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#102965

I wonder who’ll be next week’s Prime Minister?

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  • #146832

    And it’s worth noting that a lot of people lie about who they vote for and why, especially conservatives.  Almost everyone wants to be liked and wants to think of themselves as a good person, even as they vote for Trump because they want him to punish liberals and queers and black and brown people.  It’s part of why you get conspiracy theories around a liberal-controlled media

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  • #146833

    Ye is barred from the UK, no Nazis here and the festival that booked him has collapsed.

    Excellent news.

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  • #146834

    And it’s worth noting that a lot of people lie about who they vote for and why, especially conservatives.  Almost everyone wants to be liked and wants to think of themselves as a good person, even as they vote for Trump because they want him to punish liberals and queers and black and brown people.  It’s part of why you get conspiracy theories around a liberal-controlled media

    I saw this story this morning:

    “A pro-Trump retail store in Crystal Lake, Illinois, has been forced to close after a sharp collapse in demand for MAGA merchandise following the escalation of the Iran war. The owner said sales “died the minute” U.S. airstrikes began, with foot traffic dropping to just a handful of visitors per day and most not making purchases. She attributed the downturn to widespread uncertainty and discomfort among supporters, who may now avoid publicly signaling political allegiance due to fear of confrontation or scrutiny.

    “The business, which sold items like hats, flags, and pro-Trump apparel, had initially performed well after relocating earlier in the year but quickly became financially unsustainable. The owner reported she was unable to cover basic expenses like rent and had already considered shifting to an online-only model before shutting down. She emphasized that the store was intended as a community space, but interest evaporated despite prior demand and promises of support.”

    People who admitted to voting for Trump, in some cases THREE TIMES, are ENRAGED that his actions are fucking THEM over! Costs are going up, they’re forced to close businesses, they’re losing their jobs, etc. That was only supposed to happen to the OTHERS! They’re also pissed because of the Iran War.

    They have entered the “Find Out” stage of Fuck Around and Find Out.

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  • #146836

    And a good chunk of those people are ex-military and armed.

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  • #146838

    Can anyone actually make sense of asians canvassing for RefUK? Had one just now.

    “Hi, can I count on your vote for Reform in the 7 May elections?”

    “…Probably not, bye.”

    They would be booting this guy’s arse out of the country if they got in and he’s helping them!

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  • #146839

    And a good chunk of those people are ex-military and armed.

    Yep, and they are royally pissed at Trump. While many people broke from him at different points for different reasons, the attack on Iran seems to be crossing the Rubicon for many of them. He promised “no more wars” and always said that the Democrats would be the ones to start a war with Iran and he wouldn’t. They are losing their shit over this. Fuck, even Alex Jones is calling for Trump’s removal!

    An aside: I say this as an armed Texan; you would be surprised how many people on the left are armed as well.

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  • #146840

    Can anyone actually make sense of asians canvassing for RefUK? Had one just now.

    “Hi, can I count on your vote for Reform in the 7 May elections?”

    “…Probably not, bye.”

    They would be booting this guy’s arse out of the country if they got in and he’s helping them!

    Sounds like “Hispanics for Trump” over here.

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  • #146841

    Yup, it’s bonkers.

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  • #146843

    Can anyone actually make sense of asians canvassing for RefUK? Had one just now.

    “Hi, can I count on your vote for Reform in the 7 May elections?”

    “…Probably not, bye.”

    They would be booting this guy’s arse out of the country if they got in and he’s helping them!

    They think they’re the good ones that will be spared.  But the fascists come for everyone eventually.

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  • #146844

    Yep, and they are royally pissed at Trump. While many people broke from him at different points for different reasons, the attack on Iran seems to be crossing the Rubicon for many of them. He promised “no more wars” and always said that the Democrats would be the ones to start a war with Iran and he wouldn’t.

    I think we can all agree that he’s brought the FIFA Peace Prize into disrepute through his actions.

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  • #146875

    TACOs is now served, without radiation.

    More seriously, get this bastard out of office, stick a banana skin on the stairs, send him through a window, whatever’ll do the job.

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  • #146876

    Yep, and they are royally pissed at Trump. While many people broke from him at different points for different reasons, the attack on Iran seems to be crossing the Rubicon for many of them. He promised “no more wars” and always said that the Democrats would be the ones to start a war with Iran and he wouldn’t.

    I think we can all agree that he’s brought the FIFA Peace Prize into disrepute through his actions.

