Biden would be 86 this time in 6 years which is mid 80's not late 80's. A mere whippersnapper compared to Senator Strom Thurmond who retired from Congress at the age of 101. Marvellous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond
Okay so Joe Biden stumbles over a few words but seems pretty physically agile. I'd rather have him than a zippy younger evangelical zealot.
Very good article in today's i on ageing and about how it's a myth that ageing mean irreversible decline.
I think this is a UK-centric story. We're not used to ageing politicians who live the American dream and stay fit and sprightly. Most of the ageing old tory crusties look like they're on death's door. Sir Edward Leigh is the spit of Rowley Birkin QC.
Probably the difference is our relationship with booze. I mean I drink - too much. But then most of us do.
By contrast, being teetotal or near teetotal is quite normal in the States.
Biden and Trump aren’t that unusual in that regard.
Yes, Americans seem constantly flabbergasted by how much Britons drink.
If you work with Americans or have American clients you’ll hear the phrase “national pastime” being aired a fair bit
Basically: Shut up. The chilling genius of autocracy.
It's moronic sh*t circulated on a medium that has as its function the circulation of moronic sh*t.
"If I praise the government, they'll jail me."
No they won't. No government in the world jails people for praising it. Hitler's didn't, Putin's doesn't, and Kristersson's in Abba-land doesn't either.
You've fallen into the "diarrhoea is custard because someone said so on Twitter" trap.
Now scream "Enemy saboteur!" at the top of your voice.
Absolutely fucking mental in Clark. Holy shit. This is election betting deciding stuff
I read that and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Glad I wasn't just been thick
All that’s remaining in NV is mail in. of which only 50K ballots left in Clark. There’s different types of mail in, that come before the day, on day, and after all the way up to Saturday still count.
Switching to AZ for more on mail in - there was hope for GOP because Trump done well in on day mail in in 2020, however he also won before day mail in too, but this being a different election two years later, the GOP candidate unlike Trump 2 years ago lost on before day mail in, so hope on day mail in might be good for GOP same as back in 2020 is false in my opinion, because the before day mail in precedent and that Trump and Trumpites, of which this is definitely one, are thought of differently now two years on.
I’m calling Arizona blue, Nevada red, and Georgia run off a toss up though if your forced me to place the GA win bet I’d go red.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
The Prime Minister is chosen by MPs as they see fit - not technically the true and complete story of course, but let's say it has worked that way for decades now. It happened twice in the last few weeks as we recall without direct recourse to voters. The President of the Commission is chosen by heads of state and government, some elected, some appointed along the same lines as the PM, all involving a democratic vote at some earlier point in the process.
As I've said before, there seems to be a distinct lack of people with names like "John Smith" in Just Stop Oil. Not sure why this is.
Your posh climate activist name, is the last place you went on holiday and your least favourite vegetable
Truro Aubergine? It's plausible.
Bideford Broad Bean. I like it.
At the risk of causing mild offence, why would you holiday in Bideford with so many nice places close by? A family connection?
We stay on a farm a mile out of Bideford, and it’s where the Legendary Grand Tour is based (classic mini event at the end of August). Bideford itself is not a great location…
Fascinating! Just watched the promo video on on the website. Good stuff. What do you make of Appledore? From my single visit, one of the eeriest places I've been in Winter - a real insular feeling despite recent gentrification.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
No, no, you don’t understand. The EU was always about democracy. Never about stitching up jobs for those who’ve failed in their careers within their own countries.
*Cough* House of Lords *Cough*
Sue*cough*ella Braver*cough*man.
The old unwritten rule that you needed to face the electorate before returning from a ministerial disgrace had quite a lot going for it.
When Brexit apologists moan about lack of democracy in the EU they really highlight how little they understand about our own pseudo-democracy.
I moan about both, thanks. I don’t hold up the U.K. as some bastion of pure democracy. But it is fair to ask how a citizen in the EU can remove UVDL from office. You may detest the current PM. You may not. But you know for certain that no later than early 2025 the entire electorate of the U.K. will get their say.
Technically a citizen of the EU could lobby their MPs to lobby their head of government to vote with other heads of government of the 27 to remove UVDL from office via the Council of Ministers. The current UK PM was voted for by Con MPs. The previous one was voted for by a selectorate of swiveleyed geriatric lunatics. The one before that was essentially voted in by those people who live in marginal constituencies and he in his infinite wisdom is about to make Nadine Dorries a peer of the Realm. Our system of democracy is a pile if shit. It needs root and branch reform, but it will not get it. We are in no position to wave our democratic credentials at UVDL who in reality has very little power because it is almost entirely vested in the Council of Ministers.
For me it was the pointlessness of MEPs. They don’t really seem to have any power or function. At least the U.K. PM is the one who can command the majority of the house. Who is the equivalent in the EU?
I think you will find that they perform a pretty good function in their equivalent of select committees in aligning single market legislation. One good example was on roaming charges on mobiles. Not ground breaking, but useful nonetheless. I suspect you have just chosen to believe they achieve nothing because it suits your prejudice, rather like the poster who slags off parish councils but has probably never done anything useful for his community in his life.
It may surprise you to know that, with a heavy heart, I voted remain. My side lost. I have long despaired of the very politicised nature of what started as an Economic community, and became an attempt to create a United States of Europe. The people I blame most are the cowards in power in the U.K. who consistently failed to give the people a say in how the EEC/EU was changing. Right up to Gordon Brown scuttling through the back door to sign the Lisbon Treaty away from the cameras. They rarely tried to persuade, culminating in the awful lies and mischaracterisation of the referendum campaign itself. Remain were as dishonest as leave. I genuinely believe that the EU was U.K. democratic at heart, and that the bits the public got to cote for had little real power, at least when compared to national members of parliament. I don’t think that’s my prejudice, it’s my observation.
