Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as long as its not always about you.
Because people are now calling for me to banned for simply “having the wrong attitudes” with much encouragement from the mods - see this thread
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as log as its not always about you.
What's your feeling about posters gagging for attention? I care as little about whether Leon goes as I do about a parish council election in Seven Mile Bottom. If forced to vote I'd vote go because I'm bored with his capital letters and swearing in every post. It sounds moronic and makes ugly reading.
In the spirit of non narcissistic posting I just want to point out that I - me, Leon, LEONDAMUS of that ilk - entirely predicted this about four years ago. All the remoaners moaning about passport queues were in the wrong intellectual queue
Technology means passport queues and indeed passports and visas will soon be history. People will be scanned in stealth as they arrive. Miscreants will be sieved accordingly
Anyone with a passport under 5 years old may be holding the last passport they ever own
“Holidaymakers to be spared passport queues by facial recognition scans ‘Contactless corridors’ at ports will automatically scan British travellers returning home”
In the spirit of non narcissistic posting I just want to point out that I - me, Leon, LEONDAMUS of that ilk - entirely predicted this about four years ago. All the remoaners moaning about passport queues were in the wrong intellectual queue
Technology means passport queues and indeed passports and visas will soon be history. People will be scanned in stealth as they arrive. Miscreants will be sieved accordingly
Anyone with a passport under 5 years old may be holding the last passport they ever own
“Holidaymakers to be spared passport queues by facial recognition scans ‘Contactless corridors’ at ports will automatically scan British travellers returning home”
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as log as its not always about you.
What's your feeling about posters gagging for attention? I care as little about whether Leon goes as I do about a parish council election in Seven Mile Bottom. If forced to vote I'd vote go because I'm bored with his capital letters and swearing in every post. It sounds moronic and makes ugly reading.
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as long as its not always about you.
Because people are now calling for me to banned for simply “having the wrong attitudes” with much encouragement from the mods - see this thread
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
I would also personally suggest that Leon stays, and also tries to be less offensive.
Conservatives on 37% would still be at their highest voteshare since 2011 but Liberals on 42% would be at their highest level since 1993 as NDP and Greens get squeezed
It bears repeating but the key is less what is happening nationally but what is happening in Ontario, Quebec and to an extent British Columbia.
200 of the 338 ridings are in Ontario and Quebec and if the Liberals win these strongly, it won't matter if the Conservatives pile up seats in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as log as its not always about you.
And he was never heard from again...
It's only 'all about Leon' if other posters make it so. We had a few weeks in which he wasn't here and people still went on about him. Leon could come out with an affable paragraph about the enjoyability of tea and scones and he would get flamed. Indeed, he could be entirely absent from the site and he would be castigated as a Trump racist. Like happened last week.
On Disney+ they have have first ten episodes of season one of Doctor Odyssey, it is utter trash but utterly compelling and entertaining.
I don't know whether it's been mentioned but a rare masterpiece on Netflix 'Adolescence'. Technically ingenious with some masterful acting writing and direction.
Judge Boasberg DENIES government’s request to vacate 5 pm hearing over whether the Trump administration violated court order re: deportation of Venezuelan migrants
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as long as its not always about you.
Because people are now calling for me to banned for simply “having the wrong attitudes” with much encouragement from the mods - see this thread
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
Democracy of ghosts being of course a topical AI / Russian novelist reference as featured on TwiX a few days ago.
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as long as its not always about you.
Because people are now calling for me to banned for simply “having the wrong attitudes” with much encouragement from the mods - see this thread
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
I'm not, you are one of the few on here now who is right of Starmer and Davey and one of a tiny minority of PBers who likes Farage. In a nation where 25% of voters will now vote for Farage we can't not have the likes of you otherwise what should be a betting site for all views becomes an unrepresentative centrist dad echo chamber.
just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as log as its not always about you.
And he was never heard from again...
