I wonder who’ll be next week’s Prime Minister?
Politics and Current Affairs
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My Fellow Americans —
After seven or eight rounds of voting to elect a Speaker, no consensus has emerged in our House of Representatives, leaving our government — and our country — mired in disarray. The levers of policy stand idly by as the chamber is unable to carry out basic business- debating tax breaks for the wealthy, passing tax breaks for the wealthy, carrying out oversight of the IRS to stop them from bothering the wealthy, or receiving secret national security updates and using that insider information to buy stocks. What the House is doing now is not working, the time has coming for something bold.
As a former Congressman and impeached Vice President, I hereby nominate myself to be Speaker of the House. (Note to Richard: is this legal?). The Constitution doesn’t actually say that the Speaker must be a member of Congress, so it can be anyone, and since Elon Musk has made it clear that he doesn’t want the job (Note to Richard: has he?), I believe I am the next, logical choice.
First and foremost, let me be clear about one thing: I am willing to make whatever concessions anyone wants so I can get this job, no matter how humiliating. I do not feel shame the way other people do.
Please consider the following reasons the J-man should be Speaker:
I saw Top Gun: Maverick 18 times in a theater. Boom!
I’ve been speaking all my life. My stupid mother says I said my first words at age 6. It was “ball.”
Any member can call a snap vote on the Speaker (whatever the fuck that is, if they can beat me at Madden ’23. I call the Rams.
The Rules Committee shall have one rule: there are no rules.
I have had COVID 27 times, AND I will not wear a mask (at least not until they make one that fits over my abnormally large jaw. Also my ears are not the same height)
Bigger gavel.
The Ethics Committee will be hand chosen by private prison magnate and casino owner Sherman Tanz and his protege Rep. George Santos.
If Prince William ever came at me, I would knock him on his ass.
I will wear a fly white suit like Deion Sanders and Nancy Pelosi.
I currently have COVID which I caught in a theater while watching Top Gun: Maverick
We must raise the debt ceiling along with all the other ceilings in Federal office buildings. They are too low, and I am sick of hitting my head.
God Bless America,Former Vice-President Jonah Ryan
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At this point, he probably has a better chance of getting voted Speaker than McCarthy.
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Developing story:
Republicans vote to remove Rep. Ilhan Omar from the Foreign Affairs Committee
I guess they need to make room for George Santos.
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Santos would be suitable for foreign affairs. I heard him say he’d travelled the world as an international spy and was once President of Bolivia.
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It’s not looking good for the Russian gas export market in Europe:
https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2023/feb/03/putin-russia-blackmail-europe-gas-supply-ukraine
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Yeah, they really shot themselves in the foot on that one.
It’s also just so fucking ironic that this war is what finally pushes us into renewables.
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It’s also just so fucking ironic that this war is what finally pushes us into renewables.
Looks like Edwin Starr’s got some apologising to do.
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WAR
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Yeah!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing
Exceptforfinallypushingourenergypoliticsintothe21stcentury
WAR!
What is it good for?
Absolutely nothing!5 users thanked author for this post.
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WAR! Brought to you by The Day Today.
Teams covering every part of the conflict in just-built custom studio!
WAR.
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I’m on location and people here are absolutely bursting with War.
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Congresswoman claims to be Jewish, revealed to be granddaughter of Nazi – report
Florida Republican congresswoman Anna Paulina Luna was outed by The Washington Post on Friday for lying about her Jewish heritage in a previous interview with the Jewish Insider in November 2022.
Not only is Luna almost certainly not Jewish, but also according to several family members, reports the Washington Post, Luna’s paternal grandfather Heinrich Mayerhofer, who died in 2003, served in the armed forces of Nazi Germany when he was a teenager in the 1940s.
Somehow, I’m not surprised George Santos is just the beginning.
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Been a messed up weekend in the UK, even by the insane times we’re living in:
– New allegations of corruption over covid contracts and lockdown breaching parties.
– A far right riot in Liverpool outside an asylum hotel and the Home Secretary plays down the far right rioters to blame the refugees.
