Moon Walker 🇺🇦

@EmporersNewC @mrjamesob I always think to myself that Brexit would have been so much better if it really had have meant breakfast.

@Tlam777 @shilghter @johnkonrad An entire continent sent its sons and daughters into a foreign war when you called it to and saw many of them come back broken or never return at all. In exchange, the man you put in charge of your country dishonored their memory. You've misinterpreted the flow of disdain...

@shilghter @johnkonrad And whether the animosity is valid or not I guess it’s just kind of arrogant to expect anything other than us wanting to back out. I mean what do we gain by spending billions just to be thanked with the disdain of an entire continent.

NATO is in far bigger danger than anyone realizes. And the reason has nothing to do with defense budgets. The real danger is psychological. It’s cultural. Europeans didn’t just free-ride on American security for 80 years. They built an entire identity around the idea that they evolved past the Americans protecting them. That identity is now the single biggest obstacle to Western survival. And the darkest irony is: we helped build it. After World War II, Europe wasn’t just economically shattered. Its culture was in ruins. The cities, the universities, the concert halls, the museums. Rubble. The Marshall Plan rebuilt the economy. But culture wasn’t a priority. Not at first. Then the Iron Curtain dropped. And suddenly culture became a weapon. American diplomats, academics, artists & scholars flooded Western Europe. We funded their universities. Supported their orchestras. Rebuilt their museums. Promoted their intellectual life. Not because European culture needed saving for its own sake. Because Eastern Europeans were struggling for Maslow’s mist basic needs. We needed the view from the other side of that Wall to be intoxicating. So America built Western Europe into a showcase of self-actualization. Art. Philosophy. Cafe culture. Long vacations. Universities where people studied literature instead of surviving. We were manufacturing jealousy. And it worked. The Wall came down. But here’s what no one accounted for. When you give a society self-actualization on someone else’s tab long enough, they forget it was a gift. They start believing it was organically theirs. And when they look at the country that funded it all, a country busy building aircraft carriers and semiconductor fabs and shale fields instead of reaching the Maslow’s pinnacle. An overweight American in a ball cap who can’t tell Monet from Pissarro. Who eats fast food. Who drives a truck. Who builds strip malls instead of piazzas. And to a culture trained in aesthetics but stripped of strategic awareness, that American looks uncivilized. So the arrogance takes root. And once a culture decides another is beneath them, they stop listening. Americans say wars are sometimes necessary: crude. Oil is the backbone of prosperity: unsophisticated. Kids build companies in garages that reshape the planet: crass. Wall Street finances the global economy: vulgar. Europe has no world-class technology sector. No military capable of strong defense. No energy independence. No AI capacity. What Europe has is culture. The culture we paid for at the expense of us reaching Maslow’s pinnacle. For decades that was fine. We funded the museums, protected the sea lanes, and tolerated the sneering because the arrangement worked. Then Europeans stopped keeping the contempt private. They started saying it to our faces. In their media. In their parliaments. At every international forum. “Americans are stupid. Americans are violent. Americans are a threat to democracy.” We could have moved the Louvre to NY. We could have built a Venice here. We could have stolen your best artists, designers, philosophers and more… like your conquering armies did for centuries. Instead we funded them. And all we asked for in return was to let us visit. You don’t have the military to defend your borders. You don’t have the technology to compete. You don’t have the energy to heat your homes without begging dictators. What you have is an 80-year superiority complex FUNDED BY AMERICANS, protected by American soldiers, and built on the false belief that self-actualization is civilization. It isn’t. Civilization is the ability to sustain itself. By that measure, Europe isn’t a civilization at all. It’s a dependency with better wine. That’s not a threat. It’s a weather report. Build a Navy. Or don’t. But stop lecturing the people who made you “better than us” Our “crudeness” our “stunted liberal education” our “ugly strip malls” are because we sacrificed our culture to support yours.

@KaijuNoX @martinfrosa @shilghter @johnkonrad Only the final sentence of that is true. As we're now finding out.

@martinfrosa @shilghter @johnkonrad After world war 2 yes. Europe made America. Just 2 years ago Biden was president, and America was about to go down the drain, luckily Trump took back the power . Europe now suffers from what America did when Biden was president. Any country can be destroyed with 1 bad president.

