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politicalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Joe Biden says Trump will have to be “escorted from the White

SystemSystem Posts: 11,016
edited June 2020 in General

imagepoliticalbetting.com » Blog Archive » Joe Biden says Trump will have to be “escorted from the White House” if he’s not re-elected

One of the increasing worries about November’s US Presidential election is that Trump might not willingly leave the White House if he fails to get re-elected.

Read the full story here


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  • Options
    Ave_itAve_it Posts: 2,411
    Looks like Biden is getting worried! Is it MAGA 2 2020?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    Does anyone really believe this?
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    FishingFishing Posts: 4,561
    edited June 2020
    "My guess is that leaders of America’s allies, like Johnson, could possibly have role to play in such a scenario saying publicly that they won’t recognise Trump as President beyond January 20th."

    I imagine Johnson and others will be desperate not to get involved, as if they did it would only inflame the situation. Let SCOTUS sort it out.

    But it won't happen.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,371
    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.
  • Options
    dodradedodrade Posts: 595
    I suspect if defeat looks certain Trump will pull an LBJ before November and let Pence be the fall guy so he can brag throughout Biden's term that the Democrats never beat him.
  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952
    20 million votes short?
    Surely not.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,371
    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    Don't they lose the power automatically at noon on 20th Jan?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    I suppose the tricky bit will be if there is a court case about it that has not been resolved by the time he was supposed to have left. I mean by January California may have almost finished counting but Florida could still easily be arguing about what is a valid vote and what is not. Going by the caucuses several States may literally have no idea who won.

    It's democracy Jim, but not as we know it.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    edited June 2020
    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,371

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    Don't they lose the power automatically at noon on 20th Jan?
    Yup
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    Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 7,981

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    It is more likely that the Whitehouse staff and the Secret Service will simply bundle him out the side door. Their loyalty is to the Constitution, not to Trump.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
  • Options
    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,371
    DavidL said:

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    I suppose the tricky bit will be if there is a court case about it that has not been resolved by the time he was supposed to have left. I mean by January California may have almost finished counting but Florida could still easily be arguing about what is a valid vote and what is not. Going by the caucuses several States may literally have no idea who won.

    It's democracy Jim, but not as we know it.
    I have to admit the Trump/GOP approach on postal voting is baffling, without it they are screwed.

    Almost like the Tories banning postal voting.
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    Luckyguy1983Luckyguy1983 Posts: 25,393
    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    The face looks very pulled doesn't it? Shouldn't have done it - Should have left the crags and heavy chops in place - he would look younger with them.
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    Sunil_PrasannanSunil_Prasannan Posts: 49,261
    Trump lost by nearly 3 million votes in 2016!

    The Electoral Kindergarten is an outdated means to gift the White House to LOSERS like DICKHEAD DONALD!
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    SeanTSeanT Posts: 549
    edited June 2020
    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    Hahahahahaha

    Very good. Probably the funniest remark on PB this year. You're improving, kiddo
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    ydoethurydoethur Posts: 67,181
    eadric said:
    So just to be clear - if it can be stopped by events or incompetence, that means it’s never going to happen?
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
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    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,936
    dixiedean said:

    20 million votes short?
    Surely not.

    Must be a typo. It was 2 million.

    64.2 million to Clinton
    62.2 million to Trump
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    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited June 2020
    eadric said:
    A "march through the institutions", eh. I can imagine the response to briefings like that if this was a Corbyn administration. No wonder it's so easy for the Spiked and LivingMarxism/Furedi crowd to be onboard with, in some cases actually working within the administration.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    And has taken plenty to cope with the pain. Those eyes. Jeez.
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    TheScreamingEaglesTheScreamingEagles Posts: 114,371
    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
    He's still Commander-in-Chief, his word is the law until January 20th.
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    Ave_itAve_it Posts: 2,411

    Trump lost by nearly 3 million votes in 2016!

    The Electoral Kindergarten is an outdated means to gift the White House to LOSERS like DICKHEAD DONALD!

