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Post by Lord Lucan on Aug 27, 2017 13:31:26 GMT -5
Political elites are always ready to congratulate themselves for their courage in acting contrary to the public will, as though members of the latter should likewise be prepared to concede them credit for resisting their own irrational preferences.
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Post by Powerthirteen on Aug 27, 2017 14:34:07 GMT -5
This is Payette from a photo on the Canadian Space Agency website. Seemingly taken in outer space?  Another proud alumnus of Degrassi Community School. GO PANTHERS! Everyone knows that DeGrassi is to Canadian cultural relevance as the Ivy League is to America. |
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Post by Deleted on Aug 28, 2017 1:23:56 GMT -5
Pat, I can't agree with your learned friend, because we have issues in the UK including triple talaq, that have been swept under the carpet for years and now we're only recently publicly discussing them (no thanks to spineless politicians). The excuse that officials use is similar to what your friend says, concern of blowback towards muslims, but really what they're afraid of is officially acknowledging the pockets of backwardness they've allowed to spread in our towns and cities, and in the mean time to save face they are abandoning muslim women who become victims of triple talaq and have no where to turn in a supposedly civilised society. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Aug 29, 2017 22:28:48 GMT -5
When the dog is heard about six minutes in, I childishly can't help but hear this, my ear being too unwordly for nice distinction amongst the accents of the erstwhile Habsburg provinces.
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Post by Lord Lucan on Aug 31, 2017 17:28:23 GMT -5
Capitalism in its present regime of accumulation and tout court may amble chronically crisis-ridden along indefinitely, but the best that the énarques and quondam investment bankers can produce with their elite civil service educations and high finance acumen is this race-to-the-bottom prospectus; a proven failure. This is the technocracy of the intellectually bankrupt.
This is all that they offer.
www.theguardian.com/world/2017/aug/31/france-reveals-measures-to-overhaul-working-life |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Aug 31, 2017 18:39:16 GMT -5
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Post by ComradePig on Sept 3, 2017 19:37:15 GMT -5
Foreign political dissidents and opposition figures not turning out to be quite the Little Americans that hagiographic depictions initially suggested and former oppressed parties doing some oppressing of their own are certainly nothing new unto themselves but there's certainly few figures I can recall in recent times who've had as rapid and ignonimous a fall as Aung San Suu Kyi, gone from having a global reputation approaching near sainthood to being a willing accomplice to ethnic cleansing.
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Post by Lord Lucan on Sept 5, 2017 18:14:06 GMT -5
Foreign political dissidents and opposition figures not turning out to be quite the Little Americans that hagiographic depictions initially suggested and former oppressed parties doing some oppressing of their own are certainly nothing new unto themselves but there's certainly few figures I can recall in recent times who've had as rapid and ignonimous a fall as Aung San Suu Kyi, gone from having a global reputation approaching near sainthood to being a willing accomplice to ethnic cleansing. Serious question: is there a process for rescinding someone's Nobel? Quite so. Does the Rohingya plight constitute genocide, under a preferred definition thereof? I wonder. I've read a minimal amount about it, but I've noted that former Western admirers have indeed expressed disillusionment with her. @patrickbatman Such a procedure would be useful in cases of those who commit subsequent crimes. Sometimes the committee has been content to make the awards to those who've already committed them, of course. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Sept 5, 2017 20:14:23 GMT -5
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Post by ComradePig on Sept 6, 2017 22:25:38 GMT -5
Foreign political dissidents and opposition figures not turning out to be quite the Little Americans that hagiographic depictions initially suggested and former oppressed parties doing some oppressing of their own are certainly nothing new unto themselves but there's certainly few figures I can recall in recent times who've had as rapid and ignonimous a fall as Aung San Suu Kyi, gone from having a global reputation approaching near sainthood to being a willing accomplice to ethnic cleansing. Serious question: is there a process for rescinding someone's Nobel? Per some googling it seems it's never been done before and probably isn't on the books. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Sept 7, 2017 9:01:36 GMT -5
Foreign political dissidents and opposition figures not turning out to be quite the Little Americans that hagiographic depictions initially suggested and former oppressed parties doing some oppressing of their own are certainly nothing new unto themselves but there's certainly few figures I can recall in recent times who've had as rapid and ignonimous a fall as Aung San Suu Kyi, gone from having a global reputation approaching near sainthood to being a willing accomplice to ethnic cleansing. Now blaming the 'fake news' of 'terrorists'. So if anyone had been hoping for a cogent explanation, that's as disappointing as could be. www.theguardian.com/world/2017/sep/06/aung-san-suu-kyi-blames-terrorists-for-misinformation-about-myanmar-violence |
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on Sept 8, 2017 17:09:33 GMT -5
Lord Lucan Oh yes, it definitely does count as genocide— OHCHR defines it as fulfilling as some combo of I think all but the last apply to how the Burmese government is treating the Rohingya.