It's only 'all about Leon' if other posters make it so. We had a few weeks in which he wasn't here and people still went on about him. Leon could come out with an affable paragraph about the enjoyability of tea and scones and he would get flamed. Indeed, he could be entirely absent from the site and he would be castigated as a Trump racist. Like happened last week.
Yeah. Hence a vote seems best. We are “politicalbetting” affer all.
Anyway my Brazilian flight is taking off. Obregado and bom dia to all - even @Roger and @Mexicanpete
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
The poster in question has been challenging all comers to a vote on who is the most popular poster, with the loser banished from the site forever, him or A N Other ( it started with Horse, but he's moved on, so the challenge is to anyone else. Any takers? No I thought not).
It's a bit like one of David Davis's vanity by elections. Throw down a stupid challenge safe in the knowledge of an inevitable win.
just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as log as its not always about you.
And he was never heard from again...
It's only 'all about Leon' if other posters make it so. We had a few weeks in which he wasn't here and people still went on about him. Leon could come out with an affable paragraph about the enjoyability of tea and scones and he would get flamed. Indeed, he could be entirely absent from the site and he would be castigated as a Trump racist. Like happened last week.
This is very true. 25% of Leon drama is posted by Leon and the remaining 75% seems to be generated by others posting about Leon.
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Brenda from Bristol applies here. Even if you think borrowning a billion to invest in property is a sure thing, what were these councillors thinking?
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
We went through this yesterday. I think I was the only person who voted for you to stay (or even voted at all). Mostly because I dislike people trying to get other posters banned. And even though you can be a real prick sometimes.
But stop trying to be the centre of attention, accept the fact that most of us think you can be a real prick at times and just get on with discussing whatever the fuck you want, as long as its not always about you.
Because people are now calling for me to banned for simply “having the wrong attitudes” with much encouragement from the mods - see this thread
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
Democracy of ghosts being of course a topical AI / Russian novelist reference as featured on TwiX a few days ago.
Faith is sleeping Lovers in the end Whisper we'll be Ghosts Again
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
The poster in question has been challenging all comers to a vote on who is the most popular poster, with the loser banished from the site forever, him or A N Other ( it started with Horse, but he's moved on, so the challenge is to anyone else. Any takers? No I thought not).
It's a bit like one of David Davis's vanity by elections. Throw down a stupid challenge safe in the knowledge of an inevitable win.
I've been busy boosting public sector productivity over the past few days by filling in spreadsheet cells in 'amber' for staff who are booked onto pointless training courses (thanks 'professional' manager!).
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
I have called that practice out on numerous occasions
If you do not like a poster just do not engage and move on
Leave everything else to the moderators
Leon is the poster creating the story.. He's started the "Leon should be banned" narrative. It's just another ruse to hijack a thread whilst being the focus of attention.
It's easy enough just to scroll past his lengthy posts. Not so easy to miss the concise ones mind. It was a lot more amicable on here last week but perhaps we need our very own enfant terrible to mix things up.
I am reminded of an episode before the Roman Civil War.
Pompey was worried that he wasn’t as popular as he used to be. He gave out that he was ill (some say he was, others that it was a total fake) and had himself carried on a litter through the countryside.
Of course, it was the chunk of countryside where he owned all the land. So his tenants came out to protest their love for him.
"King Charles gave a warm welcome to the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney when he visited Buckingham Palace.
It was another symbolic gesture of support for Canada from a King, wearing a red tie, who has to send coded signals rather than spell things out in words...
...At a tree planting ceremony in Buckingham Palace, the tree chosen was a maple."
However will we crack these damned Enigma-like codes?
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Brenda from Bristol applies here. Even if you think borrowning a billion to invest in property is a sure thing, what were these councillors thinking?
It says much that they managed to lose money on property, in that market.