    Unethical behavior and actions associated with FIFA?!?!

    Madness, I tell you! MADNESS!!!

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  • #146877

    Yep, and they are royally pissed at Trump. While many people broke from him at different points for different reasons, the attack on Iran seems to be crossing the Rubicon for many of them. He promised “no more wars” and always said that the Democrats would be the ones to start a war with Iran and he wouldn’t. They are losing their shit over this. Fuck, even Alex Jones is calling for Trump’s removal!

    You have to imagine that all truly professional proper ex-military people are completely disgusted with what Hegseth has been doing, anyway. It’s so obviously a shit-show, and a loudmouth nonsense show at that by somebody who actually doesn’t really understand what he’s talking about.

    Not to mention that he actively, desperately wants to commit war crimes and is a religious fanatic.

    I am sure there are some people, military and ex-military who love that kind of shit, too. But I very much doubt this kind of extremist macho bullshit appeals to a majority even of military culture.

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  • #146879

    Does raise the Q of who on earth it is for. On second thoughts, don’t need the answer.

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  • #146881

    Crazy thing that Alex Jones is calling for the 25th amendment to remove Trump and my own government in the Netherlands is saying, well we shouldn’t demonize Trump, we have to work together.

  • #146882

    You have to remember who the people were that were all in favor when Trump openly threatened to genocide the Iranians but who are now back to saying “we have to save the Persian people from the evil Islamist regime”.

  • #146885

    This day in history: On April 8, 2013, Margaret Thatcher died after suffering a stroke.

    Celebrate responsibly.

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  • #146887

    So it looks like the Iran ceasefire is fucked within less than a day because Israel just can’t stop bombing people

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  • #146895

    So it looks like the Iran ceasefire is fucked within less than a day because Israel just can’t stop bombing people

    Israel really needs to undergo “regime change”.

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  • #146897

    The two genders:

     

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  • #146903

    Apparently the Pentagon threatened the pope. That seems in line with this administration. It’s all very antichristian.

     

    https://newrepublic.com/post/208820/pentagon-threatened-pope-criticized-donald-trump

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  • #146906

    Anti-Catholic prejudice is baked in deep in the US.  It’s not even 100 years ago they were screaming that electing JFK as President would be handing the nation over to the Vatican.

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  • #146922

    All the misinformation around this war in Iran has been amazing. Of course from Trump, but the pro-Iranian side also made up incredible lies. Claiming all of Tel Aviv was reduced to rubble.

  • #146926

    Israel is calling their current actions in Lebanon “Operation Eternal Darkness”. They’re really as crazy as the nazis were.

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  • #146928

    Israel is calling their current actions in Lebanon “Operation Eternal Darkness”. They’re really as crazy as the nazis were.

    On one hand, the Big Beautiful Bill; on the other, Operation Eternal Darkness. Chances are none of us will see 2030.

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  • #146931

    Anti-Catholic prejudice is baked in deep in the US.  It’s not even 100 years ago they were screaming that electing JFK as President would be handing the nation over to the Vatican.

     

    People can say about the Vatican what they want but I think their stance on these wars that have been going on, in Ukraine, Gaza and Iran (there are other wars as well but I haven’t heard the pope comment on them) has been very consistently on the side of peace.

     

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    Ben
  • #146937

    It might seems like a good thing that there is so much infighting now in MAGA circles but there is a big shift towards what is pure antisemitism happening. Tucker Carlson is instrumental in this, getting people like Darryl Cooper on his show who is a huge antisemite. And he also had Nick Fuentes on I think.

     

    Criticizing Israel is one thing, but people should never generalize, saying the faults of Israel prove that Jews are simply bad people. Of course the same is true for all ethnic groups. For instance I think you can criticize certain things about Islamic countries and the religion of Islam, but don’t generalize about all Muslims.

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    Ben
  • #146941

    There’s a particularly insidious looping on Israel / Judaism.

    Israel does its usual sledgehammer brutality, claiming its both justified by terrorism and any criticism is anti-semitic, cue global revulsion and criticism. Then some idiot attacks a synagogue, cue Israel using that as further justification for brutality. And around it goes, technical enemies practically supporting each other. I’ve no idea how this vicious circle gets broken.

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  • #146944

    The Dutch Voedingscentrum (food centre) in its new guidelines said we should ideally eat no more than 300 grams of meat a week, of which 100 grams of red meat. That’s about the amount of meat people eat in countries like Togo and Niger. I don’t think people there are healthier than us.

