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Gyro Zeppeli posted:It's loving incredible that John Dolmayan managed to spend entire years of his life in the same room as Serj Tankian and still somehow come out the other side as a magachud. At least Serj doesn't share his crappy opinions: System of a Down’s Serj Tankian to President Trump: “Run Donny Run Into Your Bunker” System Of A Down’s Serj Tankian Calls For Trump Regime To Resign
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Jun 4, 2020 20:04
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Just got a scam text (suspicious activity on your account tell us your bank details etc.) and apparently my banks fraud line doesn't work on account of 'roni. I didn't tell them anything but still, fuckers the lot of them (either lot really, though the covid bit is understandable).
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Jun 6, 2020 20:44
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ShaneMacGowansTeeth posted:My bank card was once stopped because my bank thought it was suspicious that I was withdrawing 200 Euros at 4am on a Sunday in Berlin, but the letter they sent me to tell me this was printed on a photocopied letterhead piece of paper that looked as dodgy as gently caress. I also only knew my card had legit been stopped because when I went to buy a graphics card as my previous one had died the evening before I flew to Berlin I did enjoy that after looking at the "things we'll never ask you for" I called the actual bank fraud line, made double extra sure I got the number right off the official bank website, and they asked for one of the things they claimed to never ask for. (CVV code)
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Jun 6, 2020 21:20
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I know it's an overplayed meme, but: Haha, BLM go brrrrrrrr.
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Jun 7, 2020 15:58
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Certainly a lot of them were paid for by slaver profits. The statue's on Colston street in front of a huge Colston [music] Hall and next to a colston office complex.
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Jun 7, 2020 16:01
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feedmegin posted:Actually it never was legal in Bristol or the rest of the UK (post 1066). There were a fair few slaves kept in Bristol though, legal or not. There's the whole Bristol slave trail memorial tour about it even. Being a Caribbean trade port it was an important point of transshipment. I mean I get your point.
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Jun 7, 2020 16:11
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thespaceinvader posted:
Sounds like maybe I should read it. I read the first few books when I was about 12 or so, but never really got very far. I gave it a go again a few years back but I found it a bit too, uhh, not great. But I haven't got much to read right now anyway.
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Jun 7, 2020 22:41
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The Perfect Element posted:I've read through the op's post a few times and can't really get a handle on what it is they need or want. I think they're concerned about their own safety, and so want a third party to do it for them? If that's the case it's not completely unreasonable TBH.
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Jun 9, 2020 21:30
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I like this Graun headline:quote:'The country is adrift': echoes of Spanish flu as Brazil's Covid-19 catastrophe deepens Mostly because nobody is saying "the country is adrift" about Britain, and yet. Reminds me of those tweets talking about the UK the way third-world countries get discussed.
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Jun 15, 2020 01:21
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Spangly A posted:Guardian's political editor has a piece up with the headline "Corbyn Loyalists Dispute Enquiry", then goes on to talk about Lavery agreeing with the conclusions I read your post as Telegraph at first and went "well nah they're just betting their readers won't" but, uhh. Well they're probably still betting on it.
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Jun 19, 2020 19:28
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Wachter posted:I can't say "I'm proud of Britain/being British" without feeling faintly sick, but there are things about Britain that I am proud of. Mainly the NHS. Possibly only the NHS. Other countries have universal healthcare and have had it for longer, hth. That said the NHS is better than many for treating almost every resident regardless of citizenship(*) free of charge and for being funded almost entirely by general taxation. It's also fairly underfunded though, compared with some of the other ones. * Illegal immigrants, short-term visitors and visa overstayers need not apply.
