Forums / Discussion / General

The Fraternal Order of Police is the rotten orchard.

The Pillar of Shame in China that is a memorial for the Tiananmen Square Massacre has now been officially removed by the CCP officials

Partially surprised that no one in this thread brought this up before me

God I hope China never surpasses the USA as the world power I really do

After seeing what they're doing to the Uyghurs, I reaaaally hope America gets its stuff together, grow a spine and become more self-reliant economically. That way, the world wouldn't have to rely on China so much

Speaking of rotten orchards, the FBI sent an informant into the Florida KKK, and he came back with evidence that their infiltration into US law enforcement groups is far more prevalent than previously reported.

To combine the topics of Police and China, I remember that at the same time that there was pressure on China and Hong Kong's police about their brutal crackdown, BLM erupted in the US, and swept all attention away.

'Asia's Finest' became 'Dogs in Black' for the way they indiscriminately beat and interrogated protestors. How does the American police compare, when there an incident of an officer shooting at and threatening to arrest a D.W journalist? Live, on air? Is this good? No, China was free to suppress Hong Kong while everyone was distracted, and in a propaganda battle the complete loss of control and the shocking images that came out of it didn't help the cause of the 'free'.

It also helped me realize one reason why American occupation/country building missions in the past few years had failed so badly. If even basic police act as an occupying force, then no wonder military police would constantly cause incidents. This isn't even a 'progressive' argument, but basic pragmatism.

I think the second cold war won't necessarily be won by who has the biggest army. Same as the first one. Sure, a quick strike force may be needed so that operations may be done before there's talks of a nuclear conflict (and in proxy wars), but much of it will be done with soft-power, such as cyber-warfare, economics and media.

Anyone who neglects international image, internal stability and economics will go down like the Soviet Union. I do hope the US wins, due the cultural/actual genocide the Chinese are committing on the Uyghurs. It'll be difficult for the US to do something worse.

I dislike the USA, but America's place as a global power is more preferable to me than China replacing them with its anti-democracy.

Both democracies and non-democracies have become increasingly fragile because of social media. It is easier for radical (such as QAnon, incel, or other groups') opinions to enter (or spread) in the mainstream since people are always connected. People fall for all sorts of grifts ranging from fitness influencers to being swayed by radical views.

Troll farms help BS to spread faster. Social media, like Twitter, have countless sockpuppet accounts ran by people to post dissenting political opinions, or to strawman existing opinions. A lot of them have 'real' names and AI-generated avatars, making the views (and person) seem authentic and honest when they're not.

I do not think social media's negatives outweigh the benefits, however misinformation and how it impacts the minds (eating disorders, dysmorphia, self-image) and views (radicalisation, cult mentalities, toxicity) of people should be looked at more critically.

Troll farms are why I want social media to be regulated, but if it's managed by a Trump-esque demagogue, I'm sure I'll eat those words.

I have never had so little faith in mankind until now. I want to feel hopeful for the climate crisis and science so bad, but we'll fight eachother and distract ouselves with breads and circuses until the end times.

I dislike the term "troll farm" because they're not trolls. They don't do things for their own amusement.

What troll farms are these? I know of kiwifarms and those guys definitely get thier kicks from triggering people.

If you went back in time to prevent Twitter from being created… I am almost certain only good things would come from that tbh, I hate twitter

Remember, the right is totally against censorship

I agree in concept, but in practice something like it is inevitable, the only way to stop it is either enforced anonymity or somehow stop normalfags from ever wanting to be online

You must know about them. Why do you think some users post Tienanmen Square on pages which are likely to be swarmed by Chinese Nationalists and/or Paid Trolls (known as the 50 Cent Party)? China's not the only ones who do that either.

I don't think trolling is a good way to describe it anyway, as Evilthing said. 'Paid trolls' and 'Troll Farms' are better described as government or private entity propaganda.

Well yeah I've seen the accusation of naional shills and bots thrown around when political fights dont go a particular way and I've seen accusations of brigading when films that get trashed in reviews.

I dont remember the term troll farms being applied to the former though, guess its become one of those misuse words like "liberal" and I hadnt noticed.

Ahhh, I didn't know about Ben Garrison's fetish art until I joined this site. Is that Link?

Omicron has shut down everything after cafés and clubs started re-opening this summer. At least family gatherings were allowed when everyone is vaccinated, so at least there's something that's better than last winter.

I would not be inclined to impart gratitude on a government who denys basic freedoms for leaving an exception.

Gratitude to the government? No, they messed up to have it last so long.

However, no member of my extended family died from Corona, and even the grand-parents and grand-uncles and aunts were able to attend. May as well count the blessings. I shudder to think how this winter would have been if there had a been a death.

Merry Christmas everybody.

