Across the Pond from America

[bodysong]

Big Splash, Across the Pond

5 November 2021

Owen Paterson quits as MP over lobbying row 'nightmare'

Owen Paterson has resigned as an MP

The government's swift U-turn, making Wednesday's vote meaningless,
only dismayed more MPs and left questions about poor decision-making
at the top.

The Commons Standards Committee concluded last week that Mr Paterson
had misused his position as an MP to benefit two firms he worked for, after
a damning report on his behaviour by standards commissioner Kathryn Stone.

Wednesday, the government ordered its MPs to vote for an amendment
to halt Mr Paterson's case and to rejig the standards system.

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-59167783?at_medium=RSS&at_campaign=KARANGA

Conflict-of-Interest Case Has Boris Johnson Reversing Course, Again

Paterson had misused his position as a lawmaker to benefit two firms that
were paying him in total more than 100,000 pounds a year...

- NY Times

bodysong comment -

ugghhh!

I am hoping that it was not Trump, that have given the Tories the gall
to "try anything." in the expectations that a gamble to "win," is worth
dirt, garbage, sewerage, excrement, and urine that smears on them.

£ or $

 

[oggbashan]

Owen Paterson complained, rightly, that the current system has no right for the person accused to defend themselves and no right of appeal against the decision.

Whether he did what the Standards committee said he did is no longer relevant since he has resigned.

But what Boris Johnson and the government tried to do is also wrong. Changes to the rules, by tradition, have been made with cross-party support. As soon as it was obvious that wouldn't happen, he should have backed down, particularly as some of his own MPs were unhappy about unilateral action.

 

[bodysong]

My heart felt particularly heavy, today. No poppies to be seen, around the neighborhood.

(Seasonal affective disorder ?)

Paper Forget-Me-Nots may be purchased.

 

[BidudeinWi]

For a long time, the only non-American television news program we had, came from the BBC

Now, we have BBC America, Deutsche Welle, and NHK World Some stations near the Canada border carry French language news.

Todays news-

A young Malian migrant was on Monday offered French citizenship, after he scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a 4-year-old child hanging from the fourth-floor balcony.

Mamoudou Gassama met with French President Emmanuel Macron two days after the dramatic rescue, where he was also given a medal for bravery, and offered a job with the Paris fire brigade.

"I have also invited him to apply for naturalization. Because France is a state of mind, and Mr Gassama has shown with determination that he has it!" Macron added.

Gassama has been living illegally in the French capital after arriving in September 2017

http://www.dw.com/en/malian-immigrant-hailed-for-heroic-rescue-offered-french-passport/a-43954994

Sadly, in the United States, we arrest people that obey the laws, and behave like good citizens, and deport them, without giving them their legal rights.


A member of some religious denomination is telling BBC's Laura Trevelyan that abortions have increased under the domination of Republicans. A religious figure is critical of the Republicans decision to withdraw funds for birth control, and health care for pregnant women.

The sticking point that he dies not approach, is who is punished- Women that are poor, or a members of the minority community, are discouraged from giving birth in America.

He does mention that denying food, shelter, and medical care to pregnant women causes them to choose to abort.

What he said about the productivity of Republicans and legislation-

"They don't do anything. They make promises, but nothing comes of it."


Trump caused undocumented immigrants to be prosecuted for illegal entry. This is the Trump White House policy. Separating children from parents is a tactic meant to cause fear. Anyone that can travel up to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona is discouraged from entering the USA. Ivanka Trump's photo-op, of holding up her over-sized 2 year old, blond, white European son, was deliberate. It does not matter that Ivanka, Trump, and Trump's first wife had brown hair. They bleach their hair, or dye it yellow.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...weets-photo-backlash-border-separation-policy


Guest workers will get worker visas



WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it will issue 15,000 additional guest worker visas for 2018, facing an outcry from business owners who say they’re being hurt by country’s labor squeeze.

