BBC to launch reality show to find new 15 mins of fame desperados
Sadiq Khan wants to introduce hotel tourist tax
Haringey to charge larger cars more to park.
Any more for any more?
We should definitely tax airbnbs heavily, less fussed about hotels. Car parking for bigger cars not lunacy either, but probably much easier just to continue further increases on road taxes to disincentivise them. Couldn't care less about TV I don't watch, but if other people enjoy it let them!
Supervillain. I keep saying this. Actual, full-on, supervillain. He's got his own satellite network, rocket fleet, android soldiers, armoured personnel carriers, flame throwers, tunnel diggers, and now he's buying governments. If this was a comic he'd be Dr Impossible or something. He's one black glove and white cat away from monologuing.
The Ukraine the Latest Telegraph podcast (which to my ear is the one rational bit of the T I get to hear/see; there may be other rubies in the dust) is coming across as flabbergasted.
Slightly diappointed by the title - I was hoping for philososphy from Bart on why we are headed back into the dark ages .
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
This is such a superb analysis of Why Trump, FPT, by @darkage, I an simply going to repost it
“The populist right is the answer to the problems we face by a process of elimination - there is no other answer and no other viable option.
The counterfactual to that is Brexit.
There was no problem with being a member of the EU that Brexit actually solved.
The populist right made a lot of noise, got their way, and it's shit.
Murica is about to enter the Find Out phase of the same process...
Jesus Fucking Christ STFU about Brexit
Radical free speech Leon speaks.
I don't think Leon is saying that it should be illegal for Scott to talk about Brexit. Just that he might prefer it if he chose not to. This is what people misunderstand about free speech. I'd prefer (perhaps quite strongly) you not to say that <> it ought to be illegal to say that. See also Celtic fans on Rememberance Day, or indeed much of what football fans say.
Leon is free to argue with Scott or ignore him. I'm not misunderstanding anything - just pointing out what a risible comment it was.
The old ‘would you say it to their face’ test isn’t a bad one when it comes to online etiquette. Roaring ‘Jesus Fucking Christ STFU’ at someone in the pub, however boring and repetitive they are, probably not recommended.
Especially if they have an XL Bully, or just a Pocket Bully even.
Searching for Trump on blue sky and X shows a stark divide between the platforms
The Twitter flouncers are interesting. Prior to Musk Twitter was left wing in its outlook and moderation and regularly banning and removing content it didn’t like but was perfectly legal. The flounders were happy then when I was an echo chamber of their views. They just don’t like a level playing field on the whole.
Bollocks, Taz. Lots of people are just fed up that Twitter is full of porn bots and crypto scams. The antisemitism is bad too.
Good moderation always entails removing content that is perfectly legal, but is disruptive to your site (see the foundational principles of online communities by Jenny Preece), as well as removing the illegal content.
Yes, I am fed up of the porn bots and crypto scams but they seem less than, say, 12 months ago.
I Am also fed up of the way ads present themselves.
The flouncers state their reasons for flouncing and it is mostly political so I Think I am correct.
I'm sort of with Gamaliel the Elder on this one, whilst wishing devastation on Musk.
This morning I saw the first of the major Ukraine focused Youtuber I follow switching to BlueSky - that is Ukraine Matters.
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
This is such a superb analysis of Why Trump, FPT, by @darkage, I an simply going to repost it
“The populist right is the answer to the problems we face by a process of elimination - there is no other answer and no other viable option.
The counterfactual to that is Brexit.
There was no problem with being a member of the EU that Brexit actually solved.
The populist right made a lot of noise, got their way, and it's shit.
Murica is about to enter the Find Out phase of the same process...
Jesus Fucking Christ STFU about Brexit
Radical free speech Leon speaks.
I don't think Leon is saying that it should be illegal for Scott to talk about Brexit. Just that he might prefer it if he chose not to. This is what people misunderstand about free speech. I'd prefer (perhaps quite strongly) you not to say that <> it ought to be illegal to say that. See also Celtic fans on Rememberance Day, or indeed much of what football fans say.
Leon is free to argue with Scott or ignore him. I'm not misunderstanding anything - just pointing out what a risible comment it was.
The old ‘would you say it to their face’ test isn’t a bad one when it comes to online etiquette. Roaring ‘Jesus Fucking Christ STFU’ at someone in the pub, however boring and repetitive they are, probably not recommended.
What complete hypocritical drivel. You spit endless bile on here at Yoons and Huns who would, if they heard you say this in reality, beat the fucking shit out of you, Ibrox style
As you are safely anonymous online, you face no such retribution
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
Thankfully childhood vaccines are for the States to administer, rather than the Federal government.
Kennedy’s other ideas, from implementing European food standards in the US to getting the big money out of the healthcare industry, are things that are much less controversial to the American people.
Here’s Trump’s and RFK’s statements following his nomination: no mention of vaccines.
https://x.com/realdonaldtrump/status/1857170020427595797 I am thrilled to announce Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as The United States Secretary of Health and Human Services (HHS). For too long, Americans have been crushed by the industrial food complex and drug companies who have engaged in deception, misinformation, and disinformation when it comes to Public Health. The Safety and Health of all Americans is the most important role of any Administration, and HHS will play a big role in helping ensure that everybody will be protected from harmful chemicals, pollutants, pesticides, pharmaceutical products, and food additives that have contributed to the overwhelming Health Crisis in this Country. Mr. Kennedy will restore these Agencies to the traditions of Gold Standard Scientific Research, and beacons of Transparency, to end the Chronic Disease epidemic, and to Make America Great and Healthy Again!
