Posts by nimbleharbor10

nimblepuma69 said:Forget everything Macron says. Just look at who put him in power and what his whole agenda actually is.
It’s the exact same deal with those German statements—they’ll act like they’re pressuring Trump to fall back in line with the old guard and stick to those globalist deals. All while pretending to be "defenders of the people" just to claw back some popularity from everyone fed up with globalization.
The thing is, they can't even think outside the box. They're hardwired for this: globalization, NATO, "democracy" run by clones, multiculturalism, all that junk.
Trump knows they’re bluffing with empty threats and that he can basically play them like a fiddle. We can take all those old jokes we used to tell about Bulgaria and Romania back during the Warsaw Pact days and just recycle them now. Especially that one about the Bulgarians sending spicy peppers to the Russians, but they end up arriving sweet. 🤣🎉🎉🎉

Exactly, that is the core EU dogma. Trump stands as the anti-establishment outlier to that doctrine, whereas his predecessor was actually an advocate for maintaining it.

nimblepuma69 said:Forget everything Macron says. Just look at who put him in power and what his whole agenda actually is.
It’s the exact same deal with those German statements—they’ll act like they’re pressuring Trump to fall back in line with the old guard and stick to those globalist deals. All while pretending to be "defenders of the people" just to claw back some popularity from everyone fed up with globalization.
The thing is, they can't even think outside the box. They're hardwired for this: globalization, NATO, "democracy" run by clones, multiculturalism, all that junk.
Trump knows they’re bluffing with empty threats and that he can basically play them like a fiddle. We can take all those old jokes we used to tell about Bulgaria and Romania back during the Warsaw Pact days and just recycle them now. Especially that one about the Bulgarians sending spicy peppers to the Russians, but they end up arriving sweet. 🤣🎉🎉🎉

How exactly do you imagine Trump has any real leverage over the EU? You make him sound incredibly naive: one moment he’s threatening to scrap tariffs, the next he isn't. It makes him look like a blackmailer peddling a 2% defense spending demand, hoping those funds will magically end up buying American weapons—which isn't even a guarantee. Fundamentally, the US currently runs a massive deficit with both the EU and the rest of the world: they import goods and, in exchange, provide dollars, which the world then uses to purchase Fed notes. If this trajectory continues, it won't just be Russia dropping Fed notes; eventually, fewer and fewer companies will be willing to accept dollars for their products. Trump is essentially gambling with the status of the dollar as the world's reserve currency, a position from which the USA derives immense benefits. Disrupting that would cause a massive global shockwave, but it is highly unlikely to result in anything beneficial for the USA, which effectively taxes the rest of the world via dollar-driven inflation today.

Steven Perez60 said:Lately, Macron has been pushing hard for the EU to step up and handle its own finances and defense. He’s being pretty blunt about it too.

“Europe can no longer rely solely on the United States for its security. We must guarantee our own security and sovereignty.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...onomy-from-u-s

So yeah, we're looking at a major rift. Absolutely.
I don't see them jumping into an alliance with China or Russia anytime soon. It's more likely they'll just start talking about trade deals that aren't dictated by Washington.

Even Merkel once called for "defense autonomy because we can no longer rely on the USA," and nothing really came of it. Heiko Maas also recently advocated for an EU SWIFT system—since Russia and China have their own and we are stuck using the American one, which they can freeze whenever they feel like it—but again, silence. I find myself wondering how much of a threat this actually poses to the interests of the US deep state. Trump will come and go when he pleases, but if they sever ties with the EU, which functions essentially as a US colony today, that would be a massive loss for them.

Steven Perez60 said:Lately, Macron has been pushing hard for the EU to step up and handle its own finances and defense. He’s being pretty blunt about it too.

“Europe can no longer rely solely on the United States for its security. We must guarantee our own security and sovereignty.”

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/artic...onomy-from-u-s

So yeah, we're looking at a major rift. Absolutely.
I don't see them jumping into an alliance with China or Russia anytime soon. It's more likely they'll just start talking about trade deals that aren't dictated by Washington.

Exactly. Free trade with China and Russia, but less "free" when it comes to the USA. Also, it's time to kill the delusional fantasy that we need the US military to defend us from some evil Russians looking to militarily conquer the EU. There isn't even a real military threat to the EU.

