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So, yeah, the US is not so much in the middle of a political crisis, it is in a crisis of values, which has been a long time coming but this needs to be worked through before it can come back together as a nation. It's a damn shame that the cowards and blowhards have taken over and no one has the balls to stand up and take responsibility. It's going to be a painful lesson, but it is inevitably going to come.
Appreciate the background, and completely agree.
Americas problem is that it consistently, repetitively, incessantly preaches values, and practices none.
DEI's issue isn't it's intention, it's that the application became sport for the left to see who could identify "privilege" in every comment. Gotcha! So what if you're 70... not accepting they as a singular pronoun makes you evil!!!! It was bullshit, and now the Right is clamping down in actions, not words.
I agree that transgender participants in sports is a complex issue, but the good that it does for the thousands of kids struggling with their identity shouldn't be ignored because one college woman didn't get a medal. Adjust the rules as appropriate over time, and move on.
Everyone knows that an association/comparison to Hitler is always a bad idea, but there are so many instances of Presidential actions right now where there just aren't that many comps. Masked soldiers, operating with immunity, roaming the streets of an American city looking for a specific group of people who are required to show documentation or be carted off in unmarked vehicles to a place unknown, and for whom legal representation is denied...at least initially? Gestapo is an appropriate, known, label.
Stupid, racist, and/or selfish. It's always dangerous to generalize, but a friend of mine said that those are the qualities of the MAGA movement, and I've yet to find a supporter who doesn't fit squarely into at least one of categories. Those are the values we've allowed to drive our agenda.
I tossed the toxic masculinity remark in there because I reckoned for it triggering someone here, I just didn't imagine it would be you.
So you acted like an ass to piss people off and get a reaction? This doesn't make you brave or strong, it makes you an ass. I'm sure you'll think I'm 'triggered' now and blame it on my time in Seattle where I do enjoy a good latte, or my enjoyment of sushi and quiche. But you are the one who is out trying to get a reaction to make yourself feel better somehow. Pulling others down doesn't lift you up. You are the one drowning in the ocean who keeps pulling his would be rescuers under the water, you are still going to drown unless you calm down and find your way to the surface.
As for the rest, NoEnz has you identified and answered very well. I hope you find a hug from someone who doesn't want something in return. I hope you get some solace that leads to serenity. Your misadventure into anger won't be forgotten, but most of us do remember the person you used to be and would enjoy having that person back.
Enzo, mate.....I agree 100% with you regarding what makes us human and what makes us men. Men, real men, are important to society, and men are different to women. And we need women because the difference they bring balances masculinity. Agree, agree, agree. We have more in common than we have differences, you and I.
So yes, we are on the same page regarding the above, as you put it.
However, as rugby fan yourself, if you have watched any of the women's test rugby, you would have to agree that women's rugby, while no less entertaining or excellent than men's rugby, is way different.
This is because men and women are different.
So, imagine putting a provincial level male rugby player into a women's side, even a national level women's side? Or even a URC-level male player. Or even a decent club-level male player?
Fair or no?
So, should standards of fitness and lethality be lowered in say special ops armed services to accommodate women, in order to achieve representative equality of outcomes?
Or should the standards remain the same, and if a woman passes and meets the standards, then sure, she can be inducted into whatever branch of the special forces, as a result of equality of opportunity?
Men and women are different, think differently, behave differently, operate differently. I can't hold a conversation with a five year old whilst putting something in the oven and listening to a podcast and thinking about a response to an email. But my wife can.
I tossed the toxic masculinity remark in there because I reckoned for it triggering someone here, I just didn't imagine it would be you.
Ordinary masculinity, not based on insecurity, the kind you accredited to your father, is not toxic.
It is necessary, normal, especially in say, solving technical problems.
That's not to say women can't think in the same way, or solve problems, so hold your fire; it was merely a throwaway remark, and I expected a laughing emoji as much as I expected someone being triggered, but I guess those days are long gone.
