Messages

[High Score Records / Re: "Splatterhouse" High Scores]

That trick about doubling your score for beating the final boss is pretty awesome.  Thanks for sharing.

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: TurboFont]

This would be pretty awesome.  Looking forward to it!

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / PCEFX reviews!]

Hey yo,

First in a series, it's a review for Dracula X: Rondo of Blood --
https://www.pcengine-fx.com/reviews/pce_dracx.html

Excerpt: This game wants for nothing: travel through a moonlit harbor, ride on a raft across raging rapids, and uncover hidden glowing money bags. You'll even see the Grim Reaper wag his finger in "you won't win with that puny effort!" Dikembe Mutombo style. Dracula X: Rondo of Blood drips of Konami's passion and love, as they delivered us the world (and more!) crammed on one CD.

An index will be added in future to keep track of reviews, but I couldn't help but share the first one now

There are plenty more lined up, but please reply with any suggestions as to what game you'd like to see reviewed (and why).  Any NEC system is appropriate -- PCE, PC-FX, or even the PC-98!

Thanks to Nightwolve for setting up a spot to host these reviews!  Hopefully y'all enjoy reading.

[Buy/Sell/Trade / Re: PS2/PS3 games for sale.]

I personally like Caladrius Blaze a lot.  It's from the people who made the Raiden games, with character art by the Shin Megami Tensei: Devil Survivor dude.  Music is great, too.

The thing that I really like is the number of playable characters, and they each have three weapons that can be leveled up.  Once you beat the game the first time, you can mix and match weapons so that you can play as your favorite character + your favorite weapons, instead of being constrained by the designers' intent.  Of course, they balanced the characters, so doing this makes the game imbalanced... but it also makes it more fun =D

Be aware that it has "destructible clothes" on the bosses and player... this is a plus for some people, for others it's a negative.  It can be turned off in the options menu.

[PC-FX Discussion / Re: Pia Carrot... holy shit!... now with photos!]

Saori was my favorite.  General tips are to be notorious and *don't* try to get it on with her when you have the chance.

[Off-Topic / Re: The Anime Thread: Finding Good Anime]

RyuHayabusa, please post your YuYu Hakusho thoughts after watching it.  That's one I read about a looooooong time ago, and just never got around to picking up.  I'd be interested in knowing what you think at this point as a first-time viewer (since that would be my situation too!)

[Localizations, Games, Apps, Docs / Re: The Legend of Xanadu Dub Project - Auditions Wanted]

Much respect to anyone who loves Legend of Xanadu enough to do a translation/dub for it.

[General Gaming / Re: Bloodstained: Curse of the Moon]

I am currently loving this game.  It's clearly a throwback to CV3 (as others have noted) but you can also tell that it was made post-Drac X.  Having just recently played CV3, I'd say that Bloodstained is actually better.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Brothers DuoMazov (thebrothersduomazov.com) Domain Expired 6/4/2018 - The End ??]

Thanks to Nightwolve for reaching out to me.  I had actually noticed the expiration a few days ago.  Unfortunately, since I was just a site-pimper and not a contributor, there isn't anything that I can add to this topic.

That aside, seeing as I've already logged in, I think I'll start posting around here again. 

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

The right wants to pay people peanuts so they can boost corporate profits

This is an unfair representation of the conservative argument.  It might be what some lobbyists and shareholders are actually thinking, but it's a mistake to treat that as the voice of the right.  The more prevalent conservative rationale behind keeping business costs low is so that businesses can grow and pay their employees more.  There are also sub-arguments such as providing minors with experience, providing relief to overworked small business owners (who often hire part-time labor, not full-time), etc.

Regarding the idea of paying a living wage -- if we assume that all 40-hour jobs should pay a living wage, that amount still varies from town to town.  It also varies depending on household composition.  For example, in Dallas County, living wage is $11 for a single adult, $22 for a single adult with child, but only $12 for two adults with child.

If you set the living wage at the single adult level, then you're screwing over people with kids.

If you set the living wage at the single adult + child level, then you're killing businesses and overpaying people who aren't single parents.

