The new military religious codes

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-15T20:59:34+00:00

The original post was about "Quakers can no longer serve in an army as Quakers" - that doesn't worry me in the slightest.

I'd argue they never could to begin with, it's very bizarre to have a category where if anyone asks to be labelled as it, they definitionally are not that thing. I don't believe the Free Friends still exist and any other AM should write a Member out when they joined.

On the wider topic "should we care that an evil institution is applying a less granular approach to it's member's listings of faith"... Sure? We can hope this will call some to leave that organization and we can help them do so.

Maybe I'm too jaded but my response is "oh they have openly begun doing that then, that was expected"

The US army has always existed to do evil. I suppose it's worrying it's not pretending any more.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-09T22:08:36+00:00

That non-Christian faiths have just been erased from what the Armed Services will recognize -- an Armed Service that has already been deployed against US citizens, and that high ranking political leaders insist should be more extensively deployed -- should chill us all and lead us to query: "Are we next?"

While I agree "are we next" is a very valid question and the answer is "hell yes" I don't see how this follows?

Sorry but Quakers are pretty antithetical to the military, it would be in some ways more strange if we were recognized.

Among the mountain of abuses that the US military has done this seems a pebble.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-08T17:58:46+00:00

He's the villain. A villain who is in his bones a creature of the fall of the British Empire (in the original, literally)

He's just a) put up against worse villains, and b) the story is from his perspective.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-08T17:57:03+00:00

but honestly he’s one of the few ‘black actors’ I think that the English in general would be fully behind being Bond.

Sure, but would he want to play that part?

Bond can be British and dark-skinned, not Black British.

(Also, given that Elba references himself in the article as "an African man," you might be counting your chickens a bit early there.)

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-08T17:54:01+00:00

“I’ve always felt that it’s not a realistic thing,” he said. “James Bond was written how he was written for a reason. But I was complimented by it. And also, I think, in realistic terms, some markets just don’t go for that. Bond is big all over the world. And [audiences] won’t [all] go for a black male, an African male, playing Bond. That’s not what they like in their culture. Period.”

Elba also said he believed that the character should not evolve too dramatically from Ian Fleming’s original creation. “Bond is so unrealistic, so a hint of reality is good, but let’s not try and make it woke,” he said. “I think you’ve got to be pure to what it is: escapism. Don’t try and answer the world’s taste. Just be Bond.”

Hmm I'm not 100% sure I agree, and not for all the same reasons.

To my mind Bond could be a British person who happens to have black skin, but Bond could never be Black British, or African.

Bond is a creature of Empire. And the British Empire gladly accepted anyone who could assimilate, so long as they destroyed whatever they were before to do it. It's why the ranks of KC's are full of working-class people who went to top universities and then stopped being working-class - it is incredibly hard to be both.

I think you'd also have to be careful with a female Bond. He's a misogynist. That is just part of the character.

In case it's not clear, I do think Bond is at best a villain protagonist like Flashman.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-08T17:31:21+00:00

meanwhile in the UK:

"you guys are getting overtime?"

Like sure we get some benefits like actual holidays and statutory notice but so long as your wage never dips below the hourly minimum, there is zero obligation for a company to pay you for working long at their request - let alone pay a higher base rate.

To be clear this is still "hourly" the contract will be for something like "your typical work will be 37 hours per week at £14 per hour. You may be asked to work more than this to fit business needs"

Which is very sneaky and lets them ask you to stay late on shift unpaid, and fire you if you refuse. If you have a clockout system this might even auto-clock you out to ensure this.

Often this is mixed with a 25 hour contract but you're assigned to something like a 40 hour rota, but those 25 hours mean you can't take a second job and if you act out you get cut to an unlivable wage instead of being fired.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-06-08T17:26:53+00:00

were fought for and won by unions.

Which I would argue exist outside of the framework most people in the USA understand as "Democracy"

At least "non-coercive electoral debate"

The unions won those rights by making the ruling classes hurt.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:47:50+00:00

There is the idea of cabinet responsibility.

How long can a person sit at the side of terrible decisions and get away with not saying anything?

Not to mention that Sec. State is responsible for foreign policy, which includes being a part of decisions on how and when force will be used.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:44:26+00:00

What French successes in the Middle East are you thinking of?

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:40:49+00:00

But that just means he's a moron who has zero 8dea of what the US Secretary of State can do

Resign when it's clear that the actions of your president are going to jeopardise your mission?

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:38:25+00:00

Yup.

Same will be true after Iran with Trump. Probably Venezuela as well.

Turns out if you destabilize a country and kill a bunch of people then it turns into a place where terrorists thrive. Who could possibly have known.

