Ilunga

You have to know there are a few long running " vendettas " in this game. A few people pick on NIK. Also Sharpies mantra is vote out slankers ", people who don't post much. Something he has been doing for the last few games. Just remember, don't take anything personally in this game. Players say things to illicit a reaction. Then try to get " reads " from those reactions.

" Reality is wrong Dreams are for real " Tupac

I have given examples of people who committed self immolation as a form of Political protest, with evidence that they planned this with full knowledge of what they were doing. I will ask you were the 100 odd Tibetan monks that self immolated in protest against Chinese rule all suffering from mental health issues ? I have posted articles that self immolation has been a form of political and social protest for over 2000 years. Scholarly articles on the subject of self immolation as a form of political/social protest. https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-terrible-act-of-reason-when-did-self-immolation-become-the-paramount-form-of-protest https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jtsb.12047 Are you stating that every single person who has self immolated, using it as a form of political or social statement is suffering from mental health issues ? Without knowing their circumstances, mindset ? Do you have information about we don't about Aaron's mental health situation before this act ? Are you trained in any mental health field ? The woman who self immolated in Atlanta in December, in regards to this conflict wasn't accused of having mental health issues. She was basically accused of being an anti semite. That was what the Israeli consul general to the south east US basically stated. Will you believe an Iranians mans, Mohammad Moradi, own words in regards to his protest suicide Protest suicide: considerations for psychiatrists and psychologists https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/psychiatry/articles/10.3389/fpsyt.2023.1213420/full On the 26th of December 2022, Mohammad Moradi, a 38 year old Iranian student living in France, died by suicide to bring global attention to Iranian protests against the ruling power. Before he threw himself into the Rhone river, Moradi shared a video and said, " when you see this I will be dead. I don't have any mental disorders or life problem. I have a good life, but I can't be unresponsive to what is happening in Iran. I want to sacrifice myself for my country " Sacrifice yourself for your country and/or beliefs while violently killing others, and you are called a hero. Sacrifice your life for your country and/or beliefs while non violently hurting others except for yourself, and some people will label you mentally ill. Go figure

The Euros looked the other way ? Seriously ? How quickly people forget facts. Dated 4 days after Russia invaded Ukraine. https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2022/2/28/which-countries-are-sending-military-aid-to-ukraine " For the first time in its history the EU is financing the purchase and delivery of arms after leaders agree to transport weapons worth 450 million Euros (502m) to Kyiv) European Countries mentioned in the article that immediately sent military aid to Ukraine include France The Netherlands Germany Sweden Norway Denmark Finland Belgium Portugal Greece Romania Spain Czech Republic Croatia And this chart dated four days ago, covering the period up until January the 15th 2024, illustrates that it is European institutions that have given the largest amount of aid to Ukraine, most of it financial. https://www.statista.com/chart/28489/ukrainian-military-humanitarian-and-financial-aid-donors/ And for all the criticism of Germany, it appears they have provided the second most amount of military aid to Germany, only behind the US. Are seriously suggesting that the American military industrial complex is a non profit group of organisations ? Good Times For the Military Industrial Complex https://diem25.org/good-times-for-the-military-industrial-complex/ " In his nationally televised address Israel - Hamas and Russia - Ukraine wars, US president Joe Biden described the American arms industry in remarkably glowing terms noting that, " just as in WW2, today patriotic American workers are building the arsenal of democracy and serving the cause of freedom ". From a political and messaging perspective the president cleverly focused on the workers involved in producing such weaponry, rather than the giant corporations that profit from arming Israel, Ukraine and other nations at war. But profit they do and, even more strikingly the revenues that flows to those firms is pocketed as staggering executive salaries and stock buy backs that only boost that is only boost shareholders earnings further. The US should certainly provide Ukraine with what it needs to defend itself from Russia. Sending arms alone however without an accompanying diplomatic strategy is a recipe for an endless grinding war ( and endless profits for those arms makers ) that could always escalate into a far more direct and devastating conflict between the US, NATO and Russia. Nevertheless given the current urgent need to keep supplying Ukraine, the sources of the relevant weapons systems are bound to be corporate giants like Raytheon and Lockheed Martin. No surprise here, but keep in mind that they're not doing any of this out of charity. Beyond such direct profits there is a larger here: the way this country's arms lobby is using this war to argue for a variety of favourable actions that go well beyond anything that is needed to support Ukraine. Those include less restrictive, multi year contracts, reductions in protections against price gouging, faster approval of foreign sales, and the construction of new weapons plants Over the years far from being a reliable arsenal of democracy, American arms makers have often helped undermine democracy globally, while enabling even greater repression and conflict - a fact largely ignored in mainstream coverage of the industry. For example in a 2022 report for the Quincy institute, I noted that if the 46 then - active conflicts globally, 34 involved parties armed by the United States. In some cases American arms supplies were modest but in many other conflicts such weaponry was central to the military capabilities of one or more of the warring parties. Nor do such weapons sales promote democracy over autocracy, a watch word of the Biden's adminstration's approach. In 2021 the most recent year for which full statistics are available, the US armed 31 nations that Freedom House a non - profit that tracks global trends in democracy, political freedom and human rights designated as not free. " I, like the article support the United States support of Ukraine, however to suggest that the American industrial military complex is a not for profit industrial base is ludicrous.

