Across the Pond from America

[DeYaKen]

Boris Johnson had a fantasy

Only things did not quite turn out as Johnson expected.

Before his plan could even come to a vote, MPs found another option
by pressing an amendment that would force the six-time-loser PM to
go back to the E.U. and beg for still more time. Johnson declared that
he could not, would not do it. And then Parliament passed the amendment
by a wide margin. At the end of the day, Johnson finally gave in to the
little thing called law that declared he would so send a note to the E.U.
But to show what he thought of it all, he declared that he would not sign
the note. So there. If all this sounds both confusing and ridiculous, it’s
worse than that—watch this BBC explainer to get a sense of how bad
it really was.


There may never have been a day that better demonstrated how the
entire Western world is being run by three-year-olds.

-Mark Sumner

October 20, 2019

https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2019/10/20/1893748/-Abbreviated-Pundit-Round-up-El-Doral-done


John McDonnell said (Boris) Johnson behaved “a bit like a spoilt brat”
after the prime minister sent an unsigned letter to the EU asking
for a delay, and then a second arguing against it.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/live/2019/oct/20/brexit-boris-johnson-eu-deal-delay-live-news

FFS, the face of someone that needs a good smack.

The real problem is that even members of his own party don't trust Boris. He has put before parliament a deal which is only slightly different from the one they have already rejected but even if they approve it he could still delay the necessary legislation so UK still leaves without a deal. This is why a member of his own party put forward an amendment which delayed the vote until all the necessary legislation has been passed.

 

[bodysong]

Ben Jennings on the tribulations of Prince Andrew – cartoon

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...-on-the-tribulations-of-prince-andrew-cartoon

"The proles have no common sense."

 

[bodysong]

Albania hit by deadly 6.4 magnitude earthquake

26 November 2019

The quake hit 34km (21 miles) north-west of the capital, Tirana,
in the early hours of Tuesday.

Hours later, a separate earthquake struck the city of Mostar in Bosnia.

So far, some 42 survivors have been extracted from the ruins,
according to officials.

The majority of fatalities occurred in the coastal city of Durres
and in the town of Thumane, 40km to the north-west of Tirana
and close to the epicentre, according to the defence ministry.

There have been a number of aftershocks, including one of 5.3
magnitude, the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre
said.

In 1979, a magnitude 6.9 quake hit Albania leaving 136 dead
and more than 1,000 injured.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-europe-50555776

 

[JackLuis]

‘Secret agenda today is exposed’: Corbyn says leaked docs show Tory plan to privatize NHS with Trump’s help

U.K. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday unveiled over 450 pages of leaked documents that he said expose British Prime Minister Boris Johnson’s effort to open up the National Health Service to corporate exploitation in trade negotiations with U.S. President Donald Trump.
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During a press conference, Corbyn said the Trump administration’s negotiators are “demanding” that the NHS be put “on the table” in talks over a possible post-Brexit trade pact between the U.S. and U.K.

Good Luck my British Friends.

 

[oggbashan]

‘Secret agenda today is exposed’: Corbyn says leaked docs show Tory plan to privatize NHS with Trump’s help



Good Luck my British Friends.

Previous Labour Governments massively expanded PFI - Private Finance Agreements - to build new facilities that have put most NHS trusts into severe financial difficulties paying historically high-interest rates. It is hypocritical of Labour to say they oppose private interference in the NHS when they were responsible for most of it. Or is it just American money they hate?

 

[JackLuis]

Knifeman murders two in terror attack on the London Bridge

A man wearing a suspected hoax explosive device knifed two people to death in a terror attack on Friday before being shot dead by police on London Bridge.

Three more people were injured in the stabbing spree which revived memories of a three-man attack on London Bridge two years ago that killed eight people.

Footage on Twitter filmed by eyewitnesses showed a scrum of people tackling the suspect on the ground before specialist armed officers arrived and fired as he made to get up.

‘Heroic’ Londoners praised for tackling knifeman — unaware he was apparently wearing an explosive device

Members of the public were praised as heroes on Friday after tackling a knife-wielding terrorist on London Bridge, unaware he was apparently wearing an explosive device.

“Members of the public didn’t realise at the time that was a hoax device and they really are the best of us — another example of the bravery and heroism of ordinary Londoners running towards danger, risking their own personal safety to try and save others.”

– ‘Heroes beyond belief’ –

As three officers formed a semi-circle around the man, pointing their weapons, it took several seconds before the last man got off the suspect.

50 pence of justice! Brits are economical.

