General News

[leicsmac]

The bullet casings from the shooting of the health exec had "Defend, Deny, Depose" inscribed on them. From what I have read, that's from a book illustrating healthcare corps tactics to deny affordable treatment to their clients. ("Defend the company, deny payouts, depose clients", for instance.)

 

Reasonable assumption that it was someone with an axe to grind against the US healthcare "system", then.

[Jattdogg]

5 hours ago, leicsmac said:

The bullet casings from the shooting of the health exec had "Defend, Deny, Depose" inscribed on them. From what I have read, that's from a book illustrating healthcare corps tactics to deny affordable treatment to their clients. ("Defend the company, deny payouts, depose clients", for instance.)

 

Reasonable assumption that it was someone with an axe to grind against the US healthcare "system", then.

Wouldn't doubt that at all. Greed is real and i feel people's pain when corporations gouge. Never an excuse to kill someone but unfortunately a lot of people feel differently about that.

 

 

 

 

[urban.spaceman]

5 hours ago, leicsmac said:

The bullet casings from the shooting of the health exec had "Defend, Deny, Depose" inscribed on them. From what I have read, that's from a book illustrating healthcare corps tactics to deny affordable treatment to their clients. ("Defend the company, deny payouts, depose clients", for instance.)

 

Reasonable assumption that it was someone with an axe to grind against the US healthcare "system", then.

There will be more of this in the next few years.

[leicsmac]

42 minutes ago, Jattdogg said:

Wouldn't doubt that at all. Greed is real and i feel people's pain when corporations gouge. Never an excuse to kill someone but unfortunately a lot of people feel differently about that.

 

 

 

 

That's about the size of it. And when people feel they have nothing to lose and they see people they perceive as responsible...

 

15 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

There will be more of this in the next few years.

I think you may be right.

Edited 5 December 2024 by leicsmac

[lifted*fox]

7 minutes ago, urban.spaceman said:

There will be more of this in the next few years.

ultimately governments are failing to protect people from corporate greed leaving many in desperate situations.

 

democracy doesn't seem to be solving the issue - it matters not who is in power, corporations are left to bleed people dry; monopolies, extortion, price-gouging, etc. continue unchecked. 

 

can't say I'll lose too much sleep as the 99% rise up and the 1% start to get their comeuppance - it's been a long time coming. 

[Dunge]

This really is nothing to celebrate. You think “The 1%” are going to respond to this by mending their ways? Or by doing nothing?

[Jattdogg]

47 minutes ago, lifted*fox said:

ultimately governments are failing to protect people from corporate greed leaving many in desperate situations.

 

democracy doesn't seem to be solving the issue - it matters not who is in power, corporations are left to bleed people dry; monopolies, extortion, price-gouging, etc. continue unchecked. 

 

can't say I'll lose too much sleep as the 99% rise up and the 1% start to get their comeuppance - it's been a long time coming. 

100% agree. Don't think people are asking for too much other than being able to have the basics like housing and food be more affordable at a minimum.

 

I understand how democracy works but the wealthy keep taking/ making more well beyond the average joe and we allow that to be the norm because we don't fight for more.

 

There has to be a middle ground. These CEOs, senior execs, some politicians are flipping gangsters.

 

Ultimately,  the people will always prevail. 

 

 

 

 

[leicsmac]

3 minutes ago, Dunge said:

This really is nothing to celebrate. You think “The 1%” are going to respond to this by mending their ways? Or by doing nothing?

I tend to think of it as causality in action, rather than something to be celebrated or condemned to be honest.

[Zear0]

I'm more in the camp of condemning the cold blooded murder of a father of two, but that's just me.

[leicsmac]

14 minutes ago, Zear0 said:

I'm more in the camp of condemning the cold blooded murder of a father of two, but that's just me.

I hope a sidebar to this is also condemning the practices of the company that father headed and the system that enabled it that directly contributed to the further sickness and death of a great many fathers.

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Jattdogg said:

Wouldn't doubt that at all. Greed is real and i feel people's pain when corporations gouge. Never an excuse to kill someone but unfortunately a lot of people feel differently about that.

 

 

 

 

Who would rather have unfathomable wealth or the contentment of knowing they had done right by their fellow humans?

 

The two aren't even mutually exclusive, in fact the first provides ample opportunity to achieve the second, yet this is so rarely the case.

[Jon the Hat]

10 hours ago, lifted*fox said:

ultimately governments are failing to protect people from corporate greed leaving many in desperate situations.