If you set the level at two adults + child, then you're back to screwing over single parents.

It's a frustrating discussion because the discussion is being held at the national level, but there's no national answer.  Individual localities know their demographics and needs better than the rest of the nation does.

(As a side note, I'm opposed to price-gouging people who are facing a disaster.  Price-gouging is only good when we're talking about TurboGrafx sellers on eBay.  For disaster scenarios, I prefer rationing/limiting sales to prevent hoarding.  Pooling necessities for relief distribution also helps mitigate the risk of hoarders grabbing everything.)

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I have no problem with a locality choosing their own minimum wage.  San Francisco citizens want $15?  Go ahead and implement it.  If that works for them, that's great.  If it doesn't work out, then they can figure out how to fix it.  It's not my problem, so it shouldn't be my decision.

Imposing that kind of wage at the federal or state standard becomes my problem.  While that might be workable for some major cities, it would be incredibly destructive to pretty much everywhere else -- including the town where I live.  Keep decisions on minimum wage local.

minimum wage jobs should be able to pay the necessary bills for a single individual to survive

I disagree with this in theory; I see value in low-paying, high-turnover jobs that are intended to be manned by dependents.  But I also recognize that reality means people in some regions are taking entry-level jobs out of necessity to support themselves and family.  Which is another reason why I think it's best for the decision on minimum wage to be made locally: circumstances vary.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Sorry, I shouldn't have made negative assumptions about you.  Thanks for correcting me.  My bad.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

and probably wont

And if he does, you'll never admit you were wrong.  I'm not playing the prediction game with you.  Right now, he's behaving like a can-do President.  That's a good thing.  This storm is a major disaster; let's hope for the best and not get hung up on whether he delivers the speech that we wrote in our own heads.

By the way MrBroadway, I appreciate your well-explained and nuanced view of Antifa.  Thank you for that.  I personally believe that our best defense against fascism taking root in the US is to protect the first amendment for everyone, even the worst of us.  What we're unfortunately seeing right now is that it's very easy for people with political agendas to lump normal folks in with the cretins (white supremacists).  Thankfully some newspapers and politicians are starting to say enough's enough.

I don't really have anything else to say on that topic.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I like how they are pointing out that none of his tweets address that people are drowning lol.

just 'oh man this is alot of water oh man we got alot of good people doing work here oh man were good'

Yep, he's doing it right.  He's passing along relevant information and giving people confidence that things are going to turn out okay in the end.  This is the time for action and inspiration.  Mourning and reflection can -- and should -- come later.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I know we are talking past each other (I can't convince you, you can't convince me), but I guarantee we would have a lot of fun playing some PCE, chewing Nicorette (I don't smoke, but I still need my nicotine) and crying when we can't beat Hany on the Road in 2-player co-op

You speak of things that make much sense, sir.  But my Hany is in the SKY!

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

So clearly, since Donald Trump has insulted millions of Americans....

To be fair, Trump has only insulted thousands of Americans, not millions...

But... if there are only thousands of Mexicans in the country, how did millions of them vote illegally?

Mexican citizens aren't Americans.  My statement holds.

Or, are you referring to Americans of Mexican heritage?  Trump didn't insult that group.  Keep in mind that "people getting mad" doesn't mean "people were insulted".

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

So clearly, since Donald Trump has insulted millions of Americans....

To be fair, Trump has only insulted thousands of Americans, not millions.  The exact amount depends on how many white supremacists, neo-Nazis, and CNN employees are in the country.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Am I the only one who'd never heard the term "antifa" until last weekend?

This right here is why Trump was right to bring it up.  People didn't know.  Now they do.  You have to see the hate before you can do something about it.

"But what about ____?" is a lazy, 2nd grade argument.The Nazi dude killed someone, my friend. But what about that? I'll choose the side without the nazis every god damned time.

This makes it sound like you're choosing the side that set fires at Berkeley, the side that said the Republican Congressman deserved to get shot, the side that threw bottles of urine at policemen in Boston, the side that celebrated the murder of 5 cops at a BLM march.

