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I guess freedom truly has a price. Good to know... The world needs people like Muhammad Ali who were willing to risk financial gain for justice. The current wor

I guess freedom truly has a price. Good to know... The world needs people like Muhammad Ali who were willing to risk financial gain for justice. The current world is full of celebrity hypocrites, e.g. Lebron James, Kaepernick, Steve Kerr, Merkel, Trump, and now even the Pope...

jacquesm 6y ago
Merkel and Trump should never be in the same line-up. She's the real thing and Trump is a complete fraud.
- newbie578 6y ago
  Please do explain how is Merkel the real thing? She is known in Germany to not offend anybody, because she doesn't do anything. She doesn't dare raise a question to China and the genocide they are doing, but she is sure willing to insult Poland, or trash America because of Trump's tweets.
  - jacquesm 6y ago
    (1) Merkel is an accomplished scientist, Trump is a complete fraud. (2) Merkel tends to act from her principles, Trump doesn't have any that I've been able to detect. You may not agree with those principles but at least she has them. I don't always agree with her either but I can actually follow her reasoning and understand why to her these things make sense. (3) Merkel has an 88% approval rating from those in her own party, and 70%+ of those when polled across all of Germany. (4) The EU, not Germany in particular should take a much stronger stance on Human Rights issues in China, but realpolitik unfortunately seems to stand in the way of this. Insulting the Polish government (not Poland, you can't insult a country) is something that the Polish people that I know are going much further in than Merkel ever will, and with good reason. She doesn't trash America, she trashes Trump, and again, rightly so.
    - theandrewbailey 6y ago
      > (1) Merkel is an accomplished scientist, Trump is a complete fraud. Trump is an accomplished businessman with a large array of enterprises built over ~50 years. > (2) Merkel tends to act from her principles, Trump doesn't have any that I've been able to detect. Trump's principles mean that he puts American interests first, even if it means being an bully about it. He has principles; whether they are good or bad is another question.
      - jacquesm 6y ago
        Trump being an accomplished businessman is up for debate, when you start with a large fortune and you keep it that way or shrink it you may have a lot of business but you are not very successful. Even doubling your money in 30 years is not 'good business'. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Paul Graham and so on are 'good businessmen', Trump, not so much. Trump puts his own interests first. He doesn't give a damn about America as such as long as it serves his interest. I would think that by now this was clear.
        theandrewbailey 6y ago
        > Trump puts his own interests first. He doesn't give a damn about America as such as long as it serves his interest. It would be in Trump's interest to not be controversial, as that would make it easier to be re-elected. Since Trump is rich, it would also be his (but not America's) interest to have a growing pool of cheap labor. A large part of his political platform is purposefully built to restrict the available labor pool (H1B limits, border wall).
genoapol 6y ago
Muhammad Ali's views about China & Vietnam/Vietcong "I'm not gonna help nobody get something my negroes don't have. If I'm gonna die, I'll die now right here fighting you, if I'm gonna die. You my enemy. No Chinaman every called me a N or enslaved my people. My enemies are white people, not Viet Congs or Chinese or Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs, and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home." "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years."

jacquesm 6y ago

Merkel and Trump should never be in the same line-up. She's the real thing and Trump is a complete fraud.

newbie578 6y ago
Please do explain how is Merkel the real thing? She is known in Germany to not offend anybody, because she doesn't do anything. She doesn't dare raise a question to China and the genocide they are doing, but she is sure willing to insult Poland, or trash America because of Trump's tweets.
- jacquesm 6y ago
  (1) Merkel is an accomplished scientist, Trump is a complete fraud. (2) Merkel tends to act from her principles, Trump doesn't have any that I've been able to detect. You may not agree with those principles but at least she has them. I don't always agree with her either but I can actually follow her reasoning and understand why to her these things make sense. (3) Merkel has an 88% approval rating from those in her own party, and 70%+ of those when polled across all of Germany. (4) The EU, not Germany in particular should take a much stronger stance on Human Rights issues in China, but realpolitik unfortunately seems to stand in the way of this. Insulting the Polish government (not Poland, you can't insult a country) is something that the Polish people that I know are going much further in than Merkel ever will, and with good reason. She doesn't trash America, she trashes Trump, and again, rightly so.
  - theandrewbailey 6y ago
    > (1) Merkel is an accomplished scientist, Trump is a complete fraud. Trump is an accomplished businessman with a large array of enterprises built over ~50 years. > (2) Merkel tends to act from her principles, Trump doesn't have any that I've been able to detect. Trump's principles mean that he puts American interests first, even if it means being an bully about it. He has principles; whether they are good or bad is another question.
    - jacquesm 6y ago
      Trump being an accomplished businessman is up for debate, when you start with a large fortune and you keep it that way or shrink it you may have a lot of business but you are not very successful. Even doubling your money in 30 years is not 'good business'. Bill Gates, Elon Musk, Paul Graham and so on are 'good businessmen', Trump, not so much. Trump puts his own interests first. He doesn't give a damn about America as such as long as it serves his interest. I would think that by now this was clear.
      - theandrewbailey 6y ago
        > Trump puts his own interests first. He doesn't give a damn about America as such as long as it serves his interest. It would be in Trump's interest to not be controversial, as that would make it easier to be re-elected. Since Trump is rich, it would also be his (but not America's) interest to have a growing pool of cheap labor. A large part of his political platform is purposefully built to restrict the available labor pool (H1B limits, border wall).

genoapol 6y ago

Muhammad Ali's views about China & Vietnam/Vietcong "I'm not gonna help nobody get something my negroes don't have. If I'm gonna die, I'll die now right here fighting you, if I'm gonna die. You my enemy. No Chinaman every called me a N or enslaved my people. My enemies are white people, not Viet Congs or Chinese or Japanese. You my opposer when I want freedom. You my opposer when I want justice. You my opposer when I want equality. You won't even stand up for me in America for my religious beliefs, and you want me to go somewhere and fight, but you won't even stand up for me here at home." "Why should they ask me to put on a uniform and go 10,000 miles from home and drop bombs and bullets on Brown people in Vietnam while so-called Negro people in Louisville are treated like dogs and denied simple human rights? No I’m not going 10,000 miles from home to help murder and burn another poor nation simply to continue the domination of white slave masters of the darker people the world over. This is the day when such evils must come to an end. I have been warned that to take such a stand would cost me millions of dollars. But I have said it once and I will say it again. The real enemy of my people is here. I will not disgrace my religion, my people or myself by becoming a tool to enslave those who are fighting for their own justice, freedom and equality. If I thought the war was going to bring freedom and equality to 22 million of my people they wouldn’t have to draft me, I’d join tomorrow. I have nothing to lose by standing up for my beliefs. So I’ll go to jail, so what? We’ve been in jail for 400 years."