The All Things Political Topic - Just because you do not take an interest in politics doesn't mean politics won't take an interest in you

[BruceVC]

1 hour ago, Gorth said:

It helps make you believe certain "character traits" are genetically determined

Its disgusting comments  but the depths of bigotry stopped surprising me years ago

Another thing the moronic father doesnt realize is straight people go to gay bars as well, I have been going to gay bars for years. Apart from having gay friends and gay bars are very social you often find straight women who have best friends who are gay and they generally very impressed that a straight guy " doesnt mind hanging around with LGBT" so you set a very good precedent because its clear you not alpha male and you comfortable with your sexuality

 

 

[Gromnir]

7 hours ago, Gorth said:

It helps make you believe certain "character traits" are genetically determined

nature v. nurture. almost every right terrible bastard curses his/her children with genetic predispositions and the exact wrong kinda environment to escape the predictable cycle o' anger and self loathing which is the gift of bad parents everywhere to their horrible children. doubt any o' us would be shocked if the father in the video suffered loathsome parents, yes?  the genuine surprise is when you got a child who manages to break the cycle and becomes a warm and nurturing parent in spite o' the double-whammy o' genetics and environment. is a whole lotta f'd up people in the world and a good starting assumption is that the parents o' each f-up is at least partial responsible for the resulting damaged human adult.

'course in most cases, busted people focus their chaos 'pon their children and the harm they may heap 'pon rando strangers is limited. the ez access to firearms in the US means the ordinary and ubiquitous villainy o' the mob has potential consequences much worse than the typical brief and unpleasant encounters we all need suffer daily. 

HA! Good Fun!

[Gorth]

1 hour ago, Gromnir said:

nature v. nurture. almost every right terrible bastard curses his/her children with genetic predispositions and the exact wrong kinda environment to escape the predictable cycle o' anger and self loathing which is the gift of bad parents everywhere to their horrible children. doubt any o' us would be shocked if the father in the video suffered loathsome parents, yes?  the genuine surprise is when you got a child who manages to break the cycle and becomes a warm and nurturing parent in spite o' the double-whammy o' genetics and environment. is a whole lotta f'd up people in the world and a good starting assumption is that the parents o' each f-up is at least partial responsible for the resulting damaged human adult.

'course in most cases, busted people focus their chaos 'pon their children and the harm they may heap 'pon rando strangers is limited. the ez access to firearms in the US means the ordinary and ubiquitous villainy o' the mob has potential consequences much worse than the typical brief and unpleasant encounters we all need suffer daily. 

HA! Good Fun!

Indeed. Being an old biology major in high school (edit: not the same as a university/college major, but in Denmark you had to pick a focus for your 3 years, physics, chemistry, biology, languages etc.), genetics was my focus area. Lots of literature and studies done in the almost 35-40 years since then. Some research paper from nih.gov put the genetic influence at some weird numbers like 29-35% (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4286882/) but that is again a thing you can't simplify with a single number, because genes are disproportionally affecting different psychological traits. The genes that controls choler is not necessary the same as the genes that controls bad taste in music

Just me rambling on, because nature vs. nurture triggered some long repressed memories of late night assignments *cough*

 

[Malcador]

12 hours ago, Chairchucker said:

Friendly Jordies kinda sucks tbh.

 

Anyway here's a very normal Coloradan speaking about how relieved he is that his child, who murdered people in a gay bar, is not gay.

 

 

Life beats The Onion more and more.

[Gfted1]

Monkey see, monkey do. Probably religious nutters too.

[PK htiw klaw eriF]

12 hours ago, Gorth said:

It helps make you believe certain "character traits" are genetically determined

From what I've been able to see, the shooter's parents separated when he was 1 or 2 and his mom got full custody with a no contact order for the father, so maybe. His maternal grandfather is a California Republican politican who was a Tea Party guy before becoming a Trump guy so I imagine that influence was not particularly helpful either. Nor is the Mormon church he grew up in, which has at times been more right-wing than Evangelicals. So even without assuming a genetic predisposition, he has been marinating in ****ty politics his whole life and that is bound to have an influence 

[Azdeus]

12 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

lol Armenia is just an awful example because... who is the major backer of Azerbaijan?

