Discuss anything Huey Lewis related in this thread.
The News
- This topic has 1,063 replies, 22 voices, and was last updated 1 year, 4 months ago by
.
Author
-
Medical studies are finding links between COVID and heart conditions.
At least three people in my life (my business partner, age 55; my niece’s husband, age 44; and my cousin, age 67) have recently suffered heart problems that resulted in them having stents put in. Each of them previously had contracted relatively mild cases of COVID. So, yeah, it’s a bit more serious than the flu.
-
-
Yes. I think it’s important to allow for that thought, to allow covid to be part of our normal world of illnesses. That was the goal all along: it was clear that we were never going to eradicate it completely, and that we aren’t going to be able to protect ourselves individually forever. The endemic state, in which there is no pandemic anymore (because enough people have built up an immunity) but there will still be occasional waves of it, as with other corona viruses that cause colds, and with the flu. And as with those other illnesses, there will still be cases in which the illness really fucks with some people, but the only thing you can do about that is to make sure you’re up to date with your vaccinations (again, just like everybody over a certain age should get flu shots).
So while it may be somewhat worse than the flu in its effects, it is like the flu in that it is going to be around in the long run, and we have to accept that. It’s what we’ve been working for all along.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
Another shooting:
Five dead after shooting attack in downtown Louisville
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
I’m worried this will twist the way people regard the Tibetan people. China has long been pushing propaganda to paint them as people who are better off under communist Chinese leadership rather than independent. Having the DL as a gross old pedo the Chinese will point at will further that agenda.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I’ve said before that Buddhism in the western media is often presented as a philosophy rather than a religion, when 20 minutes ago I was sat next to a shrine to the ‘ghosts of the building’ being bowed and prayed to.
Most religions can be taken in several ways, there is a valid reading of Christianity that it is a socialist and pacifist tract, and many take the opposite view. We have ‘pastors for prosperity’ etc. Just don’t mention ‘blessed be the meek’.
In the end we have to be suspicious of anyone put into positions of power over children. I have conceded my wife wants my kids raised as Catholics, and 99% of Catholics have no bad intentions but I am keeping my eye out to make sure they aren’t exposed to those who do to no higher degree than sports or community coaches.
-
-
I think it’s pretty bad, especially equating Putin and Zelensky as though invading a country and defending it was the same, but also suggesting that there was any option of Putin into a peace that wasn’t at the same time a complete surrender for the Ukranians.
However: I have to say I will definitely not hold it against a Brazilian politician if he’s demanding that the US stop supplying arms to support war and cause instability. Given how the US did that in Brazil in supporting a coup and putting a military dictatorship in power and all of that.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
The first time the US has actually defended freedom and democracy since they decided that was their thing and somehow a bunch of people think this is the time to stand by as genocide is literally happening.
7 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
We’re not the good guys here.
The Russians are stealing children and parading them on TV, Arjan. They’re beheading civilians with combat knives.
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
We’re not the good guys here.
The Russians are stealing children and parading them on TV, Arjan. They’re beheading civilians with combat knives.
I’m not saying the Russians are the good guys, Putin’s regime is terrible. But our role in this is negative too.
So we should stand by as the Ukranians get slaughtered?
-
Feuds are everywhere. Don’t I know it 🤣
I was expecting to hear more of Clarence Thomas dirty laundry by now.
Now there is US news about this 16 year old black teen who knocked on the wrong door and got shot by an old man.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I’m not saying the Russians are the good guys, Putin’s regime is terrible. But our role in this is negative too.
It’s really not, apart from the fact that we hesitated too long in supporting Ukraine (and by “we” I mean primarily German chancellor Scholz, who also held back a lot of the EU). The Russians aren’t just not the good guys, they are committed to waging as evil a war as the world has seen and not supporting the victims of this aggression cannot be justified. Especially given that the stance that many Western anti-war intellectuals (and Lula) are taking seems to be that all we need to do is sit down and talk sensibly with Russia. When it has been made absolutely clear that what Putin wants is the eradication of Ukraine as an independent country.
6 users thanked author for this post.
-
Feuds are everywhere. Don’t I know it 🤣
I was expecting to hear more of Clarence Thomas dirty laundry by now.
Now there is US news about this 16 year old black teen who knocked on the wrong door and got shot by an old man.
Amazingly, the kid survived being shot in the head and arm by this 80-odd year old fuckwit.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
When it has been made absolutely clear that what Putin wants is the eradication of Ukraine as an independent country.