It doesn't surprise me at all, though it may possibly surprise you that I was always a Eurosceptic in the William Hague mould, but not so Eurosceptic that I felt the benefits of withdrawal outweighed the disbenefits. That has proved to be the case in bucketloads, largely because there are no benefits (except in the minds of the astonishingly deranged) and loads of disbenefits.
Personally, I think @IshmaelZ 's post summed it up better than I did. A system does not need all our public figures to be directly elected to be democratic. Equally a system that has a predominant number of directly elected representatives does not necessarily have higher degrees of democracy or relative freedom.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Kwasi Kwarteng tells @tnewtondunn what he said to Liz Truss when she sacked him: I said, “‘This is mad. Prime Ministers don’t get rid of Chancellors'. I think I said to her at the time, this is going to last three or four weeks. Little did I know it was only going to be six days” https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1590815926102130689
Lmao, Maricopa has 400,000 left to count and wont be done till 'next week' (CNN)
The Thatcherite loons on here who like to attack the public sector should reflect, occasionally, on stuff like this in places like the US and think about all the things in the U.K. that “just work” and why that is.
The "why it is" in this particular case - processing & counting of election ballots - having ZERO to do with the quality of public sector & public workers on EITHER side of the Atlantic (or Pacific).
Rather, in vastly different systems for issuing, receiving, counting, processing, recording & reporting votes.
For one thing, my own ballot had about two dozen different federal, state and local candidate races and ballot questions. Typical for US elections. Atypical to say the least in UK.
Just one difference between elections here & there, wherever they may be from your (or my own skewed) perspective!
For some real-time examples of what's happening now in just one election office, check out the webcams at this link posted by King County Elections:
Lmao, Maricopa has 400,000 left to count and wont be done till 'next week' (CNN)
The Thatcherite loons on here who like to attack the public sector should reflect, occasionally, on stuff like this in places like the US and think about all the things in the U.K. that “just work” and why that is.
The "why it is" in this particular case - processing & counting of election ballots - having ZERO to do with the quality of public sector & public workers on EITHER side of the Atlantic (or Pacific).
Rather, in vastly different systems for issuing, receiving, counting, processing, recording & reporting votes.
For one thing, my own ballot had about two dozen different federal, state and local candidate races and ballot questions. Typical for US elections. Atypical to say the least in UK.
Just one difference between elections here & there, wherever they may be from your (or my own skewed) perspective!
For some real-time examples of what's happening now in just one election office, check out the webcams at this link posted by King County Elections:
These explainations are helpful and explain why it might well take days. Why weeks and weeks though, in some extreme cases? Including days of little progress?
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Good lord. Just watching the interview on sky news with the Just Stop Oil person Indigo Rumbelow. It's such an unusual name and I couldn't remember where I'd heard it before. Then I realised that I'd bumped into her once or twice in the Cardiff arts scene. Thought she was quite cute. Weird.
Is she the heiress of the Rumbelows TV hire fortune?
It could just be performance art. Maybe she us colleagues called Taupe Comet or Applewhite Habitat.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
As I've said before, there seems to be a distinct lack of people with names like "John Smith" in Just Stop Oil. Not sure why this is.
Your posh climate activist name, is the last place you went on holiday and your least favourite vegetable
Truro Aubergine? It's plausible.
Bideford Broad Bean. I like it.
At the risk of causing mild offence, why would you holiday in Bideford with so many nice places close by? A family connection?
We stay on a farm a mile out of Bideford, and it’s where the Legendary Grand Tour is based (classic mini event at the end of August). Bideford itself is not a great location…
Fascinating! Just watched the promo video on on the website. Good stuff. What do you make of Appledore? From my single visit, one of the eeriest places I've been in Winter - a real insular feeling despite recent gentrification.
Quite like Appledore. The minis drive through between the houses (the really, really narrow street). I love the museum too, and I believe there is a book festival, but not been. I suspect like a lot of places round the coast it’s very different outside summertime. The biggest change, and I admit it’s over thirty years, is Westward Ho. I recall a dreadful visit as a teenager, but it’s somewhat more cheery now, albeit with the half built holiday houses marring things a bit.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Basically: Shut up. The chilling genius of autocracy.
It's moronic sh*t circulated on a medium that has as its function the circulation of moronic sh*t.
"If I praise the government, they'll jail me."
No they won't. No government in the world jails people for praising it. Hitler's didn't, Putin's doesn't, and Kristersson's in Abba-land doesn't either.
You've fallen into the "diarrhoea is custard because someone said so on Twitter" trap.
Now scream "Enemy saboteur!" at the top of your voice.
If it is an accurate translation of what he said, amd I'd have no idea, then it seems to me your comments miss the mark. The point seems to be that the law is currently so stupid he would technically be breaking it and potentially facing a jail sentence for praising the government, or opposing it. Not that he actually would be jailed for praising it.
A government getting in a position where someone praising it's actions is technically breaking the law is a stupid government, after all, even if they choose not to enforce it. Like if our government made it a crime to give up territorial claim to Normandy, then made it a crime to criticise giving up Normandy when it did.
Nominative Determinism: the billionaire CEO of FTX, the cryptocurrency exchange that shat its guts this week, now facing possible bankruptcy... Sam Bankman–Fried!
Same guy who earlier this year tried to buy the new Oregon 6th congressional district, in part via huge soft money donation to DCCC.
Sadly for the then-Crypto King, his pony did NOT win the Democratic nomination, thus did NOT make the general election.
But not nearly as sad - for him anyway - as THIS news.
