All-purpose news and politics thread: One Step Beyond!

[the4thpip]

That's...really not encouraging at all. Going by those numbers, AIDS fell by like a quarter over a decade. Basically, less people are being infected and those that have it are dieing off. It's sad. And now the population have stopped really caring. It's not exactly the same as finding a cure and wiping it off the face of the earth until all that's left exists in a test tube in a vault in some government lab.

"Those that have it are dieing off" is not a good explanation for what is happening.
It turned out that the available medication (a) gives many people a life expectancy (though not same quality of life) as people without HIV, and it (b) makes them A LOT less likely to transmit the virus. It's compared to a chemical condom.

So maybe AIDS will not be removed with a miracle cure. Maybe we need to create an environment where everybody will feel comfortable and empowered to get tested to improve their life expectancy and to keep the disease from spreading.

Considering that back in math class in highschool my teacher used epidemics to explain exponential funcitons:



... seeing a reduction in both deaths and new infections is evidence that there are tremendously successful efforts under way, and that there is very little evidence that people "stopped caring."

[Loren]

That's...really not encouraging at all. Going by those numbers, AIDS fell by like a quarter over a decade. Basically, less people are being infected and those that have it are dieing off. It's sad. And now the population have stopped really caring. It's not exactly the same as finding a cure and wiping it off the face of the earth until all that's left exists in a test tube in a vault in some government lab.

But is that really so different from how we ended smallpox? No one discovered a "cure" for smallpox; efforts were focused on the prevention of new cases, and eventually the disease was eliminated to the point where the virus only exists in government labs.

[Gryphon]

Toronto mayor Rob ford has been found guilty of conflict of interest and is being removed from office but is allowed to run again.





This was a bullshit case that should never have happened. People didnt like ford not following thier agenda and conspired to get him out.What we have here is a miscariage of justice by people who believe their opinions are more important than the will of the citizens of Toronto.

[bringthenoise]

Regardless of why the complaints were made, Ford still broke the law. If it was just people with a grudge, then he wouldn't have been found guilty - unless you're suggesting that the Ontario judiciary are part of this conspricacy?

[Gryphon]

Regardless of why the complaints were made, Ford still broke the law. If it was just people with a grudge, then he wouldn't have been found guilty - unless you're suggesting that the Ontario judiciary are part of this conspricacy?

What about all the times that Miller had a clear conflict of interest? No one raised a finger.

[bringthenoise]

"He did it too!" wasn't a defence when I was a kid in primary school, so it sure as shit doesn't work for the Mayor of a major city.

[Gryphon]

"He did it too!" wasn't a defence when I was a kid in primary school, so it sure as shit doesn't work for the Mayor of a major city.

Im just saying what ford did was so minor and what others have done was major and yet they focused of ford because of political reasons not because of legal reasons.

[Ship]

Im just saying what ford did was so minor and what others have done was major and yet they focused of ford because of political reasons not because of legal reasons.

What Ford did may have been relatively minor, but I think what did him in was his attitude during the case. Basically, "yeah, I did it. So what? It's a stupid law and I shouldn't have to follow it. No I didn't read the conflict of interest guidelines because my daddy was an MPP and therefore I already know all there is to know about government."

[king mob]

If you are feeling conspiracy-minded, it's worth considering that this is a PR story that massively benefits UKIP just one week before the Rotherham by-election. A town with a Labour council and a by-election to replace a disgraced Labour MP.

Well that did set my nose twitching and seeing as there was debate about what UKIP really stand for coming from various parts of the media, this has done a Lord McAlpine and washed that debate away.

[king mob]

When the council's director of children's services talked to the press, she talked only about the party membership and previous legal issues with not meeting "cultural and ethnic needs", and there was "no issue of the quality of care" from the couple. Now if they don't know the parents are doing anything and this is solely down to political party, they've done the wrong thing (and apparently down to paranoia about court cases).

Again, there's a huge question not being asked with what exactly were the parents doing not to meet the cultural and ethnic needs of the children because the story has become all about UKIP, not the kids.

[king mob]

The Tory vice-chairman told Cameron he needed to make an electoral pact with UKIP - the government would have an EU referendum and UKIP wouldn't run at all in the next election.

Since that story broke, UKIP and Downing Street have quite sensibly said "fuck off, why on earth would we agree to that". But it doesn't say much for Tory confidence if their electoral strategy man thinks they need to buy off an opposition party.

There's some pretty good evidence that the reason why the Tories failed to win a majority against a failed Labour party wasn't just because of the huge swing to the Lib Dems, but because UKIP were taking votes away directly from the Tories, but Cameron is rightfully wary of a party who don't mind shafting their leaders.

[Iangould]

So Morsi issued a decree granting himself near-dictatorial powers - in theory just until a new constitution was drafted and new elections could be held.

This was met by widespread protests and criticism from inside his own party, so now he's mostly backed down.

[Charles RB]

there's a huge question not being asked with what exactly were the parents doing not to meet the cultural and ethnic needs of the children

Going off what the woman in charge has publicly said when defending the decision, "being members of UKIP" is pretty much it. They were worried about getting into legal trouble or facing criticism because UKIP members were fostering children from outside the UK; the couple in question aren't being accused of anything.

Im just saying what ford did was so minor and what others have done was major and yet they focused of ford because of political reasons not because of legal reasons.

So it wasn't a bullshit decision then, he had actually broken the law. The bullshit decision is they hadn't gone after other people.

There's some pretty good evidence that the reason why the Tories failed to win a majority against a failed Labour party wasn't just because of the huge swing to the Lib Dems, but because UKIP were taking votes away directly from the Tories

It's pretty clear UKIP are eating their vots. OTOH, other parties eat Labour's votes and you don't see them trying to get the Lib Dems or Greens or Plaid Cymru to not run at all. That is pissant stuff. It also emboldens UKIP, so it's also stupid.

[Iangould]

The FSA has captured a dam on the Euphrates which is the main source of electric power for Aleppo.

Also, rebels in Idlib pulled off what seems to be a completely novel form of attack - rather than a suicide bombing they used a remote control device to drive a truck full of explosive into an army checkpoint.

http://www.enduringamerica.com/home/...away-from.html

[Iangould]

- After earlier losing control of the main Damascus-Aleppo highway, the loss of the Euphrates Dam also closed off one of the last supply routes for regime troops in Aleppo. There is apparently still one minor road under regime control.

- In contrast to earlier hit-and-run raids on air force bases around Damascus, the FSA has apparently retained control of the Maj Al sultan base east of Damascus. This implies that the regime's capacity to retaliate with artillery; armor and aircraft has been badly diminished.

- Former officers from the Syrian army who have defected to the opposition have formed a Free Officer's Group which is explicitly secular and pro-democracy, presumably to act as a counterbalance to Islamist groups. The name has historic significance: it was the name of the group of Egyptian military officers led by Gamal Nasser that overthrew the Egyptian monarchy and made him a hero to Arab natonalists. It was also the name of Syrian and Iraqi groups that led coups in the 1950's that overthrew monarchies and established nationalist, secular regimes.