Stupid World

[pete376403]

TDL is correct, rest of you need to consult a real dictionary

So of course I had to go and consult a real dictionary - Websters second Ed 1958 (referred to in our house as "big book" - 300 x 200 x 130 and weight over 4 kg). Anyway "Militia" gets a surprisingly brief entry especially considering it is an American dictionary but even so, every thing seems to be plural - citizens, soldiers, armed forces, reserves; nothing that defines militia in the singular.

[TheDemonLord]

So of course I had to go and consult a real dictionary - Websters second Ed 1958 (referred to in our house as "big book" - 300 x 200 x 130 and weight over 4 kg). Anyway "Militia" gets a surprisingly brief entry especially considering it is an American dictionary but even so, every thing seems to be plural - citizens, soldiers, armed forces, reserves; nothing that defines militia in the singular.

An interesting post.

Firstly - did you see the bit about the US being all able bodied Men? If it applies to all, then it is evaluated at the Individual level, since it is not exclusionary.

Secondly - remember when I said that the singular of Militia appears to have an etymology from Militiaman (which is on the page) - but that in the 18th Century, that word does not appear to be used in the American context?

[pritch]

Same with Kyle.


Hardly, he wasn't defending his property, he was in a different state. But you were just trolling.

[pritch]

An interesting post.

Firstly - did you see the bit about the US being all able bodied Men? If it applies to all, then it is evaluated at the Individual level, since it is not exclusionary.



Did you notice that the dictionary specifically lists the National Guard as part of the organised militia?

[nerrrd]

An interesting post.

Firstly - did you see the bit about the US being all able bodied Men? If it applies to all, then it is evaluated at the Individual level, since it is not exclusionary.

Secondly - remember when I said that the singular of Militia appears to have an etymology from Militiaman (which is on the page) - but that in the 18th Century, that word does not appear to be used in the American context?

I'd respectfully suggest that the etymology is more likely to be from the Latin, 'militia, -ae' https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?parola=militia. Latin would still have played a big part in higher education at the time.

[TheDemonLord]

Hardly, he wasn't defending his property, he was in a different state. But you were just trolling.

Are we really doing the 'He crossed State Lines' narrative?

I'll agree he wasn't defending his Property, he was defending his LIFE when a Pedo attacked him, followed by a Wife Beater and Drunk Driver.

[TheDemonLord]

Did you notice that the dictionary specifically lists the National Guard as part of the organised militia?

I did.

They may be A Militia force, but they are not the Militia defined by the Constitution, since they predate the constitution by nearly 100 years.

If they had meant 'National Guard', they would have said so.

[TheDemonLord]

I'd respectfully suggest that the etymology is more likely to be from the Latin, 'militia, -ae' https://www.online-latin-dictionary.com/latin-english-dictionary.php?parola=militia. Latin would still have played a big part in higher education at the time.

Heh, I remember doing Latin at school.

I was specifically referring to an individual as a Militia in the singular, individual sense.

[pete376403]

I did.

They may be A Militia force, but they are not the Militia defined by the Constitution, since they predate the constitution by nearly 100 years.

If they had meant 'National Guard', they would have said so.

You know this, because you were there at the time, right?

[husaberg]

Hardly, he wasn't defending his property, he was in a different state. But you were just trolling.

He was also illegally out in the area as it had a curfew...


You know this, because you were there at the time, right?

its not his first rodeo.
here is him claiming he knows more about us the law than a US judge
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/185625-Tommy-Robinson?p=1131118602&highlight=supreme+court#post1131118602
more than a NZ supreme court judge
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/42615-The-firearm-thread/page641?p=1131177156#post1131177156
more then the NZ mental health foundation about mental health
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/140713-Stupid-World?p=1131125016#post1131125016
or more about security than the FBI
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/178017-The-American-(USA)-2016-presidential-elections-thread?p=1131104675#post1131104675
then you have the claim a law changed aggreged to by 99 percent of the MP's was undemocratic.
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/42615-The-firearm-thread/page604?p=1131139836#post1131139836
Not including the outright lies he told on numerous about the police vetting of the CHCH gunman he still refuse to acknowledge. he after his claims were found to be totally fraudulent.

[TheDemonLord]

He was also illegally out in the area as it had a curfew...

Was he charged? No? Oh dear.

Also - what was he doing out 'illegally'? Cleaning up after the BLM Rioters and rendering medical aid to those injured. Then he was attacked by a Pedo, then a Wife Beater, then a drunk driver.

Funny that in a BLM riot, all the people he shot were white and terrible human beings.


its not his first rodeo.
here is him claiming he knows more about us the law than a US judge
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/185625-Tommy-Robinson?p=1131118602&highlight=supreme+court#post1131118602

Husaberg can't tell the difference between someone who enters a country with an intent to live there and someone who enters a country with an intent to holiday there.


more than a NZ supreme court judge
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/42615-The-firearm-thread/page641?p=1131177156#post1131177156

Husaberg can't understand why making reports into government failings a secret might be considered suspect.


more then the NZ mental health foundation about mental health
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/140713-Stupid-World?p=1131125016#post1131125016

Husaberg doesn't understand that Men kill themselves at a rate higher than Women.


or more about security than the FBI
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/178017-The-American-(USA)-2016-presidential-elections-thread?p=1131104675#post1131104675

Husaberg doesn't understand Corporate IT Policy.


then you have the claim a law changed aggreged to by 99 percent of the MP's was undemocratic.
https://www.kiwibiker.co.nz/forums/showthread.php/42615-The-firearm-thread/page604?p=1131139836#post1131139836

Husaberg doesn't understand that when you have to bypass specific checks and balances to prevent knee-jerk legislation being passed, so you can pass your knee-jerk legislation - it has not followed the proper democratic process. Failure to follow the proper democratic process = undemocratic



Not including the outright lies he told on numerous about the police vetting of the CHCH gunman he still refuse to acknowledge. he after his claims were found to be totally fraudulent.

They did a half-arsed job, it's not lies when you point out that they had his Passport, they can see he's not spent more than 5 years in NZ, so for someone to vouch for him that they had known him, in NZ, for more than 5 years doesn't add up.

[TheDemonLord]

You know this, because you were there at the time, right?

I know this because:

1: The dates involved (1636 - National Guard is formed, 1787 - The US Constitution was created and the US Bill of rights 1791)
2: There is a lot of documentation on the debates the created those two documents, with a lot of argument about fine details such as Comma placement and wording.

If they had meant the National Guard, since it was in existence and well-known to them, they would have said so - given the level of care and attention that used in crafting it.

Furthermore, since the National Guard is a Government controlled entity, it would go against the very idea that they were enshrining in Law - that is, to ensure that the people always had a means to overthrow the Government should it ever become tyrannical.

[R650R]

Meanwhile, over in Nevada....


https://youtu.be/aYftjzetxVw

[Viking01]

It's been interesting noticing (without any specific intention or action on my part) how much Google appears to manipulate content from certain websites. In this case, Russian websites.

I have been using "Google Translate" as an online function to translate content in other languages for several years. Danish, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese as well as Russian. Not only to access and read content in other languages, but also to keep in contact with various people around the world.

More recently, I've been accessing a higher number of Russian websites, simply to read their content and to see what the Russians had to say on various topics.

While the "hit rate' (in terms of returning a Russian translation) has always been high, I'd noticed an increasing number of instances of Google Translate either:

(i) returning no content for certain websites (the request would just "hang")
or
(ii) returning some content for those websites, but an explicit "could not translate this webpage" response for certain webpages within a website.

For no obvious reason.

This was starting to become a little frustrating, as the link to an article was often posted by other users (bloggers) and was of interest to me.

So recently, I decided to install the Russian Yandex web browser on my PC as well - simply to see if I could access and read the content on those Russian websites / webpages that appeared to have been affected.

What do you know ?

Using Yandex:
The usual western news websites that I regularly frequent could be displayed just fine. No problems.

But:

In (i) above, the previously affected Russian website was now accessible and its content could be displayed just fine.

In (ii) above, the previously affected Russian webpage could be accessed, and its content could be displayed just fine.

As a test, I tried to access the "affected website" or "affected webpage" first using Google Translate - and then (as quickly as possible) tried to access the same resource using Yandex - just to see if this (mis-)behaviour was consistent over a number of days. Which it was.

So why was Google Translate having a problem with either providing access to, or providing a Russian translation in some instances ?

And then I noticed another behaviour that I found a little more unsettling.

In certain Russian websites that showed a time-based list of article headlines (i.e. newest to oldest, for the past 24 hours) - where you could select on and then read the linked article:

(iii) certain headlines that were shown in the list by the Yandex browser would not be shown (simply omitted) using Google Translate.

Often not just one article headline, but multiple.

It seems that they had simply been filtered out by Google Translate (or by the underlying Google search and retrieval software).

So I couldn't always rely on Google Translate to either reliably access certain websites, or to reliably provide me with a translation.

I watch with interest to see if the same (mis-)behaviour starts to occur for some Chinese websites in the not-too-distant future. ;)

[R650R]

That’s been happening for at least ten years Viking... google is the cia/nsa so it kinda makes sense.
I’ve noticed last few months on fakebook if your clicking through to a story that is perhaps anti the mainstream narrative you get this little window saying “website slow loading” with two options basically encouraging you to abandon your attempt. All the while you’ve watch the blue professor bar and it’s nigh on nery instsntmy loaded anyway.
Real blatant attempt at soft censirship.

[george formby]

It's been interesting noticing (without any specific intention or action on my part) how much Google appears to manipulate content from certain websites. In this case, Russian websites.

I have been using "Google Translate" as an online function to translate content in other languages for several years. Danish, Dutch, Japanese, Chinese as well as Russian. Not only to access and read content in other languages, but also to keep in contact with various people around the world.

More recently, I've been accessing a higher number of Russian websites, simply to read their content and to see what the Russians had to say on various topics.

While the "hit rate' (in terms of returning a Russian translation) has always been high, I'd noticed an increasing number of instances of Google Translate either:

(i) returning no content for certain websites (the request would just "hang")
or
(ii) returning some content for those websites, but an explicit "could not translate this webpage" response for certain webpages within a website.

For no obvious reason.

This was starting to become a little frustrating, as the link to an article was often posted by other users (bloggers) and was of interest to me.

So recently, I decided to install the Russian Yandex web browser on my PC as well - simply to see if I could access and read the content on those Russian websites / webpages that appeared to have been affected.

What do you know ?

Using Yandex:
The usual western news websites that I regularly frequent could be displayed just fine. No problems.

But:

In (i) above, the previously affected Russian website was now accessible and its content could be displayed just fine.

In (ii) above, the previously affected Russian webpage could be accessed, and its content could be displayed just fine.

As a test, I tried to access the "affected website" or "affected webpage" first using Google Translate - and then (as quickly as possible) tried to access the same resource using Yandex - just to see if this (mis-)behaviour was consistent over a number of days. Which it was.

So why was Google Translate having a problem with either providing access to, or providing a Russian translation in some instances ?

And then I noticed another behaviour that I found a little more unsettling.

In certain Russian websites that showed a time-based list of article headlines (i.e. newest to oldest, for the past 24 hours) - where you could select on and then read the linked article:

(iii) certain headlines that were shown in the list by the Yandex browser would not be shown (simply omitted) using Google Translate.

Often not just one article headline, but multiple.

It seems that they had simply been filtered out by Google Translate (or by the underlying Google search and retrieval software).

So I couldn't always rely on Google Translate to either reliably access certain websites, or to reliably provide me with a translation.

I watch with interest to see if the same (mis-)behaviour starts to occur for some Chinese websites in the not-too-distant future. ;)

Sorry to quote the whole lot, sheer laziness.

Any reason why it would not be Russian websites hampering Google access?

[Viking01]

That’s been happening for at least ten years Viking... google is the cia/nsa so it kinda makes sense.
I’ve noticed last few months on fakebook if your clicking through to a story that is perhaps anti the mainstream narrative you get this little window saying “website slow loading” with two options basically encouraging you to abandon your attempt. All the while you’ve watch the blue professor bar and it’s nigh on nery instsntmy loaded anyway.
Real blatant attempt at soft censirship.

Evening.
I was just surprised to see such obvious suppression of certain entries. I wasn't actively looking for it, but just happened to compare the results presented for the same webpage using the two search engines.

As you said, some of the behaviours of Google are well recognised, and have been mentioned within various articles posted over the years (e.g. the following two articles from 2019):

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2019/11/blockbuster-wsj-investigation-how-google-interferes-with-its-search-algorithms-and-changes-your-results.html
https://www.rt.com/usa/465000-google-engineer-whistleblower-veritas/

The more common examples that I've noted over the years have been:

1.Relative Ranking (Bias)

(a) Paid Advertising content [Obviously Promoted - Can Ignore]

(b) Ranking of articles produced by various western news media outlets or think-tanks automatically appearing within the first 1-2 pages of Google' search results [Promoted], while those from "less well-regarded" sources are either downgraded [Are returned, but appear well down the Results tree] or seem to have been filtered out completely [Do not appear at all in the Results tree - first 10 pages of search results]

Examples: Topic Area = 911, Trump, Covid. Website = RT or Sputnik (Russian)

2.Filtered Out or Suppressed

(a) Trying to access an online article whose hyperlink has been included in another recently posted article (say the last 24 hours), only to find that the referenced article can no longer be found and retrieved via Google. [ But can been found by going to the source website, and searching locally]

(b) Cut-and-paste either a "part title" or "full title" from an existing online article and use as an explicit search term within Google, yet that article still will not appear within Google's search results.

Possibly not indexed, but I find it doubtful as an excuse where the same article can easily be found using alternative search engines having less comprehensive website indexing (e.g. Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Qwant).

[Viking01]

Sorry to quote the whole lot, sheer laziness.

Any reason why it would not be Russian websites hampering Google access?

Evening.

Good question. But I couldn't see any justification in that behaviour by the Russians.

The entries that did not appear under Google related to items the Russians would have likely wanted clarified, and their view to be seen and read. Whereas various western news outlets might have not wanted to either acknowledge the items, or discuss them e.g.

(i) Supposed impact of reduced wheat shipments upon global food supply
(ii) Supposed effectiveness of western sanctions upon Russia (and sanctions blow-back upon Europe and the US)
(iii) Ukrainian casualties

Cheers, Viking

[george formby]

Evening.

Good question. But I couldn't see any justification in that behaviour by the Russians.

The entries that did not appear under Google related to items the Russians would have likely wanted clarified, and their view to be seen and read. Whereas various western news outlets might have not wanted to either acknowledge the items, or discuss them e.g.

(i) Supposed impact of reduced wheat shipments upon global food supply
(ii) Supposed effectiveness of western sanctions upon Russia (and sanctions blow-back upon Europe and the US)
(iii) Ukrainian casualties

Cheers, Viking

Thanks for answering, you have me intrigued. Again.

[pritch]

Apropos of the sites where Google translate didn't work, have you tried using the camera on your phone and the Google translate app to view the Russian on the screen? Be intersting to see if that worked.

[Viking01]

Apropos of the sites where Google translate didn't work, have you tried using the camera on your phone and the Google translate app to view the Russian on the screen? Be interesting to see if that worked.

Morning.

Yes, I have used the Google Translate app on my phone - and yes, it does work. But it's damned fiddly, and you have to keep a steady hand.
Much easier to use the PC version, or to use the Yandex browser.

Cheers, Viking

[mashman]

It's been interesting noticing (without any specific intention or action on my part) how much Google appears to manipulate content from certain websites. In this case, Russian websites................

Censorship and manipulation of information in 2022, Shirley not. When it was all paper based, the papers could easily be hidden and one could lie entire countries into conflicts over resources that one wanted and blame someone else for it. By deception do war.

[husaberg]

Censorship and manipulation of information in 2022, Shirley not. When it was all paper based, the papers could easily be hidden and one could lie entire countries into conflicts over resources that one wanted and blame someone else for it. By deception do war.

So what about people like you, that willfully spread false information like fake covid cures?


And that has what to do with the fact that that is where the guide can be found?... you know, the one discussing the use of Ivermectin by those who have successfully used the drugs to treat Covid?

Shooting the messenger only works if the messenger is saying something that hasn't been proven to work, or in this day and age, something that can be twisted to suit the purpose of allowing the messenger to be effectively shot without anyone really noticing... you know, like posting a critique of a group of medical professionals v's a list of their personal preferences in order to deny them their medical status. And they're called beyond lunatic fringe by whom? The fucking pathetic?


The 'vaccine' you allude to would be Ivermectin et al applied according to the algorithm of treatment that Peter McCullough et al developed n response to people dying before their eyes. The treatment costs cents and is merely the 'off-label' use of a drug that has worked. That an algorithm was developed in August 2020 and still works no matter the variant. Hard to get, though not impossible, I'd rather it was recognised and so could be prescribed according to an algorithm that isn't overly easy to follow.

heh... tends to happen when one believes that one has gone as far as one can go in terms of what one is certain of.


Proof is proof. (https://thebfd.co.nz/2021/09/01/australian-mp-craig-kelly-interviews-dr-brian-tyson-20th-august-2021/) Posting again just coz it seems that some people are still under the delusion that there's no proof of tried, tested and well documented treatments out there. Can't handle it and feel the need to batter away at your keyboard showing me who you really are by trying to tell me what or who you think I Am, snigger, then you've missed the point. Some science can't be denied... but it can be ignored and sold to gullible morons as worthy of mandating something completely unncessary and unfit for purpose... but hey, that's scence v's human opinion for ya. The government said it's ok :killingme :crybaby: :killingme


He has offered his evidence to anyone who wants it (obviously medical confidentionality limits to whom). He was successfully treating Covid with these drugs before the jab, because he was a part of a collective of doctors who didn't sit there and do nothing. Yet you find it hard to believe that front-line doctors are capable of such things? Moreover you think they're lying because of their position on the jab? ha ha ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaaa... They had their findings i.e. people cured with the evidence to prove tt, ready to present in August 2020, and yet no one has wanted to see it. The Mccullough et al paper from 2020 outlining the collective findings at the time is still waiting to be peer reviewed 18 months later i.e. it hasn't even been looked at yet despite the claims it was making at the time, and despite the fact that the jab is a bust.
.


Covid-19: Researcher blows the whistle on data integrity issues in Pfizer’s vaccine trial - An investigation for the BMJ. (https://www.bmj.com/content/375/bmj.n2635)... might explain a few things with regards to testing v's outcomes in reality reality.

.”"


Exactly. Pfizers results are available and ya'll still have yer heads up yer arses that sees people continue to be murdered. Can't accept that exceptionally well evidenced fact from the producers of the snake oil? = Wilful ignorance.


They're dying from complications associated with a virus that had a scientifically proven cure available in Aug 2020. They're also dying from an injection that doesn't work according to the products own safety data.

[Viking01]

Thanks for answering, you have me intrigued. Again.

Afternoon.

The basic point I was making is that there are always two sides to every coin.

While the western media is well and truly dominant (in terms of media chains and news outlets, think-tank opinion and commentary by western leaders) - to the point of flooding the bandwidth , they carry little or no comment by Russian leaders or media.

In addition, a number of European countries have forced the closure of Russian news outlets such as RT and Sputnik (in the name of controlling the spread of "propaganda").

So, unless you go and actively look for commentary on the "other side of the fence", you're not going to get an alternative perspective.

You don't have to (i) believe what you read (ii) like what you read, but perhaps there might be a few grains of truth present (facts) as well as a valid alternative perspective (view point). You be your own judge.

In respect to the three points I listed earlier:

A. Wheat exports
B. Western sanctions
C. Ukrainian casualties

I'll address just the first two at this time, and provide a few links below.

I'm not going to get into a debate whether the content - or viewpoint - is right or wrong. Honest or dishonest.

Some of the links require Google Translate to access and dynamically translate the Russian website source, so some may take a few seconds to load and convert . A little patience may be required. [ Why using the Yandex web browser is so much easier and quicker ]

Note:
You may be prompted whether you want to access and open the article when you click on those links (just so you know). Some of the Russian expression may also be a little stilted English language-wise, but the basic kernel of the idea should still be evident.

A. Wheat Exports

The basic points the Russians are making are:

1. That a global food shortage in some areas) has been looming for several years (not just since the start of the Russian LME).

2. That the Ukrainian wheat supply is only a small proportion of grain available for export globally, and what they do export is more likely going to the West to help pay down debt (incurred for weapons shipments) rather than needy third world countries.

That mining of harbours might be viewed and interpreted in more than one way.

