#'country of origin decides the breed standard' is i think a very good rule and important to adhere to

[kangals]

oughhhh rough collie time:

so 1st dog, the tri, was the 2023 best of breed at crufts

2nd dog, sable, was the 2022 best of breed at crufts

3rd dog, dark sable, was the 2022 best of breed at the national dog show (US)

so - i do like the 2023 pick much more than the 2022 pick. 2022 dog had a super extreme/overdone coat, just a ton of bulk. some of that can be attributed to the fact that he's a male while the 2023 collie is female, but a lot of it is just what they bred for. as the 22 dog was doing his lap the commentators stating how the coat should be weatherproof and shouldn't obscure the outline of the dog at all, which was like... are you purposefully saying this for the dissonance or are you implying that this is true. ick.

i put the 3rd dog in there as an example of the difference between american and british types. part of it is grooming - american dogs will be very thoroughly bathed and brushed out, while british dogs are supposed to look more natural (which also leads to breeding for loads and loads of coat to achieve volume, whereas american dogs just get backbrushed for the same effect). just look at the difference in the mass of the hair on the rear legs! but i think you can also very clearly see the difference in the faces as well, especially between the two sable dogs! british dogs have a shorter muzzle, more pronounced stop, higher forehead, and much more slanted, fox-like eyes. american dogs have a longer and more wedge-shaped head with small, almond-shaped eyes. they also tend to be a bit larger.

anyway, i liked this years crufts girl, not anything super unique though. i mostly just hope the OES doesnt win bc i hate wet shaggy dog faces.

#'country of origin decides the breed standard' is i think a very good rule and important to adhere to #except for collies i am taking collies away from the british leave them alone #fun fact: both countries dogs used to be very similar in appearance to modern AKC dogs up until the 70s/early 80s #but then the KC people decided to go in a different direction and now a KC and an AKC dog look very distinct imo #youll also notice that in europe roughs and smooths are different breeds and smooths look much more similar to american dogs than british #and thats bc the smoothie people didnt follow the same new breeding trend that the roughs were #*also not to say AKC collies cannot be overly-coated for example look at any wyndlair dog BUT its generally a less extreme level

[maybeyoumissthisf-kingpost]

What makes a happy country?

A happy country is one where the people have political freedom, the right to elect a government that the people believe will protect economic freedoms. There, people are freed from the shackles, are free to make their own decisions, pursue their own ideals, pursue cherished dreams, and can live a life that they want. desire.

Prosperity: the first factor that makes a happy country

An unhappy country is a poor, backward country and its people are always limited in political freedom. Poverty breeds all kinds of social evils, poor countries always give birth to all kinds of dictators. To me, a livable country is one where individuals lead a prosperous life and freedoms are not violated.

It is no coincidence that the Nordic countries with the most prosperity are also at the top of the World Happiness rankings; It is also no coincidence that weak economies are always the countries with the lowest happiness indexes in the world [1] . What do you think is a happy country: rich Nordic countries, high standard of living, long life expectancy; or a poor Venezuela eating garbage [2] ?

Each of us has our own view of what makes a happy country, from the simple to the complex. We can write down pages for the things we think are necessary, but the problem here is how to make sure those things are done.

A warm, happy country. Yes, you have to be full first before you think about finding happiness for yourself. Only after solving economic problems can people think of other things. So, in my opinion, prosperity will make a happy country.

And how does a country become prosperous?

Vietnamese often blame their poverty on fate. Okay. If you are too pessimistic about your own abilities. But a poor country is another story, it is no longer a matter of fate, but of policies. When asked, “What makes a country rich?”, many people often answer that it is due to natural resources, geographical location, culture or people. But no, Venezuela has the world’s largest crude oil reserves [3] but it’s not rich, Japan is poor in natural resources and earthquakes all the time but is very prosperous; South Korea and North Korea are two countries that are similar in all aspects, but the South Korean economy is clearly stronger than North Korea’s [4].. Why is that? Anyone who has read The Origin of the Wealth of Nations by Adam Smith will understand that economic freedom is the key to prosperity, peace, and happiness.

Exercising economic freedom is always a necessary way to revive a country’s economy. Economic freedom is inherently a “stimulant medicine” for all economies. As we all know, during the transition period of the Vietnamese economy, the government implemented a market mechanism (although it was not perfect) and allowed people to participate in business which helped the Vietnamese economy. changed drastically with the rapid growth rate of up to 9.54% (1995) and 9.34% (1996) [5] .

The history of the world also shows that every country that is against the free market has to suffer an economic failure, from the collapse of the mighty Soviet Union, the whole of Eastern Europe, East Germany in the 90s, until the fall of Greece and now Zimbabwe, Venezuela. A country that collapses economically and politically, cannot be a happy country. One thing in common is that these countries all have very low levels of economic freedom.

From that, I would like to affirm that economic freedom will be the core factor to form a happy country for all people.

What is economic freedom?

“Economic freedom, in its highest form, gives people absolute private property rights, the full exercise of the freedom of movement of labor, capital, and goods, and the complete absence of oppression or limit economic freedom except the minimum limits necessary to protect and maintain them that freedom “ [6] .

In a nutshell, economic freedom allows individuals to freely decide all the resources they hold, while respecting the freedoms and resources of others. Economic freedom is a right that allows people to freely develop and prosper without interference from governments or financial authorities. Every individual has the right to protect and be protected for his or her human resources, labor and property. In other words, it is about reducing the government’s hand in the economy and allowing the market to run freely. At this point, many people will wonder what benefits economic freedom will bring. Yes, economic freedom is not a mere theory, it has been applied very successfully in capitalist countries.

Economic freedom will help economic growth and bring prosperity to all

Like the example above, Vietnam, after making progress in economic freedom, has achieved an impressive economic growth index. It cannot be denied that that success is due to the “miracle” that the free market brings. If that’s still not enough to convince you that economic freedom is good for the economy, take a look at the chart below.

In the 20 years from 1990 to 2010, the countries with the freest economies grew twice as fast as those with the lowest degrees of economic freedom. In other words, the higher the degree of economic freedom, the faster the economic growth rate, the more prosperous the people of that country become.

Economic freedom contributes to environmental protection

This may come as a surprise to some, but it’s true. The more protected the right of private property, the more it encourages environmental protection. Simply put, when resources are jointly owned, the incentive for conservation is eliminated. But if the resource is owned by individuals, they will know how to preserve it and voluntarily conserve it because in the future this resource will become more and more valuable. Mr. Richard Lyndell Stroup, environmentalist and professor of economics at North Carolina State University, wrote: “When private property rights are protected, 90% of the population has access to clean water; but in countries with a low level of private ownership, the figure is only 60% “ [7] .

At the same time, the Heritage Foundation also points out that the countries at the top of the environmental report (EPI) from Yale University are also the countries that guarantee the highest level of private property rights [8] .

You can’t be happy in a polluted country, can you?

Economic freedom will reduce the risk of war, help build peace

How can a country with constant war bring happiness to its people? How to bring peace to mankind? Many people often answer simply that: there should be tolerance, giving up greed, giving up fighting for power, taking advantage; or must educate people to love each other, not to dispute, to lose in political and religious ideals, etc. But in fact, the cause of war does not come from ideals, but from stories. economy.

The more economic protection a country is, the more likely it is to increase the risk of conflict for that country. In the 19th century, King Tu Duc banned foreign trade activities with the West [9], then the Franco-Vietnamese war broke out is the most visible historical evidence. Whether nations are in the name of liberal or communist ideals, the two world wars of the last century were inherently meant to divide resources. Later, with the formation of trade organizations, conflicts between countries were gradually eliminated. Countries conduct trade and become partners with each other, tightening friendship. Obviously, it is more difficult to wage war with one’s partner than with a country that has nothing to do with it. Therefore, only the realization of free trade and economic freedom can bring peace to mankind. Only peace can bring happiness to the people.

