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#21

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Sophie Scholl - Today at 03:36:21 PM

I wonder if he watched that musical documentary about magnets by the noted scientists Violent J and Shaggy 2 Dope. 

#22

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 03:36:14 PM

Yep. I got a special Tech just for my Lithuanianness.

#23

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by Jacob - Today at 03:34:18 PM

President Xi was willing to do the rare earth thing, that's magnets. Now, nobody knows what a magnet is. If you don't have a magnet, you don't make a car. You don't make a computer. You don't make televisions and radios and all the other things — you don't make anything. It's a 30-year effort to monopolize a very important thing. Now, within two years, we'll have magnets, all the magnets we want, but we don't. Because of tariffs, I called, I said, "Listen, here's the story. You're going to play the magnet. I'm going to play the tariff on you."

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States

Well luckily he's surrounded and supported by an extremely competent team to ensure good decisions are made and not a bunch if ignorant grifters and demented ideologues... oh... wait 

#24

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Sheilbh - Today at 03:33:39 PM

I did think they were slightly over-reacting

And I suspect that's it - kids see something, are shocked, exaggerate shock for each other, descent into mass hysteria, run out screaming and take over the ship.

#25

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by Josquius - Today at 03:32:44 PM

What channel is this that shows formula 1 followed by hardcore porn?
Sounds like the stuff of 90s fhm dreams.

#26

Off the Record / Re: India - Pakistan Conflict ...

Last post by Valmy - Today at 03:28:55 PM

So...I am no expert on Pakistan but I feel like this is not good:

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/11/12/world/asia/pakistan-army-chief-power.html

Pakistan's powerful army chief secured expanded powers and lifelong legal immunity on Wednesday when lawmakers approved a constitutional amendment that gives him sweeping authority over all military branches and limits the independence of the country's highest court.

Opposition politicians, judges and independent experts had condemned the move as a stark sign of democratic erosion in Pakistan and a slide into authoritarianism.

Syed Asim Munir, the army chief whom President Trump called his "favorite field marshal," is set to become Pakistan's chief of defense forces by the end of the month, a new title positioning him over the navy and air force as well.

Under the new constitutional amendment, the field marshal and Pakistan's president, the country's symbolic head of state who also holds important powers over appointments and interim governments, will also be granted lifelong immunity from any legal prosecution.

Pakistan, a nuclear-armed country of 240 million people, has ebbed and flowed between civilian and military rule since its creation in 1947.

The last army chief to overtly run the country was Pervez Musharraf, who staged a coup in 1999 and was later named president until 2008. Since then, civilian governments have been nominally in control. But the military's grip on Pakistan's political and economic affairs has become so deeply entrenched that military and government officials have referred to the country's political system as a "hybrid rule" between the two.

The 27th amendment to the Pakistani Constitution would further tilt the balance toward the military.

"The civil-military hybrid system is a misalliance and destined to the same fate as most unequal marriages," said Shuja Nawaz, a veteran security analyst on Pakistani and South Asian affairs.

Besides the expanded powers enjoyed by Field Marshal Munir, a newly created court, whose judges will be nominated by the executive, will become the country's most powerful. It will operate above the current Supreme Court, which has at times acted as a check on army chiefs and governmental leaders but will now be reduced to handling civilian and criminal cases.

"Crony judges sitting in that new court will now rubber-stamp any judgment that the government would like to get passed," said Salahuddin Ahmed, a lawyer based in Karachi, Pakistan's largest city. Saad Rasool, another lawyer and public affairs commentator, said the changes would cause "the collapse of an independent judiciary."

Under the amendment, high court judges would be forced to resign if they reject a transfer from one province to another decided by Pakistan's political leadership.

Supporters of the changes, including the governing Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz and some other political groups, say they were necessary to modernize the military's command structure in the wake of a military clash with India in May, and to alleviate a backlog of judiciary cases in Pakistani courts.

"War is changing, and the Pakistani military needs to have a robust decision-making apparatus," said Qamar Cheema, the executive director of Sanober Institute, an Islamabad-based research center. "This new position of Chief of Defense Forces provides operational efficiency."

But critics say the amendment enshrines the power of the military in the constitution, as well as the army chief's control over branches of the military, while tying Pakistani courts to political whims even further.

The Pakistani military and the Ministry of Information did not respond to a request for comment.

