Not directly Trump, but here is 58yo Tennessee congressman John Rose in a lovely picture with his three surprisingly young children:

Happy birthday to our son Sam! He's one year old today. He's walking, exploring and he's always interested in what big brother is up to. We love you buddy! pic.twitter.com/onnu5uueEy

— John Rose (@JohnRoseforTN) March 23, 2022

Oh.. actually my mistake.. the older child is actually his wife Chelsea Doss. They met when she was 15 in high school where John Rose gave her a scholarship and “mentored” her. 😲

This is the party that claim the LGBTQ+ community are after your kids, while simultaneously trying to bring in laws to remove age restrictions on marriage.

The ‘pro-choice’ argument total erases that a fetus, a baby, a something is collateral in that choice to terminate.

So outlaw contraception next? I mean effective contraception erases that foetus too.

Hell, go a step further and outlaw male self-pleasure.

Every sperm is sacred, every sperm is great.

@snownrock:
I’ve been using ArchiTouch 3D on the iPad and been able to do multi-level floor plans plus nice 3D visuals. It’s a pretty nice touch-based interface. You can do most of it for free, you do have to pay a sub if you want to do edit multiple plans.

They have a YouTube channel with examples and tutorials:

Can you even buy a thing that just heats the hot water for the shower

Guess you could have a leccy shower and something like a Quooker tap for (very) hot water.

Combis are great for small properties, but don’t work out any more economical to run than a tanked system

Interesting. Another possibly bad assumption from me.

My thinking was that we like hot water on demand, but heating a huge tank of water just so its always warm when I wash my hands seems daft. We have a leccy shower and will have a dishwasher, washing machine is cold fill, so not sure what else would be needing all that stored hot water?

Baths are a very rare occurrence in our house, though I guess that may be because we currently only have one bathroom. 😁

Hmmm… okay seems everyone is pretty keen on sticking with gas as the more economical solution, which begs the question why is the government looking to ban gas boilers in new builds by 2025??

Are they expecting everyone to use ground source and heat pumps?

So, because you’ll be spending more on leccy, you can then spend even more on getting some solar to offset the leccy? That sounds like ‘interesting’ maths.

Probably 😁 my (possibly slightly backwards) thinking was that solar PV doesn’t really pay for itself if you don’t use much leccy.

If you have the land and the means GSHP might make sense

We have the land but builder and architect have both said that they don’t think it is worth it.
Solar on the roof is more of a possibility. We have an electric car to run as well.

Electricity is more expensive than gas

Yes absolutely. My current rates are:

Standing Charge per day:
Gas: 27.2160p
Leccy: 48.6464p

Unit rate per kWh:
Gas: 7.2240p
Leccy: 27.090p

My current projected spending pre-reno (from supplier) works out at £1707pa for Gas and £2024pa for Leccy.

Dropping gas means ditching ~£100 a year standing charge, but obviously increasing the amount of leccy used (possibly to a point where adding solar becomes economical).

stuff like an immersion to heat a water tank uses a lot of energy

That’s really my question I guess: has the technology in leccy boilers got to a point where they are more efficient or are they still basically big kettles.

Absolutely a big investment is needed into public transport.

I can’t believe this has never been discussed before.

I’ve always said that when they make me emperor for life I’ll make public transport (trains, trams, buses, river ferries etc) completely FREE to everyone at point of use.

Radical, but think how that would alter habits and the “need” for a car.

It always amuses me when people claim cars are cheap. they are not.

Absolutely correct TJ, but most of it is a “hidden” cost. The only immediately obvious price is fuel and even that is a bit displaced from the actual journey.

Plus if you are acutely aware of the hidden costs then you are just as likely to fall into sunken cost fallacy. “Well it is going to deprecate anyway so I might as well use it”

Perhaps a more realistic use case is that private ownership continues, but you reduce parking issues because your car can drop you outside your destination then go park itself in a windowless inhuman multi-storey until you summon it for the return trip.

I like the idea of just being able to summon a suitable vehicle that drives itself and is clean and ready to go.

BUT…

Wouldn’t it be MUCH easier to achieve that with a more advanced taxi service?

Seems the only blocker for that is having to talk to a taxi driver.

Then he would compare it with footage that had been around in the public domain, and point out any inconsistencies.

Sounds like a variation of the Mandela Effect conspiracy.

Why is Putin clutching the desk

He’s contemplating pressing the button that drops his minister into the tank full of sharks with frickin laser beams.

I don’t really think a European army is a serious prospect, there’s not really any need for it under the NATO umbrella.

While NATO is strong you are probably right.

I wondered if an EU Army might be able to act where NATO couldn’t. In Ukraine we are seeing are situation where NATO cannot put boots on the ground. But if Ukraine was an EU member then presumably the EU army could have been deployed there?

