116 thoughts on “Thursday’s Papers

  1. TenPin Terry

    Breaking news just in – the Sunday Sport has an exclusive on the real reason behind Putin’s invasion of Ukraine.
    Apparently it involves Mad Vlad, two pints of shandy and touching cloth with a follow through.
    Renowned academic Professor John Wright claims any man who sharts himself will grow up bitter and twisted, desperate to get his own back on the world.
    ” In later life he will become a traffic warden, wheel clamper, HR manager, council inspector, serial killer or, in this case, a psychopathic dictator. ”

    https://mobile.twitter.com/guywalters/status/1516515929823318021/photo/1

    Hell of a story. All the news fit to stink.

    1. stephen moran

      Its still a more credible theory than either the end of days millennialism Biolabs or the innumerable legions of Nazi’s in the Ukrainian armed forces

      1. Harry

        Seems if zelensky tried to get the civilians alone out of Mariupol it would be the right thing to do but you see he has thousands of fine neo nazi soldiers stuck in there with thousands of mercenaries from all over the west psychotic killers who thought they could legally kill and maim
        When the civilians are gone so is their cover

          1. Harry

            Actually Nigel today a trickle of civilians are leaving
            They are not being prevented as Putin has now changed tactics
            He is laying siege
            Soon the azov batallion and the mercenaries will have no other option but to surrender and I am sure many are desperately trying to remove their neo nazi swastika tattoos

  2. SOQ

    The state of Florida owns shares in Twitter it appears. In an interesting turn of events…

    DeSantis Seeks to Hold Twitter’s Board of Directors Accountable for Breaching Their Fiduciary Duty

    https://rumble.com/v11kn1t-desantis-seeks-to-hold-twitters-board-of-directors-accountable-for-breachin.html

    No matter what way you look at it, Musk has done Twitter harm. He has exposed their real agenda- which is to control the narrative or discourse- so even if he is not successful, he is already good to go with an alternative.

    1. benblack

      I thought he was part of it – not any more. He obviously gets it. More power to him.

      Earth is far more interesting than Mars, right now.

      1. Chris

        I’d posit that he’s one of them. He offers a counter-narrative that chimes with many, but is still a tech-bro asset for intelligence – they all are. Steve Jobs didn’t appear to be – with his refusal to join PRISM https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/PRISM_(surveillance_program) But Apple eventually signed up a year after Job’s death (ahem).

        A counter-narrative helps entrain outliers & provides an ‘audience participation’ role for people that they usually use for entrenching the narrative into one & all’s ‘identity’, how they define themselves etc. This traffic is then data mined so that any ‘users’ of their services can be ranked and social scored & possibly gulag-ed at a future point.

        Oh.

        1. SOQ

          Yes in the back of my mind I get the feeling he is controlled opposition, although he is not liked by the current US administration. He makes all the right noises about the woke mind virus and such.

          The other angle is that he may be Twitter’s saviour. Subscribers and posts may not tell the whole story, as quality is an indicator of longevity more than quantity. And, people are sick to the back teeth of the stupid cancelling.

          Telegram really is very active these days and while just a straw pole, I am finding more and more people I know personally are using it. It is certainly very active on subjects which Twitter deems ‘beyond the pale’.

      2. Johnny

        Show Me The Money.

        “Morgan Stanley, the investment bank working with Mr. Musk on the potential deal, has been calling banks and other potential investors to shore up financing for the offer, four people with knowledge of the situation said. Mr. Musk is first focused on raising debt and has not yet begun to seek equity financing for his bid, one of the people said.“

        https://www.nytimes.com/2022/04/19/technology/elon-musk-twitter.html

        It’s showtime,

      3. Harry

        It’s amazing why mars is called the red planet
        Earth should be called that what with man’s love of war and bloodletting of human animal and Boris’s partygate

    1. bisted

      …Mariupol was liberated from nazi control during WW2 and will be liberated from nazis and local collaboraters by the same Red Army…they are poised to behead the nazi snake but are taking extraordinary care to protect the local population…
      …when Russia was invited back to Crimea one of the groups to immediately benefit were pensioners…they saw pensions more than double in value and eligibility became universal based solely on age…

      1. SOQ

        That is the way the Putin has pitched to the Russian people yes, but that is a double edged sword because now, he cannot back down without losing major face- he will go nuclear first.

        Ukraine is a dirty corrupt poo hole of the highest order and whichever side ends up controlling it, may regret it pretty quickly. Not so much the US as they can keep it at arms length, but Europe is a very different story.

        The EU for example want to fast track it’s entry, but the implications of a basket case economy are huge, and that is not even considering the impact of those Nazi sewer rates running all over the place- especially in place which already have high Muslim immigrant populations.