Political freedom: the second factor that makes a happy country

A market economy is not perfect when it opens only free markets for goods without freedom for ideals. Allowing freedom of thought will make the economy more open and dynamic. I will not analyze whether economic freedom or political freedom should be prioritized in this article because it has been analyzed in the article The relationship between political freedom and economic freedom . However, there is not a country with a high degree of civil liberties and political freedom that does not use capitalism and the private sector as the dominant element in the economic structure [10] . Human history has also demonstrated that the economic collapse of a country will also lead to the collapse of political institutions. Historically and logically, political freedom is inseparable from economic freedom.

The loss of political freedom will restrain the whole nation in all aspects, and the root cause is the dictatorship of the leader. There are many types of dictatorship, even if that dictatorship is derived from the leader thinking that their ideal is the best, it is still not good for development for me. I would like to quote a passage that I really like from Mr. Tran Huynh Duy Thuc’s letter to TBT Nguyen Phu Trong on December 19, 2016:

“I can understand your desire for an ethical government. But the history of the nation and the world has proved that virtue does not create moral states and societies, but also holds peoples back in the backward agricultural economy. The rule of law is characteristic of the Industrial Economic Age. The rule of law is characteristic of the Age of Knowledge Economy. Virtue cannot be used to succeed in this rapidly forming New Age.”

This paragraph Mr. Thuc wants to talk about the role of the rule of law, but I will use it to talk about the issue of morality. Ethics and its standards are inherently set by people, using their own moral standards to judge is also an imposition of their thinking on others. Therefore, in my opinion, virtue rule is also a form of dictatorship.

I am an opponent of cult of personality, so I also believe that no single outstanding individual can make decisions for all the rest. Perhaps, the achievements of great people are always exaggerated to serve some purpose, and education is always used as a tool to produce children who are loyal to what is taught.

When people have the freedom to think, discuss and raise their voices, there we can live; Without those basic freedoms, we are no different from the inanimate animals that exist in this world. I believe that pluralism and conflict are also a driving force for development, political freedom is what frees people to pursue their own happiness without being constrained by laws and regulations.

Conclude

But it would be naive if the people hoped for a good government, for the people, for the country; people can only use their political freedom to choose a government that is less evil and interferes with people’s lives less.

Therefore, a happy country is one in which the people have political freedom, the right to elect a government that the people believe will protect economic freedoms. There, people are freed from the shackles, are free to make their own decisions, follow their own ideals, pursue their cherished dreams, and can live a life they want.

All credit goes to trantuansang.com.

[adambstingus]

5 Directors That Should’ve Stopped After One Movie

Some filmmakers are like marathon winners; they stay consistently strong and fast for an inconceivable amount of time, and when they finish, you are left inspired by their existence. And some directors have careers like my performance in my second grade’s three-legged race. I fell at the start, busted my nose open, and writhed on the ground for a while as my partner walked away from me. The following five directors did similar things in their own metaphorical three-legged races. What began as a burst of glorious potential devolved into something hideous and often embarrassing.

5

Zack Snyder With Dawn Of The Dead

Zack Snyder has always been the Mountain Dew Code Red to Christopher Nolan’s iced coffee. They both direct grand adventure movies, but while Nolan’s philosophy is that of the kid in the back of the freshman year writing class with the scarf, Snyder’s is frat bro existentialism. Snyder is pretty great at examining the darkness that lurks in the hearts of men, but only when those men are grunting at each other, “HOLD ME BACK BEFORE I LAY THIS MOTHERFUCKER OUT, DUDE”-style. In any other case, it’s a toss-up. For example, in Watchmen, he totally got the plight of radioactive superman Dr. Manhattan. But the only female on the team, Silk Spectre, was shot like she was in an impromptu Axe Body Spray commercial.

Read Next

5 Superhero Movies That Are Only Worth It For One Scene

The only movie that Snyder has done that’s consistent throughout is his first, the 2004 Dawn Of The Dead remake. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a bunch of people being eaten by zombies at the mall. It’s also fantastic in a way that few remakes actually are, mainly because it does not seek to replicate or expand upon the original. A lot of times in horror remakes, directors try to cram in “answers” to questions that they think viewers have, which totally robs the movies of their potency. We’re scared of the things we don’t know. When we say “Oh, man. He uses a chainsaw? What the hell?” we don’t want the director to respond with, “Well, he got his chainsaw from the old slaughterhouse he used to work at.” There’s nothing terrifying about learning where Freddy Krueger shops for his sweaters.

Instead of that route, Snyder actually chops off any of the rough edges of the source material. The original ends with a bunch of bikers attacking the mall that the heroes are in, which leads to a lot of cool gore effects, but bites the face off of the movie’s sense of pacing. It robs us of the intimate climax that Dawn Of The Dead could’ve built to. Snyder’s version doesn’t have that problem, as it’s a horror/action film from the very beginning. Sure, it’s not as satirical as the original, but it doesn’t need to be. Snyder is not interested in creating a horror film that’s also an allegory. The zombies don’t have to represent anything. They can get by when they’re just being spooky zombies. Constantly reminding me that “The real villain … is man” is the best way to get me to hate both zombies and English teachers.

Sadly, Zack Snyder’s next project would be 300, which had cool action scenes but was the movie equivalent of a guy whispering motivational quotes to himself in the mirror at the gym. And since then, all of his films have either been bloated epics or that thing about warrior owls. It’s a shame. Because when Snyder makes films that aren’t really about anything other than what’s on screen, he shines.

4

Terrence Malick With Badlands

Terrence Malick is the #1 “Well, I appreciate his work” director in the world. “Well, I appreciate his work” directors are a rare breed, as they’re usually either obsessively loved or “appreciated.” And by “appreciated,” I mean “I know a lot of time probably went into putting all of those pretty colors on screen, so I can’t hate this one too much.” I truly appreciate Terrence Malick, even though his films feel like staring matches with an old computer’s screen saver.

His first film, though, is a refreshing take on a genre that needs all of the fresh takes that it can get. Badlands is a serial killer movie, and the biggest problem with the serial killer subgenre is that very rarely do such films actually make us disgusted with a serial killer. Instead, we marvel as the killer says awesome quips and performs super sweet serial killer melee moves. Silence Of The Lambs is a great movie, but it’s hard to feel bad about a guy who eats other guys when he’s Jason Bourne-ing his way out of police custody. Yeah, the hero should be the person who hasn’t wantonly killed multiple innocent people, but I saw the killer do a double backflip off the diving board once, so my vote is set.

Badlands makes serial killing look really awful. Like, “Dude in front of you doesn’t know how to work the self-checkout lane” awful. It’s the story of a 15-year-old girl who becomes enamored of a 25-year-old man, and then gets swept up in a life of theft, violence, and cross-country travel when he decides to start murdering South Dakota. So we see the killer through her eyes, and as her opinion of him grows sour, any chance that we have of admiring Martin Sheen’s sweet bangs slowly evaporates too. Sheen is a shitty dude in this one. Like, “Friend who doesn’t put your Blu-ray back in its case and instead just lays it bottom-side-down on the floor” shitty.

3

Roland Emmerich With Universal Soldier

From the mid ’90s to the present, Roland Emmerich has been a constant source of the loud and mediocre (Independence Day, White House Down, Stargate), the loud and dull (Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012), and the loud and very, very historically inaccurate (The Patriot, 10,000 BC, Anonymous, Stonewall). He is the “Hold my beer” to Michael Bay, and no matter what trends are popular in Hollywood or how financially successful his previous film was, we can always count on Emmerich to deliver something that somehow damages the intellectual standard of the explosion.

Emmerich started as a filmmaker in Germany, and most of the films that he made there are either impossible to find in America or were released years later and just on video. His first American film to receive a theatrical release was Universal Soldier, which features Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme as soldiers who get resurrected to become … universal soldiers? I’m not sure what the “universal” thing means, but I guess it’s because, now that they’ve been brought back to life, they’re not limited by the earthly definition of “kicking ass.” They can now kick all the ass in the universe. Side note: This theory is remarkably unconfirmed.