     

    The suspicion many have is that it’s not about health, it’s about what they believe is good for the climate. Health is sacrificed for climate goals.

  • #146970

    Criticizing Israel is one thing, but people should never generalize, saying the faults of Israel prove that Jews are simply bad people. Of course the same is true for all ethnic groups. For instance I think you can criticize certain things about Islamic countries and the religion of Islam, but don’t generalize about all Muslims.

    Yeah, right now it’s really important to protect Jews in other countries from anti-semitism. While also calling out Israel’s genocide and further war crimes.

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  • #146986

    Looks like a huge win for the opposition in Hungary! Nice.

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  • #146987

    Orban has conceded. It’s over.

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  • #146988

    Yup, a superb result in Hungary.

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/12/hungary-election-latest-results-viktor-orban-peter-magyar-fidesz-tisza-russia-europe-live-news-updates

    Next, Farage and Reform, Trump and co, all the other euro-bastards.

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  • #146990

    Hopefully…

     

    I have my problems with parties that are on the left, but the right is just evil. Sucking up to Trump and Netanyahu and using all foreigners as scapegoats. It’s pretty bad

     

    Our King Willem Alexander and PM Jetten are having a meeting with Trump this week. Weird timing.

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  • #146999

    I watched a podcast with Dutch philosopher Haroon Sheikh about the sinister ideas in Silicon Valley about AI, where society is heading, and how they intermingle with politics. It’s all pretty upsetting.

     

    Many of them believe in radically changing human nature, getting rid of empathy, letting the weak perish. Like what Nietzsche says, that which is falling should be pushed.

     

    He also talked about Thiel weaponzing “mimetic desire”, and the scapegoat mechanism, ideas he got from the French philosopher Rene Girard. It’s about how people copy each other’s desires, which leads to competition for certain things like resources and power and results in violence against scapegoat minorities.

  • #147016

    Criticizing Israel is one thing, but people should never generalize, saying the faults of Israel prove that Jews are simply bad people. Of course the same is true for all ethnic groups. For instance I think you can criticize certain things about Islamic countries and the religion of Islam, but don’t generalize about all Muslims.

    Yeah, right now it’s really important to protect Jews in other countries from anti-semitism. While also calling out Israel’s genocide and further war crimes.

    Really it just comes down to fairness…I think you can condemn anyone, Jew or not Jew, who does something bad or has horrible opinions. But you can’t attack someone for their group identity. That doesn’t make sense.

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  • #147051

    Can’t imagine why the Republicans party is chock full of paedophiles

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  • #147053

    After the glorious victory of the US telling the Pope to shut up about theology, cometh the day that the Hegseth did rally his mighty warriors by invoking Ezekiel 25:17.

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  • #147063

    Can’t imagine why the Republicans party is chock full of paedophiles

    I wonder when people are going to accept we have to work around this?

    Essentially this is an issue affecting every developed country, quite a few developing too, and no solution has worked. Even India is now below replacement level. Singapore loosened laws on sex in films to get people friskier, Nordic countries have put in generous parental leave and child support, Korea has given a whopping $280bn in cash or voucher incentives and it still keeps reducing, they are rock bottom globally.

    Orban’s right wing autocracy made it a key policy aim to have replacement fertility rate of 2.1 by 2030, spending a whopping 5% of GDP on it and essentially got nowhere much. It remains around 0.3% lower than most western European countries, probably because they clamped down on migration and new migrants tend to have more kids.

    So basically short of forced birthing camps or some other fascist nightmare nothing works other than migration. Maybe countries like Japan that are looking at things like how robotics can provide elderly care are being more realistic.

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  • #147064



    We can only dream of being this right on the internet. Exactly 1 year.

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  • #147066

    Can’t imagine why the Republicans party is chock full of paedophiles

    I wonder when people are going to accept we have to work around this?

    Essentially this is an issue affecting every developed country, quite a few developing too, and no solution has worked. Even India is now below replacement level. Singapore loosened laws on sex in films to get people friskier, Nordic countries have put in generous parental leave and child support, Korea has given a whopping $280bn in cash or voucher incentives and it still keeps reducing, they are rock bottom globally.

    Orban’s right wing autocracy made it a key policy aim to have replacement fertility rate of 2.1 by 2030, spending a whopping 5% of GDP on it and essentially got nowhere much. It remains around 0.3% lower than most western European countries, probably because they clamped down on migration and new migrants tend to have more kids.