Basically: Shut up. The chilling genius of autocracy.
It's moronic sh*t circulated on a medium that has as its function the circulation of moronic sh*t.
"If I praise the government, they'll jail me."
No they won't. No government in the world jails people for praising it. Hitler's didn't, Putin's doesn't, and Kristersson's in Abba-land doesn't either.
You've fallen into the "diarrhoea is custard because someone said so on Twitter" trap.
Now scream "Enemy saboteur!" at the top of your voice.
Can I propose this post for the PB wall of fame?
You manage, somehow, to spectacularly miss the point.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
No, no, you don’t understand. The EU was always about democracy. Never about stitching up jobs for those who’ve failed in their careers within their own countries.
*Cough* House of Lords *Cough*
Sue*cough*ella Braver*cough*man.
The old unwritten rule that you needed to face the electorate before returning from a ministerial disgrace had quite a lot going for it.
When Brexit apologists moan about lack of democracy in the EU they really highlight how little they understand about our own pseudo-democracy.
I moan about both, thanks. I don’t hold up the U.K. as some bastion of pure democracy. But it is fair to ask how a citizen in the EU can remove UVDL from office. You may detest the current PM. You may not. But you know for certain that no later than early 2025 the entire electorate of the U.K. will get their say.
Technically a citizen of the EU could lobby their MPs to lobby their head of government to vote with other heads of government of the 27 to remove UVDL from office via the Council of Ministers. The current UK PM was voted for by Con MPs. The previous one was voted for by a selectorate of swiveleyed geriatric lunatics. The one before that was essentially voted in by those people who live in marginal constituencies and he in his infinite wisdom is about to make Nadine Dorries a peer of the Realm. Our system of democracy is a pile if shit. It needs root and branch reform, but it will not get it. We are in no position to wave our democratic credentials at UVDL who in reality has very little power because it is almost entirely vested in the Council of Ministers.
For me it was the pointlessness of MEPs. They don’t really seem to have any power or function. At least the U.K. PM is the one who can command the majority of the house. Who is the equivalent in the EU?
I think you will find that they perform a pretty good function in their equivalent of select committees in aligning single market legislation. One good example was on roaming charges on mobiles. Not ground breaking, but useful nonetheless. I suspect you have just chosen to believe they achieve nothing because it suits your prejudice, rather like the poster who slags off parish councils but has probably never done anything useful for his community in his life.
It may surprise you to know that, with a heavy heart, I voted remain. My side lost. I have long despaired of the very politicised nature of what started as an Economic community, and became an attempt to create a United States of Europe. The people I blame most are the cowards in power in the U.K. who consistently failed to give the people a say in how the EEC/EU was changing. Right up to Gordon Brown scuttling through the back door to sign the Lisbon Treaty away from the cameras. They rarely tried to persuade, culminating in the awful lies and mischaracterisation of the referendum campaign itself. Remain were as dishonest as leave. I genuinely believe that the EU was U.K. democratic at heart, and that the bits the public got to cote for had little real power, at least when compared to national members of parliament. I don’t think that’s my prejudice, it’s my observation.
It doesn't surprise me at all, though it may possibly surprise you that I was always a Eurosceptic in the William Hague mould, but not so Eurosceptic that I felt the benefits of withdrawal outweighed the disbenefits. That has proved to be the case in bucketloads, largely because there are no benefits (except in the minds of the astonishingly deranged) and loads of disbenefits.
Personally, I think @IshmaelZ 's post summed it up better than I did. A system does not need all our public figures to be directly elected to be democratic. Equally a system that has a predominant number of directly elected representatives does not necessarily have higher degrees of democracy or relative freedom.
I think we probably have fairly similar viewpoints then. My vote was predicated on it being better to be in for the economic reasons, than out for any political reasons. Plus you always get to have a say on the inside.
I still blame the lack of a say over the decades for the mess we reached. Other nations had their referenda on treaties (and were made to do their homework again if they voted incorrectly). We did not.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record. NHS is collapsing.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Is he closer to being one than Mordaunt is to being a Navy veteran?
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
The Prime Minister is chosen by MPs as they see fit - not technically the true and complete story of course, but let's say it has worked that way for decades now. It happened twice in the last few weeks as we recall without direct recourse to voters. The President of the Commission is chosen by heads of state and government, some elected, some appointed along the same lines as the PM, all involving a democratic vote at some earlier point in the process.
It is technically true, if the MPs see fit to say that Sunak doesn't command a majority, then he's out. If the MPs see fit to say that Starmer does, then he's in. The Prime Minister is directly elected themselves as an MP, and is chosen by their peers as the person who commands the majority of the Commons.
That the MPs have chosen to respect their own parties leadership process is their choice. We elect MPs not parties, any MP could resign the whip and cross the floor at any time if they chose. If 200 Tory MPs resigned the whip and said Starmer should be PM, then he would be, no election necessary.
The Commission is many steps removed from being elected. The PM is an elected MP who is chosen by other elected MPs to be the Prime Minister. The President of Commission is not elected by any of the public to anything, unlike the PM, and is many more steps removed from the public vote too.
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record. NHS is collapsing.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So UVDL got fewer votes than my Parish Councillors?
Count yourself lucky if your parish council, pointless as they are, sees much voting happen. Ours falls out of sequence with anything notable so most of them seem to get elected unopposed or get co-opted in between times. It’s all family and friends links. I think disrupting their cosy lifestyle might be a retirement project for me.
Town councils certainly are elected with competing party labels, Parish councils in villages though are normally Independent and elected unopposed
They aren’t really independent though, are they? It’s the most powerful local party in a friendship group. Thankfully they have limited powers (and should be abolished) but they can waste public funds on vanity projects.