@LumenExTenebris @shilghter @johnkonrad Europe are industrial leaders in many of the fields that US is reliant upon. The high-end industrial tech that powers your factories is designed and built in Europe. The advanced semiconductor chips that power your AI companies are fabricated using machines built by Europe.

@shilghter @johnkonrad LOL You literally just confirmed the points he was making. All Europe has going for it now is its history and architecture. It’s an open air museum, that produces very little today compared to the US and China aside from a handful of luxury brands and endless bureaucracy.

@bekamaciorowski Bloody hell. Glad you all survived. Thanks to each one of you who are there fighting to keep the rest of us safe.

Yesterday at approximately 13:00, two KAB-250 aerial bombs struck my medical point. The first detonation occurred while I was on the porch organizing medical supplies. Inside, my nurse @once_upon_a_travel_nurse was caring for recovering servicemen, assisted by @ryeioww. Another female soldier was preparing food. Two servicemen under active care were present, including one with severe combat injuries resulting in blindness and loss of function in one leg. Immediately after the first strike, my nurse and I established verbal contact and confirmed that all personnel were alive. Without hesitation, the team responded with discipline and composure. We began evacuating the wounded from the structure, moving them across the street while coordinating transport for further evacuation. During this process, a second bomb struck. The second impact, a FAB-250, is a 250-kilogram high-explosive aerial bomb carrying approximately 120 kilograms of explosive material, designed to destroy infrastructure and fortified positions with a blast radius of roughly 120 meters. It detonated directly at the rear of the medical point. The explosion caused a structural collapse. The ceiling fell onto my nurse, who, despite the impact, continued providing care. I sustained shrapnel injury to the thigh. Vivi maintained focus and continued assisting with the evacuation, ensuring the wounded were loaded into a vehicle. All vehicles at the site were destroyed. The medical point was completely demolished. Despite the scale of the strike, all personnel survived. The strength and resilience of my amazing girls is unmatched, and without them, the outcome would have been much different

@TheAccountantUK @ralph_edmund @peterrhague @grok The claim was 'they get out more than they pay in' which, even by your metric is correct - they did not pay in, their employers didn. Semantics aside, you continue to ignore the huge number of self-employed who pay less NI and where there is no 'employer' element. Why is that?

Still in denial then Moony 😂 You have the ability to: - Search for and read the PPI report - Check it explicity excluded ER'NI, which conveniently supported the narrative that "Boomers get more pension than contributions" - Confirm ER'NI is circa 1.5x EE'NI - Confirm "Boomers do NOT get more pension than contributions" If you continue your dithering then we can only conclude you want to avoid doing that work as it would undermine you narrative.

The first task of UK politics is to fix this. Anybody refusing to is not fit to lead the country.

@ralph_edmund @TheAccountantUK @peterrhague @grok Correcting 'misinformation' with speculation. What a win.

@TheAccountantUK @ShowMeLaTweet @peterrhague @grok Thanks for correcting this misinformation, much appreciated

@TheAccountantUK @peterrhague @grok Doesn't disappoint in the slightest. Ive not had anyone link to the original data so I have no way of interrogating it. You tell me it excludes employers NI so for now I'll have to go with that. Doesn't address my other questions but that's not the agenda.

Oh dear... so you are unable to make assesments yourself? I'll keep it simple for you: - their paper said employer NI was specifically EXCLUDED - Employer NI is typically 1.5x employee NI - So the order of magnitude of the figures stack up Their figures had to exclude ER'NI to produce the narrative that "Boomers take more in pension than paid in" Sorry if it disappoints.

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Did you read my questions to them? They dont actually know what the numbers they used mean. Which means you dont know what their numbers mean.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox The actual picture tells you where they got the figures from so I dont blame them.

The triple lock is honestly one of the worst policies ever thought of. Many of the people who say the benefits bill is too high are the ones making up 48% of it. That’s £150.7 billion so people who had the easiest housing ladder, the best savings rates and the best private pension rates can get a bigger pension than they ever paid in for. It’s a joke of a policy and I wholeheartedly disagree with it.

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox I'm not having a tantrum. I have my house and my happy life, thanks. Worked hard for it all too. You're wrong about when the housing boom came, most occurred between 95 and 2007. I bought mine after that real boom. I see you chose to ignore all the points I raised though. Nice.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox You inherited a better world than I, stop feeling sorry for yourself. We couldnt afford houses when young most rented, the housing boom came in the 80s I got mine arround 2003. You are sounding like a 2 year old having a tantrum. Thats life accept it or not your choice.

