Dr. Gonzo

ISIS still exists though and has commit 2 recent terror attacks lol. They might be weaker, but it's genuinely putting your head in the sand if you think ISIS truly failed.

I think modern progressives need to look at the ultimate problem in their lack of representation in US politics - the two party system - and start working to fix that broken nonsense for them to have an actual chance at taking the reigns of the US. Progressive policies are popular, even considering how generally conservative the American electorate is. The problem is they have just a tiny voice in one of the two very pro-corporate interest right wing parties that dominate the United States political arena. And one of their loudest voices is Bernie Sanders - a man who is not a part of the democratic party. He's an independent senator, not a democrat - he just caucuses with them all the time because they are the more sane of the two dominant political parties in the US. One of the other loudest progressive voices in US politics is Ocasia-Cortez - and in a normal functional democracy she would not be in the same centre-right party the democrats are. States get to pick their own voting rules, so the opportunity to actually get more progressive policies implemented at the federal level is having progressives start taking the power at the state level. The problem there is, it's a very uphill battle for progressives in the US. Public opinion is shaped by the media - whether it's traditional media or social media. So that's US media shaped by traditional media owned by right wing billionaires and social media owned by right wing billionaires. So the messaging amongst the general voting public will always be something that is anti any truly progressive policies. So you need something very rare in a politician to make it work. Someone smart enough to successfully get their message to connect with people on social media despite the general narrative being against them. Someone eloquent who can explain complex things in a way that makes them easy to understand. And someone who plays well and is tough for an unfriendly media to attack - because any gaffe will be seized on by the media and used relentlessly as a weapon to kill the popularity of anyone against the interests of the very rich. They essentially need a team of Bernie Sanderses. They've got an uphill battle, but that's really the best pathway to breaking the shitty political system of the US. Even "deep blue" states are lacking many progressive voices and still use the shitty first past the post voting system, when ranked choice would ultimately lead to more progressive options actually getting seats. And until progressives have a pathway to getting in candidates they'd support at a federal level, they've got two shitty choices in the centre-right democratic party & the right wing republican party. I think a better choice than not voting is picking the least bad of 2 bad picks tbh.

He should go back into management

I think we know the real reason Neville's defended him tbh. Imo it's not even the content of the words that came out of his mouth that really make this a sackable offense. It's the fact he's putting himself in positions where he then has to clarify "this video can't come out or I'll get sacked" - he's played a part in making material that he can be blackmailed with. No ref should be putting themselves in that position. Now that there's 3 or 4 videos out where he's played a part in putting himself in a similar position, I'm not quite sure what else PGMOL needs to conclude it's "investigation." It's him in the videos and the pictures of that trip to east asia. He's a referee, he's brought his own integrity into question by making the videos. I suppose if they want to see if he was indeed blackmailed or if his drug addiction did in fact impact how he's officiated, maybe they're looking into that. I'm not sure how they'd be able to prove that though. And again, the appearance of lacking integrity is enough here to where PGMOL should be taking it seriously and just going ahead with treating it as though he does lack integrity. He's already undermined the already shaky public confidence in referees. Sensible decision is to just sack him and hope he gets some help with his treatment so when he attempts to rebuild his life in obscurity he's not struggling with his addiction. Also drug test the referees ffs.

Many senators are demanding the report. I'm pretty sure it's all democrats though, not republicans... so it's essentially meaningless lol

I think some of these fringe players should be given more consideration than the likes of Grealish, Foden & others who really haven't done a whole lot in an England shirt tbh. The success of today was the result of playing the best system for the players available rather than playing the best players on paper without regard for how they perform in a system. And I do wonder if this means Jones will have more consideration by Tuchel than Southgate had for him. He's been one of our better performers for the entirety of 2024. He started last season with a lot of question marks over his head among Liverpool fans because he hadn't really kicked on since coming through. By the end of last season, he was looking like one of our better midfield performers when fit. And imo he's building on that good form under Slot. Very cool seeing him score his first international goal with a goal like that.