 

[stickygirl]

Apparently one of the gutsie members of the public attacked the terrorist with a Narwhal tusk. Who the fuck drives around with a Narwhal tusk? Oh hang on - just read he was Polish, which explains

 

[phrodeau]

Apparently one of the gutsie members of the public attacked the terrorist with a Narwhal tusk. Who the fuck drives around with a Narwhal tusk? Oh hang on - just read he was Polish, which explains

The narwhal tusk came from the wall of a nearby pub. The right to narwhal tusks shall not be infringed.

 

[stickygirl]

I read fishmongers where a Polish immigrant reportedly works... because you know in Europe, we call people who have a right to work here 'immigrants'. Another member of the public was armed with a fire extinguisher and a passing colonel used a lead pipe from the library.

 

[DeYaKen]

Previous Labour Governments massively expanded PFI - Private Finance Agreements - to build new facilities that have put most NHS trusts into severe financial difficulties paying historically high-interest rates. It is hypocritical of Labour to say they oppose private interference in the NHS when they were responsible for most of it. Or is it just American money they hate?

This is true but it was Tony Blair's "New Labour" or Tory Lite as it was more accurately known. They did, indeed, extend the use of John Major's Private Finance initiative. Corbyn and the membership of the Labour party have now returned the party to traditional Labour values so, no, it is not being hypocritical when rejecting private interference in the NHS. The hypocrite was Blair who did what he did in the name of Labour. Blair, of course, was almost as big a liar as Boris and he got elected three times. Perhaps the British people just like electing liars.

Get Brexit Done is another lie. Boris's deal won't get Brexit done it will only get Brexit stated there will be months, if not years of negotiation before the "simplest deal in history" is actually finalised.

 

[oggbashan]

This is true but it was Tony Blair's "New Labour" or Tory Lite as it was more accurately known. They did, indeed, extend the use of John Major's Private Finance initiative. Corbyn and the membership of the Labour party have now returned the party to traditional Labour values so, no, it is not being hypocritical when rejecting private interference in the NHS. The hypocrite was Blair who did what he did in the name of Labour. Blair, of course, was almost as big a liar as Boris and he got elected three times. Perhaps the British people just like electing liars.

Get Brexit Done is another lie. Boris's deal won't get Brexit done it will only get Brexit stated there will be months, if not years of negotiation before the "simplest deal in history" is actually finalised.

But the current Labour party does not admit to previous mismanagement or the costs that still exist.

 

[DeYaKen]

But the current Labour party does not admit to previous mismanagement or the costs that still exist.

That's because it was not them that did it, it was Blair's "New Labour" Most of the people in his government are now either in the house of Lords or have left politics. The fact that you cite PFI as mismanagement actually supports their current stance. We are currently taxed (according to Rees Mogg) higher than we have ever been so why are services being cut to the bone. That money has to be going somewhere so why are we not seeing any benefit? The answer is that the money is finding its way into the pockets of shareholders in private companies.
All the money poured into banks over the past ten years has gone straight into reserves so that shareholders could still get dividends and management could still give themselves obscene bonuses. Millions in taxpayers money has been paid to Openreach a wholly owned subsidiary of BT on the pretext of providing fibre broadband to rural communities. The money was spent where it would generate the most profit and benefit shareholders the most. Meanwhile, rural consumers still do not have their fibre broadband and BT charge us, the taxpayers, more money to use a facility that we paid them to install. If that isn't financial mismanagement, I don't know what is. Imagine the benefit to the economy if the money so called "quantitative easing" had been spent on nurses salaries and not cutting benefits. Giving money to people in need means that at least ten organisations benefit from the cash because those people spend the money as soon as they get it. However that doesn't fit with the party's image.

 

[stickygirl]

"But the foreign Secretary, Dominic Raab, denied that the Conservatives were politicising the attack.

However, he cited the incident to warn against what he said would be harmful Labour policies. “The question is, for people who are watching the show, who they trust: Boris Johnson to keep us safe or Jeremy Corbyn, with his track record?” he told Sky News."
cite

"Boris Johnson has apologised for his “mistake” in comments about a British-Iranian mother detained in Iran, which had led for calls for his resignation for putting her at further risk.

The foreign secretary said he was in no doubt that Nazanin Zaghari-Ratcliffe had been in the country on holiday visiting relatives with her young daughter, not “training journalists” as he had told the foreign affairs select committee."

cite

^^ Biffo Boris The man who would be king. Nuff said

Edit for balance
"Corbyn has given interviews in which he has been challenged to condemn the IRA’s campaign of violence unequivocally – without equating it to other parties involved in the conflict – and has declined to do so."
cite

"The row over Labour’s response to complaints of antisemitism in its ranks has led a string of Labour MPs to resign and the Equalities and Human Rights Commission (EHRC) to launch an unprecedented investigation."
cite

^^ The man who would be commissar

 

[bodysong]

The Labour party leader, Jeremy Corbyn, references the moment
Boris Johnson 'hid' in a fridge to avoid a TV interview on the day
before the polls open in the UK general election on 12 December.

