Maelstrom

Just watch this video. It think kimmel is on your page when he describes why people voted for Trump.

Happy belated birthday, ICSW. I hope that this offering gives you the same individual feeling of validation, hope, and understanding that yours has given over the entirety of the time you've been here:

That may be true. What is definitely true is that every situation ends, one way or another. If your situation is a no-win situation, take the loss and move on. Even if all you can do for now is persevere and bide your time. Is surrender more dignified than regrouping?

PSN has informed me that For Honor is having a free weekend, starting this thursday and ending sunday. I gave my game to my brother to play but if any of you are interested in trying out the game, I'd download the game from PSN for the weekend and join ya. And supposedly they're working on changing over to dedicated servers.

Well it's just interesting that Russia has some kind of agenda in getting Trump elected when liberal democrats are the most open to socialist style programs and reform. A weak or incompetent leader is easier to exploit or circumvent than one that is up to snuff. And Trump fits the bill nicely. It's almost awkward that the US and Trump has to put sanctions on Russia for meddling in the elections. Nevermind Trump's authoritarian tendencies. Like trying to shut down criticism by trying to shut out all criticism as fake news by lying (or giving 'alternative facts'), and recently starting up state sponsored propaganda titled "Real News". His administration doesn't like that journalists as poignant questions that they can't or don't answer so now they've created a platform and media outlet that lets them deliver their message without pesky questions by concerned people. Edit: @Chase An alternative view of your worst/best case scenario. At best- Russia news really is democrats hoping their asses off for an easy way to get rid of an obvious moron from office. Cuz let's face it, very few (if any) are taking the opportunity to take a leadership position and rally democrats, and the ones that have taken a stab at it are... well, they've failed miserably. Let's face it, EVERY candidate, both republican and democrat lost to this guy's showmanship and vague promises, and the hope that he actually had a plan to carry out things to their most desire conclusion. It still leaves us with the current Republican party defense- 'he's not a politician, he doesn't know how things work' aka, he's incompetent and has either taken too much of the wrong advice (such as the power he gave to Bannon and later revoked) or not listened to his advisors at all, most notably ignoring or not asking Rex Tillerson's advice in matters of foreign affairs and diplomacy. At worst- the people selected scumbag who continues his trend of a lack of morals or consideration for other people to attain a political victory at any cost, such as trying to cover up acts of treason against our nation's method of democracy. Not that it's bad enough that all the people he knows or has nominated can be seen as part of the swamp he promised to drain. Idk, everything points to his willingness to say anything to get support, and perhaps everything he can to weasel out previously undecided voters. Even to me, his measure to reduce visas in order to force domestic companies to hire domestically seems like a good idea. Except that the economics experts, including other republicans, predict that it will actually harm and stifle economic growth based on the math tracking workforce statistics. It also seems to me that his tightening up of entry kind of makes it a requirement that immigrants will necessarily out-compete us citizens for their jobs. He's intending for a merit-based entry into the country. People who are already educated and know how to do their prospective jobs and have learned something about American systems. He's reducing the abundance of low skilled, minimally paid workers... in favor of letting higher educated workers come in and compete for higher skilled, higher paying jobs. As if all jobs aren't necessary. Actually, can we ask Trump to deport American citizens who aren't working to their potential and are just leaching off the welfare system? (We already know that the welfare states are mostly republican) Cuz that falls in line with the Republican ideal of meritocracy. Those who choose not to work and milk the social system should not be rewarded. If they're poor or sick, well, it's the result of their own choices, and as a country, we shouldn't reward their behavior. The way I see it, Republicans, like democrats, vote the way they do because of their experience informing their ideals. They live in states and communities where they see people around them who perhaps do, by and by, exploit welfare systems. I've gone from thinking that perhaps Republicans aren't projecting themselves in place of the poor and finding that they would choose to exploit the system where possible, to thinking that they really do see their neighbors doing that when they could obviously get up and do some real work (which does not delve into the possibility of the obvious tensions and violent, racially dividing past which could have left them where their lineage currently stands). One would think they'd implement some kind of supervisory branch that constantly monitors and investigates such things, rather than taking away the social net from everyone, both the deserving and undeserving. Because it would be difficult to make it cut and