    But it could happen again. Dems win west and east coast states by landslides. Donald holds on in Florida and middle areas/rust belt by small margins.
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    HYUFDHYUFD Posts: 116,983
    In 2016 most states which fought for the Union in the US Civil War voted for Hillary and every state bar Virginia which fought for the Confederacy voted for Trump.

    Just saying...
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    stodgestodge Posts: 12,847
    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    There will be those who welcome Johnson's move - it's a fine example of Liberal Unionism in action. It's listening to the public mood and a good thing. It helps those who need it most at a difficult time.

    There will be those who argue the Government, rather than Twitter, should be making these kind of decisions and making the not unreasonable point Mr Rashford and those like him could easily make a personal contribution toward school meal funding rather than it coming from the hard-pressed taxpayer.

    It's called argument and democracy. Sometimes Johnson gets it right, sometimes he gets it wrong, sometimes there's merit on both sides of the argument.

    It's both those who excoriate the Government on everything and those who are its uncritical adherents who do democracy the greatest disservice.
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    Shorn_TeeShorn_Tee Posts: 1
    SeanT said:

    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    Hahahahahaha

    Very good. Probably the funniest remark on PB this year. You're improving
    It was fabulous. A classic piece of PB comedy by one of the site’s all time heroes.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
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    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,508
    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    Mike is an even-handed editor. He makes everyone look like that.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,597
    "We send 0.7% of GDP to despots and dictators, no strings attached.
    Let's keep sending it to them but demand that they buy weaponry from us in return"

    British foreign policy, 2020.
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216

    DavidL said:

    I think Congress has the power to take away power from Trump and Pence if they don't go as their terms expire next January and they cannot just continue if they've lost.

    I suppose the tricky bit will be if there is a court case about it that has not been resolved by the time he was supposed to have left. I mean by January California may have almost finished counting but Florida could still easily be arguing about what is a valid vote and what is not. Going by the caucuses several States may literally have no idea who won.

    It's democracy Jim, but not as we know it.
    I have to admit the Trump/GOP approach on postal voting is baffling, without it they are screwed.

    Almost like the Tories banning postal voting.
    I find most of American politics baffling. The gerrymandering, the voter suppression, the constant need to find judges to keep a pitiful number of voting booths open, the use of machinery that just doesn't work, the vagueness about when you even have to vote with hundreds or thousands drifting in days late, the absurd restrictions on felons when so many convictions have racial connotations, the ridiculous numbers of people not even on the register, it goes on and on. Many third world democracies would be enraged by any comparison. Its appalling.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,597
    HYUFD said:

    In 2016 most states which fought for the Union in the US Civil War voted for Hillary and every state bar Virginia which fought for the Confederacy voted for Trump.

    Just saying...

    It's as if Boss Hogg married Daisy Duke.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192

    eadric said:
    A "march through the institutions", eh. I can imagine the response to briefings like that if this was a Corbyn administration. No wonder it's so easy for the Spiked and LivingMarxism/Furedi crowd to be onboard with, in some cases actually working within the administration.
    Why has this man so much power? Could it be that Johnson has no clue himself and no idea what to do now he has won office?

    Looks that way.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    edited June 2020
    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
    The Hoover- FDR transition also occurred when the new President was not sworn in until the first week of March - so quite a bit longer period since the November election. FDR was President-elect for four months.
  • Options
    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,597
    eadric said:

    "We send 0.7% of GDP to despots and dictators, no strings attached.
    Let's keep sending it to them but demand that they buy weaponry from us in return"

    British foreign policy, 2020.

    Gaining apparent prestige by simply giving away money, which is what we were doing, is absurd. Even embarrassing.

