stiffly
1yr ago
If they’re from a western country they may consider themselves (and others like them) an expat instead of an immigrant, but it all amounts to the same thing.
Expatriates are foreign workers. They go to another country to work there, but will return home. An immigrant goes to stay.
It kind of sucks they have no language requirement. You should speak a country's language. No matter how many people speak English, you're still stuck in the English bubble. I know people who have lived in other countries for over a decade and still don't speak the language. It's sad, honestly.
stiffly
1yr ago
Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs Victoria "Fuck the EU" Nuland explicitly said that Nord Stream 2 would be brought to an end if Russia invades Ukraine on the official US State Department account.
stiffly
1yr ago
The gas was already turned off at the tap. Why would the Russians blow up their own pipeline?
Biden is on video saying that the pipeline would end. Why's it a surprise that he ordered it blown up?
stiffly
1yr ago
Lucky for Europe that they run a gargantuan $60 billion trade surplus with the US. They can easily afford the US gas, and it will be warmly welcomed as helping to pare down that unfair surplus.
Trade is supposed to be equal, with both parties benefiting.
stiffly
1yr ago
A threat to his power? The pipelines were a major source of Russian leverage. Now they're gone. Moreover the US has been threatening them for some time. An important Polish politician said "Thank you USA" because nobody informed him that it was supposed to be a secret.
stiffly
1yr ago
Nuland is the one that engineered the 2014 coup. We have a leaked phone call from her where she is discussing arranging Ukraine's government without asking them, instead of the democratic process of the Ukrainians doing it. She's not a good person. When she says we're going to end it, she means a state-sponsored terrorist attack.
I'm curious, where did you get the idea about this decertifying it? Mind reading? That's not something that's under America's control. Germany is the enemy here, and the US must not allow them to resume supplies of Russian gas. As they start freezing and deindustrializing this winter, it's going to become an attractive option. Now it's off the table.
stiffly
1yr ago
The actions followed the words. It's exactly what you'd expect. She has behaved in a depraved and evil fashion since we became aware of her, and it's not mind-reading to observe that she's depraved and evil.
You didn't actually address any of the claims, like this was done to prevent Germany from crying "uncle" and asking Russia to turn the taps back on this winter. Now that's utterly impossible. What a terrible thing to happen. "Thank you USA" says it all.
stiffly
1yr ago
Yes? It's the talk of the town? That's why that Washington Post "journalist" tracked her down, doxxed her, and harassed her family members.
stiffly
1yr ago
NATO is here to keep the Americans in, the Russians out and the Germans down.
Germany is the real enemy here. Here's a good rundown of the idea. Even if you disagree you should be aware of it, and understand how events developing favor this narrative. If you haven't heard of the MacKinder Thesis, now would be a good time to start. Keeping Russia and Germany apart is the crown jewel of American domination overseas.
stiffly
1yr ago
Well, I'd link you to the audio of the phone call, but Youtube has censored it. Weird, eh? It's like they don't want it influencing our discussions.
Hospitals and doctors around the country are facing harassment and even death threats over the medical care they offer to transgender kids. In many cases, they have been the subject of posts by a Twitter account called Libs of TikTok, as well as stories in conservative media outlets casting gender-affirming care as child abuse and mutilation.
Which raises the question: where should social networks draw the line with accounts promoting narratives that spark harassment campaigns on their platforms and beyond?
They're doing elective pediatric double mastectomies on minors, and that's not a problem. The problem here is that Libs of Tiktok is shining a light on it and letting the world know. Fucked up, eh?
stiffly
1yr ago
Much like the Hunter Biden laptop, the story quickly becomes about the censorship instead of the original story.
stiffly
1yr ago
It doesn't fit neatly in my pre-existing political compass
That's the feeling of your brain growing.
Keep at it, you're doing well!
is being propped up against the will of the German people (haven't heard of any revolutions there, as of late) as an American puppet
Yeah, pretty much. Germans want the US occupation out. It's pretty widespread, but the German government has to keep the Americans in otherwise the Americans will do very bad things to Germany. Moreover the US troops aren't just there to defend against Russia, but to maintain American access to European markets. Crazy conspiracy theory, right? Well, it comes from Alexander Haig.
Q -- Why is the United States still stationing 70,000 troops in Germany?
A -- A lot of good reasons for that. This presence is the basis for our influence in the European region and for the cooperation of allied nations whose security it enhances. A lot of people forget it is also the bona fide of our economic success. The presence of U.S. troops keeps European markets open to us. If those troops weren't there, those markets would probably be more difficult to access.
Q -- I didn't forget. I just didn't know that if the United States didn't maintain 70,000 troops in Germany, European markets might be closed to American goods and services.
A -- On occasion, even with our presence, we have confronted protectionism in a number of industries, such as automotive and aerospace. In addition to economic benefits derived from our presence in Europe, there is perhaps an even more important diplomatic and political benefit.
https://www.upi.com/Defense-News/2002/01/07/Text-of-UPI-interview-with-Haig/78831010444063/
There's a lot of this stuff out there which is common knowledge among elites, but not well known to the public. It's out there though, you can find it if you know where to look.
stiffly
1yr ago
Nah, NATO is still about the same thing. The whole "stop being a freeloader on American defense" was a Trumpian thing. The first thing Biden did was ditch it, like he did all of Trump's policies. Remember when Trump told the Germans to stop freeloading? They laughed at him. To his face! That shows you what the Germans think of this idea.
The MacKinder Thesis tells us that the US must never allow Europe and Asia to work together, as that would be enough to end American hegemony. The mandarins in DC will never let this happen. This isn't crazy conspiracy theory, it's real geopolitics.
stiffly
1yr ago
Look at the opinion polls, it's pretty bad. Their disapproval of America is right up there with Islamic countries.
