What's striking and a little reassuring about the Trump insurrection is the lack of organisation and leadership - basically it's a bunch of angry people trying to make out what the supreme leader wants them to do. Fortunately, there seems to be no organised plan - no attempt to seize news stations, set up alternative power bases, encourage military disaffection. It's just idiot Trump, a startlingly large bunch of careerists passively going tolerating him and a horde of leaderless louts. It's utterly appalling, but actually not remotely enough to be a threat.
They are just the losers in the Great Culture War having a last fandango.
That said, I predict they will return. America is now so divided, and China so ascendant, it seems very likely to me that a populist, white, nationalist leader - sane, clever, wily - will do what Trump spectacularly failed to do, put together a long-lasting majority of frightened suburbanites, mainly white, often religious, but including Floridan Cali and Texan Hispanics etc, sufficient to get a large-ish majority which will successfully seek to undo much of the "progressive" revolutions of the last decade.
Indeed, I do not see how this will not happen. The Democratic Party only won because Trump is a madman. Within itself it is fatally divided between the identitarian Left -AOC, Olmar, etc- and centrists like Biden. Just as Labour is fatally divided between Corbynites and Blairites. The antagonisms are too deep for the coalition to endure.
The Left cannot win by itself and will not win. As China rises, clearly supplanting America as top dog nation, there will be a nationalist American reaction. It will not be pretty.
Trump was elected in the first place partly due to China's rise and cheap exports dumped on the US and to impose tariffs on Chinese goods which he did.
However the US alone cannot contain Communist China, it needs other large democracies like India, Japan, France, Australia and us of course too
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
Not even pseudo-science, just utter bollocks.
Economics, now that's a real pseudo-science
I think that's unfair. You may think economists do a poor job and don't actually understand the economy very well. You may well think some of their theories are simplified and plain wrong. But they do make quite a lot of fairly specific, directional, testable predictions. Indeed, economists are often slated for getting it wrong.
What makes astrology is pseudo-science is that it isn't falsifiable - it very rarely makes predictions that stand any chance of being demonstrably wrong. Actually, the example given in the thread is a semi-exception - a prediction of a war involving advanced powers this year could at least just possibly be proved wrong... although it's pretty vague - would Russia's annexation of the Crimea have counted for instance?
A fight over fishing boat access to the Channel probably counts...
What's striking and a little reassuring about the Trump insurrection is the lack of organisation and leadership - basically it's a bunch of angry people trying to make out what the supreme leader wants them to do. Fortunately, there seems to be no organised plan - no attempt to seize news stations, set up alternative power bases, encourage military disaffection. It's just idiot Trump, a startlingly large bunch of careerists passively going tolerating him and a horde of leaderless louts. It's utterly appalling, but actually not remotely enough to be a threat.
The biggest thing we can be thankful for is that so few of them seem to have brought guns. And that must be largely down to Washington DC's very strong anti-guns laws. Not that i expect anybody (second amendment fanatics) to appreciate the irony of that.
Last nights protests were fairly easily controlled by the police. Antifa activists were mocking the Proud Boys over their inadequate tactics. They have no command and control structure, just a rabble, albeit a dangerous one.
Trump supporters on lawn of Governors mansion in Washington STATE
The ring leader is shouting "this is war"
It is worrying what could happen in other states whilst eyes remain on Washington.
S-i-l can see the main federal building in Las Vegas from her apartment. She says that there are protestors there and that there’s about thirty cop cars parked outside it just in case.
Which member of Congress wants to be the first to cry 'false flag'?
No takers yet? Hmm, how about 'We should not overreact(by which I mean we should not react)'?
Well, there's three theories about the ease with which the protestors were allowed to get into the building in the first place
1. Utter incompetence 2. Conspiracy A - allowed to do so by Trumpians 3. Conspiracy B - allowed to do so by anti-Trumpians in order to precipitate a crisis whose effect has been (we hope) to neutralise Trump by making clear the de facto transfer of allegiance of the Pentagon to the VP and the forces of good.
Would you bet the farm on, or against, any one of those, and if so which?
Had this been (for instance) a BLM protest outside on the street, how many police would have been taking selfies ?
Very worrying claims that DoD refused Mayor of DC's call to deploy the National Guard. Even though reports earlier in the day were that they were on standby.
They have been deployed. The Pentagon didn't refuse, it said it would think about it - which itself was worrying, but they got it right in the end.
Why would you just be thinking about it, in a situation, in terms of the critical building being invaded, that is unprecedented for centuries ?
CNN have reporters all around the Capitol. There are far more police than there were earlier and I think the rioters are now outnumbered but I have not seen anything that looked like National Guard. The only sign of anyone in military outfits was a small squad helping to clear the interior of the Capitol building. Its bewildering.
Not right now Boris. Not in the absolute height of a pandemic, we can work from home for a bit..
It would be nice if he'd stick to one consistent message (e.g. yesterday's "Stay home") for, say, a whole sodding week. Is that too much to ask?
If you read the article it says "once the pandemic is over" which is I think a much more reasonable message.
But why say it now?
PS I suspect it's a totally evidence-free view of Johnson's too.
Why say it now? I have no idea and I'm not going to try to defend it. Are people keen to get back to the office? I don't know about offices, but I would dearly love to be back teaching in a lab again: it is so much easier to see how clearly you are getting though when the students are in front of you rather than on a computer screen. I also miss the Friday afternoon pub visits, the Christmas and Summer parties, even the staff meetings.
I miss working with people. The casual interactions and the differing faces. Meeting people for lunch. I miss the office to that extent but going back now would clearly be insanity. Particularly as it’s completely open plan. I also note that people I work with and clients in smaller houses are far more keen than people with more salubrious home working arrangements.
Yup - about a half to third of people I know love working from home. Jobs that are easily remote, good accommodation etc etc
Another third or so would crawl over broken glass to get back to the office.
