Tbh I think the world was already laughing in 2016. Even back then Trump was an absolutely ridiculous candidate. The real joke, though, is that even after his disastrous tenure as president and despite all of his criminal dealings, Trump is running again (and will probably even win the election). That would be funny if it were just about what this fact says about the American electorate. But unfortunately, the USA is still the strongest military power in the world. So it’s not too funny for the rest of the world to have to worry about how to deal with an orange psychopath with a gigantic arsenal of weapons and enormous economic power. I therefore assume that at least the democratic rest of the world has stopped laughing by now.
I knew I was in the Twilight Zone when Trump, [a draft dodging rich boy who compared tomcatting around Manhattan in the 1970s with actually going to Vietnam ] talked about shit John McCain and wasn’t lynched by the GOP
No, you see, Trump isn’t a black man kneeling during the national anthem so he’s not being disrespectful at all. Honestly I’m surprised they don’t all have serious whiplash from that turn around.
Donald Trump’s suggestion the US would not protect Nato allies failing to spend enough on defence “undermines all of our security”, the Western military alliance’s chief has said.
Addressing crowds during a rally in South Carolina on Saturday, Mr Trump said he had made his comments about Russia during a previous meeting of leaders of Nato countries.
In a statement on Sunday, Mr Stoltenberg emphasised the alliance remains “ready and able” to defend its members and any attack “will be met with a united and forceful response”.
Following Mr Stoltenberg’s comments, US President Joe Biden said: “Donald Trump’s admission that he intends to give Putin a green light for more war and violence, to continue his brutal assault against a free Ukraine, and to expand his aggression to the people of Poland and the Baltic states, [is] appalling and dangerous.”
Mr Trump has long been critical of Nato and what he sees as an excessive financial burden on the United States to guarantee the defence of 30 other nations.
However, Republicans in Congress have since the turn of the year blocked all new funding - demanding tough measures to restrict migration into the US on its southern border, and then refusing the amended bill when it was presented earlier this week.
The original article contains 832 words, the summary contains 211 words. Saved 75%. I’m a bot and I’m open source!
Because our “free press” is just the “ad fee press” now. Their ONLY concern is how much they can profit off of news coverage. Outrage = clicks/views = ad revenue.
No, it is just a plain defect of capitalistic monetization schemes not aligning with what is good for society. Also, for-profit news stink of corruption and bourgeoisie propaganda with added deficiency of boring clickbait tabloid shitreads more adequate as toilet paper.
We are talking about financing. You calling it “state run” only serves to reveal your own bias. It is very much possible to have non profit independent news as well as public funded news outside of politicians control. We have this in Norway, which is really fucking important because one fucking company has bought all for profit news agencies.
Speaking of glory to the supreme leader, the company in question is also privately held like some sort of Succession fantasy.
Let us not pretend it is that much of an expense to have national public broadcast services. There is also PBS in the US, SVT in Sweden, BBC in the UK and so on. Just admit your point was pointless and the cherry picking was done on your side and move on.
Are you saying I was wrong for assuming you had examples in mind and that your claim was baseless? Either way, using the term supreme leader ironically is top notch lib edgelord rhetoric in the absence of understanding power dynamics.
It is fairly significant, he’s an aggressor in a war currently affecting everything from NATO to inflation. And he has denied access to Western interviewers up until now (in recent times).
Do you not understand the backlash Tucker Carlson is getting for doing this interview? Are you not aware of his history pushing pro-putin talking points? Tucker Carlsons content literally gets reposted on Russian state medias youtube.
This line of critique is wrongheaded and empowers Tucker. Putin already commands a platform far above Tucker’s, a media figure cannot provide a bigger platform for Putin than the one he already has. Many liberal journalists have interviewed Putin without facing this critique, it’s applied here because Tucker is a reactionary shithead.
The better critique is that you have for-profit entertainment companies capitalizing on this, and how that affects the content.
What liberal media journalists have managed to interview Putin since he began his invasion of Ukraine in 2022? I thought Carlson was the first Western person to manage that.
He did his best to show what an idiot Tucker was though, which is fun:
At another juncture, Carlson asked Putin if he saw God’s design in world political affairs. With a bored look that seemed to imply he was talking to someone with a below average IQ, Putin merely said “no” before explaining that international laws governed world events, not a deity.