    It's like Uday Hussein thinking he's really good at golf because the caddies reassure him he's scored ANOTHER hole in one.
    If it is going to be classed as aid rather than baksheesh then it should be allocated based on need rather than what is in it for us.
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    Stark_DawningStark_Dawning Posts: 9,298
    edited June 2020
    eadric said:
    It's hardly blazing originality though is it - reverting something back to how it was under John Major and before? What next, bringing back the National Board for Prices and Incomes?
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    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,046
    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
    Hmm. A well made argument in our public life would have considerable novelty value whether it was true or not. We saw one today from a 22 year old footballer and it was startling.
  • Options
    williamglennwilliamglenn Posts: 48,052

    eadric said:
    It's hardly blazing originality though is it - reverting something back to how it was under John Major and before? What next, bringing back the National Board for Prices and Incomes?
    A revolution in the relationship between citizen and state by setting up a hotline so people can report roadworks and the like that are not making adequate progress.
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    PulpstarPulpstar Posts: 75,914
    edited June 2020
    eadric said:
    He still should have gone, but the breathtaking subsequent set of double standards from plenty of his detractors *cough Piers* was quite something.
    Let's see what he's going to do with the "institutions"
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192
    Rashford-Lineker Party walks the next election?
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    edited June 2020
    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
    Hmm. A well made argument in our public life would have considerable novelty value whether it was true or not. We saw one today from a 22 year old footballer and it was startling.
    Yes... And the people who agreed with him are taking the piss out of the govt for implementing it!

    It really is the perfect example of wanting power more than getting policies they like, if they cant just say "fair enough, good outcome", on days like today
  • Options
    TomsToms Posts: 2,478
    edited June 2020
    The situation could be dangerous due to all those guns wielded by Trumpnuts.
    But, sorry Mike, I can't see disapproval by Boris making a blind bit of difference.

    As has been demonstrated recently the US military tends to avoid politics.

    I believe in old Rome the military stayed out of town. But it was the Praetorian guard wasn't it that installed Claudius? Claudius is usually considered to have been a stutterer and physically weak. Does that remind us of anyone?
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    AlistairAlistair Posts: 23,670
    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    But he didn't listen to Rashford. He was putting out ministers this very morning to say it was a bad policy. What he listened too was MP-constituent backlash.
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    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,551
    edited June 2020
    This is a headline on a supposedly "mainstream media" website.

    "Race and Revolution: Is Change Going to Come?"

    https://news.sky.com/story/race-and-revolution-is-change-going-to-come-12007980
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,597
    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
    Hmm. A well made argument in our public life would have considerable novelty value whether it was true or not. We saw one today from a 22 year old footballer and it was startling.
    Yes... And the people who agreed with him are taking the piss out of the govt for implementing it!

    It really is the perfect example of wanting power more than getting policies they like, if they cant just say "fair enough, good outcome" ,on days like today
    The Tories are being lampooned for the initial resistance, defence of the indefensible and humiliating U-turn. Not for finally doing the right thing,
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    The "boycott" of the Today programme amusingly seemed to break down in the early days of the Corona outbreak, but now seems to be back on too.

    A Trump-like petulance operating somewhere, I think.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527
    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
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    SandyRentoolSandyRentool Posts: 20,597
    Toms said:

    The situation could be dangerous due to all those guns wielded by Trumpnuts.
    But, sorry Mike, I can't see disapproval by Boris making a blind bit of difference.

    As has been demonstrated recently the US military tends to avoid politics.

    I believe in old Rome the military stayed out of town. But it was the Praetorian guard wasn't it that installed Claudius? Claudius is usually considered to have been a stutterer and physically weak. Does that remind us of anyone?

    George VI?
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    TomsToms Posts: 2,478

    Toms said:

    The situation could be dangerous due to all those guns wielded by Trumpnuts.
    But, sorry Mike, I can't see disapproval by Boris making a blind bit of difference.

    As has been demonstrated recently the US military tends to avoid politics.

    I believe in old Rome the military stayed out of town. But it was the Praetorian guard wasn't it that installed Claudius? Claudius is usually considered to have been a stutterer and physically weak. Does that remind us of anyone?

    George VI?
    Yes, as well.
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    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,189
    On the argument with GMB, in All Out War it is said that Cummings tried to ban ITV from the press conference on the 24 June (you know the one with Gove and Johnson looking somber).
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    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
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    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,936

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
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    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited June 2020
    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket, long-term boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
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    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    edited June 2020

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
    Hmm. A well made argument in our public life would have considerable novelty value whether it was true or not. We saw one today from a 22 year old footballer and it was startling.
    Yes... And the people who agreed with him are taking the piss out of the govt for implementing it!