Is that really the side you want to be on?

I'm not on either side.  I'm disgusted by all of the extremists.  Come join me!

[Off-Topic / The “What-Did-You-Buy-Today?” Thread]

Robot Carnival was pretty neat.  I'm glad that Discotek has entered the business... they're releasing a lot of the older/niche stuff that I remember watching back in the '90s.  The Fatal Fury movie Blu-Ray is really sharp!

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Nulltard, while I disagree with several of your sentences, I agree with your sentiments more than you realize.  Neo-Nazis are the worst.

Listen to Trump's press conference from Tuesday.  They specifically asked whether he was putting neo-Nazis and counter-protesters on the same moral plane, and he replied that he wasn't putting anyone on moral planes.  He didn't want to go there, because when you're trying to stop hate and violence, assigning percentages of blame is a loser's game.  All he would say is that the neo-Nazi driving the car is a "murderer", white supremacists are "bad", and some of the people on the other side were "violent".  (And all the normal people who aren't supremacists or extremists and just wanted to protest/counter-protest are "very fine".)  Everyone agrees that neo-Nazis are repugnant.  You, me, Trump, we all agree.  He even used that word.

So let's just put that stake in the ground -- when it comes to ideology, no one is worse than the neo-Nazis.  I mean, they worship HITLER.  Terrible people.

If we were looking at a single event, it would have been a mistake for him to criticize the violent extreme leftists, even though they were at Charlottesville.  But we're not looking at a single event.  We're looking at Dallas, where 5 cops were killed by extreme leftists after a BLM march.  That's horrific.  We're looking at Berkeley, where Antifa and other extreme leftists set fires and threatened attendees (unarmed college students) to prevent conservatives (NOT supremacists) from speaking.  We're looking at that time an extreme leftist tried to gun down Republican congressmen at a baseball game.  People like to say that "hate has one side", but hate is coming from many sides.

We know all about the neo-Nazis and the KKK.  But there is also a pattern of leftist extremism that is emerging.  That's a cause for alarm.  When Trump points out the hate from many sides, he is shining a light on it.  We don't want to see it, but we need to see it.

I will denounce white supremacy.  I will shout it from the rooftops -- I need to inspect my roof anyway, I'll shout it tomorrow while I'm up there if that helps.  But I'll also denounce political violence.  Trump is right to condemn white supremacy and he's right to condemn the violence from all sides.  I believe that he is sincere, but even if he isn't, it's still the right thing for him to say.

That's why I'm on his side, which actually, for this one specific issue, is also your side.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Does it count as "bait" if I mean it?  Y'all seriously don't think there's hate on many sides?

* neo-Nazis
* other assorted white supremacists
* Antifa
* other assorted violent fascists
* cop-killers
* cop-killer apologists
* state senators who openly wish death on others
* nuts who wish death on politicians (or worse, actually try to kill them)
* that congressman who body-slammed a reporter

We aren't looking at isolated incidents any more.  We're in the midst of a "cold" civil war.  And real people, very fine innocent people, are getting hurt or killed by political violence.  Lady killed in Charlottesville.  Congressman shot.  Five cops killed at a march in Dallas.  All this hate, truly from many sides.  And what do we do when Trump points it out?  We lose our minds.

Donald Trump steps into a press conference and -- off the cuff -- explicitly condemns political violence as "murder", denounces white supremacists, calls out the multi-sided hate, points out that good people should be able to peacefully protest and counter-protest for causes they believe in, and asks everyone to stop hating fellow Americans.  So of course all the cool kids say that he encourages violence, say that he supports white supremacy, deny that hate exists on many sides (or play the "but they're worse!" game), deny the presence of good people at protests, and call Trump a harbinger of hate.

Count me on the anti-Nazi, anti-violence side with Trump.  When I say that his press conference fired me up, I'm not kidding.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Hey guys, I just got back from a long road trip.  Anything new going on around here?

I listened to Trump's press conference on the radio while driving back, it really fired me up.  That's the kind of President I want -- a real genuine *person* who tells us what we need to hear, not a phony politician who tells us what we want to hear.