Total misinformed bollocks. Parish/town councils are probably the most economically efficient form of local government. The people on them might sometimes get things wrong, but they are for the most part well-meaning volunteers who take zero payment for the hours put in. Their reward is sniping by small-minded tossers who have never done anything voluntary in their lives. Said small-minded tossers always moan but never put themselves up for election to oppose the things they moan about.
Utter bollocks. But no more than I’d expect from a rich prick like you who has clearly never done a hard day’s work in his life and thinks volunteering is about sitting around tables and talking rather than actually doing things.
The only people who think local Government is useful or in touch with its community are those who make an effort to enrich themselves from it and delude themalefes accordingly.
By “local Government” here I mean the elected idiots, not the hard working staff who actually make things happen.
Lol. I can't decide whether to award you Thick Twat of the Day Award, or the slightly lesser renowned, Chippy Twat Loser Medal (second class). Alternatively, I could draw the conclusion that you are also someone who needs to drink less or smoke smaller quantities of weed.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Then WTAF was the old fool thinking when he paid $44 billion for it?
It was a bit of a joke that went wrong, I think.
He signed a contact to buy it, which he thought he’d be able to get out of. But the engineering genius either didn’t know what “specific performance” means, or didn’t read it.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
Then WTAF was the old fool thinking when he paid $44 billion for it?
It was a bit of a joke that went wrong, I think.
He signed a contact to buy it, which he thought he’d be able to get out of. But the engineering genius either didn’t know what “specific performance” means, or didn’t read it.
Shouldn't he have someone to do that for him?!
The whole trying to get out of it then paying what he initially said he would thing doesn't scream awesome business deal in this particular instance, since what did it gain him?
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record. NHS is collapsing.
After about 20 years of 'NHS Winter collapse' stories about time we got one.
It does seem to be breaking through though. Everyone seems to have a story about awful engagement with the NHS.
Along with the other problems (staff morale, pensions issues for those poor maxed out doctor, long covid), the pandemic has caused much of this. @Foxy has suggested that the NHS is doing well at trying to turn around the waiting lists, but hospitals are going to struggle if they cannot discharge clinically well patients who need social care. That’s the root of the crisis. Just as the hospitals emptied in 2020 by clearing out the elderly, that’s what is needed now, but they have nowhere to go, as they need care in the community, and it’s not there.
Lmao, Maricopa has 400,000 left to count and wont be done till 'next week' (CNN)
The Thatcherite loons on here who like to attack the public sector should reflect, occasionally, on stuff like this in places like the US and think about all the things in the U.K. that “just work” and why that is.
The "why it is" in this particular case - processing & counting of election ballots - having ZERO to do with the quality of public sector & public workers on EITHER side of the Atlantic (or Pacific).
Rather, in vastly different systems for issuing, receiving, counting, processing, recording & reporting votes.
For one thing, my own ballot had about two dozen different federal, state and local candidate races and ballot questions. Typical for US elections. Atypical to say the least in UK.
Just one difference between elections here & there, wherever they may be from your (or my own skewed) perspective!
For some real-time examples of what's happening now in just one election office, check out the webcams at this link posted by King County Elections:
These explainations are helpful and explain why it might well take days. Why weeks and weeks though, in some extreme cases? Including days of little progress?
Weeks and weeks IF you add in recount(s). Which are NOT unusual but hardly commonplace, esp in statewide or congressional elections.
Sometime days of little progress, are days like tomorrow, Friday 11.11.2022 which is Veterans Day in USA. Many election offices will consequently be closed and NOT processing ballots or posting results.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Is he closer to being one than Mordaunt is to being a Navy veteran?
Obviously. RDS was a JAG officer who did deploy downrange. He's never claimed to be a SEAL as far as I know. He never wore the tridents but Mordaunt wore the dolphins.
Biden would be 86 this time in 6 years which is mid 80's not late 80's. A mere whippersnapper compared to Senator Strom Thurmond who retired from Congress at the age of 101. Marvellous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Strom_Thurmond
Okay so Joe Biden stumbles over a few words but seems pretty physically agile. I'd rather have him than a zippy younger evangelical zealot.
Very good article in today's i on ageing and about how it's a myth that ageing mean irreversible decline.
I think this is a UK-centric story. We're not used to ageing politicians who live the American dream and stay fit and sprightly. Most of the ageing old tory crusties look like they're on death's door. Sir Edward Leigh is the spit of Rowley Birkin QC.
Probably the difference is our relationship with booze. I mean I drink - too much. But then most of us do.
By contrast, being teetotal or near teetotal is quite normal in the States.
Biden and Trump aren’t that unusual in that regard.
Yes, Americans seem constantly flabbergasted by how much Britons drink.
If you work with Americans or have American clients you’ll hear the phrase “national pastime” being aired a fair bit
No wonder they never get on with the Russians.
It's also fairly surprising considering so many of them claim to be Irish
Absolutely fucking mental in Clark. Holy shit. This is election betting deciding stuff
I read that and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Glad I wasn't just been thick
All that’s remaining in NV is mail in. of which only 50K ballots left in Clark. There’s different types of mail in, that come before the day, on day, and after all the way up to Saturday still count.
The confusion is yesterday they said they had about 75k ballots to count and haven't announced any results in between those two statements.
Lmao, Maricopa has 400,000 left to count and wont be done till 'next week' (CNN)
The Thatcherite loons on here who like to attack the public sector should reflect, occasionally, on stuff like this in places like the US and think about all the things in the U.K. that “just work” and why that is.
The "why it is" in this particular case - processing & counting of election ballots - having ZERO to do with the quality of public sector & public workers on EITHER side of the Atlantic (or Pacific).
