How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Ahem. The Fourth Crusade says hello.
I propose Darien Scheme. 20% of the entire monetary wealth of Scotland pissed away (or 500 billion in whole UK terms).
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Arguably leaving Saddam in power after Gulf War 1 was the real mistake.
The American presidential pardon is a strangely exotic thing, isn’t it? Essentially it means some well connected people are above the law. Which in turn surely encourages clan behaviour.
It reflects a number of "unfinished business" aspects of the system. The fact that the President can't be prosecuted for ANYTHING is remarkable too.
In fairness, that travesty is a very recent development. The courts didn’t believe that for the first 240 years.
SCOTUS merely formalised the defacto position.
Presidents have always been treated as immune for their official actions.
Its why, in one of many examples, Obama has never been investigated for any 'collateral damage' drone killings.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
Yes it is appalling, but not a peep out of you when Trump did similar and worse stuff.
The American system of democracy is broken
What are you talking about? I’m the one who compared Trump to a hungry polar bear on the ice floe. Trump was a direct menace to democracy and the sane vote was for Harris (and I loathe the woke democrats - I just saw a greater and more immediate evil in Trump)
Biden’s actions today make me think maybe US voters made the right choice
And there you go. Justifying Trump. As if Jan 6th was in the same league, or all the other stuff he did. 2 wrongs don't make a right, but there are degrees of wrong and this wrong has in one blow flipped you over to supporting Trump. Totally transparent. You even say so in your last sentence.
Just said Trump is a greater evil. What more do you want
Whatever. I’m having some nuts with my wine
You just said you think the US electors maybe made the right choice. Do you not know what your fingers type?
Just for perspective as you seem to have an issue with this:
Parking in a disabled bay is less serious than pardoning your son, which is less serious than trying to overthrow a democracy.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Arguably leaving Saddam in power after Gulf War 1 was the real mistake.
Yes, very much so. But that was the UN Mandate. Going beyond would not have been lawful, which is the permanent dilemma at the edge of the "Rules-based System" - how do you go beyond a system without undermining it or reverting to pre-UN style international relations?
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
I'm just waiting for Owen Jones to tell us whose side we should be on in Syria right now.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Ahem. The Fourth Crusade says hello.
I propose Darien Scheme. 20% of the entire monetary wealth of Scotland pissed away (or 500 billion in whole UK terms).
Darien was terrible for Scotland. The Fourth Crusade was (ultimately) fatal to the Eastern Roman Empire and lost Christendom much of eastern Europe for centuries.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
The upside is that a lot of bad people have killed each other.
I'd rather they concentrate on killing each other than they turn their attention outwards.
Biden has screwed the Democrats forever. The American people are never going to vote for a party led by a hypocritical liar whose family members are up to their necks in grift. Voters have made it clear time and again that above all else they cherish US democracy and its institutions. There is no route to power for anyone who does not share those values.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
The American presidential pardon is a strangely exotic thing, isn’t it? Essentially it means some well connected people are above the law. Which in turn surely encourages clan behaviour.
It reflects a number of "unfinished business" aspects of the system. The fact that the President can't be prosecuted for ANYTHING is remarkable too.
In fairness, that travesty is a very recent development. The courts didn’t believe that for the first 240 years.
SCOTUS merely formalised the defacto position.
Presidents have always been treated as immune for their official actions.
Its why, in one of many examples, Obama has never been investigated for any 'collateral damage' drone killings.
How do you reconcile that with Watergate, for which many, if not Nixon himself, went to jail? They went far beyond what any court had done before.
If Biden wanted to use his power to the maximum he would order Trump’s execution on the basis that he is a clear and present danger to the United States.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
I'm just waiting for Owen Jones to tell us whose side we should be on in Syria right now.
Thinking we have the right to choose and that we should make our choice meaningful, is a major part of the problem.
The Joe Biden pardoning Hunter Biden one is a strange one. Looking at comments on the Meidastouch video reporting it, it is uniformly congratulating President Biden for "doing the just fair, right to do" action. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGp5P8WQQ_I
We all know what Trump is, but that reaction to me has a feel that they also think they are in the wild west, wearing the White Hat (Trump: Black Hat), and their side also needs to act like a freelance enforcer - rather than mending, or seeking to reform, a broken system. I agree it's a really tough decision, given the US system is fairly patchy (read: random) and like a bureaucratic Black Hole of Calcutta, but Biden doing a reverse ferret over his many promises not to intervene will not help.
I dropped this comment on the MT thread (with 8000 comments) for the video reporting the pardon last night. I wonder if anyone will react:
As a Brit this seems a strange decision. In my circles the mere existence of the unfettered Presidential Pardon is seen as one of the more corrupting elements of a fragile, capricious system. And that applies whether it's Clinton pardoning Marc Rich or his own family members, Trump pardoning Roger Stone, Ford pardoning Nixon, or any of the others over the years.
Politically, Trump will take it as a justification for the far more corrupt way he will seek to abuse the system in his personal interest. For him, this is a gift, and it is a political problem for his opponents.
For President Biden, he has repeatedly stated he would not use his Presidential power in this case. That creates one hell of a problem.
The original case was arguably politically-driven, but two wrongs do not make a right.
The comments under this video are very disturbing. Tribalism on full display.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not ALL Tories...
No, me neither. I still have enormous respect for Kennedy and his leadership in taking on the establishment and virtually all of the media too. It was the kind of courage we don’t see enough of.
Biden has screwed the Democrats forever. The American people are never going to vote for a party led by a hypocritical liar whose family members are up to their necks in grift. Voters have made it clear time and again that above all else they cherish US democracy and its institutions. There is no route to power for anyone who does not share those values.
All Biden has done is shown that both sides are pretty similar in that respect, appreciate the sledgehammer satire tho.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
I'm just waiting for Owen Jones to tell us whose side we should be on in Syria right now.
Thinking we have the right to choose and that we should make our choice meaningful, is a major part of the problem.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not ALL Tories...
