1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Forget the Mexican cartels. If he wants to stop fentanyl, he needs to start bombing labs in China.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
I'm sorry but our current policy is what is ludicrous.
Agreed.
It's time to put boots on the ground and expel Russia from Ukraine. In the long term it is less risky to stand up to aggression.
The merit of a long term risk is that there's a long term to have it in.
You should never exercise, because it increases the short term risk of a heart attack. Of course, it means you'll likely live longer, but hey ho.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
It's far from certain, I would say, that Putin wants to make gains kn Ukraine purely as a springboard to attack the rest of Eastern Europe.
What also needs to be borne in mind is that Ukraine plays a very specific historical in the Russian imperial memory.
Ireland plays a very specific historical role in the British imperial memory. Would that justify the parachute regiment swooping into Dublin?
No.
But would it mean thar Britain was also guaranteed to be using that as a springboard to attack the coast of northwestern, and Western France, too ?
Quite likely, because of the nature of the role that Ireland plays in British imperial history. And if not France, then the West Indies, or India, or Africa, etc.
Similarly with Russia. The justifications that they have given for reconquering Ukraine are the same that they used when invading Georgia, or have used to threaten Latvia. We must remember that the only reason the Baltic states were not attacked before Ukraine was because they swiftly joined NATO. It is only the perception of Western strength that has any chance of keeping Russian imperialism in check.
But, somewhere along the way, that perception was lost, so unfortunately we have to go to the effort of recreating it, by demonstrating that there is a reality to Western strength.
If we fail then we don't just lose the idyllic dreams of the gilded generation that came of age after the end of the Cold War, we also lose the strength and unity of the western alliance that has existed since 1941, and we are thrown back into a modern-day retelling of the 19th century and its great power imperial struggles - except that Britain will decidedly not be a great power, the US isn't interested in playing, and India needs a good relationship with Russia than it does with Europe's gutless democracies.
The defence of Ukraine is absolutely central to how the geopolitical struggles of the rest of this century will play out. If we fail this test then China is going to walk right over us.
I could have eaten the Arizona votes and shat a count by now. What are they doing there?
My latest best guess is that Lake will overtake Gallego in about two large dumps time. That's vote dumps, not poo dumps, if you're wondering. As there's about one large dump a day (fnar, fnar) it'll be sometime in the next two days. It'll be close.
It’s very complicated. There’s mail in ballots that people dropped off on the day , ED vote and late arriving mail. And Maricopa county is huge and has quite distinct areas that favour the different parties . The batches tend to vary greatly in terms of party ID.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
That would require quite the conspiracy but it’s not impossible. Three aviators and the ship radar controller from just the Nimitz incident for example. How? Why? The Pentagon has formally confirmed that UAP are real. That it to say, real objects, not data artefacts, that display intelligent control, that are not American and are not known to be in the capability set of adversaries. There is of course potentially more than one interesting reason why they would say this. But it’s eternally fascinating to me how unfascinated most people on pb are about this.
I don’t think that is true. Lots of the supposed killer evidence has been shown to be data artifacts but many choose not to accept those interpretations. What evidence does the pentagon have to show that the UAPs are real objects (beyond the balloon flaps we saw hilariously a while back).
Humans are very good at misinterpreting things they are seeing. Starlink keeps getting reported as UAPs. Pareidolia is very real - the brain takes information from its senses and creates something from that.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
I met a young American women in Seoul on this trip. She took me around a few bars - it was her job, I hasten to add - but booze did its thing and we ended up being confessional
She told me that she did fentanyl as a student in Seoul. It was, she said, the fashionable drug of the moment
1. She enjoyed it 2. You can get fentanyl in Korea??! 3. She said the come down was horrific so she never did it again
You probably can, but the Korean drug laws are pretty draconian. Don't get any smart ideas.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Errr, I would suggest that:
(a) It is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded And (b) It is in our best interests that countries who go around invading other countries don't prosper
Well, Israel and Turkey (and frankly America) are currently occupying parts of other countries, and facing very little by way of meaningful sanction.
But leaving that aside, your points are bland sentiments that don't form the basis of a solid argument justifying the current British involvement in Ukraine in my opinion. Of course it is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded - but the nature and degree of that support is the debatable point. Of course it would be good if invaders suffered negative consequences - again, the degree to which we should inflict consequences upon ourselves to get revenge on those countries is highly debatable.
Your argument would be a lot more persuasive if you hadn't repeatedly chosen to believe and repeat Russian lies about the fate of MH17.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
It's far from certain, I would say, that Putin wants to make gains kn Ukraine purely as a springboard to attack the rest of Eastern Europe.
What also needs to be borne in mind is that Ukraine plays a very specific historical in the Russian imperial memory.
Ireland plays a very specific historical role in the British imperial memory. Would that justify the parachute regiment swooping into Dublin?
Not the best example you could have used, given that we currently control part of the island of Ireland, having partitioned it because it contained more British-loyal subjects than republicans.
I've no problem with accepting that Britain isn't yet free of the baleful influence of its imperial past. Northern Ireland is one of the more obvious examples of that, yes, although the Good Friday Agreement goes a long way to rectifying the mistakes of a century or so ago.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Errr, I would suggest that:
(a) It is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded And (b) It is in our best interests that countries who go around invading other countries don't prosper
Well, Israel and Turkey (and frankly America) are currently occupying parts of other countries, and facing very little by way of meaningful sanction.
But leaving that aside, your points are bland sentiments that don't form the basis of a solid argument justifying the current British involvement in Ukraine in my opinion. Of course it is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded - but the nature and degree of that support is the debatable point. Of course it would be good if invaders suffered negative consequences - again, the degree to which we should inflict consequences upon ourselves to get revenge on those countries is highly debatable.
Your argument would be a lot more persuasive if you hadn't repeatedly chosen to believe and repeat Russian lies about the fate of MH17.
