COVID19 Factors We Should Consider/Current Events

[Jdcuth]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but...



I used to date a Swedish woman (this was in 2011) who was certain that military spending was a complete waste of tax dollars. Russia, she said, would never invade Sweden. Why would anyone do that? It just wouldn't make any sense.

In 2014, Russia invaded Crimea. I asked if this changed her mind about the likelihood of Russia invading Sweden, or the necessity of defense spending. Nope, not at all. Neither did the outbreak of full scale war in 2022.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to love in Europe. Their cities are an absolute dream and they take their coffee seriously. But I just can't get over the lackadaisical attitude toward defense spending. I know WHY they have it, but this bizarre refusal to believe that assholes exist and regularly obtain positions of power just baffles me.

I should at least give a nod toward the French on this matter. For all their issues, they at least take defense seriously, and have a fairly hardnosed outlook on international affairs more generally. Remember when our spying on Merkel was leaked, and everyone was clutching their pearls? The French gave a collective shrug. They understand that everyone spies on their allies. It's refreshing.

I think being in an alliance with the world’s most powerful military helps (see how quickly Sweden joined up once Putin went full metal)

[Jovan Dragisic]

I know I shouldn't laugh, but...



I used to date a Swedish woman (this was in 2011) who was certain that military spending was a complete waste of tax dollars. Russia, she said, would never invade Sweden. Why would anyone do that? It just wouldn't make any sense.

In 2014, Russia invaded Crimea. I asked if this changed her mind about the likelihood of Russia invading Sweden, or the necessity of defense spending. Nope, not at all. Neither did the outbreak of full scale war in 2022.

Don't get me wrong, there's a lot to love in Europe. Their cities are an absolute dream and they take their coffee seriously. But I just can't get over the lackadaisical attitude toward defense spending. I know WHY they have it, but this bizarre refusal to believe that assholes exist and regularly obtain positions of power just baffles me.

I should at least give a nod toward the French on this matter. For all their issues, they at least take defense seriously, and have a fairly hardnosed outlook on international affairs more generally. Remember when our spying on Merkel was leaked, and everyone was clutching their pearls? The French gave a collective shrug. They understand that everyone spies on their allies. It's refreshing.

Russia will not invade Sweden.

[Chiaki Nitya]

Paglia seems like a difficult, disobedient, person.

She calls out Naomi Wolfe for "gender as a social construct" ! Is that current?

I don't know much about Naomi Wolf other than she is very pro-trans, and that she went on DemocracyNow a bunch of times in the mid-2000's to compare the Bush Admin with Nazi Germany and warn that Republicans would turn the US into a fascist regime.

I actually agree with some of her general conclusions, but disagree with the reasoning and data she uses to get there.

[Yngvi]

Alejandro Myorkas will attack us with 2 million more hostile immigrants, then flee to Israel where he will never face the justice of hanging from a lamp post.

[Satch12879]

Oberon, how many Russians are there in Sweden? Please cite demographic data on the ethnic make-up of that country. That data I believe might surprise you.

[Jenni]

Paglia seems like a difficult, disobedient, person.

She calls out Naomi Wolfe for "gender as a social construct" ! Is that current?

Probably. I read Paglia's Sexual Personae in my early 20's after reading an article by her (or perhaps it was an interview) in Playboy. I love her work. SP was quite the interesting read if you are up for a more academic work. I recall, at the time I was in the middle of reading it, having an argument with a local radio show host about how much we need men and how men actually do all the hard shit. Appreciation of testosterone and all the things men bring to the table has been a message missing for a while now -- long enough that it's caused a problem. I hope men, collectively, get to the point that they don't internalize that shit. It breaks my heart we've basically raised a generation of boys that have been told that their natural masculine instincts are something to be ashamed of or to be tamped down. I think it's seriously impacted mental health as much as it has society.

[mkm5]

This is interesting:

Watch Tucker?s Head Explode When Javier Milei Say What No Politician Will Admit - YouTube

[Subby]

Derek Chauvin calls his trial a ‘sham’ in first interview from prison

Supreme Court declines appeal from Derek Chauvin in murder of George Floyd

The rule of law objectively no longer exists. Plan and act accordingly.

---

I found a tangential passage from this substack article interesting:



I remember being in an airport at the height of this, and on screens throughout the terminals they had the inexplicably hideous, negatively charismatic, beady-eyed goblin Alejandro Mayorkas on screens in a loop chastising travelers for "abusing" airline staff. "It won't be tolerated! You will be prosecuted, fined, face prison time, blah, blah, blah". It was one of the most Orwellian things I've ever experienced in my life.

Attachment 8493

But think about what was going on here. They didn't want to hire a pleasant looking actor to make these announcements. It had to be one of the goblins himself. He got off on it, I assure you. The wretched creature is glad to "enforce" from behind a screen, and even knowingly agitate you into hatred of his abominable visage. It's all part of the psychological operation. But he knows if he put himself in the position of his minions, he just might end up hanging from a lamp post. He can't help but see the people over whom he rules as his enemy. Men like this literally hate you for whatever freedoms you might have left, and will remain insatiable until they've squeezed out every last drop.

When you fight in a war, you don't put bullets in the heads of the elite responsible for the chaos. You put them in the 18 year old kids who happen to be right in front of you at the moment. It's horrible, but that's just how it works. It's not going to be masks next time, but whenever they roll out the next submission ritual, they're going to do the same thing again and put a "poor kid just doing her job" in front of you to get you to submit. Will you fall for it again? Maybe it will help realizing that they would happily throw the same "poor kid" into a meat-grinder to get what they want. Just be glad all you had to do was make her day a little shittier, and hate her job a little more. She'll be fine.

"I'm just doing my job" has never been a moral defense.

[Matt Jackson]

If you're an Anglo, and you have anything negative to say about this, OR notice a pattern...

What Has Come Over the People of New York? - YouTube

... Then you're an "anti-Semite" and should lose your livelihood.

(Comedian Michael Rapaport and former Obama official Stuart Seldowitz)

[anticausal]

This is interesting:

Watch Tucker?s Head Explode When Javier Milei Say What No Politician Will Admit - YouTube

Where did Tuckers head explode? I kept expecting some advice on eliminating deep state cabal, but all he has is vague notions of "fighting socialism" with no real advice on dismantling the machine--a machine that consists of a lot of flesh-and-blood people who will never give up power until they are physically removed.

Reminds me of when Pence kept saying "America will never be a socialist country!" over and over during the campaign, before he stabbed Trump in the back and helped America become an even more socialist country. Because he's so honorable and just loves the rule of law so much!

This is also interesting:

Argentina’s far-right presidential frontrunner wants to become Jewish

Milei is most likely a manufactured creature of the "underdog" Clown World faction, allowed to thrive only because of his submission to Jewish interests. The only thing I'd pay attention to is what he ends up doing on immigration. All manner of ideological differences are allowed if that piece is in place, since globalism is the absolute number one priority.