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monodrone
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Come To Brazil
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Post by monodrone on Sept 18, 2017 8:14:54 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Sept 18, 2017 14:02:39 GMT -5
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Post by Lord Lucan on Sept 26, 2017 9:30:31 GMT -5
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Post by ganews on Sept 28, 2017 22:21:55 GMT -5
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Post by Lord Lucan on Sept 30, 2017 16:46:33 GMT -5
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Post by ComradePig on Oct 1, 2017 9:43:09 GMT -5
The Spanish Government's response this week to the Catalan referendum is truly confounding in how destructive it is to its own interests. I'm frankly not immersed enough in Spanish politics or history to sound off on the whether Catalonia's existing grievances constitute a persuasive political argument for separation or whether it's driven primarily on a nostalgic nationalism that doesn't appeal to the majority of the population there (though I suppose a democratic referendum might determine that but I also understand a certain reticence towards hasty referendums these days) but based on its conduct today you'd practically think that the Spanish Government's two main goals were to alienate public opinion across the globe and inspire vastly greater numbers of Catalan nationalists in the years to come. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Oct 1, 2017 20:28:21 GMT -5
The Spanish Government's response this week to the Catalan referendum is truly confounding in how destructive it is to its own interests. I'm frankly not immersed enough in Spanish politics or history to sound off on the whether Catalonia's existing grievances constitute a persuasive political argument for separation or whether it's driven primarily on a nostalgic nationalism that doesn't appeal to the majority of the population there (though I suppose a democratic referendum might determine that but I also understand a certain reticence towards hasty referendums these days) but based on its conduct today you'd practically think that the Spanish Government's two main goals were to alienate public opinion across the globe and inspire vastly greater numbers of Catalan nationalists in the years to come. I don't have a particular view on the wisdom of Catalan statehood either, but I agree that the heavy-handedness would seem bound to redound to the greater unpopularity of the central government, though they must know that themselves and adjudged it worth it. But if Rajoy and Verhofstadt et. al. are correct that sixty per cent of Catalans are opposed to independence - which does not, by extension, mean opposed to formally registering that opposition - than why not do as the UK did and legally facilitate a referendum? Without drawing a simple correspondence, of course, I can imagine if mounties had been pummelling separatists on the streets during the period of ascending support for Québec independence up to the 1995 referendum, that might have just sufficed to see them exit Confederation. As it was, they remained by half a percentage point, though now support there for remaining runs almost to ninety percent. So separatist movements can dissipate dramatically given time and judicious management, whether one deems that desirable or not. |
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Post by sarapen on Oct 2, 2017 10:15:20 GMT -5
On the subject of Canada, with the selection of 38 year old Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader, Justin Trudeau at 44 is officially the oldest federal leader in the country.
Hey Grampa Justin, get out of the driver's seat! Canada's clearly sick of your stale Gen X politics! Make room for some new blood!
