Dr. Gonzo

No Trent against City... that's a big big loss.

Holy shit! Definitely doesn't sound like junkies then... just brazen criminal arseholes.

I don't think drug sales during the lockdown really went down, tbh. Yes there were the early reports that "drug dealers stick out in COVID times" - but I think that means there were just more arrests at the beginning of lockdown as the drug trade had to adapt to how to sell drugs during a pandemic when people aren't meant to be going around to other peoples' houses. The cost of drugs in the UK is way up though. Source: I've got a friend back home who works many jobs, and one of them is dealing. Stealing catalytic converters is something junkies do for money. Would drug dealers cut into their customer's livelihoods like that? Probably, they're sort of arseholes

People being absolute cunts at the first news of "panic" doesn't bode well if there ever is any sort of societal collapse.

Not sure I wanna watch a Maajid Nawaz video, tbh I don’t buy that you can just walk away from a group like Hizb ut-Tahrir… so I think he’s either a liar… or something more sinister. Dodgy man, for sure. But telling people they’re wrong to say I told you so is always wrong also.

Labour's divisions make them a very unviable party, at least on a national level. They're just a bit of a joke, tbh - a decade of Tory led governments steering the country into the ground... and they can't even come together to get the Tories out of power in a way that appeals to many voters. Centrists and the left of Labour have more in common with each other ideologically than they do with the Tories (or any other party) - yet their squabbling and constant attempts at undermining indicates that both sides of the party are more interested in remaining an opposition party than having any real hand at governance. At least that's how it looks to me - because a party that can't even find common ground within itself is not a party that looks like it can come to common ground regarding governing the fucking country. And Labour need to be concerned with optics, because optics are what have gotten them slaughtered in recent years. Surely labour must have some political strategists that have noticed that how the media covers them & what the electorate thinks of them? The party needs to be making sure the optics of Labour change from this ineffectual party that can't even come to agreement within itself and presenting themselves to the public as the people to vote for if they want to get Boris and the Tories out and stop the decade long rot of the country. I'm very left wing, but I think the left of labour needs to have surgeon remove their heads from their arses. The vast majority of people in the UK don't give a fuck about Corbyn's dismal failure other than the fact that he's probably completely unelectable as PM - and they certainly don't give a fuck about the ideological purity of one of the 2 big parties in the UK. Until Labour is in power, they should be doing all they can to promote the idea that Starmer > Johnson. Ideological purity can come once they've got power and once the more left wing views of labour are more politically relevant. Similarly, the centrists need to accept that there were reasons why Corbyn's views were popular and they shouldn't try to isolate or just fuck off the actual left wing of the left wing party in the UK. There's a way to take in some of what Corbyn's view was for the UK and also a way to temper that and make it more appealing for centrists and moderates to find a way to bring the party together. But trying to flatly reject anything associated with Corbyn as a view the party should have is stupid and does nothing but further the divisions within the own party. I hate Tony Blair, but I think he was spot on when he said the party has become more of a protest movement than a political party. And in an opposition party, it's fine to be a loud voice of protest against the party controlling government. But it really just looks like we've got 2 wings of a party protesting each other, all while their real opposition holds the power of the country in it's hand after a decade of shit governance.

Given that this looks like it stems directly from ending freedom of movement with the EU... what's the answer here for the UK's reliance for borrowed labour that it no longer has access to? The most obvious answer is probably "employers need to increase wages" - when we've got shit like a shortage of lorry drivers, that's going to make an impact on the supply chain for everything. Nurses are still required to throw themselves into debt so they can fill jobs that we're absolutely desperate for them to solve. I honestly don't understand how so many people in business could have been so shortsighted with regards to Brexit. It's the basic principle of economic scarcity applied to manpower - we're not in the EU anymore so employers don't have that labour pool of 450m+ to hire from. They've got to hire from the UK labour pool, and that's a much smaller group of prospective employees. They'll have to pay more to fill those jobs. It's weird too because prior to Brexit, unemployment was at its lowest rate in 40 years. Did we need to open up lorry drivers, fruit & veg packing, meat packing, etc. to the UK jobs market? It's a self-induced labour shortage in critical areas that keep a country running. Is there any other solution other than getting employers to pay workers more?

