Kara Voght hopes this Democratic convention will be more like 2008 than 1968, but concedes that there are parallels to 1968: "For months leading up to this convention, “Chicago 1968” has been both a fear and a buzzword, and there are undeniable parallels: A new generation is getting serious about politics. Americans are divided about the nation’s involvement in an overseas war. An unpopular president steps aside, and the party gathers in Chicago to anoint its new candidate. The Democrats’ 2024 convention seemed likely to unfold with echoes of the unrest that disrupted the ’68 gathering. And it’s still possible, with an estimated 40,000 demonstrators expected to gather Monday to protest the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/08/18/chicago-1968-2008-harris-obama/
40,000! (Fortunately, pro-Hamas demonstrations, all over the world, have been uniformly peaceful -- except for a tiny little exception here and there)
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
Labour's Ming Vase strategy, tedious and defensive as it was, did depend on them being gifted a Ming Vase by the 2019-24 government(s). Until the Conservative party comes to terms with how badly the public views them, pointing out the mediocrity of Starmer's Labour isn't going to get them very far.
And clever, needling speeches, well delivered... they were the stock in trade of another talented Conservative leader elected after a landslide defeat. Hague's result in 2001 shows the limits of that approach, and frankly he was easier for the public to warm to than Badenoch.
'Hit by a car whilst out running in Cambridgeshire.'
I've walked the Fen Rivers Way through Stretham on many, many occasions; had a good friend who used to live there, and have walked and run there as well. (It's just south of Ely on the A10).
I'm not one for tinfoil-hatting, but is this stretching coincidences too far?
Not a hit and run (because no huge manhunt on) so probably a tragic accident.
Superyacht incident very very hard to arrange. Superyachts are notoriously designed for bling and bigdickery. We have the tallest mast in the world counterbalanced by all accounts by a lifting keel which may have been raised at the time, reducing its counterbalance value. The rig is highly vulnerable because the angle on the shrouds is so acute. My guess is either the mast fails and breaks, or it doesn't but has so much windage because of its height that the boat gets pushed over anyway, and on the lee side there's yards and yards of plate glass doors and windows (where a proper boat would have a small number of tiny portholes), and they either were left open, or break, and the boat fills up and sinks immediately.
A highly placed Zelensky admin source to me: “Keeping the Americans in the dark was also key to keeping the Russian intelligence services and army from being able to prepare. “We have learned some very hard lessons from the events of the previous counteroffensive,” a highly placed member of Zelenskyy’s team informed Tablet.
The Klitschko documentary was interesting on Zelenskyy. First time I have seen anything that raises real questions about him. It was a subtle piece of propaganda if that is what it was. Our Saturday morning trolls could learn a lot from watching it.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
As someone who flew out of LCY regularly at one point to visit clients on the continent I certainly didn’t see myself as “monied elite” at the time!
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
I suspect the name ‘City’ has rather misled him. If he’d looked a little closer, he might have discovered that it’s located in Newham, which is by many measures London’s most deprived borough.
City airport doesn’t even have business class lounges, except for the one they used for the long haul flights to JFK. Everyone sits together, it’s a truly socially integrated terminal.
Used to love it when the place was even smaller and it was like turning up at the bus station for a flight.
One of the pleasures of travelling to Wick ... (actually, stopping off there while waiting for fog to clear over Shetland).
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
A highly placed Zelensky admin source to me: “Keeping the Americans in the dark was also key to keeping the Russian intelligence services and army from being able to prepare. “We have learned some very hard lessons from the events of the previous counteroffensive,” a highly placed member of Zelenskyy’s team informed Tablet.
The Klitschko documentary was interesting on Zelenskyy. First time I have seen anything that raises real questions about him. It was a subtle piece of propaganda if that is what it was. Our Saturday morning trolls could learn a lot from watching it.
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
She already is. She’s an Alan Partridge like figure. Desperate to remain relevant and the world has passed her by.
I wonder if it’s time for TRUSS to stage a remarkable - and overdue - coup of the Conservative & Unionist Party? Her strong leadership and spirit of policy innovation could be quite the tonic for the organisation.
#Time4Truss
It must be a great disappointment to you that Sir Bill Cash has retired from politics, so you cannot compare the relative impact of Truss and Cash.
A highly placed Zelensky admin source to me: “Keeping the Americans in the dark was also key to keeping the Russian intelligence services and army from being able to prepare. “We have learned some very hard lessons from the events of the previous counteroffensive,” a highly placed member of Zelenskyy’s team informed Tablet.
The Klitschko documentary was interesting on Zelenskyy. First time I have seen anything that raises real questions about him. It was a subtle piece of propaganda if that is what it was. Our Saturday morning trolls could learn a lot from watching it.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
Labour's Ming Vase strategy, tedious and defensive as it was, did depend on them being gifted a Ming Vase by the 2019-24 government(s). Until the Conservative party comes to terms with how badly the public views them, pointing out the mediocrity of Starmer's Labour isn't going to get them very far.
And clever, needling speeches, well delivered... they were the stock in trade of another talented Conservative leader elected after a landslide defeat. Hague's result in 2001 shows the limits of that approach, and frankly he was easier for the public to warm to than Badenoch.
The problem for Labour is that the Process State has almost completely stopped change.
The previous Conservative government had no ideas and no idea how to move them forward.
In a world where spending decades and a quarter of a billion on discussing the Dartford Crossing (actual plans not included) is perfectly normal, nothing will change.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
As I have said before, she aint ready for prime time and would be well to lose this one gracefully and prepare for 2029.
'Hit by a car whilst out running in Cambridgeshire.'
I've walked the Fen Rivers Way through Stretham on many, many occasions; had a good friend who used to live there, and have walked and run there as well. (It's just south of Ely on the A10).
I'm not one for tinfoil-hatting, but is this stretching coincidences too far?
