Play Nice Random Chat Thread V

[Themanbun]

Donald Trump tells Nato allies to spend 4% of GDP on defence

US president suggests doubling 2% spending target that only five countries have met

www.theguardian.com

If this wasn’t a government, I’m pretty sure it would be referred to as a protection racquet..

War is the ultimate, wealth redistribution upwards.. while the general population picks up the tab and shares in the collective suffering.

The paradox is that in-country wealth inequality decreased during major wars, such as WW2.

 

[DesertRoo]

The paradox is that in-country wealth inequality decreased during major wars, such as WW2.

??
I’m sure there was a sense of we’re all in this together but during ww2 hundreds of thousands were staving in the streets.. I’m not sure you could say equality increased while that’s happening.

 

[Themanbun]

??
I’m sure there was a sense of we’re all in this together but during ww2 hundreds of thousands were staving in the streets.. I’m not sure you could say equality increased while that’s happening.

Labour mobilisation led to increased bargaining power and higher wages. The mass mobilisation of the labour force in 1936 helped drived countries out of the Great Depression, and eventually helped governments to ship off a bunch of potentially revolutionary young men with strong memories of the Great Depression to the other side of the world. Governments tended to raise levies on corporations, too, rightfully knowing the working class didn't have much more to give.

I'm not trying to nitpick, I swear

 

[DesertRoo]

Labour mobilisation led to increased bargaining power and higher wages. The mass mobilisation of the labour force in 1936 helped drived countries out of the Great Depression, and eventually helped governments to ship off a bunch of potentially revolutionary young men with strong memories of the Great Depression to the other side of the world. Governments tended to raise levies on corporations, too, rightfully knowing the working class didn't have much more to give.

View attachment 997897

You could argue this was more to do with the bolshevik revolution, where labour unions realised the power they had with their employer.
and the employer happier to see some profits returned rather then their boujee class toppled.

id be interested to see that same graph in relation to now, and people in America are wondering why revolution songs are so popular.

 

[giantroo]

Lol

 

[King Corey]

I've been out of the loop. Basil got voted in, in the end?

How ****ed up are the residents of Perth?

 

[andana]

I've been out of the loop. Basil got voted in, in the end?

How ****ed up are the residents of Perth?

All the Kastellorizians come out in force to vote in a non compulsory election

 

[tazaa]

Lol

Forgets players names too.

**** me what a poor excuse for an apology. Who advised him on this?
Owning your **** up demonstrates a level of remorse you dickhead.

 

[ferball]

At the height of our involvement in Afghanistan circa 2010, we were spending about $1.2 billion per year, give or take a bit.

Yeah. I heard stories along the lines of the US asking us to carry stuff out, providing the munitions then afterward unexpectedly charging us.

Those Australian companies I mentioned that provide weapons and in some cases tracking software to despots also benefit from our public money being used to advertise their services overseas.

 

[ferball]

You could argue this was more to do with the bolshevik revolution, where labour unions realised the power they had with their employer.
and the employer happier to see some profits returned rather then their boujee class toppled.

id be interested to see that same graph in relation to now, and people in America are wondering why revolution songs are so popular.

There is a bit of both tmb said:

and eventually helped governments to ship off a bunch of potentially revolutionary young men with strong memories of the Great Depression to the other side of the world.

Funnily enough I was listening to this earlier today:

 

[ferball]

Not that i give a toss about PC snowflakes, but i know this board is super lefty so you probably should be aware of your racism (if you buy into this sort of thing)

White People Using GIFs of Black People Are Now Guilty of ‘Digital Blackface’

https://pulpitandpen.org/2020/01/07/white-people-using-gifs-of-black-people-are-now-guilty-of-digital-blackface/

It's actually a noted tactic of actual far right shitheads to promote the most extreme crap they can about the "other side" to further drive the divides in society that give them their only credibility.

This is a classic example. No one on this board gives a **** about this issue as far as I can tell but someone, probably Damo, decided to drop that turd in the coaching thread in the hope of ... I dunno a more harmonious future for us all I guess.

 

[The Other Dean]

What about Ted Nugent and the lead singer of Spandau Ballet?