No, me neither. I still have enormous respect for Kennedy and his leadership in taking on the establishment and virtually all of the media too. It was the kind of courage we don’t see enough of.
IMO, if ever a man died of a broken heart, it was Charles Kennedy
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
I'm just waiting for Owen Jones to tell us whose side we should be on in Syria right now.
Thinking we have the right to choose and that we should make our choice meaningful, is a major part of the problem.
Owen displays no such doubt in such matters.
Sure, and I do accept the idea that we will have a much clearer idea of what is the “right” side once he has made his choice. An excellent contra- indicator.
Recount in Tipperary North. At the end of the last count Independent Jim Ryan was excluded, but was only seven bites behind FF's Michael Smith. Looks like he's called for a recount to try and avoid this.
Completely pointless, because even if a recipient keeps him in at this count, most of the transfers from Michael Smith will go to the other FF candidate Ryan O'Meara and the Independent is 1,400 votes behind him already and nearly 5,000 votes behind Labours Alan Kelly.
A very vain and time-wasting recount, but the rule exists for good reason.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
I don't like it one bit but...... just supposing ...... Biden's team became aware that Biden's successor had plans to throw the book at his son to make up for the fact that even they couldn't prosecute a mentally sick old man? Wouldn't put that past Trump, TBH.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
If the U.K. hadn’t stopped the German Empire in 1914, then the next war (which was being planned by Germany - WWI would cripple France, but then they would need another go) would happen anyway.
Because war was the sacred way forward, to the German military.
With some fun discoveries at the Kaiser Fuckwit Physics institute in Berlin, probably.
They are not dropping the prosecutions, simply removing the right to a jury trial. In Scotland you don’t have the option. The forum is chosen by the Crown.
Last week the Scottish government renewed our extended time limits under the Coronavirus Act in solemn cases for another year. Why they bother I am not sure. I can’t remember the last time the defence even attempted to oppose an extension of the timebars.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
If the U.K. hadn’t stopped the German Empire in 1914, then the next war (which was being planned by Germany - WWI would cripple France, but then they would need another go) would happen anyway.
Because war was the sacred way forward, to the German military.
With some fun discoveries at the Kaiser Fuckwit Physics institute in Berlin, probably.
The problem with WWI was that Britain was too strong. This meant that a primarily naval power went toe-to-toe with a primarily land power (Germany) in a grueling four and a bit year war on land.
If the Western Front had collapsed early then Britain would have been able to continue the war at sea, and by providing support to the Russians to continue the war on land. This would have followed the successful Napoleonic War model, which led to a century of British strength and pre-eminence.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
If the U.K. hadn’t stopped the German Empire in 1914, then the next war (which was being planned by Germany - WWI would cripple France, but then they would need another go) would happen anyway.
Because war was the sacred way forward, to the German military.
With some fun discoveries at the Kaiser Fuckwit Physics institute in Berlin, probably.
The problem with WWI was that Britain was too strong. This meant that a primarily naval power went toe-to-toe with a primarily land power (Germany) in a grueling four and a bit year war on land.
If the Western Front had collapsed early then Britain would have been able to continue the war at sea, and by providing support to the Russians to continue the war on land. This would have followed the successful Napoleonic War model, which led to a century of British strength and pre-eminence.
That strategy might also have avoided the Russian revolution and all that followed from it.
No other government has a majority, neither Melenchon's block nor Le Pen's and Macron's party and Barnier's combined still have a plurality of seats. So if it fell Macron would just put it back together again with a few tweeks to the social security bill
Thank-you for the header and good morning everyone. Without reading the comments:
$100m is a lot. IMO it won't make Farage PM.
In 2022/23 - on-Election year - the total reported income of all the UK political parties reporting to the Election Commission was just under £100m. Lab £47m, Co-op £1.4m, Tory £31m, Lib Dem £6m, Green (England) £3m, Ref UK £600k, SNP £4m, ignoring the rest (sorry).
Probably obvious changes since the Election - LD UP, Lab UP, Tory DOWN, Green probably UP, Ref UP, SNP DOWN. eg Reform with 100k members at £25 should be on £2.5m just from that.
I'm not sure whether Reform will have the capacity or knowledge to use that sum to build a strong party. Could it go on marketing and froth?
Their current Airfix 1:72 Scale oligarchs - Richard Tice (aka: Mr Isobel Oakeshott) and Muhammed Yusuf (the overpriced concierge) are worth of the order of £30-£40m which afaics does not reach the bottom of the Sunday Times list. It may have been above the threshold for the list in the late 1990s.
How will it go? I'm going to wait and see, but the Local Elections are the next metric.
I think the bigger issue for us is that Elon Musk thinks he can do whatever he wants, wherever he wants, regardless of impact on individuals or adherence to local laws. And that needs watching *very* carefully.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not ALL Tories...
No, me neither. I still have enormous respect for Kennedy and his leadership in taking on the establishment and virtually all of the media too. It was the kind of courage we don’t see enough of.
IMO, if ever a man died of a broken heart, it was Charles Kennedy
Not entirely sure that was the organ that failed...
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
If the U.K. hadn’t stopped the German Empire in 1914, then the next war (which was being planned by Germany - WWI would cripple France, but then they would need another go) would happen anyway.
Because war was the sacred way forward, to the German military.
With some fun discoveries at the Kaiser Fuckwit Physics institute in Berlin, probably.
The problem with WWI was that Britain was too strong. This meant that a primarily naval power went toe-to-toe with a primarily land power (Germany) in a grueling four and a bit year war on land.
If the Western Front had collapsed early then Britain would have been able to continue the war at sea, and by providing support to the Russians to continue the war on land. This would have followed the successful Napoleonic War model, which led to a century of British strength and pre-eminence.
That strategy might also have avoided the Russian revolution and all that followed from it.
The sociology departments in nearly all of our principal seats of learning being a particularly egregious example.
