Politics

Over last 60 years, various scientific programs have been run for searching for the extraterrestrial life and extraterrestrial civilizations, such as SETI, and large sums of money have been allocated for this. For example, the scientists are now planning to send a satellite to Europa to search for microbes under the ice layer there; recently, dimethyl sulfide was found on the planet K2-18b and this caused a big stir. I have a question: are the ufologists allocated any state money? There is a hypothesis that ships of extraterrestrial civilizations fly above us, this hypothesis can be tested by scientific methods and either confirmed or refuted. Do states allocate money fo…

I went to his blog to try to find something about QFT that I don’t understand and found this alarming entry: https://profmattstrassler.com/2025/04/17/blog-on-indefinite-pause/ The original message seems to have been deleted and all that remains are the replies, which suggest Strassler has been got at by Trump’s gauleiters. Does anyone know what’s going on here? Has he lost his position?

As a child back in the 1960s I used to watch popular American films shown as Sunday matinee programmes on the BBC service. One of them was a 1962 John Frankenheimer film called Birdman of Alcatraz starring Burt Lancaster. The film was adapted from a novel by Thomas E. Gaddis that was based on the real-life story of Robert Stroud - a double murderer who became an expert ornithologist and authority on avian diseases while serving time at Leavenworth. In 1942 Stroud who was regarded as one of the most dangerous convicts in the US prison system was transferred to the penitentiary on Alcatraz Island where he remained until 1959 - (spoiler alert - he was no longer allowed to …

His Holiness..

Is it really naive of me to believe that in long term tariffs will force people to be minimalistic and only buy things that they need? Also wouldn't tariffs reduce shipping / transport related emissions since manufacturing will take place closer to the markets? I am just wondering what are other aspects that could be worse in terms of climate change.

What is DEI, and why is it dividing America? Diversity, equity and inclusion programs have come under attack in American boardrooms, state legislatures and college campuses – and now broadly across the federal government. President Donald Trump hours after swearing in this week began making good on promises to wage a war against such policies, inking an executive order banning efforts such as “environmental justice programs,” “equity initiatives” and DEI considerations in federal hiring. https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/22/us/dei-diversity-equity-inclusion-explained

According to reports in The Hill and elsewhere President-elect Trump said on Sunday evening on social media that owning Greenland “is an absolute necessity” https://thehill.com/homenews/administration/5053319-trump-greenland-purchase/ Trump also gave a speech to a conservative group demanding the return of the Panama Canal to US control (some 50 years after the canal zone was ceded to Panama) citing “ridiculous shipping fees” as the reason. Trump originally proposed trading Puerto Rico for Greenland back in 2019 during his first term in office - much to the bemusement of Danish Prime Minister Mette Fredericksen who called the idea “absurd” telling reporters…

Also, to further flog the dead horse on the GOP's commitment to merit: Hegseth accidentally texted war plans to a journalist https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/03/trump-administration-accidentally-texted-me-its-war-plans/682151/ https://apnews.com/article/war-plans-trump-hegseth-atlantic-230718a984911dd8663d59edbcb86f2a Apparently putting a white guy in charge does not make things automatically better.

Australia went to the polls today to elect their next federal government. The polls have closed, and counting of votes is still in progress. However, the current trend suggests that the Australian Labor Party (the major left-wing party) will retain government. Thank you, Donald Trump. About six months ago, the polls suggested that the people were not happy with the current government due to the cost-of-living crisis and were looking to change government. But it seems to me that what is happening now in the US is causing people to shy away from right-wing parties. This may be the one beneficial thing Trump has done for the world... to be the example of what not to vote for…

Stable democracies? Very interesting... https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_for_Germany On 23 February 2025, the AfD won 20.8% of the vote in the German federal election, second to the CDU/CSU. In April 2025, the AfD finishes as the leading party in the first time in opinion polling.[163] In May 2025 the Federal Office for the Protection of the Constitution classified the party as a "proven right-wing extremist organisation".[5] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marine_Le_Pen On 31 March 2025, Le Pen, eight other MEPs, and 12 assistants were convicted of embezzlement for misappropriating over €4 million European Parliament funds to fund National Front …

Hot on the heels of Trump’s latest punitive tariff war against China, comes news that Price Johnson the COO of Cephalofair Games (‘Gloomhaven’, ‘Frosthaven’, ‘Jaws of the Lion’) a small board game design company based in Lafayette Indiana has appeared on CNN, and said that his company is almost completely paralysed by the new tariffs imposed on China. https://cephalofair.com/blogs/blog/planning-our-initiatives-tariffs-part-2 So why are US board game publishers in particular being so badly hit ? The answer is that most modern board games are printed in China, usually either by LongPack Games, a printing company based in Shanghai, or by the Jin Hui Printiing company in She…

Well I think a post by MigL stated that the forum has become too political. We should do science. The problem is the politics is effecting everyone and I don’t think science can fix it. If you could stop s Trump with science it would be an act of treason. Wired magazine released the names of DOGE members and were threatened. Science is for problems not political problems. Cure a disease fixed problem…still infinite problems to solve. The Great Courses has a class on verbal judo. I briefly read a description where it said that in intense situations logical arguments don’t work. So when you are in a meeting with Trump, saying tariffs will complicate a working world economy,…

The US currently has 6 B-2 bombers at Diego Garcia ( Indian Ocean ). Lots of C-17 airlifts from South Korea last week , reportedly carrying Air Defense Systems to the Middle East. USS Harry Truman in Middle East had its deployment extended. USS Carl Vinson currently in the Indian Ocean, moving to the Middle East from the Pacific. USS Nimitz departed San Diego middle of last month heading West. Multiple Middle East countries announce ban on US use of their territory/airspace to attack Iran ( to avoid retaliatory strikes ). B-2 is capable of carrying the GBU-57 ( 30 000 lbs ) penetrating bomb, specifically designed to take out underground facilities, but two of …