It amazes me when we get this spin about invasion.
Oh and yes I strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by my country, allied with the US.
There is no justification against it apart from self defence and in neither of these instances does that stand up to any scrutiny.
I honestly wouldn’t care if Zelensky was a secret fascist, we have those in a few countries. It’s not a reason for invasion unless you are threatened. Russia aren’t, a lot of people are dying for no reason because Putin is a cunt.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
When it has been made absolutely clear that what Putin wants is the eradication of Ukraine as an independent country.
It amazes me when we get this spin about invasion.
Oh and yes I strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by my country, allied with the US.
There is no justification against it apart from self defence and in neither of these instances does that stand up to any scrutiny.
I honestly wouldn’t care if Zelensky was a secret fascist, we have those in a few countries. It’s not a reason for invasion unless you are threatened. Russia aren’t, a lot of people are dying for no reason because Putin is a cunt.
Add to the fact that this has become a huge embarrassment to Putin and Russia.
He honestly thought he could roll in and take over the country in a week. Instead, The Ukrainians fought tooth and nail and have held them off for over a year and counting. It showed that the “mighty Russian military” was pretty much a dumpster fire. Putin, his country, family, and allies were getting hit with sanctions that cut off a lot of money flow. Even if he won today, Putin and Russia has been revealed to be surprisingly weak. Not a good look for a dictator on the international stage.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t a cabal secretly reviewing options and planning his removal.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
Luke Skywalker doesn’t recognize nazi flag behind brave drone operators:
You know, if people wanted to actually deal with the nazis in Ukraine they probably shouldn’t have first created a situation where they got treated as heroes by defending their nation from an unjustified aggressor.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
When it has been made absolutely clear that what Putin wants is the eradication of Ukraine as an independent country.
It amazes me when we get this spin about invasion.
Oh and yes I strongly opposed the 2003 invasion of Iraq by my country, allied with the US.
There is no justification against it apart from self defence and in neither of these instances does that stand up to any scrutiny.
I honestly wouldn’t care if Zelensky was a secret fascist, we have those in a few countries. It’s not a reason for invasion unless you are threatened. Russia aren’t, a lot of people are dying for no reason because Putin is a cunt.
Add to the fact that this has become a huge embarrassment to Putin and Russia.
He honestly thought he could roll in and take over the country in a week. Instead, The Ukrainians fought tooth and nail and have held them off for over a year and counting. It showed that the “mighty Russian military” was pretty much a dumpster fire. Putin, his country, family, and allies were getting hit with sanctions that cut off a lot of money flow. Even if he won today, Putin and Russia has been revealed to be surprisingly weak. Not a good look for a dictator on the international stage.
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t a cabal secretly reviewing options and planning his removal.
And, massively unlikely, even if Russia went:
War is over. We sorry, you now resign NATO membership?
Sweden and Finland: Fuck. NO.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if there isn’t a cabal secretly reviewing options and planning his removal.
More likely, anyone who would have plotted against Putin has already accidentally fallen out of a hotel window, or somehow been exposed to deadly radioactive materials.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
The thing to remember with South America is that the US has a long history of treating all the countries in it like complete shit. Decades worth of it – economic interfence, covert overthrowing of governments, backing dictators they like – you name it, the US has probably done it to either a South or Mid America country.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
“Is this Dumb Insurance?”
“It is.”
“This is SpaceX. We’ve had an unscheduled rapid disassembly on one of our rockets.”
“….You mean it exploded?”
“Unscheduled. Rapid. Disassembly.”
“It exploded?”
“…Yes. It exploded.”
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Nations walking away from the US is the biggest consequence of the Ukraine war I think. UK and EU poodles will probably stay loyal much longer though.
Oh, don’t forget the countries joining NATO because they’re afraid of Russian aggression. And the EU will probably grow much closer than they were because they’ll feel like they have to be able to hold their own against Russia.
And China and Russia were always going to spread their influence around the world; they’ve been doing it in many, many countries over the last decades. Shitty as US foreign policy has been, I have my doubts that this development will lead to a better world.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
[sarcasm]Ooh, shocker![/sarcasm]
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
In February Sudan gave Russia permission to build a naval base on the Red Sea coast. Now there is a violent insurrection against Sudan’s government. Qui bono?
-
Short answer: yes.
Russia will, very likely, attempt to provoke another refugee crisis in Sudan and steer it towards Europe.
