Simon Foston comments

Posted in: Kishida cabinet support rate hits fresh low at 20% See in context

TokyoLiving

Today 11:28 am JST

Japan needs a strong man as prime minister, a man who really loves Japan and someone who never would be a puppet of western circUS.

That rules out everyone in the LDP.

-3 ( +1 / -4 )

Posted in: Kishida cabinet support rate hits fresh low at 20% See in context

ian

Today 12:48 pm JST

raincloud

Today 12:41 pm JST

"Everyone hates the LDP, and yet everyone votes for them. This paradox constantly baffles me."

That indeed is baffling.

But is it true?

Not really. Only about a quarter of the electorate votes for the LDP but a lot of them are in rural areas that return double the number of Diet members as urban areas. Furthermore a lot of those areas really don't have candidates from any other major party that people want to vote for, because other parties can't afford the election campaigns.

1 ( +2 / -1 )

Posted in: Kishida cabinet support rate hits fresh low at 20% See in context

YubaruToday  12:00 pm JST

Lol. Do you actually even know what you are talking about? In the 2021 Diet elects for the lower house, over 27,000,000 million people voted for the LDP as their constituency, over 10,000,000 more than the Social Democrats.

You call 27.79% of the popular vote on a turn-out of 59% a convincing mandate? By the way, take the attitude and shove it somewhere.

-1 ( +2 / -3 )

Posted in: Kishida cabinet support rate hits fresh low at 20% See in context

William77Today  09:57 am JST

And yet the people of this country keep voting them.

No. They don't. Look at the LDP's support rate. Hardly anyone actually votes for them but the electoral system is so skewed in their favour that it doesn't matter.

0 ( +3 / -3 )

Posted in: LDP chapter says it held inappropriate party for junior members in November See in context

JindToday  01:06 pm JST

What's wrong with having a little bit of fun?

Nothing, if it's your own money. Which I doubt in this case.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: House Republicans invite Hunter Biden and former associates for public hearing in mid-March See in context

bass4funkToday  01:10 pm JST

"See we are promising to protect democracy while you tell everyone who is not you that your going to get them"

Who is we exactly?? Define we…

You ought to know. You refer to yourself in the 3rd person often enough.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Netanyahu rival’s visit to U.S. highlights cracks within Israel’s wartime leadership See in context

Aly RustomToday  08:36 am JST

Times are changing, and the pro Israel crowd is starting to be genuinely scared

They're starting to realise that the people they've been championing as "America's only democratically-elected allies and true partners for peace in the Middle East" etc etc really are just a bunch of racist psycopaths. The Likud and the IDF have their roots in terrorist organisations and the apple doesn't fall far from the tree.

7 ( +9 / -2 )

Posted in: Netanyahu rival’s visit to U.S. highlights cracks within Israel’s wartime leadership See in context

zibalaToday  07:09 am JST

Israel has been under a microscope since the start of this war and has complied with international law while executing its strategic defense and humanitarian efforts.

Israel has the right and duty to continue doing what it is doing.

Do you ever get bored writing this stuff over and over again?

This is what happens when terrorism is supported, encouraged and celebrated. Presumably there will be no more Hamas terrorist summer camps for children.

Right, because the IDF will make sure there aren't any children still alive who can join them,

10 ( +14 / -4 )

Posted in: Sunak says UK descending into mob rule See in context

The usual noxious pro-Likud trolls conflating any criticism of Israeli governments with antisemitism.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan opposition lawmakers bring no-confidence motion accusing gov't of halting debate over scandal See in context

RedemptionMar. 2  07:41 pm JST

Part of the problem is the difficulty in raising funds.

Another part is the eyewateringly high cost of running for office - Y3 million to be a candidate in a single-seat constituency and Y6 million for proportional representation. That's to keep the "wrong sort" away, i.e. anyone outside of political families and their cliques.

1 ( +1 / -0 )

Posted in: Ex-PM Abe proposed his faction end slush fund practice: lawmaker See in context

u_s__reamerToday  10:41 am JST

Rehabilitating Abe with over-the-top claims of his opposition to corruption is a gas-lighting stretch that beggars belief.

Maybe he was worried that one more scandal on top of all the other ones that he was involved in would actually finish him off.