For Emmerich, Universal Soldier is amazingly subtle. And that’s not just because Van Damme is given the emotional range of a yam in this film. It’s mostly a big chase movie, and not just the typical Emmerich “Leave nothing in this major American metropolis un-fireballed” fare. Van Damme and his reporter girlfriend stop in a town, Lundgren catches up to them and shouts, Van Damme escapes, and Lundgren responds with more heavily accented shouting. Compared to Emmerich’s other stuff, Universal Soldier is Driving Miss Daisy.

I don’t know if “limiting the scale” is the key to fixing Emmerich, as he doesn’t have much luck in crafting personal tales. So maybe the key is Dolph Lundgren. Maybe Emmerich made a movie that was one big combustion, but Lundgren absorbed it all, and then released that energy by yelling. I’m no professor, but I think the science works out.

2

Seth MacFarlane With Ted

Seth MacFarlane is a comedy titan. Not satisfied with ruling Fox’s TV animation division, he’s also branched out into movies. And he’s made three so far: Ted, A Million Ways To Die In The West, and Ted 2. Guess how many of those were pretty solid? A hint is hidden in the title of this column.

Ted, the story of Mark Wahlberg and a talking stuffed bear, has some heart in it. There are plenty of movies about dude friends who have problems with each other whenever one of them gets in a serious relationship. They want to drink beer and fart out their dicks, but SHE likes organizing the apartment! Whatever will they do? Ted is still crass, but in centering the conflict around Wahlberg not wanting to abandon a literal stuffed bear, it truly nails home how infantile the whole “bros before respectable type-A females” struggle is. You can still have a fun life and chill with your bear, even if you’re married. And those who don’t understand that are the true dick-farters.

After Ted, MacFarlane made A Million Ways To Die In The West, which most closely resembles those Leslie Nielsen jokes-every-ten-seconds comedies, with the problem being that MacFarlane doesn’t have the warm presence of Nielsen. Nielsen was the comedy genre’s beloved uncle, while as an actor, MacFarlane is still its odd half-cousin. Ted 2 is about teddy bear rights, which expands a few jokes into a two-hour movie. It never ends up being as funny or likable as Ted, and feels like it was made not because MacFarlane wanted to make it, but because a Hollywood executive decided that Ted 2 was their only means of finally getting a third Jacuzzi installed.

1

Eli Roth With Cabin Fever

I’m always hesitant whenever a horror director says they’re making a homage to a certain era of horror films. This is usually because they let the homage aspects outweigh the actually-being-a-good-movie aspects. “But it’s a homage to ’80s slasher films! It’s not supposed to be a masterpiece!” Yeah, but it’s supposed to be competent and somewhat exciting, instead of a 90-minute declaration that you’ve seen Sleepaway Camp multiple times.

One of the only really good ’80s homages is Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever, which is sort of styled after The Evil Dead, but mostly does its own thing. Now, Cabin Fever isn’t perfect. Eli Roth’s writing would actually peak with Hostel Part II, which is a statement that no man should be forced to make. But Cabin Fever feels less like a guy trying to remind you of how great 1983 was, and more like a guy who’s trying really, really hard to make a fun, gory horror flick. Plus, it manages to pull off some gross-out moments that are sincerely shocking. Even in the age of things like The Human Centipede trilogy, which is edgy middle-schooler humor brought to life, Cabin Fever can still make you feel weird.

Roth’s next film, Hostel, desperately wanted to be like one of the graphic Asian horror films that Roth is a fan of. The biggest difference is that stuff like Takashi Miike’s Audition and Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil manage to place interesting stories and dynamic characters around their torture setpieces. Roth’s characters are a couple of dumb guys, which is meant to say something about how young American adults kind of treat other countries like playgrounds that they can fuck in, but it mostly comes off as Roth needing characters who explicitly won’t grow or change, because an arc doesn’t really vibe with a drill to the chest.

Roth would later make The Green Inferno, a movie that I saw on opening day because I can’t be trusted with my own money or schedule, and his next movie is a Death Wish remake. Remember that series, the one about Charles Bronson putting bullets in crime and crime-related activities? I don’t know whose idea it was to give that movie to the guy whose most famous scene involves cutting someone’s Achilles tendons, but I feel like it might have been a bad call.

Daniel has a Twitter. Go to it. Enjoy yourself. Kick your boots off and stay for a while.

Watch Independence Day right here if you’re a true American, and get one of the cool aliens in adorable Funko form and pity Daniel Dockery for hating everything amazing in the world.

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Nightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. A young woman from the trailer park and her very smelly cat. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, a new novel about futuristic shit, by David Wong.

from All Of Beer http://allofbeer.com/5-directors-that-shouldve-stopped-after-one-movie/ from All of Beer https://allofbeercom.tumblr.com/post/177815193117

[samanthasroberts]

5 Directors That Should’ve Stopped After One Movie

Some filmmakers are like marathon winners; they stay consistently strong and fast for an inconceivable amount of time, and when they finish, you are left inspired by their existence. And some directors have careers like my performance in my second grade’s three-legged race. I fell at the start, busted my nose open, and writhed on the ground for a while as my partner walked away from me. The following five directors did similar things in their own metaphorical three-legged races. What began as a burst of glorious potential devolved into something hideous and often embarrassing.

5

Zack Snyder With Dawn Of The Dead

Zack Snyder has always been the Mountain Dew Code Red to Christopher Nolan’s iced coffee. They both direct grand adventure movies, but while Nolan’s philosophy is that of the kid in the back of the freshman year writing class with the scarf, Snyder’s is frat bro existentialism. Snyder is pretty great at examining the darkness that lurks in the hearts of men, but only when those men are grunting at each other, “HOLD ME BACK BEFORE I LAY THIS MOTHERFUCKER OUT, DUDE”-style. In any other case, it’s a toss-up. For example, in Watchmen, he totally got the plight of radioactive superman Dr. Manhattan. But the only female on the team, Silk Spectre, was shot like she was in an impromptu Axe Body Spray commercial.

Read Next

5 Superhero Movies That Are Only Worth It For One Scene

The only movie that Snyder has done that’s consistent throughout is his first, the 2004 Dawn Of The Dead remake. If you haven’t seen it, it’s about a bunch of people being eaten by zombies at the mall. It’s also fantastic in a way that few remakes actually are, mainly because it does not seek to replicate or expand upon the original. A lot of times in horror remakes, directors try to cram in “answers” to questions that they think viewers have, which totally robs the movies of their potency. We’re scared of the things we don’t know. When we say “Oh, man. He uses a chainsaw? What the hell?” we don’t want the director to respond with, “Well, he got his chainsaw from the old slaughterhouse he used to work at.” There’s nothing terrifying about learning where Freddy Krueger shops for his sweaters.

Instead of that route, Snyder actually chops off any of the rough edges of the source material. The original ends with a bunch of bikers attacking the mall that the heroes are in, which leads to a lot of cool gore effects, but bites the face off of the movie’s sense of pacing. It robs us of the intimate climax that Dawn Of The Dead could’ve built to. Snyder’s version doesn’t have that problem, as it’s a horror/action film from the very beginning. Sure, it’s not as satirical as the original, but it doesn’t need to be. Snyder is not interested in creating a horror film that’s also an allegory. The zombies don’t have to represent anything. They can get by when they’re just being spooky zombies. Constantly reminding me that “The real villain … is man” is the best way to get me to hate both zombies and English teachers.

Sadly, Zack Snyder’s next project would be 300, which had cool action scenes but was the movie equivalent of a guy whispering motivational quotes to himself in the mirror at the gym. And since then, all of his films have either been bloated epics or that thing about warrior owls. It’s a shame. Because when Snyder makes films that aren’t really about anything other than what’s on screen, he shines.

4

Terrence Malick With Badlands

Terrence Malick is the #1 “Well, I appreciate his work” director in the world. “Well, I appreciate his work” directors are a rare breed, as they’re usually either obsessively loved or “appreciated.” And by “appreciated,” I mean “I know a lot of time probably went into putting all of those pretty colors on screen, so I can’t hate this one too much.” I truly appreciate Terrence Malick, even though his films feel like staring matches with an old computer’s screen saver.