– A 16-year old trans teenager is stabbed to death in Warrington.
Feels like a lot of stuff is going very, very wrong with no way to stop it all.
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Jimmy Carter, 98, Opts for Hospice Care
The gold standard of how a former President should conduct themself after office. The day he passes will indeed be a sad one.
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The government of the Netherlands wants to use its influence to make gay marriage in the independent parts of the Kingdom, Curacao, Aruba, Bonaire, and Sint Maarten, legal. Not sure how I think about this. These are independent countries that are formally still part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, so I believe it has to be a democratic decision by their own populations.
Well, you know, you can take influence on democratic decisions. That’s not all that unusual. But I do get your point – how much is equality worth when it’s a legal decision, but not supported by the population?
On the other hand, like, Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka.
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It looks like the government’s voter ID requirements, brought in to solve a next to non-existent problem of voting fraud, might backfire spectacularly in the May elections:
Be rather satisfying if it does.
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Yeah using your influence can be OK but what I read about went too far. They “demand” these countries legalize gay marriage, and talked about withholding aid if they don’t. I thought it stunk of colonialism.
It’s a tough one. Yes, there is an element of colonialism to this, but on the other hand, tying to support to human rights is something I think makes a lot of sense. I think the thing here may be that equal rights for gay couples is a relatively new concept even in European countries, so it may feel like this is happening too soon. Would you take the same position if this was, say, about women’s right to vote?
I made a mistake earlier, it seems they’re not talking about withholding aid. I think doing that would be wrong.
Supporting human rights is great but they need to be careful and not twist other countries arms and think about sanctions, especially with a former colony. Gay marriage is less important than making same sex activity legal, and we do business with a lot of countries where that is still illegal.
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Yeah, fair point.
In other news, I learned yesterday that there is a “High Representative” in Bosnia – Christian Schmidt, a former German minister, in this case, who is a member of the very conservative CSU party – who has pretty much dictatorial administrative (albeit not executive) powers and who ON THE DAY OF THE ELECTION last October changed the election laws of Bosnia in a way that gave more weight to the votes of ethnic Serbian and Croats, favoured Croatian and Serbian ethno-nationalists and enabled them to be part of the government. Doing this in a country where a genocide against the muslim population is not only recent history but ALSO BEING CELEBRATED BY THOSE ETHNO-NATIONALISTS is too insane for words, and obviously it’s also just massive undemocratic to change the election laws while the results are coming in. That this was allowed to happen by… well, by whom exactly, even? Is there any kind of accountability for this?
The reasons for this and the history of it are very complex, obviously, and I can’t claim to understand the situation completely. But I still very badly want to hit somebody right now, preferably Christian Schmidt.
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No judgement from me over whether this woman should be in jail or not, but this is quite clever, in a country where foetuses apparently have the rights of full humans.
In Bizarre Case, Miami-Dade Inmate’s Unborn Baby Seeks Release From Jail
A bizarre legal question could soon be decided in Miami-Dade after a petition was filed to have an inmate’s unborn baby released from detention.
The emergency petition was filed last week on behalf of the unborn child of 24-year-old Natalia Harrell, who was arrested this past July on a second-degree murder charge.
“An unborn child is a person,” said attorney William Norris, who represents the unborn child. “A person has constitutional rights and one of them is the right not to be deprived of liberty without due process of law.”
The unusual petition claims the unborn child, which has spent about eight months in the womb, has received inadequate prenatal care while Harrell has been held without bond.
“I am asserting the right of someone who is a person who has not been considered in the decision to incarcerate his mother,” Harris said.
Attorneys for the unborn baby claim the Miami-Dade Corrections Department didn’t bring Harrell to a scheduled prenatal medical appointment at a local hospital, and claim her last visit with an OB-GYN was in October 2022.
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The petition notes the unborn baby hasn’t been charged with a crime, and is having their due process rights violated since they are a person under the Florida Constitution. It seeks to have the unborn baby immediately released.
