Raider of the lost Ark
-
Posts
3,937 -
Joined
-
Last visited
Posts posted by Raider of the lost Ark
-
-
As a citizen of the Germany all those companies are dear to my heart. Well, they might be. Once they start paying income taxes on the billions of profits they make in my country. By using our infrastructure, skilled workforce, legal stabilty, large amounts of disposable income ...
Please feel free to add your country, if you feel the same way.
P.S. I was dishonest about Facebook. They can go to hell. I'm sure, Mr Zuckerberg thinks he is great innovator. I think his product has done more damage to the world than some wars.
-
Just saw a report on TV. It was about the fear of delayed mail in ballots. And guess who the boss of the US postal service is? A staunch Trump ally.
It becomes more and more obvious how vulnerable the whole US voting system actually is. Thanks to that out of date electoral vote system, you can easily steal an election if only you have the right people in right positions. And much of this is perfectly legal. All it takes are some willing red state governors gerrymandering the hell out of voting districts, closing tons of voting places (preferably in districs with a high population of citizens usually voting for the other party), create long waiting lines, which will keep elderly, sick and handicapped people away, because it is too much of an inonvenience to wait for hours in the cold, in the rain, in the scorching hot sun (depending which state you are in). Then, why is this election on a weekday? It basically interferes with everyone who is having a job, no matter if it is your constitutional right to vote and your employer has to give you time off. Well, I know why it is not on a Sunday. Because people are supposed to go to f*cking church on Sunday. I think in almost all other countries, elections are always on a Sunday. Because that is usually the day of the week when the big majority of citizens has spare time. Now add the disproportion in what a vote in California and New York is worth, compared to the small states in the middle. As seen in previous elections, it basically needs a few ten thousand votes that decide an election in the US. Trump and his team knows that and have analyzed the weak points of the system and how those flaws can work in their favor. With some little changes here, some tweaks there. Again, much of this is perfectly legal thanks to an outdated and full of loopholes electoral system. A reform of that system is long overdue.
Trump "lost" the last election by 3 million votes. I wonder how many votes it takes for people, for representatives, for courts to wake up and do something. 5 million? 8 million? 10 million?
-
Who cares what this mediocre singer has to say. Call me rude, but if he wasn't blind he would not have a career. He is famous for that horrible song with Sarah Brightman. He should be eternally grateful a German boxer chose that song for his final fight. And opera star? Yeah right. He is up there with Pavarotti and Carreras. Again, he is not that great of a singer.
-
"Person, Woman, Man, Camera, TV".
-
Sometimes I wish, people would merely act in common sense. Many things will work out much easier and faster. But of course, especially in Brussles eveything is always super complicated, everyone is paying the biggest attention to the most irrelevant things and everything takes ages to get done. Two of the most obvious things that basically everyone is fed up with is a) as @XXLhas already mentioned, the business model of three member states, namely Ireland, The Netherlands and Luxemburg, to offer incredibly low income taxes for companies which of couse found a SE in one of those countries to prevent paying income taxes in the countries, their profits were actually made. And European legislation makes it possible. I have yet to meet one person that thinks the system is fair. The contrary is true, everyone knows it is a system that needs to be changed. And b) When will the EU finally grow some balls and punish Poland and Hungary? Both are the biggest money takers from the EU and the political situation in both countries has evolved into something that is very much the opposite of what the EU used to stand for, in regards to human and civil rights. Rights that are enshrined in the laws of the EU and both countries have sworn to uphold when they joined. The inability or unwilling to do something on this matter, opens a door for each and every other country in the EU to ignore what has once been agreed on. There were certain rules imposed for good reason (one of them the debt situation of each country) because they knew, without rules, without discipline, the whole construct will fall apart. And look where we are now. It is crumbling as we speak. Thanks to certain countries and even EU institutions (ECB, hello?) disrespecting the rules without consequences.
-
Didn't Kanye claim at some point he has a bipolar disorder. In this case, is it even possible for him to become president? Or is that just another lie to get attention, just as his claims that he is a billionaire.
And indeed, the only reason he runs (as an independent I guess) is to steal black votes from Biden. It is so see through. Can somebody tell me, what the black community sees in him? What exactly has he done for the black community? I only see someone who is a raging egomaniac.
P.S. Why did Madonna work with him? The Beat goes on is not such a great song. What did she see in him that she even said, he was a soulmate. Or was that at a time when he was still "normal"?
-
53 minutes ago, horn said:
The White House’s deputy press secretary Sarah Matthews responded to the claims by stating: “President Trump is a world class negotiator who has consistently furthered America’s interests on the world stage … President Trump has shown his ability to advance America’s strategic interests.”
LOL. The delusion. He has made the USA the laughing stock of the world and what exactly has he done positive for the US economy internationally. The general consensus about the USA at the moment is that the USA are an unreliable partner. Politically and economically.
