Random Politics Thread

[The Cat]

Those pictures are clean as hell too. No smell of burning flesh, decay, no sounds of screaming, loss and pain. No war crimes going on just outside the light of the fires. Everything that maniac is doing is how 9/11's are born. The pictures are tame to the actual reality of the thing.

 

[Totenkindly]

ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MARGUS TSAHKNA ON X​

"The only obstacle to peace is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's decision to continue his war of aggression. If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine. Estonia's support to Ukraine remains unwavering. Time for Europe to step up."

^^ That brings it into clarity, in a simple statement.

 

[Totenkindly]

RFK Jr. issues rule barring public comment on HHS rulemaking

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. on Friday released a policy prohibiting public comments during his department’s rulemaking process, ending more than 50 years of the public’s involvement in crafting his department’s rules. In the policy statement placed in the Federal...

www.yahoo.com

 

[Virtual ghost]

We know there's been an ongoing war, but the US has been very very sheltered.
Aside from 9/11, we haven't had modern wars laying waste to our own cities.
So I think it's useful to see actual pictures and get a sense of what they are dealing with and what they have lost.

edit: I think it puts it perspective.
Like, can you imagine the grocery down the street where you used to shop, scorched black, beams twisted, and now no longer able to provide food so you wonder where your food is coming from?
Or the gas station where you used to fill your tank, blown up and just rubble?
Or your child's school? Where will they go to school now? Do the kids go to a non-descript building elsewhere to learn?

Now imagine a lot of the area around one, left in this condition, which not only is horrific but also leaves you without available resources. Now even if your house is "safe" you might still need to go elsewhere, because the area doesn't support your needs for actual living.

so then that leads to thinking about the Ukranians, and what they are sacrificing to keep Russia at bay. How they weigh their priorities. What tenacity they need to have, the losses they've had to learn how to carry, etc.

Which leaves me also really pissed off Z had to deal with two pompous fat oafs who have no real idea about sacrifice, loss, and pain and are not currently deprived of anything. And they're trying to either grift or humiliate him, when he's forced to negotiate because his people are in need.

To tell you the truth life in US is as it is mostly because of the fact that you don't have modern wars on your soil. What is the element of the story that is often overlooked. In other words primary goal of having collective healthcare is to prepare for the times when economic activity will not be possible over longer periods of time. In other words this is in order to prepare for the war in your own house. This is especially because with having such system you make sure that you have doctors all over the county. Which will in the case of war treat the wounded troops and civilians on the spot. Plus they will help with prevention of outbreaks. Which are likely to happen when enough of infrastructure is destroyed and poor hygiene becomes the new normal.


While when it comes to "imagine it" part. The truth is that not only I can imagine it, I lived through that as a child (the child just started going to school when the war started). The things is that what is going on is basically a pure/copy paste of Croatian war of independence. Since the central government of Yugoslavia has sent it's red army to prevent Croatia from being independent and democratic country in the 90s. What means that it should have stayed as a part of communist Yugoslavia. They even used the argument "You are imagined fake nation, and Nazis". Since the root of that claim is part of the old Soviet playbook. Which is exactly why we are seeing it used today again. However the parallels don't end here. The western allies made an estimate that Croatia will lose this war in about 10 days. However that didn't happen and in the end the war lasted 4 years with Croatian victory. What in practical sense mean expelling all Yugoslav red army forces out of the country. However this was pretty devastating war, because when red army realized this wouldn't be over in ten days it started to destroy everything in their path to beat the opponent into submission.


However that basically had exactly the opposite effect and the people decided to make genuine collective stand. What is exactly what we are seeing Ukraine right now. Trenches supplied with personal cars, locals hospitals treating the wounded, parts of the country that aren't directly involved are sending everything they have, diaspora sending money or coming home to defend, women making military clothing in various basements .... etc. I mean this really is pure repeat of my own childhood. I mean the current times are in a way supper awkward. We have various anniversaries from our own war that usually to get to be the first in evening news ... and after that you get the newest updates from Ukraine. Same Soviet made tanks, cities in ruins, diplomatic efforts that aren't really working out, .... it really is copy/paste. This is exactly why Ukrainian president can't accept any kind of peace deal (or deal for that matter). Since the nation is doing 24/7 efforts to survive and he as it's leader has to be a team player at home.