With about a third in the middle - a few days a week of home working would be OK.....
I take my hat off to people who have to go in and also slightly envy them. There was a mini scandal locally when staff at Asda in Herne Bay were dobbed in for having a few socially distanced glasses of bubbly after closing on Christmas Eve. Torn but on balance I came down on the side of the workers. They spend more time with each other than their families so hard to see what the increased risk was compared to the risk they are put in all day every day interacting with the public on the shop floor - but maybe that was just jealousy at them having some form of Christmas party.
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Which two major countries are going to war then? And when?
Dunno. Shall I ask her? She charges. Literally. And makes money from it. She is also the only person who has given me credible evidence of the existence of telepathy, in some form
Impeachment carries no penalties except removal from office*. It is a complex procedure, and takes time. You wouldn't get 10% of the way through the process by 20 January. This is a nonsense proposal.
*OK and future disqualification which I suppose helps a bit.
It’s not nonsense at all, and it doesn’t have to be done by the 20th. The point is the disqualification from ever again holding public office.
Criminal proceedings would be an order of magnitude more fraught with problems, and likely far more protracted. Not to impeach would be to normalise what Trump has done - in the same manner he’s been allowed to trash every norm over the last four years, but far more consequentially.
This is what has bugged me so so much about reactions to Donald Trump over the last few years. The lack of outrage. The equivocation. The prevaricating and false equivalences. The amused fascination. The shrug and the world weary chuckle. Drip drip drip until what is by any sane and objective standards utterly vile and unacceptable becomes normalized. It's never been a left v right matter for me. I could not care less about his policies. The story of Trump in politics has sweet FA to do with taxes or border control, or those left behind by globalization, or how best to face the strategic challenge of China, bla bla bla. It's just about a very bad man doing very bad things for very bad reasons and being allowed to get away with it. I really hope it stops here. And I think it will.
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Actually given Americans quote price before sales tax, given the current exchange rate isn't the difference between a pound shop and a dollar store just VAT now?
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Do you mean washing-up liquid and sweets? Just checking.
Trump supporters on lawn of Governors mansion in Washington STATE
Surprised they could get there. We are regularly informed, by certain posters, that the entire Pacific NW is nightly laid waste by riotous mobs of antifa/BLM. How come there is a "mansion" still standing in Olympia? Strange.
I read somewhere that his nephew is MAGA - and given as a reason why GWB hasn't spoken out more against Trump.
His nephew isn't MAGA, he obviously backed his father, Jeb Bush in the 2016 primaries. However nor has he trashed Trump totally either, nobody who wants to build a political career in the GOP can, even after today Trump's supporters will still play a major role in the GOP primaries for the next 5 to 10 years
Actually, I thought Trump's recorded speech - incendiary and irresponsible as it was, and quite possibly seditious - was clever. He trod a fine line, pretty deftly. It was not demented, it was clear and well-judged (if your entire concern is the greater wellbeing of Donald Trump)
Trump is a selfish psycho. I despise him. I always have.
But from his point of view, in terms of preserving a core vote that will be very useful if the American Establishment attempts to move against him, it was a smart speech.
Biden's speech was by far the more presidential, thank God, as he is about to be president.
I don't think it was smart even on those terms by too closely associating himself with them as an extension of himself, rather than merely supporters who have gone too far.
I predict the American elite will resile from pursuing Trump, legally. Because he has this core. Which he shored up today. That is my point.
Populism in America is not going away any time soon, I fear.
Trumpsky has NOT shored up his core today. He has accelerated the process of it's natural breakdown. Just as he accelerated pre-existing trends such as suburban swing to Democrats and rural swing to Republicans.
Today's abomination is a Bridge Too Far for millions of conservatives and others who voted for Trumpsky, including many who were willing - at least in theory - to go along with him challenging the election results.
That happens all the time in close elections. But armed mobs storming the Capitol? Not so much.
Fair enough. A firm prediction. Respect. In which case we will see Trump pursued into the courts and jailed?
I have grave doubts this will happen (even though it probably should). Precisely because Trump has secured a power base, and this action against him would exacerbate these terrible divisions. We shall see.
Takes too long. It should come from Pence, it could be done in minutes.
Requires a declaration that Trump is unable to discharge the duties of his office though. Which he isn't. Although if they put him in handcuffs first ...
The President has a duty to respect the Constitution.
Today Trump has been unable to discharge that duty. The 25th should be invoked.
No I don't think so. Again, the heat needs to be taken out of it. We don't need more partisan politics right now which is what that would bring.
I want NOTHING that might conceivably interfere OR endanger the election AND inauguration of Joe Biden. NOTHING.
AFTER we have a new President, then let the Giant Shit-hammer fall! On Trumpsky and his criminal brood, and on his co-conspirators in the Republican Party.
But not until AFTER the inauguration. First things first!!!
Have the people who filmed themselves inside the building and sent the footage to the whole world not ever watched coverage of US prisons? They could be spending many years in a violent prison for Trump.
Don't arrest them yet, just gather the footage. Why? Trump will clearly pardon anyone charged before he leaves office.
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Which two major countries are going to war then? And when?
Dunno. Shall I ask her? She charges. Literally. And makes money from it. She is also the only person who has given me credible evidence of the existence of telepathy, in some form
Actually, you may have something there. She can clearly read your mind -it says "I'm a sucker"
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Do you mean washing-up liquid and sweets? Just checking.
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Basically, she looked into the stars for bad, and she found bad. I'm not saying that there isn't (or is) something in tarot or crystal balls, but it is surely likely that anything coming out will be a 'reading' of the asker, their 'aura' or whatever. And the asker almost by definition is scared, uncertain, needy, grasping for reassurance - or they wouldn't consult a fortune teller. So nothing good is going to come out of it.