    It really is the perfect example of wanting power more than getting policies they like, if they cant just say "fair enough, good outcome" ,on days like today
    The Tories are being lampooned for the initial resistance, defence of the indefensible and humiliating U-turn. Not for finally doing the right thing,
    "Look in the book" as they say in Cricket. History will record Rashford's letter being written on one day, and a couple later Boris implenting it. Only the bitter, partisan, refuse-to-be-happy-niks will still be up for an argument about the wheres and whys

    I am sure it's always been the same
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192
    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    It's Cummings trying to prove that all that matters now is social media.

  • Options
    FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,592

    Looks legit.

    https://twitter.com/stancollymore/status/1272967210689069057?s=21

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    What's quite amazing about following politics for the last decade or so, is the way people of all sides shape shift depending on their opponents behaviour, so that no one can ever be happy, and they always have to be angry. Like football supporters who can only ever give credit to their own team

    When Boris promised to look after the "Red Wall" voters who backed him last December, if we knew he was going to listen to a young, northern, black man and gone with a policy that benefited the poorest in society, against his free market ideals, we would have thought it a real example of the new compassionate Conservatives installing a bit of Social Democracy.

    It has happened... and the people that wanted him to act in the interests of such folk, and would hold him to account had he not are lampooning him for being weak and defeated.

    Of course, had he not implemented the school meal policy, he would have remained the white supremacist, tin eared, out of touch Bullingdon Boy who has no connection with anyone outside his bubble.

    Either way its definitely Dom's fault. Everything is.
    I think it's because politics attracts a lot of people who think a well made argument with a very tenuous link to the truth is impressive.
    Hmm. A well made argument in our public life would have considerable novelty value whether it was true or not. We saw one today from a 22 year old footballer and it was startling.
    Yes... And the people who agreed with him are taking the piss out of the govt for implementing it!

    It really is the perfect example of wanting power more than getting policies they like, if they cant just say "fair enough, good outcome" ,on days like today
    The Tories are being lampooned for the initial resistance, defence of the indefensible and humiliating U-turn. Not for finally doing the right thing,
    Correctomundo.
  • Options
    Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 7,981
    tlg86 said:

    On the argument with GMB, in All Out War it is said that Cummings tried to ban ITV from the press conference on the 24 June (you know the one with Gove and Johnson looking somber).

    24th June??? You can see 8 days into the future? That should help with betting....
  • Options
    kle4kle4 Posts: 91,721
    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    I do think governments need to accept getting a hard time, even unreasonably, as the price of getting info out there even in normal times. Like the mere act of asking people to vote for you it is an unenjoyable but necessary part of the political game.

    However, I do tend toward justin's take on this to a degree, in there being no obligation, and the way they are complaining about it makes it look just as pettily driven as any government response. Neil's call out of Boris during the GE campaign, not that it mattered, makes for an interesting counter example, in that while Neil has a big ego and the government held firm and won the day, the manner of his delivery was powerful and made in a way to emphasise it as a matter of principle, whether it was or not.

    This, by contrast, is two sides acting like children.
  • Options
    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
    Ok - but how were Churchill , Attlee , Chamberlain and Baldwin scrutinized by the Broadcasters?
  • Options
    FrankBoothFrankBooth Posts: 9,046

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    From what I am reading and listening to crime/murder rates have come down considerably in recent decades.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    Cameron and Osborne were very reluctant to ever be interviewed by Andrew Neil, I think
  • Options
    tlg86tlg86 Posts: 25,189

    tlg86 said:

    On the argument with GMB, in All Out War it is said that Cummings tried to ban ITV from the press conference on the 24 June (you know the one with Gove and Johnson looking
    somber).

    24th June??? You can see 8 days into the future? That should help with betting....
    2016!
  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,936
    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    Certainly not with presenters of the ilk of Morgan.

    But I do think it was a great error for Johnson not to be interviewed by Andrew Neil. It is one thing to avoid the sensationalist types of interviewers who are looking for the gotcha moments but there are still a number of serious journalists who are on top of their briefs and who are looking to get serious answers to serious questions.