Tbf, I think US policy has indicated they're currently rethinking relations with China - with the trade war starting 4 years ago and continuing even with a president from a different party. I know from some of the clients my company has at work, companies that have relied on trade with China are having to make serious adjustments with their international business to shift with US policy. More and more businesses are looking to India and Indonesia as alternatives to China as well. And it's clear China's also rethinking their relations with the US... and much of the west tbh. And I think moves like banning cryptocurrencies entirely are in part a reflection of that (as well as keeping in line with their current policy of keeping as much of China's RMB in China as possible).

Didn't Canada hold her on behalf of the US?

I think the biggest issue is the impact it makes on supply chains. If lorry drivers can't get petrol, supermarkets can't stock food, restaurants can't get shipments in, shops can't get their shipments of products to sell, etc. And when shit like that happens, the quality of life drastically is reduced. And this all stems from the shortage of lorry drivers... which is a direct consequence of Brexit. It's a failure of our government to figure these things out before the official "divorce date" to avoid shit like this.

I think the advanced stats era is like when they started measuring shit like xG

Necromancer, kind of poison/summoner hybrid for now (although most of my points in summoning skills are from gear except for 1 point I put in Clay Gollum). They’ve added respeccing in the game so I’ll probably respec into something more optimal right now, but for the first play through on normal… I’m just trying to have something balanced for solo/grouping up while I enjoy rediscovering the game. I’m glad they’ve added that because I remember 20 years ago if you’d fucked up you would need to make a new character I’ll probably make a Druid next cos I never had the expansion so I’ve always wanted to play as him.

20 years ago I was a Diablo 2 addict and that has now returned. I fucking love this game

the guy gets slaughtered in the comments, it's pretty great

Is it out yet? I haven't played it yet, but if it's out (and my PC can handle it), I'll install it at some point soon. I've been playing Diablo 2 and... holy fuck, the nostalgia effect is very real.

Imagine being a player that played under Ferguson and complaining about a manager maybe influencing referees through the media - but also it's just a stupid take. The FA's told referees to not award as many penalties for "soft challenges" and our refs being shit are going to sometimes going to see hard challenges that should be penalties and claim they're soft... and VAR will rubber stamp it about half the time. The issue's with the officials, not any manager making statements to the media. And the stats indicate that if referees were influenced by Klopp... it's probably for the best. Liverpool in the Premier League under Klopp: 225 games, 7,192 touches in the opposition's box Man Utd in the Premier League under Solskjær: 102 games, 2,641 touches in the opposition's box Both 32 penalties awarded each