Adding the qualifier of “since 2022” seems to presume there’s an unspoken taboo between western liberal media that Putin shan’t be interviewed, rather than Putin being more restrictive than he already was and seeing an opportunity in Tucker. Lionel Barber is probably the closest a “real” US journalist could have been to Putin and writes about the increasing difficulty of this in 2020. This includes psychological tricks like being made to wait excessively long to weaken his cognition before the meeting. He has a good piece on Tucker’s interview about how Putin ran the show and used him.
The reason why Putin chose this interview is because Tucker is a locus of division in US politics. Tucker isn’t raising Putin’s platform, Putin is raising Tucker’s platform. This imbues Tucker’s reactionary politics with more legitimacy, which benefits Putin.
“Well are we going to have a serious conversation? Because firstly I need to tell you about the 1647 agreement between the ethnic Russians located in the western Donbas who sent a letter signed gestures off screen to aide here see these letters, completely legitimate. Completely. They say that Ukraine belongs to Russia for ever and ever and they are Nazis because in 1806 the countries border was changed in the Crimean-Polish revolutionary conflict led by the Tsar of Russia.”
It takes days or weeks for the polonium to kick in. He might look to be in the clear for now, but don’t count all your chickens before they get defenestrated.
As an American, if I got cancer like this dude has, having a job there is a very high chance I’d be destitute IF I lived. World class medical treatment off the backs of his subjects… yeahno my dude, worlds smallest violen playing.jpeg
He can wipe his cancer tears up with whatever the largest denomination of pounds you guys use is xD
If you have seen breaking bad, the premise of that show is an apt description. Insurance companies here will often deny you necessary life saving medical treatment for… reasons
Other example: a woman with a family history of breast cancer was denied a doctor recommended mammogram to check on some potentially cancerous lumps because she has… Already had too many mammograms.
Profit incentive in the healthcare industry is no bueno:|
Because insurance pays for a portion of your treatment, rarely 100% of it, and the moment you start racking up bigger bills, insurance starts looking for ways to not pay your claims. They’ll put a hold on payment until you call them and broker a deal or they go back and forth with your doctor demanding that you receive some treatment other than what that doctor recommends.
I have Crohn’s Disease, an autoimmune disorder that is often treated with immunosuppressants. First, they did not want to pay for my initial “loading dose” because it has to be done by infusion. That’s a ~$25,000 procedure (3-4 hours on an IV). I talked them into it by telling them that only the first dose would be by infusion and the rest by self injection.
But when my company decided to pay for a less expensive insurance plan that started at the beginning of the year, they suddenly didn’t want to pay for the injections either. Now I owe 30% of the cost of my injections. That’s almost $4,000 a dose that I take every 8 weeks, about $25,000/year.
So now I use a coupon program through a separate company, and they bill the remainder of the balance to the company who produces the medicine who give me a $21,000 annual credit toward paying the remainder. So now to get my medicine I must coordinate between my doctor, a specialty pharmacy, my insurance provider, a company that runs the coupon program, and the company that produces the medicine… Just to get a syringe delivered to me on a schedule. And the credit probably won’t last until the end of the year; I’ll probably end up shelling out a few thousand for my meds around Christmas time this year.
If any of the complicated web of companies that collectively get me these meds doesn’t have everything lined up in their system, I don’t get my meds. My last dose was almost three weeks late to me because of all the calling around I had to do. Because we don’t have a central health care authority, that means each company maintains their own system of record. Each phone call involves working through a phone tree to get to a human agent, working through the same set of identity verification steps with them, explaining the situation over again to a different person every time…
It’s a real pain in the ass, and they do it on purpose to get you to give up. Having insurance doesn’t mean your health care is paid for, and you pay a premium (hundreds of dollars) on every paycheck to keep the insurance that still doesn’t pay for your medical costs. Having health insurance does not mean you don’t still pay through the teeth for your health care. Having health insurance does not mean that health care is accessible to you. Having insurance that makes health care accessible today does not mean they won’t change the rules behind your back, and that you will still have access to health care tomorrow.
