Donald Dead Cat On Is Head Trump

[Spider]

Trump has won this war 7 times. 

He’s negotiated a peace settlement 12 times. 

And he’s opened the Strait of Hormuz at least 4 times. 

What more do you want from him?

[deeane Koontz]

Those 2 fuckwits Farage and Badenoch were giddy as fuck about jumping in to this nonsense. They've gone a bit quiet on it since i see. Twats.

[Alf Hartigan]

3 hours ago, boltonboris said:

We've got all this to come with Farage and his lot.. I think it goes above just pure greed. I think it's a psychological move to say, 'look I can do this, but you can't.. Because I'm more powerful than you and you need to remember that'

Eventually, as we see over there, people just become so powerless to stop it as they think there's no point and not only do they start accepting it, they eventually start applauding it. 

[Dimron]

3 hours ago, kent_white said:

 

I'm not sure I'm relishing the Chinese becoming the most dominant force in the world mind. Although they've seemed largely benign and non interventionist so far. 

I don't like dealing wiith Chinese on our terms but I believe they have a big "hive mentality" amongst themselves which gives them a huge advantage

[boltonboris]

5 hours ago, kent_white said:

I have to say - I've been amazed by the lack of fight in the yanks.

I have a suspicion that they’re not getting the news that the rest of the world are, which is a fucking crazy 

[boltonboris]

5 hours ago, kent_white said:

I think it's already well underway. And gathering pace every day. 

I'm not sure I'm relishing the Chinese becoming the most dominant force in the world mind. Although they've seemed largely benign and non interventionist so far. 

Deliberate. They have the resources, patience and time to sit there eating popcorn watching the US absolutely fuck itself 

[Sluffy]

5 hours ago, kent_white said:

I think it's already well underway. And gathering pace every day. 

I'm not sure I'm relishing the Chinese becoming the most dominant force in the world mind. Although they've seemed largely benign and non interventionist so far. 

Tell that to the Uyghur's

China’s systemic crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which escalated in 2017, involves the mass internment of an estimated one million people in "re-education camps", pervasive digital surveillance, forced labor, forced birth control, and the widespread destruction of religious and cultural sites

 

[boltonboris]

Just now, Sluffy said:

Tell that to the Uyghur's

China’s systemic crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which escalated in 2017, involves the mass internment of an estimated one million people in "re-education camps", pervasive digital surveillance, forced labor, forced birth control, and the widespread destruction of religious and cultural sites

 

I read a book recently by (I think) Charles Cumming. One of the reasons why the Chinese hit the Uyghur population so hard, is because the CIA armed them in an attempt to destabilise Beijing and push for an autonomous region, which is apparently rich in natural resources. .
 

They were responsible for a series of terrorist attacks and a small resistance movement appeared that was quickly surpressed by China. 
 

Pretty interesting stuff 

[BobyBrno]

28 minutes ago, Sluffy said:

Tell that to the Uyghur's

China’s systemic crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which escalated in 2017, involves the mass internment of an estimated one million people in "re-education camps", pervasive digital surveillance, forced labor, forced birth control, and the widespread destruction of religious and cultural sites

 

We should have a thread, ‘meanwhile in China’. That would be interesting. 

Edited Friday at 21:21 by BobyBrno

[Sluffy]

10 minutes ago, boltonboris said:

I read a book recently by (I think) Charles Cumming. One of the reasons why the Chinese hit the Uyghur population so hard, is because the CIA armed them in an attempt to destabilise Beijing and push for an autonomous region, which is apparently rich in natural resources. .
 

They were responsible for a series of terrorist attacks and a small resistance movement appeared that was quickly surpressed by China. 
 

Pretty interesting stuff 

I've not heard about the CIA arming them (I would have though the logistics to do that were next to impossible (Trump couldn't manage to arm the Kurds in Iran (to kick start an uprising) recently and the US have bases next door to Iran in Iraq!).

I can imagine the CIA encouraging the Uyghur's to push for independence and they did achieve a high profile 'terrorist' attack in Tiananmen Square in 2013 (maybe that is what the CIA armed perhaps?).

2013 Tiananmen Square attack

2013 Tiananmen Square attack - Wikipedia

My understanding (and I'm not saying it is correct) was that China thought if they didn't crack down on the Muslim Uyghur's, then other Muslim majority groupings in the far west of the country would push for their independence also.