(That is what the American minions of Presiderp Trump do- hide.
In SUVs, in elevators, in offices. in bathrooms (the loo) in stairways.
But, first of all, the cowards must reach their hiding places.

They are able to move very quickly, when voters attempt to communicate
with them, directly- person to person. Their very own personal security
teams provide cover, and some are very willing to tip people out of their
wheelchairs, in order to slow protesters in persuit, down,)

There is a rumor that one hid in a closet. Another may have hid
in a large cabinet, all curled up in a ball, behind the cabinet doors.)

Jeremy Corbyn says he doesn't need to 'hide in a fridge'

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...says-he-doesnt-need-to-hide-in-a-fridge-video

https://www.theguardian.com/politic...e-dominated-by-johnson-and-corbyn-study-finds

 

[stickygirl]

We're fucked whatever happens

 

[oggbashan]

We're fucked whatever happens

Unfortunately voting 'none of the above' wouldn't help either.

 

[domroger]

Unfortunately voting 'none of the above' wouldn't help either.

Putting a box for none of the above might make the bastards think more about their policies .But since most candidates are egotistic I doubt it

 

[stickygirl]

Unfortunately voting 'none of the above' wouldn't help either.

No Oggs, I'm voting tactically with hopes of a hung parliament. I don't trust any of the parties or their leaders and very much hope none has a working majority. So that's as close to none of the above as possible

 

[oggbashan]

Just back from voting. Looking at the electoral official's check list the turnout locally has been already high despite the bad weather. My vote won't make any difference. At the last election despite a drop in votes for him, the sitting MP had more votes than all the other parties added together.

 

[oggbashan]

In a nearby constituency the sitting Labour MP, the first in that area for over 100 years kept her seat despite the national trend and increased her majority slightly.

That is a personal result. She had been a moderate (and sensible) Labour MP and a great constituency MP, working hard for everyone. Many other good representatives have lost their seats despite their own hard work because of their party's national stance and leadership.

Edited to add: There is local anger because the Labour vote relies on the students who nearly outnumber the locals. But students are exempt from local taxes and have little involvement in the local area.

 

[BabyBoomer50s]

Congrats to the U.K. Biggest conservative win since Margaret Thatcher, and an encouraging sign for the GOP in 2020 US election.

 

[bodysong]

Australia fires:

PM Scott Morrison sorry for Hawaii holiday during crisis

22 December 2019

Mr Morrison cut short his trip to Hawaii as criticism
of him increased.

https://www.bbc.com/news/world-australia-50879850

The PMO continues to refuse to answer questions,
telling reporters they are “wrong” that Morrison is
on holiday in Hawaii.

10 News First Sydney (@10NewsFirstSyd)

PM Scott Morrison is being criticised for quietly going on holiday
while parts of the nation are experiencing extensive bushfires.

@vanOnselenP #auspol

December 17, 2019

https://www.theguardian.com/austral...rison-hawaii-horror-show-pr-disaster-unfolded

Our American version of the BBC (PBS) has faithfully reported
on the extent of the bush fires. Sad to see that the danger and
destruction still continues.

 

[oggbashan]

More EU exits?

Hungary is annoyed with EU interference in Hungarian courts.

Spain is annoyed at granting Catalan MEPs protected status as MEPs.

I doubt there will be much more than angry muttering but there might be popular votes for leaving the EU.

The EU unelected people don't seem to learn.

 

[DeYaKen]

Hungary is annoyed with EU interference in Hungarian courts.

Spain is annoyed at granting Catalan MEPs protected status as MEPs.

I doubt there will be much more than angry muttering but there might be popular votes for leaving the EU.

The EU unelected people don't seem to learn.

more wishful thinking? Spain can't leave, they are a net receiver from the EU Likewise Hungary they can't afford to leave. The nearest to leaving is Poland which is refusing to accept the idea that the judiciary should be independent of the government. Many Brexiteers would agree with them. They seemed to get very hot under the collar when our independent judiciary disagreed with the government. An independent judiciary is one of the pillars of democracy If the Polish government do not accept this they may be forced to leave.

The only union in serious danger of breaking up is the dis-United Kingdom. Northern Ireland is one step closer to uniting with the republic. The Scots came close to leaving before Brexit but are now desperate to separate from a government which has broken two election promises within two days of taking office.

 

[oggbashan]

Not wishful thinking but suppressed annoyance with the EU. I don't think any other country is likely to leave but the voters are becoming disillusioned with the EU as it is and there is no sign that the EU is listening.