Being released without charge pending further investigation doesn't mean cleared by any means. Indeed, it would be unusual in this kind of fraud case to bring charges immediately. As with Murrell and Beattie (also released without charge) they'll assess the evidence when the investigation is complete and make charging decisions at that point.
FWIW, Reports of several significant Ukrainian advances along several axes. One looks like either a flanking movement on Donetsk or advance towards Mariupol, potentially both. Russian rail supply lines are down and when caught in the open, Russian forces have tended to disperse.
Not a cake walk by any means and significant Ukrainian loses are reported, but the momentum is looking positive for the ZSU.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
Leon rails against woke, and yet was happy to be a drag act polluting our fragile little minds with his deviance.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
FWIW, Reports of several significant Ukrainian advances along several axes. One looks like either a flanking movement on Donetsk or advance towards Mariupol, potentially both. Russian rail supply lines are down and when caught in the open, Russian forces have tended to disperse.
Not a cake walk by any means and significant Ukrainian loses are reported, but the momentum is looking positive for the ZSU.
Ukraine just conducted 2 crucial sabotage actions far behind enemy lines.
A railway bridge was blown up in Yakymivka, stopping freight between Crimea and Zaporizhzhia.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
sigh -this website was known once for its quality of debate and contributions
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
Grain train on non-electrified spur from Rossosh, Voronezh region, derails.
Meanwhile, the 12 Rail Traction (Sub) Stations on the Liski-Rostov line & their multi-million-dollar transformers (which burn easily) remain untouched.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
sigh -this website was known once for its quality of debate and contributions
Courthouse News Service - [US] Justices turn down ex-Trump official vying to join Mississippi commissioner race
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Courthouse News Service - [US] Justices turn down ex-Trump official vying to join Mississippi commissioner race
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
If memory serves me right you used it as an insult on more than one occasion.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Leon's words wander, Muddled tales and lost landmarks, Travel guide gone wrong.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Leon's words wander, Muddled tales and lost landmarks, Travel guide gone wrong.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Leon's words wander, Muddled tales and lost landmarks, Travel guide gone wrong.
Are you using ChatGPT or some marine equivalent?
AI pens with grace, Haiku blooms from lines of code, Words crafted with care.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
sigh -this website was known once for its quality of debate and contributions
Lead by example not meta commentary then.
nobody can get a sensible word in edgeways between your "gay" debate with Leon and ridiculous juvenile venn diagrams that would look silly in a school playground
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
A devastating critique. I’m actually thinking of retiring from PB now you’ve said that. You don’t know the power of your words
I'm sorry to hear that and apologise if I have hurt your feelings, but sometimes one needs to hear the truth
In fairness though you did manage to respond that time with sarcasm rather than suggesting I was boring, gay or stupid so maybe you are learning.
Courthouse News Service - [US] Justices turn down ex-Trump official vying to join Mississippi commissioner race
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
Courthouse News Service - [US] Justices turn down ex-Trump official vying to join Mississippi commissioner race
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
Oh, Mandy Well, you came and you gave without taking But I sent you away Oh, Mandy Well, you kissed me and stopped me from shaking And I need you today Oh, Mandy
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
Here's that Venn diagram.
I’m sure there exist enormous knobends who are not Johnson supporters, so that needs redrawing.
A smaller circle within the large one would do it.
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Re; the mention of Nick Pope, although a bureaucrat-outsider compared to Grusch, and often tending to the somewhat more skeptical side, even he is "bigging up" the David Grusch story today.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
Here's that Venn diagram.
I’m sure there exist enormous knobends who are not Johnson supporters, so that needs redrawing.
A smaller circle within the large one would do it.
One can tell this is a site predominantly manned by earnest academics, when a gag is marked and corrected for its factual rather than comedic value.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
sigh -this website was known once for its quality of debate and contributions
Lead by example not meta commentary then.
nobody can get a sensible word in edgeways between your "gay" debate with Leon and ridiculous juvenile venn diagrams that would look silly in a school playground
What, you're getting a 'server busy, please try again later' message?
Or can you in fact post any comments you want on PB whenever you want?
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
Sturgeon: I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.
Quite surprised to see Nicola copying Boris's homework.
You know I detest Sturgeon beyond almost all politicians for her political beliefs but on this particular matter I think I believe her.
Why? What facts do you actually know?
Not a single one. Mainly I just don't see it as her style and the sums involved are all a bit petty to sacrifice an entire and very successful career for. Happy to be proven wrong.
Just a reminder, this is the guy that delayed publication of the Mueller report, and downplayed its significance, allowing Trump months to attack it unchallenged, thus saving his bacon.
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Quick roundup of today's gayness, starting with the roads: The M70, the A3, the B664 and the A48(M), they are all gay as of midnight tonight. The gay elements are potassium, zinc, hydrogen, copper, and argon. A quick look at the world's walls: The Wailing Wall is gay, Hadrian's Wall is very gay, the Great Wall Of China, that's not gay, and the Old London Wall has also stopped being gay. Gay cars next, they're the same as last night: all Volkswagens registered between 1982 and 1985, they stay gay for another fortnight. And finally, the gay seas are the Caspian and the Mediterranean... so, see you there.
"In Georgia, at the Republican state convention, Kari Lake, who refused to concede the Arizona election for governor in 2022 and who is an ardent defender of Mr. Trump, emphasized that many of Mr. Trump’s supporters owned guns.
“I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden — and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you,” Ms. Lake said. “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the N.R.A.” "
There's so many named recent official sources, which is new.
What counts is evidence which can be expertly examined and re-examined and reported on according to peer reviewed science standards. Adjectives and hearsay don't count. That which is merely unexplained visual phenomena doesn't count either. We can't explain lots of things - consciousness, the origin of the universe, the reason why the law of gravity is how it is and not different, why we see yellow as yellow and not green, how life began and so on - but we don't attribute it to aliens.
As and when there is a real story it isn't going to be confined to websites no-one has heard of. There is a fortune out there for real scientists and accurate journalists, and they will get it if they can.
