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Politics : Formerly About Advanced Micro Devices -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: puborectalis who wrote (1431214)	1/3/2024 2:01:34 AM
From: Maple MAGA	2 Recommendations Recommended By longz Mick Mørmøny Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 1571445

There Was a Time When Governments Tried to Make Their People Better JAN 2, 2024 6:00 PM BY ROBERT SPENCER 6 COMMENTS New in PJ Media: The Biden regime seems hell-bent on celebrating and subsidizing the worst tendencies of human nature: not only every conceivable manner of perversion, but resentment, envy, the privilege of protected classes rather than advancement on the basis of merit, and so much more. It is not hard to suspect that Biden and his henchmen have some vested interest in encouraging Americans to become worse people, harder to get along with and more difficult to deal with. What could more effectively justify an authoritarian crackdown than a population that is as obstreperous as it is immature? One outcome of all this will be that Americans will become worse people than they used to be. A government can’t expect to celebrate mental illness, demanding that everyone take it as normal on pain of ostracism, deplatforming and worse, and exalt skin color and gender over competence and expect that Americans will continue in large numbers to value being rational, competent, and capable. There have been governments, however, that did what they could to make their people better human beings, rather than worse ones. “ Empire of God: How the Byzantines Saved Civilization” details how, in the Byzantine Empire of the sixth century AD, a story circulated that could have come from our own day. The sixth-century Byzantine chronicler John Malalas reports that early in the reign of the renowned emperor Justinian, “some of the bishops from various provinces were accused of living immorally in matters of the flesh and of homosexual practices. Amongst them was Isaiah, bishop of Rhodes, an ex-praefectum vigilum [commander of the watchmen] at Constantinople, and likewise the bishop from Diospolis in Thrace, named Alexander.” In Justinian’s realm, no month was set aside to celebrate such behavior. Instead, Malalas continues, “in accordance with a sacred ordinance they were brought to Constantinople and were examined and condemned by Victor the city prefect, who punished them: he tortured Isaiah severely and exiled him and he amputated Alexander’s genitals and paraded him around on a litter.” Justinian did not disapprove of these harsh punishments, and actually seized the opportunity to institute a strong measure against pedophilia: “The emperor immediately decreed that those detected in pederasty should have their genitals amputated.” Justinian’s wife, the Empress Theodora, also considered it part of her duties to support the public morals. Malalas records that she acted against human trafficking: Brothel-keepers used to go about in every district on the lookout for poor men who had daughters and giving them, it is said, their oath and a few nomismata [the coins of the day], they used to take the girls as though under a contract; they used to make them into public prostitutes, dressing them up as their wretched lot required and, receiving from them the miserable price of their bodies, they forced them into prostitution. She ordered that all such brothel-keepers be arrested as a matter of urgency.= There is more. Read the rest here.

To: puborectalis who wrote (1431214)	1/3/2024 2:54:12 AM
From: Broken_Clock	1 Recommendation Recommended By longz Respond to of 1571445

Here's some info for you... Your proxy war against Putin blew up in your face 'Nothing' Left In UK's Military Stockpiles After Arming Ukraine: Times Of London by Tyler Durden Tuesday, Jan 02, 2024 - 09:45 PM In part of a continuing trend of major Western publications belatedly admitting that all is not well with Ukraine policy and the state the war, The Times of London reported Sunday that the UK has "nothing" left it its own military stockpiles after being among Ukraine's biggest weapons suppliers for nearly two years of conflict. British defense officials and European leaders are now busy "cranking through the gears" to ramp up weapons production, the report says, citing an unnamed staffer from Prime Minister Rishi Sunak’s office. The report also relied on an unnamed Ukrainian source. The dwindled UK stockpile is being reported on at a time that "Britain’s military intelligence chiefs believe Ukraine cannot win the war against Russia in 2024 because it does not have the manpower or the weapons for a big battlefield breakthrough," The Times wrote. [url=]Image: STR/ZUMA PRESS[/url]An internal UK government debate and divide has emerged over the future course of London's policy, with some arguing that the Western allies simply need more "time" to ramp up arms production. But one big uncertainty at a moment the West is generally feeling "war fatigue" - according to most public polling among various countries' citizenry - is the question of who will be in the White House in 2025. European officials are nervous that a Trump victory would spell the end of efforts to fuel the proxy war against President Vladimir Putin. At the same time, President Volodymyr Zelensky is clearly becoming more and more unpopular, even on an international stage. A former Ukrainian official told the Times that he's losing support because of the immense death toll, but with no end-game or plans for negotiations in sight. The source described there's growing anger and pushback at the spectacle of men and women being "sent to the front line to die." A British source additionally explained to the Times that if the US is forced to take a backseat due to its domestic politics (and with Republicans still holding up Biden's billions more in defense aid for Kiev), then Europe will have to step up and keep aid flowing. "Can continental Europe afford to fold just because Trump says no more US dollars? I think most realize that Putin can’t be allowed to win as consequences for European security are grave," the source said. Below is an example of the kind of wishful thinking that still exists in Europe, as quoted in the Times report: Although he did not provide comment on a future US presidency, Grant Shapps, the defence secretary, said he was speaking to his counterparts in Europe constantly about the need to back Ukraine in its “darkest hour”. In comments to The Times after two days of major aerial assaults by both sides, he said: “We need to pull together to help them in a war that will define Europe for decades — both with hardware and also the support and moral leadership.” But many analysts would view this as a pipe dream given that Washington's contribution far outweighs Europe's aid to Ukraine by a massive margin. Likely Europe simply won't be able to close so large a gap even if European countries have the collective will.