Stalin was a Georgian, and Brezhnev was a Ukranian. Oh, and Tom Paine - one of my favourite historical icons - was British. And Che Guevara was Argentinian.
It's quite fitting that you brought up Thomas Paine. The opening sentence in his essay 'The American Crisis' - "These are the times that try men's souls" doesn't look out of place today.
They're a threat to life of course, but are nowhere near bringing down western civilisation. Civilisations are brought down from the inside, even if only through decadence and arrogance undermining them. Trump is the biggest threat to democracy in my lifetime. Musk is his attack dog.
Of course I remember 9/11, it stands out... because it was unique. In reality, we have a pretty good control over terrorism. Occasionally plots succeed and people die and it is horrible- but your odds of that happening to you are less likely than being struck by lightening. What people like Musk and Trump threaten is far more tangible and far more likely to impact everyone. An end to democracy, an end to human rights in the west. they're already joining in with Russia in trying to destabilize and influence elections in Europe to end democracy there. I value things like getting to vote, freedom of speech, freedom to disagree with the government, etc. That's already starting to corrode here with people being arrested for peaceful protests. Trump/Musk (Mr. "Hitler didn't kill anyone") are a far more tangible threat to the west that could impact far more people. We're looking at Putin and Trump wanting to carve up the West between them the way Hitler and Stalin once looked at carving up Poland. Far more people will die than bin Laden could ever have dreamed about.
I couldn't disagree further with both of you. I really don't want to get into a deep discussion because I don't know the ins and outs of politics or what the latest thinking is on things like - what constitutes democracy? So most of my input would be useless in the kind of discussion you would want to have. We each tend to focus on the things that matter to us and for me seeing the new administration put an end to teaching children as young as 3 that they can be the opposite sex when they grow up; taking away pornographic books from grade school libraries; allowing people the choice of which car they can drive rather than a future date when they have to buy electric vehicles; taking men out of women's sports and women only spaces are good things.
And yet western civilisation rolls on regardless of 9/11 or tge terrorist attacks. Musk on the other hand with dickhead trump and the might of America behind him is a credible threat. Edit: should have read further on.
Seems to me that Johnson is say 'I agree with these things, therefore it has negated anything bad Trump and Musk are doing' So things are all fine, despite that segregation is legal in America again (look that one up) and Russia will be allowed to install its own choices to run Ukraine and Eastern Europe, as kids are no longer learning about equal rights. What porn books are American schools stocking. Playboy, Razzle? That just sounds like a maga line to me.
Don't know how I missed this - Musk's company maybe, but he's no engineer or rocket scientist, so let's not get carried away. And as US taxpayer dollars handsomely subsidise him, I no more applaud him for his US taxpayer-funded space hardware doing its expected duty than I think the executives of Grunman deserve adulation for their lunar module saving the Apollo XIII mission after North American's CSM exploded and nearly killed the astronauts.
There is no date for everyone having to switch to electric cars in the US and never has been. There was a goal to have all new FEDERAL vehicles as electric by 2030 but it was a goal not a law and didn't impact civilians There are no pornographic books in kids libraries. (Not as a general rule). No major politician is calling for kids to be told to change genders. No major sport in the US allows transitioned athletes to compete as men. What there is, is politicians who are trying to dismantle the free press and make it illegal to report the truth. A ruling administration that is trying to establish the executive branch as superior to the judicial and legislative branches to consolidate power. (Despite the US have long a written constitution that specifically says they should have equal power). Further the president is not supposed to be a legislative position (and he's far from the first, but by far the worst) but he abuses Executive orders to pass legislation bypassing the legislature. He had arrested a legal immigrant for legally and peacefully protesting. A US president who has threatened to invade or annex multiple Western democracies and is trying to carve up Ukraine between himself and Putin.
Is it bad that until about 40 seconds in I thought h th is was legit? The kind of crazy stuff about musk saying he’s a genius, he knows Roman sign language, looking to regulate safety… that all sounded absolutely plausible. wasn’t until got to the deaths part realised wasnt real
She's wonderful. I saw her live in York some time ago. She does a sort of combined skit on those vacuous, empty-headed Tory women who robo-speak trite platitudes like Helen Whately, Claire Coutinho, Kemi Badenoch, Laura Trott, and Victoria Atkins, so convincing that people literally have thought she is a Tory MP. Now she has changed parties and become a satire of a Labour MP, and it's a sign of the times that some people are still convinced she is a real MP. Matilda Thorpe @tillythorpe is another fabulous spoofer as well. She too has turned her sights to lampooning Labour now that they're in power.
That so called legal immigrant is an antisemitic pro Hamas terrorist sympathiser. ICE are revoking his green card and deporting him. Good. Shame we can’t do the same with the antisemitic pro Hamas scum that inhabit this country And just for clarity, Palestine doesn’t exist. All we have is the Hamas terrorist enclave of Gaza. After Oct 7th, the best way to deal with the terrorist scum of Hamas is to eradicate them.
