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I like the use of perspective in this picture:

 

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Todd

Christian wrote:

lorcan_nagle wrote:

ou don’t have to ensure you’re directing that anger at the right people or anything, shake your fist impotently at the sky!

Not the sky. The refugees, the migrants, the unemployed, the lazy beaurocrats, the trans people, the woke idiots. And in this case, supposedly the justice system because clearly it doesn’t want to punish people who so clearly deserve it, which is probably also because of woke.

Are you doing a John Oliver imitation?

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Nah, people need to be angrier.

Yeah man, get angry! It doesn’t matter what the facts of the case are, take the initial report at face value!  Don’t investigate the biases of the reporter, the news organ or yourself, just get angry! Grrrrr! you don’t have to ensure you’re directing that anger at the right people or anything, shake your fist impotently at the sky!

Eh I don’t mean angry about this case in particular. It seems it is explained by BBC adding that extra bit of information to their article, which of course showed they were sloppy to not put that in the original article.

Poland is pissed with Ukraine because they named a military batallion after a Ukrainian WW2 era death squad that genocided Poles.

 

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/polish-president-decides-strip-ukraines-zelenskiy-top-honour-over-ww2-dispute-2026-06-19/?utm_source=chatgpt.com

 

Did the NAFO people know that? That the Ukraine government really likes the death squad that killed a 100,000 Poles? There were some hints, I have to say.

Christian wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

That is nt part of the news coverage however. Sloppy not to mention such a thing.

‘s not sloppy, it’s to generate outrage. At least I assume that you first saw this not on the SkyNews website but on X or other social media, potentially posted by someone else with a link to the Sky article. Look, the algorithm wants you to be angry all the time, because it gets your attention that way. And for many news outlets (not to mention fucking “influencers”) – potentially SkyNews – that’s a business model now, because they need the algorithm to pick up their headlines.

The BBC report itself does mention all that.

Cambridgeshire Police said a 30-year-old man arrested on suspicion of attempted murder had been bailed and was “unfit for interview”. He reportedly has learning disabilities and had been on a trip to Johnsons of Old Hurst, near Huntingdon, with carers.

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9l2278m8no

So, you know… just don’t go and make assumptions. Just check with proper sources first, before you get outraged. Or even better: Just stay away from the fucking algorithms that keep feeding you hate slop about weak justice and immigrant crime and so on. Just… read a newspaper in the morning. Listen to solid news podcast, maybe one by a public radio channel. How about that?

Nah, people need to be angrier.

 

Btw newspapers are all the same standard liberal lukewarm crap here. They’re all owned by one shady elite Belgian family: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Christian_Van_Thillo. And I don’t think news podcasts are a better news source than the BBC website.

 

edit: Also if you check the BBC’s article on the wayback machine, you see that the detail that the perpetrator was with carers was added later on. There is nothing in the original article that rules out wether the man was now walking around freely.

 

https://web.archive.org/web/20260619100656/https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cp9l2278m8no

Old Cairo:

 

 

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Todd

How long has this forum run?  Since 2016 or something?

 

Many things are ending. This might be a good time to move on.

Yeah but I hope he is not walking around freely somewhere, this man has to be looked after.

Emm sky news is reporting that the nutter who threw a 3 year old boy in a crocodile enclosure – the boy was subsequently mauled and is in hospital with serious injuries – has been released, on bail. I sure hope that is misinformation, because if it is true, well…that’s totally fucked.

 

edit:  BBC is reporting it too. Incredible.

 

edit the 2nd: someone mentioned the possibility the perpetrator was in a care facility for the mentally handicapped and was released but under guidance of a caretaker. That is nt part of the news coverage however. Sloppy not to mention such a thing.

Arrested for what? Can they just arrest people and not say what he was arrested for…

 

Hmmm I think I read about something like this

 

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Trial

England-Croatia yesterday was a real thriller. Great game to watch as a neutral observer

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Dave

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Todd

Apparently they also lack the money to pay for the news roads and bridges etc to go with the new housing. Total fucking failure.

Ha…the new government here had multiple building projects in their plans (they were going to build “ten new cities”) , but now many of those plans are likely to be shelved because of high nitrogen emissions…when the country is starving for more housing. Late Soviet feel.

Crazy that Ronaldo is still playing this world cup. He’s 41

Some of Trump’s allies like Mark Levin are angry at him over the peace deal. Interesting to see how that will play out.

