Dr. Gonzo

I think this is one of the more interesting US political scandals that's sort of getting buried right now under the headlines of the government response to the tanking economy & the hearings over the January 6th coup attempt... But not even Fox News could ignore it, they've got the coverage up on their website: https://www.foxnews.com/us/idaho-police-identify-more-than-30-men-arrested-u-haul-patriot-front It's another of those far-right militia groups that's popped up all over the US over the last 5 years... and this time it's one I'd never heard of before called Patriot Front. But it fits the profile of many other of these far-right agitations, fortunately it was foiled before they could cause chaos at the gay pride event they were planning on fucking up. It's just further evidence though that the emergence of all of these white nationalist groups taking it upon themselves to physically fight the culture wars the media and politicians have fostered in the US over the past few years is really not under control at all. Sadly, Fox really is doing all it can to ignore the hearings over the Jan 6th coup attempt. Even though one of the leaders of the hearings is a hardcore republican (who they're now trying to call a left-leaning politician, which is quite frankly... hilarious) and the video evidence submitted of statements from members of Trump's inner circle have been particularly compelling and damning (especially Bill Barr's testimony). But it's not surprising as the news has come out that Trump's "Fraud Defense Fund" was simply bullshit to collect donations from people... and Fox was doing it's part to spread awareness and support for said fund. They were in on the grift and were okay if the end result would have been a democratic election being overturned. And I don't understand why some people think this should be unpunished even though the coup attempt was unsuccessful. They've got to go after the ringleaders to make an example of them otherwise people smarter and more competent than Trump will modify the playbook and eventually have a much more successful attempt at subverting the will of the voters. It seems strange that people so proud of their democracy can be so complacent to defend it.

I think it's always difficult to interpret political polls in authoritarian countries for exactly the reasons listed there. If you're living in a country where political dissidents are actively being rounded up and treated as political prisoners for having a certain political view and then some random person calls you up or sends you a link to an opinion poll... how inclined are you going to be to tell the truth?

Getting rid of Moshiri seems like a dream to most Evertonians. But how does Red Bull Everton sound?

Get well soon pal.

Yeah but tbf the guy who said that on here has an out of touch idea of US politics that’s probably based off what he learned on 4chan or 8chan

Yeah idk anything about Rudd’s history but I don’t have much respect for most sports journalists because they do things like that - have a pop at certain clubs for clicks. It’s actually ironic a bit if you think about it - having a go at an industry exploiting addictive behaviors for money… when the news has sort of done the same thing for the internet, figuring out certain stories and headlines create addictive and emotive reactions so they get the most clicks for the most ad revenue… I think if they’re gonna have gambling and/crypto sponsors, they might as well allow cigarette and vaping sponsors. And they obviously shouldn’t be doing that. I agree that it would be better seeing clubs support local charities - but they never will. When Barca did that with UNICEF it seemed cool at first, but really what they were doing was normalising a shirt sponsor while they sold that space like all the clubs before them.

Yeah I can’t believe I said that either - I’m pretty sure Rafa had more PPG than Fat Frank though… What’s particularly scummy about Stake is they don’t use normal currency… they make people gamble with crypos. Imo most cryptos are just a Ponzi scheme. When you buy a cryptocurrency you’re taking a massive risk with your money, when you gamble you’re making a massive risk with your money that’s addictive. I don’t blame Everton because it’s a lot of money and there’s already a shitload of terrible companies that are on shirts all around Europe (we’ve got a fucking bank ffs) - but it’s not a great look promoting gambling and crypos imo. But in fairness I don’t really know any Everton fans that “like” having these people as the new kit sponsors.

Stake’s particularly scummy, maybe you’re the one not really being impartial here Oh sorry I’m a Liverpool fan… I’ll try to get someone else to tell you that

I was home until Friday & that’s sort of the vibe I picked up

Think you’ve got to give him #9 tbh. Isn’t Jesus’s exit basically nailed on at this point?