Weaponised refugee migrations (from Syria) were used to great effect by Russia once before – they helped break the UK out of the EU and doubtless made NATO coordination with Turkey more difficult. Given its effectiveness as a tactic and the dire situation Putin is currently in, I’d be greatly surprised if it isn’t being planned for right now.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
Yeah, no.
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
Hehe no that’s not what I was implying…I think it’s far more likely the West is destabilizing Sudan as punishment for being friendly to Russia.
Yeah, Sudan has clearly been a shining example of stability in recent years and it’s only because the West now wants to punish them that things are going wrong.
On the far more obviousy end of the spectrum: There’s a lot of countries in which failing governments (democratic or autocratic) have turned to Russia for military aid, which Russia has been happy to provide by way of the Wagner group’s merceraries. There is always a price to pay for that, of course (often in harsh measures against the civilian population by said mercenaries), but it’s fair to say that the West certainly hasn’t been providing adequate support. But anyway, even with the Wagner group having kept a lid on things for a while you don’t need a Western conspiracy to explain unrest in Sudan.
On the other hand: Yes, Russia have a very strong stake in Sudan right now. I don’t think the US is behind current developments, but if they were, I’d bet that destabilisation as punishment isn’t the point, but rather backing someone who will turn away from Russia and turn towards the US. Great Game kind of shit (and Arjan, even if that was true: Have YOU ever considered that we are all baddies and that maybe there aren’t any good guys?).
It’s not impossible, but honestly it’s very unlikely. Russia has had an easy time getting their hooks into Sudan and their resources precisely because the West hasn’t had the nerves to be involved in that kind of conflict since Syria. That’s unlikely to have changed even though Russia’s ambition of expansion have become for more obvious after the Ukraine war.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
Just accept it, Brits!
Fuck, no, have you not been paying attention since 2016. That messenger will be shot and sent to Rwanda.
As to how “good” the West is – it’s a relative term. But generally, in terms of individual freedom and degree of monitoring of citizens, the West isn’t bad. And much of what people have, they take for granted.
For instance, when it all started in Ukraine last year, there’d be Americans asking why the Russians were letting Putin invade. Interesting term to use, suggests he can be stopped but it doesn’t work that way in Russia. Lots of Russians did protest and they all got arrested and jailed, sending a clear message to keep your head down and don’t be noticed or else.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
-
Chaos Ensues After The ‘LeBron James Of Incels’ Gets Laid
We’re only four months into the calendar year and the incel community, an insular corner of the internet composed of dudes who lack romantic and sexual relationships “despite trying,” has lost one of its strongest soldiers because…well…he’s finally done the deed.
On Monday, Twitter user Komesarj, who is self-described as the LeBron James of not having sex, broke the news of his recent life event to his followers like a fatigued war general of old delivering a disheartening development to his troops, saying:
I feel a lot of mixed feeling about leaving the incel community. While it feels good to no longer be incel. I’m going to miss all the friends and connections I’ve made. To all of you who have supported me over the years, thank you. I start a new chapter in my life, albeit late.
Incel civil war
Komesarj’s ex-community of involuntary celibates did not take his press release-stylized tweet well, probably in part because Komesarj has long served as a moderator for the Incels.is web forum, which has over 20,000 registered users. In case you were curious, the Incel.is website explicitly states that the forum is exclusively for “lonely” people who wish they had someone in their life to “talk to people just like you.” Komesarj is no longer turtle-y enough for the turtle club.
While some members took to congratulating Komesarj for the sex on Twitter, others within the worldwide incel community took to virtually tarring and feathering the newly minted sex-haver. Some even went so far as to harshly label Komesarj a “fakecel.”
“One taste of pussy pie and a man will turn his back on his friends just like that,” Twitter user Old Man Boy Pussy (it’s imperative that I disclose their name) wrote in a quote retweet.
“This is why the incel community will never start a movement and bring about change. It only takes one hoe to sacrifice herself and give some crumbs of pussy and the whole movement would collapse due to too many betraying,” another distraught incel wrote.
“Traitor,” said another.
Kotaku reached out to Komesarj for comment.
Don’t feel sorry for incels
In case you feel a twinge of sympathy for Komesarj, it bears repeating that incels are, at their core, misogynists who want the world to revolve around their false belief that women are only sexual objects, not people. This fact isn’t lost on the r/IncelTear subreddit, a community of 125,000 Redditors who spend their time sharing screenshots of the hateful, racist, violent, and often just bizarre shit incels say. As you’d guess, they were having a field day with the incel community’s “nuclear meltdown” over Komesarj getting laid.