We have a generational opportunity to bring together the greatest minds in science, medicine, industry, and government to put an end to the chronic disease epidemic.
I look forward to working with the more than 80,000 employees at HHS to free the agencies from the smothering cloud of corporate capture so they can pursue their mission to make Americans once again the healthiest people on Earth.
Together we will clean up corruption, stop the revolving door between industry and government, and return our health agencies to their rich tradition of gold-standard, evidence-based science. I will provide Americans with transparency and access to all the data so they can make informed choices for themselves and their families.
My commitment to the American people is to be an honest public servant. Let’s go!
So he's going after the likes of Nestlé, Tyson, Mondolez, Coke and Pepsi? The average American will starve.
If RFKjr will, as he says, stop the revolving door between industry and government then perhaps we should give him a job once he has inevitably fallen out with The Donald.
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
Last time I was there it took over an hour to clear the passport control. Damn nearly missed my flight, despite being at the airport 2h30 before departure.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Why?
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
The 5D chess version of this would be that, by throwing out all these terrible appointments, everyone is distracted from the routine grift that is the real object of the exercise.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
As I have said before, there is a window for reform, on planning.
Then the Fuck The Planners Party will appear and use primary legislation to do whatever they want.
Once primary legislation starts being used, it will become a regular thing.
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
I can see why you chose your moniker. You desire a new dark age.
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
Trump has clearly put loyalty first in his Cabinet picks ahead of particular expertise in many posts and also ignored any background issues.
Ironically while the GOP now control Congress GOP Senators may be the main point of resistance to the midterms, having backed establishment Thune over the Trump backed Scott
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
I can see why you chose your moniker. You desire a new dark age.
One of the curious ways that the new right is like the old left.
Incremental improvement is not only impossible, but undesirable, because it delays the inevitable revolution.
This is such a superb analysis of Why Trump, FPT, by @darkage, I an simply going to repost it
“The populist right is the answer to the problems we face by a process of elimination - there is no other answer and no other viable option.
The counterfactual to that is Brexit.
There was no problem with being a member of the EU that Brexit actually solved.
The populist right made a lot of noise, got their way, and it's shit.
Murica is about to enter the Find Out phase of the same process...
Jesus Fucking Christ STFU about Brexit
Radical free speech Leon speaks.
I don't think Leon is saying that it should be illegal for Scott to talk about Brexit. Just that he might prefer it if he chose not to. This is what people misunderstand about free speech. I'd prefer (perhaps quite strongly) you not to say that <> it ought to be illegal to say that. See also Celtic fans on Rememberance Day, or indeed much of what football fans say.
Leon is free to argue with Scott or ignore him. I'm not misunderstanding anything - just pointing out what a risible comment it was.
The old ‘would you say it to their face’ test isn’t a bad one when it comes to online etiquette. Roaring ‘Jesus Fucking Christ STFU’ at someone in the pub, however boring and repetitive they are, probably not recommended.
What complete hypocritical drivel. You spit endless bile on here at Yoons and Huns who would, if they heard you say this in reality, beat the fucking shit out of you, Ibrox style
As you are safely anonymous online, you face no such retribution
Ignoring your fevered imaginings can you give an example of this endless bile?
Anyway, great to hear from someone who safely hides behind several anonymous online identities.
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
I can see why you chose your moniker. You desire a new dark age.
Nothing is inevitable - but there is a problem of good intentions leading to catastrophic outcomes. If you point things out, then perhaps a different outcome is possible.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
See also Aaron Bastiani's positive commentary on JD Vance.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
So the German election is now going to be the 23rd February - just 4 days before Weiberfastnacht and carnival. WTF. For much of the Rhineland this is like having an election the weekend before christmas - worse in that carnival is a way bigger deal than christmas in many places.
Not going down well round here.
Given Scholz has lost confidence, why is the election not still for three and a half months?
There has been no confidence vote. It's not until December 16th.
Huh? How is that possible if the coalition collapsed? You'd think the opposition would be chomping at the bit to table such a vote.
Is there a hope that the current government can pull it back from the brink? Basically giving the FDP enough time to realise that they will get marmalised if the have an election now, so getting prissy about their fiscal rules would be a mistake.
The FDP are anyway buggered. They are probably calculating that their only hope is to campaign as part of the opposition. FWIW I don't think people will fall for it, but I tend to forget how very little attention a lot of voters pay to politics between elections.
@RobD The opposition may be chomping at the bit, but AIUI they can only call a constructive confidence vote ie propose an alternative chancellor that the majority vote for, and they don't have the votes (as they don't want to rely on AfD votes for this).
On current polls the only coalitions which would have a majority would be another CDU/CSU-SPD grand coalition or CDU-AfD but the CDU have ruled the latter out
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
Yeah, maybe time to switch off politics. Its going to be a madhouse sucking attention away from everything else.
We really should focus more on the UK, Europe and RoW instead but that will be impossible.
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
You mean, it’s Manchester’s level of awfulness?