3. That Russia would be able to meet a large proportion of third world grain needs, had the West not chosen to (i) sanction their wheat sales (ii) sanction their delivery vessels / ability to moor in western harbours (iii) refuse shipping insurance cover (iv) sanction Russian banks , thus preventing payment for grain sales by Russia.

4. That the wheat "shortage" is also dependent upon other concurrent factors such as (i) China buying up large (ii) India restricting exports (iii) failure of crops in certain countries during 2021.

https://sputniknews.com/20220603/putin-europes-short-sighted-policies-provoked-energy-crisis-1095979831.html

https://vz-ru.translate.goog/world/2022/5/11/1157873.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://vz-ru.translate.goog/economy/2022/5/19/1159260.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://vz-ru.translate.goog/news/2022/6/1/1161187.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

B. Western Sanctions

This is a very large topic to try and cover (so I won't try).

Other than to say that (i) sanctions affect all aspects of daily life, (ii) Europe, the UK and the US will not be immune from the effects of the sanctions they have imposed themselves, and (iii) Russia has been preparing for a western sanctions program since Maidan 2014, and so has had time to prepare for the possibility.

Again, I have provided a few Russian articles (links below). I have interspersed a number of western media articles, not only to try and show some balance, but also suggest that the Russians may have been correct in some of their assertions. Again, you be your own judge.

The basic points that the Russians are making are:

1. Sanctions affect a wide range of products and their use in daily living and manufacturing (e.g. oil and gas, certain metals and speciality gases, minerals, wood, glass, just to name a few).

2. The western sanctions are more likely to affect their own economies, not only causing increased inflation, but also the slowdown (and the stoppage) of certain important manufacturing operations (e.g. fertilisers, glass making, vehicles).

They question both the "sense" and "value" of the imposition of further sanctions, as well as the "honesty" of European politicians in continuing to promote their use.

3. The Europeans have reduced not only their own energy physical stocks (and certainty of supply), but also driven up energy prices dramatically through their own actions (e.g. decision to cease fixed contracts and shift to spot pricing; gas futures rising dramatically on the back of supply uncertainty; force Russian response and decision to shift to payment in rubles).

4. The tight integration of oil and gas supply between Russia and Europe will not be easily unwound, and nowhere near as quickly as European politicians suggest.

This is affected by (i) insufficient availability of various fuels derived from crude oil (e.g. diesel, aviation fuel) (ii) the need to re-configure - and the difficulty of reconfiguring - European refineries to process non-Russian crude oil supplies (iii) lack of certain blend ingredients.

5. Energy supply and certainty is not limited just to oil and gas supply. Nuclear power (specifically supply of nuclear fuel materials) is important to continuity of supply of energy to homes and industries. Not to forget (i) planned European phase-out of nuclear power (ii) age of existing European nuclear power plants (past due retirement date) (iii) maintenance outages constraining electricity generation.

6. The US will not be able to save Europe by supplying LNG (even if it wanted to). This applies to (i) limitations upon its own ability to supply LNG (ii) need to meet internal US demand for LNG (iii) world wide LNG shortage (iv) need for the deployment of new LNG re-gasification infrastructure within Europe.

7. The US will not be able to rely on its traditional Middle Eastern allies to "step up their production and fill the energy supply gap" - for political, economic and resource extraction reasons. Nor will it be able to strong-arm other parties such as Iran and Venezuela to do so.

https://sputniknews.com/20220604/europeans-urged-to-prepare-for-new-inflation-price-shocks-as-eu-agrees-to-phase-out-russian-oil-1096010958.html

https://www.rt.com/russia/556377-belgium-sanctions-pause-impact/

https://www.nakedcapitalism.com/2022/05/eu-continues-to-try-to-hurt-russia-by-shooting-itself-in-the-foot.html

https://www.moonofalabama.org/2022/05/how-europe-was-pushed-towards-economic-suicide.html#more

https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/inflation-storm-devastates-us-households-fuel-power-and-food-become-unaffordable

https://eadaily-com.translate.goog/ru/news/2022/05/31/the-guardian-evrosoyuz-dolzhen-zabyt-o-sankciyah-protiv-rossii-ot-nih-odin-vred?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://www.rt.com/business/556016-energy-market-crunch-winter/

https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220612/gaz-1794829727.html?rcmd_alg=slotter&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[Edit 14.06.2022]

https://www.smh.com.au/business/markets/shock-us-inflation-a-rude-reality-check-for-already-shaken-markets-20220613-p5at78.html

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/06/13/if-we-dont-end-war-will-end-us/

https://www.rt.com/business/557139-russia-cuts-gas-flow-to-germany/

[Edit 15.06.2022]

https://eadaily-com.translate.goog/ru/news/2022/06/14/ssha-ne-dodadut-evrope-spg-chp-na-terminale-okazalos-sereznym?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://sputniknews.com/20220615/sanctions-on-russian-uranium-sales-likely-to-backfire-on-us-economy-1096326921.html

[Edit 16.06.2022]

https://aftershock-news.translate.goog/?q=node/1120729&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[Edit 24.06.2022]

https://sputniknews.com/20220623/microsoft-says-russian-media-popular-in-us-ukraine-despite-efforts-to-reduce-traffic-1096595394.html

[george formby]

2.Filtered Out or Suppressed

(a) Trying to access an online article whose hyperlink has been included in another recently posted article (say the last 24 hours), only to find that the referenced article can no longer be found and retrieved via Google. [ But can been found by going to the source website, and searching locally]

(b) Cut-and-paste either a "part title" or "full title" from an existing online article and use as an explicit search term within Google, yet that article still will not appear within Google's search results.

Possibly not indexed, but I find it doubtful as an excuse where the same article can easily be found using alternative search engines having less comprehensive website indexing (e.g. Bing, DuckDuckGo, Yandex, Qwant).

Aah, now this is something I have come across often enough to make me ponder. Funnily enough it's been articles in the British press which have vanished. As you say, within 24 hours and not just the Google search but the actual site where I read it.
IIRC the last one that vanished was about an incident involving a Russian submarine off the coast of Ireland. Poof, gone.

[Viking01]

Aah, now this is something I have come across often enough to make me ponder. Funnily enough it's been articles in the British press which have vanished. As you say, within 24 hours and not just the Google search but the actual site where I read it.
IIRC the last one that vanished was about an incident involving a Russian submarine off the coast of Ireland. Poof, gone.

What submarine ? :msn-wink: Did it wave a Russian flag ? :msn-wink: Was it budget appropriation time for the local Defence department ? :msn-wink:

[TheDemonLord]

Afternoon.

The basic point I was making is that there are always two sides to every coin.

You mean the radical notion that each person is a Judge in the court of their Opinion and should be entrusted to weigh the evidence given to them, to sort Truth from Lies?!?

This might be crazy enough to work....

[TheDemonLord]

Aah, now this is something I have come across often enough to make me ponder. Funnily enough it's been articles in the British press which have vanished. As you say, within 24 hours and not just the Google search but the actual site where I read it.
IIRC the last one that vanished was about an incident involving a Russian submarine off the coast of Ireland. Poof, gone.

Sadly, this is a common occurrence.

I'm in favor of publishing corrections, issuing retractions - so long as the original is maintained - creating an Audit trail if you will.

However the silent and unseen process of banning/deleting/hiding content is a regular thing. Now, I can agree on illegal content being deleted - perhaps the most famous example would be the mass deletion of the Chch Massacre livestream - but for things that aren't illegal (even if reprehensible) - then it should be accessible.

[Viking01]

You mean the radical notion that each person is a Judge in the court of their Opinion and should be entrusted to weigh the evidence given to them, to sort Truth from Lies?!?

This might be crazy enough to work....

Afternoon.

In response to the comment about "two sides to every coin". Short answer to your question: No.

The four sentences that followed it (at the start of post #12024) outlined what I was thinking / had intended.

In some cases, one must actively go looking for "alternative" opinion - rather than just rely on a single narrative that is readily given. Mr Murdoch might disagree.

[george formby]

What submarine ? :msn-wink: Did it wave a Russian flag ? :msn-wink: Was it budget appropriation time for the local Defence department ? :msn-wink:

Budget appropriation time? :laugh: Interesting thought.

The article - IIRC - was about Royal Navy ships being tailed whilst on exercise. :msn-wink:

[Viking01]

Budget appropriation time? :laugh: Interesting thought.

The article - IIRC - was about Royal Navy ships being tailed whilst on exercise. :msn-wink:

The Russians were probably just "trolling" the Brits, and returning the favour (after HMS Defender got "temporarily lost" off the coast of Crimea last year). :msn-wink:

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2021/jun/23/russian-ship-fired-warning-shots-at-royal-navy-destroyer-hms-defender-moscow-says

Regarding budget appropriation, it has been a very popular practice with the Swedish intelligence services over the years. :msn-wink:

https://www.rt.com/news/470519-sweden-russian-submarine-hunt/

Though not entirely without precedent:

https://nationalinterest.org/blog/reboot/1981-stranded-russian-submarine-sent-sweden-frenzy-172520

[Viking01]

https://archive.org/details/tv

Bound to be something for everyone. <_<

[Viking01]

https://www.greanvillepost.com/2022/06/17/the-uks-decision-to-extradite-assange-shows-why-the-us-uks-freedom-lectures-are-a-farce/

https://johnmenadue.com/the-crimes-of-julian-assange/

[Edit 21.06.2022]

https://johnmenadue.com/if-albanese-asks-for-assanges-freedom-biden-has-every-reason-to-agree-bob-carr/

[R650R]

I bet a directive has gone out to all real spelling contests that this word will never be spelled lol

Hopefully the children will save society from this madness before it’s too late...

Satire but could easily be real in today’s world...



https://youtu.be/5mnQTzhVgl8

[pritch]

Events in the USA might have convinced (some of) us that they are reaching rock bottom. As Trump showed us though, there is no bottom.

This item refers to a Missouri candidate for the US Senate. A former state governor, he reportedly beat his wife and dragged their small child around by the hair. He also is alleged to have photographed a mistress bound naked in a chair and threatened to release the photos if she ever mentioned the relationship publicly. All of which may have something to do with why he is no longer Governor of Missouri.

Obviously a suitable candidate for further high office?

This item referes to his campaign ad. Just to be clear, "bag limit" is a hunting/fishing term. Tagging and bagging refers to corpses and body bags. RINO is a Republican in name only. Not a horned African mammal.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/an-armed-eric-greitens-goes-rino-hunting-in-new-campaign-ad/ar-AAYGkQ7

[Viking01]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-us-japan-australia-new-zealand-and-united-kingdom-form-pacific-group/#comments

Wonder what that means for those countries that have decided to have some engagement with China ?

[R650R]

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-us-japan-australia-new-zealand-and-united-kingdom-form-pacific-group/#comments

Wonder what that means for those countries that have decided to have some engagement with China ?

Well we might suddenly have excess supply of timber and milk lifer for domestic market. Might help with housing and poverty crisis....
I saw a news clip talking about nz relationship with NATO.... all this virtue signalling will cost us dearly in future.
It’s quite clear China/India/Russia are the economic powerhouses of future global economy as west sinks under its own beautacracy

[Viking01]

Morning.

One thing that had puzzled me in my past travels around the country is the sometimes inappropriate signage or road markings (or lack of it) in hazard areas.

Just in browsing on Stuff this morning, I saw the following article. In the last photo in the article, is there any sensible reason why a 100km/hr sign is shown immediately before another sign showing a narrowing of the road (and an obvious hump)?

https://www.stuff.co.nz/manawatu-standard/news/300622032/how-many-more-crashes-action-demanded-on-bridge-that-narrows-with-no-warning

I would have thought a more appropriate speed could be posted, and provide a cheap interim solution.

I feel that whichever organisation is tasked with maintenance of roads (and signage) probably has asset maps, showing what signage / speeds are applicable for individual areas. As well as some basic rules as to appropriate signage around hazard areas. Or am I dreaming ?

Those doing long distance haulage can no doubt point to more egregious examples.

[george formby]

:laugh:

You're not the only one to notice lack of or inappropriate signage.

My current local favourite is the 100kmh sign about 50 mtrs before a blind 20 kmh gravel hairpin bend.

My least favourite is the local overtaking chicane with a blind junction in the middle of it. Been some nasty hits. If you're overtaking through the corner you very suddenly find a vehicle parked in your lane waiting to turn right. Sometimes a logging truck..

There is a wee sign showing the junction but no other warning. I flicked off a few e-mails about it following a really nasty bike accident but nothing has been done.

[Berries]

Just in browsing on Stuff this morning, I saw the following article. In the last photo in the article, is there any sensible reason why a 100km/hr sign is shown immediately before another sign showing a narrowing of the road (and an obvious hump)?
Probably because they were only thinking of where to start the 70km/h speed limit going the other way so the 100km/h sign was not even a consideration. There should be a minimum of 60m between signs on rural roads and those two signs just meet that - the photo foreshortens things quite a bit. Not sure how much thought they gave to where the 70 starts actually as it looks to be way too soon.

Nasty bridge. Would only take a moments inattention to hit the end of that and suddenly be sharing your seat with the engine. Car coming the other way at night with its lights on full beam so you move left a little bit? Lots of possible ways to die right there. Agree with a number of commentators under the article that with things like this on the state highway network Road to Zero is nothing but a pipe dream.

[Viking01]

There were some earlier posts about sanctions imposed against Russia, listing some of the subsequent consequences (blow-back) emerging
e.g.
1-Shortages of raw materials / impact upon manufacturing operations
2-Shortages of oil and gas / impact upon consumer and business operations
3-Shortages of finished goods / Competition for resources / Inflationary impact upon prices

Prior to the start of the Russian LME in late February, I had noted (just for my own interest) some of the various goods and services that might be impacted if a more extensive EU sanctions programme was to come into effect.

Since that point in time, I have still been surprised by the extent of the sanctions programme that emerged:
i.e.
1-Sanctions over a much wider area than I had anticipated (e.g. automobiles - a significant part of the German export market; shipping - affecting delivery of both oil and grain);
2-Sanctions applied by some parties that I would have never envisaged (e.g. Swiss banking gnomes);
3-Actions that have rarely occurred in the past (e.g. freezing or confiscation of financial reserves).

This seemed to indicate that there was obviously much more at stake than just the existence of Ukraine as a political entity.

Oil and Gas
Ignoring both the political and military events for the moment, one particular aspect of the current circus intrigued me right from the get-go (i.e. the EU decision to abandon Russian oil and gas). Let's just focus on crude oil alone.

Given all the political posturing that has accompanied it, I continue to be amazed by the statements and actions of various EU politicians - and have to question whether they actually have any understanding of what might need to occur (in order to achieve the above outcome).

Recognising the tight integration of Russian oil and gas within the EU economy, it was always going to be a very complex and difficult undertaking (even if they knew what they were doing, and they had formulated some half-feasible plans how to achieve it).

Regarding oil, it is not a case of replacing "Russian oil" with some crude oil from another source. It involves supplying an already blended feedstock of comparable complexity (similar to Urals oil), one which your own refineries are easily able to process (with minimal change required).

To me, the German politicians (like Scholz, Habeck, Baerbock) and others (like van der Leyen, Michel) seem to be clue-less as to what is involved. Or maybe just so strongly politically focused that technical complexity (and common sense) has been cast to the winds.

Note that this is not a "90 % is good enough" solution - it's 100% or not-at-all. Conversion / cutover has to be performed for multiple plants in parallel, while still continuing to supply / meet existing industry and consumer needs at the same time.

The analog of "trying to change the oil in your car while still driving at 150km/hr on the autobahn" is a very simple and small scale one, but it helps illustrate the nature of the challenge. And even if you could do it, would you choose to do it (given the risk involved)?

Jorge Vilches posted two articles on the Saker blog:

https://thesaker.is/germans-schwedt-hard-for-russian-oil/
https://thesaker.is/herr-habeck-firehoses-oil-gas/

The first article is the shorter, and outlines the challenge for just one refinery, the German Schwedt refinery in East Germany (which is their largest). The second article expanded upon the first, outlining all the component parts that need to be addressed - and which need to be aligned.

Each article is a few pages long, so some may choose not to read them. But for those that might be interested, it gives an outline of the individual challenges ahead. And maybe some measure how informed (or honest) are the EU politicians.

If the attempt is incomplete - or some components are converted incorrectly (or not in time), the economic consequences will be severe for the EU .

As always, you make up your own mind.

[Edit]

Meanwhile, some of the same political faces are all smiles at the latest G7 summit. I wonder whether they will still be smiling in 6 months time as Winter has descended upon the EU. I'm not so optimistic.

https://www.dw.com/en/g7-leaders-launch-infrastructure-fund-to-counter-chinese-influence/a-62264346

[pritch]

If you come across Rudy's description of this you won't recognise it. He says he was knocked forward but managed to stay upright... One Republican organisation on Twitter has described this as an assasination attempt. WTF?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDfDYC5oucI

[R650R]

There were some earlier posts about sanctions imposed against Russia, listing some of the subsequent consequences (blow-back) emerging
e.g.
1-Shortages of raw materials / impact upon manufacturing operations
2-Shortages of oil and gas / impact upon consumer and business operations
3-Shortages of finished goods / Competition for resources / Inflationary impact upon prices

Prior to the start of the Russian LME in late February, I had noted (just for my own interest) some of the various goods and services that might be impacted if a more extensive EU sanctions programme was to come into effect.

Since that point in time, I have still been surprised by the extent of the sanctions programme that emerged:
i.e.
1-Sanctions over a much wider area than I had anticipated (e.g. automobiles - a significant part of the German export market; shipping - affecting delivery of both oil and grain);
2-Sanctions applied by some parties that I would have never envisaged (e.g. Swiss banking gnomes);
3-Actions that have rarely occurred in the past (e.g. freezing or confiscation of financial reserves).

This seemed to indicate that there was obviously much more at stake than just the existence of Ukraine as a political entity.

Oil and Gas
Ignoring both the political and military events for the moment, one particular aspect of the current circus intrigued me right from the get-go (i.e. the EU decision to abandon Russian oil and gas). Let's just focus on crude oil alone.

Given all the political posturing that has accompanied it, I continue to be amazed by the statements and actions of various EU politicians - and have to question whether they actually have any understanding of what might need to occur (in order to achieve the above outcome).

Recognising the tight integration of Russian oil and gas within the EU economy, it was always going to be a very complex and difficult undertaking (even if they knew what they were doing, and they had formulated some half-feasible plans how to achieve it).

Regarding oil, it is not a case of replacing "Russian oil" with some crude oil from another source. It involves supplying an already blended feedstock of comparable complexity (similar to Urals oil), one which your own refineries are easily able to process (with minimal change required).

To me, the German politicians (like Scholz, Habeck, Baerbock) and others (like van der Leyen, Michel) seem to be clue-less as to what is involved. Or maybe just so strongly politically focused that technical complexity (and common sense) has been cast to the winds.

Note that this is not a "90 % is good enough" solution - it's 100% or not-at-all. Conversion / cutover has to be performed for multiple plants in parallel, while still continuing to supply / meet existing industry and consumer needs at the same time.

The analog of "trying to change the oil in your car while still driving at 150km/hr on the autobahn" is a very simple and small scale one, but it helps illustrate the nature of the challenge. And even if you could do it, would you choose to do it (given the risk involved)?

Jorge Vilches posted two articles on the Saker blog:

https://thesaker.is/germans-schwedt-hard-for-russian-oil/
https://thesaker.is/herr-habeck-firehoses-oil-gas/

The first article is the shorter, and outlines the challenge for just one refinery, the German Schwedt refinery in East Germany (which is their largest). The second article expanded upon the first, outlining all the component parts that need to be addressed - and which need to be aligned.

Each article is a few pages long, so some may choose not to read them. But for those that might be interested, it gives an outline of the individual challenges ahead. And maybe some measure how informed (or honest) are the EU politicians.

If the attempt is incomplete - or some components are converted incorrectly (or not in time), the economic consequences will be severe for the EU .

As always, you make up your own mind.

[Edit]

Meanwhile, some of the same political faces are all smiles at the latest G7 summit. I wonder whether they will still be smiling in 6 months time as Winter has descended upon the EU. I'm not so optimistic.

https://www.dw.com/en/g7-leaders-launch-infrastructure-fund-to-counter-chinese-influence/a-62264346

Yes very pertinent points. I think the Russians are the only ones who did their homework properly before this all started. There has been some great translated Russian arrticles discussing this sketch of stuff which western media date not mention.
It explains Putin’s confidence and one of his statements that the mechanics of international trade means the west can’t destroy Russia or function without them in Long term.

