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War Lounge Room v91: work pwnt will maintain later

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^ we spent $5k CAD on neurological testing for my seizuring Retriever a couple months ago. Ended up being negative and his only ongoing treatment is a relatively cheap medication.

I've heard sketchy things about pet insurance loopholes, like how it won't cover serial testing for the same condition, but I've never looked into the truth of them.
 
Trotsky said:
In comparing leaders, I think we have to be dialectical in considering their countries, their paths to power, and their intentions. If we are not, then every leader of a stable democracy is going to be better than every leader of an unstable state. In more objective terms, I think we can consider competence, good faith, efficacy, and democratic charter. Duterte's drug war had that democratic charter: it was known from the outset to be an oppressive and largely extralegal campaign, but it was supported nevertheless as an alternative to grave existing conditions. There is no such democratic charter or grave existing conditions to excuse Trump's policies and there is, likewise, no good faith excuse for most of them. That is, while you can argue that Duterte's attacks on the press and on the criminal underclass were good faith attempts to stabilize Filipino society and ensure safety for his base, there is very little justification for arguing that Bolsonaro and Trump's wildly regressive policies and institution of corruption is in good faith.

With MBS, it seems that all his policies are directed toward consolidation of power, but there have been meager collateral benefits to the people. For Erdogan, there is much of the same and, although he is clearly incompetent, he does enjoy a strong democratic charter. In terms of Jong Un, he has at minimum shown to be a basically competent political leader and he has improved quality of life in North Korea since taking over from his father. Of course, he's a legitimate hereditary monarch, but any person to take that office was going to be.
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What do you think of Modi?
 
Mendacious said:
In all fairness, drug addicts aren’t people
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Trotsky said:
In comparing leaders, I think we have to be dialectical in considering their countries, their paths to power, and their intentions. If we are not, then every leader of a stable democracy is going to be better than every leader of an unstable state. In more objective terms, I think we can consider competence, good faith, efficacy, and democratic charter. Duterte's drug war had that democratic charter: it was known from the outset to be an oppressive and largely extralegal campaign, but it was supported nevertheless as an alternative to grave existing conditions. There is no such democratic charter or grave existing conditions to excuse Trump's policies and there is, likewise, no good faith excuse for most of them. That is, while you can argue that Duterte's attacks on the press and on the criminal underclass were good faith attempts to stabilize Filipino society and ensure safety for his base, there is very little justification for arguing that Bolsonaro and Trump's wildly regressive policies and institution of corruption is in good faith.

With MBS, it seems that all his policies are directed toward consolidation of power, but there have been meager collateral benefits to the people. For Erdogan, there is much of the same and, although he is clearly incompetent, he does enjoy a strong democratic charter. In terms of Jong Un, he has at minimum shown to be a basically competent political leader and he has improved quality of life in North Korea since taking over from his father. Of course, he's a legitimate hereditary monarch, but any person to take that office was going to be.
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It goes way beyond drug dealers. Duterte has taken the Philippines from a free society with protections for journalists to one where his detractors have to fear for their freedom. None of those leaders has had as negative of an effect on their country as Duterte. The Philippines is undoubtedly more corrupt, less safe, more cruel and less democratic than when he took power.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.wa...9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html?outputType=amp
 
AgonyandIrony said:
The dog doesn't get shot don't worry.
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Well, I read the full article. As much as I love dogs, I was more concerned about a 9 year old girl getting shot in the face since that’s what the title lead me to believe.

She got hit by some fragment which is relieving. I thought the cop actually shot a bullet into her eye
 
Mendacious said:
Well, I read the full article. As much as I love dogs, I was more concerned about a 9 year old girl getting shot in the face since that’s what the title lead me to believe.

She got hit by some fragment which is relieving. I thought the cop actually shot a bullet into her eye
Click to expand...

Oh. Yeah. Forgot to warn you about the kid. But I mean. Dog didn't get shot.
 
79528108_3987177927974958_7435232810564059136_n.jpg
 
Trotsky said:
Duterte is a true populist that champions initiatives and perspectives that are supported and held by ordinary people, while Bolsonaro is a true fascist that seeks to fragment society, scapegoat marginalized peoples, loot the economy for private interests, and install autocratic minority rule.

Personally, I think Duterte is a level below guys like Bolso, Trump, Erdogan, MBS, and Jong Un in terms of flawed leaders. Although that famous rape comment was maybe the most disgusting thing I've ever heard a politician say.
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I hate to be the Islamist in the room(not really) but mentioning Erdogan and not Sisi is kind of odd to me. I would understand if you didn't include Jong Un and MBS since the others are leaders of ostensibly democratic nations so it'd be more of a like-to-like comparison.But if we're going to mention autocrats of all kinds he deserves a mention even if only for the Rabaa massacre.