I’ve not been to Manchester but I do hear bad things
I’ve been surprised by the mediocrity of the Asian airports I’ve experienced on this trip. I think we blithely assume they are all Changi. Or at least as nice as BKK. They are not
Maybe Manila’s direness (90 fucking minute queues for immigration) is forgivable. It’s a poor country. But Osaka was meh and Incheon was actively bad. They still haven’t worked out the multiple-slots-for-security-queues that are now de rigueur in london airports. Such a basic remedy but it speeds up everything so easily
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
Yeah, maybe time to switch off politics. Its going to be a madhouse sucking attention away from everything else.
We really should focus more on the UK, Europe and RoW instead but that will be impossible.
New hobby needed, this is all too depressing. Maybe beekeeping.
Interesting graph of per capita GDP growth over recent quarters.
I see it's Fash-Friday on PB, so time to log off for a bit.
Posting a graph which invites commentary on immigration is hardly helping
We've talked a lot about GDP per capita on here. Economic growth doesn't matter all that much to individuals, but it is critical to the government (irrespective of who is in power). The chart that Foxy has posted won't be of any comfort to the Chancellor.
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
I can see why you chose your moniker. You desire a new dark age.
One of the curious ways that the new right is like the old left.
Incremental improvement is not only impossible, but undesirable, because it delays the inevitable revolution.
Good point, but there is more. The centre ground (eg the common ground of all our governments since WWII) has held for so long because it presented a working alternative to either Marxist type thinking, or fascist type thinking. Both of these relied on a sort of 'Year Nought' thinking in which, Napolean like, the proper world, and proper reform starts from NOW.
Two changes have occurred. The common ground has ceased to be good at solutions and good enough at civil management; and issues have emerged, of which climate change is the most notable, where common ground gradualism and incrementalism have both failed us (they gave us the problem) and are impossible as solutions (if the science is true only an uncomfortable global revolution of stark nature, and isn't going to happen, can save us).
At which point human nature turns to; religion of crazy sorts, denial, the strong man theory of government, barrier building and self interest.
On current polls the only coalitions which would have a majority would be another CDU/CSU-SPD grand coalition or CDU-AfD but the CDU have ruled the latter out
CDU/CSU and Green might also scrape a majority but CDU/CSU and SPD would have a more comfortable majority. Yet given Merz's desire to scrap much Germany climate change regulation and tax and take a harder line on immigration any deal between him and the Greens looks a non starter
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Searching for Trump on blue sky and X shows a stark divide between the platforms
The Twitter flouncers are interesting. Prior to Musk Twitter was left wing in its outlook and moderation and regularly banning and removing content it didn’t like but was perfectly legal. The flounders were happy then when I was an echo chamber of their views. They just don’t like a level playing field on the whole.
Bollocks, Taz. Lots of people are just fed up that Twitter is full of porn bots and crypto scams. The antisemitism is bad too.
Good moderation always entails removing content that is perfectly legal, but is disruptive to your site (see the foundational principles of online communities by Jenny Preece), as well as removing the illegal content.
Yes, I am fed up of the porn bots and crypto scams but they seem less than, say, 12 months ago.
I Am also fed up of the way ads present themselves.
The flouncers state their reasons for flouncing and it is mostly political so I Think I am correct.
I'm sort of with Gamaliel the Elder on this one, whilst wishing devastation on Musk.
This morning I saw the first of the major Ukraine focused Youtuber I follow switching to BlueSky - that is Ukraine Matters.
The Special Kherson Cat is still on twitter.
A twitter-like entity could be good. But Twitter was poisonous and X is poisonous in an only slightly different way. I'd rather not give too much power to Musk, but it was also a negative to give too much power to the pre-Musk Twittersphere.
I don't know what the answer is to getting strangers to talk civilly to each other on controversial issues without immediately herding people into one of two extreme positions but it hasn't been managed yet. Though on a small-scale 150-odd strangers sort-of-know-each-other, pb.com does quite well (is it coincidental that the number of regular posters on pb.com* is close-ish to the magic number of 150?)
Indeed, how many regular-ish posters does pb.com have? My finger-in-the-air guess is there are 150-ish names I recognise enough to be able to recall where that particular poster is coming from.
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
You mean, it’s Manchester’s level of awfulness?
Manchester Terminal 2 is now very pleasant or at least it was completely hassle free when we travelled through it in October...
In fact the only issue was we got confused going to the multi-story carpark and ended up going via the new drop off zone - that's fix when we go in December as we are staying at a different hotel so have a different route to the carpark.
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
What makes you believe that Gaetz isn't just part of a self-centred (rich) minority who covers his naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens?
Yes indeed. The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen. The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats. Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws. Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be. There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests. These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied. This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
I owned Tesla stock for years before the boom and did very well out of it.
At that time I really believed in what the company was doing. Bur after he went off the deep end I sold my Tesla stock and in hindsight the success of the company wasn’t down to him. In fact every time he opened his mouth the stock price went down.
I think Tesla is a good company (albeit I think long term it’s slightly doomed) but I do stand by what I said on Musk.
He’s also destroyed Twitter. Not necessarily from too much right wing stuff, just its usability. It goes down constantly, the algorithm is completely borked for recommendations and the platform is generally worse in every single way to use since he took over. Sadly it’s something I see time and time again. It’s happening to Slack as we speak.