In the spirit of non narcissistic posting I just want to point out that I - me, Leon, LEONDAMUS of that ilk - entirely predicted this about four years ago. All the remoaners moaning about passport queues were in the wrong intellectual queue
Technology means passport queues and indeed passports and visas will soon be history. People will be scanned in stealth as they arrive. Miscreants will be sieved accordingly
Anyone with a passport under 5 years old may be holding the last passport they ever own
“Holidaymakers to be spared passport queues by facial recognition scans ‘Contactless corridors’ at ports will automatically scan British travellers returning home”
(Telegraph)
'Contactless corridors' reminds me of a Professor I used to have to work with. Despite wide corridors he'd find a reason to 'have to' shimmy up against our Singaporean students (of any gender) as if the corridor was only about 2ft wide.
It was really quite grim. Only took about 10-15 years of complaints for it to be stopped.
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
I have called that practice out on numerous occasions
If you do not like a poster just do not engage and move on
Leave everything else to the moderators
Leon is the poster creating the story.. He's started the "Leon should be banned" narrative. It's just another ruse to hijack a thread whilst being the focus of attention.
It's easy enough just to scroll past his lengthy posts. Not so easy to miss the concise ones mind. It was a lot more amicable on here last week but perhaps we need our very own enfant terrible to mix things up.
The moderators have issued their warning to @Leon so he either behaves in accordance with the ruling or he will be banned
Seeking votes for and against his banning is childish nonsense
My companies make great products that people love and I’ve never physically hurt anyone.
So why the hate and violence against me?
Because I am a deadly threat to the woke mind parasite and the humans it controls.
Any, even junior-level psychoanalyst, would have an absolute field day with that comment.
Beaten by his father, bullied by his peers, and unable to act without priojrecting the worst things outward.
The 'woke mind parasite' has touches of early David Cronenberg. I've often thought that Elon was just trying to recreate the TV shows he watched as a child (Knight Rider, etc) - maybe he has hidden depths.
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Brenda from Bristol applies here. Even if you think borrowning a billion to invest in property is a sure thing, what were these councillors thinking?
You have to remember the background - the Coalition lifted a lot of restrictions on what Councils do in 2010 in an attempt to offer alternative forms of income generation to either Council Tax, parking fees or relying on Government grant. For example, Councils were allowed to invest in commercial property outside their boundary.
A lot of councils saw commercial property investment as a possible way forward and at a time when the property market was on its knees following the events of 2008, the only groups going into commercial property investment were pension funds and local councils and at the time retail was king and acquiring commercial property especially shopping centres for investment looked a decent move.
Rental yields of 6-8% guaranteed a steady annual income which alleviated the need to rely so much on the largesse of the Government. However, while those who got in early did well for a while, latecomers like Spelthorne found the good deals had gone and they were fighting with other councils and other property investment companies for what was left, the prices were going up and the yields down.
Covid came and retail has never recovered- shopping centres have devalued in price and rental yields have slumped and councils which didn't get out quickly enough are sitting on assets worth a fraction of what they paid for them.
"King Charles gave a warm welcome to the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney when he visited Buckingham Palace.
It was another symbolic gesture of support for Canada from a King, wearing a red tie, who has to send coded signals rather than spell things out in words...
...At a tree planting ceremony in Buckingham Palace, the tree chosen was a maple."
However will we crack these damned Enigma-like codes?
You can tell the Royals have recently hired me as their subtlety adviser.
Seems significant. Possibly the start of a new "Five Eyes" with France replacing the US.
That would blow a few Brexiter minds. The existing Five Eyes was sometimes cited by Brexiters as evidence we were not European but Anglospherical.
You do talk nonsense
Why would it upset anyone to have a different 5 eyes in the circumstances
Everything with you is brexit, when the narrative has changed beyond recognition and the future lies with a new expanded Western defence alliance and trading relationships which is much wider than the EU
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Brenda from Bristol applies here. Even if you think borrowning a billion to invest in property is a sure thing, what were these councillors thinking?