The American presidential pardon is a strangely exotic thing, isn’t it? Essentially it means some well connected people are above the law. Which in turn surely encourages clan behaviour.
It reflects a number of "unfinished business" aspects of the system. The fact that the President can't be prosecuted for ANYTHING is remarkable too.
In fairness, that travesty is a very recent development. The courts didn’t believe that for the first 240 years.
SCOTUS merely formalised the defacto position.
Presidents have always been treated as immune for their official actions.
Its why, in one of many examples, Obama has never been investigated for any 'collateral damage' drone killings.
That, I'm afraid is simply wrong. Go read the SC judgment in US v Nixon, for a start.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_v._United_States ..The Court further ruled that involving the judiciary would prevent finality without clear remedy and bias post-impeachment criminal or civil prosecutions, which the Constitution explicitly allows...
A read the dissents in the appalling immunity decision.
Biden has screwed the Democrats forever. The American people are never going to vote for a party led by a hypocritical liar whose family members are up to their necks in grift. Voters have made it clear time and again that above all else they cherish US democracy and its institutions. There is no route to power for anyone who does not share those values.
'The American people are never going to vote for a party led by a hypocritical liar whose family members are up to their necks in grift' Of course not, as seen by their massive rejection of Trump, a man with a criminal record who regularly distorts the truth...oh wait.
Not to mention Trump will pardon dozens of dodgy characters when he returns to the White House. I assume you were doing a parody therefore.
In fact the Dems may well take Congress in just 2 years in the 2026 midterms, more often than not the opposition party to the President win them and Trump's tariffs aren't likely to help prices for consumers
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
Biden has woken up and smelled the coffee. Behaving better than the Republicans just makes life easier for the Republicans. US democracy is screwed. But we knew that already.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
That's an easy thing to say if you don't have a child facing a clutch of very motivated prosecutions and have the power to do something about it. I'm not saying it's right but can you look in your heart and say you wouldn't do the same thing if you had the power to spare one of your children a lot of pain?
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
I don't like it one bit but...... just supposing ...... Biden's team became aware that Biden's successor had plans to throw the book at his son to make up for the fact that even they couldn't prosecute a mentally sick old man? Wouldn't put that past Trump, TBH.
It's a bit more than just suppose. The choice of Kash Patel to helm the FBI makes it abundantly clear that is the road the Trump administration intends to go down.
The GOP Congressional leadership - notably the absurd Speaker Mike - have said much the same.
On the Bidens, it's not hugely surprising. The problem is more that presidents have this power without veto from anyone else.
I don't know the ins and outs of H Biden's case to judge whether he's been targeted as the President's son or whether he was getting what was coming to him. If he's been targeted, that sucks and is likely due to the partisan nature of prosecutions in the US. But the president shouldn't have the power to unilaterally pardon. It stinks.
He wasn’t targeted FFS. The prosecutions were brought by Biden’s own Dept of Justice and Hunter Biden pleaded guilty
“Hunter Biden makes last-minute guilty plea in tax case”
Both the Judge and the Special Prosecutor were Trump appointees - the latter left in place by Joe Biden for basically afaics to appear "whiter than whiter". There were reasonable questions raised about overreach - especially on the firearms offence, which was overcharged quite massively.
Biden's decision to leave the prosecutor in place may have been a political mistake in a broken system imo.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
French government apparently on the brink of collapse. CAC has 'plunged' by what turns out to be 1.2%. Presumably a lot of pricing in has already happened.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
It will make no difference, the number of seats would stay the same and in France the President dominates foreign policy and Macron remains President for 3 more years
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
The $100m will have less influence than Twitter being used to peddle Farage and attack the "establishment" for the next four years. That will be pivotal.
It would be if anyone was still on Twitter.
TwitterX is right now recording some of the highest user numbers in its history. Despite the rise of Bluesky
For some reason I'm being offered 40% discounts on blue-ticks.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
I don't like it one bit but...... just supposing ...... Biden's team became aware that Biden's successor had plans to throw the book at his son to make up for the fact that even they couldn't prosecute a mentally sick old man? Wouldn't put that past Trump, TBH.
It's a bit more than just suppose. The choice of Kash Patel to helm the FBI makes it abundantly clear that is the road the Trump administration intends to go down.
The GOP Congressional leadership - notably the absurd Speaker Mike - have said much the same.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
Doesn’t the pardon cover all crimes he may have committed during the ten year period, irrespective of whether he has been charged or not?
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
Strikes me that young (!) Mr Biden might well be best advised to seek sanctuary in a country with which the USA does NOT have an extradition treaty.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
Strikes me that young (!) Mr Biden might well be best advised to seek sanctuary in a country with which the USA does NOT have an extradition treaty.
Those countries are generally run by corrupt authoritarians seeking to court favour with like minded powerful world leaders....
Are juries causing the backlog, or is it buildings and the availability of lawyers? Istm this is something that some people have wanted for years, and delays are just an excuse to ride their hobby horse.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Are juries causing the backlog, or is it buildings and the availability of lawyers? Istm this is something that some people have wanted for years, and delays are just an excuse to ride their hobby horse.
There are an awful lot of courts that are not utilized 5 days a week. The reasons for that will be manifold but a lot comes down to a lack of budget
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
That's actually not clear. I think it would take a Supreme Court decision to decide whether such a catch all pardon is effective or not.
Traditionally pardons required an acknowledgement that the pardonee accepted guilt for a crime. But there's nothing in the text of the Constitution which says that is the case (similarly with the new doctrine of presidential immunity).
No one previously wanted to open such a can of worms - which is why the Nixon pardon was never tested.
The $100m will have less influence than Twitter being used to peddle Farage and attack the "establishment" for the next four years. That will be pivotal.
It would be if anyone was still on Twitter.
TwitterX is right now recording some of the highest user numbers in its history. Despite the rise of Bluesky
Where're the figures for that?
