A view on the swing to the right on both sides of the Atlantic

[tamada]

How two foreigners, one a naturalized US citizen who served his country and the other a refugee who works for the UK's NHS share a similar opinion on the authoritarian leanings of government in their respective new homes.

Alexander Vindman: Coming forward ended my career. I still believe doing what’s right matters.

"A year ago, having served the nation in uniform in positions of critical importance, I was on the cusp of a career-topping promotion to colonel. A year ago, unknown to me, my concerns over the president’s conduct and the president’s efforts to undermine the very foundations of our democracy were precipitating tremors that would ultimately shake loose the facade of good governance and publicly expose the corruption of the Trump administration.

At no point in my career or life have I felt our nation’s values under greater threat and in more peril than at this moment. Our national government during the past few years has been more reminiscent of the authoritarian regime my family fled more than 40 years ago than the country I have devoted my life to serving."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions ... ring-oped/

Hassan Akkad: 'For someone from Syria, the creeping authoritarianism is vivid in Britain'

"Why, I wonder, looking back, was he so stubbornly determined to come here and not elsewhere in Europe? He smiles. “I had studied English literature and I thought of London as the centre of democracy and human rights,” he says. “Having lived in a totalitarian country for two decades of my life, I wanted to live somewhere that I could be free.” He watched the film Braveheart 10 times back in Syria; that William Wallace cry of “Freedom!” stayed with him.

He might, he admits now, have been careful what he wished for – to the extent that he is no longer certain he even wants to stay here beyond next year. “For someone from Syria, the creeping authoritarianism is quite vivid here now,” he suggests. “Contracts going to government cronies; politicians breaking the rules and not facing consequences; this delusional democracy where people are lied to, and vote for the liars.”

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/ ... in-britain

[parrot]

Having lived in Okinawa during the US occupation of the island, Thailand under Thanon/Prapas, Korea under Park Chung-Hee, Taiwan under Chiang Kai-shek, time in the Philippines under Marcos, and more time in Thailand under the strife in the 2000's, and several months in Saudi, you get to see the reasons why authoritarians like that degree of control. Shoot someone on fifth avenue, having the support of the police/miliatry/bikers-for-trump (the tough people), 'the enemies of the people', 'Russia, if you're listening', use of military/security forces to advance your (bible) agenda or under the guise of protecting inner cities, trafficing in falsehoods, calling protestors terrorists, calling the opposition the 'radical left', embracing the world's authoritarian leaders while mocking the free-world's leaders..........it's no wonder there's a growing number of respected people who question, "what if he loses the election and refuses to go?".
Many moons ago I'd joke with some Thai friends about how I couldn't envision someone like Colin Powell, all suited up in battledress, riding atop a Bradley tank, crashing the White House gates...............today? You have to wonder.

[GT93]

I had been thinking the US military would be at the White House gates protecting Trump against lawyers trying to evict him. On 1 April this year they were out in force campaigning for Trump:



That's from a coronavirus briefing. Then Esper and Milley on 1 June strolled behind Trump in his infamous walk to Lafayette Square:



I was delighted at Milley later saying he'd made a mistake being there and many current and former top military brass objecting to his presence. Putin would have been very disappointed.

[tamada]

Has anyone found the middle ground yet? Do the younger ones even know that it exists?

https://big-media.ca/569-2/

[stattointhailand]

No, because as long as I can remember, the media has always refused to allow the middle ground" to flourish.

If you cast your vote for "The middle ground" party, you are just wasting your vote and will let the commi left/faschist right (choose whichever is more frightening to the individual at the time) into power.

Will NEVER be sorted until whoever is in power at the time has the balls (enough belief in their own policies) to risk giving the voters Proportional Representation and that's not gonna happen without a revolution/coup

[tamada]

^ I reckon with that sort of talk, you'll fit right in with the Anarchist's Sunday lunch set at Deans. Just make sure you sit at the right table, OK? The UM Flat Earthers can be deceptively beguiling for the uninitiated. I've seen grown men stumbling for the gate with a horrible mess where their arseholes used to be.