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
That would be no fun. What would us Lib Dems do if you departed and we no longer had cause to be Whining Here?
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Brenda from Bristol applies here. Even if you think borrowning a billion to invest in property is a sure thing, what were these councillors thinking?
You have to remember the background - the Coalition lifted a lot of restrictions on what Councils do in 2010 in an attempt to offer alternative forms of income generation to either Council Tax, parking fees or relying on Government grant. For example, Councils were allowed to invest in commercial property outside their boundary.
A lot of councils saw commercial property investment as a possible way forward and at a time when the property market was on its knees following the events of 2008, the only groups going into commercial property investment were pension funds and local councils and at the time retail was king and acquiring commercial property especially shopping centres for investment looked a decent move.
Rental yields of 6-8% guaranteed a steady annual income which alleviated the need to rely so much on the largesse of the Government. However, while those who got in early did well for a while, latecomers like Spelthorne found the good deals had gone and they were fighting with other councils and other property investment companies for what was left, the prices were going up and the yields down.
Covid came and retail has never recovered- shopping centres have devalued in price and rental yields have slumped and councils which didn't get out quickly enough are sitting on assets worth a fraction of what they paid for them.
In general terms, sure. And the combination of council austerity and creative income generation is yet another of the Cameron wheezes that looks less clever now than it did then.
But Spelthorne is a smallish second tier council, spending about £25 million a year. And yes, their investment income brings in about 40% of that. A billion quid is an awful lot to borrow.
Seems significant. Possibly the start of a new "Five Eyes" with France replacing the US.
That would blow a few Brexiter minds. The existing Five Eyes was sometimes cited by Brexiters as evidence we were not European but Anglospherical.
It wouldn't blow anyone's mind. I was suggesting exactly this more than a week ago and no one batted an eyelid. Not everything is about Brexit - except in your strange world.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".
Hunter Biden?
We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.
Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?
No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval
We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old
You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?
I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.
OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.
OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.
I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site
But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus
Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it
@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.
If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.
You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.
Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.
The other night - after the always-entertaining @CorrectHorseBattery said he was quitting the site merely because I had returned, I had a fit of conscience, or satirical intent
I genuinely don’t want to drive people away merely by my presence. But nor will I be told what and when I can speak, above and beyond the rules, due to some special rules which only apply to me (and are often opaque if not non-existent). I get that several mods want me gone, forever, and quite a few commenters likewise - but TBH I think much of this is driven by the fact I articulately deliver opinions others don’t like, it’s got nothing to do with rule breaking
So fuck it, as I said then - mainly in jest, but now for real - call a vote. Let’s have a PB plebiscite. You can vote for me to disappear entirely and I shall do so. Or you can vote for me to stay but if I I stay then I need an end to the endless calls for me to be banned simply for having “the wrong attitudes”
Let’s do it. Let a neutral organize it. This may be seen as an ultimate exercise in narcissism by me, and it is, I am a horrific narcissist - - but on the other hand I swear if the vote goes against me I will abide by it. No more reincarnations. My narcissism will disappear forever, and those can’t abide me will be satisfied for good
I suggest One Commenter One Vote. It’s Leave or Remain Leon!
C’mon, it could be fun
I reckon it’s 5/4 Remain
Can I vote for "couldn't give a shit whether the insecure self-obsessed knows-nowt-about-nowt conspiracy theorist stays or goes" option?
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
The poster in question has been challenging all comers to a vote on who is the most popular poster, with the loser banished from the site forever, him or A N Other ( it started with Horse, but he's moved on, so the challenge is to anyone else. Any takers? No I thought not).
It's a bit like one of David Davis's vanity by elections. Throw down a stupid challenge safe in the knowledge of an inevitable win.
I've been busy boosting public sector productivity over the past few days by filling in spreadsheet cells in 'amber' for staff who are booked onto pointless training courses (thanks 'professional' manager!).