Attorney and legal analyst Kendall Coffey, who is not connected to this case, explained how the Supreme Court’s overturning of Roe. v Wade is making way for these kinds of debates.
“A woman’s right to an abortion has been erased from the U.S. Constitution; What we’re beginning to look at more closely is what are the rights of an unborn child and at what point do they begin to arrive?” he said. “Florida, like most states, has spoken to the rights of an unborn child with respect to the right to be free from homicide — so the homicide statutes include unborn children in Florida and many other places, but other constitutional rights, other statutory rights, are just being developed as we’re all beginning to absorb the new age of post Dobbs.”
Slightly undermined by the fact it’s the woman’s husband who has filed the case,.
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It looks like the government’s voter ID requirements, brought in to solve a next to non-existent problem of voting fraud, might backfire spectacularly in the May elections:
Be rather satisfying if it does.
I think they are trying to mirror the US tactics but I’m not sure it’ll have the same effect because the demographics are different. The UK party bias is far more determined by age than any other metric, it is the US too but not by the same factor, race and rural/urban make more of a difference there.
So low takeup among old and young may just cancel each other out.
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Worth noting that this is a low-confidence conclusion from one US department (among many), not a widespread consensus or even a best guess.
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Worth noting that this is a low-confidence conclusion from one US department (among many), not a widespread consensus or even a best guess.
In the entire saga of the pandemic the thust of the narrative has been people very sure of positions when the correct response was to be unsure of them.
The most likely outcome is we will never know for sure.
That seems to be the curse of the culture wars though that no nuanced position can ever be taken, we leap to our corners and leap on anything that may support a position, however flimsy.
I was talking to a guy yesterday who was really annoyed about trans issues. Rather than jump into an argument I asked him if he knew any trans people or if they had any impact, positive or negative, on his 55 years of life on Earth. It was interesting watching his face when I didn’t engage in the usual talking points and he realised, no it made no difference to his life at all.
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Nothing is sure but the FBI think so too.
This is quite a nice little explainer/analysis of the latest thinking. It refers to the findings you’re talking about and is quite balanced and nuanced.
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I was talking to a guy yesterday who was really annoyed about trans issues. Rather than jump into an argument I asked him if he knew any trans people or if they had any impact, positive or negative, on his 55 years of life on Earth. It was interesting watching his face when I didn’t engage in the usual talking points and he realised, no it made no difference to his life at all.
Speaking of, a friend of mine has apparently become the latest prop used in the anti-trans culture wars:
“I think I might be the penis woman”; a response to absurd Tory councillor’s rant
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This looking rather excellent – Rupert Murdoch and Fox News in deep, deep crap of their own making:
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Couldn’t happen to nicer people.
Murdoch organisations seem to have developed the habit of pushing the envelope of behaviour until they lose control. What started as pushing opinion as fact pushed further to knowingly slander a corporation that has the funds to take them on.
It is reminiscent of the News of the World stuff where the approach seems to be, okay we got away with this, let’s try and get away with more, until you end up phone tapping a child murder victim.
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It’s very worrying though, this suggests it was rejected outright just because Trump believed it. And scientists were ostracised for deviating from the most common hypothesis. That goes against how things should work here. In a way the FBI and the DOE coming out now and saying, no we believe lab leak is a possibility, is an encouraging sign that not everybody has blinders on.
There’s a huge difference between performing a detailed investigation and coming up with the most likely conclusion based on evidence and fact, which is what occurred this week; and immediately making unsubstantiated allegations without a scrap of proof for political gain. I’m sure Trump is going to claim that he was right all along, but remember the old adage: even a broken clock is correct twice a day.
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There’s more to it than that.
Could an inquiry be set up to properly and carefully consider if there was an outbreak? Yes, but that’s far, far away from the Twitter / political lynch mob too many idiot politicians are fanning the flames of.
That the assessment that sparked all this had a “low confidence” caveat is a huge red flag. If you have that level of confidence in it, why put it out into a politically charged public domain where no attention will be paid attention to the caveat? That’s stupid.
