The all things Poltical topic - We bear our banners aloft, boots like Drums Our Cadence quick, our countenance dire.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

People aren't having kids later because feminism is promoting it.

But those pesky feminists are easier to blame, especially if you ideologically support such things that lead to the lack of kiddos.

The cheapest rent around me is about $800, most "good" entry level jobs (which aren't guaranteed) pay somewhere around $20/hr to start with a degree required, student debt is out of control for most people around my age, and just having a kid (not actually raising one, which is even more time and effort) could cost in 10s of thousands. Just weighing things, people in thsee circumstances not having kids is a completely logical decision based on their actual circumstances, and hook-up culture doesn't really factor in.

[Guard Dog]

Actor apologizes for calling Taiwan a country

Ahem..... TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY. IT IS TOTALLY A FREE AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. 
 

No apologies 

[Malcador]

6 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Actor apologizes for calling Taiwan a country

Ahem..... TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY. IT IS TOTALLY A FREE AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. 
 

No apologies 

I'm surprised they saw him do it. 

[ComradeYellow]

11 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Actor apologizes for calling Taiwan a country

Ahem..... TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY. IT IS TOTALLY A FREE AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. 
 

No apologies 

That is a very touchy subject, even internally the Taiwanese are split on the issue, as they have strong cultural ties to the mainland, unlike Japan which has always been independent from the Middle Kingdom.

Also, speaking of touchy subjects...

https://www.mediaite.com/online/jackie-chan-says-america-is-the-most-corrupt-country-in-the-world/

Jackie Chan, really?

Edit: Whoops, that article is quite old, but definitely new to me!  I never took Chan for a conservative China firster. 

Edited May 25, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[BruceVC]

23 minutes ago, Guard Dog said:

Actor apologizes for calling Taiwan a country

Ahem..... TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY. IT IS TOTALLY A FREE AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. 
 

No apologies 

Of course its  an independant  country and no amount of CCP propaganda and revisionist history is going to change that 

John Cena's nauseatingly, obsequious apology and back peddling is embarrassing but I suppose he is doing it for his career and the huge Chinese market he doesnt want the Fast and Furious franchise  to lose out on

But still, where is his integrity?

[BruceVC]

19 minutes ago, ComradeYellow said:

That is a very touchy subject, even internally the Taiwanese are split on the issue, as they have strong cultural ties to the mainland, unlike Japan which has always been independent from the Middle Kingdom.

Also, speaking of touchy subjects...

https://www.mediaite.com/online/jackie-chan-says-america-is-the-most-corrupt-country-in-the-world/

Jackie Chan, really?

Edit: Whoops, that article is quite old, but definitely new to me!  I never took Chan for a conservative China firster. 

No its not touchy at all, Taiwan is not part of China. Its a global fact and most of us dont care what China thinks we should or shouldn't say in public outside of China....its all part of that elusive, pesky thing that doesnt exist in China, its called Freedom of Speech 

[ComradeYellow]

Just now, BruceVC said:

No its not touchy at all, Taiwan is not part of China. Its a global fact and most of us dont care what China thinks we should or shouldn't say in public outside of China....its all part of that elusive, pesky thing that doesnt exist in China, its called Freedom of Speech 

I would advise not going to Taiwan and astro turfing this opinion there, you're bound to get punched at some point.

Personally, I think at the end of the day their government will side with the west but I'd look at that as sort of a convenience thing then a "righteous" thing.

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, ComradeYellow said:

I would advise not going to Taiwan and astro turfing this opinion there, you're bound to get punched at some point.

Personally, I think at the end of the day their government will side with the west but I'd look at that as sort of a convenience thing then a "righteous" thing.

No need to worry, I learnt years ago from work I did in the ME that when you are in a country where freedom of speech isnt respected you must be very careful what you say in public or to people that live their 

[ComradeYellow]

it's like saying you have socialist leanings here in the U.S., you may get some support from prominent circles, but others, well, probably not a good idea.

(Just so we will win, comradeS)

[pmp10]

3 hours ago, Pidesco said:

People are leaving their parents' houses later and later because they can't afford it, they aren't having kids earlier because they can't afford it, and they aren't having more kids because they can't afford it.

Affording is really rarely the issue in the developed countries.
Few in the middle-class are about to starve for having to take care for an extra kid or two.
 

[Darkpriest]

2 hours ago, Hurlsnot said:

This is really just standard 'back in my day, things were better' rubbish. Back in what day, exactly? Do you really think the 60's and 70's had less promiscuity and self gratification? 

People are definitely waiting longer to have kids in the US. It has way more to do with financial implications than any hokey 'cultural decline'. Wake up sheeple, kids are expensive and the middle class is shrinking!  

How sustainable demographically is a system, when you have people in labor force for about 40-45y, while outside of labor force expanded from ca 15-20y to 40-50y and at the same time generation replacement happens every 30y instead of 20y and it is usually below the 2.0 kids per couple? 

The old days had subcultures being more promiscous, and it still was not entirely risk free. The advancments in medicine enabled more promiscous life style as the biggest risk of an adventorous intercourse (a child) has been mitigated to extremely low levels. 