“Twitter has 421 million monthly active users, adding 20 million in 2023”
Btw I do not ascribe this to the genius of Musk. He’s mismanaged X quite seriously. From the idiotic name change to the blue tick stuff to the strangling of links. All bad
I reckon he’s simply benefiting from a charged political environment and a monumental sequence of elections and news events. So people go to TwiX
The revenue collapse is startling.
And their continued growth is more in Asia on those numbers.
Personally, I'd say they are going to lose dominance in Europe - likely starting in particular countries, of which this could be one. The last number I saw for their monthly traffic in the UK was 30% down over 12 months - based on iirc a "Monthly visits" type of metric.
But it will be a process over a couple of years. Or if Musk continues to behave in his Skummy manner, then there may be a regulatory intervention.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
So don't vote for Biden in 2028.
Neither Biden or term limited Trump will be on the ballot in 2028 so it is a chance to turn the page with Vance and whoever the Democrat nominee is
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
It was Assad's army supported by the Russians who defeated ISIL in Syria.
(Snip)
Bullshit, as I showed with my links yesterday. Russia and Assad were more concerned with destroying the other rebels, and as my link above shows, even paid ISIL.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
You are wrong. Assad, very logically and very cynically, knew that the US coalition would do a lot of work to destroy IS for him, so he concentrated on fighting against the other opposition groups.
The Kurds did most of the fighting on the ground against IS. Which is why it's the Kurds who now hold Raqqa, and not Assad.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
It was Assad's army supported by the Russians who defeated ISIL in Syria.
(Snip)
Bullshit, as I showed with my links yesterday. Russia and Assad were more concerned with destroying the other rebels, and as my link above shows, even paid ISIL.
You showed sod all, the Kurds only held ISIL at bay from the very north of Syria, it was Assad's army and Russian airstrikes that defeated ISIL in the rest of Syria.
Clearly they didn't defeat the other largely AQ linked rebels enough though, for even as ISIL have largely been defeated in Syria the Al Qaeda linked rebels haven't
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
So the official presidential Democrat position on the American legal system is “we fully and absolutely respect the due process of law and we always abide by the decisions of our independent judiciary, until they make a decision we don’t like then fuck all that lol”
Yes, that is how the American constitution is written.
To understand why, you need to think on what they were doing. To many of the Founding Fathers, they were building England 2.0
With lots of The Ancient Rights under Magna Carta stuff.
So, the President was the King, but elected. The Senate was the House of Lords, but nominated* by the States to represent their interests in Washington. The reason that all the minor local functionaries are elected is to try and avoid a Squirearchy. Etc etc…
The power of pardon is an ancient one. Part of the ultimate power of kings. The idea is that the mechanism of justice can sometimes produce injustice. So the Noble King saves the day, 5 minutes before the play ends.
*Originally not elected.
So the US president is on the same autocratic level as a Medieval English king and that’s all fine unless republicans do it then it’s evil. Got it
A rather long list of countries invest their president with pardon powers.
Often with no override or veto by anyone else.
In the U.K., the sovereigns power to pardon was just used by the government to overturn the judicial process for the Post Office convictions. Because it was clear that the permanent system of government would fight to prevent any other avenue of justice.
It's all about the rational checks and balances, and the USA President does not have any - and the power has been rendered unfettered over the years by SCOTUS.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
Doesn’t the pardon cover all crimes he may have committed during the ten year period, irrespective of whether he has been charged or not?
Prima facie, yes
Which is one of the things that make it so remarkable, in a not good way
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
Isn’t the power of pardon in the constitution? He can’t just abolish that power unilaterally.
I just asked Copilot and Perplexity.ai the following question:
"Good morning. Most people are aware of the saying "this is the way the world will end, not with a bang but with a whimper". But there is another variant, which has the phrase" with laughter from all the witty heads, who think it such a joke". Can you tell me about that variant please?"
Both came up blank. Any ideas?
I can't help you with that, but I have seen some very amusing attempts by Usonian Evangelicals to imagine the exact appearance to the onlooker of the rapture .
"Where have they all gone, Jessie?"
They tend not to have the "Do I sound like a tit?" self-checking mechanism that usually exists in preachers over here.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
Isn’t the power of pardon in the constitution? He can’t just abolish that power unilaterally.
Are juries causing the backlog, or is it buildings and the availability of lawyers? Istm this is something that some people have wanted for years, and delays are just an excuse to ride their hobby horse.
There are an awful lot of courts that are not utilized 5 days a week. The reasons for that will be manifold but a lot comes down to a lack of budget
One issue to my mind with the public sector is the relentless subdivision of budgets. The public sector is essentially groups of hundreds of thousands of subgroups of companies with "the state" at top level. & from my time temping at the public-private Rotherham connect partnership I could see how each budget is jealously guarded/empire built and upchain, which is where each budget comes from is never really gets considered by the budget holder once they have said budget.
Once Trump, Musk and the other nutters get going, they'll make Mccarthyism look positively woke and liberal.
They will hunt down and neuter anyone not to the right of the tea party.
Not condoning Biden, but I think this is an attempt to save his son from a very nasty ending.
There has to be a very real fear of complete and utter rabid right nutters taking more and more control as Trumps senility increases...
He's saved Biden at the expense of essentially giving Trump moral carte blanche to do whatever he likes with presidential pardons, the FBI, whatever. I mean he might have done anyway but there can be no complaints from the Democrats now when he, and the likes of Patel and Musk get to work on stripping the fat and going after for instance the mahoosive Ukraine corruption that was obviously going on with Biden et al.
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
It was Assad's army supported by the Russians who defeated ISIL in Syria.
(Snip)
Bullshit, as I showed with my links yesterday. Russia and Assad were more concerned with destroying the other rebels, and as my link above shows, even paid ISIL.
You showed sod all, the Kurds only held ISIL at bay from the very north of Syria, it was Assad's army and Russian airstrikes that defeated ISIL in the rest of Syria.