His first film, though, is a refreshing take on a genre that needs all of the fresh takes that it can get. Badlands is a serial killer movie, and the biggest problem with the serial killer subgenre is that very rarely do such films actually make us disgusted with a serial killer. Instead, we marvel as the killer says awesome quips and performs super sweet serial killer melee moves. Silence Of The Lambs is a great movie, but it’s hard to feel bad about a guy who eats other guys when he’s Jason Bourne-ing his way out of police custody. Yeah, the hero should be the person who hasn’t wantonly killed multiple innocent people, but I saw the killer do a double backflip off the diving board once, so my vote is set.

Badlands makes serial killing look really awful. Like, “Dude in front of you doesn’t know how to work the self-checkout lane” awful. It’s the story of a 15-year-old girl who becomes enamored of a 25-year-old man, and then gets swept up in a life of theft, violence, and cross-country travel when he decides to start murdering South Dakota. So we see the killer through her eyes, and as her opinion of him grows sour, any chance that we have of admiring Martin Sheen’s sweet bangs slowly evaporates too. Sheen is a shitty dude in this one. Like, “Friend who doesn’t put your Blu-ray back in its case and instead just lays it bottom-side-down on the floor” shitty.

3

Roland Emmerich With Universal Soldier

From the mid ’90s to the present, Roland Emmerich has been a constant source of the loud and mediocre (Independence Day, White House Down, Stargate), the loud and dull (Godzilla, The Day After Tomorrow, 2012), and the loud and very, very historically inaccurate (The Patriot, 10,000 BC, Anonymous, Stonewall). He is the “Hold my beer” to Michael Bay, and no matter what trends are popular in Hollywood or how financially successful his previous film was, we can always count on Emmerich to deliver something that somehow damages the intellectual standard of the explosion.

Emmerich started as a filmmaker in Germany, and most of the films that he made there are either impossible to find in America or were released years later and just on video. His first American film to receive a theatrical release was Universal Soldier, which features Dolph Lundgren and Jean-Claude Van Damme as soldiers who get resurrected to become … universal soldiers? I’m not sure what the “universal” thing means, but I guess it’s because, now that they’ve been brought back to life, they’re not limited by the earthly definition of “kicking ass.” They can now kick all the ass in the universe. Side note: This theory is remarkably unconfirmed.

For Emmerich, Universal Soldier is amazingly subtle. And that’s not just because Van Damme is given the emotional range of a yam in this film. It’s mostly a big chase movie, and not just the typical Emmerich “Leave nothing in this major American metropolis un-fireballed” fare. Van Damme and his reporter girlfriend stop in a town, Lundgren catches up to them and shouts, Van Damme escapes, and Lundgren responds with more heavily accented shouting. Compared to Emmerich’s other stuff, Universal Soldier is Driving Miss Daisy.

I don’t know if “limiting the scale” is the key to fixing Emmerich, as he doesn’t have much luck in crafting personal tales. So maybe the key is Dolph Lundgren. Maybe Emmerich made a movie that was one big combustion, but Lundgren absorbed it all, and then released that energy by yelling. I’m no professor, but I think the science works out.

2

Seth MacFarlane With Ted

Seth MacFarlane is a comedy titan. Not satisfied with ruling Fox’s TV animation division, he’s also branched out into movies. And he’s made three so far: Ted, A Million Ways To Die In The West, and Ted 2. Guess how many of those were pretty solid? A hint is hidden in the title of this column.

Ted, the story of Mark Wahlberg and a talking stuffed bear, has some heart in it. There are plenty of movies about dude friends who have problems with each other whenever one of them gets in a serious relationship. They want to drink beer and fart out their dicks, but SHE likes organizing the apartment! Whatever will they do? Ted is still crass, but in centering the conflict around Wahlberg not wanting to abandon a literal stuffed bear, it truly nails home how infantile the whole “bros before respectable type-A females” struggle is. You can still have a fun life and chill with your bear, even if you’re married. And those who don’t understand that are the true dick-farters.

After Ted, MacFarlane made A Million Ways To Die In The West, which most closely resembles those Leslie Nielsen jokes-every-ten-seconds comedies, with the problem being that MacFarlane doesn’t have the warm presence of Nielsen. Nielsen was the comedy genre’s beloved uncle, while as an actor, MacFarlane is still its odd half-cousin. Ted 2 is about teddy bear rights, which expands a few jokes into a two-hour movie. It never ends up being as funny or likable as Ted, and feels like it was made not because MacFarlane wanted to make it, but because a Hollywood executive decided that Ted 2 was their only means of finally getting a third Jacuzzi installed.

1

Eli Roth With Cabin Fever

I’m always hesitant whenever a horror director says they’re making a homage to a certain era of horror films. This is usually because they let the homage aspects outweigh the actually-being-a-good-movie aspects. “But it’s a homage to ’80s slasher films! It’s not supposed to be a masterpiece!” Yeah, but it’s supposed to be competent and somewhat exciting, instead of a 90-minute declaration that you’ve seen Sleepaway Camp multiple times.

One of the only really good ’80s homages is Eli Roth’s Cabin Fever, which is sort of styled after The Evil Dead, but mostly does its own thing. Now, Cabin Fever isn’t perfect. Eli Roth’s writing would actually peak with Hostel Part II, which is a statement that no man should be forced to make. But Cabin Fever feels less like a guy trying to remind you of how great 1983 was, and more like a guy who’s trying really, really hard to make a fun, gory horror flick. Plus, it manages to pull off some gross-out moments that are sincerely shocking. Even in the age of things like The Human Centipede trilogy, which is edgy middle-schooler humor brought to life, Cabin Fever can still make you feel weird.

Roth’s next film, Hostel, desperately wanted to be like one of the graphic Asian horror films that Roth is a fan of. The biggest difference is that stuff like Takashi Miike’s Audition and Kim Jee-woon’s I Saw The Devil manage to place interesting stories and dynamic characters around their torture setpieces. Roth’s characters are a couple of dumb guys, which is meant to say something about how young American adults kind of treat other countries like playgrounds that they can fuck in, but it mostly comes off as Roth needing characters who explicitly won’t grow or change, because an arc doesn’t really vibe with a drill to the chest.

Roth would later make The Green Inferno, a movie that I saw on opening day because I can’t be trusted with my own money or schedule, and his next movie is a Death Wish remake. Remember that series, the one about Charles Bronson putting bullets in crime and crime-related activities? I don’t know whose idea it was to give that movie to the guy whose most famous scene involves cutting someone’s Achilles tendons, but I feel like it might have been a bad call.

Daniel has a Twitter. Go to it. Enjoy yourself. Kick your boots off and stay for a while.

Watch Independence Day right here if you’re a true American, and get one of the cool aliens in adorable Funko form and pity Daniel Dockery for hating everything amazing in the world.

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Nightmarish villains with superhuman enhancements. An all-seeing social network that tracks your every move. A young woman from the trailer park and her very smelly cat. Futuristic Violence and Fancy Suits, a new novel about futuristic shit, by David Wong.

Source: http://allofbeer.com/5-directors-that-shouldve-stopped-after-one-movie/

from All of Beer https://allofbeer.wordpress.com/2018/09/06/5-directors-that-shouldve-stopped-after-one-movie/

[mayacatmaster]

One picture more than millions and millions words.

*** *** ***

I consider I am the giant stone statue of Easter Island.

As seer…. Observing the heavens and the earth, the sun and the moon, the planet, human beings, billions of years.