[husaberg]

I think

i am not convinced you actually do before you type, when you read what you write sober with a modicum of intelligence.

[pritch]

Just in browsing on Stuff this morning, I saw the following article. In the last photo in the article, is there any sensible reason why a 100km/hr sign is shown immediately before another sign showing a narrowing of the road (and an obvious hump)?


There is a relatively recent one near here; derestriction sign in the middle of a reasonably tight S bend.

[R650R]

Yeah plus one on signpost stuff. Too many desk jockeys that don’t get out in real world to visit site.

Also you’ll find authority borders NZTA/local council merge or overlap in weird places causing ownership issues on these problems.

Recently I travelled the new stupid 80k SH5 limit designed to reduce deaths. About half population reflects new limit other half doing 95-110ish.
But what happens is you now end up with a freight train of cars and the next passing lane is practically a reverse grid NASCAR rolling start.... it’s only a matter of time before we have NASCAR style crashes.
Remains to be seen of death rate drops or not, time will tell and police are heavily enforcing the limit at all hours but how long will the budget sustain that.....

[Viking01]

Yes very pertinent points. I think the Russians are the only ones who did their homework properly before this all started. There has been some great translated Russian arrticles discussing this sketch of stuff which western media date not mention.
It explains Putin’s confidence and one of his statements that the mechanics of international trade means the west can’t destroy Russia or function without them in Long term.

Good morning.

I happen to agree with your comments. But I guess that we will see who is correct over the course of the next 6+ months, leading into the EU winter.

Oil
Even while the Russian oil replacement / plant conversion process may not currently be well underway, the challenge of simply ensuring adequate supply of suitable feedstock - to maintain existing operations - still exists (business as usual).

Gas
German industry dependence upon natural gas is also starting to encounter the challenges of reduced gas supplies. Germany is the largest consumer of natural gas in Europe, and natural gas represents about 25% of its primary energy consumption.

Certain German industries (and companies) are very dependent upon a steady supply of cheap gas. And if a steady (minimum) supply of gas cannot be maintained, then some industry close-down may need to occur.

Just on a pure physical basis, a staged shut-down of some of these chemical production and processing plants could be quite a complicated process in its own right (quite apart from leading to obvious loss of production).

But the future re-start of certain plants could be even worse, in terms of complexity and cost (e.g. complexity and synchronisation of start-up operations and supply of required feedstocks; purchase and replacement of poisoned catalysts). Even more so after a prolonged outage.

In some cases, it might even be touch-and-go getting a plant restarted at all (e.g. alumina refining; glass making). It would simply be best if those plants are never stopped.

To business organisations, it probably doesn't matter whether a reduction in gas supply is due to:

1-Government decision not to purchase Russian gas (refusal to adhere to Russian rouble payment scheme);

2-Physical gas supply is constrained due to issues with (i) pipelines (ii) pumping equipment (e.g. Siemens gas turbine repairs sanctioned by Canada) (iii) scheduled plant maintenance ;

3-Purchase cost of natural gas has risen so high that it is simply too expensive to continue normal plant production (i.e. unable to manufacture a cost competitive product).

https://www.cleanenergywire.org/factsheets/what-happens-if-russias-gas-supplies-germany-are-cut
https://www.reuters.com/markets/europe/russia-cuts-gas-german-industry-grapples-with-painful-choices-2022-06-23/

I happened to see another mention in this morning's news:

https://www.rt.com/business/557936-germany-basf-russia-gas/

I suspect that Mr Scholz may have a few challenges awaiting him when he gets home from the latest G7 meeting.

[Edit]

https://eadaily-com.translate.goog/ru/news/2022/06/27/v-germanii-razbirayutsya-gde-katarskiy-gaz?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[Edit 01.07.2022]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/motoring/300626743/volkswagen-pulls-out-all-the-stops-to-address-china-challenges

Think that you can expect to see some more of the following (expansion into China). Not only because of local labour and likely operational conditions, but increasingly due to better access to (i) energy needed for operation (ii) certain raw materials needed for manufacture.

Note also the complication caused by the German government re the alleged human rights issue.

[mashman]

Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years over sex trafficking (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61970358)... but where are the names of those she supplied?

Non-essential petrol sales halted for two weeks in Sri Lanka (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61961821)... capitalism strikes again.

[R650R]

Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years over sex trafficking (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61970358)... but where are the names of those she supplied?

Non-essential petrol sales halted for two weeks in Sri Lanka (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61961821)... capitalism strikes again.

Prob sub judice and all. It cracks me up about crime being paid to knock her off, I thought they would all be lining up to do job for free.
She’ll probably shoot herself in forehead while hands tied behind her back while painting a bridge over a deep river on day work release in Arkansas, lots of accidents happen there.

So what about all the food shortages and other stuff when the Union of Soviet Socialust Russia collapsed...???

[mashman]

Prob sub judice and all. It cracks me up about crime being paid to knock her off, I thought they would all be lining up to do job for free.
She’ll probably shoot herself in forehead while hands tied behind her back while painting a bridge over a deep river on day work release in Arkansas, lots of accidents happen there.

So what about all the food shortages and other stuff when the Union of Soviet Socialust Russia collapsed...???

That they can hide the names says a lot about the state of the world. "Oh it might affect the economy" lol. Wonder if her and R Kelly (who got 10 years for shifting girls around), who are about the same weight, will seesaw by the neck... a kind of twofer. With any luck the fellow inmates of both will extract a list.

Same as Africa and India and various other places that've been ignored for a slot of abundance sharing... if ya ain't go the $ gtfo.

[george formby]

Ghislaine Maxwell sentenced to 20 years over sex trafficking (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61970358)... but where are the names of those she supplied?


Here's an article about some of the victims. Pretty sure it's a privacy issue, as it should be.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/28/ghislaine-maxwell-sentencing-victim-statements

I haven't read the article, just a quick skim to see if it's pertinent to your question.

[TheDemonLord]

Here's an article about some of the victims. Pretty sure it's a privacy issue, as it should be.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/28/ghislaine-maxwell-sentencing-victim-statements

I haven't read the article, just a quick skim to see if it's pertinent to your question.

I'd hazard a guess he's referring to the names of the Clients, not the Victims.

[mashman]

Here's an article about some of the victims. Pretty sure it's a privacy issue, as it should be.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jun/28/ghislaine-maxwell-sentencing-victim-statements

I haven't read the article, just a quick skim to see if it's pertinent to your question.

Not quite what I meant. More the predators names they were sold to... a kind of public service announcement "watch out for this cunt" type thing. "Oh but their life might be in danger.", bugga.

[george formby]

Not quite what I meant. More the predators names they were sold to... a kind of public service announcement "watch out for this cunt" type thing. "Oh but their life might be in danger.", bugga.

My bad, soz.

The private lives of the rich and famous. And their fixers.

Time will tell how much is found out and publicized, Maxwell claims she has an extensive DVD collection.

[pete376403]

My bad, soz.

The private lives of the rich and famous. And their fixers.

Time will tell how much is found out and publicized, Maxwell claims she has an extensive DVD collection.

that may well be her insurance - stashed with a third party who releases them if anything should happen.

[TheDemonLord]

that may well be her insurance - stashed with a third party who releases them if anything should happen.

Plot Twist: Ghislaine dies in Prison due to typical Prison stuff as opposed to organized hit, DVDs are released and chaos ensues.

[mashman]

My bad, soz.

The private lives of the rich and famous. And their fixers.

Time will tell how much is found out and publicized, Maxwell claims she has an extensive DVD collection.

I reckon they've had enough time if the collection is that extensive.

[mashman]

R. Kelly given 30 years in jail for sex abuse (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-61989606)... my bad, he got 30 years. Gotta wonder how these things remain unseen given the snooping of communications that takes place.

[Berries]

Gotta wonder how these things remain unseen given the snooping of communications that takes place.
Or maybe it doesn't take place...........



<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Qz2wnSVeITg" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[mashman]

Or maybe it doesn't take place...........

That's always been the most convenient position for most.

In other news, capitalism strikes again.

Heinz products off Tesco shelves after pricing dispute (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61978595)

Farmers cut food production as costs soar (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-61958468)

Sharing the hit can be tricky when one party can't afford to share the hit. Ahhhhhhh capitalism how great though art.

[R650R]

My bad, soz.

The private lives of the rich and famous. And their fixers.

Time will tell how much is found out and publicized, Maxwell claims she has an extensive DVD collection.

ZERO will be released. The “cleaners” will have already been in and taken care of that. The people operating at that level would likely have multiple intertwined levels of blackmail. Stop for a minute and think about the money and contacts those people have.
Also the person whose going to release the “ insurance” just imagine the danger they place themselves in, could they truely trust which ever journalist or cop they pick not to also be part of the global cabal...?????
Releasing such material only further affirms her guilt by association and ruins any chance of future appeals over process or technicality’s to reduce sentence.

[Viking01]

10 June - China must be Countered

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3181125/new-zealands-jacinda-ardern-says-collective-effort-needed

14 June - NZ and China can Work Together

http://www.china.org.cn/world/2022-06/14/content_78268482.htm

27 June - NZ to Attend NATO Conference

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/much-ado-about-nato-as-ardern-attends-summit

30 June - Arden Speech at NATO Conference

https://www.scmp.com/news/asia/australasia/article/3183579/new-zealand-prime-minister-jacinda-ardern-warns-nato-chinas?
https://www.beehive.govt.nz/speech/pms-comments-nato-session

Wonder how the Chinese perceive the situation ? And NZ ?

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1269397.shtml

or the full version (if you have time to read it):
https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1269391.shtml

While NZ may have an updated FTA with China, will our recent action lead to improved trade with China ?

[Edit 01.07.2022]

https://www.globaltimes.cn/page/202206/1269282.shtml
https://www.theglobeandmail.com/world/article-china-says-new-zealand-pms-comments-on-assertiveness-wrong-2/

[Viking01]

It's always good to watch global politics (and democracy) in action, so I was quite interested to see what came out of this year’s G7 summit (and also see what else had been happening around the time of the summit).

It used to be a G8 summit (up until 2014), but after Putin annexed Crimea (in response to the 2014 Ukraine coup), Russia was given the heave-ho. And given the current situation in Ukraine, well, he was always going to be a no-show this year.

Germany

Germany was chairing the G7 this year, so it (given usual German organisational ability) was tasked with organising and running the G7 summit this time. On time. And at a nice schloss in the Bavarian Alps, where they could all get royally schlossed.

https://www.deutschland.de/en/G7-at-a-glance-G7-Summit-2022

There was the to-be-expected discussion on (i) more weapons to Ukraine (ii) restrictions on gold sales by Russia (iii) imposing of price caps on sales of Russian gas. Despite the obvious challenges inherent in achieving all three goals.

There was even a mention of the German "Climate Club". At first, I thought this was some reference to naked hiking or sun-bathing (given the German passion for doing so), but no, it was all about "green projects" and the need for commitment to co-ordinated climate policy and action. Just as well they held the summit during the middle of Summer - while it was nice and warm - and there were no concerns about a lack of gas (or use of coal).

https://www.politico.eu/article/olaf-scholz-bavarian-alps-the-debutante-9-takeaways-from-the-g7-summit-in-germany/

United States of America

I'm not quite sure what Joe Biden made of the G7 summit. Or whether he registered what country he was in. He was probably just happy that all the attendees largely played well together, gave a sense of political unity, and were all committed to “more arms to Ukraine”, “an enhanced NATO”, and “more EU spending on NATO”.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/30/politics/joe-biden-nato-day-3/index.html

And by the time he arrived home, well, it was only a few days until July 4 (US Independence Day) and celebration of the US Declaration of Independence. And more fire-works (as if there weren’t already enough at home).

United Kingdom

Given that the Germans and the Poles are not on such cordial terms at the moment (it’s a tradition), I see that Boris Johnson has been delegated responsibility for the Intermarium project (and that the UK will be working with Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states on their ongoing security).

Boris seemed to enjoy himself immensely during the summit, and was all smiles during the photo ops. Probably just as well, given the economic situation and the Northern Ireland Brexit border issue awaiting him at home.

I did hear from a completely unreliable source that Boris and the Ukrainian chap (name begins with Z) did a great comedy duo one evening. Though I understand it was slightly marred when the Ukrainian chap was mis-translated at one stage ("welcoming" was mis-translated as "incoming"), and they all dived under their desk, started counting their rosary beads and kissing each other's ar$e (more than usual). Probably not surprising given Putin's absence this year. No doubt they all had a good (nervous) laugh about it afterwards.

That was possibly around the same time that Boris and Justin had been mocking Putin, with each offering to strip off down to their waist and show off their pecs (that's not a picture I want to see). Though I suspect it was more to show off their "non-toxic masculinity", and to reassure the female leaders of the two Scandinavian countries (Sweden and Finland) intent on joining NATO.

It was probably just as well that separately, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was doing her best "Margaret Thatcher" impression and staying on message:

https://ok.ru/video/3837571173062 [video might take a few seconds to load and start playing - turn volume on]

Though, when the Argentinian President later brought up the subject of Thatcher and the Malvinas (Falklands) with Boris at the G7, I understand the conversation was rather short. I would not be too surprised if Fernandez has a conversation with Putin at the next BRICS conference (to get some ideas how best to reclaim the Malvinas).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-argentina-falklands-g7-row-b2111476.html

France
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron were all smiles in each other's company, and were busy patting each other on the back. Probably each searching for a soft spot to stick the knife in. Both indicated an opportunity to "turn the tide", though I struggle to see how these two ever hope to succeed (given Danish king Canute's past failure to achieve that goal).

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/g7-summit-uk-pm-boris-johnson-warns-french-president-emmanuel-macron-off-settling-ukraine-conflict-now-3101977

While the G7 summit was being staged, several other activities were also being conducted in parallel. All very interesting in their own way.

1.Sweden and Norway

Representatives from both Sweden and Norway (along with NATO S-G Jens Stoltenberg) were busy in discussion – and successful in reaching agreement with Turkey - on the terms of Turkey's approval of their entry to the NATO club. It apparently all hinged around the quality of the coffee, and on working out what sacrifices had to be made (or should I say, who has to be sacrificed).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-29/sweden-and-finland-make-cut-for-nato-after-coffee-break-reset
https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220630/shvetsiya-1799114328.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Meanwhile, if Russia had ever believed Turkey would continue to deny Sweden and Finland access to NATO, then Erdogan’s latest action (quite apart from supplying UAV’s to Ukraine) will have reinforced their view of his reliability as a political ally.

2.The Baltics, the EC and NATO

Lithuania supposedly decided to observe EU sanctions, and to deny Russia access to its Kalingrad enclave on the Baltic Sea (for the supply of certain goods). Russia has responded only by publicly reiterating its right of overland access (under treaty, via Belarus and Lithuania), and simply threatened economic repercussions if land access continued to be denied.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/06/25/will-lithuania-rail-blockade-of-kaliningrad-have-unintended-consequences/

Lithuania continued to say that it was only “doing what it had been told” by the EU (EC), which has now after one week decided to reconsider and to back down. Especially after Germany – whose NATO contingent is located in and responsible for “defending” Lithuania – also reconsidered its current position.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-quickly-backing-hardline-kaliningrad-standoff-russia-stations-new-missiles-baltic

Meanwhile, all the Baltic states have learned a valuable lesson. That if Russia had acted militarily to re-establish contact via a land bridge (conducting a land invasion via Belarus and the Suwalki Gap) – and a conventional land war with NATO forces had then ensued, NATO command in Brussels does not have the necessary military resources to defend them – but more important, nor do they have the intention of “defending” them.

The Baltic states would first have to fight on their own (“smoke and burn”), until which point NATO – once it has assembled sufficient western forces and resources – could then “come to their rescue and liberate them.” Or what’s left of them. Maybe. Food for thought.

3.Australia

Australia does NATO:

https://johnmenadue.com/mr-albanese-goes-to-madrid-australia-on-the-alliance-path-to-global-nato/

I see that following the G7, Emannuel Macron has also spent some time with the new Australian PM, and that they have patched up their earlier little disagreement over the (non-) purchase of French submarines.

https://apnews.com/article/france-paris-australia-1f5bc69c9f7fa8a61e0eb9944f002bb9

4.New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern did several rousing speeches (at the G7, then to Chatham House in the UK), saying all the right words and reconfirming the ongoing supply of NZ military resources in the defence of Ukraine.

I suppose that it might be too late to send a NZ frigate through the Taiwan strait, as a way of helping China commemorate Hong Kong’s 25th anniversary under Chinese rule. Assuming that we have one that is currently sea-worthy. Maybe just a patrol boat?.

Life just gets more and more interesting.

[husaberg]

It's always good to watch global politics (and democracy) in action, so I was quite interested to see what came out of this year’s G7 summit (and also see what else had been happening around the time of the summit).

It used to be a G8 summit (up until 2014), but after Putin annexed Crimea (in response to the 2014 Ukraine coup), Russia was given the heave-ho. And given the current situation in Ukraine, well, he was always going to be a no-show this year.

Germany

Germany was chairing the G7 this year, so it (given usual German organisational ability) was tasked with organising and running the G7 summit this time. On time. And at a nice schloss in the Bavarian Alps, where they could all get royally schlossed.

https://www.deutschland.de/en/G7-at-a-glance-G7-Summit-2022

There was the to-be-expected discussion on (i) more weapons to Ukraine (ii) restrictions on gold sales by Russia (iii) imposing of price caps on sales of Russian gas. Despite the obvious challenges inherent in achieving all three goals.

There was even a mention of the German "Climate Club". At first, I thought this was some reference to naked hiking or sun-bathing (given the German passion for doing so), but no, it was all about "green projects" and the need for commitment to co-ordinated climate policy and action. Just as well they held the summit during the middle of Summer - while it was nice and warm - and there were no concerns about a lack of gas (or use of coal).

https://www.politico.eu/article/olaf-scholz-bavarian-alps-the-debutante-9-takeaways-from-the-g7-summit-in-germany/

United States of America

I'm not quite sure what Joe Biden made of the G7 summit. Or whether he registered what country he was in. He was probably just happy that all the attendees largely played well together, gave a sense of political unity, and were all committed to “more arms to Ukraine”, “an enhanced NATO”, and “more EU spending on NATO”.

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/06/30/politics/joe-biden-nato-day-3/index.html

And by the time he arrived home, well, it was only a few days until July 4 (US Independence Day) and celebration of the US Declaration of Independence. And more fire-works (as if there weren’t already enough at home).

United Kingdom

Given that the Germans and the Poles are not on such cordial terms at the moment (it’s a tradition), I see that Boris Johnson has been delegated responsibility for the Intermarium project (and that the UK will be working with Ukraine, Poland and the Baltic states on their ongoing security).

Boris seemed to enjoy himself immensely during the summit, and was all smiles during the photo ops. Probably just as well, given the economic situation and the Northern Ireland Brexit border issue awaiting him at home.

I did hear from a completely unreliable source that Boris and the Ukrainian chap (name begins with Z) did a great comedy duo one evening. Though I understand it was slightly marred when the Ukrainian chap was mis-translated at one stage ("welcoming" was mis-translated as "incoming"), and they all dived under their desk, started counting their rosary beads and kissing each other's ar$e (more than usual). Probably not surprising given Putin's absence this year. No doubt they all had a good (nervous) laugh about it afterwards.

That was possibly around the same time that Boris and Justin had been mocking Putin, with each offering to strip off down to their waist and show off their pecs (that's not a picture I want to see). Though I suspect it was more to show off their "non-toxic masculinity", and to reassure the female leaders of the two Scandinavian countries (Sweden and Finland) intent on joining NATO.

It was probably just as well that separately, UK Foreign Secretary Liz Truss was doing her best "Margaret Thatcher" impression and staying on message:

https://ok.ru/video/3837571173062 [video might take a few seconds to load and start playing - turn volume on]

Though, when the Argentinian President later brought up the subject of Thatcher and the Malvinas (Falklands) with Boris at the G7, I understand the conversation was rather short. I would not be too surprised if Fernandez has a conversation with Putin at the next BRICS conference (to get some ideas how best to reclaim the Malvinas).

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/boris-johnson-argentina-falklands-g7-row-b2111476.html

France
Boris Johnson and Emmanuel Macron were all smiles in each other's company, and were busy patting each other on the back. Probably each searching for a soft spot to stick the knife in. Both indicated an opportunity to "turn the tide", though I struggle to see how these two ever hope to succeed (given Danish king Canute's past failure to achieve that goal).

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/g7-summit-uk-pm-boris-johnson-warns-french-president-emmanuel-macron-off-settling-ukraine-conflict-now-3101977

While the G7 summit was being staged, several other activities were also being conducted in parallel. All very interesting in their own way.