Rather, in vastly different systems for issuing, receiving, counting, processing, recording & reporting votes.
For one thing, my own ballot had about two dozen different federal, state and local candidate races and ballot questions. Typical for US elections. Atypical to say the least in UK.
Just one difference between elections here & there, wherever they may be from your (or my own skewed) perspective!
For some real-time examples of what's happening now in just one election office, check out the webcams at this link posted by King County Elections:
These explainations are helpful and explain why it might well take days. Why weeks and weeks though, in some extreme cases? Including days of little progress?
Weeks and weeks IF you add in recount(s). Which are NOT unusual but hardly commonplace, esp in statewide or congressional elections. .
Given I didn't say it was commonplace, rather 'in extreme cases', and you've said it was 'not unusual', that suggests to me it happens a lot more often than I thought, thus making the situation far worse than I thought.
Though yes a younger more centrist candidate like Biden's Transport Secretary and 2020 candidate Buttigieg would be the Democrats best bet. Especially if De Santis beats Trump for the GOP nomination, as in 2020 a lot of Biden votes were anti Trump rather than for him
Although I noted your post yesterday saying that 30% of the electorate, inc many Dems and Independents, wouldn't vote for a gay president?
People say all kinds of things to pollsters that they don't follow through with when they actually vote.
Yep. But I'd have thought this would skew the other way and make it worse - ie more people would say they're cool with a gay prez when they aren't than would say they aren't when they are.
That seems a surprisingly high proportion of the electorate but then again we must always remind ourselves that America is a much more religious society than the UK.
We have a higher percentage of Muslims than the US though and many of them would not vote for a gay PM
Also a lot more in the C of E (merely being 'in the Anglican Communion' doesn't count as different A churches have different policies anyway). And you're always going on about how outrageous it would be for the C of E to be made to follow the law of the land and marry gay couples.
To be precise the law of the land is that CoE clergy cannot marry gay couples. It is enshrined in statute.
The law of the English land is that gay couples can be married. Full stop. That the C of E has a letout is an abominable outrage, given the special privileges which it possesses.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
The Prime Minister is chosen by MPs as they see fit - not technically the true and complete story of course, but let's say it has worked that way for decades now. It happened twice in the last few weeks as we recall without direct recourse to voters. The President of the Commission is chosen by heads of state and government, some elected, some appointed along the same lines as the PM, all involving a democratic vote at some earlier point in the process.
It is technically true, if the MPs see fit to say that Sunak doesn't command a majority, then he's out. If the MPs see fit to say that Starmer does, then he's in. The Prime Minister is directly elected themselves as an MP, and is chosen by their peers as the person who commands the majority of the Commons.
That the MPs have chosen to respect their own parties leadership process is their choice. We elect MPs not parties, any MP could resign the whip and cross the floor at any time if they chose. If 200 Tory MPs resigned the whip and said Starmer should be PM, then he would be, no election necessary.
The Commission is many steps removed from being elected. The PM is an elected MP who is chosen by other elected MPs to be the Prime Minister. The President of Commission is not elected by any of the public to anything, unlike the PM, and is many more steps removed from the public vote too.
Technically if a few people get the notion, you could get Theresa May or even Ed Davey as PM. It could be an outrage of course, but just being precise about the system at hand. And it is within many people's lifetimes (maybe most people on PB) that a PM was appointed in a way that came close to that (except that there was a vacancy). The PM equivalents in the EU choose the Commission and the parliament votes on it - it's barely different to the PM situation except that most EU country leaders are elected by democratic parliaments instead of voters. It is literally either zero or one step more distant, depending on the weight you give to the elected Parliament's right to veto.
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record. NHS is collapsing.
Yes, it's cut through to the point that people are trying their best to avoid A&E unless things are really critical. My foot's swollen after the fall yesterday so I can't wear a shoe, but it's not painful, so I'm gambling that it'll just go down by itself with the help of some Volterol. If I was in Swirzerland, I'd pop over for an X-ray.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Orin Snyder would probably scare your average SEAL, though. In a court of law, at least.
Then WTAF was the old fool thinking when he paid $44 billion for it?
It was a bit of a joke that went wrong, I think.
He signed a contact to buy it, which he thought he’d be able to get out of. But the engineering genius either didn’t know what “specific performance” means, or didn’t read it.
Shouldn't he have someone to do that for him?!
The whole trying to get out of it then paying what he initially said he would thing doesn't scream awesome business deal in this particular instance, since what did it gain him?
The smartest guy in the room sometimes overestimates how smart they are.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
If you call Rishi Sunak an "appointee", yes. (Some like Macron have an even more direct mandate than Sunak, but most have the same mandate.)
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Democracy is a little complicated, and yes, he/she is. The Council of Ministers make the appointments. They are made up of the heads of government of the members. If you accept all of the members are "democratic" then it has absolute democratic legitimacy.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So UVDL got fewer votes than my Parish Councillors?
Count yourself lucky if your parish council, pointless as they are, sees much voting happen. Ours falls out of sequence with anything notable so most of them seem to get elected unopposed or get co-opted in between times. It’s all family and friends links. I think disrupting their cosy lifestyle might be a retirement project for me.
Town councils certainly are elected with competing party labels, Parish councils in villages though are normally Independent and elected unopposed
They aren’t really independent though, are they? It’s the most powerful local party in a friendship group. Thankfully they have limited powers (and should be abolished) but they can waste public funds on vanity projects.
They shouldn't, as a town councillor myself Parish and Town councils offer by far the closest council to the local community and know most about it and what it wants.
