Comments by "Tony Wilson" (@tonywilson4713) on "Secular Talk" channel.

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  18. In other countries its referred to as "balance of power" I'm Australian but went to college in America. This seems to be something that Americans don't understand well because you have evolved over time into this 2 party system. Go and check the history. America has had many other parties in the past they just never managed to last. Imagine if you have 2 major parties (A & B) and a 3rd minor party (C). Party A gets 48% of the seats, Party B gets 47% and Party C gets the other 5%. In most places Party A will form the government because they have the most seats unless Parties B & C form a coalition. Either way Party C has enormous leverage because they can independently choose to pass or block any proposal. Hence the term "balance of power." If this power is used well it can be very good, but if its used badly it can be a disaster. Here in Australia we actually had this a few election cycles back. Politically speaking it was one of the quietest times in Australian history because everyone had to behave and be reasonable. But then we were fairly lucky because the minor parties and independents we have are mostly centrists and NOT radicals. If you have a look at some of the European countries or Israel where this happens then the minor party might be a Left or Right radical. When those sorts of minor parties hold the balance of power they tend to wield it like a log splitter (as in a big heavy axe) and be very destructive. I actually think AOC and the Squad missed a real opportunity when there was the "force the vote" issue. Forget the outcome it would have shown that they COULD step up and demand action on something. It would have earned them respect.
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  28. I'm Australian and before that shit he pulled at the UN he had a decent reputation from the first gulf war. Maybe not perfect, but Gulf War 1 was over and done in a month and then everyone was out. Instead of it becoming Vietnam 2.0 the US and its allies were out. Saddam had is ass kicked, Kuwait was back in the hands of Kuwait and no one was bogged down in some endless disaster. So by about 2003 EVERYBODY WANTED TO KNOW how Gulf War 2 had become the disaster it was. Everyone wanted to know how the same people who did Gulf War 1 screwed up so badly with Gulf War 2. America's own PBS delivered and in 2004 gave the world the documentary "Rumsfeld's War." I first saw it in Australia in either 2005 or 2006 when it was televised on free to air by SBS Australian one of our 2 public broadcasters. Here it is on YT -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MPEWIDBrKyM So yeah a lot of people KNOW and have KNOWN for around 16 years, (I have known for at least 14years) that: - Powell LIED to the UN and knew he was lying. - Powell told Bush in a private dinner NOT to go into Iraq and that Rumsfeld, Wolfowitz and others were wrong. - Powell, Shinseki and others were shut out of the planning by Wolfowitz on Rumsfeld's direction. Before any of you tell me (an Australian) to F--K off let me tell you something. The Australian Prime Minister at the time John Howard is/was a lawyer, which means he knew the basics of International Law and that its a crime to invade a country that has NOT committed an act or acts of war against you or your allies. The invasion of Afghanistan was legal as the Taliban Government by supporting Osama Bin Laden had attacked Australia's ally on 9/11. But Iraq was NOT legal and our PM knew it wasn't legal and we helped destroy that country and and played our part in the deaths over over 100,000 innocent civilians including the 14 killed at Nisour Square by the Blackwater 4 that Trump just pardoned. So before we all go condemning Colin Powell for his part in the Iraq clusterf--k, just know that a lot of other people were involved and very few have ever been held accountable.
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  44. To all you Americans who care. This was just shown Australia regarding Rupert Murdoch and Fox -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QsBqU1RzV7o Its the 1st of 2 parts and the 2nd wont be shown until next week. It includes interviews with ex-Fox presenters who detail what happened inside the Murdoch/Fox Empire with regards to Trump. Its been done by ABC Australia (our equivalent of PBS) on a program called "4 Corners" (our equivalent to PBS Frontline). You can expect the Australian Right Wingers to go completely unhinged. Murdoch's Australian operation is called "Sky News Australia" (if you didn't know). Their Equivalent to Hannity is a guy named Alan Jones, but he's just one of a group of narcissistic liars. So watch out for ANYTHING done by Sky News Australia. Murdoch has been trying for more than 20 years to get the ABC dissolved (as in completely annihilated). The right wingers claim the ABC is leftist and the left wingers always claim they are pro-right. The fact is the ABC is publicly funded but under its charter its programming is independent, including its news and current affairs. SO it reports what comes across its desk. Does it get shit wrong at times? ABSOLUTELY, but its also a place where we can still get HONEST in depth investigative journalism. We can never let the ABC go just the same as America must never let PBS go. If you doubt that watch this Frontline from 16 years ago when all this idiotic shit in Iraq and Afghanistan started. For that question of how did this all happen? Here are the answers. For anyone who's forgotten what people like Paul Wolfowitz did to make this shit storm happen. Here's what he and others said -> https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=byu9Yhr0Q_0
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  48. YOU ARE DEAD RIGHT I'm Australian but went to college in America and first hear about this report over 6 months ago when RICHARD WOLLF mentioned it. The report was published in SEPTEMBER 2022 nearly 10 months ago. I went and checked it against the Australian data which is presented a little differently but tells the same basic story. Anyone can find the CBO report just google "congressional budget office family wealth" and the actual home page for the report should come up. On that page you can not only download the report but an Excel spreadsheet with all the data in the graphs. Here's some facts from the data of the very first graph in that report which is the one shown by Kyle at 4:26. From that graph you can not only get the effect of the 2008 GFC by comparing the 2007 data to 2010 but also the recovery by comparing the 2007 data to 2019. Adjusting for population and averaging the data on a per person value: The Top 10% LOST 11.1% of their wealth in the GFC but by 2019 were 21.1% ABOVE their 2007 value. The Middle 40% LOST 13.3% of their wealth in the GFC but by 2019 were 4.6% ABOVE their 2007 value. The Bottom 50% LOST 49.5% of their wealth in the GFC but by 2019 were STILL 21.8% BELOW their 2007 value. So after the GFC that they caused the Top 10% got around US$4 Trillion from Bush and another US$4 Trillion from Obama and have since recovered and by 2019 were US$20 Trillion ABOVE their 2007 value. Estimates have them at least US$8 Trillion above that during the COVID Pandemic. The current collective value of the Top 10% can be estimated to be above US$90 Trillion compared to an estimated collective value of US$2.5Trillion for the 165 million people who make up America's Bottom 50%. This is neoliberal economics in overdrive and its made a mess of the developed world.
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