Best Of

I have to say that anxiety can be debilitating and isn’t always a “minor mental health issue”.

Is sitting at home worrying about how anxious you are the best solution to anxiety do you think?

No. But your comment shows a total lack of understanding. When you’re in that state, you’re not “worrying about how anxious you are”. Instead you’re worrying so much about getting through a day of work that you almost shut down entirely. The stress is immense.

I have been in that situation before, a long time ago now, and I was let go because of it. Luckily I did find another job without claiming benefits but if I hadn’t found another job again quickly I would have seriously deteriorated. It wasn’t minor in the slightest.

hahahaha

Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road

I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny

I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.

It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.

We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.

You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.

I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.

And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.

It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".

Hunter Biden?

We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.

Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?

No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval


We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old

You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?

I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.

OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.

OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.

I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site

But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus

Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it

@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.

If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.

You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.

Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.

'Carney began the day in Paris with a visit to the rebuilt Notre-Dame Cathedral before sitting down for a private lunch with French President Emmanuel Macron at the Palais de l'Élysée.

"It is more important than ever for Canada to strengthen its ties with its reliable allies, such as France," Carney said in French before lunch with Macron.

Describing Canada as the "most European of non-European countries," Carney told Macron he is "determined, like you, to maintain the most positive possible relations with the United States.

"We must strengthen our diplomatic ties to address a world that is increasingly unstable and dangerous," he said. "Canada is a reliable, trustworthy and strong partner of France, which shares our values and lives them through action, during this age of economic and geopolitical crisis."

Ouch. 'Carney will meet with the King before heading to London where he will sit down with British Prime Minister Keir Starmer in London. '

https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/carney-arrives-in-uk-1.7485534

Why ouch

Perfectly normal response by Carney and this is a moment for France, the UK, the EU, Canada, Iceland, Norway and others to come together in a new defence and trading partnership

Opposition to abortion is more about people’s negative views of casual sex than about protecting the sanctity of life: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/19485506251320681 Abstract reads:

Pro-life individuals often emphasize sanctity-of-life concerns as driving their opposition to abortion. This implies the straightforward prediction that the more strongly people oppose abortion for such reasons (e.g., “abortion is murder”), the more they will endorse policies preventing abortions (face-value account). An alternative suggests that typically nonconscious reproductive goals (e.g., discouraging casual sex) influence policy preferences; this strategic account predicts a different pattern of policy endorsement: all else equal, abortion opponents will prioritize abortion-preventing policies discouraging casual sex. A pilot study and two preregistered U.S. experiments (N = 1,960) provide relatively greater support for the strategic account: the strongest abortion opponents more strongly endorse policies that prevent abortions by discouraging casual sex (e.g., abortion bans, abstinence-only sex education) over policies that do not (comprehensive sex education)—even controlling for conservatism and religiosity. Commonly voiced arguments against abortion may be more rhetorically effective but less reflective of genuine drivers underlying arguers’ beliefs.

I'm sure that's right: abortion activists in the US are routinely against providing access to condoms or to sex education, despite the fact that these things are shown to have a very positive impact on pregnancy and abortion rates.

Again, I will ask, if Trump was a Russian asset what would he have done differently?

Scoop: The Trump administration has discussed recognizing Crimea as Russian territory - & pushing the UN to do the same - to get a peace deal across the finish line.

(No decisions have been formally made) w/ @mchalfant16:

https://x.com/ShelbyTalcott/status/1901700671860043898

Even Farage has said Putin should get Crimea as the minimum for a peace deal

https://national.thelead.uk/p/nigel-farage-has-exposed-his-true

What do you mean 'Even Farage'? He is no friend of Ukraine at all and has sided with the Tangerine Toddler on almost everything to do with Ukraine and Russia.

'Even Farage...' in that context is like saying 'Even HYUFD says nice things about the Tories sometimes'