I admire Mahatma Gandhi but he had a weird view of the Bhagavad Gita. In the Gita Krishna tells Arjuna that he has to fight in the big war, and kill his relatives who are on the side of the enemy. But Gandhi was a pacifist. He still held the Gita in high esteem but he believed the war is a metaphor for a spiritual battle against evil, and actual real life bloodshed is always wrong.

 

Gandhi’s “satyagraha” program was a praiseworthy initiative. But I’m not sure that non-violent resistance is always succesful

I’m cautiously optimistic now there really is a peace deal with Iran and it isn’t just smoke and mirrors to keep the market going. I really really hope it works out. And hopefully Lebanon is included in the agreement.

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Todd

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Todd

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Ilhan Omar was the only democrat who voted against the Ukraine support bill.

Is this good because you’ve repeatedly claimed Ukraine is full of Nazis, or bad because you hate Muslims?

Oh fuck off man. I don’t hate all Muslims, just the ones who do bad things. The same way I hate white people I guess. I don’t hate all white people but I sure do hate some white people.

Also I never said Ukraine is full of nazis. But yeah there are nazis fighting along with the regular troops. If you believe the Azov batallion are now just good boys, well I would disagree about that.

 

About aid to Ukraine, I think I was wrong about that in the beginning of the war. I was afraid Putin would freak out and nuke everything. But now I think supporting them is the right thing to do.

 

 

 

lorcan_nagle wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Ilhan Omar was the only democrat who voted against the Ukraine support bill.

Is this good because you’ve repeatedly claimed Ukraine is full of Nazis, or bad because you hate Muslims?

Oh fuck off man. I don’t hate all Muslims, just the ones who do bad things. The same way I hate white people I guess. I don’t hate all white people but I sure do hate some white people.

Also I never said Ukraine is full of nazis. But yeah there are nazis fighting along with the regular troops. If you believe the Azov batallion are now just good boys, well I would disagree about that.

 

About aid to Ukraine, I think I was wrong about that in the beginning of the war. I was afraid Putin would freak out and nuke everything. But now I think supporting them is the right thing to do.

 

 

 

Ilhan Omar was the only democrat who voted against the Ukraine support bill.

“Sophie of Dundee” vindicated…this is truly a crazy story.

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/cx2d83w1yvyo

 

Honestly if 12 year old girls feel they have to arm themselves with a knife and an axe…what does that say about the state of a country.

Yeah I’m fine with saying what is happening in Gaza is a genocide and that zionism is islamophobic. But this is just plain lying.

 

(Of cours the other side does the same, lots of pro-Israel people are lying about the young victims in Gaza. But that does not make it alright)

UK National Association of Muslim Police says no kids were hurt in Oct 7 attacks.

 

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2026/06/06/britains-muslim-police-association-defends-hamas/

Of course never did I say anything like “all immigrants are bad”, most are alright. And I don’t want to “close the borders” or something like that. But I take issue with this idea which is really a liberal idea I think, that everybody is in his heart of hearts already kind of a liberal, and will eventually (or in 3 generations) blend in when they move to a secular, liberal society, at least when we are nice enough to them. That’s underestimating conservative and tribal drives many people have.

 

BTW I don’t think this is the biggest issue we face, Putin and Trump and the fashy stuff in Europe is worse. (And all the shit Israel is doing)

Christian wrote:

You don’t know many people with an immigration background, Arjan, do you?

BTW I ignored that comment, but it is completely wrong. There were 6 Morrocan kids in my class in primary school. (One of whom was expelled from the country as an adult, you can guess the reason) Also all my neighbors here are immigrants. Polish on the left, Iranian on the right, and Eritrean above me. I have a good relations with all of them. I also worked with many of them when I still had a job. In the town where I now live it is impossible to not be in contact with immigrants, every day.

 

Really in a nutshell the thing I’m trying to say is, I just think it’s evidently false to say that after three generations immigrants are all “fully assimilated” or “integrated” or even that this is feasible.  We’re into our third generation and there are clear differences, especially with the Morrocan group. It is quite a different culture, with many (not all of them, don’t misquote me) people who have fundamentally different opinions about many things that you would probably think are important. Different opinions can be fine, but we’ve also had people killed here for saying certain things about Islam, parents who killed their daughters because she was too “Westernized” etc

 

 

 

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I would als question the common mantra that we need immigration to save the economy. Poland’s population has been shrinking for years, and their economy is booming. They’re doing something right that we are doing wrong.

