The All Things Political Topic - All people love themselves too much to be changed by something as simple as love.

[Gfted1]

5 hours ago, BruceVC said:

We must strive to get to a point where only like minded people like you and  are left, echo chambers are the best I tell you 

Dont let the same 2-3 people fool you, this is scene 1 act 1. For their next act posters will reveal how they read the ignored posts anyway because "they just cants resists themselves to push the button, durr", which is also a burden on them. Its a perfect Kobayashi Maru. You just have to wait till you see the whites of their eyes. 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 hours ago, Gromnir said:

you have clear never watched a horror film. make a statement such as the above is almost as likely as teens having sex to resurrect the moldering corpse o' a fell and tormented creature impossible lingering on the borders 'tween our world and hell. if oby and skarpen_one sudden once again contribute to these boards, we will be blaming you... or perhaps a pair o' sex starved interns doing qa at 2am at obsidian. 

HA! Good Fun!

If Wrath of Dagon returns I will take full responsibility. Give the sex starved interns a break.

8 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

That means it's working.

I once had a page in this politics thread (although not this particular politics thread) where the entire page was missing because it had evidently just been spammed to death by those that I have on ignore. Felt pretty amazing to just go to the next page without reading a single one. Most of the people that were destroying these threads in the past are not here as of now...most of them.

That's hilarious.

2 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

LOL good advice. I have three other "he-who-shall-not-be-named" posters beyond those two. One of them promised to come to the US and kick my ass. I PMed him my address! 

It wasn't on here but some guy threatened to burn my house down with me in it via pm. As far as I can tell, it was over saying I didn't enjoy Harry Potter movies. I didn't send him my address.

[Bartimaeus]

1 hour ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

It wasn't on here but some guy threatened to burn my house down with me in it via pm. As far as I can tell, it was over saying I didn't enjoy Harry Potter movies. I didn't send him my address.

You never know how far some crazies will go, and it's infinitely more difficult to be hyper-viligant about preventing someone from doing something unpleasant to you than it is for them to do it. Doesn't take that much to find and get to any arbitrary address (if the address if freely given or found), get a rental car and some gasoline and matches, and quietly wait for you to leave at some point before setting everything ablaze...if they truly are crazy and don't care about the consequences. Especially in this day and age, how confident can you really be that any given random person isn't insane? I certainly wouldn't be too keen to test it.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[Hurlshort]

4 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

Dont let the same 2-3 people fool you, this is scene 1 act 1. For their next act posters will reveal how they read the ignored posts anyway because "they just cants resists themselves to push the button, durr", which is also a burden on them. Its a perfect Kobayashi Maru. You just have to wait till you see the whites of their eyes. 

The only poster I have ever ignored was Volourn. But it was more because I had to be in a certain mood to really appreciate his posts. Eventually hitting the reveal button felt like opening a present. What did that krazy kid say now?

[majestic]

33 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

The only poster I have ever ignored was Volourn. But it was more because I had to be in a certain mood to really appreciate his posts. Eventually hitting the reveal button felt like opening a present. What did that krazy kid say now?

Post-2018 that was fairly easy to predict:

NAZI. End of posting.

edit: Also, only NAZIs ignore someone and then click on the reveal button. That makes you a NAZI too!

Edited December 28, 2021 by majestic

[BruceVC]

https://briefly.co.za/south-africa/117550-cape-town-honours-tutus-memory-ramaphosas-tribute-late-archbishop/#:~:text=CAPE TOWN - The City of Cape Town,the date of Tutu's funeral in Cape Town.

Cape Town is paying a fitting tribute to Desmond Tutu till the 1st January, purple  lights will be shone on Table Mountain and the City Hall  and various churches will be sounding their bells during the day. Its a pity I will miss it as Im only back on the 4th 

[Bartimaeus]

46 minutes ago, Hurlsnot said:

The only poster I have ever ignored was Volourn. But it was more because I had to be in a certain mood to really appreciate his posts. Eventually hitting the reveal button felt like opening a present. What did that krazy kid say now?

