Re: The Bigger, Badder, Even More Serious Thread

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ I see Israel are about to embark on another international crime spree annexing Palestian land. Witht efull support of Trump and his joke of a 'peace plan' which just hands Israel everything. }}

'50 UN human rights experts have condemned Israel's plan to annex parts of the occupied West Bank, calling it a "vision of a 21st Century apartheid".
"The annexation of occupied territory is a serious violation of the Charter of the United Nations and the Geneva Conventions, and contrary to the fundamental rule affirmed many times by the United Nations Security Council and General Assembly that the acquisition of territory by war or force is inadmissible."
They added that the Israeli occupation was already a "source of profound human rights violations against the Palestinian people", and that they "would only intensify after annexation".

"Israel has recently promised that it will maintain permanent security control between the Mediterranean and the Jordan River. Thus, the morning after annexation would be the crystallisation of an already unjust reality: two peoples living in the same space, ruled by the same state, but with profoundly unequal rights. This is a vision of a 21st Century apartheid."

So thats the US now- giving the green light to breaking international laws left right and centre. So much for the law and order President. Fucking criminal.
Is he and the rest of the Republican Israel loiving party too stupid to realise this gives the green light to Russia to annexe even more of Ukraine and China to take what they want?
Putting aside its unfair, cruel, brutal and will lead to many Palestinian deaths what Israel is about to do with US blessing and backing, it destroys any hope of international law prevailing to.
Sorry America but these days, I fucking hate your country. Its a source of evil and divisiviness in the world where once it was a beacon of hope, as country Trump has made it sick to the core.
And whats reallty worrying is that it appears most Amercians cant veen see it and will relect this international calamity and disater again.}}}}

[halfwise]

America has actually had an extremely lax policy regarding Israel since the beginning: vetoing every complaint the UN security council has brought against it. Trump is just loosening it even more. I believe the thinking is that Israel is the only pro-American country and democracy in the middle east, which I don't buy because the US and Saudi Arabia have been smooching in the back seat for nearly as long.

So though I agree Trump has made things worse, US-Israel policy has never been a bright spot. It's one of the many reasons why the US has always been condemned in the middle east. The other biggy is the realpolitik of propping up dictators. America excels at that.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ America has never been good true, but at least in the past there was some attempt to create a compromise situation, to search for a tw-o-state solution, there is no compromise here its just agreen light for Israel to go in with force, steal all the land and the homes of Palestinians and put jewish families in them. Its a clear war crime, plain and simple. Equal to Putins invasion of Ukraine, worse as at least there a lot of the Ukraininans in that area self identified as Russian. No one in Palestinian terority is self identifying as Jewish. Its just a brutal illegal land grab.
No previous US President has gone even close to this far in green lighting such aggression and law breaking. Let alone actively supporting the breaking of international law.}}

[Pettytyrant101]

[Mrs Figg]

The woke wankers are now attacking Starmer because he called the BLM movment a 'moment'. The twitter twaterati Thought Police are out in force.

[Mrs Figg]

Is Pie the only person in the country who speaks the truth?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ It is getting very worrying. Especially when folk are being tageted for things they said or did years ago when societal norms may have been different.
And current ideas of morality in public life will change again in time too, it always does. Morality moves.
Homosexuality as been accepted and denied in equal measure throughout human societies and history. As have trans folk. The status of women has fluctauted from rulers, goddessess and High Priestess to little more than slave, over and over. Hell that moral scale still exists concurrently for women right now on this planet as we speak, and dependent where on the surface of this rock you are born. There is no norm. There is just ever shifting societal norms.
The task therefore is to preserve the history of who we are and where we've been, so as to better judge where to go.
And you cant do that by closing down opinions you dont like refusing to listen to counter arguments, wiping out historical records because you dont agree with what the people of the past believed.
Contextualise yes, put statues in musuems, or provide all the facts on site for folk to judge for themselves how they feel.
You cant purge human darkness unless you first shine a light on it. And you cant confront it if its never allowed to be heard or seen.
Making stuff so that people are too scared to speak their true thoughts doesnt remove those thoughts, it makes them more dangerous, powerful and certaiin.
Thats why every time a religion is put under threat, made illegal, persecuted, its followers only grow firmer and more determined.
You dont beat a racist by hiding them away, you do it by publicly and clearly winning the argument.
You contrast facts, human compassion and humility, and the need for always better understanding against muddled thinking, misunderstood ideas driven by unassociated angers and fears. You expose it for what it is, for all to see.
Silencing folk, destroying historical knowledge, that wont help anything. It'll make it worse. And it turns the peole fighting for freedoms and rights into those who will then deny them for all others.}}

[Lancebloke]

Petty.... I completely agree with that last post!