Why would it? What an utterly embarrassingly shit point.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Forget the Mexican cartels. If he wants to stop fentanyl, he needs to start bombing labs in China.
And - of course - North Korea has been big in the meth making and exporting business.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Errr, I would suggest that:
(a) It is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded And (b) It is in our best interests that countries who go around invading other countries don't prosper
Well, Israel and Turkey (and frankly America) are currently occupying parts of other countries, and facing very little by way of meaningful sanction.
But leaving that aside, your points are bland sentiments that don't form the basis of a solid argument justifying the current British involvement in Ukraine in my opinion. Of course it is morally right to support a democracy that has been invaded - but the nature and degree of that support is the debatable point. Of course it would be good if invaders suffered negative consequences - again, the degree to which we should inflict consequences upon ourselves to get revenge on those countries is highly debatable.
Your argument would be a lot more persuasive if you hadn't repeatedly chosen to believe and repeat Russian lies about the fate of MH17.
Why would it? What an utterly embarrassingly shit point.
I apologize for making a point too subtle for you.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
You've not added anything to this debate for at least a year, other than regular streams of abuse. And faux outrage. Give it a rest.
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
I decided recently that the hoodie is actually a really attractive garment for women to wear. This goes against all the orthodoxy that pertains to what clothing is attractive, and I have no reason why it should be so, but it is pleasing to see you come to the same conclusion on a different continent.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
You've not added anything to this debate fur at least a year, other than regular streams of abuse. And faux outrage. Give it a rest.
I’ve got at least three more years of gloating to go. So you’d better pace your irritation
I was right, it came from the lab. I was the first to be right (or certainly the loudest) have been entirely vindicated, damn right I am going to exult
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Unless Badenoch can find another unifier of “fear Corbyn” and “get Brexit done” where are these voters going to come from?
She’d be much better off in my view doing what Trump did and going after the economy. But she’d have to offer policies to the young.
Housing, housing, housing. People are sick of being in their early 30s paying for someone else's mortgage unable to get on the ladder for themselves. Most of my friends have made it onto the ladder now but there's a lot of bitterness that remains around how much more difficult it was for us vs out parents generation because they've decided to leech off us with rental property.
The trouble is, not everybody is in their early 30s and for every voter like the one you describe there are probably three or four home counties NIMBYs who will be driven to the LibDems for fear that more houses will spoil their beautiful views, or old people who like being paper millionaires (or their kids who will inherit it one day).
And that, in short, is why our hosuing market is buggered.
You don't need to build any more houses to change the proportions of housing tenure. What happened over the last 14 years was that the number of households owning outright and renting grew, while households with mortgages fell.
More housing will certainly help with overall housing pressure, but that doesn't necessarily mean they won't be snapped up by landlords and used as private rentals. It's a function of massive wealth inequality more than anything, and very difficult to fix.
Yes and no, it's a function of limited liquidity of suitable homes for first time buyers due to my parents generation buying multiple properties after Labour made their now ill fated changes to the rental sector. Fundamentally we shouldn't be in a place in this country where an individual or individuals own multiple existing properties. We should make it uneconomic to do so and push that investment from existing property into the high risk build to let sector and offer tax free income for landlord built property (not landlords buying new property from a developer) for 20 years or something.
Fundamentally we've allowed my parents generation to make risk free yield of 4-7% and risk free capital gain of 5-10% by borrowing to invest in existing property. They don't want to give it up but any party that wants to get the next generation of voters on side will need to get these people out of the market and any that want to stay as landlords should be directed to building new property with generous allowances to get them on board.
That generates new rental housing and frees up existing property for first time buyers.
8 million fewer properties and a similar population to France.
It all comes back to the artificial limits on building properties.
If I was a billionaire, I would be tempted to start building a town on some land, with getting any permission to do so.
FPT. The French example actually undermines your argument, because their housing costs are roughly the same as ours (or a bit higher, depending on renting/mortgage as a proportion of income) and have more overcrowding than we do, despite those 8 million extra properties.
This is complicated stuff. I'd guess that they lots more second homes than we do, and that the demand in their cities relative to their towns/rural areas is even worse than our imbalance?
That's a very interesting counterpoint, thanks.
People used to say that the more roads you built, the more roads you needed to build. Might it be the same for houses, if you have policies that do not deter it? Your second homes example might be pertinent.
Set a national target. House prices to stabilise or fall no more than 1% per year.
I think I’ve paid about 1/2 of my home’s value in repayments. And it’s paid off.
And I can afford a small loss if everything else is going down too.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
You've not added anything to this debate fur at least a year, other than regular streams of abuse. And faux outrage. Give it a rest.
I’ve got at least three more years of gloating to go. So you’d better pace your irritation
I was right, it came from the lab. I was the first to be right (or certainly the loudest) have been entirely vindicated, damn right I am going to exult
At this point, it's just boredom.
You know how that feels, as you regularly remind us.
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
That's staggeringly tautological for a philosophy graduate.
But they are. It’s quite striking. Really really really really attractive young Korean women - slender, nubile, lissom, beautifully pretty - who wear grey hoodies and hold clipboards are actually quite attractive. I think it’s the clipboards
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
You've not added anything to this debate fur at least a year, other than regular streams of abuse. And faux outrage. Give it a rest.
I’ve got at least three more years of gloating to go. So you’d better pace your irritation
I was right, it came from the lab. I was the first to be right (or certainly the loudest) have been entirely vindicated, damn right I am going to exult
You can believe you know all you like (three more years?) - it doesn’t prove anything. But then you wouldn’t know about proof as your science training is reading threads on Reddit and X.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
I decided recently that the hoodie is actually a really attractive garment for women to wear. This goes against all the orthodoxy that pertains to what clothing is attractive, and I have no reason why it should be so, but it is pleasing to see you come to the same conclusion on a different continent.
Yes!
I think it’s the male utilitarian aspect of the garment which makes it unusually enticing on a young woman.
My hot young ex wife (sigh) used to wear heavy denim dungarees and REDACTED REDACTED
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
That's staggeringly tautological for a philosophy graduate.