Tbh I think you're spot on about the elites, but for the die hard Trump voters... I think many of them don't even know what they want. There's the religious right honestly seems mostly focused on abortion, there's the gun enthusiasts in the right that just care about it being easy to buy a gun, and then there's the meme brigade that just seem to go with whatever Trump and friends say. Also 9 months into the Biden administration, and I think there's really not a lot for republicans to complain about. Because honestly, there hasn't been much change from Trump policies. With trade, we've seen a continuation of Trump's trade war with China. It's not good for Americans, because America isn't winning the trade war and it's just driving up the price of goods - but he doesn't want to appear "weak on China" to moderate democrats... so that's continuing. With the various migrant crises the Biden administration has faced... I don't think the administration gives off a good look at all. He pledged to reunite families who'd been separated at the border by US immigration officials... and there's shitloads of families that were separated. But only something like 30something have been reunited and the administration and media have sort of gone quiet on that issue. Meanwhile with the Haitian migrant crisis that's just now popped up... the optics US Border Patrol managed to convey in "dealing with that situation" just looks horrific. See: Honestly, that looks far worse than anything Border Patrol did under Trump. And that's saying something because Trump had immigration officials in the US like Gestapo-lite. Before getting elected, he talked a lot about wanting to return to the JCPOA with Iran... since getting elected all statements from him, Blinken, and his annoying press secretary are basically straight out of Pompeo's mouth when he talked about a return to any deal with Iran. With a democrat controlled house & a 50-50 split in the Senate... he and the democrats are struggling to pass any sort of meaningful legislation. And it's due to 2 "moderate democrats" (tbh policy wise, they're basically republicans) jamming everything up in the Senate. Now the US is looking at yet another government shutdown because they cannot pass a budget. Meanwhile there's Mitch McConnell threatening to have Senate Republicans vote that the US defaults on it's debt. And honestly, it's appalling that the democrats are so fucking shit at governing despite having the legislative branches under their control. With Afghanistan... well, as President, he could have made the decision to say "this plan my predecessor came up with is stupid, I'm not going to follow through with it" (like Trump did with the JCPOA). Instead they went ahead with the bad plan... and well... it was an absolute shitshow. I dunno how Trumpy people are feigning being upset about Afghanistan's collapse considering I think Biden's biggest failure there is following through with the plan Trump & Pompeo came up with. That was a truly bipartisan surrender to the Taliban. It's easy to see why Americans get frustrated with democrats. They're just not very effective at bringing about positive change - whereas Republicans are brilliant at bringing about change... even if it's very seldom anything positive & they're so good at pulling the country more to the right and bringing moderate democrats with them. So I think the democrats are going to have a very bad time with the mid-term elections if Biden's presidency & democrat control of the house and senate carries on the way it has for the last 9 months. They've failed to enact any sort of new and meaningful agenda. And honestly, the only thing I've seen so far that indicates that democrats have a shot at doing well in the midterms is that Texas abortion law riling up democrat voters & their fear that the Supreme Court will gut abortion rights in the country is probably the biggest motivating factor they've been given to keep voting democrat. But if I were a republican, I'd be quite happy with Biden as president because what I think is likely is that democrats lose the house and senate and then best case scenario for Biden is he's not going to be able to do anything other than executive orders as President for two years - like how 6 years of the Obama presidency went. Worst case scenario, he's impeached as "revenge" for what happened to Trump - dunno if he'd get convicted of impeachment (and I doubt it because that's a lot of the senate that would have to be lost), but it would be a waste of time and money from a US taxpayer perspective. But I'm genuinely disappointed with Biden so far... and I did not have great expectations of him. I thought he'd continue the status quo of the administration he was previously in... but it seems like even that was too big of an ask for him.

One day my job will be replaced with some AI software. So I should probably learn about coding so I can fix the bugs in it.

Tbh, I think the people that are most concerned about self-checkouts coming for their jobs are a bit similar to the people who are worried about migrants taking their jobs because they'll work for cheaper. As you say, self-checkouts and other forms of technology/automation changing the workforce can lead to big jumps in the number of unemployed people in the world. And as you mentioned, it's not the first time (obviously) technology has changed jobs and relegated some jobs into becoming obsolete. Employers of low skilled labour view their employees, for the most part, as highly replaceable human capital. That employers might suddenly reject their current employees for: cheaper immigrant labour or machinery is not surprising. Especially with technology coming in to do the same jobs as a human, but with greater efficiency and a lower cost... it isn't surprising. That's just how people run businesses, lower cost for more efficiency is what you expect employers to go for. And I do sympathise with people who suddenly face losing their job due to whatever is happening in the job market that is beyond their control. But at the end of the day, I think most low skilled workers are sort of in the same boat of being low paid and highly replaceable. As technology cuts into their jobs more and more, it is understandable to see a push back against that change. I especially sympathise with older people in those jobs. But a lot of the people that are most impacted by shifts in the workplace like cheaper labour for immigration and technology... they're not powerless to adapt to the changes in the workforce. But so many people just do not want to learn the new skills that are needed to adapt to a changing workplace. And I admit, it isn't always easy to transition people from their old jobs to new jobs where they'll need new skills or greater skills. So perhaps it needs to be more of a focus of governments to be able to transition workers from their old jobs to new jobs that will require new skills or being a more skilled labourer. But then I wonder how many of the same people will complain that the government is trying to get too involved in the lives of people by trying to make sure they can get employment in a changing world... and instead insist that the government should be stopping in to stop the world from changing. But I don't think that's realistic. And I don't think many governments will step in to tell business they should not be looking to lower the cost of doing business (so long as automation doesn't negatively impact the quality of goods/services provided) and increasing profitability. The world didn't mourn the death of the telephone operator or the lift attendant...