It was the second year in a row that DHS agreed to allocate an extra 15,000 guest worker visas, on top of the 66,000 annual cap established by Congress. Lawmakers have granted DHS the authority to exceed the cap.

(Who would put any faith in the employment rates from Trump's White House ?)


Trump is not an opponent of the guest worker system, and has hired seasonal foreign labor for his golf courses and resorts.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/25/dhs-plans-to-issue-15k-more-guest-worker-visas-this-year/

We waved the middle finger to those “across the pond from America” over 200 years ago and those fingers are still flying!

 

[bodysong]

Putin refuses to stop molesting the Ukraine.

Is the U.S. being forced to step in, and protect the Ukraine from Putin ?

 

[oggbashan]

My heart felt particularly heavy, today. No poppies to be seen, around the neighborhood.

(Seasonal affective disorder ?)

Paper Forget-Me-Nots may be purchased.

Locally almost everyone was wearing a poppy, and the Remembrance Sunday parade was the largest for some time with most of the town's youth organisations following the veterans.

PS: For BidudeinWI: We were remembering those who died in wars supporting the US: Korea; Iraq 1 and 2; and Afghanistan. I was also remembering my Australian friends who died in Vietnam.

We are your allies and send our young people to die to support the US. Why not? You were there for us in WW1 and WW2. The US uses UK bases around the world. You need us. We need you. The War of Independence was a long time ago. The UK and US are friends now.

 

[BidudeinWi]

For a long time, the only non-American television news program we had, came from the BBC

Now, we have BBC America, Deutsche Welle, and NHK World Some stations near the Canada border carry French language news.

Todays news-

A young Malian migrant was on Monday offered French citizenship, after he scaled the facade of a Paris apartment block to save a 4-year-old child hanging from the fourth-floor balcony.

Mamoudou Gassama met with French President Emmanuel Macron two days after the dramatic rescue, where he was also given a medal for bravery, and offered a job with the Paris fire brigade.

"I have also invited him to apply for naturalization. Because France is a state of mind, and Mr Gassama has shown with determination that he has it!" Macron added.

Gassama has been living illegally in the French capital after arriving in September 2017

http://www.dw.com/en/malian-immigrant-hailed-for-heroic-rescue-offered-french-passport/a-43954994

Sadly, in the United States, we arrest people that obey the laws, and behave like good citizens, and deport them, without giving them their legal rights.


A member of some religious denomination is telling BBC's Laura Trevelyan that abortions have increased under the domination of Republicans. A religious figure is critical of the Republicans decision to withdraw funds for birth control, and health care for pregnant women.

The sticking point that he dies not approach, is who is punished- Women that are poor, or a members of the minority community, are discouraged from giving birth in America.

He does mention that denying food, shelter, and medical care to pregnant women causes them to choose to abort.

What he said about the productivity of Republicans and legislation-

"They don't do anything. They make promises, but nothing comes of it."


Trump caused undocumented immigrants to be prosecuted for illegal entry. This is the Trump White House policy. Separating children from parents is a tactic meant to cause fear. Anyone that can travel up to Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona is discouraged from entering the USA. Ivanka Trump's photo-op, of holding up her over-sized 2 year old, blond, white European son, was deliberate. It does not matter that Ivanka, Trump, and Trump's first wife had brown hair. They bleach their hair, or dye it yellow.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news...weets-photo-backlash-border-separation-policy


Guest workers will get worker visas



WASHINGTON – The Department of Homeland Security said Friday it will issue 15,000 additional guest worker visas for 2018, facing an outcry from business owners who say they’re being hurt by country’s labor squeeze.

It was the second year in a row that DHS agreed to allocate an extra 15,000 guest worker visas, on top of the 66,000 annual cap established by Congress. Lawmakers have granted DHS the authority to exceed the cap.

(Who would put any faith in the employment rates from Trump's White House ?)