Volourn was frustrating, because...he didn't used to be quite as off the walls unhinged and unpleasant as he was towards the end, and he seemed like an actual person with relatively consistent opinions but with no clue how (or at least no desire) to state them in a way that didn't have endless flaming and false equivalencies. He was a guy that was frequently getting added to and removed from my ignore list up until his last year or so of being here. That's more than I can say for a few others, whose propensity for utterly lacking any intellectual honesty or consistency from one post to the next makes a permanent ignore a relatively simple decision - there is no value to be gained for anyone in discussing matters with those who have no interest in honest discussion.

Edited December 28, 2021 by Bartimaeus

[BruceVC]

1 minute ago, majestic said:

Post-2018 that was fairly easy to predict:

NAZI. End of posting.

edit: Also, only NAZIs ignore someone and then click on the reveal button. That makes you a NAZI too!

I think volo abused the word Nazi  in order to make certain general points. But his inaccurate  generalizations use to make me laugh especially with Gromnir. What was his normal debating style   with Gromnir " you are fine about Antifa killing white people " 

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

You never know how far some crazies will go, and it's infinitely more difficult to be hyper-viligant about preventing someone from doing something unpleasant to you than it is for them to do it. Doesn't take that much to find and get to any arbitrary address (if the address if freely given or found), get a rental car and some gasoline and matches, and quietly wait for you to leave at some point before setting everything ablaze...if they truly are crazy and don't care about the consequences. Especially in this day and age, how confident can you really be that any given random person isn't insane? I certainly wouldn't be too keen to test it.

He was specific about me being in it, so I guess that he wouldn't have to worry about waiting for me to leave. Jokes on him though because I don't own a house.

38 minutes ago, majestic said:

Post-2018 that was fairly easy to predict:

NAZI. End of posting.

edit: Also, only NAZIs ignore someone and then click on the reveal button. That makes you a NAZI too!

Nope, it was SJW-NAZI. He was insistent on that. Oh and BLM/ANTIFA later on. Vol really liked to combine stuff like that, probably because he, like everyone who has ever existed, is a SJW NAZI.

roofles!

[Gromnir]

2 hours ago, Bartimaeus said:

You never know how far some crazies will go, and it's infinitely more difficult to be hyper-viligant about preventing someone from doing something unpleasant to you than it is for them to do it. 

genuine crazy is not something we lose much sleep over, 'cause is kinda impossible to predict what you might say or do to set off the person who takes advice from the 6' lobster living in their garage. 

angry and stoopid people is more plentiful than crazy. is all too many folks who bring guns with them to situations they know is gonna be volatile. irl we were threatened with murder many times and usual we didn't take serious. were never receiving death threats from a current or past client, but we did get threats from people offended by our choice o' clients. how many such people woulda' been angry enough to bring a gun with them when confronting us, y'know, just to protect themselves? dunno. too many if even one. regardless, not crazy, but predictable stoopid and angry.

post university we lived in cities as were more convenient for us... right up until one day our sister, who had health problems and were living with us at the time, were confronted by one o' those angry people threatening Gromnir with murder. the thing is, once our sister were gone, we went back to same blasé attitude 'bout personal safety.  if we ever need sell our house am gonna need hire a locksmith 'cause we have no idea where is the keys for our front door. haven't locked the front door for years save when going outta town. 'course our pov would change drastic if we had a family to protect.

have embarrassed a few folks here and on other boards. have had to deal with their bruised egos-- typical for a week or two after some particular emasculating conflict we see such folks impotent rage post in our general direction. tedious. angry and stoopid. am s'posing we could face real life consequences from those needing convince themselves o' their manhood, or whatever. is reasonable and responsible to assume there is many people who is angry and stoopid enough to do violence. incontrovertible. 

gonna make more use o' ignore 'cause chances are the next time we see somebody post something monumental asinine, am gonna comment. yeah, chances are we face some kinda sisyphean trial as we attempt to explain something which should be self evident, and no doubt we will need endure the comically retributive squeaks o' rage from those who feel wronged, but am petty enough to not be overconcerned, even if am agreeing with the general sentiment that is we should be more wary o' stoopid and angry.  as such, where is possible, ignore is probable our best option.