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
I remember going to the top of 1 Canada Square in the early 80s when the whole area around it was still a building site with more cranes than I have ever seen in my life. The views were incredible and the scale of what became Canary Wharf was just awe inspiring. It has been fascinating to see it grow over the decades since. Not entirely sure I would like to work there though. You must feel like an ant.
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
I got turned down for a job by a firm which is now a constituent of womble bond Dickinson. My schadenfreude is visible from space.
Kara Voght hopes this Democratic convention will be more like 2008 than 1968, but concedes that there are parallels to 1968: "For months leading up to this convention, “Chicago 1968” has been both a fear and a buzzword, and there are undeniable parallels: A new generation is getting serious about politics. Americans are divided about the nation’s involvement in an overseas war. An unpopular president steps aside, and the party gathers in Chicago to anoint its new candidate. The Democrats’ 2024 convention seemed likely to unfold with echoes of the unrest that disrupted the ’68 gathering. And it’s still possible, with an estimated 40,000 demonstrators expected to gather Monday to protest the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/08/18/chicago-1968-2008-harris-obama/
40,000! (Fortunately, pro-Hamas demonstrations, all over the world, have been uniformly peaceful -- except for a tiny little exception here and there)
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
She already is. She’s an Alan Partridge like figure. Desperate to remain relevant and the world has passed her by.
I wonder if it’s time for TRUSS to stage a remarkable - and overdue - coup of the Conservative & Unionist Party? Her strong leadership and spirit of policy innovation could be quite the tonic for the organisation.
#Time4Truss
It must be a great disappointment to you that Sir Bill Cash has retired from politics, so you cannot compare the relative impact of Truss and Cash.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
I got turned down for a job by a firm which is now a constituent of womble bond Dickinson. My schadenfreude is visible from space.
I feel sorry for the employees of the legacy Womble Carlyle over in the States whose (non profit sharing) merger with Bond Dickinson has completely shafted both their good name and that of some perfectly respectable denizens of Wimbledon.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
I got turned down for a job by a firm which is now a constituent of womble bond Dickinson. My schadenfreude is visible from space.
I have been having dealings with them.
I assume the fact that you are literate told against you?
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
Kara Voght hopes this Democratic convention will be more like 2008 than 1968, but concedes that there are parallels to 1968: "For months leading up to this convention, “Chicago 1968” has been both a fear and a buzzword, and there are undeniable parallels: A new generation is getting serious about politics. Americans are divided about the nation’s involvement in an overseas war. An unpopular president steps aside, and the party gathers in Chicago to anoint its new candidate. The Democrats’ 2024 convention seemed likely to unfold with echoes of the unrest that disrupted the ’68 gathering. And it’s still possible, with an estimated 40,000 demonstrators expected to gather Monday to protest the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza." source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/08/18/chicago-1968-2008-harris-obama/
40,000! (Fortunately, pro-Hamas demonstrations, all over the world, have been uniformly peaceful -- except for a tiny little exception here and there)
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
British Airways have lots of flights from City Airport, many of which fly over my house in Ilford as they depart!
I'm disturbed at the implication that some of them fail to clear it.
I had a job interview at a firm not far from the top of One Canada Square not too long after 9/11. I don’t like heights anyway, and the planes from City taking off in my general direction as I faced the window…I did not like. Didn’t get the job anyway.
I got turned down for a job by a firm which is now a constituent of womble bond Dickinson. My schadenfreude is visible from space.
I have been having dealings with them.
I assume the fact that you are literate told against you?
Pretty much that. They had seen my sort before and wanted nothing to do with it.
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
Meanwhile, under the rapidly-expanding category of Stupid GOPer Tricks, two stories from NY Daily News (via Seattle Times):
Trump ‘accepts’ nomination of so-called Swifties for Trump
Donald Trump welcomed the support of a “Swifties for Trump” movement that invites lots of question.
An online movement to attract Taylor Swift fans to the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign trended on Elon Musk’s social media platform X over the weekend. Much of that support depended on images that largely appear to have been created by artificial intelligence. Trump, 78, shared some of those pictures on his Truth Social platform Monday.
“I accept!” he posted alongside images that include the pop-star dressed as Uncle Sam in a recruiting poster telling voters to support Trump.
Swift, who spent the weekend in London performing to sold-out stadium crowds, supported the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election. She’s also been critical of Trump, whom she accused in 2020 of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism” throughout his first term in office.
Trump, on the other hand, has obsessed over the 34-year-old “Shake it Off” singer’s “unusually beautiful” appearance, while conceding in one interview “she probably doesn’t like Trump.”
SSI - Reckon that non-fake Swifties MAY take umbrage at this bit of Trump bullshit? AND ditto Herself?
"Lovely quote heard this morning on the BBC World Service, "The only way Donald Trump could get smaller attendances at his rallies is if he were to invite Nigel Farage to speak""
Most American politos, pundits & chattering classes do NOT know who Nigel Farage or Liz Truss are, or care.
At best they will be geek-shows to amuse the MAGA-maniacs.
All the more odd that Truss would get suckered into that role.
Farage I get.
Truss is NOT one of Trump's boon companions, unlike Farage who is among the favored who have been invited 3 or more times to Mar-a-Lardo (as documented by NYT last week).
She's a groupie who is tagging along with the MAGA band as best (or worst) she can.
Truss will be a historical footnote in months, a joke as PM and very unlikely to get selected as a PPC again.
She already is. She’s an Alan Partridge like figure. Desperate to remain relevant and the world has passed her by.
I wonder if it’s time for TRUSS to stage a remarkable - and overdue - coup of the Conservative & Unionist Party? Her strong leadership and spirit of policy innovation could be quite the tonic for the organisation.
