leicsmac

It's an unfortunate fact that the problem has been there or thereabouts for some time now. The much more difficult matter is finding a workable solution when the clock is ticking. Which it is.

Interesting piece, thank you. I'm reminded of two different quotes that have been used here before, one originating on this very forum: "If everyone is seeing different messages then accountability is gone and public debate dead." "The different cardinal truths neither clash nor mesh, no one is invalidated but no one is right. Not even natural selection can take place here. The world is being engulfed in "Truth". And this is the way the world ends. Not with a BANG, but with a whimper."

Exactly so. And those problems are going to be felt at a global level. The absolutely unabashed blantacy of the lies would be hilarious if so many people didn't buy into them and use it to make other people's lives more difficult.

That's not really stopped Trumpism in other places, so I think I'll take the wins where I can get them right now.

No disagreement there. Three nuclear armed powers quibbling in an area that contains some of the largest solid freshwater reserves (which is going to become an incredibly vital resource rather soon) outside of Antarctica. What could possibly go wrong?

Yes, you could tell the experience in an international diplomatic environment that he's had. It's still rather despairing that he's having to hold himself in so much because of the bombastic egotism of his counterpart, though. Canada and Oz have given me a little hope for the future. Hopefully other nations follow suit soon enough.

Further to the above: https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g4gw18753o You do wonder sometimes just how international relations have come to conversations and statements like this. NB. Not sure the UK should be so quick to come to any kind of deals with a Modi-led India given their apparent penchant for sectarian violence at the present time.

Carney was incredibly restrained in that meeting. Probably works out for the best that he was.

Shilon Hendrix. Calls an autistic black child the n-word and then crowdfunds $700,000 from bigots because she's worried she'll (rightly) get hit in the pocket and by most public opinion. The US as it is today.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cn0wjxg0ex1o Sir David Attenborough is launching what he says is one of the most important films of his career as he enters his hundredth year. He believes his new, cinema-length film Ocean could play a decisive role in saving biodiversity and protecting the planet from climate change. Sir David, who will be 99 on Thursday, says: "After almost 100 years on the planet, I now understand the most important place on Earth is not on land, but at sea." If there could be a single man to advocate for our species. He will be missed when he's gone.

Carney: "We neither want nor need your egotistical nationalism as an adjutant to the friendly trade that has existed between us. If you have a further problem with that, we'll see you in the snow, you death-worshipping fascist." "...and enjoy your evening, Mr Trump."

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwy048rzjjjo Air traffic controllers at Newark Liberty International Airport briefly lost communications with planes under their control, "unable to see, hear, or talk to them" last week, officials say. The 28 April incident led to multiple employees going on trauma leave, contributing to hundreds of delayed flights. More than 150 flights were cancelled on Monday alone, according to tracking website FlightAware. The airport, one of New York's busiest hubs, has been grappling with staff shortages for more than a week. Ideological cuts to staffing having a real and quantifiable threat to human life? Here's an example.

Sadly, barring a massive degree of societal change in direction, I can offer no compelling evidence to the contrary there. Accurate.

Fair to say, though I wouldn't underestimate the degree of inequality that exists within the first world alone, as well.

That's fair - there's far more money and resources wasted on "defense", for instance. It does all however seem so very vapid, though.

Speaking personally, I think it's absolutely fine to get a bit annoyed at people so privileged and shallow that the biggest concern they appear to have in their lives is "what am I going to wear so the sycophantic press and peers will suck up to me?" when vast swathes of our species struggle to even satisfy the lowest part of Maslows Hierarchy.

I hope that you're right on this one. There may be too many people that dislike Trump for good egotistical bombast but are perfectly fine with a lot of his policy base.

Somewhat scarily, they might think (and might have reason to think) that is enough to get elected in the current political climate.

Right. We're not in the middle of a global biodiversity extinction event and public services aren't being critically underfunded to the point of choosing lives, is it?

The VE Day parades are impressive. There's a lot of messaging about remembering so such horrors that were witnessed eighty years ago would never happen again, but I don't think that's the real problem - it's the people who do remember and want to repeat it because this time, they think their ideology will win.

Certainly, but then I think that the degree of consequences that I'm referring to (viz. anywhere from very bad to utterly absolute) means whoever is left behind won't be either too discerning or too reticent about handing out blame.

... and as an addendum to this, should the worst happen as a result of those bad faith actors having power (as it may well), then it's not only those bad faith actors who will be held responsible for all the pain and suffering that ensues.

... does the incel intern running that account know what a red lightsabre means?

March and April rainfall for the UK at mostly less than 50% and in a lot of places lower than 30% average. Might be another tough season for farmers and those that rely upon them.

Zhao overruns a pot and then has a fly or somesuch buzzing around him and misses the next shot. The snooker gods sometimes have a sense of humour.