A theory - the 25th Amendment has already been invoked. Trump is no longer President, but they haven't announced it to avoid antagonising the protesters.
But if Pence is now President, he won't presumably be the Presiding officer in the Senate when they resume...
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Actually given Americans quote price before sales tax, given the current exchange rate isn't the difference between a pound shop and a dollar store just VAT now?
EDIT: Well mainly VAT, even if not just VAT?
I can’t tell you how much it annoys me that sales tax is applied at the register and not on the price-tag (“sticker”) here.
Impeachment carries no penalties except removal from office*. It is a complex procedure, and takes time. You wouldn't get 10% of the way through the process by 20 January. This is a nonsense proposal.
*OK and future disqualification which I suppose helps a bit.
It’s not nonsense at all, and it doesn’t have to be done by the 20th. The point is the disqualification from ever again holding public office.
Criminal proceedings would be an order of magnitude more fraught with problems, and likely far more protracted. Not to impeach would be to normalise what Trump has done - in the same manner he’s been allowed to trash every norm over the last four years, but far more consequentially.
This is what has bugged me so so much about reactions to Donald Trump over the last few years. The lack of outrage. The equivocation. The prevaricating and false equivalences. The amused fascination. The shrug and the world weary chuckle. Drip drip drip until what is by any sane and objective standards utterly vile and unacceptable becomes normalized. It's never been a left v right matter for me. I could not care less about his policies. The story of Trump in politics has sweet FA to do with taxes or border control, or those left behind by globalization, or how best to face the strategic challenge of China, bla bla bla. It's just about a very bad man doing very bad things for very bad reasons and being allowed to get away with it. I really hope it stops here. And I think it will.
Agreed. For a democracy to function there have to be shared assumptions and norms which go beyond any policy or ideological differences.
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Do you mean washing-up liquid and sweets? Just checking.
The Irish have Euro shops. We are being ripped off.
Actually, I thought Trump's recorded speech - incendiary and irresponsible as it was, and quite possibly seditious - was clever. He trod a fine line, pretty deftly. It was not demented, it was clear and well-judged (if your entire concern is the greater wellbeing of Donald Trump)
Trump is a selfish psycho. I despise him. I always have.
But from his point of view, in terms of preserving a core vote that will be very useful if the American Establishment attempts to move against him, it was a smart speech.
Biden's speech was by far the more presidential, thank God, as he is about to be president.
I don't think it was smart even on those terms by too closely associating himself with them as an extension of himself, rather than merely supporters who have gone too far.
I predict the American elite will resile from pursuing Trump, legally. Because he has this core. Which he shored up today. That is my point.
Populism in America is not going away any time soon, I fear.
Trumpsky has NOT shored up his core today. He has accelerated the process of it's natural breakdown. Just as he accelerated pre-existing trends such as suburban swing to Democrats and rural swing to Republicans.
Today's abomination is a Bridge Too Far for millions of conservatives and others who voted for Trumpsky, including many who were willing - at least in theory - to go along with him challenging the election results.
That happens all the time in close elections. But armed mobs storming the Capitol? Not so much.
I don’t know what you think but I think the Federal Government might leave New York State to do its prosecuting thing. A state conviction in New York would never be pardoned and it leaves plausible deniability in DC.
Before or after leaving office? After I can see the votes. Before maybe just.
Impeachment only applies to serving officials. After leaving office (whether by removal, resignation or term expiry) regular criminal prosecution can be made, assuming no pardon.
Actually, I thought Trump's recorded speech - incendiary and irresponsible as it was, and quite possibly seditious - was clever. He trod a fine line, pretty deftly. It was not demented, it was clear and well-judged (if your entire concern is the greater wellbeing of Donald Trump)
Trump is a selfish psycho. I despise him. I always have.
But from his point of view, in terms of preserving a core vote that will be very useful if the American Establishment attempts to move against him, it was a smart speech.
Biden's speech was by far the more presidential, thank God, as he is about to be president.
I don't think it was smart even on those terms by too closely associating himself with them as an extension of himself, rather than merely supporters who have gone too far.
I predict the American elite will resile from pursuing Trump, legally. Because he has this core. Which he shored up today. That is my point.
Populism in America is not going away any time soon, I fear.
Trumpsky has NOT shored up his core today. He has accelerated the process of it's natural breakdown. Just as he accelerated pre-existing trends such as suburban swing to Democrats and rural swing to Republicans.
Today's abomination is a Bridge Too Far for millions of conservatives and others who voted for Trumpsky, including many who were willing - at least in theory - to go along with him challenging the election results.
That happens all the time in close elections. But armed mobs storming the Capitol? Not so much.
Fair enough. A firm prediction. Respect. In which case we will see Trump pursued into the courts and jailed?
I have grave doubts this will happen (even though it probably should). Precisely because Trump has secured a power base, and this action against him would exacerbate these terrible divisions. We shall see.
I don't give a dying fiddler's final farwell fuck about convicting and jailing Trumpsky. Not against it, but would not waste a dime in political capital to achieve it.
Most certainly do NOT want to aid fuel to the fire. As I've noted before, outrage is The Donald's rocket fuel, whether outrage FOR him or outrage AGAINST him.
Would be perfectly happy with him seeking asylum in Russia - indeed, would be poetic justice IF he ended up like Kim Philby - the Man Without A Country.
As for securing a power base, well, so did Tail-Gunner Joe McCarthy. For a while.
It actually omits a key point with that ellipses, in that it was not merely that there was a mob and it was incited by him, but that it sought to prevent the carrying out of a constitutional duty. That really elevates it from what was already very serious, and that he also wanted to prevent that constitutional duty.
"- We observed no symptomatic reinfections in a cohort of healthcare workers. - This apparent immunity to re-infection was maintained for at least 6 months."
Which member of Congress wants to be the first to cry 'false flag'?
No takers yet? Hmm, how about 'We should not overreact(by which I mean we should not react)'?