Feel free to compare this with the pictures from Ukraine that are few posts up. If you mix both sets it is basically impossible to figure out which is from which war. Advancements in the quality of photography over the decades are perhaps the only hope of figuring out what is what.

 

[The Cat]

Pass it on!
​

 

[The Cat]

Oof​

 

[Totenkindly]

So one of my friends posted this today -- she did a few years in fedgov as HHS OIC DCIO and also Security services over in Treasury -- among other high-level Tech positions for Disney, EA, and now Wal-mart + more.

Not sure what to make of it, but it was interesting... she quoted this article and called it out as a big deal. It will be interesting to see if anything goes down in the next week or two because of it.

edit:

Also, this:
Judge rules head of watchdog agency must keep his job, says Trump’s bid to oust him was unlawful

 

[Red Herring]

We know there's been an ongoing war, but the US has been very very sheltered.
Aside from 9/11, we haven't had modern wars laying waste to our own cities.
So I think it's useful to see actual pictures and get a sense of what they are dealing with and what they have lost.

This has made me want to ask about the news mix the average US citizen is exposed to. What's the ratio of local vs national vs international?

For context, I have just gone to the websites of the most important traditional news media in my country to see what they are covering. This is what you see as you scroll the websites fron top down until you reach sports, entertainment, etc (Headlines in italics are literal translations, everything else my summary on what the headline/article is about.):

Der Spiegel (center to center-left):
- Opinion: Stop crying and take over! (on Europe's role after the oval office deaster)
- mild resistance against Trump among some republicans
- Britain and France working on plan for Ukraine
- What Ukrainians say about the crises
- elections in Hamburg today
- coalition negotiations after federal elections
- more coalition negotiations
- non-political national news
- problems with press freedom in the US
- judge in US decides Trump can't fire head of whistleblower agency
- John Bolton advises chancelor-elect Merz to talk to Trump asap
- Trump makes English official first language in US
- people are selling their Teslas in masses, causing problems for the company
- Israel agrees to US ceasefire extension, Hamas against it

Die Welt (center-right to right):
- opinion: the taboo against cooperating with the far-right gives the left an unfair negotiation advantage in coalition negotiations
- what the Greens should do now that they lost votes
- what the FDP should do now that they lost votes
- Britain and France working on plan for Ukraine
- Trump makes English official first language in US
- retired SPD politician Sigmar Gabriel: "To the US president peace seems to mean handing over Ukraine to Putin"
- majority of Germans want a CDU-SPD coalition
- Lifestream Ukraine summit in London
- opinion: protesters against CDU-AfD cooperation suck
- more on Britain and France regarding Ukraine
- opinion: Europe has a lot of trumping cards on its hands, it just needs to play them
- opinion: it is madness that the German government is actively flying people from Afghanistan into safety in Germany
- opinion: "our country can't afford it" - young entrepreneurs want to do away with almost all government administrators

Die Zeit (center-left):
- elections in Hamburg today
- Britain and France working on plan for Ukraine
- frozen Russian assets could be used to finance Ukraine
- protests in front of Tesla stores in US
- opinion: Europe is f*cked!
- John Bolton on America's "day of shame"
- summit of Western leaders in London talk about Ukraine
- Trump makes English official first language in US
- egg prices in the US
- non-political news
- current frontline development in Ukraine
- Israel stops entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza
- interview with a millionaire on wealth inequality in Germany
- opinion: exiled Turkish journalist warns against the dangers of the far-right
- more non-political news

Frankfurter Allgemeine (center-right):
- Bread and games, made in USA - Trump's perverse demonstration of power
- Britain and France working on plan for Ukraine
- Is Trump turning his back on Poland?
- The enormous task ahead of the UK prime minister
- Republican reactions to the oval office desaster: If Trump says it is must be true
- How anti-fascist is the Left party really?
- How the state of Hesse could benefit from the coalition negotiations
- Israel stops entry of humanitarian supplies into Gaza
- non-political news
- more opinions on how desasterous the oval office thing is and how Merz and the EU now need to get their sh*t together asap

Taz (left):
- Keir Starmer receives leaders in London
- opinion: The US are no longer a partner
- more in Zelensky
- elections in Hamburg today
- mistreatment of Israeli hostages and their relatives by Hamas
- opinion: the future of AI is unpredictable
- opinion: the Green's attempt to build bridged is useless if the right keeps attacking them
- more on how Trump, Vance and the oligarchy basically screw everybody else to their own advantage

Pretty intense coverage of US topics, but then again there has been big news from Washington. I have also checked The New York Times and The Washington Post and their coverage seems actually pretty similar to standard German newspapers, so I would say that most German newspapers with national reach look roughly like those two.

