Random Politics Thread

[Totenkindly]

UnitedHealthcare Tells Employees to 'Shut Up'

Accusations against slain CEO Brian Thompson are part of the story. Media should cover it.

open.substack.com

 

[The Cat]

"Police have not said where these photos are taken."
I'll just bet.
Ive been watching this and thinking about surveillance states as the investigation and coverage rolls on.
Feels like a not so subtle message in subtext.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Final house seat is finally called: CA 13


D: 105 554
R: 105 367


What makes it 220:215 majority for R.
Very slim majority.

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

It's hard to say with Trump. Does he actually have some sort of cunning strategy (he might at times when it comes to manipulating people) or does he just pull things out of his ass and throw them at the wall to see what sticks?

Like his whole plan to fix every economic woe is "tariffs". It won't work, but he'll just react to fires as they pop up I suspect (i.e. tariffs go up, tariffs go down, tariffs go away on some things, not on others, some countries yes, some countries no. etc. etc.)

Van_Der_Beak's law: Whenever someone speculates that someone's baffling moves are just "7D chess", or defends an action by saying "you don't understand, they're playing 7D chess", this is always incorrect. Humans cannot play 7D chess. Until we figure out how to create mentats, this will always be the case. People just don't think that way. The simplest explanation is the correct one.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Europe in the line of fire as Trump threatens trade war with China


I think that you guys are kinda skipping the big picture.
What is actually coming is major trade war between US and China. What basically by default means the end of the world as we know it. Especially since there can be room for only one at the top and therefore this will have to be sorted out directly as it seems. What then means that EU as the world's 3rd largest economy will have to pick a side. Therefore due to culture, trade and history it is evident that it will pick US. That will be financially painful but black and white answer will be required on the issue. In a sense this is one of the reasons why Trump is thus far fairly low on trade threats towards Europe. The other one is probably because Europe is going right faster than US is. My national hard right loves the guy for quite some time. However now even center right conservatives are sending approval signs. What in combinations with fast rise in military spending, mess in Ukraine, pulling brakes in green deal and already escalating trade war between China and EU means that EU will side with Trump is this dispute. Especially since strong trade barriers of US mean that huge amount of goods from China should flood EU (double dosage in a sense). Therefore EU will have to pull the same trade moves as US to keep itself together in economic sense.

However China lives out of mass exports into developed countries. What means that all of this leads into severe disruptions in their economy. But how exactly will they react to all this is unclear. If things get dire they will probably react with pure force before their strength fades out. After all pretty much all of their allies are in need of hard power aid at this point. For me it isn't the first time that the politics is going after economic order and from experience I can say that politics can change the order if it goes far enough. Sure, there will be collateral damage but the same can be said about existing order.


Therefore my point is "buckle up guys", because we are going on the ride of our lives (literally).

 

[Virtual ghost]

Dear westerners, watch and learn. When you have massive election interference this is how you sort that one until things get cleaned.

Romanian court cancels presidential election amid Russian influence fears

Romania: Top court annuls presidential election results



:sarcasm:

 

[SensEye]

Dear westerners, watch and learn. When you have massive election interference this is how you sort that one until things get cleaned.

Romanian court cancels presidential election amid Russian influence fears

Romania: Top court annuls presidential election results



:sarcasm:

This is going to be Romania's problem. The "election interference" issue seems to be this:

Romanian authorities declassified intelligence on Wednesday alleging "aggressive hybrid Russian attacks," saying there were coordinated campaigns on influential accounts on TikTok and Telegram to promote Georgescu.

They can try (and maybe succeed) to block these coordinated campaigns. That's treating the symptom not the disease. The disease is people are too stupid to realize 90% of what they get off social media is complete garbage. Alas, there ain't no cure for stupid. Until people realize they need to be able to use their own brains to disseminate fact from fiction, all bets are off. I fear that is to high a mountain for the average citizen to climb.

 

[Virtual ghost]

This is going to be Romania's problem. The "election interference" issue seems to be this:

Romanian authorities declassified intelligence on Wednesday alleging "aggressive hybrid Russian attacks," saying there were coordinated campaigns on influential accounts on TikTok and Telegram to promote Georgescu.

They can try (and maybe succeed) to block these coordinated campaigns. That's treating the symptom not the disease. The disease is people are too stupid to realize 90% of what they get off social media is complete garbage. Alas, there ain't no cure for stupid. Until people realize they need to be able to use their own brains to disseminate fact from fiction, all bets are off. I fear that is to high a mountain for the average citizen to climb.

This is basically why I added that :sarcasm: into the post.
Democracy at the end of the day can't survive stupidity.

But yes, in repeated elections this shouldn't run this much out of control. However the fact is that half of the country didn't even care to vote. What is worthy of alarm on it's own. After all Romania at this point has the lowest possible level of democracy. If things get worse the country will enter the hybrid regime classification. However you really need Romania if you want to keep Ukraine (or Moldova for that matter). Without Romania as it is now Ukraine is 90% surrounded by Russian influence. The only thing that will be left is that fairly short border with Poland and that is it. In other words this is why Russians want more influence in Romania. What they did wasn't random.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

This is basically why I added that :sarcasm: into the post.
Democracy at the end of the day can't survive stupidity.

But yes, in repeated elections this shouldn't run this much out of control. However the fact is that half of the country didn't even care to vote. What is worthy of alarm on it's own. After all Romania at this point has the lowest possible level of democracy. If things get worse the country will enter the hybrid regime classification. However you really need Romania if you want to keep Ukraine (or Moldova for that matter). Without Romania as it is now Ukraine is 90% surrounded by Russian influence. The only thing that will be left is that fairly short border with Poland and that is it. In other words this is why Russians want more influence in Romania. What they did wasn't random.