Christian wrote:

I think we’re on different sides when it comes to cause and effect:

I think it’s mixed. You seem to be saying the sole cause is Western intolerance,rejection by mainstream society, a lack to accept people other than us. I think that’s wrong. Western societies are the most tolerant societies that ever existed. We let people from all over the world come here, have jobs, have an education, even become leaders and prime ministers. I don’t think that ever existed before. Certainly not in sunni Muslim countries where it is complete hell to live as a a minority (with the exception of Malaysia).

 

But we’re not perfect. Wilders is certainly terrible, I think he betrays our liberal values and his party should be forbidden. But I think people have a tendency to find support in their own demographic groups, to define themselves as groups opposed to other groups. Protestant, not catholic. Bavarian, not Prussian. Rural, not urban. Queer, not straight. Conservative, not liberal. Etc. That’s how we define ourselves, that’s how we form our identities. And you’ll always have people who take that to extremes, there is always a risk of radicalization, I think especially if you have many diverse groups living side by side. People who will want to fight the other side. And you know there are powerful actors exploiting divisions. There always are. If you have divisions in your society, you’ll have people trying to widen them. Like those Diyanet mosques in Germany that were led by the Turkish government and spread Muslim Brotherhood ideology. Like Saudi funded mosques that spread wahhabi messages. People like Andrew Tate who are radicalizing people. Hell, Erdogan expressly told German Turks not to integrate. And Putin also uses these divisions.

 

It’s really a powder keg. Europe has had some issues in the past with religious division, like centuries of horrible bloodshed and genocide, and I have to say I’m very skeptical about the idea that you can just pour in people of all ideologies and religions without any limit, just let them do their thing, and expect everything to go well. In fact some of the people who promote this idea might not have the best intentions for you.

 

I’m not against immigration per se, but I think some people are pretty naive about it, and there are enormous dangers involved, especially on a long term timeline.

Crazy that nomadic peoples like Tibetans and Mongolians live with their cattle, care for them, and use their milk and meat to sustain themselves and we say”ah how charming and traditional” while we have to worry about the climate impact of eating meat and feel bad about the sufferings of the animal because of the terrible circumstances in the bio industry. In a way modern man has made himself into cattle.

We’re now in our third generation of Moroccan Dutch and Turkish Dutch, and there is a distinct distance many of them still have to Dutch society, with a dislike for certain things like LGBT rights and equality for men and women.  I don’t think they’re less conservative than their grandparents. I mentioned Islamic schools, in my previous posts, there was an investigation into religious schools in the Netherlands two years ago and not one Islamic school was tolerant towards LGBT people.

 

However Dutch youth is also growing more conservative.

Christian wrote:

usually by the third generation you can’t tell the difference.

Nonsense.

I think the crux of the problem is that some people expect that the people who migrate here are “liberals-in-waiting”, and just need some minor adjustments before they will fit in and be happy. But why would this be true? Many immigrants who came here might believe that their own ideas are better than the ideas of Western people, and if anything, Western people should change their culture to fit in better with the migrants because the migrant’s culture is superior.

 

In a way it’s an ethnocentrist attitude to believe all migrants will be happy to “integrate”. You could say some people lack theory of mind in this regard, a difficulty to perceive others have deeply held beliefs and attitudes different from their own that they are not willing to let go of.

Christian wrote:

Well, yes, and there are people who have carefully examined the reasons for this and shown how we could change this (mostly with proper integration policies)

Eh I’m skeptical…we have Islamic schools that teach the West is evil and degenerate, and about 75 % of parents from Moroccan and Turkish parents think it would be a problem if any of their kids came out as homosexual. I don’t know if you can just change with some integration courses. I think if you import big numbers of Muslims you just have to accept a significant number of them will have attitudes that are very different from the liberal mindset.

 

Part of that liberal mindset is the idea that you can “change” these people with “integration”. Imagine how that works….you have been taught certain things about religion, about women, about homosexuals etc by your parents in your country of origin, and now you move to a Western country and you have to go to a classroom a couple of hours a week where someone tells you, no, being gay is actually alright. I doubt that works. These ideas are actually deeply ingrained. Added to that, these people here are still under the influence of schools and mosques that teach them gay sex causes disease and destabilizes family life.

