goddamnedtwisto posted:

I always find the idea of polytheism, with gods running the same gamut of dumbness and badness as humans, to be much more satisfying than one big perfect bloke with a beard. Granny got struck by lightning despite never setting a foot wrong in her life? Monotheism has to tie itself in knots about the ineffability of God and His plan, polytheism shrugs and goes "Zeus got pissed last night".

Ms Adequate posted:

I don't like this disparaging of meritocracy. I'm better at video games than other people and that makes me morally superior, end of story.

Guavanaut posted:

I don't know if it's the hip current theology theory but I read that there was some evidence that polytheistic societies were efforts to have multiethnic multicultural societies without pissing too many people off. Like "okay, we're the main culture, so our god is the king god, but he's not all-powerful, he's just a shouty guy like our chief, but you people came here by boat, so your god can have the oceans, that's pretty cool, and these people that grow most of our grain and pray to their harvest god, that's pretty important so they can have that" but in a much less planned and more organic way.

Pesky Splinter posted:

Three words; Metal. Gear. Economy.

Jose posted:

amazing what competent covid response can do

https://twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/1287805554199601153?s=20

crispix posted:

The Irish government is also sending welfare snoops to airports to strip benefits from anyone caught going on a holiday. Plague or no plague, we mustn't let down our guard against the workshy and undeserving!!

https://twitter.com/obraonain/status/1287308933280018432
(from Ireland thread)

Bobby Deluxe posted:

There is definitely evidence that the Romans were doing this. When they rocked up to a new place and wanted to win over the locals, they would offer to build a temple to the local deity, and then at the last minute pull a switcheroo.

You can see an example of this with the temple to Moguntius on Hadrian's wall. The Romans say "Oh yeah we know Moguntius, he's a servant of Apollo. We'll build you a fancy stone temple to him." And then when it goes up it's a temple to Moguntius under Apollo. And then gradually just Apollo, with the understanding that Moguntius is more of a local spirit who looks after this temple. And then eventually just Apollo.

In the context of Pterry's theory of worship and power from Small Gods, it's a very interesting idea.

Disnesquick posted:

With a finite amount of time, I wouldn't spend disproportionate amounts of energy on a battle that the right has chosen for me. By focussing more on this one issue than it deserves it is you who is telling everyone else who is suffering "nah, gently caress you". How much airtime did this one issue get compared to, e.gm the kids growing up with shrunken brains and lungs because the air is toxic?

Leftists absolutely should be picking and choosing, because some things are more important than others. A new life that is permanently crippled by poverty and toxic air ranks way, way above the hurt feelings of those who decide to believe the lies of a right-wing propaganda machine.

I also really don't see how saying "you've invented this bullshit to wreck the left" can be considered as proving them right. Engaging at all, as though they weren't just bad faith trolls, whilst the Tories erected a loving statue to Nancy Astor, was the mistake, as it drew time and attention from all the other issues and minorities that were neglected as a result.

goddamnedtwisto posted:

I wonder how much of it was earnest theology - "Oh the Britons have this goddess Sulis who sounds a lot like Minerva, they must be the same goddess" - and how much was fairly cunning propaganda/culture war - "Hey Britons, we're gonna throw up a temple to Sulis, by the way to worship her you've got to do it the way we do, in our kind of buildings, ps you're Roman now". You have to assume that it makes it considerably easier to rule over a people if you don't charge in and tear down all their temples and try to erase their way of life, instead presenting them with the fait accompli of "You'll get to live your day-to-day life just as before, but in nicer buildings, as long as you chuck some taxes our way".

quote:

News·Updated on May 14, 2019. Posted on May 11, 2019
Leaked Emails Reveal Labour’s Compliance Unit Took Months To Act Over Its Most Serious Anti-Semitism Cases
Exclusive: BuzzFeed News has obtained hundreds of internal emails that show the party failed to suspend members despite evidence of racism and took a year to launch a formal investigation into offensive comments from Ken Livingstone.

Alex Wickham
by Alex Wickham
BuzzFeed News Reporter

The Labour Party’s compliance unit took months to act on some of its most high-profile anti-Semitism cases, according to a cache
of hundreds of leaked emails that reveal the party’s failure to swiftly address allegations of racism.

