Marcus Aurelius

Lol were you in a coma for the entirety of the 2004 election? The right wing propaganda machine made a decorated Vietnam vet out to be an anti-military pussy while a guy who had his daddy get him into the champagne unit at the national guard was apparently the second coming of Patton. There will never be any way to "take away" a right wing talking point because they are completely unmoored from any semblance of reality. The Dems could nominate the most milquetoast bloodless inoffensive centrist and Republicans would screech that (s)he is the next coming of Mao. Its laughable that people actually think the Dems could ever do anything to blunt attacks from the right

In addition to the previous responses, I want to add that the Chinese didnt have as much of an incentive to explore the world as the Europeans did. The fall of the Byzantine Empire to the Ottomans resulted in western Europe being cut off from lucrative trade routes that used to be open. This was the main impetus behind Portugal and Spain´s exploration campaigns as they wanted to find a way to circumvent the Ottomans.This is why Columbus was looking for India after all. In short, a big reason why (but not the only one) the new world wasnt conquered by China or the Ottoman Empire is because they really didnt have a pressing economic need to do so because they were already situated along the prime trading routes. China also had a good thing going with their tribute system in which their neighbors were economically subordinate. Theres an interesting theory that the Confucian principles imbedded in Chinese society may have contributed to restraining the desire for overseas explorations versus the Christian ethos of spreading the gospel but I´m not to well versed in that department.

What a fucking battering! I hope Mo is alright though...

1. Not being a real Democrat counts as a plus in my book. And does being a Trump on the left mean actually winning in the general? 2. Eh, I'm not sure how big of a deal this is 3. The average voter doesn't give a fuck about Russia. If the Democracts run in 2020 on this Russia shit then they are even dumber than I thought. 4. Agreed.

Beating baseball aggy always feels good. Now kiss the ring you Dallas bitches

Fuck Man City. We're going to Kiev