HA! Good Fun!

[majestic]

28 minutes ago, KP on top of ZA WARUDO said:

Nope, it was SJW-NAZI. He was insistent on that. Oh and BLM/ANTIFA later on. Vol really liked to combine stuff like that, probably because he, like everyone who has ever existed, is a SJW NAZI.

roofles!

That's r00fles. /counternitpick.

 

[Malcador]

1 hour ago, Hurlsnot said:

The only poster I have ever ignored was Volourn. But it was more because I had to be in a certain mood to really appreciate his posts. Eventually hitting the reveal button felt like opening a present. What did that krazy kid say now?

In Volo veritas.  I think he's still on the Codex, will poke him and tell him to come back to this den of ubermensch

Edited December 28, 2021 by Malcador

[Gfted1]

And, its curtains.

[Gromnir]

am actual feeling some sympathy for vol. from our pov, vol went to a darker place during his last few years o' posting, but that is unlikely. chances are the vol in 2000 were only slight different than the 2018 edition. is our perception o' vol which changed based on his less guarded sharing o' how he felt 'bout particular issues. no doubt from vol pov, the treatment he were receiving in 2018 were unfair 'cause is not as if he had changed. 

oh well, we never had vol on ignore but we also never bothered to read his posts near the end save when such was quoted or when he responded direct to our posts. the thing is, am suspecting vol woulda' been indifferent if we had added him to our ignore list. as low as vol had sunk in our estimation, he didn't require an ego stroke from Gromnir and were unlikely to be offended by the use o' ignore, which we s'pose made him more admirable than a few current posters. 

...

even so, and am a tiny bit troubled by the admission, we don't much miss 2018 vol.

that said, it probable isn't fair to take shots at vol now that he is gone and regardless is complete off-topic.  done.

HA! Good Fun!

[Guard Dog]

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of 5 of 6 counts. Good. That bitch should be in prison until she dies. I am more than a little disappointed she hasn't started naming names.  i'd be very interested to hear what former Presidents and Senators, Congress and business leaders paid Epstein and her to go and f--k children on one of their private estates. 

Not going to mention Bill Clinton or Donald Trump by name but both are linked to them. Not proof of course. But knowing what we do about the character of each man would it surprise anyone?

[ComradeYellow]

Careful guys, there's actually hitman networks deep in the bowels of internet now.  I mean yes, 90% of them are scams or undercover police but there's been some reports about actual hits being carried out.  @Guard Dog giving someone on the internet your physical address:  Not a good idea! 

Edited December 30, 2021 by ComradeYellow

[BruceVC]

6 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of 5 of 6 counts. Good. That bitch should be in prison until she dies. I am more than a little disappointed she hasn't started naming names.  i'd be very interested to hear what former Presidents and Senators, Congress and business leaders paid Epstein and her to go and f--k children on one of their private estates. 

Not going to mention Bill Clinton or Donald Trump by name but both are linked to them. Not proof of course. But knowing what we do about the character of each man would it surprise anyone?

This was the expected verdict IMO and it is good news. But I also believe that Epstein did commit suicide in jail and wasn't  killed because he knew the names of powerful people or that she knew names

Surly if either if them had a  real " black book" they would have cut a deal? The justice system in the US allowed people like Sammy The Bull to walk and he killed close to 20 people before he turned state witness 

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

Most of people I know who have been following this story believe that Epstein was killed in jail because he knew names and people wanted to keep him quiet but there was an investigation and their is no evidence of this?

Anyway I am more than happy with this Maxwell verdict  

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by BruceVC

[BruceVC]

4 hours ago, ComradeYellow said:

Careful guys, there's actually hitman networks deep in the bowels of internet now.  I mean yes, 90% of them are scams or undercover police but there's been some reports about actual hits being carried out.  @Guard Dog giving someone on the internet your physical address:  Not a good idea! 