Our newschannels tend to offer similar coverage. They are mostly publically funded and trying to be non-partisan. Speaking of which, I normally don't watch this stuff, but yesterday I switched to CGTN (Chinese international news channel) to get the official Beijing spin on things. They normally try to appear neutral and their propaganda is much more subtle than Russia's. However, it was clear that a worsening of relations between Europe and the US is very much in China's interest.

 

[The Cat]

 

[Virtual ghost]

‘Europe is on its own’ after Trump-Zelenskyy clash, EPP’s Weber says


When you sum it all up at the end of the day this is quite possibly the most powerful political figure In Europe right now. Therefore his words evidently have weight when it comes to what will actually happen.

 

[Totenkindly]

This has made me want to ask about the news mix the average US citizen is exposed to. What's the ratio of local vs national vs international?

I will try to give you a rundown when I have time, but up front I think our news here is frankly really haphazard. I'm not really sure what the mix is of print news (papers and mags), cable TV, and then websites and maybe even podcasts now for an average person, or (probably better) what the average person of different race, age, and geographical locations is.

We have a wide range of people in the US and I am familiar with what I (college-educated, decently read, and wanting to find a "fair" picture) look at, but I know my reading probably isn't even as broad due to the need to continually invest in triangulating news and being exposed to new sources.

What seems to happen here is that people gravitate towards news outlets that already align with their thinking, which I don't think is good. We seemed to have made a huge shift towards "opinion/editorial" news here, not actual regular "neutral" news although we have AP and Reuters and similar orgs still out there.

I remember first running into this in the early 90's whenever Fox News started taking off and for some reason it was like everyone in my blue collar low-education rural area of PA seemed to be fixated on Fox as their own source of news and listening to Rush Limbaugh and all of those nuts as their source of political truth. I don't know if similar things happened in liberal areas of the country with liberal news channels.

We also have stupid online things that masquerade as news feeds (like Twitter and Facebook) but those are blatantly curated -- it is pulling in stuff you have followed or that your friends (who you curate) are following. You're not going to see balanced views of news there. Likewise, there's a Yahoo feed I like to skim that pulls in articles over a variety of sources (Fox, NBC, Business Insider, NTY, WP, CNN, Forbes, etc.) but again it is curated for you based on what you've clicked on previously so who knows what you are seeing in terms of a full picture?

I really don't know how hard the average person here tries to actually "get balanced news," or whether they even have time with all of this insanity going on. Plus you have multiple levels of news (local, state, national, international) which is quite a bit of news and easy to feel overwhelmed by unless you are dedicated. I think people mostly obsess over local and national news, with maybe some state thrown in and occasional international if a story is big enough.

Interestingly, my mom (who is really bad at understanding news and have a right-wing lean) told me she saw the Trump-Z talk that imploded on Friday and how it was really embarrassing and Trump was terrible, including how he is supporting Russia in all this mess and how wrong this is. She did say she thought Z should have had an interpreter to be better understood, because she thought he wasn't being clear enough and maybe that's why Trump/Vance were saying what they said (although she proceeded to accurately tell me what Z was trying to say -- my very unsophisticated mom!), and I said, "Mom, if you were able to figure it out as he was talking without an issue, then it wasn't the lack of a translator -- this is the US government, they have all the resources and should also understand all the nuances of a diplomatic situation, these are supposed to be the professionals! -- it was because either they are completely inept at their roles and shouldn't be there at all, or they were purposefully trying to humiliate and bully Ukraine on the national and world stage."

I say that to say that even my mom, who I think still is watching Fox News and also lives in a conservative area and represents the Christian vote, is recognizing Trump's behavior as terrible. I mean, she is 82, so she grew up with a government and national news orgs that tried to lead on the world stage at least, so this is shocking for her to see. But I wonder if the walls are cracking for Trump when even people like her are realizing how awful and dangerous he is.

 

[The Cat]

Trump Shit on a Hero to kiss the ass of a Dictator.​

 

[Virtual ghost]

Ukraine: European leaders agree to boost defense spending

Things are progressing pretty fast.
Since there just aren't any meaningful alternatives.

 

[Coriolis]

Have people seen this here yet?