It's obvious that there really is a lot of hate in the country on many sides, and I hope we all (including me) have the wisdom to heed his fatherly lecture and start loving -- or at least respecting -- each other.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Let's hear emerald and zero defend this one. 

Defend it from what?  You haven't attacked it.  Tell me why you think it's bad and I'll tell you whether or not I agree.

1. You used a hypothetical WWII analogy as the evidence to "prove" your point about Syria and Russia...

An analogy is proof now?  Seriously?

You wrote two sentences.  Two.  The first was a statement.  The second was a (bad) analogy.  It was clear that the second sentence was intended to support the first.  Stop pretending otherwise.

Smart people question the logic that is used to support conclusions.  Life tip.  Remember it.

The main argument is that Syria and Russia are linked; if we went to war with Syria today, there simply is no way to fight only them, not when Russian troops are embedded with Syrian forces.

Thank you for finally providing your non-analogy rationale as to why we can't fight Syria without also fighting Russia (embedded troops).  I will now refute it.

4/7/2017: There were Russian troops stationed at a Syrian airfield.  We bombed the airfield, and only hit Syrian targets.

If we ever go to war with Syria*, Russia will know in advance.  They might work with Syria and fight us.  But they also might decide to evacuate the warzone, just like they already did when we bombed the airfield.  There is a historically demonstrated path to fight Syria without also fighting Russia.

* We won't.

[Off-Topic / Re: Youtube: PC-88 Paradise (first video is Ys 1)]

Great video!  Thank you for posting about it.   I'll gladly watch more like this one

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Exactly.  The point was that there's no way to separate Russia and Syria, yet you argued entirely about WWII.

You had no intelligent argument to explain how Syria is our enemy but Russia is our friend, so you stuck to a tangent.  Now you have no intelligent argument about how Trump is going to make Mexico pay for the wall, so you're sticking to the tangent of whether or not Trump said they'd pay up front or reimburse later.

For the record, I haven't said that Syria is our enemy and I haven't said that Russia is our friend.

I'm responding again in hopes that you're not a troll, even though you're behaving like one.

1. You used a hypothetical WWII analogy as the evidence to "prove" your point about Syria and Russia.  I challenged the analogy -- and in the process, highlighted a historical case where one country did treat two allied countries as two separate countries.

You want me to argue with your point, but you don't want me to challenge the evidence that you used to support your point.  That is silly.  If you are disowning the WWII analogy, then just say so.

2. KingDrool's post wasn't about *how* Trump might get Mexico to pay for the wall.  It was about Trump supporters being suckers because Trump said Mexico will pay later on down the road.  So yes, I am focused on what Trump has said -- repeatedly -- over time.  That's called "staying on topic".

You want me to talk about something else.  That's your problem, not mine.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

He's said a lot of other things, too, some coherent, some not, some contradictory. I feel like part of his strategy was to throw out as many promises as possible, regardless of whether they were reasonable, effective, worthwhile, just so that he's bound to keep some of them.

I think we might be talking past each other.

My original post was a response to KingDrool's potshot calling Trump supporters "suckers" because of what Trump said about Mexico paying for the wall.  The reason we don't feel suckered is because he has been consistent about how Mexico will "pay".  As of right now, that hasn't changed.  We can talk again in a few months.

If you are referring to Trump's behavior in general, then that's different from KingDrool's potshot.  I agree that Trump has been strategically vague, and I also agree that he has flipped on some things.  For example, Nulltard brought up Trump's reversal on locking up Hillary Clinton.  That's definitely a reversal.  Getting reimbursed/paid by Mexico later down the road for the wall isn't.

The reason I'm pushing back on this is because if we can't even agree on this one, verifiable thing -- Trump's consistency on Mexico paying for the wall -- then we'll never have a productive discussion on whether the wall (or any other policy) would be effective, efficient, etc.  At some point two people have to be able to look at something small and say "yes, we agree on this, let's move on".  If two people can't even do that much, then it's better to walk away.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

stuff about ignoring cruxes

Your point was that if Syria is our enemy, then Russia is our enemy.  You supported this viewpoint with a bad WWII analogy.  I challenged the bad WWII analogy.