dry, make it so easy to it as black white, to take into account all the factors. I would think that would be why Jesus gave the blanket command to forgive, and forgive as many times as it takes. If there was ever a man who saw the potential in mankind, it would be Jesus, wouldn't it? The man who allegedly suffered greatly at the hands of men at their lowest, men of power who only cared for their own comfort and leisure, and the power and influence that would keep them there. Flaws and failures of man that exist because the first two of mankind were expelled from a place of abundance for all. Because men, according to their curious nature (as given to them by god), performed an act of wrongness before they could even conceive of what wrongness really is. You see, I rebel against your god because even if I were to find out he exists, I would believe him to be not divine (as defined by purity or perfection) but quite unjust (and not the perfect being that men have attempted to portray him as), though I'd consider his 'son' to be far more just. The one who was born a man, and thus experienced, truly, what it was to be a man. Not as some hypothetical idea from above, but one who could at last understand the man, the pressures and drives of one created by him. The bible proves god's fallibility, if not his divinity. If Jesus showed compassion and mercy, it was because the so-called divine being finally was able to experience what mortal men experienced, but still with the advantage of knowing right from wrong and living his life with knowledge and thinking far beyond all the circumstances of his 'birth'. To pick a somewhat silly example, look at in from a weeb, isekai genre perspective. Oftentimes, the protagonists enters or is reborn into a world of a level of knowledge far below what he or she has known. With what they know from before, they are able to set the world onto a better course, as we see it from our perspective. It can hardly be helped, for a person of righteous mind. To set people straight and send them along the path that leads to truth (again, from our perspective- do you think you would give the same perspective and advice as southern soldier ripped out from his timeline in the American Civil War?). Could you choose to do any less, if inserted into ancient times, such as rome, greece, china, or mongolia? It's quite the parallel, to be inserted into times and situations that your moral compass and scope of knowledge would force you to perform acts and teach others things that would better their lives and spread happiness, yes? I consider myself a student of power. One who has looked at and considered various ways of effecting change. From the drawbacks of democracy (many of which are clearly demonstrated by Trump) and the pitfalls of inherited leadership/dictatorship and applications of force and influence to effect change, both fleeting and lasting. How nations before have claimed divine mandate or used the physical demonstration of their prowess and collective focus as justification. How limited the reality is to guide or define growth or growth of knowledge, in regards to far reaching, or eternal goals. We've been warned away from progress for progress's sake by apocalyptic/disaster movies. We've been warned away from fanatic superstition/religion by the equal and opposite response by the survivors of said apocalypse. Limits and compromise are necessary for each end of the spectrum. There is no one, easy, lasting answer. I've definitely digressed... but I have to say this as I haven't explained in previous posts with you that I responded to in anger and drink... well, such that I never could look into them again, much less respond to whatever replies I'm sure you had. It isn't within me to think Jesus would approve of the darwinistic views of conservatives (things theists are ready to denounce, but put into practice), after all he preached about forgiveness and asking you to stand in another's shoes or casting the first stone. Trump is literally that guy born with a silver spoon in his mouth. He would be the snob, the old testament god with no taste or measure of the reality for men on the ground. He is the typical aristocrat whose views are entirely limited by the lofty status he's held his whole life. It's quite clear to me that his entire life has trained him to achieve his goals, nevermind the cost, or the reality. Just as long as you can convince people... His whole job in his entire life has been to make people believe in the quality of a thing he was selling, whether it was of quality/worth or not. His privileged upbringing and the work of others has bought him the luxury he now enjoys. He may be president, but I can't recognize him as intelligent or deserving a position of leadership within our country, even by biblical standards. Here's something I ran across and saved long ago because I thought it relevant to my decisions in life: Where is your compassion? With some privileged sociopath? Let us be pragmatic. Something worth doing is worth doing right. And doing something right comes with a cost. Third party payments and medical profiteering are leading us into this sinkhole that is the current healthcare system. Obamacare might not be great, but doesn't the intended republican revisions of healthcare point out even more the flaws with the insurance system? If anything, Obamacare was a compromise between the first party payment system you acknowledge liberals dream about and the incredibly unfair medical billing system that now exists.