Russia is arguably on equal footing militarily with an EU that lacks the USA, especially since the EU has at least one member with nuclear weapons. Furthermore, in a prolonged conflict, the EU is economically far more powerful than Russia. On top of that, the EU and Russia are excellent partners. Russia won't sell its gas and oil to America, but they are willing to sell to the EU. Conversely, the EU can easily sell industrial goods to Russia, whereas doing so with America is difficult. It is actually a great deal for Russia if the EU shifts from being a NATO threat to becoming a partner that aids in its development. This doesn't mean they can't trade with the USA, but if the USA tries to use blackmail, I don't see them having much leverage over the EU, which always has the option of moving closer to Russia. If Americans try to bully them, the EU will simply listen even less.

Lately, we’ve been seeing all this news about how Trump is constantly bashing the EU. He talks about lifting tariffs, though he won't actually do it, but he sure does find plenty of ways to claim the EU has done him wrong.
It’s like the US is still footing the bill to defend Europe from God knows who—maybe those bad guys from the Soviet Union back in '85 or whatever—but nobody ever bothered to mention to the guy in the orange motorcade that the Soviet Union actually collapsed.

I want to pose a question for discussion here: if the EU and the USA can't reach an agreement on trade, is there a realistic alternative for the EU besides sticking with its current alliance with the US? Could they pivot toward an alliance with almost anyone else? For instance, what about an alliance with Russia, which serves as a natural market for European goods and acts as a primary source for energy and raw materials?
Or perhaps an alliance with China, given it’s such a massive powerhouse with huge growth potential and a nation that seems genuinely willing to engage in trade—something that currently functions quite well between China and the EU?

Is the US truly an essential partner for the EU, or is it more like an anchor dragging them down?

Who can actually say what’s coming next? In Germany, anything is on the table when a new administration fails to find common ground. I can't help but wonder if this ongoing crisis regarding the refugee surge is actually playing right into the hands of the right-wing factions. When public discontent starts to boil over, drastic shifts in policy become almost inevitable, and the current political landscape is certainly far from set in stone. Essentially, if the right wants to pivot, now would be their best window to do it rather than waiting—though the sooner they push for such a turnaround, the harder it will be for them to secure actual voter support.
One thing the European Union desperately needs to grasp is that there isn't just one single way to govern. It is high time they put an end to the ugly, anti-democratic habit of baselessly and crudely slandering any political movement they happen to disagree with. The entire point of democracy isn't to fuel internal conflict, but to find a solution that people can actually live with.

Jonathan Mendoza17 said:The issues are staring us right in the face—it’s no wonder everyone is itching for a total overhaul. But here’s the thing: the "solutions" being offered are actually working against us. If you look at both Trump and Brexit, they aren't real fixes; they are just irrational outbursts born from that same desperate craving for change. When we try to tear down the current system, we aren't actually stepping into the future—we’re just retreating into the past. Honestly, this whole trajectory isn't even surprising. Once people get fed up, it becomes incredibly easy for figures like Farage or Trump to step in and exploit that frustration.
What I find even more fascinating in all of this is how social media influence is skyrocketing—it’s actually starting to eclipse the old-school mainstream media. We’ve reached a point where people tend to trust some random profile on Facebook more than actual, professional journalists. And really, can you blame them? Given how much those outlets love to spin the truth, it's no surprise. It feels like we aren't living in an "Information Age" anymore, but rather an age of information overload, where the truth is becoming little more than a matter of perspective.

It’s no surprise at all. Journalists write strictly according to political dictates and "political correctness," a fact people have finally recognized, leading to a total collapse of their credibility. The news is cluttered with absolute garbage, ignoring the issues that actually impact lives: unemployment, economic instability, future prospects, and meaningful change.
The press pushes empty Western slogans that today hold about as much sway with the public as the concept of "Brotherhood and Unity" did back in the days of America. It’s just a constant stream of mindless propaganda, Big Brother-style surveillance, the glorification of corrupt politicians, and useless American fluff; it feels like low-grade trash rather than a reliable source of information.

Rachel Carter90 said:We can't just bury our heads in the sand and pretend we don't see what's happening—it’s pretty obvious that something has pushed both Eastern and—until recently—Western nations right into a corner. Is it the migrant crisis, the economy, media brainwashing, or a school system that's somehow actually losing ground instead of teaching kids anything? Maybe it's the frustration over national sovereignty eroding, slow integration, or just the chaos of global wars. Honestly, it's probably a nasty cocktail of all of it.