0 ( +1 / -1 )

Posted in: Japan opposition lawmakers bring no-confidence motion accusing gov't of halting debate over scandal See in context

obladiToday  08:39 am JST

On the one hand, I agree with Protestant, above, that it "boggles the mind" that LDP members continue to be re-elected year after year in spite of their shenanigans. On the other hand, compared with other large countries, the politicians in Japan actually spend most of their time governing ...

Really? Do they? I would never have guessed.

...rather than simply attacking their counterparts in the opposition

They don't really need to. The opposition is effectively hobbled by chronic lack of funds and the skewed electoral system. When it's deemed necessary though they'll happily go on about why you shouldn't vote for anyone else because of what happened the last time anyone else was in charge, e.g. more than a decade ago.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: Ex-PM Abe proposed his faction end slush fund practice: lawmaker See in context

Senior Liberal Democratic Party lawmakers involved in a political funds scandal said Friday that former Prime Minister Shinzo Abe had proposed ending the practice of creating slush funds for members of his faction from revenue from fundraising events.

But former trade minister Yasutoshi Nishimura claimed he is not aware of why the proposal made in April 2022 was later dropped since he quit as secretary general of the Abe faction, the party's largest, afterward.

It's pretty obvious. Every member of the faction is deeply corrupt.

1 ( +4 / -3 )

Posted in: Japan opposition lawmakers bring no-confidence motion accusing gov't of halting debate over scandal See in context

ProtestantToday  06:22 am JST

Can you imagine the population of any other industrialized country in the world re-electing these people over and over and over again? 

I'd say that in fact the population doesn't re-elect them as the LDP usually only gets about a quarter of all the possible votes, but the continually low voter turn-out indicates that a huge number of people just tacitly accept the situation. I guess they just don't care or don't think there's a better alternative, but just about anyone would be better than the LDP.

Nishimura and Matsuno said Abe proposed ending the practice in 2022, citing the lack of transparency and risk of causing public distrust. They said the practice somehow resumed after Abe's death but they did not know why.

This shows that as bad as Abe was the problem wasn't just him. It's every elected LDP Diet member. The whole faction, and indeed the whole party, is systemmically rotten.

6 ( +10 / -4 )

Posted in: Kishida to attend Diet panel on funds scandal See in context

He has faced criticism for hosting such events, as a code of conduct for ministers urges cabinet members to refrain from holding "large-scale" parties.

I bet they weren't even particularly fun parties.

-2 ( +6 / -8 )

Posted in: Diet panel on funds scandal to be held for 2 days from Wednesday See in context

wanderlust

Feb. 25 01:52 pm JST

They are very busy writing the script for everyone to follow.

I thought it would be the same one as usual:

"You'll have to ask my secretary, I have no knowledge of anything like that."

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Some LDP lawmakers to attend Diet ethics panel on fundraising scandal See in context

Aly Rustom

Feb. 21 08:12 am JST

The word ethics should not be in the same sentence as the LDP.

Hah. You got thirteen downvotes but none of the downvoters can articulate what they take issue with.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Some LDP lawmakers to attend Diet ethics panel on fundraising scandal See in context

virusrex

Feb. 22 02:38 pm JST

What is needed is for the party to assume responsibility seriously, but obviously nobody is expecting this to happen.

The LDP is under no real pressure to do anything about this. The prosecutors have let them off the hook, they're facing no repercussions at the ballot box, money will keep coming in from complicit donors and moral bankruptcy isn't a big concern for them.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Japan finance minister says may have to skip G20 meet due to domestic issues See in context

robert maesFeb. 21  05:33 pm JST

Read:

1) I do not speak English

2) I have no idea what they talk about there as I have zero understanding of finances.

3) I took the job because I was told to do nothing

Add:

4) I was offered the job because I'm from an LDP political dynasty and I'm a member of Nippon Kaigi.

2 ( +3 / -1 )

Posted in: Trump breaks silence on Navalny; casts no blame on Putin See in context

JimizoToday  09:45 am JST

If you listen to him speak recently, you need to get through the fog of confusing logic and slurring to realise this and he was already starting from a low bar. I saw a clip of him gibbering about the Civil War recently - a complete mess

He’s declining very badly. He’s sounding frail.