The rest is noise.
I wouldn't quite agree with this point of view. Much of the new information is already out there on mainstream news sources, for instance. What we have here, I think, is an entirely new situation where there are multiple current-serving or recently, named governmental officials making extraordinary claims, but for whom there seems to a great deal of legislation preventing them going further. So I would say still this seems to be primarily an issue about process, for the moment, rather than materials or evidence yet.
This is why the focus in the U.S is shifting to new Congressional hearings, and possible changes in the law to make further whistleblowing on this topic more easy.
And an awful lot more current serving or recent officials pouring scorn on the idea.
It’s grift, pure and simple, and it’s conning people who want to believe.
Well, let's do a little bit of a cut-and-paste of all the most credible recent sources, and do a sort of compilation of them, to see how they stack up.
When I have some time in a a bit, I will nose about and put them all together.
Kind of a problem when there are no credible sources, just grifters and lunatics.
This is a good piece on the latest UFO flap, and why it is different from all others. It makes the point I have been making for many months (but maybe you will accept it from the NYT if not from me) - even if you discount any idea of actual non human intelligence, the level of disclosure is now so high and detailed and “legitimate” something really really WEIRD is happening in the US government. At the very least. And smart people should now pay attention to this story
Indeed. What we have in fact is a completely new situation of multiple, current or near-current US official sources making UFO claims.
That 's certainly very interesting, at the least.
And when China is knocking on their door, they will regret deeply investing time and resources in creating such a frivolous ruse.
Although we can't say for sure if it's any ruse, ofcourse. What strikes me as very interesting is how different Grusch's profile has been from the image of a the classic UFO claimant. Currently serving, or very recently serving, young and bushy-tailed and preciously promoted and bright, and deep inside a US intelligence agency. That's a very similar profile to Edward Snowden, and he even has some of his earnest expression.
He may even be aware of the parallels, and is using him as his template. It's all very fascinating, and a story that bears following as it develops, I would say.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There is currently zero empirical evidence which has been tested according to the standards of science or evidence analysis. Keep calm, wait and see. This a 'McCann' story - anything apparently new sells media by the million.
There are zillions of real scientists, experts and credible journalists who can make zillions out of the real story if there was any real story to relate.
So: please explain the behaviour of multiple senior members of the entire US Establishment, from Obama down. Generals, senators, CIA heads, the head of NASA, top NYT journalists, airforce commanders, navy admirals - they are all saying “this is a real mystery. It’s not just balloons. Something is up there”
And now the whistleblower
How do you explain all THAT?
I completely agree the actual evidence (photos, videos) is pitifully weak
Our ancestors would have been unlikely to have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that there is stuff going on in the world that has no explanation. But we seem determined to explain everything with our existing scientific worldview and have become intolerant of any degree of mystery. A lot of what a 'genes eye' view of evolution does is provide an easy explanation for everything, it cannot account for flying objects that defy the laws of physics, so people then panic and pivot to the other extreme: it must be aliens!
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Is "escootering" an act of sexual deviance that I am yet to learn about?
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Can you stop? Please.
I am now immersed in rococo art
Rococo Art. Is she a really game girl from Laguna Beach?
There's so many named recent official sources, which is new.
What counts is evidence which can be expertly examined and re-examined and reported on according to peer reviewed science standards. Adjectives and hearsay don't count. That which is merely unexplained visual phenomena doesn't count either. We can't explain lots of things - consciousness, the origin of the universe, the reason why the law of gravity is how it is and not different, why we see yellow as yellow and not green, how life began and so on - but we don't attribute it to aliens.
As and when there is a real story it isn't going to be confined to websites no-one has heard of. There is a fortune out there for real scientists and accurate journalists, and they will get it if they can.
The rest is noise.
I wouldn't quite agree with this point of view. Much of the new information is already out there on mainstream news sources, for instance. What we have here, I think, is an entirely new situation where there are multiple current-serving or recently, named governmental officials making extraordinary claims, but for whom there seems to a great deal of legislation preventing them going further. So I would say still this seems to be primarily an issue about process, for the moment, rather than materials or evidence yet.
This is why the focus in the U.S is shifting to new Congressional hearings, and possible changes in the law to make further whistleblowing on this topic more easy.
And an awful lot more current serving or recent officials pouring scorn on the idea.
It’s grift, pure and simple, and it’s conning people who want to believe.
Well, let's do a little bit of a cut-and-paste of all the most credible recent sources, and do a sort of compilation of them, to see how they stack up.
When I have some time in a a bit, I will nose about and put them all together.
Kind of a problem when there are no credible sources, just grifters and lunatics.
This is a good piece on the latest UFO flap, and why it is different from all others. It makes the point I have been making for many months (but maybe you will accept it from the NYT if not from me) - even if you discount any idea of actual non human intelligence, the level of disclosure is now so high and detailed and “legitimate” something really really WEIRD is happening in the US government. At the very least. And smart people should now pay attention to this story
Indeed. What we have in fact is a completely new situation of multiple, current or near-current US official sources making UFO claims.
That 's certainly very interesting, at the least.
And when China is knocking on their door, they will regret deeply investing time and resources in creating such a frivolous ruse.
Although we can't say for sure if it's any ruse, ofcourse. What strikes me as very interesting is how different Grusch's profile has been from the image of a the classic UFO claimant. Currently serving, or very recently serving, young and bushy-tailed and preciously promoted and bright, and deep inside a US intelligence agency. That's a very similar profile to Edward Snowden, and he even has some of his earnest expression.
He may even be aware of the parallels, and is using him as his template. It's all very fascinating, and a story that bears following as it develops, I would say.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There is currently zero empirical evidence which has been tested according to the standards of science or evidence analysis. Keep calm, wait and see. This a 'McCann' story - anything apparently new sells media by the million.
There are zillions of real scientists, experts and credible journalists who can make zillions out of the real story if there was any real story to relate.
