All purpose news and politics thread part VI: This Is Not The Time For Posing

[Catlady in training]

Scholz. Draghi and Macron are currently on a special train to Kyiv. German media are expecting that Scholz, who always stated he would not go for a mere photo op, is bringing offers of heavy weapon delivery.

The only info about weapons I've seen was from France and they stated they would not provide some heavy weapons like tanks, so sadly nothing huge in this area.

But they all promised to back Ukraine's EU membership next week, which is great news. This means, if I haven't missed anything, that Austria should be the only one left as unclear. (Apart from Hungary of course, they can always spoil the unity of others just cause).
And Macron promised not to push Ukraine into any concessions to russia, so that is also good, considering some recent comments.

[Catlady in training]

How right you are. No wonder Joe Manchin won the election.

Democrats keep saying “democracy requires everyone to make sacrifices”, but the reality is ‘everyone’ never includes rich people.

It’s always the poor & working class both at home & abroad who make sacrifices while the rich get richer.

It’s not democracy at all. It’s oligarchy.

Honest question, are there some statistics on voting based on income?
Do we know how many "working class" people voted for Republicans because of their populist rhetoric?

"But It's Just Legitimate Concerns About Sexuality In Education."

https://twitter.com/brennansuen/stat...817600/photo/1

But, but, they said that parents should have the right to raise their children as they want, without interference from school and government... Where is the screaming crowd that doesn't co-parent with the government now?

[Gray Lensman]

I agree but the question was more for if it was a Military alliance and if that meant Troops on the ground giving other members a reason to block.




Thank you for the information. I get confused at times as to the difference between the EU and Nato.

There is a military aid provision in the EU charter from what I understand, but it is voluntary and broadly defined. Sending rations qualifies as such if I heard correctly.

[Catlady in training]

Well, well, well...

Russian spy caught trying to infiltrate war crimes court, says Netherlands
https://www.theguardian.com/law/2022...ys-netherlands

A Russian spy tried and failed to secure an internship at the international criminal court (ICC) using the false identity of a Brazilian citizen that he had built up over more than a decade, according to Dutch intelligence.

Sergey Vladimirovich Cherkasov, 36, accused of being an agent of Russia’s GRU military intelligence, flew to the Netherlands in April believing he had succeeded in an extraordinary attempt to gain inside access to the war crimes court, using the false identity of Viktor Muller Ferreira, 33.

However, Cherkasov had already been found out by western intelligence officers. When he arrived to take up his position, he was detained by Dutch immigration officials and sent back to Brazil, marking failure after years of preparation.

At the time, the ICC had begun to investigate alleged Russian war crimes in Ukraine. Had Cherkasov succeeded, he would have obtained access to the court’s email systems and might have been able to copy, tamper with or destroy documents or evidence submitted.

[Madam-Shogun-Assassin]

That said, 30 has a point in that you can't then turn around (as centrist Democrats often do on this board and elsewhere) and say, "there's no way Bernie could have accomplished everything he promised". No s##t. Even he knew that. Difference was, push come to shove, there's not a person alive who seriously believes he wouldn't have fought as hard as he could have to try to do it. Vs a Hillary who you knew would be testing the wind on even moderate proposals if it might hurt her reelection chances.

I think critics knew (and know) that, but it's probably embarrassing when your candidate of choice is someone with little in the way of consistent political principles beyond acquiring power and status and you're trying to knock down someone who's been consistent in their beliefs and willingness to fight for them for decades, usually on the right side of history since way before it was acceptable to the mainstream.

Especially when deep down they probably agree more with Bernie's stance on things than a Hllary's (at least the last 5 years version of her). No need to retroactively apologize for Iraq, "traditional marriage" support, don't ask/don't tell, etc. Probably explains a little of the vitriol folks supposedly on the left have for Bernie, people know they're settling for less with folks like Hillary and Biden and somehow blame him for existing and being a viable alternative they convince themselves has no chance (which ends up as a self-fulfilling prophecy).

Totally agree, especially with the bold part. People are like "I can't vote for him cause he can't win! I mean well he can't win cause you won't vote for him lol. I will say this, Bernie AND Warren could have won if they consolidated their power like the centrist democrats did. Instead they turned into a circular firing squad.