    So basically short of forced birthing camps or some other fascist nightmare nothing works other than migration. Maybe countries like Japan that are looking at things like how robotics can provide elderly care are being more realistic.

    I still don’t really understand why this is happening. It’s really happening everywhere except a fe African countries.

     

    I think increased wealth is one factor probably, people don’t need kids anymore to look after them when they’re old, because the state takes care of that.

  • #147067

    It’s the structure of a developed society in the first instance. In Africa the numbers are high because still a large number live off the land or have their own local trade, so more kids helps them to increase the labour and output. For the rest of us kids are a cost and quite a heavy one.

    The replacement number really requires a significant chunk of people to have 3 or more kids as some will always choose not have them or not find a partner or have medical reasons they can’t. So to get to a 2.1 replacement figure you’d need a lot of couples who don’t have those issues to have 3 kids.

    However it’s hard to justify a reason why you would have 3, of my contemporaries from my college days none have more than 2. I stopped at 2 for those reasons, the main driver for 2 is so they get siblings and don’t feel isolated.  You will still have the support in old age with 1 or 2, housing is expensive and increasingly urban so with each child come a need for more space which is either expensive or unavailable.

    The various grants the countries I mention above give are expensive for the state but also just mitigate costs for the individual, reduced childcare is nice but still more expensive than no childcare. I think to really inspire a baby boom you’d need to make it profitable for the individual which in essence it is for those African families.

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  • #147069

    I’ve seen a fair bit of theorising that there’s a population stability point that we’ll reach as quality of life improves globally and birth rates decline naturally as a result.  The thing is, that stability point will be below current global population levels and it means a ramping down of current industrial activity and production.  It’s hard to countenance that in a world where infinite economic growth is mandated though.

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  • #147070

    Yes 100%. Heads are being buried in the sand because this is already happening in my mind. Outside Africa and a few Middle East counties nobody is delivering replacement numbers of 2.1 and above.  Plus no approach from a left or right government has been able to change it. Orban had 16 years, massive power and spent 5% of GDP (more than even the US spends on defence, they were at 3.4% last year) and it changed nothing.

    So a realistic politician now has two options, immigration from Africa would allow population growth at least for the next few decades until they may also plateau or devise a different economic model.

     

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  • #147076

    It’s a conundrum. But Gar is probably right, at its core it’s just capitalism at work probably. Babies don’t make sense economically. That’s the hard truth, and it probably accounts for most of the decline. You can say you should counter that by spreading the conservative message that childbearing is an essential part of life, but many people just aren’t receptive to that. They look at their wallet.

     

    It’s noteworthy that even conservative societies, like Iran for instance and Hungary like Gar said, are seeing the decline. Israel is an exception, with a birth rate of 2.92 child per woman on average.

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  • #147077

    Yes Israel is the exception in developed countries but I think it’s also hard to replicate. Reading about it seems the main driver is orthodox Jewish families following a religious command to have a lot of children. They are rating that strict adherence above financial considerations. It’s clear though in Catholic majority countries like in southern Europe of Philippines people are no longer that devoted to follow a no contraception instruction over what they can afford.

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  • #147080

    One of the things that drives me most crazy is that all Western countries know that we do need immigration, but none of them are acting to fix the actual problems of it and instead just focus on shutting immigration down. Which would be a bigger problem than the ones we have now.

    Sigh.

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  • #147083

    Replacement migration is going pretty well though. The Netherlands grew from 16 to 18 million in the last two decades and that isn’t due to births.

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  • #147086

    It’s difficult because countries like the Netherlands and UK and Germany have grown population through immigration and it hasn’t been well received so they have various policies to cut back dramatically. Under a centre left government in the UK it is predicted it may actually reverse next year and go negative.

    It’s not just bigotry really despite that being a big part of it, the UK added 700k in a year under Sunak which didn’t match any home building, it was haphazard and not planned or measured.

  • #147088

    I wonder if there is a connection between the modern sense of hopelessness and the decline of the birth rate. We’ve all seen those articles of GenX and millenials saying “I will not have kids, because of the climate change.” Or the more general “It is not fair to bring children into such a cruel world.”

     

  • #147089

    There’s other aspects to that too, like feeling they’re not in a position to have kids amid insecure employment, housing and the general cost of living.