So: please explain the behaviour of multiple senior members of the entire US Establishment, from Obama down. Generals, senators, CIA heads, the head of NASA, top NYT journalists, airforce commanders, navy admirals - they are all saying “this is a real mystery. It’s not just balloons. Something is up there”
And now the whistleblower
How do you explain all THAT?
I completely agree the actual evidence (photos, videos) is pitifully weak
Our ancestors would have been unlikely to have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that there is stuff going on in the world that has no explanation. But we seem determined to explain everything with our existing scientific worldview and have become intolerant of any degree of mystery. A lot of what a 'genes eye' view of evolution does is provide an easy explanation for everything, it cannot account for flying objects that defy the laws of physics, so people then panic and pivot to the other extreme: it must be aliens!
Every bit of “inexplicable” footage we’ve seen so far has been explained as either lens flares or some other artifact.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I don't think very many people are actually looking forward to a Starmer administration. I think they mostly just think it's time for a change.
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Can you stop? Please.
I am now immersed in rococo art
Rococo Art. Is she a really game girl from Laguna Beach?
Fingers crossed, with all the political drama this weekend, Ukraine look to be gaining momentum. I’ve no idea what response- if any - Putin has, but precarious times
A bloke with a turban justifying his own honour and the one for Boris Johnson's hairdresser.
It's hilarious!!
There's a chance that a nasty wrong occurs here.
As far as I can tell, Kelly Dodge has been a hairdresser in parliament for many decades. She may have done Boris's haircuts, but she'll have done many, many others. A fair few backroom staff in parliament have had honours in the past.
Just because Boris wanted her honoured, doesn't make the honour automatically bad.
Here's a recent article about her.
"Dodge started cutting hair in her summer holidays when she left school and “ended up staying” in the trade. After a brief stint hairdressing aboard cruise ships, she ended up in a salon in Hampstead. It was this salon that successfully applied to be Parliament’s first unisex hairdressers, and again, having moved into Westminster, Dodge ended up staying. She has now been working in Parliament for 27 years. "
“If you’re a prime minister or if you’re a cleaner, I’ll treat you the same,” she says. “That’s what I think makes it work in here.”"
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Ok. It did reek of 70s throwback attitudes but your convoluted and fishy sounding explanation is warily accepted.
There's so many named recent official sources, which is new.
What counts is evidence which can be expertly examined and re-examined and reported on according to peer reviewed science standards. Adjectives and hearsay don't count. That which is merely unexplained visual phenomena doesn't count either. We can't explain lots of things - consciousness, the origin of the universe, the reason why the law of gravity is how it is and not different, why we see yellow as yellow and not green, how life began and so on - but we don't attribute it to aliens.
As and when there is a real story it isn't going to be confined to websites no-one has heard of. There is a fortune out there for real scientists and accurate journalists, and they will get it if they can.
The rest is noise.
I wouldn't quite agree with this point of view. Much of the new information is already out there on mainstream news sources, for instance. What we have here, I think, is an entirely new situation where there are multiple current-serving or recently, named governmental officials making extraordinary claims, but for whom there seems to a great deal of legislation preventing them going further. So I would say still this seems to be primarily an issue about process, for the moment, rather than materials or evidence yet.
This is why the focus in the U.S is shifting to new Congressional hearings, and possible changes in the law to make further whistleblowing on this topic more easy.
And an awful lot more current serving or recent officials pouring scorn on the idea.
It’s grift, pure and simple, and it’s conning people who want to believe.
Well, let's do a little bit of a cut-and-paste of all the most credible recent sources, and do a sort of compilation of them, to see how they stack up.
When I have some time in a a bit, I will nose about and put them all together.
Kind of a problem when there are no credible sources, just grifters and lunatics.
This is a good piece on the latest UFO flap, and why it is different from all others. It makes the point I have been making for many months (but maybe you will accept it from the NYT if not from me) - even if you discount any idea of actual non human intelligence, the level of disclosure is now so high and detailed and “legitimate” something really really WEIRD is happening in the US government. At the very least. And smart people should now pay attention to this story
Indeed. What we have in fact is a completely new situation of multiple, current or near-current US official sources making UFO claims.
That 's certainly very interesting, at the least.
And when China is knocking on their door, they will regret deeply investing time and resources in creating such a frivolous ruse.
Although we can't say for sure if it's any ruse, ofcourse. What strikes me as very interesting is how different Grusch's profile has been from the image of a the classic UFO claimant. Currently serving, or very recently serving, young and bushy-tailed and preciously promoted and bright, and deep inside a US intelligence agency. That's a very similar profile to Edward Snowden, and he even has some of his earnest expression.
He may even be aware of the parallels, and is using him as his template. It's all very fascinating, and a story that bears following as it develops, I would say.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There is currently zero empirical evidence which has been tested according to the standards of science or evidence analysis. Keep calm, wait and see. This a 'McCann' story - anything apparently new sells media by the million.
There are zillions of real scientists, experts and credible journalists who can make zillions out of the real story if there was any real story to relate.
So: please explain the behaviour of multiple senior members of the entire US Establishment, from Obama down. Generals, senators, CIA heads, the head of NASA, top NYT journalists, airforce commanders, navy admirals - they are all saying “this is a real mystery. It’s not just balloons. Something is up there”
And now the whistleblower
How do you explain all THAT?
I completely agree the actual evidence (photos, videos) is pitifully weak
Our ancestors would have been unlikely to have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that there is stuff going on in the world that has no explanation. But we seem determined to explain everything with our existing scientific worldview and have become intolerant of any degree of mystery. A lot of what a 'genes eye' view of evolution does is provide an easy explanation for everything, it cannot account for flying objects that defy the laws of physics, so people then panic and pivot to the other extreme: it must be aliens!
Every bit of “inexplicable” footage we’ve seen so far has been explained as either lens flares or some other artifact.