Lmao they're not state owned, they're just corporate shills - just like Fox. They all have the same paymasters in the end, which is why they basically have all the same fucking ads on all 3 channels. MSNBC's defense of Chesa Boudin is sort of hilarious, especially if you know anyone that actually lives in San Francisco (and I do). The man came in and on day one said he wasn't going to do a fucking thing abuot property crimes - as a result, property crime skyrocketed. Then he said he wasn't going to use criminal prosecutions against "the mentally unwell" - and proceeded to call nearly every violent criminal in his first few months in charge "mentally unwell." And he lost in SF by about 70%. SF is about as progressive of a city in the US as you can come, so not even managing to get close to half the city shows he lost the support of some of the most left-leaning people in the country. He lost his job because he was bad at his job, the fact that republicans spent a lot to get rid of him is sort of incidental. Lots of republicans also spent lots of money to get rid of Trump because lots of republicans didn't like Trump either But I do think what Fox is doing, in refusing to cover probably the most significant attack on American democracy honestly with regard to what happened in DC on January 6, 2021 is basically criminal. It's probably the most significant political scandal in the history of the United States and it's receiving no coverage because they don't want their base to care about outright treason that benefits their political agenda. I suspect they want to get more of their fringe viewers back from OAN and Newsmax. But at the end of the day, CNN is just playing to the "moderate but mostly conservative" Americans, MSNBC is playing to "progressive" Americans, and Fox is playing to the "right wing as fuck" Americans - all three are advocating for pro-corporate policies more often than not (MSNBC can't help but slam Bernie and AOC, two of Americas actual left wing, any chance they get)... they're just targeting different groups of Americans.

There really should be more restrictions on money from lobbyists in the US, seems like the will of the people is always silenced by the large bags of cash they throw at politicians.

How can anyone say that without seeing what the group draw is first?

It's basically a proxy war at this point. Russia's lost a significant amount of it's standing army, but Ukraine's lost a lot of people as well and yesterday Zelensky said they're losing 60-100 troops a day. In a war of attrition where your proxy force is suffering large losses a day, the people helping the proxy will need to give the proxy better and better weapons. One big difference between Afghanistan for the US and Ukraine for Russia is the staggering amount of loss that Russia's felt in a few months. But it's also largely in part because Ukraine's military is significantly better equipped and organised than Afghanistan... and they've got overwhelming international support. But yeah, Putin's going to keep changing goal posts and claim victory - but clearly the West is unwilling to not help Ukraine fight so Russia doesn't go back to putting puppets in power in Ukraine/seize more land in Europe. The US is very much trying to maximise the hurt Russia feels before Putin decides he needs to take the next exit. And I don't think Russia's going to be able to get anything like serious sanctions relief until Putin is no longer in charge - so I suspect Russia will still feel some hurt from this war even after it is over.

Me too, I dunno what it is though that's making me feel that way... but it definitely is a feeling I'm having.

Anyone else getting a feeling that the next Merseyside derby might get violent? Kinda sad to see, but I’m definitely picking up that kind of vibe

I'm not sure that's true. Blanket bans lead to black markets - strong regulations typically create an actual legal market, which people are more inclined to use than do business with criminals. Any ban on weapons/magazines isn't going to effectively change gun violence in the US - there's already so many guns out on the streets and the logistics of gun buyback programs in the US are so complicated it's just as unlikely as anything you could possibly imagine. In America you don't even need a license to get a gun - so yeah, they should be looking to actually try to regulate gun ownership. But I'm not sure they can require a license for gun ownership under their constitution. Driving a car requires a license because you don't have the right to drive a car - it's a privilege. In the US, gun ownership is a right that is considered basically the second most important national value only to free speech.

The family who threatened to shoot the protestors who didn't even attempt to get on their land?

Yeah, sure - that's a hell of a lot more regulation though than the US currently has though. I still think nobody needs an AK47 or AR15 when they're not in the military. Perhaps for the firearms enthusiasts who want to try out these killing tools (but not on people), they should allow them to be owned by gun clubs that people could join to get access to their firing ranges/cooler guns - and allow members to use the club's facilities/weapons. But then I think any gun registered to those gun clubs that gets used in any crime would ultimately make the gun club and those at the top liable for the wrongful death of any victims of that gun.