Councillors all come from and meet in the town or village, whereas district councils are always in the biggest town not a village and unitary and county councils are often in a town or city on the other side of the county
Huge logical fallacy there. You're assuming that the "local community" has to be the smallest possible area. But what about larger areas? You can't run a bus service based solely on Epping Middle Lower Parish Council (formerly Church of England, prop. Henry VIII, as modified by Gladstone WE).
Kwasi Kwarteng tells @tnewtondunn what he said to Liz Truss when she sacked him: I said, “‘This is mad. Prime Ministers don’t get rid of Chancellors'. I think I said to her at the time, this is going to last three or four weeks. Little did I know it was only going to be six days” https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1590815926102130689
He thinks that if she'd kept him she would have been better off?
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Nor are you. If you actually cared from first principles upward about democracy, you would notice that you live in a first past the post elective oligarchy with one chamber a mix of appointees and hereditaries which has almost no democratic credentials at all. You never breathe a word about it; it is pure my country right or wrong, rarara, just like HYUFD defending nonsense about IHT on purely tribal grounds.
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record. NHS is collapsing.
Yes, it's cut through to the point that people are trying their best to avoid A&E unless things are really critical. My foot's swollen after the fall yesterday so I can't wear a shoe, but it's not painful, so I'm gambling that it'll just go down by itself with the help of some Volterol. If I was in Swirzerland, I'd pop over for an X-ray.
That piece completely conflates the various NHS services in the UK with NHS England. It'd be interesting to know which are doing better and which are worse, and why that might be.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
No, no, you don’t understand. The EU was always about democracy. Never about stitching up jobs for those who’ve failed in their careers within their own countries.
*Cough* House of Lords *Cough*
Sue*cough*ella Braver*cough*man.
The old unwritten rule that you needed to face the electorate before returning from a ministerial disgrace had quite a lot going for it.
When Brexit apologists moan about lack of democracy in the EU they really highlight how little they understand about our own pseudo-democracy.
I moan about both, thanks. I don’t hold up the U.K. as some bastion of pure democracy. But it is fair to ask how a citizen in the EU can remove UVDL from office. You may detest the current PM. You may not. But you know for certain that no later than early 2025 the entire electorate of the U.K. will get their say.
Technically a citizen of the EU could lobby their MPs to lobby their head of government to vote with other heads of government of the 27 to remove UVDL from office via the Council of Ministers. The current UK PM was voted for by Con MPs. The previous one was voted for by a selectorate of swiveleyed geriatric lunatics. The one before that was essentially voted in by those people who live in marginal constituencies and he in his infinite wisdom is about to make Nadine Dorries a peer of the Realm. Our system of democracy is a pile if shit. It needs root and branch reform, but it will not get it. We are in no position to wave our democratic credentials at UVDL who in reality has very little power because it is almost entirely vested in the Council of Ministers.
For me it was the pointlessness of MEPs. They don’t really seem to have any power or function. At least the U.K. PM is the one who can command the majority of the house. Who is the equivalent in the EU?
I think you will find that they perform a pretty good function in their equivalent of select committees in aligning single market legislation. One good example was on roaming charges on mobiles. Not ground breaking, but useful nonetheless. I suspect you have just chosen to believe they achieve nothing because it suits your prejudice, rather like the poster who slags off parish councils but has probably never done anything useful for his community in his life.
It may surprise you to know that, with a heavy heart, I voted remain. My side lost. I have long despaired of the very politicised nature of what started as an Economic community, and became an attempt to create a United States of Europe. The people I blame most are the cowards in power in the U.K. who consistently failed to give the people a say in how the EEC/EU was changing. Right up to Gordon Brown scuttling through the back door to sign the Lisbon Treaty away from the cameras. They rarely tried to persuade, culminating in the awful lies and mischaracterisation of the referendum campaign itself. Remain were as dishonest as leave. I genuinely believe that the EU was U.K. democratic at heart, and that the bits the public got to cote for had little real power, at least when compared to national members of parliament. I don’t think that’s my prejudice, it’s my observation.
It doesn't surprise me at all, though it may possibly surprise you that I was always a Eurosceptic in the William Hague mould, but not so Eurosceptic that I felt the benefits of withdrawal outweighed the disbenefits. That has proved to be the case in bucketloads, largely because there are no benefits (except in the minds of the astonishingly deranged) and loads of disbenefits.
Personally, I think @IshmaelZ 's post summed it up better than I did. A system does not need all our public figures to be directly elected to be democratic. Equally a system that has a predominant number of directly elected representatives does not necessarily have higher degrees of democracy or relative freedom.
Whenever US politics is in the news, we see the disadvantages of directly electing everything and everyone. Some things really are better left in the hands of unelected bureaucrats who are only accountable if they stuff up to the extent that someone presses a nuclear button.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Democracy is a little complicated, and yes, he/she is. The Council of Ministers make the appointments. They are made up of the heads of government of the members. If you accept all of the members are "democratic" then it has absolute democratic legitimacy.
No it does not. Most people would not say that the appointment of members of the Lords is by a Democratic process, even those who agree with having that form of second chamber. They are either appointed by politicians or elected by their own closed membership. There is nothing democratic about that. The same applies to the EU Presidency.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
I'm wondering how you end up called DeSantis, written like that. His origins are apparently wholly Italian (mainland not sicily), so you'd expect Di Santi.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Nor are you. If you actually cared from first principles upward about democracy, you would notice that you live in a first past the post elective oligarchy with one chamber a mix of appointees and hereditaries which has almost no democratic credentials at all. You never breathe a word about it; it is pure my country right or wrong, rarara, just like HYUFD defending nonsense about IHT on purely tribal grounds.