Not sure that’s true. The Calvine photo remains unexplained. Likewise the tic-tac. And a couple of others
However it is an extraordinarily meagre haul if the world really is littered with crashed alien spacecraft
The disconnect between what really senior officials are saying and what we are seeing is one of the most bizarre aspects of this whole bizarre story
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Quick roundup of today's gayness, starting with the roads: The M70, the A3, the B664 and the A48(M), they are all gay as of midnight tonight. The gay elements are potassium, zinc, hydrogen, copper, and argon. A quick look at the world's walls: The Wailing Wall is gay, Hadrian's Wall is very gay, the Great Wall Of China, that's not gay, and the Old London Wall has also stopped being gay. Gay cars next, they're the same as last night: all Volkswagens registered between 1982 and 1985, they stay gay for another fortnight. And finally, the gay seas are the Caspian and the Mediterranean... so, see you there.
The Straights of Gibraltar, Bosporus and Dardanelles would vehemently disagree
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I don't think very many people are actually looking forward to a Starmer administration. I think they mostly just think it's time for a change.
That's exactly what it is. And, once that change takes place, they will rapidly turn their ire on it.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Every single leader of a 'significant' GB party (including PC, Greens, Change UK, Brexit Party) that stood in GE 2019 has now resigned or been removed. I think a couple in NI are still around (SF and Alliance). It's quite an extraordinary change in a mere four years.
I’d just like to point out that I am so gay I just escootered past the enormous Pride flag hanging off the great erection that is the Washington Monument
Can you stop? Please.
I am now immersed in rococo art
Rococo Art. Is she a really game girl from Laguna Beach?
"Game" or "on the game"?
With Leon's well documented back story she could be the one or the other. But now you mention it, with a name like Rococo Art I am minded towards a transgender convert hooker.
Former Trump AG Bill Barr on Trump's federal indictment: "If even half of it is true, then he's toast. I mean, it's a very detailed indictment, and it's very, very damning. This idea of presenting Trump as a victim here -- a victim of a witch hunt -- is ridiculous." https://twitter.com/atrupar/status/1667896395804622848
There's a certain Federal establishment he's more likely to be 'rooming' in than the White House imo.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I'm probably going to vote Labour. Not through any love of Starmer, as I don't think he'll be a good MP, but because the current Conservative Party is barely functional and has run out of any positive ideas. I actually prefer Sunak to Starmer.
And yes, the political landscape will look very different in four years time. But 'different' does not preclude 'better'.
(The Lib Dems are probably out as they're running the local council poorly. My actual vote will depend on the Labour and Lib Dem candidates at election time.)
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
In all honesty I suspect Scully was left off the list principally because he's an enormous knobend.
Someone should do a Venn diagram of Johnson supporters and enormous knobends...
Here's that Venn diagram.
I’m sure there exist enormous knobends who are not Johnson supporters, so that needs redrawing.
A smaller circle within the large one would do it.
One can tell this is a site predominantly manned by earnest academics, when a gag is marked and corrected for its factual rather than comedic value.
The college which sent me down, twice, would be amused by the description of earnest academic.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Every single leader of a 'significant' GB party (including PC, Greens, Change UK, Brexit Party) that stood in GE 2019 has now resigned or been removed. I think a couple in NI are still around (SF and Alliance). It's quite an extraordinary change in a mere four years.
Wasn't there a time post-2016 when it looked as though every major party could have a female leader? And Labour was the only exception?
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I am currently betting on the assumption Labour is in power for 5 years the max
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
The Vietcong and the Taliban won without NATO equipment.
A bloke with a turban justifying his own honour and the one for Boris Johnson's hairdresser.
It's hilarious!!
There's a chance that a nasty wrong occurs here.
As far as I can tell, Kelly Dodge has been a hairdresser in parliament for many decades. She may have done Boris's haircuts, but she'll have done many, many others. A fair few backroom staff in parliament have had honours in the past.
Just because Boris wanted her honoured, doesn't make the honour automatically bad.
Here's a recent article about her.
"Dodge started cutting hair in her summer holidays when she left school and “ended up staying” in the trade. After a brief stint hairdressing aboard cruise ships, she ended up in a salon in Hampstead. It was this salon that successfully applied to be Parliament’s first unisex hairdressers, and again, having moved into Westminster, Dodge ended up staying. She has now been working in Parliament for 27 years. "
“If you’re a prime minister or if you’re a cleaner, I’ll treat you the same,” she says. “That’s what I think makes it work in here.”"
Courthouse News Service - [US] Justices turn down ex-Trump official vying to join Mississippi commissioner race
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
Oh, Mandy Well, you came and you gave without taking But I sent you away Oh, Mandy Well, you kissed me and stopped me from shaking And I need you today Oh, Mandy
Don't cry for me, Mississippi The truth is, I really left you All through my Trump days My MAGA existence I was more than willing To keep my distance
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I am currently betting on the assumption Labour is in power for 5 years the max
It all depends on the economy, if Starmer and Reeves run it well like Blair and Brown did in their first 2 terms then they will likely be re elected. If not, and inflation and cost of living remains high, taxes go up and there are still frequent strikes, the likelihood is they may well lose office
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
The Vietcong and the Taliban won without NATO equipment.
The Vietcong and the Taliban were on the other side of the world from the armies they defeated.
There's so many named recent official sources, which is new.
What counts is evidence which can be expertly examined and re-examined and reported on according to peer reviewed science standards. Adjectives and hearsay don't count. That which is merely unexplained visual phenomena doesn't count either. We can't explain lots of things - consciousness, the origin of the universe, the reason why the law of gravity is how it is and not different, why we see yellow as yellow and not green, how life began and so on - but we don't attribute it to aliens.
As and when there is a real story it isn't going to be confined to websites no-one has heard of. There is a fortune out there for real scientists and accurate journalists, and they will get it if they can.
The rest is noise.
I wouldn't quite agree with this point of view. Much of the new information is already out there on mainstream news sources, for instance. What we have here, I think, is an entirely new situation where there are multiple current-serving or recently, named governmental officials making extraordinary claims, but for whom there seems to a great deal of legislation preventing them going further. So I would say still this seems to be primarily an issue about process, for the moment, rather than materials or evidence yet.
This is why the focus in the U.S is shifting to new Congressional hearings, and possible changes in the law to make further whistleblowing on this topic more easy.