Crack down hard they did too!

My opinion for all it is worth is that as we no longer can trust the US, that China seems to want to control the world, and Russia/Putin's dream is to reassemble the USSR (and as much more as they can take) then our best course of action is get back in with Europe and include Ukraine in it with us as well as they seem the only protection Europe can actually rely on right now. 

 

[boltonboris]

3 minutes ago, Sluffy said:

I've not heard about the CIA arming them (I would have though the logistics to do that were next to impossible (Trump couldn't manage to arm the Kurds in Iran (to kick start an uprising) recently and the US have bases next door to Iran in Iraq!).

I can imagine the CIA encouraging the Uyghur's to push for independence and they did achieve a high profile 'terrorist' attack in Tiananmen Square in 2013 (maybe that is what the CIA armed perhaps?).

2013 Tiananmen Square attack

2013 Tiananmen Square attack - Wikipedia

My understanding (and I'm not saying it is correct) was that China thought if they didn't crack down on the Muslim Uyghur's, then other Muslim majority groupings in the far west of the country would push for their independence also.

Crack down hard they did too!

My opinion for all it is worth is that as we no longer can trust the US, that China seems to want to control the world, and Russia/Putin's dream is to reassemble the USSR (and as much more as they can take) then our best course of action is get back in with Europe and include Ukraine in it with us as well as they seem the only protection Europe can actually rely on right now. 

 

I can’t imagine it’d be too difficult to smuggle weapons into Xinjiang through the stans. Especially whilst there’s wars raging 

[Spider]

32 minutes ago, BobyBrno said:

We should have a thread, ‘meanwhile in China’. That would be interesting. 

Good friend of mine works in Tianjin. Says the level of surveillance there would send Brits wild. Facial recognition cameras every hundred yards and you can receive a fine in the post for littering.

 

[Lt. Aldo Raine]

1 minute ago, Spider said:

Good friend of mine works in Tianjin. Says the level of surveillance there would send Brits wild. Facial recognition cameras every hundred yards and you can receive a fine in the post for littering.

 

To be fair though, they can have takeaways delivered in minutes by drone

Swings and roundabouts

[Sluffy]

6 hours ago, boltonboris said:

We've got all this to come with Farage and his lot.. I think it goes above just pure greed. I think it's a psychological move to say, 'look I can do this, but you can't.. Because I'm more powerful than you and you need to remember that'

Eventually, as we see over there, people just become so powerless to stop it as they think there's no point and not only do they start accepting it, they eventually start applauding it. 

Well Hungary recently fought against the corruption of its leaders and had a resounding victory over Orban's government, so it can be done - not easy though.

As for Farage / Reform, it again will be the 'populist' voters that will sweep him into office, if the bubble isn't burst somehow before then - the Reform/Farage supporters seem to see nothing wrong in him taking a £5m bung, the racism and misogyny of its candidates (have you heard about the Reform candidate in the forthcoming bye-election yet?).

Tweet here if you haven't

 

The thing about the populist voters though is their level of education.

I'm not being elitist or a snob or anything, just stating facts based on the Republican voters in the US -

Nationally, voters with a bachelor's degree or higher heavily lean Democratic, while non-college-educated voters lean Republican, driven primarily by differences among white voters. However, the exact educational makeup of Democratic and Republican voters varies significantly by state, deeply tied to the overall educational attainment of each state's population. 

State-Level Education and Party Trends

Democratic-leaning states (e.g., Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland) typically have the highest overall educational attainment in the country, meaning their Democratic voters are more likely to be college-educated professionals. 

Republican-leaning states (e.g., West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas) generally rank lower in statewide educational attainment, so their GOP voters skew more heavily toward those without a four-year degree.

Battleground states (e.g., Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona) tend to fall near the national average in education, which creates closely contested electorates where neither highly educated nor non-college voters dominate

National Voter Demographics

Recent national voting patterns show a clear and persistent educational divide: 

College Graduates: Harris won this demographic by a 57% to 41% margin.

Non-College Voters: Trump held an advantage among voters without a four-year degree, winning them 56% to 42%. 

To explore the exact educational breakdowns and voting patterns for specific states, review the state-by-state demographic datasets compiled by the Pew Research Center.

