News thread.

MissDNA wrote:

I suspect the EU want the UK out of the union as fast as possible so that the period of uncertainty and unstability is as short as possible.

From what I have seen this is precisely what is happening. The EU wants to UK gone. I suppose they're rather sore about the vote, and are holding a kind of "Don't let the door hit you" attitude.[/quote]

CT-1138 wrote:

MissDNA wrote:

I suspect the EU want the UK out of the union as fast as possible so that the period of uncertainty and unstability is as short as possible.

From what I have seen this is precisely what is happening. The EU wants to UK gone. I suppose they're rather sore about the vote, and are holding a kind of "Don't let the door hit you" attitude.

[/quote]

It makes you wonder how much of that mindset will happen when other countries do the same. The French were never big into internationalism. They've always had a nationalistic strain since the Napoleonic era and it's never died off or hibernated. The German people don't want to bail out the Greeks or the others on the continent either. Once one or both of those countries go, then game over for the EU and the Euro.

I don't think they want to face economic collapse either. Both of those countries are landlocked with other EU states, leaving the EU would strangle so much trade. I think Germany likes a little being the top hen in EU and France has a bunch of farming so they have use of those benefits.
I'm not much into EU or politics but I seriously doubt there's a large concern for other countries to leave the EU. There's just a bunch of fearmongering and right-wing propaganda going around.

MissDNA wrote:

I don't think they want to face economic collapse either. Both of those countries are landlocked with other EU states, leaving the EU would strangle so much trade. I think Germany likes a little being the top hen in EU and France has a bunch of farming so they have use of those benefits.
I'm not much into EU or politics but I seriously doubt there's a large concern for other countries to leave the EU. There's just a bunch of fearmongering and right-wing propaganda going around.

The loss of sovereignty is a legitimate concern. Let's put it this way: Let's say you and your two neighbors (one on each side) don't get along but you decide to have a third party to mediate. For a while it works since there is peace. Eventually, the third party says "Hey, I can make things better if you give me more power." The three of you agree. This happens until the third party gains control of most (80%) of the lives of you and your neighbors. Think of you and your neighbors as European nations and the third party as the EU.
Imagine the neighbor to your right being Great Britain who tells the third party. "Sorry, you let me chose if I should continue this. And I say no." He now has his freedom back.

That's basically what happened.

EU isn't a tyrannical overlord though. It has its benefits and drawbacks and it creates a much more unified Europe, in line with the rest of the modern world trend of unification. You can still make your own laws, and what laws the EU require you to follow are usually for the better. Now, there's for example a worry in the UK that the enviromental politics are going to worsen after their exit.
And trade is so much more simplified with the open borders and what not. Trade has always been core in Europe, where countries are small and production and resources are spread out.


Or maybe I'm wrong and EU is just shite. What do I know.
I tend to like it though. Many times I feel like a European and not just like a Swede. I can't really imagine a life without EU.

MissDNA wrote:

EU isn't a tyrannical overlord though. It has its benefits and drawbacks and it creates a much more unified Europe, in line with the rest of the modern world trend of unification. You can still make your own laws, and what laws the EU require you to follow are usually for the better. Now, there's for example a worry in the UK that the enviromental politics are going to worsen after their exit.
And trade is so much more simplified with the open borders and what not. Trade has always been core in Europe, where countries are small and production and resources are spread out.


Or maybe I'm wrong and EU is just shite. What do I know.
I tend to like it though. Many times I feel like a European and not just like a Swede. I can't really imagine a life without EU.

The problem is that with open borders, cultural identity rots away. You can't have a nation-state/country without a national identity. Culture, customs, traditional norms, morals. Those are what people live for. Take all that away and people don't have much to live for. Yes, you have cheaper stuff and lots of it. But life was, is, and will never be like that. At best, it's a life cheapened. At worst, it's a life that turns into greed. "Gimme gimme gimme. I want this. I want that." You have to have other reasons to live besides that. Other factors that are far more important.

What's the point of uniting a continent when the countries have no form of free will at all? It's none at all.