    I know in the end people will say it didn't harm Johnson as he won but the basic principle of avoiding public scrutiny in that way is, I believe, a poor message to send.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    More than were killed on both sides put together in the Civil war in actual combat. Just mind blowing.
  • Options
    MightyAlexMightyAlex Posts: 1,442
    edited June 2020
    Pulpstar said:

    eadric said:
    He still should have gone, but the breathtaking subsequent set of double standards from plenty of his detractors *cough Piers* was quite something.
    Let's see what he's going to do with the "institutions"
    Just remember the political pendulum will swing in the next decade. What happens to the BBC and other valued institutions will not be forgotten. There will be an equal and opposite backlash against Cummings's no doubt hyper partisan 'reform'.
  • Options
    NigelbNigelb Posts: 62,508
    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    Because so are the government ?
  • Options
    Beibheirli_CBeibheirli_C Posts: 7,981
    Toms said:

    The situation could be dangerous due to all those guns wielded by Trumpnuts.
    But, sorry Mike, I can't see disapproval by Boris making a blind bit of difference.

    As has been demonstrated recently the US military tends to avoid politics.

    I believe in old Rome the military stayed out of town. But it was the Praetorian guard wasn't it that installed Claudius? Claudius is usually considered to have been a stutterer and physically weak. Does that remind us of anyone?

    All the service branches swear to serve the Constitution, not the President. The US military will simply no longer obey Trump and the USSS is the Praetorian Guard.

    Trump is surrounded by people with handcuffs and guns who will simply give him the choice of being cuffed on TV or discretely leaving.

    It will not be a circus. He might rant and rave between the election and the swearing in, but nobody is going to let him start WW3
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited June 2020
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
    Ok - but how were Churchill , Attlee , Chamberlain and Baldwin scrutinized by the Broadcasters?
    Usually with a deference that wouldn't be repeated now - and rightly so - but with such little media space they had very little room to pick and choose broadcasters. Douglas-Home and Macmillan, once ITV was formed, and Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major and Cameron never did this.
  • Options
    Tim_BTim_B Posts: 7,669
    edited June 2020
    DavidL said:

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    More than were killed on both sides put together in the Civil war in actual combat. Just mind blowing.
    I do live in the USA, and the leading cause of death among black males under 25 is gunshot wound. There is also a fundamental problem with police violence. The two are not connected.
  • Options
    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
    Ok - but how were Churchill , Attlee , Chamberlain and Baldwin scrutinized by the Broadcasters?
    Usually with a deference that wouldn't be repeated now - and rightly so - but with such little media space they had very little room to pick and choose broadcasters. Douglas-Home and Macmillan, once ITV was formed, and Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major and Cameron never did this.
    Wilson had a big blowout with David Dimbleby over his Yesterday's Men programme in 1971 and declined to be interviewed by him again.
  • Options
    dodradedodrade Posts: 595

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
    He's still Commander-in-Chief, his word is the law until January 20th.
    But once the clock strikes midday he is nothing, even if he starts WWIII first the transition must still take place (e.g. Atlee replacing Churchill in the middle of the Potsdam Conference).
  • Options
    MexicanpeteMexicanpete Posts: 25,137

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    Certainly not with presenters of the ilk of Morgan.

    But I do think it was a great error for Johnson not to be interviewed by Andrew Neil. It is one thing to avoid the sensationalist types of interviewers who are looking for the gotcha moments but there are still a number of serious journalists who are on top of their briefs and who are looking to get serious answers to serious questions.

    I know in the end people will say it didn't harm Johnson as he won but the basic principle of avoiding public scrutiny in that way is, I believe, a poor message to send.
    Indeed
  • Options
    Andy_JSAndy_JS Posts: 26,551
    That's what happens if you spend most of your time on social media.
  • Options
    FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,592

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    From what I am reading and listening to crime/murder rates have come down considerably in recent decades.
    Indeed that (and HIV treatments) are the main reason that the life expectancy gap with white America has substantially closed.