Well, there's three theories about the ease with which the protestors were allowed to get into the building in the first place
1. Utter incompetence 2. Conspiracy A - allowed to do so by Trumpians 3. Conspiracy B - allowed to do so by anti-Trumpians in order to precipitate a crisis whose effect has been (we hope) to neutralise Trump by making clear the de facto transfer of allegiance of the Pentagon to the VP and the forces of good.
Would you bet the farm on, or against, any one of those, and if so which?
Had this been (for instance) a BLM protest outside on the street, how many police would have been taking selfies ?
Very worrying claims that DoD refused Mayor of DC's call to deploy the National Guard. Even though reports earlier in the day were that they were on standby.
They have been deployed. The Pentagon didn't refuse, it said it would think about it - which itself was worrying, but they got it right in the end.
Why would you just be thinking about it, in a situation, in terms of the critical building being invaded, that is unprecedented for centuries ?
CNN have reporters all around the Capitol. There are far more police than there were earlier and I think the rioters are now outnumbered but I have not seen anything that looked like National Guard. The only sign of anyone in military outfits was a small squad helping to clear the interior of the Capitol building. Its bewildering.
1. It wasn't incompetence, it was a miscalculation. Bad yes, but there are many reasons why they were caught out, not least a huge jurisdictional set of issues. 2. The number of National Guard put on standby was c 300 and they were not carrying weapons other than batons as part of the standby plan. Maybe they will be now. 3. The DoDs pause is actually understandable because there were other levels to go through first , support from DC police, neighbouring services and federal units. Add to that that the trouble was pretty much in one zone therefore potentially handable by other measures and policing. The national guard, ie deploying uniformed military are not your no1 call in this situation, especially when your biggest issue is people inside the Capitol. That is definitely not a role for the National Guard to clear when many better options exist.
Impeachment carries no penalties except removal from office*. It is a complex procedure, and takes time. You wouldn't get 10% of the way through the process by 20 January. This is a nonsense proposal.
*OK and future disqualification which I suppose helps a bit.
It’s not nonsense at all, and it doesn’t have to be done by the 20th. The point is the disqualification from ever again holding public office.
Criminal proceedings would be an order of magnitude more fraught with problems, and likely far more protracted. Not to impeach would be to normalise what Trump has done - in the same manner he’s been allowed to trash every norm over the last four years, but far more consequentially.
This is what has bugged me so so much about reactions to Donald Trump over the last few years. The lack of outrage. The equivocation. The prevaricating and false equivalences. The amused fascination. The shrug and the world weary chuckle. Drip drip drip until what is by any sane and objective standards utterly vile and unacceptable becomes normalized. It's never been a left v right matter for me. I could not care less about his policies. The story of Trump in politics has sweet FA to do with taxes or border control, or those left behind by globalization, or how best to face the strategic challenge of China, bla bla bla. It's just about a very bad man doing very bad things for very bad reasons and being allowed to get away with it. I really hope it stops here. And I think it will.
Top post. Except he's mad not bad. Had he been bad, and sane, things would have gone much worse.
That is one vote, hard to vote against impeachment after tweeting that. 16 more Republicans needed.
A few will probably come down on that side after a good night's sleep to think it over. A few others, sadly, will probably calm down and think it is not worth their careers to seek impeachment.
Actually, I thought Trump's recorded speech - incendiary and irresponsible as it was, and quite possibly seditious - was clever. He trod a fine line, pretty deftly. It was not demented, it was clear and well-judged (if your entire concern is the greater wellbeing of Donald Trump)
Trump is a selfish psycho. I despise him. I always have.
But from his point of view, in terms of preserving a core vote that will be very useful if the American Establishment attempts to move against him, it was a smart speech.
Biden's speech was by far the more presidential, thank God, as he is about to be president.
I don't think it was smart even on those terms by too closely associating himself with them as an extension of himself, rather than merely supporters who have gone too far.
I predict the American elite will resile from pursuing Trump, legally. Because he has this core. Which he shored up today. That is my point.
Populism in America is not going away any time soon, I fear.
Trumpsky has NOT shored up his core today. He has accelerated the process of it's natural breakdown. Just as he accelerated pre-existing trends such as suburban swing to Democrats and rural swing to Republicans.
Today's abomination is a Bridge Too Far for millions of conservatives and others who voted for Trumpsky, including many who were willing - at least in theory - to go along with him challenging the election results.
That happens all the time in close elections. But armed mobs storming the Capitol? Not so much.
I don’t know what you think but I think the Federal Government might leave New York State to do its prosecuting thing. A state conviction in New York would never be pardoned and it leaves plausible deniability in DC.
Before today I would have agreed, but I think incitement to insurrection simply cannot be ignored by the next administration.
Oh, he's just saying that because he's grumpy about those plane passengers calling him a traitor mere hours before actual traitors seeking to please the President stormed his place of work.
It was all a bit "Drop the dead donkey". I am not sure Robert Moore should have been inside the Capitol Building.
No, going by the book he shouldn't have gone in. However, I am sure that the US authorities will be very grateful that he and his film crew did. They will want the continuous filmed evidence of what went on, for use in the identification of people inside the building and their individual actions. A criminal investigation and prosecutions must surely follow into the unauthorised access to the building and offices and the subsequent vandalism and so on.
Impeachment carries no penalties except removal from office*. It is a complex procedure, and takes time. You wouldn't get 10% of the way through the process by 20 January. This is a nonsense proposal.
*OK and future disqualification which I suppose helps a bit.
It’s not nonsense at all, and it doesn’t have to be done by the 20th. The point is the disqualification from ever again holding public office.
Criminal proceedings would be an order of magnitude more fraught with problems, and likely far more protracted. Not to impeach would be to normalise what Trump has done - in the same manner he’s been allowed to trash every norm over the last four years, but far more consequentially.