          1. Harry

            Being a Jew I hate Nazis
            Distant relatives from Lithuania on my fathers side were ethnically cleansed by then
            Nigel just stick to brexit

          2. Nigel

            As I recall, Russia ethnically cleansed lots of Jews, too, and Putin claims that the Jews were behind the Holicaust, which was actually aimed at Orthodox Christians.

          3. Harry

            Volyhenia or hatred a polish film made only recently shows exactly Ukraine’s hatred of Jews set after nazi Germany was defeated
            The Russians for hundreds of years used pograms against Jews just as others did
            In WW2 many Russian Jews fought for the soviets in the red army
            Mind you the whole idea of socialism and the Russian revolution was heavily influenced by Jewish ideals
            Marx was a Jew Trotsky was a Jew
            And deflection and absolute ignorance gets you nowhere
            I actually think you are most probably some blogger working in some department of the civil service to blog away to push government agenda call you an IT expert
            I kind of laugh at your lack of knowledge of geo political subjects and always pushing the flag for Leo or whoever employs you

        1. Rob_G

          SOQ, how do your friends react when you get to chatting about current affairs in real life?

          1. The Millie Obnoxious™

            I’d be curious about that too.

            We have a ‘mad uncle Joe’ in the family, who comes out with similar if given the chance. He’s roundly slagged by most of us and ignored by the rest. Once upon a time it led to a healthy enough debate, but he’s become much harder to debate these kinds of divisive topics with.

          2. The Millie Obnoxious™

            And that’s not to imply he’s actually mad, btw.

            It’s just there are two ‘uncle Joes’ in the family and this is how we differentiate.

          3. SOQ

            @ Rob_G some agree and some don’t- its a very mixed bag, but not along left / right lines. Those on the same page would be usually traditional left wingers- middle aged of course- because the new variant just regurgitates everything they are fed.

            As for my social and debating skills- they would be regarded as pretty good, thanks for asking. So much so that I have worked with communication teams in the past- which is why I recognise the tactics of a few individuals on here.

      2. Nigel

        Russia has killed thousands of Ukrainian civilians. Why are you parroting imperialist propaganda?

        1. Harry

          It was the same when the USA and it’s NATO partners went into Iraq with nothing more than a smoking gun
          I assume Iraqis remember that one very well
          What with WMDs cluster bombs and the MOAB
          shock and awe it was described
          Liberation it was described and it was as justified as this one
          So please spare us your non stop twaddle

  3. TenPin Terry

    According to the IT ‘ More than half of the 24,000 pledges of accommodation for Ukrainian refugees have so far failed to materialise either because the offer has been withdrawn by the property owner or they cannot be contacted.
    Cabinet was told on Wednesday evening that there could be 29,000-33,000 people seeking accommodation by the end of next month, and that people could be waiting for weeks before receiving accommodation unless thousands more beds are sourced.’
    And it seemed like only yesterday the Government was patting itself on the back at the generosity of the Irish people.
    Perhaps it’s because they seem to have gone very quiet on talk of financial help for those offering vacant property.
    It’s almost like they haven’t thought this through …

    1. Harry

      I bet these were pie in the sky numbers to get the old money flowing to the hunger industry
      Let’s face it a five year old would of realised it
      Where can they put 200 thousand when we cannot even house our own
      It was always going to be tent cities
      Refugee camps
      But where will they be put?
      In cities ?
      our beautiful country side?
      How will our services cope?
      I was on to the Red Cross offering jobs with possible accommodation
      I was contacted by them asking me to go through so many hoops it was impossible
      So that’s the end of that

      1. Broadbag

        Is this a new MadSOQ , it surely can’t be the one that threw it’s toys out of the pram and with great fanfare flounced off in an embarrassing attention seeking tantrum to ‘take a break from the site’ yesterday, or was it the day before? It couldn’t be, could it?

        Lololol, as the other alt would say.

        Deranged headcase indeed.

        1. TenPin Terry

          I thought V was the only serial returning flouncer on here ?
          Still, at least she only has the one username in fairness.
          You’d almost miss Joe F at this stage …

          Hehx3™

        2. Mad

          No I am taking a break broadbag, I didn’t say I was quitting it altogether.

          I have simply cut down the number and volume of comments because I realised of late that frankly the majority of comments from the likes of yourself and Terry below, are not worthy of my time or attention.

          Sorry for lumping you in with the paedo-pandering fantasist but I’m sure you’ll appreciate my position.

          1. Broadbag

            MadSOQ (Tuesday night):
            ”I have decided to give this a break for a while.
            I wish Bodger and Nick and all the team the best with their important work and hope they will eventually deal with the terrible bullying of SOQ by a number of nasty people.”