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  • #147091

  • #147093

  • #147094

    (Still I agree the economic factor is probably the most important here.)

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  • #147095

    I wonder if there is a connection between the modern sense of hopelessness and the decline of the birth rate. We’ve all seen those articles of GenX and millenials saying “I will not have kids, because of the climate change.” Or the more general “It is not fair to bring children into such a cruel world.”

     

    My suspicion would be it plays a part for some but it is primarily economic. Reason being that regardless of the culture or the environment, from Sweden to Argentina or Korea or Canada the pattern to reduction falls the same as the countries become wealthier but the economic model makes children a cost.

    https://news.osu.edu/most-women-want-children–but-half-are-unsure-if-they-will/

    This article based on a US survey matches that, a big drop in the birth rate has come since 2008 and the great recession, the number of women on a yes/no question of whether they want kids hasn’t changed. The more nuanced question of whether they think they will has reduced.

    That study found that as people’s dissatisfaction with their own lives increased, they were less likely to think they would have a child. But concerns about the difficulty of life for today’s young people and evaluations about problems in the community were not related to their goals to have children.

    “It was a bit of a surprise to us, but it was only their personal situation that mattered to whether they expected to have children,” Hayford said.

    “It wasn’t so much what was going on in society that predicted their fertility goals.”

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  • #147098

    “It was a bit of a surprise to us, but it was only their personal situation that mattered to whether they expected to have children,” Hayford said.

    I’m really not surprised. We don’t have kids, both my wife and I have reasonably good jobs, nothing too impressive, but comfortable enough. I don’t know how we could have afforded child care.

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  • #147102

    “It was a bit of a surprise to us, but it was only their personal situation that mattered to whether they expected to have children,” Hayford said.

    I’m really not surprised. We don’t have kids, both my wife and I have reasonably good jobs, nothing too impressive, but comfortable enough. I don’t know how we could have afforded child care.

    No I am not surprised either. I know pretty much every decision my wife and I have made around children has had a financial element and Ben earlier was right that financial uncertainty doesn’t help. For my father’s generation as long as you didn’t fuck up you had a job for life, I have been laid off because of restructuring, not my job performance, 3 times in 15 years (one I managed to find a sideways move at the last minute).

    This summer I am moving back to the UK with my son, splitting the family for a couple of years, because it will save us between £60-90,000 in university fees we can’t avoid otherwise. As Bill Clinton’s plaque said ‘it’s the economy stupid’ as the answer to 99% of problems.

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  • #147118

    Damn, I knew foreign students were treated as a cash cow by UK universities, but not the scale of it. It’s clearly gone way up over the last 30 years.

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  • #147120

    Christel and I never wanted children. (Hell, we don’t even have a pet.) We really never had a desire to have one.

    We probably could have afforded one, but we much preferred to have the ability go do whatever we wanted whenever we wanted.

    We do not regret our decision.

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  • #147124

    In the Netherlands 78 % now have a negative view of Israel but this doesn’t translate into the polls. Most voters would still vote for right wing and centrist parties that want to be pals with Israel.

     

    I think it’s mostly because of a few economic issues. For instance home owners could lose the tax deduction of interest they pay on their mortgage if there would be a left wing cabinet.

  • #147131

     

    Chuck Schumer is a blut und boden ethnonationalist for Israel.

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  • #147133

    A pretty good video on population collapse.

  • #147134

    Attention, The Onion once again owns Info Wars.

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  • #147136

    And Tim Heidecker is in charge

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  • #147137

    And Tim Heidecker is in charge

    I would love to see him go full Decker on the site.

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  • #147138

    Full Decker??

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  • #147184

    Kegsbreath ends mandatory military vaccination and blames Biden.

    The actual perp? Washington. 1777.

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  • #147214

    Another violent anti asylum protest here.

     

    Part f the problem is that right wing governments have given ever less money to asylum centres. This means many asylum seekers now need to be housed in emergency locations which are often inappropriate. This again strengthens the anti asylum sentiment.

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  • #147216

    Yeah, that’s something right-wing governments always seem to do – cutting money for the basic necessities for the refugees as well as for integration measures. Both makes the situation massively worse, allowing them to further blame the refugees themselves. I mean, I get it when you have an outright fascist government, but it’s funny that the centre-right conservative parties always fall into this trap by wanting to appear tough on migration, not realising they’re just pushing more and more of their own voters towards the radical right-wing parties.