 

democracy doesn't seem to be solving the issue - it matters not who is in power, corporations are left to bleed people dry; monopolies, extortion, price-gouging, etc. continue unchecked. 

 

can't say I'll lose too much sleep as the 99% rise up and the 1% start to get their comeuppance - it's been a long time coming. 

Are they?  I mean the US is one thing, but do you think the UK government is failing to protect people from corporate greed?  In what way?  Mostly I hear people complaining about profits being too high at supermarkets!  They are usually about 5% after tax.  There are of course examples where the market is broken - I think the US healthcare model is weird, but lots of people think it delivers the best care in the world, at least to those on the inside of it.

 

What I dislike is generalisms based on some examples in the US, which make no sense at all lterally anywhere else on the planet.

[leicsmac]

40 minutes ago, Jon the Hat said:

Are they?  I mean the US is one thing, but do you think the UK government is failing to protect people from corporate greed?  In what way?  Mostly I hear people complaining about profits being too high at supermarkets!  They are usually about 5% after tax.  There are of course examples where the market is broken - I think the US healthcare model is weird, but lots of people think it delivers the best care in the world, at least to those on the inside of it.

 

What I dislike is generalisms based on some examples in the US, which make no sense at all lterally anywhere else on the planet.

The US is mostly an outlier in things like this, it's true.

 

But we shouldn't forget that a fair part of the UK population implicitly voted for a system like the US one - and consequences like it - when they chose Reform at the last election. Who knows how many will do similarly at the next one?

 

Don't think such a shift in the UK, and elsewhere, couldn’t happen.

 

NB. I think any such system should be measured by how well it serves everyone. It doesn't matter the US healthcare system deals bleeding-edge outcomes to the few that can afford it (and it does), it fails because it doesn't assure even the most basic prevention of death and suffering for the many.

Edited 6 December 2024 by leicsmac

[st albans fox]

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/12/06/middleeast/syria-rebel-forces-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-al-jolani-intl-latam

 

Assad regime in real danger of falling 

that has consequences for Iran and Hezbollah (so Lebanon) 

 

Are USA and Russia going to allow Syria to become another Afghanistan type govt ?  Whilst the rhetoric may have changed a bit, once the islamists have taken control they could easily revert. Indeed the rhetoric may just be to try and keep the USA and Russians from deciding to take some control now. Also, the Israelis are surely not going to allow a group like this to sit on their northern border with chemical weapon stocks??   
 

Hezbollah’s military demise and Iran’s problems as a consequence has no doubt encouraged the current attacks (add in the obvious lack of USA govt interest with the handover).

if Iran offer Assad huge military support to try and defeat the rebels and are successful then they will no doubt demand a price. 
 

 

[Dunge]

1 hour ago, st albans fox said:

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2024/12/06/middleeast/syria-rebel-forces-hayat-tahrir-al-sham-al-jolani-intl-latam

 

Assad regime in real danger of falling 

that has consequences for Iran and Hezbollah (so Lebanon) 

 

Are USA and Russia going to allow Syria to become another Afghanistan type govt ?  Whilst the rhetoric may have changed a bit, once the islamists have taken control they could easily revert. Indeed the rhetoric may just be to try and keep the USA and Russians from deciding to take some control now. Also, the Israelis are surely not going to allow a group like this to sit on their northern border with chemical weapon stocks??   
 

Hezbollah’s military demise and Iran’s problems as a consequence has no doubt encouraged the current attacks (add in the obvious lack of USA govt interest with the handover).

if Iran offer Assad huge military support to try and defeat the rebels and are successful then they will no doubt demand a price. 
 

 

I’m of two minds.

On one hand, it would be a disaster for Iran, an embarrassment for Putin, and there’s an argument to say that if it succeeds then Assad isn’t the strongman he’s presented as so what’s the point of him?

On the other hand, you really don’t want anything like the group that called itself Islamic State getting a foothold anywhere in the world. They were truly evil.

[Lionator]

16 minutes ago, Dunge said:

I’m of two minds.

On one hand, it would be a disaster for Iran, an embarrassment for Putin, and there’s an argument to say that if it succeeds then Assad isn’t the strongman he’s presented as so what’s the point of him?

On the other hand, you really don’t want anything like the group that called itself Islamic State getting a foothold anywhere in the world. They were truly evil.