 

Of course there are Muslims who are very open to a Western lifestyle, but you will have a significant number who hold on to conservative, traditional ideas they have been taught about liberalism, religious laws, the position of women in society, homosexuality etc. Such things can change, but this is a very slow process. And we’ve seen some actually changing to becoming more conservative when they’re in Western countries. I think the youngest generation of Dutch-Moroccans might be more conservative than the ones who first came here in the 60s. However Dutch-Turkish people are more liberal.

 

edit: well, Dutch Moroccan girls tend to be quite liberal, they seem to settle into society fairly easy. I think the young Dutch Moroccan boys are very conservative though. Social media can steer them in a bad direction.

Todd wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Christian wrote:

Too many old, retired people and too few babies.

 

Based on what I have seen, immigration is only a short-term solution to declining birth rates. After about three generations, they have fully assimilated into the local culture, and the birth rates begin declining again.

True for most groups, I think, but some of the immigrants we’ve received here don’t integrate. Some become more radical when they’re here. Even after three generations.

 

(I don’t want to generalize of course, many in those groups are well integrated. Especially the women.)

 

Weird, chatgpt thinks I’m in the province of Gelderland (I live in Zuid Holland). I wonder what I’ve told him that makes him think that.

Well you could say a pub serves a community purpose. I would be OK with that. Or a cafe. Or something like a soup kitchen, for people on a low income to have a healthy meal.

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The Catholic church here is closing two churches, one in the town where I was born, and another little village next to it. There is not enough money or clergy to keep them going. It’s kind of funny that some people I know that never went to church, were complaining about that.

 

I heard they want to demolish at least one of the churches. That should not be allowed. Churches that are closed should get a new cultural purpose for the community.

Christian wrote:

Too many old, retired people and too few babies.

 

Christian wrote:

(due to dwindling population, economic stagnancy and whatnot)

Wikipedia says the population of Germany is growing.

 

edit: well looks like it grew till 2024, and now there’s a small decrease

There should be more craft beers with lower alcohol…I like a special beer but sometimes the alcohol is just too high. I mean a 10 % beer can be very tasty but if you drink that too much, it is just not good.

 

Brouwerij ‘t IJ from Amsterdam has this beer that is 4.4 % which is very tasty.

 

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Todd

njerry wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Weird that it’s what seen as the most liberal country in the work, the UK, who is the first country ever to ban cigarettes.

Actually, the UK is not the first: Maldives first country to impose generational smoking ban</a>

Alright, thanks for correcting me.

 

Anyway I’ll shut up about this now. I’ll be in the food and drink thread

Weird that it’s what seen as the most liberal country in the work, the UK, who is the first country ever to ban cigarettes.

Todd wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

It’s pretty incredible that in the 50s, 60s and 70s most women didn’t have any job and yet people could afford to live in houses.

Back in the day, there was a nice equilateral triangle between the shareholders, company president, and employees. Shareholders got good dividends, the president was compensated well but not outrageously (the average was 16 to 1), and employees received good compensation with pension benefits. Overall, cost of living was lower as well. All parties benefited. Beginning in the 60s and 70s, women started entering the workforce in greater numbers as a way to establish independence and control of their own lives.

Then came Jack Welch and him becoming CEO of General Electric in the 1980s. He pushed for “maximizing shareholder value” and getting compensated greatly as a reward for doing so. This came at the cost of employees’ jobs and benefits. Sadly, this became the model we see today.

The fundamental problem of capitalism is that it pushes for growth at all costs. Unfortunately, this all happens in a closed system. Unchecked growth in a closed system has a name: Cancer.

Did the doubling of the workforce come with a doubling of GDP? If it didn’t, the rewards per individual worker will automatically be smaller.

 

The suspicion I have is that with couples having more money to spend, the prices for homes started rising.

 

Not saying women shouldn’t work, it’s also conceivable people might opt for the man to stay at home.

This discussion makes me want to take up smoking again but I’m too poor.

It’s pretty incredible that in the 50s, 60s and 70s most women didn’t have any job and yet people could afford to live in houses.

Honestly talking about “Germany being over” and then just talking about the economy is entirely missing the point. Most people in (mainly Western) Europe are completely brainrotten and demoralized.

Obesity kills almost as many people as smoking. Are we going to ban cookies next?