This is what has bugged me so so much about reactions to Donald Trump over the last few years. The lack of outrage. The equivocation. The prevaricating and false equivalences. The amused fascination. The shrug and the world weary chuckle. Drip drip drip until what is by any sane and objective standards utterly vile and unacceptable becomes normalized. It's never been a left v right matter for me. I could not care less about his policies. The story of Trump in politics has sweet FA to do with taxes or border control, or those left behind by globalization, or how best to face the strategic challenge of China, bla bla bla. It's just about a very bad man doing very bad things for very bad reasons and being allowed to get away with it. I really hope it stops here. And I think it will.
It's been noted a few times how he has broken the will of many in the GOP, people who once condemned him not only staying silent as he does something that they used to get outraged about, but now defend it. It'd be nice to think those people at least will finally have had too much for their dignity and integrity to take and wake up - how could anything top this? - but others seemed to like the politics embodied by Trump and their role within it, they thrived on it. They are still going to be there in a few weeks.
It was all a bit "Drop the dead donkey". I am not sure Robert Moore should have been inside the Capitol Building.
No, going by the book he shouldn't have gone in. However, I am sure that the US authorities will be very grateful that he and his film crew did. They will want the continuous filmed evidence of what went on, for use in the identification of people inside the building and their individual actions. A criminal investigation and prosecutions must surely follow into the unauthorised access to the building and offices and the subsequent vandalism and so on.
I wonder if any of the police could find themselves in trouble.
"- We observed no symptomatic reinfections in a cohort of healthcare workers. - This apparent immunity to re-infection was maintained for at least 6 months."
Cheers.
People really need to stop posting scare anecdotes on here. It’s effing irresponsible - there is no such thing as a closed network, as I would hope most PBers were intelligent enough to know.
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Which two major countries are going to war then? And when?
Dunno. Shall I ask her? She charges. Literally. And makes money from it. She is also the only person who has given me credible evidence of the existence of telepathy, in some form
Actually, you may have something there. She can clearly read your mind -it says "I'm a sucker"
I don't pay her, she tells me this stuff for free, as we are friends.
I am not joking about the telepathy. I have now seen enough evidence, at first hand, to think: hmmmmmmmmm..... and I was a pure materialist Dawkinsian. This is despite having a vague belief in a higher power, or a narrative purpose, to the universe - a teleology - in the nitty gritty of life - otherwise in all realms I was utterly atheistic.
Now, I confess, I do not know. I have seen so much of the world I doubt my doubt. Maybe human brains have evolved greatly, yet still to a limited extent, which means that they cannot comprehend the wider meaning of things, so they only perceive hints. And these are hints that confuse, because we do not have the cerebral capacity to compute them.
Do I believe Jupiter in Taurus in mid May means your mum will get a nice cheque in the post? No.
Do I believe there are patterns in the universe we could emotionally detect yet not logically explain, and therefore dismiss? Well..... maybe.....
Do I believe telepathy might exist? Yes, I think I this could be true, inasmuch as there are human emotional interactions which are outwith our sensorium yet nonetheless have significance
Which member of Congress wants to be the first to cry 'false flag'?
No takers yet? Hmm, how about 'We should not overreact(by which I mean we should not react)'?
Well, there's three theories about the ease with which the protestors were allowed to get into the building in the first place
1. Utter incompetence 2. Conspiracy A - allowed to do so by Trumpians 3. Conspiracy B - allowed to do so by anti-Trumpians in order to precipitate a crisis whose effect has been (we hope) to neutralise Trump by making clear the de facto transfer of allegiance of the Pentagon to the VP and the forces of good.
Would you bet the farm on, or against, any one of those, and if so which?
Had this been (for instance) a BLM protest outside on the street, how many police would have been taking selfies ?
Very worrying claims that DoD refused Mayor of DC's call to deploy the National Guard. Even though reports earlier in the day were that they were on standby.
They have been deployed. The Pentagon didn't refuse, it said it would think about it - which itself was worrying, but they got it right in the end.
Why would you just be thinking about it, in a situation, in terms of the critical building being invaded, that is unprecedented for centuries ?
CNN have reporters all around the Capitol. There are far more police than there were earlier and I think the rioters are now outnumbered but I have not seen anything that looked like National Guard. The only sign of anyone in military outfits was a small squad helping to clear the interior of the Capitol building. Its bewildering.
1. It wasn't incompetence, it was a miscalculation. Bad yes, but there are many reasons why they were caught out, not least a huge jurisdictional set of issues. 2. The number of National Guard put on standby was c 300 and they were not carrying weapons other than batons as part of the standby plan. Maybe they will be now. 3. The DoDs pause is actually understandable because there were other levels to go through first , support from DC police, neighbouring services and federal units. Add to that that the trouble was pretty much in one zone therefore potentially handable by other measures and policing. The national guard, ie deploying uniformed military are not your no1 call in this situation, especially when your biggest issue is people inside the Capitol. That is definitely not a role for the National Guard to clear when many better options exist.
It certainly would not be the first time that problems of coordination have arisen between the federal and state level forces but the complete failure to enforce the law over 3-4 hours, which is still going on as the curfew is being ignored, will have negative consequences.
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Which two major countries are going to war then? And when?
Dunno. Shall I ask her? She charges. Literally. And makes money from it. She is also the only person who has given me credible evidence of the existence of telepathy, in some form
I have had vivid predictive dreams that have later taken place exactly as seen in advance. Not often, and not for some years, but a very uncanny and disturbing phenomenon when it happens in real life.
Telepathy, or my subconscious assembling a jigsaw that my conscious could not? Who knows? Very weird though.
Before or after leaving office? After I can see the votes. Before maybe just.
Impeachment only applies to serving officials. After leaving office (whether by removal, resignation or term expiry) regular criminal prosecution can be made, assuming no pardon.
