Politics Thread!

[Little stoned kiwi]

Had FIFA promised to give him his participation trophy at the World Cup ceremony if he was a good boy, none of this would be happening right now.

[KlaxonCow]

Leaving aside that he now sounds like a toddler denied a toy [...]

As I was saying, the only option here is that Europe and the rest of the world has to cut America out of all trade, so that when the pissy manchild cries tariffs, we can simply tell him to "fuck off", as we don't care if he wants to Make America Bankrupt Again, because we cut all interdependence on them.

Indeed, between Putin cutting off the gas and oil to manipulate Europe and Trump openly annexing Venezuela for oil extraction - happily and openly talking about his chief motivation being oil and holding a big conference with oil executives to divide up their oil resources - we have to step up the transition to renewables and phasing out fossil fuels.

Oil only has 39 years left on planet Earth as it is. Though this is exactly why shit will progressively get worse and worse, at an ever-faster pace, as wars will be fought over the remaining oil.

Europe needs to work on self-sufficiency. Imagine if Trump placed tariffs and restrictions on digital goods - think of all the businesses dependent on Teams, Google Suite, etc.. There is European consultation and legislation looking into open source - moving our public and private sectors over to home-grown Linux.

I know that, previously, it was completely unthinkable. And that's why we got ourselves so hooked into America, and trusted it as a reliable, albeit slightly mad, partner.

But, under Trump, that America is now gone and there's a crazy bastard in charge. All those hooks into America have to be unhooked, and we develop - within Europe and with other nations on the planet - new arrangements that "lay the foundations on such principles and organising its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness" (to quote Thomas Jefferson).

Get off fossil fuels completely. Phase them out. So that neither Trump nor Putin can threaten us. So that neither of them has trillions of dollars of fossil fuel revenues propping them up - because the other thing about fossil fuels is that we're constantly paying for them and our money is leaking out and ending up with Putin, the Saudis, Trump and all the worst people on the planet, basically.

The UK has already phased out coal completely. We no longer have any coal-fired power stations. You can daily check out National Grid Live and see that, regularly, even in Winter, we're hitting 50% renewable energy (with another 25% "other", meaning nuclear and biomass). If we can get more battery storage - on Grid, and in people's homes - then "natural gas" (a.k.a. methane) can be phased out as well.

We currently use gas to "fill the gaps" from other sources - because, true enough, solar doesn't work at night and the wind doesn't always blow - and that's why our energy costs are so damned high. Because under the insanity of "marginal cost pricing", the wholesale cost of electricity is dictated by the most expensive source. Thanks to Putin and geopolitics, natural gas costs too much - but even if we only use the tiniest amount of it to "fill the gaps" in supply, then the electricity cost gets set to this most expensive source. The "cost of living crisis" happened because Putin attacked Ukraine. And even though the UK gets no oil or gas from Russia at all - we're not exactly best friends - it still fucks up the global price, and our "marginal cost pricing" fucks us over, tying it all to the most expensive source.

In "the Future of Energy" thread, I always try to spin the positives and the progress, and not mention climate change. Try to promote the benefits of transition - even if climate change weren't a thing, but climate change is a thing - and not be "doom and gloom" about it all.

But, yes, there is yet another "secret reason" for all the insulation, solar and batteries, and other things I mention and promote there. Energy self-sufficiency, on an individual level, is also totally a "prepper" move.

Shit is going to go down.

The last Tory government brought in legislation to allow them to legally cut off your electricity supply - through smart meters - in the event of "an energy emergency". That, alone, should have you shitting your pants that government thinks "energy emergencies" - blackouts, brownouts, inability to get fuels imported, etc. - are going to start happening that they need these powers.

Trump is already rather openly talking about taking over Venezuela - declaring himself the new President of Venezuela - to divvy up their oil (and funnelling that money to his offshore account in Qatar, that neither the US nor Venezuela's going to see any benefit from this).

Switch to "prepper mode". Start taking emergency action. Transition to as much energy self-sufficiency as you can. Consider also transitioning off American Windows to Scandinavian Linux, as Trump could easily cut that umbilical cord any instant he liked, frankly. Tariffs have so far stayed with physical goods, because he wants to bring back factories (the fact that all modern factories are, in fact, 90% robots and AI automation that it will produce no useful human jobs is something that Trump's '50s mindset cannot comprehend). But in one of his pissy manchild hissy fits, he could totally pivot to threatening tariffs if we don't all use "Truth Social" to make him rich.

And, well, prepare for war. Because it's coming.

[zip accident]

And, well, prepare for war. Because it's coming.

I'm not sure it is. There wiil be a lot more defence spending, but that doesn't necessarily lead to war.

What I think will happen (I don't like it, or approve, but "que sera sera, whatever will be will be"):

Global warming will become northern hemisphere warming. Scandinavia, Canada and Siberia will become richer farmland than ever seen anywhere before. The seas won't rise because fleets of ships will motor the southern oceans below about 50 degrees south, spewing pollution into the atmosphere, and make Antarctia colder than it is now (my first thought was planes, but where are the potential airports?) (my guess is Putin and Trump and their backers are united in this). Tropical regions will become hotter. China will not enjoy this on the whole, and India and the Pakistans will be devasted. The rest are the third world.

There are not enough people on Greenland to claim it when it is actually green, so I think the USAians will get that, possibly evicting the greenlanders to Canada or Denmark. Possibly Canada will be too rich a prize to resist the USA? Mexico will be hotter than now, so that's why Trump et al don't want it.

[Little stoned kiwi]

I don't think Greenland is really about Greenland. Its strategic significance was tied to the cold war against Russia. Now the strategic significance is cheating on NATO so that they are the ones who break up with the US, creating an excuse to move out and leave Ukraine behind for NATO to take care of.
Then they'll have a rebound with Israel to antaganising Iran so they can neutralise them before heading to the Pacific while everyone is disrupted.