The reaction to Omicron is ridiculous to say the least. Yes, it's more virulent, but it seems like the death-rate from it is exponentially smaller than the original. In fact, they haven't even been talking about "death rate", just the number of infections. And it's just so utterly misleading all around the fear-porn. I especially found it a bit egregious from NPR (Which is partially government funded) where they would make this kind of article talking about how the University of Washington produced a thorough analysis showing that omicron is infectious but mild. And then SAME FUCKING DAY (sorry for the language i'm just pissed), they would publish an interview with Dr. Laura "Fear Porn Extraviganza" Forman a doctor in Rhode Island who they almost always go to get COVID related on-the-ground info from. And this doctor, would have the audacity to say:

"FORMAN: About 70% of the people who are really ill with COVID are not vaccinated. About 30% are vaccinated. I will say, I have seen more people die of COVID than I can count. They have all been unvaccinated. I've yet to have someone who's vaccinated die of COVID."

Oh really Doctor? Well I can count, and guess what, so can the Government:
According to the Rhode Island Department of Health
Here are the numbers:
On December 22: 2 deaths
December 21: 5 deaths
December 20: 3 deaths.
December 19: 7 deaths
December 18: 3 deaths
December 17: 4 deaths
December 16: 6 deaths.

30 deaths in a span of a week.
That is an average of 4 deaths a day.
4. Not 40. Not 400. Not 4000.
So the good doctor can't count to 1, 2, 3, 4?

Like. This is why people are so utterly distrustful of what the people in positions of informative authority are trying to tell them. The Fear Porn is the single biggest thing to damage the credibility of institutions that people should rely on to know what to do.

So she’s only worked there a week?

For the upteenth time, you comfort isn’t more important than people’s lives

For the upteenth time, you comfort isn’t more important than people’s lives

For the upteenth time a futile illusion of safety isnt more important that mine or anyone else's freedom.

For the upteenth time, stop with the ridiculous bootlicking.

“Bootlicking is when you support laws that are against spreading disease, and the more you’re against spreading disease the more of a bootlicker you are, and when you eliminate disease that’s litterrrally 1984”

You’re correct, that’s why I care about actual safety and not the illusion of it

Remember that meme that is trending right now of "I know thinks look bad but they are going to get worse"

It feels accurate sadly

The entire interview is within the context of the Omicron variant spreading rapidly across the US. I made the link to it. Unless the link is broken.

I don't think there's a link to the interview in your post, so I've added one:

https://www.npr.org/2021/12/22/1066642286/biden-aims-to-help-hospitals-by-is-sending-military-doctors-and-nurses-to-help

For the interview, maybe the interviewee is referring to the whole three years of the pandemic? Maybe I'm reaching, my English language skills aren't the best. You did have links on the datasets and the NPR article on the Omicron Variant being more virulent but less lethal, so it's all good. Some excerpts of interests however are:

"Other researchers question whether there's enough evidence to reliably estimate about how sick omicron makes people" and they still mention that a surge may be "enough to overwhelm hospitals".

It's hard not to be increasingly fatalistic about the whole issue. Most people I care for are vaccinated, and are not in the medical field, so at this point the only thing that can be done is try to go through life.

Which you will never achieve; both specifically this and in general, hence futile illusion.

Genie's out of the bottle, has been since 2019. You already have your vaccine and there is no further safety to be found for any price short of sticking all humanity into a Hazmat suit for months, shooting every man who refuses and exterminating every animal that could possibly carry it.

Thats not something anyone sane would abide by and anything short of it is but a placebo for those ignorant of the futility.

Peace of mind is a currency.long devalued, Man will sacrifice some freedoms for the safety of himself or others every day he lives, but freedom is sold cheaply only by cowards and fools.

To outright take a man's freedom is the height of evil.

You're right. I neglected to link the interview itself.
From the context that NPR does (which by the way, I heard live, not on paper) they were doing a story on the omicron variant and reached out to the doctor – which they always do – about her opinion on the matter.

As far as other researchers questioning whether there is enough evidence to reliably estimate how it makes other people sick, I understand the need for more data. But so far, the data is going one direction: South Africa's omicron wave is dissipating rapidly. Studies in South Africa also show that it is far milder than previous iterations, with upwards of 80% less hospitalization rates.

If you've been following my threads on my reaction to COVID since 2020, I have been levying tons of criticism, not just towards how poorly managed it was, to how utterly politicized the whole thing has become, to the kind of reactions our governments are taking to deal with it (lockdowns, mask mandates, etc), to demonizing anyone, like me, who would raise questions about the way this is handled. And yes, I am vaccinated, although I am increasingly resentful of it because it was originally sold as needing to get vaccinated to prevent infection, and since I take care of my grandmother I didn't want to risk getting her infected. And consequently, we've come to a realization that the vaccine isn't for preventing infections, but preventing you from getting too sick – okay, well, they knew this from the start but decided to not talk about it?