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
There's a gnat's wing between those words, I think you're over analysing that.
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Do you mean washing-up liquid and sweets? Just checking.
The Irish have Euro shops. We are being ripped off.
Perhaps we can join whatever club it is they are in? 🤔
Before or after leaving office? After I can see the votes. Before maybe just.
Impeachment only applies to serving officials. After leaving office (whether by removal, resignation or term expiry) regular criminal prosecution can be made, assuming no pardon.
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
Bollocks.
The scenes are disgraceful. Nothing to do with the incoming administration, we'd call them disgraceful in a banana republic.
Impeachment carries no penalties except removal from office*. It is a complex procedure, and takes time. You wouldn't get 10% of the way through the process by 20 January. This is a nonsense proposal.
*OK and future disqualification which I suppose helps a bit.
It’s not nonsense at all, and it doesn’t have to be done by the 20th. The point is the disqualification from ever again holding public office.
Criminal proceedings would be an order of magnitude more fraught with problems, and likely far more protracted. Not to impeach would be to normalise what Trump has done - in the same manner he’s been allowed to trash every norm over the last four years, but far more consequentially.
This is what has bugged me so so much about reactions to Donald Trump over the last few years. The lack of outrage. The equivocation. The prevaricating and false equivalences. The amused fascination. The shrug and the world weary chuckle. Drip drip drip until what is by any sane and objective standards utterly vile and unacceptable becomes normalized. It's never been a left v right matter for me. I could not care less about his policies. The story of Trump in politics has sweet FA to do with taxes or border control, or those left behind by globalization, or how best to face the strategic challenge of China, bla bla bla. It's just about a very bad man doing very bad things for very bad reasons and being allowed to get away with it. I really hope it stops here. And I think it will.
Top post. Except he's mad not bad. Had he been bad, and sane, things would have gone much worse.
Well that's a fine line. I agree he has a derangement as witnessed with this grandiose overreach today. It should hasten his demise, which is the one and only upside.
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
A theory - the 25th Amendment has already been invoked. Trump is no longer President, but they haven't announced it to avoid antagonising the protesters.
But if Pence is now President, he won't presumably be the Presiding officer in the Senate when they resume...
Pence doesn't become President by invoking the 25th, he becomes Acting President and assumes the powers of the President.
He still I presume remains the Veep.
Even if only acting President, i think he would want to be concentrating on the outside of the Capitol rather than the inside right now.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
Actually, I thought Trump's recorded speech - incendiary and irresponsible as it was, and quite possibly seditious - was clever. He trod a fine line, pretty deftly. It was not demented, it was clear and well-judged (if your entire concern is the greater wellbeing of Donald Trump)
Trump is a selfish psycho. I despise him. I always have.
But from his point of view, in terms of preserving a core vote that will be very useful if the American Establishment attempts to move against him, it was a smart speech.
Biden's speech was by far the more presidential, thank God, as he is about to be president.
I don't think it was smart even on those terms by too closely associating himself with them as an extension of himself, rather than merely supporters who have gone too far.
I predict the American elite will resile from pursuing Trump, legally. Because he has this core. Which he shored up today. That is my point.
Populism in America is not going away any time soon, I fear.
Trumpsky has NOT shored up his core today. He has accelerated the process of it's natural breakdown. Just as he accelerated pre-existing trends such as suburban swing to Democrats and rural swing to Republicans.
Today's abomination is a Bridge Too Far for millions of conservatives and others who voted for Trumpsky, including many who were willing - at least in theory - to go along with him challenging the election results.
That happens all the time in close elections. But armed mobs storming the Capitol? Not so much.
I don’t know what you think but I think the Federal Government might leave New York State to do its prosecuting thing. A state conviction in New York would never be pardoned and it leaves plausible deniability in DC.
Before today I would have agreed, but I think incitement to insurrection simply cannot be ignored by the next administration.
No charges will be brought against Trump for another two weeks or so. But then, when he's no longer President, they'll throw the book at him at federal level, while NY pursues the tax evasion charges. Even if the Supreme Court had been inclined to throw out charges on the unlikely grounds that a sitting President cannot pardon himself for federal crimes before charges have even been brought, I don't think they'll be at all sympathetic to his cause now.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
I can 100% relate to this.
Yeah. Me too if I'm honest. Was on a little downer today and yesterday. Now I'm enervated. Not nice, probably, but there we are.
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
No. For once I am with Johnson. You can’t mollycoddle this. If the US ceases to be a democracy then democracy itself is in mortal danger. Someone else, acting in concert with others (oh the irony) has to draw a line and say this. If the same thing had happened in Westminster then I would hope everyone else in the world would react similarly.
What's striking and a little reassuring about the Trump insurrection is the lack of organisation and leadership - basically it's a bunch of angry people trying to make out what the supreme leader wants them to do. Fortunately, there seems to be no organised plan - no attempt to seize news stations, set up alternative power bases, encourage military disaffection. It's just idiot Trump, a startlingly large bunch of careerists passively going tolerating him and a horde of leaderless louts. It's utterly appalling, but actually not remotely enough to be a threat.
That was never going to happen anyway. There is simply not enough muscle to do that and never was. That you even consider those as options completely overestimates the situation. Military disaffection, really? There's a coop full of eggs in that idea.
They are not, however, a set of leaderless louts. They have capacity and if and when some building goes up in smoke Oklahoma style or several people get killed in a single incident, they will no doubt they will be called a huge threat. They are a threat, they do have organisation, there is simply a lack of focus.
No one can assess whether today was considered a success for some of the groups involved or a failure because we don't know exactly what was on their objective list. There is every possibility that it will be considered a success because it was a day out, cause shit event that actually achieved much more, in their reckoning, than they thought it would. They could have put thousands through the breach into the Capitol Building, yet the vast majority stood outside. That in itself gives you an idea of the level of ambition on the day.