            Sure, probably didn’t need such a big announcement and ‘for a while’ doesn’t make sense now, but whatever. Likewise I have cut down on calling SOQ and his alts out on their misinformation, bullying, hypocrisy, doxxing threats, etc as I realised he’s here just for the attention or else more likely deliberately goading people to generate comments – nobody could be simultaneously that wrong/stupid/hypocritical everyday.

            I broke my fast this morning as it was just odd to see you back so soon and too funny to find his Cloutier alt telling himself to keep posting, before it was deleted. But I shall resume my abstinence shortly, without any grand flouncy announcements.

          2. Mad

            You certainly didn’t disabuse me of my primary contention about the worth of your output there.

    1. GiggidyGoo

      Did Charger give you an early morning call then andrew? You’re like ‘love and marriage’. You can’t have one without the other.
      Will there be any more royalty joining us today – Kate, Sara, or maybe a non-royal such as Admiral Nelson even a Vlad?

  4. TenPin Terry

    Happy birthday to HM the Queen – 96 not out is quite an innings.Only another boundary for the century.
    Not a royalist myself per se but one has to admire the steely determination in which she has carried out all her duties over the years without complaint.
    Lovely picture on the front pages to mark the occasion.
    Not particularly looking forward to her successor but the next taxi on the rank after that William and Kate are a fine couple.
    Marvellous™

      1. SOQ

        Leave me out of it.

        As for the other one- well, there is obviously a lot to be said for a life of pampered privilege. Margaret was a much more interesting character IMO, and Diana obviously.

        1. andrew

          Yes, wonderful.

          Now, back to your lying – can you please explain why you’re such a lowlife liar? Are you being paid t spread lies about Ukraine and its government? What’s your motivation?

  5. Ian - oG

    I see the only newspaper, not surprisingly, to have the former guy on their cover is The Scum.

    Two nasty old men with a reputation for harassing young women.

  6. Broadbag

    Oh look, how wonderful! Another mysterious ‘keep posting SOQ’, guy, how many alts is he up to at this point, 5? 6?

    Pathetic.

    Although it is great fun to watch him talk to himself through his alts, perfectly normal behaviour, not a deranged headcase at all.

      1. Broadbag

        Ah, I see your latest ‘Cloutier’ alt was quickly deleted, excellent. How humiliating for you to constantly be preaching on here about alts and how they’re ruining the site and then to be caught red-handed with (yet another) alt telling yourself to keep posting. Ouch! Too much internet for SOQ.

          1. Broadbag

            Gosh, what a strange coincidence, that’s more or less verbatim what his Cloutier alt was spouting before it was deleted, we need to get Mulder and Scully on this one…

          2. Me so Harney

            Who says its his alt Bullybag?

            Perhaps it was mine, and perhaps I deleted it , not SOQ..

            Perhaps its you that is delusional..

          3. Tom J

            My point is you keep saying people are using multiple user names and you show no proof, and your idiot friend Me So Harney thinks the same.

  7. SOQ

    Gonzalo Lira was and hopefully still is, a Chilean social media “influencer” who resided in Kharkov, Ukraine, and who published online content critical of the Ukrainian government. His YouTube broadcasts were linked on this site, both by myself and others.

    Gonzo has gone missing. The alarm was first raised by George Golloway on the 17th April when he was supposed to do an interview, and he has not been seen since.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4Bf5eby6IvM

    There have been claims from pro Ukrainian factions that they have tortured and killed him, but no evidence one way or another so far. But, they are definately taking out bloggers at the moment, so it is likely.

    The reason for posting this is because it doesn’t fit the good guy / bad guy narrative, so the western media are completely silent. I would not have put Gonzo as being particularly pro-Russian myself, but the sad realty is that any semblance of balance will be neutralised in Ukraine at the moment.

      1. andrew

        Great stuff.

        Can you explain now why you lie so brazenly on this site? Would you agree that it’s shamelessly disrespectful to the site and Bodger, other readers and commenters, and, indeed, to yourself?

    1. paul

      I would not have put Gonzo as being particularly pro-Russian myself

      That’s because he’s less pro-Russia than you. He is/was still a huge Putin fan and a massive misogynist. Good to know where some of your toxic views come from though, you didn’t lick it off the ground.

      1. SOQ

        I can only go from what he has posted on his YouTube channel- can you point me to where you feel he is pro Putin or a misogynist in those broadcasts please? Thanks.

        1. paul

          you’ll have to dive into the ‘Manosphere’ to find Lira’s contributions there. It’s fairly Hellish, I genuinely wouldn’t recommend it, especially not this close to the weekend.

          Someone linked me to some of the material contained therein as a joke aaaaaages back as we’d been talking about that film where Tom Cruise is on stage giving relationship advice, the name escapes me.

          edit: I think it’s Magnolia.

          1. SOQ

            I have no idea what Manosphere is.