What is your physical address Comrade? I promise you I am not a Hitman 

[Gorth]

I always wondered if the Address that volourn once posted on the forums was his actual address (calling people out to come and get him)

 

On a more serious note... wondering where this is heading. I guess Putin got at least one thing out of it. Direct communication.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59818978

Tangential to Ukraine, but still somewhat related:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59306223

Germany trapped between a rock and a hard place. Gas prices becoming a destabilizing factor in society, yet caving in to US and Ukrainian demands to not remove Ukraine from having the finger on the valves (and lots of free gas, which gets stolen by tonne). What will the new German chancellor do? Make his own people happy or the Ukrainian government (I somehow doubt the stolen gas and the billions of dollars of "transit fees" in any way benefits the common man in Ukraine)

 

 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

I always wondered if the Address that volourn once posted on the forums was his actual address (calling people out to come and get him)

 

On a more serious note... wondering where this is heading. I guess Putin got at least one thing out of it. Direct communication.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-59818978

Tangential to Ukraine, but still somewhat related:

https://www.bbc.com/news/business-59306223

Germany trapped between a rock and a hard place. Gas prices becoming a destabilizing factor in society, yet caving in to US and Ukrainian demands to not remove Ukraine from having the finger on the valves (and lots of free gas, which gets stolen by tonne). What will the new German chancellor do? Make his own people happy or the Ukrainian government (I somehow doubt the stolen gas and the billions of dollars of "transit fees" in any way benefits the common man in Ukraine)

 

 

The current Ukrainian tension with Russia and the Nord Stream developments do matter to overall global stability but Putin's troop buildup is pure brinkmanship and a negotiating  tactic as mentioned by the articles

I have always maintained that their is very little chance of a real Russian invasion of the Ukraine and its all part of Putins unnecessary but real objective of  ensuring that NATO aligned countries dont encroach on Russian controlled and influenced territory. And I say unnecessary because I have never understood why it matters to Putin if countries like Georgia or Ukraine are part of NATO or not because its not like NATO is going to invade Russia, the Cold War is over and Russia will always have its puppet states like Belarus supporting it ?

But in the interests of economic  and geopolitical stability I would not allow Ukraine to join NATO but continue to sell them weapons and provide them with aid, this approach is a balance and seems fair to all sides

And the Nord Stream decision is more complicated and has much greater economic impact for the EU. I do think Putin could use that to his advantage in the future. The article says the pipeline could be a " dangerous geopolitical weapon" but that is the same reality the world faces with the OPEC countries and  particularly the Gulf States in the ME under the influence of Saudi Arabia which is one of the main reasons I support the continued important  friendship between the US and Saudi Arabia

Their was time when OPEC used an oil embargo as a "" dangerous geopolitical weapon " in 1973 and that embargo could have crashed the worlds economy

https://www.thebalance.com/opec-oil-embargo-causes-and-effects-of-the-crisis-3305806

That is also why the US always supports Israel because no matter what the Arab countries decide Israel would never align with them over the US and the West and that should matter to all of us. You must have one ally in the ME that will always support the West and that ally is Israel 

But because of the  political and economic friendship between the US and Saudi Arabia the chance of any kind of global oil embargo like we saw in 1973 is very unlikely

In closing that is  also why I have never supported the US breaking ties with Saudi Arabia due to some human rights abuses because even though I dont support some of the what Saudi Arabia has done its not worth the entire world suffering due to the oil supply being impacted 

 

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by BruceVC

[Gromnir]

8 hours ago, Guard Dog said:

Ghislaine Maxwell was convicted of 5 of 6 counts. Good. That bitch should be in prison until she dies. I am more than a little disappointed she hasn't started naming names.  i'd be very interested to hear what former Presidents and Senators, Congress and business leaders paid Epstein and her to go and f--k children on one of their private estates. 