Though I get that may mean Putin would probably view the EU as a similar threat to NATO (if he doesn’t already).

Does it have to be one or the other?
I didn’t think the original proposal was that an EU army would actively replace NATO.

Most countries are simultaneous members of multiple different military alliances with UN and NATO being the most obvious.

According to wiki, the United Kingdom is currently a member of:
– Entente Cordiale/ Defence and Security Co-operation Treaty
– UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF)
– British–Polish–Ukrainian trilateral pact
– NATO
– UN
– Kosovo Force
– Five Eyes
– Five Power Defence Arrangements
– AUKUS
– Combined Maritime Forces (CMF)
– International Maritime Security Construct

I hate it, the grand alliances of the late 19th and early 20th centuries didn’t end well.

Do you view it differently to the “grand alliances” of NATO and UN?
Or smaller alliances like the UK Joint Expeditionary Force (JEF), Combined Maritime Forces (CMF), or the proposed CANZUK?

Thanks inkster.

Yeah it was indeed intended as an open question:
I’m just interested to hear if renewed conflict in Europe has altered people’s perceptions of the benefits/drawbacks of a European Army or “peacekeeping force”.

I don’t have a strong opinion on it myself. I can see that establishing the EU as a joined-up military power could be interpreted as a threat to nations like Russia (and possibly even the US). But there may be advantages to a smaller European-focussed command structure (compared to NATO/UN).

Post Brexit and given the incompetence of our administration do you think the UK has placed itself in a more vulnerable position or not?

Pffftt.. Project Fear. Next you’ll be saying that after Brexit we’ll see war in Europe… 😏

More seriously, I think the Ukraine conflict has shown we (UK) are still quite aligned with the rest of Europe and can still work with them on important issues.

I’m interested if people think it strengthens or weakens the argument for a combined European Army? (which I recall was one of the bogeymen of the Brexit campaign).

I suspect if EU had a standing military then Putin would regard Ukraine joining the EU as a proxy for them joining NATO.

‘Moskva is a big ship and has proved she can take a missile’.

Well that part appears true, though perhaps not in the way the author intended.

Yeah I did consider writing “I think chewkw does (accidentally) have a point” 😁

Without wanting to re-stir the pot, I think chewkw does have a point on those videos.

As the mouthpiece of the state, Russia Today (and loosely affiliated propaganda) can be worth listening to. Not for anything close to actual truth obviously, but to understand what the state would like the truth to be.

That said, there is the danger that giving these videos views, shares and interaction, even just to criticise them, has the consequence of pushing them up the algorithms and showing them to more people.

As Timothy Snyder says in his excellent “On Tyranny” :

“If we are serious about seeking the facts, we can each make a small revolution in the way the internet works. If you are verifying information yourself, you will not send fake news to others…
… If you retweet only the work of humans who have followed journalistic protocols, you are less likely to debase your brain interacting with bots and trolls”

Blokes in sheds with spanners and angle grinders refurbing captured Russian AFVs to send back to the fight.

Needs an A-Team montage with B.A. Baracus welding on some old pipes

And even though I’ve, what most folk will consider, an expensive car (replacement costs circa £47k), in EV terms it’s bottom end.

Look at lease.

I agree that using an existing ICE car will be cheaper than buying a new electric, but that’s hardly a like for like comparison.

And yes buying EVs new can be expensive, but leases seem to be very good value.

I’ve said before on here we got a really great lease price through a corporate scheme (NHS), paid through salary sacrifice (thus avoiding a chunk of higher rate tax), and it was 0% benefit-in-kind tax due to being electric (that has now risen to 2% I believe but still good).

Whatever propaganda Fox News, Farage , Carlson etc are spinning for Putin
his war is not going to plan

Sadly that won’t change the minds of the recipients of the Fox/Farage/Carlson/etc propaganda.

As Bret Schafer (Alliance for Securing Democracy) concluded in that Graniud article:

“Given that many within those audiences have been primed to dismiss and distrust the ‘mainstream’ media and expertise writ large, there’s no amount of factchecking and objective reporting that is likely to change attitudes once certain falsehoods become adopted as facts.”

I’m still confused that some on here seem to think Putin and Russia are still communist/Socialist. They really aren’t, and that’s why there are American right wingers backing him

My point was less about Russia’s actual political policy and more about how American right-wingers seem to be drawn to it despite a recent poll showing 52% of Republicans, 56% of Trump voters, and 42% of all Americans think Russia is still communist.

…the far right in America is pouring petrol with their disinformation beliefs. Which is being lapped up in Moscow. Article in the Guardian this morning.

Yep. Which is the part that amazes me. Not so very long ago you’d be run out of town for suggesting that any good ol’ boy God-fearing freedum luvin Murican would support Russia.