The leader of this group seems to be going out of his way to present the idea but he isn’t ISIS but his history doesn’t look good. Furthermore, he would say that as he wants to convince the west that he could lead.

[st albans fox]

1 hour ago, Lionator said:

The leader of this group seems to be going out of his way to present the idea but he isn’t ISIS but his history doesn’t look good. Furthermore, he would say that as he wants to convince the west that he could lead.

Plus there are an array of groups that are fighting against the Syrian govt forces (and their various supporters) 

anyone wanting to look like a leader has to appeal to these groups - once installed they can more easily take things in a direction they choose. 

[Lionator]

Annulling an election result because you don’t like the outcome seems very bad for democracy. It will be interesting to see the evidence. 
 

https://news.sky.com/story/romanias-top-court-annuls-results-of-first-round-of-presidential-election-13268026

[Trav Le Bleu]

Meanwhile, in Kirenkester...

 

Exasperation over misspelt road repainting in Cirencester

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3mzlp022o

 

Just to lighten the mood 

[Parafox]

4 hours ago, Trav Le Bleu said:

Meanwhile, in Kirenkester...

 

Exasperation over misspelt road repainting in Cirencester

 

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g3mzlp022o

 

Just to lighten the mood 

 And if you're local to Hinckley, there's this:

 

[Royston.]

3 minutes ago, Parafox said:

 And if you're local to Hinckley, there's this:

 

take the B4109 to Wovley Ass

[Free Falling Foxes]

I told you, 'I'll be back'

 

[Trav Le Bleu]

2 hours ago, Parafox said:

 And if you're local to Hinckley, there's this:

 

I bet your wife's got a wovley a5s.

Edited 6 December 2024 by Trav Le Bleu

[Sly]

I’ve not really followed the coverage on Brian Thompson.

 

I’d assumed it was some sort of hit for denying medical insurance. 
 

False documents, kept the mask on at all

time, silenced weapon etc 

[bovril]

19 hours ago, Lionator said:

Annulling an election result because you don’t like the outcome seems very bad for democracy. It will be interesting to see the evidence. 
 

https://news.sky.com/story/romanias-top-court-annuls-results-of-first-round-of-presidential-election-13268026

Copied and pasted from a Romanian friend's social media:

 

"The ruling came after classified intelligence reports from multiple security agencies were declassified, revealing widespread manipulation of the electoral process through digital technologies and artificial intelligence. 
The far-right candidate's aggressive promotional campaign was found to have violated electoral laws by exploiting social media algorithms and failing to properly label electoral advertising materials. The Court found this created an unfair advantage and distorted voter choice. Additionally, this candidate reported zero campaign spending to electoral authorities despite evidence of significant promotional activities, raising serious concerns about illegal campaign financing.
The full ruling can be read here: https://www.ccr.ro/wp.../uploads/2024/12/HCC-32-2024.pdf
Below is a summary of the key violations cited by the Court:
1. Campaign Finance Violations
- The candidate reported 0 lei in campaign spending while conducting extensive promotional activities
- This violates transparency requirements and campaign finance laws
- The discrepancy between reported spending and actual campaign scale raised serious legal concerns
2. Digital Manipulation Issues
- Contrary to some oversimplification, it was not just „messaging on TikTok” but systematic exploitation of social media algorithms
- Failure to properly label electoral advertising materials as required by law
- Abuse of digital targeting technologies to manipulate voter behaviour
- Non-transparent use of artificial intelligence in campaign operations
3. Equal Opportunity Violations
- Created demonstrable inequality between candidates
- One candidate received preferential treatment on social media platforms
- Other candidates' online exposure was directly and proportionally reduced
- Violated constitutional principle of equal opportunity in elections

4. Transparency Failures

- Campaign materials lacked required electoral publicity markings

- Hidden sponsorship of political advertising

- Undisclosed funding sources for online campaign activities

- Non-transparent use of targeting techniques

5. Legal Framework Violations

- Multiple breaches of electoral legislation

- Violation of Law 370/2004 requirements

- Non-compliance with campaign transparency regulations

- Circumvention of electoral advertising rules

The Court said that these systematic violations of electoral law, campaign finance regulations, and constitutional principles together undermined the fairness and legality of the entire electoral process.

The fundamental nature of free and fair elections was affected by these violations, explains the Court, through several means:

- Distorting voters' ability to make informed choices

- Creating unequal conditions for candidates

- Violating basic principles of electoral transparency

- Undermining campaign finance regulations

- Compromising the integrity of the democratic process"