Emails between two former senior members of the Labour compliance unit, Sam Matthews and John Stolliday, and other party officials show the unit took more than a year to suspend a member who defended British fascists involved in the 1936 Battle of Cable Street, and eight months to suspend a council candidate who posted an article that said the Holocaust was a “hoax”.

The first was only suspended after a senior member of the party’s governing body, the National Executive Committee, intervened and nearly 300 Labour members signed a petition. Action was only taken against the "Holocaust hoax" candidate when his posts were shared on social media by anti-racism campaigners.

The compliance unit also took nearly a year to launch a formal investigation into further comments made by Ken Livingstone on Hitler and Zionism, who was already serving a two-year suspension over previous remarks.

The emails were passed to BuzzFeed News by a former Labour Party official and a member of the Labour International group, who both said they wanted to expose failings in the compliance unit’s response to anti-Semitism complaints before Jennie Formby became general secretary in April 2018.

Corbyn has been accused of failing to adequately address anti-Semitism within the party. The crisis has soured Labour's relationship with Jewish voters and led to the resignation of MPs including Luciana Berger.

The former Labour official who shared the emails said: “These emails show Labour’s compliance unit prior to Jennie Formby taking over failed to suspend members who had made appalling anti-Semitic remarks for over a year, despite clear evidence and repeated attempts by colleagues and complainants to seek action.”

etc

Jose posted:

amazing what competent covid response can do

https://twitter.com/georgeeaton/status/1287805554199601153?s=20

sebzilla posted:

Maybe the left should try that.

"Blair, eh? Have you noticed how his New Labour thing is very much like the New Economic Policy of our guy, Lenin? Pretty neat. Confusing to have two political leaders doing similar stuff, though. Let's all just keep it simple and follow one guy, called Blenin. Or Lenin, for short. You'll barely notice the difference."

Gonzo McFee posted:

https://twitter.com/FT/status/1287833169388019715?s=19

Jesus CHRIST

Gonzo McFee posted:

https://twitter.com/FT/status/1287833169388019715?s=19

Jesus CHRIST

Edit:behind a pay wall of course

quote:

British businesses were warned by Boris Johnson on Monday of the risk of a second wave of the coronavirus in the autumn, just as companies were getting ready to encourage more workers back to offices from next week.

The prime minister told more than a dozen organisations on a conference call that the pandemic could worsen again after the summer. But he sought to reassure executives it would not be as bad as the first outbreak and stressed the government would seek to avoid a second national lockdown, according to several participants.

One person noted that the prime minister also expressed a hope that the country would return to normal by spring next year, adding: “He was clear that there will be more to come this year.”

Mr Johnson’s comments appear to contradict a much more optimistic assessment just over a week ago when he announced the government would drop the “work from home” guidance from August 1 in an attempt to boost the economy. At the time he insisted there could be a return to normality “in time for Christmas”.

The government wants to address any new outbreaks at a local level given the damage to the economy caused by the national lockdown, some of the participants said.

Mr Johnson said it was important to “throttle the life out of” the virus and stressed the role of businesses in helping the UK recover. Alok Sharma, the business secretary, was also on the call. Downing Street declined to comment on the “private conversation”.

The prime minister’s words echoed recent private warnings by Cabinet Office officials to businesses to prepare for a second wave.

Other countries in Europe, such as Spain, have seen a rise in infections in certain regions, sparking worries of a resurgence in the virus. At the weekend, the UK government imposed a two-week quarantine on travellers returning from Spain as a result.

On Monday, Dido Harding, head of the government’s “test and trace” programme, told a webinar for businesses that the focus would be on dealing with any outbreaks using local lockdowns.

“We are in a position at the moment where broadly across the county the prevalence is low and under control and we have got to be obsessive when we see cases rise and stamp on it at a local level,” she said.

Mr Johnson also used his call to stress the importance of getting employees back at work. Office workers can return to their workplaces from next week as long as they feel safe to do so and officials hope the extra footfall in city and town centres will stimulate the high street economy, which has been hit hard during lockdown.

But the union for many of the government’s own civil servants, the PCS, warned there could be walkouts if its members were forced back into offices without proper regard for their safety.

The call was organised by the Business Action Council (BAC), a group comprising a number of UK corporate associations such as the Institute of Directors, Centre for Entrepreneurs, the CBI, Enterprise Trust, Federation of Small Businesses, Tech Nation, Make UK, Entrepreneurs Network, Innovate Finance and the British Chambers of Commerce.