No, not major western ally Israel, they're its second biggest backer (mostly in the hope they'll, double lol, invade Iranian Azerbaijan), but important NATO member with its [belated edit, 2nd, obviously] largest military, Turkey. For anyone who thinks NATO- or the EU, or individual western countries- will do anything at all for Armenia I present the Syrian Kurds who did 99% of the dying on behalf of the 'international coalition' in Syria yet have been and are being hung out to dry by them now. Of course, you don 't hear much about it, now, because it ain't Trump doing it, it's Biden. Who was going to stand up to Erdogan and MbS, and instead is kissing their ring about as badly as Trump did. Oh yeah, and who do you think is a major supplier of gas to Europe? Azerbaijan. Doesn't matter how many times Macron phones Pashinyan to express support, c'est la carte blanche for the Azeris in realityland.

Only worse example would actually be the Syrian Kurds not being protected by Russia. Because guess who's been cheerily blowing up civilian infrastructure like power stations in their revenge for a bombing- carried out by a religious arab woman whose brother is a commander of the Turkish sponsored FSA and two other brothers fought for ISIS and who had been repeatedly contacted by the Turkish Nationalist Party; supposedly on behalf of atheist anarchist Kurds? Yep, it's NATO member Turkey. Let's see how long it takes for the Euroweenie Parliament to declare them a terrorist state, shall we? My money is might get passed just before earth gets swallowed up when the sun goes nova, but only might.

Mmm, I do love the smell of hypocrisy in the morning. I eagerly await all the accusations of whataboutism from the usual suspects who can't cope with the cognitive dissonance.

Oh, I would love for the Euroweenie Pratshow to do that, and see Swedens representatives stand up and defend him. I'm surprised Victor Orban recently said they'd let Sweden into Nato, and he's not making ludicrous demands either.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Azdeus

[Zoraptor]

Orban's always struck me as mostly having a problem with the EU, not NATO. Really no comparison at all between Hungary and Turkey, who really would block Sweden and Finland and quite obviously intend to leverage it for all they can. And, of course, Cyprus is permanently blackballed by Turkey, with the puppet unrecognised Turkish republic in their north dating back to well before RTE started selling watermelons, let alone became a politician.

EU might think they have issues with Orban and a few others, just imagine Erdogan being there and the problems... don't look that bad any more.

Edited November 25, 2022 by Zoraptor

[Azdeus]

2 hours ago, Zoraptor said:

Orban's always struck me as mostly having a problem with the EU, not NATO. Really no comparison at all between Hungary and Turkey, who really would block Sweden and Finland and quite obviously intend to leverage it for all they can. And, of course, Cyprus is permanently blackballed by Turkey, with the puppet unrecognised Turkish republic in their north dating back to well before RTE started selling watermelons, let alone became a politician.

EU might think they have issues with Orban and a few others, just imagine Erdogan being there and the problems... don't look that bad any more.

I honestly would've expected something, I mean, it's a great opportunity for them. Erdogan made us drop the Kurds, and the government, as it happens, has enacted a new law that basically makes investigative journalism impossible if it can have a negative impact on foreign relations.

[Gorth]

The Chinese are getting restless, adding to Xi's headache. Recent incidents has led to riots (something generally unheard of outside Hong Kong)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63772365

There is one subject at the forefront of Chinese people's minds, and many are increasingly fed up with it - prompting widespread pushback against the government's zero-Covid restrictions.

This has come in the form of residents smashing down barriers designed to enforce social distancing, and now large street protests in cities and university campuses across the country.

---

Add to that a not insignificant demographic problem with gender balance, where there are now 37 million more male Chinese than female. Generation of men growing up with no chance of ever finding an opposite sex partner (the one child policy led to, especially in rural areas, girls being killed to make room for boys).

Guess what happens when tens of millions frustrated young men are getting angrier and angrier... they need more than Taiwan to attack

 

[BruceVC]

6 minutes ago, Gorth said:

The Chinese are getting restless, adding to Xi's headache. Recent incidents has led to riots (something generally unheard of outside Hong Kong)

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-asia-china-63772365

There is one subject at the forefront of Chinese people's minds, and many are increasingly fed up with it - prompting widespread pushback against the government's zero-Covid restrictions.

This has come in the form of residents smashing down barriers designed to enforce social distancing, and now large street protests in cities and university campuses across the country.

