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Author Topic: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022  (Read 753123 times)

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6735 on: May 12, 2022, 03:12:52 PM »
Give them time.

Werd ich zum Augenblicke sagen, "Verweile doch! Du bist so schön..."

Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6736 on: May 13, 2022, 11:14:36 AM »

I'm having one of my spells.

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6737 on: May 13, 2022, 07:23:23 PM »


Oh look! Something for the Supreme Court to quote about abortion.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6738 on: May 13, 2022, 07:24:43 PM »
There's good reason to worry about what is happening in elections in the United States...and it doesn't involve conspiracy theories:

https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-breaches/
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6739 on: May 13, 2022, 08:30:13 PM »
Oh look! Something for the Supreme Court to quote about abortion.

God, I would never want to supply them with any help!

Offline Lyle (Mooska)

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6740 on: May 14, 2022, 09:37:56 AM »
There's good reason to worry about what is happening in elections in the United States...and it doesn't involve conspiracy theories:
https://www.reuters.com/investigates/special-report/usa-election-breaches/

Well, in a way it does, as it seems most of the people involved in the election breaches believe in them.

That was a longer article than I'd thought it might be; worrying in itself. And it seems all the money Mike Lindell's made on his pillows is going to fund a lot of this. Why can't he be federally charged with something.

And perhaps the strangest thing in that article is the photo of a billboard with the slogan: EAT MEAT. Vote Republican.

I read this April article in The Atlantic:

WHY THE PAST 10 YEARS OF AMERICAN LIFE HAVE BEEN UNIQUELY STUPID
It’s not just a phase.
by Jonathan Haidt | The Atlantic

It's quite illuminating, but: It's not pretty.

https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2022/05/social-media-democracy-trust-babel/629369/

Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6741 on: May 16, 2022, 07:25:07 AM »
I've been reading an article in the May 9 New Yorker that's a first-hand account of the work of volunteer medics in Ukraine, and it includes a description of conditions in Bucha after the Russians pulled out. It's horrifying and terrifying. Apparently some of those Russian troops are just teenagers.

When I read the accounts of survivors, I kept thinking of Kyle Rittenhouse, and I think nobody should kid themselves that it can't happen here. We've had one civil war; I see no reason why another isn't possible, given the state of our politics (and the talk I hear from right-wing candidates for senator from and governor of Pennsylvania). Give a bunch of teenage boys automatic weapons, add beer and hard liquor, and you can have another Bucha.

They probably thought it was fun to shoot old people in the head. I bet they even laughed.

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6742 on: May 16, 2022, 07:30:38 PM »
Who boy...I thought the "Hillbilly Elegy" stuff was toxic:

“We are going to break up the big tech companies, ladies and gentlemen. We have to do it,” J.D. Vance hollered at a rally for Donald Trump in Ohio last weekend. “You cannot have a real country if a bunch of corrupt scumbags who take their marching orders from the Communist Chinese tell us what we’re allowed to say and how we’re allowed to say it.”

https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/29/opinion/jd-vance-senate.html?action=click&module=RelatedLinks&pgtype=Article
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline fritzkep

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6743 on: May 16, 2022, 08:52:10 PM »
What he's advocating is reminiscent of the Great Simplification that happened after the first nuclear holocaust in A Canticle for Leibowitz.

https://www.shmoop.com/study-guides/literature/a-canticle-for-leibowitz/analysis/simplification

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Offline Jeff Wrangler

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6744 on: May 17, 2022, 06:38:36 AM »
“We are going to break up the big tech companies, ladies and gentlemen. We have to do it,” J.D. Vance hollered at a rally for Donald Trump in Ohio last weekend. “You cannot have a real country if a bunch of corrupt scumbags who take their marching orders from the Communist Chinese tell us what we’re allowed to say and how we’re allowed to say it.”

In other words, you need to be allowed to spout any kind of conspiracy and racism and violence advocacy you want.

Incidentally, today is the Pennsylvania primary election, and the racism and Trumpism being spouted by all the candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor or U.S. senator are truly frightening.

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2021
« Reply #6745 on: May 17, 2022, 01:26:01 PM »
In other words, you need to be allowed to spout any kind of conspiracy and racism and violence advocacy you want.

Incidentally, today is the Pennsylvania primary election, and the racism and Trumpism being spouted by all the candidates vying for the Republican nomination for governor or U.S. senator are truly frightening.


Barnette is a total loon.
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline michaelflanagansf

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022
« Reply #6746 on: May 17, 2022, 07:11:40 PM »
I hope no one minds that I asked Chuck to change the name to include 2022.

And I'll just say that I am not gay shaming Madison (so there Clay) but I do hope he gets to go home and spend more time with his cousin.

https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/davidmack/madison-cawthorn-attacks-anti-gay-democrats
Unlimited tolerance must lead to the disappearance of tolerance. If we extend unlimited tolerance even to those who are intolerant, if we are not prepared to defend a tolerant society against the onslaught of the intolerant, then the tolerant will be destroyed, and tolerance with them. - Karl R. Popper

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022
« Reply #6747 on: May 17, 2022, 08:11:57 PM »
I hope no one minds that I asked Chuck to change the name to include 2022.


I'm sure no one would mind!

Offline CellarDweller115

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022
« Reply #6748 on: May 17, 2022, 08:13:51 PM »
And I'll just say that I am not gay shaming Madison (so there Clay) but I do hope he gets to go home and spend more time with his cousin.

You're not alone on that.

Offline brianr

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Re: News and Current Events - 2017 - 2022
« Reply #6749 on: May 17, 2022, 08:26:03 PM »
I find all this so strange. Our Deputy Prime Minister and Treasurer is openly gay and this week is the face of the government with Jacinda isolating at home with Covid. He has been acting Prime Minister in her absence overseas. He will be handilng down the budget in parliament tomorrow, probably the most important day of the year in parliament.
His sexuality is rarely a source of comment.
I found this on Wikipedia

In his maiden statement (given on 9 December 2008), Robertson alluded to his sexuality as a part, but not the whole, of his identity:

I am proud and comfortable with who I am. Being gay is part of who I am, just as is being a former diplomat, a fan of the mighty ... Wellington Lions, and a fan of New Zealand music and New Zealand literature. My political view is defined by my sexuality only inasmuch as it has given me an insight into how people can be marginalised and discriminated against, and how much I abhor that. I am lucky that I have largely grown up in a generation that is not fixated on issues such as sexual orientation. I am not—and neither should others be.
In a 2012 interview with Guyon Espiner, he hit out at the suggestion that being gay could prevent him from understanding the concerns of ordinary New Zealanders:

That’s one of the things that irritates me the most. How can you say that? That someone won’t understand New Zealanders because they’re gay. I understand all sorts of things about being a New Zealander. I understand what happens when your dad goes to prison. I understand what it’s like when the All Blacks lose. You know? I understand what it’s like when you’re trying to work out if you’ve got enough money to do [renovation] to the house? It’s bullshit.