So yeah, war. It just looks different from what people expect...but then so did the last two big ones at the time.

[zip accident]

I don't think Greenland is really about Greenland. Its strategic significance was tied to the cold war against Russia. Now the strategic significance is cheating on NATO so that they are the ones who break up with the US, creating an excuse to move out and leave Ukraine behind for NATO to take care of.
Then they'll have a rebound with Israel to antaganising Iran so they can neutralise them before heading to the Pacific while everyone is disrupted.

So yeah, war. It just looks different from what people expect...but then so did the last two big ones at the time.

There will probably always be little wars, which matter a lot to the people involved, but otherwise not so much. I'm not expecting WW3, could happen, probability seems much less than 50%.

Kaliningrad oblast is not a salient, it's a foregone loss. Who wants Kaliningrad? it's full of russians, the others got chased out in Stalin's time. Poland and German used to fight over it, when it had Germans and Poles in it, but now the people there are suspect from every angle. It's not defencible for Russia, and for everybody else it's Russia's liability. Why would anybody fight for it?

[PFVA]

Or maybe meanwhile Trump and his friends keep Europe busy with Greenland, Putin and friends gain more time to secure the 3 provinces of Eastern Ukraine they want.

Just my own speculation about what's going on. I noticed that the Greenland thing was brought back after Europe once again din't support the idea of giving away the 3 provinces.

[SuperMappy]

Welp now apparently the bill to end daylight savings time has stalled due to partisan politics. So how nutty is it getting in this country? We cannot even agree on what time it is.

Yes, every year people bitch. moan, whine and complain about DST (like I'm doing now) and nothing ever changes and it never will.

[Whiteball]

It seems that all politicians do these days is talk, talk, talk. They never seem to act on anything. Europe is especially good at this. Always there with the words but no where to be seen with the actions that would actually make a difference.

[rowan]

Welp now apparently the bill to end daylight savings time has stalled due to partisan politics. So how nutty is it getting in this country? We cannot even agree on what time it is.

Yes, every year people bitch. moan, whine and complain about DST (like I'm doing now) and nothing ever changes and it never will.

What actually happened with all this?

1 or 2 years ago, all my USian colleagues were saying "this is it! We're done with it now, we are on summer time and we'll remain on that forever".

Yet sure enough, 01 Nov [or whenever it is - extra irritatingly a different date to Europe [not blaming either side for that but why can't it be the same FFS?]] it just went back again and all those colleagues seemed to deny any knowledge of it ending.

[Little stoned kiwi]

New Zealand has an hour DST from the end of September until the start of April that attracts the same complaints from farmers and people with young children every year. They are pretty weak. We don't have the absurdity of different states/neighbouring countries using conflicting adjustments though.
There is also a permanent 30 minute DST that was put in place during WWII. People decided it was sweet as so it was never wound back and most people don't even know.

[SuperMappy]

This is as rich as it gets! The Clintons, Bill and Hillary, are now facing potential jail time for refusing to testify about the Epstein probe.
This only helps, as far as I can tell, prove my point that a lot of politicians (of all parties), wealthy types and influential people are on this list which is why this list hasn't been released yet and it most likely never will, at least officially. IMHO, these people don't care one bit about the children and people who were hurt, they only care about their meaningless careers.

[KlaxonCow]

This video is chilling proof. America's already lost.

These are all supposed to be free and independent local news stations, yet they're all reading from the exact same propaganda sheet - word for word - in unison.



"This is extremely dangerous to our democracy".

They're telling us not to trust social media and the Internet. I think we should perhaps start trusting it an awful lot more.

[F-ZeroOne]

So, Mr. President, what if next time you invoke Article 5 and nobody comes?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cdxjjwjvkkzt

[zip accident]

This is odd I think:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c2d77rr51rko

Dozens of oil tankers sanctioned by the UK in response to Russia's war in Ukraine have sailed through the English Channel this month despite defence officials vowing to take "assertive action".

Why through the Channel? it's clearly going to be either through French waters or British waters. Before that it was through Norwegian or British waters, and after that Dutch and Belgian or British waters. It pretty much has to be for aggro's sake.

On the other hand, if the Russian tanker fleet sails the open seas in convoys with a significant escort, the only way to stop them would be outright war, and I doubt even Trump is ready for that.

[KlaxonCow]

The best review of Trump's "speech" I've read.

Behold. The festering carcass of American rot shoved into an ill-fitting suit: the sleaze of a conman, the cowardice of a draft dodger, the gluttony of a parasite, the racism of a Klansman, the sexism of a back-alley creep, the ignorance of a bar-stool drunk, and the greed of a hedge-fund ghoul—all spray-painted orange and paraded like a prize hog at a county fair. Not a president. Not even a man. Just the diseased distillation of everything this country swears it isn’t but has always been—arrogance dressed up as exceptionalism, stupidity passed off as common sense, cruelty sold as toughness, greed exalted as ambition, and corruption worshipped like gospel. It is America’s shadow made flesh, a rotting pumpkin idol proving that when a nation kneels before money, power, and spite, it doesn’t just lose its soul—it shits out this bloated obscenity and calls it a leader.

The irony that America's worst ever President might also be its most honest naked representation, once you peel back that veneer of optimistic aspiration - "the American Dream" - to reveal that, in the end, it's all just running on pure fucking greed, isn't it?

(Not that the rest of the Western world isn't without blame and has its own shares in this anti-human enterprise. But America gloriously reveals its rotten underbelly without an inch of shame.)

"The Emperor is naked".