#Time4Truss
It must be a great disappointment to you that Sir Bill Cash has retired from politics, so you cannot compare the relative impact of Truss and Cash.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
Another gem from NY Daily News (via Seattle Times)
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell plans to shave mustache, go ‘incognito’ to DNC
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said over the weekend he was planning to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago “incognito” after shaving his mustache.
Lindell, who has run into serious legal and financial trouble because of various claims he’s made about “fraud” and the 2020 presidential election, told Ben Bergquam of Real America’s Voice on Sunday he was traveling to the “evil” DNC and going undercover.
“I’m going incognito, I’m going to be shaving my mustache everybody,” he said in a video shared by Bergquam on the social platform X. “You won’t recognize me.” . . .
However, ahead of a Monday press conference about inflation with Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., at Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, a still-hirsute Lindell was spotted, claiming the shaving would occur Wednesday.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Once is an accident, twice is a coincidence, three times is enemy action...
The Ukrainians have taken out all three bridges to the west of their Kursk invasion, trapping 2,700 regular troops and conscripts - and their heavy weapons.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen. Like that Star Trek episode where they found out warp drive was breaking the universe. Or everything Chris Chibnall ever wrote. It takes a bit of internal adjustment but I'm a lot happier...
The Ukrainians have taken out all three bridges to the west of their Kursk invasion, trapping 2,700 regular troops and conscripts - and their heavy weapons.
I wonder if they have decided their only chance of winning, or even not losing, this war from here is if Putin is toppled, and the only way that happens is if Russia itself was invaded and sizeable chunks of it captured.
It would make sense of their otherwise startling actions.
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
Plea bargain?
More from the NYT story on "George Santos" expelled former Republican congressman and soon-to-be convicted felon:
George Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York whose penchant for lying led to one of the oddest sideshows in modern U.S. politics, pleaded guilty on Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
While Mr. Santos’s plea will allow him to avoid a trial on a total of nearly two dozen charges — including money laundering and stealing public funds — it all but ensures he will face at least two years in prison and as long as two decades. The trial was set to begin next month. . . .
Mr. Santos repeatedly insisted that he would defend his innocence in court, only to reverse course as the opportunity approached.
The Mr. Santos who appeared in court bore little resemblance to the shameless provocateur whose antics grabbed headlines. On Monday, that bravado was replaced by a wavering voice and words of contrition.
“I understand my actions have betrayed the trust of my supporters and my constituents,” he said.
Mr. Santos’s sentencing was postponed until Feb. 7, meaning he will not have to report to prison for at least six months. Guidelines call for him to serve as many as eight years in prison, though a judge could decide to be more lenient.
Mr. Santos also agreed to pay $373,749.97 in restitution and forfeit another $205,002.97 before his sentencing. Mr. Santos will need to come up with the money for his final plea deal to go through, and if he is unable to do so his property will be seized.
The outcome was welcome news to Republicans in New York, where the party is preparing to defend a half dozen swing seats that could decide the House majority. . .
SSI - So how is this Mega-MAGA-Maniac gonna pay Uncle Sam? AND his massive legal bills?
The last sentence quoted above MAY offer a clue . . .
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
These con men are always so bold and confident in the immediate aftermath, so defiant, yet they are usually just intelligent enough to realise when they game is up and it's time to fold, if they want a chance at playing again in future.
The ones who believe their own lies go the SBF route and suffer all the more for it.
He literally just went on a rambling episode about "electronics" and no one seems to know what the hell he's talking about.
Can someone explain? Is he delusional?
1) Yes (2) Yes.
Is this a case of the chips are down, or has he had his chips?
He's got an enormous one on his shoulder - it's called the 2020 election.
The first time he truly lost and couldn't wriggle out of the consequences afterwards through lawsuits and bluster. It broke his mind. For his own health (though not his liberty) he needs to lose again.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen.
I never saw Alien Covenant, so going into Romulus that worked well.
It was competently put together, well acted, clearly trying to go back to something simpler and more effective as a story, which it was.
It wasn't the least bit scary though, as I imagine people found the first film at the time, since we know everything about the aliens already - some more body horror causes a reaction, but doesn't scare.
NYT - George Santos Pleads Guilty to Wire Fraud and Identity Theft
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
Plea bargain?
The Mr. Santos who appeared in court bore little resemblance to the shameless provocateur whose antics grabbed headlines. On Monday, that bravado was replaced by a wavering voice and words of contrition.
“I understand my actions have betrayed the trust of my supporters and my constituents,” he said.
Like liars everywhere. If he gets a light sentence he'll change his tune as soon as he is out. I bet many Jan 6th defendants pull the same old dodge.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen.
I never saw Alien Covenant, so going into Romulus that worked well.
It was competently put together, well acted, clearly trying to go back to something simpler and more effective as a story, which it was.
It wasn't the least bit scary though, as I imagine people found the first film at the time, since we know everything about the aliens already - some more body horror causes a reaction, but doesn't scare.
I absolutely loved the first film. I watched the second and thought "meh". The third I eye-rolled through.
They all felt like pilots for spin-off series rather than 'the next chapter'.
"Raised by Wolves" is the best thing I've seen Ridley Scott do in years however. I was sad to see it cancelled. Quite visually and conceptually... odd.
In a hypothetical match-up between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. included as an independent candidate, Trump’s margins have marginally narrowed in Florida (5%, -1) and Georgia (0%, -2), and have stayed the same in Michigan (1%) and North Carolina (3%) since our last swing state voting intention poll (29 July - 3 August).
In the same time frame, Nevada has gone from being tied to Trump having a one point lead, and Arizona has flipped from Harris +1 to Trump +1.
Harris’ leads have widened in Minnesota (7%, +2) and Wisconsin (2%, +2), which was tied last week, while Pennsylvania has flipped from Trump leading by two points to Harris leading by two points.