Trump, and his administration, and the similar so-called far-right extremist populist movements gaining traction worldwide; these are all merely a response to the kind of thinking that pushes the notion men can have babies, that boys can be girls, that men should be in women's sports, that it's ok to throw away billions of dollars into welfare fraud, that mass illegal immigration is an ok way to keep your political party in power, that police should be defunded, that communism is cool, etc etc etc.
The left brought this all upon itself, if you like.
It went too far left, and Trump is just the corrective result.
I am going for a choof.....have a great weekend.
Woah, hang on a minute. Before you call me mate, you should know I am on completely the opposite side of the fence. That's not a deal-breaker for me (necessarily - I draw the line at child abuse and domestic violence, for instance), but I am not sure you could handle my position without squirming. I was a front-line protester during the Springbok Tour riots in 1981. Had my jaw dislocated and my best mate nearly died from loss of blood when he had his face smashed in. I also studied politics and philosophy and looked at Trotskyism for a brief period before tossing it, along with other forms of Marxism (different thread). So you might want to reconsider that mate thing.
But whatever, here's my bio and why I think you are projecting your own fears and insecurities onto society, not the other way around:
I had an awesome early childhood. Couldn't have been better. Then my Dad got colonic cancer (probably from that high meat and burnt camp bread diet he had in the mountains) and died two years later when I was 11. My Mum, who married at the age of 19, didn't handle it well as she hadn't developed the resources to be independent, marrying so young, so it was basically my elder sister holding our little unit together. On top of that, both of my natural grandfathers had come back war-damaged and violent and been tossed out of their respective families. Which meant I had two very strong-willed grandmothers and a staunch sister and my Mum, who was also pretty strong-willed in her own way. This coterie of strong females was offset by the school I went to which was all boys and traditional values as they trained us to become upright citizens and strong young men. One of my classmates even became an All Black and others went on to have stellar careers. By the time I hit 17 though I had had enough of it. I had been groomed to become head prefect and put under immense pressure to fit a certain mould as they tried to shoehorn me into their vision of my future, but it wasn't me. I was so sick of it, I left school halfway through my final year and went and studied modern dance, which I discovered wasn't me either. But it was interesting, as everybody immediately thinks your gay, which I wasn't, but it was kind of illuminating to see people automatically try to pigeonhole you on that side of the fence as well.
Why am I saying all this? Yeah, I guess our biographies do determine our political affiliations to some extent, and that is mine.
But whatever, let's just start with your observation that men and women are different. No shit Sherlock. What you fail to mention is that we are ALL different. Our class had the schools biggest and strongest guy and also the smallest. Some guys are cowards, some guys have guts, some are intelligent, some not so much.
Same with women. I'd rather have a couple of the women from the Black Ferns beside me in a street fight than most of the males on the planet. Same with wartime. It's not just brawn that counts, but the ability to keep your cool, think, act deliberately. If I ever had to go into battle I'd rather have a woman like my sister beside me (she has sailed around the world and braved a hurricane in the middle of the Tasman in the days before satellite communications and reliable weather forecasts) than I would most guys, who'd just shit their pants. My sister wouldn't.
It also goes the other way, there are guys out there who are by nature more into traditionally feminine activities, than most women. Likewise, homosexuality has been around in every culture and since time immemorial, it is also widespread in the animal kingdom. It just part of life's rich pageant.
Ok, so maybe you kind of agree with all this and your actual charge is that DEI has gone too far when it sets contingents. But has it really gone too far? Those contingents have almost always been set up to offset the suffocating mass of the majority over a minority. In my experience, people who have problems with them are generally the faceless, spineless creatures who are actually afraid of losing their own privileges. The only issue I personally have is with transgender athletes outcompeting natural born woman, which I find awkward. Then again, the border between male and female is bit grey in some cases (XXY etc.). Again, part of life's rich pageant.