---

Add to that a not insignificant demographic problem with gender balance, where there are now 37 million more male Chinese than female. Generation of men growing up with no chance of ever finding an opposite sex partner (the one child policy led to, especially in rural areas, girls being killed to make room for boys).

Guess what happens when tens of millions frustrated young men are getting angrier and angrier... they need more than Taiwan to attack

 

Its both surprising and understandable to see these protests. The CCP draconian control of the country normally means the average Chinese citizen doesnt really protest because they accept the state thinks for them and it gets to decide their future overall in the best possible way. 

But these lockdowns must  be the most illogical and counter-productive decision I have ever seen from the CCP, in some cities people weren't allowed on to balconies under lockdowns...they weren't allowed on to balconies  I mentioned previously that in SA people flying to China had to wear full Hazmat suits 

It raises several interesting points about the ineffectiveness of the CCP Corona strategy that include 

• the sinofarm vaccines were never as effective as we told from the CPP
• the overall vaccine rate was never as high in China as we were told
• there is   a valid  argument that allows the virus to go through society so that " natural " immunity develops alongside optional vaccination. In SA we only achieved 35% double vaccination and 85% of the population got the virus anyway  but we have moved on  from any lockdowns as a strategy to deal with the virus because it didnt work anyway for us 

 

[Gorth]

Mostly about recent (last three decades) Australian political shenanigans, but the principles may apply to other countries too (and @BruceVC likes JuiceMedia)

 

[BruceVC]

26 minutes ago, Gorth said:

Mostly about recent (last three decades) Australian political shenanigans, but the principles may apply to other countries too (and @BruceVC likes JuiceMedia)

 

So brilliant, clever and hilarious 

 

[Azdeus]

 

5 hours ago, Gorth said:

Mostly about recent (last three decades) Australian political shenanigans, but the principles may apply to other countries too (and @BruceVC likes JuiceMedia)

 

Same ********ery going on here, the current government wants to get rid of rent control and so does the owners of apartments. We had a small crisis a while ago when the Swedish Left party and Greens threatened to force the government out if they tried to get rid of rent control. It's funny though that the owners of rental properties are complaining that they can't build new buildings if you have rent control, but somehow they keep making billions of profits each and every year... Not to mention the fact that new apartments aren't really rent controlled.

Edited December 1, 2022 by Azdeus

[Hurlshort]

All of that sounds pretty familiar in the US as well.

[Gfted1]

"Looking to buy? F-you, you'll have to rent." Haahahaha her delivery slays me.

[Gfted1]

Whenever you get a vaccination at a Walgreens, they give you a printout that describes the vaccine, possible side effects, etc. Part of the etc. is they show the cost of the vaccination. As I was perusing the document I noticed the cost for a single Shingles shot (2 are required) costs $205.99! Now my insurance picks up 100% of vaccinations (and generic drugs) so its not my problem, but just imagine some Joe Shmoe walking in off the street with no insurance! $412.00 for the complete round of vaccination is criminal! My wife even said, if we werent covered, she would just take her chances getting Shingles before paying that much, and I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of people think that way. This causes people to "roll the dice" wrt their health, and then when the guano hits the air circulation mechanism, they have no recourse. This is a great example of why we need UHC.

[Hurlshort]

1 minute ago, Gfted1 said:

Whenever you get a vaccination at a Walgreens, they give you a printout that describes the vaccine, possible side effects, etc. Part of the etc. is they show the cost of the vaccination. As I was perusing the document I noticed the cost for a single Shingles shot (2 are required) costs $205.99! Now my insurance picks up 100% of vaccinations (and generic drugs) so its not my problem, but just imagine some Joe Shmoe walking in off the street with no insurance! $412.00 for the complete round of vaccination is criminal! My wife even said, if we werent covered, she would just take her chances getting Shingles before paying that much, and I wouldnt be surprised if a lot of people think that way. This causes people to "roll the dice" wrt their health, and then when the guano hits the air circulation mechanism, they have no recourse. This is a great example of why we need UHC.

The insurance company doesn't pay $400 either. They work out a deal and pay about 10% of that cost. Then they turn around and tell you they saved you $400.