100% - it's something that should be a bigger issue in US national politics, but I think is really something that's more of an issue in border states... but really mostly in border communities rather than the states at large. It's not surprising there have been many instances of Mexican cartel members coming into the US COMPLETELY LEGALLY, getting guns quite easily, and then getting caught in Mexico trying to illegally cross the border with those guns they obtained in Mexico. Mexico can be a dangerous place if you're not careful because Cartels have serious control there... but the US making it so easy to get guns is a big part of why Mexico is so bloody dangerous in the first place (especially coupled with the US's war on drugs - which drugs are winning). But weirdly when border security does reach the national focus of politics, it's usually done in a way that border cities and towns seem to disagree with. Probably because they don't actually solve any of the actual issues they have to deal with and are more just targeted at people who don't live in those areas that are just scared of Mexicans (for reasons known only by themselves).

"It's natural for us to like the white refugees more than the brown ones who's lives we ruined with our own government's actions, so please keep those people in Iran and Pakistan while we also pretend to be upset about the horrific images we saw in Afghanistan that we're pretty much directly responsible for. Did I mention the Ukrainian refugees are Christian and not Muslim?" Twat.

I live near the Mexico border currently and I must say, I think that's one of the silliest things I've ever heard . The cartels coming in use tunnels and boats mostly, a lot of the illegal immigration done by land is mostly just migrants trying to get away from the gang violence in Mexico and South/Central America. Combatting drug trafficking creating crime in the US isn't going to be solved with AK47s and AR-15s in the hands of people that have no business owning them - organised crime thrives because drugs create a black market they control. So combating that crime would require doing more with US drug policy and taking control away from the cartels and gangs that run the market for drugs. But really it's a wholly separate issue from the constant mass shootings the US faces now. Most mass shootings have nothing to do with anyone needing to protect themselves - it's someone with a gun that's decided to go out and kill people. Guns by themselves make it easy to kill people, but assault rifles are designed to make it as easy as possible to kill as many people as someone can before they need to reload. Nobody needs one for protection unless they're in the military and are meant to be protecting something for military purposes. People buy them because they think assault rifles are cool or because they want to kill people.

There'd need to be a federal standard, rather than relying on states to police themselves locally. The issue with Chicago is while Illinois has really strict gun laws, there's states like Indiana next door that have some of the lightest restrictions on gun ownership in the US. So if you're a criminal that wants a gun quickly in Illinois, you've just got to have the patience to drive far enough if you REALLY want a gun you're not going to get in the state you're in. And then you just need to drive it back. Gun control in the US leaves so much open to the individual states and to an extent, I think that's alright and is the right idea... but there needs to be a higher baseline standard of gun regulation in a country where mass shootings are so common and where it's so easy for people that shouldn't have access to guns to get guns.

I don't understand what arming teachers would do... other than result in some teacher that has finally snapped after dealing with these little shits all day pulling out the gun and blasting some kids. The police in the US are armed... there was even a heavy police presence at the school where the shooting was. What happened with all of these armed police? They were too scared to actually act when there was an active shooter. They sat around the car park scratching their arses, harassing the concerned parents of children stuck in the school with the gunmen, and waited for Border Patrol (for some reason) to turn up and deal with it. What the fuck is an untrained teacher going to do? Also are the guns going to be secure? If it's not secure, there's the risk of kids getting those guns that should be held by teachers and shooting other people. If it is secure, that takes away from the possible response time a teacher would have if a gunman stormed into their classroom. And again... it's an untrained teacher. Not a military trained sniper. Not even a poorly trained police officer. If those cops with assault rifles and body armour were too fucking scared to respond to an active shooter... what on earth would ANYBODY expect some random teacher to do in that situation? Aside from demented people, who obviously should not be able to get guns... there's just too many guns in the US that don't really serve the purpose gun owners claim they need. Why does anyone need an AR-15 or an AK-47 other than for killing people? Not hunters - they're not good weapons for hunting. Not people who "want to defend their families," something like a shotgun would probably do just fine for that - effective at defense, needs less ammo, easier to aim, easier to clean, less likely to jam, etc. Assault weapons are designed to just make killing people as easy as possible for combat. Your average everyday arsehole off the street doesn't need an AK-47 to protect themselves, they don't need it to hunt, the only real reason to have one is to kill people. There's no reason why these weapons should be able to be purchased by ordinary people, they belong in the hands of military troops and specially trained police.

I don’t think that’s legal? They might have an agreement though that if Newcastle go after any more staff they’ll have to pay an additional fee, though.