The Boks were always a strong team. But look at them now, post Apartheid, they are undisputedly the best right now. And I say that as a NZer. On that note, look too at the All Blacks. Try to imagine them without any Maori or other Polynesians in the team.
And what holds for racial integration, also holds true for the gender division thing. I have worked most of my life under female managers. They did a damned good job of it, better than most men. Likewise, think of all the female Heads of State there have been. I can't think of any particular career where you should have an actual ban on gender lines. Mid-wives perhaps, or running safe-houses for victims of domestic abuse. But that is about it. We are ALL different and all unique. Let's give each individual the freedom to find the place in society that fits them best. What do you think?
So, no, I can't see Trump as a corrective force for alleged excesses of DEI, the vast majority of which have been concocted or exaggerated out of all proportion for political purposes. I am also convinced that most Trump fans, actually know this, but you are all so scared of losing your privileges you parrot the same litany of lies to shore up your collective delusion. This is a weakness of character. No more, no less.
And even if your charges (of excessive DEI) were true, this would not exonerate Trump of all the damage he has done. He, too, is not above the law and should be held accountable. So should Bill Clinton if he too is guilty of raping minors on Epstein's island. It is precisely the inability to acknowledge this basic tenet of civilised society that convinces me that Trump supporters actually know they are shitting in their own nest and simply projecting their own fears and insecurities onto the people who dare hold them to account or onto scapegoats, like Somali immigrants, who can't hold them to account. You are actively sowing division, because that is the only way you can hold on to your privileged status as white males (EDIT: or at least you think it is, though even that is not actually true).
So, yeah, the US is not so much in the middle of a political crisis, it is in a crisis of values, which has been a long time coming but this needs to be worked through before it can come back together as a nation. It's a damn shame that the cowards and blowhards have taken over and no one has the balls to stand up and take responsibility. It's going to be a painful lesson, but it is inevitably going to come.
Location: Perched on the precipice of the cauldron of truth
Posted:
Jan 17, 2026 - 7:27am
Jiggz wrote:
Enzo, mate.....I agree 100% with you regarding what makes us human and what makes us men. Men, real men, are important to society, and men are different to women. And we need women because the difference they bring balances masculinity. Agree, agree, agree. We have more in common than we have differences, you and I.
So yes, we are on the same page regarding the above, as you put it.
However, as rugby fan yourself, if you have watched any of the women's test rugby, you would have to agree that women's rugby, while no less entertaining or excellent than men's rugby, is way different.
This is because men and women are different.
So, imagine putting a provincial level male rugby player into a women's side, even a national level women's side? Or even a URC-level male player. Or even a decent club-level male player?
Fair or no?
So, should standards of fitness and lethality be lowered in say special ops armed services to accommodate women, in order to achieve representative equality of outcomes?
Or should the standards remain the same, and if a woman passes and meets the standards, then sure, she can be inducted into whatever branch of the special forces, as a result of equality of opportunity?
Men and women are different, think differently, behave differently, operate differently. I can't hold a conversation with a five year old whilst putting something in the oven and listening to a podcast and thinking about a response to an email. But my wife can.
I tossed the toxic masculinity remark in there because I reckoned for it triggering someone here, I just didn't imagine it would be you.
Ordinary masculinity, not based on insecurity, the kind you accredited to your father, is not toxic.
It is necessary, normal, especially in say, solving technical problems.
That's not to say women can't think in the same way, or solve problems, so hold your fire; it was merely a throwaway remark, and I expected a laughing emoji as much as I expected someone being triggered, but I guess those days are long gone.
Trump, and his administration, and the similar so-called far-right extremist populist movements gaining traction worldwide; these are all merely a response to the kind of thinking that pushes the notion men can have babies, that boys can be girls, that men should be in women's sports, that it's ok to throw away billions of dollars into welfare fraud, that mass illegal immigration is an ok way to keep your political party in power, that police should be defunded, that communism is cool, etc etc etc.