For context, in the 2020 Presidential Election, Joe Biden carried Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while Donald Trump defeated Biden in Florida and North Carolina.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen. Like that Star Trek episode where they found out warp drive was breaking the universe. Or everything Chris Chibnall ever wrote. It takes a bit of internal adjustment but I'm a lot happier...
"Don't let the bedbugs bite! I'll tuck in the children..."
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen. Like that Star Trek episode where they found out warp drive was breaking the universe. Or everything Chris Chibnall ever wrote. It takes a bit of internal adjustment but I'm a lot happier...
"Don't let the bedbugs bite! I'll tuck in the children..."
Prometheus was a brilliant film, albeit with major problems. It aimed high and missed. Alien: Covenant was a mediocre film: it aimed low and missed That is why Prometheus is one of my favorite films, and Alien Covenant doesn't exist.
SKS Labour have just approved an expansion to London City Airport - a hub for private jets.
City Airport is dominated by short-haul flights taken by London's monied elite.
But Labour will always choose their corporate mates over tackling the climate crisis.
As someone who flew out of LCY regularly at one point to visit clients on the continent I certainly didn’t see myself as “monied elite” at the time!
I was just another working stiff, turning the wheels of the economy by doing things that other people valued enough to pay for them, like most people taking flights out of London City I suspect.
Yep, maybe 0.1% of the people traveling through LCY will be on private jets.
@SeaShantyIrish2 will be along in due course to explain just how egregious a violation of cultural norms that is.
Sadly (or not) was sired in WESTERN Pennsylvania, at a time when a Philly cheasesteak was a rich & rare in those parts, as it is in, for example, Clacton.
HOWEVER do know that the denizens of the City of Brotherly Love are VERY touchy about suchlike, and apt to feel something less-than-love for those who commit such abominations.
Sen. Vance is picking up, right where Dr. Oz left off!
This speaks volumes for the dearth of serious, competent professional magement of the Trump/Vance campaign.
FOR ONCE yours truly stands (or rather types) CORRECTED . . . as does the source, the Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer - JD Vance gets a cheesesteak at Pat’s
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Vance said he liked Swiss cheese. Instead, he asked why Swiss cheese was insulting while ordering a cheesesteak.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance wanted to know why Pat’s King of Steaks didn’t have Swiss cheese.
“I don’t like Swiss cheese either … Why do you guys hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” the Republican vice presidential nominee asked at the counter Monday afternoon.
Following a campaign stop in North Philadelphia, Vance headed down to Pat’s for a cheesesteak.
“He asked about why we don’t have Swiss cheese,” said Pat’s manager Sammy Garcia with a laugh. “We thought that was funny.”
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition, but it doesn’t always have positive results. As a presidential candidate in 2003, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State John Kerry ordered a steak with Swiss cheese, resulting in a heavily covered culinary gaffe. (”Swiss cheese, as any local knows, is not an option,” Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan wrote at the time. “The Massachusetts Democrat may as well have asked for cave-aged Appenzeller.”)
Vance did not suffer that same fate and instead ordered a whiz wit — or, for non-locals, a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions. . . .
Last year, former President Donald Trump visited Pat’s after appearing at a Moms for Liberty summit. Trump also made a cheesesteak stop in 2016, but at Geno’s across the street. Earlier this year before rallying in North Philly, Trump stopped by Tony and Nick’s. . . .
SSI - That "I don't like Swiss cheese either" MAY prove problematic in Wisconsin.
Also note that there are apparently no South Philadelphia cheesesteak shops named "Percy & Reggie's".
Nigel, please remove your "like" from my inital Cheesesteak Vance comment, as it was based on an inaccurate report that JDV requested a cheesesteak, when he did NOT. - Thanks in advance!
FOR ONCE yours truly stands (or rather types) CORRECTED . . . as does the source, the Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer - JD Vance gets a cheesesteak at Pat’s
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Vance said he liked Swiss cheese. Instead, he asked why Swiss cheese was insulting while ordering a cheesesteak.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance wanted to know why Pat’s King of Steaks didn’t have Swiss cheese.
“I don’t like Swiss cheese either … Why do you guys hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” the Republican vice presidential nominee asked at the counter Monday afternoon.
Following a campaign stop in North Philadelphia, Vance headed down to Pat’s for a cheesesteak.
“He asked about why we don’t have Swiss cheese,” said Pat’s manager Sammy Garcia with a laugh. “We thought that was funny.”
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition, but it doesn’t always have positive results. As a presidential candidate in 2003, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State John Kerry ordered a steak with Swiss cheese, resulting in a heavily covered culinary gaffe. (”Swiss cheese, as any local knows, is not an option,” Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan wrote at the time. “The Massachusetts Democrat may as well have asked for cave-aged Appenzeller.”)
Vance did not suffer that same fate and instead ordered a whiz wit — or, for non-locals, a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions. . . .
Last year, former President Donald Trump visited Pat’s after appearing at a Moms for Liberty summit. Trump also made a cheesesteak stop in 2016, but at Geno’s across the street. Earlier this year before rallying in North Philly, Trump stopped by Tony and Nick’s. . . .
SSI - That "I don't like Swiss cheese either" MAY prove problematic in Wisconsin.
Also note that there are apparently no South Philadelphia cheesesteak shops named "Percy & Reggie's".
I stand suitably chastened.
(As an aside, Cheez Whiz never sounded remotely appetising to me. I’d never make a candidate.)
FOR ONCE yours truly stands (or rather types) CORRECTED . . . as does the source, the Philadelphia Inquirer
Philadelphia Inquirer - JD Vance gets a cheesesteak at Pat’s
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Vance said he liked Swiss cheese. Instead, he asked why Swiss cheese was insulting while ordering a cheesesteak.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance wanted to know why Pat’s King of Steaks didn’t have Swiss cheese.
“I don’t like Swiss cheese either … Why do you guys hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” the Republican vice presidential nominee asked at the counter Monday afternoon.