Clearly they didn't defeat the other largely AQ linked rebels enough though, for even as ISIL have largely been defeated in Syria the Al Qaeda linked rebels haven't
" Moscow officially portrayed its intervention as an anti-IS campaign and publicly declared support for the "patriotic Syrian opposition", the vast majority of its bombings were focused on destroying bases of the Syrian opposition militias of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Southern Front."
Once Trump, Musk and the other nutters get going, they'll make Mccarthyism look positively woke and liberal.
They will hunt down and neuter anyone not to the right of the tea party.
Not condoning Biden, but I think this is an attempt to save his son from a very nasty ending.
There has to be a very real fear of complete and utter rabid right nutters taking more and more control as Trumps senility increases...
He's saved Biden at the expense of essentially giving Trump moral carte blanche to do whatever he likes with presidential pardons, the FBI, whatever. I mean he might have done anyway but there can be no complaints from the Democrats now when he, and the likes of Patel and Musk get to work on stripping the fat and going after for instance the mahoosive Ukraine corruption that was obviously going on with Biden et al.
It isn’t going to make a blind bit of difference. Only the Democrats cared about playing by the rules
I honestly don't think I can get exercised about conflicts in the middle east, especially civil wars. Usually it's the side that shouts "allahu akhbar" loudest that wins. I'd take a stable, somewhat secular dictator over a "democratic" Islamist and whenever we see islamic countries do "democracy" they very quickly descent into Iranian style opposition voter repression tactics to ensure that the "democrats" always win and we end up with an implacable enemy rather than a mildly bitter tyrant we can pay off to not bomb our allies.
There's not a single person that can honestly say Libya has benefited from our freedom bombing campaign and the Arab spring has had overly negative consequences for the whole region as it became an Islamist uprising. I don't see how Syria would have been any different and I don't see how the Syrian rebels will be any better or worse than what is there now. They would, in power, do exactly what Assad has done to maintain it.
Except minus the religious tolerance and girls being allowed to wear mini skirts, go to university, and quite possibly drive.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
So don't vote for Biden in 2028.
Neither Biden or term limited Trump will be on the ballot in 2028 so it is a chance to turn the page with Vance and whoever the Democrat nominee is
Vance is part and parcel of MAGA now. It would take something pretty dramatic from him to turn that page.
The American presidential pardon is a strangely exotic thing, isn’t it? Essentially it means some well connected people are above the law. Which in turn surely encourages clan behaviour.
It reflects a number of "unfinished business" aspects of the system. The fact that the President can't be prosecuted for ANYTHING is remarkable too.
In fairness, that travesty is a very recent development. The courts didn’t believe that for the first 240 years.
SCOTUS merely formalised the defacto position.
Presidents have always been treated as immune for their official actions.
Its why, in one of many examples, Obama has never been investigated for any 'collateral damage' drone killings.
How do you reconcile that with Watergate, for which many, if not Nixon himself, went to jail? They went far beyond what any court had done before.
If Biden wanted to use his power to the maximum he would order Trump’s execution on the basis that he is a clear and present danger to the United States.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The whole pardon system is wrong. His decision is wrong. But if I was in his position, had that power and same situation with his child, I would do the same and suspect the vast majority would too.
I'm afraid that I expected better of Biden. I actually thought he would keep his word.
Also, let’s play out a counterfactual
Imagine if Biden had NOT pardoned his own son. And let him go to prison, albeit with great sorrow. That would have been noble and inspiring. And an example to America and a huge moral boost for democrats
That wouid have enabled them to walk tall and say “yes actually we are better than Trump. We DO respect the law. Joe Biden will go down in history as a man willing to put country before family”
What an honourable thing that would have been. It would have fired up everyone on the American left to take on Trump
Instead we have this squalid blanket pardon for a crack addict who might have done even worse things than we know about, completely betraying everything the democrats have said for the last year
In the same manner: how inspiring and honourable it would have been for the GOP to let the court cases against Trump to go ahead, and for Trump to be in jail now.
Well, yes! But we expect more of the Democrats, don’t we? And we expect more because they keep fucking telling us how morally superior they are and so we should expect more, they tell us over and over and over, despite evidence to the contrary, but still. They seem to believe it
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
There are quite extensive narratives in some circles around how playing by the principles, and not exploiting opportunities to use the type of manoeuvres Republicans do, has resulted in things being able to get worse.
That's a pivot to a more utilitarian approach.
There's a fair but of truth in that wrt to Republican techniques - eg coming up with repeated ways of excluding black people from the ballot in Red states, each of which takes a multiyear legal process to overturn - and by the time that abuse is overturned having been used for one election, something else has been pushed through in time for the next election.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
Isn’t the power of pardon in the constitution? He can’t just abolish that power unilaterally.
Yes it is. But this is literally all that it says about it:
...The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment...
It has barely been litigated before the Supreme Court, so the extent of the pardon power - and whether it can extend to undefined offences not yet admitted - has not been well tested.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
So don't vote for Biden in 2028.
Neither Biden or term limited Trump will be on the ballot in 2028 so it is a chance to turn the page with Vance and whoever the Democrat nominee is
Vance is part and parcel of MAGA now. It would take something pretty dramatic from him to turn that page.
Ideologically yes but he is rather more moral than Trump in his private life and respects the rule of law
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
He might equally just go the whole hog.
Abolish elections, declare himself President for life and name Musk as his successor.
What would Americans be able to do with The National Guard and Armed Forces trumpifed and Musks satellites sat with nuclear warheads around the Globe.
This is only ending one way... Civil War. Hopefully it'll dawn on the Yanks soon enough that civil disobedience is the only way to stop it.
Mark my words, in 2 years time this will make the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin look like friendly pets
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
So don't vote for Biden in 2028.
Neither Biden or term limited Trump will be on the ballot in 2028 so it is a chance to turn the page with Vance and whoever the Democrat nominee is
Vance is part and parcel of MAGA now. It would take something pretty dramatic from him to turn that page.
Ideologically yes but he is rather more moral than Trump in his private life and respects the rule of law
*Apparently* there were US air strikes against Iranian-backed militia in eastern Syria last night.
