News/Current Affairs thread

[d-d-d-dAz]

1 hour ago, BigJag said:

Stinks! Dirty games being played by the usual suspects. 

 

It actually really doesn't.

The Assad regime has been propped up by Putin for years, both by the actual military might of Putin and the threat of what Putin might do. Russia are currently too stretched to give much of a fuck, and their reputation in the Middle East is sort of in the gutter because the air defences they provided Iran didn't work against Israel's missiles. So the rebels took a shot and it worked, and no one loved Assad enough to fight a losing battle on his behalf.

But, to @LaGoosh's point - what comes next isn't a centre left utopia of workers rights, reproductive freedom and marriage equality. Putin wasn't protecting Assad because they're a part of an Evil Supervillain League together - having a likeminded ally in the Middle East probably helped, but he's also always been very concerned about the growth of Islamic fundamentalism because of how badly affected Russia were, and his belief it was a key weakness for his country.

There's not much to this story, really, other than it's probably the end that was likely when the civil war kicked off proper before Russia got involved and chemical weapons started flying. And it's probably not going to be good news that it finally came either.

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

The only thing guaranteed in the Middle East is that things will not get better and that the number of dead on all sides will only increase. 

[d-d-d-dAz]

6 minutes ago, Lion_of_the_Midlands said:

The only thing guaranteed in the Middle East is that things will not get better and that the number of dead on all sides will only increase. 

That, and people will always find a way to blame a shadowy puppet master in the West even when that's really not a factor.

Edited December 8, 2024 by d-d-d-dAz

[LaGoosh]

Anytime anything happens a lot of people naturally assume it's all orchestrated by evil powerful puppetmasters rather than the truth - the world is mostly barely controlled chaos. Especially the Middle East. 

[SuperBacon]

So they caught the lad who killed that health care CEO at a McDonald's. 

That is peak American behaviour isn't it?

[Devon Malcolm]

Hope the McFlurry machine was working for him, he's earned it.

[Carbomb]

Been watching some of the commentary that's arisen from this. The guy has definitely booted the door open on the conversation on health care in the US. 

EDIT: That's just a statement of fact, BTW, before any hand-wringers say anything.

Edited December 10, 2024 by Carbomb

[JLM]

From an actual NBC article. Did he also show the early childhood signs of psychopathy when he played that turtle squashing simulator on his DS. 

[BomberPat]

It's stupidly worded, but the article isn't really drawing any conclusions from that, and there's a reason the screenshots making that claim all cut off where they do. It's just to lead into a pointless quote from one of his friends, "I just found it extremely ironic that, you know, we were in this game and there could actually be a true killer among us".

[JLM]

Oh I know they’re not actually doing the violent video game panic thing, it’s just some awful non-news article about the big story. Still made me laugh though. The suspect was known to be intentionally misleading about the number of 5s he had under his cup. I think it’s crazy like, how he’s being questioned for murder and we used to ask him about his dice. It’s wild bro. 

Edited December 10, 2024 by JLM

[Merzbow]

He's supposedly a Charli XCX fan, Brat summer never ended.

[Kamran]

I knew the McMahons would have donated to Trump but I didn't realise it would be that much.

Quote

> LINDA MCMAHON DONATED OVER $21 MILLION TO DONALD TRUMP'S CAMPAIGN

- A report on CNN.COM states that Linda McMahon, the soon-to-be Secretary of Education under President-elect Donald Trump's cabinet, was the largest donor to Trump among his cabinet picks and his second most-generous donor. The person who pumped the most money into Trump's 2024 campaign was Elon Musk, but Musk does not form part of the cabinet. The former WWE President and CEO donated a total of $21.2 million, most of which went to Make American Great Again, Inc., the super PAC that spent heavily on advertising to aid his campaign. In comparison, Elon Musk donated over $262 million to pro-Trump super PACs. After McMahon's $21.2 million in donations, the closest cabinet member with the most donations is Howard Lutnick with a total of $9.4 million. He will be the Secretary of Commerce, a position which was originally thought it was going to McMahon. McMahon served as the Administrator of the SBA in Trump's first presidency and then transitioned to run organizations to help him get re-elected into office. She, along with Lutnick, headed up the transition team after Trump won the election. Apart from being a confidant of Trump, McMahon is also a long-time friend along with her ex-husband Vince McMahon.

 

(Source: Wrestling-Online Newsletter)

Edited December 15, 2024 by Kamran

[Lion_of_the_Midlands]

21.2 million and she only got Education Secretary. She was robbed. 

[Hannibal Scorch]

It will be worth it I’m sure when the court case mysteriously disappears 

[Chris B]

Was tempted to make this one it's own thread, but the Gisele Pelicot case has been fascinating and horrendous. https://www.girlonthenet.com/blog/dominique-pelicots-shame/ - I thought this was a particularly good blog (by a sex writer, so an NSFW site, even if the blog itself isn't). 

Part of why I'm raising it is seeing a few women I know on social media make the point that they've only really heard other women talking about it. I think there's probably something to that - and there are some wider questions around how we, as guys, process this kind of stuff.

I also saw, in response to one of the women on social, a dickhead responding in a butt-hurt way, complaining about misandry and how most men aren't like this. And yeah, most men aren't, but it'd be nice if it were a much smaller percentage than it is. But realistically, I know multiple men who have assaulted or raped women. Some of them, I know about (because it's come out and people have filed charges), but there'll be others that I don't.

I've changed my thinking on this over time, but I really struggled to understand the idea that so many guys just outright enjoy the power and causing discomfort. It was only really during Me Too that I started to rethink that. And I'm also aware that guys like that are going to be more careful how they talk around guys who aren't like that.

So, yeah, I'm sure I'm not the only one with reflections on all this.