Still don’t hate him though, I find him entertaining and fascinating.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Something more cheering. As I walked out of my beachside villa last night I saw this
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Favoring Trump over people who pursue their naked self interest and don't give a fuck about most of their fellow citizens... lol. Who said satire was dead?
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Feeling all pumped up and validated, aren't you?
Donald Trump WON. The populist right is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Favoring Trump over people who pursue their naked self interest and don't give a fuck about most of their fellow citizens... lol. Who said satire was dead?
Searching for Trump on blue sky and X shows a stark divide between the platforms
The Twitter flouncers are interesting. Prior to Musk Twitter was left wing in its outlook and moderation and regularly banning and removing content it didn’t like but was perfectly legal. The flounders were happy then when I was an echo chamber of their views. They just don’t like a level playing field on the whole.
Bollocks, Taz. Lots of people are just fed up that Twitter is full of porn bots and crypto scams. The antisemitism is bad too.
Good moderation always entails removing content that is perfectly legal, but is disruptive to your site (see the foundational principles of online communities by Jenny Preece), as well as removing the illegal content.
Yes, I am fed up of the porn bots and crypto scams but they seem less than, say, 12 months ago.
I Am also fed up of the way ads present themselves.
The flouncers state their reasons for flouncing and it is mostly political so I Think I am correct.
I'm sort of with Gamaliel the Elder on this one, whilst wishing devastation on Musk.
This morning I saw the first of the major Ukraine focused Youtuber I follow switching to BlueSky - that is Ukraine Matters.
The Special Kherson Cat is still on twitter.
A twitter-like entity could be good. But Twitter was poisonous and X is poisonous in an only slightly different way. I'd rather not give too much power to Musk, but it was also a negative to give too much power to the pre-Musk Twittersphere.
I don't know what the answer is to getting strangers to talk civilly to each other on controversial issues without immediately herding people into one of two extreme positions but it hasn't been managed yet. Though on a small-scale 150-odd strangers sort-of-know-each-other, pb.com does quite well (is it coincidental that the number of regular posters on pb.com* is close-ish to the magic number of 150?)
Indeed, how many regular-ish posters does pb.com have? My finger-in-the-air guess is there are 150-ish names I recognise enough to be able to recall where that particular poster is coming from.
I think there are several things that help debate on PB:
*) We are generally real people, with real lives. When bots come on, or people acting too much like bots, they get booted.
*) We generally discuss a wide range of topics. All of us have bugbears and obsessions, in which we know we are right, and we can bore for our country on. But then the discussion moves on to another topics, and posters who were fighting like two feral cats will be agreeing on something. The 'like' system works quite well for that, I think, and stops threads being filled up with 'I agree!' posts. The mods allow the topics to wander.
*) We have a wide range of expertise, and almost all regular posters contribute posts that are of interest to at least some others.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
The careerists showed that they had a greater loyalty to the Constitution than to Trump when they refused to help him steal the election in 2020. Personal loyalty is now the alpha and omega of Trump's appointments.
'Hollywood actress Eva Longoria has revealed that her family no longer lives in the United States, and is splitting time between Mexico and Spain.
In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.
She also acknowledged she was "privileged" enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country."
The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.
With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.
She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama's famed "Yes, we can" slogan ("Si se puede") into the phrase "She se puede".
In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, external, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump's victory over Harris last week.
“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place," she said.'
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Feeling all pumped up and validated, aren't you?
Donald Trump WON. The populist right is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness
Such an irritating little man you are. I am duly irritated.
Something more cheering. As I walked out of my beachside villa last night I saw this
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
Well, they're rare, but the circumstances which lead to one moonbow would be quite likely to be around a few hours later. So these are not independent occurrences! Like the time I got two double yolkers in the same box of eggs, having never got any before or since.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
Something more cheering. As I walked out of my beachside villa last night I saw this
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
Looks like a 22 degree halo. Not terribly rare but given it is caused by ice crystals, it can't be that common in the tropics.
Seen plenty here, mostly winter.
There used to be a really good website on this but sadly it seems to have been taken over by AI bots, so you'll have to make do with Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22°_halo
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Apart from replacing the pious platitudes with oratorical dung spreading, how has Trump's election changed that ?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
My working hypothesis is that everyone involved in the Trump administration thinks that they are exploiting other members of the Trump administration for their own ends. They can't all be right, but we're not yet at the stage where we find out who the suckers are.
It will be interesting... no scrub that, it will be bloody hilarious, when we get to that point in the game.
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Feeling all pumped up and validated, aren't you?
Donald Trump WON. The populist right is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness
Some truth in that, at the moment the right are ahead or at least level in polls in every major western nation and of course have just won a sweeping victory in the US.
Albeit that is mainly due to reaction at the cost of living under Labour, Social Democrat and left liberal governments which largely took power since the pandemic.
Not all the main rightwing parties are populist right either eg Spain albeit most of them now have firmly rightwing leaders, even Merz as CDU leader is right of where Merkel was
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Favoring Trump over people who pursue their naked self interest and don't give a fuck about most of their fellow citizens... lol. Who said satire was dead?