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  • #147217

    We’ve had 15-20 years of freedom of speech / marketplace of ideas idiocy encouraging the far right. It was previously understood by prior generations that these people, probably 10-30% of the population, have to be contained. They can’t be converted or reasoned with. It’s damage control.

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  • #147219

    Yeah that core is always voting right, or today far right. The others just have to bring better ideas to the table. In a democracy you will always have the risk that the middle votes for parties willing to work with the far right.

     

    (That is if they don’t vote for the far right candidate, like in the US with Trump)

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  • #147221

    Honestly the left has the right answers for most things, but some stuff the left does and says is stupid and works against them. They need to become better at the game of politics and democracy.

     

    The Netherlands is becoming ever more right wing. Luckily some of the right wing parties are so crazy that the centre right won’t work with them. But eventually they could go after social security and welfare. It would suck, I can live with a little bit less money as my rent is low but for some people it culd be disastrous.

  • #147323

    Supreme Court and Voting Rights Act:

    https://www.cnn.com/2026/04/29/politics/takeaways-supreme-court-voting-rights-act

    Sotomayor and Ketaji-Brown were outnumbered

    • This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Al-x.
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  • #147325

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/30/europe-germany-troops-trump-threat-iran-eu-france-latest-news-updates

     

    Of course Trump is terrible but Merz sucks as well. He went from saying “Trump is doing our dirty work for us” to “LOL Trump is stupid, Iran won the war”. Seeimingly forgetting he himself supported the war in Iran when it began.

     

    It’s all so irrational. Like these people lack the awareness of the consequences of their words and actions.

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  • #147328

    University of Sussex overturns £585,000 fine as high court rejects free speech breach claim.
    The University of Sussex has overturned a £585,000 fine from England’s higher education watchdog after the high court rejected claims that the university breached free speech regulations in a case involving a former professor.

    The ruling is a damaging blow to the credibility of the Office for Students as the court rejected the regulator’s lengthy investigation involving Kathleen Stock’s 2021 resignation, which came after protests over her views on transgender rights and gender identity.

    Mrs Justice Lieven found that the regulator’s decision was biased towards punishing Sussex as an example to other universities.

    Lieven wrote that the OfS’s final decision to fine the university a record £585,000 “was vitiated by bias because the OfS approached the decision with a closed mind and had therefore unlawfully predetermined the decision”.

    The judgment also found that the OfS misapplied concepts of freedom of speech and academic freedom, exceeded its regulatory powers and refused to consider any changes made by Sussex or similar cases at other universities.

    “The evidence supports a finding that the OfS had closed its mind to anything that would lead to not finding breaches and being unable to therefore sanction the university,” the ruling concluded.

    The judgment was highly critical of Susan Lapworth, the OfS’s previous chief executive, saying she wanted to investigate Sussex to send a “strong signal” on freedom of speech to other universities, and that Lapworth’s “mindset from the outset appears to have been that she wished to use the university as a tool to incentivise the rest of the sector”.

    The result also calls into question the role of Arif Ahmed, the former University of Cambridge philosopher who took over the investigation into Sussex as the OfS’s first director for freedom of speech and academic freedom.

    The judgment referred to correspondence between Ahmed and Stock before Ahmed’s OfS appointment in 2023, with the pair exchanging compliments and criticising a non-binary US academic. It also showed that despite concerns about Ahmed’s potential conflict of interest, the OfS eventually enabled him to take a role in the investigation.

    Lieven cleared Ahmed of influencing the final decision, saying: “The die had already been well cast by then.” But the judgment noted: “If Dr Ahmed had been the decision-maker I would in all probability have found that he had predetermined the decision by reason of having a closed mind.”

     

    • This reply was modified 1 week, 5 days ago by Martin Smith.
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  • #147334

    Kathleen Stock can get fuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuucked

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  • #147339

    I just saw a poll that said the Netherlands was one of the countries most critical of Israel, in the world…this is a huge reversal from the past. We always used to be one of the most pro-Israel countries in the world. On X it looks very different, there are a lot of Dutch posters who attack everything even slightly critical of Israel. Probably not all organic posters.

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  • #147341

    https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2026/apr/30/europe-germany-troops-trump-threat-iran-eu-france-latest-news-updates

     

    Of course Trump is terrible but Merz sucks as well. He went from saying “Trump is doing our dirty work for us” to “LOL Trump is stupid, Iran won the war”. Seeimingly forgetting he himself supported the war in Iran when it began.

