Off Topic Thread 5.0

stephen_n

What is it that some of the Kiwi posters don’t like about this woman?

https://twitter.com/tezilyas/status/1273729288915890178?s=21

bilston

stephen_n wrote: »

What is it that some of the Kiwi posters don’t like about this woman?

https://twitter.com/tezilyas/status/1273729288915890178?s=21

They presumably don't agree with her politics.

Where does she sit on the political spectrum? I'd hazard a guess and say centre left?

A quick Google confirms she is leader of the Labour Party.

prawnsambo

Apparently a load of teenage TikTok users (and many others) signed up in their absolute droves for Trump's rally in Tulsa using fake data and completely convincing Trump's team that they were going to have a MAHOOSIVE rally to the point that they set up an overflow rally outside the venue. Brad Parscale (Trump's campaign manager) was tweeting that they had signed up a million people. The actual turnout didn't even fill the stadium.

And then there was this bizarre moment.

He can drink water folks. With one hand!

Bazzo

Excerpt from an article about the rally featuring quotes from a mensa candidate:

The campaign handed out masks and hand sanitizer, but there was no requirement that participants use them and few did. Participants also underwent a temperature check.

“I don’t think it’s anything worse than the flu,” said Brian Bernard, 54, a retired IT worker from Baton Rouge, Louisiana, who sported a Trump 2020 hat. “I haven’t caught a cold or a flu in probably 15 years, and if I haven’t caught a cold or flu yet, I don’t think I’m gonna catch COVID.”

prawnsambo

I absolutely lolled at this. This thread is well worth a read as it's bloody funny.

stephen_n

bilston wrote: »

They presumably don't agree with her politics.

Where does she sit on the political spectrum? I'd hazard a guess and say centre left?

A quick Google confirms she is leader of the Labour Party.

I got the feeling from some of the posts previously that it was more specific than that. Maybe it is just a party political thing like that though. She seems to be doing a good job at the moment anyway.

stephen_n

prawnsambo wrote: »

He can drink water folks. With one hand!

BEST PRESIDENT EVER!

prawnsambo

stephen_n wrote: »

BEST PRESIDENT EVER!

The most bizarre thing about that tweet is that it was made completely without irony. One look at her bio would put any lingering doubts to rest.

prawnsambo

prawnsambo wrote: »

I absolutely lolled at this. This thread is well worth a read as it's bloody funny.

Ever since the bleach and light healing nonsense went viral I feel Trump has been on the back foot. It's amazing that despite all the corruption and negligence this incident seems to have been the turning point for many of his supporters.

He looked exceedingly weak when he tried to call it all a joke and it's been a nose dive since then. His polling now is historically bad and it's not recovering. He also doesn't have many cards to play as he's been campaigning since he was elected.

You would call the election a one horse race at any other period in time, but with the risk of fraud or other destabilising acts it's still an election you wouldn't want to call.

Good to see the populist movements losing support in England and America and hopefully a wake up call for both countries to consider serious electoral reform.

prawnsambo

Deleted User wrote: »

Ever since the bleach and light healing nonsense went viral I feel Trump has been on the back foot. It's amazing that despite all the corruption and negligence this incident seems to have been the turning point for many of his supporters.

He looked exceedingly weak when he tried to call it all a joke and it's been a nose dive since then. His polling now is historically bad and it's not recovering. He also doesn't have many cards to play as he's been campaigning since he was elected.

You would call the election a one horse race at any other period in time, but with the risk of fraud or other destabilising acts it's still an election you wouldn't want to call.

Good to see the populist movements losing support in England and America and hopefully a wake up call for both countries to consider serious electoral reform.

This is the bit that I think is being largely ignored. The Trump administration has proven time and again that there is nothing they will not stoop to in order to win the election. And the voting system lends itself very well to making sure certain voters can't vote. Reduce the number of polling places and 'lose' postal votes. There are endless opportunities to rig it.

Yeah_Right

stephen_n wrote: »

What is it that some of the Kiwi posters don’t like about this woman?

https://twitter.com/tezilyas/status/1273729288915890178?s=21

For me, it is policies. I have always voted National (centre right) and she is Labour. I am happy to admit she has done a great job in leading the country through a few traumatic events. She is the crisis queen. However a lot of people back home believe she is more interested in her international reputation than in running the country.

Her government is a coalition and it is borderline incompetent as it is often pandering to small fringe elements. Her Deputy PM is a xenophobic con-artist who would sell his own mother if he thought it win him an election.

I wouldn't be surprised if she lost the election this year but the problem is National doesn't really have anyone that sparks any interest.

errlloyd

So I got low key assaulted yesterday in Dublin at midday.