No matter how vile someone's thought process may seem to you, it seems right to them and shutting it down tends to make them a martyr to the cause, creates underground echo chambers and results in a more confident and determined set of people longer term.

The only time it is OK to take someone out of the equation is if there is a genuine, evidence based threat to life.

I am also very much of the opinion that free will is not a thing either. People we make decisions and have thoughts based on their own genetics and the experiences that have helped shaped their brains. You can't just tell someone a thought or action is wrong if they have been told it is right (and with reasons why) all their life.

[Mrs Figg]

100% agree Petty. I have been particularly appalled by the treatment of JK Rowling. But then Twitter is a cess-pit, its probably wiser to ignore it.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ You about Dave? Need Trump fact checked by a farmer- just watched his press conference in which he said that thanks to him 'Farmers are doing very well, very well' and China is buying more stuff from US farmers than ever before.

Are you and your fellow farmers doing very well and selling to China? }}

[Mrs Figg]

Cant wait for the Russia report to come out next week. Gonna get my popcorn ready.    

btw can we have a popcorn munching emoticon please. it is going to come in handy, what with Brexit.

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Might need to order extra popcorn Figg, we might also get the long delayed report into bullying by Home Sec. Pretti Patel. }}

[Mrs Figg]

 I think that Julian Lewis may just publish everything he can. Talk about shooting themselves in the foot, Johnson and his cronies are idjits. fancy expelling him and then expecting loyalty.

I hope there are some PMQs and Starmer can get stuck in, but I think they are on their hols now?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Theres been a lot of movement recently in the US inparticular admitting that they have tracked UFO's and dont know what they are.
Now the New York Times is carrying this story implying we have alien materials-

'Mr. Elizondo is among a small group of former government officials and scientists with security clearances who, without presenting physical proof, say they are convinced that objects of undetermined origin have crashed on earth with materials retrieved for study...Eric W. Davis, an astrophysicist who worked as a subcontractor and then a consultant for the Pentagon U.F.O. program since 2007, said that, in some cases, examination of the materials had so far failed to determine their source and led him to conclude, “We couldn’t make it ourselves.”
The constraints on discussing classified programs — and the ambiguity of information cited in unclassified slides from the briefings — have put officials who have studied U.F.O.s in the position of stating their views without presenting any hard evidence.
Mr. Davis, who now works for Aerospace Corporation, a defense contractor, said he gave a classified briefing to a Defense Department agency as recently as March about retrievals from “off-world vehicles not made on this earth.”
Mr. Davis said he also gave classified briefings on retrievals of unexplained objects to staff members of the Senate Armed Services Committee on Oct. 21, 2019, and to staff members of the Senate Intelligence Committee two days later.- New York Times

Things are sounding interesting! }}

[halfwise]

Until it gets passed around and confirmed some more I won't get excited. To many false leads over the decades, and too big a story to keep getting worked up about. That way is the path to exhaustion.

[Mrs Figg]

But still....exciting

[malickfan]

There's been a terrorist attack (or more accurately it seems a serious of linked attacks) in Vienna, Austria, the situation is ongoing:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-54786952

Seeing reports on twitter that there may be an ongoing hostage situation and/or a suicide bombing as well.

Definitely remiscent of the 2015 attacks in Paris

Worth noting that Austria is going into lockdown tomorrow.

   

[halfwise]

Well that's really unclear reporting. One attacker had died but no mention of victims? Was the attacker shot by police then? I suppose getting a story out in a timely fashion is worth something but this may cause more confusion than news.