I genuinely think there's a 50/50 chance right now the 25th will be invoked. This has gone too far.
CNN reporting "White House aides" pressed for the National Guard to be called upon, Trump wouldn't - then Pence did it by himself. This is going too far, way too far.
Note that AP/NYT have declared Jon Ossoff the winner in Georgia. Currently he is leading Perdue by +0.74% which is outside of recount range (half of one percent margin).
Just had this thought - IF she has any sense, wouldn't Susan Collins switch parties tomorrow? Or at least declare herself an Independent?
Please stop insulting Pound Shop - if you go into the local Pound Shop, you can get a bottle of Fairy liquid for a pound. Which is really useful for doing the dishes.
If you gave Jeff Davis a pound coin, he'd spend it on losing a war. No Fairy liquid. So dirty dishes in the sink....
Re: pound shops. Note that on this side of the Atlantic (and Pacific) we have dollar stores.
When you buy your cut-rate detergent and off-brand candy, you Brits are REALLY getting ripped off!
Do you mean washing-up liquid and sweets? Just checking.
The Irish have Euro shops. We are being ripped off.
Perhaps we can join whatever club it is they are in? 🤔
It was the same when we were members of the same (expensive) club 🙄
Hang-on, wasn't 2021 supposed to be better than 2020?
Nope. I told you what my ASTROLOGER LADY predicted. 2021 will be WORSE than 2020 (and she correctly predicted in late 2019 that 2020 would be a global shitshow).
She specifically predicts a serious war at some point this year: ie a war involving advanced powers, not Namibia invading the Seychelles.
I used to deride her predictions. Now... I do not. Not quite so much. It is an odd thing. I still believe astrology is ludicrous, and yet..... hmpf
You do realise astrology is a pseudo-science?
It's not even a pseudo-science, it is absolute shite.
And yet, she nailed these predix. And she specifically told me, months ago, when things were looking up, that No, January 2021 would be notably and painfully worse, signifiying an escalation in the global crisiis.
Maybe she was talking about this? -
"London’s hospitals are less than two weeks from being overwhelmed by covid even under the “best” case scenario, according to an official briefing given to the capital’s most senior doctors this afternoon."
Which two major countries are going to war then? And when?
Dunno. Shall I ask her? She charges. Literally. And makes money from it. She is also the only person who has given me credible evidence of the existence of telepathy, in some form
I have had vivid predictive dreams that have later taken place exactly as seen in advance. Not often, and not for some years, but a very uncanny and disturbing phenomenon when it happens in real life.
Telepathy, or my subconscious assembling a jigsaw that my conscious could not? Who knows? Very weird though.
During lockdown 1 I visited the site of the Aberfan disaster. It is, to this day, a truly haunting place.
Some of the "dreams" that "foretold" that catastrophe are so uncanny they are hard to dismiss entirely. We know that the arrow of time is an illusion, as Einstein told us: space time exists in and within itself, so it is not logically impossible to believe someone could *foresee* a future which already *exists* (I know I am mixing science and mumbo-jumbo here, but where else can we go?)
I also recommend reading this, a superb true-life essay about clairvoyance in 60s Britain which is, I believe, being turned into a Hollywood movie. It heavily references Aberfan
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
I can 100% relate to this.
Me too.
Just spoke to a friend who has been poorly lately. He'd perked up no end watching all this, but then he was a journalist so easy to understand how it got the juices flowing.
Maybe Richard was once a journalist, or at least a frustrated one.
I sat watching it with my gob hanging open. It takes a particularly ballsy news crew to see *that* and think "lets get in there". Yes they can go in without fear of arrest thanks to the 1st Amendment. But seriously, I would have been in fear of the crowd - violence, the pox, caught in the crossfire.
Its no wonder I was a crap journalist. No balls.
My problem here is that I have realised I must suffer from some sort of psychological problem.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
I can 100% relate to this.
Yeah. Me too if I'm honest. Was on a little downer today and yesterday. Now I'm enervated. Not nice, probably, but there we are.
I think it would be harder to feel that tonight if tens of Senators had been killed or taken hostage, as some of the most hardcore of the protestors seemed to have wanted.
That's part of what's so cumulatively dangerous about the Trump phenomenon ; he's a sort of lethal entertainer, who continually treads a fine line between theatre and absolute chaos. No wonder one of the invaders of the Capitol was wearing a Joker outfit.
The problem is that this continually deniable theatre / chaos, cumulatively and insidiously, shifts the parameters of acceptability, and disorients everyone around .
I think Boris should have said 'shocking' or 'concerning' scenes, not disgraceful. He struck far too much of a strident tone for a foreign politician. No doubt trying to curry favour with the incoming administration, but just ended up sounding like a Brit telling the yanks how to behave.
Not sure anyone will notice or care.
They notice in the US.
Has Johnson's tweet been featured heavily on the various news outlets or something?
Comments
However the US alone cannot contain Communist China, it needs other large democracies like India, Japan, France, Australia and us of course too
https://twitter.com/chadloder/status/1346662458916630528?s=19
This has been brewing for a long time though. The American dream is a lie, and the angry people are the ones with a shit ton of large guns.
https://twitter.com/joshtpm/status/1346960112892702720
EDIT: Well mainly VAT, even if not just VAT?
We are regularly informed, by certain posters, that the entire Pacific NW is nightly laid waste by riotous mobs of antifa/BLM.
How come there is a "mansion" still standing in Olympia?
Strange.
I have grave doubts this will happen (even though it probably should). Precisely because Trump has secured a power base, and this action against him would exacerbate these terrible divisions. We shall see.
AFTER we have a new President, then let the Giant Shit-hammer fall! On Trumpsky and his criminal brood, and on his co-conspirators in the Republican Party.
But not until AFTER the inauguration. First things first!!!
Don't arrest them yet, just gather the footage. Why? Trump will clearly pardon anyone charged before he leaves office.