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It’s very worrying though, this suggests it was rejected outright just because Trump believed it. And scientists were ostracised for deviating from the most common hypothesis. That goes against how things should work here.
No, it acknowledges that there may be reluctance among some to credit the theory due to its popularity among the Trump crowd, but then goes on to specifically say that it shouldn’t be – and hasn’t been – written off altogether simply for this reason.
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It’s very worrying though, this suggests it was rejected outright just because Trump believed it. And scientists were ostracised for deviating from the most common hypothesis. That goes against how things should work here.
No, it acknowledges that there may be reluctance among some to credit the theory due to its popularity among the Trump crowd, but then goes on to specifically say that it shouldn’t be – and hasn’t been – written off altogether simply for this reason.
I think it’s also worth giving proper context to why people are reluctant to give credence to the theory. It’s because Trump and the media personalities are known liars who spout conspiracy theories to deflect from their own problems. Trump lies as much as he breathes and FOX News is currently getting their faces sued off for spreading Trump’s lies despite admitting they knew what they were spouting was bullshit.
These people are the living embodiment of the boy who cried wolf. There’s zero reason to believe things they say. In fact, it’s likely far more dangerous to believe anything they say. They should all be ignored while actual experts do their jobs and investigate properly.
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Knock it off with all the dumb conspiracy crap. (And yes, I do get it: uncertain, conflict-y times your monkey brains are looking for patterns). Divide & conquer – oldest trick in the book.
The truth will owt eventually. Whatever the cause. No matter. Mo Dhaidí still dead. Farm gone. Home gone. And so many friends/acquaintances I’ve actually lost count (only ‘cos I’ve met so many people). And now I sound all grumpy. Not usually so grumpy.
Not right to blame a single country (so-called “Spanish” flu; I’m thinking of you – oh I give up, but it’s funny too – stupid autocorrect and me all 🥰 doggies thought I meant Spaniel!
Also, wear a mask because they do protect.
And, wherever njerry is, he my very distant cousin
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Hi Bernadette, long time no see!
Yes I mean Trump knew nothing, he just was always looking for any reason to slag off China which he’d done as soon as he stood for nomination but it’s possible in this case he was right, albeit most are looking at an accidental release since this incident has probably fucked up the Chinese economy more than any other. Due to their strict lockdowns companies are shifting production massively to other locations. Not abandoning China but spreading the load significantly, Vietnam, Indonesia and Malaysia are booming in incoming manufacturing jobs. So in the end whether it was eating a bat infected pangolin in a wet market or a mistake in a lab doesn’t really leave us in any greatly different position.
There is a risk sometimes in this ‘taking sides’ culture that we dismiss things the ‘other’ side say that may be true, often because the reason they say them is disingenuous. China is a nasty regime that does a lot of shitty things but the overblown rhetoric of the MAGA set did lead to deaths of completely innocent ethnic Chinese Americans in random attacks.
I’ve said before my major issue with the ‘open your mind and research yourself’ crowd on various social media platforms is for all the claims of that they come out in lockstep on all the same opinions. Nobody ever ‘researches’ and says a combination of masks don’t work against Covid but they back Ukraine in the war and think the EU is more good than bad and they have no opinion on trans rights as it doesn’t affect them. They all have the same opinions on all.
A friend of mine who lives and works in Dubai keeps pointing this stuff out. A load of ‘the Matrix’ spouting alt-right guys have gathered there in one of the most repressive and controlled countries in the world. Andrew Tate was planning to run there. Try running your webcam sex empire in the UAE mate, you’ll probably get executed.
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P.S. My poor wee fón must be banjaxed. Won’t currently let me reply directly to posts.