Newsmax is for people that think Murdoch's Fox news is too "liberal" to watch, so it's not that surprising.

Out for at least 2 matches. Bit of a shame as he was sort of showing us the reason why he was so highly valued at Bayern in recent weeks. Definitely an easier time for him playing in more normal circumstances. Hope he's back soon. Keita and Jones get a decent chance to show why they should start once Thiago's back. At least it's an area we've got depth, because it's not great to have 2 injuries to starters in the midfield this early.

My cats have never seen a real mouse or brought me a real bird because where I live it's not safe to let them go out (I think if they fell off my balcony... they'd probably die) - but they love the birds when they see them at the window. But cats bring dead mice/birds to their owners as gifts - they think we'll want to play with the dead animal carcass the same way they would. Mine bring me toys they think they've "killed" in the mornings doing the same thing. They actually get quite offended if you just discard the gift so it was smart of her to give Puddin a treat for a job well done.

Only admitted it because of that NYT investigation tbh. We hear about civilian collateral damage with drones all the time. But the NYT did a great job of breaking down how wrong US intelligence was. Drones are obviously going to be popular with the militaries that use them… but I do think the ethical considerations of their use in warfare is often overlooked. What we have seen with western military intelligence in the war on terror and wars in the region… is it’s often wrong or the stuff that proves to be right takes years to collect the information and verify (like Bin Laden’s location). And when you have wrong intel but act quick with drone strikes… there’s a very high risk of just killing innocents. Btw this is completely off topic but… @Khan of TF365, what do you make of Pakistan having both very close ties to the US and being a partner of theirs… but also your government has close ties with Taliban leadership & Bin Laden’s hideout in Pakistan being basically impossible to believe the military didn’t know they were there? I can’t really fault any neighboring nation of Afghanistan for having better ties with the Taliban at most, because everyone there wants stability even if their neighbors are cunts. But like… wtf is the Bin Laden stuff? How can Pakistan walk that tightrope between dealing with the US as friends, but also housing a US enemy and getting 0 repercussions for it? Are Pakistani politicians the biggest smoothtalkers ever? They need to be giving lessons to loads of other countries.

I wish we could have had Klopp and Gerrard at the same time

Iran's now a full member of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation - big news for the economic development of the country. No real surprise though, the way things have gone in the past few years after the JCPOA falling apart, Iran is no longer really looking to the West as it seeks to rejoin the global economy - they've turned to China. I hate Iran's government, but I can't deny that this is really a no-brainer for them. They don't have to adjust their position of challenging the US's global hegemony, they're aligning themselves with a country that is probably the biggest threat to US hegemony worldwide. The US and EU sort of took a harsh stance with Iran as it was complying with an international agreement - and I think there's only so many times you can hope to negotiate with countries that haven't really demonstrated they're willing to stick to the commitments they've made. Granted, I'm not sure China can be entirely trusted to not act similarly if any opportunity arose where it would be beneficial for them to fuck Iran over. But this news means greater access to global markets that the country hasn't had access to in a while - which is massive news for a country that's had it's economy ravaged by shit policy decisions coupled with US sanctions. From a human rights standpoint it's very shit though because China doesn't give a fuck what it's trade partners are up to within their own countries - just like they expect their trade partners to not give a fuck about what China does within China. Interesting to note that now 4 neighbors are member states of the Shanghai Cooperation Organisation are bordered with Afghanistan: China, Tajikistan, Pakistan and now Iran. It's not just an economic cooperation partnership, but also a military & security partnership. So this may be a signal that China is taking steps to move into Afghanistan.