And going after Angela Merkel? He is so stupid. That woman has fought men for 30 years, especially in the last 20 years as head of her party and almost 16 years as German chancellor. She is on whole different level and I would like to argue even more powerful than he is. Many times in recent years people said that Angela is the true leader of the free world. And she is well aware of that. I can absolutely see her doing just that:
-
I always find it funny, that they think a restraining order will make such book go away. In what times are they living? The script is most likely saved on a server. Often those servers get hacked by unknown sources. And suddenly the script can be found on the internet. And once it's out there, it will not go away. Or the script is on a flash drive, left in a car, the car is broken into. You know the rest. How many times have we watched those scenarios on a TV show or in a movie?
-
Just watching CNN. That student support Trump rally (or whatever it is called) and it's nuts. Social distancing? Wearing masks? None of it is happening there. It is insane.
-
If they would do that to movies that have no historical context it is certainly okay to put a disclaimer on it. That said, I find the discussion about movies or television that depict history or are in a historical context embarrassing. It's 2020. People should know. Or has the majority of people really dumbed down that much that this kind of intervention is really needed? Where to start, where to stop. What will be next? A movie about The Third Reich / WW2 / Holocaust? Anti-Semitism, racism, homophobia, euthanasia etc.
-
2 hours ago, karbatal said:
Ok unless I didn't understand properly you considered that throwing an unarmed boy to the floor was justified. You heard the expressions and immediately assigned a foreign nationality (because of the words, not the accent). And you infered that because all of that that the overreaction that we comment is justified.
Did I interpret it all properly?
Now if we connect the dots...
Well, I was not jumping to conclusions. This particular video was used to illustrate that there are obviously racist cops in Germany as well who are not shy of using violence. In response I merely said that this actually may NOT be a qualified example since we do not know what has happened before. I merely gave my impression what the scene was about, that to me there was an arrest going on (although unclear why) and that the second guy interfered with the arrest and must have threatened or otherwise inappropriately dealt with the female officers (hence the explanation given by the male officer, unfortunately it is hard to hear what exactly that was), which resulted in bringing the guy down. The response was that someone yelled "son of bitch" at the officer (which by the way, in Germany is an offence). And sorry, I clearly said that the use of this word is almost exclusively used by Turkish or Lebanese man. But yes, I could have used the accent as well. There are certain things that simply give it away, where people are coming from. Just as I had told you the person was Bavarian or Saxonian (you have studied in Leipzig, do not pretend, you don't know what I mean). This was merely an identification. There is nothing racist about it. I did not evaluate the actions of the two arrestees or assumed a possible criminal behaviour based on their immigrant background. Now that would have been racist. You are making assumptions here but I will give you the benefit of the doubt, that you did not interprete my statement properly.
I will repeat what I said before, we should not jump to conclusions when we merely have parts of an incident. Especially not, when the information comes via social media. The video in question cannot be compared with the George Floyd video or the video of the 75 year old man pushed to the ground in Buffalo. Those videos clearly show the circumstances, we know about the time, we know about the place. There is clear evidence of a wrongdoing, criminal action by the police. The German video? It says Mannheim. It doesn't make clear when the incident happened. Could have been in the past (interestingly I can find a report online from May, where 3 teenagers were arrested beause they attacked the police, when the police tried to clear an assembly of about 150 people because they were breaking the social distancing rules imposed). That's what I meant when I said we should be careful. There are people out there already hijacking this movement for their very own interests.
-
5 hours ago, Suedehead said:
Germany is one of the most racist countries on earth!
Well, I would like to argue that Germany is no more racist than any other country in the EU. But there is no question the UK and the USA is far more racist than Germany.
And please tell me what is wrong with my post. I have properly explained what was going on. This is neither racist nor diminshes the discussion about police brutality. So why the harsh reaction? Because it did not fit the narrative? Police = always evil. If only it was that easy. There are already people (dare I say criminals) out there, hijacking the movement for their very own interests. From the very left to the very right and some criminals inbetween. Slowly eroding the power and influence of the demonstrations for a righteous cause.
-
11 hours ago, Django said:
Oh, and in Germany too. Of course:
Ohne Grund. Without reason? We don't know what happened shortly before. You can see there is a person in the back on the ground being handcuffed. We don't know about the interaction between the young man and the female officers, the male officer is referring to something I can't figure out. What I can clearly hear is someone yelling "Hurensohn" (son of a bitch) at the police officer. A slur word almost exclusively used by young people with an immigrant background (Turkish or Lebanese) to offend the police or other people. This here is no example of a racist cop or excessive police brutality. This is an example of people jumping on the bandwagon.
-
I think many states are considering police reforms at the moment. I have seen the list of four of five things on it and quite frankly it is nothing really groundbreaking. In fact certain things should be normal. Banning chokehold measures etc.