You’re far away from Wales, Gar, so not your fault you’re misinformed. You don’t need to cross over any ocean. No one across the water in the North of Ireland can vote without photo id: just another form of gerrymandering (I don’t mean you, Jerry, obviously)
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You’re far away from Wales, Gar, so not your fault you’re misinformed. You don’t need to cross over any ocean. No one across the water in the North of Ireland can vote without photo id: just another form of gerrymandering (I don’t mean you, Jerry, obviously)
You are right and I did see on Twitter in the last few days that ID is needed there. To be honest it’s nothing to do with being far away, very few people in mainland UK understand anything about NI. It is wilfully ignored in the media as being too complicated and I am probably in the top 1% of being able to at least describe what each of the political parties there are roughly.
Listening to the News Agents yesterday discussing the ‘Windsor whatever’ deal they concluded that in the end other than Sunak looking somewhat competent it would have zero impact on the next general election in Britain as barely anyone voting who doesn’t work in import/export has any clue what it means.
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Oh yay! Reply button back.
I could not give a flying fuck what the cause is. (I only know for sure it wasn’t Robert Batty-Pattississon 🦇)
Can’t control all those who have taken advantage with their co-opting of the poor & sick & marginalised via crappy PPE, etc.
Utter disgrace. (Oh shut up, silly phone: I said disgrace, NOT Disney: whole other story of monetisation – btw I still adore Disney stuff if the lawyers are listening).
I hate them, but all I can say is wear a mask you numpties, otherwise you’re leaving the likes of me behind. Plus they protect you too
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Oh, I’m only here for a wee while.
We’re both related to an Irish pirate queen. Only very distantly, but still.
Aaaaarghhh!!! 🦜
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That last post was intended for Jerry. (I’m just about ready to lob my fón out the window).
I’m almost always right, Gar. I reckon the North has been used as a testing ground to see what other territories would put up with (allegedly). Even saying that is a tad reductive.
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The media called it a “debunked conspiracy theory”. It’s nice to see them eat shit.
Not all the media did, what I read mostly left it unclarified, as it is now. This is a pretty balanced article from the NY Times two years ago that is open to either scenario. https://www.nytimes.com/2021/11/18/health/covid-wuhan-market-lab-leak.html
To be honest the bit I bolded sounds a lot like I was saying above about ‘own the Libs’ ideology, which admittedly exists on the other side too.
So even if we leap to the lab leak is 100% true where does that pragmatically leave us? What does it change and what do we do in response? Should we sanction China who have recently spoken out that unilateral sanctions against Russia are wrong? Life and the world are complex things which we increasingly like to put into binary positions.
How do we parse that China are wrong on Covid and right on Ukraine? Why do theorists against ‘globalisation’ and a secret elite of oligarchs keep promoting the support of billionaires? I mean if you want to collapse that system then Trump, Musk and the Koch brothers are hardly paragons of working class struggle, they are all born to money and maybe want to keep that going because it works very well for them.
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Trump can be sued over Jan. 6 insurrection, Justice Department says
I suppose that’s some good news, but then again, the Browns and Goldmans sued OJ and won, but, as far as I know, they haven’t seen any money.
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Yup, it reaffirms it is best to keep an open mind when your moral superiors don’t want that. The media called it a “debunked conspiracy theory”. It’s nice to see them eat shit.
How is this anything other than empty contrarianism?
No it’s not!
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Yup, it reaffirms it is best to keep an open mind when your moral superiors don’t want that. The media called it a “debunked conspiracy theory”. It’s nice to see them eat shit.
How is this anything other than empty contrarianism?
I’m pretty sure it’s full of something.
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Lauren Boebert Faces Calls From Over 17K Christians to Repent and Resign
Especially resign.
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Rishi Sunak ‘extinguishing the right to seek refugee protection in UK’
Depressing stuff, but this stood out to me:
Joanna Cherry, the SNP MP for Edinburgh South West, told the Commons: “Isn’t the plan behind this legislation simply this: the legislation will go through in the certain knowledge that the domestic courts of the United Kingdom will find that it’s incompatible with international law and the European convention on human rights, and then the Tories will fight the next general election on a promise to take the United Kingdom out of the European convention on human rights?”
It feels worryingly plausible that the Tories could see Brexit as their only recent success, and be seeking to recapture that in the next election. For me it makes sense of why this government would be seeking to move ahead with legislation that they clearly realise is in breach of their international commitments.
