All-purpose news and politics thread

[dupont2005]

What is "grooming?"
Obviously it's sexual misconduct with a kid, but the term is unfamiliar with me. Does it simply mean molestation?

[Charles RB]

European central bankers - including in Ireland - are openly talking about Greece leaving the eurozone.

Some speculate it's a PR exercise to manage expectations - slowly re-introducing the notion that the 17 Euro nations could soon be 16. Others suggest it's a long overdue move, that would have eased the problems much sooner.

So who's right? If Greece decides to exit the euro and default, it gives the country more freedom to rebalance its economy. More pain for creditors, but a new start for Greece. But if the country simply quits the euro and resurrects the drachma, while still trying to pay off its debts, an inevitable slump in the value of the drachma would make those debts even more unaffordable.

Much will be determined in the coming week, not least by the response of the financial markets. For now, they appear to have factored a Greek exit into their numbers

This is a problem for Syriza and their mates, who are saying they want Greece to stay in the eurozone and seem to think renegotiations can work because:

"What we will offer is the future existence of the eurozone... They are not willing, and they will not dare, to kick Greece out of the eurozone."

I wouldn't bank on that, guys.

[Charles RB]

What is "grooming?"
Obviously it's sexual misconduct with a kid, but the term is unfamiliar with me. Does it simply mean molestation?

Manipulating minors into having sex with adults - in this case, into being underage prostitutes.

[snarkbunny]

What is "grooming?"
Obviously it's sexual misconduct with a kid, but the term is unfamiliar with me. Does it simply mean molestation?

Manipulating minors into having sex with adults - in this case, into being underage prostitutes.

What Charles says - basically getting the child to first trust the groomer, and then to become emotionally dependent on the groomer so that the child will do almost anything the groomer wants to get the groomer's approval.

[mikekerrIII]

But yeah, what Mitt and his goon friends did was really bad. The level they took that to far exceeds the typical "boys will be boys" thing.

MY questions is how do you do that kind of vile BS and not even remember it? I think that if you had any morlas it would d haunt you, at least a little bit, forever

[USArmyParatrooper]

MY questions is how do you do that kind of vile BS and not even remember it? I think that if you had any morlas it would d haunt you, at least a little bit, forever

Does does remember it. He is flat out lying when he says he doesn't.

[Charles RB]

Libya prepares for the first vote in 40+ years, with a few teething issues:

"Voter participation is a religious obligation - the Grand Mufti of Libya," says one recent text message sent to Libyans ahead of the landmark elections for a new parliament.

With just over a month until people are due to vote for a new National Public Conference, which will choose a government and draft a new constitution, the Libyan authorities have been resorting to increasingly novel ways to encourage registration.

Although they have at times appeared desperate, the tactics have so far led to more than a million eligible people - about a sixth of the population - signing up.

There is a lot of excitement among Libyans about the prospects of voting in what the National Transitional Council (NTC) has promised will be the country's first free and fair elections.

When you ask people on the street what they will do on 19 June, they give answers ranging from "We've seen it in movies and on the news, we know what to do" to "I don't understand, no-one does".

...

The official, Fawzi Abdullah Ghalboun, later says many of those registering still lack even basic awareness of the electoral system.

"Some don't yet understand the difference between the voter and the candidate - it takes time," he explains.

Another young Libyan concurs: "We don't understand elections. There are some who don't know anything at all! There's nothing on TV even about how elections work, how to vote, what to do."

Ikram Bash Imam from the High National Elections Commission acknowledges the lack of awareness among eligible voters.

"We faced a lot of problems - the very big challenge is the time," she says.

Though Mrs Imam is optimistic of adhering to the timetable for the elections, she admits that there remains a risk that they may be delayed.

In addition to the voter registration difficulties, many of the candidates are unknown because they have only just registered to stand or not launched their campaigns.


Khalifa Shakrin, a political science professor at the University of Tripoli, insists he will not vote because Libya needs more time to prepare.

"I'm dissatisfied with the process," he says. "People are underestimating the implication of the assembly's job on the whole system and future of Libya," he says.

"People are mostly unaware of the seriousness of the task entrusted to the assembly."

...

Meanwhile, the Council for Cyrenaica - an oil-rich eastern region which stretches from the central coastal city of Sirte to the Egyptian border - has called for a boycott of the elections, saying regional representation in the National Public Conference should be split equally.

Security may ultimately prove to be an obstacle, though officials are hesitant to admit to it. ... The weakness of the transitional government is consequently seen both as a threat to the elections and a reason for holding them as soon as possible.

In Tripoli, potential voters seem more excited with the idea of taking to the polls and are less bothered with whether the country will get it right.

It is perhaps understandable in a post-revolution environment where many are hungry to cast a vote they have been starved of for more than four decades.

[Iangould]

MY questions is how do you do that kind of vile BS and not even remember it? I think that if you had any morlas it would d haunt you, at least a little bit, forever

To be fair to Romney, I copped much worse bullying in high school than this.

A couple of years ago I ran into one of the people responsible and he seemed genuinely surprised when I called him a cunt and told him to fuck off.

[Spike-X]

To be fair to Romney, I copped much worse bullying in high school than this.

A couple of years ago I ran into one of the people responsible and he seemed genuinely surprised when I called him a cunt and told him to fuck off.

"Carn mate, were were just muckin' around! No hard feelings, eh?"

[Iangould]

So who's right? If Greece decides to exit the euro and default, it gives the country more freedom to rebalance its economy. More pain for creditors, but a new start for Greece. But if the country simply quits the euro and resurrects the drachma, while still trying to pay off its debts, an inevitable slump in the value of the drachma would make those debts even more unaffordable. ?

There are two problems with that theory:

1. Around 50% of Greek public debt was held by Greeks before the writdown. I suspect that the figure now is higher, possibly much higher. So that "new start" begina with probably all the private banks going banrupt and having to be nationalized and with private businesses and ordinary Greeks taking a further huge hit.

2. If you don't pay your debts, no-one will lend to you. Even if interest and capital repayments go away overnight, Greece will be running a massive budget deficit. That means they'll have two alternatives: massive cuts in public spendign far worse than what they've had to endure to date or the government pays its billions by printing money meaning the New Drachma rapidly becomes more valuable as toilet paper than as legal tender. (Actually there is a third alternative: massive tax increases. Anyone see that happening?)

[Shawn Hopkins]

MY questions is how do you do that kind of vile BS and not even remember it? I think that if you had any morlas it would d haunt you, at least a little bit, forever

Maybe he's just done so, so many things that were much worse in his lifetime that this barely registers? I think that's a likely explanation.

[Iangould]

"Carn mate, were were just muckin' around! No hard feelings, eh?"

You'd think that at a minimum the time I caught him alone during recess without his maets and flattened him and kicked out two of his teeth would have stuck in his memory.

[Spike-X]

You'd think that at a minimum the time I caught him alone during recess without his maets and flattened him and kicked out two of his teeth would have stuck in his memory.

Nice work.

[mikekerrIII]

Does does remember it. He is flat out lying when he says he doesn't.

And that is as vile as the act.

His response now is something he can fairly be judged on.

[mikekerrIII]

To be fair to Romney, I copped much worse bullying in high school than this.

A couple of years ago I ran into one of the people responsible and he seemed genuinely surprised when I called him a cunt and told him to fuck off.

I went to a very small rural school, bulling didn't happen much because trying resulted in immediate violence, if,not by the bullied then a cousin or sibling. Bullying only survives when the are no consequences.