mde2001

I actually would have cried if I had to be the one to make this! Heaps of respect!!!

I personally found xem pretty difficult, but I don't have any strong poison or steel types, I was a bit under leveled and I'm not very good, so I find most gym battles kind of difficult to be honest. However xe was the toughest one I've had in quite a while.

Happy Birthday Dan!!! I have so much respect for you to be honest. You are patient, have an incredible work ethic and always inspire everyone around here to act in the best way possible. Have an amazing day! You deserve it!

Happy Birthday Kam!!! I haven't spoken to you in ages given that the only time we really talked was redemption, but you're a pretty cool person and you're super talented, so that's always good! Have a great day!

Happy Birthday Lightseeker! You've been super helpful around the forums and that's something I respect and appreciate. So keep it up and have a great day!

Welcome back!!! I can't say we were ever particularly close or anything but I definitely remember you are you seemed pretty cool, so its good to have you back!

I'll take never need to sleep. It would give me so much more time to do stuff, which would be really helpful. The food is helpful, but given that I enjoy cooking anyway I think it goes a bit lower for me.

I'm honestly super conflicted over how to feel about this. I can't stand Comey, and I think his stupid announcement that they were reopening an investigation into Clinton is a large reason why we ended up with a Trump presidency. That being said, I find it pretty disturbing that you can fire someone who is leading an investigation into you being corrupt, and the fact that he did really does suggest that he has something to hide. I am constantly amazed by how little independence these people have in America, and your executive branch seems to have a disproportionately large amount of power. Independent statutory offices should be filled by the most competent people, and they shouldn't have to please politicians to keep their jobs.

Kind of. We're looking at implementing a few more community activities and competitions (which we will announce more about in due time), but we're not specifically implementing your suggestion. That being said, feel free to run any of these kind of things yourself if you want to. They won't be official competitions, but we have no problem with users creating their own contests if they wish to. In fact, creating stuff like that will even earn you some EXP if its clear you've put effort into it.

Australia: - Has an exceptionally good health care system that works for most people - Generally good quality of education - Very diverse environments in different areas of the country - Culturally diverse and generally accepting of this (although there is a bit of a white nationalist movement growing which isn't good) - Low poverty levels - Laws that protect the rights of minorities - Fair legal and political system

Bye Lugruf! I'll miss you! I didn't know you super well but we talked a bit and it was always enjoyable. Also remember to check in at least once every three months if you want to retain your ace membership.

Happy Birthday Godot! You're always really fun to chat with and serving on the auth team with you is great. Have a great day!

Garbodor, Exploud and Vanilluxe. I had never disliked any of them, I had just never really thought about putting them on my team. However in Reborn they were all hugely helpful and have remained in my rotation for the whole game.

While it is possible it may not work out for you, there's no point in giving up hope straight away. Actively try to spend time with them again, and if it seems like it genuinely isn't going to work, then you can just acknowledge that you've grown apart. However there is a good chance you'll remember why you used to be friends.

Happy Birthday!!! I haven't talked to you in ages, but I'm going to assume you're still a nice guy, so have a great day!

Happy Birthday DD! You've been such a great auth member (which is really the only thing I've known you as) and your dedication and upbeat nature is always appreciated. I know you may just be doing discord now and I really don't exist there much, but I'm glad you are still with us in any way! Have a great day!

I was rooting for Macron from the start so I'm really glad that he made it through to the second round. Le Pen is the worst. I really don't feel like Le Pen has any hope in winning round 2, given that every other relevant candidate has endorsed Macron, and he already had more of a primary vote than Le Pen. Of course based on some of the results on 2016 nothing is ever certain, but I feel pretty confident France isn't getting dumped into the alt right pile thank god. I may absolutely detest Le Pen, but I'll admit she is an excellent campaigner and it is almost impressive (albeit kind of terrifying) how far she's gotten. I don't like her message at all but it is clearly working on a much larger percentage of the population than I would have expected.

Yeah, I'm really not a big fan of the US justice system in general. Firstly, I am fundamentally opposed to the death penalty, and I honestly can't understand how a country like the US can still use it. I suppose growing up in a country that almost unanimously doesn't support it, the whole concept of killing prisoners is relatively foreign to me, but I share your logic on the fact that killing people for murdering others is sinking down to their level. Secondly, mandatory minimums are antiquated, idiotic and often rather racially charged. They serve no purpose other than removing the legitimacy of your court system. Thirdly, electing judges (which I realise is not a thing that is done everywhere) is an awful idea. Judges should be upholding the law, without having the worry about popular opinion. If a judge starts to make decisions based on getting themselves reelected, the poor people who are innocent but get tried as guilty are completely screwed over. There are some pretty interesting studies about number of death penalty sentences around the time of elections in some areas, which is pretty horrible. No judge should send someone to be killed for their own reelection. That judge also looked pretty interesting. His methods wouldn't really work in higher level cases, but it would certainly be interesting to see what happened if more local judges took that up.

Happy Birthday!!! I don't think I've ever spoken to you but have a great day none the less!

These are all things we award EXP for if we come across it. If anyone finds anything like this that they think deserves EXP, we encourage them to make a thread in the Samaritan's Speakeasy, and the appropriate EXP will be awarded.

Okay here are the answers. Sorry they took a while to come. There has been a lot of construction in my building recently which was making recording anything a bit difficult. Answers here

I don't think pokemon is the appropriate medium to discuss issues surrounding sexual assault or pedophilia in particular. It is too sensitive and personal an issue for some people, and it should be treated seriously. A game full of cutesy animated creatures would delegitimise the suffering of these people and it would almost certainly be handled poorly. While these things may have a place to be discussed in games, although probably not ones I would want to play, I feel like pokemon is an inappropriate medium for it.

I've gotta say I'm actually kind of on Trump's side here. I think this is the first thing he's done which I haven't hated. However, I'm not sure how pure his intentions were, as it could have either been in opposition to the atrocities committed by the Assad regime, which I would see as pure intentions, or it could have been a calculated move to boost his own political stability, in which case I would not think it was appropriate. However I am still pretty nervous that he's going to go well to far with this. A strategic bombing of a military base responsible for using chemical weapons on its own people in one thing, but starting a serious campaign in Syria is entirely different. The thing that concerns me about the overwhelmingly positive response he has received is that Trump has proven that he really likes it when people like him. This means he might have been given the impression that if his popularity is waning, all he needs to do is bomb Syria and he'll receive a boost in the polls. Syria has already suffered enough, and cannot become Trump's tool for popularity. That being said, the Assad regime's actions towards their own people was so horrific, I think the response was justified in this case. If countries like America can send a strong message that the use of chemical weapons against civilians is unacceptable, then I support them in doing so, provided that these actions don't cause more death and suffering for military civilians. While I think there were 4 non military people at the base in question who were killed, I don't view this action as an attack on civilian lives, and while it did not entirely achieve its mission, hopefully it at least showed that Trump was not just going to support Assad because of his ties to Russia. I think in some ways the whole chemical weapon attack was a twisted test on the Assad regime's part, as they wanted to see whether the new administration in America would stand by. Unless if there is another chemical attack I don't think Trump should even consider bombing Syria again, and I am not in favour of any further action, but I do think something needed to be done to show the Syrian government and the Russians that international standards need to be met in regards to the use of chemical weapons.