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#21

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Sheilbh - December 09, 2025, 10:58:24 PM

Shelf will be gutted that he made a major misstep last week, by changing his mind about appearing on 'Have I Got News For You' the show that gave Boris his first national exposure and from subsequent appearances on it, endeared himself with large sections of the voting public.

Wut?

On the Hyde piece. I like Marina Hyde and I think she's basically right, particularly this point:

Listen, nobody's perfect. People have always held their nose at aspects of politicians' characters in order to be able to put a cross in one box or another. But across the political spectrum in recent years, that sort of realistic clearsightedness has evaporated in favour of something much more like stan culture, where your idol has to be ferociously defended even when they're in the wrong, simply because they're your idol. In fact, because they're your idol, they are axiomatically incapable of being in the wrong. This tendency is most definitely not limited to the left of that spectrum – you get it with Donald Trump or Nigel Farage or anyone whose supporters frequently refuse to be honest with themselves in the face of inconvenient revelations. But these are dangerous waters for a political culture. Wilful blindness enables bad politics.

I've said before and I think it was true of Corbyn too - as well as those obvious examples on the right - that we seem to be in fan/stan culture territory towards (some) political leaders. The point on it that worries me is that I think it is intrinsically personalist rather than ideological, or about a shared agenda. But I think it is where Hyde is quite useful as she started as an entertainment writer and I think we are in an age when understanding how sports or celebrity fandoms work is pretty useful in understanding our politics. Many of the strongest supporters have their support for, say, Corbyn or Trump as core a part of their identity as a sports fan or a Swiftie - which makes persuasion impossible. How do you try to convince Jos to abandon Sunderland, say?

FWIW I think she's also right. Does it matter - probably not (personally I think his previous history performing in the Liberal Democrat Glee Club is significantly more disqualifying on multiple counts). It's been known for a while. People who like Polanski won't care. People who don't like Polanski will probably make a nickname out of it because it is quite funny. People who haven't heard of him yet will probably respond based on how they react to Polanski more generally. I have no doubt that people who would make a lot of jokes about a Reform candidate with a history of hypnotherapeautic boob-growth will be quite po-faced about this and vice versa.

I'd add that like Hyde I also have a lot of problems with the argument that we need immigration to have a class of lower-paid people to do "demeaning" jobs. And again I have wider issues with the way we as a society treat those who need care - whether elderly or because of disabilities - so I don't like his framing on that. On both of those points I find the framing pretty morally repugnant - we don't value or respect the weak or the people who care for them (naively I had genuinely hoped covid was a break in how we perceive work). But I think on both points it's not specific to him - although I think it is sort of adjacent to the Little Britain/Benefit Street era contempt for the poor.

[On the body-worn camera footage, Fox is shown placing a large McDonald's bag full of evidence, including Mangione's laptop, into the trunk of his SUV. Wasser takes the backpack with her. However, when Wasser gets to the Altoona precinct, 11 minutes after leaving the McDonald's, she has both the brown fast-food bag and the backpack. Wasser testified that Fox was called back to the McDonald's, so she and Fox pulled over on the way to the precinct so he could give her the bag. She did not have her body-worn camera on after she left McDonald's until she parked at the precinct, nor did she have the camera on her police vehicle on. Fox turned off his body-worn camera when leaving the McDonald's, as well — he said the camera is not typically activated when he transports evidence or drives without a prisoner.]

#22

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

Last post by Zoupa - December 09, 2025, 10:02:03 PM

Luigi Mangione infamously did it and it was heavily reported at the time, in a high profile and heavily reported story.  So people are probably copycatting that.

It says something about this latest generation of nutball assassins.  It used to be the trendy thing to do was leave a ranting manifesto.  But writing skills are so far down in the US that words and memes on casings are now the rage.

https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-news/luigi-mangione-backpack-searched-without-warrant-1235480076/

'It's F-cking Him, One Hundred Percent,' Cop Said After Finding Bullets in Luigi Mangione's Backpack
At a suppression hearing about evidence found in Mangione's backpack during his McDonald's arrest, officers testified about searching his belongings without a warrant

By Lorena O'Neil

December 9, 2025

Tuesday, Dec. 9, marked one year after Luigi Mangione's 2024 arrest at an Altoona, Pennsylvania, McDonald's, and the defendant spent the day in New York State Supreme Court for his pretrial suppression hearings.

Mangione was initially arrested on charges of providing a fake New Jersey ID to police and having a 3D-printed gun and silencer without a permit. A McDonald's manager called 911 after a customer said they suspected Mangione of looking like the man who shot United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson. (Mangione has pleaded not guilty to all charges.)

Mangione's defense team is claiming that the Altoona police violated his constitutional rights by illegally searching his backpack during his arrest and not reading him his Miranda rights early enough in the interrogation process. His attorneys hope to suppress evidence seized as well as comments Mangione made prior to his arrest, preventing it from being admitted into trial. On Tuesday, the fifth day of the suppression hearings, the court watched body-worn camera footage from Altoona police from the day of Mangione's arrest.

