The cost of occupying Greenland

There is concern that Trump wants to occupy Greenland. In the event of an invasion, the US would quickly win. But how many American lives is Trump willing to give to occupy it? We saw quick invasions of Iraq and Afghanistan resulting in US troops being killed by those resisting their presence. If the USA invades Greenland, how popular would its occupation be if US troops were killed? Would the American public really back Trump in that situation?

But, it may not come to that. Some NATO members have sent troops to Greenland. Trump is not happy and wants them out. Preventing an invasion keeps NATO together, officially. Is it dead however?

My Mum wants to leave Labour

First of all, my wife and I dropped our daughter off in Bristol. We had intended to do this earlier in the day but woke up late.  Driving there is my car is the environmentally right option as my car is electric while my wife has a hybrid car. It means that we do get a chance to rest, but this also means the journey takes longer when it charges.  It has enough range to get to the services at Reading when driving there, or the services at South Mimms on the way back, but there are no services in between.  The dog was not happy when my daughter was dropped off and sulked, ignoring her as she said goodbye. My son did not come as he has a party.

On the way back, while charging the car, my mother rang, asking if she should leave Labour. She said that Labour are not doing anything for the environment. If that was the case, then Reform UK and the Tories would not need to complain, but they do oppose Labour on the environment. My EV was bought at a discount thanks to the stance of Labour on electric cars. 

While I can see why she is attracted to The Green Party, but the economic policies of The Green Party are from Planet Truss.  We saw the damage that fantasy economics did to the country under her. Polanski has not learned from history when it comes to his policies, not just Zimbabwe, but Germany in 1923.  

I don’t agree with Labour on everything. I can see why they have had to take decisions which offend many. I think Labour are wrong on immigration, I think that they were wrong to offer Junior Doctors the highest pay rise in the public sector when pay restoration applies to so many, such as nurses.

But I do think that Labour are the best to run our nation. I hope my mother can see that. 

Does it matter if Tommy Robinson likes to be intimate with men?

Last year, on one of my many long Twitter debates, the topic of Tommy Robinson spending time in jail was discussed.  During this, I suggested that he did not need to spend time in jail to meet men when there were other options. It turns out that I may have been right. 

Tommy Robinson has been outed as having an interest in gay love.  Personally, I have no issues with it.  But it appears that Stephen Yaxley-Lennon (his real name) has, as he deleted a tweet where his interest was exposed.  He should remember that there is nothing wrong with men who are intimate with other men and men should not be ashamed if they are.  

Should JK Rowling comment about everything on the planet?

As stated before, I do not go onto Twitter as much. Bluesky is so much nicer, quieter, but is a much nicer place to post.  

I have noted though that many have said that JK Rowling is wrong not to speak out about the execution of Renee Nicole Good.   But today, I watched a video from Novara Media commenting how she did not speak out against the war in Gaza.  

The thing is, JK Rowling did comment about the conflict referring to 'snivelling apologists for rape and murder' but there is a reason why Novara Media may not discuss that. Notably because of the crimes of Hamas against women in the attack. Some have denied that this happened but Hamas has form when it comes to discrimination.

Women's rights in Gaza have been curtailed under Hamas, an example of this is how the UN marathon was cancelled due to Hamas banning women taking part in it.

I did agree with the essay JK Rowling wrote about women and segregated spaces.  I do not agree with some of her views on this matter now as I think that she has been radicalised.  But she has been vocal in speaking out about women's rights in Afghanistan, Iran and also in the USA.  I challenge anyone to say otherwise.  

People We Meet on Vacation

This is a film that we watched as the family had wanted to.  My son has been revising for his mock exams and has been unwell recently, but is now better.

As a family film, it was enjoyable.  I would rate is as an average film.  It had a decent soundtrack and also had a memorable character.  As a romcom, it was predictable and unless it is on when I am channel hopping, I am unlikely to watch this again.  The rest of the family enjoyed it more than I did and it is spending time with them which was more enjoyable than watching the film.  

All in all, it was nice to watch it.  If you have not watched it, I would not go out of your way to do so, but it is not a film to avoid. 

Paedosky or Pedosky?

Last year, when I used Twitter more, I was told that Bluesky should be called paedosky. The post was made from an account that is now suspended (and I am not going to sign up for Twitter chat to share the conversation). 

The irony is that Elon Musk has allowed it to be used to alter images of women and children to undress them. Twitter has yet to take decent action on this, but as more leave it, I suspect it wants to keep features that will stop incels from moving to Truth Social. 

When it comes to banning Twitter (or X as my wife and much of the world calls it) over deepfakes, that is a decision I am against. Deepfakes have been around for a few years now and have been used to create sexualised images of women, and children but not to this extent.  I use an AI image generator for my hobby of role playing and when I have used it, it will rightly delete images that it considers too rude. Just for the record, I have not tried to create such images, but occasionally it will self censor images it deems inappropriate. In addition to this, the main AI engines I have used will not allow images of real people to be altered or created. But I have not tried Grok for my hobby as I don’t use Twitter that much. 

Sadly, I think that the only thing to do, to ensure that Twitter is punished for this, is for users to switch to Bluesky. Legislation has been suggested on this matter in the past, and acting now to single out Twitter when this matter has been ignored for years is morally and legally dubious. Actions against all software which do this is overdue.

Venezuela and the abduction of Nicolás Maduro

Let me first of all say that the abduction of Nicolás Maduro is wrong and is a breach of international law.  

He is rightly regarded as an illegitimate president and I shed no tears about the end of his regime.  However, due to the need for the UK to keep on the good side of Trump, I understand why Starmer has not condemned this. 

There are many who have called him out over this, and I see why, but when you peel back the layers of his decision not to do so, you can understand why.

One is the Trump Tariffs. If we annoy The Orangutan, then we risk having higher tariffs which will harm British jobs and affect the growth our nation needs.

The other is Ukraine. If Putin gets his way, he will be able to take what he wants of Ukraine, weaken it for the next invasion and will have sanctions dropped allowing him to prepare for the invasion of The Baltic States.

While there is concern that Trump will invade Greenland, I doubt the US Congress would allow this to happen without consequences.