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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » No surrender to the IHRA

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    FrancisUrquhartFrancisUrquhart Posts: 76,291
    edited September 2018
    Roger said:



    Even Corbyn admits to the party have an anti semetic problem

    And were you alive to witness the horrors the Jews experienced in the war. You would have a lot more sympathy if you had lived through those times

    I wasn't, but my mother was - her passionate involvement in UNRRA's efforts to help Jewish victims during and after the war is partly what prompted me to join Labour Friends of Israel and later serve on its executive.

    That said, I do think your concerns are not well-based. There is indisputably disagreement within Labour about Israel. But IMO both Zionists and anti-semites are mistaken when they identify anti-Zionism (an opinion about the Middle East) with anti-semitism (hostility to Jewish people). The latter is extremely rare in Britain in any party in my experience.
    I read your posts with interest Nick and my childhood memories are vivid, as indeed are my wifes, and my central argument is that every Jew living in this Country has a right to live in peace and at present they feel threatened by Corbyn and his inner circle
    Rubbish! I doubt a single one feels the slightest bit threatened. The reason this is gaining no traction other than with the iredeemably stupid is because to 99.9% of the population it doesn't ring true. I have lost count of the number of friends who ask me what I make of it and when I say confected bullshit it turns out they all think exactly the same.
    Not what the polling says,

    Nearly 40 per cent of British Jews would “seriously consider emigrating” if Jeremy Corbyn became Prime Minister, a JC poll has found.

    British Jews between 35-54 are most concerned about the prospect of a Labour government under Mr Corbyn with over half saying emigration is a serious consideration.

    And amongst Jewish women, fear of the impact of Mr Corbyn becoming PM is so great that over 44 per cent say they would give serious thought to leaving the country.

    With recent population surveys suggesting there are now upwards of 290,000 Jews living in the UK, the poll results means that the election of a Labour government would leave around 115,000 seriously considering a new life abroad.

    https://www.thejc.com/news/uk-news/nearly-40-per-cent-of-british-jews-would-seriously-consider-emigrating-if-corbyn-became-pm-1.469270

    Now in reality will 40% of Jews leave, no, but there is clearly a fear there. It is up from 11% from previous polling.
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    Andrew said:


    I've been thinking this for a while.

    Where are our champions of liberalism? We're being over-run by half-witted populists.
    Champions of liberalism and capitalism.
    Guy Verhofstadt is your man.
    I don't believe he is standing for election in the UK any time soon.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,060
    Cyclefree said:



    Scott_P said:
    The deranged tweets from Trump supporters with blue ticks that follow his are even scarier.
    Whilst I don't like Trump and can certainly see merit in say the courts originally striking down his Muslim travel ban as racist there could be said to be a crossover at some point between doing the right thing and actively undermining a democratically elected president.

    Filling in for laziness or stupidity is one thing but if it came to the president's staff actively working against decisions taken by a president then it gets into murkier waters if we are looking at the principle rather than just Trump himself.

    Aside from anything else it won't help Trump supporters to come to a different opinion of Trump but give them a betrayal narrative.
    Quite right. If your conscience says that you cannot do what the democratically elected leader requires you should resign. That said there is a fine line between that and doing what you can to implement things in a way which makes sense. I think most of us have had experience of loopy bosses you have to work around.

    BTW the travel ban was ultimately upheld by the courts.
    Wasn't the travel ban revised and revised and then (finally) upheld by the courts.
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    rcs1000rcs1000 Posts: 54,060
    AndyJS said:

    viewcode said:

    Some of you may remember the MP for Christchurch, Christopher Chope. He insisted on blocking the upskirting law because of a deeply-held lifelong belief that backbench legislation be opposed.

    So the news that he has introduced his own backbench legislation to charge people to see their GP is in no way contradictory

    (Seriously: is he mental? Not in the insulty way, but is-there-something-actually-wrong-with-him ? This isn't the actions of a coherent individual)

    You weren't paying attention. He wasn't blocking the bill because he disagreed with the basic concept behind it, but because he thought it was being rushed through without enough scrutiny.
    How much upskirt scrutiny is appropriate?

    Asking for a friend.
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    TheJezziahTheJezziah Posts: 3,840
    edited September 2018
    rcs1000 said:

    Cyclefree said:



    Scott_P said:
    The deranged tweets from Trump supporters with blue ticks that follow his are even scarier.
    Whilst I don't like Trump and can certainly see merit in say the courts originally striking down his Muslim travel ban as racist there could be said to be a crossover at some point between doing the right thing and actively undermining a democratically elected president.