Source -

Election 2024 - Research and data from Pew Research Center

 

Regrettably as the saying goes (I do like a good saying, I find that there is often more than a kernel of truth in them otherwise they would have died out and disappeared years ago) - 

We get what we deserve!

 

 

 

[Sluffy]

35 minutes ago, boltonboris said:

I can’t imagine it’d be too difficult to smuggle weapons into Xinjiang through the stans. Especially whilst there’s wars raging 

I would imagine that would be the worst time to be delivering arms.

Surely both of the warring sides would take them for themselves in a heartbeat

Trump said (can you believe anything he says though) that he sent arms to the Iraq Kurds and those who were smuggling the arms took them for themselves and sold them!

I very much doubt the CIA provided arms to the Uyghur's (maybe for the Tiananmen Square incident) but I've nothing to back that up with and I'm sure the author of the book you read had far better sources than I would ever have.

[gonzo]

23 minutes ago, Sluffy said:

Well Hungary recently fought against the corruption of its leaders and had a resounding victory over Orban's government, so it can be done - not easy though.

As for Farage / Reform, it again will be the 'populist' voters that will sweep him into office, if the bubble isn't burst somehow before then - the Reform/Farage supporters seem to see nothing wrong in him taking a £5m bung, the racism and misogyny of its candidates (have you heard about the Reform candidate in the forthcoming bye-election yet?).

Tweet here if you haven't

 

The thing about the populist voters though is their level of education.

I'm not being elitist or a snob or anything, just stating facts based on the Republican voters in the US -

Nationally, voters with a bachelor's degree or higher heavily lean Democratic, while non-college-educated voters lean Republican, driven primarily by differences among white voters. However, the exact educational makeup of Democratic and Republican voters varies significantly by state, deeply tied to the overall educational attainment of each state's population. 

State-Level Education and Party Trends

Democratic-leaning states (e.g., Massachusetts, Colorado, Maryland) typically have the highest overall educational attainment in the country, meaning their Democratic voters are more likely to be college-educated professionals. 

Republican-leaning states (e.g., West Virginia, Mississippi, Arkansas) generally rank lower in statewide educational attainment, so their GOP voters skew more heavily toward those without a four-year degree.

Battleground states (e.g., Pennsylvania, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona) tend to fall near the national average in education, which creates closely contested electorates where neither highly educated nor non-college voters dominate

National Voter Demographics

Recent national voting patterns show a clear and persistent educational divide: 

College Graduates: Harris won this demographic by a 57% to 41% margin.

Non-College Voters: Trump held an advantage among voters without a four-year degree, winning them 56% to 42%. 

 

To explore the exact educational breakdowns and voting patterns for specific states, review the state-by-state demographic datasets compiled by the Pew Research Center.

Source -

Election 2024 - Research and data from Pew Research Center

 

Regrettably as the saying goes (I do like a good saying, I find that there is often more than a kernel of truth in them otherwise they would have died out and disappeared years ago) - 

We get what we deserve!

 

 

 

So are you saying reform voters are racist thickos?

[kent_white]

2 hours ago, Sluffy said:

Tell that to the Uyghur's

China’s systemic crackdown on Uyghur Muslims in the Xinjiang region, which escalated in 2017, involves the mass internment of an estimated one million people in "re-education camps", pervasive digital surveillance, forced labor, forced birth control, and the widespread destruction of religious and cultural sites

 

Well quite! 

That's what I meant when I said 'Im not relishing the Chinese becoming the most dominant force in the world.......'

[Sluffy]

19 minutes ago, gonzo said:

So are you saying reform voters are racist thickos?

Not me.

But all the detailed breakdown of which groups of society voted Republican and Democrat are contained in the link I provided in the post.

The populist vote in the recent Hungarian election was against Orban  (Orban being Hungary's equivalent of Trump or Farage), indeed Trump personally endorsed Orban and sent both Marco Rubio and JD Vance to Hungary to 'cheerlead' for Orban in the run up to election day (the excuse being to prevent any foreign intervention in the Hungarian vote - whilst they themselves being blatant foreign interventionist themselves trying to get Viktor re-elected).

(If stuff like that was in a film, you would not believe it as being to far fetched to be remotely true).