    The problem with police killings, and cases like Trayvon Martin, or Ahmaud Arbery is that they look very much like lynching rather than accidents, or overreaction.
  • Options
    WhisperingOracleWhisperingOracle Posts: 8,503
    edited June 2020
    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
    Ok - but how were Churchill , Attlee , Chamberlain and Baldwin scrutinized by the Broadcasters?
    Usually with a deference that wouldn't be repeated now - and rightly so - but with such little media space they had very little room to pick and choose broadcasters. Douglas-Home and Macmillan, once ITV was formed, and Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major and Cameron never did this.
    Wilson had a big blowout with David Dimbleby over his Yesterday's Men programme in 1971 and declined to be interviewed by him again.
    There were various bust-ups between individuals, but entire channels, outlets and programmes were generally not boycotted. That's a development of the modern media culture war age, and is a kind of media performance for the benefit of supporters, in itself.
  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    Tim_B said:

    DavidL said:

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    More than were killed on both sides put together in the Civil war in actual combat. Just mind blowing.
    I do live in the USA, and the leading cause of death among black males under 25 is gunshot wound. There is also a fundamental problem with police violence. The two are not connected.
    And every other kind of violence, particularly drug related.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192
    BBC blocked from filming properly in Wuhan. Interviews interrupted by plain clothes police.

    Nothing to hide, no siree.

  • Options
    Richard_TyndallRichard_Tyndall Posts: 30,936

    Are the protests against police killings in the United States hysterical? Doing a bit of digging and black people make up 13% of the US population, 26% of police killings and 52% of homicide victims. If one assumes that at least some police killings ARE justified it's fairly clear that the killings at the hands of the police are a drop in the ocean. I also understand that murder in the US tends to be pretty intraracial - whites kill whites and blacks kill blacks.

    It may be that the images of Floyd bring out a deeper feeling in people that the police behave callously or are racist in general. But the idea that black men being killed by the police is the biggest problem facing the United States is absurd. I feel misled.

    I can't make any judgement on your question as I don't know. I don't live in the US, visit rarely and don't have any friends in the black community over there. So I am ill equipped to judge.

    But what I find terrifying is the stat that between 1980 and 2013 262,000 black males were killed in the US. The vast majority of those were not killed by police either legitimately or illegitimately.

    There is something fundamentally wrong in, and with, the US today. Much as I wish it would, I don't see the current wave of protests making it any better.
    From what I am reading and listening to crime/murder rates have come down considerably in recent decades.
    According to the CDC tables, if you are a black male under 44 years of age homicide is by far the largest single cause of death.

    Ages 1-19 Homicide accounts for 35.3% of all black male deaths
    Ages 20 - 44 Homicide accounts for 27.6% of all black male deaths

  • Options
    DavidLDavidL Posts: 51,216
    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    Cameron and Osborne were very reluctant to ever be interviewed by Andrew Neil, I think
    Well yes, but he's terrifying.
  • Options
    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192
    Andy_JS said:

    That's what happens if you spend most of your time on social media.
    :lol:

    What else can you do in a pandemic though
  • Options
    rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787
    As we all know being political wonks, it's the members of the Electoral College that get elected in November. They meet to cast their votes in mid-December, but not together as a whole, rather each state's electors meet separately. The electoral votes cast are sent by the state officials to DC, and the current VP, as President of the Senate, opens the votes in early January before the two houses of new Congress.

    So, if Trump loses the electoral vote in November, he's only really got two options for actually using his inevitable claims of election fraud to subvert the process and claim victory:

    1) He can try to get the courts to disqualify votes that he claims are fraudulent, and/or get the state administrations, where controlled by Republicans, to do likewise, awarding the electoral votes to the Republican electoral slate. The former is a possibility, but I don't think the latter is very likely.

    2) He can get Pence as President of the Senate to refuse to allow the count of electoral votes received from the states where he claims fraud took place. However, the Constitution does not make it clear that the VP actually has the power to conduct the count: the general consensus is that the VP just presides over the process and that the authority to count rests with the houses of Congress in joint session, which is almost certainly going to be majority Democratic.

    There's precedent for all this, mostly from the disputed election of 1876, where some states ended up sending two competing returns, signed by governors and secretaries of state of different parties (in most states the secretary of state is elected independently of the governor). That was resolved by Congress appointing a bipartisan commission to rule on which electoral returns to accept.