I just find this whole ordeal ridiculous. I get both sides. I won't be surprised if the U.K. says "nevermind, we were just kidding." It might be a good thing though, this whole ordeal. Perhaps it will change some EU policies thathat seem to create issues among its members and instead it can just focus on the goal of creating a universal economy and not a universal nation.

Spiegel wrote:

I just find this whole ordeal ridiculous. I get both sides. I won't be surprised if the U.K. says "nevermind, we were just kidding." It might be a good thing though, this whole ordeal. Perhaps it will change some EU policies thathat seem to create issues among its members and instead it can just focus on the goal of creating a universal economy and not a universal nation.

Not with the Euro is bad as it is. It came close to dying after the Greeks rejected the Euro-bailout the first time around. It does not have long to live in this world. You can't have a universal economy without a universal currency. Say what you want about the American Dollar, but at least it was never a mistake from the get go. The Euro always was. Even a lot of economists said so from the get go.

>"Only British citizens or UK residents have the right to sign."
>>"{"name":"United Kingdom","code":"GB","signature_count":365483}"
>2,079,821 people signed this petition who are NOT in the United Kingdom (despite the petition stating at the tippy top that you are supposed to be either a British citizen or UK resident (for reference there were about 9k US signatures according to that website).

This petition is total bull and should not be even considered. A huge majority of the signers are outside the UK, not to mention I could make a thousand throwaway email accounts and just keep signing 'till the cows come home. And people really think that 17 million votes for leaving will just be thrown out by some online petition with 2 million? Get real. The UK is leaving the EU, whether it causes the apocalypse or not.

And even if the website I linked is incorrect you cant fully trust it because I am a 16 year old residing in Texas and I just signed for kicks. So this petition should automatically be thrown out.

(this is my opinion)

And as a side note, keep this thread civil because this discussion can easily turn South).

Except under 75% of the population voted and it was 51-49. It's not going to happen.

Spiegel wrote:

How ridiculous is it to think that people went out and voted for something that they had no idea  what it was or represented. That's  like not knowing anything about the presidential candidates and showing up on voting day to just pick one for no reason.

That's because they thought it was an anti-immigration issue

I highly doubt that. How do you live in Europe, in a country that is part of EU, AND not know what it is? It is an immigration issue on top of a lot of other issues. Did they think it had no economic influence? What's next? Will they vote to leave the UN and NATO and then say wait what are those organizations?

Also this whole petition thing is a joke. They want a 75% percent turn out for the vote to be considered? Only 66% of the population showed up to vote for their government elections where 71% or 72% showed up for this vote. Seems like a double standard.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

This is a good thing. The British people will no longer have to bail out other countries like Greece and Portugal. Sorry, but those countries should be free loading off others and most of those that did bail them out, which made THEIR own populations angry, got nothing in return. It's not like Russia or China which always seems to get something in return when they do a partial bail-outs of European countries.

I think Brexit will diplomatically sever the UK from the EU, but will, in the long run be an economic boon for Great Britain.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

The EU may have been a good thing some time ago, but now, it's just a haven for old EuroMarxists and internationalists. Everybody is dependent on every country and people forgot what it means to be self-reliant.

Welcome to the modern economy. When a butterfly flaps it's wings in Hong Kong, you get rain on Wall Street instead of sunshine.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

Besides, the Euro is on a death spiral anyway. It was always a bad idea and it will die outright or die via being meaningless within the next 10 years anyways. I'm not a true isolationist per-se, but I do believe that countries should be economical dependent by themselves or at least mostly (at least 70%) by themselves. A country that is not economically sovereign is always at the control of others.

To be fair Britain never adopted the Euro, so monetarily, Britain never tied their currency to that of everybody else. When you look back in hindsight, Britain half-assed their involvement in the EU in the first place. With the 20/20 precision of hindsight, it's not surprising they voted to leave.

tigris115 wrote:

Personally, I think we should keep an eye on Wales, Scotland, and Northern Ireland. It'd be interesting to see what happens

I have no doubt now that Scotland will once again push for independence and attempt to rejoin the EU.