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Jun 23, 2020 00:50
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Bobstar posted:This has sent me down a rabbit hole of healthcare funding systems in Europe and elsewhere. While other countries do have universal healthcare, the NHS is fairly unusual in just how close it is to the Platonic ideal of a universal basic service (recent Tory/Blair attempts to unpick this nonwithstanding) - just give everyone what they need when they need it, fund it using the existing (should be) progressive system of money-taking. Bit late reply because I was working, but yeah I agree with you in general terms. I'm not aware of all the healthcare systems in the world so I can't say how good the UK is internationally (though I imagine some of the more socialist countries may be better) which is why I didn't say it's better than all the others. Still though the differences don't tend to be that massive in practice. Quite often the provision of care is nationalised and also free at the point of use, with insurance being mandatory. The system I'm probably most familiar with outside of the UK is from my native Czech Republic, which would fall into the "unnecessary faff" category - albeit it's also lot less underfunded so waiting times are better and you get separate emergency departments for various things, so you don't have to go to the A&E with an acute ear infection that stops you from sleeping or whatever. It's also free at the point of use (it has prescription fees since a few years ago, but that's literally inspired by the UK and the terms are more generous). The overall system is more centralised than in the UK, since there's no network of trusts and the care provider is the regional government instead. So that's the positive aspects, now for the negatives - every adult (with a long list of exemptions) resident has an obligation under criminal law (I think it's 2 years in prison) to pay ~50 pounds out of salary every month or ~30 pounds if voluntarily out of work and not job searching. One can also pay more to a private insurance company for cosmetic procedure coverage, which works pretty much exactly like in the UK. Well there's no private doctors so it's actually a bit better potentially, it's mostly things like spa treatments, alternative medicine and the like. Most of the funding still comes from general taxation mind you and yeah it's an annoying thing to deal with. But from a user perspective it's not that much worse and it's better in some ways (migrants don't have to pay a massive "NHS surcharge" for one, also the underfunding thing, and more treatments are covered too). e: The £50 is also scaled according to income like national insurance, but it's not proportional and so categorically worse than just using general taxation for everything. In fact it's usually rolled into national insurance under "sociální a zdravotní" payments. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 18:08 on Jun 23, 2020 |
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Jun 23, 2020 17:43
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For some other social net things that the UK can be legitimately proud of there's the housing benefit, high tax-free allowance and high minimum wage (after it's been implemented over much gnashing of teeth, anyway). All of those are higher than almost everywhere else.
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Jun 23, 2020 18:26
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Tarnop posted:Isn't high tax free allowance regressive? I'm sure someone on here explained why but I can't remember the details. I don't really see how? I'm happy to be corrected on that point though. It's certainly odd that the Tories are so keen on it tbf. Could be just a "strivers vs skivers" thing. e: As for min wage UK has the fifth highest in the world. It might not be a huge amount to live on, but still. Especially when combined with the housing benefit, NHS and tax-free allowance, it's pretty great comparatively. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 19:26 on Jun 23, 2020 |
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Jun 23, 2020 19:19
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namesake posted:It's sort of regressive because everyone earning income gets that allowance even if they're a higher rate earner, so it's a tax cut for everyone above the old level meaning the very poorest don't benefit at all but the very richest do. Isn't it effectively a 0% rate tax band though? I get the point about not helping anyone not working or in precarious employment.
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Jun 23, 2020 19:28
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Julio Cruz posted:that's great, now plot it against cost of living It's still pretty decent. The UK isn't cheap but even more expensive countries with supposedly "strong" social systems like New Zealand or Canada or France or whatever are considerably worse in that metric, especially if you take the other things I've mentioned into account.
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Jun 23, 2020 19:50
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I'm not sure if I am praising the UK or condemning it anymore, since it started by me talking down the NHS. It's still kinda garbage but then so is most of the world, embrace hellworld 2020.
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Jun 23, 2020 19:59
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LMBO the US charged Assange with further crimes, such as "conspiring" with dastardly hackers out to do no good to the United states by publishing on the website:quote:7. As of November 2009, WikiLeaks's "Most Wanted Leaks" for the United States included the following: Oh what terribly secret documents with zero public interest those are, publishing those would be an undeniably great crime against natural justice. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 16:07 on Jun 26, 2020 |
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Jun 26, 2020 15:57
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Guavanaut posted:Why didn't he just go to Sweden and do 5 years in a human rights compliant prison for the rapes he did, maybe learn to cook while inside, instead of hiding in a cupboard until his bones dissolved? Whatever reasons he had, be it not wanting to admit to it or thinking it's a set up, really have little bearing on the US trying to nab him for absolutely insane reasons. Which I remind you they strenuously denied before they knew they had him.
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Jun 26, 2020 16:02
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The Question IRL posted:Probably because he's the type of person who is insistent he did nothing wrong. (He never does anything wrong.) Yeah that's about what I think too. Although ever since seeing the incredible lengths the US went to get him I'm honestly a bit more inclined to doubt what really happened. There's "believe the victim" but when you literally have the US state department and intelligence community out for your blood (see Clinton as a secretary threatening to drone strike him) then it doesn't seem absolutely insane that the US could have paid off the women in the first place. Ironically if they never tried to vilify him I'd be a lot less forgiving in the first place.