Or it was last I checked. I suppose it's increase ever since we provoked this war. People become popular when they're temporarily useful. Like in WWII, the British suddenly started cheering for the Irish ("There never was a coward where the shamrock grows") or blacks and women became popular in the US because their labor was valuable. But the thing about being temporarily useful is that whenever the emergency comes to an end, it's right back to the old way again.
stiffly
1yr ago
I think they're using that old rhetorical device to avoid responsibility: lying.
Moreover NPR is hardly a neutral source. http://imgur.com/myGuSjy
I'm not some kid. I grew up on NPR. I'm disgusted to see what they've become. I feel like I lost a friend.
stiffly
1yr ago
If you're a poor unskilled worker you're not going home again. You're staying. You left home in the first place because your home country sucks and there's no work there.
Expats don't stay. Eww, gross. They're in Shanghai this year, Dubai the next, then back home in London, then a couple years in New York. They're assigned around by their companies and don't have much of a choice about it.
stiffly
1yr ago
Oh, that's easy - crystal therapy works because the people who are treated with it believe that it works. The placebo effect. It's the same with witch doctors, faith healers, and TCM.
stiffly
1yr ago
Yeah. After reading the unfiltered internet for years, and seeing people pour out their problems on the page, things I have never experienced, the more I am convinced that simple life hygiene is what is wrong with so many of them. They cause so many of their own problems. Moreover I think that so many of these problems are left over from when we lived in tribes. We stopped doing that a long time ago, and yet we still have all these neuroses because we don't make our own food or weave our own baskets any more. Especially not living in extended families, that one was a punch in the gut to humanity.
Heck I don't say this as some exemplar of a shining true life, either. I used to think I was depressed. Turns out, there was no brain chemical imbalance at all, it was just that I had a shitty life and that was because I was doing it wrong.
stiffly
1yr ago
Basic stuff. Really, really basic. Like showering every day, loving your children, shouldering responsibility for your life, being the changes you want to see, planning the life you'd like to have, going somewhere that's good enough so that the going is worth the while. So, so many people don't even do this, but it's that they don't even ask the questions in the first place. Or even know that they should be asking these questions. It's really sad.
In earlier ages, we had elders who would instruct the young. They knew what they had to do. Hunt the buffalo, weave baskets, fetch water, form families, respect the land, live such that your ancestors would be proud. Now that's gone and it's causing profound suffering.
stiffly
1yr ago
Does one trust a known deceiver? Especially when they have something to gain by their actions?
stiffly
1yr ago
there’s a strong tendency on the left to underestimate the power of nationalism.
I’m not sure why this tendency exists or how it developed.
Well, that's easy. When it's for them, they're in favor of it, but if it doesn't work for their side, then nationalist is a synonym for fascist. Orwell had a lot to say about this.
British nationalists: fascists. Ukrainian nationalists: heroes. American nationalists: fascists. South African nationalists: heroes. Now you try!
stiffly
1yr ago
Can we trust a mainstream media outlet deeply invested in the pro-pediatric cosmetic surgery agenda to report accurately on what their opposition thinks or believes? Track record says no.
stiffly
1yr ago
I forget what it is called, but what does this community think about when a movie takes a character that was white or a male and makes it a different gender or race for the sake of it?
The term you are looking for is "fan-baiting".
https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1568182048564875265.html
“Fan-baiting” is a form of marketing used by producers, film studios, and actors, with the intent of exciting artificial controversy, garnering publicity, and explaining away the negative reviews of a new and often highly anticipated production.
Fan-baiting emerged as a marketing strategy in 2016/17, after fans of beloved franchises such as Ghostbusters and Star Wars objected to what they saw as poor writing choices, sloppy scripts, and cheap alterations to plot lines and characters for the sake of shock value.
Along side these critics, there was a small group of bigoted but vociferous commentators who objected to the inclusion of black and female actors in roles traditionally held by white male actors. Some of these individuals began publicly harassing actors.
Bigots have always attacked diversity on screen, but in a highly polarized political climate, instances of harassment on garnered disproportionately massive media coverage, which provided production studios with both free publicity and a new defence against actual critics.
Studios seized the opportunity to discredit criticism of poor writing & acting, insinuating that these, too, were motivated by bigotry. What used to be accepted as standard critiques were increasingly dismissed as part of the ignorant commentary of a “toxic fandom.”
Soon, it became standard practice before release to issue announcements specifying diverse casting choices, coupled with pre-emptive declarations of solidarity with the cast whom they now counted on to receive disparaging and harassing comments.
Actors who are women and/or BIPOC became props & shields for craven corporate laziness and opportunism. The studios save money both by avoiding expensive veteran writers as well as by offloading publicity to news outlets and social media covering the artificial controversy.
“Fan-baiting” works. It brings in a new sympathetic audience whose endorsement is more about taking a public stance against prejudice than any real interest in the art. “Fan-baiting” also permits studios to cultivate public skepticism over the legitimacy of poor reviews.
“Fan-baiting” also compels reviewers to temper their criticism, for fear of becoming associated with the “toxic fandom” and losing their professional credibly, resulting in telling discrepancies between critic and audience review scores.
The true nature of “fan-baiting” is never so clear as when a script is well-crafted and audience reviews are accordingly positive, exposing the announcements, declarations of solidarity, & grooming of skepticism for what they really are: cynical corporate marketing tactics.
They just want to get rid of Libs of Tiktok so very badly. She's exposing the trans agenda in public schools and boy, that kind of thing can't succeed if there's a spotlight shining on it. The whole idea is to do it by stealth, without informing parents. Thus "stochastic terrorism" is the way to silence her.
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