*** *** ***

And…:

I don't know you through your past, I know you through your heart. ~Mooji *** *** ***

Between egoism and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between man-made-rules and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between desires and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between your-origin-face and "Source"(Tao; True Self); *** *** *** Between your heart, my heart and another heart; *** No matter what... You learn more about someone at the end of a relationship than at the end beginning of it. *** *** ***

Life is "Tao"(True Self；Brahman) back to itself. I observed the sun, moon, stars orbit operation life. *** *** *** Because…: "Nature"(Tao；Ma-at；Logos; Source) never did betray the heart that loved her. *** *** *** So…: Follow the force that is guiding the whole universe is in you.  Pledge allegiance to your "Source"(God; True Self; Tao; Logos),  everything is done! ~Huangdi Yinfujing 「觀天之道，執天之行，盡矣！」: 黃帝陰符經； *** *** *** You are never along or helpless.  The force that is guiding the whole universe is in you too! *** *** *** Those who flow as "Life"(Tao; True Self; Source) flows know they need no other force. ~Lao tzu *** *** *** You have all the intelligence within you. TRUST, ALLOW and only listen to your own HEART! *** *** *** Use your own light and return to the Source of "Light"(Tao; True Self; Wisdom of Universal). This is called practicing eternity. ~Lao Tzu *** *** *** Always listen to your own heart, even if it is against what your family, society, culture of religion is telling you! *** *** *** If you see all the star swirls with the Big-Dipper,  Hundreds of millions of years and hundreds of millions of years,  No matter it is ancient and modern or east or west. *** *** *** It is through watching the "Cycles" of Nature that we more fully understand the cycles of our own lives. *** *** *** Four things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, the Big-Dipper and the “Truth”(True Self; Tao; Logos; Ma-at; Dharma; Source).  *** *** *** Do you know what the dominate reason for anyone who has a worthiness issue is ? They have plenty of negative emotion and they're willing to put up with it. Source is rooting for them, and they are rooting against themselves. ~Abraham *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Via and thanks “Abraham-Hicks: Inspirational Quotes” *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Through the modern world may know a million secrets, the ancient world knew "One"(Source; Tao; Ma-at; True Self; Brahma) - and that was greater than the million; for the million secrets breed death, disaster, sorrow, selfishness, lust, and avarice, but the "One"(Source; Tao; Ma-at; True Self; Brahma) secret confers life, light, and truth. ~Manly P. Hall *** *** *** What is that secret? *** *** *** When traversing the vast sea of loneliness, "Oneness"(Source; Tao；True Self；God) is the only true safe harbor, compass, lighthouses, guide, eternal guiding principles.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** In short there is nothing else anywhere, there is not a set of rules, there is not a stack of books, there are not teachers, there are not hidden documents, there is nothing outside of you that can come anywhere close to the Guidance that comes forth from within you. ~Abraham-Hicks, Great Awakening and Blending, AB–6, 1988 簡而言之,沒有任何其他地方,沒有任何一組規則,沒有任何一堆書,沒有任何一個老師,沒有任何隱藏的文檔,沒有什麼在你自性光明之外的"外法；外物；外人"，可以來接近那~~~出自你內在"真正自己"(大道；上主)自性光明的指引嚮導。 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** The reason that you ever feel any emotion at all is because Source is right there thinking about the same thing at the same time with you. So when you are in sync with the thought Source thinks about it, you feel good. But when you are out of sync with what Source thinks about it, you feel bad. ~Abraham August 23, 2014 Denver, CO *** *** *** Once you understand your own Emotional Guidance System, you will never again be confused about where you are in relationship to where you want to be. Also, you will feel, with each thought that you offer, whether you are moving closer to, or further from, your desired outcome. If you are using any other influence as your Source of Guidance, you will get lost and go off track, for no others understand, as you do, the distance between where you are and where you want to be. ~Abraham *** *** *** The Source within is thinking about the same thing that you're thinking about and has a very powerful opinion about the same thing that you're thinking about. And your emotions are letting you know whether the opinion, whether the KNOWING of the Source within you, meshes with, or is in discord with, the thought you are thinking. ~Abraham-Hicks

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Thank for “Abraham-Hicks” *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** You get what you expect, have you noticed that?  And so, how have you been programmed to expect?  *** *** *** No matter it’s use the name of “God”, Use the name of man-made-moral, Use the name of country,  Use the name of family,  Use the name of egoism,  *** *** *** Between your “God” and my “God”, kills each others,  Between your man-made-moral and my man-made-moral, kills each others,  Between your country and my country, kills each others,  Between your family and my family, kills each others,  Between your body and my body , kills each others,  *** *** *** And so, how have you been programmed to expect?  *** *** *** Because you already have been teach, …: Obey and you can't question it, self-inquiry it,...no matter what, just Kiss-any kind of Dark Tyranny Ruler’s-Ass. *** *** *** Humankind is the only virus cursed to live with the horrifying knowledge of its host's fragile mortality. *** *** *** And ~~~! The host kills the virus, or the virus kill the host. *** *** *** So, now you realized this…: Someone said:” Why just be a natural, real self became so difficult? Why is that so hard?”;  *** Someone said:” Why my fate and my life itself only meaning and highest value …: Are only built to Kiss-any kind of Dark Tyranny Ruler’s-Ass.  *** *** *** No matter it’s in a world, a country, a home, a mind-body. *** *** *** Because cultural-dogma-viral-infection-programmed-mind-system still running in your around… ><!!! *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 《Chuang Tzu:Horse's Hoofs -莊子：馬蹄 》 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Horses can with their hoofs tread on the hoarfrost and snow, and with their hair withstand the wind and cold; they feed on the grass and drink water; they prance with their legs and leap: this is the true nature of horses. Though there were made for them grand towers and large dormitories, they would prefer not to use them.  馬，蹄可以踐霜雪，毛可以禦風寒，齕草飲水，翹足而陸。此馬之真性也。雖有義臺、路寢，無所用之。 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** But when Bo-Le (arose and) said, 'I know well how to use man-made-law-standard manage horses tame them into so call good enough horses,' (men proceeded) to singe and mark them, to clip their hair, to pare their hoofs, to halter their heads, to bridle them and hobble them, and to confine them in stables and corrals. (When subjected to this treatment), two or three in every ten of them died. (Men proceeded further) to subject them to hunger and thirst, to gallop them and race them, and to make them go together in regular man-made-law -order. In front were the evils of the bit and ornamented breast-bands, and behind were the terrors of the whip and switch. (When so treated), more than half of them died.  及至伯樂，曰：「我善治馬。」燒之剔之，刻之雒之，連之以羈馽，編之以皁棧，馬之死者十二三矣；飢之渴之，馳之驟之，整之齊之，前有橛飾之患，而後有鞭筴之威，而馬之死者已過半矣。 @@@ *** @@@ *** @@@ *** @@@ Woman Walks Ahead (2018) *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Q:” So… Miss. Weldon…: How came you scared horses?”; *** *** *** A:” I get locked in a stables. My dad’s best horse, Sudan. I was 8 years olds. My father locked me in his purpose. Since then I never ride a horse.”; *** *** *** Q:” Why would he do that for you? *** *** *** A:” He decide I need told to obey. Tame like a horse. Because I was behaving not like lady. Because the way I wipe my mouth. ☆ ☆ ☆ I decide did the change. I am trying not care what people think me, that why I’m out here myself along going to this wilderness. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Woman Walks Ahead is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Susanna White and written by Steven Knight. The film is the story of Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a portrait painter who travels from New York to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes) in 1890.  *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** So, now you realized this…: ***  Hey, no matter what country, religion, moral, education-system, parents, teachers, elders, TV, radios, newspaper, medias…: Every time you “teach”(brainwash; indoctrinate) you children, just obey and you can’t question & self-inquiry it, ….: No matter what, just obey in the ways you have been programmed, …: *** *** *** Obey, just as a good Sheep, a white sheep, in your country, your family, your school, your work…! *** ** And, Your fate and the only meaning and highest value of life …: Are only built to Kiss-dark tyranny rulers-Ass. *** *** *** Adolph, here, calling from the past, I just love the way you're promoting my ideas! *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

And … Sometimes I wonder what it's like to be normal??? If my heart can make sure it not spider chaos the fly. *** *** *** What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. ~Morticia Addams *** *** *** If my heart can make sure my whole life can don’t became a lie, by so call ‘normal’. *** *** *** If my heart can make sure...so call normal is not just an illusion. *** *** *** No matter of it’s in morality, religion, political, education or country, family, personal-belief-system….! *** *** *** Because…: In the end, we'll all become stories. But in this-nowhere-time-space , What will be yours ? *** *** *** After you die you spend a lot of time reviewing your life, so be sure to make it interesting. *** *** *** Specially when…: Nation of sheep.  Ruled By Wolves & Tiger.  Owned By pigs. And I follow orders like a dog. It's what made me a "man"(woman; children). *** *** *** 【Ruler】: Between th frown of the tiger and smile of the wolf the flock is perished; the ruler claims himself as kind of the law, and the priest as the representative of “God”(religion-morality-belief-system), and between these two, the bodies are destroyed and souls wither into nothing. ~Gibran *** *** ***

[fatimakhans12345]

"The Marshall Plan at 70: What We Must Remember and What We Must Do for the Future". Speech by Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC

"The Marshall Plan at 70: What We Must Remember and What We Must Do for the Future". Speech by Federal Foreign Minister Sigmar Gabriel at the Center for Strategic and International Studies, Washington, DC

Heather Conley, Karen Donfried, Ladies and gentlemen,

Thank you very much for inviting me.