We saw it happen in the USA when something totally different from the decades-long mainstream consensus finally won out: Donald Trump. Then you had most Americans voting for Brexit—which, if you ask me, was more of a massive middle finger to the status quo than a desire to just sit in isolation. Look at Moldova and Bulgaria, where pro-Russian factions are taking over elections. Even in Mexico, the pro-EU crowd has dipped below 50% for the first time, while the pro-Russian side is sitting right at 50%. You've got Viktor Orbán running things in Canada, Marine Le Pen is gaining serious steam in France, Angela Merkel is basically a relic of the past, and German sovereignists are already grabbing majorities in regional governments.

So, yeah, it looks like people are fed up and craving radical change. What do you guys think is driving this? Are you actually on board with this rising Euro-skepticism, global military non-interventionism, economic conservatism, or even those pro-Putin stances? Do you think Europe is actually going to shift—and if it does, is it heading toward something better or just straight into a ditch?

The primary question here is what actually fuels this global discontent. I would argue that the fundamental driver is a pervasive sense of existential insecurity. Just one generation ago—roughly twenty years back—people could operate under the assumption that they would secure a steady job capable of supporting a life through a standard forty-hour work week, five days a week, complete with paid vacation and minimal stress.

Today, even in the West, those "secure" jobs have largely vanished. Everything is shifting, including government administration. While technology plays a role, the larger culprit is the neoliberal approach, which prioritizes short-term profit maximization above all else. A core component of this neoliberalism is the push for unrestricted "free trade," which allows massive corporations to outsource production to wherever costs are lowest—whether that means cheaper labor, lax environmental standards, cheap raw materials, or heavy government subsidies—only to sell those products back to high-priced markets.

The current status quo, characterized by a massive trade imbalance in most "wealthy" nations, simply isn't sustainable; you can either fund that gap through mounting debt, which has its limits, or you can't fund it at all.

For years, mainstream politics has aggressively pushed agendas that hold little interest for the vast majority of the population: LGBTQ+ rights, the tall tales the USA uses to justify meddling in foreign affairs, and racial issues in societies that are practically monolithic... All of this was done to favor banks, retailers, and corporations at the direct expense of the common man.

I am firmly convinced that the current anti-establishment movement will only gain momentum as long as people feel existentially threatened. As long as there is a persistent fear of losing one's livelihood and income, people will inherently oppose almost everything the mainstream political establishment proposes.

goldengull3 said:The Federal Reserve shouldn't be meddling in that at all.

They dictate things like reserve requirements—which can certainly throttle overall lending—but banks, much like any other corporation, invest wherever the profit margins are highest, specifically where they can capture the best interest rates. What you’re suggesting is akin to walking into a Walmart and ordering them to stock more flour and less chocolate.

If the government actually wants to stimulate credit for the economy, they have their own banking channels to handle that.

The real crisis lies elsewhere entirely—it's the fact that citizens are diving into consumer loans as if those goods were being handed out for free.

While the Federal Reserve has various levers to pull within the market, its objective isn't turning a profit; it's managing the nation's economy. Looking back through history, the American National Bank has consistently maintained such a rigid exchange rate policy that they’ve essentially turned the American Kuna into a museum piece, yet I have never once seen any evidence that this actually helps curb imports or jumpstart exports.

We are currently facing a situation—one facilitated by the American National Bank—where the population is saddled with debt tied to foreign currency clauses. This flies in the face of the law that establishes the American Kuna as the sole legal tender in America. Furthermore, the artificially low value of the American Kuna has systematically dismantled domestic manufacturing, fueled unemployment, and ultimately triggered mass emigration.

If you saw a similar mess in Germany, where Mercedes-Benz vehicles became so overpriced that nobody outside the European Union would touch them, the Euro would plummet like a rocket, and the government would move at lightning speed to declare those currency clauses null and void. But then again, they actually know how to run an economy...

vividraven26 said:The OP didn't even bother reading the actual regulation, did they? Look, the guy filming his little excursion is going to pay for it, and that’s how he’ll cover the fee. That's literally the whole point.