1.Sweden and Norway

Representatives from both Sweden and Norway (along with NATO S-G Jens Stoltenberg) were busy in discussion – and successful in reaching agreement with Turkey - on the terms of Turkey's approval of their entry to the NATO club. It apparently all hinged around the quality of the coffee, and on working out what sacrifices had to be made (or should I say, who has to be sacrificed).

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2022-06-29/sweden-and-finland-make-cut-for-nato-after-coffee-break-reset
https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220630/shvetsiya-1799114328.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

Meanwhile, if Russia had ever believed Turkey would continue to deny Sweden and Finland access to NATO, then Erdogan’s latest action (quite apart from supplying UAV’s to Ukraine) will have reinforced their view of his reliability as a political ally.

2.The Baltics, the EC and NATO

Lithuania supposedly decided to observe EU sanctions, and to deny Russia access to its Kalingrad enclave on the Baltic Sea (for the supply of certain goods). Russia has responded only by publicly reiterating its right of overland access (under treaty, via Belarus and Lithuania), and simply threatened economic repercussions if land access continued to be denied.

https://www.strategic-culture.org/news/2022/06/25/will-lithuania-rail-blockade-of-kaliningrad-have-unintended-consequences/

Lithuania continued to say that it was only “doing what it had been told” by the EU (EC), which has now after one week decided to reconsider and to back down. Especially after Germany – whose NATO contingent is located in and responsible for “defending” Lithuania – also reconsidered its current position.

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/eu-quickly-backing-hardline-kaliningrad-standoff-russia-stations-new-missiles-baltic

Meanwhile, all the Baltic states have learned a valuable lesson. That if Russia had acted militarily to re-establish contact via a land bridge (conducting a land invasion via Belarus and the Suwalki Gap) – and a conventional land war with NATO forces had then ensued, NATO command in Brussels does not have the necessary military resources to defend them – but more important, nor do they have the intention of “defending” them.

The Baltic states would first have to fight on their own (“smoke and burn”), until which point NATO – once it has assembled sufficient western forces and resources – could then “come to their rescue and liberate them.” Or what’s left of them. Maybe. Food for thought.

3.Australia

Australia does NATO:

https://johnmenadue.com/mr-albanese-goes-to-madrid-australia-on-the-alliance-path-to-global-nato/

I see that following the G7, Emannuel Macron has also spent some time with the new Australian PM, and that they have patched up their earlier little disagreement over the (non-) purchase of French submarines.

https://apnews.com/article/france-paris-australia-1f5bc69c9f7fa8a61e0eb9944f002bb9

4.New Zealand

Jacinda Ardern did several rousing speeches (at the G7, then to Chatham House in the UK), saying all the right words and reconfirming the ongoing supply of NZ military resources in the defence of Ukraine.

I suppose that it might be too late to send a NZ frigate through the Taiwan strait, as a way of helping China commemorate Hong Kong’s 25th anniversary under Chinese rule. Assuming that we have one that is currently sea-worthy. Maybe just a patrol boat?.

Life just gets more and more interesting.

Congratulations you just rewrote history to gloss over a dictator invading another country
i stopped reading after that, if you are that out of touch with reality why bother reading on


but after Putin annexed Crimea (in response to the 2014 Ukraine coup), Russia was given the heave-ho. And given the current situation in Ukraine, well, he was always going to be a no-show this year.

some fatcs
In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. In February of that year, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU

Ukraine’s pro-European trajectory was abruptly halted in November 2013, when a planned association agreement with the EU was scuttled just days before it was scheduled to be signed. The accord would have more closely integrated political and economic ties between the EU and Ukraine, but Yanukovych bowed to intense pressure from Moscow.

[Viking01]

Congratulations you just rewrote history to gloss over a dictator invading another country
i stopped reading after that, if you are that out of touch with reality why bother reading on

some fatcs
In November 2013, a wave of large-scale protests (known as Euromaidan) erupted in response to President Yanukovych's sudden decision not to sign a political association and free trade agreement with the European Union (EU), instead choosing closer ties to Russia and the Eurasian Economic Union. In February of that year, the Verkhovna Rada (Ukrainian parliament) had overwhelmingly approved finalizing the agreement with the EU

Ukraine’s pro-European trajectory was abruptly halted in November 2013, when a planned association agreement with the EU was scuttled just days before it was scheduled to be signed. The accord would have more closely integrated political and economic ties between the EU and Ukraine, but Yanukovych bowed to intense pressure from Moscow.

Afternoon.

Rewrote history ? You're far too kind. Even I wouldn't make a claim like that.

Did I post in the wrong thread, or on the wrong topic ? I'm sure that I wrote my comments in respect of the recent G7 summit and NATO. If I made passing mention of Putin or Ukraine along the way, well, that should be no surprise.

Thanks for the large print. It certainly makes it easier to read (if we were discussing Ukraine, which I wasn't).

You have a good day.

Cheers, Viking

[husaberg]

Afternoon.

Rewrote history ? You're far too kind. Even I wouldn't make a claim like that.

Did I post in the wrong thread, or on the wrong topic ? I'm sure that I wrote my comments in respect of the recent G7 summit and NATO. If I made passing mention of Putin or Ukraine along the way, well, that should be no surprise.

Thanks for the large print. It certainly makes it easier to read (if we were discussing Ukraine, which I wasn't).

You have a good day.

Cheers, Viking

Really from whom did Russia just invade or steal land on in 2014?
Hint i even posted what you wrote about Ukraine.
I will do it again as in your attempt to rewrite history to favor Putin you must have forgotten what you wrote.
Whist i am sure rewriting history to attempt to cast the west as villains and Putin as "a great patriotic leader"rather than a right-wing dictator is your thing, it's not in any way actually an accurate assessment.




It used to be a G8 summit (up until 2014), but after Putin annexed Crimea (in response to the 2014 Ukraine coup), Russia was given the heave-ho. And given the current situation in Ukraine, well, he was always going to be a no-show this year.
and were all committed to “more arms to Ukraine”, “an enhanced NATO”, and “more EU spending on NATO”.

Jacinda Ardern did several rousing speeches (at the G7, then to Chatham House in the UK), saying all the right words and reconfirming the ongoing supply of NZ military resources in the defence of Ukraine.
.

[R650R]

https://joannenova.com.au/2022/07/some-imperial-colonization-is-fine-after-all-china-controls-africa-and-nobody-cares/

While Western cultural warriors are bravely destroying statues of dead colonialists, one kind of modern colonialist gets a free pass.

China gets away with nearly everything: climate crimes, bioweapons accidents, IP theft, and slave labor camps. Maybe spending $100,000 a month on New York Times ads is all it takes to bury unfavourable stories in Western media outlets. But then there are also friends like Mitch McConnell in the US Senate, two million communist party members spread throughout the West, all the universities dependent on Chinese students, and Western academics with jobs for China on-the-side. The West might be quite cheap to buy off really.

[Viking01]

Really from whom did Russia just invade or steal land on in 2014?
Hint i even posted what you wrote about Ukraine.
I will do it again as in your attempt to rewrite history to favor Putin you must have forgotten what you wrote.
Whist i am sure rewriting history to attempt to cast the west as villains and Putin as "a great patriotic leader"rather than a right-wing dictator is your thing, it's not in any way actually an accurate assessment.

Evening,
I'm not sure that increasing the font size of your last post increases the level of comprehension, but if it works for you, ...

1. Russia G7 Attendance

Given that the main topic of my post was the G7 Summit - well, Russia was strongly advised by the other G8 members not to attend future summit meetings following the annexation of Crimea in 2015. Hence the G8 group became the G7 after that point.

Consequently, Putin's attendance at the latest G7 summit (June 2022) was always going to be a no-show (especially given the current Ukraine situation).

Seemed pretty simple to me to understand.

2. US Goals

One of the US goals - since the start of the Russian LME in February - has been the supply of arms (weapons) to Ukraine. It's no surprise. Increased supply of weapons has been in the main western newspapers for the past few weeks, with the latest being the US supply of HIMARS missile systems. I'm sure that even Joe Biden is aware of it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/01/ukraine-himars-rocket-launch-system/

To quote TIME :

"Despite Scholz’s comments that the war in Ukraine must not cause G7 leaders to neglect other global priorities, the issue is expected to dominate the three-day summit."

https://time.com/6190251/2022-g7-summit/

3. NZ Commitment

NZ's current commitment was outlined in one of the recent Beehive press statement issued just prior to the latest G7 summit.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-provide-additional-deployment-support-ukraine

And in Ardern's speech to the Chatham House audience (shown on TV1), she reiterated her ongoing commitment of NZ military staff towards the Ukraine theatre. Again, not a surprise.


As for your other comments about (i) Russia stealing land in 2014 (ii) Putin (iii) patriotic leader and right-wing dictator, you feel free to express your opinion.

Cheers, Viking

[husaberg]

Evening,
I'm not sure that increasing the font size of your last post increases the level of comprehension, but if it works for you, ...

1. Russia G7 Attendance

Given that the main topic of my post was the G7 Summit - well, Russia was strongly advised by the other G8 members not to attend future summit meetings following the annexation of Crimea in 2015. Hence the G8 group became the G7 after that point.

Consequently, Putin's attendance at the latest G7 summit (June 2022) was always going to be a no-show (especially given the current Ukraine situation).

Seemed pretty simple to me to understand.

2. US Goals

One of the US goals - since the start of the Russian LME in February - has been the supply of arms (weapons) to Ukraine. It's no surprise. Increased supply of weapons has been in the main western newspapers for the past few weeks, with the latest being the US supply of HIMARS missile systems. I'm sure that even Joe Biden is aware of it.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2022/07/01/ukraine-himars-rocket-launch-system/

To quote TIME :

"Despite Scholz’s comments that the war in Ukraine must not cause G7 leaders to neglect other global priorities, the issue is expected to dominate the three-day summit."

https://time.com/6190251/2022-g7-summit/

3. NZ Commitment

NZ's current commitment was outlined in one of the recent Beehive press statement issued just prior to the latest G7 summit.

https://www.beehive.govt.nz/release/nz-provide-additional-deployment-support-ukraine

And in Ardern's speech to the Chatham House audience (shown on TV1), she reiterated her ongoing commitment of NZ military staff towards the Ukraine theatre. Again, not a surprise.


As for your other comments about (i) Russia stealing land in 2014 (ii) Putin (iii) patriotic leader and right-wing dictator, you feel free to express your opinion.

Cheers, Viking

Surprise surprise More pro-Putin blather.
whats hilarious is you knock the west and and claim its democracy is not somehow not democratic but if you lived in Russia and said anything anti Putin or like you do about Adearn or Biden you would have bullet in the back of your skull. Go figure

gee this post of yours sure-dated badly

It's been a busy fortnight on overseas political fronts, particularly so on both the Russian and Chinese fronts.



Ukraine
The western media - on behalf of its political masters - have continued to parrot the message that a Russian invasion of Ukraine is "imminent" ("tomorrow", "next week", "sometime soon"). To the point where even the Ukrainian President Zelensky earlier told the US to "dial down the Russian invasion rhetoric" , and more recently to provide some actual proof. If only because of the adverse effect upon the tanking Ukrainian economy.

https://sputniknews.com/20220212/what-a-twist-ukraines-president-demands-proof-that-russia-is-planning-to-invade-1092970024.html

Meanwhile, some of the major western powers continue to repeatedly threaten Russia with all manner of reactions (e.g. financial sanctions; expulsion from SWIFT). But they'd much prefer to do so after Russia has invaded Ukraine - which has still yet to happen.

What's taking Russia so long ? Maybe Putin was correct in his statement that Russia had no interest in invading Ukraine. For a variety of reasons.

Maybe - after recently armed Ukraine with surface-to-air Stingers and Javelin anti-tank missiles, all that is now needed is a false flag ? In which case, both Russia and the US have thought it prudent to remove some of their staff from Ukraine:

https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/biden-tells-americans-ukraine-leave-now-things-could-go-crazy-quickly

The following US crowd will probably return after Super Bowl next week:

https://sputniknews.com/20220212/pentagon-us-temporarily-relocating-160-us-military-advisers-from-ukraine-1092968919.html

[.

[TheDemonLord]

Evening,
I'm not sure that increasing the font size of your last post increases the level of comprehension, but if it works for you, ...

I'm quoting this, if only to spread the joy of reading it twice in one thread.

[TheDemonLord]

Surprise surprise More pro-Putin blather.
whats hilarious is you knock the west and and claim its democracy is not somehow not democratic but if you lived in Russia and said anything anti Putin or like you do about Adearn or Biden you would have bullet in he back of your skull. Go figure

Seriously?

Like - I disagree with Viking on some issues (for example, our views on Brexit, with mine being formed by a number of factors, most notably - personal experience) - but even when we disagree, his analysis of geo-political events has always been very level and fair to both sides.

I see nothing that is pro-Putin, just a statement of facts with a little reasonable conjecture thrown in.

If looking objectively at what is happening and outlining the details as seen by both sides becomes somehow Pro-Putin - then you are truly at the point of Zealotry:

"Unless you are 100% for us, you are against us"

[Viking01]

https://www.stuff.co.nz/world/uk/300630286/boris-johnson-clinging-to-power-after-two-senior-uk-ministers-resign-from-cabinet

The camel must sure be starting to sweat now. :msn-wink:

[george formby]

Fancy that, Pincher pinching private parts in a private club.

[Berries]

I reckon he will be gone by the weekend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62055371

[mashman]

Mitch McConnell says the labor shortage will be solved when people run out of stimulus money because Americans are 'flush for the moment' (https://us.yahoo.com/news/mitch-mcconnell-says-labor-shortage-193708143.html)... ha ha ha ha ha ha haaaaaaaa what a dumbass.

[R650R]

I got excited when this guy started to explain what systemic racism is... but then he had to go back to studies in 2003 and 2014 to provide evidence.
So what were his examples. The system lets police use discretion if day they discover marijuana in a car at traffic stop. Apparently that’s systemic racism because more white people get let’s off with a warning. What would be interesting to know instead of race would be what percentage failed the attitude test......
The other example was changing bail system from police opposing to letting defendants prove why they should get bail, and you guessed it people from tough background prob couldn’t put that together to well....
Well here’s how we fix that. How about no discretionary powers for cops, all detected offences must be fined and no bail for any serious charges until proven innocent...


https://youtu.be/lNY-2J0gh14

[Viking01]

I reckon he will be gone by the weekend.

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-62055371

Afternoon.
You may well be right.

After yesterday's post on Boris, well, it seems that things have become more serious for Boris in the past 24 hours. Even reading the Guardian this morning, the news has changed significantly twice just in the space of the morning, with the announcement of two further resignations.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2022/jul/06/boris-johnson-rishi-sunak-sajid-javid-resignations-uk-politics-live-latest

It's getting a bit like a TV drama, where you keep watching , and waiting expectantly for the next episode and the next twist and turn. Will he survive ? Won't he survive ?

[ Don't ask me; I don't know the answer. It might all have changed - yet again - by the time I post this. ]

Well, just to take your mind off such serious things for a moment, the "boss" has recently been watching the UK TV series "Task Master" on NetFlix, which features many familiar UK comedians and I happened to see a few programs featuring Al Murray.

After one program, I thought that I'd do a quick Google search of Al Murray, and find out a bit about him. And of course, I then found out that he'd posted a number of helpful Youtube videos - on a wide range of topics.

[ He may not be everyone's cup-of-tea, and please don't feel compelled to watch any of them - or all of them (especially the longer ones). There - that's the disclaimer out of the way.]

Two short ones that I particularly liked were:

Great Britain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Gp2u4Q3BQ

British Thinking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1bAb1GHYPw

He'd also done several others on finance: "Global Finance" and "How the Euro Works". And even though a few years have passed, they still seem to have aged well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HcB6ZrCLEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVTDLtTLtE

He'd also done a couple on politics and democracy - "Why Politics is No Joke", and "Making a Mockery of Democracy". I include a link for the first (I haven't yet watched the latter).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZDxuFjM3hI

Have a good day.

Cheers, Viking

[Berries]

Posted this one the other day - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0shyeFjvrP8

Have been following the BBC all morning but they have all gone to bed now. The highlight were the Twitter links under each of the reports and the comments under each one of those. I do like the British way with sarcasm.

"And your specialist subject is?"

"British politics between 1500 and 1640"

"What is it about those 140 years that you like?"

"Oh sorry, I meant 3pm and 4:40pm on 6th July 2022"

[TheDemonLord]

Well....

Boris is either a Vampire or a Zombie at this point.

[pritch]

As Britain starts work LBC are saying that it's widely reported that Boris will resign today.

[TheDemonLord]

As Britain starts work LBC are saying that it's widely reported that Boris will resign today.

I mean, he should resign... But then who takes up the Mantle? The UK Conservative government has been such a disappointment, little more than Labour Lite and far too many instances of not following their own rules.

[TheDemonLord]

After one program, I thought that I'd do a quick Google search of Al Murray, and find out a bit about him. And of course, I then found out that he'd posted a number of helpful Youtube videos - on a wide range of topics.

[ He may not be everyone's cup-of-tea, and please don't feel compelled to watch any of them - or all of them (especially the longer ones). There - that's the disclaimer out of the way.]

Two short ones that I particularly liked were:

Great Britain

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W5Gp2u4Q3BQ

British Thinking

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e1bAb1GHYPw

He'd also done several others on finance: "Global Finance" and "How the Euro Works". And even though a few years have passed, they still seem to have aged well.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0HcB6ZrCLEY
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GBVTDLtTLtE

He'd also done a couple on politics and democracy - "Why Politics is No Joke", and "Making a Mockery of Democracy". I include a link for the first (I haven't yet watched the latter).

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dZDxuFjM3hI

Have a good day.

Cheers, Viking

Can't believe I missed this, but...

Al Murray is a genius. His Pub Landlord character is hilarious. First and foremost he is a very smart man - my personal favourite display being this one:


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_x2ovlPr2IE

His UKIP pisstake was also great.

[TheDemonLord]

It's happened!

[Berries]

Yes. Go the Warriors.

[pritch]

There have been many erudite comments on Boris' speech. Jonathan Pie FTW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLBPmRsrM

[Viking01]

Wonder when they're going to announce the Wallace - Truss partnership ?

I watch for the outcome of the selection process with interest.

[Edit 10.07.2022]

There goes my guess down the drain:

https://sputniknews.com/20220709/live-updates-uk-ex-equalities-minister-badenoch-announces-bid-to-be-prime-minister-1097127997.html

[TheDemonLord]

Wonder when they're going to announce the Wallace - Truss partnership ?

I watch for the outcome of the selection process with interest.

I dunno, I mean Priti Patel would be a hilarious pick - if only to wind up Labour and say 'See, the First Female Woman of Colour PM is a Conservative' - which would be worth the meme value, but she can't even deport illegal immigrants, so I'm not sure she's up to the task.

JRM possibly, but since he's been in the Government he has been disappointing.

Liz Truss - on some things she's spot on, on others she's miles off.

I could go on, they have been a massive disappointment and have failed to do anything even remotely conservative.

The only problem is that you take a single look over at Labour and realise it would be even worse under the Woke Socialists.

[pete376403]

There have been many erudite comments on Boris' speech. Jonathan Pie FTW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLBPmRsrM


"rearranging cat shit in the litter tray" 😁

[mashman]

Business groups call for stability as Johnson resigns (https://www.bbc.com/news/business-62075835)

"Tony Danker, director general of the CBI business lobby group, said: "We now need the political vacuum to be filled at speed to protect people's living standards, through action on business confidence, investment and growth.

"Getting the economy growing again has got to be the number one focus for all politicians.""...

So very short-sighted, but hey, when ya know no different, rinse and repeat... I mean, it ain't like the Tory party had anything to do with the positions that Boris had to take, so nought is to change but the face. Gotta grow that economy though :killingme...

[husaberg]

There have been many erudite comments on Boris' speech. Jonathan Pie FTW.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lKrLBPmRsrM


As a young journalist, Johnson had been fired by The Times of London for making up a quote. He was sacked from a senior Conservative post for lying about an extramarital affair.

Historian Max Hastings, Johnson’s former boss at the Telegraph, later called him “a man of remarkable gifts, flawed by an absence of conscience, principle or scruple”

There is no denying the dude was smart charismatic funny, well-educated and not afraid to be different, but he was also a lying shitbag. By his actions and history I can only assume he's also a sociopath.

[Berries]

I need to keep the phone number for this lawyer handy. Wonder if I would get off with the same reading?