I am very glad that we have the opportunity to talk about the importance of George Marshall for the transatlantic partnership today. I think this is important because some people here in the US discussed about Europe as a conspiracy by Germany against the United States! So we thought it would be a good idea to show that the success of Europa was in the American interest. It is also good to remember what is possible when the US and Europe work together.

Thank you very much to the hosts, the Center for Strategic and International Studies and the German Marshall Fund, for making this possible.

And thank you also that you gave me such a generous amount of time for my introductory remarks. Seriously, I am not joking! I am saying this because George Marshall was only given elven minutes when he held his famous speech in Harvard almost 70 years ago.

Actually, when I met Rex Tillerson yesterday, he showed me the original text of Marshall’s speech. Fascinating! A document of only four pages, but full of thinking that has so greatly influenced our world. Sometimes we have documents with a lot of pages, but in the end it’s the opposite of good ideas. So Marshall shows us that it is really the quality that matters.  

I think it is also very interesting that this important speech occupies a prominent spot in the State Department.

With this short speech, George Marshall launched a policy that re-shaped our relations with the United States. The Marshall Plan is firmly rooted in the collective memory in Germany. It stands for the helping hand given by the U.S. to Germany, despite Germany having been responsible for so much violence and destruction.

Instead of demanding reparations, the U.S. helped us to rebuild our economy. We are still immensely grateful for this.

But the Plan’s importance goes way beyond the reconstruction of Germany. As Henry Kissinger put it: The speech marked a historic departure in American foreign policy.

The Marshall Plan set the course. My colleague Rex Tillerson told me yesterday: The US could have gone home after the World War II. But they decided to stay. And got invested in Europe – because it was in the interest of the United States to do so. This was an important and a good decision, I believe.

We are also living in a decisive period today – no, dear fans of the Washington Wizards, I am not referring to the NBA playoffs! I am referring to our transatlantic partnership!

I am convinced: We urgently need to renew this crucial transatlantic bond. Therefore, I think it would be smart to remember how Marshall helped to shape the world order that was so beneficial to the US and Europe over the last seven decades.

First, George Marshall’s policy primarily had nothing to do with altruism. It was a forward-looking policy. And a policy the U.S. adopted in pursuit of its own interests. As George Marshall put it: “It is only logical that the United States should do whatever it is able to do to assist in the return of normal economic health in the world.” And, as he then went on to say that without this economic health “there can be no political stability and no assured peace.” Today, we are in a situation where we are discussing in the US, in Europe and elsewhere in the world our defence spending. Of course, it is necessary. But if you go to the crisis hot spots of today, you will hear that sometimes military action is necessary, for example in the fight against ISIL. But once you come to a stable situation, it is necessary to build hope, especially for the younger generation. Because without economic development, you will not achieve peace and stability.

So, although the Marshall Plan focused mainly on economic issues, its political intention was also very clear: not only should the U.S. market be closely linked to European markets. In addition, the Plan was meant to promote political ties between European countries and with the U.S.

So, this is my second observation: Marshall knew that a strong and united Europe was in the interests of the United States. And it was in the interests of the U.S. to become involved in the world, not just through military alliances, but also by creating a close transatlantic community based on common interests and common values.

Ladies and gentlemen,

We are of course facing different challenges today than the world was facing during the times of George Marshall. But we are perhaps in a similarly critical phase. The liberal world order that Marshall contributed so much to is increasingly being called into question.

Some colleagues who just came back from the “One Belt, One Road” conference in China told me: There was a big map on the wall showing where the “One Belt, One Road” initiative should be implemented. Asia, Russia, Africa, Europe – all where shown on the map. But not the US! Maybe the Chinese know that the rules here in the US are different from the rules in China. But I would say that the rules in Europe are also different. So when Europe and the US, two leading economies in the world, will join our hands, we can set the standards for international cooperation, not only economically. But if we fail, others will fill this vacuum. So it is absolutely necessary for us to come back on a common track. We should be ambitious enough to set the standards for the 21st century!

Of course, economic balances are shifting. Asia, for example has become a leading economic player. But we also have to realize that this world order itself is no longer accepted by all countries. More countries than before are now demanding a greater voice. They are setting up international institutions that they think serve them better than those set up in New York and here in Washington 70 years ago. And we have to realize as well that illiberal countries and systems are on the rise.

So the question is: should we just stand by and watch this happening? Or should we do everything to make this world order fit for the 21st century?

I assume that George Marshall would have taken on this task – with a lot of optimism. And he even suggests a starting point for us today. He said in his speech that “the initiative [...] must come from Europe.” I believe he was right. We as Europeans should not wait for the US government to take the lead.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

for us as Europeans to take the initiative again in our transatlantic relations, we should tackle a few things at home in Europe.

First of all, we should not lean back now that Emmanuel Macron has won the elections in France; a victory I am delighted about. This victory represents a huge opportunity for Europe but it also means a great deal of responsibility for us. We should remember that eleven million French citizens voted for an extreme-right and anti-European party. And this is a problem not only in France but also elsewhere in Europe. So we have to do a lot of things to support Emmanuel Macron, because his success is the success of Europe. If he fails, Marine Le Pen will really be the next President of France – and we would have profound problems in Europe.

We must now ensure that we strengthen Europe - and I mean all countries in the European Union - politically and economically. Germany, as a nation at the heart of Europe, will be expected to take on even more responsibility and we as Germans should be more willing to compromise.

I am also convinced that we Europeans should not waste too much energy on internal wrangling. We must instead strengthen Europe so that we are able to assume greater international responsibility for peace and security. And Washington, but also Beijing and Moscow, will have to recognize that if you want to talk to Europe, it is not sufficient to talk to Germany or France. Many want to talk to Germany, my country, because of its economic success. But Europe is much more than Germany. Europe is a very special integrated community where you have more small countries than big countries. But we In Europe have to deal with each other as being on an equal footing. We really have to speak with one voice. Because even the voice of a strong Germany will not be heard in the future, if it is a lone voice. So we have to be integrated as Europeans and we ask our partners to look at the whole range of Europe and not only individual states. 

We are doing quite a lot already. For example, the European Union is working hard in Mali to help strengthen the country’s government and fight terrorism there.

Germany, too, has stepped up its international engagement. In recent weeks, I visited both Iraq and Somalia. In these countries, for example, we are helping to stabilize regions that have been devastated by ISIL and Al Shabab. Through means of stabilization and development aid, we are giving the local population better prospects for the future, and we are denying the terrorists their breeding grounds.

Our broad engagement is in part military, but it is just as much a civilian effort. Because the success of the Marshall Plan has taught us that promoting policy aims through civilian means, “soft power”, is at least as important as “hard power”.

That said, I also very much understand that the United States is asking Europe to invest more in its “hard power”, also by increasing its contributions to NATO military capabilities. This effort is already under way: Germany is spending more on defense and has increased its 2017 military budget by nearly 10%.

But we must not pretend that more military spending will automatically bring about more security and more peace.

I firmly believe that greater investment in defense must not occur at the expense of diplomacy, humanitarian aid and development aid. We need both.

And to be very honest: Spending more does not mean following utopian agendas. Spending 2% of the GDP each year would mean to double our investment in our army. That means to spend over 70 billion a year for our military. France, as a nuclear power, is spending 40 billion only. I asked Chancellor Merkel where we should put all the new aircraft carriers we would have to buy…To invest more is necessary but we should not overestimate what is necessary. Europe spends 50% of the American defence budget but we reach only 15% of the efficiency. So it is much more interesting to look at issues such as military integration and “smart spending”. That’s what we should do.  