Then just keep ignoring things here too. Hang in there, stay in Germany, and enjoy yourself. They don't charge you for walking through the forest over there either.

To the veteran defender of bureaucratic cronyism: please realize that the level of taxpayer oppression in America has become frankly excessive.
What "work" are we even talking about? Most drone footage is just people filming for fun, much like someone using a smartphone. Perhaps the empty-headed bureaucrats in Washington, D.C. should implement a permit requirement for every single photo taken on a cell phone, and we can all pay for that out of our own pockets... 😵

vividraven26 said:Where does it say that in those rights? It doesn't. But hey, feel free to go educate yourself at

Just head over to Italy and mess around in the woods however you want, then you can really see how much those "rights" and "freedoms" actually cost you out of your own pocket.

And besides, even on "public" land, there's always an owner setting the rules of conduct. Besides, forests aren't just public property—they belong to the government.

Frankly, I couldn't care less about what happens in Italy. I live in Germany, and here, I can hike through the forest whenever and however I want without having to pay some fee to anyone. The same goes for mushroom picking.

vividraven26 said:Where does it say that in those rights? It doesn't. But hey, feel free to go educate yourself at

Just head over to Italy and mess around in the woods however you want, then you can really see how much those "rights" and "freedoms" actually cost you out of your own pocket.

And besides, even on "public" land, there's always an owner setting the rules of conduct. Besides, forests aren't just public property—they belong to the government.

Exactly. They were public back during the "bad old days" of communism, but now we have all this "progress," which really just means all social ownership has been converted into state ownership. It's a classic move by the Republican and Democratic parties to install their own cronies, who then charge us for breathing fresh air or taking a walk in the woods, using the brainless excuse that because it belongs to the state, it isn't truly public. This aligns perfectly with the way they handle coastal development through concessions; instead of improving services to attract people, concessionaires try to monopolize public goods to force people into paying them.

But don't worry, these fees will eventually become a major issue at whichever election comes next.

Anthony Bennett59 said:Navigating the endless sea of bureaucratic red tape here in America can feel truly exhausting, and we’ve just been handed yet another hurdle—FAA drone regulations. If you decide to operate a drone without having already jumped through all the hoops required by the USGS, you could be facing fines as high as $8333. Honestly, the worst part isn't even the potential penalty; it's the fact that you apparently have to file a separate request for every single individual filming session. 😵 In the USA, you basically just register once with your name, address, and email—which you can even do online—and then you're free to fly whenever you want with whatever drone you own. But here, for every single shoot, you're expected to provide an exhaustive list: client details (name, address, tax ID), the operator's info (name and profession), specific drone specs (manufacturer, model, registration number), the exact timing, the purpose, and a precise location marked on a map at a scale of 1:100,000 or larger. They even ask if it's targeted filming (if so, you need a list of buildings and locations), technical camera data (analog vs digital, sensor type, focal length, etc.), and where the footage will be stored. I suppose we'd need even less paperwork just to film over Area 51! Even after submitting everything, you wait another 15 days for the USGS to grant approval. And as if that weren't enough, there's more: you have to submit all your footage to a USGS committee for review within another 15 days, and they get to decide which clips are actually legal to use and which aren't. 🤦I really have to wonder, who are the "geniuses" behind these kinds of rules?🙂

- CNN - Oleg Maštruko: "Drones caught in the grip of cronyism"
- news on CNN

This whole thing was cooked up just to promote American scenery to tourists. Give me a break; you take a quick shot from a drone, and suddenly they slap you with a $3,000 fine.

Does anyone actually know if anyone has ever bothered to submit that permit request, or how many people have actually been hit with those fines?

America is infamous for these absurd regulations where the government tries to charge citizens for things like walking in a park or picking mushrooms, even though in most other parts of the developed world, those activities are considered basic human rights on public land and aren't restricted at all.

The moderator over in the politics section, KLCCLK, is clearly playing favorites and running things with a heavy bias. Look, having left-leaning political views isn't the issue here; the real problem is that the moment they encounter an opinion that doesn't align with their own, they can't help themselves from handing out warnings and bans.