Not seeing this reported anywhere sane, but it was on Twix.
Yes, I saw that, but hesitated to post it without confirmation. The source was a pretty regular Syrian conflict reporter, FWIW.
If true, that means Russia and the USA are on the same side?!?
No. Both Russia and Iran back Assad (though I would not be surprised if Iran was sponsoring other groups as well.)
Thankyou. It’s so incredibly complex
I’ve seen some hideous evidence that these rebels - or some of them - are easily as bad as isis. Islamist maniacs who will impose brutal sharia law a la Taliban
Which leaves me in the impossibly horrible position of maybe hoping Assad prevails
Initial reports on the ground from Aleppo suggest not. But then again, similar claims of reasonableness were actually made for ISIS in the very early days.
There are, I am afraid, grotesque videos. I don’t think they are fake
This is probably ISIS 2.0 and I reckon anyone hoping for the rebels to be good guys are like those who hoped the new Taliban would be more reasonable. That’s the Taliban who have just made it illegal for women to speak
Bad guys of different types killing each other is no bad thing.
It is if you’ve been to Syria and met Syrians and had a wonderful time back in 1998 and held out a lot of hope that this country - quite secular, pluralistic, a safe place for minorities like Christians, despite the horrors of the regime - might actually evolve into an exemplar. Maybe even one day a democracy
What has happened since is unutterably bad. There is no upside. At all
More backwash of the Iraq invasion.
Possibly the greatest unforced error by western powers EVER
Britain’s decision to enter WW1 was worse if you’re a Briton
Gulf War 1 was right and proportionate. Gulf War 2 was not only immoral and illegal, it was tactically and strategically disastrous.
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Not necessarily, Iraq is still free of Saddam and his family and has an elected government. Afghanistan by contrast is back in Taliban hands and Bin Laden was killed in Pakistan anyway.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
Why? Are you aware of what Assad's been doing over there?
No matter what he has done, he is still better than the Islamist former Al Qaeda linked rebels opposing him
Not all the rebels are 'Al Qaeda linked'.
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
It was Assad's army supported by the Russians who defeated ISIL in Syria.
(Snip)
Bullshit, as I showed with my links yesterday. Russia and Assad were more concerned with destroying the other rebels, and as my link above shows, even paid ISIL.
You showed sod all, the Kurds only held ISIL at bay from the very north of Syria, it was Assad's army and Russian airstrikes that defeated ISIL in the rest of Syria.
Clearly they didn't defeat the other largely AQ linked rebels enough though, for even as ISIL have largely been defeated in Syria the Al Qaeda linked rebels haven't
" Moscow officially portrayed its intervention as an anti-IS campaign and publicly declared support for the "patriotic Syrian opposition", the vast majority of its bombings were focused on destroying bases of the Syrian opposition militias of the Free Syrian Army (FSA) and Southern Front."
And as I've pointed out in the past, IS still exist in Syria, though they do not really control any territory.
Baghuz Fawqani was right on the Iraq and Syria border, it was Assad's troops forcing ISIL out of the likes of Palmyra backed by the Russians that largely defeated ISIL in Syria
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
Isn’t the power of pardon in the constitution? He can’t just abolish that power unilaterally.
Yes it is. But this is literally all that it says about it:
...The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment...
It has barely been litigated before the Supreme Court, so the extent of the pardon power - and whether it can extend to undefined offences not yet admitted - has not been well tested.
Ex parte Garland (1866) - which relates to pardons for ex Confederates and their fitness for public office at the time - does suggest that there are few, if any, limitations on the power (other than the explicit part about impeachment). But as we've seen recently, modern courts feel free to disregard such precedent.
Completely unresolved is whether or not a President can pardon himself.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
He might equally just go the whole hog.
Abolish elections, declare himself President for life and name Musk as his successor.
What would Americans be able to do with The National Guard and Armed Forces trumpifed and Musks satellites sat with nuclear warheads around the Globe.
This is only ending one way... Civil War. Hopefully it'll dawn on the Yanks soon enough that civil disobedience is the only way to stop it.
Mark my words, in 2 years time this will make the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin look like friendly pets
Is this a cunning piece of expectations management on behalf of the GOP?
Are juries causing the backlog, or is it buildings and the availability of lawyers? Istm this is something that some people have wanted for years, and delays are just an excuse to ride their hobby horse.
The article says that this was considered 20 years ago.
To me it looks like a bigging up of the "2 Amateur Magistrates + Stipendiary Magistrate" system we have already, with adding a Bigger Judge to let it deal with with some more serious crimes.
Has Elon noticed yet? He'll be going for this one, not noticing that 98% or so of Usonian cases do not even make it to Court.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
He might equally just go the whole hog.
Abolish elections, declare himself President for life and name Musk as his successor.
What would Americans be able to do with The National Guard and Armed Forces trumpifed and Musks satellites sat with nuclear warheads around the Globe.
This is only ending one way... Civil War. Hopefully it'll dawn on the Yanks soon enough that civil disobedience is the only way to stop it.
Mark my words, in 2 years time this will make the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin look like friendly pets
With all due respect what utter bollocks.
Trump derangement syndrome at its most ridiculous.
How can anyone justify that? What if Biden committed a murder or a rape or child abuse or god knows. I can’t get my head around it
I am NOT saying Hunter Biden did any of these things, I am saying that if he did then - as per my reading of these words - he is now immune from prosecution
That actually goes far beyond the concept of “pardon”
The Supreme Court ruled that President Trump has immunity so if he commits murder, rape or child abuse... you see where I'm going with this? Hunter Biden had a laptop and tax bill, and now a pardon. So what?
Biden swore he would not do this. He swore that many times. He made a big thing out of it. His White House spokespeople repeated it. “No. Never. Not gonna happen. We are better than Trump”
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
Of course, it's ghastly behaviour. I'd rate Trump's actions to incite insurrection worse, but that doesn't excuse Biden's moral corruption. I've long suspected that both Biden and Trump have more criminality hidden away in their pasts too.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
It'll take at least four years from late January 2025.