            But even if what you say is correct- that doesn’t mean he should have been tortured to death by Azov- which is looking increasingly likely.

          2. paul

            nobody’s views should earn them such gruesome treatment, I think we’ll agree on that.

            The understanding that I’ve gleaned about the Manosphere is that it may have started as a culture of male support but got twisted up into being dangerously anti-woman. The idea of ‘red-pilling’ or working out women’s secret agendas to force them back into traditional gender roles. Pretty awful stuff.

          3. paul

            you said Lira was not particularly Pro-Russia, I disagreed and gave additional information about the man. You can read back over the same comments I can.

          4. SOQ

            Yes you said he was- then pointed me to an anti feminist site.

            You are the one making the accusations about a (most likely dead) man- do you not think you should be the one to provide some sort of evidence to back up your claim?

          5. paul

            I didn’t point you to any website, you must have found one by yourself. If the website you found conflicted with your views but gave sufficient evidence and you’ve rejected it, then that’s on you.

            If you’re pretending to have sympathy for a dead person after the things you said yesterday, then you’re not convincing anyone but yourself and that’s troubling in its own way.

            Try less cherry-picking of facts in future. It’ll give you a more rounder view, better for debate.

          6. SOQ

            “you’ll have to dive into the ‘Manosphere’ to find Lira’s contributions there.”

            Manosphere is a website is it not?

            As for the rest- the usual deflection and ad hominem BS- you stated Gonzalo Lira was pro Putin- WHERE IS YOUR EVIDENCE?

            Otherwise you are just smearing on behalf of Azov NAZIS- do you even understand what you are doing?

          7. paul

            Manosphere is not a website. That you said I pointed you to an anti-feminist website was a lie.

            You’re pretty well versed in deflection yourself, SOQ. Like the dogs abuse you lay on other posters here, if you can’t take it, don’t dish it out.

            Lira has posted online cheerleading Russia’s invasion of Ukraine, falsely claiming they had taken territory when they had not. His videos have been shown on pro-Russian websites to the degree that his behaviour got him booted out of a hotel in Kyiv earlier this year.

            Posting in all-capitals while trying to retain dignity gives the impression of a red-faced, sweating lunatic. Not advisable.

    2. Daisy Chainsaw

      Man missing in warzone shocka! Maybe he’s just another one of the thousands of casualties of Putin’s invasion. But, of course, because he was from that sacred tribe of “blogger” with a reach in the tens of tens, there must be some kind of conspiracy or suspicion regarding his alleged disappearance.

  8. TenPin Terry

    More on sore loser Remoaner claims that Bwexit Bwitain is waycist.
    Latest UK immigration figures for 2021 showed that a total of 239,987 work-related visas were issued – 25% higher than the figure for 2019.
    There was a sharp uptick in successful applications from non-EU migrants – since the end of free movement only 10% of last year’s work-related visas were issued to EU nationals.
    The number of foreign students has also sharply increased, hitting a record high of 416,000 – up by more than a half compared with 2019. Seems like Johnn Foreigner doesn’t think Blighty is racist after all.
    No longer can a low-skilled European peasant with no command of English legally stroll into the UK, while an English-speaking doctor from Chennai would face bureaucratic obstacles.
    Indeed, that’s why a large proportion of ethnic minority Britons voted for Brexit anyway.
    Marvellous™

  9. SOQ

    Hard to know how the French presidential election debate went last night. The western media are clearly biased against Le Pen so I would be taking their reviews with a pinch of salt. Interesting how her mention is ALWAYS preceded by the words ‘far right’- the equivalent for Macron would be ‘globalist’, except that is never.

    LePen did apparently make an interesting comment on the sanctions however- “we cannot commit Hara-kiri (suicide) with the hope of hurting Russia financially.” and on reinstating suspended caregivers, which is only fair- plus the usual on immigration.

    I kind of wonder if there is not a Sinn Féin factor at play with the National Rally party. That there is a certain section who support, but will not admit in ‘polite’ society. Such a group are very difficult to quantify- she may pull off a ‘Trump’ yet.

          1. paul

            I’ve never made a list before so we’ll just call it ‘the list’.

            All I can think of is Graham Norton in Father Ted and his list now :)

  10. Nigel

    In reference to a discussion earlier in the week about maths textbooks being banned by Republicans in Florida. Imortant note: Critical Race Theory is an elective course offered in some LAW SCHOOLS.

    ‘@GovRonDeSantis claims math textbooks “indoctrinate” students with “dangerous and divisive” ideologies like “Critical Race Theory”
    But he REFUSED TO PROVIDE ANY EXAMPLES from the rejected books
    So we tracked down 8 of them
    Here is what we found’

    https://twitter.com/JuddLegum/status/1517118570261622787

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