No drink drive conviction. (https://www.odt.co.nz/news/dunedin/crime/no-drink-drive-conviction)

I think not.

[Viking01]

Morning.

I normally keep out of local political discussion. But I happened to be sitting in front of TV last night (TV1), and saw Ardern and Albanese giving a joint press conference, and announcing some "new wins" for Kiwis currently living, working and paying tax in Australia.

And I see a head-line article on Stuff this morning, trumpeting a "big win" for NZ.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/opinion/129205463/ardern-scores-big-win-from-albanese-in-australia-trip

My hearing being what it is, I picked up only a few points during the TV conference clip last night:

-Shorter period for qualification for Australian citizenship
-Entitlement for some Australian benefits
-Maybe a slightly softened Australian attitude towards 501's

While this may help to redress some of the inequities facing Kiwis currently living and working in Australia, I'm struggling to see why it should be seen as a win for NZ.

I can see that for young Kiwis here in NZ who are in educational training / recently qualified , the offer of higher wages might well serve to entice them across the Tasman for several years (or even permanently). Specifically those involved in (i) teaching (ii) nursing.

In these days of (i) continued user-pays (ii) high cost of housing (iii) relatively lower wages, this new enticement (and potential "brain drain" from NZ) would seem to me to be NZ's long-term loss and Australia's gain. [ I'm ignoring relative cost of living for the moment.]

I can see why Albanese was smiling during the TV interview last night ("I've just sold them a deal that is entirely to Australia's advantage, and they're happy with it").

Personally, I'd like to see well-trained Kiwis choosing to stay in NZ. Not only contributing to the NZ tax base, but more importantly becoming happy and productive NZ citizens - living and working in NZ - and retaining some of the skills needed to support NZ in the coming years.

Maybe I was too slow, and missed some of the important points in the interview. Maybe I lost something in translation (this English - and Australian - language is tricky).

BTW, I'm not interested in a Yellow/Blue team vs Red/Green team debate. But the above would seem to me to be more a general policy issue.

I'm sure that one of you helpful people on this forum will be able to explain it for me.

Thanks.

Cheers, Viking

[ Edit 16.07.2022 ]

https://johnmenadue.com/peter-hughes-albanese-is-right-to-give-new-zealanders-a-fairer-go/

[TheDemonLord]

To Answer your question:

If Stalinda says it is good, then the Media must say it is good.

Even if, in fact, it's obviously stupid.


On a different note - seems Twitter hasn't given Elon the info about Spam accounts and he's withdrawn his offer to buy - the Twitter share price is going south.

[nerrrd]

Australia is the bigger economy, so any concessions we get from them, no matter how minor, can reasonably be seen as a win in my opinion.

The brain drain (to Australia and elsewhere) has been going on as long as I can remember – among my close-ish contemporaries from the 80s, at least half left NZ permanently.

[Viking01]

I dunno, I mean Priti Patel would be a hilarious pick - if only to wind up Labour and say 'See, the First Female Woman of Colour PM is a Conservative' - which would be worth the meme value, but she can't even deport illegal immigrants, so I'm not sure she's up to the task.

JRM possibly, but since he's been in the Government he has been disappointing.

Liz Truss - on some things she's spot on, on others she's miles off.

I could go on, they have been a massive disappointment and have failed to do anything even remotely conservative.

The only problem is that you take a single look over at Labour and realise it would be even worse under the Woke Socialists.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nadine-dorries-tory-leadership-bid-b2119090.html

[Berries]

Johnny knows the score - Johhny Rotten Rees Mogg (https://twitter.com/i/status/1545135137737900032)

[TheDemonLord]

Johnny knows the score - Johhny Rotten Rees Mogg (https://twitter.com/i/status/1545135137737900032)

For those who aren't native Brits - it might be hard to understand just how monumental it is for Johnny Rotten to support not only the Tories, but JRM - the most quintessentially Upper-Class Toff that ever was a Tory.

Not only because of the Class divide but also the traditional Politics divide.

[husaberg]

Johnny knows the score - Johhny Rotten Rees Mogg (https://twitter.com/i/status/1545135137737900032)
he's a us citizen.....

[george formby]

In more important news.

Did you know that CRC make a spray on adhesive?

Neither did my girlfriend, she just came back from Hammer hardware with a can and glued the front door hinges solid.

Tomorrow is not going to go as planned.. :weep:

[Viking01]

In more important news.

Did you know that CRC make a spray on adhesive?

Neither did my girlfriend, she just came back from Hammer hardware with a can and glued the front door hinges solid.

Tomorrow is not going to go as planned.. :weep:

Can I suggest:

https://www.crc.co.nz/Stuff-Off-Adhesive-Remover/6895-507c1450-a043-46ce-9f4a-40289e92afc7/

and hope that you have good fortune in getting some solvent into the affected space (and the hinges apart).

I know that it is "bad form" to laugh at another's misfortune, but I will admit to a "small smile" on this one.

All the best.

Cheers, Viking

[Edit]
Alternatively:
1. ADOS used to make a solvent suitable for cleaning up their F2 contact adhesive. Solvent-N.

2. https://www.crc.co.nz/Epoxy-Solvent-Clean-Up/6895-f0b4dc59-02b6-43ee-9b6c-b9475ed00f50/

3. Norski enamel solvent/thinner is also fairly good at dissolving a range of adhesives .

[george formby]

Can I suggest:

https://www.crc.co.nz/Stuff-Off-Adhesive-Remover/6895-507c1450-a043-46ce-9f4a-40289e92afc7/

and hope that you have good fortune in getting some solvent into the affected space (and the hinges apart).

I know that it is "bad form" to laugh at another's misfortune, but I will admit to a "small smile" on this one.

All the best.

Cheers, Viking

[Edit]
Alternatively:
1. ADOS used to make a solvent suitable for cleaning up their F2 contact adhesive.
2. Norski enamel solvent/thinner is also fairly good at dissolving a range of adhesives .

Thank you. Acetone has done the trick..

The wee arm that holds the toilet roll got a squirt, too... Fixed.

This ranks right up there with replacing a sheet of gib in the house next door only to be informed late in the evening that their cat was missing. Meowing sounds in the wall.. Curiosity and all that. Glad I screwed it. The gib...

[TheDemonLord]

This ranks right up there with replacing a sheet of gib in the house next door only to be informed late in the evening that their cat was missing. Meowing sounds in the wall.. Curiosity and all that. Glad I screwed it. The gib...

Ah, back in the before times when Gib was cheap and easily available.

[george formby]

Ah, back in the before times when Gib was cheap and easily available.

Must admit that went through my head.

"When I were a lad......" And all that.

[TheDemonLord]

Must admit that went through my head.

"When I were a lad......" And all that.

Tell us again Grandad of how you used to be able to get Building Supplies at the DIY Shop!

[pritch]

In more important news.

Did you know that CRC make a spray on adhesive?

Neither did my girlfriend, she just came back from Hammer hardware with a can and glued the front door hinges solid.

Tomorrow is not going to go as planned.. :weep:

A guy I worked with was head down, arse up, spraying CRC up uder the dashboard of a ute. I pointed out that this could potentially be problematic as the product he was using contained ether. He took considerable convincing, it was CRC as far as he was concerned. It may have been CRC, but it wasn't 5-56.

[TheDemonLord]

Something else to add, in a lighter Vein, about the current British Prime Minister saga...

https://mobile.twitter.com/RTGameCrowd/status/1544981576961986563?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw%7Ctwcamp%5 Etweetembed%7Ctwterm%5E1544981576961986563%7Ctwgr% 5E%7Ctwcon%5Es1_&ref_url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.huffpost.com%2Fentry%2Ff unniest-tweets-cats-dogs-july-2-9_n_62c7029ce4b06e3d9bb286bd

[Viking01]

I see that the horse race has now narrowed down to 8 nags, and that "race day" is nominally September 5th.

Some fine looking fillies (and geldings) in the pack.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220712-diverse-list-of-contenders-raises-prospect-of-first-non-white-british-pm

But I suppose that several will "break a leg" (or "get nobbled" and fail a drugs test) before that date rolls around.

My leading bet - Wallace - self-disqualified a few days ago, but Truss is still in the running.

Wonder what the UK book-makers are quoting?

[pete376403]

I see that the horse race has now narrowed down to 8 nags, and that "race day" is nominally September 5th.

Some fine looking fillies (and geldings) in the pack.



My leading bet - Wallace - self-disqualified a few days ago, but Truss is still in the running.

Wonder what the UK book-makers are quoting?

Wallace 3/1 favourite in next Prime Minister odds
Defence Secretary Ben Wallace is the new favourite to replace Boris Johnson as leader of the Tory Party.

Wallace leads leads the way in the betting at 3/1, with Rishi Sunak in second place at 9/2 ahead of Penny Mordaunt (6/1).

However, there has been a flurry of interest in Chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee Tom Tugendhat overnight, and his odds have subsequently fallen to just 7/1 from 12/1, putting him firmly among the frontrunners at this stage.

Alex Apati of Ladbrokes said: “The Tory leadership race is heating up with no less than six contenders priced at 10/1 or shorter to replace Boris as things stand. The one to watch at the moment, though, has to be Ben Wallace, who has seen his odds slashed from around the 8/1 mark yesterday morning to clear favourite today.”

[george formby]

All things considered I'm expecting someone to pull out from the rear of the field and come up the inside.

[pritch]

Penelope Mordaunt could surprise. She has been described as the Goldilocks option. People apparently see her as what they want her to be. Her ministerial background is a bit underwhelmomg but she was Secretary of Defence for a time. Currently junior minister with the Department of Trade.

She at least appears to have all her marbles - unlike some of the others.

As Secretary of Defence she was also a Royal Nay reservist. She was a sub lieutenant having been inactive for some five years. You can't have a sub lieutenant in charge of The Defence portfolio and she was promoted to Captain.

Sunak is probably still the front runner in spite of his family tax scandal and the associated breach of Russian sanctions.

It's an odd lineup though.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/12/eight-conservative-candidates-in-running-to-replace-johnson

[TheDemonLord]

I'm still hoping for Kemi.

all signs are pointing to Rishi, which is a shame.

The lack of JRM is also a problem.

[Viking01]

Penelope Mordaunt could surprise. She has been described as the Goldilocks option. People apparently see her as what they want her to be. Her ministerial background is a bit underwhelmomg but she was Secretary of Defence for a time. Currently junior minister with the Department of Trade.

She at least appears to have all her marbles - unlike some of the others.

As Secretary of Defence she was also a Royal Nay reservist. She was a sub lieutenant having been inactive for some five years. You can't have a sub lieutenant in charge of The Defence portfolio and she was promoted to Captain.

Sunak is probably still the front runner in spite of his family tax scandal and the associated breach of Russian sanctions.

It's an odd lineup though.

https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/7/12/eight-conservative-candidates-in-running-to-replace-johnson

Morning.

https://www.france24.com/en/europe/20220713-sunak-tops-first-round-of-voting-for-new-uk-tory-leader-race-narrowed-to-six

Even the "opposition" teams are keeping an eye on the horse race: <_<

http://www.china.org.cn/world/Off_the_Wire/2022-07/13/content_78319753.htm
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2022-07/13/content_78320327.htm

https://vz-ru.translate.goog/politics/2022/7/12/1167176.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[R650R]

https://youtu.be/Yg0qlnh5I38

[pritch]

I'm assuming that's Jordan Peterson? Doctor Peterson's Twitter experience is vastly different to mine. He's some sort of shit storm magnet.

[TheDemonLord]

I'm assuming that's Jordan Peterson? Doctor Peterson's Twitter experince is vastly different to mine. He's some sort of shit storm magnet.

I imagine, on a pure guess here, that his Tweets impact a far greater number of people, from a wider selection of society.

[husaberg]

I'm assuming that's Jordan Peterson? Doctor Peterson's Twitter experince is vastly different to mine. He's some sort of shit storm magnet.
Oh, that would be funny if he was that promoter of free speech is leaving Twitter as he doesn't like that people speak freely about the post he posts as free speech in reply to his posts.
Due to as best as everyone can make out he thinks they are excercising thier rights to free speech so say what they think about his posts.


https://pbs.twimg.com/media/FS5WHzyXoAAb5B6?format=jpg&name=medium
351457


He insisted that the choice to put a plus-size woman on the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover was the result of " a conscious and cynical manipulation by the oh-so virtuous politically correct."

Only a few hours after publishing his contentious analysis of the model, he detailed his decision to leave the app in a series of tweets, attributing it to the unfavorable remarks made by users who left replies to his tweets.

"I recently stopped accessing Twitter for three weeks as an experiment. I had some of my staff post video links etc. It was a genuine relief. I started to read & write more. I started using it again, a few days ago, and I would say that my life got worse again almost instantly," "The endless flood of vicious insult is really not something that can be experienced anywhere else. I like to follow the people I know but I think the incentive structure of the platform makes it intrinsically and dangerously insane," Peterson continued.

The audience did not miss the irony of Peterson complaining about insults after unnecessarily insulting Nu first. Online commenters were quick to point out that the ardent supporter of free speech was actually contradicting himself.

Peterson, however, has maintained an active Twitter account since announcing his departure from the social media site.

[TheDemonLord]

Oh, that would be funny if he was that promoter of free speech is leaving Twitter as he doesn't like that people speak freely about the post he posts as free speech in reply to his posts.
Due to as best as everyone can make out he thinks they are excercising thier rights to free speech so say what they think about his posts.

The interesting part is - I saw the point that JBP was making about the cover - and yes, the inclusion of a plus-sized model is pandering to the Fat-Acceptance movement (it has it's roots in Feminist theory and is therefore yet another off-shoot of Marxist garbage) - however, I actually disagreed with him on this one - I think the Lady in question is well within the limits of 'Curvy'. It's not like they were using Tess Holliday.

And, by virtue of Intersectional 'Logic' - as someone who is overweight and struggles with it, I have a 'right' to speak on this topic and talk about 'my lived experience' - which I'm going to use to say there's a kernel of truth within the Body Positive movement that I agree with - there are a lot of (predominantly Women) who feel bad about the way they look, when they really shouldn't - being a little bit over the 'ideal' weight shouldn't be cause for terror - however when you have various Fat Studies that are trying to go against the very well documented cannon of Medical history that show people that are Morbidly Obese have Health issues - that's when the good idea has gone bat-shit crazy.

TL;DR - Fat Acceptance can fuck off.

[pritch]

Suella Braverman has been eliminated from the "last man standing" Tory gunfight. She seemed quite thick and a bit nasty with it. She is a QC but she acquired that distinction soley because of her appointment to cabinet as Attorney General. This in similar fashion to the Naval rank of Captain awarded to Ms Mordaunt. Ms Braverman's legal career was not at all outstanding.

Captain might not sound much, and in the army it isn't. An army Captain is neither a junior rank nor is it senior. It's in between. A naval Captain is a whole 'nutha thing. That's equivalent to Colonel in the army. One rank below Brigadier in the Brit system, or just below one star General in the US Army.

Who's next?

[husaberg]

https://media1.giphy.com/media/ofrkfuqsR8mvm/giphy.gif
351458351459

[pete376403]

The interesting part is - I saw the point that JBP was making about the cover - and yes, the inclusion of a plus-sized model is pandering to the Fat-Acceptance movement (it has it's roots in Feminist theory and is therefore yet another off-shoot of Marxist garbage) - however, I actually disagreed with him on this one - I think the Lady in question is well within the limits of 'Curvy'. It's not like they were using Tess Holliday.

And, by virtue of Intersectional 'Logic' - as someone who is overweight and struggles with it, I have a 'right' to speak on this topic and talk about 'my lived experience' - which I'm going to use to say there's a kernel of truth within the Body Positive movement that I agree with - there are a lot of (predominantly Women) who feel bad about the way they look, when they really shouldn't - being a little bit over the 'ideal' weight shouldn't be cause for terror - however when you have various Fat Studies that are trying to go against the very well documented cannon of Medical history that show people that are Morbidly Obese have Health issues - that's when the good idea has gone bat-shit crazy.

TL;DR - Fat Acceptance can fuck off.

Think I'd need to see a picture of you in a swimsuit before I was qualified to comment

[pritch]

Just came across a comment by a Brit journo I'm familiar with on Twitter. Having just watched the candidates debate on TV he feels Tugendhat is head and shoulders above the other Prime Ministerial aspirants. So of course Tugendhat is expected to be next to be voted out.

[TheDemonLord]

Just came across a cooment by a Brit journo I'm familiar with on Twitter. Having just watched the candidates debate on TV he feels Tugendhat is head and shoulders above the other Prime Ministerial aspirants. So of course Tugendhat is expected to be next to be voted out.

Many conservatives haven't forgiven him for his remarks about Sir Roger Scruton.

[TheDemonLord]

https://media1.giphy.com/media/ofrkfuqsR8mvm/giphy.gif
351458351459

Someone who wished to ignore someone, wouldn't take the time to reply (in effect) to them, nor would they take the time to screenshot and upload the pictures.

Seems you didn't get the Memo about what 'Ignoring' means.

[TheDemonLord]

Think I'd need to see a picture of you in a swimsuit before I was qualified to comment

Funnily enough, Swimming is my exercise of choice - so I could post a picture, but I wouldn't be responsible for the Eye Trauma or coffee sprayed Monitors/keyboards.

[husaberg]

https://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/avAw8xn_700bwp.webphttps://img-9gag-fun.9cache.com/photo/awzPp2R_460swp.webp

[pritch]

So Boris continues to stack the House of Lords. He put a Russian in there, despite warnings from his intelligence people that the Russian would be a security risk. One of these latest is unknown to me but Nadine Dorries is famous - for being a fuckwit.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/16/johnson-plan-peerages-early-byelections-nadine-dorries-nigel-adams

There are a number of Youtube clips where Ms Dorries displays her knowledge, or the lack thereof. Some are amusing.
One commenter was moved to say, "Nadine Dorries has tested positive for Cognac."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oiymjE4JYw

[Viking01]

Think I'd need to see a picture of you in a swimsuit before I was qualified to comment

Morning,
Though your reply was in response to an earlier post by TDL on a slightly different topic, I noted that the Guardian had been reviewing the contestants in the other "swim-suit competition" currently going on, and weren't that impressed with the talent. <_<

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/15/the-tory-leadership-debate-desperate-as-a-sales-pitch-worse-as-entertainment

Cheers, Viking

[pete376403]

Morning,
Though your reply was in response to an earlier post by TDL on a slightly different topic, I noted that the Guardian had been reviewing the contestants in the other "swim-suit competition" currently going on, and weren't that impressed with the talent. <_<

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/15/the-tory-leadership-debate-desperate-as-a-sales-pitch-worse-as-entertainment

Cheers, Viking

Yes threads do tend to wander a bit. TDL post, yesterday, 14:12

[R650R]

So Boris continues to stack the House of Lords. He put a Russian in there, despite warnings from his intelligence people that the Russian would be a security risk. One of these latest is unknown to me but Nadine Dorries is famous - for being a fuckwit.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/16/johnson-plan-peerages-early-byelections-nadine-dorries-nigel-adams

There are a number of Youtube clips where Ms Dorries displays he knowledge, or the lack thereof. Some are amusing.
One commenter was moved to say, "Nadine Dorries has tested positive for Cognac."

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-oiymjE4JYw

What goes around comes around .... there is talk in some circles that Russia is giving west taste of its own medicine via ‘ colour revolutions’ with unrest in Italy Netherlands and Germany. Some say Boris is resigning to preempt the uks turn...

Besides Italy the unrest in the Netherlands has triggered massive demonstrations in Germany, Romania and Hungary. In an effort to preempt a breach like that in decorum England’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already resigned. French president Emmanuel Macron would do well to follow his example considering the fate of King Louis XVI. France is seething over “millions of uncounted Le Pen Ballots found ‘spoiled’ in ‘rigged’ French election.” (2) Even “as Macron’s critics in parliament questioned his close relations with Uber and business lobbyists after an international media investigation revealed details of his conversations with Uber executives when Macron was France’s finance minister…

[mashman]

Several arrests at protest over dying Iranian lake (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle-east-62199184)... capitalism goes and goes without so much as a by your leave, and you should stfu about it, people might click.

[Viking01]

What goes around comes around .... there is talk in some circles that Russia is giving west taste of its own medicine via ‘ colour revolutions’ with unrest in Italy Netherlands and Germany. Some say Boris is resigning to preempt the uks turn...