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It’s all very depressing. As far as I can tell, this is entirely legit:
If you come to the UK illegally:
➡️ You can’t claim asylum
➡️ You can’t benefit from our modern slavery protections
➡️ You can’t make spurious human rights claims
➡️ You can’t stay pic.twitter.com/026oSvKoJZ
— Rishi Sunak (@RishiSunak) March 7, 2023
“The UK modern slavery system”. You couldn’t make it up.
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I feel a real sense of shame about all of this. The tone of the UK political conversation has taken such a nosedive in recent years but this bill and the language used around it (particularly by Braverman) is deeply unpleasant.
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What kind of moron thinks tweeting out “you can’t benefit from modern slavery protections” is good politics? I mean, other than every modern day right wing politician, apparently. It’s amazing how much the right has regressed this century to just basically promoting an 18th and 19th century way of life.
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They’re not even presenting it as that, instead they’re using the phrase “UK modern slavery system” as if it means something else.
That phrase does not say anything about protection from or being anti-slavery, it’s… well, what it is.
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I look forward to the Tories announcing “Not a Brit? Then we don’t give a shit” as their official election slogan.
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What kind of moron thinks tweeting out “you can’t benefit from modern slavery protections” is good politics? I mean, other than every modern day right wing politician, apparently. It’s amazing how much the right has regressed this century to just basically promoting an 18th and 19th century way of life.
In there speech and their actions, I see the contemporary Republicans absolutely overt in their bigotry and fascism.
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I was reading a post about the Tik tok ban and I received a blast from the past.
Social media is psyops campaign that never ends.
Does anyone else remember the MW poster who loved using that word?
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They exempted smaller banks from Dodd/Frank regulations in 2018, which force them to keep sufficient reserves to maintain liquidity and prevent a run . This is what happens when things aren’t regulated, like the last time they repealed them and it went wrong.
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They exempted smaller banks from Dodd/Frank regulations in 2018, which force them to keep sufficient reserves to maintain liquidity and prevent a run . This is what happens when things aren’t regulated, like the last time they repealed them and it went wrong.
Hang on, so all these conservative newspapers are wrong when they claim it’s because they had a black employee?
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They exempted smaller banks from Dodd/Frank regulations in 2018
And just to be clear, by “they”, you mean Donald Trump and his cronies.
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Now that he said it, there just might be a “situation” this Tuesday.
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I’d be surprised if Trump isn’t on a watchlist by now.
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Macron pressed on invoking some constitutional right that he has as President, and now the protests.
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Interesting that on one hand people are pushing for UBI and on the other retirement age is getting higher. If you have UBI you can retire when you’re 18.
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Now that he said it, there just might be a “situation” this Tuesday.
I’m looking forward to seeing his mugshot.
It ought to be Wednesday, just to screw with him.
“Oh, you thought we work to your timetable? Get him the fuck out of here.”
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It ought to be Wednesday, just to screw with him.
Better yet, at 12:01am Tuesday morning, dragging him out of bed in his silk pajamas.
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You know if they do show up to arrest him and perp walk him out, it was entirely because Trump wanted a PR stunt to continue to grift his supporters into more donations and rile them up into more violence.
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Interesting that on one hand people are pushing for UBI and on the other retirement age is getting higher. If you have UBI you can retire when you’re 18.
It depends. UBI models have different incomes set but the word ‘basic’ is in the title. For example a pilot in Finland gave 56o Euro a month, that’s not a great amount to live on and is designed to be topped up by work. The highest sum I’ve seen in the pilots is 1200 Euro in Germany which is less than a third of the average wage.
I doubt many people would be happy living hand to mouth like that if they don’t have to. I spent a few months on unemployment benefits after leaving college and it was a pretty miserable existence and I was overjoyed to get a job at the end.
I think the idea that UBI would mean loads of people bumming around their whole lives is a bit of a misunderstanding.