Go back to where you said we should treat Russia and Syria equivalently.  It's two sentences.  I'm not "ignoring the crux of the argument" or "nitpicking one minor point" when the argument is two sentences, and I challenge the sentence that was used as evidence.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I don't think you're right

Then you're disputing fact.  The record of "what Trump said" is out there and easily available.  I'm not going to look up links since you don't particularly care what he said (and I'm not saying you should) -- but if you ever feel curious, then look up his immigration policy paper and rally transcripts/interviews (esp. from about three months before the election, where he spoke more clearly and even used the word "reimburse").

troll troll troll

Experience has taught me that when you are challenged, you declare your own reasoning to be an irrelevant tangent.  That's classic troll behavior.  Not worth talking to someone like that.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Thanks to Nulltard for being fair.  Kinda-sorta thanks to Spenoza and Esteban for tacitly admitting that I'm right by shifting the discussion, but not being jerks about it.  Big middle finger to KingDrool because he's so wrapped up in hate that he comes across as a videogame supervillain.

Anyone who thinks that money, energy and resources should be spent on building a wall...

...should consider how much better it would be to spend the money on burritos and beer.

If you mean everyone should cross the southern border and buy burritos and beer from Mexican locals so that they feel empowered to overthrow the drug cartels, dump the corrupt police, and reclaim their government, then I appreciate the thought even if it's not practical.

The unfortunate reality is that Mexico is a failed country.  The wall is a protective measure as well as a warning to Mexico that they failed and need to get their **** together.  People like to point to race, but the reason we don't need a wall on our Northern border is because Canada isn't overrun by Mad Max drug cartels.  Building a wall is a tame response.  The only reason we haven't invaded at some point in the last 28 years is because Mexico doesn't have enough oil and sand.

We've been through this before though.  I refer you to our posts from July 2016 and November 2016.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

“Eventually, but at a later date so we can get started early, Mexico will be paying, in some form, for the badly needed border wall.” -Donald Trump

Translation: my supporters are fucking suckers!

You probably wonder why Trump supporters aren't bothered by this "reversal" on wall payment, and why they don't see themselves as suckers.

The answer is because it's not a reversal.  He has been saying -- since before the election -- that the wall would be paid for, by Mexico, but it would be reimbursement.  News sites like CNN tell us that he is breaking a promise (they said the same thing when this same topic came up three months ago), but those of us who listened to the words coming out of the man's mouth know better.  This quote is the same thing that he's been consistently saying for a long time.

You will of course dismiss my response as Trump shilling, but regardless of what you think, I'm factually in the right.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

If you're calling me a kettle, I'll have you know that I identify as a pot.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Stop trolling, Spenoza.  It's beneath you.

...one of the few things in life that is beneath you.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Ah, forget it.  Damn you for suckering me into multiple posts, you troll.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

And unsurprisingly, Necrophilia defends his "alternate reality spaghetti monster" speculation with red herrings instead of evidence.

Your analogy (that we could not enter the war to only fight against Germany without also going to war with Japan) assumes so many hypotheticals:
1) It assumes Japan wouldn't have bombed Pearl Harbor.  That act alone turns your analogy into a hypothetical alternate reality.
2) It assumes Congress would have authorized war against Germany prior to Germany's declaration of war against us.  There were proponents of entering the war, but this wasn't a sure thing.
3) It assumes Congress would have further authorized war against Japan in absence of a declaration of war from Japan against us.

You're ignoring historical reality to make a point about Syria/Russia.  To use your own words:

If you have to make up bullshit alternate realities to make your point, you don't have one.

The way you bitterly cling to such a dumb analogy shows that you're not a man of reason.  You're just a bundle of emotions, dressing up your gut feelings in fancy words.  Pathetic.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

If you have to make up bullshit alternate realities to make your point, you don't have one.

Wow, you really are an idiot.  Your analogy is the thing that's based on a "bullshit alternate reality".