Or maybe that was that the vindaloo and chocolate stout.

[stattointhailand]

Seen lots of recepies for Chocolate Pasta on You tube recently
Not sure if that's a good or bad idea
Might go down well with a pint of (one of the sickliest but at the same time moreish beers) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout (produced probably early 90's at Wandsworth)

[papafarang]

^ I reckon with that sort of talk, you'll fit right in with the Anarchist's Sunday lunch set at Deans. Just make sure you sit at the right table, OK? The UM Flat Earthers can be deceptively beguiling for the uninitiated. I've seen grown men stumbling for the gate with a horrible mess where their arseholes used to be.

Or maybe that was that the vindaloo and chocolate stout.

i love the flat earthers , hours of entertainment for free. we even have a very left leaning Trump fan, it gets very confusing sometimes.

[tamada]

Seen lots of recepies for Chocolate Pasta on You tube recently
Not sure if that's a good or bad idea
Might go down well with a pint of (one of the sickliest but at the same time moreish beers) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout (produced probably early 90's at Wandsworth)

I read it was invented IN Wandsworth.

[Drunk Monkey]

Seen lots of recepies for Chocolate Pasta on You tube recently
Not sure if that's a good or bad idea
Might go down well with a pint of (one of the sickliest but at the same time moreish beers) Youngs Double Chocolate Stout (produced probably early 90's at Wandsworth)

Youngs Chocolate Stout is one of the Uk based beverages purveyed by DM .. very popular , here it comes in the nitro widget cream flow can not in bottles as nowadays they incur a greater tax tariff... 24 x 440ml cans per case.

Initially FIRST brewed / invented AT the Eagle brewery IN Bedford by then Wells and Youngs brewery it seems the product has been involved in various ownership and company takeovers since early 2000 .. lastly in 2019 when Marstons brewery became owners of the recipe and brewing.

Here the full details .. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wells_%26 ... 7s_Brewery

Dam good drop ..

Back on topic .. i just checked ..on any given day i tend to be in the center .. today however im swung to the right

DM

[stattointhailand]

Back OFF TOPIC, the Youngs Chocolate stout you refer to is not a patch on the original Double Chocolate Stout which was only available on draught for a limited period Nov - Jan on the year in question (Youngs Brewery traditionally had a "Winter special brew" each year which was eagerly anticipated every year by serious imbibers )
It was "revived" a couple of years later due to it's popularity, but whatever they did seriously changed the taste (possibly different water or hop or mash mix. Was not aware that a similar beer was now available in bottles/tins, which is probably as good if not better than other bottled or tined beers with or without friggin' widget available here.

[Drunk Monkey]

You stick with the Archa mate (with ice) .. nobody is forcing you to buy any of the huge selection of imported beverages that arrive here nowadays that offer some thing other than a lager / pilsner .. take away the covid pandemic there is a huge market here both Thai and expat who love the variety now on offer , some of the more successful sales locations we deliver them would surprise many ..

Back on topic .. many factors change how a nations general population are defined as left / right or anywhere in between
im even told missing a penalty in a game of football can incur the wraith of players towards the home secretary the lush n milf like Pretti Patel ..just how its her fault is a tad head shaking she wasnt even at the game.

As with most things there are extremes and extremists , Liberals and the plain bonkers .. enter Diane Abbot as an example.

DM

[stattointhailand]

And I am, me old mucker, eternally grateful for your efforts in importing said beverages for me to purchase and enjoy on my visits to Udon's hostalries & bars, pre (and hopefully if we ever get out of it ) post pandemic. Like all things there are good and bad, beer being no exception, and my grading would place Cheers/Archa at the bottom (not tried some of the other cheap Asian beers so cant comment) and then at the top would be a good pint of draught Stout or Porter (although a nice perry can occasionally be very refreshing) Any idea if theres a chance of some perry arriving on these shores in the near future? This extremist would even be happy to listen to Liz Truss spouting her ususal b****** for the 10 mins it took to sup a glass

[Drunk Monkey]

My fav Thai tipple is easy ...CHANG
Imported .. Wexford Irish cream ale close run with Triple Karmeliet from Belgium

An ode for Statto..