Happy for Jones to get a goal on his England debut

You did not get the intended result from this post

The guy bankrupt a fuckin' casino

I think that's the issue with the videos as well tbh. Because the fact of the matter is we've got at least one ref (4 if you want to include that picture you're referencing) that's putting themselves in a position where they're creating a record of material they can be blackmailed with. Then if you ask yourself who would blackmail a referee and why... and the answer is nobody good and probably something to do with betting on football. And even if that's not happened - we don't want our referees putting themselves in the position where they appear easy to corrupt. The premier league certainly doesn't want that. I think that's the bigger issue than anything he's said in the first video that came out.

Aliens: never mind, we're going back home.

I know very few Trump voters, tbh. I'm in coastal California, so I'm in a bit of a bubble. The people I know that did vote for Trump really don't follow politics all that closely and believe a lot of shit they see on social media and distrust regular news (whether it's online, tv, newspaper, books). It's maybe 3-4 people; they all said the biggest issue for them was inflation and the cost of living. I tried explaining to them that Trump's proposed policies, namely the tariffs, are only going to increase both of those. They didn't care - they just saw things get more expensive once Biden was president and remember pre-pandemic prices and want a return to that. I'm pretty sure everyone around the world wants a return to the cost of living pre-pandemic... but hey... it is what it is. @Spike, @Coma, & @Cicero might be able to give you a different perspective. Although Spike's in Chicago, so he might be in even more of a bubble than I am in San Diego - although idk too much about where he's living in Chicago so no idea if that's true or not. I'm pretty sure Coma's from a swing state or a state that could potentially be a swing state if there's the right issues on a ballot - so he might have a more accurate answer on the pulse of America. And idk where Cicero is at, but he's been pretty good at giving a pulse on some things in the US. He's not been very active lately though.

I think he's been accused of sex with multiple young women (under the age of consent in the US, which is 18). I know there's a distinction between the different categories of nonce... but I don't really care I'm just gonna lump them all in as pedos. Yeah, America's a strange country for sure.

I was going to say I've got no idea the extent of his drug use other than the two videos (one of which I haven't seen because it's supposedly a s*n exclusive) - but if he's got a massive drug problem, I genuinely do hope he gets the help he needs. But that noncey stuff about grooming a 15 year old... not sure I want to extend any sympathy to him at all regardless of if he does have a genuinely bad drug problem.

Wonder if this is the result of a pissed off ex? the thread's got more pictures

Was he a strategic obstructionist or is that just the only sort of democrat that has a chance of winning a senate seat from the moron voters of West Virginia? It's one of the most conservative states in the US - it's crazy it had a democratic senator for so long. I think things will be worse off without a democrat senator from that hellhole tbh.

I understand drug addiction a bit and I don't fault him for doing drugs but lol why the fuck's he filming it and sending the videos to people? Absolute moron.

He must be and if he's not - he's got to be up there.

He voted with democrats 85% of the time. Now that he's been replaced with a republican, how often do you think his replacement will vote for the centrist party as opposed to the right wing party?

Tbf I don't think I've lived in the US while a democrat president has had both the house and congress. I do remember under Obama, basically anything he wanted to do was blocked so he had to resort to executive orders to get anything accomplished - but nothing truly meaningful because there's limits to what executive orders can do. Basically was the same under Biden, who actually had the US economy recovering from the pandemic better than... any other country's economy, despite this. So deep down, I know that while democrats (who are not a left wing party, by any stretch of imagination) are centrists that have been obstructed the entire time I've lived in the US - and the republicans are regressive turds that are very good at appealing to the idiotic American electorate. The US will get the government it deserves, the rest of the world will have to deal with the consequences of the US getting what it deserves though.

Well now things will get far worse by people who are promising to make things far worse. But at least they told the US that petrol and eggs will be cheaper. Should be fun to track the price of eggs and petrol in the US each week of Trump's presidency though.

Lol he's appointed an alleged paedophile to be attorney general.

Ok but if the current secretary of state’s position is there should be a ceasefire in Gaza & Marco Rubio, the incoming secretary of state’s position is there should not be a ceasefire in Gaza… is that the same? Is one position not better for the people in Gaza? I find the religious side more distasteful because it is more distasteful. It’s a more extreme stance based on faith, with even less regard than the other side for human life.

I don’t think they’ve continued the escalation in Lebanon & their response to Iran I think was pretty mild, because like Iran they’d telegraphed the attack in advance. I think there’s a big difference in policy when you account for the zealots who think a holy war is necessary vs. US politicians supporting Israel because it’s their empire’s foothold in the region.