Trump is not an opponent of the guest worker system, and has hired seasonal foreign labor for his golf courses and resorts.

https://www.mercurynews.com/2018/05/25/dhs-plans-to-issue-15k-more-guest-worker-visas-this-year/

Yawn. They’re ILLEGAL ALIENS and they’re coming across our boarder ILLEGALLY by the hundreds of thousands thanks to Fraudulently Elected Fake POTUS, BiDumb. That said, he hasn’t a clue what’s going on. Obama is running the show. Americans need to know what TF is going on and the elites are keeping the information from us. The ONLY reason BiDumb says he will run again is so Obama can continue his muslim goals of destroying the United States!

 

[pecksniff]

Locally almost everyone was wearing a poppy . . .

AIUI, that custom dates from WWI, because poppies grow well in earth that has been recently churned up, as by artillery fire or tank treads or trench-digging, so one saw them everywhere along the Western Front. It has nothing to do with opium, even though anyone remembering WWI might well want some.

 

[bodysong]

Over the last few weeks, Russia has moved thousands of troops to its border
with Ukraine, along with tanks, armored transports, short-range missile forces,
and support aircraft. As of last week, the total number of Russian troops gathered
along the border was estimated to top 175,000.

- Daily Kos

What kind of Putin Power Play, is this ?

"We still do not believe that Putin has made a decision."

 

[BidudeinWi]

The EU HASN'T addressed the issue. The UK already offered equal pay to EU citizens working in the UK. That is why so many EU citizens, with high unemployment and low wages for those who could get employment, came to the UK to get a fair minimum wage for menial jobs. But recent improvements in the economy of their home countries and a poor exchange rate for Pounds to Euros has made the UK less attractive than working say Germany. President Macron's proposed changes to French employment laws might make working in France nearly as profitable as working in Germany (or the UK).

IF the EU had offered something like this change and a little bit more to David Cameron - there wouldn't have been the Brexit result. But the Brussels bureaucrats weren't prepared to offer the UK negotiators anything except 'free movement is a fundamental principle that can't be altered'.

The UK is useless to mankind. They literally contribute NOTHING to the world. Since damn near getting their asses kicked in WWII, they’ve been a joke and irrelevant to America!

 

[oggbashan]

Bi Idiot in WI hates everyone. What a surprise.

It is about time he is banned again. He is no fucking use.

 

[bodysong]

WTF is this monstrosity ?

6 December 2021

Students at Durham University walked out of a Christmas formal dinner
upon learning that Rod Liddle had been invited to speak as a guest
of the college principal.

Professor Tim Luckhurst, principal of Durham University’s South College,
later defended Liddle as a “humorist” after the Spectator associate editor
made a speech on 3 December that included “racism and transphobia”.

Liddle’s invite was reportedly known to the university prior to his attending the event
but not to students, who organised a walkout during the dinner in response to learning
that he would be speaking.

This thread details the events of last night from a student who was present.
Why were students exposed to rampant racism and transphobia from a
public figure who is renowned for his outright hatred of marginalised groups?

(link)

— Katie Anne Tobin (@KatieAnneTobin) December 4, 2021

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/06/rod-liddle-durham-university-trans-transphobia/

"National coverage has misconstrued this as the latest conflict in the free speech culture
war, drawing comparisons to the deplatforming of Amber Rudd."

"This is a false equivalency."

- Theo Burman
- December 14, 2021

At time of writing, more than 20 articles in national outlets have covered the incident
and the protest that came after it.

Liddle and Luckhurst have been approached by every one of these, and Rod Liddle
has had his call for an apology broadcast to the nation.

Durham University students, meanwhile, huddled together on a cold day,
offering support to members of our community, many of whom arrived
at university for the first time this term.

It’s clear to me who the mob really is.

There are ideologues in the free speech debate, but it’s not the students.

https://www.pinknews.co.uk/2021/12/14/durham-university-rod-liddle-transphobia-student/

What legal appointed guardian, invites a guest to abuse the children under their care -
at a Christmas dinner ?

