If you're not in the U.S., what's up in your part of the world? Showing 951-1,000 of 3,266

[Papaphilly]

Nah....Nevermind....

[Ian]

Awww . . .

[J.]

Ian wrote: "Um, Beau, have you ever heard a politician say, "Just about everywhere is better than our place. Sorry for botching it all up here, but never mind, I shall continue botching away so maybe you should all go somewhere else"?"

"Hello, my name is Gavin Newsom."

[Scout]

Right. Gavin will continue to botch things as he's already done. What an entitled screw up. Supported by Kamala and Joe, he still has his job. One more reason to vote Republican.

[Ian]

Never heard of Gavin, but I think that is probably a good thing :-)

[Papaphilly]

Ian wrote: "Never heard of Gavin, but I think that is probably a good thing :-)"

He is the Governor of California. He was up for a recall, but beat it. He has issues and is not well liked.

[[deleted user]]

The UK fuel crisis reaches a new low:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...

🤣

[Nik]

Mount your 🐎 !

[J.]

Beau wrote: "The UK fuel crisis reaches a new low:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england...

🤣"

https://youtu.be/3P4LUt0qcX8

[J.]

Nik wrote: "Mount your 🐎 !"

https://youtube.com/shorts/9DwjwCMtTn...

[J.]

Ian wrote: "Never heard of Gavin, but I think that is probably a good thing :-)"

California's climate and natural resources are some of the best in the USA. Because of this California is a center for agriculture and industry. At least it used to be.

Now, a mixture of high taxes and mismanagement have created a state where home values are completely out of the reach of median income earners; homelessness is so out of control that San Francisco has to maintain a patrol to clean up human feces; and many companies are fleeing for more affordable states. Consequently, Newsom has presided over the first population decline in California's history.

It didn't help that while instituting the harshest Lockdown Restrictions outside of NYC, Gavin played the "Rules for thee, not for me" game.

https://www.politico.com/states/calif...

[Nik]

J. wrote: "Nik wrote: "Mount your 🐎 !"

https://youtube.com/shorts/9DwjwCMtTn..."

:)

[Nik]

https://youtu.be/YlUKcNNmywk

[Graeme]

FB, Instagram, Whatsapp are all down and FB employees can't access their buildings...

REF: (Zerohedge): https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fac...

Suddenly millions of voices cried out in terror and were silenced...

[J.]

Graeme wrote: "FB, Instagram, Whatsapp are all down and FB employees can't access their buildings...

REF: (Zerohedge): https://www.zerohedge.com/markets/fac...

Sud..."

Corporate sabotage, e-terrorism, and/or desperate attempt to destroy evidence ahead of investigations?

[Graeme]

All possible.

[Philip]

Or a simple screw up of DNS changes. Similar issue hit others this year including MS and some Internet providers. They are fixing a long term issue in DNS.

[Ian]

The local news here has had its attention sparked by the Pandora papers. It sounds like an awful lot of politicians and celebrities are not assiduous tax payers, and for many of them, they don't think much of the security of their own country. Of course Russian oligarchs have been known to ship vast amounts of money out of Russia for some time.

[Papaphilly]

This bears watching.

[Scout]

The Dems are counting on taxing billionaires to fund their exorbitant trillion dollar social bills. How many of you think that this will happen? Those guys have tax lawyers and off-shore accounts to keep from paying taxes. I read that the richest didn't pay any taxes last year. Want to bet that the middle class will see higher taxes to pay for the Dems' programs? Even though Joe said no one making under $400,000 would see a tax increase.

[[deleted user]]

Neighbours blast 'hypocrite' Insulate Britain mastermind Roger Hallam for hoarding SIX gas guzzling diesel vehicles on his organic farm in Wales while vowing to block ambulances in eco protests

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/arti...

This story sums up Extinction Rebellion, Insulate Britain, Covid Cultists, The US Democrats, UK Labour, Megan and Harry, the WHO, IMF, Bill Gates, Tony Blair...in fact, the whole bloody lot of them.