BAC declined to comment.

Gonzo McFee posted:

https://twitter.com/FT/status/1287833169388019715?s=19

Jesus CHRIST

Edit:behind a pay wall of course

goddamnedtwisto posted:

They started off in Soho proper, but down at the Chinatown/Theatreland end, because they always had a pretty canny business plan of being a sex shop that wasn't one of those loving terrifying Private Shop places that stink of rollups and desperation - they gave plausible deniability for someone being in the area without frightening the horses by being on the high street.

Goldskull posted:

Ha! I painted the shutter last Summer for Diamond Jacks Tattoo shop, which is sandwiched inbetween two of those on Walkers Court. The guys that run them are sound enough but the clientele are all like something out of a bleak late 70s drama, and nearly all of them thought I'd be good to have a conversation with while working.

Lady Demelza posted:

There's a meme going around Facebook of Diane Abbott saying 'Do I have to wear a mask online shopping?', which I'm pretty sure is based on misogyny racism anti-leftism nonsense, but before I ride in on my high horse, something like this hasn't happened, has it?

The worse the situation becomes, the calmer I am about politics. Labour is eating itself, the Tories will hopefully eat themselves, and if the second wave of Covid-19 and the worst-case scenarios from a No Deal Brexit, the conditions will be perfect for the rise of the far right. I wonder if people will look back at their Spanish holiday in 2020 the same way we look at the Berlin cabaret in the 1930s: a country where people could see the clouds gathering on the horizon but chose to ignore the storm approaching.

Lady Demelza posted:

There's a meme going around Facebook of Diane Abbott saying 'Do I have to wear a mask online shopping?', which I'm pretty sure is based on misogyny racism anti-leftism nonsense, but before I ride in on my high horse, something like this hasn't happened, has it?

goddamnedtwisto posted:

Oh and a random observation from the couple of shops, buses, and a tube train I've been in over the last few days - PoC are *way* more likely to be wearing a mask than white people, which I'm sure isn't an ingrained knowledge that Plod are going to use lack of a mask to gently caress with them.

kingturnip posted:

Also, hopefully, that the message has been received that Covid-19 is a racist virus and will gently caress over people from ethnic minority groups far more than pasty-faced fuckers.

Jaeluni Asjil posted:

The military (here) have been asked to present the government with contingency plans to deal with civilian unrest later this year/next by end of August. (There was a link somewhere but I can't find it now).

Ed: here's one link on the subject but it's not the one I was thinking of.

https://inews.co.uk/news/politics/boris-johnson-army-four-way-winter-disaster-coronavirus-brexit-flu-flooding-560248

quote:

Met uses software that can be deployed to see if ethnic groups 'specialise' in areas of crime
Exclusive: Origins software produced by Trevor Phillips’s firm allows users to profile suspects, says company

Haroon Siddique

Mon 27 Jul 2020 15.28 BSTFirst published on Mon 27 Jul 2020 15.11 BST

‘Police use of this software heightens already well-aired concerns about racial profiling,’ said an IRR spokesperson. Photograph: Michael Matthews - Police Images/Alamy
The Metropolitan police have been using software that can be deployed to help identify whether different ethnic groups “specialise” in particular types of crime, the Guardian can reveal.

The Origins programme, produced by Webber Phillips, a consultancy run by Prof Richard Webber and the former Equality and Human Rights Commission chair Trevor Phillips has been described by the former as conferring the ability “to profile perpetrators and victims” of crimes.

That has led to warnings that the software – which works by attempting to identify people’s ethnicity or cultural origin by their name – can facilitate stereotyping and stigmatisation.

The Met said it had never used it for the purpose suggested by Webber but instead to enable safer neighbourhood teams to better understand the communities they serve.

However, equality campaigners expressed concern, particularly in light of a string of recent controversies involving policing of black people.

An Institute of Race Relations (IRR) spokesperson said: “Police use of this software heightens already well-aired concerns about racial profiling. The fact that the Met and other police forces now see a need to rely on such data analytics in order to reach an ‘understanding of the communities’ within their areas is a sign of just how far we have moved away from the traditions of community policing and policing by consent, due in no small measure to their disproportionate and excessive use of stop and search, handcuffing and Tasers against black people.”