Satire may be dead but so also the era of prioritising issues such as which pronouns to use and having to hear 24 hours a day that the most important issue by far is abortion (seriously, what weirdos have that as literally the central plank of their election strategy?).
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Feeling all pumped up and validated, aren't you?
Donald Trump WON. The populist right is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness
I'm surprised you haven't been drafted into his Cabinet @Leon
The problem with this is, in what capacity was he talking? Was he talking as a representative of the US government, in the interests of US citizens? Was he talking as the world's richest man, or in the interests of Tesla and SpaceX shareholders? Those interests might often be divergent.
And as someone says on Twix: what about the Logan Act?
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
I think that misunderstands what his programme is.
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
"Totalitarianism in power invariably replaces all first-rate talents, regardless of their sympathies, with those crackpots and fools whose lack of intelligence and creativity is still the best guarantee of their loyalty."
— Hannah Arendt
See Saddam’s generals and the collection of drunks, fuckwits and loons around Putin.
Competence would mean the ability to survive independently of their master.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
Gaetz got the gig as he was one of those who publicly turned out for Trump during his trial. There weren't all that many.
Gabbard - who knows ? Perhaps Putin insisted. But as with Kennedy, she has no substantial political base of here own, having abandoned the Democratic Party. Without Trump, she would be nowhere near power. Both of them will be loyal out of necessity. Likely also true of Gaetz given his ethical/legal problems.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
Much of politics is transactional. You back my policy, I back yours.
This is, like most of Trumpism, taken to an extreme with MAGA.
Searching for Trump on blue sky and X shows a stark divide between the platforms
The Twitter flouncers are interesting. Prior to Musk Twitter was left wing in its outlook and moderation and regularly banning and removing content it didn’t like but was perfectly legal. The flounders were happy then when I was an echo chamber of their views. They just don’t like a level playing field on the whole.
Bollocks, Taz. Lots of people are just fed up that Twitter is full of porn bots and crypto scams. The antisemitism is bad too.
Good moderation always entails removing content that is perfectly legal, but is disruptive to your site (see the foundational principles of online communities by Jenny Preece), as well as removing the illegal content.
Yes, I am fed up of the porn bots and crypto scams but they seem less than, say, 12 months ago.
I Am also fed up of the way ads present themselves.
The flouncers state their reasons for flouncing and it is mostly political so I Think I am correct.
I'm sort of with Gamaliel the Elder on this one, whilst wishing devastation on Musk.
This morning I saw the first of the major Ukraine focused Youtuber I follow switching to BlueSky - that is Ukraine Matters.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
The careerists showed that they had a greater loyalty to the Constitution than to Trump when they refused to help him steal the election in 2020. Personal loyalty is now the alpha and omega of Trump's appointments.
There'll be plenty of help for stealing 2028 that's for sure.
Not taking vaccines doesn't just affect you and your children. It affects others as well.
Shortly before Covid arrived there was an increase in mumps in this country. My daughter - who had been vaccinated - got it and was really very ill. The GP had to report it because there had been an increase and the authorities were monitoring it. Then Covid came and I expect it got forgotten.
When I was expecting my third child one of my son's school friends who had been visiting the house regularly told he had not been vaccinated. I was furious at his mother putting me and my unborn child at risk.
Idiots can harm their own health if they want but when they start to harm others .....
Having now experienced Manila’s Aquino Internstional Airport three times I can confidently say I will never complain about Stansted again. I will even look more kindly on Gatwick
😶
You mean, it’s Manchester’s level of awfulness?
I very nearly missed a plane once in Manchester due to the epic queues. They held the plane for me whilst I ran thru the endless bloody corridors trying to stop my trousers from falling down because I took my belt off to get thru the scanner.
'Hollywood actress Eva Longoria has revealed that her family no longer lives in the United States, and is splitting time between Mexico and Spain.
In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.
She also acknowledged she was "privileged" enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country."
The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.
With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.
She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama's famed "Yes, we can" slogan ("Si se puede") into the phrase "She se puede".
In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, external, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump's victory over Harris last week.
“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place," she said.'
"In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump."
Another hypocrite. Happy to get brownie points for supporting the Democrats but then flees the country to avoid the effects of their policies (homelessness / high taxation)
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Yep, already pretty sick of hearing from the self-centred minority of Brit fanbois who can't even vote for the walking cesspit. I do get a laugh from the idea that these folk are infused with love and concern for their fellow citizens though.
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
How about whipping up anti vax sentiments in Samoa? Or continuing to peddle the MMR jab lies. I actually think that RFK makes a lot of good points about US public health which is in a shocking state but his anti vax sentiments are beyond the pale.
It is bizarre that Trump's Cabinet choices are so bizarre. You'd think he would look for quietly-competent careerists to implement his programme, advance his reputation and not compete for headlines.
Having super-loyalists, along with a cowed Congress, is likely of more importance to him. If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
Do you think that the likes of Gabbard, Gaetz and Boy Kennedy are loyal ?
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
My working hypothesis is that everyone involved in the Trump administration thinks that they are exploiting other members of the Trump administration for their own ends. They can't all be right, but we're not yet at the stage where we find out who the suckers are.
It will be interesting... no scrub that, it will be bloody hilarious, when we get to that point in the game.