 

Your burgers and milshakes are burdening the NHS!

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njerry

[Arjan Dirkse]

aarg wrong thread

• This reply was modified 4 weeks ago by Arjan Dirkse.

Teenage boys who raped underage girls were not given a jail sentence:

 

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c332ljdkd81o

 

The judge did not want to “criminalize them”.

Todd wrote:

The First Age, Millarworld, ended.

 

You’re forgetting the Authority forum! That was the first phase.

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Alain Prost wounded in home invasion:

 

https://www.bbc.com/sport/formula1/articles/clyp65zpxe0o

Christian wrote:

Or they would’ve complained about Brad Pitt as Achilles, or Diane Kruger as Helen.

Achilles is depicted as blond in the Iliad though. There is a small minority of Greek people who are blond, and in mythology more are described as blond. Like Apollo is usually described as blond. For the record I do think it is dumb when it is done the other way as well, like for the sequel to Passion of the Christ they are letting a Nordic looking man play Jesus. I think blond hair was very uncommon among the Hebrews at the time.

 

But I don’t care that much. I may still go see Odyssey if the reviews are good.

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Todd

Chatgpt said in the Netherlands about 22 % think it is exaggerated. So not that much but still a substantial number.

Christian wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Honestly it’s quite clear to me by now that climate change is real. I mean doubting scientists and the media is one thing, but if you look at these temperatures you’re experiencing right now and still deny it’s happening, you’re gaslighting yourself. Unfortunately some people close to me have fallen into this.

Wow, really? You know some actual climate change deniers?

I didn’t think that was a big thing in the Netherlands.

Yep.

 

I’ve said for a while that I can’t be 100 % sure it was happening, but I never outright thought it wasn’t happening. But some people close to me have said it was certainly exaggerated, if it was happening at all. It’s sad (not going to say who said it because I don’t want them to be mocked but you can guess)

Monday could see 34 degrees in London! That’s crazy…In May.

 

Honestly it’s quite clear to me by now that climate change is real. I mean doubting scientists and the media is one thing, but if you look at these temperatures you’re experiencing right now and still deny it’s happening, you’re gaslighting yourself. Unfortunately some people close to me have fallen into this.

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Todd

Well at least he didn’t cast Pedro Pascal.

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Todd, Uncle Retrospective

There is a democratic candidate in Texas saying pretty antisemitic stuff but it appears she is actually financially supported by Republicans who are doing it to create an acrimonious primary battle.

Eh Hollywood must be Hollywood. If you can’t stand a bit of wokeness it’s not advisable to go to any movie that comes out of the US mainstream these days. I think it’s kinda stupid but I don’t care that much. I just wish they made good movies.

 

 

Christian wrote:

I thought that happened in 2012?

 

Yes but very briefly. Although some of my crockery is still stuck in the zero quantum zone.

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Christian, Todd

Bold to assume the universe hasn’t collapsed into a state of nothingness before 2028.

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I looked up Achel and apparently the monastery is closed since 2021 when the last two monks left. Kinda sad, but that seems to be the way it’s going with the church in general, and also the monasteries. The beer is officially no longer trappist, it’s been taken over by a private enterprise but it still tastes great.

 

At least it’s not part of the big conglomerates like InBev or Heineken.

 

It’s true that a lot of “abbey ales” aren’t actually brewed by monks, sometimes the names is just licensed to a professional brewery. Like Duvel Moortgat is now brewing Maredsous beer. But Westmalle, Westvleteren, Orval, Rochefort and Chimay are still officially belgian trappists. And in the Netherlands Zundert and La Trappe. There have also been trappist breweries popping up in other countries, Tynt Meadow in the UK, Tre Fontane in Italy, one in Austria…and maybe a few others.

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I guess I am just gonna wait for the reviews of Odyssey, I might still see it based on that.

 

Odysseus was the original island hopper. There is something magical about travelling the Greek islands. If the cinematography manages to portray that magic, I guess the movie is worth seeing just for that.

BTW I actually LOLd at this twitter comment: “I didn’t know Helen of Troy could generate so much conflict.”

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I did like Insomnia. But Memento is my favorite of his.

 

Looking back at his Batman movies, there is a lot in it that is weird and sort of dumb. Except the first one which was pretty straight forward.

njerry wrote:

Arjan, you’ll be happy to know that we hit 35 Celsius today!! That’s 95 degrees Fahrenheit, which is crazy for mid-May!!