A man in his forties was walking perpendicular to me and my girlfriend and was going to pass about 2m in front of us. He suddenly changed direction, accelerated, dropped his shoulder and charged into my stomach / chest area. He didn't look like he was out of it, was perfectly coherent.

Immediately started mouthing off about me watching where I was effing going etc. Telling me to not do it again. Properly aggressive.

I just apologised and moved on quickly. But it seemed he was trying to provoke me.

What's people's motivation for this stuff? It didn't hurt all that much but I felt fairly ****ty for a few hours.

sydthebeat

Coke

Yeah_Right

Yeah_Right wrote: »

For me, it is policies. I have always voted National (centre right) and she is Labour. I am happy to admit she has done a great job in leading the country through a few traumatic events. She is the crisis queen. However a lot of people back home believe she is more interested in her international reputation than in running the country.

Her government is a coalition and it is borderline incompetent as it is often pandering to small fringe elements. Her Deputy PM is a xenophobic con-artist who would sell his own mother if he thought it win him an election.

I wouldn't be surprised if she lost the election this year but the problem is National doesn't really have anyone that sparks any interest.

The last polling data I saw suggests that Labour are looking quite good no?

With Ardern much like Varadkar, you get direct exposure to a persons leadership 'ceiling' during a crisis and both leaders have excelled garnering them a surge of support. Politics aside they've both demonstrated a high level of competence and they've both been direct and honest and most people value those qualities in political leadership and both leaders popularity is through the roof as a result.

Even Morrison in Australia who would share a patch of the political spectrum with the likes of Boris Johnson has shown that effective leadership in a crisis is entirely about leaving politics at the door. Same deal with Nicola Sturgeon.

It's the political leaders who couldn't put aside politics who have failed the hardest and ironically are losing popularity as a result.

Squidgy Black

errlloyd wrote: »

So I got low key assaulted yesterday in Dublin at midday.

A man in his forties was walking perpendicular to me and my girlfriend and was going to pass about 2m in front of us. He suddenly changed direction, accelerated, dropped his shoulder and charged into my stomach / chest area. He didn't look like he was out of it, was perfectly coherent.

Immediately started mouthing off about me watching where I was effing going etc. Telling me to not do it again. Properly aggressive.

I just apologised and moved on quickly. But it seemed he was trying to provoke me.

What's people's motivation for this stuff? It didn't hurt all that much but I felt fairly ****ty for a few hours.

Just a dickhead looking to provoke you and make himself feel like he's tough and the big man walking the streets. Or could be some form of mental illness but not really excusable. It's definitely assault though.

Buer

From my uneducated perspective, I see a lot of parallels between her and Varadkar. They're both young and relatively progressive relative to other centre options. They're also both very conscious of the power of PR, social media etc. which automatically irritates some.

stephen_n

Yeah_Right wrote: »

For me, it is policies. I have always voted National (centre right) and she is Labour. I am happy to admit she has done a great job in leading the country through a few traumatic events. She is the crisis queen. However a lot of people back home believe she is more interested in her international reputation than in running the country.

Her government is a coalition and it is borderline incompetent as it is often pandering to small fringe elements. Her Deputy PM is a xenophobic con-artist who would sell his own mother if he thought it win him an election.

I wouldn't be surprised if she lost the election this year but the problem is National doesn't really have anyone that sparks any interest.

Is NZ politics similar to here and the UK, predominantly conservative in nature?

errlloyd

errlloyd wrote: »

So I got low key assaulted yesterday in Dublin at midday.

A man in his forties was walking perpendicular to me and my girlfriend and was going to pass about 2m in front of us. He suddenly changed direction, accelerated, dropped his shoulder and charged into my stomach / chest area. He didn't look like he was out of it, was perfectly coherent.

Immediately started mouthing off about me watching where I was effing going etc. Telling me to not do it again. Properly aggressive.

I just apologised and moved on quickly. But it seemed he was trying to provoke me.

What's people's motivation for this stuff? It didn't hurt all that much but I felt fairly ****ty for a few hours.

Sorry to hear about that Errlloyd but the most important part of this story is how you dealt with it. You did exactly the right thing, disarming the situation and being non threatening costs you nothing but it saves one of you a trip to the hospital.

Sounds like the person was either having a mental health episode or was under the influence of a substance. You gain absolutely nothing coming to blows with someone like that.

Bazzo

[Deleted User] wrote: »

Ever since the bleach and light healing nonsense went viral I feel Trump has been on the back foot. It's amazing that despite all the corruption and negligence this incident seems to have been the turning point for many of his supporters.