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I doubt many people would be happy living hand to mouth like that if they don’t have to. I spent a few months on unemployment benefits after leaving college and it was a pretty miserable existence and I was overjoyed to get a job at the end.
I think the idea that UBI would mean loads of people bumming around their whole lives is a bit of a misunderstanding.
At the same time, it’s clearly being pushed by a lot of people because we’re all going to be out of a job once ChatGPT version 6 or so comes around and can do everything better.
Arjan isn’t wrong that it’s strange that the retirement age rises when actually we need to figure out a way to work less and still keep a decent standard of living. (Or, from the capitalist perspective, being able to afford CONSUMING.)
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Seriously, I worry about a Jan 6-like situation this Tuesday.
You mean a lot of people making an ineffectual noise so we can see who the bad apples are and jail them? I don’t see why that’s a problem
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Or Mike Pence for that matter.
I just hope there won’t be an incident downtown tomorrow. NYC has enough aggravation.
The thing is, when his Apprentice show didn’t win an Emmy, he went on tirades that he was cheated and it was all rigged.
He did the same thing with the election and not that many noticed the pattern.1 user thanked author for this post.
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Jesus. Also, this:
Smotrich, an outspoken opponent to the establishment of a Palestinian state, also serves as a minister in the defence ministry.
Coalition government agreements give him authority over a unit in charge of civilian affairs in Area C of the West Bank where Israel has full security and civilian control.
Smotrich is an ultra-nationalist hardliner. Even the current Israeli government don’t share his views, but… these are the people it’s made up of, and who decide its policies to some extent. We’re in for a bad few years.
And about the reactions of Jorda and Israel:
Neither side issued a statement on the summoning of Ambassador Eitan Surkis Monday night, but an official familiar with the matter confirmed the escalation of the diplomatic spat to The Times of Israel.
The move came hours after the Foreign Ministry sought to tamp down the backlash to by Smotrich’s Sunday speech. “Israel is committed to the 1994 peace agreement with Jordan. There has been no change in the position of the State of Israel, which recognizes the territorial integrity of the Hashemite Kingdom,” the ministry tweeted in both Hebrew and English. It did not mention Smotrich’s remarks about the Palestinians.
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I followed Graham Linehan’s twitter for a while to see what he is going on about but this guy is completely obsessed with the trans issue. He seems to be tweeting constantly, like every couple of minutes. My whole twitter feed quickly turned into an anti-trans tirade. This seems the big thing in the culture wars. A lot of people have quite unhealthy thoughts about this.
I a not really very concerned with the trans thing “going too far”, I believe it’s a psychological matter between the trans identifying person and whatever doctor or therapist they need to help them transition. There is the occasional creepy sex crazed weirdo but you find those everywhere, cis or trans, gay or straight. It’s not right to let that twist your view of the whole trans community.
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The trans issue is actually a way to attack gays and gay issues.
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I’d say it’s also a way to do it. There’s proven links between the religious right in the US and anti-trans groups in the US and Europe who claim to be feminists where they’re attacking trans rights in an attempt to erode other LGBT ones. But like, they’re still attacking trans rights in the first place.
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I dunno, there seems to be something about trans people that makes people who are OK with gays and lesbians extra upset. They think it’s some affront to nature to change gender. But it could be that the forces behind the anti-trans movement are also the kind of people who hate gay people.
Deep down, they are probabaly not okay with homosexuality. No matter how you want to slice it, it comes down to basic homophobia.
I think what is happening is that due to the internet, people are more connected than ever and are exposed to levels of information undreamed of just a few decades ago. Marginalized groups realize they are not alone and by connecting, they give themselves a voice as a group they never had before. And there are many groups who have found their voices like that.
That scares the fuck out of the older and indoctrinated generations. They see their time and power slipping away. The world is changing and they are doing everything they can to hold onto that power for as long as they can. They do this because they know that eventually, they will lose that power.
They are regressive in nature and are afraid. They are fighting progress. When it comes to evolving or dying, they choose death because they don’t belive in evolution.
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