A Political Thread pt. 2

[Amiga500]

we, the EU and the EEA and allies (Canada) should spend less nothing on American defence equipment and more on each other's to help grow our own economies whilst developing a home grown defence network

Fixed that for you.

 

[McTallshort]

we, the EU and the EEA and allies (Canada) should spend less on American defence equipment and more on each other's to help grow our own economies whilst developing a home grown defence network

Yeah we should been doing that after 2014 but we're too busy failing out over Brexit and other left hand stuff

 

[AlRums]

So it seems the Trump administration is literally making up false criminal charges against organisations now and getting the DoJ to pursue them. People are leaving their jobs left right and centre but unfortunately just being replaced until someone is willing to ignore the law.

The USA is slipping into dictatorship extremely rapidly...

Yes, for all this "fraud" they've uncovered, and so far not one arrest.

 

[AlRums]

Can we dump the dollar as the world's reserve currency?

That's what BRICS and the Euro are about, to lessen the dominance of the USD.

Remember strumpet also threatened tariffs on anyone why used BRICS

https://www.reuters.com/markets/currencies/trump-repeats-tariffs-threat-dissuade-brics-nations-replacing-us-dollar-2025-01-31/

 

[AlRums]

we, the EU and the EEA and allies (Canada) should spend less on American defence equipment and more on each other's to help grow our own economies whilst developing a home grown defence network

I while heartedly agree, unfortunately we allowed American weapons systems to embed themselves into our military. For instance we've two aircraft carriers essentially tied to F35s and no source codes, American missiles in our submarines etc.

It'll take quite a while, and money, to get unstuck.

 

[Ragey Erasmus]

Yes, for all this "fraud" they've uncovered, and so far not one arrest.

So far, it won't be long before they get arrests and possibly convictions on completely false charges

 

[Bada-Bing!]

From Mexico cartel safe house to US streets: BBC tracks deadly fentanyl targeted by Trump tariffs

As the president tries to force Mexico to stop the flow of drugs, cartel members tell Quentin Sommerville they will not be deterred.

www.bbc.co.uk

Interesting article on the whole fentanyl crisis and one underlying reason behind the whole Trump's tariffs, why he was elected and why it probably won't work.

 

[Amiga500]

10 people out 550K isn't anywhere close to a statistically viable group in terms of performance against the group and you claim to be smart enough to know that.

Ah - not quite my statistically challenged friend.

If those 10 people were from a group just starting out in the sport, then clearly you'd expect them to be at the bottom-end of performance metrics.
To take an example - if we considered the lap times of a few Amazonian subsistence tribesmen in F1 cars - they'd rank fairly poorly.
Conversely, if we put a few F1 drivers in the Amazon jungle and evaluated their ability to catch food - they'd also rank fairly poorly.
But if we took 10 F2 drivers and put them into F1 cars, they'd probably do quite a bit better.

Anyway, literally a few seconds on google gives a some examples. Top is probably of most interest as it shows the clear change in relative ability when switching over.

[1]"Just how much of an advantage did Lia Thomas possesses over biological females? The numbers paint a clear picture. The fact that the University of Pennsylvania swimmer soared from a mid-500s ranking (554th in the 200 freestyle; all divisions) in men's competition to one of the top-ranked swimmers in women's competition tells the story of the unfairness which unfolded at the NCAA level."

[2]"Beggs (36-0), who won last year's Class 6A girls championship in the 110-pound division, won by decision 15-3 against Chelsea Sanchez of Katy Morton Ranch."
The previous year he went 57-0.

Interesting to note that Beggs went from biological female to male. But the rules prevented him from competing against boys.

So its clearly not a case of flat out ignoring gender switches. The issues are a bit more nuanced than that.

I do think think there is correlation between underrepresentation and underperformance

Non-intuitive inverse correlation in this instance!

I'm quite disappointed in general at forum on this one on most other subjects we'd be pushing against that kind of confirmation bias but instead claims with zero backing got tons of likes.

... and be as disappointed as you like. Hiding behind an offended bus does no one any good.

I'm sure there are plenty of parents out there would think twice about letting their wee girls play rugby underage if they seen a large transgender player step onto the pitch.

 

[Flankers' paradise]

I while heartedly agree, unfortunately we allowed American weapons systems to embed themselves into our military. For instance we've two aircraft carriers essentially tied to F35s and no source codes, American missiles in our submarines etc.

It'll take quite a while, and money, to get unstuck.

Is there a fundamental reason why they are tied to the F-35's? For me it would seem logical that we agree to purchase 15 fighter jets from, say, France - warts and all. In return they place their next rocket launcher order with BAE instead of an American firm

 

[AlRums]

Fact check: Nine Trump false claims about Canada

https://us.cnn.com/2025/03/12/politics/fact-check-trump-canada-claims/index.html

 

[ncurd]

Snip.

Yeah 2 examples....

You're proving nothing and you know it. Against peer reviewed studies which I originally cited.

 

[AlRums]

Is there a fundamental reason why they are tied to the F-35's? For me it would seem logical that we agree to purchase 15 fighter jets from, say, France - warts and all. In return they place their next rocket launcher order with BAE instead of an American firm

The design from the getgo was for the F35, the non conventional catapult system installed was only usable by the F35.

To redesign and install a new catapult system on the POW was quoted at £2bn + at time of building.

Currently we have no catapult or landing arrest capable for any other aircraft other than the F35

In 2023 there were moves to retrofit them with more conventional catapults, I don't know how far advanced that is

UK explores cats and traps retrofit to QEC aircraft carriers - Naval News

Project Ark Royal: The Royal Navy is studying the introduction of catapults on board its two Queen Elizabeth-class aircraft carriers.

www.navalnews.com

 

[AlRums]

DOGE stimulus checks update: Proposal suffers potential blow

The proposal to issue $5,000 stimulus checks to taxpayers has encountered a major setback.

www.newsweek.com

 

[McTallshort]

 

[General Melchett]

Musk and DOGE reminds me a bit of Dominic Cummings going into No.10 and trying to overhaul the slow clunky machinery of Govt within Whitehall/the Civil Service. They have different backgrounds and motives but Cummings ruffled too many feathers and wasn't able to build relations with people. I suspect Musk will be the same.

He might ultimately be Chump's fall guy but him switching sides to join the Democrats at some point in the future wouldn't be the biggest surprise IMO. Rupert Murdoch used to switch sides although he didn't want the limelight that Musk craves.

 

[Flankers' paradise]

I don't know how that would work when he so enthusiastically supports the AFD and Rupert Lowe

 

[General Melchett]

I don't know how that would work when he so enthusiastically supports the AFD and Rupert Lowe

He's only out for himself and his businesses. Flip flopping is the new norm.

 

[ncurd]

He's only out for himself and his businesses. Flip flopping is the new norm.

Didn't Trump publicly endorse Democrats at one point? he was a registered democrat between 2001 and 2009.

These people don't have a political compass except neo-liberalism at all costs on the financial side.

 

[General Melchett]

Didn't Trump publicly endorse Democrats at one point? he was a registered democrat between 2001 and 2009.

These people don't have a political compass except neo-liberalism at all costs on the financial side.

Yup. Just like Boris was Remain before he switched sides.

 

[Flankers' paradise]

He's only out for himself and his businesses. Flip flopping is the new norm.

yes but the left bloc won't vote for a democratic party working with Musk after everything he's done the last year or so, and they know that's millions of votes they can't go without. not to mention the easy attack lines the GOP will have over it