[Nik]

Beau wrote: "Neighbours blast 'hypocrite' Insulate Britain mastermind Roger Hallam for hoarding SIX gas guzzling diesel vehicles on his organic farm in Wales while vowing to block ambulances in eco protests

ht..."

I love this :)
Don't those on Teslas moon others waiting in lines for gasoline? :)

[[deleted user]]

Nik wrote: "Don't those on Teslas moon others waiting in lines for gasoline? :)"

Ha ha! Btw, forgot to comment on J's Mad Max and horse clips over the weekend. Very funny. They gave me a genuine laugh out loud moment :)

[J.]

Something about bad behavior from Austrian politicians always catches my attention.

https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/...

[Ian]

So Vlad has a pupil learning from the master :-)

[Ian]

And now for something different. Conservationists here have formed "Bird of the Year" to draw attention to conservation. I have no idea how the bird of the year is decided, but this year they selected

Drum-roll please

er, the Longtailed bat ???
As an explanation it was described as having particularly soft fur.

Since bats seem to host strange corona viruses is this guy going to introduce SARS-CoV-3?

[Scout]

I've given up trying to make sense of many things.

And Nik's comment brought to mind one of my peeves with environmental activists in Hollywood and in government. They fly their personal jets instead of flying commercial. They're special.

[Nik]

Ian wrote: "And now for something different. Conservationists here have formed "Bird of the Year" to draw attention to conservation. I have no idea how the bird of the year is decided, but this year they selec..."

As a starter, with a name like this one would actually expect a bird, but that's probably just my anachronistic thinking and fauna must've turned non-binary, gender and family -free too :)

[J.]

Is the bat transitioning into a bird?

[[deleted user]]

I haven't submitted my asylum application to Belarus as yet, but don't you just hate seeing it when your friends clash?

Belarus risks Kremlin’s wrath after ‘abducting’ pro-Putin journalist from Moscow

https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/world/...

[Ian]

J. wrote: "Is the bat transitioning into a bird?"

The bat is rather difficult to see, being nocturnal and more so for me because it mainly inhabits the area around Auckland and to the north, for which entry is supposedly forbidden during the lockdown unless you are essential (but the two accused of being drug runners somehow were "essential") but as far as I know, being described as having nice fur the chances are it won't have feathers, let alone a "wishbone".

[J.]

Ian wrote: "J. wrote: "Is the bat transitioning into a bird?"

The bat is rather difficult to see, being nocturnal and more so for me because it mainly inhabits the area around Auckland and to the north, for w..."

Nor would it be a diapsid. Hence, not a bird. But there are some influential people who don't think that anatomy and genetics are relevant to certain biological definitions.

[Ian]

Not exactly my part of the world, but rather Nik's, but our morning Newspaper had an interesting article about that part of the world. Specifically, at Yavne, which is in Israel, archaeologists have found that it was an ancient wine centre, that could produce about two million litres of wine a year. The wine, incidentally, according to the paper, was branded as "Gaza". Clearly they were drinking well in that time (1500 years ago), but is this an excuse for some to claim a strip should be expanded?? My guess is No. :-)

[Nik]

Ian wrote: "Not exactly my part of the world, but rather Nik's, but our morning Newspaper had an interesting article about that part of the world. Specifically, at Yavne, which is in Israel, archaeologists hav..."

Cool stuff. Sometimes I need a tipoff from as far as NZ to find local stuff :) https://www.bbc.com/news/world-middle...
Gonna look it up once they open it for public. The wine industry still blossoms in the area, as well as arak. Not something I like, because of the anise, but those who do, say it's most climatically fit for the region since unlike whisky, vodka or other stuff it doesn't raise bodily heat

[Nik]

Mundial in Israel? I'm kinda excited about the idea: https://edition.cnn.com/2021/10/13/fo... . And if voiced by Infantino, call me an infantile, but it's more than just a plain rumor. Been to football at Olympics, Euro & Champion's League finals, never - to Mundial. If it eventuates, gonna be a great opportunity! And I hope some of you would elect to come visit

[Scout]

You're always so cool, Nik - an antidote to all us hot heads :-)