[halfwise]

Slightly more information from a slightly later report:

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/11/02/world/europe/vienna-austria-attack-shooter.html

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Ill just leave this here for everyone to worry over! }}

The French armed forces have been given the go-ahead to start research on developing "enhanced soldiers".
A report laid out conditions under which work on implants and other technologies designed to improve battlefield performance should be carried out in the future.
The report stresses that other nations are exploring such possibilities, and that France must keep up.
"Human beings have long sought ways to increase their physical or cognitive abilities in order to fight wars," it warned. "Possible advances could ultimately lead to capacity enhancements being introduced into soldiers' bodies."- BBC News

[Mrs Figg]

Robocops?

[Pettytyrant101]

{{ Im not sure if youre not British what the Royals represent is immediately apparent.

In modern Britain they are most importantly the figureheads. They are our Head of State.
But unlike most other countries heads of state as they are not politically affilated they are seperate in the publics mind from politicians. This is very useful in how modern Royalty functions as the public representation.
When Wills and Kate go to a hospital to personally thank the NHS workers, its not two rich folk with fancy titles doing it, they thank them on behalf of the nation. They are the literal embodiement of the thanks of every single person in the land, regardless of everyones political leanings, clean of anything but the pure thanks and gratitude of a nation. Thats who says thankyou to a key worker.
The two people standing delivering the message are just the ciphers of the people.

The function of a Royal is to be the reflection of the public mood and the public expression of it.

This is why after Dianas death the Queens response, completely in line with historic precident and in line with previous public moods, to have a stiff upper lip, not show too much emotion in public proved disatrous. The public mood didnt want that from their Royals anymore, Diana changed that, they wanted their Royals to reflect to the world the mood of the people.

Diana had been a master of talking to the public, turning up at hospitals unannounced and in secret to thank workers and talk to staff (she was also a master of the media, suprising on these secret visits how often someone got a photograph of her doing it for a tabloid in a time before cameras on phones). But she earned the title the press gave her of the 'Peoples Princess.' And she died before she could completely ruin it.
And so she set the mould to be followed since by her children. In public the Royals represent the people. The people at their best. The best of British- compassion, inginuity, tolerance all the good stuff about us.
Thats the job to reflect the sentiments of the people.

And thats where Harry has hit the rails with the public. He is representing our worst traits; lack of sense of duty, lack of loyalty to family, profiting of his name and title, selfishness and endless complaining and pity me diatribes.

Right now Wills and Kate reflect that best of British, speak and represent the face of Britain to the world and also back to ourselves.
Harry and Megan refect the worst British traits and reflect that back at ourselves and to the world too. And because of how Royalty works as a reflection of public mood thats just not ever going to be a popular move to make. }}

[Mrs Figg]

It also reflects the current obsession about everything being about race. The nauseating victim mentality of these two multi-millionaires whining about privacy and her being a victim while living in a remote protected palace in Canada or wherever it is. They stick their necks out to whinge and wonder why they are attacked. if they were silent and dignified and did some actual work for once we would probably still respect them. The British press attacks everyone, its not personal, its not all about them and certainly not about her race. Its about them being ungrateful spongers.

You know, while nurses are getting a 1% 'payrise' after all they have gone through. That's what having a hard life really means.

[Lancebloke]

I haven't seen the interview yet.

The only thing I would say is that Harry didn't have a choice to be born in to the responsibility and circumstance that he was. If he doesn't want to be thay person then he should not be forced to.

I dont know what to think about Meghan and I am not going to try a guess her personal agenda, but she also has a right to be her own person and has a right to tell her side of a story.

None if us really sees what goes on behind the closed doors of our neighbours let alone a protected royal household so I wouldn't believe the shit thay comes out from papers that a very, very regularly proven wrong and often proven to have their own agenda.

[halfwise]

I didn't think I'd watch more than 20 minutes of the interview, but it pulled me right along. They had nothing but kind words to say about the Royal family; the complaint was about the support system. It seems addressing incorrect media stories is beneath the dignity of the Royals, so you'll rarely find out if things are true or not.

The one story I wanted to hear about Oprah never brought up: if Meghan was over-demanding of her staff. It seems there are very different standards expected of royal staff versus US celebrity staff.