No, in relation to claims that Democrats were planning to be buddy buddy with Russia, in which you said it seemed that we'd be okay if a Democrat had done it. This Russian Reset was it? Or did I misread it? it was like, 4am.

Since I read evi's responses covering what I ended up writing, Imma just spoiler it so you can skip the redundancy. It's the first I've heard of it, tbh. Where is this info coming from? ... So you've made a bunch of arguments as to why people voted for Trump. You know, the usual 'he said what I wanted to hear to get what he wanted' that a lot of other people saw coming a mile away. Now we move on. Voting for him and supporting now that he's done what he's done in his official capacity are two different things. We got that. So we're wondering now why he still has support when we have all this hindsight?

The advice I'd give you is to be at court whenever they're there and look at all the evidence for yourself. I feel like there is more to both sides of the story that you don't know because both don't like each other anymore and both of them want to be the ones in the right. And hurt each other by making you and your sister pick sides at all. I don't know how accurate everything is that you're saying and I suspect you don't know for sure except for what bits you may have witnessed first hand. They're gonna try to sift through the facts in divorce court so, again, you'd better keep your ears open. People's feelings do change. And love IS earned. They clearly don't get along or like each other anymore, so what does the 23 years have to do with it? It's in the past. It isn't what is true now. Does your mom want him to say that to her or do you want him to say that to her? I really can't tell who is bad news here- your mom, your dad, or a bit of both. What is the truth? You'd know some of it better than me, but all of this is basically heresay to my outsider's point of view. Both have major issues that keep them from acting and making sane decisions 100% of the time. You need to keep your cool and take your time to review everything objectively before making any big decisions.