[4saken1]

It's amazing just how often it comes down to...

"Hey, is there any possible way that we can attempt to make this about dogging Sanders?..."

It wasn't about dogging Sanders, but rather pointing out that it doesn't matter who is making campaign "promises". Because they aren't really promises! Aside from very limited Executive Orders, exactly ZERO Presidents in our history knew for a fact that their ass would be able to cash the checks that their mouth wrote during the campaign. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T KNOW FOR SURE IF IT WOULD EVEN BE POSSIBLE! tbh, I can't tell if your seeming inability to understand this is deliberate obfuscation or just naive AF.

[JackDaw]

It wasn't about dogging Sanders, but rather pointing out that it doesn't matter who is making campaign "promises". Because they aren't really promises! Aside from very limited Executive Orders, exactly ZERO Presidents in our history knew for a fact that their ass would be able to cash the checks that their mouth wrote during the campaign. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T KNOW FOR SURE IF IT WOULD EVEN BE POSSIBLE! tbh, I can't tell if your seeming inability to understand this is deliberate obfuscation or just naive AF.

But shouldn’t there be a reasonable expectation that the things a candidate says he will get done will be done UNLESS something really unexpected happens? And is 2 known troublemakers carrying on as usual really unexpected?

And surely it’s fair comment that if a guy doesn’t get the things down he talked about in the campaign he certainly hasn’t “surpassed expectations”.

[babyblob]

Trump Demands Network's give him equal time to spread his lies.


https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trum...uary-6-1716563

[Malvolio]

If Donnie Three-Times wants equal time, he should agree to testify before the Congressional committee. We don't need to hear him ramble on for 45 minutes on cable news shows.

[Godzilla2099]

What networks? I thought it was all 'fake news'

I'm sure Oan and Fox (but didn't he whine they were fake news a few times too?) will help him out.

[Dalak]

But shouldn’t there be a reasonable expectation that the things a candidate says he will get done will be done UNLESS something really unexpected happens? And is 2 known troublemakers carrying on as usual really unexpected?

And surely it’s fair comment that if a guy doesn’t get the things down he talked about in the campaign he certainly hasn’t “surpassed expectations”.

It wasn't about dogging Sanders, but rather pointing out that it doesn't matter who is making campaign "promises". Because they aren't really promises! Aside from very limited Executive Orders, exactly ZERO Presidents in our history knew for a fact that their ass would be able to cash the checks that their mouth wrote during the campaign. BECAUSE THEY COULDN'T KNOW FOR SURE IF IT WOULD EVEN BE POSSIBLE! tbh, I can't tell if your seeming inability to understand this is deliberate obfuscation or just naive AF.

I have been listening to many audiobooks lately as I've been dealing with my sick cat Frantic as it was a wait for his time to come. While he's gone now I was still listening to the last book in the Wheel of Time series and a pair of lines came up. Moiraine: "If I remember you did not promise that you would TRY, you promised would make it happen. "Rand: "Promises to TRY don't mean much in political negotiations, no matter how sincere."

It seems fitting for this whole conversation.

[Jack Dracula]

But shouldn’t there be a reasonable expectation that the things a candidate says he will get done will be done UNLESS something really unexpected happens? And is 2 known troublemakers carrying on as usual really unexpected?

And surely it’s fair comment that if a guy doesn’t get the things down he talked about in the campaign he certainly hasn’t “surpassed expectations”.

There is really no need for a devils advocate here. Any reasonable adult understands how campaign promises work.

[WestPhillyPunisher]

If Donnie Three-Times wants equal time, he should agree to testify before the Congressional committee. We don't need to hear him ramble on for 45 minutes on cable news shows.

Indeed. I’m sure the 1/6 commission could find time to squeeze in Trump if he wants to unburden himself.

[JackDaw]

There is really no need for a devils advocate here. Any reasonable adult understands how campaign promises work.

Do we?

Do we now accept such low standards that we expect them to be routinely broken, even when no really unexpected event happens to derail them?

[Dalak]

Do we?

Do we now accept such low standards that we expect them to be routinely broken, even when no really unexpected event happens to derail them?

I'd say having a precise 50/50 split in the senate is actually unexpected, and Sinema's heelturn was as well. Sinema isn't Manchin with years of this behavior on record.