But they are. It’s quite striking. Really really really really attractive young Korean women - slender, nubile, lissom, beautifully pretty - who wear grey hoodies and hold clipboards are actually quite attractive. I think it’s the clipboards
I thought S Korea was one of the most technologically saturated countries in the world. Why are they using clipboards?
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
I thought Trump didn't like wars. Is there any war more pointless, wasteful and counterproductive than the war on drugs?
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
I decided recently that the hoodie is actually a really attractive garment for women to wear. This goes against all the orthodoxy that pertains to what clothing is attractive, and I have no reason why it should be so, but it is pleasing to see you come to the same conclusion on a different continent.
Yes!
I think it’s the male utilitarian aspect of the garment which makes it unusually enticing on a young woman.
My hot young ex wife (sigh) used to wear heavy denim dungarees and REDACTED REDACTED
I love my Rapha hoody.
Unfortunately, one of my kids seems to have stolen it. I have literally no idea where it is.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Has it occurred to you that Hornsea would be a paradise for thousands of people very close to your bus?
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
That's staggeringly tautological for a philosophy graduate.
But they are. It’s quite striking. Really really really really attractive young Korean women - slender, nubile, lissom, beautifully pretty - who wear grey hoodies and hold clipboards are actually quite attractive. I think it’s the clipboards
I thought S Korea was one of the most technologically saturated countries in the world. Why are they using clipboards?
I think Leon is having some kind of Ozempic-induced fever dream and is confusing reality for a porn film he's been watching.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
That's staggeringly tautological for a philosophy graduate.
But they are. It’s quite striking. Really really really really attractive young Korean women - slender, nubile, lissom, beautifully pretty - who wear grey hoodies and hold clipboards are actually quite attractive. I think it’s the clipboards
I thought S Korea was one of the most technologically saturated countries in the world. Why are they using clipboards?
I think Leon is having some kind of Ozempic-induced fever dream and is confusing reality for a porn film he's been watching.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
As we have established many times PB is a portable pub. It’s brilliant for that. Given that I travel incessantly it’s very handy for me to have a pub I can take out of my pocket and meet old friends - and comfortingly boring regulars - and old sparring partners. Its actually stranger - to me - how much people who DON’T travel frequent PB, however I never criticize anyone for doing it as we all have our needs and desires and the PB pub rightly welcomes everyone
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
That would require quite the conspiracy but it’s not impossible. Three aviators and the ship radar controller from just the Nimitz incident for example. How? Why? The Pentagon has formally confirmed that UAP are real. That it to say, real objects, not data artefacts, that display intelligent control, that are not American and are not known to be in the capability set of adversaries. There is of course potentially more than one interesting reason why they would say this. But it’s eternally fascinating to me how unfascinated most people on pb are about this.
I don’t think that is true. Lots of the supposed killer evidence has been shown to be data artifacts but many choose not to accept those interpretations. What evidence does the pentagon have to show that the UAPs are real objects (beyond the balloon flaps we saw hilariously a while back).
Humans are very good at misinterpreting things they are seeing. Starlink keeps getting reported as UAPs. Pareidolia is very real - the brain takes information from its senses and creates something from that.
These hearings show the Leon mindset writ large. You get enough people to bang on about something for long enough that the authorities feel obliged to investigate to shut them up. Then the Leons of this world use the very fact that there's an investigation as proof that the thing they were banging on about in the first place is true.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
It's far from certain, I would say, that Putin wants to make gains kn Ukraine purely as a springboard to attack the rest of Eastern Europe.
What also needs to be borne in mind is that Ukraine plays a very specific historical in the Russian imperial memory.
Ireland plays a very specific historical role in the British imperial memory. Would that justify the parachute regiment swooping into Dublin?
No.
But would it mean thar Britain was also guaranteed to be using that as a springboard to attack the coast of northwestern, and Western France, too ?
Quite likely, because of the nature of the role that Ireland plays in British imperial history. And if not France, then the West Indies, or India, or Africa, etc.
Similarly with Russia. The justifications that they have given for reconquering Ukraine are the same that they used when invading Georgia, or have used to threaten Latvia. We must remember that the only reason the Baltic states were not attacked before Ukraine was because they swiftly joined NATO. It is only the perception of Western strength that has any chance of keeping Russian imperialism in check.
But, somewhere along the way, that perception was lost, so unfortunately we have to go to the effort of recreating it, by demonstrating that there is a reality to Western strength.
If we fail then we don't just lose the idyllic dreams of the gilded generation that came of age after the end of the Cold War, we also lose the strength and unity of the western alliance that has existed since 1941, and we are thrown back into a modern-day retelling of the 19th century and its great power imperial struggles - except that Britain will decidedly not be a great power, the US isn't interested in playing, and India needs a good relationship with Russia than it does with Europe's gutless democracies.
The defence of Ukraine is absolutely central to how the geopolitical struggles of the rest of this century will play out. If we fail this test then China is going to walk right over us.
I agree that the West needs to project strength, but I wouldn't agree with the prevailing assumption that the Baltic countries and Ukraine are interchangeable in the.Russian nationalist mind.
Putin, Dugin, and others - largely inaccurately - view.Ukraine as part of their own selfhood that has betrayed them, and needs to be punished and deprived of any distinguishing fearures for this crime, somewhat similarly to Chinese Nationalists and Taiwan, but with added hatred.
The Baltic peoples, ny comparison, are viewed as a slightly more distant and inferior people, to be colonised opportunistically.at various times in history, if and when the opportunity
This is why I'm not suggesting the West abandon support of Ukraine on its current borders, and think the emphasis should be on deterrence within NATO, or a European security pact covering its current borders. But given the enormous stakes and some of the points above, I think many people should be reflecting on and analysing the current situation from every angle much more carefully and soberly than they are.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
I thought Trump didn't like wars. Is there any war more pointless, wasteful and counterproductive than the war on drugs?