This factor enabled women to go early in the workforce and made them more masculine as they got drawn into corporate cogs. Now however you start seeing an outpour of a generation of unfullfilled expectations, where creating a family went into a backlog of things to do somewhere in the future, but now there are few men interested in pair bonding via marriage (see falling marrige rates), and there is an abundance of free, cheap sexual experiences, as long as you are somewhat tall and can make a 100k  per year. You removed incentives for men to get married and have families, you told women that its unfashionable and weak to have family and kids early, and put them through emasculating, highly competitive and time consuming corporate culture , made men and women compete for jobs, which historiaclly were better paid, but now they stagnated in salary growth due to oversupply of workforce (also, women rarely date down status/financially wise) , and you wonder why people have no money while they live 'single' lives? 

Edited May 25, 2021 by Darkpriest

[Hurlshort]

That is quite an essay you just wrote.

[BruceVC]

20 minutes ago, Darkpriest said:

How sustainable demographically is a system, when you have people in labor force for about 40-45y, while outside of labor force expanded from ca 15-20y to 40-50y and at the same time generation replacement happens every 30y instead of 20y and it is usually below the 2.0 kids per couple? 

The old days had subcultures being more promiscous, and it still was not entirely risk free. The advancments in medicine enabled more promiscous life style as the biggest risk of an adventorous intercourse (a child) has been mitigated to extremely low levels. 

This factor enabled women to go early in the workforce and made them more masculine as they got drawn into corporate cogs. Now however you start seeing an outpour of a generation of unfullfilled expectations, where creating a family went into a backlog of things to do somewhere in the future, but now there are few men interested in pair bonding via marriage (see falling marrige rates), and there is an abundance of free, cheap sexual experiences, as long as you are somewhat tall and can make a 100k  per year. You removed incentives for men to get married and have families, you told women that its unfashionable and weak to have family and kids early, and put them through emasculating, highly competitive and time consuming corporate culture , made men and women compete for jobs, which historiaclly were better paid, but now they stagnated in salary growth due to oversupply of workforce (also, women rarely date down status/financially wise) , and you wonder why people have no money while they live 'single' lives? 

Where can I get these free, cheap sexual experiences? I always end up paying 

[Guard Dog]

1 hour ago, ComradeYellow said:

I would advise not going to Taiwan and astro turfing this opinion there, you're bound to get punched at some point.

Personally, I think at the end of the day their government will side with the west but I'd look at that as sort of a convenience thing then a "righteous" thing.

Maybe they just don’t fancy being lined up and shot. Or being “disappeared”

[Malcador]

51 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

That is quite an essay you just wrote.

Can't help but picture a fedora.

[Darkpriest]

28 minutes ago, Malcador said:

Can't help but picture a fedora.

I'm more of a monocle and stache guy, or sweatpants, rough week old beard guy. Depends on the mood i guess 

[Darkpriest]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Where can I get these free, cheap sexual experiences? I always end up paying 

Are you somewhat fit, with full hairline and 178cm+ tall guy? 

[HoonDing]

"Where can I get these free, cheap sexual experiences?"

have you tried those VR's

https://store.steampowered.com/app/751440/VR_Kanojo__VR/

[BruceVC]

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/denmark-revoke-syrian-refugee-residence-permits

@pidesco

Just to add to our discussion, more  EU countries pushing back against the number of refugees they have taken in 

[Pidesco]

18 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/denmark-revoke-syrian-refugee-residence-permits

@pidesco

Just to add to our discussion, more  EU countries pushing back against the number of refugees they have taken in 

 

That Danish decision is clearly a disgrace. 

[ComradeYellow]

3 hours ago, BruceVC said:

Where can I get these free, cheap sexual experiences? I always end up paying 

in a brothel?  They're still illegal in my state so I gotta stick with gambling, tobacco, and drinky.

I regret nothing.

[Guard Dog]

Well, isn’t this a hot mess?

Biden Admin seeks to extradite a former US Marine who helped a NK diplomat defect in Spain. 
 

i’d say that dude is probably screwed. US Presidents over the past 25 years or so have been only too happy to throw American citizens on under the bus just to suck a dictators ••••

[Zoraptor]

1 hour ago, Pidesco said:

 

That Danish decision is clearly a disgrace. 

It's a disgrace if they support continuing sanctions and returning refugees at the same time since the returnees would have zero prospects under the current sanctions. If they supported returning refugees and lifting sanctions* it would be fine since prospects would be a lot better. The average refugee has nothing to fear from Assad and the populated part of the Damascus region and western/ central Syria is pretty much entirely quiescent, but their prospects are far far far better outside the country with the current economic situation.

Kind of telling when even MbS' Saudi Arabia has a more realistic approach to things than the west does.

*Since it came up a month or two back I'd note that the startup US oil firm filled with ex spies and State dept types that Trump allowed to Pillage Syria's oil looks like it's going to get its sanctions waiver removed by Biden.

[Gorth]

3 hours ago, BruceVC said:

https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/news/denmark-revoke-syrian-refugee-residence-permits

@pidesco

Just to add to our discussion, more  EU countries pushing back against the number of refugees they have taken in 

I’m not Pidesco, but I know a little bit about Denmark. You’ll just have to take my word for it, Denmark *never* liked immigrants and the EU even less (I sincerely thought Denmark would be the first to leave before the UK, although they may still follow them out the door)

[rjshae]

9 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Actor apologizes for calling Taiwan a country

Ahem..... TAIWAN IS A COUNTRY. IT IS TOTALLY A FREE AND INDEPENDENT COUNTRY. 
 

No apologies 

Later, Taiwan apologizes for calling John Cena an actor.