We do have parts of our system where there is very little democratic accountability. I'm not too bothered about the HOL, but the Bank of England and who they are accountable to for their decisions is a bigger concern. However, let's not pretend we have anything like the issues of the European Union, with the key roles appointed by political backslapping. Recent changes in leadership have shown how near the democratic knuckle our Prime Ministers operate.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Democracy is a little complicated, and yes, he/she is. The Council of Ministers make the appointments. They are made up of the heads of government of the members. If you accept all of the members are "democratic" then it has absolute democratic legitimacy.
No it does not. Most people would not say that the appointment of members of the Lords is by a Democratic process, even those who agree with having that form of second chamber. They are either appointed by politicians or elected by their own closed membership. There is nothing democratic about that. The same applies to the EU Presidency.
By that standard, the appointment of Sunak was not a democratic process, he was appointed by politicians.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Nor are you. If you actually cared from first principles upward about democracy, you would notice that you live in a first past the post elective oligarchy with one chamber a mix of appointees and hereditaries which has almost no democratic credentials at all. You never breathe a word about it; it is pure my country right or wrong, rarara, just like HYUFD defending nonsense about IHT on purely tribal grounds.
We do have parts of our system where there is very little democratic accountability. I'm not too bothered about the HOL, but the Bank of England and who they are accountable to for their decisions is a bigger concern. However, let's not pretend we have anything like the issues of the European Union, with the key roles appointed by political backslapping.
Right, so your objection is that there should be a democracy but it shouldn't have politics?
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
I'm wondering how you end up called DeSantis, written like that. His origins are apparently wholly Italian (mainland not sicily), so you'd expect Di Santi.
In America, names of non-Anglo orgins have tendency to get Anglicized/Americanized somewhere along the line. With changes in spelling, including dropping (or sometimes adding) spaces, being very common, also alternations in pronunciations.
The Clark County Case of the Missing Ballots is the difference between my confident prediction of Masto by 10k and impossible to call knife edge (if forced I'd say Masto by 2k but that is well within my margin of error to give it to the election denier).
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Pope?
Errr, no, the Head of Government chooses the Archbishop of Canterbury, which matches the way VDL and Michel are chosen.
How often do the various EU Presidents get "voted" in and out?
I mean, when can VDL and Michel be unelected by their demos?
Or Ms Truss or Mr Sunak?
For the purposes of this discussion, the Conservative Party does not count as a demos. Even though some of it on here seem to think it has a fixed role within the constitution.
Truss and Sunak were both elected to Parliament, and have been chosen from within Parliament's elected members to lead Parliament.
Who elected VDL and Michel?
The Leaders of the Governments of the European Union?
So no voters then.
No more democratically elected than the Archbishop of Canterbury.
Or the Prime Minister.
Errr, no, the Prime Minister is an elected Member of Parliament that is then chosen in a method determined by his or her peers of other elected Members of Parliament.
Well, if the PM's position is so unassailably democratic, so is his choice of archbishop, surely? Your starting point is little England good, big Europe bad, and this has really nothing to do with democracy.
The EU is run by its "House of Lords"
By which you mean the elected national governments, some imperfectly democratic of course.
No. Appointees are not elected.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
Democracy is a little complicated, and yes, he/she is. The Council of Ministers make the appointments. They are made up of the heads of government of the members. If you accept all of the members are "democratic" then it has absolute democratic legitimacy.
No it does not. Most people would not say that the appointment of members of the Lords is by a Democratic process, even those who agree with having that form of second chamber. They are either appointed by politicians or elected by their own closed membership. There is nothing democratic about that. The same applies to the EU Presidency.
By that standard, the appointment of Sunak was not a democratic process, he was appointed by politicians.
Nope because he was already an elected member of Parliament - first amongst equals. No one directly elects the Lords or the EU President.
Absolutely fucking mental in Clark. Holy shit. This is election betting deciding stuff
I read that and couldn't make heads or tails of it. Glad I wasn't just been thick
All that’s remaining in NV is mail in. of which only 50K ballots left in Clark. There’s different types of mail in, that come before the day, on day, and after all the way up to Saturday still count.
The confusion is yesterday they said they had about 75k ballots to count and haven't announced any results in between those two statements.
Still to count is not the same as not yet declared I suspect. If they have counted nearly 20k but not announced that would tie in with the just over 50k to count.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
I'm wondering how you end up called DeSantis, written like that. His origins are apparently wholly Italian (mainland not sicily), so you'd expect Di Santi.
In America, names of non-Anglo orgins have tendency to get Anglicized/Americanized somewhere along the line. With changes in spelling, including dropping (or sometimes adding) spaces, being very common, also alternations in pronunciations.
Not only non-Anglo. My Anglo surname has a majority with a simplified spelling in the USA. That spelling is very rare in its original homeland.
Why do the right-wing fruitcakes on here think that De Santis is the answer? He’s not impressive at all. Trump will make mince-meat of him. Watch this space - Trump will be the GOP candidate.
I’ve never seen him on telly before so can’t comment on his impressiveness. Merely pointing out that his public policy positions do not appear to be extreme but fairly mainstream. And that’s to be celebrated. Whether Trump wins the nom or not will depend almost entirely on the makeup of registered Republicans. You might be right. But I think it’s too early to say what that might look like.
I’ve seen him a few times. He can be brittle and prickly. He’s definitely on the right, which will put many off. He’s a Republican
But he’s bright, cunning, a tad ruthless - also sane, apparently quite honest, family-oriented and basically patriotic. And not 79 years old
He seems to realise that Putin is a baddie which is a good start.