All things considered, their situation is not as bad as it could be. I had a job where one of my duties was to get prior authorizations for every procedure we did in an oncology-focused plastic surgery clinic. The vast majority of the procedures were breast reconstruction following mastectomy and skin cancer excisions. I had an insurance company demand documentation and evidence of medical need to close the incision site after excising the melanoma. They were gracious enough to allow the excision without requiring a prior authorization, but in order for the surgeon to close that incision (or in this particular case, fill in the area with a skin graft because the amount of skin to be removed precluded a simple closure), we had to file a mountain of paperwork on a tight deadline because the procedure couldn’t wait more than a week or so.
I’ve also worked in hospitals, and every hospital I’ve worked in has social workers on staff to help patients line up emergency insurance coverage or financial assistance for emergency medical care. I never actually saw the bills for it, but we treated a kiddo that was a bystander in a drive-by shooting that was transferred to our hospital from another ER so that they could have the pediatric trauma surgeons try to fix his femur. So that’s two top-level ER visits, an ambulance ride, an ICU stay, and probably a bunch of surgeries and associated hospitalizations…because this 2 year old got hit in the leg with a stray bullet. The total almost certainly topped 7 digits. Shit’s fucked, yo.
It’s always a consideration, but the question is where would we move to (and how much am I willing to uproot my family)? Canada is a nice place with a better healthcare system, so maybe there? But that’s expensive all on its own, and I have to consider that I have two autistic kiddos who are currently receiving their education at the best school in the state for special ed kiddos. Is it worth it? Maybe not. For now, I think we should stay where we are. I love it here, except for the high cost of my own care. Think I’d rather stick it out and fight for a better system here. Maybe we can improve things for everyone instead of jumping ship.
And when a president gets COVID he gets drugged up and gets the best treatment on the taxpayers dime. While the people are left with life shattering medical debt.
While these subjects can get medical treatment, for just a fraction, and no debts… Like the king…
So what is your point?
We have been playing the whole sad orchestra for you guys, seeing you push out this attitude like it is a win over something.
The president has an actual job tho??? Like wat lmao 🤣 and if you think the king is getting the same medical treatment as Mr jo British bong water, I have some EU membership to sell you.
And it is not the dig you wish it is. As it portrays even more that anyone in the UK, even those without an actual job, can get medical treatment without fearing massive medical debt.
That’s not addressing my point of… Why is the king receiving preferential treatment? His role is ceremonial. You could make the argument he’s paying for private treatment (I don’t know if he is or not), if he’s not why does he get to skip the NHS cancer treatment wait list? If he is paying for private… What exactly has he personally done to allow him to have the ABILITY to pay for said treatment:| Not saying all the royals wealth should be seized for the peoplez, more why is his families life style still to my understanding being subsidized by British tax payers? The tourism they bring in would still be coming, it’s not like they’re going to sell Buckingham palace if the gov stopped paying for their shit.
Sure, I also wish monarchies are cut of the tax payers spigot.
But why are you making this such a big point of having a rich old white dick getting preferential treatment? I thought you loved that shit in the USA. I thought the AMERICAN dream is to become a rich old white dick to get that sweet preferential (tax) treatment. To get your rich old white children get the same benefits through generational wealth.
Be mad that in the EU people can pay for both a rich old white dude play a monarch and socialized healthcare. While ever time you try and do something similar all the old white dicks crawl out of the woodwork to tell “HoW cAn We EvEr PaY fOr ThAt?!”
But we’re talking about the UK monarchy specifically right? I wonder what the scandanavian monarchs for example are up to. & don’t get me wrong, the American political elite, at least a lot of them cough Republicans cough absolutely have the mentality of neonobility.
That kind of psychology and predisposition is something I hope is stamped out or at least vindicated by most of society. Be the change you want to see in the world:)
The royal family brings in a net positive amount of revenue of you account for receipts from added tourism and spending. The expenses for shipping around the US President for example is another story.
I can’t speak for other tourists, but I don’t need the royals to actually still exist to be interested in seeing their accoutrements strewn about museums and to walk through their former palaces to admire the woodworking and gilding.
I mean, having some water nymph toss a sword at someones feet is at least as good of a justification for governmental power - and if I’m honest, a better one at that.
It’s like 40% more creative than “I have all the money and the big boogey man in the sky said I have the right to reign supreme - who are you to question God?”
Yeah the news and world news subs really took a tumble of late. I came for some modicum of intellectual debate, but it’s a shame how quickly that derails.