That’s why you fight the cartels rather than the drugs.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
That would require quite the conspiracy but it’s not impossible. Three aviators and the ship radar controller from just the Nimitz incident for example. How? Why? The Pentagon has formally confirmed that UAP are real. That it to say, real objects, not data artefacts, that display intelligent control, that are not American and are not known to be in the capability set of adversaries. There is of course potentially more than one interesting reason why they would say this. But it’s eternally fascinating to me how unfascinated most people on pb are about this.
I don’t think that is true. Lots of the supposed killer evidence has been shown to be data artifacts but many choose not to accept those interpretations. What evidence does the pentagon have to show that the UAPs are real objects (beyond the balloon flaps we saw hilariously a while back).
Humans are very good at misinterpreting things they are seeing. Starlink keeps getting reported as UAPs. Pareidolia is very real - the brain takes information from its senses and creates something from that.
These hearings show the Leon mindset writ large. You get enough people to bang on about something for long enough that the authorities feel obliged to investigate to shut them up. Then the Leons of this world use the very fact that there's an investigation as proof that the thing they were banging on about in the first place is true.
That’s all fine. Except some of the most highly cleared people in the US (title 50 level) have given evidence under oath to the effect that the security apparatus of the US has hidden an ultra tech project derived from non human intelligence. And the Gang of Eight and Inspector General are taking this seriously.
If the accusation wasn’t of a sci fi sounding weapons project, but of an illicit attempt to launch a coup in, oh I don’t know Panama? It would be the biggest story of the decade. It’s remarkable how few people are taking notice of this. I should caveat that with how few people here. In the real world, I find that friends and barely acquaintances are talking about this unprompted with regularity, some of whom have quite interesting backgrounds in aerospace. There is just a perverse blind spot on this forum.
To clarify, as my final paragraph got clipped by the mobile posting, again, I think any European security nuclear pact should extend to NATO's current borders, not further.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
As we have established many times PB is a portable pub. It’s brilliant for that. Given that I travel incessantly it’s very handy for me to have a pub I can take out of my pocket and meet old friends - and comfortingly boring regulars - and old sparring partners. Its actually stranger - to me - how much people who DON’T travel frequent PB, however I never criticize anyone for doing it as we all have our needs and desires and the PB pub rightly welcomes everyone
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Right. This is it. I could die here. Gulp
I enjoy PB because I can get all of my weird political frustrations and arguments out here, to the point in my actual day to day life people think I'm completely apolitical and uninterested in the world around me. It's a good place to vent.
In a world where everyone seems to argue about politics, all the time, most of my closest friends haven't a scooby what I really think about the issues of the day or who I vote for.
Therefore to me PB is less like the village pub and more like the knocking shop I secretly visit to sate my kinky s&m desires, while appearing to friends and family as blandly asexual, perhaps a bit of missionary at Xmas...
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
I'm sorry but our current policy is what is ludicrous.
Agreed.
It's time to put boots on the ground and expel Russia from Ukraine. In the long term it is less risky to stand up to aggression.
It's unnecessary to put boots on the ground. We just need to give Ukraine the weapons they've asked for and allow them to use them wherever they want.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
As we have established many times PB is a portable pub. It’s brilliant for that. Given that I travel incessantly it’s very handy for me to have a pub I can take out of my pocket and meet old friends - and comfortingly boring regulars - and old sparring partners. Its actually stranger - to me - how much people who DON’T travel frequent PB, however I never criticize anyone for doing it as we all have our needs and desires and the PB pub rightly welcomes everyone
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Right. This is it. I could die here. Gulp
I enjoy PB because I can get all of my weird political frustrations and arguments out here, to the point in my actual day to day life people think I'm completely apolitical and uninterested in the world around me. It's a good place to vent.
In a world where everyone seems to argue about politics, all the time, most of my closest friends haven't a scooby what I really think about the issues of the day or who I vote for.
Therefore to me PB is less like the village pub and more like the knocking shop I secretly visit to sate my kinky s&m desires, while appearing to friends and family as blandly asexual, perhaps a bit of missionary at Xmas...
Hahah
Yes it is that for me too - as well as a pub
I know I come across as massively combative and punchy on here - and I am, and sorry about that - but it’s because I do have a sad competitive alpha dog urge to fight but I find that if I offload it on here then it means I am much less aggressive elsewhere. I vent on PB, too
People from pb who actually meet me are sometimes surprised that in real life I am quite amiable and courteous
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
Didn't Tom Clancy write a book about when the US Government went to war on the cartels.
(Ultimately, there is demand for drugs. There will therefore be a supply of drugs. If you want to stop drugs, stop demand for them.)
Frederick Forsyth did one - "The Cobra". It was definitely an attempt to suggest a method to eliminate the supply albeit in novel form.
Of course, if you kill off one supply, another mysteriously appears.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
I'm sorry but our current policy is what is ludicrous.
Agreed.
It's time to put boots on the ground and expel Russia from Ukraine. In the long term it is less risky to stand up to aggression.
It's unnecessary to put boots on the ground. We just need to give Ukraine the weapons they've asked for and allow them to use them wherever they want.
Putin said he went to war to stop Ukraine in NATO, something that wasn't a serious prospect in 2022, and now, three years and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, NATO is in Ukraine ...
The presence of a massive funfair next to the demilitarised zone is slightly detracting from the dark noomy atmos of the “the most hostile frontier on the planet”
Here’s how we should start out our negotiations with Putin: Demand that he turn himself over to an international court to be tried for war crimes.
Is that like a Moroccan stall holder’s first price of $50 for a salad spoon? As much as we’d like to land that deal, it’s not happening. Western leaders don’t have the stomach to topple him. For all we know for good reason.
1. "Deploy all necessary military assets, including the US Navy to impose the full naval embargo and the cartels."
2. "Guarantee that the waters of the Western Hemisphere are not used to traffic illicit drugs to our country."
