Gorth

When money can buy everything including politicians and exemption from rules

I tried for a while, but couldn't find any trustworthy link that wasn't paywalled around the subject, but apparently those many billions of dollars pledged and/or donated to Trumps "peace board" initiative to help rebuilding Gaza hasn't seen a single dollar spent. Not only that, but they are not on any account subject to transparancy nor accountability. This includes 10 billion dollars from the US government. All sent to Trumps personal JP Morgan account. Sounds like the Scott Morrison government, just on a more ambitious scale. ...still looking for usable links...

It's about the corruption in FIFA, that needs to adressed. Infantini is worse than Blatter, so question is how do you go about dismantling FIFA, or at least force a change in management. It's a private corporation, so there ethics is never a concern if it poses a risk to the bottomline. How to force a change in FIFA? The only leverage is money, if you make them irrelevant and hurt their balance sheet, they might be open to suggestions. edit: Qatar 2022 was for me the proverbial drop, that made me really resent FIFA.

Boycotting the FIFA arrangement, not the team 😛

...and this is how a new generation of militant young people grow up 😖 disclaimer: Not exclusively of course, but a contributing factor

I raised an eyebrow when I noticed Australia was part of Asia, where as New Zealand was part of Oceania. Aren't they part of the same regional football organisation (like UEFA for European countries)? Normally I would feel a bit sad, that Denmark isn't in the line up, but this time probably feeling a bit of relief. It saves people having to think about boycotting it or not

Considering the age of the game, the forum is probably not the best place to ask for support anymore I thought about Older Games - Obsidian Entertainment Support But that just links here Maybe try emailing support which would be: support[at]obsidian[dot]net Replaced the [at] and [dot] with @ and . (just to obfuscate the most simple mail havesting bots out there, not fooling the more advanced ones)

Interesting tech news... a copy of googles cloud software running in Europe. European location, German staff. No access for Google or its subsidiaries. https://www.thalesgroup.com/en/news-centre/press-releases/thales-announces-strategic-partnership-google-cloud-launch-new-sovereign Edit: tl;dr; a European version of Google cloud that US authorities have no access to.

Long before the 20th and 21th century, the English were pioneering book burning. An entire edition of the bible met its end on the pyres in 1631. Only a few survived and are valuable collectors items today. All because of one little typo. https://collections.museumofthebible.org/artifacts/6196-the-wicked-bible?theme=collections-highlights The typo? They left out the word 'not' in the 7th commandment (Thou shalt not commit adultery). It slipped past the proof readers too.

Look, bond markets explained using simple words even I can understand! @BruceVC just curious, is this how it actually works? Never mind his predictions may or may not be correct, just the mechanics of it

That reminds me my tetanus, diphtheria, and pertussis vaccination is 5 years old. I should probably get a new one. I didn't know it was a combo thing when I got it and the lady at the pharmacy pointed out my shoulder could be a bit sore because of the tetanus vaccination. I was like, what tetanus vaccination? First thing I hear of it 😄 (I really just wanted the pertussis part because friends had given birth to a daughter a few days earlier and i didn't want to be the one dragging something unwanted into their little family)

No idea what price tags they have on the other side of the pond, but here they have relative low cost of ownership compared to fossil fuel cars. Depending on usage of course. Up front investment is higher but every Km driven saves you money. Not sure about the charging time, my dads VW ID4 typically takes 15 minutes to go from 20% to 80%. I.e. it's not instantaneous.

...and people wonder why electric vehicles are so popular here 😝

I thought these memes and roasts were funny, but probably too politically biased to be considered just humour

No Milla Jovowitch? F-

A funny thought... and yes, before anyone tries to explain the obvious errors in such thinking (it really just was a funny completely unscientific thought), that maybe less people apply for unemployment because they people that used to have those jobs left the country? (i.e. the US has a negative net migration number, more people trying to get out from the US than into the US) BrookingsMacroeconomic implications of immigration flows in 2025 a...Wendy Edelberg, Stan Veuger, and Tara Watson review immigration flow trends in 2025 and 2026, and analyze their macroeconomic implications.