[Nik]

Scout wrote: "You're always so cool, Nik - an antidote to all us hot heads :-)"

Just trying to conform to the essence of moderation :)

[Philip]

News in UK dominated by murder of senior Conservative MP. Second MP to be murdered in UK in last 5 years. Over the top rhetoric leading physical, verbal and of course social media attacks

[Ian]

It is starting to look as if body armour might have to become a fashion accessory for politicians

[Nik]

No guns, so they stab or use arrows in Norway. Equally sad

[[deleted user]]

I’m not going to join the UK media’s regimented love-in of our politicians in the wake of what happened on Friday. As a profession, MPs have disgraced themselves over the last 10 years or so. First, we had the expenses scandal, then the attempts to thwart the result of the 2016 EU Referendum, and over the last 18 months they have disregarded our liberal democracy and behaved like a dictatorship.

However, I most certainly mourn the murder of David Amess because he was one of the few remaining good guys. He voted and spoke out in favour of honouring the referendum result, recognised the awful consequences of lockdowns, was a passionate animal lover, a Christian and someone who clearly put his constituents and principles above attempting to climb the greasy pole.

This isn’t about whether or not you agree with a (wo)man’s politics, it’s about recognising honour and integrity in someone when you see it. I might think fondly of Guy Fawkes in the wake of what's happened over the past 18 months, but I still wish the likes of David Amess, Graham Brady, Charles Walker and Desmond Swayne well, and thoroughly respect them, because they respected/ respect the position they have been entrusted with.

[Ian]

There is an inherent flaw in the representative republic form of government: when you vote them in, the representatives have the freedom to do whatever. They should do what they were voted for, but usually they have undisclosed agendas, and your only defence is to boot them out.

I have no idea now what the 2016 EU referendum was about, Beau, so that comment goes past me.

[Papaphilly]

Ian wrote: "I have no idea now what the 2016 EU referendum was about, Beau, so that comment goes past me. ..."

You know it as Brexit.

[Ian]

Beau had me fooled. I thought the Brexit referendum was complied with so I thought it must have been something else :-)

[Scout]

Right, Ian: "There is an inherent flaw in the representative republic form of government: when you vote them in, the representatives have the freedom to do whatever. They should do what they were voted for, but usually they have undisclosed agendas, and your only defence is to boot them out"

But the thing is that when you boot them out, the ones you vote in are going to do the same. How to end that cycle???

[Ian]

A real problem, Scout. An idea i had was for a second house in which specialists were voted in to cover various topics, and if the government proposed a bill that contradicted their electoral pledges, in the absence of some black swan event this second house could prevent its passage. It would only need the specialists to vote against it. This second house could not promote anything on its own - it would merely be there to stop action that is against its election pledges, and maybe to require referendum for actions it disagrees with but were not part of the election pledges.

[Philip]

Ian wrote: "A real problem, Scout. An idea i had was for a second house in which specialists were voted in to cover various topics, and if the government proposed a bill that contradicted their electoral pledg..."

The House of Lords is supposed to follow that - i.e. if in manifesto or a finance bill they are not supposed to block and can be overturned by House of Commons; however, at various times the upper house has not followed that rule. If not in manifesto and not finance bill then upper house has free reign to amend or try and block

[Nik]

Scout wrote: "...But the thing is that when you boot them out, the ones you vote in are going to do the same. How to end that cycle???..."

One way would be to promote a broader implication of the direct democracy. At the time it impractical to widely implement - because of logistical and other problems, but in the internet era, it's pretty easy to have those interested vote online on a broad scope of issues.
The system works quite successfully in Switzerland.
Maybe not many, but you would always find politicians ready to champion almost any agenda, even self-destructive

[Ian]

Such online voting disenfranchises the poor who do not have computers.

It also will lead to Russian hacking :-)

[Nik]

There will be multiple problems to be solved and secured, but essentially it’s within arm’s reach. Recalling the stories from a friend who worked in Angola 🇦🇴- even the poorest there had a cellphone with internet. Moreover, no problem to open voting internet stands in a city hall or elsewhere