Well Trump might of course pardon himself and then abolish the power of future Presidents to do such a thing as a bit of a final wheeze. More likely though he announces that he wants to fix the problem and uses it as excuse to postpone future elections.
He might equally just go the whole hog.
Abolish elections, declare himself President for life and name Musk as his successor.
What would Americans be able to do with The National Guard and Armed Forces trumpifed and Musks satellites sat with nuclear warheads around the Globe.
This is only ending one way... Civil War. Hopefully it'll dawn on the Yanks soon enough that civil disobedience is the only way to stop it.
Mark my words, in 2 years time this will make the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin look like friendly pets
Is this a cunning piece of expectations management on behalf of the GOP?
The shocking scenes of January 2021 are a mere precursor to what will come next.
On topic... The UK must stand up to Trump and Musk, with or without Europe.
Indeed IF the Conservative Party have any commonsense they will ally with Labour, as Labour did with Churchill in WW2 to stand up to evil.
For Moseley substitute Farage.
Democracy must win... Our mainstream politics are under unprecedented threat from 21st century fascism...
The forces of evil must be stopped before it's too late including 5th columnists traitors and Trojan horses like Farage and Robinson.
Comments
Blair was a very smart PM and extremely shrewd about the main chance but his backing of W was a huge mistake, even if the Tories were all for it.
Presidents have always been treated as immune for their official actions.
Its why, in one of many examples, Obama has never been investigated for any 'collateral damage' drone killings.
Just for perspective as you seem to have an issue with this:
Parking in a disabled bay is less serious than pardoning your son, which is less serious than trying to overthrow a democracy.
I'd rather they concentrate on killing each other than they turn their attention outwards.
If Biden wanted to use his power to the maximum he would order Trump’s execution on the basis that he is a clear and present danger to the United States.
https://www.msn.com/en-gb/news/uknews/jury-trials-could-be-scrapped-for-thousands-under-plans-to-reduce-backlogs/ar-AA1v4U7D?ocid=entnewsntp&pc=U531&cvid=d1c24efe79a34595b1094ac71ef6dc6c&ei=14
Eg they kept telling us over and over that No way would Joe Biden pardon his son, his White House spokeswoman is on record. “No. Flat No. It’s never going to happen. No one is above the law. Joe Biden respects the courts and the judicial system and he will not pardon his son. We are Democrats.”
And that turned out to be a pile of putrid lies and Joe Biden has not just pardoned his son but made him immune from possible prosecution for any possible crimes he *may* have committed when he was off his tits on crack doing extremely dodgy things for ten years in Ukraine and elsewhere, and some of these crimes might be extremely serious
It’s….. bad
If the judicial system is underfunded this is better than 3-4 year delays for trials.
Recount in Tipperary North. At the end of the last count Independent Jim Ryan was excluded, but was only seven bites behind FF's Michael Smith. Looks like he's called for a recount to try and avoid this.
Completely pointless, because even if a recipient keeps him in at this count, most of the transfers from Michael Smith will go to the other FF candidate Ryan O'Meara and the Independent is 1,400 votes behind him already and nearly 5,000 votes behind Labours Alan Kelly.
A very vain and time-wasting recount, but the rule exists for good reason.
Wouldn't put that past Trump, TBH.
Because war was the sacred way forward, to the German military.
With some fun discoveries at the Kaiser Fuckwit Physics institute in Berlin, probably.
Last week the Scottish government renewed our extended time limits under the Coronavirus Act in solemn cases for another year. Why they bother I am not sure. I can’t remember the last time the defence even attempted to oppose an extension of the timebars.
https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/12/02/ftse-100-markets-latest-news-uk-house-prices-reeves/
If the Western Front had collapsed early then Britain would have been able to continue the war at sea, and by providing support to the Russians to continue the war on land. This would have followed the successful Napoleonic War model, which led to a century of British strength and pre-eminence.
$100m is a lot. IMO it won't make Farage PM.
In 2022/23 - on-Election year - the total reported income of all the UK political parties reporting to the Election Commission was just under £100m. Lab £47m, Co-op £1.4m, Tory £31m, Lib Dem £6m, Green (England) £3m, Ref UK £600k, SNP £4m, ignoring the rest (sorry).
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/media-centre/uk-political-parties-accounts-published-2022
Probably obvious changes since the Election - LD UP, Lab UP, Tory DOWN, Green probably UP, Ref UP, SNP DOWN. eg Reform with 100k members at £25 should be on £2.5m just from that.
I'm not sure whether Reform will have the capacity or knowledge to use that sum to build a strong party. Could it go on marketing and froth?
Their current Airfix 1:72 Scale oligarchs - Richard Tice (aka: Mr Isobel Oakeshott) and Muhammed Yusuf (the overpriced concierge) are worth of the order of £30-£40m which afaics does not reach the bottom of the Sunday Times list. It may have been above the threshold for the list in the late 1990s.
How will it go? I'm going to wait and see, but the Local Elections are the next metric.
I think the bigger issue for us is that Elon Musk thinks he can do whatever he wants, wherever he wants, regardless of impact on individuals or adherence to local laws. And that needs watching *very* carefully.
Go read the SC judgment in US v Nixon, for a start.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nixon_v._United_States
..The Court further ruled that involving the judiciary would prevent finality without clear remedy and bias post-impeachment criminal or civil prosecutions, which the Constitution explicitly allows...
A read the dissents in the appalling immunity decision.
Not to mention Trump will pardon dozens of dodgy characters when he returns to the White House. I assume you were doing a parody therefore.
In fact the Dems may well take Congress in just 2 years in the 2026 midterms, more often than not the opposition party to the President win them and Trump's tariffs aren't likely to help prices for consumers
The choice of Kash Patel to helm the FBI makes it abundantly clear that is the road the Trump administration intends to go down.