You do realize how flawed the idea of 'supporting him because we want him to succeed', right? We can't support him because of the worse things that happens when he succeeds at doing what he wants. He's more interested in vacationing and spending time at his own resorts (chalked up to taxpayer tabs, mind you) than really getting shit done. He's a pure show-man. He's out touring and paling around, telling his voters about how much he has won, decidedly distracting them from the fact that he hasn't. He's a walking, talking joke. A joke that has you laughing because otherwise you'd be crying. Cuz again, he's all show. He's never been the one actually produce or make anything of actual substance. He 'has the best people' cuz they're the ones that do the real work and job for him. Except when they don't, because he's just easily swayed by men just like him- look at the Mooch, they yesman that thought he could get away with anything because he threw away his dignity to work for Trump. You look at Spicer and you have to feel sorry at how hard he tried to maintain his dignity while working for a moron. Trumpcare wasn't designed by him. He passed that off to Paul Ryan, who disappointed a lot of people when his plan, and the ones later debated in the house and senate, proved to prioritize money going to the wrong people. Isn't it obvious by now? Even you, Chase, have written in past posts about how he was clearly listening to Kushner now, after doing crazy and wacky things while listening to other people (like Bannon). He has no idea what he's doing and he's never had a real idea on how to implement anything he has said he would do. Prosecute Hillary? Trump said 'fuck that, I got what I wanted out of that, I ain't gonna try to do that shit. That would be work.' Now that he's in office, he's done his best to hire people and then delegate to them every single responsibility the president has. Who knew health care would be so complicated? Everybody who actually gave a damn and paused a moment out of their life to look up the topic and think about it... which is literally everyone else. Again, he had no idea how to do it, so he let Paul Ryan do Paul Ryan's thing, that thing he told everyone he was working on for years... and just look at it now. Well, if the Republican goal was to isolate the US from the rest of the world, Trump's done just that. I guess I can appreciate the fact that European countries are sitting up straight and looking to do more things for themselves now... After realizing that they now get no leadership or support from the US anymore. That moral superiority that allowed us to lead and influence other countries and their actions are pretty much gone now. That certainly leaves the US with less political clout, which could and has been leveraged to benefit American economic interests in the past. We didn't go into Iraq or Afghanistan alone. It certainly jeopardizes any allied support if North Korea does any more than all the bird flipping they've done recently. Who would follow Trump into N Korea, send their nation's troops and money in... after Trump decided he cared more about American big business interests than the entire rest of the World. "I represent Pittsburgh, not Paris." Bitch please, you represent people who would rather take shortcuts to save money now and be more competitive against manufacturers from other countries who would dare submit themselves to following safety and environmental regulations. It's just incredibly selfish, especially considering that it was American clout that originally founded and pushed these ideas onto other countries. We were the guys that stood up and said, yo, this affects the entire world so what we gotta do is stand up together and agree on something fair and practical. Set goals and develop technologies and techniques to get us there- with the realization that it's going to cost all of us to do it. Now... we've got the human embodiment of the Swamp he claimed he'd clear out of Washington. Hiring Wall Street figures and oil company CEO's... Even if he's too deranged for any of them, or anyone else, to actually get a handle on him. You have to look at his actions and his tweets and realize that what he says... that's really him. You can't keep saying, 'Don't pay attention to what he says, pay attention what he does.' They both say the same thing. He's thoughtless and petty, through and through. Yeah, some people use the metaphor that he's the shitty captain that everyone hopes to succeed cuz he's the one piloting us. I say, he's the guy who is flying this thing because he got an honorary license for being rich and wanted to actually fly himself because he wanted to walk around with the Captain's hat on. That isn't the guy you keep letting fly the plane. That's the guy you detain for fraud in the cargo hold and replace with someone else asap. You see, this is a country-sized plane with people on board who actually know how to fly. We have any number of people who have made policy (flying) their whole careers who just aren't captain right now. Quite frankly it makes no sense to support him just because he's the pilot. We've got other, better pilots. Ya'll that wanna support him till he succeeds... it isn't because you don't want us all to crash. You're just feverishly hoping that you won't have to say that you were wrong. You would rather wait to see if he pulls us out of the nosedive before it's too late than take on the responsibility for the decision to put him in the driver's seat. All his legislative losses are a result of Democrat and Republican reps looking over his shoulder like driving instructors and forcefully stomping on the brakes before he can crash us. We can't keep him there. For the respect of the office of the President? That office has lost its respect and prestige since he's been in it. If we really have respect for the office and what it represents, we have to get him out of there before he finishes ruining it. For some things, you can expect a learning curve. But he isn't learning. He's a toddler whining about unfair treatment when they try to keep him accountable for his actions and his bad ideas. Whoever is President is supposed to be one of the best of us. Everything about him absolutely screams that he isn't. 'The Oval Office has no corners.' It is our democratic duty to hold him responsible. How many passes are Republicans gonna give him because he ended up being their candidate? He shammed his way into the office and people are afraid to admit that they were taken in by it. Republicans might say I'm on my high horse, sharing my very vehement opinions about him, and calling republicans wrong and conned. But what I want for them is to man up and help us fix this. I don't care if his replacement is another Republican. There are still so many republicans who clearly aren't as incompetent, false, or as mean-spirited as Trump. And for those of the people I know voted for Trump because of a "Anybody but Hillary" mentality... I really hope they now understand why I railed against that attitude. Edit: We made a mistake as a country when he was elected, whether or not people could see it then. We certainly keep seeing it now. The thing about a DEMOCRACY is that when the government and people in those offices don't do what they're supposed to, we as a people have the ability to stand up and change it. And we wanna change it, Chase, not just hang in there until Trump gets a reality check that sinks in. Every criticism of him by the press IS a reality check, there have been a ton of 'em, and none of them have sunk in.

Happy Belated B-day to my adopted hijo. I wasn't here cuz I was celebrating for you and as such woke up quite dehydrated. You'll have to tell us what you ended up doing.

Lost Kingdoms I and II on game cube Folklore on PS3 they both had similar battle systems, which was real time action using creatures that perform different kinds of attacks or functions. Lost kingdoms set them to cards that were mapped to the buttons, and after so many uses or else discarded, were gone and a new random card from the deck would be set it its place. Folklore has you exploring different levels of the nether realm trying to solve a slew of murders and tragic events that happened in the past.