 

We’ve had sort of a mini autumn here the last two weeks with temperatures barely above 10 degrees. But now it’s going to get hot here too. The coming days around 26 degrees which is very pleasant.

Not saying it’s bad, it’s just not that great. It didn’t stick in my mind like a great movie should.

 

Like can you name any character from Dunkirk without looking it up? Mabe it’s just my memory being bad, I dunno. But if I compare it to a movie like Inglorious Basterds, that movie has lots of specific characters, scenes and details that stick in my mind.

Honestly I’m pretty blackpilled atm about politics here, and in Europe, and in the world. Things could escalate here, with riots in the streets etc. And if we somehow hold things together we could be facing war with Russia. Still, Putin could just wait things out. If France votes for Bardella there could be a deal between Russia and Europe. Not sure what will happen with Germany and the AfD. I have doubts about the survival of the EU.

 

 

He also did Dunkirk. I think that one was very forgetable. Yeah some nice cinematography, but other than that nothing special. Some war stuff, some bullets, some people dying bla bla bla

njerry wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Still quite cool here but the US is getting really hot. 36 degrees on the East Coast. Stay cool guys.

I don’t know about 36, but we currently have 31 in the NYC area and I’m loving it!!

I saw 36 in Philly.

 

31 is alright, but if it get above that, I’m done for.

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njerry

Still quite cool here but the US is getting really hot. 36 degrees on the East Coast. Stay cool guys.

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Todd

Ben wrote:

That kind of booze demands respect. Quaff it down disrespectfully fast and you’ll quickly be wrecked.

Yeah tripels are quite heavy, they’re between 8 and 10 percent. So they can be double of what a regular pilsner beer is.

There are also quadrupels, which are darker coloured and about 10 to 12 percent. I think that type of beer is also called “barley wine”.

 

Enjoy but drink in moderation…

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Ben wrote:

more social housing

Well that’s very good. I wish our government got serious about doing something about the housing problem.

Yesss…he liqor store now has trappist beers from Achel, that’s probably my favorite of all the trappist beers. They’re so good. It’s from a monastery right on the Dutch Belgian border. I should go there one day.

 

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Todd, njerry, Dave

What are people’s main complaints about Starmer, concretely? Is it reasonable to expect another candidate from the same party would do a better job?

That trailer for the Odyssey is bland. Nothing in it makes me feel I need to some more of this.

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Todd

An untreated schizophrenic I am in contact with on the internet is now turning to chatgpt to find out how he can drink copious amounts of alcohol without going into psychosis. This guy is regularly on the street yelling and cursing at random people, yet nothing happens. We’ve notified the police multiple times.

 

Our government should care enough about us to put us in a mental institution when we’re going insane, or in jail when we commit serious crimes.

Dammit, wrote a long ass response and the forum deleted it somehow. Basically my point is some people you have to get off the streets. You can help people in a nice way but sometimes you have to be tough. Like those thugs that set fire to an asylum centre here. They should never have been there. Likewise with confused people on the street who threaten shop workers with knives, destroy stuff etc. It hurts people, it traumatizes people. Get them in treatment.

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In this time, Freud’s essay Thoughts for the times on war and death is a good read. He wrote in during WW1. It lays bare much of what happens when countries go to war, the cruelty people suddenly seem capable of, the deception and lies the state employs etc.

Still the ” they’re just poor kids who had bad luck in life”  argument only goes so far. Some do really terrible things. At the very least they have to be taken off the streets, because if we don’t do that, we’re instead punishing all their victims, all the innocent people they hurt.

For the record, I don’t mean all troublemakers are from other ethnic backgrounds than Dutch, Dutch kids very much also can be troublemakers. But we seem to have groups that hang out with people of the same ethnicity.

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Christian

Honestly I think we’re bumping up against the limits of liberalism and democracy. We’ve got people who misbehave and aren’t dealth with. Obviously the racist thugs, but also gangs of diverse ethnic backgrounds. We need to one hand help people get their lives in order and be compassionate to people who truly seek a better life, but also be tougher to the inveterate troublemakers.

 

The problem is doing it in a measured way. I think Denmark is doing some of the right things, but they’re going too far in certain aspects, like sending back Syrians to a country that is still dangerous.

We had rioters start a fire at an asylum centre two days ago. It was noteworthy how young the perps were. Almost all who were arrested were minors.