And an awful lot more current serving or recent officials pouring scorn on the idea.
It’s grift, pure and simple, and it’s conning people who want to believe.
Well, let's do a little bit of a cut-and-paste of all the most credible recent sources, and do a sort of compilation of them, to see how they stack up.
When I have some time in a a bit, I will nose about and put them all together.
Kind of a problem when there are no credible sources, just grifters and lunatics.
This is a good piece on the latest UFO flap, and why it is different from all others. It makes the point I have been making for many months (but maybe you will accept it from the NYT if not from me) - even if you discount any idea of actual non human intelligence, the level of disclosure is now so high and detailed and “legitimate” something really really WEIRD is happening in the US government. At the very least. And smart people should now pay attention to this story
Indeed. What we have in fact is a completely new situation of multiple, current or near-current US official sources making UFO claims.
That 's certainly very interesting, at the least.
And when China is knocking on their door, they will regret deeply investing time and resources in creating such a frivolous ruse.
Although we can't say for sure if it's any ruse, ofcourse. What strikes me as very interesting is how different Grusch's profile has been from the image of a the classic UFO claimant. Currently serving, or very recently serving, young and bushy-tailed and preciously promoted and bright, and deep inside a US intelligence agency. That's a very similar profile to Edward Snowden, and he even has some of his earnest expression.
He may even be aware of the parallels, and is using him as his template. It's all very fascinating, and a story that bears following as it develops, I would say.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There is currently zero empirical evidence which has been tested according to the standards of science or evidence analysis. Keep calm, wait and see. This a 'McCann' story - anything apparently new sells media by the million.
There are zillions of real scientists, experts and credible journalists who can make zillions out of the real story if there was any real story to relate.
So: please explain the behaviour of multiple senior members of the entire US Establishment, from Obama down. Generals, senators, CIA heads, the head of NASA, top NYT journalists, airforce commanders, navy admirals - they are all saying “this is a real mystery. It’s not just balloons. Something is up there”
And now the whistleblower
How do you explain all THAT?
I completely agree the actual evidence (photos, videos) is pitifully weak
Our ancestors would have been unlikely to have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that there is stuff going on in the world that has no explanation. But we seem determined to explain everything with our existing scientific worldview and have become intolerant of any degree of mystery. A lot of what a 'genes eye' view of evolution does is provide an easy explanation for everything, it cannot account for flying objects that defy the laws of physics, so people then panic and pivot to the other extreme: it must be aliens!
They had explanations - but not ones widely accepted today.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I don't think very many people are actually looking forward to a Starmer administration. I think they mostly just think it's time for a change.
That's exactly what it is. And, once that change takes place, they will rapidly turn their ire on it.
Some people aren't even waiting for the change to take place before they turn their ire on this appalling Labour government.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I don't think very many people are actually looking forward to a Starmer administration. I think they mostly just think it's time for a change.
May, Johnson, Truss and to date, Sunak have underwhelmed to such an extent he doesn't have to be particularly overwhelming to appear to be vastly better than his predecessors
There's so many named recent official sources, which is new.
What counts is evidence which can be expertly examined and re-examined and reported on according to peer reviewed science standards. Adjectives and hearsay don't count. That which is merely unexplained visual phenomena doesn't count either. We can't explain lots of things - consciousness, the origin of the universe, the reason why the law of gravity is how it is and not different, why we see yellow as yellow and not green, how life began and so on - but we don't attribute it to aliens.
As and when there is a real story it isn't going to be confined to websites no-one has heard of. There is a fortune out there for real scientists and accurate journalists, and they will get it if they can.
The rest is noise.
I wouldn't quite agree with this point of view. Much of the new information is already out there on mainstream news sources, for instance. What we have here, I think, is an entirely new situation where there are multiple current-serving or recently, named governmental officials making extraordinary claims, but for whom there seems to a great deal of legislation preventing them going further. So I would say still this seems to be primarily an issue about process, for the moment, rather than materials or evidence yet.
This is why the focus in the U.S is shifting to new Congressional hearings, and possible changes in the law to make further whistleblowing on this topic more easy.
And an awful lot more current serving or recent officials pouring scorn on the idea.
It’s grift, pure and simple, and it’s conning people who want to believe.
Well, let's do a little bit of a cut-and-paste of all the most credible recent sources, and do a sort of compilation of them, to see how they stack up.
When I have some time in a a bit, I will nose about and put them all together.
Kind of a problem when there are no credible sources, just grifters and lunatics.
This is a good piece on the latest UFO flap, and why it is different from all others. It makes the point I have been making for many months (but maybe you will accept it from the NYT if not from me) - even if you discount any idea of actual non human intelligence, the level of disclosure is now so high and detailed and “legitimate” something really really WEIRD is happening in the US government. At the very least. And smart people should now pay attention to this story
Indeed. What we have in fact is a completely new situation of multiple, current or near-current US official sources making UFO claims.
That 's certainly very interesting, at the least.
And when China is knocking on their door, they will regret deeply investing time and resources in creating such a frivolous ruse.
Although we can't say for sure if it's any ruse, ofcourse. What strikes me as very interesting is how different Grusch's profile has been from the image of a the classic UFO claimant. Currently serving, or very recently serving, young and bushy-tailed and preciously promoted and bright, and deep inside a US intelligence agency. That's a very similar profile to Edward Snowden, and he even has some of his earnest expression.
He may even be aware of the parallels, and is using him as his template. It's all very fascinating, and a story that bears following as it develops, I would say.
Extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence. There is currently zero empirical evidence which has been tested according to the standards of science or evidence analysis. Keep calm, wait and see. This a 'McCann' story - anything apparently new sells media by the million.
There are zillions of real scientists, experts and credible journalists who can make zillions out of the real story if there was any real story to relate.
So: please explain the behaviour of multiple senior members of the entire US Establishment, from Obama down. Generals, senators, CIA heads, the head of NASA, top NYT journalists, airforce commanders, navy admirals - they are all saying “this is a real mystery. It’s not just balloons. Something is up there”
And now the whistleblower
How do you explain all THAT?