3. "Order the Department of Defense to make appropriate use of special forces cyber warfare and other overt and covert actions to inflict maximum damage on cartel leadership, infrastructure, and operations."
4. "Designate the major cartels as foreign terrorist organizations."
5: "Sever their access to global financial systems."
6. "Get the full cooperation of other governments to stop [the cartels], or we will expose every bribe, every kickback, every payoff, and every bit of corruption that is allowing the cartels to preserve their brutal reign."
7. "Ask Congress to pass legislation ensuring that drug smugglers and human traffickers receive the de*th penalty."
"When I'm back in the White House, the drug kingpins and vicious traffickers will never sleep soundly again."
I thought Trump didn't like wars. Is there any war more pointless, wasteful and counterproductive than the war on drugs?
A war on drugs in the street is pointless, destroying the cartels that have ripped up big chunks of Latin America is probably worthwhile though will create a lot of short term misery for ordinary people. The easiest way to stop the cartels is to reduce demand for drugs but US society just seems to be very prone to addiction in a way that other countries aren't for some reason.
Nigel Farage tells me there need to be “concessions on both sides” on Ukraine
Does he mean territorial concessions on Ukrainian side? “I’m not playing your silly game”
Farage suggests Ukraine will have to be a part of NATO. But how much of Ukraine?
I am 100% sure Trump can’t end it. He was BSing. If Ukraine and Europe say nope, we can’t agree to that proposal, there’s zilch Trump can do about it.
He can cut off the arms supply.
If he does, Ukraine are more buggered than a rent boy in the Kremlin. The only other country that could help are China, who are aligned with Russia.
Incidentally, Biden could have brought the Israeli attacks on Gaza to a shrieking halt by cutting arms to Israel - but if he had, then Israel would have been attacked again, possibly fatally, so he didn't.
It is up to NATO members, particularly European members, to fund more aid to Ukraine.
US taxpayers can't be expected to continue to fund most of the NATO aid to Ukraine when it isn't even on their continent
Why would Europe do that? It is through the looking glass loony to complain about the USA backsliding on Ukraine - there is no such thing as the USA backsliding on Ukraine. We are only chucking the kitchen sink at Ukraine because the USA wishes it. If the USA decides someone else is public enemy number 1, such as Iran, China, Saudi Arabia (no sniggering at the back) then they will be public enemy number 1, to suggest otherwise will be treachery and beyond the pale, and Ukraine will become as vital a world cause as Nepal. PB morale warriors will sagely nod their heads and move on from Ukraine about as quickly as David Lammy moved on from the war on Trump.
Ludicrous. Ukraine is vital to the security and independence of central and eastern Europe. Why do you think Putin wants it so much? And we plainly haven't thrown the kitchen sink at Ukraine (well Russia), witness all the debate about defensive vs offensive weapons, tanks, fighter jets and long range missiles that can hit inside Russia. The war ending on Putin's terms with no security guarantees for Ukraine is not a particularly stable result. Russian revanchism remains and Ukraine doesn't seem to have many other options than going nuclear.
I'm sorry but our current policy is what is ludicrous.
Agreed.
It's time to put boots on the ground and expel Russia from Ukraine. In the long term it is less risky to stand up to aggression.
It's unnecessary to put boots on the ground. We just need to give Ukraine the weapons they've asked for and allow them to use them wherever they want.
The story on Starmer/Storm Shadow is disappointing. I only hope it is some kind of bluff. However there has been so much weakness displayed by the west repeatedly on Ukraine and in the middle east.
1)Not punishing Iran after the Houthis closed down shipping in the Red Sea. 2)Not letting Ukraine return fire against Russian targets they've been struck from. 3)Not threatening China after North Korean troops arrived in a European war.
Politics UK @PolitlcsUK · 4h 🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will decide whether to appoint David Milliband, Peter Mandelson or Cathy Ashton as the new US ambassador in the next few days
My reading. As an expert in international diplomacy and all :
Miliband: knows loads of americans after years in New York but I suspect they are mainly Harris woke Dem types. Wont have to move house, so save on expenses.
Ashton: clearly the best diplomat but suffers from lack of star appeal and Trump is star tart. Also woman without blonde hair. Issue for Trump.
Mandelson: Star appeal. Knows Blair more than Tony's own wife. Very very good at faux fawning - will be loved by Trump camp. "Peter's just rustling up some of his mushy peas".
None - to my knowledge plays golf and so I doubt we are being given the full short list.
Putin said he went to war to stop Ukraine in NATO, something that wasn't a serious prospect in 2022, and now, three years and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, NATO is in Ukraine ...
Honestly this isn’t something I could support, as much as I’ve obsessively followed Ukraine’s fortunes for three years nearly. The whole point of keeping Ukraine standing, is to make sure there’s a bloody big buffer in between nuclear armed NATO and nuclear armed Russia, and no temptation for the ruskies to test NATO’s resolve wrt Article 5. There is simply far too much room for error if our troops are facing off at each other across a minefield.
Politics UK @PolitlcsUK · 4h 🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will decide whether to appoint David Milliband, Peter Mandelson or Cathy Ashton as the new US ambassador in the next few days
My reading. As an expert in international diplomacy and all :
Miliband: knows loads of americans after years in New York but I suspect they are mainly Harris woke Dem types. Wont have to move house, so save on expenses.
Ashton: clearly the best diplomat but suffers from lack of star appeal and Trump is star tart. Also woman without blonde hair. Issue for Trump.
Mandelson: Star appeal. Knows Blair more than Tony's own wife. Very very good at faux fawning - will be loved by Trump camp. "Peter's just rustling up some of his mushy peas".
None - to my knowledge plays golf and so I doubt we are being given the full short list.
Big pay cut for Miliband to step down from the Thunderbirds.
What is this court case that somebody mentioned on the trans issue?
It's not about the trans issue. It's about the definition of woman in the Equality Act 2010 and whether it includes a man who has obtained a GRC under the GRA. It is also of course whether the definition of man in the Equality Act includes a woman with a GRC. So it's also about the interaction of the two Acts. It is an appeal by For Women Scotland against the decision of Lady Haldane.