Dont get in a fuss over the marvelous Liz Truss ...
to some she does not appeal ..but .. she is
Britains finest at getting a huge great trade deal.

DM

[stattointhailand]

She will certainly be the "darling" of all Aussies

I heard that NSW ?? (one of the states) has even changed its laws about growing GM crops when they found out about the Liz Truss deal

[AlexO]

No, because as long as I can remember, the media has always refused to allow the middle ground" to flourish.

If you cast your vote for "The middle ground" party, you are just wasting your vote and will let the commi left/faschist right (choose whichever is more frightening to the individual at the time) into power.

Will NEVER be sorted until whoever is in power at the time has the balls (enough belief in their own policies) to risk giving the voters Proportional Representation and that's not gonna happen without a revolution/coup

Proportional Representation = recipe for nothing ever happening or getting done. Look at the shambles Scotland is in just now with a minority Administration propped up by unelected tree huggers.
Just remind me of the proportional representation that has resulted from the Coup in Thailand or the Revolution in Cuba just as examples.
Labour was not always Marxist and I do not believe for one moment that all those that voted Tory in the last election were fascist's.

[AlexO]

She will certainly be the "darling" of all Aussies

I heard that NSW ?? (one of the states) has even changed its laws about growing GM crops when they found out about the Liz Truss deal

So your an advocate of only growing original strains of crops that could barely feed a world population of 10M in the day and as the world population heads towards 10B we can use all the dead bodies as fertilizer for the few who have access to food.
Suppose you are one of those who support using chlorine in a swimming pool but not for washing/decontaminating raw chicken. Think you will also find that all the vaccines currently being used to fight Covid have some form of genetic modification in their development.

[stattointhailand]

FFS Alex just read the facts about dechlorinated chicken" BEFORE you open that big trap of yours.
You will find it has Sweet FA to do with the fact that it is being dechlorinated and all to do with the fact that other important safety measures are relaxed/removed when dechlorination is used instead.
Anyone who is over the age of about 50 (just a guess) will probably remember what food tasted like before growers/farmers started interfering with the timescales/growth of plants and animals.
Do you remember what a proper tomato/potato/garden pea/runnerbean/Strawberry/chicken meat tasted like (back in the day when everything had a taste, and before they speed fed/overgrew/forced everything to be bigger and quicker?

[Shado]

Not familiar with dechlorinated chicken. Water is sometimes dechlorinated for certain uses in the States.

[AlexO]

FFS Alex just read the facts about dechlorinated chicken" BEFORE you open that big trap of yours.
You will find it has Sweet FA to do with the fact that it is being dechlorinated and all to do with the fact that other important safety measures are relaxed/removed when dechlorination is used instead.
Anyone who is over the age of about 50 (just a guess) will probably remember what food tasted like before growers/farmers started interfering with the timescales/growth of plants and animals.
Do you remember what a proper tomato/potato/garden pea/runnerbean/Strawberry/chicken meat tasted like (back in the day when everything had a taste, and before they speed fed/overgrew/forced everything to be bigger and quicker?

Hard as I try I cannot find any information on dechlorinated chicken. Plenty from remainer's complaining that the 350 million people in the USA were in serious trouble health wise because they ate CHLORINATED chicken as opposed to the methods used by the Great Dictatorship. Please, please dont use a swimming pool that has chlorine in it, its much safer to swim in raw water (twaddle) Your references to food tastes way back when are probably correct as food was seasonal and grown in the ground but not available all year round and not in the required quantities the current population levels require so what's your solution, let everyone starve?? Incidentally we have our own free range chickens and eggs that can feed us but not the whole village. What happens if you live in a condo? As a parting shot you have never met me so you have no idea about the size of my trap or was that just your normal insult when you are losing an argument.