In a 2017 article about Origins in the industry journal Police Professional, Webber wrote: “Just as each community develops legitimate means of acquiring wealth, it would be surprising if there were not a parallel specialisation in forms of criminality.

“Sometimes these go together; as, for instance, where the minority population most likely to run petrol stations is also the one that is most proficient in ATM fraud; or when those who run taxi services have the best opportunities to engage in abuse of young girls.”

In another article, on neighbourhoodalert.co.uk, he wrote that while opportunity and treatment can be relevant, “different cultures do foster differences in behaviour among their members”.

He added: “It is legitimate to argue that deep-seated attitudes do exist which characterise some communities and religions more than others, especially if these differences can be evidenced from operational data.”

Webber wrote that he had no desire “to link particular criminal activities with particular communities publicly”.

Phillips is a divisive figure among race relations campaigners, having described the use of the term “institutional racism” by the Macpherson inquiry as “a mistake whose consequences are still felt today”. In March, he was suspended by the Labour party for alleged Islamophobia, which he denies.

The Guardian sent Freedom of Information requests to all UK police forces asking if they had used Origins since 2015. The Met said it had been in use until February this year but was unable to say the start date.

Norfolk and Suffolk constabularies said they used Origins between 2008 and 2015 but provided no further details. West Midlands police said its licence ended in 2015 but it had found three records of it being used since, including for “FGM countries”.

Bedfordshire police said it had contracted with Webber Phillips for one year, until the end of this month, at a cost of approximately £15,000, without providing further details.

A Met spokesperson said: “The software was never used for the purpose suggested. It was used to help map communities to allow safer neighbourhood teams to better understand - and therefore more appropriately support – their local communities.”

Nonetheless, John Azar, a vice-chair of the Met’s independent advisory group on race, but speaking as chair of the Kingston race and equality council, said: “This is very disturbing. If the Met has been seen to be promoting this software within its ranks and racial profiling, how can these [BAME] communities see the Met as acting on their behalf? I think this is dangerous territory.”

The IRR said it wanted to know whether partner organisations including local authorities were consulted about the mapping. “As this information comes to light at a time when police and black community relations in the capital are extremely fraught, it’s inevitable that the Met’s use of demographic mapping will be viewed with suspicion and seen for what it is, racial profiling,” the spokesperson said.

In April, Phillips said the Origins software, would be used in the inquiry into why BAME people are being disproportionately affected by Covid-19. However, he ended up playing no role in it.

Guavanaut posted:

It's no different than the US right being loving obsessed with attributing jokes that are older than me to AOC.









Seven loving people at least decided that this was creative and original.

Left wing WoC is dumb ha ha.

BizarroAzrael posted:

Stolen from an ancient Greg Proops bit btw.

How are people fixed for masks? I have some generic disposable ones that are fine, I tried a reusable one dad got from eBay or whatever and it's a pretty poor fit. Is there anything good out there for a bearded person wanting to look like Bane or Sub Zero?

Guavanaut posted:

baka kaba posted:

I don't think we disagree! But what I'm saying is you can't take the line of "antisemitism isn't a problem" just because acting that way makes things easier and makes the accusations easier to counter. It's the wrong way to do things, you're throwing people under the bus

Like, that's why it's an effective trolling strategy - they attack the left on something that's important to us, a big part of our identity. And we have to either defend against it, or compromise our principles and stop showing support for a leftist cause and the people it affects. Which definitely is a win for the other side, because now they have an example of how we don't really care, how the left can't be trusted - and they've managed to create the division they could only claim was there before, and they'll exploit that crack. Solidarity is important, and not just for the general principle

Like I said, we need to be better about it. Shut bad faith accusations down while taking the overall issue seriously, and making that stance clear to everyone. That's still exploitable, but that's just how it is with every issue. And yeah, we have a lot to focus on, so we don't have time to waste on bad faith arguments that are purely about undermining the left. But there's a right and a wrong way to do it, y'know? It's especially important when this whole mess has (by design) made people more suspicious of antisemitism claims, and could make Jewish leftists feel less welcome or less willing to talk about things

it's time for max solidarity imo

kingturnip posted:

While it's nice - albeit unnecessary - for the council to have my road resurfaced, I'm not sure the contractors need to start rolling their machines that literally vibrate the entire house down the road at 7:30am when I'm on Annual Leave.