The GOP Congressional leadership - notably the absurd Speaker Mike - have said much the same.
I still think Biden made the wrong decision.
Biden's decision to leave the prosecutor in place may have been a political mistake in a broken system imo.
Given the growth of militants in Syria since though Assad is the better of 2 evils there
CAC has 'plunged' by what turns out to be 1.2%. Presumably a lot of pricing in has already happened.
Justice delayed is justice denied, but cutting our civil liberties or taking short cuts is denying justice too.
Two wrongs do not make a right.
The difference between left and right is just 5 days.
https://x.com/Tendar/status/1863310879527231598
And Assad himself has cooperated with ISIL when it suited him.
https://www.washingtoninstitute.org/media/4698
Don't swallow Russian propaganda.
No Elon - GFY.
But.
Which makes it manipulable by the wealthy, the corrupt and the criminal. Which is where Trump comes in.
Our checks and balances, under our constitutional monarchy, work.
One aspect, which caught out a few of Trumps in house criminals, is that a Pardon does not work for future charges. So they may get a second bite at Hunter Biden, alongside all the other ordinary people, officials etc, Trump is lining up to be targeted by his corrupted DoJ.
The rebels in Syria are Al Qaeda linked HTS rebels on the US terrorist list and we must hope Assad crushes them
https://www.firstpost.com/opinion/how-al-qaeda-linked-groups-fresh-surge-in-syria-will-embolden-global-jihad-13840710.html
It was literally one of his campaigning principles - “I’m the kind of guy that respects the law, unlike Trump, I won’t pardon my son”
How can you guys not see the FUCKING ENORMOUS PROBLEM HERE
Trump sells himself as a chancer and a wise guy and a devious fuck who will nonetheless get things done. You can’t then sell yourself as the morally superior alternative then be easily as bad. Because it makes you WORSE
I think it would take a Supreme Court decision to decide whether such a catch all pardon is effective or not.
Traditionally pardons required an acknowledgement that the pardonee accepted guilt for a crime.
But there's nothing in the text of the Constitution which says that is the case (similarly with the new doctrine of presidential immunity).
No one previously wanted to open such a can of worms - which is why the Nixon pardon was never tested.
And their continued growth is more in Asia on those numbers.
Personally, I'd say they are going to lose dominance in Europe - likely starting in particular countries, of which this could be one. The last number I saw for their monthly traffic in the UK was 30% down over 12 months - based on iirc a "Monthly visits" type of metric.
But it will be a process over a couple of years. Or if Musk continues to behave in his Skummy manner, then there may be a regulatory intervention.
I wonder how long it'll take the US to fix this very dangerous situation where their President's can basically do whatever they like. It can't be a sensible state of affairs.
The Kurds did most of the fighting on the ground against IS. Which is why it's the Kurds who now hold Raqqa, and not Assad.
Clearly they didn't defeat the other largely AQ linked rebels enough though, for even as ISIL have largely been defeated in Syria the Al Qaeda linked rebels haven't
Which is one of the things that make it so remarkable, in a not good way
They will hunt down and neuter anyone not to the right of the tea party.
Not condoning Biden, but I think this is an attempt to save his son from a very nasty ending.
There has to be a very real fear of complete and utter rabid right nutters taking more and more control as Trumps senility increases...
"Where have they all gone, Jessie?"
They tend not to have the "Do I sound like a tit?" self-checking mechanism that usually exists in preachers over here.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/War_against_the_Islamic_State
The battle that rid Syria of IS was an American/SDF one:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Baghuz_Fawqani
And as I've pointed out in the past, IS still exist in Syria, though they do not really control any territory.
It would take something pretty dramatic from him to turn that page.
That's a pivot to a more utilitarian approach.
There's a fair but of truth in that wrt to Republican techniques - eg coming up with repeated ways of excluding black people from the ballot in Red states, each of which takes a multiyear legal process to overturn - and by the time that abuse is overturned having been used for one election, something else has been pushed through in time for the next election.
But this is literally all that it says about it:
...The President shall be Commander in Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, and of the Militia of the several States, when called into the actual Service of the United States; he may require the Opinion, in writing, of the principal Officer in each of the executive Departments, upon any Subject relating to the Duties of their respective Offices, and he shall have Power to grant Reprieves and Pardons for Offences against the United States, except in Cases of Impeachment...
It has barely been litigated before the Supreme Court, so the extent of the pardon power - and whether it can extend to undefined offences not yet admitted - has not been well tested.
How else to stop Trump 2.0 DoJ coming after every single one of them?
Abolish elections, declare himself President for life and name Musk as his successor.
What would Americans be able to do with The National Guard and Armed Forces trumpifed and Musks satellites sat with nuclear warheads around the Globe.
This is only ending one way... Civil War. Hopefully it'll dawn on the Yanks soon enough that civil disobedience is the only way to stop it.
Mark my words, in 2 years time this will make the likes of Pol Pot, Hitler, Stalin look like friendly pets
https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2017/3/3/palmyra-russia-backed-syrian-army-retakes-ancient-city#:~:text=The Syrian army said it,driven out eight months before.
But as we've seen recently, modern courts feel free to disregard such precedent.
Completely unresolved is whether or not a President can pardon himself.
To me it looks like a bigging up of the "2 Amateur Magistrates + Stipendiary Magistrate" system we have already, with adding a Bigger Judge to let it deal with with some more serious crimes.
Has Elon noticed yet? He'll be going for this one, not noticing that 98% or so of Usonian cases do not even make it to Court.
Trump derangement syndrome at its most ridiculous.
On topic... The UK must stand up to Trump and Musk, with or without Europe.
Indeed IF the Conservative Party have any commonsense they will ally with Labour, as Labour did with Churchill in WW2 to stand up to evil.
For Moseley substitute Farage.
Democracy must win... Our mainstream politics are under unprecedented threat from 21st century fascism...
The forces of evil must be stopped before it's too late including 5th columnists traitors and Trojan horses like Farage and Robinson.