The All Things Political Topic - Politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies.

[BruceVC]

7 minutes ago, alanschu said:

Maybe I can clarify? The institutions a country upholds are a reflection of the people (will give a nod to those with greater power having more influence), while simultaneously impacting the people that live there.

I don't think it'd be surprising to learn that opinions on gun ownership would be different among a group from USA compare to say, a group from the UK. And by the same token, I think it's obvious that if you take me, Allan Schumacher, and have me born and raised in a place like Texas that there's a good chance I'd grow up with a different opinion of fire arms than if I grew up in London, UK?

Of course it can still be broken down by states, counties, and what have you. I'm just saying that people have an impact on the society they live in while that society also has an impact on the people that are raised there. This doesn't mean any population is homogeneous or anything either, or that the influences had are the same across different demographics either. Nor am I making a value judgment on whether said influences are good or bad or anything.

I appreciate the clarification, I often need examples when people make points for me to understand certain points being made and this post provides that nicely 

[Pidesco]

 

[Azdeus]

9 hours ago, Gorth said:

I was curious about Denmark, as they are mostly self sufficient with gas and oil (having a bit of both in the North Sea and relying more and more on renewable energy). Turns out they do (or did, old numbers) import some oil from Russia, but not crude oil. No idea what 'Oils Obtained from Bituminous Mineral' is

edit: Sounds like something used for asphalt manufacturing...

That's what I'd guess.

6 hours ago, Katphood said:

It depends. You get a 'fuel card' with every car that reduces the price a bit but there are a limited number of times you can use it every month. Now my fuel card hasn't arrived yet so I had to refuel(seriously though, how DO you refuel the car in Fallout 2  ) the car with the 'regular price' which was 750 000 rials for 25 liters. That's roughly two and a half dollars. 

So it's cheap I guess? 

That'd net me 1 liter of 98 octane fuel.

[Elerond]

https://www.politico.eu/article/northern-ireland-economy-outpace-post-brexit-britain/

Does British politician oppose North Ireland protocol because it cause issues for North Ireland or because it seems to help North Ireland outpace British main land?

[Raithe]

Monica Lewinsky’s Verdict on the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard Trial: We Are All Guilty | Vanity Fair

[alanschu]

21 hours ago, Gorth said:

I was curious about Denmark, as they are mostly self sufficient with gas and oil (having a bit of both in the North Sea and relying more and more on renewable energy). Turns out they do (or did, old numbers) import some oil from Russia, but not crude oil. No idea what 'Oils Obtained from Bituminous Mineral' is

edit: Sounds like something used for asphalt manufacturing...

I totally missed this. Bitumen is what most of Alberta's oil is. It can usually be upgraded/refined so it's not exclusively asphalt manufacturing, though my understanding is that it can be good for that over other types of oil extraction.

As a result it tends to be more difficult/expensive to extract as you often need to remove the additive materials contained within. The extra energy used for this also tends to make it a lot less green. Without upgrading it it is almost impossible to transport via contentional pipelines though.

Can read more here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oil_sands

[majestic]

6 hours ago, Raithe said:

Monica Lewinsky’s Verdict on the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard Trial: We Are All Guilty | Vanity Fair

I have one comment: I haven't watched any of the videos, read anything about the trial, followed any tweets or happend across any other social media post of or about that trial, and the only thing that coiuld save me from being called a troglodyte by Ms. Lewinsky was reading a headline on the verdict the other day in the paper, and I do not think that counts against her definition. She then goes on about how everyone who is not a troglodyte in her eyes is guilty of making the world a worse place.

So, dear forum posters, which one are you? Are you a troglodyte, like me, living in a cave, being of a lesser ethnicity than Ms. Lewinsky, or are you a voyeur guilty of making the world the most toxic of places?

Edited June 2, 2022 by majestic

[Gorth]

12 minutes ago, majestic said:

I have one comment: I haven't watched any of the videos, read anything about the trial, followed any tweets or happend across any other social media post of or about that trial, and the only thing that coiuld save me from being called a troglodyte by Ms. Lewinsky was reading a headline on the verdict the other day in the paper, and I do not think that counts against her definition. She then goes on about how everyone who is not a troglodyte in her eyes is guilty of making the world a worse place.

So, dear forum posters, which one are you? Are you a troglodyte, like me, living in a cave, being of a lesser ethnicity than Ms. Lewinsky, or are you a voyeur guilty of making the world the most toxic of places?

It’s very hard to completely avoid, because it was apparently the second most important event in the world (after the war in Ukraine). More important than what the Taliban is doing to women or starvation again becoming a thing in Ethiopia. Ironically I remember the couple from Australian headlines some years ago (2015 iirc) them being the couple of self entitled, unmitigated **** trying to smuggle their flea bags through customs, because bio security laws only applied to normal humans, not us. We’re celebrities after all. Since then, I’ve wished a pox upon both of them. No sympathy for whatever misery befalls either of them 

[majestic]

Not that this is related at all, but every now and then there's a really terrible looking documentary on TV where we can see a day in the life of an Australian customs officer doing their job, and I have to say, every time I'm accidentially exposed to one of these for a short time before I can switch the channel, the only thing that comes to mind that yes, these people are only doing their jobs, but really, either all of them are arseholes or they only follow the arseholes around because it makes for more interesting TV. Probably the latter.

edit: The trial wasn't so hard to avoid. Not living in an English speaking nation and not bothering with social media helps a whole lot, though. 