 

Made me think of how Orwell said how in 1984 the children were the most frightening agents of the regime.

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Todd wrote:

Arjan Dirkse wrote:

Bob Kagan, perhaps the most prominent neocon is American academics, has written an article in the Atlantic saying the US and Israel have utterly lost the war in Iran.

And in other news, water is wet. ;)

In all seriousness, that was always going to be an unwinnable war. Benjamin Netanyahu has been wanting this fight for decades. Previous, US leaders always said no to him. Trump was finally in a susceptible enough state to say yes. Trump was told this was a bad idea, but he ignored his own military and intelligence people and pushed ahead with it. I saw something this morning where Bibi might leave Trump in the cold with the fight.

Meanwhile, Iran has been preparing for this fight for 47 years. And here’s the thing about Iran: They don’t have to have an outright military victory to win. All they need to do is endure and maintain pressure. Either the US taps out or the whole world collapses. Either is an acceptable outcome to them. Hell, they could have a fishing boat drag its anchor on the seafloor and destroy an underwater internet cable and several Middle Eastern countries lose 80% of their internet. The aftershocks from that would be global.

Make no mistake, Iran is in the driver’s seat.

Yeah for a country that is playing the defensive side in a war scenario all they have to do to win is endure.

 

Iran has a terrible human rights record and I sympathize with Iranians who want regime change, but it’s an interesting country. It’s a sort of mix of theocracy and democracy. All the candidates and laws have to be approved by a council of religious leaders. (Although some people say the military has the ultimate power in the country. I don’t know about that though) Something I wonder about is if you have such a council who have to approve of the candidates, wether you would still get leaders like Trump, or Hitler. That said, maybe Khomeiny isn’t much better.

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Sean Robinson, Todd

Am I correct that they’re going to do some kind of origin of the Jedi movie? Or am i misremebering that?

 

I would be interested in that. I’m not very enthusiastic about the other projects that are going on…

Bob Kagan, perhaps the most prominent neocon is American academics, has written an article in the Atlantic saying the US and Israel have utterly lost the war in Iran.

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Todd

Some psychos in the Netherlands came with this flag to an asylum centre.

 

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Todd, JRCarter, Uncle Retrospective

I follow some mennonites on bluesky (yes there are mennonites who use the internet) and they have interesting posts sometimes. I like these more peaceful Christian traditions.

 

They also have an interesting online magazine:

 

https://anabaptistworld.org/from-hegseth-to-rfk-jr-leaders-are-using-religion-as-symbol-not-substance/

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Todd

They’re building a bicycle bridge in my town across a canal, that would make traffic between Alphen and villages in the vicinity faster, for some people at least. But the whole project has been terribly delayed, I think it should have been finished more than two years ago. The cost has also spiraled. They already built the pillars on which the bridge should be resting, which looks surreal in the landscape. It’s kind of symbolic for a lot of current day politics.

 

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Uncle Retrospective, Todd

The conservatives are mostly a spent force though. These days they’re cucks. The kids want far right.

Christian wrote:

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.

I am seriously losing hope about politics in my country. Honestly I’m not letting it ruin my mood too much, because I’m doing pretty well atm. But the whole narrative is so fucked. Everything is moving to the right.

 

It all benefits Putin by the way. We could see a Europe with AfD en Front National in power. If that happens I think it’s unavoidable that Europe reconciles with Russia, the EU will cease to exist other than as Putin’s toy. We’ll see Putin do a victory speech in the EU parliament.

 

In the Netherlands after the next election, we could see Wilders, Eerdmans or Baudet as prime minister. They’re all jokers. They’re no serious politicians. These people are so dumb, it could be as bad as Trump.

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Uncle Retrospective

The gesundes Volksempfinden in the Netherlands is blaming the current government for the prices of petrol. Which are obviously so high because of the blockade in the Hormuz strait.

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Todd

D66 party headquarters was attacked with a firebomb.

 

https://nltimes.nl/2026/05/08/politicians-outraged-attack-d66-headquarters-motive-still-unknown

This is terrible, the US is blockading Cuba and the world is not paying attention:

 

https://www.theguardian.com/global-development/2026/may/07/rubbish-health-cuba-us-oil-blockade-waste-collection-fuel-crisis-havana

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Uncle Retrospective, Sean Robinson, Todd

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.

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.