[Gfted1]

That doesnt save Joe a dime. I have bigger fish to fry than qq about a companys profit margin. I worry about me and mine and thanks be upon the FSM that I have good insurance. But a lot of people dont have insurance so these types of preventative medicine are ignored. Do you know what would largely prevent that? UHC. Or perhaps we should nationalize the entire medical industry (hospitals, doctors, pharmaceutical companies, R&D)?

[Gfted1]

@ All of you living in UHC nirvanas, I assume all vaccinations and medicines are free of charge? @Gorth, youre geezerly like me, does AU Medicare pay for everything? Would you have to pay anything out of pocket for the Shingles vaccine?

[Zoraptor]

Shingles vaccine is free to over 65s here in NZ. Same for flu vaccine, though you have to pay for that one if you're younger or don't have a relevant medical condition ($25; a lot of employees get it for free through their employers though). The covid ones and childhood ones (MMR diptheria etc) are all free as are the ones that need later boosters like tetanus (as I got one myself recently).

[Gromnir]

medicare covers all americans over the age o' 65 (and younger people with disabilities and... other.) medicare recipients get freebie shingles, influenza, pneumococcal and hepatitis b (maybe, am not certain on the hep) vaccines. if you are over 65 and keep your own health insurance, then chances are shingles is gonna be a part d thing.

'course the cdc recommends the shingles vaccine for everybody over 50, so...

HA! Good Fun!

ps added a link for part d which most folks is unlikely to read, but is so many exceptions and provisos that a brief summary would end up being more misleading than clarifying. honest, we cannot understand the logic behind much o' medicare coverage, if there is any logic, and part d tends to be a particular arcane aspect o' the plan(s). 

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Gromnir

[Gfted1]

Its my understanding that AU Medicare covers all citizens and permanent residents regardless of age, sort of their version of UHC: Australia's Healthcare System: How it Works for Expats and Foreigners (internationalinsurance.com)

[Gromnir]

6 hours ago, Hurlshort said:

All of that sounds pretty familiar in the US as well.

end result is same, but much sounds different. for example, we got a serious tax advantage for capital gains in the US, but it don't cover real property save for your personal residence and even then there is a limit. US capital gains is nevertheless a factor, but only in a tangential way and is likely not a root cause o' our current rental crisis.

is also a mistake to generalize as a US issue given each state and city is gonna have laws, rules and ordinances which change the equation more than a little. most other western nations tends towards a bit more uniformity regarding such stuff as taxes. for example, prop 13 has a significant impact on your personal suffering as a california resident, 'cause compared to most states, property taxes is low, and is lower for people who has owned their property a long time. might come as a shock, but regular people tend to move every decade or so on average... 8 years is the number am recollecting. is more motivation for would-be robber barons to hold onto their income generating property than is for the case o' real people who likely need move at some point for jobs and the like. 

'course as hurl is no doubt painful aware, the bay area is not the same as the rest o' the country or even much o' california. rental problems have been an issue for decades in the bay area and is magnified and different compared to parma, ohio or hillsborough, tennessee. 

however, regardless o' the state or city, depreciation and maintenance cost deductions as well as the ability to carry tax losses forward to subsequent tax years means that owners o' rental properties rare lose in the long run. am s'posing being the owner o' rental property is a bit like being the house in vegas. 

the biggest single cause o' our current US rental crisis were a result o' the great recession which predictable saw more property end up in fewer hands. covid made the issue worse and if we enter a full blown recession next year, then chances are the property ownership number is gonna shift even more in favor o' the haves and the have-nots will find it more difficult to rent... or buy for that matter. 

is no ez fixes though 'cause if you are a landlord and your costs sudden increase, then chances are you end up passing on the pain to your tenants, no? would be swell to blame IT ( "it" being whatever you believe the root cause to be) on the fat cats and wall street folks, but the problem is the people most likely immediate f'd by any meaningful solution is the poor and young.

HA! Good Fun!

 

Edited December 1, 2022 by Gromnir

[Malcador]

4 hours ago, Gfted1 said:

@ All of you living in UHC nirvanas, I assume all vaccinations and medicines are free of charge? @Gorth, youre geezerly like me, does AU Medicare pay for everything? Would you have to pay anything out of pocket for the Shingles vaccine?

Shingles vaccine is free from 65-70 only here.  Other than that maybe $200 cost.