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
As we have established many times PB is a portable pub. It’s brilliant for that. Given that I travel incessantly it’s very handy for me to have a pub I can take out of my pocket and meet old friends - and comfortingly boring regulars - and old sparring partners. Its actually stranger - to me - how much people who DON’T travel frequent PB, however I never criticize anyone for doing it as we all have our needs and desires and the PB pub rightly welcomes everyone
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Right. This is it. I could die here. Gulp
I enjoy PB because I can get all of my weird political frustrations and arguments out here, to the point in my actual day to day life people think I'm completely apolitical and uninterested in the world around me. It's a good place to vent.
In a world where everyone seems to argue about politics, all the time, most of my closest friends haven't a scooby what I really think about the issues of the day or who I vote for.
Therefore to me PB is less like the village pub and more like the knocking shop I secretly visit to sate my kinky s&m desires, while appearing to friends and family as blandly asexual, perhaps a bit of missionary at Xmas...
You've certainly behaved like a bully to some. Your desires have been sated. Pity about the effect on them.
Just realised how poignant it is to visit the DMZ in Korea as we discuss a Korean style armistice in Ukraine
It occurs to me a Korean style armistice would actually be a GOOD result for Ukraine now
Also there really is loads of animal life. It really is an eco preserve
It's not a great analogy. Russia regards Eastern Ukraine as its own territory and will go on seeking to undermine western Ukraine as much as it can after the fighting is over.
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
I decided recently that the hoodie is actually a really attractive garment for women to wear. This goes against all the orthodoxy that pertains to what clothing is attractive, and I have no reason why it should be so, but it is pleasing to see you come to the same conclusion on a different continent.
Is there some tenuous relationship to this phenomonon perhaps?
Fucking hell you can immediately see North Korean border posts and it’s all deeply odd
Are you going in the tunnel? We did that in September 2012. Also bought the train ticket to Pyongyang.
Apparently they “hope” we can go in the tunnel but right now there’s a lot of tension and it changes from day to day
It’s all a lot more sobering and intense and sad and tragic and noomy than I expected. The guide explained that the reason there is a funfair is to keep the kids happy and distracted while the old people cry
Yawn. Nothing will come out. It’s all grift and rumours of rumours.
As I have continually said.
Even if that turns out to be true, it’s notable that the likes of Schumer and Rubio are giving a very different impression. Why? It’s not because they’re morons. They’ve had +40 people testify under oath behind closed doors. Who? Why?
Why have they and many others pushed the UAP Disclosure Act now three years in a row, legally defining “technology of non human origin”?
It’s remarkable how few people on this forum see how notable that legislation is, even if you think the motives are different to what its sponsors portray.
Intelligent people can believe strange things all the time. From my perspective I find belief in deities weird, but I know many very intelligent people who do. It’s the same with UAPs etc. There are very many grifters and liars spinning yarns which suck people in. That’s all.
For about two years you insisted Covid came from the wet market
Oh fuck off. We do not know the origins of covid and the wet market is still a valid hypothesis. Where did SARS come from? Or MERS? Novel pathogens almost always originate in animals before making the transition to humans, usually through humans in close proximity. You haven’t won the debate over covid origins, even if you think you have. A lab leak is entirely plausible, but so is origins from the wet market.
lol. You were absolutely insistent it came from the market now it’s “we do not know the origins”
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
And you waste hours of you pathetic empty life trying to wind up people you have never met on a niche political/betting website. I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
lol
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Each to their own. I find it fascinating how much you seem to need PB. And not just PB, but pointless arguments and nasty comments. Honestly if I want snark and nasty comments I just need to have coffee with fellow academics…
As we have established many times PB is a portable pub. It’s brilliant for that. Given that I travel incessantly it’s very handy for me to have a pub I can take out of my pocket and meet old friends - and comfortingly boring regulars - and old sparring partners. Its actually stranger - to me - how much people who DON’T travel frequent PB, however I never criticize anyone for doing it as we all have our needs and desires and the PB pub rightly welcomes everyone
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Right. This is it. I could die here. Gulp
I enjoy PB because I can get all of my weird political frustrations and arguments out here, to the point in my actual day to day life people think I'm completely apolitical and uninterested in the world around me. It's a good place to vent.
In a world where everyone seems to argue about politics, all the time, most of my closest friends haven't a scooby what I really think about the issues of the day or who I vote for.
Therefore to me PB is less like the village pub and more like the knocking shop I secretly visit to sate my kinky s&m desires, while appearing to friends and family as blandly asexual, perhaps a bit of missionary at Xmas...
You've certainly behaved like a bully to some. Your desires have been sated. Pity about the effect on them.
Don't even know who you are bud.
Reading your majestic 41 posts I'm none the wiser...
Assuming free and fair elections in 2028, don't expect an incumbency bonus for any GOP Congress members.
Why would you assume that wouldn't be popular?
Well, there's a too high price for everything. I mean if you could deport 10 million illegal immigrants for $1bn, but then next 1 million would cost $100bn, then there's a certain diminishing return kicking in.
The only published number I have seen for the cost of Trump's programme, and he is proposing to appoint back the same people who drove it in his last term so he seems to be planning to do something, is $88bn per annum to deport one million people per annum.
That's ignoring all the economic and other costs, and is mainly to pay for 10s of thousands of agents, and concentration camps for detention.
On top of that undocumented immigrants contribute around $250 billion in taxes, medicaid contributions etc.
Why are really attractive young Korean women with hoodies and clipboards so attractive?
I decided recently that the hoodie is actually a really attractive garment for women to wear. This goes against all the orthodoxy that pertains to what clothing is attractive, and I have no reason why it should be so, but it is pleasing to see you come to the same conclusion on a different continent.
Is there some tenuous relationship to this phenomonon perhaps?
