK and has someone of Bannon's ilk as a senior advisor in the White House. If they'd been called Nazis and the Left had been a bit stronger about calling them out, the scene changes. It's hard to vote for a Nazi for the majority of America, but if you're voting a hardline businessman with renewed pride in white nationalism and 'Alt-Right' connections, it's doable. He's a businessman, derp, he knows business, therefore, he knows how to run a country's, derp, economy. Trudeau is usually one of the most grounded and progressive leaders in the world. Xenophobes fearful of losing their white privilege naturally want leaders to lock the gates completely. Hence Trump's ban and BREXIT. But it's not like refugees aren't vetted extremely carefully before being allowed to resettle. The rise of the Hard Right in Europe as well will, as it did last time in the 20s and 30s, bring about another war. It may be our last. The National Front in France; Germany's AfD Party; Turkey's purge etc. Fascism historically has risen in times of poverty, mass job loss and financial crises. Think of the Great Depression in the 20s and 30s. Due to neoliberalism and the idiotic ideas of Ayn Rand (that failed her in her own life), corporate interests have seen the rise of the corporate 1% to the detriment of the rest of society, only many of these people (namely in Middle America) don't realise who's responsible. The great hypocrisy I also find in all of this is the idea that Islam is an intolerant religion and yet you could say the same thing for religion as a whole (particularly Christianity). However, most of these American conservatives point to Christianity as the saviour. I'm not a fan of any religion, but I know perfectly good people from all walks of religious faith and to frame one in one way and disregard the rest is shortsighted. If you can link all of Islam to ISIS, why can't you link all of Christianity to the KKK (something I'm not suggesting you do)?

Having worked with a number of kids on the Autism Spectrum, from high functioning to mute, it's the lateral thinking that always interests me the most. There was a program on the ABC last year called EMPLOYABLE ME (made by the BBC), which focused on a guy with Autism and a guy with tourettes. It basically showed how Autism afforded this guy certain skills that enabled him to excel in a professional capacity. As an ADDer myself, I've found people like me and those that fall on the autism spectrum, are marginalised if it's known they have these disorders. So a series that destigmatises these conditions was much welcomed. Particularly, as ADD shares many of the symptoms of conditions on the autism spectrum and can be misdiagnosed as such. I know from experience with kids on the spectrum and my own personal experience with ADD, that as you grow older, you can develop coping mechanisms to deal with the symptoms. Particularly, if you are medicated and diagnosed early on, as I was. You can, if you're fortunate enough, develop to the point I have, where I haven't taken any form of medication since finishing Year 12 over ten years ago. What I found is that my ADD afforded me both creativity and obsessional persistence, which in the film industry is about the only way to survive. And thus without my condition, I wonder whether I'd be working in the industry that I love and provides me great joy. My point? Often with something that's seen as a 'curse', actually enables brilliance, as long as it's harnessed in the right way. There is no way I could ever work a 9-5 job in a sterile office, in a concrete jungle. Instead, I work for myself, travel the world for my film projects and work my own hours. Unfortunately, for my own mental health this last bit isn't always great, as it means I actually work every hour of every day, particularly as I make a lot of my films abroad (different time zones etc). But as a rule, my disorder has afforded me something positive. And good on you, mate, for sharing this with us.

I haven't kept up with this. PJ must have something in the works for the BOJ, otherwise why wouldn't they have kept the same AHG deal? Unless something fell through with another sponsor or AHG only wanted to commit to the FOJ...? *speculation*

Reckon both those boys will be in WA in 3 years time. One already is.

Yep, dollars will mean a lot going forward, with our young list and hopefully, our bunch of young stars.

Whilst I agree Kelly has yet to really do much, I think he's a far, far superior kick to Scully. The reason I think some MFC supporters might rate Kelly over Fyfe is because the type of player Kelly is seen as, is exactly the sort of player that is missing from our current midfield make up. Of course, if Fyfe wanted to come to Melbourne no one would say no, it's that we have the ball winners assembled, but lack the outside class of a Kelly. I should mention also that Kelly would come a lot cheaper than Fyfe too, so that may play into the thinking.

I don't think Sheedy has been right about anything for almost 15 years. Some Essendon supporters I know didn't rate him that highly when he was at the helm during their premierships. Of course, they think Sheedy underachieved with the lists he built. But since the mid-2000s, he's been a bit of a train wreck. He was finished in his last few years at Essendon and then took a pay cheque up in Sydney. As soon as he left GWS, they blossomed - and even now I'm not sure how good Cameron is. With the unprecedented access to talent they had, they still haven't achieved the ultimate. Is that at Sheedy's feet? Potentially partly. In regards to Tyson, Dom will be a very, very good player. He still has a gear or two to go and he averaged 25 possessions in 2015. He has also played 71 games, so in 2017/2018, he is due to take off. If he can improve again on his 2016 and average say 28-29 possessions, he'll be in the elite category of the competition. Like Oliver, he's a ball magnet extractor, who when unhampered by injury, is one of our most important players.

That was a bloody good draft wasn't it?

I agree completely. I haven't seen a better extractor at Melbourne in my 29 years of supporting. Not to mention he won the combine kicking. He's going to be our Sam Mitchell. Absolute gun clearance player who you can't stop when he's on. A faster, better kicking version of Cripps. He excites me the most.

I maintain that you sure up the defence and good purchases and you become unstoppable. Even under that hack Rodgers, we would have won the league had our defence been able to defend at all. I don't know what it is. Arrogance or what, but Klopp has failed to address the defensive frailties and to me, it has to be linked to spending. If we're only given a certain amount of money, we spend it on a young attacker (Mane). I didn't see the game against Wolves, but I take it we played another team of mostly 18 year olds. Doesn't worry me at all. It's the senior players that have to carry the load. That's about the only Melbourne 2011 comparison I see.