Following a campaign stop in North Philadelphia, Vance headed down to Pat’s for a cheesesteak.
“He asked about why we don’t have Swiss cheese,” said Pat’s manager Sammy Garcia with a laugh. “We thought that was funny.”
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition, but it doesn’t always have positive results. As a presidential candidate in 2003, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State John Kerry ordered a steak with Swiss cheese, resulting in a heavily covered culinary gaffe. (”Swiss cheese, as any local knows, is not an option,” Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan wrote at the time. “The Massachusetts Democrat may as well have asked for cave-aged Appenzeller.”)
Vance did not suffer that same fate and instead ordered a whiz wit — or, for non-locals, a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions. . . .
Last year, former President Donald Trump visited Pat’s after appearing at a Moms for Liberty summit. Trump also made a cheesesteak stop in 2016, but at Geno’s across the street. Earlier this year before rallying in North Philly, Trump stopped by Tony and Nick’s. . . .
SSI - That "I don't like Swiss cheese either" MAY prove problematic in Wisconsin.
Also note that there are apparently no South Philadelphia cheesesteak shops named "Percy & Reggie's".
I stand suitably chastened.
(As an aside, Cheez Whiz never sounded remotely appetising to me. I’d never make a candidate.)
Whenever I see stories about American politicos muching their way through whatver politically-relevant food stuff (broadly defined) is put in front of their pie (or whatever) hole, think of former Republican NY Gov and US VP Nelson Rockefeller.
Who first gained celebrity as a election candidate, by eating his way across New York City sampling the beloved specialities of the Big Apple (which do NOT include apple pie, fritters, etc., etc.)
Nelson Rockefeller's problem back in 1958 when he first ran for NY Gov, was that he was the grandson of an infamous robber baron, which was NOT a plus with the public at that time. Fortunately for him, he was running against ANOTHER filthy rich guy, incumbent Democratic Gov and former US Ambassador to the Court of St. James Averell Harriman. Now Harriman had got himself elected, but his administration was rather lackluster, he had to run for reelection during a major US recession . . . and he was NOT what anyone, including him, would call a Man of the People.
Of course neither was Rockefeller! However, his campaign team (the best money could buy and ambition recruit) came up with what proved a winning PR strategy: the birth of Rocky. Whose two hallmarks on the campaign trail were
> calling any man he encoutered "fella" as in "Hi'ya fella!" (IIRC for the women it was "Hi'ya hun!")
> eating every kind of street & comfort food imaginable, from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point, most especially in the 5 Boroughs of NYC; and always doing so with evident appetite, gusto and (very often) relish.
Rocky & his team made damn sure these forrays were WELL-publicised. AND they really did charm voters, and connvinced many indeed the majority, that he was an OK guy.
Badenoch is a talented speaker and very articulate. I am coming to the view though, that she does not apply that talent in a way that shouts “party leader.”
She likes debating culture war topics. Great. Can she point to any great success in running her department, or a vision for the conservatism of the future? I think if they choose Badenoch they’re choosing someone who might give them a bit of a sugar rush at PMQs, but who I’m not convinced has what it takes to build back their electoral coalition.
FWIW (and its not much because I don't have a vote) that was the view I had come to as well. What the Tories need is someone who has a broader grasp and vision and I have yet to see that from her.
It's a pity because it's perfectly possible to hold Kemi's position on culture war topics at the same time as holding a voter friendly position on competent administration/wealth creation/provision of public services/all the other things voters want a government to do. Kemi's position is not by itself inimical to building vote-winning coalition for the Tories. But she needs to be seen to be interested in all the other things a government needs to do.
Hats off to Kemi. She manages to patronise the new Labour government for inevitably failing to meet the same housebuilding target her government failed to meet by a country mile
I think that speech sums up my views of Badenoch. It’s a clever opposition speech, it needles, it exposes fault lines, and it’s well delivered. But it essentially boils down to “we didn’t deliver as much as we should have done and you won’t either.”
Maybe it wasn’t the time for the grand vision, but I can see Badenoch falling into this pattern - being good at opposing, but having very little to say in return. We have just elected a government that didn’t say very much during the campaign or in opposition, but I am not sure it’s a tactic that any opposition party should rely on, nor one that should be particularly credited. Labour got away with it because they were the only credible choice for many, and the opposition was divided.
Yes, although it also aimed to create divisions between Angela Rayner and party bosses. It's an Opposition speech but the Conservatives are the Opposition.
Now I shan't be joining the party to vote for Kemi but at this stage, she seems just as plausible as any of the other five.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
Saw my first large spider in the house this year today as a precursor to so-called Spider season, where Randy males look to breed and sometimes make the ultimate sacrifice, glass over him, card underneath him and out he goes to sneak back in via the breathing gaps in the brickwork.
I don’t mind them, but they terrify my wife.
I'm going into Aliens: Romulus
I've heard it will scar you for life.
Report back later.
It has put me off sex and women.
Neither for me, although end bit is relatively sick.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
More of the same, really. Adequate effort but a lot too homagey. Sets up a sequel obviously.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
But I want to know what happens to David the android, and Daniels and the other colonists on the Covenant!
I find the best way to handle it is to ignore "Alien: Covenant" and pretend it didn't happen. Like that Star Trek episode where they found out warp drive was breaking the universe. Or everything Chris Chibnall ever wrote. It takes a bit of internal adjustment but I'm a lot happier...
Yes. Just as they didn’t make any sequels to Highlander.
The Ukrainians have taken out all three bridges to the west of their Kursk invasion, trapping 2,700 regular troops and conscripts - and their heavy weapons.
I wonder if they have decided their only chance of winning, or even not losing, this war from here is if Putin is toppled, and the only way that happens is if Russia itself was invaded and sizeable chunks of it captured.
It would make sense of their otherwise startling actions.
