Best Of

There was some debate as to whether it was even a Nazi salute. I thought it was.

An South African who spends a lot of time on far right Social Media didn't realise the meaning of the gesture?

He can't be very bright if so!

Very many commentators have made that very same point today that it must have been accidental due to his lack of self awareness. Autism again, I guess.

Autism, the friendly name for Apergers

Just like Alsations, the name was changed to avoid negative connotations

In this case, the fact that Hans Asperger was apparently, a Nazi...

No it isn't.
Asperger's was a subset (a cluster) of ASD.
There are more than 200 known genetic markers for the condition. You only need a handful to be on the spectrum.
That's why it's a spectrum.
And that's why it's incredibly varied. Hence "neurodiverse".
Asperger's is just a high functioning (ie, valued in a Capitalist society) expression of one aspect.

There is some truth in the Nazi bit though and it is no longer used as a result.

"Asperger's syndrome was retired in 2013 with the publication of the fifth edition of the American Psychiatric Association's Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders (DSM-5).1
Barahona-Corrêa JB, Filipe CN. A concise history of Asperger syndrome: The short reign of a troublesome diagnosis. Front Psychol. 2016;6. doi:10.3389/fpsyg.2015.02024


One reason it was retired is that DSM authors wanted to avoid the misconception that Asperger’s was a different condition from autism. A second reason is that Hans Asperger was a Nazi and collaborated in the murder of children with disabilities under the Third Reich.2 Researchers and clinicians wanted to distance themselves from this horrible history and legacy."

https://www.verywellhealth.com/does-asperger-syndrome-still-exist-259944#:~:text=Asperger's syndrome was named after an Austrian

Indeed.
It was the "friendly name for Autism" claim I was objecting to.

Fair enough although I do recall when middle class people would very much more happily have admitted that their child had Asperger's rather than admitting that they were autistic.

I saw a really good program on C4 catchup recently built around autism. It was called Patience. The main character worked in criminal records and her autism meant that she picked up patterns no one else noticed. Well worth a watch if you haven't seen it.

My eldest has an autism diagnosis although she is high functioning and it was fascinating seeing her traits shown in this way. One of the best examples is that she would plot out her conversations with people in advance in writing, something my daughter also does, and then get completely panicked the moment it went off script. It also didn't shy away from the limitations either.

Yes, there certainly are jobs where being a high functioning autistic is of benefit. Security checks on baggage at airports is another. Repeated tasks are comforting rather than boring.

Often Autistic people are very sensitive, so mortified when they realise they have inadvertently offended. It's almost the opposite of being rude.

Around 15% of the population is neurodiverse to the point that it interferes to some degree with their social, psychological or emotional functioning.

Let’s be honest, many if not most of the posters here are “on the spectrum”.

However, it does not - with only a few exceptions - result in a general sympathy for the AfD and other fash-flirting movements, nor an inability to avoid accidentally sieg heiling as we go about our business.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The former leader of the Proud Boys and the founder of the Oath Keepers have been released from prison after their lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were wiped away by a sweeping order from President Donald Trump benefiting more than 1,500 defendants.

Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes were two of the highest-profile Jan. 6 defendants and received some of the harshest punishments in what became the largest investigation in Justice Department history.

Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, was serving an 18-year prison sentence, and Tarrio, of Miami, was serving a 22-year sentence after they were convicted of orchestrating plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump, a Republican, lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-jan-6-clemency-releases-former-proud-boys-leader-oath-keepers-founder-from-lengthy-sentences

Shame, shame, shame.

Biden should have sprung the 6th of January mob. They were obviously going to be freed anyway and it would have made Biden look statesmanlike. Not to mention it would have drawn attention away from his rather odd preemptive pardons.

Why would letting them out be statesmanlike?

They are a gang of nasty, shitty arseholes, who committed some serious crimes.

WASHINGTON (AP) — The former leader of the Proud Boys and the founder of the Oath Keepers have been released from prison after their lengthy sentences for seditious conspiracy in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol were wiped away by a sweeping order from President Donald Trump benefiting more than 1,500 defendants.

Enrique Tarrio and Stewart Rhodes were two of the highest-profile Jan. 6 defendants and received some of the harshest punishments in what became the largest investigation in Justice Department history.

Rhodes, of Granbury, Texas, was serving an 18-year prison sentence, and Tarrio, of Miami, was serving a 22-year sentence after they were convicted of orchestrating plots to stop the peaceful transfer of power after Trump, a Republican, lost the 2020 election to Democrat Joe Biden.

https://www.pbs.org/newshour/politics/trumps-jan-6-clemency-releases-former-proud-boys-leader-oath-keepers-founder-from-lengthy-sentences

Shame, shame, shame.

What could possibly go wrong, some people asked? The way this is being handled should set off all sorts of alarm bells.

Rajiv Shah
@RajivShah90
The Terminally Ill Adults Bill Committee has just voted 14 to 8 against calling oral evidence from the Royal College of Psychiatrists

I have no words
4:16 pm · 21 Jan 2025

Leadbetter is a disgrace. And so is Starmer if he really is behind this. Something as sensitive as this needs the fullest proper scrutiny not this rushed hole in the corner affair which seeks to avoid or minimise scrutiny. A PMB is the wrong route for such a law.