He looked exceedingly weak when he tried to call it all a joke and it's been a nose dive since then. His polling now is historically bad and it's not recovering. He also doesn't have many cards to play as he's been campaigning since he was elected.

You would call the election a one horse race at any other period in time, but with the risk of fraud or other destabilising acts it's still an election you wouldn't want to call.

Good to see the populist movements losing support in England and America and hopefully a wake up call for both countries to consider serious electoral reform.

Eh, I love your optimism but like England's populist government just won a landslide election 6 months ago. Speaking of which did anyone hear Boris saying he was going to "get covid done" the other day. Genius, this phrase won us an election, let's just swap out the word.

prawnsambo

Bazzo wrote: »

Eh, I love your optimism but like England's populist government just won a landslide election 6 months ago. Speaking of which did anyone hear Boris saying he was going to "get covid done" the other day. Genius, this phrase won us an election, let's just swap out the word.

Yeah. And although Keir Starmer and Labour are making headway in the polls, the Tories are still sitting firmly on 40% support. But it's early days yet and there's an awful lot of fallout accumulated that's yet to manifest. Much like that thread on Trump's rally above, you can only flog a dead horse for so long. Getting [insert name of crisis here] done can only work as long as it's not too obvious that it isn't getting done or not getting done in the way you'd hoped.

Yeah_Right

stephen_n wrote: »

Is NZ politics similar to here and the UK, predominantly conservative in nature?

I would have said more liberal. However there is definitely a strong conservative base amongst the elderly and rural elements.

kuang1

errlloyd wrote: »

So I got low key assaulted yesterday in Dublin at midday.

A man in his forties was walking perpendicular to me and my girlfriend and was going to pass about 2m in front of us. He suddenly changed direction, accelerated, dropped his shoulder and charged into my stomach / chest area. He didn't look like he was out of it, was perfectly coherent.

Immediately started mouthing off about me watching where I was effing going etc. Telling me to not do it again. Properly aggressive.

I just apologised and moved on quickly. But it seemed he was trying to provoke me.

What's people's motivation for this stuff? It didn't hurt all that much but I felt fairly ****ty for a few hours.

Yeah that's a sh1tty thing to happen to anyone.
Great salute to your character though that your reflex was not one of aggression.
You should allow yourself to feel pretty good about that.

Sadly that guy probably repeated that move 100 yards later and maybe several times after that.
Just bad luck plain and simple.

But well dealt with.

pickarooney

errlloyd wrote: »

So I got low key assaulted yesterday in Dublin at midday.

A man in his forties was walking perpendicular to me and my girlfriend and was going to pass about 2m in front of us. He suddenly changed direction, accelerated, dropped his shoulder and charged into my stomach / chest area. He didn't look like he was out of it, was perfectly coherent.

Immediately started mouthing off about me watching where I was effing going etc. Telling me to not do it again. Properly aggressive.

I just apologised and moved on quickly. But it seemed he was trying to provoke me.

What's people's motivation for this stuff? It didn't hurt all that much but I felt fairly ****ty for a few hours.

Did you get Owen Farrell's autograph?

Yeah_Right

[Deleted User] wrote: »

The last polling data I saw suggests that Labour are looking quite good no?

With Ardern much like Varadkar, you get direct exposure to a persons leadership 'ceiling' during a crisis and both leaders have excelled garnering them a surge of support. Politics aside they've both demonstrated a high level of competence and they've both been direct and honest and most people value those qualities in political leadership and both leaders popularity is through the roof as a result.

Even Morrison in Australia who would share a patch of the political spectrum with the likes of Boris Johnson has shown that effective leadership in a crisis is entirely about leaving politics at the door. Same deal with Nicola Sturgeon.

It's the political leaders who couldn't put aside politics who have failed the hardest and ironically are losing popularity as a result.

TBH, I hadn't looked at any recent polls. Just checked them out and you're right. I was probably thinking about pre-covid. Her government were in trouble.

It's been 40 plus years since NZ had a one term government. The good thing about the polls is that it looks like Labour could govern on their own. If National don't win, I'd prefer that over another coalition.

As long as Winston Peters and NZ First don't get near government again as they are poison. And not in the James Lowe way. NZ's Greens are so bat**** crazy they make Ireland's look like Tories.

National have just changed leadership and I've heard some good things about the new guy. I don't know whether they have enough time to make up the ground though.

Neil3030

Well out of morbid curiosity I watched the Trump rally last night. Not a good night for the dear leader, I suspect.