For a democracy to function there have to be shared assumptions and norms which go beyond any policy or ideological differences.
Most certainly do NOT want to aid fuel to the fire. As I've noted before, outrage is The Donald's rocket fuel, whether outrage FOR him or outrage AGAINST him.
Would be perfectly happy with him seeking asylum in Russia - indeed, would be poetic justice IF he ended up like Kim Philby - the Man Without A Country.
As for securing a power base, well, so did Tail-Gunner Joe McCarthy. For a while.
https://www.journalofinfection.com/article/S0163-4453(20)30781-7/fulltext
"- We observed no symptomatic reinfections in a cohort of healthcare workers.
- This apparent immunity to re-infection was maintained for at least 6 months."
2. The number of National Guard put on standby was c 300 and they were not carrying weapons other than batons as part of the standby plan. Maybe they will be now.
3. The DoDs pause is actually understandable because there were other levels to go through first , support from DC police, neighbouring services and federal units. Add to that that the trouble was pretty much in one zone therefore potentially handable by other measures and policing. The national guard, ie deploying uniformed military are not your no1 call in this situation, especially when your biggest issue is people inside the Capitol. That is definitely not a role for the National Guard to clear when many better options exist.
Except he's mad not bad.
Had he been bad, and sane, things would have gone much worse.
https://twitter.com/SenatorRomney/status/1346958333211774979?s=20
First control the media . . . 😂
My guess is that our elected representatives were NOT happy with what just happened, especially when they had to flee for their lives.
Is Nick Clegg still at Facebook? I do hope he isn't implicated in some way
*rings popcorn dealer to place massive order*
People really need to stop posting scare anecdotes on here. It’s effing irresponsible - there is no such thing as a closed network, as I would hope most PBers were intelligent enough to know.
I am not joking about the telepathy. I have now seen enough evidence, at first hand, to think: hmmmmmmmmm..... and I was a pure materialist Dawkinsian. This is despite having a vague belief in a higher power, or a narrative purpose, to the universe - a teleology - in the nitty gritty of life - otherwise in all realms I was utterly atheistic.
Now, I confess, I do not know. I have seen so much of the world I doubt my doubt. Maybe human brains have evolved greatly, yet still to a limited extent, which means that they cannot comprehend the wider meaning of things, so they only perceive hints. And these are hints that confuse, because we do not have the cerebral capacity to compute them.
Do I believe Jupiter in Taurus in mid May means your mum will get a nice cheque in the post? No.
Do I believe there are patterns in the universe we could emotionally detect yet not logically explain, and therefore dismiss? Well..... maybe.....
Do I believe telepathy might exist? Yes, I think I this could be true, inasmuch as there are human emotional interactions which are outwith our sensorium yet nonetheless have significance
Telepathy, or my subconscious assembling a jigsaw that my conscious could not? Who knows? Very weird though.
Invoking the 25th doesn't remove him from office, it just strips him of his powers.
Though it would probably need the SC to rule on the issue.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/12/06/can-former-presidents-be-impeached/
The scenes are disgraceful. Nothing to do with the incoming administration, we'd call them disgraceful in a banana republic.
When people say 'May you live in interesting times' and mean it as a curse, what I actually hear is 'May you get all the Christmas pressies you wished for'.
I genuinely have a bit of me - quite a large one it seems - that sees all this stuff going on and thinks 'Cool!! History being made' rather than 'oh dear this is bad' which I recognise is the correct response.
A moment's thought is enough for head to override heart again and realise this is not good in the grand scheme of things, but that love of 'stuff happening' still lurks deep inside somewhere. As I have said before, I am definitely a cowardly anarchist. My heart is anarchic but I have way to much vested in the status quo to actually want it to happen.
https://youtu.be/GOlgZo5e7gI?t=192
Now I'm enervated. Not nice, probably, but there we are.
They are not, however, a set of leaderless louts. They have capacity and if and when some building goes up in smoke Oklahoma style or several people get killed in a single incident, they will no doubt they will be called a huge threat. They are a threat, they do have organisation, there is simply a lack of focus.
No one can assess whether today was considered a success for some of the groups involved or a failure because we don't know exactly what was on their objective list. There is every possibility that it will be considered a success because it was a day out, cause shit event that actually achieved much more, in their reckoning, than they thought it would. They could have put thousands through the breach into the Capitol Building, yet the vast majority stood outside. That in itself gives you an idea of the level of ambition on the day.
CNN reporting "White House aides" pressed for the National Guard to be called upon, Trump wouldn't - then Pence did it by himself. This is going too far, way too far.
Just had this thought - IF she has any sense, wouldn't Susan Collins switch parties tomorrow? Or at least declare herself an Independent?
Some of the "dreams" that "foretold" that catastrophe are so uncanny they are hard to dismiss entirely. We know that the arrow of time is an illusion, as Einstein told us: space time exists in and within itself, so it is not logically impossible to believe someone could *foresee* a future which already *exists* (I know I am mixing science and mumbo-jumbo here, but where else can we go?)
I also recommend reading this, a superb true-life essay about clairvoyance in 60s Britain which is, I believe, being turned into a Hollywood movie. It heavily references Aberfan
https://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2019/03/04/the-psychiatrist-who-believed-people-could-tell-the-future
Just spoke to a friend who has been poorly lately. He'd perked up no end watching all this, but then he was a journalist so easy to understand how it got the juices flowing.
Maybe Richard was once a journalist, or at least a frustrated one.
That's part of what's so cumulatively dangerous about the Trump phenomenon ; he's a sort of lethal entertainer, who continually treads a fine line between theatre and absolute chaos. No wonder one of the invaders of the Capitol was wearing a Joker outfit.
The problem is that this continually deniable theatre / chaos, cumulatively and insidiously, shifts the parameters of acceptability, and disorients everyone around .