Quite. He’s ex-Navy Seal
If 2024 is a rerun of Trump v Biden that will be utterly toxic - and politically catastrophic for the USA
He never did BUDS so he's not a SEAL. He was a legal advisor to ST1. He's a SEAL in the same way that Bob Dylan's lawyer is a songwriter.
Interesting that there is considerable boosting of the occasionally slender credentials of Ron DeSantis.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
Truman is my favourite President of the 20th Century. RDS is no Truman.
That is it not some kind of direct democracy is one of the weaker arguments against it, not least because nobody actually wants a powerful EU president with a personal mandate.
Comments
"If I praise the government, they'll jail me."
No they won't. No government in the world jails people for praising it. Hitler's didn't, Putin's doesn't, and Kristersson's in Abba-land doesn't either.
You've fallen into the "diarrhoea is custard because someone said so on Twitter" trap.
Now scream "Enemy saboteur!" at the top of your voice.
There’s different types of mail in, that come before the day, on day, and after all the way up to Saturday still count.
Switching to AZ for more on mail in - there was hope for GOP because Trump done well in on day mail in in 2020, however he also won before day mail in too, but this being a different election two years later, the GOP candidate unlike Trump 2 years ago lost on before day mail in, so hope on day mail in might be good for GOP same as back in 2020 is false in my opinion, because the before day mail in precedent and that Trump and Trumpites, of which this is definitely one, are thought of differently now two years on.
I’m calling Arizona blue, Nevada red, and Georgia run off a toss up though if your forced me to place the GA win bet I’d go red.
Hope this helps.
Donating $44bn of his own cash, to shut down Twitter, is possibly one of the greatest acts of charity the world has ever seen.
Personally, I think @IshmaelZ 's post summed it up better than I did. A system does not need all our public figures to be directly elected to be democratic. Equally a system that has a predominant number of directly elected representatives does not necessarily have higher degrees of democracy or relative freedom.
https://twitter.com/Peston/status/1590815926102130689
Rather, in vastly different systems for issuing, receiving, counting, processing, recording & reporting votes.
For one thing, my own ballot had about two dozen different federal, state and local candidate races and ballot questions. Typical for US elections. Atypical to say the least in UK.
Just one difference between elections here & there, wherever they may be from your (or my own skewed) perspective!
For some real-time examples of what's happening now in just one election office, check out the webcams at this link posted by King County Elections:
https://kingcounty.gov/depts/elections/about-us/security-and-accountability/watch-us-in-action.aspx
His statements are often so random I can see why people think there must be a genius plan behind the chaos.
A government getting in a position where someone praising it's actions is technically breaking the law is a stupid government, after all, even if they choose not to enforce it. Like if our government made it a crime to give up territorial claim to Normandy, then made it a crime to criticise giving up Normandy when it did.
Sadly for the then-Crypto King, his pony did NOT win the Democratic nomination, thus did NOT make the general election.
But not nearly as sad - for him anyway - as THIS news.
You manage, somehow, to spectacularly miss the point.
It’s impressive!
I still blame the lack of a say over the decades for the mess we reached. Other nations had their referenda on treaties (and were made to do their homework again if they voted incorrectly). We did not.
Twitter's lawyer absolutely screwed him with such an impenetrable contract.
@GoodwinMJ
Look at these charts. 7 million on NHS waiting lists. Worst A&E data on record. Heart attack victims waiting an hour for ambulance. Many more waiting 2 hours. Share of cancer patients seeing specialists in time is lowest on record.
NHS is collapsing.
https://thetimes.co.uk/article/2bcfaf28-60f1-11ed-80da-2c56e60527b0?shareToken=9a5e53e756835737d8feb9151516b505 "
https://twitter.com/GoodwinMJ/status/1590814250901307392
That the MPs have chosen to respect their own parties leadership process is their choice. We elect MPs not parties, any MP could resign the whip and cross the floor at any time if they chose. If 200 Tory MPs resigned the whip and said Starmer should be PM, then he would be, no election necessary.
The Commission is many steps removed from being elected. The PM is an elected MP who is chosen by other elected MPs to be the Prime Minister. The President of Commission is not elected by any of the public to anything, unlike the PM, and is many more steps removed from the public vote too.
It does seem to be breaking through though. Everyone seems to have a story about awful engagement with the NHS.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ivar_Kreuger
Kelly has slightly extended his lead in AZ: he's now 5.2% ahead, and 100k votes.
He signed a contact to buy it, which he thought he’d be able to get out of.
But the engineering genius either didn’t know what “specific performance” means, or didn’t read it.
Seems like a pretty hefty lead.
Not getting this whole democracy lark, are you?
The whole trying to get out of it then paying what he initially said he would thing doesn't scream awesome business deal in this particular instance, since what did it gain him?
Sometime days of little progress, are days like tomorrow, Friday 11.11.2022 which is Veterans Day in USA. Many election offices will consequently be closed and NOT processing ballots or posting results.
In a court of law, at least.
SEAL croaking one evident example.
Another is claim that RDS is man of modest means in the Harry Truman tradition. Not hardly!
Interesting - and bemusing - just how much right-wing USA echo chamber effluent gets reverberated here on PB.
Today that’s changed: I am rapidly coming to the view that he’s Trussed it.
https://twitter.com/jamesrbuk/status/1590814865891135488
Bloody hell, Blanche, you disappoint me.
By the way, that Bonnie Raitt thing you posted the other day was FUCKING amazing.
I dont think so.
Do the math!
They were supposed to declare today's at 5pm ET
3 mins time
My Anglo surname has a majority with a simplified spelling in the USA.
That spelling is very rare in its original homeland.
That is it not some kind of direct democracy is one of the weaker arguments against it, not least because nobody actually wants a powerful EU president with a personal mandate.