“Nothing like admitting that their celibacy is voluntary,” Petite_Bait wrote.
“They really just ignore the whole ‘involuntary’ part of ‘involuntary celibate’ and then wonder why they’re not being taken seriously. Their entire identity is just being sad and miserable,” said SquidleyStudios.
“I love how easily they betray their real motives,” wrote someone called CanuckBuddy. “When other people question their community, incels hide behind the excuse that they’re just poor lonely isolated young men who just want to get laid—but the minute one of them does get laid they’re pissed about it. This is because it was never about getting a girl, it was always about male entitlement and punishing women for not bending to their exact whims.”
Incel civil war and the subsequent relinquishment of his moderator title aside, Komesarj appears to be taking his new life in stride. Komesarj even shared the surprising revelation that his new partner is aware that he was a former leader in the incel community and is chill with it(?).
Less surprisingly, the chaser to this bitter-tasting Malört shot of internet weirdness is that Komesarj followed up his post-nut clarity tweet with a mini-Twitter rant today in which he thanked his followers for being supportive in one line and blamed “bloodthirsty subhumans and commie they/thems” for perpetuating “the incel negative worldview” in another. You can take the player outta the incel community, but you can’t take the incel community’s fucked-up politics outta the player.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Just accept it, Brits!
The interesting bit of this, which seems to be glossed over by most news outlets, is that they’re not saying necessarily it’s people that need to accept being poorer, but energy companies could accept that they’re going to have smaller profits and stop passing their costs onto us. But of course that’s never going to happen.
-
I lost that faith during the Iraq war
Yet spent many posts in the last year or so defending US foreign policy and asking them to engage more and not be criticised as they did more good than bad and liberals were too quick to criticise them.
To be fair Arjan it is hard to keep up with your stances.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-65420882
An NHS doctor trapped in Sudan after visiting family for Eid has urged the government to fly him back to the UK, saying he feels “betrayed” after being turned away from evacuation flights.
Sudanese-born Dr Abdulrahman Babiker is due back on shift as a registrar at the Manchester Royal Infirmary on Tuesday.
Despite having a UK work permit, he cannot board an evacuation flight as they only accept UK passport holders.
BBC Two’s Newsnight has learned of at least 24 NHS doctors in this position.
The Foreign Office says it is prioritising British nationals, saying people in Dr Babikar’s situation are allowed to enter the UK but must make their own way there.
Yeah well I say leave them there, free up some hospital jobs for British doctors, amiright?
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
Assad was not really impopular. He is a ruthless bastard who tortures dissidents, but he had the support of a lot of Syrians. Is it right then to arm everybody who wants to violently remove him?
I think that’s a bit of an oversimplification.
When Assad started out, he tried to reform the system somewhat and give people a little more freedom, but then he was afraid to lose control and the old guard of the ruling class pushed back so he turned around and tried to suppress any notion of freedom of speech or democratic approaches violently – which is how the conflict with the democracy movement started. And that’s what we’re talking about here: a huge movement of people protesting for democracy, mass protests in the street. It’s impossible to gauge how much “support” Assad had at this point, but clearly not enough, or he wouldn’t have cracked down as hard as he did.
From the article you linked to:
Some 55% of Syrians want Assad to stay, motivated by fear of civil war – a spectre that is not theoretical as it is for those who live outside Syria’s borders. What is less good news for the Assad regime is that the poll also found that half the Syrians who accept him staying in power believe he must usher in free elections in the near future. Assad claims he is about to do that, a point he has repeated in his latest speeches. But it is vital that he publishes the election law as soon as possible, permits political parties and makes a commitment to allow independent monitors to watch the poll.
So you have a slight majority who in 2012 would’ve been fine with Assad staying in power – not because they actually supported him, but because they were afraid of civil war – as long as he introduced democratic measures. Which he did the opposite of, cracking down brutally on the protests. So let’s be clear: Assad caused the Syrian civil war by escalating violence in suppressing protests against his government.
When it first looked like Assad would not be able to hold on to power, the US tried to support the protests by putting sanctions on Assad and some of his officially personally. And then they did nothing apart from issuing statements urging Assad to step down and introducing more sanctions while Assad slaughtered thousands of protestors. It was only when the civil war in Syria was in full swing that the US decided to take sides and openly support the factions fighting for democracy (yes, they may have covertly supported them by providing arms before, but again, lack of support might have been even worse in that situation), which was probably the right thing to do in this kind of damned-if-you-do-damned-if-you-don’t situation – remember that the US and their coalition only got involved to fight against ISIL because it looked like they might be the ones to win that civil war, not to mention committing a lot of unspeakable war crimes in the process.