Add in that we're likely to see a lot more scheming and suspicion than competence and presiding over it the steadily increasing in senility Don Don.
We could see shifting alliances with perhaps a Vance group, a Musk group, the Trump family group, the Gabbard/Gaetz/Kennedy outsiders group, the Burgum/Rubio establishment group.
We've mentioned that Democrats might find common ground with some of Robert F Kennedy Jr's policies. Now, let's hear from Jared Polis, the Democrat governor of Colorado.
Speaking on X, the former House representative says Kennedy will "help make America healthy again by shaking up [Department of Health and Human Services] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration]".
Polis cites some of RFK Jr's promises, like capping prescription drug prices, cutting certain FDA departments, and moving away from "pesticide-intensive agriculture", as reasons for his excitement.
'Hollywood actress Eva Longoria has revealed that her family no longer lives in the United States, and is splitting time between Mexico and Spain.
In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.
She also acknowledged she was "privileged" enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country."
The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.
With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.
She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama's famed "Yes, we can" slogan ("Si se puede") into the phrase "She se puede".
In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, external, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump's victory over Harris last week.
“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place," she said.'
"In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump."
Another hypocrite. Happy to get brownie points for supporting the Democrats but then flees the country to avoid the effects of their policies (homelessness / high taxation)
I don't think anyone who writes this with a straight face
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
On topic, people are sick of the whole "it's great to have the adults back in charge" schtick that they get fed by the chattering classes who have a vested interest in making sure they have like-minded people in office (at a push, they will accept opponents who won't really challenge their fundamental hold of the decision making process).
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
'Sure he's a nutjob'
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'. Four fcking years of this.
I actually am a fan of his.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
Feeling all pumped up and validated, aren't you?
Donald Trump WON. The populist right is on the march and we are going to drive you out of power across the west for a generation if not forever. Why can’t you just accept that good news instead of exuding this endless snarky bitterness
Says the person who continually makes snarky bitter comments about Kier Starmer WHO ALSO WON.
Something more cheering. As I walked out of my beachside villa last night I saw this
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
Looks like a 22 degree halo. Not terribly rare but given it is caused by ice crystals, it can't be that common in the tropics.
Seen plenty here, mostly winter.
There used to be a really good website on this but sadly it seems to have been taken over by AI bots, so you'll have to make do with Wikipedia https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22°_halo
However I’m slightly skeptical this is caused by ice crystals? This is on a very hot tropical island beach
During the day it hit 34C
But maybe you’re right. Looking back the last moonbow that I witnessed was much more like a rainbow. An arc over land and with obvious gradations in hue
Wake me up when RFK Jr does something as inimical to public health as
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China 2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century 3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
How about whipping up anti vax sentiments in Samoa? Or continuing to peddle the MMR jab lies. I actually think that RFK makes a lot of good points about US public health which is in a shocking state but his anti vax sentiments are beyond the pale.
Comments
I agree - a roller-coaster is ahead,
The Ukraine the Latest Telegraph podcast (which to my ear is the one rational bit of the T I get to hear/see; there may be other rubies in the dust) is coming across as flabbergasted.
Slightly diappointed by the title - I was hoping for philososphy from Bart on why we are headed back into the dark ages
He himself is bulletproof (according to SCOTUS)
Why would he care if the administration is a 5 alarm dumpster fire?
He can just get on with the grifting
This morning I saw the first of the major Ukraine focused Youtuber I follow switching to BlueSky - that is Ukraine Matters.
The Special Kherson Cat is still on twitter.
The level of change needed is beyond the extent of action possible in the current 'paradigm'. IE: if you want to build 1.5 million homes, the problem identified yesterday by a senior civil servant, was that even if you start finding sites and working on it now, you can only really expect to get planning permission in 5 years time, with a massive wind behind you. If you want to change this, you have to wipe out 70 years of legislation, which won't happen.
The international system of asylum would need to be effectively abolished to get a grip on illegal migration. The 'laws of the sea' would need to be changed to deal with small boats.
Domestically you would need to fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws.
Many institutions have embdedded 'woke' culture. I've made the point several times that the civil service could not 'fundamentally revisit the framework of discrimination and equalities laws' because such principles have the status of a fundamental right within the working culture of the organisations concerned, to such a degree that they are not politically neutral as they purport to be.
There are enormous vested interests in the process state which has emerged over the last 30 years which will act to thwart every attempt to undermine its commercial interests.
These are a few issues out of many thousands where there is no solution, they are all too difficult
There are also contradictions in elite western culture. IE women are rejecting marriage, and don't want to have children, and there is a culture war against men; to such a degree that the fertility rate is now supported by immigrants. Yet the immigrant cultures are in some cases a far greater, and probably existential, danger to the rights pursued by the women in taking the action concerned, a point that is avoided or denied.
This is one of many examples... (LGBTQIA++++ for Palestine/Hamas springs immediately to mind).
So... all I can see is a 'trajectory of failure' here, no one has ever been able to convince me otherwise.
As you are safely anonymous online, you face no such retribution
Trump wants to dismantle what he understands as the Deep State. He also wants to rule by fear and intimidation. A quietly competent AG would not go out harassing media, business and political opponents for criticising Trump. But a DoJ run by Gaetz will.