     

    It’s all so irrational. Like these people lack the awareness of the consequences of their words and actions.

    Part of it is that Merz seems to be good a sucking up to Trump when he’s around him, but he’s also aware that supporting Trump in any way wouldn’t fly here in Germany.

    US troop reduction would hit Germany hard in terms of security, but also economically. But then again, Ramstein is their door to the Middle East, so I don’t really see this happening.

  • #147346

    That Voting Rights Act being gutted. All the 60s protests, marches, speeches, riots to get it all rolled back.
    The same situation (although earlier) with Roe v Wade, affirmative action/DEI etc. All the struggles to get those rights/gains all being undone now.
    As for the SCOTUS makeup now, there were 4 seats that would have went the other way. It hurts.
    Well, here is to the ones who tried to do right by the people but are always outnumbered. (Makes me wonder about their workplace):

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  • #147348

    That Voting Rights Act being gutted. All the 60s protests, marches, speeches, riots to get it all rolled back.
    The same situation (although earlier) with Roe v Wade, affirmative action/DEI etc. All the struggles to get those rights/gains all being undone now.
    As for the SCOTUS makeup now, there were 4 seats that would have went the other way. It hurts.
    Well, here is to the ones who tried to do right by the people but are always outnumbered. (Makes me wonder about their workplace):

    Then you have Clarence Thomas who has benefitted from every law he is gutting.

  • #147352

    Trump tears up another trade deal, this time on EU car imports, because it’s taking too long. The US’ reputation was already in the crapper, now it’s traversing the U-bend.

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  • #147353

    Trump tears up another trade deal, this time on EU car imports, because it’s taking too long. The US’ reputation was already in the crapper, now it’s traversing the U-bend.

    Trump is doing donuts in the parking lot – going nowhere fast.

  • #147364

    These violent anti-asylum protests have really rattled me. It’s an escalation of what has happened so far with the far right here. Gangs of people roaming around, breaking things, settting things on fire and hurling the most offensive slurs about minorities, including black people and Jews…Fascism is here.

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  • #147377

    Global National (after Sunday morning news – world politics)

    Talking to somebody who has had a press pass since Reagan.
    Couple of quotes…

    “They tell him to say the image has ‘been doctored’
    He says ‘that’s me as a doctor'”

    “If it was a secret ballot, Trump wpuld be impeached and in jail.
    Yet it would never be a secret ballot and the Republicans do not have the courage of their convictions ”

    “No one can snatch defeat from the jaws of victory quite like a Democrat”

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  • #147380

    These violent anti-asylum protests have really rattled me. It’s an escalation of what has happened so far with the far right here. Gangs of people roaming around, breaking things, settting things on fire and hurling the most offensive slurs about minorities, including black people and Jews…Fascism is here.

    The UK riots in 2024, this now in the Netherlands… Feels like things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

  • #147383

    I don’t know, Orban’s gone, the nature of the far right when in power is becoming more obvious as they piss people off, as they’re incapable of stopping. Farage and co are getting some scrutiny and don’t like it. Trump and Putin are going to die, and you can bet neither have any succession plans.

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  • #147384

    We have about one third of the electorate right now who would vote for extremist parties. They’re beyond reason. I’m not seeing it shrinking at the moment.

     

    Really it sucks…but you can’t do a whole lot about it. I try to do something on a small scale, by discussing with people who I think could be tempted to vote for Wilders. And being kind to people in general.

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  • #147386

    It’s likely felt more in PR systems, but even then there are defences but it requires politicians to use them, guess where the problem is?

  • #147387

    Trump and Putin are going to die, and you can bet neither have any succession plans.

    I know I keep saying it, but the satirical movie about the power vacuum after Trump dies we’re going to get in 20-30 years is going to be spectacular.

    4 users thanked author for this post.
  • #147388

    I don’t know, Orban’s gone, the nature of the far right when in power is becoming more obvious as they piss people off, as they’re incapable of stopping. Farage and co are getting some scrutiny and don’t like it. Trump and Putin are going to die, and you can bet neither have any succession plans.

    You just wait until Farage is Prime Minister and he’s shaking hand with President LePen.