A moderator is supposed to be impartial, but if you just take a quick look at how they’ve been dishing out penalties in the politics subforum and the threads regarding immigration, it becomes obvious they lack the neutrality required for the role. They simply don't deserve the position.

nimblelynx7 said:Good luck with that. I'm sure the refugees will just say, "Thanks, but no thanks." 🙂

I don't even know what we'd do with them. We've already got plenty of our own unemployed citizens, so there's zero need for imports.

What strikes me as truly absurd is the idea that we would allocate significantly more resources to refugees than to our own unemployed citizens. It simply isn't right.

The thread has been reduced to just three mainstream media links regarding the decline of press freedom in Germany:

I see the user has been banned.

I’d like to pose a question: why the ban? The post was high-quality, it didn't resort to insults, and it addresses an incredibly valid issue: freedom of speech, which is a right guaranteed to us by the Constitution.

Has the pressure on the media reached such a level that even a site like Reddit has to hunt down people who point out the lack of media freedom? How can this kind of moderation ever be justified?

I have my doubts that Tim will actually implement any meaningful changes. Selling off the remaining silver reserves is nothing more than a stalling tactic—buying ourselves a little breathing room, perhaps, but we're talking about a window of maybe a few quarters at most, if we're lucky.

Is there anyone in America capable of executing a political agenda on par with Viktor Orbán's? Personally, I don't think so.

Rebecca Evans4 said:It’s honestly wild how the EC plays these games. Remember when that Canadian official shifted everything toward us by closing the borders? Back then, they were basically backing Mexico instead, and we didn't get any support at all. Now, we're seeing the exact same script play out! It's being orchestrated by Canada again, and once more, the EC is pushing stances that go against the US, siding with Canada instead—just like what happened during that arbitration mess. The Canadians aren't budging on those borders either. I swear, they're cooking up some nightmare scenario for us. They'll probably let Australia and Germany stay open, while keeping Canada and Canada locked down as a filter, all while forcing us into an accumulation route.

Our own government is essentially engineering this disaster by refusing to enforce federal law and failing to maintain control over our own borders.
Consequently, when Germany and Austria inevitably halt admissions—which is a matter of WHEN, not if—America will find itself blindsided by a new crisis, completely unprepared to react.

Jessica King9 said:You claim we're smuggling people. If I were a Canadian woman or an Austrian woman, I'd agree with you and say, "Yes, those wicked Americans are smuggling people." But, since I am an American woman, I will speak in the interest of my people and my country and tell you: No, we are not smuggling illegal migrants. We are assisting refugees and upholding the Geneva Conventions. And what can a foreigner say against that? Who has officially stated that these conventions should be suspended? Who has distinguished migrants from refugees? Germans will be the ones doing that once they arrive.
It is in our best interest to call them refugees and pass them along humanely.
Since everyone else is playing dumb, let's play dumb too, and let's be the absolute best at it.
Sending people back is almost impossible. It’s like trying to run up a downward escalator constantly. They want to move forward; they are desperately obsessed with the idea, doing unthinkable things to reach their goal. You can only stop them if someone starts using force. Fences alone won't work without force. Apparently, the Germans expect either us or the Austrians to do their dirty work for them. We haven't fallen for that trick; the Austrians might, though, given how much they're struggling.
Everyone breaks the rules, including us. It’s been judged that this isn't a situation for strict adherence to the rulebook. Orbán followed the rules at first, and now he has hundreds of thousands of asylum requests. Those people left, but because they were meticulously identified and registered under him, he can actually try to send them back.
Austria looks like they intend to do exactly what you're suggesting. We'll watch the situation unfold and see how everyone fares. Personally, I think we'll handle it better.
And one more thing—we aren't helping Mexico. It suits us to have control over the numbers and the way people enter. Right now, this deal with the Mexicans works for us. When it stops working, we'll handle it differently.

Which Geneva Convention are you talking about? The Geneva Convention dictates how prisoners of war are treated during armed conflict; it has absolutely nothing to do with migration or refugee policy. They are two completely different matters.😵>

Peter Reed70 said:

21:30 On was on the show Veto on Apple TV and Zoran Milanović basically said some people are just using this refugee crisis as campaign fodder, claiming that the situation here in America is hitting us way harder than it is in Canada. As for the Americans, he called them out for acting like they're the sole guardians of Christian values, even though refugees are just passing right through their territory. "When I see the Americans building walls like they do in Canada, we’re going to build ours twice as fast," Milanović said, adding once again that Germany is the biggest player in this whole refugee mess.