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Jun 26, 2020 16:14
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Guavanaut posted:iirc he admitted in a police interview that he did what he was accused of doing, but didn't believe it met the standard for rape and also Sweden were going to hand him over to Navy SEALs or some such poo poo. I didn't know he actually admitted it, I suppose that settles that. Although it does make his behaviour quite odd and potentially mentally ill. Either way the prosecution from the US by any and all means is hardly something that's justified in the slightest, given that it's for publishing classified information while not being a US citizen or being on US soil. It's not even just this administration, his sealed charges were started under Obama instead IIRC. As were the comments at the time made by the Obama department of state. Which would hardly engender much love against Clinton, particularly to the point where his site wouldn't publish information leaked to him by -presumably Russian- hackers. e: And Hillary Clinton loving sucks in a major way, anyway. Remember her last intervention in local politics: Hillary Clinton: Europe must curb immigration to stop rightwing populists Graun posted:Europe must get a handle on immigration to combat a growing threat from rightwing populists, Hillary Clinton has said, calling on the continent’s leaders to send out a stronger signal showing they are “not going to be able to continue to provide refuge and support”. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 18:32 on Jun 26, 2020 |
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Jun 26, 2020 18:25
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Strong echoes of Clinton right there 
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Jun 26, 2020 19:18
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Guavanaut posted:There's no way that the EU enters a winnable fight with both the US and Russia, so what's the real strategic concern there?  but maybe some interventions, especially without the say-so of both Russia and the US, could be good?Like helping Ukraine fight the "rebels" (I think that has mainly US support but still) or helping kurds or whatever. OTOH all wars are bad for some, just looking at how Lybia has gone is enough for an example.
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Jun 27, 2020 11:45
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Guavanaut posted:What this will probably transpire as is the government puts the laziest possible deal last minute to avoid no deal after a bunch of shouting at Whitehall. Then a bunch of reverse UKIP parties spring up around the craziest possible lines to try to tap into this support, like "we're PIKU and we support free market libertarianism, sex with livestock, and rejoining the European Union" then one of them will attract some decent funding, then the Lib Dems will hop on board, then Starmer will have the excuse to say "if elected, we will hold another loving referendum, Rejoin will win, no progress will be made on social or economic justice, we'll be back where we were in 2016 but on slightly worse terms, and the planet will warm another half a degree. 7/10 remainer fanfiction, no hashtag
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Jun 27, 2020 18:07
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namesake posted:No the deadline for the end of the month is about extending negotiations - on July 1st we're leaving on 1st Jan with or without a deal. The deal can still be negotiated until November where they then have to go to the parliaments for approval or there's definitely no deal. I think the need for the deal to be approved depends on how extensive the deal is in the first place - if it's a pure trade deal than I don't think it has to be. Then again that's not what the EU would want.
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Jun 28, 2020 16:34
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JeremoudCorbynejad posted:https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-53262767 Are you loving kidding me how is this given a pass by, well, just about everyone? Beeb posted:But the US, which does not recognise the administration, last year warned "bankers, brokers, traders and facilitators" not to deal in "gold, oil, or other Venezuelan commodities stolen from the Venezuelan people by the Maduro mafia". That reminds me of some of the worst excesses of the US in latin america. It's a complete mockery of international justice. Defining a sovereign government as an actual "mafia" what the everloving gently caress. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 20:52 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Jul 2, 2020 20:49
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A guy we don't like gets elected (granted in disputed elections, but that's most of them globally speaking)? Welp guess all your national gold reserves aren't quite so national anymore. Also we'll give them to this random guy instead, because clearly gold reserves are personally owned by whoever we recognise as "rightful" ruler rather than the institution which we do recognise as a central bank. They listen to the wrong guy that won't do. Nevermind that the reserves were built up by largely the same people currently in control of the central bank. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 21:07 on Jul 2, 2020 |
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Jul 2, 2020 21:05
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Nothingtoseehere posted:Nah Maduro is a dictator and his last elections were as legitimate as Putins. Of course, there are plenty other dictators who's money is stored there which isn't touched, just the one who the west doesn't like and has oil is getting the hammer brought down on him. So was Chavez before him, but more broadly I'd make the point that most elections (when one includes places in Africa, Latin America and Asia; you know most of the world) are illegitimate in some way. Plus it's not his personal money, which perhaps I could see being frozen, but rather national reserves built under Chavez which are crucial for a country under sustained economic pressure. fe: efb on Chavez if in a different way
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Jul 2, 2020 23:33
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sinky posted:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BJIVX-osBuU Those sure are some comments on that video right there: quote:it looks bad, but three things have to be taken into account: quote:- Acting like hes tweaking quote:Hello Ryan, you are in the wrong in this video. You are politely informed youre being detained and decide to faff abouit not cooperating untill youre garunteed you wont be handcuffed, that's not up to you, handcuffs are an officer safety tool and it's up to the officers discrestion/the law (there are some instanced where you HAVE to be cuffef, of course). And there's a fair amount of them along those lines.