Here's your analogy....

It's like saying we could've entered WWII to only fight Germany but stayed buddies with Italy and Japan.

I was giving you the benefit of the doubt by assuming you were speaking hypothetically.  But since apparently you were NOT speaking of alternate realities, then let's speak reality.

The USA did not declare war on Japan as a side effect of entering "to fight Germany".  We declared war on Japan because they bombed Pearl Harbor.  I can't believe you are so ignorant that you are making bullshit WWII analogies without even knowing that.

And as shown by actual real history, countries being at war with Germany did not necessarily mean they were at war with Japan.  Two separate countries are two separate countries.  Your understanding of international relations is like a five-year-old kid.  If that.

I still can't get over how your analogy could be so fucking stupid.  You should be embarrassed.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

It's like saying we could've entered WWII to only fight Germany but stayed buddies with Italy and Japan.

Bad analogy.  While Germany and the Soviet Union were at war, Japan and the Soviet Union remained diplomatic.  They only went to war after Germany was defeated.  So in the alternate reality where Japan didn't attack us first, there's historical precedent that we could have fought Germany without fighting Japan.

That being said -- we haven't entered a war, and the relationship between Russia and Syria is not the same as the relationship between WWII Germany and Japan.  Russia themselves have said their support of Assad is not unconditional -- and they publically agree with the USA that Assad must not use chemical weapons.  (The disagreement is about whether or not he used them.)

I still disagree with the strike, and I still think it was good to notify Russia in advance.  But since both Trump and Secretary of Defense Mattis said the strike was about responding to the chemical attack and not about regime change, I won't worry about it.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

The strike against Syria was wrong, but notifying Russia in advance was right.  They aren't our enemy, and we had an agreement to tell them about things like this.  Now I hope we can go back to ignoring the middle east.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo Gouging on Ebay ( r.i.p. - gouging much )]

The proper reply is one sentence:

"Yes, I genuinely think it is wrong."

If he's a man of his word, then he'll take down the listing

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

KingDrool's "jokes" are pathetic (lame) -- thinks he's clever but only his old Jurassic-era face is funny.  Too bad!

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

LOL, amateur trolls.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Anyone who genuinely wants to know what those things are, can PM me.  I'm not interested in providing forum fodder for another 30-person battle royale when we haven't settled even a single score yet ;)

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

What I find amazing is for how much bitching the GOP did over Obamacare for the last seven years, how did they come up with such an obviously shit plan?

The GOP never planned to win.  They expected/wanted to be the minority party, because it's easy to complain without ever being put in the position to fix anything.  Job security.  I'm pretty sure they don't have a realistic tax reform plan either.  The CBO actually determined that *simply repealing Obamacare and replacing it with nothing* would be better than passing this new bill.  (CBO should be taken with a rock of salt since they were so wrong about ACA numbers, but still.)

As for Trump, it's easy for me to feel comfortable defending him.  Generally speaking, I think he's already doing important things.  Time will be the judge of that.  Regarding healthcare specifically, he's giving the guy who spent 7 years claiming he had a plan a chance to show off his plan.  That's the right thing to do.  If Trump actually signs this sham into law then I'll be disappointed.  But that won't happen.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I love all the Trump leg humpers already making excuses for Trumpcare.

Not making excuses -- it becomes Trumpcare if he signs it.  Until then, it's a proposal (that Ryan created).  I'm predicting that it won't make it to Trump's desk, not in its current form.  Doesn't it seem strange to say it's a "good start" and call it a "negotiation" if he thinks it's ready to pass and sign?  Also, he keeps reminding "Republicans" not to mess this up.  If he believed in it, wouldn't he be claiming credit?  Obviously I could be misreading this.  We'll see.

primarily the public option / single payer

Talking heads debated the public option, but in the context of ACA, there was never a fight over the public option because no one proposed it in a legislative form.
Also, there wasn't a filibuster.  You're probably thinking of Ted Cruz's 2013 filibuster over a spending bill.  He talked about ACA a lot during that one.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Agree with Old Rover that neither bill represents what the respective presidents wanted.  Obama's mistake was that he repeated false statements about the bill, and of course he gets some responsibility since he signed it, but ACA wasn't his brainchild.  Obama wanted universal healthcare administered by the government, but not even his own party would support that (at the time).