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Post by Jean-Luc Lemur on Oct 2, 2017 14:26:16 GMT -5
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Post by Lord Lucan on Oct 2, 2017 21:31:26 GMT -5
On the subject of Canada, with the selection of 38 year old Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader, Justin Trudeau at 44 is officially the oldest federal leader in the country. Hey Grampa Justin, get out of the driver's seat! Canada's clearly sick of your stale Gen X politics! Make room for some new blood! Singh is an arrant fraud and interloper who secured that victory by highly suspect means. I could dilate upon that, but I'll merely say I'm thoroughly disgusted. |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Oct 2, 2017 21:39:47 GMT -5
On the subject of Canada, with the selection of 38 year old Jagmeet Singh as NDP leader, Justin Trudeau at 44 is officially the oldest federal leader in the country. Hey Grampa Justin, get out of the driver's seat! Canada's clearly sick of your stale Gen X politics! Make room for some new blood! Singh is an arrant fraud and interloper who secured that victory by highly suspect means. I could dilate upon that, but I'll merely say I'm thoroughly disgusted. Are there any good politicians in the Canada, Lucan? I ask this basically only knowing that Harper was a radically anti-environment shitbag, that Justin Trudeau is a conventionally attractive anti-environmental shitbag who owns several pairs of socks, and Singh is apparently an arrant fraud and interloper who secured his victory by highly suspect means? |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Oct 2, 2017 21:45:59 GMT -5
Singh is an arrant fraud and interloper who secured that victory by highly suspect means. I could dilate upon that, but I'll merely say I'm thoroughly disgusted. Are there any good politicians in the Canada, Lucan? I ask this basically only knowing that Harper was a radically anti-environment shitbag, that Justin Trudeau is a conventionally attractive anti-environmental shitbag who owns several pairs of socks, and Singh is apparently an arrant fraud and interloper who secured his victory by highly suspect means? Certainly. All of Singh's erstwhile competitors are, for instance. |
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Post by Lord Lucan on Oct 3, 2017 13:55:16 GMT -5
A very brief photographic retrospective of the Canadian Co-operative Commonwealth Federation/New Democratic Party, born in part from the League for Social Reconstruction, in light of its late defilement by a pseudo-social democratic mountebank who has tempted me seriously to indulge what modest appetite I confessedly harbour for Trudeauesque Schwärmerei.   M. J. Coldwell and Tommy Douglas; an Englishman and Scotsman, respectively. Supposedly Coldwell was offered a cabinet post in King's government, as a prelude to becoming his successor as Liberal leader/PM, so admired was he, but wouldn't cross the floor. Douglas was leader during Trudeau's first ministry and inaugurated universal, public health provision in Saskatchewan in the Sixties.  Yousuf Karsh's portrait of Douglas. I'll stop there. |
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Post by ganews on Oct 3, 2017 19:59:38 GMT -5
below an article on the Puerto Rico crisis, the comments of the day:
Philip • 7 hours ago
I've said it here before, but: as a leftist, it's really fucking surreal to be unhappy about the rapidly-accelerating collapse of the entire American imperial project. I want it dismantled, not coming apart like a busted jet engine shredding itself and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The way things are going, we're going to cause even more suffering in our collapse.
RovingYouthPastor > Philip • 7 hours ago
The fact that this is how things fall apart when they fall apart is part of why I greatly tempered my own radical leftism.