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Jul 4, 2020 23:46
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It makes it easier to get better jobs, even ignoring everything else.
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Jul 6, 2020 09:36
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Gonzo McFee posted:https://twitter.com/foreignoffice/status/1280159816493731841 Oh but they do. It's just: Murder of a journalist or a tax assessor, or another person that the Tories could conceivably see as "just like them"? That's worth two dozen sanctions for some of the "gravest human rights violations" imaginable. Murder, torture and starvation of tens of thousands impoverished people, including children? That's Tuesday.
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Jul 7, 2020 16:06
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OwlFancier posted:Didn't saudi arabia chop a journalist into little pieces and then get a guy who looked nothing like him to walk out in his clothes or something? Yeah that's one of the two "gravest human rights violations and abuses in the world", the other being corrupt Russian government officials murdering an accountant for exposing government corruption. Nevermind all the other terrible stuff they do. That's just "potential" human rights abuses. e:And perfectly fine to help out with of course, they're allies. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Jul 7, 2020 |
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Jul 7, 2020 16:11
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thespaceinvader posted:There were definitely YA-styled fantasy novels (the majority of David Eddings' canon comes to mind) but they weren't realyl marketed that way. There were (are?) also a fair few novels marketed as YA that don't really fit that mold and feature copious sex and violence. See Twilight and the like.
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Jul 7, 2020 16:19
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One particular YA series I liked as a young teen was "The Sten Chronicles" which was an intentionally letist(-ish) milhist-inspired sci-fi. Has about 4 sex scenes per book. But no swearing; it was sold in the US after all. Plenty of prostitution and drugs though.
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Jul 7, 2020 16:28
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Dead Goon posted:I can't be bothered reading 10 pages of Twitters, have our magic vouchers of limited money been announced yet? You get 50% off a meal at participating establishments (read: Wetherspoons). There's also a bunch of support for property owners and companies paying sub-minimum wage/running worthless apprenticeship schemes.
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Jul 8, 2020 15:11
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For some decent twitter I've been reading Alice Nutter of former Chumbawamba, she has some decent ones (and retweets): https://twitter.com/AllyFogg/status/1276179295283679232 https://twitter.com/alicenut1/status/1276778316775686144 https://twitter.com/judeinlondon2/status/1275722912071323648 e: That is to say I prefer it to reading the usual fuckhead twitter that gets posted a fair bit. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 15:37 on Jul 8, 2020 |
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Jul 8, 2020 15:30
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Something something political capital.
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Jul 8, 2020 19:34
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peanut- posted:So are we double counted into the EU line or what? Pretty sure the data is slightly bollocks given: UK Government accused of withholding Pillar 2 COVID-19 data which show Leicester had 10 times more cases than reported pre-lockdown quote:Pillar 1 testing data is widely available, generated from testing at hospitals. But Pillar 2 data, derived from drive-through testing centres and at-home testing kits harvested by commercial laboratories, have not been made available to the public or been included the UK’s Government’s own reporting. And, you know, the whole whistleblower thing posted some dozen or so posts ago.
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Jul 9, 2020 15:54
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This bit is also pretty hilarious:quote:The same situation has also been seen in Manchester. With their access requests to Pillar 2 data denied, local officials worked on the assumption that there were 78 Pillar 1 cases in the city. The Pillar 2 data show the true figure was six times higher at 465. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 16:16 on Jul 9, 2020 |
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Jul 9, 2020 16:05
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Darth Walrus posted:We can reasonably assume most of the other poorly-performing countries have data that's similarly bollocks or worse, though. Oh sure, but here's the other thing (that I originally put into an edit): Why yes, the data is the very same that is collected through those hundreds of thousands test kits sent out. Now to be fair people who die probably get hospital tested. Incidentally: UK records more covid 19 fatalities than EU27 combined Humm I wonder why that is when the data looks so rosy in comparison. Now I know US, India, Russia and Brazil (there's a list of trustworthy major governments if I ever saw one) probably do similar bollocks, this was specifically about UK vs EU. Private Speech fucked around with this message at 16:30 on Jul 9, 2020 |
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Jul 9, 2020 16:17
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