Edited June 2, 2022 by majestic

[Gorth]

40 minutes ago, majestic said:

Not that this is related at all, but every now and then there's a really terrible looking documentary on TV where we can see a day in the life of an Australian customs officer doing their job, and I have to say, every time I'm accidentially exposed to one of these for a short time before I can switch the channel, the only thing that comes to mind that yes, these people are only doing their jobs, but really, either all of them are arseholes or they only follow the arseholes around because it makes for more interesting TV. Probably the latter.

edit: The trial wasn't so hard to avoid. Not living in an English speaking nation and not bothering with social media helps a whole lot, though. 

Yes, they do cherry pick a bit, no fun watching the 99 other people who just show their passport and walk on through without any raised eyebrows

But the cases shown are real indeed. The worst airport "incident" I watched up close and personal myself, was in Wellington Airport (returning home to Wellington after a trip back to Denmark). A group of (very young) South African boy scouts, can't have been more than 11-12 years old, got pulled over, called out, put on display in the middle of the hall and publicly humiliated, because one of them had a bag of jellybeans he hadn't declared on the form (all food items and items made of materials like wood, leather etc. has to be declared). I did feel a bit sorry for the kids, who probably didn't think of jellybeans as "food"

Edit: Yeah, Kiwi customs can be brutal too...

 

Edit2: You sort of have to envision it, a group of tiny, intimidated looking school boys surrounded by a ring of big burly (and frankly scary looking) customs agents, looking like the the local rugby team about to kick butt

[Katphood]

 

The truth has never been spoken this loudly. I f-ing applaud this guy. 

[rjshae]

22 hours ago, Raithe said:

Monica Lewinsky’s Verdict on the Johnny Depp–Amber Heard Trial: We Are All Guilty | Vanity Fair

The whole thing just felt like a train wreck. Winners were declared, but nobody won. I'm not sure any useful conclusions can be drawn, other than some people should pick more suitable partners. I tried not to follow it too closely.

[Gromnir]

1 hour ago, rjshae said:

I tried not to follow it too closely.

good rule of thumb is to treat celebrity trials like vampires. such trials and vampires is soul sucking curses and an invitation renders you powerless. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Raithe]

https://wtmj.com/news/2022/06/03/critical-incident-response-initiated-after-shooting-at-home-of-former-judge-in-juneau-county/

"But.. but.. but.. a well regulated milita, right?"

[Pidesco]

TLDR: Arming teachers is inane. 

 

 

[Gromnir]

the now mainstream alt-right were furious regarding mask requirements during a pandemic which killed more than one million people in the US thus far 'cause "assault on liberty" or something.  many o' the same folks in ohio is nevertheless okie dokie with requiring young persons to submit to an invasive exam.  

[Raithe]

 

[Raithe]

The joy of.. numbers...

[Katphood]

In other news: the Islamic Republic of Iran is suffering defeat after defeat. They're goners...seriously!

Edited June 6, 2022 by Katphood

[Malcador]

BoJo survived, although with 148 against wonder if he'll keep on.

[Gfted1]

But the main blow to his leadership has been revelations that he and his staff repeatedly held boozy parties that flouted the COVID-19 restrictions they imposed on others. That caused anger in the country, and unease among many Conservatives.

Really? Thats what the recall is about? FFS.

[Malcador]

I think the real scandal was his lying to Parliament about it - there's to be an inquiry.  But then again -

 

 

[BruceVC]

7 hours ago, Malcador said:

I think the real scandal was his lying to Parliament about it - there's to be an inquiry.  But then again -

 

 

This whole Partygate was just an unnecessary witch-hunt, the UK media and political parties are notorious for this type of outrage  when a PM loses favorability. Remember all the negative attention towards Theresa May even though she tried extremely hard to deliver on BREXIT she still got blamed for the impasse that opposition parties were responsible for 

What is Johnson really guilty of? For spending 10 minutes having drinks with most of his staff at Downing Street and people are outraged because " they couldnt party and have social functions like the PM"

Except essential services never stopped working in most countries even when their were no vaccines and many people in Downing street got sick and died because they had to work throughout the lockdowns so whats the big deal about social functions for people that are working together anyway everyday? Yes he " lied " but he didnt consider having 1-2 drinks as a party...I dont either?

@Gfted1 Its a storm in a teacup, your instincts are correct as usual 

 

[Elerond]

27 minutes ago, BruceVC said:

 

What is Johnson really guilty of? 

Breaking rules he imposed to others

Considering that Johnson supported fines for people who break COVID restrictions by going out alone during night, so him participating in any way in parties during those same restrictions is just asking blood from your nose

[BruceVC]

5 minutes ago, Elerond said:

Breaking rules he imposed to others

Considering that Johnson supported fines for people who break COVID restrictions by going out alone during night, so him participating in any way in parties during those same restrictions is just asking blood from your nose

Yes and he has been fined already for this infringement 

Why must he now also resign, Elerond in life and in politics we dont want to overreact to everything our politicians do if its not criminality 

Especially if they good at their job, Johnson has been the PM for 2 of the most difficult UK crisis ever seen in living memory. Both BREXIT and Corona he helped steer the UK through and he should get some political credit for that 

I dont remember you demanding your PM resign when she was caught clubbing during lockdowns?