It's hard not to believe the skeptics out there, or like Dr. Peter A. McCullough who made the case that the government deliberately suppressing COVID-19 treatments early on to push for vaccinations. It's hard not to believe these people when I am seeing myself being gaslit by the very people we are asked to trust.

I'm with you on this one. But if that was true you'd be just as critical of the "mask mandates" and lock downs as many others are. You'd be far more critical about how this entire pandemic has been handled – how our own institutions have utterly failed us, lied to us, betrayed us. How our own political class has exacerbated the situation. How we literally broke our own economy, and the rest of the world's, for the illusion of safety (prolonged lockdowns). How much actual liberty we are asked to give up for the illusion of safety. Because we weren't safe. We aren't safe. We are being continually lied to, misinformed, misguided, and then condemned when we dare to raise a question. The conspiracy theories of yesterday suddenly become prophecies of what we find today. All by the same class we are told to trust? Who collectively pocketed millions if not billions of dollars from this?

Let's be real. This isn't about safety. It's about trust. And people like myself, I assume someone like Greyblades, have either had no trust in the institutions or absolutely lost it. Do you still trust them?

The above comments is the issue summed up, more or less. It would still have been better if Pandora's box wasn't opened, but we can't change the past.

In terms of evil however, people were effectively killed to keep the economy rolling. One politician who can serve as an example is Dan Patrick who said that the elderly could 'sacrifice themselves' for it. Anyone who's okay with that kind of thinking is scum of the lowest order.

Loss of Freedom or Callous disregard of the lives of others? Evil has many faces.

I will always trust those educated in medicine no matter what lies the mainstream or your alternitive media spew

I’m not critical of mask mandates and lockdowns because they work
what I am critical of is how the government bailed out corporation and not the working man or small buisness owner

God, it's like Don't Look Up, in which a crisis comes to pass due to government corruption, greed, and breads and circuses.

I never got the bread and circuses complaint, since providing a dole had been a stabilizing force for Roman civilization from the early republic far far into the imperial era while scheduled celebrations have always been a uniting force within pretty much every culture.

I mean if you look at what killed democracy in Rome it was the violent reaction to the Gracchi reforms by what we would call Oligarchs.

The New Yorker is once again beating the drums of war against Iran.

Leaked files expose Syria psyops veteran astroturfing BreadTube star to counter Covid restriction critics

the operation is run by the UK’s Royal Institution, and dubbed “Challenging Pseudoscience.”

Its top patron is Charles, the Prince of Wales, next in line to the British throne, who recently hit out at supposed “conspiracy theories” surrounding COVID-19 vaccines.

Interesting.

There's nobody vouching for the info in the sources. There's nobody even claiming to. I thought anonymous leakers were suspicious.

It's possible this whole covid shit actually ends somewhere in 2022

I sure ain't counting on it however.

South Park could very well be right and it will end 40 years from now but it could just be another year of this, hopefully something good happens for once….hopefully

I havn’t seen it yet, but I thought it ended well before the special was set

While I completely understand why it’s done, they should be going after the pseudosceince spreaders instead of trying to counter it with underhanded methods

Sounds fairly realistic, though I'd like to see these files.

Political YouTube is total cancer regardless.

There is so much special interest that doesn't want it to end in 2022, that I doubt it would.
Hell, even today President Biden declared that the Department of Defense is contracting MilliporeSigma and according to Reuters "The money will allow the company over three years to build a new facility to produce nitrocellulose membranes, the paper that displays test results, in Sheboygan, Wisconsin."

So it looks like they are planning to keep the COVID Panic going on for several years yet.
Moderna and Pfizer are making billions off of the vaccines. Moderna, in particular, has seen an unbelievable meteoric rise in the last 2 years because of it. To put it into perspective. The stock value of a single share of Moderna in January of 2019 was $16, in January of 2020, $19. In January of 2021, $112. Today? $251, and that's after it peaked in August with $480. You think a company like Moderna would want the COVID panic porn to go away?

Bro. Our political class, the law makers, literally own and profit from these stocks

The real end will come when the existing political class is voted out. The real end will come when people get fed up.

Yes, because all the scientists and doctors are all in on it
or maybe one group is profiting from an actual crisis, whereas you want to pretend there is no crisis

Still I see Chewybunny point, while I am certain goverments and scientists definetly want this to end it just doesnt I am fully expecting corporations gaining record profits from this pandemic to do something scummy at some point.

Because for good or for I'll that is usually how corporations work

Hopefully they don't lead to shit getting overextended but it might

They already have pulled the most disgusting move by not making the vaccines public property so they can squeeze money out of us, and because of that pooror countries don’t get the vaccine and that keeps the virus around