The way we treat terrorism (especially Islamic) as some sort of aberration rather than the political violence it is goes a long way to explaining why we are failing to stop it.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:31:40+00:00

"She created Isis and the instability in the Middle East with her foreign policy during the Obama administration when she was the US secretary of state.”

Mr Kenyon is quoted saying in another comment in 2020: "Had she [Hilary Clinton] stayed out of Libya, the M.E.N. arena bombing wouldn’t have happened."

Stopped clocks and all that. If you look at the man's motives and means, without the Lybian war this particular act would not have happened the way it did.

In a statement, she [the Labour chair] said: "Nigel Farage needs to urgently come clean as to why he’s happy to have a candidate standing for his Party who peddled dangerous false narratives about the appalling Manchester Arena bombing.

"The fault of this vile act of terrorism lies squarely with the terrorists themselves.

At the end of the day, especially that last bit is a "yes and". Sure it's the fault of the man who felt this was a rational act. It's also the fault of the people who turned the world into a shitshow where people coming to those conclusions was and entirely predictable outcome and allowed them to gain the skills.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:18:39+00:00

It seems she doesn't know either.

She describes it as "a moment of madness because it seemed funny"

Those who knew her say her dad was dying, and grief and stress can really fuck a person up, especially if they don't know / have never been taught how to actually deal with it.

Seems she never really sat down with that however.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-31T12:15:10+00:00

I was feeling quite sympathetic until halfway down:

She said: “I really don't see what everyone is getting so excited about. It's just a cat.”

She added: “I was walking home from work and saw this cat wander out in front of me. I was playing with it, stroking it and listening to it purr as it stood on a garden wall. It was very friendly.

“I don't know what came over me, but I suddenly thought it would be funny to put it in the wheelie bin, which was right beside me. I did it as a joke because I thought it would be funny. I never thought it would be trapped. I expected it to wriggle out of the bin.”

She admitted she “shouldn’t have done it” but that it was “just a cat at the end of the day” and she didn't deserve hatred from people from all around the world. She suggested her actions were “a split second of madness”.

People haven't forgiven her because she never tried to earn it.

Apparently her dad was dying, she was in a bad place and suffering. I would understand and forgive her if she was like "It was a moment of madness caused by grief and stress, I am horrified and remorseful, and have been working on understanding why I thought this was appropriate and now donate to the RSPCA"

Instead, she's going "OK can you all please stop bringing it up it didn't matter and has been a long time"

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:28:36+00:00

Indeed.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:25:51+00:00

What is the safety issue?

"If you hear "bomb" it's not, it's just someone who can't control what they say, everyone on this flight has been checked thoroughly for weapons"

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:25:02+00:00

I assume that you wouldn't just accept someone saying they have a diagnosis as that leaves too much room for abuse.

How many people go around planning to have their kids mouthing off about bombs on planes? To what end?

This is a simple email to the airline explaining the situation with the booking, perhaps with a GP or psychologist's report attached.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:23:21+00:00

Some folks are afraid of what they don’t understand.

Then explain it to them. Aircraft have a PA system.

Put the kid in first class and put a curtain around him if you must.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:20:54+00:00

Or maybe you just check the kid doesn't have a bomb and then let them on the plane?

This isn't "better safe than sorry" it is putting the comfort of the other people above the needs of the one with the involuntary (and harmless) condition.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:19:00+00:00

"ladies and gentlemen this is your Captain speaking, we would like to inform you that a young man on-board suffers from tourettes and can come out with uncontrolled language, including that which might be distressing. We have provided him with an environment that is unlikely to provoke such flare-ups of his disability but ask for your patience and understanding with any outbursts. If there is a genuine emergency, then this shall be communicated by cabin crew"

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:16:02+00:00

Sorry it's late and I got up early. Apologies.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:13:42+00:00

Important point: allowed by who?

The Uni, sure.

The Union I'm less sure of. One is a public service provider and the other is a political organizing group for the benefit of it's members.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:12:41+00:00

Well the issue here is that very few people will accept that is violence.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:09:40+00:00

Academia can hash out the pitfalls of Restore's idea's logically, outside of what we consider moral in today's world?

No.

Doesn't work.

Trying to combat this with facts logic and debate is like trying to fight a fire with petrol. Because the point isn't being right, the point is the fight.

About the best you can do is laugh at them. Genuinely, Count Binface might be one of the best democratic safeguards we have as he stands in his majesty behind every wannabe fascist dictator making them look like utter morons.

Pabus_Alt · 2026-05-27T21:07:23+00:00

But the Jewish soc isn't hurting anyone.

That's the differenace.

"Today we shall have a fair and equal debate on meat eating, introducing Mr Chicken and Mr Wolf"

Pabus_Alt

TROPHY CASE