Modern students do not abuse other students, unless they have been influenced
by corrupt adults - in this case, it was the principal of the school and his wife,
that had been corrupted, and they joined in on the abuse.

The students walked out, because they did not tolerate abuse, at what should have been
a "family dinner." This is not an issue of "free speech." This is an issue of adults
abusing their position and power.

The Tories have some very ugly characters under their umbrella.

Rod Liddle has proved himself to be low scum, once, again.

The students have a right to stand against something that is wrong.

 

[pecksniff]

Putin refuses to stop molesting the Ukraine.

Is the U.S. being forced to step in, and protect the Ukraine from Putin ?

Not "forced." It's a choice. Ukraine is not a NATO ally the U.S. is bound by treaty to defend.

 

[bodysong]

Russia’s highest court on Tuesday shut down one of the country’s oldest
and most prominent human rights organization

Russian court orders oldest civil rights group Memorial to shut

Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed
imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era.

Formally it has been "liquidated" for failing to mark a number of social media posts
with its official status as a "foreign agent".

...the prosecutor labelled Memorial a "public threat", accusing the group of being
in the pay of the West to focus attention on Soviet crimes instead of highlighting
a "glorious past".

Founded in 1989, Memorial became a symbol of a country opening up to the world -
and to itself - as Russia began examining the darkest chapters of its past. Its closure
is a stark symbol of how the country has turned back in on itself -
under President Vladimir Putin, rejecting criticism - even of history -
as a hostile act.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-59808624

This is what the extremist Right Religious American Christians want for America.
Freedom of speech for themselves, the right to tell the opposition to STFU, or else.

Today, another Russian dissident youth was grabbed off the streets, and disappeared.

Opposition to Putin is not tolerated by Putin

Sarah Rainsford has reported for the BBC from Moscow for many years,
first travelling there as a teenager

I'm writing this in the middle of the night at my kitchen table in Moscow,
looking over towards the dim red stars and golden domes of the Kremlin.
But by the time you read it I'll be on my way back to England, expelled
from Russia as a national security threat.

After more than 20 years reporting from Moscow, I still can't believe it.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-58395121

 

[pecksniff]

Russia’s highest court on Tuesday shut down one of the country’s oldest
and most prominent human rights organization

Russian court orders oldest civil rights group Memorial to shut

Memorial worked to recover the memory of the millions of innocent people executed
imprisoned or persecuted in the Soviet era.

Formally it has been "liquidated" for failing to mark a number of social media posts
with its official status as a "foreign agent".

Does the government specify what foreign government Memorial serves?

 

[bodysong]

DW Deutsche Welle ✓
Twitter › DeutscheWelle

Memorial International recorded the memory of victims of the Soviet-era crimes.
As Russia shut down @MemorialMoscow, DW correspondent @juri_rescheto
spoke with a survivor whose family experienced persecution by the Stalin regime.

10 hours ago

 

[bodysong]

A court in Moscow ordered the closure of the Memorial Human Rights Center
on Wednesday, in the latest blow to Russian civil society groups.

The center was charged with multiple violations of Russia's "foreign agent" law
and "justifying terrorism and extremism" in its publications, a lawyer for
the organization, Ilya Novikov, told CNN. The decision comes a day after
Russia's Supreme Court decided to close its sister group Memorial International.
Novikov said they would launch an appeal.

"It is quite an expected decision after yesterday's [decision of the Supreme Court
to shut down Memorial International]. We did not have any illusions about the
hearing today," Novikov told CNN by telephone from the court.

"But it is crucial that those persecutions did not discourage people and I think
will not make people to stop their human rights work.

The legal entity can be liquidated but the work remains and people remain.

Amnesty International's Eastern Europe and Central Asia Director Marie Struthers
called the ruling "heartless" in a statement published Wednesday.

https://www.cnn.com/2021/12/29/europe/memorial-human-right-moscow-court-intl/index.html

CNN Breaking News ✓
Twitter › cnnbrk

Marie Struthers (@struthers_marie)

@AmnestyEECA