And Trump is talking nice in public, but reading between the lines, it's pretty obvious he thinks the new bill needs work.  Part of me suspects that he's "supporting" Ryan with the expectation that Ryan will fall flat on his face.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

I remember vividly watching as the gop flailed, lied, and fearmongered against the best parts of the original ACA (and everything under Obama, really), and Obama letting those parts be omitted for the sake of bipartisanship.

What were the best parts of ACA, the ones that Obama let be omitted?

In regards to secrecy:
ACA was locked in a room, and members of Congress were given a short time (a couple hours, if I recall) to look at the 2000-page bill in that room.  No one who voted on it had read the whole thing.  Obscure aspects of the bill were being discovered daily by HHS and the public after its passage in 2010.

By comparison, the 130-page GOP bill is available for the public to read, and it hasn't even been officially introduced in the House yet.  The process started in secrecy (see: Rand Paul's quest to track it down), but then something happened.  I don't know why the process suddenly became transparent, but it did.

This bill will never pass as-is, so it would be a waste of energy for me to care what you think about it right now.  But I'm glad it's openly available for you to read and decide that you hate it.

Your distracting claim that Trump plans to starve senior citizens is nonsense.  If you're talking about Meals on Wheels, then you're misinformed.  That also has nothing to do with anything that I posted.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

The public shellacking that the GOP healthcare bill is receiving (even from GOP members) is much better than the secrecy under which ACA was voted in.  There's no way this is going to pass as-is, and that's good, because we'll get to see the process in real time.

I wish this happened more often.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

The media are not supporting the left. The media are just remaining, as an institution, status-quo.

The media leans left.  This was clear in 2012 and it was even more clear in 2016.  I don't know how you can dispute this, unless you're suggesting that Obama is the definition of centrist.  It's all relative so I can't really stop you from putting the center wherever you want.

As an example of their leanings, NBC News just released a propaganda video of children lecturing Trump on immigration and refugees.  The media will never play nice with Trump as long as he represents the "wrong" policy positions -- the positions that got him elected.

I don't disagree with the suggestion that his administration could use more discipline around messaging.  Politics is a constant PR campaign.  But I'll add that any such efforts should speak to voters directly; trying to please the media would be a mistake.

there's no question that Flynn and Conway broke the law; the former when he spoke to Russia about their response to Obama's sanctions

I'll grant you Conway -- but it's not clear that Flynn broke the law, since discussion of sanctions isn't necessarily illegal.  No one has ever been prosecuted for violating the Logan Act (in large part because conversations like this are supposedly normal for incoming administrations), so we may never know the boundary between legal and illegal.

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Emerald!

Please tell me you watched the ICFTD LeDoodle...I think you will like it.

I don't need any feedback other than "yes" or "no" 

No, but I will look for it now.  Thanks for the heads up!

[Off-Topic / Re: Donald Trump Thread aka End of Days]

Alright Trump supporters, I'm gonna need you to watch today's press conference (or whatever the hell that was supposed to be) and take your best shot at convincing me he's not a fucking lunatic. You don't even need to defend the last week of insanity. Just today's press conference.

Trump's press conference was amusing but not nearly as interesting as people are making it out to be.  His demeanor and delivery was so calm.

Now, I need you to play Bonk's Revenge and convince me that it's not trash.  No need to defend any of Hudson's other insanity like China Warrior, just defend Bonk's Revenge.

I won't tell you what I didn't like about the game.  Just focus on the game's obvious shortcomings and tell me why it's okay for the game to be so flawed.

[PCE/TG-16|CD/SGX Discussion / Re: Turbo Gouging on Ebay ( r.i.p. - gouging much )]

I find it amusing that the "Shooting Legends" set includes Steam Hearts.  It... doesn't quite match up to those other games.  But I suppose it's legendary in a sense.