The Hall of Fire

I recognise how much the USA is inward looking, which makes its media ventures into foreign affairs that much more significant. As such, coverage of different nations is all we have to illustrate any biased editorial imperative. For example, why Alexei Navalny and not Julian Assange? Why designate H...

I didn't even hear anything positive about Russia when I was regularly watching Russian news in Russian. They only ever say how things will get better soon, and have been for the last 60 years. :D I remember growing up in the UK and my parents continuously complaining that the news was always bad! ...

Suspecting how the media walk in lockstep to present a uniform narrative, I came to wondering what was the last article I read in mainstream Western media that was not negative about Russia. I couldn't recall one. What is the last positive article on Russia you read, and do you think coverage of Ru...

All world leaders did well because of Covid because of the rally-round-the-flag effect Trump lost. The Socialists lost Madrid. The Greens look on target to become the leading party in Germany. What is your justification to claim; "All world leaders did well because of Covid because of the rall...

But is it really an existential war? For Palestine and its prospects as a functioning state, yes. For Palestinians, as a recognised people, again yes. The inhabitants who peopled the Levant prior to 1948, and their descendants, are having their existence erased. This is but the latest chapter in a ...

Suspecting how the media walk in lockstep to present a uniform narrative, I came to wondering what was the last article I read in mainstream Western media that was not negative about Russia. I couldn't recall one. What is the last positive article on Russia you read, and do you think coverage of Rus...

I have long considered the idea of Bitcoin and other crypto-currency faintly ridiculous, but I had no idea how much harm they are actually causing. How Bitcoin Mining Keeps Old Fossil-Fuel Plants Alive I heard a story about this on NPR this morning, but when I did a search, this Mother Jones articl...

I can only speak from the media we are getting here, but the talk of Hamas using "human shields" seems to have been pretty much debunked. Gaza is extremely densely populated so any carpet bombing being carried out will perforce have civilian casualties. Israel seem to be making no attempt...

I raise the UK mortality rate as a challenge to a certain narrative that Johnson only did well because of Covid. As far as I can see, this is a theory peddled by those who have constructed the "fact" Labour's suffering is due to Corbyn's "looney left" leadership. A year on from S...

Bëor, I have seen videos of Palestinian school children being taught to march around their classes with wooden rifles, chanting anti-Israeli slogans. They are being thoroughly indoctrinated to hate. On the other side, Israeli soldiers are shooting kids for throwing stones at their tanks. :cry: As f...

Frelga wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 8:13 pm

Dave_LF wrote: ↑Fri May 14, 2021 7:29 pm That said, I should note that I am mad at the Democrats, but incandescent with rage at the Republicans and neo-Nazis (but I repeat myself).

That's my platform as well.

Fascinating, but I'm not sure how much your personal platform influences UK elections...

Over and over and over again. Both sides have very legitimate concerns. Both sides take actions that are completely not commensurate with those concerns. Israel far more than the Palestinians. As a Jew, and a family member of Holocaust victims and survivors, and as a human being, it hurts my heart....

I ran into this article in Merion West this morning by a Corbyn supporter (as far as I can tell) which discusses the Brexit issue Beorhtnoth raised upthread. I tended to see Brexit as a big wedge for Labour, creating an irreconcilable difference between working-class pro-Brexit constituencies in th...

Deja vu?

For example - the big picture when it comes to discussing Middle-earth is that it is a work of fiction created by one man whose ideas evolved over time, and as such some questions don't have definitive answers or have contradictory answers. Ah, but that "big picture" isn't necessarily THE...

Corollary - it's a red flag when someone enters a discussion and focuses entirely on minor details, the semantics, the hypotheticals. In my experience it means at best that that they do not understand the subject well enough to grasp the big picture, and at worst, that they are not participating in...

Without wishing to sound like a one note orchestra, I believe words, and how they are used, is integral to this (as Voronwë highlights). There is nothing contentious about the statement "Black Lives Matter". There is nothing contentious about the statement "White Lives Matter". B...

A major aim of UK devolution was to ensure the devolved parliaments weren't subject to the same party polarisation as in Westminster. It was designed to promote collegiate politics. There was never any expectation a single party would dominate as the SNP has. The electoral system is supposed to avoi...

When Cambridge University professor Priyamvada Gopal stated "White Lives Don't Matter", certain sections of the internet went into meltdown. Here was prima facie evidence of anti-white prejudice. Gopal received death threats. Throughout all this was forgotten Gopal's statement was edited. ...

Among developed countries, I believe the U.K. trails only Israel in the percentage of the population vaccinated for Covid. Surely that helped the incumbent party even more than the general "rally round the flag" effect seen in most countries during the crisis. But the UK also has one of t...