Not going to mention Bill Clinton or Donald Trump by name but both are linked to them. Not proof of course. But knowing what we do about the character of each man would it surprise anyone?

prince andrew and alan dershowitz are more immediate at risk o' fallout than clinton or trump, but is hard to predict who gets named by people trying to make deals.

gonna admit we have followed this case almost not at all. is nothing novel 'bout the law, and our curiosity 'bout sex trafficking is minimal. am realizing there is extreme public figures involved, but am nevertheless disinterested... save for when we see dershowitz on tv commenting 'bout the merits o' the cases 'gainst maxwell or a british royal.

unrelated:

 

HA! Good Fun!

Edited December 30, 2021 by Gromnir

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Their was time when OPEC used an oil embargo as a "" dangerous geopolitical weapon " in 1973 and that embargo could have crashed the worlds economy

Bruce, I'm old enough to remember "car free Sundays" when that happened

 

It was actually quite nice though. No cars around, going for nice walks to the local park with my parents. Throwing old, dried bread chunks at the ducks. The world could use a bit more of that.

[BruceVC]

34 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Bruce, I'm old enough to remember "car free Sundays" when that happened

 

It was actually quite nice though. No cars around, going for nice walks to the local park with my parents. Throwing old, dried bread chunks at the ducks. The world could use a bit more of that.

Thats interesting, how long did it last and what do you remember about it apart from what you mentioned ? You must have been young and do you remember what your parents and other adults were thinking....I have read it was a concerning period  for the world and I have studied the economic reports and risk analysis   from the time but its not the same as lived experience,  I assume you were living in Denmark?

Go into as much detail as you can remember because these anecdotal memories  from  people from that time  really are pertinent and still matter nowadays 

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by BruceVC

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, BruceVC said:

Thats interesting, how long did it last and what do you remember about it apart from what you mentioned ? You must have been young and do you remember what your parents and other adults were thinking....I have read it was a concerning period  for the world and I have studied the economic reports and risk analysis   from the time but its not the same as lived experience,  I assume you were living in Denmark?

Go into as much detail as you can remember because these anecdotal memories  from  people from that time  really are pertinent and still matter nowadays 

 

My memories are a bit fuzzy, as I would have been around 8 years old at the time... I for one sure didn't worry about much other than the ever present danger of nukes raining down on us without warning. Parents have a knack of hiding concerns from their kids, so if my parents were worried, they didn't show it. The adults in the neighbourhood was split between celebrating the lack of cars and the freedom to not constantly worry about traffic or having to go visit some distant relative on a Sunday to the grumpy ones who felt mortally insulted by having to actually walk or use a bicycle to go somewhere. Especially those who had bought comparatively expensive cars. The kids had other worries. Europe was still separated by borders, so international travel wasn't really a thing anyway and the airline industry was in its infancy (compared to today), so nobody paid much attention to whether flight prices jumped up or down anyway. (Party) politics didn't interest me much at the time. I remember hearing about how the Vietnam war was drawing to a close and eventually ended, with dramatic footage of the staff evacuation form the Embassy on the TV news as well as the latest blah blah about OPEC. Not really comprehending the nature of OPEC at the time though, other than they were trying to do some kind of blackmail to get oil prices up. At least, that's how it was presented, I wasn't a critical viewer of news back then, as the state run TV (DR - Danmarks Radio) only had one TV channel with one news segment around 7PM or so. All in glorious black and white. Nobody really worried about electricity, as Denmark was relying exclusively on coal power (imported from southern Africa). Speculation on my part: I guess nobody really made the connection that the bulk carriers who sailed the coal up there needed diesel to run

 

Bear in mind, that's the point of view of someone who wasn't even a teenager yet. The cold war sort of overshadowed most other concerns.