But who is opposing all the measures? The police unions. It becomes more and more obvious that the police unions are the dark force here. Their main interest appears to be the protection of the bad apples. Of course that makes it very hard for the good ones to go against them, if they know they cannot expect the union to help them. There really seem to be mafia like structures in place.
-
I have just heard, that 57 members of the emergency respone team in Buffalo have resigned in protest of the suspension of the two cops involved in the pushing of that 75 year old man. Can you believe this shit? This is the way they understand their job? They all should be ashamed. They all should be removed from the police service alltogether. It's outrageous. It's a scandal.
-
And all it took was watching the movie Nell with Jodie Foster. Well, the things Nell said made more sense.
-
12 hours ago, LSD said:
I have watched that on the news. And I was feeling physically sick afterwards. And while it is pretty obvious the man was injured badly (unconsciousness, blood coming from his head), they all walk by. Okay, there was the cop on the right who tried have a look but was pushed further. I really wonder what kind of education do these cops have? Do they get a 4 week course and that's it? In most countries it takes years.
-
Am I the only one who is getting serious "The Purge" vibes? The whole U.S. government comes across as the New Founding Fathers?
And in other news, they cannot pass an anti-lynching legislation thanks to Rand Paul? I suppose there are some people that have not an ounce of human decency left in them. It's all so disgusting.
-
1 hour ago, Kim said:
He was 100% galvanizing his crazy evangelical fanbase.
“My whole family was flabbergasted,” said Benjamin Horbowy, 37.
The Horbowys had gathered in Tallahassee, Florida, to watch live as Trump walked from the White House to St John’s. “My mother just shouted out, ‘God give him strength! He’s doing a Jericho walk!’” A Jericho walk, in some evangelical circles, refers to the biblical book of Joshua, where God commanded the Israelites to walk seven times around the opposing city of Jericho, whose walls then came crashing down.
Horbowy already supported Trump politically – but when Trump lifted the Bible, Horbowy and his family felt overcome spiritually.
“My mother started crying. She comes from Pentecostal background, and she started speaking in tongues I haven’t heard her speak in tongues in years,” he said. “I thought, look at my president! He’s establishing the Lord’s kingdom in the world.”
Did he feel that conflicted with the Gospel of John, where Jesus said “my kingdom is not of this world”?
“Well,” Horbowy said, “that’s a philosophical question.”
People once concerned with piety, now crave “an exercise in pure political power”, and the Bible is no longer a spiritual weapon but an earthly one.
When Trump describes himself as a “law and order” president and holds aloft a Bible, he conflates which law he will enforce, and whose order will follow. In a short speech before the walk to St John’s, Trump said he would “dominate the streets”. That is the “kingdom in the world” Horbowy referenced.
“I believe it’s like Ephesians 6:10 through 19,” Horbowy said from Florida. “I believe this is a president who wears the full armor of God.”
I'm sorry, this is all nuts. How an empty life and how removed from the real world does one have to be to believe in all this nonsense. Now add indoctrination as a substitute for a proper education. They are all useful idiots. It doesn't take much to realize that Trump is none of what they think of him. But he obviously likes the uneducated, he even said that out loud, and therefore is able to manipulate people like above family by merely holding a bible. Everyone else knows it's merely a performance and none of it is true.
And pentecostal background? Why am I not suprised? Hypocrites of the worst kind.
-
5 hours ago, runa said:
I think many people "approve" him not because of who he is or what he's doing but because he's a Republican.
I think you think too highly of many people. I think many people like/love him because in secret they wish they could be just like him.
The horrible and shocking truth is that people like/love him BECAUSE of the things he does or says, not INSPITE OF of the things he says or does.
-
16 hours ago, MadFan said:
I recommend How to Survive a Plague to anyone who's not seen it.
Everyone should be required to watch this documentary. Gay and straight. It's a testament of the fight for survival and a memorial for all those people who died way before their time because of this horrible disease. Nothing but respect and gratitude for all those activists of GMHC and Act Up. Larry Kramer was truly a giant. Rest in power.
-
16 hours ago, karbatal said:
I don't think the Euro has failed. It's the neocon ultra liberal economy what has failed in many many ways. Just look who is opposing to this fund: the Austrian ultraliberal who didn't doubt to pact with tight extremists and who just yesterday asked for less government and regulations in favour of economy. The other? The Dutch one, protecting his country, who's been living for decades inducing dumping and becoming a fiscal haven.
Funny that Netherxit happened before Brexit, but the Netherlands stepped back knowing how much they'll profit now that The City will no longer be the financial centre of the EU.
Ugh!
I am very optimistic of the future. I'm sure those two will swallow their liberalism and some fiscal union will become a reality. Just wait how soon Netherlands will agree to all: the second its haven is questioned in Brussels.