What is this court case that somebody mentioned on the trans issue?
It's not about the trans issue. It's about the definition of woman in the Equality Act 2010 and whether it includes a man who has obtained a GRC under the GRA. It is also of course whether the definition of man in the Equality Act includes a woman with a GRC. So it's also about the interaction of the two Acts. It is an appeal by For Women Scotland against the decision of Lady Haldane.
I don't believe the Scots government has yet made available its submissions online. The hearing is 26-27 November.
Indeed. The Gender Recognition Act 2004 (GRA) states that "...Where a full gender recognition certificate (GRC) is issued to a person, the person’s gender becomes for all purposes the acquired gender (so that, if the acquired gender is the male gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a man and, if it is the female gender, the person’s sex becomes that of a woman)....", thereby creating(?) the concept of "legal sex" as different from the physical ones.
But that Act acknowledges that it can be set aside in certain circumstances and has been in certain cases (I think one is nobility inheritance). A later act, the Equality Act 2010, and subsequent case law laid down that one should not discriminate against somebody due to gender reassignment, but - again - there are exceptions allowed if they are "a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim" (exact wording? I may have the wrong words?). The Equality Act also says that sex should not be discriminated against, which raises the question - which definition of "sex" now?
There are currently many arguments about which definition of sex should be used, what is a proportionate means, and what is a legitimate aim. An attempt by For Women Scotland (FWS) to resolve this was found against them in the Scottish court, they appealed it to the Supreme Court, and that is the court case that DeclanF refers to.
I've been traveling the past few days (5 plane rides since the election, 2 universities) and maybe about 20% of people that I got to talk to really knew what tariffs were and what they meant*.
They usually just thought it meant that a trade partner got punished by higher prices. They didn't realize it meant *they themselves* would get punished by higher prices. https://x.com/kylascan/status/1854885488542544289
*This isn't their fault but i don't really know how to fix it. i have made a ton of videos on social explaining tariffs but i think people hear what they want to sometimes. Put econ classes in the high schools. https://x.com/kylascan/status/1854885490446811160
*If Trump goes ahead with what he promised, there's a pretty good chance that will fix it.
We already have examples since the Biden administration has been pursuing various Trumpist policies such as Drill, Baby, Drill and 100% tariffs on Chinese car imports.
That's only a tiny market proportion, but what's happened to the sales of Chinse cars in the USA?
If Chump does that to a larger share of the market, GM et al with fuck over Mr and Mrs USA because they will be able to do so.
US special council winding down Trump's criminal cases
Until 2028! There may be more by then, too.
It's more complex.
To be preserved it has to be wound down in a way which is resilient against whichever corrupt Attorney General Trump appoints instructing it to be withdrawn. They won't be able to start a new case in 2028 due to the 5 year Statute of Limitations. Except I guess for crimes Trump commits during his second term, if he is not protected by decisions of his corrupted SCOTUS.
AFAICS in essence it will need to be left in control of the Judge, beyond the reach of the DoJ. I am not clear how that happens.
Comments
Similarly with Russia. The justifications that they have given for reconquering Ukraine are the same that they used when invading Georgia, or have used to threaten Latvia. We must remember that the only reason the Baltic states were not attacked before Ukraine was because they swiftly joined NATO. It is only the perception of Western strength that has any chance of keeping Russian imperialism in check.
But, somewhere along the way, that perception was lost, so unfortunately we have to go to the effort of recreating it, by demonstrating that there is a reality to Western strength.
If we fail then we don't just lose the idyllic dreams of the gilded generation that came of age after the end of the Cold War, we also lose the strength and unity of the western alliance that has existed since 1941, and we are thrown back into a modern-day retelling of the 19th century and its great power imperial struggles - except that Britain will decidedly not be a great power, the US isn't interested in playing, and India needs a good relationship with Russia than it does with Europe's gutless democracies.
The defence of Ukraine is absolutely central to how the geopolitical struggles of the rest of this century will play out. If we fail this test then China is going to walk right over us.
Humans are very good at misinterpreting things they are seeing. Starlink keeps getting reported as UAPs. Pareidolia is very real - the brain takes information from its senses and creates something from that.
[disclaimer: I haven't read either book!]
You’re a boring, timid, narrow minded science nerd with the imaginative capacity of a whelk, and you get scared by ideas which threaten your little world
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cje0y3gqw1po.amp
Give it a rest.
I was right, it came from the lab. I was the first to be right (or certainly the loudest) have been entirely vindicated, damn right I am going to exult
I don’t recall being insistent. I would certainly have thought it by far the likeliest explanation, just as with all the others diseases of zoonotic origins.
From Red Storm Rising all the way through to Executive Orders, Clancy wrote some pretty decent thrillers.
I think I’ve paid about 1/2 of my home’s value in repayments. And it’s paid off.
And I can afford a small loss if everything else is going down too.
You know how that feels, as you regularly remind us.
WE’RE OFF TO THE COLD WAR
If I live a pathetic empty life - *he writes, on a bus to the Korean demilitarised zone* - I’d hate to see your description of the life of, say, a boring midwit stay at home science academic living in Hornsey
Reports suggest UK-led buffer zone in Ukraine
I think it’s the male utilitarian aspect of the garment which makes it unusually enticing on a young woman.
My hot young ex wife (sigh) used to wear heavy denim dungarees and REDACTED REDACTED
Showed my boys their uncle’s Twitter replies tab tonight.
I figure if you’re tweeting stuff on a public account under your real name, you’re comfortable with anyone/everyone seeing it.
Shouldn’t be a problem, right?
https://x.com/StephTaitWrites/status/1854765722460983555
Unfortunately, one of my kids seems to have stolen it. I have literally no idea where it is.
And yes I love a good argument. I get easily bored and a nice dust-up enlivens the world
Right. This is it. I could die here. Gulp
Here is how they broke down:
Lake 75.7%
Gallego 22%
Lake nets 3,596 and now trails Gallego by 36,748.