If JD Vance was looking for media attention when he spoke to Fox news last Thursday then he probably succeeded beyond his wildest ambitions. While defending president Trump’s insane trade tariffs, the vice-president launched into a tirade against the ‘globalist economy’ which included this gem: "To make it a little more crystal clear, we borrow money from Chinese peasants to buy the things those Chinese peasants manufacture.” https://edition.cnn.com/2025/04/08/china/china-slams-vance-peasants-remarks-intl-hnk/index.html This remark has now gone viral on Weibo 微博 - the Chinese microblogging site - with some 140 million views, and countless downvotes and negative response…

We have had a lot of discussions about different topics surrounding executive authority and and attempts to subvert democracy to assume complete power. The AtlanticTrump Is Already Undermining the Next ElectionAnd the one after that, and the one after that.Let's start with election integrity. As it stands, orange Voldemort with a nose (OVWAN) is attempting to exert undue control over the electoral process, something presidents aren't supposed to have any involvement in, outside of their own reelection campaigns. Taking control of elections or de facto destroying them, is a key step a would be dictator has to take in order to provide longevity to their regimes. The arti…

I was curious and so I decided to do a little digging and it turns out trade conflicts and escalations were quite apparent in the lead up to both World Wars. While correlation does not equal causation, I can't help but wonder if escalating trade conflicts happening amongst other preamble criteria, could be a potential predictor of a third world war. I am curious about who exactly benefits from trade wars really? Orange Voldemort is assuming these tariffs will make America a lot of money, money for what? More money for his businesses and his butt buddies businesses to squeeze out of Americans? To fund foreign military campaigns? I've heard some talk that it's an attempt …

As economists struggle to make sense of the bizarre list of punitive tariffs announced yesterday by president Trump, some noticed that the listings appear to have been organised by TLDs (top level domain) i.e the internet country code suffix - which provides one clue (amongst several) that this list was compiled with the help of an LLM (large language model) AI chatbot system such as ChatGPT Vibe Code https://garymarcus.substack.com/p/did-an-llm-help-write-trumps-trade A surreal list of obscure and largely uninhabited islands that are being punished with trade tariffs was compiled in this report by Rachel Maddow: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lStWAhGfxn0…

I'm not sure whether this just funny or sinister: https://www.standard.co.uk/news/world/donald-trump-ridiculed-fertilisation-president-b1219162.html QUOTE “We’re gonna have tremendous goodies in the bag for women too,” he said during his speech. “The women, between the fertilization and all the other things we’re talking about, it’s gonna be great. Fertilization. I’m still very proud of it, I don’t care. I’ll be known as the fertilization president and that’s okay.” He added: “That’s not bad. I’ve been called much worse. Actually, I like it.” His remarks instantly drew ire from the internet, with many taking to social media to express their mount…

"The body of water formerly known in the United States as the Gulf of Mexico is now listed for US-based users of Google Maps as the Gulf of America." (‘Gulf of America’ arrives on Google Maps | CNN Business) I'm not US-based. This is how it is listed for me:

I suppose "fair" is a bit in the eye of the beholder so what I mean by it is that the rules are exactly the same for everyone. We can quibble about any of the numbers I use (mostly from the IRS) but they can be adjusted as necessary to get a more accurate result, what its important is the general construct of the tax system being proposed. As in any undertaking, there must be initial assumptions made about the parameters being used. For this I am assuming 153 million US taxpayers who earn collectively $14.7 trillion plus corporate profits of $12 trillion every year. Also, assuming that the feds spend $7 trillion each year and a total deficit of $37 trillion. Other assumpt…

Hello, I am conducting a college research project on the correlation between different levels of education and viewpoints on the use of nuclear energy. My hypothesis is that the more educated a person is, the more they may understand this topic (a commonly frightening subject to many people), and thus they may see the net positives more than the negatives of nuclear power. I am reaching out to this forum to receive some more diverse feedback on this topic and people's own ideas on this correlation (if there is a correlation at all, just a hypothesis after all). I just want to hear people's thoughts and maybe their own viewpoints on nuclear energy as well. Thank you

There are democracies and “democracies”. The DJT recently ordered the bombing of completely non-military locations, committing war crimes and murdering civilians who were not supposed to be targeted at all in Jemen. Just like his beloved colleague Volodya, and yet another mass murderer netanjahu. In these pseudo-democracies of modern times every leader wants to bomb and attack other countries according to his own vision, no matter that according to their constitution he has no authority to do so. After all, he doesn't “declare war,” he just bombs something there and someone there, and they watch it on the TV and it's okay. Like here: You have…

As far as I understand it, in ancient history, the Eastern despotisms dominated the world because they fought better than democratic city-states. Unfortunately, the one-man ruling is necessary for a war. At the same time, there is an opposite tendency: free countries support new ideas, including military innovations, better than unfree ones. The general weakness of Eastern-type civilization is that the science and technology developed more slowly there, than in Western-type civilizations. As for military innovations and ideas, I can suggest three examples: 1) The Swiss have historically lived very freely, and now the Switzerland is now the country with the highest level…

Jester's license in Germany: Zölle = Trade Tariffs Klima ... = climate change(?) Massendeportationen (?) = Mass deportations And no, Annex-Ionen are no ions of annex, but annexations It is said jesters say the truth... And yes, I am very angry and very worried. WW2 is forgotten...

Do you think his extensive knowledge of financial infrastructure and awareness of the long term consequences of fiscal decisions will make him a useful person against Trump's shennanigans for Canada and its allies?