The Kennedy appointment is both about revenge for Covid, and the medical fraternity's attacks on Trump, and some red meat for part of his electoral coalition. He doesn't give a damn about how many people die as a result. Why would he?
Gabbard is an interesting one. Perhaps it's part of a deal he's lining up with Putin.
But the Occamite solution is that a) Trump is appointing these people because they are his kind of people and b) the famed checks and balances are largely made of wet spaghetti.
Then the Fuck The Planners Party will appear and use primary legislation to do whatever they want.
Once primary legislation starts being used, it will become a regular thing.
Enjoy.
German Election may be delayed because they need 4 months to organise one:
https://www.dw.com/en/germany-faces-major-challenges-ahead-of-snap-election/a-70765943
1 secretly fund dangerous gain of function virological research in China
2 thereby cause a worldwide pandemic killing 27 million people and shattering the global economy in the worst peacetime disaster in a century
3 THEN forbid all discussion of this in public by forcing social media firms to censor anyone who mentions it, in case that benefits the Republicans or “damages the reputation of science”
Ironically while the GOP now control Congress GOP Senators may be the main point of resistance to the midterms, having backed establishment Thune over the Trump backed Scott
Incremental improvement is not only impossible, but undesirable, because it delays the inevitable revolution.
Anyway, great to hear from someone who safely hides behind several anonymous online identities.
Take Gaetz. Sure he's a nutjob. But he is also someone who has consistently - and not just on the Media and Tech sectors - pushed for major reform of a number of industries to make them far more consumer-friendly. He's worked with AOC and others on the Democrat side to push those agendas. In many ways, he is closer to Sanders in some of his economic and consumer views than to the typical Republican politician.
A lot of consumers voted for Trump because they are p1ssed at how major corporations and vested interests play footloose with consumers - whether that be in food standards, the high prices of drugs or increasingly poor consumer service which pushes the implicit costs of business onto individuals.
Good for Trump. This is what people voted for.
I see it's Fash-Friday on PB, so time to log off for a bit.
The evolution of 'I'm no fan of Trump but'.
Four fcking years of this.
Highest cliffs in the world?! Tick!
On current polls the only coalitions which would have a majority would be another CDU/CSU-SPD grand coalition or CDU-AfD but the CDU have ruled the latter out
CDU leader Merz meanwhile ' his plans to backtrack on the government’s climate policies, to tackle immigration control, to boost Germany’s status as a modern transport hub, its digital standards.'
https://www.theguardian.com/world/live/2024/nov/13/germany-election-olaf-scholz-bundestag-spd-fdp-politics-latest-live-news
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Opinion_polling_for_the_2025_German_federal_election
We really should focus more on the UK, Europe and RoW instead but that will be impossible.
I’ve been surprised by the mediocrity of the Asian airports I’ve experienced on this trip. I think we blithely assume they are all Changi. Or at least as nice as BKK. They are not
Maybe Manila’s direness (90 fucking minute queues for immigration) is forgivable. It’s a poor country. But Osaka was meh and Incheon was actively bad. They still haven’t worked out the multiple-slots-for-security-queues that are now de rigueur in london airports. Such a basic remedy but it speeds up everything so easily
Two changes have occurred. The common ground has ceased to be good at solutions and good enough at civil management; and issues have emerged, of which climate change is the most notable, where common ground gradualism and incrementalism have both failed us (they gave us the problem) and are impossible as solutions (if the science is true only an uncomfortable global revolution of stark nature, and isn't going to happen, can save us).
At which point human nature turns to; religion of crazy sorts, denial, the strong man theory of government, barrier building and self interest.
Get over it. People are sick of hearing about the priorities of a self-centred minority who cover their naked self-interest in a veneer of pious platitudes while not giving a f*ck about most of their fellow citizens.
I don't know what the answer is to getting strangers to talk civilly to each other on controversial issues without immediately herding people into one of two extreme positions but it hasn't been managed yet. Though on a small-scale 150-odd strangers sort-of-know-each-other, pb.com does quite well (is it coincidental that the number of regular posters on pb.com* is close-ish to the magic number of 150?)
Indeed, how many regular-ish posters does pb.com have? My finger-in-the-air guess is there are 150-ish names I recognise enough to be able to recall where that particular poster is coming from.
In fact the only issue was we got confused going to the multi-story carpark and ended up going via the new drop off zone - that's fix when we go in December as we are staying at a different hotel so have a different route to the carpark.
https://bsky.app/starter-pack/sebastianpayne.bsky.social/3laxvx5ambb2b
(Generally sane, but Iain Dale trigger warning
I owned Tesla stock for years before the boom and did very well out of it.
At that time I really believed in what the company was doing. Bur after he went off the deep end I sold my Tesla stock and in hindsight the success of the company wasn’t down to him. In fact every time he opened his mouth the stock price went down.
I think Tesla is a good company (albeit I think long term it’s slightly doomed) but I do stand by what I said on Musk.
He’s also destroyed Twitter. Not necessarily from too much right wing stuff, just its usability. It goes down constantly, the algorithm is completely borked for recommendations and the platform is generally worse in every single way to use since he took over. Sadly it’s something I see time and time again. It’s happening to Slack as we speak.
Still don’t hate him though, I find him entertaining and fascinating.
