Etiquette



DP Etiquette

First rule: Don't be a jackass. Most people are good.

Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.

Monday, February 2, 2026

Trump is insane



Really, he's just plain nuts. And a liar, hypocrite and morally rotted monster. His looney-tunes EO says in part:
The Government of Cuba has taken extraordinary actions that harm and threaten the United States. The regime aligns itself with — and provides support for — numerous hostile countries, transnational terrorist groups, and malign actors adverse to the United States, including the Government of the Russian Federation (Russia), the People’s Republic of China (PRC), the Government of Iran, Hamas, and Hezbollah.

I find that the policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba directly threaten the safety, national security, and foreign policy of the United States. ..... The policies, practices, and actions of the Government of Cuba are also repugnant to the moral and political values of democratic and free societies and conflict with the foreign policy of the United States to encourage peaceful change in Cuba and to promote democracy, the principle of free expression and press, the rule of law, and respect for human rights throughout the world.

Hypocrisy unleashed
A core hypocrisy is that the EO spins a targeted secondary‑sanctions tariff scheme as a defense of “democracy,” “rule of law,” and “human rights” but at the same time the United States arms, shields, and trades heavily with other governments that commit far more extensive abuses, sponsor destabilizing wars, and host U.S. military/intelligence infrastructure without being threatened with comparable penalties.

Trump denounces Cuba for persecuting political opponents, suppressing free speech and press, restricting civil society and torture, and calls its actions “repugnant to the moral and political values of democratic and free societies”. But Trump policy continues extensive security and economic cooperation with brutal dictatorships like Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Egypt, and others. There is plenty of well‑documented arbitrary detention, torture, and suppression of dissent there  in those Trump-holes. With Trump, economic interests routinely override democracy and human rights concerns in Middle Eastern and other allied thugships (dictatorships).

But the peanuts are not fooled.

Peanut 1: As a Nobel peace prize contender, he wants to non-peacefully take over Cuba and other places. Sounds like a good strategy.

Peanut 2: He didn't win a peace prize from some random organization, the soccer people I think, which he had no reason to even consider himself in the running for. So now he has no obligation to think about peace!

Peanut 3: Accusing others of what you are doing is a core feature of fascism.

Peanut 4 to 3: And toddlers.

Peanut 5: Arrest Don Lemon!!

Peanut 6 to 5: The Epstein files!! Release the Epstein files.

Peanut 7 to 6: They have been released. Trump is a sick pedo. But, he's gonna sue the “third‑rate writer” Michael Wolff, again! 

Peanut 8: In some ways, despite what many say, these are EXTREMELY precedented times.

Peanut 9 to 8: Annoyingly, you're right. 🤔

Peanut 10: Cuba broke into my home last night, and violated my human rights. I’m roughly 1,500 miles away. If it happened to me, it could happen to you. 

Peanut 11: Nailed it! Cuba is in for some Trump ‘freedom’! Buy $Trump memecoin now!

Peanut 12: I very much miss looking up to people.

Peanut 13: Ffs!

Peanut 14: Civilized countries should give some nukes to Cuba. It's the only way of keeping out the Americans.


Sunday, February 1, 2026

People we have admired.......

 Inspired by Germaine's last thread on .............

Presidential rankings by experts and the public

I am sure historians have painted all kinds of flattering or not so flattering pictures of historical figures, not just political.

We were "taught" to admire Abraham Lincoln, encouraged to admire Nelson Mandela, and if from a religious background, to worship Jesus Christ.

However, as I stated on that previous thread, if we opt to dig deeper into someone's past we might find things about them less admirable. We might even find criticisms of our heroes.

So, I am going to ask a simple question and hope participants will just ................ well.............. participate on the question................ rather than KNOCK someone else's answer. Disagree sure, that is what discussions are all about. 

Without knowing the full context of a person or history of a person, or knowing some or what YOU believe you know about someone from history, can you name 10 people you truly admired and still admire?

Of course our top 10 will change with the wind or change with new knowledge, but generally speaking............

For me:

Albert Einstein
Abraham Lincoln
Oskar Schindler
Mahatma Gandhi
Martin Luther King Jr. 
Malala Yousafzai
Leonardo Di Vinci
Marie Curie
Helen Keller
Terry Fox 

Honorable mention, Jesus, IF he was a real person, and IF he did spread the message of love (despite how the Church paints him) 

Thursday, January 29, 2026