Now those apparently same demographics are being drawn towards the right-wing authoritarianism because they like that “strong” Putin upsets the librul snowflakes and fights against the growing “evils” of gender equality, homosexuality, trans rights etc

This is the Grauniad article mentioned by the way:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/apr/06/us-right-wing-republicans-russia-ukraine-disinformation

^ Big fan of Mark Felton. He has some amazing historical stories on his channel.

There are loonies on both sides

Agreed, I guess I just find it particularly incongruous from the American right, given they are usually bleating on about freedum and lefties being “commies” etc.

It’s ridiculous. Useful idiots, doing Putin’s work for him.

Hard to know which ones are paid “useful idiots” and which ones are just idiots.
I think the ongoing information and social media war could out some of the former, if people are paying attention.

What do we make of the Western right who still seem to be supporting Putin?

I noticed Tucker Carlson changed his tune as war crimes started to emerge, but I’m still seeing a lot of supportive comments online from what appear to be genuine American right-wingers (rather than Russian bots).

I’m seeing a lot of the usual “media is lying to us; Soros; NWO; trust the plan” etc.

Some crazies would rather have Putin as president than Biden: https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMLQSeWvr/

Currently I have been getting around 145 miles out of mine but I put the heater and heated seats on as I’m not sitting cold for the sake of a little more range.

MrsGrahamS is a big fan of the scheduled climate settings. She leaves about the same time most mornings, so the car is set to heat itself up for that time. This has two benefits: 1) you get into a nice warm car on a cold morning 2) it does this while it is still plugged in so it doesn’t kill your range.

I think this conflict has made an uncomfortably strong case for continued nuclear deterrents.

Seems very likely the West would in there now, if Putin didn’t have nukes.

Likewise Putin may have thought twice if Ukraine still had nukes.

And all our commitments to defend a nuke-free Ukraine don’t seem to have come to much.

“The left at home, the international left, the bureaucrats in Brussels, the money of the Soros empire, the international media”

Chilling how close Orban’s bogeymen line up with the rhetoric of the American right.

Every MAGA Trumpet mentions Soros and the media.

Ma-hoosive telly ordered. Got it for £1500 from Hughes with a 6% discount code. Happy with that.

you can pick up a G1 for (£1,499)

Was tempted by the G1 for the neater cable-management and wall mount, but I can live with a stand. Need somewhere to put the console etc anyway.

Thanks all.

I think the LG C1 ticks most of the boxes mentioned here:

– OLED 4K @120Hz
– 4 x HDMI 2.1 ports
– Variable Refresh Rate (VRR) – G-Sync and Free-Sync
– High Frame Rate (HFR)
– Auto Low Latency Mode (ALLM)
– HDR10 Pro (but not HDR+)
– Dolby Vision IQ (but not the new Dolby Vision IQ with Precision Detail)

…the indiscriminate bombing of cities means “help” and whole-sale occupation is “liberation”.

War is peace, freedom is slavery, ignorance is strength.

I’m sure this comparison has already been made, but I re-read 1984 recently.
Sadly it remains as relevant and prescient as ever.

Spent last week (half term) at Fort William. Spectacular as always. (Can highly recommend the Linnhe Lochside Holidays chalets: cracking view of the loch and hills, but remarkably cheap)

Anyway, there was tons of snow but sadly it was accompanied by 100mph winds and storms for most of the week. Eventually made it up Glencoe on the Friday.

They had some good snow, but had been struck by lightning during the storms so most of the power was out! Heroic efforts from the staff overnight got an emergency genny set up so at least a few lifts were running.

Not quite the usual exotic locations on here, but the kids enjoyed it.

Yeah, that’s the alternate gaslight story. They have a few variants.

The rewritten narrative appears to be something like:
– The speeches beforehand didn’t encourage any violence because Trump said “peacefully” (once, near the start. He also used the word “fight” 20 times and had the crowd chanting “Fight For Trump”).
– It was a perfect peaceful protest. There was no violence or damage.
– The violence and damage was all caused by Antifa/BLM in disguise.
– There is no evidence of violence or damage and the fact that there is so much video evidence of violence and damage from live-streams shows that it was a frame up by Antifa.
– The people that tore down the American flag and erected the Trump flag in its place were also Antifa.
– Ashli Babbitt was a brave patriot who was murdered by security for no reason at all and/or she was an antifa agitator and/or she never really existed.

I’m still seeing lots of people online claiming that the Capitol riot was all just Antifa in disguise. 🙄

You’d like to think an official probe would help, but these people are already blindly ignoring the fact that no one arrested was antifa, and that right-wingers livestreamed it from their own social media accounts, so I doubt it.