Edit: The informational stuff about what to do in case of nuclear war was repeated daily on TV, seek the nearest bomb shelter (always note where the nearest to your current location is at all times), if not viable, seek shelter behind walls, away from windows, which should be covered by white cloth as should yourself if possible. Have iodine tablets in your medical supplies and how to treat burn injuries. When I got older, i realized how silly that all was, as a nuclear war wouldn't be survivable anyway.

Edit2: The riots and demonstrations in Copenhagen against the Vietnam War was the second main event of the time, together with the Cold War mentioned above, sort of overshadowing the oil crisis a bit at times when it came to media attention.

Edit3: Another thing I remember from the news at the time was a lot of debates about upgrading nukes. Nato was discussing upgrading something called Pershing something to Pershing something else in West Germany (which was a country back then) as a counter to some Soviet SS something... Yeah, not big on the specific tech details at the time. I just knew it wasn't going to increase my chance of survival

 

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

My memories are a bit fuzzy, as I would have been around 8 years old at the time... I for one sure didn't worry about much other than the ever present danger of nukes raining down on us without warning. Parents have a knack of hiding concerns from their kids, so if my parents were worried, they didn't show it. The adults in the neighbourhood was split between celebrating the lack of cars and the freedom to not constantly worry about traffic or having to go visit some distant relative on a Sunday to the grumpy ones who felt mortally insulted by having to actually walk or use a bicycle to go somewhere. Especially those who had bought comparatively expensive cars. The kids had other worries. Europe was still separated by borders, so international travel wasn't really a thing anyway and the airline industry was in its infancy (compared to today), so nobody paid much attention to whether flight prices jumped up or down anyway. (Party) politics didn't interest me much at the time. I remember hearing about how the Vietnam war was drawing to a close and eventually ended, with dramatic footage of the staff evacuation form the Embassy on the TV news as well as the latest blah blah about OPEC. Not really comprehending the nature of OPEC at the time though, other than they were trying to do some kind of blackmail to get oil prices up. At least, that's how it was presented, I wasn't a critical viewer of news back then, as the state run TV (DR - Danmarks Radio) only had one TV channel with one news segment around 7PM or so. All in glorious black and white. Nobody really worried about electricity, as Denmark was relying exclusively on coal power (imported from southern Africa). Speculation on my part: I guess nobody really made the connection that the bulk carriers who sailed the coal up there needed diesel to run

 

Bear in mind, that's the point of view of someone who wasn't even a teenager yet. The cold war sort of overshadowed most other concerns.

Edit: The informational stuff about what to do in case of nuclear war was repeated daily on TV, seek the nearest bomb shelter (always note where the nearest to your current location is at all times), if not viable, seek shelter behind walls, away from windows, which should be covered by white cloth as should yourself if possible. Have iodine tablets in your medical supplies and how to treat burn injuries. When I got older, i realized how silly that all was, as a nuclear war wouldn't be survivable anyway.

Edit2: The riots and demonstrations in Copenhagen against the Vietnam War was the second main event of the time, together with the Cold War mentioned above, sort of overshadowing the oil crisis a bit at times when it came to media attention.

Edit3: Another thing I remember from the news at the time was a lot of debates about upgrading nukes. Nato was discussing upgrading something called Pershing something to Pershing something else in West Germany (which was a country back then) as a counter to some Soviet SS something... Yeah, not big on the specific tech details at the time. I just knew it wasn't going to increase my chance of survival

 

Very informative response Gorthfuscious, nice one

What an interesting time to be alive, scary with the Cold War and the threat of nuclear warfare but historically interesting. I have studied the Cold War but I only really remember significant  events from it from about 1988 onwards when I was in grade 8 and my first week of high school when 2 of our ex pupils had joined the parabats  during the time of SA conscription and had been killed in Angola and the headmaster announced it in assembly. And it was so unnecessary their deaths because the Cold War was basically over by 1989  and Apartheid by 1991 

I even found this link about the battle they were killed in during 1987 but we only found out the year after. The guys from my school were De Rose and Raymond Light 

http://samvousa.org/operation-firewood-26-year-remembrance/

 

Edited December 30, 2021 by BruceVC