Spiegel wrote:

I highly doubt that. How do you live in Europe, in a country that is part of EU, AND not know what it is? It is an immigration issue on top of a lot of other issues. Did they think it had no economic influence? What's next? Will they vote to leave the UN and NATO and then say wait what are those organizations?

Never underestimate the stupidity of the average voter. It wouldn't surprise me in the least if a majority of these votes were knee-jerk reactions regarding immigration. Hell, 1 in 4 people in the U.S. still believe in Geocentrism.

Actually the economy of the UK's suffering because of Brexit.

Short term, yes, but it'll even out eventually.

Mysterious Hero M wrote:

Actually the economy of the UK's suffering because of Brexit.

Even if they stayed, they would have some sort of economic heart-break one way or another.

I saw this all happening, at least from the leaving standpoint. The UK has literally no incentive to remain in that sham. The Pound is still worth more...or will be worth more than the Euro and they never were a partner on the Euro anyway. Which is basically propped up by Germany. IMO Germany should leave too. The EU provides no benefit that alliances lime NATO or other less binding agreements could not provide. Especially for Britain. It would be like the USA staying in a failed union with the countries of North America. What benefit apart from laced trade tariffs could it provide them? Basically nothing, their economy is worth more, their military doesn't need the support and their trade will be fine.

This whole thing just makes me roll the eyes.

All I know is, there's gonna be a lot of leave voters regretting their decision for the rest of their lives if our decoupling from the EU goes ahead unhindered. Say what you will about the EU, and I have said plenty, believe me, but if half the people in this country had bothered to do their damned research on the EU, this would not be anywhere near close to happening.

But I did all I could the day I went out to vote. I'll just make sure to tell everybody "I bloody well told you so" when they come running to cry about how their ill-informed decisions have somehow not magically erased all their problems.

Apple Sued for $10bn as Man Claims He Invented the iPhone

Well now, this is interesting.

Ancient 6,000 year old tombs in Spain also served as primitive telescopes.

Considering how Atlantis was most likely also found in Spain a few years ago, it makes you wonder if Spain is becoming a real life land of legends.

Dead2009 wrote:

Apple Sued for $10bn as Man Claims He Invented the iPhone

Well, we know that this guy is not going to win his lawsuit because Apple has a ton of money to throw at people who claim frivolous lawsuits like this..

That Apple guy will probably get some hush-money and have this settled out-of-court.

So if anyone hasn't heard there were two shooting this weeks of seemingly innocent black men by police officers. I don't follow the news, but if they were indeed innocent, my heart goes out to them and their families, because its so senseless how race can affect the way people, especially the ones we pay to protect us, act.

However, this is not how you make a statement and try to get change: Snipers in Dallas shoot at Police during Black Lives Matter protest. 3 cops dead, 5 in critical condition, 5 others injured.

EDIT: 4 officers dead now.

I do know one of the guys killed is not innocent, as he tried to pull a gun on them. The guy in the car who was reaching for his wallet and was shot for that, however, is unjustifiable. My hearts and thoughts go out to the people affected by the Dallas shooting (it's not too far from where I am, actually).

God, keeping up with a forum thread on the shootings as they were happening was quite nerve-wracking, to say the least. It brought back memories of doing the same thing during the hunt for the surviving Boston bomber three years back.

What a terrible night for Dallas. I at least hope the death toll doesn't rise any further.

This is terrible. No common gunman killed those officers. This was an opportunistic attack by a skilled rifleman.

CT-1138 wrote:

This is terrible. No common gunman killed those officers. This was an opportunistic attack by a skilled rifleman.

You're right. From what I've seen via Yahoo News, he was ex-military.

The FBI is no longer actively looking into the case of D.B. Cooper.

Rhedosaurus wrote:

The FBI is no longer actively looking into the case of D.B. Cooper.

That has to mean they either found him or have proof he's dead.

Sickle_Claw wrote:

Rhedosaurus wrote:

The FBI is no longer actively looking into the case of D.B. Cooper.

That has to mean they either found him or have proof he's dead.

I think they have just given up. If any of those things happened, they would have said so in the article.



Little kid attacked by Wedge Tailed Eagle in Australia.