In Denmark we call them "Socialdemocrats". I.e. the workers party. At some point they went screw it, this is what people wants, this is what we give the people. Effectively stealing a lot of the thunder from far right parties, who normally campaign on that single subject. We do have some of the most immigrant unfriendly policies in Europe though. How Denmark's left (not the far right) got tough on immigration Denmark’s hardline immigration laws have caught Britain’s eye. Here’s why | CNN Denmark’s Approach to Immigration and the Debate on EU’s Asylum and Migration Policy | Northern Europe | bpb.de Will Denmark's hardline migration policy influence rest of EU? Tl;dr; You are not welcome and don't expect to remain here.

An interesting point. Curious about your view on the best solution. How would a resource rich country make best use of its resources? Letting foreign countries have them for free never really worked in the past. If not nationalizing the resource, then what? Most common result is foreign enclaves where the corporation operating the area builds a local industry for its own imported workforce. I.e. very little benefit for the local econonmy. The Chinese are best known for it at the moment, but they were neither the first nor the worst (i.e. stripping an area of anything of value leaving the locals to pick up the clean up bill and the consequences). It breeds resentment. Taxing the hell out of corporations (good luck trying to do that)? edit: I.e. what would you consider viable alternatives to nationalising resources? edit2: Yes, I am perfectly well aware of it not working well in the past, mostly because such governments are just as corrupt as the corporations they seized the resources from edit3: Hypothetical example, a Saudi corporation decides arctic ice from Greenland is the perfect fit for Saudi drinks and wants to strip mine the ice sheet. Government in Nuuk gets bribed to let said Saudi firm import know how, machinery and specialized Saudi work force to slear the ice from Greenland. What options would the Inuit population have to get part of their heritance and the wealth currently flowing into Saudi pockets?

Isn't the whole fight insurgents with military force such a 20th century way of thinking? You want to get rid of insurgents, take away their reason to exist. It varies of course from case to case, but as far as I know, most insurgencies are the result of large disenfranchised groups with no future and nothing to lose. As far as I have been able to follow, most insurgencies in Africa and South/Latin America (and The Levant) are the results of a combination of isolation (information control), poverty (inequality) and rampant corruption in the "democratically elected" governments, meaning they are just totalitarian regimes with a better PR apparatus. If people have a job, a future, get exposed to other ideas, prospects instead of projects and something worth keeping, like a home, they tend to be too busy to worry about risking it on doing insurgency. But you can't fight income inequality, poverty, ignorance and homelessness with military forces. At best, you keep insurgents around because it helps those in power to tighten their grip on said power. Edit: Don't get me started on genuine democratically elected governments toppled by western powers because they were inconvenient

From the first link... I had probably already developed a bias just based on the title. Nothing like a bit of confirmation bias 👼 "And it bears repeating that their survey-based research has only found a troubling overlap in these pesticide exposures and incidences of lung cancer, not concrete proof of a biochemical mechanism confirming these compounds are carcinogenenic." I actually had two ideas before reading the articles. Either people survive other things and lung cancer being the next best thing on their bingo card to die from or the fruits and vegetables weren't exactly organic produce.

That sounds like Apple's target demographic

Peanuts compared to those who made a killing (figure of speech) in oil futures hours before the surprise attack on Iran in the middle of negotiations. Pearl Harbour 1941 seems like a less unique situation these days-

Especially now, when the US is also considered a military threat to Europe... Didn't Japan discuss some serious considerations about amending/removing the part of the post WWII constitution, that limits the role of the Japanese military? In that part of the world, China is more likely to pose a military threat to the region than Japan, at least for the time being

Just wrapping up the current status of the world...

I wasn't quite sure if I should put it here or the Ukraine thread, since it covers both topics 10 Ukrainians Humbled Two NATO Battalions. When Will NATO Wake Up? Few things encourage innovation like fighting for your survival. Ukrainian military showed Nato how far behind current Nato doctrine is when it comes to large scale conventional warfare. 10 Ukrainians taking out 2 Nato batalions during military exercises in Estonia