Even The Daily Mail, a very conservative-inclined tabloid in the UK, is publishing articles saying Trump's decline is more rapid and obvious than Biden's.

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-13098413/Biden-Trump-Cognitive-Decline-Worse.html

11 ( +13 / -2 )

Posted in: Trump breaks silence on Navalny; casts no blame on Putin See in context

The Trump campaign did not immediately respond to a request for clarification.

Why isn't that surprising.

21 ( +21 / -0 )

Posted in: AI plays cupid as Japanese authorities try to boost marriage rate See in context

Governments needn't bother as long as people don't feel financially secure enough to start families, because they're on crappy part-time contracts with no free time and crappy salaries.

9 ( +12 / -3 )

Posted in: Judge orders Trump and his companies to pay $355 million in New York civil fraud case See in context

HopeSpringsEternal

Today 01:29 pm JST

Serious lawyers know this case will be over-turned, it's a slam dunk.

That's your expert legal opinion, of course.

8 ( +9 / -1 )

Posted in: Gaza cease-fire and hostage release talks appear to stall as Netanyahu and Hamas trade blame See in context

GuruMick

Today 07:46 am JST

Still with the discredited "beheaded babies "" claim.

I think the idea is to keep repeating it until people start believing it. Like the whole perfect compliance with international law and minimising civilian casualties thing. We're also supposed to believe that Benjamin Netanyahu deserves a Nobel Peace Prize, or an Academy Award, or first place in the Eurovision Song Contest, or something.

6 ( +6 / -0 )

Posted in: Parents arrested over fatal poisoning, drugging of 4-year-old daughter in Tokyo See in context

piskian

Today 09:15 am JST

This is awful.

Why do people have children,if they don't want them?

I can't begin to fathom what these people could have wanted.

This is what this society has to ask itself.

I think this society needs to ask itself how it's producing people whose mindsets are barely recognisable as human.

5 ( +7 / -2 )

Posted in: Kishida pledges to tackle discrimination in rebuke of LDP lawmaker See in context

itsonlyrocknroll

Feb. 14 05:43 pm JST

With Sugita "history" what possessed Kishida to promote/appoint Sugita to parliamentary vice minister for internal affairs and communications, a cabinet post in his own administration?

I suspect Kishida thought it would look good to appoint more female Cabinet ministers but found there aren't many female LDP politicians who aren't at least as bigoted as her.

I doubt the LDP is the kind of party women can get ahead in by being tolerant and progressive, unless they come from political dynasties.

0 ( +0 / -0 )

Posted in: Verbal gaffe or sign of trouble? Mixing up names like Biden and Trump have done is pretty common See in context

Blacklabel

Today 09:29 am JST

"Worse, much worse. "

great! Then just like Joe we can’t send this elderly man with poor memory to any trial.

Or the White House either. I don't think either of them are up to the job; I don't know if you agree or not because I'm sure you would never admit it if you did.

4 ( +4 / -0 )

Posted in: U.S. conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson says he will interview Putin See in context

Chabbawanga

Today 08:29 am JST

Putin has just as much a right as all the other whackjobs to say his piece.

Indeed, but he doesn't need Tucker Carlson for that.

Then again... he probably knows that Americans who get their news from other news outlets probably aren't much interested in what he has to say and see him as the enemy. It seems that the kinds of people who like Tucker Carlson also tend to be keen on Donald Trump, who seems to think Putin is pretty righteous. Ergo Ticker Carlson could be useful to him for drumming up support from the MAGA crowd in America.

2 ( +6 / -4 )

Posted in: Education minister signed Unification Church-supporting document See in context

At a parliamentary session, Moriyama said, "If there happen to be photos, I think I must have received the recommendation letter" as the daily Asahi Shimbun published photographs. But he said he has no intention of resigning, citing no recollection of the event.

Is it really okay for cabinet ministers to have such poor memories?

13 ( +15 / -2 )

Posted in: U.S. conservative talk show host Tucker Carlson says he will interview Putin See in context

ThubanToday  06:54 am JST

"They have no real idea what is happening in this region. Here in Russia or 600 miles away in Ukraine. But they should know. They’re paying for much of it."

If Americans are footing the bill for the war, they should at least know why it started.

And the man to set them straight is Vladimir Putin. Okaaaayyy.....

16 ( +24 / -8 )

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