Yavapai estimates 45,897 uncounted ballots.
1,187 of which are provisional.
I reckon my chances of surviving this are sub 60%
Putin, Dugin, and others - largely inaccurately - view.Ukraine as part of their own selfhood that has betrayed them, and needs to be punished and deprived of any distinguishing fearures for this crime, somewhat similarly to Chinese Nationalists and Taiwan, but with added hatred.
The Baltic peoples, ny comparison, are viewed as a slightly more distant and inferior people, to be colonised opportunistically.at various times in history, if and when the opportunity
This is why I'm not suggesting the West abandon support of Ukraine on its current borders, and think the emphasis should be on deterrence within NATO, or a European security pact covering its current borders. But given the enormous stakes and some of the points above, I think many people should be reflecting on and analysing the current situation from every angle much more carefully and soberly than they are.
I’m going to play the theme from MASH as I gaze at the barren hills
If the accusation wasn’t of a sci fi sounding weapons project, but of an illicit attempt to launch a coup in, oh I don’t know Panama? It would be the biggest story of the decade. It’s remarkable how few people are taking notice of this. I should caveat that with how few people here. In the real world, I find that friends and barely acquaintances are talking about this unprompted with regularity, some of whom have quite interesting backgrounds in aerospace. There is just a perverse blind spot on this forum.
NATO's future is.uncertain, with Trump.
In a world where everyone seems to argue about politics, all the time, most of my closest friends haven't a scooby what I really think about the issues of the day or who I vote for.
Therefore to me PB is less like the village pub and more like the knocking shop I secretly visit to sate my kinky s&m desires, while appearing to friends and family as blandly asexual, perhaps a bit of missionary at Xmas...
Yes it is that for me too - as well as a pub
I know I come across as massively combative and punchy on here - and I am, and sorry about that - but it’s because I do have a sad competitive alpha dog urge to fight but I find that if I offload it on here then it means I am much less aggressive elsewhere. I vent on PB, too
People from pb who actually meet me are sometimes surprised that in real life I am quite amiable and courteous
Back in 2018, the late arriving votes favoured Sisnema, this time they appear to be for Lake.
Of course, if you kill off one supply, another mysteriously appears.
Putin said he went to war to stop Ukraine in NATO, something that wasn't a serious prospect in 2022, and now, three years and hundreds of thousands of deaths later, NATO is in Ukraine ...
1)Not punishing Iran after the Houthis closed down shipping in the Red Sea.
2)Not letting Ukraine return fire against Russian targets they've been struck from.
3)Not threatening China after North Korean troops arrived in a European war.
@PolitlcsUK
·
4h
🚨 NEW: Keir Starmer will decide whether to appoint David Milliband, Peter Mandelson or Cathy Ashton as the new US ambassador in the next few days
[
@guardian
]
My reading. As an expert in international diplomacy and all
Miliband: knows loads of americans after years in New York but I suspect they are mainly Harris woke Dem types. Wont have to move house, so save on expenses.
Ashton: clearly the best diplomat but suffers from lack of star appeal and Trump is star tart. Also woman without blonde hair. Issue for Trump.
Mandelson: Star appeal. Knows Blair more than Tony's own wife. Very very good at faux fawning - will be loved by Trump camp. "Peter's just rustling up some of his mushy peas".
None - to my knowledge plays golf and so I doubt we are being given the full short list.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZxtyITMkE00
You can read the submissions by FWS and other parties online - https://forwomen.scot/22/10/2024/uk-supreme-court/#:~:text=Ahead of our appeal being,written submission to the court.&text=Written cases have now also,Sex Matters (published here).
I don't believe the Scots government has yet made available its submissions online. The hearing is 26-27 November.
It occurs to me a Korean style armistice would actually be a GOOD result for Ukraine now
Also there really is loads of animal life. It really is an eco preserve
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2024/11/05/us/elections/results-president.html
https://karinaaslanova.blogspot.com/2014/10/why-do-women-wear-mens-shirts-in.html
It’s all a lot more sobering and intense and sad and tragic and noomy than I expected. The guide explained that the reason there is a funfair is to keep the kids happy and distracted while the old people cry
Reading your majestic 41 posts I'm none the wiser...
That's ignoring all the economic and other costs, and is mainly to pay for 10s of thousands of agents, and concentration camps for detention.
On top of that undocumented immigrants contribute around $250 billion in taxes, medicaid contributions etc.
https://abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-mass-deportation-program-cost/story?id=115318034
https://www.thrillist.com/sex-dating/nation/why-women-steal-your-hoodies
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/nov/08/relationship-between-uk-and-ukraine-has-worsened-since-labour-won-election
But that Act acknowledges that it can be set aside in certain circumstances and has been in certain cases (I think one is nobility inheritance). A later act, the Equality Act 2010, and subsequent case law laid down that one should not discriminate against somebody due to gender reassignment, but - again - there are exceptions allowed if they are "a proportionate means of achieving a legitimate aim" (exact wording? I may have the wrong words?). The Equality Act also says that sex should not be discriminated against, which raises the question - which definition of "sex" now?
There are currently many arguments about which definition of sex should be used, what is a proportionate means, and what is a legitimate aim. An attempt by For Women Scotland (FWS) to resolve this was found against them in the Scottish court, they appealed it to the Supreme Court, and that is the court case that DeclanF refers to.
That's only a tiny market proportion, but what's happened to the sales of Chinse cars in the USA?
If Chump does that to a larger share of the market, GM et al with fuck over Mr and Mrs USA because they will be able to do so.
To be preserved it has to be wound down in a way which is resilient against whichever corrupt Attorney General Trump appoints instructing it to be withdrawn. They won't be able to start a new case in 2028 due to the 5 year Statute of Limitations. Except I guess for crimes Trump commits during his second term, if he is not protected by decisions of his corrupted SCOTUS.
AFAICS in essence it will need to be left in control of the Judge, beyond the reach of the DoJ. I am not clear how that happens.