What the Heck?! Thread (Closed)

[Jura The idiot]

LOL
Scotland could leave the UK, and join Canada instead, says author

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As Scotland pushes for a second referendum on independence, one man is asking the previously unthinkable - if you're going to quit the UK, why not join Canada?

Canadian writer Ken McGoogan says the unorthodox alliance makes sense.

"I think it would be terrific for both Scotland and Canada," he says.

McGoogan first laid out his proposal in an opinion piece published in

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, where he argued that advancements in telecommunication technology and transatlantic travel have rendered pesky things like geographical boundaries "irrelevant".

Besides, he points out, Scotland is closer to Newfoundland than Hawaii is to California.

Last week, the Scottish Parliament voted in favour of asking the UK government to allow a legally-binding referendum on independence.

Prime Minister Theresa May has said the vote should wait until after Brexit.

Mr McGoogan says he sympathises with the angst that many Scots are feeling over Britain's decision to leave the EU.

"The Scots aren't happy right now, and I don't think they're being treated especially well."

Mr McGoogan says that if Scotland were to join Canada, it would enjoy a lot more independence and hold a lot more power than it currently does with Great Britain.

Scotland would be Canada's third largest province, with 5.3 million people, which would give it significant political sway. Add to that the millions of Canadians who, like Mr McGoogan, have Scottish ancestry, and you'd have a national-ethnic bloc about 10m strong, he reasons.

More importantly, Canadian provinces are in charge of more aspects of governance than Scotland has been afforded as part of the UK.

Canadian provinces are in charge of their own courts, health-care, systems and educational institutions. Some provinces also have their own immigration programmes, a fact that has already piqued the interest of a number of British and Scottish MPs.

Brexit "would never happen in Canada," Mr McGoogan argues, without the permission of all the provinces.

But the arrangement wouldn't only benefit Scotland, he argues. By making Scotland Canada's 11th province, Canada would gain a foothold in Europe. Far from abandoning any future Scottish bid for the EU, Mr McGoogan argues that Scotland could apply to join with Canada.

Mr McGoogan's ideas may shock some, and would certainly require years of back-and-forth negotiations with both Scotland and the UK, he readily admits.

"This is a flight of fancy," he said. "In an ideal world, this might work really well."

As the author of How the Scots Invented Canada and Celtic Lightning, Mr McGoogan has made a career of understanding the historic ties that bind Scotland and Canada.

Scotland had a "major, major hand" in creating the political culture in Canada, he says, as well as its educational and banking institutions.

More than half of Canada's prime ministers have claimed Scottish heritage, as did many other prominent figures such as Simon Fraser and James McGill.

"The Scots have left their fingerprints all over this country," he says.

 

[Blackstone]

It might be chutzpah, and it's great if you could get away with it. But, what happens when others acquire the power to do the same?

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WASHINGTON, April 4 (Yonhap) -- A bipartisan group of U.S. senators on Tuesday urged President Donald Trump to use his upcoming summit with Chinese President Xi Jinping to bring an end to "unwarranted and unfair" retaliatory measures Beijing has taken against South Korea for hosting the U.S. THAAD missile defense system.

A total of 26 senators, led by Dan Sullivan (R-AK) and Benjamin Cardin (D-MD), made the appeal in a joint letter to Trump just two days before he is set to host China's Xi for high-stakes talks expected to cover all-important security and economic issues, including the North's nuclear and missile threats.

The Trump-Xi meetings, set for Thursday and Friday at Trump's Mar-a-Lago resort in Florida, will also be watched closely as to whether the U.S. stands up to China for bullying South Korea for hosting a THAAD battery, designed to defend against missile threats from North Korea.

"While China continues to aggressively oppose a missile defense system on the Korean Peninsula, China has done little in recent years to slow or halt North Korea's missile and nuclear programs — the only reason this system is needed," the senators said in the letter.

"Mr. President, we hope you will call upon President Xi to reexamine his view of the THAAD deployment and encourage his country to cease its unwarranted and unfair economic retaliation against South Korea," they said.

They also said China should use its "considerable influence" over Pyongyang for the North's denuclearization.

"As President Xi knows well, THAAD is a defensive missile system critical to protecting the Korean people and, just as importantly, the tens of thousands of American troops and their families stationed in Northeast Asia from evolving North Korean capabilities," the senators said.

"In your discussions with President Xi, we hope you will underscore that the United States and the Republic of Korea's joint decision to deploy THAAD is entirely a result of North Korea's continued aggressive behavior," they said.

 

[SteelBird]

It might be chutzpah, and it's great if you could get away with it. But, what happens when others acquire the power to do the same?

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I think this "letter" quite suits What's The Heck thread! What do you (the senators) expect China to do? You can burn a house but not allow China to light up a candle? When you decide to deploy THAAD in S. Korea, both Russia and China called off the deployment, you ignored that. Today, will China listen to you? Tell you something, I sell S. Korean products and yesterday I did marketing in some Chinese populated area and got the answer from them "we don't buy S. Korean products!". What's the heck!

 

[AssassinsMace]

The US did it to France to kill the Mistral deal with Russia.

 

[AssassinsMace]

Will the real evil bastard please stand up...

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I love how they're okay with killing innocent people in another country just to send a message to China.

The only reason why they would attack Syria and not North Korea is because Syria is limited on its retaliatory capabilities. Not a show of strength but of weakness. And just like how they don't show an ounce of conscience that they attacked and murdered people in another country just to send a message to China, they stupidly believe the South Koreans themselves would be okay with North Korea retaliating upon them and paying the price for the whims of the US.

 

[duncanidaho]

Asian Doctor removed from United Flight and getting hurt.

United Airlines Flight overbooked and four passengers have to leave the plane, and the station manager chooses an asian doctor and his wife.

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I hope United Airlines has to pay for this.

 

[Miragedriver]

I would watch this

https://www.facebook.com/video.php?v=10154874735026006

 

[AssassinsMace]

Asian Doctor removed from United Flight and getting hurt.

United Airlines Flight overbooked and four passengers have to leave the plane, and the station manager chooses an asian doctor and his wife.

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I hope United Airlines has to pay for this.

I wonder if any of the United employees that got on board which caused this incident were wearing leggings.

 

[Equation]

I wonder if any of the United employees that got on board which caused this incident were wearing leggings.

I saw that video, that was pure BS even many of the passengers in that flight disagrees and can't believe it.

 

[taxiya]

From Asia Times:

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The article is long so I copy parts:


So US paid their dictator Lon Nol $274 million but failed to keep him in power, they never paid any compensation for the immense damage they did to the country and now want to get the money back they paid to their own creature and with interest.

BTW they never paid compensation to Vietnam or Laos either.

One way to deal with that "debt" is for Cambodia to send a bill of compensation and balance sheet and see who owes whom.
Another way is to reject that "debt" on the ground of Lon Nol's accession to power was unconstitutional (illegal, a coup d'etat), any agreement made by him is invalid. This approach is difficult for a smaller country, meaning cutting off from any US dominated world institutions including European's.

Neither will work well for Cambodia for the moment, but a good arguments.