Funny to see the radically different reaction from the West to that crackdown of protestors compared to the Hong Kong crackdown. Not that I'd want the latter ignored like Rabaa was and to be fair Western leaders did offer at least a perfunctory condemnation of it(before dispersing billions in military aid of course).
A.C. said:
It goes way beyond drug dealers. Duterte has taken the Philippines from a free society with protections for journalists to one where his detractors have to fear for their freedom. None of those leaders has had as negative of an effect on their country as Duterte. The Philippines is undoubtedly more corrupt, less safe, more cruel and less democratic than when he took power.

https://www.google.com/amp/s/www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/global-opinions/dutertes-autocratic-regime-cracks-down-on-a-vital-voice-in-manila/2019/02/15/2863617a-2fc9-11e9-8ad3-9a5b113ecd3c_story.html?outputType=amp
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That may be true but I see Trotsky's point about the democratic mandate. I have a Filipino friend and he tells me that in his hometown there are bodies piling up all the time of alleged drug dealers and addicts. While that horrifies him his relatives and acquaintances from back home seem to love it. That was a few years ago so perhaps its different not but something to think about. Certainly doesn't justify it but the point is Duterte rose to power on an issue that appeals to a significant amount of Filipinos while Bolsonaro won by virtue of Lula being removed from the race and his successor candidate being a nobody.
PolishHeadlock2 said:
@Kafir-kun are you familiar with Modi?
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Not as much as I should be and a lot of what I hear of him is filtered through some biased sources(i.e. Indian and Pakistani Muslims).

Of course I know he's a Hindu nationalist which is going to make him persona non grata in a lot of the circles I frequent. But I also know of his 2016 demonetization plan. I am not really that well read on monetary policy so its hard for me to give a fair and nuanced appraisal of that policy but it seems to have been a mess. And of course there's the recent citizenship law passed that has been very controversial, granting easy access to citizenship for Hindus and Christian refugees from neighboring countries and not Muslim ones. There's also a provision in which you have to produce certain documentation to prove your citizenship which, in a poor and underdeveloped country like India where many of the destitute do not always have such documents, could end up robbing legitimate Muslim citizens of their citizenship. Or at least that's a claim of the critics.

Oh and there's the fact that he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the Gujarat riots of 2002. And its not that he was just the official in charge at the time, he and other government officials were accused of facilitating the riots. That's probably the nastiest thing I've heard him accused of. Seems like a cunt to me and Gabbard's cheerleading of him is one reason I don't like her.
 
Kafir-kun said:
I hate to be the Islamist in the room(not really) but mentioning Erdogan and not Sisi is kind of odd to me. I would understand if you didn't include Jong Un and MBS since the others are leaders of ostensibly democratic nations so it'd be more of a like-to-like comparison.But if we're going to mention autocrats of all kinds he deserves a mention even if only for the Rabaa massacre.
Click to expand...

Yeah, it's just a case of, like Modi, me not being familiar enough with him to be comfortable discussing him and giving off the impression that I know more than I do.
 
Kafir-kun said:
I hate to be the Islamist in the room(not really) but mentioning Erdogan and not Sisi is kind of odd to me. I would understand if you didn't include Jong Un and MBS since the others are leaders of ostensibly democratic nations so it'd be more of a like-to-like comparison.But if we're going to mention autocrats of all kinds he deserves a mention even if only for the Rabaa massacre.

Funny to see the radically different reaction from the West to that crackdown of protestors compared to the Hong Kong crackdown. Not that I'd want the latter ignored like Rabaa was and to be fair Western leaders did offer at least a perfunctory condemnation of it(before dispersing billions in military aid of course).

That may be true but I see Trotsky's point about the democratic mandate. I have a Filipino friend and he tells me that in his hometown there are bodies piling up all the time of alleged drug dealers and addicts. While that horrifies him his relatives and acquaintances from back home seem to love it. That was a few years ago so perhaps its different not but something to think about. Certainly doesn't justify it but the point is Duterte rose to power on an issue that appeals to a significant amount of Filipinos while Bolsonaro won by virtue of Lula being removed from the race and his successor candidate being a nobody.

Not as much as I should be and a lot of what I hear of him is filtered through some biased sources(i.e. Indian and Pakistani Muslims).

Of course I know he's a Hindu nationalist which is going to make him persona non grata in a lot of the circles I frequent. But I also know of his 2016 demonetization plan. I am not really that well read on monetary policy so its hard for me to give a fair and nuanced appraisal of that policy but it seems to have been a mess. And of course there's the recent citizenship law passed that has been very controversial, granting easy access to citizenship for Hindus and Christian refugees from neighboring countries and not Muslim ones. There's also a provision in which you have to produce certain documentation to prove your citizenship which, in a poor and underdeveloped country like India where many of the destitute do not always have such documents, could end up robbing legitimate Muslim citizens of their citizenship. Or at least that's a claim of the critics.

Oh and there's the fact that he was the Chief Minister of Gujarat during the Gujarat riots of 2002. And its not that he was just the official in charge at the time, he and other government officials were accused of facilitating the riots. That's probably the nastiest thing I've heard him accused of. Seems like a cunt to me and Gabbard's cheerleading of him is one reason I don't like her.
Click to expand...
Modi is a piece of shit demagogue.

I initially had a positive impression of him since under him there was a lot of privatization and India's economy improved very much.

I heard he was a demagogue but it was usually filtered through al-Jazeera videos and articles, which I dismissed as a bunch of pissed off Muslims that a Nationalist Hindu was in power.

But then it became clear he very much is a Hindu Nationalist who refused to condemn "Cow vigilantes" who were killing Muslims for eating beef, and basically stripped many Muslims of citizenship near the Bangladeshi border. People thought Trump was bad because he wouldn't apologize for simply being endorsed by white nationalists, but Modi refused to condemn killings.

Besides being a demagogue who routinely sacrifices Muslims for political gain, he also pushed for that stupid law that damaged the Indian economy by converting all of the lower banknotes into digital currency, hurting a lot of laborers and small businesses. Why did he do that? To collect tax revenue. He didn't care who he was harming and I bet India hardly collects any more taxes now, since the economy has slowed down.
 
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