The left brought this all upon itself, if you like.
It went too far left, and Trump is just the corrective result.
I am going for a choof.....have a great weekend.
I notice that you do not contest the assertion by NoEnz that the Trump administration lacks what NoEnz described as âstrength of character.â
Jiggz, from what you have posted in the past, I am assuming you're a good Dad, which is about 95% of what this life is all about, and you respect the All Blacks, so I'll give you another 0.5%, but in terms of your political opinions, I just don't see the mana.
My Dad was a hunter. Lived five years in the mountains, frequently alone. Was assigned to search isolated valleys of Fiordland for the Takahe. Worked as a ranger and was shot at by poachers. He was a tough buggar. When my parents got married he set up the local tramping (aka hiking) and mountaineering club with his mate. Also on the board of the Deerstalkers Association and gave lessons in firearms safety. Was involved in practically every SAR mission carried out by the local police. He taught me a lot, but most of all he and my mum taught me about character and tbh I am still way behind the example they set, but I try.
Basically, they taught me that strength is about helping the weak, doing what you can, sharing and communicating, integrating those not as advantaged as you. Showing the other cheek in a fight rather than escalating. Finding common ground and building a solid community. Those who don't do that are generally the weak, the greedy, the selfish and slovenly. People who can't take criticism and hide from resolving conflict.
Now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you on the same page regarding all the above. Just I can't for the life of me, see any of this strength of character in Trump administration. Not a single jot.
Enzo, mate.....I agree 100% with you regarding what makes us human and what makes us men. Men, real men, are important to society, and men are different to women. And we need women because the difference they bring balances masculinity. Agree, agree, agree. We have more in common than we have differences, you and I.
So yes, we are on the same page regarding the above, as you put it.
However, as rugby fan yourself, if you have watched any of the women's test rugby, you would have to agree that women's rugby, while no less entertaining or excellent than men's rugby, is way different.
This is because men and women are different.
So, imagine putting a provincial level male rugby player into a women's side, even a national level women's side? Or even a URC-level male player. Or even a decent club-level male player?
Fair or no?
So, should standards of fitness and lethality be lowered in say special ops armed services to accommodate women, in order to achieve representative equality of outcomes?
Or should the standards remain the same, and if a woman passes and meets the standards, then sure, she can be inducted into whatever branch of the special forces, as a result of equality of opportunity?
Men and women are different, think differently, behave differently, operate differently. I can't hold a conversation with a five year old whilst putting something in the oven and listening to a podcast and thinking about a response to an email. But my wife can.
I tossed the toxic masculinity remark in there because I reckoned for it triggering someone here, I just didn't imagine it would be you.
Ordinary masculinity, not based on insecurity, the kind you accredited to your father, is not toxic.
It is necessary, normal, especially in say, solving technical problems.
That's not to say women can't think in the same way, or solve problems, so hold your fire; it was merely a throwaway remark, and I expected a laughing emoji as much as I expected someone being triggered, but I guess those days are long gone.
Trump, and his administration, and the similar so-called far-right extremist populist movements gaining traction worldwide; these are all merely a response to the kind of thinking that pushes the notion men can have babies, that boys can be girls, that men should be in women's sports, that it's ok to throw away billions of dollars into welfare fraud, that mass illegal immigration is an ok way to keep your political party in power, that police should be defunded, that communism is cool, etc etc etc.
The left brought this all upon itself, if you like.
It went too far left, and Trump is just the corrective result.
Jiggz, from what you have posted in the past, I am assuming you're a good Dad, which is about 95% of what this life is all about, and you respect the All Blacks, so I'll give you another 0.5%, but in terms of your political opinions, I just don't see the mana.