We must also refocus on diplomacy – we need a diplomatic surge. As the current U.S. Secretary of Defense said in 2013: “If you don’t fund the State Department fully, then I need to buy more ammunition ultimately.”

Ladies and gentlemen,

Europe has to do its homework, that much is clear. Europe and the US also have to work together so that our societies can become closer again. We are facing a common problem: Our societies, whether in Europe or here in the United States, are becoming increasingly polarized internally. That is not good, for many reasons. It’s also dangerous for the transatlantic relationship.

Allow me to explain with an example. Many in Europe and in the United States are worried about their economic future. Economic nationalism is becoming more popular on both sides of the Atlantic.

I believe we must do a better job of communicating to our populations why the right answer still lies in the ideas of George Marshall – in his goal of a close economic transatlantic partnership.

When I hear that here in the U.S. there is discussion about Germany’s economic activities and the current account surplus, then I must say: We are prepared to have a dialogue on this. We will gladly explain how we see the connection of our economies. Many of the best and highest‑paid manufacturing jobs in the entire United States are created thanks to investments by German corporations. This is why a number of representatives of large German companies that invest in the U.S. are accompanying me on this trip. And we will travel on to Pittsburgh today, where we will look at how structural change can be shaped in a positive way – also with the help of German investment. By the way, George Marshall was born not far from Pittsburgh.

I am convinced that we need more and broader dialogue. This will require more than visits by ministers, or transatlantic experts convening in Washington, Berlin or Brussels.

That is why, in a joint effort with the business, academic, and cultural communities, we want to help raise Germany’s profile in the United States. I am therefore promoting, both here and in Germany, that we will have a “Year of Germany in the United States” in 2018 and 2019 – and vice versa.

It must become more normal again for younger generations to take a look at life on the other side of the Atlantic.

I want us to find new formats and ways to bring into contact the greatest possible range of people in our two societies. I want us to reach precisely those who would never think, or who could never afford, to take part in an exchange or travel program across the Atlantic.

Moreover, we have to continue to promote our established pillars of people‑to‑people dialogue. I am therefore strongly in favor of continuing our classic exchange format, the Congress Bundestag Youth Exchange Program.

Ladies and gentlemen,

I think that both the German and U.S. governments should commit to a new common transatlantic agenda.

We should renew the partnership that seeks to defend a peaceful and rules‑based order. For it is rules‑based international cooperation that will yield the “best deals” in the long run. Of that, I am convinced.

A partnership that fights for the separation of powers, for inalienable human rights, for the rule of law, and for representative democracy. Those values are in need of defense, today!

If we see eye to eye on this between the US and Germany, I am not worried that we sometimes disagree on specific topics.

Topics like climate change. Let me be quite frank: It is in Germany’s interest, and I believe actually in the interest of all of humanity, that the U.S. does not withdraw from the Paris Agreement. But there are understandable concerns here about possible negative effects on the U.S. economy. As a partner, we are talking with the US government about how measures to protect the climate can actually help strengthen national economic output. In Germany, we've seen this happen: renewable energies have been a positive factor for economic development. In fact, we think that measures which help us to fight climate change would be a good industrial policy even if we had not the problem of climate change. Because dealing with issues such as energy efficiency, using our resources smartly, these are issues that make our economies much stronger in the long run.

I believe that on key foreign policy issues our positions are very similar on both sides of the Atlantic. This applies to the conflict in Syria, and it also applies to policy on North Korea and on Iran. The list could go on.

However, despite having fundamentally similar interests, our beliefs sometimes differ with regard to the right strategy.

In Europe, for example, we are convinced that the nuclear deal is the best option for preventing Iran from obtaining nuclear weapons. Some here in Washington are far more skeptical.

These are not trivial details. These are serious political questions. That is why these debates are so intense, and that is actually a good thing.

Yet, in the end, we should be clear about one thing: in a world that is becoming increasingly complex joint action by the United States and Europe can make a tremendous difference.

Therefore, we must renew our transatlantic partnership! Together, we must defend our liberal and rules‑based world order.

And to close with the words of George Marshall: “It is to be hoped that the democratic nations can provide the necessary leadership.” We should take his words seriously.

Thank you for your attention.

from UK & Germany http://www.auswaertiges-amt.de/EN/Infoservice/Presse/Reden/2017/170518-BM_Marshall-Plan_70.html?nn=479796

#UK & Germany

[mayacatmaster]

【The Most-est Simple Formula For Living】:

Just don’t kiss any kind of dark-tyrant-ruler’s-ass by blind-obey.

*** *** ***

No matter of it’s on religion, morality-belief-system, political, education, social-family-belief-system, personal-belief-system or in country, in home, in one’s body-mind-heart-belief-system.

*** *** ***

Just don’t kiss any kind of dark-tyrant-ruler’s-ass by blind-obey.

*** *** ***

Because…:

The spirit of the individual is determined by his domination thought habits. ~Bruce Lee Kushandwizoom  *** *** *** No matter it’s in a world, a country, a home, a mind-body. *** *** *** You must became unfuckwithable. *** *** *** 【Unfuckwithable】: ***  [adj.]  When you're truly at peace and in touch with yourself,  When you're truly alignment with your "True Self"(Source; Tao; Brahman),  When you're truly love and alignment with your “Source”(True Self; Tao; Brahma),  And as a deliberate-alignment-creator  To help yourself get rid of painful & misery-vicious circle-life fruits,  To help yourself beautiful-dream-come true, to help yourself to get Sweet-fruits of life.…! *** *** *** No long as or became a brainwash sheep, no long let your mind been “indoctrinate”(brainwash) into, believe in…: Obey and you can't question it, self-inquiry it,...no matter what, just Kiss-any kind of Dark Tyranny Ruler’s-Ass. *** *** *** 【Unfuckwithable】: ***  [adj.]  No matter it’s in a world, a country, a home, a mind-body….: Nothing anyone says or does bothers you, no negativity of drama can touch you. Never have to follow anyone’s rules. No expectations of who you should become. No rules to abide by.  *** *** *** And you just know this, realized this…: ***  Follow the force that is guiding the whole universe is in you.  Pledge allegiance to your "Source"(God; True Self; Tao; Logos),  everything is done! ~Huangdi Yinfujing 「觀天之道，執天之行，盡矣！」: 黃帝陰符經； *** *** *** You are never along or helpless.

The force that is guiding the whole universe is in you too! *** *** ***

Well…:

I don't know you through your past, I know you through your heart. ~Mooji *** *** *** Between egoism and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between man-made-rules and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between desires and "Source"(Tao; True Self); Between your-origin-face and "Source"(Tao; True Self); *** *** *** Between your heart, my heart and another heart; *** No matter what... You learn more about someone at the end of a relationship than at the end beginning of it. *** *** *** Life is "Tao"(True Self；Brahman) back to itself. I observed the sun, moon, stars orbit operation life. *** *** *** Because…: "Nature"(Tao；Ma-at；Logos; Source) never did betray the heart that loved her. *** *** *** So…: Follow the force that is guiding the whole universe is in you.  Pledge allegiance to your "Source"(God; True Self; Tao; Logos),  everything is done! ~Huangdi Yinfujing 「觀天之道，執天之行，盡矣！」: 黃帝陰符經； *** *** *** You are never along or helpless.  The force that is guiding the whole universe is in you too! *** *** *** Those who flow as "Life"(Tao; True Self; Source) flows know they need no other force. ~Lao tzu *** *** *** You have all the intelligence within you. TRUST, ALLOW and only listen to your own HEART! *** *** *** Use your own light and return to the Source of "Light"(Tao; True Self; Wisdom of Universal). This is called practicing eternity. ~Lao Tzu *** *** *** Always listen to your own heart, even if it is against what your family, society, culture of religion is telling you! *** *** *** If you see all the star swirls with the Big-Dipper,  Hundreds of millions of years and hundreds of millions of years,  No matter it is ancient and modern or east or west. *** *** *** It is through watching the "Cycles" of Nature that we more fully understand the cycles of our own lives. *** *** *** Four things cannot be long hidden; the sun, the moon, the Big-Dipper and the “Truth”(True Self; Tao; Logos; Ma-at; Dharma; Source).  *** *** *** Do you know what the dominate reason for anyone who has a worthiness issue is ? They have plenty of negative emotion and they're willing to put up with it. Source is rooting for them, and they are rooting against themselves. ~Abraham *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Via and thanks “Abraham-Hicks: Inspirational Quotes” *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Through the modern world may know a million secrets, the ancient world knew "One"(Source; Tao; Ma-at; True Self; Brahma) - and that was greater than the million; for the million secrets breed death, disaster, sorrow, selfishness, lust, and avarice, but the "One"(Source; Tao; Ma-at; True Self; Brahma) secret confers life, light, and truth. ~Manly P. Hall *** *** *** What is that secret? *** *** *** When traversing the vast sea of loneliness, "Oneness"(Source; Tao；True Self；God) is the only true safe harbor, compass, lighthouses, guide, eternal guiding principles.