I think it is multiple things
1) fight where they have the advantage. 2) if another Red Zone (see France, WWI) is to be created, do it in Russia 3) take pressure off other fronts 4) take land as a potential bargaining chip 5) show the West they can win 6) show the West they can win if they fight their way. 7) Army/civilian morale 8) make the Russians understand that the concept of “Again” works both ways
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
For some reason, I wonder if an optolythic data rod was found at either scene.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
For some reason, I wonder if an optolythic data rod was found at either scene.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
For some reason, I wonder if an optolythic data rod was found at either scene.
What did Garak say about coincidences again?
That is not the only coincidence here. Not only did Lynch's co-defendant die, but also Mike Lynch went to the same school as Grace O'Malley Kumar, the student murdered in the Nottingham stabbings as she tried to protect her friend, and Daniel Anjorin, the schoolboy almost decapitated in April's Hainault sword attacks.
Sometimes, pace Leon, coincidences are just coincidences.
Why ban her when she keeps making a fool of herself?
Because people believe this shit. If 1 in 100 people think "She's going a little far, but you know what, she has a point!" then that is potentially tens or hundreds of thousands of people who have started a dark journey.
Do you think The Protocols of the Elders of Zion should be available in schools, since it is so obviously stupid? How about Main Kampf?
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
For some reason, I wonder if an optolythic data rod was found at either scene.
What did Garak say about coincidences again?
That is not the only coincidence here. Not only did Lynch's co-defendant die, but also Mike Lynch went to the same school as Grace O'Malley Kumar, the student murdered in the Nottingham stabbings as she tried to protect her friend, and Daniel Anjorin, the schoolboy almost decapitated in April's Hainault sword attacks.
Sometimes, pace Leon, coincidences are just coincidences.
The biggest school-based coincidence since David Cameron somehow found himself among a dozen fellow Old Etonians shortly after becoming leader.
The Ukrainians have taken out all three bridges to the west of their Kursk invasion, trapping 2,700 regular troops and conscripts - and their heavy weapons.
I wonder if they have decided their only chance of winning, or even not losing, this war from here is if Putin is toppled, and the only way that happens is if Russia itself was invaded and sizeable chunks of it captured.
It would make sense of their otherwise startling actions.
I think it is multiple things
1) fight where they have the advantage. 2) if another Red Zone (see France, WWI) is to be created, do it in Russia 3) take pressure off other fronts 4) take land as a potential bargaining chip 5) show the West they can win 6) show the West they can win if they fight their way. 7) Army/civilian morale 8) make the Russians understand that the concept of “Again” works both ways
One I heard the other day, which I think makes sense as a minor motivation: to seize the initiative. Putin would have had plans about what to do for the rest of this year, and into next year; this little adventure thoroughly derails those plans.
'Stephen Chamberlain, once Mike Lynch's co-defendant in the U.S. fraud trial over the sale of Autonomy to Hewlett-Packard, has died after a road accident left him critically injured, days before Lynch went missing off the coast of Sicily, his lawyer said on Monday. Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.' https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
Two deaths from one trial, mere weeks after their acquittal, is one heck of a coincidence.
For some reason, I wonder if an optolythic data rod was found at either scene.
What did Garak say about coincidences again?
That is not the only coincidence here. Not only did Lynch's co-defendant die, but also Mike Lynch went to the same school as Grace O'Malley Kumar, the student murdered in the Nottingham stabbings as she tried to protect her friend, and Daniel Anjorin, the schoolboy almost decapitated in April's Hainault sword attacks.
Sometimes, pace Leon, coincidences are just coincidences.
If it was an assassination it was a very stupid one. Blowing up the boss of Morgan Stanley is not a great health move.
But, given the rumours as to who might be behind it, I suppose that's not conclusive.
Comments
"For months leading up to this convention, “Chicago 1968” has been both a fear and a buzzword, and there are undeniable parallels: A new generation is getting serious about politics. Americans are divided about the nation’s involvement in an overseas war. An unpopular president steps aside, and the party gathers in Chicago to anoint its new candidate. The Democrats’ 2024 convention seemed likely to unfold with echoes of the unrest that disrupted the ’68 gathering. And it’s still possible, with an estimated 40,000 demonstrators expected to gather Monday to protest the Biden administration’s position on the war in Gaza."
source$: https://www.washingtonpost.com/style/power/2024/08/18/chicago-1968-2008-harris-obama/
40,000! (Fortunately, pro-Hamas demonstrations, all over the world, have been uniformly peaceful -- except for a tiny little exception here and there)
Superyacht incident very very hard to arrange. Superyachts are notoriously designed for bling and bigdickery. We have the tallest mast in the world counterbalanced by all accounts by a lifting keel which may have been raised at the time, reducing its counterbalance value. The rig is highly vulnerable because the angle on the shrouds is so acute. My guess is either the mast fails and breaks, or it doesn't but has so much windage because of its height that the boat gets pushed over anyway, and on the lee side there's yards and yards of plate glass doors and windows (where a proper boat would have a small number of tiny portholes), and they either were left open, or break, and the boat fills up and sinks immediately.
More Aliens meets Hunger Games.
Fairly well done. What you'd expect. Satisfying.
The previous Conservative government had no ideas and no idea how to move them forward.
In a world where spending decades and a quarter of a billion on discussing the Dartford Crossing (actual plans not included) is perfectly normal, nothing will change.
I'm a Weyland Yutani synthetic btw, you are just a trespasser.
https://youtu.be/BV1sgynRq10?si=RF5TeruWs02Qw9vI
Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York, agreed to pay nearly $375,000 in restitution and will almost certainly face prison time.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/live/2024/aug/19/joe-biden-dnc-democratic-national-convention-kamala-harris (20:22 BST)
Everton bottom after one round.
TRUSS
I assume the fact that you are literate told against you?