And the West’s support of the Democratic Forces against both ISIL and Assad might have worked out to the extent these things can if Russia hadn’t decided to step in and prop up Assad.Look, I’m the first one to condemn the US’ wars of aggression in Iraq and Afghanistan. But Syria was a more complicated situation, and Ukraine is another matter entirely again. Being skeptical of US foreign policy is absolutely fine, but if that means you’re defending a Russian war of aggression suddenly, something has gone wrong.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
I’m not sure, but the result overall is bad. Good intentions may be one thing, but wherever Western interventionism goes, chaos ensues. Putin was right about that. Ukraine – and Russia if Putin’s regime falls and the underlings fight about who takes over – will be as disastrous as Syria.
Interestingly the neo-cons now have lefties on their side. First and foremost the consideration should be, “If there is an arrest warrant for Putin, and Biden really is against countries invading each other, why isn’t Bush in jail”. These people, the Nulands etc can’t be trusted, they just lie about their motivations. They can’t be trusted on Ukraine either.
So how do you propose the mass abduction of Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled territory is dealt with?
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
I’m not sure, but the result overall is bad. Good intentions may be one thing, but wherever Western interventionism goes, chaos ensues. Putin was right about that. Ukraine – and Russia if Putin’s regime falls and the underlings fight about who takes over – will be as disastrous as Syria.
Well, you can ask the people of Chechnya how Russian interventionism has been going for them. Sounds like it’s a great place to live these days. You’d be fine with that for Ukraine?
And the US intentions weren’t always good, mind you. Irak and Afghanistan were pure narcissistic adventurism and hegemonial expansion.
As for Putin’s regime falling, there’s no sign of that happening on the one hand, and on the other I don’t think it’s become enough personality-centered even today to not return to a somewhat stable system with different heads of government. But for that, there’d have to be some kind of resistance from within the government apparatus, and I don’t know that that’s even a possibility.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
I’m not sure, but the result overall is bad. Good intentions may be one thing, but wherever Western interventionism goes, chaos ensues. Putin was right about that. Ukraine – and Russia if Putin’s regime falls and the underlings fight about who takes over – will be as disastrous as Syria.
Interestingly the neo-cons now have lefties on their side. First and foremost the consideration should be, “If there is an arrest warrant for Putin, and Biden really is against countries invading each other, why isn’t Bush in jail”. These people, the Nulands etc can’t be trusted, they just lie about their motivations. They can’t be trusted on Ukraine either.
So how do you propose the mass abduction of Ukrainian children from Russian-controlled territory is dealt with?
Or more importantly and given everything that has transpired to date, what do you think a reasonable outcome for the Ukraine/Russia is?
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
Just because I don’t like the West’s meddling doesn’t mean I am defending Putin. It doesn’t work like that.
in this case, it literally does. All you’re doing is criticising the west for assisting Ukraine in defending themselves, and never once criticising Russia for attacking them, or calling out the atrocities they’re committing.
-
Just because I don’t like the West’s meddling doesn’t mean I am defending Putin. It doesn’t work like that.
To add to what Lorcan said, when it comes to Ukraine, we’re currently in a binary situation. Support them or don’t support them. It seems like you are against supporting Ukraine and thus in favour of them surrendering to Russia. Because those are the two choices here.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
Sadly, Matthew is silent on how to deal with an enemy that is bombing and using tanks, drones, cruise missiles and lots of other bad shit.
Kind of funny too that you think, as a group, we have bible references memorised.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Matthew 5: 9
For a moment I thought this was the latest score in the snooker.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Matthew 5: 9
For a moment I thought this was the latest score in the snooker.
I thought that was Matthew’s aspect ratio.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Matthew 5: 9
For a moment I thought this was the latest score in the snooker.
I thought that was Matthew’s aspect ratio.
No I’m pretty sure it’s Dolly Parton’s aspect ratio.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Matthew 5: 9
For a moment I thought this was the latest score in the snooker.
I thought that was Matthew’s aspect ratio.
No I’m pretty sure it’s Dolly Parton’s aspect ratio.
Only if it’s for night scenes.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Just because I don’t like the West’s meddling doesn’t mean I am defending Putin. It doesn’t work like that.
To add to what Lorcan said, when it comes to Ukraine, we’re currently in a binary situation. Support them or don’t support them. It seems like you are against supporting Ukraine and thus in favour of them surrendering to Russia. Because those are the two choices here.