    The bottom line though, is that by January 20th 2021, someone will have been legally declared the victor of the presidential election, and if that someone is not Donald J. Trump, then Trump can sit and glower in the White House until noon, but at that point he will cease to be POTUS and will be removed just as soon as the new President orders it.
  • Options
    isamisam Posts: 40,915
    DavidL said:

    isam said:

    DavidL said:

    Our media are pig ignorant, biased, driven by gotchas, fundamentally dishonest and partisan. But I really don't understand this "we are not speaking to you any more" strategy. Its just silly and counterproductive.
    Cameron and Osborne were very reluctant to ever be interviewed by Andrew Neil, I think
    Well yes, but he's terrifying.
    What got me into politics as much as I am was working from home from around 2009 onwards, and watching the politics shows on tv, generally featuring Andrew Neil. I loved This Week, but although sad that it has gone it did become a bit silly near the end, and I didn't like Neil's intro monologues one little bit, I found them quite cringey.

  • Options
    dixiedeandixiedean Posts: 27,952
    dodrade said:

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
    He's still Commander-in-Chief, his word is the law until January 20th.
    But once the clock strikes midday he is nothing, even if he starts WWIII first the transition must still take place (e.g. Atlee replacing Churchill in the middle of the Potsdam Conference).
    Stalin thought Churchill had been purged.
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    FoxyFoxy Posts: 44,592
    Andy_JS said:

    That's what happens if you spend most of your time on social media.
    Its is a recent change, in the last couple of years. Partly Covid related, but it is clear that for many Americans life has not been made great again.

    Hence the polls being good for Biden.
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    rottenboroughrottenborough Posts: 58,192
    Bannon speaks on 2020 election:


    I think China will be at the centerpiece of that. The Democrats could not have selected a worse candidate to make an argument to the American people than Joe Biden. So I think 2020 is really a continuation almost of 2016. We still have not worked through these issues. Remember, the campaign slogan was “Make America Great Again.”

    I said that that is going to be a generational struggle. You’re not going to wave a magic wand. I think 2020 is shaping up in the last 150 days to be just this classic counter of the globalism of Joe Biden and the Wall Street faction of the Democratic Party versus the economic nationalism and populism of Trump and potentially some slice of the Bernie [Sanders] contingent.

    This confrontation with the Chinese Communist Party, I believe, will be the single defining aspect of 2020. And yes, I think for President Trump, because I think he’s just getting the sea legs now. Focusing on the law and order aspect of this, he was kind of quiet for the first week, as are the poll numbers.

    https://asiatimes.com/2020/06/bannon-tells-at-us-election-is-all-about-china/?fbclid=IwAR1ZZrUWG3uwleecwCxZDzjtG_-2iBNnPbaOi6EzvcxA6V9Xy1dlnwtUMw0
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    It’s a disgraceful thing for Biden to say. He’s undermining the integrity of the system, presumably to energise his base.

    Trump will leave office if he loses. I’d be worried that he’ll say “fuck in” in November, write a few pardons and go to Florida for the winter
  • Options
    rpjsrpjs Posts: 3,787
    edited June 2020
    Toms said:

    The situation could be dangerous due to all those guns wielded by Trumpnuts.
    But, sorry Mike, I can't see disapproval by Boris making a blind bit of difference.

    As has been demonstrated recently the US military tends to avoid politics.

    I believe in old Rome the military stayed out of town. But it was the Praetorian guard wasn't it that installed Claudius? Claudius is usually considered to have been a stutterer and physically weak. Does that remind us of anyone?