    Orban’s gone, but who knows if that will hold. Kaczyński is gone in Poland, but they’ve now already elected an extremist President who is ensuring that Tusk can’t do any meaningful reforms. Similar things may happen in Hungary. I am not yet optimistic about this. The good thing is that the new government will get a meaningful inflow of money from the EU, so hopefully that boost to the economy will make a difference. In the end, authoritarian governments fall when the economy has turned to shit. That’s why Hungary happened, really.

    This won’t get better until the Left – in all our countries – gets its shit together and we’ve done something about social inequality. So, good luck with that.

    • This reply was modified 1 week, 2 days ago by Christian.
  • #147390

    Maybe we are screwed as the left loves going full Judean Popular Front. Or was it People’s Front of Judea? Blazing Saddles had it right, people are morons.

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  • #147393

    Trump and Putin are going to die, and you can bet neither have any succession plans.

    I know I keep saying it, but the satirical movie about the power vacuum after Trump dies we’re going to get in 20-30 years is going to be spectacular.

    There’s definitely going to be a scene of his flunkies tearing off the shoes he makes them wear and putting on ones that fit, certainly.

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  • #147400

    This won’t get better until the Left – in all our countries – gets its shit together and we’ve done something about social inequality. So, good luck with that.

    The left in the Netherlands is fucked. If you take D66 out of the equation which is more of a centrist party, the left only has about 1/5 of the vote.

     

    There are different situations in different countries in the EU but left wing parties aren’t doing well. The worst is Czechia where left wing parties have zero seats in parliament. To be fair they have a 5 % electoral threshold, but the “left wing” party that did best with 4 % of the vote is a conservative pro-Putin offshoot of the old, unreformed communist party. Czechia is truly an amazing country but politically it’s bollocks

     

  • #147405

    Thus the getting together of the shit. But I don’t see that happening any time soon over here, either.

  • #147406

    Honestly in a way I think we’re in a state of war. Politics is being messed with by Russia and possibly other actors (we should also be suspicious about the Israel and the US and even China messing with Europe, with social media, fake news etc) and it is driving some people insane. I am noticing more aggressive people out there. It can be like a web that you get progressively more entangled in…I came across a tweet a while back by some right wing influencer who just for no reason suddenly felt agitated and wanted to punch a random person who crossed his path. That felt kinda symbolic for me for what is happening with part of society.

     

    The ineptitude of our own politicians is also radicalizing people. I wonder if we’re bumping into the limits of democracy. I do believe we need governance that is in certain ways more forceful, but that also maintains basic human freedoms and dignity…I hope that is possible within the paradigm of liberal democracy.

     

     

  • #147410

    I think the big problem that’s crushing us is that there’s a secret class war going on. Seriously. Our democracies are failing in part because the public institutions are all chronically under-financed, and the reason for that is that about half of the wealth belongs to a handful of people who have managed to make sure that nobody will ever ask them to contribute. And because they can’t be touched, you have to blame the financial problems on the welfare state, on the lazy bumfucks and migrants, and take our social systems further and further apart. Ensuring more radicalisation on all sides. And there seem to be only a very few politicians in our countries that seem to be willing to take this problem on, mostly because the side of the money is the easier side to be on.

    I do believe we need governance that is in certain ways more forceful, but that also maintains basic human freedoms and dignity…I hope that is possible within the paradigm of liberal democracy

    I think it is. We need to push back hard against the idea that only a weak state that interferes as little as possible with the markets is a good state. Capitalist democracy works best when you have a strong state regulating it, but it’s hard to get that back once you’ve abandoned it.

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  • #147418

    Just in the news here that the Albert Heijn supermarket chain is going to give personnel bodycams to help with the agression against them. Sometimes I doubt if it is real, if the rising aggression that I think I’m seeing in the country is real or something I imagine. But stuff like this seems to confirm it.

  • #147419

    Shocking!

    ‘Really Chilling’: Trump Judicial Nominees Refuse to Say He’s Not Eligible for 3rd Term

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  • #147420

    Just in the news here that the Albert Heijn supermarket chain is going to give personnel bodycams to help with the agression against them. Sometimes I doubt if it is real, if the rising aggression that I think I’m seeing in the country is real or something I imagine. But stuff like this seems to confirm it.

    don’t forget that reasons given by companies in these situations are often bald-faced lies.  Like when a bunch of pharmacy chains in California cited an epidemic of shoplifting as to why they were closing branches but evidence showed shoplifting had reduced.

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  • #147421

    But it seems to fit the pattern. There have also been many reports here in the media, and not just right wing media, but all across the board, about increased violence against medical personnel.

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