But a fiscal union only solves certain problems. The biggest being the fact that some countries use low income taxes for companies as a business model to generate taxes for their own countries. The Netherlands is one of those countries. But Ireland is certainly the worst offender. And Luxembourg of course. All of this is home made. All of this was made possible by the EU, by creating laws that allowed companies to found Societas Europeea (SE) and other forms to shift profits and costs from European countries with high income taxes to countries with lower taxes. Everyone knows it is wrong. But why does nothing happen? I think it is pretty clear that there is a lot of corruption going on. I think I read somewhere that there are more staff members of lobbying firms in Brussels than there are staff members of the EU. Go figure.
Anyway, the reason I said the Euro has failed is that there is just no way for a common European debt. The EU treaties do not allow any of that. And there is no way this is going to change. People could not even pass a European constitution. To even believe that any parliament of the Northern European countries would agree to that is wishful thinking. There is simply no backing by the citizens of those countries for such measures. Keep in mind that those nations and their citizens are very conservative when it comes to finances. And unfortunately many people in Northern Europe are under the impression that certain countries in Southern Europe (again, not neccessarily the citizens) are living way above their means for a long time. And everytime those countries are on the brink of bankruptcy they call for the Northern countries to accept liability for all the new debt they are making by calling it solidarity. Of course, they know this is not possible because the Maastricht treaties explicitly prohibit this. But it is always a good selling point with their own citizens. Shifting the blame.
As I said before, there is just no way for a common EU debt. If any Northern European parliament would dare to pass anything in favor, despite knowing there is no backing by the people, will result in Nazi parties winning the next elections by a large margin. And this will be the end of the EU.
-
2 hours ago, XXL said:
What astounds me is that the UK is going ahead with those trials despite the fact that everyone from the FDA to the international media have slammed Trump over his claims about this anti malaria drug. I don't get it, so many contradictions between scientists, public health experts and medical associations themselves
Meanwhile drug company AstraZeneca has announced it can manufacture a billion doses of a potential, supposedly imminent vaccine just for the UK and the US.
Apparently they have a deal with the Oxford University team already. Bizarre. So much confusion
I'm glad, I'm not the only one who thinks that something strange is going on in the UK. Ever since the decided to leave the EU, they basically became the lapdog of the U.S.. And watching BBC International often feels like watching state television of the Tory government. It's borderline propaganda. Not that they hype the UK but their reporting always seems to leave out the positives and success of other countries. They are not telling the full story. But why? To hide that the UK is in a shitty place with Covid-19 and being finally out of the EU at the end of the year without having any major trade deals with the EU and the US?
And don't get me started on those pharma companies. Have you realized how recently some of them have all those good news about a vaccine (in phase 1 of testing, which basically means nothing). Maybe someone should investigate what's going on at the stock exchange whenever those news break. I would not be surpised if this is all used for market manipulation. "Blue Horsehoe loves Anacott Steel".
-
And it all goes back to the faulty construct of the Euro. Against all economic and financial wisdom the Euro was introduced for political reasons. The shady and downright criminal things that went down back then are numerous. But has there ever been consequences? No. Now we are all in a dire financial situation. Mechanisms that worked in favor of Southern Europe harmed Northern Europe. Mechanisms that worked for Northern Europe harmed Southern Europe. And I'm talking about the European citizens. Not European companies and banks. They have done very well ever since. Another proof that so called trickle down effects do not work. And don't get me started on Brusells and the ECB. What excactly are they doing for the European people? It's hard to figure out. Which means they either don't do anyting or they have a communications problem. Even worse, they do not seem to care about treaties and laws anymore. When was the last time they read the Maastricht treaties? The content might come as a bad awakening for them. Especially the part that deals with the financial liabilities of the Euro member states.
And Macron? You think he is altruistic? Well, have a look who is holding hundreds of billions of Spanish and Italian debt. He is merely saving the french banks.
I think it is time to realize that the Euro has failed. It simply does not work with how economies and social systems in all the different member states are set up. As said above, everyone knew about this from the beginning. Now it is just a question to find a way to get away from the Euro. It is not going to be nice, that's for sure. But the longer it goes on, the worse it gets. People say the solution is a common European household, common European taxes, a common European social and pension system. That probably looks good on paper, but in reality the idea is simply delusional. Knowing this will never happen, I wonder how Long they want the drag on. That said, the EU existed Long before the introduction of the Euro and has done tremendous things. We should concentrate on that. On everything we can find common ground, on things that are really in favor of each of the EU countries. This is how a strong EU should look like. Economy and finances are obviously none of these things and I'm highly pessimistic for the future.
Italy threatens Ryanair with flight ban over COVID-19 safety rules
in Politics and World Events
Posted
"Ryanair systematically does not comply". What's news? They never have. I despise this company and their boss so much. Will never fly with them.