North Korea steals $1.5bn as it pulls off world’s biggest ever heist

Rogue state could fund military with crypto cash plundered in Bybit hack

www.telegraph.co.uk

I tried, but looks like it is behind a paywall.

ESTONIAN FOREIGN MINISTER MARGUS TSAHKNA ON X​

"The only obstacle to peace is (Russian President Vladimir) Putin's decision to continue his war of aggression. If Russia stops fighting, there will be no war. If Ukraine stops fighting, there will be no Ukraine. Estonia's support to Ukraine remains unwavering. Time for Europe to step up."

^^ That brings it into clarity, in a simple statement.

Exactly. I was concerned that when Zelenskyy came here, he would be pressured into signing a deal that was bad for Ukraine, while giving political points to Trump and Putin. As horrible as that meeting went, I think Z actually came out ahead. He signed nothing, and showed the world on live TV how self-serving and duplicitous Trump and Vance are. Any illusions about the US stance should be completely dispelled, both among Ukrainian leadership, and throughout the world. It was encouraging to see how quickly nearly all European leaders rushed to support Z and Ukraine. Let them sign a minerals agreement with the European Union, and stand together against Russian aggression. Belle is right on the money when she observes that Trump is the one flirting with WWIII, which would if anything take the pressure off of Ukraine to fight Russia single handed.

To tell you the truth life in US is as it is mostly because of the fact that you don't have modern wars on your soil. What is the element of the story that is often overlooked. In other words primary goal of having collective healthcare is to prepare for the times when economic activity will not be possible over longer periods of time. In other words this is in order to prepare for the war in your own house. This is especially because with having such system you make sure that you have doctors all over the county. Which will in the case of war treat the wounded troops and civilians on the spot. Plus they will help with prevention of outbreaks. Which are likely to happen when enough of infrastructure is destroyed and poor hygiene becomes the new normal.

Well, yes - the ocean has insulated us from direct attack in more recent wars, with the exception of the attack on Pearl Harbor, now before the time of our oldest politicians. Our own bloody civil war is even further removed. Still, our nation came into being through revolt against a colonial power which made various impositions on the early pre-Americans. The Ukrainians have the spirit of our colonial Minutemen, and Washington's embattled continental army. We should have more sympathy and be better able to identify with another nation's struggle for independence and sovereignty. Shame on us that we do not.

 

[Red Herring]

Canada PM Trudeau says protecting independence is his priority in talks with King Charles

Who had "Canada, a Commonwealth nation and a NATO member, tells king about serious concerns about an invasion and annexation by the US" on their 2025 bingo card?

 

[The Cat]

 

[ceecee]

Have people seen this here yet?

North Korea steals $1.5bn as it pulls off world’s biggest ever heist

Rogue state could fund military with crypto cash plundered in Bybit hack

www.telegraph.co.uk

Here's some actual info on NK. They've been stealing crypto for some time. How do you think they've funded their military all this time?

 

[Red Herring]

A few hours ago somebody drove a car into a crowd in Mannheim, killing two and injuring several others. Yet again. I am so tired of this.

This time around the arrested suspect is a German (so probably some sort of far-right conspiracy motive and/or serious mental health issues, I guess).

For months now the news has been knife, car, knife, car, islamist, nazi, islamist, nazi. And these guys probably all inspire each other. Some sort of trend going viral...

What they all have in common is that they are angry mentally unstable males with an axe to grinde, usually radicalized online.

 

[Red Herring]

The thing is, I know the street where this happened. I have been there many times. I have a friend who lives in Mannheim. And yet this emotionally barely registers. I am just feeling tired and exhausted.

I am also tired of having to think "at least the perpetrator isn't a refugee again" every time a German kills people just because every idiotic murder by some Syrian or Afghan leads to even more votes for the AfD. So tired of this bullshit.

 

[ceecee]

A few hours ago somebody drove a car into a crowd in Mannheim, killing two and injuring several others. Yet again. I am so tired of this.

This time around the arrested suspect is a German (so probably some sort of far-right conspiracy motive and/or serious mental health issues, I guess).

For months now the news has been knife, car, knife, car, islamist, nazi, islamist, nazi. And these guys probably all inspire each other. Some sort of trend going viral...

What they all have in common is that they are angry mentally unstable males with an axe to grinde, usually radicalized online.

I mean the Christmas market guy was a Saudi who hated Muslims and was an anti-immigrant AfD fan. That's so fucked up anything can be true.