Matthew 5: 9
Ah, but what about Daniel 13:2?
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Ezekiel 25:17
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Matthew 5: 9
Ah, so you’re opting to avoid reality and live in the land of rainbows and unicorns.
Speaking of fantasy, there’s a fitting quote from my personal bible, the Lord of the Rings.
“It needs but one foe to breed a war, not two, Master Warden,’ answered Éowyn. ‘And those who have not swords can still die upon them.”
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Reproducing with permission. A friend of mine lives in Kyiv, and posted this in a discussion yesterday were people were talking about Chomsky’s recent comments around the war, which have been interpreted as him opposing western support for Ukraine though he denies this:
like, sure, whatever, he didn’t mean that putin is good. Thing is, the russian shills and propagandists work extremely hard to push the idea, that helping us is bad/not worth it/should be slow and conditional. And every time some chode comes out with “but what about the western imperialism”, or “but we could’ve paid for everyone’s student debt with that money” the conversation about help gets derailed. And that helps the russians
At the moment, it seems like they are trying to hold on until the west gets bored of helping us
The fact of the matter is that if the West pulls their support from Ukraine tomorrow, then Ukraine falls. That might be “peace”, but it’s not a peace that’s acceptable to the people of Ukraine, and what the Russians are doing in occupied territory sure looks like genocide.
5 users thanked author for this post.
-
At the same time, one has to wonder why Western support has been so slow and hesitant. I mean, threat of nuclear extinction, sure, that’s a thing. But… I wouldn’t put it past the US that they’re calculating very cynically and using Ukraine as a never-ending proxy war that’ll bind Russian resources and slowly erode their will to fight anywhere at all (as happened to the US in Vietnam and to the Russians in Aghanistan during the cold war).
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
At the same time, one has to wonder why Western support has been so slow and hesitant. I mean, threat of nuclear extinction, sure, that’s a thing. But… I wouldn’t put it past the US that they’re calculating very cynically and using Ukraine as a never-ending proxy war that’ll bind Russian resources and slowly erode their will to fight anywhere at all (as happened to the US in Vietnam and to the Russians in Aghanistan during the cold war).
It’s also depleting their stocks of older military hardware that they probably couldn’t sell to police departments, so now they can put in big orders with Raytheon, Grumman and whoever to get new stuff
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
Christ, yeah, that’s probably going to be a factor. Fucking military-industrial complex.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Meanwhile, it’s 1 May and, once again, Elon Musk has wrecked Twitter.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
As for Putin’s regime falling, there’s no sign of that happening on the one hand, and on the other I don’t think it’s become enough personality-centered even today to not return to a somewhat stable system with different heads of government. But for that, there’d have to be some kind of resistance from within the government apparatus, and I don’t know that that’s even a possibility.
I’ve been reading Russian commentators saying that the only viable successors to Putin are the same as or worse than him. Because that’s how the system works: these are the only people who are able to get into a position of sufficient power to stage a coup. There is no effective “liberal opposition” as we define it in the west.
-
I kind of agree. I think hoping there is some white knight on the way in that system who will behave like a crusading liberal is unrealistic but as we saw in Soviet times if Putin does die you won’t necessarily get a clone in place. We went from Stalin to Gorbachev over time.
-
Yeah, there might be a shot at getting somebody who has the same policies but isn’t quite crazy (or gutsy, depending on how you see it) enough to invade other countries.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
-
-
You don’t have to be popular when the voting method is sending round three soldiers with guns to “collect” your vote. You will vote correctly, yes?
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Putin knows that in a fair election, he would have lost (and would still lose) to Navalny.
I am not so sure about that (not that he’d have risked it) – Putin does seem to be very popular. Or at least he was, before the war. Matters are probably different now.
Putin generally has had a lot of popularity in Russia as Yeltsin and his US economic advisers really fucked everything up. They went hardcore from transitioning Russia from communism to the most capitalist country in the world in one day (it still has flat income tax which no other developed county has). It created the oligarchs and made everyday Russians very poor.
As with Hitler taking over from hyperinflation and people paying to sleep on a rope to stop rats biting them, Putin shored that stuff up so the average Russian had a better life every year.
That is badly stalling now but in the meantime he has chipped away at the systems in place to allow an opposition and stop any Russian leader being in place for life.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Well, in the US Title 42 is going to end in a few hours and that will most likely increase the number of people at the border.