Unfortunately it was very true.

The difference in this election though Orban's core supporters, the peasant farmers, with limited education, had been so screwed by then by Orban's years in power, that they didn't turn out to vote for him and he lost by a landslide, so big in fact, it allows the new government of Peter Magyar the mandate to repeal the legislation put in place by Orban to stop anyone ever beating him in an election - the people of Hungary had been so fucked off by Orban's corruption and their growing poverty that the anger was there to basically overthrow him.

Anyway in the most general of terms, right wing populist voters seem (according to the research data provided above) to be more likely to be (as you quaintly put it) "racist thickos", than people who have completed higher education and are more liberal in their views.

Why would anyone think a convicted sex offender (Trump) or someone who kept very, very quiet about being given a £5m 'gift' (Farage) would be honest and have integrity - and they are their partys leaders don't forget!!!

I don't know your politics Gonzo, nor do I wish to know but don't believe the sound bites you are fed by any party - there are no easy answers to stop the boats, or to send all illegals back to where they came, or roll the clock back to the 1960's where whites ruled and the blackies (and Irish) knew their place, and the little woman was there to cook and wash for you and give you babies., or whatever they say to get you to vote for them.

Politics is all about power and there are two simple rules of politics

Rule 1 is to say or do absolutely anything to get people to vote you in to power

Rule 2 is to say or do absolutely anything to stay in power.

That's the top and bottom of what politics (read that as 'power') is all about.

Certainly in the last decade or two.

[Spider]

6 hours ago, Sluffy said:

Not me.

But all the detailed breakdown of which groups of society voted Republican and Democrat are contained in the link I provided in the post.

The populist vote in the recent Hungarian election was against Orban  (Orban being Hungary's equivalent of Trump or Farage), indeed Trump personally endorsed Orban and sent both Marco Rubio and JD Vance to Hungary to 'cheerlead' for Orban in the run up to election day (the excuse being to prevent any foreign intervention in the Hungarian vote - whilst they themselves being blatant foreign interventionist themselves trying to get Viktor re-elected).

(If stuff like that was in a film, you would not believe it as being to far fetched to be remotely true).

Unfortunately it was very true.

The difference in this election though Orban's core supporters, the peasant farmers, with limited education, had been so screwed by then by Orban's years in power, that they didn't turn out to vote for him and he lost by a landslide, so big in fact, it allows the new government of Peter Magyar the mandate to repeal the legislation put in place by Orban to stop anyone ever beating him in an election - the people of Hungary had been so fucked off by Orban's corruption and their growing poverty that the anger was there to basically overthrow him.

Anyway in the most general of terms, right wing populist voters seem (according to the research data provided above) to be more likely to be (as you quaintly put it) "racist thickos", than people who have completed higher education and are more liberal in their views.

Why would anyone think a convicted sex offender (Trump) or someone who kept very, very quiet about being given a £5m 'gift' (Farage) would be honest and have integrity - and they are their partys leaders don't forget!!!

I don't know your politics Gonzo, nor do I wish to know but don't believe the sound bites you are fed by any party - there are no easy answers to stop the boats, or to send all illegals back to where they came, or roll the clock back to the 1960's where whites ruled and the blackies (and Irish) knew their place, and the little woman was there to cook and wash for you and give you babies., or whatever they say to get you to vote for them.

Politics is all about power and there are two simple rules of politics

Rule 1 is to say or do absolutely anything to get people to vote you in to power

Rule 2 is to say or do absolutely anything to stay in power.

That's the top and bottom of what politics (read that as 'power') is all about.

Certainly in the last decade or two.

Did you know that Ed Miliband looks a bit daft when he eats a bacon sandwich though?

[Sluffy]

I do, how could one forget?

[Bertie]

Fit as a fiddle. Allegedly.

 

[kent_white]

1 hour ago, Bertie said:

Fit as a fiddle. Allegedly.

 

Those results are better than mine and I'm a (relatively) fit 48 year old.

If that's accurate then that's remarkable for a man of his age. Especially his blood pressure given that he's in a high stress job, is .6 of a BMI away from being clinically obese (and isn't on any antihypertensives). 

I woundn't read too much into his self reported neuro scores. Partly because it's really obvious how to answer them if you want a good result - and partly because I think he's a narcissist and unlikely to either feel (or at least admit to feeling) the kind of feelings those tests have picked up.