Perhaps similar (we shall soon find out) to Liz Truss "surprising on the upside"!
He changed television.
Trump ‘accepts’ nomination of so-called Swifties for Trump
Donald Trump welcomed the support of a “Swifties for Trump” movement that invites lots of question.
An online movement to attract Taylor Swift fans to the Republican presidential candidate’s campaign trended on Elon Musk’s social media platform X over the weekend. Much of that support depended on images that largely appear to have been created by artificial intelligence. Trump, 78, shared some of those pictures on his Truth Social platform Monday.
“I accept!” he posted alongside images that include the pop-star dressed as Uncle Sam in a recruiting poster telling voters to support Trump.
Swift, who spent the weekend in London performing to sold-out stadium crowds, supported the Democratic ticket of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris in the 2020 presidential election. She’s also been critical of Trump, whom she accused in 2020 of “stoking the fires of white supremacy and racism” throughout his first term in office.
Trump, on the other hand, has obsessed over the 34-year-old “Shake it Off” singer’s “unusually beautiful” appearance, while conceding in one interview “she probably doesn’t like Trump.”
SSI - Reckon that non-fake Swifties MAY take umbrage at this bit of Trump bullshit? AND ditto Herself?
Chamberlain - Autonomy's former vice president of finance alongside chief executive Lynch - was hit by a car in Cambridgeshire on Saturday morning and had been placed on life support, a person familiar with the matter told Reuters earlier on Monday.'
https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/mike-lynchs-co-defendant-us-trial-critically-injured-uk-road-accident-source-2024-08-19/
https://x.com/EdKrassen/status/1825627883248955751
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell plans to shave mustache, go ‘incognito’ to DNC
MyPillow CEO Mike Lindell said over the weekend he was planning to attend the Democratic National Convention in Chicago “incognito” after shaving his mustache.
Lindell, who has run into serious legal and financial trouble because of various claims he’s made about “fraud” and the 2020 presidential election, told Ben Bergquam of Real America’s Voice on Sunday he was traveling to the “evil” DNC and going undercover.
“I’m going incognito, I’m going to be shaving my mustache everybody,” he said in a video shared by Bergquam on the social platform X. “You won’t recognize me.” . . .
However, ahead of a Monday press conference about inflation with Sens. Rick Scott, R-Fla., and Ron Johnson, R-Wis., at Trump International Hotel and Tower in Chicago, a still-hirsute Lindell was spotted, claiming the shaving would occur Wednesday.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lSj-9bDSgcY
Can someone explain? Is he delusional?
1) Yes (2) Yes.
Is this a case of the chips are down, or has he had his chips?
It would make sense of their otherwise startling actions.
George Santos, the disgraced former Republican congressman from New York whose penchant for lying led to one of the oddest sideshows in modern U.S. politics, pleaded guilty on Monday to wire fraud and aggravated identity theft.
While Mr. Santos’s plea will allow him to avoid a trial on a total of nearly two dozen charges — including money laundering and stealing public funds — it all but ensures he will face at least two years in prison and as long as two decades. The trial was set to begin next month. . . .
Mr. Santos repeatedly insisted that he would defend his innocence in court, only to reverse course as the opportunity approached.
The Mr. Santos who appeared in court bore little resemblance to the shameless provocateur whose antics grabbed headlines. On Monday, that bravado was replaced by a wavering voice and words of contrition.
“I understand my actions have betrayed the trust of my supporters and my constituents,” he said.
Mr. Santos’s sentencing was postponed until Feb. 7, meaning he will not have to report to prison for at least six months. Guidelines call for him to serve as many as eight years in prison, though a judge could decide to be more lenient.
Mr. Santos also agreed to pay $373,749.97 in restitution and forfeit another $205,002.97 before his sentencing. Mr. Santos will need to come up with the money for his final plea deal to go through, and if he is unable to do so his property will be seized.
The outcome was welcome news to Republicans in New York, where the party is preparing to defend a half dozen swing seats that could decide the House majority. . .
SSI - So how is this Mega-MAGA-Maniac gonna pay Uncle Sam? AND his massive legal bills?
The last sentence quoted above MAY offer a clue . . .
The ones who believe their own lies go the SBF route and suffer all the more for it.
It was competently put together, well acted, clearly trying to go back to something simpler and more effective as a story, which it was.
It wasn't the least bit scary though, as I imagine people found the first film at the time, since we know everything about the aliens already - some more body horror causes a reaction, but doesn't scare.
Notable that the two teams with point deductions managed to stay up last season.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1825619506619888023
AZ -> Trump +0.2
PA -> Trump +0.1
https://www.realclearpolling.com/maps/president/2024/no-toss-up/electoral-college
They all felt like pilots for spin-off series rather than 'the next chapter'.
"Raised by Wolves" is the best thing I've seen Ridley Scott do in years however. I was sad to see it cancelled. Quite visually and conceptually... odd.
A suitably fictional end for a thoroughly fictional man.
In a hypothetical match-up between Kamala Harris and Donald Trump, with Robert F. Kennedy Jr. included as an independent candidate, Trump’s margins have marginally narrowed in Florida (5%, -1) and Georgia (0%, -2), and have stayed the same in Michigan (1%) and North Carolina (3%) since our last swing state voting intention poll (29 July - 3 August).
In the same time frame, Nevada has gone from being tied to Trump having a one point lead, and Arizona has flipped from Harris +1 to Trump +1.
Harris’ leads have widened in Minnesota (7%, +2) and Wisconsin (2%, +2), which was tied last week, while Pennsylvania has flipped from Trump leading by two points to Harris leading by two points.
For context, in the 2020 Presidential Election, Joe Biden carried Arizona, Georgia, Michigan, Minnesota, Nevada, New Mexico, Pennsylvania, and Wisconsin, while Donald Trump defeated Biden in Florida and North Carolina.