My Dad was a hunter. Lived five years in the mountains, frequently alone. Was assigned to search isolated valleys of Fiordland for the Takahe. Worked as a ranger and was shot at by poachers. He was a tough buggar. When my parents got married he set up the local tramping (aka hiking) and mountaineering club with his mate. Also on the board of the Deerstalkers Association and gave lessons in firearms safety. Was involved in practically every SAR mission carried out by the local police. He taught me a lot, but most of all he and my mum taught me about character and tbh I am still way behind the example they set, but I try.
Basically, they taught me that strength is about helping the weak, doing what you can, sharing and communicating, integrating those not as advantaged as you. Showing the other cheek in a fight rather than escalating. Finding common ground and building a solid community. Those who don't do that are generally the weak, the greedy, the selfish and slovenly. People who can't take criticism and hide from resolving conflict.
Now, I'll give you the benefit of the doubt and presume you on the same page regarding all the above. Just I can't for the life of me, see any of this strength of character in Trump administration. Not a single jot.
Hahahaha! We have one of those dudes!
However, there was no need to mobilise and deploy him.
I opened the drain box set into the floor, a feature of all the Portuguese homes I have been in - like an accessible junction box of all the grey water pipes in the bathroom- and found no spongy sea creatures and the drain was running freely.
A hooked fishwire sent up the drain line to the bath returned no sea creatures.
Mmmm......
So I went for the pressed stainless steel drain plug receptacle - loosened it up, took it out...everything looked good and it was not loose or deformed. Resealed and reseated that with a couple squirts of goop and a new rubber seal.
What now, Tonto?!
An inspection of the actual bath surface, under the LED inspection light I used for the plug receptacle job, revealed a chip in the gelcoat at the other end of the bath. A deep one, and what looked like a pinhole through the fibreglass (plastic bath, read: The Enshittification of Everything).
A cup of coffee and a choof were used to aid the thought process that followed.
I found and dug out the two half-used tubes of white quickset two-part epoxy freely available in South Africa but not available in Europe, brought over from SA when we emigrated five years ago. Who knew they would be useful one day?
Yeh, I did....I must score a resupply when I am next in SA.
Cleaned the area around the chip and the chip itself with Acetone, mixed a wee batch of magic, applied and spread a small sheet of polyethylene over the patch. Smoothed it with a damp fingertip, left it about ten minutes and peeled the plastic sheet away.
Looks like a good fix, barely noticeable under the bathroom light. It'll do.
Beeg lecture for the two women and the wee fella about washing car cylinder heads or dumbells in the bath (wasn't me...) is locked and loaded, awaiting their return.....
Time for coffee and a choof.
I think nicotine is my final vice to send packing.....but would that make me end up dumb and useless, and nullify my toxic masculinity?
Got home from Poland late yesterday afternoon, ran a bath for my little fella in the upstairs bathroom, went back downstairs into the lounge and noticed clean water dripping from the ceiling in the corner beneath his bathroom. Drained the bath, the dripping stopped.
Where to begin looking for the source...
This makes me think the small sponge seacreatures he loves to have in the bath with him might have something to do with it....
Had a clog once. Couldn't fix it. Removed toilet and found my son's blue power ranger holding on for dear life. EDIT: I see many of you have similar experiences. After I fixed the toilet, I called my father to tell him of my repair, using as visual an explanation as I could. He laughed so hard, he cried. Like yall, he'd done similar. Good memory. Rest in peace Dad.
random youtube comment
Got home from Poland late yesterday afternoon, ran a bath for my little fella in the upstairs bathroom, went back downstairs into the lounge and noticed clean water dripping from the ceiling in the corner beneath his bathroom. Drained the bath, the dripping stopped.
Where to begin looking for the source...
This makes me think the small sponge seacreatures he loves to have in the bath with him might have something to do with it....
Had a clog once. Couldn't fix it. Removed toilet and found my son's blue power ranger holding on for dear life. EDIT: I see many of you have similar experiences. After I fixed the toilet, I called my father to tell him of my repair, using as visual an explanation as I could. He laughed so hard, he cried. Like yall, he'd done similar. Good memory. Rest in peace Dad.