C'mon, man, you forgot to mention esteemed musical legend Kid Rock. :stern look


On a related note, this article made me chuckle....

https://www.vulture.com/article/the-history-of-musicians-rejecting-donald-trump.html

 

[The Other Dean]

The principle was OK, but the execution was deplorable.

Whoa, whoa.

We didn't execute anyone.

Well, not this time anyway.

 

[The Other Dean]

Despite the GOP's best efforts, it seems the Hunter Biden laptop story is still failing to gain any traction. Getting nothingburgered by all in Sunbury - Homeland Security m'eh-ed it, Sky News has gone lukewarm on it, even Ted freaking Cruz conceded that it's of little to no importance to the voting public. With the election less than a week away and a significant numbers of votes already cast, it appears to be a comprehensive fizzer.

Not sure what I find more amusing, that the Republicans thought this lame duck would fly, or them getting all pissy now cos' no-one gives a shit.




Likewise staggering that anyone ever thought a guy like Trump throwing around accusations of corruption and dodgy ties with China was a good idea.

How about the dormant, Trump-owned Chinese company that was posting zero profit, suddenly banking $15mil the year after Trump was elected? Or the tax returns that he won't let the public see, claiming that he's unable to do so due to being audited? A story that the IRS have refuted on numerous occasions now.

Corruption on any level? Trump has you covered....

This article from Washington Post begins with a focus on the 2018 meeting when Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago instead of the White House. The government footed the bill for their two-day meeting, which totaled over $36,000 in expenses for guest rooms, flower arrangements, and food and drinks.
“Trump’s club even charged for the smallest of services,” the article reads. “When Trump and Abe met alone, with no food served, the government still got a bill for what they drank. ‘Bilateral meeting,’ the bill said. ‘Water.’ $3 each.”


Meanwhile, Cheeto Jesus remains suitably perplexed by all the diverted attentions.....




Yeah, a measly 228,000 deaths and a virus that under your watch continues to rip through the US population like wildfire....can't believe people are still focusing on that trivial crap!

Man, talk about channeling Nero. The tweet speaks volumes. Clearly gives zero ****s about those lives that have been lost nor the family and friends that grieve them. And of course, yet again, he continues to actively talk the virus down and risk even more American lives, all in the name of political point-scoring.

The bloke is pure, unadulterated scum.

 

[B4Bear]

Despite the GOP's best efforts, it seems the Hunter Biden laptop story is still failing to gain any traction. Getting nothingburgered by all in Sunbury - Homeland Security m'eh-ed it, Sky News has gone lukewarm on it, even Ted freaking Cruz conceded that it's of little to no importance to the voting public. With the election less than a week away and a significant numbers of votes already cast, it appears to be a comprehensive fizzer.

Not sure what I find more amusing, that the Republicans thought this lame duck would fly, or them getting all pissy now cos' no-one gives a sh*t.




Likewise staggering that anyone ever thought a guy like Trump throwing around accusations of corruption and dodgy ties with China was a good idea.

How about the dormant, Trump-owned Chinese company that was posting zero profit, suddenly banking $15mil the year after Trump was elected? Or the tax returns that he won't let the public see, claiming that he's unable to do so due to being audited? A story that the IRS have refuted on numerous occasions now.

Corruption on any level? Trump has you covered....

This article from Washington Post begins with a focus on the 2018 meeting when Trump hosted Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe at Mar-a-Lago instead of the White House. The government footed the bill for their two-day meeting, which totaled over $36,000 in expenses for guest rooms, flower arrangements, and food and drinks.
“Trump’s club even charged for the smallest of services,” the article reads. “When Trump and Abe met alone, with no food served, the government still got a bill for what they drank. ‘Bilateral meeting,’ the bill said. ‘Water.’ $3 each.”


Meanwhile, Cheeto Jesus remains suitably perplexed by all the diverted attentions.....




Yeah, a measly 228,000 deaths and a virus that under your watch continues to rip through the US population like wildfire....can't believe people are still focusing on that trivial crap!

Man, talk about channeling Nero. The tweet speaks volumes. Clearly gives zero ****s about those lives that have been lost nor the family and friends that grieve them. And of course, yet again, he continues to actively talk the virus down and risk even more American lives, all in the name of political point-scoring.

The bloke is pure, unadulterated scum.

But what about her emails?