    The difference with Rome is that the Roman military weren't really the army of the state as we understand it, or even the army of the emperor as commander-in-chief of the state, but the personal troops of the emperor. The Roman Republic did not have standing armies in the modern sense: each magistrate or pro-magistrate raised armies as needed by exercising their imperium - their legal right to make commands binding on Roman citizens. The emperors abolished imperium as something shared among the magistrates and held it all themselves. As each emperor came to the throne, they would buy the troops personal loyalty to themselves by giving out a huge cash bonus, and individual army commanders were literally delegates of the emperor (legatus augustii) Conversely, emperors would be overthrown when a large enough mass of the army became dissatisfied with the current emperor's rule and acclaimed their local commander as imperator (so long as that new imperator could actually defeat the old one on the battle field of course!).
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758
    SeanT said:

    eadric said:

    It's not overly encouraging that the image of Biden, here, makes him resemble a toothless corpse which has just been posthumously sodomised with a cattle prod

    Hahahahahaha

    Very good. Probably the funniest remark on PB this year. You're improving, kiddo
    Dude. Laughing at your own jokes is just a no no
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    BenpointerBenpointer Posts: 31,655
    dixiedean said:

    dodrade said:

    DavidL said:

    DavidL said:

    Does anyone really believe this?

    I suspect Trump will lose with dishonour, and make the transition awful and leave a number of disasters for Biden to deal with.

    You know starting a war with Iran and the like.
    Power runs away from him if he has clearly lost. In the period before FDR took office Hoover begged him to give some support to his policies as the banking network in State after State collapsed. FDR refused to do or say anything. Things got very ugly between them and the reciprocal hospitality that is standard between an incoming and outgoing President did not occur. Hoover considered it pretty much treason. FDR did not want to be trapped by failed policies. In the end though the outgoing President has no cards to play.
    He's still Commander-in-Chief, his word is the law until January 20th.
    But once the clock strikes midday he is nothing, even if he starts WWIII first the transition must still take place (e.g. Atlee replacing Churchill in the middle of the Potsdam Conference).
    Stalin thought Churchill had been purged.
    How did he explain the lack of an ice-pick sticking out of the back of Churchill's head then?
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    CharlesCharles Posts: 35,758

    "We send 0.7% of GDP to despots and dictators, no strings attached.
    Let's keep sending it to them but demand that they buy weaponry from us in return"

    British foreign policy, 2020.

    Mitchell was actually a pretty good head of DfID. The organisation is thoughtful about what it funds and, in the main, pretty effective.

    The waste comes from some of the multilateral schemes it funds (eg the £1bn it gives to the EU to hand out on our behalf despite the fact that we are objectively better at it).

    I actually have more issue with the fixed 0.7% target - I’d rather we spent money that is value added rather than to hit an arbitrary target
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,304

    BBC blocked from filming properly in Wuhan. Interviews interrupted by plain clothes police.

    Nothing to hide, no siree.

    Not suspicious at all really, is it?
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    Casino_RoyaleCasino_Royale Posts: 55,304
    Trump might stop being a performance c**t if he loses, which he might view as a relief, or he might double down.

    Difficult to know which.
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    justin124justin124 Posts: 11,527

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    justin124 said:

    I actually have some sympathy for the Government on this. The fact that a Television or Radio programme exists imposes no obligation on politicians to appear on them. Harold Wilson and Ted Heath did not have to make themselves available , and I see no reason why their successors today should be cajoled into bowing to the wishes of Broadcasters.
    This tactic, borrowed from across the Atlantic, is largely though more about pre-empting particular kinds of scrutiny than failing to respond to particular requests. It's a pattern of blanket boycotting of certain outlets once they lay down a particular challenge on a particular issue, followed by the governments' more favoured and centrally manageable channels of communication on social media. This is not a democratic advance.
    Ok - but how were Churchill , Attlee , Chamberlain and Baldwin scrutinized by the Broadcasters?
    Usually with a deference that wouldn't be repeated now - and rightly so - but with such little media space they had very little room to pick and choose broadcasters. Douglas-Home and Macmillan, once ITV was formed, and Wilson, Callaghan, Thatcher, Major and Cameron never did this.
    Wilson had a big blowout with David Dimbleby over his Yesterday's Men programme in 1971 and declined to be interviewed by him again.
    There were various bust-ups between individuals, but entire channels, outlets and programmes were generally not boycotted. That's a development of the modern media culture war age, and is a kind of media performance for the benefit of supporters, in itself.
    The Government is not boycotting the BBC as a whole though - it does send on representatives for Andrew Marr's programme.
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