Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]

@Torq

Conclusion - you want lots of new Poles - you have to elect either fascists or communists.

Horseshoe theory.

Or... everyone embraces Mormonism.

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]

@Torq

But just like the fascists in Spain and Chile, the Communists in the Warsaw Bloc knew something about demographics. How did they do it? Without Church? Without monasteries? Where taxes did not play a role?

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]

Some easy explanations - without knowing anything:

1) some kind of assault on contraceptives

2) ban on abortions

3) elevation of the church's role in society

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]


It's true, that you see some kind of anomalous stabilization of birth rates under Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet. You can confirm this for yourself, I don't have the time now to find the papers.

These Catholic dictators somehow managed to stop the trends of history and industry.

I'm not a specialist in this space, so can't really flesh this out. But I have seen this in papers and data.

Edit: I found one graph

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Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]


It absolutely is marriages.

Even Koreans and Japanese - once securely married - produce the necessary amount of kids.

So many people are now unmarried, or married once but disastrously.

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]

@Korvinus

Transgender got nothing to do with it.

Gays don't either.

All that matters is marriages. Get marriages back on track, and you will see kids again.

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]


If you are interested in the actual answer - it's not gays.

What seems to be the problem is marriages.

Marriage rates are low, and when people do marry - they often do it late or divorce quickly.

Married people still make the requisite number of babies. Just not so many people getting married anymore (early) or doing a very good job at maintaining those marriages.

Thanks Boomers - for being toxic assh*les that turned everybody off from the institute of family!

Your dysfunctional approach to family has doomed humanity.

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]

@Joker

Population is power.

Demographics is destiny.

If you don't make kids, and you don't want foreigners - you must be prepared to vanish into obscurity, or pull off some heretofore unseen miracle of productivity growth.

Off-Topic / Stock Market Talk and Trading - part 2 [572]


What exactly is the reason for the disgust?

-///-

Somebody has worked hard all his life, and he deserves assurance in that he will be supported in his old age unconditionally? That this should not be subject to market volatility or other factors?

-///-

It's actually very important for the pension system to be investment based. The opposite, where the government simply finds money for you every year within its budget, is a much worse solution.

1) Pension funds are in many cases the largest buyers of corporate and government debt. They finance companies and they finance the government.

2) Pension funds are often the largest or only investors into large infrastructure projects.

3) Pension funds are far superior to the Average Joe in allocating his capital efficiently. Evidence the inane suggestions on this thread.

4) Pension funds tie old people and young people together, through aligning their interests in the market in a non speculative way.

5) Beyond aligning young and old, pension funds align labor and capital. In many instances, pension funds are the only ones who can speak authentically for the working and middle class. Especially in big boardroom brawls.

Off-Topic / Hillary Clinton Doesn't want Americans birthing Children, Immigrants do this. [45]


I agree with Johnny here. Unless Americans suddenly start making more babies - Hillary is unfortunately correct. However unpopular her position may be...


Hard to disagree here. Definitely the most important German leader of the past 30 years.


Hear hear! They are hard working people, with strong family values. Exactly the kind of people Michigan needs to build back better.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 23 [571]


You know that you can't make something true just by writing the words - right?

Too often you write things that are 180 degrees opposed to reality. It always makes me curious why you write these things at all?

For the longest time I thought it might provide you some cathartic relief after whatever events you had experienced during the day. But some of these recent things are so detached from anything remotely close to the truth, that I'm starting to think that maybe you are attempting your own "Milo-fied" version of propaganda.

You know, like Goebbels said - that if you repeat something often enough, and it's outrageous enough - sooner or later some idiot will believe it.

Are you trying to compete with me?

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Before Russia designated specific geographic zones where gambling was legal. There was a period of a gray area. If you wanted to gamble, you had to do it in the back of all sorts of restaurants, pool halls, boutiques, etc.

Off-Topic / God and Religion Talk [251]


and we discussed it here.

Completely inappropriate. For such things permission is asked - and if not granted - it is not done.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Ashamed of what?! Saying "thank you"?

She's a woman - no one expects her to go toe to toe with a dude. There's no shame in that you got beat by some assh*le - it's for him to be ashamed about.

But someone suffered physical injury on your behalf, without any need or obligation to do so. Civilized behavior would be to say, "Thank you - you really didn't have to - but I appreciate it."

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Puzzling, right?

In another instance - I saw a guy at a pool hall/poker place - kick a waitress carrying a tray right in the stomach. She doubled over and collapsed.

I started giving him lectures about good behavior, and he cracked a cue stick across the back of my head.

Later I saw her, and she didn't even say hello to me. So much for chivalry.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


The babushka that came and took care of me, and called the ambulance - said she had called the cops 15 minutes prior.

I don't know if they ever showed up.

If this old woman was not watching our little circus below, I'm not sure that I would not be some kind of full retard today with an IQ of 50. She scared the guy away from me, and then sat around my unconscious body until doctors arrived.

Off-Topic / God and Religion Talk [251]

@Torq

I don't know man... still hard to see you as anything but schismatics - but I will still read the book.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Well... I actually have a perspective that might shed light on why guys don't want to intervene in random fights between husbands and wives on the street.

One time, I was dropping off my then girlfriend at her block of flats. As we were pulling into the parking area, we saw a guy dragging his girl around by her hair and kicking her. I walked my girlfriend to her door, and assured her I would go and take a second look at what was going on.

Walking up to them, I could see the guy was completely out of control, but also likely completely unaware of his surroundings. So I decided quickly I would headlock him from behind. While he was there wheezing, I told his lady it's probably best if she just goes home and stops trying to debate him.