But to be honest even this is missing the big picture.
The key problem in all of this is that Romania has similar problems as the rest of central Europe. Which is that legacy of USSR was never fully undone. As a matter of fact until the war Russia still invested plenty into those places. There is also plenty of pro Russian press and blaming it all on social media is kinda missing some major parts of the story. Actually until the war most of the energy was coming from Russia. While people who had better intellectual skills and are educated moved into the western Europe. Since EU is basically a country at this point and you can live where ever you want if you can afford it. While in the west those young people can earn much more than in Romania, so they moved. What in sense left behind less educated and older populations that were formed as people before the Berlin wall came down. What means that at this point most of Romania is pretty rural with not that great standard of living. While good chunk of the industry that they had collapsed at one point. In a sense you can compare the place to Appalachia, since that is kinda similar regional story. What in the end means that many there are grasping for the straws to get by. Plus it is worth saying that Romanians are pretty pissed since some west European nations voted against them joining the the free passage Schengen zone (what is pretty big deal). In other words getting rejected never sits too well with most people (especially if the logic behind it is fishy).


Therefore this is the real reason why the place is actually vulnerable to all kinds of populism. The problem is going much much deeper than social media and all the crap on it.

 

[SensEye]

This kind of thing is about Trump voters potentially experiencing the old: it's just what we asked for but not what we want cliche.

Could be just another Trump trial balloon though. Float it out there and if there is too much blow back, say he never meant it, he was just spit balling, whatever.

 

[The Cat]

​

 

[Lark]

Does anyone think that something sinister is going to come out about Tom Hanks?

I heard a podcast about this recently, speculation on this point I mean, it mentioned some parties he had gone to with Bill Clinton and how these are now considered shady affairs.

I'd be kind of disappointed if it where the case, I would really like it if hollywood was not entirely a terrible place full or terrible people with terrible political connections.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

US court upholds law ordering sale of TikTok

 

[ceecee]

Does anyone think that something sinister is going to come out about Tom Hanks?

I heard a podcast about this recently, speculation on this point I mean, it mentioned some parties he had gone to with Bill Clinton and how these are now considered shady affairs.

I'd be kind of disappointed if it where the case, I would really like it if hollywood was not entirely a terrible place full or terrible people with terrible political connections.

You listened to a podcast that needs an audience to remain relevant so they say something vague without much in the way of specifics about events that may or may not have happened decades ago.

I don't even want to know why you find Hollywood a terrible place with terrible people and terrible political connections (this is all true but I suspect your issue has more to do with sexuality than anything else) . It's not a secret Bill Clinton hung out with Jeffery Epstein but so did Trump and all kinds of other recognizable people. Is this a crime? Is this a party that shady people invited shady people to and some celebrities so it can end up getting talked about on reality TV and society websites.

So no I don't think anything sinister is going to come out about Tom Hanks but since Covid, the right has had a real obsession with him, especially QAnon. And if that's the type of podcast you were listening to, here's your warning.

How the “Nicest Guy in Hollywood” Became QAnon’s Biggest Target

The guy's probably not a demon, but we could be in for a Tom Hanks reckoning.

slate.com

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and a QAnon conspiracy theory

Rumour the actor has been executed not dampened by incident outside Manhattan restaurant

theweek.com

What is Adrenochrome used for and why are conspiracy theorists obsessed with it?

Adrenochrome has been mentioned heavily across social media as QAnon’s bizarre conspiracies become spoken about more and more. With the unexpected box office hit The Sound of Freedom, the adrenochrome conspiracy has become part of mainstream conversations.The chemical compound was the subject of...

www.indy100.com

 

[Lark]

You listened to a podcast that needs an audience to remain relevant so they say something vague without much in the way of specifics about events that may or may not have happened decades ago.

I don't even want to know why you find Hollywood a terrible place with terrible people and terrible political connections (this is all true but I suspect your issue has more to do with sexuality than anything else) . It's not a secret Bill Clinton hung out with Jeffery Epstein but so did Trump and all kinds of other recognizable people. Is this a crime? Is this a party that shady people invited shady people to and some celebrities so it can end up getting talked about on reality TV and society websites.

So no I don't think anything sinister is going to come out about Tom Hanks but since Covid, the right has had a real obsession with him, especially QAnon. And if that's the type of podcast you were listening to, here's your warning.

How the “Nicest Guy in Hollywood” Became QAnon’s Biggest Target

The guy's probably not a demon, but we could be in for a Tom Hanks reckoning.

slate.com

Tom Hanks, Rita Wilson and a QAnon conspiracy theory

Rumour the actor has been executed not dampened by incident outside Manhattan restaurant

theweek.com

What is Adrenochrome used for and why are conspiracy theorists obsessed with it?

Adrenochrome has been mentioned heavily across social media as QAnon’s bizarre conspiracies become spoken about more and more. With the unexpected box office hit The Sound of Freedom, the adrenochrome conspiracy has become part of mainstream conversations.The chemical compound was the subject of...

www.indy100.com

Charming.

 

[The Cat]

Whoops.​

 

[Julius_Van_Der_Beak]

Rupert Murdoch loses battle to control succession to his media empire​

 

[ygolo]

Can’t Find A Job? Here’s What You Need To Know

Still can't find a job? Learn how competition, ghost jobs, and hiring scams impact your search and discover actionable steps to improve your chances of getting hired.

www.forbes.com