The economy grew by just 0.1% over the three-month period, and shrank during September itself.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cwygw982e3xo
If he were over concerned with competence, he wouldn't be who he is.
A perfect moonbow
Apparently these are quite rare - but then a few hours later I saw another moonbow. So they can’t be that rare
And yet I think I’ve only seen one once before - in the Caribbean
What’s going on PB? Are they rare or not? Did I get amazingly lucky or are they actually quite common and also why don’t we ever see them in non-tropical climes?
Anyone?
*) We are generally real people, with real lives. When bots come on, or people acting too much like bots, they get booted.
*) We generally discuss a wide range of topics. All of us have bugbears and obsessions, in which we know we are right, and we can bore for our country on. But then the discussion moves on to another topics, and posters who were fighting like two feral cats will be agreeing on something. The 'like' system works quite well for that, I think, and stops threads being filled up with 'I agree!' posts. The mods allow the topics to wander.
*) We have a wide range of expertise, and almost all regular posters contribute posts that are of interest to at least some others.
In an interview with French magazine Marie Claire for its November cover story, Longoria attributed the decision to the country's "changing vibe" after the Covid-19 pandemic, homelessness and high taxation in California, and the re-election of Donald Trump.
She also acknowledged she was "privileged" enough to move, saying: “Most Americans aren’t so lucky. They’re going to be stuck in this dystopian country."
The Desperate Housewives star is viewed as a power broker for women and Latinos in Democratic Party politics.
With a keen interest in immigration policy, she has been visibly involved with Democratic candidates at the national and local level since at least 2012.
She spoke at the Democratic National Convention and hit the campaign trail on behalf of Kamala Harris this year, with a tagline for the 2024 presidential candidate that adopted the Spanish translation of Barack Obama's famed "Yes, we can" slogan ("Si se puede") into the phrase "She se puede".
In her Marie Claire interview, published on Thursday, external, Longoria described being dispirited at Trump's victory over Harris last week.
“If he keeps his promises, it’s going to be a scary place," she said.'
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cj6kw81n77go
I've seen one. But, I think, only once.
They're not loyal to Trump, they're using Trump for their own purposes.
— Hannah Arendt
Seen plenty here, mostly winter.
There used to be a really good website on this but sadly it seems to have been taken over by AI bots, so you'll have to make do with Wikipedia
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/22°_halo
[Edit: https://old.atoptics.co.uk/halosim.htm]
It will be interesting... no scrub that, it will be bloody hilarious, when we get to that point in the game.
https://www.amazon.com/Real-Anthony-Fauci-Pharma-Democracy/dp/B09LVYYTJJ
Albeit that is mainly due to reaction at the cost of living under Labour, Social Democrat and left liberal governments which largely took power since the pandemic.
Not all the main rightwing parties are populist right either eg Spain albeit most of them now have firmly rightwing leaders, even Merz as CDU leader is right of where Merkel was
If the Biden administration had any backbone it would charge him under the Logan Act but obviously it doesn't.
The reality is that Trump is already the de facto president across quite a large part of what the federal government does. Power has already shifted.
We shouldn't get too distracted by words on pieces of paper that have no force in practice when put to the test.
Competence would mean the ability to survive independently of their master.
Gabbard - who knows ? Perhaps Putin insisted.
But as with Kennedy, she has no substantial political base of here own, having abandoned the Democratic Party. Without Trump, she would be nowhere near power.
Both of them will be loyal out of necessity. Likely also true of Gaetz given his ethical/legal problems.
This is, like most of Trumpism, taken to an extreme with MAGA.
https://x.com/AndrewPerpetua/status/1857289060244504967
Shortly before Covid arrived there was an increase in mumps in this country. My daughter - who had been vaccinated - got it and was really very ill. The GP had to report it because there had been an increase and the authorities were monitoring it. Then Covid came and I expect it got forgotten.
When I was expecting my third child one of my son's school friends who had been visiting the house regularly told he had not been vaccinated. I was furious at his mother putting me and my unborn child at risk.
Idiots can harm their own health if they want but when they start to harm others .....
Another hypocrite. Happy to get brownie points for supporting the Democrats but then flees the country to avoid the effects of their policies (homelessness / high taxation)
We could see shifting alliances with perhaps a Vance group, a Musk group, the Trump family group, the Gabbard/Gaetz/Kennedy outsiders group, the Burgum/Rubio establishment group.
Perhaps a bit Game of Thrones or Tudor Court.
We've mentioned that Democrats might find common ground with some of Robert F Kennedy Jr's policies. Now, let's hear from Jared Polis, the Democrat governor of Colorado.
Speaking on X, the former House representative says Kennedy will "help make America healthy again by shaking up [Department of Health and Human Services] and FDA [Food and Drug Administration]".
Polis cites some of RFK Jr's promises, like capping prescription drug prices, cutting certain FDA departments, and moving away from "pesticide-intensive agriculture", as reasons for his excitement.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c0lp93494g9t
Of course a move towards organic farming is not likely to bring food prices down.
However I’m slightly skeptical this is caused by ice crystals? This is on a very hot tropical island beach
During the day it hit 34C
But maybe you’re right. Looking back the last moonbow that I witnessed was much more like a rainbow. An arc over land and with obvious gradations in hue
https://x.com/TheTNHoller/status/1857278282166571404