The constitutional overhaul was passed in the upper chamber of the Pakistani Parliament by a 64-0 vote on Monday and approved by the lower chamber on Wednesday, with 234 lawmakers voting in favor of the amendment and four voting against.

President Asif Ali Zardari of Pakistan is expected to sign the bill for it to become part of the revised Constitution.

Two opposition parties opposed the bill, including the party of the former prime minister and cricket star Imran Khan, who remains in prison on a corruption conviction. He and his party deny the accusations and say the sentence was spurred by his public criticism of the military. Lawmakers from Mr. Khan's party boycotted the vote in both chambers this week.

With Mr. Khan and his party's main leaders in jail, the political opposition has been muted. Protests have been banned. Widespread accusations of election rigging by the military last year have gone ignored. Columnists and media executives say they face increased pressure and censorship from the government and military establishment.

Supporters of the military say it is the only institution holding together a country crippled by debt, facing a poverty rate of 25 percent — its highest in nearly a decade — and beleaguered by some of the lowest foreign investment in South Asia.

Field Marshal Munir, 57, was promoted to field marshal from general after the May conflict with India. Law Minister Azam Tarar has said the commander would be granted constitutional protection under the new amendment "because he is the hero of the whole nation."

His stern stature has been featured on posters in Islamabad, the capital, and giant billboards across Pakistan's largest cities.

Field Marshal Munir has also fostered a newly warm relationship with the United States. He lunched in June with President Trump and met him again in the Oval Office in September. Pakistan has courted the Trump administration with promises of access to critical minerals and strengthened counterterrorism cooperation.

The Trump administration has vowed to "advance the U.S.-Pakistan relationship," according to a social media post by the State Department on Saturday after Pakistan's ambassador to the United States met with Paul Kapur, the newly appointed top State Department official for South and Central Asia.

The constitutional change comes as Pakistan's military is engaged on multiple fronts. It is fighting two armed insurgencies in its western provinces of Balochistan and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, and threatening to go to war with neighboring Afghanistan over accusations that Afghanistan harbors and funds militants attacking Pakistan. The Afghan government has denied the accusations.

The Pakistani government has also been debating whether Pakistan should send peacekeeping troops to an international force to be deployed in Gaza.

In letting Field Marshal Munir keep his title for life, as well as any equivalent for the navy and air force, the constitutional amendment widens the gap between the military's top leadership and lower ranks, said Mr. Nawaz, the security analyst.

"There hasn't been any rumbling in Parliament, but the perks and privileges given for life might create some rumblings within the military, especially among the rank and file who, like other Pakistanis, are struggling to make ends meet," Mr. Nawaz said.

The constitutional reform also enshrines a power grab by the Pakistani Army over the other branches of the military.

The army, navy and air force have often competed for power, but since the presidency of General Musharraf, the army has held the upper hand, said Ms. Siddiqa, the military expert.

General Musharraf tried to pass measures that would have allowed him to hold office indefinitely. But he was unsuccessful even with a Parliament elected under martial law.

The moves by the current military establishment have been more subtle, Ms. Siddiqa added, but they might have more sweeping effects, as Field Marshal Munir is now set to keep his title for life.

"It's not going to be martial law," Ms. Siddiqa said, "but, in effect, it's an even more direct military rule."

I understand this amendment passed overwhelmingly. So that's great. Another day in Doomerville.

#27

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by garbon - Today at 03:27:10 PM

I read the article saying he has already freaked out about magnets before. Like how you can destroy them by dropping glasses of water on them.

#28

Gaming HQ / Re: Europa Universalis V confi...

Last post by Syt - Today at 03:25:40 PM

Also,you get custom techs/laws etc. based on culture, government type, religion ...

#29

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - Today at 03:24:56 PM

President Xi was willing to do the rare earth thing, that's magnets. Now, nobody knows what a magnet is. If you don't have a magnet, you don't make a car. You don't make a computer. You don't make televisions and radios and all the other things — you don't make anything. It's a 30-year effort to monopolize a very important thing. Now, within two years, we'll have magnets, all the magnets we want, but we don't. Because of tariffs, I called, I said, "Listen, here's the story. You're going to play the magnet. I'm going to play the tariff on you."

Ladies and gentlemen, the President of the United States

#30

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by garbon - Today at 03:21:00 PM

Unfortunate
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2025/nov/12/ferry-company-apologises-pornographic-film-dfds

Why were the children screaming?