The Texas governor will then move them to Dem states, especially NYC, where the city doesn’t have accommodations for the people already here as it is now.Everyone talks about Florida’s DeSantis, but the governor of Texas…
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
In NYC:
https://abcnews.go.com/US/daniel-penny-man-choked-subway-rider-jordan-neely/story?id=99169271
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
Thats a horrible story.
Like I see one side when I read, then i get more when i’m shown.Jeez, you felt the need to take down a Michael Jackson wannabee?
No matter what, if you choke hold someone, and then they go limp, you had best stop that Immediately, and be the the first one to make sure they continue to live.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
The Neely thing is terrible. The idea that it’s OK to just kill someone because they were acting unusual…it’s disgusting.
And even if someone is posing a threat (which according to the eyewitness accounts wasn’t the case here) there are other ways to stop someone other than choking them to death.
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
Thats a horrible story.
Like I see one side when I read, then i get more when i’m shown.Jeez, you felt the need to take down a Michael Jackson wannabee?
No matter what, if you choke hold someone, and then they go limp, you had best stop that Immediately, and be the the first one to make sure they continue to live.
Not exactly a wannabe. The guy Neely was just one of the many “street hustlers” who do a small floor show in the subways.
If they are good with the entertainment, they get a crowd that puts a few bucks in the hat or collection box.To be honest, most of the times when someone starts yelling and acting crazy, everyone moves to the next train car.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
And even if someone is posing a threat (which according to the eyewitness accounts wasn’t the case here) there are other ways to stop someone other than choking them to death.
Yes. I think there’s a tolerance of violence in the US not quite found in most places. There does seem more prevalence of the argument that if nobody resists there isn’t issue and they are mostly to blame.
You see it in the standards on TV where The Walking Dead can’t say an F-word or show a nipple but have throats being slit in a mass execution as an opener to an episode. For me the latter is by far the most concerning, I would not let my kids watch the violence but they know the swears already and nudity causes no issues I can see.
Obviously I’m not making a ‘horror and video games cause violence’ argument but just overall the society is more accepting of violence as a response. A lot of things are not based in legislation but in culture. Pre 1999 Scotland had the same legislation as England and Wales but 3 times the murder rate. It’s not socio-economic as they are slightly more prosperous than Wales, and parts of England, for example. However I think back to a joke I enjoyed, when some terrorist tried to attack Glasgow airport and got kicked in the balls and failed – ‘don’t fuck with Glasgow’ – that the basis was the city was violent and had some pride in that.
I don’t know if people can quantify that very well. I read a book by Paul Krugman about the 20th century US economy and he answered a lot of questions but could not answer why in the years the US reduced poverty and inequality (basically from FDR to the 1980s) violent crime went through the roof. It was left hanging because I don’t think an economist is able to understand it.
So much of what we do is cultural and culture is hard to change.
-
There’s a line in The Dark Knight where the Joker talks about how the most horrible things are OK so long as you’re told it’s all according to the plan. And while a lot of what he says in that movie is edgy bullshit, there’s an element of truth to that part. if you can tell people that there is a justifiable reason for horrible things to happen, a lot of people will go along with it. Take for example the mass arrests of anti-monarchy protestors in London last weekend before they did anything. There were legions of people on social media defending this because they would have disrupted a special day – and like, yes that was the plan. But disrupting a special day isn’t a crime, or at least it wasn’t until the Tories passed draconian anti-protest laws recently. So long as the people have a reason they can cling to to justify why it’s OK that the unethical thing happened to the people they don’t like or don’t care about, then they will defend it to the hilt.
Think back to Millarworld, when that one black guy with asthma was put in a chokehold by a cop and died. People on there were defending it because he was resisting arrest. So that justified summary execution? Especially when his crime was selling single cigarettes on the street? Same thing with Jordan Neely’s death. His “crime” was being in a mental health crisis. Apparently he had committed actual crimes before, but none that carry the death penalty and it’s not like Daniel Perry knew that when he decided to kill the man.
-
There’s a line in The Dark Knight where the Joker talks about how the most horrible things are OK so long as you’re told it’s all according to the plan. And while a lot of what he says in that movie is edgy bullshit, there’s an element of truth to that part. if you can tell people that there is a justifiable reason for horrible things to happen, a lot of people will go along with it. Take for example the mass arrests of anti-monarchy protestors in London last weekend before they did anything. There were legions of people on social media defending this because they would have disrupted a special day – and like, yes that was the plan. But disrupting a special day isn’t a crime, or at least it wasn’t until the Tories passed draconian anti-protest laws recently. So long as the people have a reason they can cling to to justify why it’s OK that the unethical thing happened to the people they don’t like or don’t care about, then they will defend it to the hilt.