Officer Christy Wasser testified this week about her search of Mangione's backpack last December. (The court also heard from a Pennsylvania district attorney.) Wasser said she was afraid there was a bomb in Mangione's backpack, which is part of the reason she searched it. Wasser also said Altoona PD policy allows police to search property for "search incident to arrest."

Mangione's backpack was searched without a warrant, according to testimony.
manhattan district attorney's office
Body-worn camera footage from McDonald's shows Mangione being searched by three police officers while Wasser and Officer Stephen Fox go through his backpack nearby. Wasser testified she found "wet, grey underwear" and that when she unrolled the Hanes boxer briefs, inside was a gun magazine full of bullets. In the footage, she holds up the magazine and smiles. "It's fucking him, one hundred percent," Fox says. "It's fucking him."

The officers briefly continued searching Mangione's backpack — Fox testified that he was also concerned about explosives in the bag — before packing it up and heading toward the door. (Lead defense attorney Karen Friedman Agnifilo later asked Wasser why she didn't clear the restaurant if she was worried about an explosive. Wasser responded that she would have if they'd found a bomb.) Police officers and supervisors got into a discussion at the door about whether or not they needed a search warrant to continue searching the bag. A few officers can be heard saying that because they know about the United Healthcare shooting, they should wait and let the FBI "do their thing," while Fox and other officers say that they can search it based on Altoona's "search incident to arrest" policy.

On the body-worn camera footage, Fox is shown placing a large McDonald's bag full of evidence, including Mangione's laptop, into the trunk of his SUV. Wasser takes the backpack with her. However, when Wasser gets to the Altoona precinct, 11 minutes after leaving the McDonald's, she has both the brown fast-food bag and the backpack.

Wasser testified that Fox was called back to the McDonald's, so she and Fox pulled over on the way to the precinct so he could give her the bag. She did not have her body-worn camera on after she left McDonald's until she parked at the precinct, nor did she have the camera on her police vehicle on. Fox turned off his body-worn camera when leaving the McDonald's, as well — he said the camera is not typically activated when he transports evidence or drives without a prisoner.

During cross-examination, Friedman Agnifilo accused Wasser of searching the backpack when they stopped on the side of the road. She asked whether Wasser opened it on camera to find the gun on the top of the bag because she'd already known it was there. Wasser repeatedly said this was "not accurate." Fox testified that the exchange took about 10 seconds, and at no time did anyone search the backpack.

Camera footage also entered into evidence included Wasser's search of the backpack at the Altoona precinct. She moves the backpack to the hallway outside of Mangione's view after she is seen finding the gun. Wasser is shown going through the backpack with other police officers as they try to determine what would be helpful "evidentiary information" for the New York City case.

Throughout the day, prosecutor Joel Seidemann referred to Thompson's murder as an "execution" and the red notebook found in Mangione's backpack as a "manifesto," which the defense repeatedly objected to. Another objection from Friedman Agnifilo came when the prosecution entered a handwritten paper into evidence and said that on the front and back were notes of Mangione's "possible escape routes."

The handwritten notes included a Dec. 5 checklist with to-do items including "change hat," "buy black shoes (white stripes too distinctive)," and "pluck eyebrows." Thompson was killed on Dec. 4. On the back of this paper, there was a note to check Pittsburgh red-eyes, ideally to Columbus or [Cincinnati] with a reminder to "get off early."

"Keep momentum, FBI slower overnight," reads the note. It also reads, "Check reports for current situation." On the bottom of the note are hand-drawn maps of Pennsylvania and Ohio with cities marked on them.

When Fox took the stand, he, like the previous police officers, said he'd received information about the UHC shooting from watching Fox News. Fox characterized Thompson's death as both a "violent act of cowardice that targeted a defenseless human being" and a "clear, targeted assassination of an individual in the hierarchy of health care."

Friedman Agnifilo later pointed out to Fox that he spoke extremely rapidly while reading Mangione his Miranda rights — "Would it surprise you that you said 98 words in 15 seconds?" — and said he did not end by asking Mangione, "Keeping all these rights in mind, do you wish to speak with me?"

"Instead, what you did is you assured him that he wasn't in custody," said Friedman Agnifilo. "The reason you did that is because you thought he had a better chance of getting him to say something to you, isn't it?" Fox responded that wasn't true. On camera, Mangione shakes his head no when asked if he wants to talk to police, but Fox claimed he "didn't take his little head shake there as a no" which is why he asked Mangione why he had a fake ID. At this point, Mangione states he is invoking his right to remain silent. Soon after, he is frisked and cuffed.