I completely agree the actual evidence (photos, videos) is pitifully weak
Our ancestors would have been unlikely to have had difficulty coming to terms with the idea that there is stuff going on in the world that has no explanation. But we seem determined to explain everything with our existing scientific worldview and have become intolerant of any degree of mystery. A lot of what a 'genes eye' view of evolution does is provide an easy explanation for everything, it cannot account for flying objects that defy the laws of physics, so people then panic and pivot to the other extreme: it must be aliens!
Every bit of “inexplicable” footage we’ve seen so far has been explained as either lens flares or some other artifact.
Not sure that’s true. The Calvine photo remains unexplained. Likewise the tic-tac. And a couple of others
However it is an extraordinarily meagre haul if the world really is littered with crashed alien spacecraft
The disconnect between what really senior officials are saying and what we are seeing is one of the most bizarre aspects of this whole bizarre story
Calvine would be more impressive if there were the alleged other photos to see plus the negatives and the two chefs who allegedly took the shots.
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
I’m sorry for being right about everything. I know it’s annoying
We discussed this while you were busy posting your holiday photos.
Nonetheless, I was right, wasn’t I? All those months and years ago, when I told you: IT CAME FROM THE LAB
At one point I was the only person on PB voicing that opinion, to the derision of all others. Indeed I was about to give up, until @Gardenwalker - bless him - said “you know, you might be on to something”
Think that was late 2020?
Um, piss off. I most certainly did not deride anyone for theorising that it came from a lab. Once the lab's work and location were known, it was the only remotely sensible theory.
How do you account for MERS? And the original SARS?
I don't account for them. I don't know remotely enough about their origins to posit any sort of theory. This is whataboutery.
It’s really not. It’s making the point that all known epidemics in the history of man have been natural in origin. That does not preclude covid being the result of genetic manipulation in the WIV but it makes it having a natural source eminently plausible, in the way all the others ones started by crossing species to man.
Yes, in the absence of proof or near proof Natural is the default. For Lab to become favourite requires evidence compatible with Lab and incompatible with Natural. Just the first doesn't cut it.
The overwhelming circumstantial evidence makes lab leak the default in this case. As it was from the start. A novel bat coronavirus with strange manipulations at the furin cleavage site making it more dangerous for humans emerges in the ONLY city in the world with a bio lab playing with novel bat coronaviruses, and doing so by manipulating the furin cleavage site to make the viruses more dangerous for humans?
What are the odds on there being NO connection between these two things? About a thousand to one against
So it’s the natural wet marketeers who have all the proving to do. And despite three years of strenuous effort what proof have they managed to find? None. Zero. Nil. Nada. Nuffink. Every paper that claims to find a link with the market has been savagely debunked soon after
Meanwhile the evidence for a lab leak grows with more and more revelations of secrecy and cover up - to the extent that the Chinese themselves are now saying Hell yeah, it could be the lab
At this point piously believing in a natural origin is a basic intelligence test. Which you have failed
It is weird how this has become political. It is - generally - a few people on the left who are still desperate to believe it came from the market. As we see here. Why? Is it really coz trump said “lab leak” three years ago? Does he bother you that much?
This is not politics. It’s basic logic. Get over yourselves. It almost certainly came from the lab
You have talents but logical reasoning isn't one of them. It's more my thing. And I'm not desperate to believe either way. You otoh are enormously invested. To the point I'd worry for you if it went the 'wrong' way.
Yeah but you’re GAY*
(*I make this remark solely to please @kjh who is weirdly convinced I hurl this vile allegation when I get into an argument)
On this point - lab leak - your determined stupidity is far more interesting than your gayness
It is not a case of being weirdly convinced because you do, although only to @kinabalu. I mean the posts are there. When he has you rattled you accuse him of being gay. Not even sure why you think it is an insult. You aren't 5 years old or living in the 70s.
The other two insults you go for when rattled are accusing people of being boring or claiming you are more intelligent. You are very predictable.
VERY predictable, yes. And I'm not gay as it happens. I just have a soft feminine side.
Oi! We're not all into poncey poetry and flowery dresses I'll have you know.
You have been caught peddling lazy stereotypes about the fags and will therefore have to be cancelled. Sorry.
No but also yes since Leon is guilty of exactly this. Because I have a soft feminine side that I'm unafraid to show he calls me gay. It's real 70s throwback stuff. Have we *really* come as far as we think? I'm not so sure sometimes.
This is absolutely ridiculous. I have experimented with gayness and have openly admitted to being on the BDSM scene (D if you must know) - hence my spotting The Necklace
The idea I would think “gay” is an insult is absurd. I’d be insulting myself
The fact is I do pride myself in spotting personal traits and you made the odd ambiguous remark and I thought I’d test the waters and see if you had a gay side. Turns out you do. That’s it. That’s all it is. Get over yourself
Ok. It did reek of 70s throwback attitudes but your convoluted and fishy sounding explanation is warily accepted.
When I riffle through my immaculately curated memory banks Istr Leon's experiments with gayness consisted of a pal begging him to put it up his bum but he just couldn't get lead in his Staedtler. I accept this is a worthy attempt but it's hardly Querelle of Brest.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I'm probably going to vote Labour. Not through any love of Starmer, as I don't think he'll be a good MP, but because the current Conservative Party is barely functional and has run out of any positive ideas. I actually prefer Sunak to Starmer.
And yes, the political landscape will look very different in four years time. But 'different' does not preclude 'better'.
(The Lib Dems are probably out as they're running the local council poorly. My actual vote will depend on the Labour and Lib Dem candidates at election time.)
And, if you do, you'll be making a big mistake.
Like many others, you'll look back on the last 24 months of administration under Sunak and realise it was much better and your vote was purely a process of catharsis and not a rational one.
A bloke with a turban justifying his own honour and the one for Boris Johnson's hairdresser.
It's hilarious!!
There's a chance that a nasty wrong occurs here.