And even more so with that example, there was an aspect that it had been heavily trailed in the news and media beforehand that the new laws could see police cracking down unduly heavily on protestors on the day. So when that did in fact happen, people shrugged it off rather than being shocked by it, because they had been told in advance it was going to occur.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
A year after Buffalo supermarket massacre, city’s Black youth still shaken
Buffalo’s about six hours away from where I live but I remember being uneasy when this happened. I’m still uneasy.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
So when that did in fact happen, people shrugged it off rather than being shocked by it, because they had been told in advance it was going to occur.
It is a weird state of affairs in the UK, the gap between legislation, which has always been very broadly defined and execution of policing decisions. Which are effectively allowed to ignore them.
In the early 90s in Liverpool the police decided to consider all possession (low amounts not with intent to supply) as a caution. So if I were found with a 1 gram wrap of heroin, a class A drug, I’d be told off and sent on my way. In Westminster defined law I could see 5 years in jail but they just didn’t enforce it.
In the same time period to try and quell illegal raves they passed the Criminal Justice Act which made it an arrestable offence to drive a car listening to ‘repetitive beats’. There was much protest and The Prodigy’s protest song ‘Their Law’ but despite being still on the books 30 years on almost nobody has ever been arrested because of it and nobody jailed. Even though technically listening to BBC Radio 1 Dance in your commute into work is illegal.
In my later home of Malaysia homosexuality is listed on Wikipedia as illegal, in law actually only sodomy is. If said sodomy (be it male/male or male/female) is consensual nobody is ever calling the police, they’ll enjoy the experience. If it isn’t it is rape so fair enough it should be.
In the last 20 years only one person has been convicted of it and he’s currently Prime Minister!
This is where I think Sunak is on a hiding to nothing because his technocratic brain sees everything he wants being solved by legislation. Legislation is a blunt tool that often does fuck all, often backfires, Rees-Mogg admitted their voter ID law was gerrymandering realised it confused old people more who are more likely to vote for his party.
The Tory party have legislated away against immigration to the UK, the numbers have 0nly increased, the penny has never dropped that what makes change is what happens on the ground. Chat with France to get a better system in place, legal immigration is at a high, why? Are you giving companies too many visas for jobs that can be done by locals?
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
The Prodigy’s protest song ‘Their Law’
Side note, I’ve seen both The Prodigy and Pop Will Eat Itself (who collaborated on the song) play this live.
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
In the same time period to try and quell illegal raves they passed the Criminal Justice Act which made it an arrestable offence to drive a car listening to ‘repetitive beats’.
First they came for the raves and I did not speak out because I didn’t go to raves. Then they came for Highway Star
3 users thanked author for this post.
-
NYC is getting crazier by the minute.
Not just the subway chokehold, but more of those asylum seekers are being bussed here,
and there is no place to put them. The city is trying school gyms, but the neighborhood
associations are complaining “Not in my backyard”… and Title 42 has expired.Then some nurse got caught on video trying to steal a bike from some black kids and she
was pretending they were stealing from her.And this whole Harry and Meghan car chase thing…
I got to go… But where? 🤣
1 user thanked author for this post.
-
-
And that whole “chase” is being called bullshit by everyone. Their story can’t be corroborated by anyone.
It’s actually sick that they are basically invoking Diana’s death to get attention.
Based on eyewitness reports, putting the word CHASE in quotes is probably appropriate; but I wouldn’t go so far as to accuse Prince Harry of using Diana’s death to get attention. Harry may still be deeply affected by the untimely and tragic death of his mother occurring while he was still a young boy, and the behavior of the paparazzi aggressively following him and his wife Tuesday night undoubtedly triggered the memory of how his mother died, and likely traumatized him with concern about the same thing happening to Meghan or himself. In that case the trauma could easily cause him to see more danger than might have actually been there, to see a threatening car chase rather than just photographers trying to get a photo.
2 users thanked author for this post.
-
-
It was said that it was “a 2 hour car chase.”
In NYC traffic?!?
Down FDR?!?What most likely happened was a brief chase to get some pics.
The two (especially Harry) got scared and decided to switch to a taxi, and now they are exaggerating the whole thing. -
Harry should have done the American thing – pull out a gun and start shooting.
4 users thanked author for this post.
-