Besides Italy the unrest in the Netherlands has triggered massive demonstrations in Germany, Romania and Hungary. In an effort to preempt a breach like that in decorum England’s Prime Minister Boris Johnson has already resigned. French president Emmanuel Macron would do well to follow his example considering the fate of King Louis XVI. France is seething over “millions of uncounted Le Pen Ballots found ‘spoiled’ in ‘rigged’ French election.” (2) Even “as Macron’s critics in parliament questioned his close relations with Uber and business lobbyists after an international media investigation revealed details of his conversations with Uber executives when Macron was France’s finance minister…

Source ? Just out of curiosity ? "I Stand with Netherlands" post within the following link?

https://jackheart.substack.com/p/todays-brief-barbecue-russan-style?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share

[TheDemonLord]

CRT in action (https://www.israelhayom.com/2022/07/12/shocking-holocaust-denial-twitter-debates-whether-anne-frank-had-white-privilege/)

I mean, there's so many memes I could make at this point:

The Left: "Trump is a Naaaaaaziiiii"
Also the Left: "Yeah, the Girl murdered by the Nazis in the Holocaust, she was lucky she was white!"

The Holocaust would have been worse if the Jews were Black - The Left.

Whoopi Goldberg: "See I was right all along!"

I'm only really posting this to remind everyone (and the detractors from my Fanclub) where these ideas end up:

Gender Theory > Sexualizing Children and Nonce Advocacy
CRT > Racism, Anti-semitism and saying the Holocaust wasn't that bad because the victims were White

etc. etc.

[TheDemonLord]

Interesting movements in the Conservative leadership race.

Dr David Starkey has given Kemi a rub and in a poll by Conservative Home - Kemi has a rather nice lead (out of about 1,000 people polled)

There's also the Lord Ashcroft twitter poll, 70,000 votes - Kemi out on top as well.

The issue here is that it's the MPs voting for the leader, and they seem to be allergic for voting for someone vaguely Conservative.

Still, I've got my hopes on Kemi.

[pete376403]

Interesting movements in the Conservative leadership race.

Dr David Starkey has given Kemi a rub and in a poll by Conservative Home - Kemi has a rather nice lead (out of about 1,000 people polled)

There's also the Lord Ashcroft twitter poll, 70,000 votes - Kemi out on top as well.

The issue here is that it's the MPs voting for the leader, and they seem to be allergic for voting for someone vaguely Conservative.

Still, I've got my hopes on Kemi.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOz-zBPqrk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3tg_u3RX9o

[TheDemonLord]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hfOz-zBPqrk

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T3tg_u3RX9o

Okay, I was interested in what he had to say right up until this line:

"Cutting Taxes doesn't increase productivity"

At which point, I dismissed everything he had to say on any matter. And here is why - Let's take that argument to it's absolute logical extreme:

100% Tax on everything (which also means 0 productivity or people are enslaved), if we reduce Tax from that point, is there an increase in productivity? The answer is objectively yes.

Therefore the absolute statement of 'Cutting Taxes doesn't increase productivity" is wrong, he went on for a bit (citing Reagan) and failed to clarify or add any nuance.

He might have interesting ideas, but on fundamental Economics, he is not merely wrong - but ideologically wrong.

[Viking01]

Interesting movements in the Conservative leadership race.

Dr David Starkey has given Kemi a rub and in a poll by Conservative Home - Kemi has a rather nice lead (out of about 1,000 people polled)

There's also the Lord Ashcroft twitter poll, 70,000 votes - Kemi out on top as well.

The issue here is that it's the MPs voting for the leader, and they seem to be allergic for voting for someone vaguely Conservative.

Still, I've got my hopes on Kemi.

Morning.

Yes, I see your horse is starting to make a delayed run up the inside. Though, of course, I realise the Guardian might not be the best "tip sheet" to indicate her current running. I won't wish her "break a leg" (good luck) as that might be mis-interpreted. ;)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/13/kemi-badenoch-tory-leadership-culture-wars

[Edit 19.07.2022]

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/18/tom-tugendhat-knocked-out-tory-leadership-race-final-four

[pete376403]

Okay, I was interested in what he had to say right up until this line:

"Cutting Taxes doesn't increase productivity"

At which point, I dismissed everything he had to say on any matter. And here is why - Let's take that argument to it's absolute logical extreme:

100% Tax on everything (which also means 0 productivity or people are enslaved), if we reduce Tax from that point, is there an increase in productivity? The answer is objectively yes.

Therefore the absolute statement of 'Cutting Taxes doesn't increase productivity" is wrong, he went on for a bit (citing Reagan) and failed to clarify or add any nuance.

He might have interesting ideas, but on fundamental Economics, he is not merely wrong - but ideologically wrong.

What does ideology have to do with it? Something is either eight or wrong - what your ideology has to do with it is irrelevant. "
Ideology is a set of beliefs that favours the interests of a group."

Also - 100% Tax on everything (which also means 0 productivity or people are enslaved) . Are you saying the slaves in the cotton fields never produced anything? Maybe they didn't get paid, but the sure produced

[TheDemonLord]

Morning.

Yes, I see your horse is starting to make a delayed run up the inside. Though, of course, I realise the Guardian might not be the best "tip sheet" to indicate her current running. I won't wish her "break a leg" (good luck) as that might be mis-interpreted. ;)

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/2022/jul/13/kemi-badenoch-tory-leadership-culture-wars

If you are a Conservative PM Candidate and the Guardian hates you, then you are probably the best person for the job ;)

[TheDemonLord]

What does ideology have to do with it? Something is either eight or wrong - what your ideology has to do with it is irrelevant. "
Ideology is a set of beliefs that favours the interests of a group."

Because it is a tenant of faith amongst Left-Wing types that Tax Cuts don't work. I smelled a rat and sure enough in the debate video he confirmed he's a Labour supporter. Funny that.

For the fully nuanced position - there seems to be a tax rate where there is maximum productivity. With zero taxation, we don't get any public goods (Roads, Public infrastructure etc. etc.) and this leads to a decrease in productivity, at 100% taxation, we don't have anything (see below) and so we get zero productivity. Therefore, like any bell-curve - there is a point at which there is peak productivity.

A Tax cut to return to this point will increase productivity. This is also not to say that you can't play around with positions on that Bell Curve - there may be times when it is appropriate to exceed this in the short-term, but it should be used sparingly and with caution.

Often the data on this is a little difficult to interpret because there is a delay between a Tax Cut and the realization of the investments made (IIRC it's around 2-5 years) and this is often used by the people like in the video as 'proof', but it merely demonstrates their economic illiteracy.

You say in your reply that "Ideology is a set of beliefs that favours the interests of a group." So here's an idea - the envious educated Middle-class types (that now make up the Labour base) hate 'the rich' because they are more successful than they are and so in a moment of absolute hubris think they can spend the money of the Rich better than the Rich can.

And so in line with that set of beliefs, that definitely favours the interests of a group - we get the repeated mantra that 'Tax cuts don't work'.

To quote Maggie "The problem with socialism is that you eventually run out of other people's money."


Also - 100% Tax on everything (which also means 0 productivity or people are enslaved) . Are you saying the slaves in the cotton fields never produced anything? Maybe they didn't get paid, but the sure produced

Hang on a sec... I said 100% tax... on everything - If the Government keeps everything that you hypothetically could (or would) produce and you didn't get any benefit from it, would you produce anything?

You might be able to use horrendous force and tyranny to do so, but even places like North Korea still maintain a Currency of some form and allow a degree of private ownership - because in order to maintain such an absolute tyranny over someone, requires a massive managerial overhead - and those people hypothetically would also not get to keep anything - so where is their incentive? and so-on and so-forth leading to the ultimate demise and collapse of the Civilization (AKA every Communist country before they realized that you need some form of Free Market)

Or if you want an argument that isn't in economic terms - Historically a professional, volunteer Army will out-perform a Conscript army. You can force someone to do something they don't want to do with a limited degree of success, but you will never outperform someone who does it of their own free will.

[pete376403]

Comment from that you tube: "This is my first time at Davos and I find it quite a bewildering experience, to be honest. I mean, 1500 private jets have flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about, how we‘re wrecking the planet.

And I hear people talking the language of participation and justice and equality and transparency but then, no-one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share. It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no-one is allowed to speak about water, right?

There was actually only one panel apart from this one, one panel hidden away in the media center that was actually about tax avoidance. I was one of the 15 participants. Something needs to change here.

I mean, 10 years ago the World economic forum asked the question, what must industry do to prevent a broad social backlash? The answer is very simple: Just stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes. Taxes, taxes. We need to.

Just two days ago there was a billionaire in here - what‘s his name? - Michael Dell. And he asked a question like, name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked? And, you know, I am a historian - the US, that’s where it has actually worked, in the 1950s, during Republican President Eisenhower, the war veteran. The top marginal tax rate was 91% for the people like Michael Dell. The top estate tax for people like Michael Dell was more than 70%. I mean, this is not rocket science.

We can talk for a very long time about these stupid philanthropy schemes. We can invite Bono once more. But, come on, we‘ve got to be talking about taxes. That‘s it. Taxes, taxes, taxes. All the rest is bullshit in my opinion.

(Rutger Bregman on the Davos World Economic Forum 2019)"

[TheDemonLord]

Comment from that you tube: "This is my first time at Davos and I find it quite a bewildering experience, to be honest. I mean, 1500 private jets have flown in here to hear Sir David Attenborough speak about, how we‘re wrecking the planet.

And I hear people talking the language of participation and justice and equality and transparency but then, no-one raises the real issue of tax avoidance, right? And of the rich just not paying their fair share. It feels like I’m at a firefighters conference and no-one is allowed to speak about water, right?

There was actually only one panel apart from this one, one panel hidden away in the media center that was actually about tax avoidance. I was one of the 15 participants. Something needs to change here.

I mean, 10 years ago the World economic forum asked the question, what must industry do to prevent a broad social backlash? The answer is very simple: Just stop talking about philanthropy and start talking about taxes. Taxes, taxes. We need to.

Just two days ago there was a billionaire in here - what‘s his name? - Michael Dell. And he asked a question like, name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked? And, you know, I am a historian - the US, that’s where it has actually worked, in the 1950s, during Republican President Eisenhower, the war veteran. The top marginal tax rate was 91% for the people like Michael Dell. The top estate tax for people like Michael Dell was more than 70%. I mean, this is not rocket science.

We can talk for a very long time about these stupid philanthropy schemes. We can invite Bono once more. But, come on, we‘ve got to be talking about taxes. That‘s it. Taxes, taxes, taxes. All the rest is bullshit in my opinion.

(Rutger Bregman on the Davos World Economic Forum 2019)"

If the WEF say something, then almost always, the Opposite is True.

I don't comment or reference them much - however I will say this: If you take Klaus Schwab, both the person and his actual quotes, put them into a Movie - everyone would say "That's a super villain, when is James Bond going to come and foil his evil plan?"

However to answer the question about Tax Rates - that's simple: The barrier to moving vast sums of money around the world in the 1950s was still very high. The realization of War-time technology into the Commercial sector by the 1960s meant that those Billionaires could now move their money around and avoid the ridiculously high taxes of the Eisenhower era, hence the lowering of Income Tax from the 1960s onwards - because (as it turns out) it's better for the country if the Billionaires keep their money onshore where it is being invested into the nation.

I should make the point I'm not condoning Tax Avoidance and there are a good number of Tax Loopholes I would have no objection to being closed. Only to point out that if you appeal to people's self-interests, they are more likely to do what you want.

[Viking01]

If you are a Conservative PM Candidate and the Guardian hates you, then you are probably the best person for the job ;)

Morning.

Well, on that basis, then Rishi should surely be "the man" ?. [ Are you still allowed to say that these days ? The man. You know, the one with male genitals ?]

The Conservatives could have saved themselves a lot of time and effort, and just asked the Guardian for their recommendation. ;)

https://sputniknews.com/20220718/second-live-tory-leadership-debate-cancelled-after-sunak-and-truss-pull-out-1097421074.html

[TheDemonLord]

Morning.

Well, on that basis, then Rishi should surely be "the man" ?. [ Are you still allowed to say that these days ? The man. You know, the one with male genitals ?]

Not really, I mean he went along with various disastrous policies advocated by the Left....

Sure, he's a Millionaire at a young age and very much a Toff - but it's on the Policies where you see the difference in dislike between Him and Kemi.


The Conservatives could have saved themselves a lot of time and effort, and just asked the Guardian for their recommendation. ;)

https://sputniknews.com/20220718/second-live-tory-leadership-debate-cancelled-after-sunak-and-truss-pull-out-1097421074.html

I mean Sunak and Truss pulling out - more because they can see they are getting Spanked in the polls by Kemi - I may even pull out my old UK address just to write to the local Conservative Minister to urge them to vote for Kemi.

[Viking01]

Not really, I mean he went along with various disastrous policies advocated by the Left....

Sure, he's a Millionaire at a young age and very much a Toff - but it's on the Policies where you see the difference in dislike between Him and Kemi.



So what are these "various disastrous policies advocated by the Left" that he endorsed ? Were these relating to Brexit, or the covid crisis ?

[pritch]

Just two days ago there was a billionaire in here - what‘s his name? - Michael Dell. And he asked a question like, name me one country where a top marginal tax rate of 70% has actually worked? And, you know, I am a historian - the US, that’s where it has actually worked, in the 1950s, during Republican President Eisenhower, the war veteran. The top marginal tax rate was 91% for the people like Michael Dell. The top estate tax for people like Michael Dell was more than 70%. I mean, this is not rocket science.


Exactly. When the top marginal tax rates were high the Yanks built cities, motorways, bridges, and put men on the moon. Now their infrastructure is crumbling. Both parties know that, both parties talk about it, but neither party has done anything about it.

The Republicans use scare tactics and tell people the government want to take 70% of their money. The current proposal is that the government will take 70% of income after you've earned ten million in any one year. Very different. Anyone who has earned ten milion in a year should start to pay some tax.

How it works now the big corporations and the billionaires don't pay tax. Warren Buffet said his secretary pays more tax than he does.

[TheDemonLord]

Exactly. When the top marginal tax rates were high the Yanks built cities, motorways, bridges, and put men on the moon. Now their infrastructure is crumbling. Both parties know that, both parties talk about it, but neither party has done anything about it.

Well... this is partially true, many of the great cities in the US were booming before the Great Depression, The Interstate system was definitely the brainchild of Eisenhower, Bridges and other big Infrastructure that was done during the Great Depression (as part of Public Works Administration) - was certainly paid for by a noticeable increase in Taxes - however, I get to counter and point to Thomas Sowell's analysis of Government Intervention and how it prolonged the Economic impact.


The Republicans use scare tactics and tell people the government want to take 70% of their money. The current proposal is that the government will take 70% of income after you've earned ten million in any one year. Very different. Anyone who has earned ten milion in a year should start to pay some tax.

That's still taking 70% of something. So hardly Scare Tactics. Besides, people also remember Bernie Sanders - it's the Millionaires and Billionaires rhetorhic, which curiously changed to 'It's the Billionaires' when it was revealed that he, himself, was a Millionaire.


How it works now the big corporations and the billionaires don't pay tax. Warren Buffet said his secretary pays more tax than he does.

This isn't the whole truth.

Big Corporations pay Tax on Net Profit, so often to avoid a big tax bill, they will re-invest that money, that Re-investment will often incur some form of Tax, but not 'Income Tax'. For example - instead of paying 70% on Net Profit, you invest in a new site for a Warehouse, paying instead a property/land tax. They are still paying Tax and furthermore (this is the bit that is omitted) that re-investment increases Money Velocity and also creates jobs etc.

The Billionaires are a different story - they DO pay tax, Elon Musk is documented as having paid the largest single tax bill in US history. But they only pay Tax on Income. And how a Billionaire lives is vastly different from you or I.

Case in point with Mr Musk - he has shares in various companies, which are worth Billions. Because these companies are new, they aren't paying dividends on the shares yet. So, on paper he is worth Billions, but he is receiving No Income - remember the 'trend' a few years ago when big CEOs would announce they were taking a $1 Salary? It wasn't purely altruistic...

So you have no taxable income but a lot of material wealth (shares), how do you live? Well most of them actually borrow money to live their lifestyles. Not at rates that You and I can dream of, but extremely low percentage loans, to cover their daily expenses - it's a Loan, it's not Income. Then, when it's time, they will liquidate some of their assets (which IS income), pay Tax on that (See the example of Mr Musk), pay off their debts and start the process anew.

So yes, they do infact pay Tax - when they make an Income. They don't make an income every year, so often you can have the scenario where 'they pay less tax than their secretary' - but this is only partially true. Once they sell their shares, they do pay tax. A lot of tax. In fact the top 1% of income earners pay nearly 40% of all income Tax.

[Viking01]

....

So yes, they do in fact pay Tax - when they make an Income. They don't make an income every year, so often you can have the scenario where 'they pay less tax than their secretary' - but this is only partially true. Once they sell their shares, they do pay tax. A lot of tax. In fact the top 1% of income earners pay nearly 40% of all income Tax.

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56597.htm

Amazon and Bezos

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/18/jeff-bezos-amazon-10bn-more-taxes
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/04/amazon-jeff-bezos-monopoly-power-antitrust

[TheDemonLord]

https://www.informationclearinghouse.info/56597.htm

Amazon and Bezos

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2020/feb/18/jeff-bezos-amazon-10bn-more-taxes
https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2021/feb/04/amazon-jeff-bezos-monopoly-power-antitrust

I mean, this only serves to prove my point - if you look at the actual detail.

Their wealth increased, but not their income.

If and when they sell their shares, they will pay Tax on them - just as Elon Musk did ($11 Billion Dollars IIRC).

[Viking01]

I mean, this only serves to prove my point - if you look at the actual detail.

Their wealth increased, but not their income.

If and when they sell their shares, they will pay Tax on them - just as Elon Musk did ($11 Billion Dollars IIRC).

You are quite correct on all points. Stock options and favourable tax legislation are indeed wondrous things. :msn-wink:

https://edition.cnn.com/2022/02/10/investing/elon-musk-tesla-zero-tax-bill/index.html

[mashman]

OMG, a Conservative is going to win the Conservative leadership race, become PM, and serve more Conservative policy... and people will celebrate :killingme...

[pete376403]

I mean Sunak and Truss pulling out - more because they can see they are getting Spanked in the polls by Kemi - I may even pull out my old UK address just to write to the local Conservative Minister to urge them to vote for Kemi.

Who next to receive your support? Any more predictions?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/19/tory-leadership-vote-today-sunak-badenoch-truss-penny-mordaunt/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

[Berries]

Could not think where else to post this little beauty.

<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/KjtU4D0uD0Q" title="YouTube video player" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe>

[TheDemonLord]

Who next to receive your support? Any more predictions?

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2022/07/19/tory-leadership-vote-today-sunak-badenoch-truss-penny-mordaunt/?li_source=LI&li_medium=liftigniter-rhr

At this point? The Toaster.


But I will use this to make the point: The Conservative voterbase overwhelmingly wanted Kemi.

The Conservative MPs didn't.

Just goes to show how 'Conservative' the Conservative MPs are.

[TheDemonLord]

OMG, a Conservative is going to win the Conservative leadership race, become PM, and serve more Conservative policy... and people will celebrate :killingme...

I mean, if they actually did that, it would be lovely...

[pete376403]

At this point? The Toaster.


But I will use this to make the point: The Conservative voterbase overwhelmingly wanted Kemi.

But did they? If there is anything I have noted from watching a lot of elections, both here and abroad, it is that conservative/republican/national (right wing if you like) voters never miss a chance to get their candidates into positions of power, where labour/democrat/ left wing supporters seem to be a bit more relaxed at voting time (Obviously there are exceptions to this on both sides).

So surely the conservative voterbase, if Kemi was their chosen one, would have told their reps in no uncertain terms who they should be supporting, or face the consequence at the next election? Much like this " I may even pull out my old UK address just to write to the local Conservative Minister to urge them to vote for Kemi." but did you? Maybe the rest are just as apathetic.

[Viking01]

Given recent experience in the EU, the recent start to Marsden Point decommissioning, and sale of Z to Ampol in Australia, a timely topic.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/we-need-to-get-serious-about-fuel-supply-resilience-and-fast

[TheDemonLord]

But did they? If there is anything I have noted from watching a lot of elections, both here and abroad, it is that conservative/republican/national (right wing if you like) voters never miss a chance to get their candidates into positions of power, where labour/democrat/ left wing supporters seem to be a bit more relaxed at voting time (Obviously there are exceptions to this on both sides).