While testifying, Fox claimed that when he escorted Mangione out of his Pennsylvania arraignment, Mangione looked at all of the press and public at the hearing and said, "All these people here for a mass murderer, wild."

It was unclear who Fox was claiming Mangione called a mass murderer. The comments Mangione made were not shown on any camera footage and were based solely on Fox's testimony. The defense asked Fox why these alleged comments weren't caught on his body-worn camera from that day. Fox said his camera had died by the time that happened, as it was late at night following Mangione's arraignment. (There were other pieces of his conversation with Mangione that were recorded, including the suspect expressing concern for the McDonald's employee who called 911.)

Fox testified that during the non-recorded part of the conversation, Mangione tripped and Fox apologized for forgetting he was shackled on his ankles. He says Mangione responded, "It's OK, I'm going to have to get used to it."

Question for the lawyers about the part I bolded: doesn't that screw up the chain of custody for evidence?

#23

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by HVC - December 09, 2025, 07:34:22 PM

Second highest score in the Languish Fantasy league by a good margin and I'm gonna lose this week. Not even in close.

That doesn't prove you're good, if anything it shows languish sucks

#24

Off the Record / Re: The Off Topic Topic

Last post by mongers - December 09, 2025, 07:29:57 PM

This happened this morning in a ford near to here:



Why did they think it was a good idea to try and drive through 0.75m of fast flowing water?

And I mean it's not as if there was an alternative bridged route around the ford that adds a whole 84 metres* to the drive. 


* I know this because I once measured it on a cycle tripmeter.

edit:
also guess at what point in the streams flow did they attempt this stunt?

#25

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Josquius - December 09, 2025, 06:34:54 PM

Hypnoboobs is one the main smears about him. Back when the Greens were having their leadership election I heard about this one and as I wasn't really following the election for a long while it was all I knew about him.

His explanation for it makes sense and seems reasonable enough. He was working as a regular hypnotherapist and some tabloid journalist decided they wanted to put a fun angle on it so asked him if he could hypnotise their boobs bigger to which iirc he said he'd give it a shot.

The way I first saw it presented was he was himself pushing hypnotising boobs bigger as a thing he was eager to do and it would work. I also didn't know he was gay at the time so all sounded extra sleazy.

The other main empty attack you hear is the name change one. And his explanation again sounds a lot more reasonable than Yaxley Lenon.

He's been getting some more reasonable attacks lately though about his favourite economists. Also I'm not a fan of his definition of populist.

#26

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Jacob - December 09, 2025, 06:03:21 PM

Yeah as far Marina Hyde articles go (I like her) this is very weak. But still.

Yeah I don't have an opinion on the Greens, Polanski, or Hyde for that matter. So she may still be making a decent point. I guess the real question is the degree to which this is "the one weird thing from the past" (in which case it really doesn't matter IMO), or whether it's indicative of a deeper strain of weirdness that will come out should Polanski get political influence.

#27

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Tamas - December 09, 2025, 05:37:01 PM

Yeah as far Marina Hyde articles go (I like her) this is very weak. But still.

#28

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by Jacob - December 09, 2025, 05:28:59 PM

I mean breast expanding hypnosis is pretty weird, sure, but that Guardian piece just seems like a "I'm not woke myself, but THIS is what woke people should be mad about! Why aren't they mad about the thing I think they should be mad about? Bunch of hypocrites! How can this guy be good when the people who like him should hate him according to me!" attack by a partisan of another party.

#29

Off the Record / Re: Brexit and the waning days...

Last post by mongers - December 09, 2025, 05:18:39 PM

Lol I had no idea the progressives' latest saviiur, Polanski, was advocating for breast expansion by hypnosis.

https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2025/dec/09/zack-polanski-politics-green-party-leader

Not unhinged at all.

Shelf will be gutted that he made a major misstep last week, by changing his mind about appearing on 'Have I Got News For You' the show that gave Boris his first national exposure and from subsequent appearances on it, endeared himself with large sections of the voting public.

[Why are you so shit at writing patch notes?]

#30

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

Last post by Syt - December 09, 2025, 04:47:16 PM

The deleted thread returned.

The previously posted patch notes have been since been reverted from beta 1.0.10 due to a critical error. In an effort to avoid misinformation, we have since deleted the notes themselves from this post, but you can find the otherwise unedited rest of the post below.

We apologize for the chaos this has may have caused.
- PDX Ryagi

Also liked this line from Johan:

Why are you so shit at writing patch notes?
Well, its not something most of the team have done before. Me personally, its a long time since I last did it, and I'm an old guy who sometimes thinks have not changed since I was patchin eu2 with posting a zip file of changed file on the forum. We'll try to be better, and not just write "nerfed sweden, kkthxbye".

The whole post reads like a direct response to OPB's video, and while I guess the effort is nice it's a far cry from how the V3 team communicates.

And yes, maybe it's time for Johan to pass the torch for good and enjoy his Elder Statesman status.