The Australian Labor party has strict penalties for those who undermine its collective positions, and acts of defiance can lead to expulsion - a precedent with a 130-year history.

This is not unique to Auzzie politics. AFAIK every Westernized nation’s parties follow the same rule.

My question is if your nation touts its democracy as the best thing since sliced bread, how do you mesh that with dictatorial leadership forcing politicians to vote along party lines, especially on something like this?

Enforced conformity is about as undemocratic as it gets, yet I don’t see any big names standing up against it.

I would just turn my head or move further down the beach.

shrugs

I know lots of kids were/are playing those without parental supervision. Those same parents had/have existential fits if their child sees a penis or breasts in a movie.

Someone needs to explain to me why nudity is considered not ‘family-friendly’ but watching movies/playing video games with massive amounts of bloodshed and death is considered fine and dandy for kids.

Lenin once observed that “there are decades where nothing happens; and there are weeks where decades happen”. The invasion of Ukraine by the Russian Federation on February the 24th 2022 was one of those moments. Within days France and Germany lost their ascendancy, Poland and Britain came to the fore, the Baltic and Scandinavian countries gravitated towards the new coalition, leaving Germany isolated within northern Europe, with southern Europe reduced to the status of sullen onlookers.

The Russian invasion was the trigger that finally shattered a thirty five year consensus in Europe. It happened, as Hemingway describes in The Sun Also Rises, like bankruptcy: gradually and then suddenly. This crisis has been building for years, but we are now moving fast.

Best take I’ve read on the last two years.

You’re a good person for knowing when you fuck up and admitting it. I need to do better at that myself. So thanks for reminding me. 👍

I simply quoted what was in the article, which seemed vastly better than what you pulled from your brain.

How about you source your statements instead.

COVOD’s (sic) a virus.

So is mpox.

It (COVID) does substantially better in cool, dry air, as do the majority.

You’re right here. But mpox isn’t spread through the air like COVID is. It’s spread through sexual and non-sexual contact.

You’re bullshitting about a virus with a 5% kill rate.

5% for adults, 10% for kids and a massive increase in miscarriages. So far more deaths than you say.

There isn’t one gov’t in the world that doesn’t spin like a top under certain circumstances.

Israel just seems to do it all the time, with impunity, no matter what the story is. The boy who cried wolf comes to mind every time I read, “Israel said …”.

Lies, lies and more lies from Israel.

It all has to with with money, ie: if you invest in proper care for the kids = it costs more than just warehousing/condemning them to the bare minimum.

Let the dictatorial circle jerk commence.

Because it’s a Canadian comedian who is starting to break through into America.

I get that it may not be news to some, but to others it would be because 1) she a woman and 2) she’s starting to gain attention in the largest market in the world.

Just as an experiment, without using google, tell me the names of 5 women who’ve broken into the US market in the last 10 years. Now do the same for 5 Canadian women.

Kinds need love, acceptance and guidance from adults who are capable of that. If they don’t get that from those who should be giving it, they are open to abuse from those who will use and abuse them.

Those kids aren’t being recruited to murder anyone in the beginning. They’re being given the things they need, then they’re being manipulated to believe they owe their lives to the ones who gave it, and must do what they’re told to repay the debt.

Kids don’t have adult brains to think through the consequences of their choices. And the adults in charge of them, specifically politicians and other idjits who couldn’t give a rat’s ass about them most of the time, are failing those kids at every turn.

Not as big a difference as you think there is. Both are children needing love, acceptance, guidance and healing from massive traumas you can’t even begin to imagine.

I have always admired the EU for its stance towards big business, ie: they are never more important than people are.

Not every nation follows America’s hardline view of kids and crime.

Yes, but the article clearly says …

The seas in the eastern Mediterranean have been choppier than expected …

They may have … because the planning was rushed … meaning, more importantly, they used historical weather patterning which is now unreliable (due to global warming).

With friends like that, who needs enemies?