Also very surprised at his PSA given his age.

Basically - I'd kill for those results at his age.

 

[BobyBrno]

12 hours ago, Sluffy said:

Not me.

But all the detailed breakdown of which groups of society voted Republican and Democrat are contained in the link I provided in the post.

The populist vote in the recent Hungarian election was against Orban  (Orban being Hungary's equivalent of Trump or Farage), indeed Trump personally endorsed Orban and sent both Marco Rubio and JD Vance to Hungary to 'cheerlead' for Orban in the run up to election day (the excuse being to prevent any foreign intervention in the Hungarian vote - whilst they themselves being blatant foreign interventionist themselves trying to get Viktor re-elected).

(If stuff like that was in a film, you would not believe it as being to far fetched to be remotely true).

Unfortunately it was very true.

The difference in this election though Orban's core supporters, the peasant farmers, with limited education, had been so screwed by then by Orban's years in power, that they didn't turn out to vote for him and he lost by a landslide, so big in fact, it allows the new government of Peter Magyar the mandate to repeal the legislation put in place by Orban to stop anyone ever beating him in an election - the people of Hungary had been so fucked off by Orban's corruption and their growing poverty that the anger was there to basically overthrow him.

Anyway in the most general of terms, right wing populist voters seem (according to the research data provided above) to be more likely to be (as you quaintly put it) "racist thickos", than people who have completed higher education and are more liberal in their views.

Why would anyone think a convicted sex offender (Trump) or someone who kept very, very quiet about being given a £5m 'gift' (Farage) would be honest and have integrity - and they are their partys leaders don't forget!!!

I don't know your politics Gonzo, nor do I wish to know but don't believe the sound bites you are fed by any party - there are no easy answers to stop the boats, or to send all illegals back to where they came, or roll the clock back to the 1960's where whites ruled and the blackies (and Irish) knew their place, and the little woman was there to cook and wash for you and give you babies., or whatever they say to get you to vote for them.

Politics is all about power and there are two simple rules of politics

Rule 1 is to say or do absolutely anything to get people to vote you in to power

Rule 2 is to say or do absolutely anything to stay in power.

That's the top and bottom of what politics (read that as 'power') is all about.

Certainly in the last decade or two.

Interesting thoughts on higher education. Prior to the Brexit issue and the rise of UKIP and subsequent ‘populist’ parties, left and right used to be commonly broken down between ‘blue collar’ and ‘white collar’ workers. 
Both generally defined by education. 
The rise in people going to university has changed that but even then there is a split based on types of courses taken. I did a bit of research and found this.

Basically, if you have a degree in poetry, you’re a lefty. If you have a degree in Mechanical Engineering, you’re a far right racist.😉

Other further education course are available.👍

[mickbrown]

2 hours ago, kent_white said:

Those results are better than mine and I'm a (relatively) fit 48 year old.

If that's accurate then that's remarkable for a man of his age. Especially his blood pressure given that he's in a high stress job, is .6 of a BMI away from being clinically obese (and isn't on any antihypertensives). 

I woundn't read too much into his self reported neuro scores. Partly because it's really obvious how to answer them if you want a good result - and partly because I think he's a narcissist and unlikely to either feel (or at least admit to feeling) the kind of feelings those tests have picked up.

Also very surprised at his PSA given his age.

Basically - I'd kill for those results at his age.

 

It’s fucking bullshit. That’s why

[Sluffy]

23 minutes ago, BobyBrno said:

Interesting thoughts on higher education.

I suggest the inference is that you are more likely to come into contact with people who come from different backgrounds and hold different views than you have up to that point been surrounded with (you've moved away from your 'echo chamber' so to speak).

I don't particularly subscribe to the view that what you study defines your politics, it probably does in the 'caring' fields, more socially minded but I suggest your background 'blue collar family, white collar family' is still a driver at that age.

It usually in later life people tend to drift from the left towards the right.

After even saying all that I suggest we've probably moved on in the sense that higher educational students still retaining an 'echo chamber' as they seem to spend their life on social media well before they reach university age, and no doubt continue to follow their social media feeds and rejecting out of hand the politics of those they get to know as they progress with their education.

The hand that rocks the cradle type of thing.