    Filling in for laziness or stupidity is one thing but if it came to the president's staff actively working against decisions taken by a president then it gets into murkier waters if we are looking at the principle rather than just Trump himself.

    Aside from anything else it won't help Trump supporters to come to a different opinion of Trump but give them a betrayal narrative.
    Quite right. If your conscience says that you cannot do what the democratically elected leader requires you should resign. That said there is a fine line between that and doing what you can to implement things in a way which makes sense. I think most of us have had experience of loopy bosses you have to work around.

    BTW the travel ban was ultimately upheld by the courts.
    Wasn't the travel ban revised and revised and then (finally) upheld by the courts.
    If I remember rightly they added a (less sure here) South American country. I think the Supreme Court then passed it on the basis that whilst the original intention may have been racist the rewritten (with added non Muslim country) legislation was not racist.

    Which is lovely, they could at least force the whole thing to be scrapped and force the administration to maintain some kind of facade whilst constructing their racist legislation.

    Also feel some pity for the country added simply to make it not racist.
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    Scott_P said:
    The deranged tweets from Trump supporters with blue ticks that follow his are even scarier.
    Whilst I don't like Trump and can certainly see merit in say the courts originally striking down his Muslim travel ban as racist there could be said to be a crossover at some point between doing the right thing and actively undermining a democratically elected president.

    Filling in for laziness or stupidity is one thing but if it came to the president's staff actively working against decisions taken by a president then it gets into murkier waters if we are looking at the principle rather than just Trump himself.

    Aside from anything else it won't help Trump supporters to come to a different opinion of Trump but give them a betrayal narrative.
    When Nixon wanted to nuke North Korea, do you think Kissinger was wrong to stand down the joint chiefs until he sobered up?

    This is a bit different in that Nixon was sober in the morning whereas Trump will still be an idiot, but if he seriously wanted to do something that he ordered while in one of his moods there's nothing to stop him bringing it up again.

    Trump supporters will no doubt have their betrayal narrative but the poorly-maintained US constitution gives the individual president all kinds of unchecked powers to do horrific damage, and it's the responsibility of the people around him to do whatever they can to mitigate it.
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    AndyJSAndyJS Posts: 29,395
    edited September 2018
    Elon Musk is an idiot.
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    AndyJS said:

    Elon Musk is an idiot.
    He's also a hypocrite - his current squeeze is 17 years his junior (and was recently mistaken for his "daughter"):

    https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/relationships/dating/people-are-losing-it-over-photo-of-elon-musk-his-girlfriend-and-his-son/news-story/6416088b2b7476ccf0bc0c24a2f93f21
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    As an aside - check out the rather flattering photos of Vernon & partner - compare them with other photos in the media - one of the big hits in Asia are handphones that take flattering 'selfies' - the Chinese (Oppo) leading the way - so while Apple & Samsung focus on megapixels and accuracy Oppo is focussing on flattery - who needs to see in excruciating detail every line and wrinkle in a selfie.....
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    TheJezziahTheJezziah Posts: 3,840



    Scott_P said:
    The deranged tweets from Trump supporters with blue ticks that follow his are even scarier.
    Whilst I don't like Trump and can certainly see merit in say the courts originally striking down his Muslim travel ban as racist there could be said to be a crossover at some point between doing the right thing and actively undermining a democratically elected president.

    Filling in for laziness or stupidity is one thing but if it came to the president's staff actively working against decisions taken by a president then it gets into murkier waters if we are looking at the principle rather than just Trump himself.

    Aside from anything else it won't help Trump supporters to come to a different opinion of Trump but give them a betrayal narrative.
    When Nixon wanted to nuke North Korea, do you think Kissinger was wrong to stand down the joint chiefs until he sobered up?

    This is a bit different in that Nixon was sober in the morning whereas Trump will still be an idiot, but if he seriously wanted to do something that he ordered while in one of his moods there's nothing to stop him bringing it up again.

    Trump supporters will no doubt have their betrayal narrative but the poorly-maintained US constitution gives the individual president all kinds of unchecked powers to do horrific damage, and it's the responsibility of the people around him to do whatever they can to mitigate it.
    There would appear to be a difference between putting off a drunk president temporarily or delaying one in a particular mood to being some kind of unofficial resistance within. There is a line somewhere but either he is mentally deranged, incompetent or in some way illegitimate or he is simply a bad (or very bad) president chosen by people in a free vote.

    You can strike him down where he goes outside the law and he has to get certain legislation through the houses. You can pick up slack or make up the difference where laziness or stupidity are a factor. There is a line somewhere. There is a good example from the 1930's that justifies messing with it but Trump is not an accurate comparison there.

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