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Sadly, they did not... x.com/i/status/20404…

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox I have. Let's see if they do.

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox It was not wrong to say you inherited a better world than your parents had. That is verifiable fact. It is not false to say your generation has impoverished younger generations. Out-of-control housing costs. Mismanagement of country's resources. Brexit. All completely verifiable

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox All of it. If you cant see what is wrong with what you said I pity you.

@TheAccountantUK @peterrhague @grok I'm not the one making claims based on their work. If you're not familiar with what their work does and does not actually represent then it may be best not to use that work to make assertions of your own.

@ShowMeLaTweet @peterrhague @grok Do go and research the figures yourself and then come back to us

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Which part is wrong?

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Dont be so silly.

@TheAccountantUK @peterrhague @grok So a few more questions: Did you check their numbers didn't already account for employer's contributions? What verification did you do of their numbers? What weighting have you used for the self-employed?

@ShowMeLaTweet @peterrhague @grok The PPI report normalised the data at 2022 values... I did put that as a footnote on the graphic

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Those people's whose pensions you paid built a better world for you to inherit. That was the social contract. Your generation broke it. Your generation pursued policies, and continue to do so, that impoverish your children and grandchildren.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Life if very unfair its not like sports days at school where you all run and even the loser gets a toffee. We are all dealt bad hands. Its how we deal with them that makes us who we are. No problem, I paid other pensions neve moaned thats the system what makes you all so special.

@Falkey120 @Wyi_Gaius @TrueNashWay @markusdeme23 Right, I checked that article and, as expected, they are counting the entirety of 🇺🇸 defense spending as being part of NATO's budget. That is disingenuous. Most 🇺🇸 defense spending goes on things entirely outside of NATO's remit.

@ShowMeLaTweet @Wyi_Gaius @TrueNashWay @markusdeme23 “Over the past 75 years, the U.S. contributed $21.9 trillion to NATO's defense budget, according to its yearly Defense Expenditure of NATO Countries report, significantly more than its 31 peers. “Newsweek 4/4/2024 Though quick google search shows it sourced by Reuters, cbs etc.

The US asked France for help to open the strait and France said "no". The UAE asked for a resolution to open the strait with force and France said "no". Now, France has made a deal with Iran and French ships are passing through the strait freely. France logic: why fight when you can just make a deal and pass without stress?? Be wise like France!

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox You talk about trashing older people yet are here talking about the people paying your pension as if they're all a bunch of layabout wasters. Do you not see you're part of the problem there? I dusted myself down. I have what I need, thanks. I can feel empathy for those who dont.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox If you want to own an asset go for a Flat or like me a 2 up 2 down in the north about £90,000. My asset came from sweat and hard work. Perhaps you should dust yourself down look at what you have and thank God you have it. Attitude is what has gone wrong with todays society. Bye.

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Your generation is known as boomers. That's not me trashing them with a mean name; the reason your generation has that name is because of the post-war baby boom. And yes, you didn't have two pennies to rub together yet you now own an asset. Something much harder to do now.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox We all do, but why do you feel the need to trash older people by calling them all boomers when many of us didnt have two halfpennys to rub together and didnt have the luxury of modern living you do. Having chips on your shoulder isnt healthy.

@TheAccountantUK @peterrhague @grok Have you accounted for self-employed in your numbers? Also, those £134,000 numbers seem high- median earner is paying £1700-1800 NI per annum. Assuming 49 years of payment equates to £83-88k.

@ShowMeLaTweet @peterrhague @grok provided the detailed analyses A simple cross-check is that employers NI % was typically 1.5 times greater than employees NI

@denisefortru @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox Would you not want better for your kids than you had yourself? This whole 'we were down pits 16 hours a day' is akin to your grandparents saying 'you had it easy, we were working up chimneys when we were kids'. And yet, opportunities you took for granted no longer exist.

@ShowMeLaTweet @classtecenemanl @AlrxCox The boomer generation sailed straight past many. Only helping the upper middle class and rich. You are rewriting history with that rot. Try 16 hrs down a pit and coming home to a house without central heating, ice on the inside of the windows and little money for food. Reality.