Then, when it was just me and him alone - I made it clear to him I got nothing against him. After several times asking him if he had calmed down, I let him go.

As I was walking back to my car, I felt a sudden flash of blinding white light. The f*cker had walked over to the rubbish carts, picked up a champagne bottle, and crushed it over my head.

A fun two months for me after that. Kinda put me off intervening in people's domestic disputes.

Off-Topic / God and Religion Talk [251]


Ok... that's an interesting hook!

Enough for me to read it.

USA, Canada / Are Polish male students more physically confrontational compared to Canadian male students? [9]


Ohhohohoho!

Great mystery! Definitely worth further investigation...

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


My mom did not close the door well into the 90s. So much so, that I was not in the habit of carrying keys, and would often get locked out if she did decide to lock it for some reason before visiting her friends or going out on some chores.

I could also walk into my friend's homes, and ask their moms to feed me or give me tea - and this was totally normal. I think now if someone's kid shows up somewhere randomly asking for food, that would result in a very dramatic call to his parents.


Explain.


In modern Moscow you would be lucky to have your wallet back in 24 hours, fully intact.


I find this hard to believe. Even me and my friends have done several of these "street consultations" with guys that get very "handsy" with their girls, or some retarded shopkeeper that gives a kid hell for some small crime.

Off-Topic / God and Religion Talk [251]


If Poland is not Saudi Arabia of Catholicism - then who is?

Candidates:

1) Mexico

2) Philippines

I think Philippines deserves it more - since it's a Catholic country where divorce is still illegal (except for Muslims).

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


What I heard and to some extent still experienced, though born at the very tail end:

1) People did not lock their doors

2) Kids were free to do whatever they wanted from 14:00 until 23:00. Nobody was worried that somebody would kidnap them or molest them.

3) You could forget your wallet at the theater, and it would be waiting for you the next day at the Lost & Found.

4) Men that were strangers would randomly intervene in the street to stop domestic violence or abuse of underaged persons. Contrast that to the present day - where everyone averts their gaze and keeps walking.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Yes I can imagine.

We had a cannibal - Andrei Chikatilo - who killed and ate like 100 women.

We also had the FBI send their special agents.

The idea was that serial killers were a uniquely American phenomenon, that our criminologists just couldn't wrap their heads around. Since it's a completely anomalous crime in Slavic countries.


I have not seen any statistics, but this is something that everyone seems to believe is true based on empirical/anecdotal evidence.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


How does a police state prevent a rape or a burglary?

Do you read what you write?

A more logical response would be:

1) Housing was widely available (even if cramped) - reducing homelessness to near zero.

2) No large ghettos or underclass districts were formed - since the state controlled urban planning tightly

3) Full employment and vocational training. Even if you were some kind of dummy, they would train you how to fix a carburetor or weld a joint.

4) Free and universal education.

5) Limited wealth inequality.

6) Limited access to weapons, except those used for hunting.

7) Strong community ties and sense of social responsibility.

Law / Gun control in Poland: should Polish people be allowed to own guns? [1041]


Another uncomfortable fact for people that insist that the period from 1945 to 1991 was one non-stop hell.

How did the socialists manage to virtually eliminate violent crime?

Why did crime explode post-1991?

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 23 [571]


Imagine for yourself.

It's the third year of the war, and many officers are those that rose rapidly through the ranks.

Whether it's the Ukrainians or the Russians - you have many colonels and even generals that are in their mid 30s.

At the same time, you have rank and file personnel which are on average older than their commanders.

This leads to all sorts of misunderstanding. Some of the interviews I've come across are truly painful to read or watch. The young commanders speak with barely concealed disgust about the "material" they get to work with. The middle aged infantrymen, meanwhile, complain like old women about every single aspect of their life in a trench. As if they were writing a review on Yelp for an all-inclusive resort in Turkey.

Off-Topic / God and Religion Talk [251]


Ok. I need to introduce you to a forum user named Crow.

He's incredibly elusive, so it won't be easy... but next time I see him I will put you both in touch.

You will not find such an opponent of the Catholic Church anywhere in the world.

He is also able to explain to you why Winston Churchill, Queen Elizabeth II, and yourself - are all actually Serbs.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 23 [571]


Where? Very curious - seems you have access to classified information.

News / Poland's aid to Ukraine if Russia invades - part 23 [571]


... and imagine how rapidly it decreases when you are a member of the Schengen Zone - and people may travel freely. Therefore, one of the first things you will have to copy from Ukraine - in such a hypothetical scenario - is closing your borders.


Very good. Simply excellent.

I think the most important thing is that they are young, being 20-23 on average. Contrast that to the average age in the Russian army of around 38-40, or 40-45 in the Ukrainian army.

Even a very fit 40 year old, will have a hard time keeping up with a 20 year old.

The only advantage a 40 year old has, is that he can work on much less sleep than a 20 year old. But otherwise :

1) His knees are not designed for jumping from APC roofs.

2) His worn spinal discs are poorly suited for carrying 30-50 kilograms of kit for hours on end.

3) His hearing is not as finely attuned to the cracking of twigs or the rustle of leaves

4) His eyes don't see as well at night

5) Its gonna take a while to teach him how to use a joystick and how to control an FPV drone.

6) Maybe the biggest problem - cultural. It's significantly harder to shut up a 40 year old in comparison to a twenty year old. 40 year olds can be very opinionated about what you expect them to do, and about your intellectual capabilities.