I kind of think you’d have a different tune if this were Putin to be honest, wanna talk about why? In my mind, all of the appeals to civility are just status quo worship veiled in “human decency” that 1) doesn’t consider the good that would be brought to the world by his passing and 2) isn’t extended to anyone outside of the status quo power structure.
for this guy, who leeches off the work of real human beings and hides child rapists from justice? absolutely, my hate for him is a source of strength and pride, I’m glad to have it on display.
Totally out of the loop on UK royalty, because they’re basically just a medieval version of the Kardashians that’s hung around waaaaay too long.
I was under the impression that the monarchy’s power was predicated on their right to rule being divine, which could only be maintained by keeping their bloodline inbred pure.
I wouldn’t say he is German, but German dynasties have sit on the British throne since George I was crowned in 1714. Up till queen Victoria all monarchs belonged to the house of Hanover. Victoria married Albert of house Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, and their son Edward VII was counted as the member of that dynasty. Edward’s son George V changed their surname to “Windsor” in 1917.
And i imagine that the house of Saxony which part house Saxe-Coburg and Gotha is, is pretty inbred since basically every surviving european noble today is either part of it or closely related.
Queen Victoria is from the House of Hanover and Prince Albert is from the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha. The British royal family changed their house to Windsor during WWI because the House of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha sounded too German.
If you’re going by just family ancestry, Charles III is mostly German. Here’s me after wasting time on Wikipedia:
Thank you for the hardcore wiki linking - sincerely, I appreciate the labor you put into this reply.
C3 is a certified Deutsch.
Wild that they could just… Change their house like that. “Oh all that family lineage and history, no, no the name sounds quite too much like those jerries - the peasants won’t like it much - what now? yes yes, Windsor we are, always have been, chip cheerio - get in the trench my good chap, and fight my former brethren, I mean those awful germans.”
I’m begging liberals to remember the one cool thing they ever did, which was chopping off their monarchs’ heads, and commit to that. Just that. Come on now, this is an argument that’s been solved for like 200 years now: monarchs and aristocrats are dogshit and deserve to be forcibly removed from their positions of wealth and authority.
Please for the love of anything you love stop crying for monarchists and bring back the guillotine. For FUCKS SAKE YOU’RE LITERALLY THINKING LIKE A MIDDLE AGES SERF. GOD EMPEROR SHIT RIGHT HERE
If any of you fucking liberals ever say ANYTHING about communist countries having cults of personality I’m going to haul ass and personally take shits inside your house that will leave you confused for years to come
He is the monarch of a state currently bombing Yemen in an attempt to stop their blockade of supplies, military and otherwise, to Isreal. Yes, he is assisting in the genocide of Gaza.
Russian propaganda molded a big part of a nation and some of its media into a submissive lab dog. Amazing that it became the Republican Party cozening up to Russia and making this 180° turn of it previous stance without losing the empty mind of their followers, as Russia transformed themself closer to the republican extreme it is today creating a match made in hell. Brother in heart, cruel, authoritarian, corrupt, brass, lying, projecting, and slaying anyone who falls out of line. And in the End of all the politics Bowtie-Tucky sits on Putins lab, panting, drooling, like the spineless overbred dog he is.
Carlson is a millionaire funded by billionaires (Rutger Bregman).
I don’t see the contradiction, Russia went from the center of a nominally socialist union to a hypercapitalist libertarian dictatorship, of course the Republicans are going to try and support it.
If you follow politics, the recent deal between Biden, Democrats, and the Republicans gave Republicans everything they supposedly wanted for border security. They aren’t voting for it because Trump wants to keep hitting Biden on that issue during the election. It’s fucking insane.
It almost makes me wish for the good oa’ days of McCarthyism, just to see the shocked Pikachu faces. And, boy, Julius & Ethel were lightweights compared to today’s traitors; the electric chair would be going nonstop for a long while until the House was truly cleaned out.
I got downvoted because I insinuated that israel is treating Gaza’s people like subhumans.
There’s a population of innocent people starving because of their actions, and their only response, besides continuing the extermination, is to send assassins into hospitals, destroy aid coming their way and tell snipers to shoot to kill.
Jesus Christ, my first reaction was That’s great news! They got something to eat!! I can’t believe I am happy to read someone is eating animal feed but I guess this is better than nothing at all. Ffs.
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