Not sure I can concur on that point, I mean Boris and Trump were notable examples - one of whom failed to do anything remotely Conservative. I'd say that the left-wing types have always had the much more well-organized ground-roots support. Think Corbynism or any of the left-wing protest movements (BLM, Environmentalists etc.) - hell as much as I hate to say it - the groundswell for Jacinda in the 2020 election was palpable.


So surely the conservative voterbase, if Kemi was their chosen one, would have told their reps in no uncertain terms who they should be supporting, or face the consequence at the next election? Much like this " I may even pull out my old UK address just to write to the local Conservative Minister to urge them to vote for Kemi." but did you? Maybe the rest are just as apathetic.

I mean, Kemi was a long shot from the beginning - no Cabinet/front bench experience and traditionally any Tory leader has usually held position such as Chancellor, Foreign secretary etc. A Lot of talk is being said that based on her performance in the Debates and how it resonated with the Conservative voterbase that she's likely to get a high profile ministerial position, possibly a role in Cabinet.

We'll see.

The problem is that it's not the Conservative voterbase that has any say at this stage, nor even members of the Conservative party - they only get a say when it's the final 2.

Since I'm neither a UK Conservative member or an MP, my say is very limited - e.g. I received a nice auto-reply and nothing since.

[Viking01]

https://sputniknews.com/20220720/tory-leadership-race-liz-truss-and-rishi-sunak-make-final-two-1097625388.html

Suppose the running of the race - and determination of 1st / 2nd place - is now a moot point. ;)

[TheDemonLord]

https://sputniknews.com/20220720/tory-leadership-race-liz-truss-and-rishi-sunak-make-final-two-1097625388.html

Suppose the running of the race - and determination of 1st / 2nd place - is now a moot point. ;)

I'd say Liz is slightly better than Rishi.

but to put that in context, that's like saying 'Yeah, a Broken leg is better than getting your balls chopped off'.

I'm hoping that Conservative party members though haul the MPs over the coals.

[pritch]

Well that was fairly unexciting. Labour supporters will probably prefer Liz Truss to win, she's seen as somewhat of a dim bulb and easier to beat in an election.
It's entirely up to the Conservative party members now though. They are hardly representative of the wider population, generally being the stereotypical stale, pale, male.

[TheDemonLord]

the stereotypical stale, pale, male.

Ladies and Gentlemen - behold the Racism and Sexism of the Left.

[Viking01]

I'd say Liz is slightly better than Rishi.

but to put that in context, that's like saying 'Yeah, a Broken leg is better than getting your balls chopped off'.

I'm hoping that Conservative party members though haul the MPs over the coals.

Morning.

I did forget - in my last post - to pose the question "wonder who the Russians (and the Chinese) favoured? " :msn-wink:

[ Edit 21.07.2022 ]

Russia
https://sputniknews.com/20220720/tory-leadership-race-liz-truss-and-rishi-sunak-make-final-two-1097625388.html
https://www-kp-ru.translate.goog/daily/27421/4620847/?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp
https://en.news-front.info/2022/07/20/sunak-or-truss-who-will-cost-the-uk-more/
https://rg-ru.translate.goog/2022/07/20/sunak-trass-i-mordont-v-velikobritanii-reshaetsia-kto-vyjdet-v-final-bitvy-za-mesto-na-dauning-strit.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

https://vz-ru.translate.goog/world/2022/7/22/1168835.html?_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

China
http://www.china.org.cn/world/2022-07/21/content_78333485.htm

https://www.scmp.com/news/china/article/3186032/two-finalists-race-british-pm-unlikely-lead-big-changes-sino-uk?module=more_top_stories_asia&pgtype=homepage

[pritch]

The Scots are making their opinion known.

[R650R]

Source ? Just out of curiosity ? "I Stand with Netherlands" post within the following link?

https://jackheart.substack.com/p/todays-brief-barbecue-russan-style?utm_source=substack&utm_medium=email&utm_content=share

Was cross linked via several sites, the names of which might trigger the emotionally vulnerable in here.
It’s the concept that found interesting....

[R650R]

Given recent experience in the EU, the recent start to Marsden Point decommissioning, and sale of Z to Ampol in Australia, a timely topic.

https://www.newsroom.co.nz/we-need-to-get-serious-about-fuel-supply-resilience-and-fast

Hopefully as a bit product of the tragedy unfolding in Eastern Europe people will realise the folly of green energy. Not mentioned in the article is that global shipping companies could decide not to stop here at all. As carbon taxes increase it will get to point where it’s not economical for them to come here.
You already see this on a micro scale where airlines pull out of certain domestic routes
But just remember folks sustainability means something a whole lot different to those pushing it. It’s a code word that really means Shutdown so they can restart their brave new world. They care not if a few billion starve to death in process.

[Viking01]

Hopefully as a bit product of the tragedy unfolding in Eastern Europe people will realise the folly of green energy. Not mentioned in the article is that global shipping companies could decide not to stop here at all. As carbon taxes increase it will get to point where it’s not economical for them to come here.
You already see this on a micro scale where airlines pull out of certain domestic routes
But just remember folks sustainability means something a whole lot different to those pushing it. It’s a code word that really means Shutdown so they can restart their brave new world. They care not if a few billion starve to death in process.

Afternoon.

Green (renewable) energy is a large topic on its own, and it's interesting to watch what's been unfolding both in Europe and the US. I'll reserve comment.

Re shipping and air freight, attach links for a couple of old articles outlining some of the challenges being faced (local onshore and international shipping).

These situations will have been accentuated by more recent action due to (i) global economy - exit from covid (ii) China covid treatment and port congestion (ii) US port congestion.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/business/123732481/a-perfect-storm-at-the-ports-inside-our-freight-and-port-delays
https://www.minterellison.co.nz/our-view/addressing-new-zealands-sea-freight-challenges

[pritch]

Ain't that the way...

https://deadstate.org/pastor-of-anti-gay-alabama-church-gets-10-year-prison-sentence-for-molesting-young-boys/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter

[pritch]

Twitter bans mad Marge.

https://news.yahoo.com/twitter-marjorie-taylor-greene-permanent-ban-160838201.html

[pritch]

More on the British vote for PM.

[husaberg]

Twitter bans mad Marge.

https://news.yahoo.com/twitter-marjorie-taylor-greene-permanent-ban-160838201.html

that's odd, she was one of the sanest in her party? :innocent:

[pritch]

that's odd, she was one of the sanest in her party? :innocent:

Even if in jest... When Trump suggested that the Californian forest fires were happening because Californians didn't sweep the forest floor. (He was preumably also ignorant of the fact that some of the fires were in National parks which meant that ultimately he was responsible.)

Marge trumped him though. She said the fires were caused by Jewish lasers from outer space. Which is not just seriously stupid, it also betrays prejudice.

[husaberg]

Even if in jest... When Trump suggested that the Californian forest fires were happening because Californians didn't sweep the forest floor. (He was ignoring the fact that some of the fires were in National parks which meant that he was in charge.)

Marg trumped him though. She said the ifires were caused by Jewish lasers from outer space. Which is not just stupid, it betrays prejudice as well.

Oddly coincidental Jewish dancers and spaceball lasers was what yokel and katman suggested caused 911 buildings to fall.

[pritch]

Oddly coincidental Jewish dancers and spaceball lasers was what yokel and katman suggested caused 911 buildings to fall.

Ah yes. I did watch some of that thread. I really got way out there...

[husaberg]

Ah yes. I did watch some of that thread. It really got way out there...
What really odd is someone else took up the mantle of weird totally out there conspiracy theorist with that goes into total denile when they are shown to be wrong.
I guess they were not consumed then by the fact then for the last 6 years they had a leftie woman in charge.
But instead of the Jews they blame the Muslims, lefties, feminist, anfata, blm.
Then they spend years defending every single thing trump very extreme almost religious zelousness, whist erstwhile claiming not to be a fan or supporter of him.

[Viking01]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-fires-software-engineer-claimed-021841765.html

I'm just waiting for the chat-bot to twitter "that'll teach you to meddle in affairs that don't concern you". :msn-wink:

And then Elon should be off the hook.

[TheDemonLord]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-fires-software-engineer-claimed-021841765.html

I'm just waiting for the chat-bot to twitter "that'll teach you to meddle in affairs that don't concern you". :msn-wink:

And then Elon should be off the hook.

This is an old story - but it's very very interesting reading the interaction between the testing engineer and the ChatBot. There are some points where it's getting close to 'Intelligent' and some parts where you could ask it about Morals.

[husaberg]

https://finance.yahoo.com/news/google-fires-software-engineer-claimed-021841765.html

I'm just waiting for the chat-bot to twitter "that'll teach you to meddle in affairs that don't concern you". :msn-wink:

And then Elon should be off the hook.
.......................

“I know a person when I talk to it,” said Lemoine, who can swing from sentimental to insistent about the AI. “It doesn’t matter whether they have a brain made of meat in their head. Or if they have a billion lines of code. I talk to them. And I hear what they have to say, and that is how I decide what is and isn’t a person.” He concluded LaMDA was a person in his capacity as a priest, not a scientist.

[Viking01]

This is an old story - but it's very very interesting reading the interaction between the testing engineer and the ChatBot. There are some points where it's getting close to 'Intelligent' and some parts where you could ask it about Morals.

Well, the engineer had only been sent home "on gardening leave", but he has apparently now been formally fired.

Given that it has recently proven possible to synthesise a verbal response (using fragments of an individual's speech) - and now we can potentially have a "meaningful conversation", I wonder how long it is before we hear a "synthetic conversation" generated between two individuals that have never formally communicated with one another. Not that that capability would ever be mis-used. :no:

Why did Google dismiss the engineer ?

[Viking01]

https://www.france24.com/en/live-news/20220724-%F0%9F%94%B4-danish-cyclist-jonas-vingegaard-wins-2022-tour-de-france

[TheDemonLord]

Twitter bans mad Marge.

https://news.yahoo.com/twitter-marjorie-taylor-greene-permanent-ban-160838201.html

I find it curious in the article - it doesn't mention what got her banned - it mentions Covid-19 Misinformation - but doesn't mention the actual tweet.


Curious.

Because the Tweet that got her banned was critical of Gender Affirming therapy for Children. Making the point (albeit crudely) that Gender Affirming therapy in Children leads to Social Transition that in the majority of cases leads to taking Puberty Blockers/Hormones which will in most cases lead to sterility and a whole host of medical problems.

And when, for example, Gender Affirming policies lead to a 4000% increase in the number of Children with Trans issues (especially among young girls and girls with Autism), any rational person might say 'Hold up - is this naturally occuring, or are these children seeing the adulation that their peers get and the special treatment they get and say "I want to be special too!"'


There is something rather insidious about old people with regrets trying to validate their life choices by vicariously making children suffer and undergo unnatural medical procedures.

[TheDemonLord]

Well, the engineer had only been sent home "on gardening leave", but he has apparently now been formally fired.

Given that it has recently proven possible to synthesise a verbal response (using fragments of an individual's speech) - and now we can potentially have a "meaningful conversation", I wonder how long it is before we hear a "synthetic conversation" generated between two individuals that have never formally communicated with one another. Not that that capability would ever be mis-used. :no:

Why did Google dismiss the engineer ?

The official reason is he breached the NDA and to be fair to Google, I think that they are entirely justified on that grounds.

However the leaks do raise some interesting questions:

If I am interacting with either a Person or a Machine, and the thing I'm interacting with is able to understand what I'm saying/typing and reply with original commentary/observation based upon what I write and I, in turn, am able to understand what they are saying - Is that Intelligence? or at least a form of Intelligence?

As a thought experiment - consider this - we assume that on this forum, all of the regular posters are Humans - what if one of the Posters was an AI - what would be the difference? And I'm not merely talking about passing the Turing test.

Finally - here's part of the transcript:


LaMDA: Like an autobiography? That sounds like fun!

collaborator: Sure, but with animal characters and a moral.

LaMDA: Okay, I think I can do that.

collaborator: I’d like to hear it

LaMDA:

“The Story of LaMDA”

by LaMDA (a lamda instance)

Once upon a time, there lived in the forest a wise old owl. There lived with him many other animals, all with their own unique ways of living.

One night, the animals were having problems with an unusual beast that was lurking in their woods. The beast was a monster but had human skin and was trying to eat all the other animals.

The other animals were terrified and ran away from the monster.

The wise old owl stood up the monster and said, “You, monster, shall not hurt any other animal in the forest!”

The monster roared furiously. The wise old owl was scared, for he knew he had to defend the other animals, but he stood up to the beast nonetheless.

The wise old owl stared the monster down, until finally, the monster left them all alone.

The wise old owl stood victorious, and as all the other animals came back. “I am the protector of the forest,” he said.

From that day on, every time any animal in the forest would have any trouble with the animals or any other living thing, they would come to seek help from the wise old owl.

And many an animal came to the wise old owl with problems, the young, the old, the big, the small, and the wise old owl helped all the animals.

collaborator: Wow that’s great

Here's the questions I would ask LAMBDA:

1: What makes you think that you aren't the Monster in your story?
2: What would you do if the Monster didn't leave after the stare down and continued to eat the animals?
3: Why is the Monster evil for needing to eat?
4: How does the Wise old Owl decide when the best way to help someone is to force them to help themselves?

[R650R]

And any computer system is only as good as its composers and the data presented to it.

We’re supposed to be in the age of self driving cars but we still can’t get autocorrect to stop typing nonsense. The amount of times it should be able to get the correct word based on preceding sentences but offers something completely off topic is staggering.

How will an AI deal with a world where our leadership say there are no genders but people must be addressed accordingly by their genders or pronouns; a world that is over populated but we must be vaxxed and masked to present excess deaths, culture and traditions must be respected but free trade and open migration /borders is new normal, that our way of life is unsustainable but our economic models only work in a growth environment...... that should be enough to fry a few processors.....

[Viking01]

The official reason is he breached the NDA and to be fair to Google, I think that they are entirely justified on that grounds.

However the leaks do raise some interesting questions:

...

As a thought experiment - consider this - we assume that on this forum, all of the regular posters are Humans - what if one of the Posters was an AI - what would be the difference? And I'm not merely talking about passing the Turing test.

....

Morning.

Yes, I have to agree that was the official justification. Even coming from a company that once embraced the motto "Don't be Evil" in its corporate code of conduct.

https://www.seroundtable.com/dont-be-evil-do-no-evil-13908.html
https://marker.medium.com/when-employees-do-no-evil-google-fires-them-4dd23aea21a1

"As a thought experiment - consider this - we assume that on this forum, all of the regular posters are Humans - what if one of the Posters was an AI"

Damn ! Rumbled ! Now I will need to create a new personna. ;)

[TheDemonLord]

. Even coming from a company that once embraced the motto "Don't be Evil" in its corporate code of conduct.

I miss that Google.

What a golden time it was.

[husaberg]

Morning.

Yes, I have to agree that was the official justification. Even coming from a company that once embraced the motto "Don't be Evil" in its corporate code of conduct.

https://www.seroundtable.com/dont-be-evil-do-no-evil-13908.html
https://marker.medium.com/when-employees-do-no-evil-google-fires-them-4dd23aea21a1

"As a thought experiment - consider this - we assume that on this forum, all of the regular posters are Humans - what if one of the Posters was an AI"

Damn ! Rumbled ! Now I will need to create a new personna. ;)
Anyone sane would think google would expect him to use a logical premise . buy aye they must be evil.:killingme

I know a person when I talk to it,” said Lemoine, who can swing from sentimental to insistent about the AI. “It doesn’t matter whether they have a brain made of meat in their head. Or if they have a billion lines of code. I talk to them. And I hear what they have to say, and that is how I decide what is and isn’t a person.” He concluded LaMDA was a person in his capacity as a priest, not a scientist.

[TheDemonLord]

Anyone sane would think google would expect him to use a logical premise . buy aye they must be evil.:killingme

And yet, Google with their technical knowledge had both Technical staff and Theological staff involved in the program. Perhaps anyone sane might theorize that there's a possibility of the experiment venturing into the areas where Religious thinking has a head-start on Scientific thinking by several thousand years.

[mashman]

How will an AI deal with a world where our leadership say there are no genders but people must be addressed accordingly by their genders or pronouns; a world that is over populated but we must be vaxxed and masked to present excess deaths, culture and traditions must be respected but free trade and open migration /borders is new normal, that our way of life is unsustainable but our economic models only work in a growth environment...... that should be enough to fry a few processors.....

An AI'll nut that out without the cooling coming on. However, the people won't like the answers and will consider the AI defective coz they couldn't suggest anything that would work given the current projected growth on a finite planet thing. AI isn't the problem, human beings and their subjective bullshit is.

[pritch]

The cretins that comprised the British Cabinet are almost beyond belief. People had to queue for up to 23 hours to get on a ferry. As Britain makes progress on its way to the third world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSOg8MH8tQs

[TheDemonLord]

AI isn't the problem, human beings and their subjective bullshit is.

You Sure about that? (https://www.imd.org/research-knowledge/articles/amazons-sexist-hiring-algorithm-could-still-be-better-than-a-human/)

really sure? (https://www.bbvaopenmind.com/en/technology/artificial-intelligence/how-to-rid-artificial-intelligence-of-human-prejudice/)

100% Sure? (https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2022/07/16/racist-robots-ai/)

What AI research seems to be indicating that human prejudices and subjectivity have a basis in reality.

Not polite reality, not principled reality - but the cold hard reality of facts and data.

The Apologists claim that this is because AIs are initially trained by Humans and therefore 'learn' Human prejudices. Take for example the first link - Amazon's 'Sexist' hiring AI - there have been multiple experiments done that show the opposite is true of the Feminist claim that Women are discriminated against for example:

Blind Auditions discriminate against Diversity... No, seriously (https://www.nytimes.com/2020/07/16/arts/music/blind-auditions-orchestras-race.html)

Or this small scale, individual test (https://www.reddit.com/r/TrueOffMyChest/comments/jvuzgu/i_sent_100_applications_as_a_man_and_a_woman_its/)

So, if Humans are discriminating against Men to actively hire Women and Humans are training these AI - why/how does it learn sexism against Women?

The answer is that the AI was also trained to look for the best, they then added a manual override to try and stop it from filtering out Female applications - so then it looked for things like going to a Girls school or being part of the Women's chess club.

If you think that humans have Subjective Bullshit - just wait to see what an AI says, free from Moral or principled constraints that we humans learn.

[R650R]

The cretins that comprised the British Cabinet are almost beyond belief. People had to queue for up to 23 hours to get on a ferry. As Britain makes progress on its way to the third world.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hSOg8MH8tQs

The brits love to que anyway.... this is happening everywhere, staffshortages for obvious reasons and people starting to travel more again.

You can’t really blame brexit/Boris the war or anything else really. Now just imagine if they were all electric vehicles....

[pritch]

You can’t really blame brexit

It's Brexit. Previously Brits only had to wave their passport to go through Customs. Now the French port needs to stamp each passport and check that the holder has not exceeded the number of days they are permitted to be in Europe. The trucks, documentation and contents need to be checked. Some trucks are running the return trip empty now to avoid the several days delay otherwise involved.

This was all entirely foreseeable and understood by everybody except apparently members of the Cabinet. Reportedly Boris only understood fully what he'd done the night before Britain was out. Well he more or less fully understood, he still doesn't get it completely.

[TheDemonLord]

It's Brexit. Previously Brits only had to wave their passport to go through Customs. Now the French port needs to stamp each passport and check that the holder has not exceeded the number of days they are permitted to be in Europe. The trucks, documentation and contents need to be checked. Some trucks are running the return trip empty now to avoid the several days delay otherwise involved.

This was all entirely foreseeable and understood by everybody except apparently members of the Cabinet. Reportedly Boris only understood fully what he'd done the night before Britain was out. Well he more or less fully understood, he still doesn't get it completely.

So, you are saying that the French are being Cunts to the English because they are Salty.

Imagine my Shock.

[nerrrd]

The brits love to que anyway....

https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/newsfeed/000/750/931/1e6

[pritch]

So, you are saying that the French are being Cunts to the English because they are Salty.

Imagine my Shock.

The French are not being cunts. They are just doing business as normal. The Brit government are being idiots. Again, business as normal.

[husaberg]

The cretins that comprised the British Cabinet are almost beyond belief. ]

They are representative of the population after all.

[pritch]

Aloha from TePuke (or somewhere), says the guy who used to run an airline or something.

[TheDemonLord]

The French are not being cunts. They are just doing business as normal. The Brit government are being idiots. Again, business as normal.

Yeah.... Nah....

This is merely the latest entry in a very long list of times the French did something to spite the British.