I don't believe that this is good in anyway for " them ", or their loved ones and friends. And the people who had to witness this, and the medical staff that had to treat him before he died. As a person who lost a few friends to suicide when I was young, I find your comment callous and cold-hearted. I find it very sad that people are driven to take their lives in such an extreme manner, to publicise their beliefs, about which they are obviously very passionate about. I don't believe Aaron should have taken his life. I believe he should have used other methods to get his message across. I can tell you this, as a person who has lost friends to suicide, you ask yourself, why didn't they turn to you for help ? Why didn't they reach out ? Nearly 40 years later I still ask myself, why a friend I knew from grade 2, 7 years old, we were going to have our joint 21st birthday party together, took his life a couple of weeks before he was 21. He had seemingly got his shit together, while many of us were still doing stupid shit. In situations like Aaron's it's a bit easier as both a loved one, friend and someone who doesn't even know him, to know why he took his life. I have posted information as to why some people feel driven to kill themselves this way, and why that particular form of death, is such a powerful way of sending their message.

So you are just ignoring all the evidence I have provided that not all people who self immolate are mentally ill. Particularly those that do it for political purposes. Are you trying to deny this was a political act ? Again, are you a qualified mental health professional to make this diagnosis ? Do you have access to Aaron's past mental health history ? All I can find out about him that he was a social activist, he was extremely princpled, and he used to help the homeless in San Antonio, according to his friends. More information on self immolation as form of political protest. Wiley Library Journal for the theory of social behaviour. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/jtsb.12047 " Suicide as a form of political protest is a little studied social phenomenon that cannot be simply be dismissed as being as irrational or pathognomonic. We consider protest suicide to be a meaningful social action as purposive political act that is intended to change oppressive policies or practices. This paper synthesises theoretical propositions with suicide in general, and protest suicide in particular, so as construct a general explanatory model of protest suicide as a social phenomenon. Then it analyzes protest suicide as a meaningful social action. People considering protest suicide have to discern the logic of the situation in which such action is to take place. This involves answering two fundamental questions: is suicide an acceptable course of social action? Is the envisaged protest suicide likely to achieve their hopes, aspirations and goals? How these questions are answered gives rise to a set of protest suicide archetypes. Our analysis generates a more sophisticated understanding of the potential reasons for, and motivations behind, protest suicide as a social phenomenon. " It is people like you and at @Bob Long that diminish Aaron's act. This guy, David Buckel, doesn't sound mentally ill to me. He also displays many of the same, little that we know, character traits of Aaron https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2019/apr/15/david-buckel-lawyer-climate-change-protest Early on the morning of 14 April 2018 Buckel - a 60 year old - gay right's attorney left his cozy garden surrounded Brooklyn house and walked to nearby prospect Park. He made his way to a stretch of grass, where he emailed media outlets a statement decrying humanity's passivity in the face of pollution and global warming. A few minutes later he doused himself in gasoline and set himself on fire. " Most humans on the planet breathe air made unhealthy by fossil fuels, and many die early deaths as a result." His statement said. My early death by fossil fuel reflects what we are doing to ourselves. " With characteristic care he also left a short note at the scene for the emergency personnel " I am David Buckel and I just killed myself by fire as a protest suicide," he wrote " I apologise to you for the mess " Again, let's not diminish the actions of people like Aaron and David, by labelling them as mentally ill.

He was a member of the armed forces of the biggest supporter of Israel. He was protesting not just the war, but his country's support of it.

This is not just about Aaron, though it upsets me that people label him mentally ill, while at the same time express no compassion for him, or his loved ones at all. They jump to this conclusion with out knowing much about Aaron at all. What we do know is the information you posted in regards to what his friend told us about him. That he was a princpled person, that he had compassion for others, outside of this conflict. What Aaron's act illustrates, is that people have used this form of protest for Millenia, and while some of them may have to indeed had some mental health issues, they can't all have.