Alien: Covenant was a mediocre film: it aimed low and missed
That is why Prometheus is one of my favorite films, and Alien Covenant doesn't exist.
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1825646768861724812
@SeaShantyIrish2 will be along in due course to explain just how egregious a violation of cultural norms that is.
Candace Owens broke the internet by claiming that Zionists are not the original Jews but are actually demon worshipers.
She goes on to say that modern-day Israel, founded by the Rothschilds, has become a safe haven for pedophiles.
Many people, mostly conservatives, are now calling for Candace Owens to be banned from X.
https://nitter.poast.org/Alyssafarah/status/1825655646752038991#m
Expounding on the protocols of the Elders of Zion..
Vile stuff.
HOWEVER do know that the denizens of the City of Brotherly Love are VERY touchy about suchlike, and apt to feel something less-than-love for those who commit such abominations.
Sen. Vance is picking up, right where Dr. Oz left off!
This speaks volumes for the dearth of serious, competent professional magement of the Trump/Vance campaign.
Surprise! Surprise!
Philadelphia Inquirer - JD Vance gets a cheesesteak at Pat’s
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition.
Correction: An earlier version of this story incorrectly reported that Vance said he liked Swiss cheese. Instead, he asked why Swiss cheese was insulting while ordering a cheesesteak.
U.S. Sen. JD Vance wanted to know why Pat’s King of Steaks didn’t have Swiss cheese.
“I don’t like Swiss cheese either … Why do you guys hate Swiss cheese so much, what’s the story?” the Republican vice presidential nominee asked at the counter Monday afternoon.
Following a campaign stop in North Philadelphia, Vance headed down to Pat’s for a cheesesteak.
“He asked about why we don’t have Swiss cheese,” said Pat’s manager Sammy Garcia with a laugh. “We thought that was funny.”
Candidates ordering a cheesesteak during their visits to Philadelphia is a longtime election season tradition, but it doesn’t always have positive results. As a presidential candidate in 2003, former U.S. Sen. and Secretary of State John Kerry ordered a steak with Swiss cheese, resulting in a heavily covered culinary gaffe. (”Swiss cheese, as any local knows, is not an option,” Inquirer food critic Craig LaBan wrote at the time. “The Massachusetts Democrat may as well have asked for cave-aged Appenzeller.”)
Vance did not suffer that same fate and instead ordered a whiz wit — or, for non-locals, a cheesesteak with Cheez Whiz and fried onions. . . .
Last year, former President Donald Trump visited Pat’s after appearing at a Moms for Liberty summit. Trump also made a cheesesteak stop in 2016, but at Geno’s across the street. Earlier this year before rallying in North Philly, Trump stopped by Tony and Nick’s. . . .
SSI - That "I don't like Swiss cheese either" MAY prove problematic in Wisconsin.
Also note that there are apparently no South Philadelphia cheesesteak shops named "Percy & Reggie's".
(As an aside, Cheez Whiz never sounded remotely appetising to me.
I’d never make a candidate.)
Who first gained celebrity as a election candidate, by eating his way across New York City sampling the beloved specialities of the Big Apple (which do NOT include apple pie, fritters, etc., etc.)
Nelson Rockefeller's problem back in 1958 when he first ran for NY Gov, was that he was the grandson of an infamous robber baron, which was NOT a plus with the public at that time. Fortunately for him, he was running against ANOTHER filthy rich guy, incumbent Democratic Gov and former US Ambassador to the Court of St. James Averell Harriman. Now Harriman had got himself elected, but his administration was rather lackluster, he had to run for reelection during a major US recession . . . and he was NOT what anyone, including him, would call a Man of the People.
Of course neither was Rockefeller! However, his campaign team (the best money could buy and ambition recruit) came up with what proved a winning PR strategy: the birth of Rocky. Whose two hallmarks on the campaign trail were
> calling any man he encoutered "fella" as in "Hi'ya fella!" (IIRC for the women it was "Hi'ya hun!")
> eating every kind of street & comfort food imaginable, from Niagara Falls to Montauk Point, most especially in the 5 Boroughs of NYC; and always doing so with evident appetite, gusto and (very often) relish.
Rocky & his team made damn sure these forrays were WELL-publicised. AND they really did charm voters, and connvinced many indeed the majority, that he was an OK guy.
https://club.unherd.com/event/former-prime-minister-2/
Now I shan't be joining the party to vote for Kemi but at this stage, she seems just as plausible as any of the other five.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1HOHwhJgeR8
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/nigel-farage-uk-riots-poll-b2598252.html
1) fight where they have the advantage.
2) if another Red Zone (see France, WWI) is to be created, do it in Russia
3) take pressure off other fronts
4) take land as a potential bargaining chip
5) show the West they can win
6) show the West they can win if they fight their way.
7) Army/civilian morale
8) make the Russians understand that the concept of “Again” works both ways
Nevada - 🔵 Harris +6
Wisconsin - 🔵 Harris +6
North Carolina - 🔵 Harris +1
Arizona - 🔴 Trump +1
Georgia - 🔴 Trump +4
Michigan - 🔵 Harris +7
Pennsylvania - 🔵 Harris +1
Focaldata #N/A - 651 LV (Each) - 8/16
https://x.com/PpollingNumbers/status/1825530838190375130
Sometimes, pace Leon, coincidences are just coincidences.
Do you think The Protocols of the Elders of Zion should be available in schools, since it is so obviously stupid? How about Main Kampf?
The 2032 Democratic nomination betting is going to be wild.
https://x.com/Acyn/status/1825750169343992306
https://x.com/harris_wins/status/1825329136728170597?t=AwVD34yGQXVtODSSfB-Q2g&s=19
Head of the queue would be Donald Trump.
But, given the rumours as to who might be behind it, I suppose that's not conclusive.