 

[Val Keating]

As if you couldn’t respect Greenwald enough he goes and does this. If only all journalists had his integrity

 

[DesertRoo]

As if you couldn’t respect Greenwald enough he goes and does this. If only all journalists had his integrity

He finally gets it..
he should’ve pulled the pin on anything to do with omidyar a long time ago. Btw the intercept still owns the Snowden files, and buried them for political purposes.

 

[Val Keating]

He finally gets it..
he should’ve pulled the pin on anything to do omidyar a long time ago. Btw the intercept still owns the Snowden files, and buried them for political purposes.

Greenwald has had his hands full with Bolsonaro in Brazil the last few years. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he’s found dead one day or just disappears. I’m not being flippant about that either. They want him dead or in jail, America hate him. Might end up in Russia with Snowden...though it’s rough for gay dudes in Putin’s Russia

 

[DesertRoo]

Greenwald has had his hands full with Bolsonaro in Brazil the last few years. I honestly wouldn’t be surprised if he’s found dead one day or just disappears. I’m not being flippant about that either. They want him dead or in jail, America hate him. Might end up in Russia with Snowden...though it’s rough for gay dudes in Putin’s Russia

he’s certainly in a lot more trouble now then before, he’s lost the khashoggi effect for being a Washington post colonist..

 

[ferball]

The amount of stories that are buried because of blackmail..
I know for a fact the Savile story was an open secret but no one would report on it, as it implicates the royals.
People thinking Andrew or Epstein is the only one’s are kidding themselves.

Yep.

Although you can read articles online by kids, well adults now but they were girls under 15 at the time about being groupies to Jimmy Page, David Bowie and other 70s superstars. I even remember seeing an edition of Oz from the UK where the writer, who was respected in Australia twenty years later talks about dropping acid with a fourteen year old and then rooting her. Frankly I wouldn't even bat an eyelid to that if he was a kid at the time but he wasn't. Even John Peel, an absolute legend musically, had a sexual relationship with an underage girl (15/16) at one point.

It was what they called the sexual revolution I spose and historical repressions were being go torn down so boundaries were not what they were or what became again later.

None the less there was a real air of exploitation and control around some of it. The thing in Jersey for example.

Remember Marc Dutroux?

I could even tell you stories about stuff that happened in Melbourne thirty years ago. But I won't. Nothing has changed tho.

 

[ferball]

There’s not many studies on it, but I’d argue that as an investment strategy, throwing $$ at war is one of the most costly exercise compared to material gains.

rather then fighting the Iraq war imagine the US spent however many trillion dollars on infrastructure, they would’ve been able to restructure their economy away from oil to renewable back then and reaping the benefits of a high tech workforce already.

I dunno if I said it upthread but as a general thing I completely agree.

 

[ferball]

He finally gets it..
he should’ve pulled the pin on anything to do with omidyar a long time ago. Btw the intercept still owns the Snowden files, and buried them for political purposes.

All these alternative journos have dodgy connections. They have to, cos it's how they get their stories, but you have to wonder about the long term agendas of the people feeding them the stories.

There is a term in intelligence circles - "useful idiot". Was Greenwald a useful idiot with the Snowden stuff?

 

[DesertRoo]

All these alternative journos have dodgy connections. They have to, cos it's how they get their stories, but you have to wonder about the long term agendas of the people feeding them the stories.

There is a term in intelligence circles - "useful idiot". Was Greenwald a useful idiot with the Snowden stuff?

Cozying up to power, it’s a symbiotic relationship, an education, until you realise you’re turning into a sock puppet.
Then what do you do?

I don’t believe he ever had bad intentions like Luke Harding, well at least his shown more spine, maybe he starting singing Craig David ‘im walking away.’ when he realised what the intercept had become..
Fbi honeytrap, leak to us for a Guantanamo hotel stay.

 

[goalieboy82]

 

[DesertRoo]

Twitter, a place where the advocation of genocide is a topic that needs to be discussed but never corruption against a political nominee..

Muslims had right ‘to kill millions’

Former Malaysian prime minister Mahathir Mohamad said Muslims had a right “to kill millions of French people” after a deadly attack in Nice, sparking widespread anger and prompting Twitter to delete his post.

www.news.com.au