How do you know he was mentally ill ? As I have pointed the Buddhist monk who immolated himself in protest against the Afghan war wasn't mentally ill. He and his fellow monks had planned some extreme act like that for months. How do you know what Aaron's mindset was ? Are you trained in psychology or psychiatry to give a professional diagnosis ? Which is actually slanderous if untrue. You are labelling him mentally ill with no knowledge about Aaron whatsoever about his character, apart from this act. As for his actions being exploited, this is a " political " act. Aaron himself wanted his action to be publicised. https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/aaron-bushnell-self-immolation-what-we-know.html " In the hours before his death, Bushnell emailed several left leaning websites alerting them to his " highly disturbing " final act. " Today I am planning to engage in an extreme act against the genocide of the Palestinian people " read the email that was forwarded to the BBC " And here is what a expert in non violent change has to say https://www.politico.com/newsletters/national-security-daily/2024/02/26/what-a-self-immolation-says-about-bidens-gaza-problem-00143308 " Your trying to shock the consciousness with self immolation " said David Cortright, a long time expert in non violent social change who was an active duty soldier when he protested the Vietnam war, told NatSec daily. " The desire to inspire is absolute there. " Members of the service he added " feel they have committed a mission and are committed to that mission, moral principles " and it's clear that the airman was driven by " extreme frustration with the response to the conflict in Gaza " All of this backs up what Aaron's friend stated, about what sort of person he was. I can tell you what I find fucked up, the fact that a secret service agent pointed a gun at him while he was burning alive https://news.yahoo.com/why-did-cops-point-gun-213508789.html " While Bushnell lay dying on the ground engulfed in flames, officers from the US secret service aggressively tried to give him orders and pointed a weapon at him. " One of the agents had compassion for Aaron " I don't need guns " another agent shouted in frustration " I need fire extinguishers " What is sad is that, the " side " that supports Israel calls Aaron mentally ill. Without offering any compassion to his family and friends. Without any knowledge about his mental health. Aaron is the second person to immolate himself protesting against this war in the US. https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-67597395 I could not even find out this person name or any history about him. My thoughts are with his loved one's. Self immolation has been an act of protest for millenia. Were the 40 Tibetans who self immolated in 2012 protesting Chinese rule mentally ill ? https://www.newyorker.com/culture/culture-desk/a-terrible-act-of-reason-when-did-self-immolation-become-the-paramount-form-of-protest " The sociologist Emile Durkheim seperated suicide into four types: the egotistic, the altruistic, the anomic ( moral confusion ) and the fatalistic. Perhaps self immolation captivates so thoroughly because it's wins on all accounts. It is both the ultimate act of both despair and defiance, a symbol at once of resignation heroic self sacrifice. " " Out breaks of protests self immolations followed for decades, from Czechoslovakia to Korea, from France to Kurdistan, Iran to Switzerland. Usually self immolation is a way for the weak to protest against the powerful. But sometimes it's the opposite. In the course of six weeks in 1990, according to Biggs, about 200 hundred Indian university students from high castes set themselves on fire to protest the government's decision to open up spots to the untouchables. Why? What motivated them? I put the question to any number of historians of self immolation, but the best answer came from a scholar based in Washington D.C., " fire is the most dreaded of all forms of death " he said, " so the sight of someone setting themselves on fire is simultaneously an assertion of intolerability, and, frankly, of moral superiority. You say, " I would never have the guts to do that. It's not that he's trying to tell me something, but that he's commanding me. This isn't insanity. It's a terrible act of reason. " After reading this and a few other scholarly articles/ treatises about self immolation, and taking into account what his friend stated about him, I don't believe Aaron was mentally ill. I believe the information I have provided gives some insight into Aaron's mindset.

Hard to believe these guys started out a synth pop band. Co-written and sung by Gibby Haynes from the Butthole Surfers

This is your first reaction, to call Aaron mentally ill ? No thoughts for his family and friends ? My first response is sympathy and compassion for him, and his loved ones, whether he was mentally ill or not. As for exploiting this, Malcolm Brown won a Pulitzer prize for international reporting, also winning world press photo of the year in 1963 for his photo of Thich Quang Duc. The Buddhist monk who immolated himself in 1963, protesting the Vietnam war. Was he mentally ill ? No, he and his compatriots were planning that action. https://time.com/3791176/malcolm-browne-the-story-behind-the-burning-monk/ How do you know Aaron did not have the same mindset as Thich Quang Duc ? It's obvious from his backstory, his friend talks about princpled he was, and how he wanted to help others, that he was a kind, compassionate person. My thoughts are with his family and friends.