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** In short there is nothing else anywhere, there is not a set of rules, there is not a stack of books, there are not teachers, there are not hidden documents, there is nothing outside of you that can come anywhere close to the Guidance that comes forth from within you. ~Abraham-Hicks, Great Awakening and Blending, AB–6, 1988 簡而言之,沒有任何其他地方,沒有任何一組規則,沒有任何一堆書,沒有任何一個老師,沒有任何隱藏的文檔,沒有什麼在你自性光明之外的"外法；外物；外人"，可以來接近那~~~出自你內在"真正自己"(大道；上主)自性光明的指引嚮導。 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** The reason that you ever feel any emotion at all is because Source is right there thinking about the same thing at the same time with you. So when you are in sync with the thought Source thinks about it, you feel good. But when you are out of sync with what Source thinks about it, you feel bad. ~Abraham August 23, 2014 Denver, CO *** *** *** Once you understand your own Emotional Guidance System, you will never again be confused about where you are in relationship to where you want to be. Also, you will feel, with each thought that you offer, whether you are moving closer to, or further from, your desired outcome. If you are using any other influence as your Source of Guidance, you will get lost and go off track, for no others understand, as you do, the distance between where you are and where you want to be. ~Abraham *** *** *** The Source within is thinking about the same thing that you're thinking about and has a very powerful opinion about the same thing that you're thinking about. And your emotions are letting you know whether the opinion, whether the KNOWING of the Source within you, meshes with, or is in discord with, the thought you are thinking. ~Abraham-Hicks

*** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Thank for “Abraham-Hicks” *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

Otherwise...: You get what you expect, have you noticed that?  And so, how have you been programmed to expect?  *** *** *** No matter it’s use the name of “God”, Use the name of man-made-moral, Use the name of country,  Use the name of family,  Use the name of egoism,  *** *** *** Between your “God” and my “God”, kills each others,  Between your man-made-moral and my man-made-moral, kills each others,  Between your country and my country, kills each others,  Between your family and my family, kills each others,  Between your body and my body , kills each others,  *** *** *** And so, how have you been programmed to expect?  *** *** *** Because you already have been teach, …: Obey and you can't question it, self-inquiry it,...no matter what, just Kiss-any kind of Dark Tyranny Ruler’s-Ass. *** *** *** Humankind is the only virus cursed to live with the horrifying knowledge of its host's fragile mortality. *** *** *** And ~~~! The host kills the virus, or the virus kill the host. *** *** *** So, now you realized this…: Someone said:” Why just be a natural, real self became so difficult? Why is that so hard?”;  *** Someone said:” Why my fate and my life itself only meaning and highest value …: Are only built to Kiss-any kind of Dark Tyranny Ruler’s-Ass.  *** *** *** No matter it’s in a world, a country, a home, a mind-body. *** *** *** Because cultural-dogma-viral-infection-programmed-mind-system still running in your around… ><!!! *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** 《Chuang Tzu:Horse's Hoofs -莊子：馬蹄 》 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Horses can with their hoofs tread on the hoarfrost and snow, and with their hair withstand the wind and cold; they feed on the grass and drink water; they prance with their legs and leap: this is the true nature of horses. Though there were made for them grand towers and large dormitories, they would prefer not to use them.  馬，蹄可以踐霜雪，毛可以禦風寒，齕草飲水，翹足而陸。此馬之真性也。雖有義臺、路寢，無所用之。 *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** But when Bo-Le (arose and) said, 'I know well how to use man-made-law-standard manage horses tame them into so call good enough horses,' (men proceeded) to singe and mark them, to clip their hair, to pare their hoofs, to halter their heads, to bridle them and hobble them, and to confine them in stables and corrals. (When subjected to this treatment), two or three in every ten of them died. (Men proceeded further) to subject them to hunger and thirst, to gallop them and race them, and to make them go together in regular man-made-law -order. In front were the evils of the bit and ornamented breast-bands, and behind were the terrors of the whip and switch. (When so treated), more than half of them died.  及至伯樂，曰：「我善治馬。」燒之剔之，刻之雒之，連之以羈馽，編之以皁棧，馬之死者十二三矣；飢之渴之，馳之驟之，整之齊之，前有橛飾之患，而後有鞭筴之威，���馬之死者已過半矣。 @@@ *** @@@ *** @@@ *** @@@ Woman Walks Ahead (2018) *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Q:” So… Miss. Weldon…: How came you scared horses?”; *** *** *** A:” I get locked in a stables. My dad’s best horse, Sudan. I was 8 years olds. My father locked me in his purpose. Since then I never ride a horse.”; *** *** *** Q:” Why would he do that for you? *** *** *** A:” He decide I need told to obey. Tame like a horse. Because I was behaving not like lady. Because the way I wipe my mouth. ☆ ☆ ☆ I decide did the change. I am trying not care what people think me, that why I’m out here myself along going to this wilderness. *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** Woman Walks Ahead is a 2017 American biographical drama film directed by Susanna White and written by Steven Knight. The film is the story of Caroline Weldon (Jessica Chastain), a portrait painter who travels from New York to Dakota to paint a portrait of Sitting Bull (Michael Greyeyes) in 1890.  *** *** *** *** *** *** *** *** So, now you realized this…: ***  Hey, no matter what country, religion, moral, education-system, parents, teachers, elders, TV, radios, newspaper, medias…: Every time you “teach”(brainwash; indoctrinate) you children, just obey and you can’t question & self-inquiry it, ….: No matter what, just obey in the ways you have been programmed, …: *** *** *** Obey, just as a good Sheep, a white sheep, in your country, your family, your school, your work…! *** ** And, Your fate and the only meaning and highest value of life …: Are only built to Kiss-dark tyranny rulers-Ass. *** *** *** Adolph, here, calling from the past, I just love the way you're promoting my ideas! *** *** *** *** *** *** *** ***

And sometimes I wonder what it's like to be normal??? If my heart can make sure it not spider chaos the fly. *** *** *** What is normal for the spider is chaos for the fly. ~Morticia Addams *** *** *** If my heart can make sure my whole life can don’t became a lie, by so call ‘normal’. *** *** *** If my heart can make sure...so call normal is not just an illusion. *** *** *** No matter of it’s in morality, religion, political, education or country, family, personal-belief-system….! *** *** *** Because…: In the end, we'll all become stories. But in this-nowhere-time-space , What will be yours ? *** *** *** After you die you spend a lot of time reviewing your life, so be sure to make it interesting. *** *** *** Specially when…: Nation of sheep.  Ruled By Wolves & Tiger.  Owned By pigs. And I follow orders like a dog. It's what made me a "man"(woman; children). *** *** *** 【Ruler】: Between th frown of the tiger and smile of the wolf the flock is perished; the ruler claims himself as kind of the law, and the priest as the representative of “God”(religion-morality-belief-system), and between these two, the bodies are destroyed and souls wither into nothing. ~Gibran *** *** ***