As far as I can tell, Kelly Dodge has been a hairdresser in parliament for many decades. She may have done Boris's haircuts, but she'll have done many, many others. A fair few backroom staff in parliament have had honours in the past.
Just because Boris wanted her honoured, doesn't make the honour automatically bad.
Here's a recent article about her.
"Dodge started cutting hair in her summer holidays when she left school and “ended up staying” in the trade. After a brief stint hairdressing aboard cruise ships, she ended up in a salon in Hampstead. It was this salon that successfully applied to be Parliament’s first unisex hairdressers, and again, having moved into Westminster, Dodge ended up staying. She has now been working in Parliament for 27 years. "
“If you’re a prime minister or if you’re a cleaner, I’ll treat you the same,” she says. “That’s what I think makes it work in here.”"
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
Note that, outside of the US, there’s no NATO member with the capacity to undertake such a combined arms operation.
If in 2019 after the GE you would have told me the Tories would collapse, Boris was out of the HoC and Sturgeon was helping the police with their enquiries I would not have believed you.
Which is a sobering warning for those lauding the coming of the 30 year Starmer reich.
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
I am currently betting on the assumption Labour is in power for 5 years the max
To be honest, I really don't know what's going to happen.
All I know is that nothing is certain and you simply can't just take today's trends and extrapolate them confidently into the future.
Sturgeon: I know beyond doubt that I am in fact innocent of any wrongdoing.
Quite surprised to see Nicola copying Boris's homework.
You know I detest Sturgeon beyond almost all politicians for her political beliefs but on this particular matter I think I believe her.
Why? What facts do you actually know?
Not a single one. Mainly I just don't see it as her style and the sums involved are all a bit petty to sacrifice an entire and very successful career for. Happy to be proven wrong.
All she needs now is to announce that she is suing for slander and will be vindicated by the sword of truth.
The facts that are know defy rational explanation. Other than, say, Nicola Sturgeon is actually Graf von Schwabing, hired by MI6 to discredit… herself.
@christiancalgie 💥huge shock as Paul Scully fails to make the shortlist for Tory London mayor.
Final three are Dan Korski, Susan Hall and Mozammel Hossain.
Rishi scared of another by-election if Scully had won?
@christopherhope This is a major shock. Paul Scully was a key Boris Johnson supporter. One Conservative MP close to Johnson tells me this is further evidence of a purge of Johnson supporters from a chance of getting a top job.
So no Scully and no Boff, instead 3 candidates not even I as a Tory activist have heard of, let alone the average Londoner.
Do CCHQ just want to give Sadiq Khan his re election next year as Mayor of London on a plate?
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
The Vietcong and the Taliban won without NATO equipment.
Had Russia occupied Ukraine, it would have been a similar story.
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
The Vietcong and the Taliban won without NATO equipment.
The Vietcong and the Taliban were on the other side of the world from the armies they defeated.
The Vietcong got blown to tiny fragments. This was fairly deliberate policy on the part of the Hanoi regime - getting rid of potential opposition on their own side.
It was the North Vietnamese Army that won the war. Backed a very large quantity of Soviet equipment.
Phillips P. OBrien @PhillipsPOBrien · 53m Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
The Vietcong and the Taliban won without NATO equipment.
Don't believe that's correct, esp. for VC who often used ARVN, USA, etc as their quartermaster corps.
As for Taliban, reckon they had/have access to weapons, ammo, etc. shipped to Mujahadin (sp) in 1980s by US, for example via congressional subcommittee run by then-US Rep. Charlie Wilson.
"Charlie Wilson's War" - fascinating book unfortunately turned into pretty crap movie.
BTW, when in House chamber, Wilson sat next to Barbara Jordan; they knew each other from serving together in Texas legislature.
Talk about your Odd Couple!
Though Wilson WAS a fighting liberal AND a fighting hawk; also a real hell-raiser in more ways than one.
Comments
Not a cake walk by any means and significant Ukrainian loses are reported, but the momentum is looking positive for the ZSU.
A reminder that once someone is charged, Polis Scotland can't question them further, so this may be a drawn out process until charges are laid.
deployment of lazy stereotypes = cancellation
Just a flying visit, but quite the tumultous couple of days, with the imbecile's resignation and Sturgeon's arrest.
Hopefully the Ukrainians manage to make significant headway.
A railway bridge was blown up in Yakymivka, stopping freight between Crimea and Zaporizhzhia.
The only railway line leading to the Crimean bridge was also blown up in the Krimovsky district
https://twitter.com/visegrad24/status/1667915595608645634
https://twitter.com/NicolaSturgeon/status/1667947057250705408
Meanwhile, the 12 Rail Traction (Sub) Stations on the Liski-Rostov line & their multi-million-dollar transformers (which burn easily) remain untouched.
This is the 🇷🇺 rail GLOC supplying the war in 🇺🇦!
https://twitter.com/BruckenRuski/status/1667752664887705601
It's not enough to be born and bred in the Magnolia State; you have to have lived there for the last five years to run for certain types of office.
The Supreme Court declined Friday to help a former Trump official skirt procedural hurdles keeping her from joining the Republican primary ballot for Mississippi public service commissioner.
Mississippi’s public service commission has three members that are elected every four years from three districts. Those commissioners are required to be a citizen of Mississippi for five years before the general election.
Amanda Gunasekara wanted to run for a seat on the commission but was blocked because of her tenure working for the federal government in Washington. She asked the high court for emergency relief. The application — submitted to Justice Samuel Alito and referred to the full court — was denied this morning without an explanation. There were no noted dissents.
Born and raised in Mississippi, Gunasekara made the decision to move north to the nation's capital in 2010 after graduating from law school. Gunasekara began work in Congress — first in the House of Representatives and then the Senate — but ended up at the Environmental Protection Agency under the Trump administration.
For eight years Gunasekara resided in Washington. While she says she never considered the city her home, she had no concrete plans to return to Mississippi during that time until the summer of 2018. Her parents purchased a home for her near their farm in Decatur, but she remained in Washington — even voting in the city for a friend running for an advisory neighborhood committee. . . .