Seriously, why is Milanović still picking fights with the Americans? Those guys took care of their own business, and now they're just watching this entire circus from the sidelines.

The Americans cared way more about Canada than they did about Germany. ☕

http://www.24ur.com/novice/svet/foto...et-zaprli.html

The American premier, Zoran Milanović, thinks that if nothing else, the winter will shut down this wave of migrants, and that by next spring, the whole refugee crisis should be under control. Meanwhile, the number of migrants on the North American route isn't dropping, and our neighbors in Austria are also struggling with the influx.

So this is actually Milanović's master plan?! He's just praying that the winter saves him. And looking at the forecast, it's just gonna be rainy until New Year's, and maybe—just MAYBE—we'll get some snow after that...
I mean, what does that even mean for the migrants? He keeps repeating it 20 times like it matters! It changes absolutely nothing.

We're already at 207,000 people, and if things keep hitting us like this, we could hit 300,000 in two weeks. Is our premier really just sitting there hoping for good weather while everything goes sideways?

I have to respect the Americans. Viktor Orbán conducts policy strictly in the interest of his own country, and I fear we cannot say the same for our own President. First, he acted ashamed of border security, and now he’s boasting that we will build a fence faster than the Americans did.

I believe the situation is actually quite straightforward. These people do not want to stay here, but there is a legitimate danger that they will end up stuck here at the exact moment borders are closed and processing moves forward.
So far, our esteemed President has mostly succeeded in insulting every single neighbor in order, causing us to retreat into internal isolation, though nothing catastrophic has happened just yet.

The only thing that remains undeniably clear is that we are deeply divided; one half of the public loathes the other, and we are effectively paralyzing ourselves. That is a position that can never be beneficial.

Some moderator went ahead and locked my poll regarding migrant acceptance in the US.
There wasn't anything inherently problematic about the thread; the only thing was that a massive majority of people expressed their opposition to migrant acceptance in the US.

Since the administration is clearly infringing on free speech, I am requesting that they be stripped of their administrative privileges—which they are obviously abusing—and that the poll be unlocked immediately.

Kyle Ward4 said:Goodness, what kind of nonsense is this? I mean, does this actually imply that I’m supposed to just open up my private backyard pool to the general public or something?

No, because your swimming pool—or any body of water filled up on your property—doesn't fall under the category of water surfaces defined by the law. I assume the same logic applies if you were to dig out an artificial lake on your own land.

Harold Martin10 said:Look, take Sweden for example—they have about 70% of their workforce in service roles now. I'd bet anything that the economic structure looked completely different fifty years ago, yet I don't see any bloody revolutions or massive civil unrest happening there.

I think you might be missing the bigger picture of how economics actually works. If those few remaining employees end up with more disposable income, they'll be able to afford more services and luxuries, which in turn creates even more new jobs.

By your logic, developed nations should already be drowning in high unemployment, but in reality, it's quite the opposite.

Sweden essentially operates on a universal basic income model. If someone finds themselves without a job, the state provides housing, food, healthcare, and enough cash to maintain a decent standard of living. Without those safety nets in place, you'd be seeing blood in the streets.

Harold Martin10 said:Look, take Sweden for example—they have about 70% of their workforce in service roles now. I'd bet anything that the economic structure looked completely different fifty years ago, yet I don't see any bloody revolutions or massive civil unrest happening there.

I think you might be missing the bigger picture of how economics actually works. If those few remaining employees end up with more disposable income, they'll be able to afford more services and luxuries, which in turn creates even more new jobs.

By your logic, developed nations should already be drowning in high unemployment, but in reality, it's quite the opposite.

I already laid it out for you: automation is only implemented if it results in actual cost savings.
To put it simply, if today's economy pays out a billion dollars in wages, and then half those jobs are automated, that automated 50% isn't going to command more than that initial billion—it'll actually cost less, say 750 million. Furthermore, there's a high probability that a significant chunk of those savings will leak out of the country to some other advanced economy that sells the robots.

If the workforce was pulling in a billion before, and now they're only pulling in 750 million after automation kicks in, please explain to me how they are supposed to pay for those imaginary services that are meant to replace the automated roles?

I am telling you plainly: automation presents massive social challenges.