This clip was ground breaking back in the day, the way the faces meld together There never was any anger however these words still hold true... Sonia " You cheat and you lie You don't even know how to say good bye "

A turning point in my life Shot...angry... betrayed... " I could be like you I could be alone and jaded Wonderin what to do 'til they say And I could be like you angry and intoxicated Wonderin what to do to make them pay Will I find a way - will I find another way Will I find a way - will I find another way Will I find a way - will I find another way Make them all believe their wrong Their really wrong Their cruel intentions don't belong

Fuckin tragedy when Brad died. Fuckin heroin. They were such a great band Their self titled album was absolutely brilliant. I think it was the 98 Ski- season over in your country, we flogged that album.

Love these guys, got most of their Albums

Thank you for the kind words my friend, they really are appreciated. As I have continually stated I want both Isrealis and Palestinian to have what we enjoy in our societies. Firstly, a safe environment for them to raise their families in. Food on the table. Access to a good education. A future they can view with hope. I despair that a few extremists control the destiny of millions. Edit Oops fat fingers hit the wrong thing. In relation to the Palestinians rooting out Hamas on their own. I have given this a great deal of thought. Amongst the nicknames I have had over the years, one was " crazy dave ". Some people thought I was fearless in regards to risking my life in certain situations. If only they knew I was scared shitless and it was fear that drove me. I wanted to confront and overcome my fears. Anyway in regards to how this is pertinent to Palestinians confronting Hamas, I don't know if I would have had the courage even when I was young, dumb and did some really crazy shit to confront heavily armed fanatical extremists. I would certainly defend the people I love, that's a certaintanty. I have consistently posted all through this thread, people from both sides that are working towards a peaceful solution, they are my heroes. I believe that this is moral courage, and we need more people with this sort of courage if we hope to solve not only this conflict, but all the conflicts on this planet. Edit again I believe most of the people on this board are good people, yourself included, and by this I mean they have good hearts. As I keep stating, the only criteria I have for the people I have in my life is that they are good people. We are in 2 fantasy leagues together, I wouldn't be in those leagues if I didn't respect the people in them. Same for the Mafia games I play. There is one poster who is a regular on this board who I know is a person with great empathy. When a member will express that they are having a hard time IRL, I will often reach out and PM them to offer my support. They sometimes tell me that the person I have mentioned does the same thing. It costs us nothing to show compassion and empathy to each other, and we can change people's lives by doing it.

Just got a bit toey because I had just replied to one of his posts. Apology already made.

Thanks my friend. Apologies to @Warhippy I don't know how people apart from the mods can tell dupe accounts. However I am an illiterate lout when it comes to computerin

Are you referring to me ? Seeing how I replied to one of your posts. New account ? Been a member of this board and the old board with my current user name since 2018. Before that I joined the old site sometime before the cup run as, puckinloveicehockey. Lost my password and had to change my email -relationship breakup, my ex had access - so that is why I rejoined using another name. I am sorry if you find my posts about wealth inequality tired and old. Wealth inequality is a great injustice as far as I am concerned. And actions of past administrations have contributed to this. As I brought up years ago, of probably the worst decision made was Clinton's repealing of the Glass- Steagall act, in relation to the distribution of wealth. Clinton used to quote and invoke the name of Roosevelt frequently, yet he undid one of Roosevelts greatest achievements. Kinda funny that it was only 7-8 years after Clinton repealed Glass - Steagall, the GFC, banking crisis happened. Now you can counter with the Dodd- Franklin act, which was a great piece of Legislation. Passed by a president I greatly admire for his economic decisions. However when PO1135809 was elected president his administration watered it down with the help of the banking lobby. https://www.pbs.org/newshour/economy/hundreds-of-lobbyists-pushed-government-to-water-down-banking-regulations For sure Biden's adminstration has done a reasonably good job considering Covid and the high inflation rates that inevitably followed. But I believe he can do more. An example of this is how our Albanese's government has reduced the stage 3 tax cuts for wealthiest Australians and passed those savings onto low and middle class income earners. Bottom line tax the rich more and the poor less. I know this is only one example however a pro publica report from 2018 stated, " Elon Musk and many other Americans at the top of the worlds richest people paid no income tax "

Don't forget about the Rohingya, a Muslim minority that have been the victims of genocide. Then there's the Uyghurs, another Muslim minority that is a victim of genocide/ethnocide. And then there is Pakistan, a country no one has really associated with mass killings since the early 70's. https://www.ushmm.org/genocide-prevention/blog/countries-at-risk-for-mass-killing-2022-23 Note that Pakistan heads this list. 11 of those countries mentioned currently have ongoing mass killing episodes. https://www.statista.com/statistics/975718/leading-countries-risk-genocide/

Brother, we could form a coalition of the willing, and go looking for those weapons off ass destruction.