Under the reborn banner at the top, there is a tab called "Social" with two subtabs. One is a link to the Reborn showdown and the other is to the Reborn discord. It's like skype, but marginally better... so naturally everyone bandwagoned their way onto it. Is it actually better? When you log in you can scroll up pages and pages more that you could on showdown to read older things written by other people, but nobody does that cuz tldr. And even if people did choose to look at things posted at an earlier time... well if that sounds like simply posting on a forum, you would be right, but nobody appreciates it when you point out the obvious. Rebornians are like raccoons- if it's shiny and sparkles.... they want it. It can't be a trap. Wtf is being objective and judging things based on merit? It's new so it has to be better or else a lot of people will look stupid. Like Trump voters this entire time he's been in office. .... Oops??? Not my idea, not my choice, but you'd better figure it out and join it because you clearly want to chat with people (just like showdown) but you don't care if you never ever have a pokemon battle again because you can do that on showdown but very few people go there, so fuck you if you like pokemon battles against real people... Because we're a non-battling pokemon community now? idk man- clearly, it is objectively better to split the userbase between chat and gaming because... because. I'm just using your question to air out old objections that only ever got one response. "it's better. It's objectively better, why can't you see that?" To which I respond by pointing back at the rest of this post and ask them if I fucking stuttered. le sigh.

https://vittana.org/15-pros-and-cons-of-single-payer-health-care Edit: @Chase, looks like they all voted it down. http://www.cnn.com/2017/07/27/politics/health-care-single-payer-senate-vote/index.html

You know, the scariest thing about repeal and -not- replace is that Republicans would hold healthcare, any healthcare at all, hostage until democrats would have no choice but to sign because some healthcare is better than none... but obviously far worse than if they let Obamacare stay. Even republicans can see that if Obamacare was repealed without replacement... healthcare would literally be dead and too many US citizens would be dead outright along with it. And using that to make democrats agree to the ridiculously uncaring legislation is how republicans hope to force others to pass in the meanwhile would be absolutely horrific. Except for the ones who thankfully voted to block that nonsense. The reason Trump wants to repeal and not replace is because even bad healthcare would be better than none at all, and that's just holding American lives hostage. So seriously... F that guy. The guy who said "Who knew healthcare was so complicated?" and then has refused to answer real questions about healthcare ever since... How many times do I have to tell you... I told you so. He's a friggin' moron. And how's that claim about draining the swamp, btw? He can't stop hiring people who represent the swamp, can he?

No! If I nominate someone I demand the right to give you an interrogation's worth of questions that they MUST answer while hooked up to a polygraph! I will not be satisfied otherwise!

Oh no, I like anime. But I'm picky. If I call certain shows trash, it's because I think they really are trash because they either do things poorly that other have done way better or other reasons that really make me want to not watch 'em. I'm not calling all anime trash. Edit: @Magus, Do I think I can keep up with sailor driven to drink by cabin fever? Bring it on, seaman.