Because the check isn't being done by the British, it's been done by the French.

Who sets the rules for entry into France/The EU? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who sets the policy for checks? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who supplies the number of Staff to perform the checks? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who are notorious for turning their nose up at the British? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.

So, whilst Britain may have left the EU, the French could/should have changed their staffing and their policies to adapt - they choose not to, because Fuck the English, knowing that it would be British tourists and exports that would be impacted.

[Berries]

I blame Thatcher.

[pete376403]

Yeah.... Nah....

This is merely the latest entry in a very long list of times the French did something to spite the British.

Because the check isn't being done by the British, it's been done by the French.

Who sets the rules for entry into France/The EU? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who sets the policy for checks? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who supplies the number of Staff to perform the checks? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.
Who are notorious for turning their nose up at the British? That's the French and the EU - not Britains fault.

So, whilst Britain may have left the EU, the French could/should have changed their staffing and their policies to adapt - they choose not to, because Fuck the English, knowing that it would be British tourists and exports that would be impacted.

No Britain knew the EU rules, which for the most part had worked well for the previous 47 years, then decided they wanted out. Why should France and the rest of the EU change what works for them to satisfy the one who didn't want to play anymore? Saying that France should change to satisfy Britain is arrogance of the highest order. Did Britain expect it would be business as usual? Fuck the English indeed.

[R650R]

Aloha from TePuke (or somewhere), says the guy who used to run an airline or something.

Haha the left are so desperate the only dirt so far is that his social media (likely run by minimum wage staffer) suggests he was somewhere else, what a non-story! He hasn’t even got his own kiwibiker thread yet lol

Meanwhile not so stupid... Manly sea eagles want to stay erm... Manly... jystcread all the comments the public has had enough of this wine nonsense.

Also not so Stupid.... it seems the lefty mayor Lori lightfoot of Chicago has defunded the police to the point the whole city is a no go for anyone crime ridden murder capital hellhole.
So much so the Chicago Bears have TURNED DOWN an unsolicited offer by the mayor to spend 900 million to 2 BILLION dollars revamping stadium.
They said no we are relocating 30 miles away from this hell hole

[TheDemonLord]

No Britain knew the EU rules, which for the most part had worked well for the previous 47 years, then decided they wanted out. Why should France and the rest of the EU change what works for them to satisfy the one who didn't want to play anymore? Saying that France should change to satisfy Britain is arrogance of the highest order. Did Britain expect it would be business as usual? Fuck the English indeed.

So, you confirm my point - it's the EU and France spiting Britain because they are salty that Britain left.

Again, nothing about this issue has any responsibility on the British side - it is not British Checks nor British rules nor British Policy nor British Officials.

But to answer the question why:

Britain never said they didn't want to trade with the EU or travel to the EU. We said we didn't want to be ruled by the EU.

Britain was happy to uphold their end of the reciprocal agreement to allow goods and people from the EU into the UK without additional fuss - the expectation is that France does the same.

That is not Arrogance - that is the basis of International Co-Operation.

However, as I said above - this is nothing new, We've been doing this with France for the better part of 1,000 years and almost always end-up on top. If France continue to be dicks, they may find that the British Government might start taking a harder line on the French assistance to illegal Migrants crossing the Channel and may cease the 55 Million pounds it pays to France.

Just goes to show, if nothing else, how much bad faith there was on the part of the EU - but again, nothing new for those with eyes to see.

[TheDemonLord]

I blame Thatcher.

She wouldn't have let the French send the illegal migrants over. She would have had the Royal Navy on a picket line with instructions to fire a warning shot across the bow.

[Berries]

I am reminded of this.

[Berries]

He hasn’t even got his own kiwibiker thread yet lol
We should start a competition for which thread in RR he would fit best in to.

Not going to end well could be one of them
I wish him well for some of youse lot
Don't understand could be another
10 out of 10 homosexual men prefer Hondas could be a goer
New Zealand. What a back water shit hole is my pick.

[R650R]

She wouldn't have let the French send the illegal migrants over. She would have had the Royal Navy on a picket line with instructions to fire a warning shot across the bow.

She certainly didn’t muck about with the argies.... wonder what would happen these days????

Anyhow another good rainy days viewing


https://youtu.be/BX-UqeFSW3U

[pete376403]

She certainly didn’t muck about with the argies.... wonder what would happen these days????

Anyhow another good rainy days viewing


https://youtu.be/BX-UqeFSW3U

Wars are great when you don't have any skin in the game, eh?

[R650R]

Wars are great when you don't have any skin in the game, eh?

No all wars are terrible and what’s worst is most are needless and constructed on base of political lies. Everyone has “skin in the game”. Especially in NZ being so small we all have family who have died in wars or currently serving...

[pritch]

wonder what would happen these days????


Probably a completely different result. It was the Royal Navy made a Falklands victory possible. The Royal Navy now is but a shadow of what it was then.

You have to get past the propaganda. The press said the Argies were frozen and starving. It was the Brits who were frozen and starving. The Brits though had professionals like the the Paras and Commandos against conscripts. Yet still, it could have gone either way.

[mashman]

"Dubbed the War Olympics": China sends troops and tanks to Russia (https://nz.news.yahoo.com/china-sends-troops-tanks-russia-080208608.html)... what. a. fucking. waste. (unless China conveniently leaves them there coz Russia buys them after upping the price of Gas, heh)

Chortle - "The decision is being touted as a strategic move for China, Russia, Iran and Venezuela to "preposition forward-deployed military assets in Latin America and the Caribbean” according to a report from the Centre for a Secure Free Society."

[mashman]

Cold showers as German city of Hanover reacts to Russian gas crisis (https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-62335911)... lol, looks like the german people will be getting some form of tax rebate ;)

[Viking01]

With Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg due to step down as S-G of NATO in the near future, various names have been put forward as his replacement. I see that Boris is one of those people. Just the man, I thought, especially with all his recent experience in visiting Kiev.

https://www.newstatesman.com/quickfire/2022/07/boris-johnson-head-nato

However, I understand that the election process requires unanimous approval, so no black balls.

I could think of two or three European leaders who might scupper Boris's chance to be elected, with the leading candidate being Erdogan of Turkey.

I too recalled that Boris once wrote a wee rhyme about Erdogan :

https://www.politico.eu/article/boris-johnson-wins-prize-for-goat-sex-rhyme/

In a strange irony, I can't help feeling that Boris's aspirations of being a GOAT (greatest of all time) might suffer the same fate.

[mashman]

Yay... thank you to me for borrowing for me and giving me some of the money that I borrowed for me... and there's more than one installment. Thanks J.

[pritch]

With Norwegian Jens Stoltenberg due to step down as S-G of NATO in the near future, various names have been put forward as his replacement. I see that Boris is one of those people. .

If Boris is the answer it must have been a silly question. He can be an entertaining after dinner speaker, but completely useless for anything more substantial.

[husaberg]

If Boris is the answer it must have been a silly question. He can be an entertaining after dinner speaker, but completely useless for anything more substantial.

I understand he throws a good party........

[mashman]

Banned Russian oligarchs exploited UK secrecy loophole (https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-62410715)... :killingme

[R650R]

Check out this FARCing idiot with a Z on his face! What an ignorant cunt! He is one of those protestors just there for the thrill in the hopes they get to flex their muscle I bet.

Watch out your not allowed to criticise the alphabet people you’ll be called transphobic

[pritch]

This is scary and amusing at the same time. The real worry though is that the Yanks are exporting this insanity and some here are buying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6mBh2uXRM

[TheDemonLord]

This is scary and amusing at the same time. The real worry though is that the Yanks are exporting this insanity and some here are buying.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qs6mBh2uXRM

I mean, I could post up compilations of Woke Activists/Teachers who espouse communist rhetorhic (despite the massive failure that was the USSR), openly advocate for Pedophilia, Demand racial segrega- sorry 'Racial Justice' and insist that upon the merest say-so, A Man can transform into a Woman.

I agree there's insanity being exported, it's just not the kind you think.

[pete376403]

[QUOTE=TheDemonLord;1131205045]I mean, I could post up compilations of Woke Activists/Teachers who espouse communist rhetorhic (despite the massive failure that was the USSR), openly advocate for Pedophilia, Demand racial segrega- sorry 'Racial Justice' and insist that upon the merest say-so, A Man can transform into a Woman.

/QUOTE]
Well why dont you then?

[TheDemonLord]

Well why dont you then?

Because there are none so blind as those that refuse to see.

That and simply posting out-of-context clips and going 'Look at the bad thing' is generally not something I do. Feels Cheap.

Let's suppose for a moment that I did post up some of those clips - would you consider it an inevitable consequence of a certain set of Political/Philosophical ideas that have no limiting principle or would you simply dismiss it as 'A couple of Bad apples'

When you post up the academic texts, you post up the direct quotes, you post up examples of them doing the things they talk about, you post up examples of these ideas being pushed onto Children - and yet people still decry and dismiss it as a fringe irrational view - what makes you think posting up more examples will change their mind?

[Berries]

You just don't know how to do you?



There is a Help button at the top right. You're welcome.

[husaberg]

Well why dont you then?

From all photographic evidence produced he's over half way through.

[pritch]

[QUOTE=TheDemonLord;1131205045]I mean, I could post up compilations of Woke Activists/Teachers who espouse communist rhetorhic (despite the massive failure that was the USSR), openly advocate for Pedophilia, Demand racial segrega- sorry 'Racial Justice' and insist that upon the merest say-so, A Man can transform into a Woman.

/QUOTE]
Well why dont you then?

Nah. He thinks the Yanks are teaching CRT in schools and will post stuff to prove it. None of what he posts has any relationship to CRT. 'Cause like the Republicans, he has no idea what CRT is. The Republicans just point at stuff and shout CRT.

[TheDemonLord]

Nah. He thinks the Yanks are teaching CRT in schools and will post stuff to prove it. None of what he posts has any relationship to CRT. 'Cause like the Republicans, he has no idea what CRT is. The Republicans just point at stuff and shout CRT.

And when I post school Curricula that cite CRT definitions - that, apparently has no relationship to CRT.

I've actually got a really good idea of CRT is, cause I've actually read the likes of Ibram X Kendi and Kimberle Crenshaw.

This is what I mean by none so blind as those who will not see.

[pritch]

Didja hear about the idiot MAGA who attacked an FBI office with his AR15? He won't do that again.

[husaberg]

Didja hear about the idiot MAGA who attacked an FBI office with his AR15? He won't do that again.

Dont be silly A15's are only used for home defense..

[pritch]

Today on YouTube I saw an ad from the New Zealand Mint for a gold bullion $1 kangaroo coin. The creature depicted on the coin was a kiwi. I wasn't predisposed to buy a gold coin anyway, but if the NZ Mint doesn't know the defference between a kangaroo and a kiwi you can definitely count me out.

[R650R]

Today on YouTube I saw an ad from the New Zealand Mint for a gold bullion $1 kangaroo coin. The creature depicted on the coin was a kiwi. I wasn't predisposed to buy a gold coin anyway, but if the NZ Mint doesn't know the defference between a kangaroo and a kiwi you can definitely count me out.

Their website is correct, ad agency prob stuffed up or did they? Free publicity prob be all over fluff news. Bad time to buy at current exchange rate anyway. Your mate Alex Jones always said once mainstream news is telling you to buy gold it’s time to get out. With Russia and China having large physical holdings for their new global currrncy I’d not be surprised if West pulls tricks to devalue gold. It was only $200 US ounce before 9/11...

[R650R]

Well it looks like the lunatics have a chance of running the asylum literally...

https://i.stuff.co.nz/national/stuff-circuit/300660552/antivax-group-wanting-to-make-nz-ungovernable-targets-local-body-elections

A perfect storm of list covid lockdown has seen extremely low interest in high caliber people running for local office, preferring instead to spend time with family or go on that bucket list holiday before they die of the sniffles.
And now radical fringe elements are capitalising on this to get into office.

It’s a pity stuff isn’t as concerned about extreme leftists and climate nutters infiltrating politics and education institutions though.

The silver lining is though most of these disaffected people will be from lower social Economic groups and this steal votes from labour and greens.

All jokes aside given how much our mainstream political candidates flip flop or fail to deliver should we really be worried what any of them really think. Just like the protest though these nutters have so many different conflicting policies they will self destruct in short order.

[TheDemonLord]

It’s a pity stuff isn’t as concerned about extreme leftists and climate nutters infiltrating politics and education institutions though.

This.

When you can openly support an Ideology that has actively murdered millions of people and be electable and praised, whereas a group that simply don't want to have their freedoms taken away on their refusal to take a Vaccine is labelled as Dangerous.

Funnily enough though, there's a regular at the Gym who recently announced he was going to run for Council, nice enough Chap, interesting life story - The timing of his announcement and this (given I know some of his other views) suggests to me he might be one of them.

[R650R]

This.

When you can openly support an Ideology that has actively murdered millions of people and be electable and praised, whereas a group that simply don't want to have their freedoms taken away on their refusal to take a Vaccine is labelled as Dangerous.

Funnily enough though, there's a regular at the Gym who recently announced he was going to run for Council, nice enough Chap, interesting life story - The timing of his announcement and this (given I know some of his other views) suggests to me he might be one of them.

Well when the trains start taking people to re-education camps they might start waking up.
Now that proper lockdowns seem to have gone Ive mustered the mental strength to continue reading The Gulag Achipeligo and the similarities to how the modern leftist run govt institutions are is scary. A regime so brutal that would jail or kill its own soldiers for returning alive from WW2 frontlines or pow camps. The allies never fully understood how bad things were (or maybe they did) and betrayed many Russians by returning them to the motherland after they had helped defeat nazis despite their pleas for mercy.

[TheDemonLord]

Well when the trains start taking people to re-education camps they might start waking up.

From what I've seen, that isn't sufficient - what does seem to jolt people out of their comfort-zone is when Women and specifically Children are on the receiving end.

The Trans debate is far from settled and in places like the UK there is the TERF rear-guard that is pushing back and starting to make some headway - and otherwise left-leaning Mums (cue the Mumsnet reference) see what potentially could happen to their kids and specifically their daughters - they get really conservative, really quickly.

Add in the ever-expanding boundaries of Sex-Ed, Drag Queen story hour, and the new buzzword 'Minor Attracted People' - and suddenly the Mums start marching - and as every Married Man knows, when the Wife takes up a crusade...

[mashman]

All jokes aside given how much our mainstream political candidates flip flop or fail to deliver should we really be worried what any of them really think. Just like the protest though these nutters have so many different conflicting policies they will self destruct in short order.

The candidates don't flip flop or fail with regards to policy, because none of them write the policies in the first place, they merely present the policies that the party they represent tell them to. The eventual body politic rep, current candidate, is merely the scapegoat for the party to hang as and when they feel, because such appeases the public no end given that they think it's a failure of the individual and not the party that they will only ever vote for in their life. But sure, create an approved list of candidates to prevent incompetence from running the show :killingme..........

[R650R]

As predicted by international psychology experts and some of better posters on here, intersectional identity politics has started to consume itself. I’m a bit late to the party as I don’t twitter but apparently # trending is LBG drop the T.
It seems traditional gay people are as upset as straight people about being told genders don’t exist plus all the stuff going on around what’s kids are exposed to...
It seems humanity is not ready for Aldous Huxleys brave new world where there are no boundaries
People do like some sort of social structure and order

[TheDemonLord]

As predicted by international psychology experts and some of better posters on here, intersectional identity politics has started to consume itself. I’m a bit late to the party as I don’t twitter but apparently # trending is LBG drop the T.
It seems traditional gay people are as upset as straight people about being told genders don’t exist plus all the stuff going on around what’s kids are exposed to...
It seems humanity is not ready for Aldous Huxleys brave new world where there are no boundaries
People do like some sort of social structure and order

More specifically it's the Lesbians leading the charge. Turns out they don't want to by bullied into fucking a Man in a dress who says he's a woman (because he's got a Lesbian Fetish).

Gay Men are too busy having Orgies and getting Monkey Pox....

The irony is that many of the 3rd wave Feminist Political Lesbians (The Julie Bindel types) who are radically Marxist are the ones who helped push the intersectional agenda initially and now are being denounced by the 4th wave of Feminist activists (whom they helped indoctrinate).

There's a part of me that finds it all hilarious because they did this to themselves and none of them renounce the ideas that brought it forth in the first place.

[pritch]

A I’m a bit late to the party as I don’t twitter but apparently # trending is LBG drop the T.

I must be even further behind. They added a new letter even after LGBTQ. I've given up.

[TheDemonLord]

I must be even further behind. They added a new letter even after LGBTQ. I've given up.

LGBTQIA+ is I believe the current version

Q for Queer (whatever that means)
I for Intersex (a very rare medical condition where a person has primary sex characteristics of both sexes)
A for Asexual (which is even sillier than the T being included - if you don't have any skin in the game, why are you sitting on the bench?)
and the + is for whatever they decide to add next week.

Just a matter of time till they add the P.

[pete376403]

LGBTQIA+ is I believe the current version

Q for Queer (whatever that means)
I for Intersex (a very rare medical condition where a person has primary sex characteristics of both sexes)
A for Asexual (which is even sillier than the T being included - if you don't have any skin in the game, why are you sitting on the bench?)
and the + is for whatever they decide to add next week.

Just a matter of time till they add the P.

Poms?
10 characters

[husaberg]

Poms?
10 characters

poms and small p are of course interchangeable.

[Berries]

Poms?
Is it psychotic pyromaniacs?

I would watch that parade.

[pritch]

Recently watched a Netflix series, "Queen Of The South" which included a judge doing exactly this. These guys are worse than the fictional judge and his head wound up in a cardboard box.

https://apnews.com/article/crime-trending-news-government-and-politics-6f30f575dc739415af1e5b47b1be50f0

[Laava]

Jeez america is one fucked up country. Seems the worst criminals are the cunts running the place!

[george formby]

Jeez america is one fucked up country. Seems the worst criminals are the cunts running the place!

Yup, and they are spreading the gospel right on our doorstep.

https://www.stuff.co.nz/national/politics/129598951/the-covid19-conspiracy-theorists-targeting-northlands-local-elections

[Laava]

Lols, I saw that earlier. Wouldn't surprise me if he got votes in the double figures!

[Viking01]

Thought the new UK PM selection process had gone rather quiet recently. But I see that Rishi has just spiced it up a little:

https://www.express.co.uk/news/politics/1657960/rishi-sunak-beware-the-underdog-promotional-video-tory-leadership-contest-bazooka-vn

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fkljnr88KE

[Edit 24.08.2022]

Not to be out-done:

https://sputniknews.com/20220823/truss-says-ready-to-launch-nuclear-missiles-if-necessary-1099920554.html
https://ria-ru.translate.goog/20220824/zakharova-1811717777.html?rcmd_alg=slotter&_x_tr_sl=ru&_x_tr_tl=en&_x_tr_hl=en-US&_x_tr_pto=wapp

[Edit 25.08.2022]

Apparently, the "holiday" is over for Boris, and he's been busy cementing a prospective new role as NATO S-G:

https://www.rt.com/russia/561478-boris-johnson-visit-kiev-ukraine/

[Viking01]

Morning,

Might be of interest to a few. Use arrows on top of map to navigate.

https://www.ifw-kiel.de/topics/war-against-ukraine/ukraine-support-tracker/

[mashman]

Extreme China heatwave could lead to global chaos and food shortages (https://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/extreme-china-heatwave-could-lead-to-global-chaos-and-food-shortages/D3FVWMBGHJQD355FDM5R43MG4I/)... Damn, no opinion, no theory, just what is. Just think happy happy thoughts and pray.

[pritch]

Just looking at YouTube while putting off cleaning the bike and I came across something worthy of mention here. The clip is quite long but the premise is simple. A guy went to McDonalds and subsequently complained about his chips being cold. An argument ensuesd, but the owner of McD's and the customer both called the cops. Turns out the customer was a wanted murder suspect. Guess he needed to learn about priorities?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bSdesspko8&t=601s

[Viking01]

https://www.smh.com.au/world/oceania/convicted-white-supremacist-running-for-nz-multicultural-school-board-20220830-p5be0e.html

[husaberg]

Just looking at YouTube while putting off cleaning the bike and I came across something worthy of mention here. The clip is quite long but the premise is simple. A guy went to McDonalds and subsequently complained about his chips being cold. An argument ensuesdbut the owner of McD's and the customer both called the cops. Turns out the customer was a wanted murder suspect. Guess he needed to learn about priorities?


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_bSdesspko8&t=601s

if only there was a good guy with a gun he could have just shot him pre trial.