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Post by louiebb on Oct 3, 2017 20:25:24 GMT -5
below an article on the Puerto Rico crisis, the comments of the day: Philip • 7 hours ago I've said it here before, but: as a leftist, it's really fucking surreal to be unhappy about the rapidly-accelerating collapse of the entire American imperial project. I want it dismantled, not coming apart like a busted jet engine shredding itself and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The way things are going, we're going to cause even more suffering in our collapse. RovingYouthPastor > Philip • 7 hours ago The fact that this is how things fall apart when they fall apart is part of why I greatly tempered my own radical leftism. Well hell. How the fuck did you think it would happen? I swear, people like Philip are why I can never stomach radicalism... "oh we wanted an orderly destruction of the status quo, without causing any suffering." You know, unlike basically every other time revolution's happened in human history. |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Oct 3, 2017 22:30:47 GMT -5
below an article on the Puerto Rico crisis, the comments of the day: Philip • 7 hours ago I've said it here before, but: as a leftist, it's really fucking surreal to be unhappy about the rapidly-accelerating collapse of the entire American imperial project. I want it dismantled, not coming apart like a busted jet engine shredding itself and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The way things are going, we're going to cause even more suffering in our collapse. RovingYouthPastor > Philip • 7 hours ago The fact that this is how things fall apart when they fall apart is part of why I greatly tempered my own radical leftism. Oh come on, Puerto Rico isn't falling apart because of leftist policies of radical change. Shit is falling apart because a certain radical right-wing white supremacist is happy to let Puerto Rico collapse, because radical right-wing white supremacists will be very pleased when more services inevitably get privatized as a result of said collapse. |
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Post by Roy Batty's Pet Dove on Oct 3, 2017 22:45:13 GMT -5
below an article on the Puerto Rico crisis, the comments of the day: Philip • 7 hours ago I've said it here before, but: as a leftist, it's really fucking surreal to be unhappy about the rapidly-accelerating collapse of the entire American imperial project. I want it dismantled, not coming apart like a busted jet engine shredding itself and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The way things are going, we're going to cause even more suffering in our collapse. RovingYouthPastor > Philip • 7 hours ago The fact that this is how things fall apart when they fall apart is part of why I greatly tempered my own radical leftism. Well hell. How the fuck did you think it would happen? I swear, people like Philip are why I can never stomach radicalism... "oh we wanted an orderly destruction of the status quo, without causing any suffering." You know, unlike basically every other time revolution's happened in human history. I don't understand. Are you arguing that imperialism is good? Philip said he wants to dismantle the institution that's caused permitted Trump's far-right, white supremacist response to Puerto Rico, but he doesn't want it to be dismantled via causing the needless suffering of something like what's happening now, and that's supposed to be stomach churning or something? The main thing that Philip gets wrong, imo, is that he thinks that what's happening in Puerto Rico is inevitably a step towards the US ending its imperialist project, when what's probably going to result is that a bunch of public services in Puerto Rico are going to be privatized, because, hey, look how poorly their government is handling the recovery and how the workers want the US government to do everything for them and all the other odious shit Trump and a million other racists will say to justify it. Also, if you take your tacit argument that if the status quo is dismantled in a way that causes suffering, it is therefore inherently unconscionable, then the Civil War should never have happened, and slavery should have been permitted to continue in perpetuity. |
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Post by ganews on Oct 3, 2017 22:56:03 GMT -5
below an article on the Puerto Rico crisis, the comments of the day: Philip • 7 hours ago I've said it here before, but: as a leftist, it's really fucking surreal to be unhappy about the rapidly-accelerating collapse of the entire American imperial project. I want it dismantled, not coming apart like a busted jet engine shredding itself and throwing shrapnel everywhere. The way things are going, we're going to cause even more suffering in our collapse. RovingYouthPastor > Philip • 7 hours ago The fact that this is how things fall apart when they fall apart is part of why I greatly tempered my own radical leftism. Oh come on, Puerto Rico isn't falling apart because of leftist policies of radical change. Shit is falling apart because a certain radical right-wing white supremacist is happy to let Puerto Rico collapse, because radical right-wing white supremacists will be very pleased when more services inevitably get privatized as a result of said collapse. Leftists have nothing to do with the Puerto Rico situation, and no one thinks otherwise (I don't even know how you could read that in the selection). The implication here is that one (the only?) way for revolution to happen is for the powers that be to let things to get really bad like with PR. That could have happened early in the 20th century; one of the major drivers of Teddy Roosevelt's policies was that rapacious capitalism should be checked just enough to keep revolution from happening. The commenters I noted seem to be wrestling with the immediate human cost required to trigger radical change toward a theoretically better but decidedly uncertain future. I personally am not ready to chalk it all up to sunk cost fallacy, not while there is so much we as a country can still do for people if said white supremacists aren't in the way. |
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