Gunasekara announced her intention to run for a position on the commission in 2022, only to have her qualifications come into question through a challenge from Matthew Barton, a candidate for Desoto district attorney.
The Executive Committee of the Mississippi Republican Party initially denied Barton’s contest, certifying Gunasekara as a candidate, but a state court that reviewed the matter opted to disqualify her. The court found Gunasekara had maintained her Washington residence on Nov. 18, 2018 — the date she’d need to have be a Mississippi resident to meet the commissioner residency requirement.
The Mississippi Supreme Court affirmed Gunasekara’s disqualification without tackling her claim that the state-law residency requirement violated the 14th Amendment. . . . .
Gunasekara argues the five-year citizen requirement should not bar her from running for office because she lived in the state for over two decades prior to her Washington residency. . . .
The list of qualified candidates for commissioner is given to the state secretary of state on Friday, and the sample primary ballot is published on June 19.
https://www.courthousenews.com/justices-turn-down-ex-trump-official-vying-to-join-mississippi-commissioner-race/
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=i6wu81BEVBI
Republican's dreams shattered,
Mississippi weeps.
Muddled tales and lost landmarks,
Travel guide gone wrong.
Quite surprised to see Nicola copying Boris's homework.
Haiku blooms from lines of code,
Words crafted with care.
In fairness though you did manage to respond that time with sarcasm rather than suggesting I was boring, gay or stupid so maybe you are learning.
Mississippi Public Service Commission - Northern District
No candidates filed for the Democratic Party primary.
Republican Party Primary candidates:
Chris Brown
Tanner Newman
Did not make the ballot: Mandy Gunasekara
https://ballotpedia.org/Mississippi_state_executive_official_elections,_2023
Well, you came and you gave without taking
But I sent you away
Oh, Mandy
Well, you kissed me and stopped me from shaking
And I need you today
Oh, Mandy
A smaller circle within the large one would do it.
A bloke with a turban justifying his own honour and the one for Boris Johnson's hairdresser.
It's hilarious!!
Straining for effect. She’s guilty as fuck
There's apparently another interview on the way.
https://twitter.com/nickpopemod/status/1667905338178420736
"Today is a huge day for the UFO community."
Or can you in fact post any comments you want on PB whenever you want?
https://twitter.com/WUTangKids/status/1667641303918604290
Bill Barr: "Battle plans for an attack on another country or Defense Department documents about our capabilities are in no universe Donald J. Trump's personal documents."
https://twitter.com/AccountableGOP/status/1667889853810311172
“I have a message tonight for Merrick Garland and Jack Smith and Joe Biden — and the guys back there in the fake news media, you should listen up as well, this one is for you,” Ms. Lake said. “If you want to get to President Trump, you are going to have go through me, and you are going to have to go through 75 million Americans just like me. And I’m going to tell you, most of us are card-carrying members of the N.R.A.” "
NY Times
Phillips P. OBrien
@PhillipsPOBrien
·
53m
Sometimes we need to take a breath and realize what we are seeing here. The Ukrainians, using NATO equipment for only a few months, and without air superiority, are trying (and maybe succeeding) in driving back what was considered to be one of the world's greatest militaries.
Maybe the corps got the memo.
https://twitter.com/JohnRentoul/status/1667954628552544256
You can be certain the political landscape will look very different in four years time.
As far as I can tell, Kelly Dodge has been a hairdresser in parliament for many decades. She may have done Boris's haircuts, but she'll have done many, many others. A fair few backroom staff in parliament have had honours in the past.
Just because Boris wanted her honoured, doesn't make the honour automatically bad.
Here's a recent article about her.
"Dodge started cutting hair in her summer holidays when she left school and “ended up staying” in the trade. After a brief stint hairdressing aboard cruise ships, she ended up in a salon in Hampstead. It was this salon that successfully applied to be Parliament’s first unisex hairdressers, and again, having moved into Westminster, Dodge ended up staying. She has now been working in Parliament for 27 years. "
“If you’re a prime minister or if you’re a cleaner, I’ll treat you the same,” she says. “That’s what I think makes it work in here.”"
https://www.politicshome.com/thehouse/article/parly-do-parliaments-hairdressers-institution
However it is an extraordinarily meagre haul if the world really is littered with crashed alien spacecraft
The disconnect between what really senior officials are saying and what we are seeing is one of the most bizarre aspects of this whole bizarre story
And yes, the political landscape will look very different in four years time. But 'different' does not preclude 'better'.
(The Lib Dems are probably out as they're running the local council poorly. My actual vote will depend on the Labour and Lib Dem candidates at election time.)
The truth is, I really left you
All through my Trump days
My MAGA existence
I was more than willing
To keep my distance
May, Johnson, Truss and to date, Sunak have underwhelmed to such an extent he doesn't have to be particularly overwhelming to appear to be vastly better than his predecessors
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_number_of_military_and_paramilitary_personnel
Like many others, you'll look back on the last 24 months of administration under Sunak and realise it was much better and your vote was purely a process of catharsis and not a rational one.
Get a grip!
He'll be giving a title to his wife's dog walker next.
All I know is that nothing is certain and you simply can't just take today's trends and extrapolate them confidently into the future.
The facts that are know defy rational explanation. Other than, say, Nicola Sturgeon is actually Graf von Schwabing, hired by MI6 to discredit… herself.
Do CCHQ just want to give Sadiq Khan his re election next year as Mayor of London on a plate?
It was the North Vietnamese Army that won the war. Backed a very large quantity of Soviet equipment.
As for Taliban, reckon they had/have access to weapons, ammo, etc. shipped to Mujahadin (sp) in 1980s by US, for example via congressional subcommittee run by then-US Rep. Charlie Wilson.
"Charlie Wilson's War" - fascinating book unfortunately turned into pretty crap movie.
BTW, when in House chamber, Wilson sat next to Barbara Jordan; they knew each other from serving together in Texas legislature.
Talk about your Odd Couple!
Though Wilson WAS a fighting liberal AND a fighting hawk; also a real hell-raiser in more ways than one.