Known as: Maelstrom, or just Mael Age: Older than you (if you wanna bet, I could always use more booze money) Gender: Male Birthday: Jan 29 Location: New Mexico/Texas Height: 5'7" (so... just a touch short) Body Type: Beefy, yet well marbled (you are what you eat; see below) Hair Color: Black Eye Color: Brown Lives with: Scrubdot. I mean, Godot is my roommate. Pets: No personal pets atm. But my family has and continues to have plenty of pets, but mostly dogs at this point. Languages: S rank English, maybe about C rank in Spanish and Japanese Relationship status: I ain't here to cradle-rob, you weirdos, so don't ask. Favourite Food: Steak, medium rare, no steak sauce. If you eat steak any other way- you are wrong. Also, Ice cream, ribs, mangoes, wings, brisket (and meat in general) Favourite Drinks: Rum, Coke, Sprite, Manzanita Sol, Dr. Pepper, Orange Sunkist, wheat beers, lagers, IPA's Favourite Color: Cerulean Favourite kinds of Music: Pop, Rock, Alt, Video Game Music, Anime OPs/EDs/OSTs, J Pop, violin stuff Favourite Song: Volvamos, by Dulce Maria and Joey Montana, at the moment Favourite Games: Too many to name, but lets go for a sampling- Smash Bros, Halo, Destiny, KH, Golden Sun, Lost Kingdoms, Custom Robo, FE, Donkey Kong Country 2, Star Fox 64, Yoshi's Island, Megaman Battle Network, Portal Favourite Genre of Game: FPS, RPG, Adventure (I really don't like platformers anymore like mario or all those indie metroidvanias) Favourite Hobbies: Gaming, Reading, Complaining about Republicans, drinking (and doing the aforementioned things at the same time), hoping to jump into paintball/airsoft/laser tag. I've also done a lot of sports stuff- swimming, wrestling, grappling, fencing, soccer, swimming and a little bit of golf, tennis, and basketball. Community questions: So, who are you?: I am the co-founder of the forums with Ame. I say forums because I had little to do with the infamous Reborn League or the Reborn Game than Ame + minions have made which have really been the driving forces behind this place's popularity. I've been a moderator off and on since the beginning but I've been retired for a while this time around. Other than that, I've earned a Bachelor's degree in Biology and am currently working on getting another degree to work in Nuclear Medicine. But in between degrees, I spent 5 years active duty in the US Army as Airborne Infantry- which basically means I was trained to jump, mid-flight, out of an airplane and parachute down into combat situations. I did end up deployed to Afghanistan for 9 months during that time. Which reminds me. As Godot has mentioned, this place originally called Reborn when it first started but was instead called Poke-place and was a spin-off forum dedicated to fans of the pokemon series. At one point, the forums had to move from it's original place for reasons I wasn't around to really know about, but that's how it earned it's name. It moved to a new place and was "Reborn." Incidentally, I guess the full name of the site is really "Reborn, Evolved", which was so named to help promote our push to make this place a host for gaming beyond the Reborn Game or Pokemon itself. We wanted the site to change and be more inclusive of other popular games that our members could team together to placy, such as LoL, minecraft, Overwatch, etc. Diversify and expand the community without losing our pokemon roots. We wanted an 'evolved' version of Reborn. Anything you're responsible for? Inflicting Godot upon this place. I'd feel sorry for you but some of ya'll deserve it ;P. I currently hold no responsibilities as but a normal member of reborn. What are you known for? Changing avatars often and my contributions to the Suggest an Avatar thread. Some few might remember my past contributions to moderation, I suppose. Drinking... If you had to choose one of your posts as your way to introduce yourself, which would it be? I never really did an intro thread because this place started off with a small group of people who knew each other and I was visibly active through most of this place's existence. So, long answer short, just stick with this one. What can I talk to you about? Console gaming, especially fps's or real time action games you can coop (Destiny, OW, Battleborn). Books, esp. Robert Jordan, Harry Turtledove, L.E. Moddesitt Jr, Robin Hobb books. Movies. Things to do with the military, if you're just curious or are thinking about joining a military branch (in which case it behooves you to talk to other people about it because the recruiter isn't stereotyped as particularly honest for a reason). Anime- I've seen quite a bit, but there are some popular ones that I consider trash or turned into trash as the series went on (such as naruto, bleach, one piece, and fairy tale). Musics. Closing statements? I am opinionated but I don't think my online presence is all that intimidating, so hit me up.

Meh, if you wanna be sweaty and go for a challenge, there are plenty of challenges in the Awakening DLC, which comes pretty cheap. You'll even get some DLC for free. In order of preference I'd say Awakening, then Conquest.

Is Visual Communications the little news style broadcast thing they do in high school these days? AP Eng and Geo are whatever, you'll figure out what the teachers will test you on. It's just memorization for Geo and reading comprehension and critical thinking for the Eng. Physics is pretty easy if you make sure you understand the concepts and do the homework. If there are extra practice problems you can do and be able to check the answers in the back, go ahead and do 'em. For the tests, you'll be using the same methods, just with different numbers, so just get used to doing 'em. PE- I did sports throughout high school and never took a normal PE class, so I have no idea what that's like. It's probably super easy and super chill, so just enjoy it. It'll be your break from your other classes.

which systems do you have emulators for? that'll help us think of things for ya.