A summary of the ways this going wrong:

- She only produced the Bill18 days before the vote
- She made at least two misleading statements to the Commons: one about judicial support and one that no equivalent law in other countries has ever been expanded (untrue - see Canada).
- She has stacked the Committee with supporters and the balance in favour of the a bill is far greater than what the vote actually reflected. She has refused to have on the Committee any of the MPs with actual medical experience if they have reservations.
- She has delayed for 6 weeks the call for evidence.
- The meeting to decide what evidence should be called has been in private. The motion to do so was proposed at the last minute without any explanation. This means that not only was the public unable to hear the deliberations but no record of what was said will be made and kept.
- She only sent round her witness list a week ago and then changed it at the last minute with the Committee only being told today.
- Of these witnesses, 8 are supporters from other jurisdictions. There are no opponents.
- Of the 9 lawyers, 6 are in favour of the Bill and 3 neutral. Again there are no opponents.
- There are no witnesses from disability organisations, all of whom are against the Bill.
- She is refusing to hear evidence from Canada because it comes from a jurisdiction that's too legally dissimilar. This is garbage given the similarities between English law and Canadian law and, especially, given that Canada's law was limited to terminally ill adults like the proposed Bill. The real reason she does not want this evidence is that it would show precisely how such a Bill can be abused and how it can be expanded using anti-discrimination provisions available in English and ECHR jurisprudence.The latter, in particular, is precisely what Leadbetter has said cannot happen. That was a nonsense statement when she made it in the Commons - as a number of lawyers pointed out.

If Parliament is to do its job properly, scrutinising and understanding what has happened in Canada is exactly what it should be doing.

Leadbetter is behaving like a Paula Vennells: telling untruths to Parliament, showing contempt for Parliamentary scrutiny and those who have real concerns about what this will mean, a high-handed attitude to due process and what it is for and a determination to listen only to those who will tell her what she wants to hear.

We are watching the makings of a scandal unfold in real time.

What could possibly go wrong, some people asked? The way this is being handled should set off all sorts of alarm bells.

Rajiv Shah
@RajivShah90
The Terminally Ill Adults Bill Committee has just voted 14 to 8 against calling oral evidence from the Royal College of Psychiatrists

I have no words
4:16 pm · 21 Jan 2025

Leadbetter is a disgrace. And so is Starmer if he really is behind this. Something as sensitive as this needs the fullest proper scrutiny not this rushed hole in the corner affair which seeks to avoid or minimise scrutiny. A PMB is the wrong route for such a law.

A summary of the ways this going wrong:

- She only produced the Bill18 days before the vote
- She made at least two misleading statements to the Commons: one about judicial support and one that no equivalent law in other countries has ever been expanded (untrue - see Canada).
- She has stacked the Committee with supporters and the balance in favour of the a bill is far greater than what the vote actually reflected. She has refused to have on the Committee any of the MPs with actual medical experience if they have reservations.
- She has delayed for 6 weeks the call for evidence.
- The meeting to decide what evidence should be called has been in private. The motion to do so was proposed at the last minute without any explanation. This means that not only was the public unable to hear the deliberations but no record of what was said will be made and kept.
- She only sent round her witness list a week ago and then changed it at the last minute with the Committee only being told today.
- Of these witnesses, 8 are supporters from other jurisdictions. There are no opponents.
- Of the 9 lawyers, 6 are in favour of the Bill and 3 neutral. Again there are no opponents.
- There are no witnesses from disability organisations, all of whom are against the Bill.
- She is refusing to hear evidence from Canada because it comes from a jurisdiction that's too legally dissimilar. This is garbage given the similarities between English law and Canadian law and, especially, given that Canada's law was limited to terminally ill adults like the proposed Bill. The real reason she does not want this evidence is that it would show precisely how such a Bill can be abused and how it can be expanded using anti-discrimination provisions available in English and ECHR jurisprudence.The latter, in particular, is precisely what Leadbetter has said cannot happen. That was a nonsense statement when she made it in the Commons - as a number of lawyers pointed out.

If Parliament is to do its job properly, scrutinising and understanding what has happened in Canada is exactly what it should be doing.

Leadbetter is behaving like a Paula Vennells: telling untruths to Parliament, showing contempt for Parliamentary scrutiny and those who have real concerns about what this will mean, a high-handed attitude to due process and what it is for and a determination to listen only to those who will tell her what she wants to hear.

We are watching the makings of a scandal unfold in real time.

Come on now, its hardly a matter of life and death.

https://x.com/jenniferjjacobs/status/1881759105573966130

SCOOP: President Trump is set to announce billions of dollars in private sector investment to build artificial intelligence infrastructure in the United States, @CBSNews has learned. 
OpenAI, Softbank and Oracle are planning a joint venture called Stargate, according to multiple people familiar with the deal.

There does appear to have been a fair amount of planning done by the new Trump administration, which was very much not done back in 2017.

Nothing to do with Trump that computer has been in development for ages now.

Trump is an absolute expert at claiming credit for things that were already in the works!

Not sure if he can pull it off but I heard he is going to give us extra daylight each day for the next few months as a reward for making him King. By contrast, the last few months of Bidens corrupt regime had less daylight.