- arena half empty
- nearly two hours long, very rambly
- he referred to Covid19 as "kung flu"
- re: defunding police, what do we do when "tough hombres" break into homes and no man is there to protect the woman
- spent what seemed like an eternity talking about the events leading up to him walking gingerly down that ramp
- few shots at "sleepy Joe"s mental state, but the main attacks were to paint him as an antifa sympathizer, far left, etc
- obligatory shots at AOC, Omar etc
- did I mention, nearly 2 F*CKING HOURS

I think the Lincoln Project put it best when they tweeted afterwards that you don't make season 2 with season 1's script. This was very much the same divisive Trump shtick as 2016 that won't appeal to anyone not already in the room. He also used way too much future tense for an incumbent, regarding similar promises from 2016; "we need to get the wall built, drain the swamp, make the country great, etc...", Surely any moderate fans he has left may now be questioning what he's done for the last 4 years. Also read on Twitter that his attacks on Biden fell a lot more flat than his attacks on Clinton, as the visceral hatred was a lot stronger toward the latter. But the crowd were also absolutely flat by the end, so it's hard to tell. All in all, I can imagine some of his more elderly fans watching at home, who may have considered attending a later rally, may well be questioning if it's worth the risk attending.

irishbucsfan

There was an illegal party nearby of 100+ people and its led to more infections that that (supposedly) here. Town is empty again. Just shows how quickly a spike can arrive. Once travel opens up I’d imagine it could become a regular occurrence across the world.

Neil3030

Neil3030 wrote: »

Well out of morbid curiosity I watched the Trump rally last night. Not a good night for the dear leader, I suspect.

- arena half empty
- nearly two hours long, very rambly
- he referred to Covid19 as "kung flu"
- re: defunding police, what do we do when "tough hombres" break into homes and no man is there to protect the woman
- spent what seemed like an eternity talking about the events leading up to him walking gingerly down that ramp
- few shots at "sleepy Joe"s mental state, but the main attacks were to paint him as an antifa sympathizer, far left, etc
- obligatory shots at AOC, Omar etc
- did I mention, nearly 2 F*CKING HOURS

I think the Lincoln Project put it best when they tweeted afterwards that you don't make season 2 with season 1's script. This was very much the same divisive Trump shtick as 2016 that won't appeal to anyone not already in the room. He also used way too much future tense for an incumbent, regarding similar promises from 2016; "we need to get the wall built, drain the swamp, make the country great, etc...", Surely any moderate fans he has left may now be questioning what he's done for the last 4 years. Also read on Twitter that his attacks on Biden fell a lot more flat than his attacks on Clinton, as the visceral hatred was a lot stronger toward the latter. But the crowd were also absolutely flat by the end, so it's hard to tell. All in all, I can imagine some of his more elderly fans watching at home, who may have considered attending a later rally, may well be questioning if it's worth the risk attending.

Thank you for your service. I couldn't stick with it. I used to watch a lot of his press briefings from the white house but the best part by miles is when he took questions from the press. His untethered ramblings are very tough to listen to.

Clegg

I know we don't talk Irish politics in here, but just want to say how fecked off I am with the Greens. I gave them 1st preferences in the local and general elections, but if they continue doing their best to not form a government, I won't vote for them again. This is a chance to potentially implement some of their policies. They'll never get the change they want if they don't hold the levers of power.

Of course it's not as simple as that in reality. They'll be a minority partner and it's hard to bring about Green policies in that kind of scenario. But actively dithering on going into government makes me think they don't give a flying feck about actually implementing policy and that there's a sizeable portion of their membership who'd much rather be professional agitators than decision makers.

Podge_irl

To make it a more broad issue, an acceptance has to be had for compromise and realising that having <10% of the elected representatives means you don't get all your manifesto implemented (and that said, I think the PfG is decently green heavy). I think countries such as Netherlands are far more used to having broad coalitions without a necessarily dominant party. Maybe its good we go in that direction but we'll have to acknowledge that parties need freedom to negotiate - even with their "core" beliefs.

I think the UK electorate will deeply regret the hammering they gave the LibDems for going into coalition with the Tories (if they don't already). It is now abundantly clear that the LDs had a significant ameliorating impact on the govt and with their decimation we have seen a quasi 2 party state developing which had 2 awful options up until pretty recently. But they aren't used to coalition and reneging on the student fees issue doomed the LDs, no matter what other aspects of their manifesto they got in. Things like the free school meals for everyone were absolutely key elements that no one cares about.

awec

Some of the Greens are delusional.

I voted Green first preference. If they vote down this PfG on idealistic grounds then I'm done with them. When you get results like we got in the last election then you have to compromise on your platform.