Vance needs to have a word with Musk about this "mind-virus" thing. It originated in an early 90s Richard Dawkins' essay, 'Viruses of the Mind' (naturally), which describes religious beliefs as being -
"gangs [that] will come to constitute a package, which may be sufficiently stable to deserve a collective name such as Roman Catholicism ... or ... component parts to a single virus". (emphasis mine)
I think what Musk is trying to say is that the "woke" is like a religion. As an argument I personally problem with that per se, but some close to Trump might.
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
What did I say earlier....wait to find out what that "wrinkle" her lawyer admitted had caused an issue with her visa.
Just popped home for a quick break, happened to accidentally attend the Hezbollah leaders funeral, easy done.
Its also worth restating, just because you have been granted a visa to work in the US, that does not guarantee anything. The border officials can deny you entry even if you have one, they have rather a lot of discretion when it comes to these matters.
BBC 2 airing a PR series for Thames Water. Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? " Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
Playing Devil's advocate, I think that attending a Hezbollah event might get one's visa looked at carefully, whatever the administration. But as with all these things I don't know the detail.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".
Hunter Biden?
We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.
Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?
No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval
We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old
You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?
I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.
OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.
OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.
I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site
But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus
Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it
@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.
If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.
You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.
Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.
The other night - after the always-entertaining @CorrectHorseBattery said he was quitting the site merely because I had returned, I had a fit of conscience, or satirical intent
I genuinely don’t want to drive people away merely by my presence. But nor will I be told what and when I can speak, above and beyond the rules, due to some special rules which only apply to me (and are often opaque if not non-existent). I get that several mods want me gone, forever, and quite a few commenters likewise - but TBH I think much of this is driven by the fact I articulately deliver opinions others don’t like, it’s got nothing to do with rule breaking
So fuck it, as I said then - mainly in jest, but now for real - call a vote. Let’s have a PB plebiscite. You can vote for me to disappear entirely and I shall do so. Or you can vote for me to stay but if I I stay then I need an end to the endless calls for me to be banned simply for having “the wrong attitudes”
Let’s do it. Let a neutral organize it. This may be seen as an ultimate exercise in narcissism by me, and it is, I am a horrific narcissist - - but on the other hand I swear if the vote goes against me I will abide by it. No more reincarnations. My narcissism will disappear forever, and those can’t abide me will be satisfied for good
I suggest One Commenter One Vote. It’s Leave or Remain Leon!
C’mon, it could be fun
I reckon it’s 5/4 Remain
What if the result is 52/48? And will it be for Leave or Remain?
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".
Hunter Biden?
We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.
Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?
No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval
We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old
You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?
I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.
OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.
OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.
I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site
But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus
Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it
@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.
If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.
You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.
Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.
The other night - after the always-entertaining @CorrectHorseBattery said he was quitting the site merely because I had returned, I had a fit of conscience, or satirical intent
I genuinely don’t want to drive people away merely by my presence. But nor will I be told what and when I can speak, above and beyond the rules, due to some special rules which only apply to me (and are often opaque if not non-existent). I get that several mods want me gone, forever, and quite a few commenters likewise - but TBH I think much of this is driven by the fact I articulately deliver opinions others don’t like, it’s got nothing to do with rule breaking
So fuck it, as I said then - mainly in jest, but now for real - call a vote. Let’s have a PB plebiscite. You can vote for me to disappear entirely and I shall do so. Or you can vote for me to stay but if I I stay then I need an end to the endless calls for me to be banned simply for having “the wrong attitudes”
Let’s do it. Let a neutral organize it. This may be seen as an ultimate exercise in narcissism by me, and it is, I am a horrific narcissist - - but on the other hand I swear if the vote goes against me I will abide by it. No more reincarnations. My narcissism will disappear forever, and those can’t abide me will be satisfied for good
I suggest One Commenter One Vote. It’s Leave or Remain Leon!
C’mon, it could be fun
I reckon it’s 5/4 Remain
90% couldn't give a shit 9% seek help 1% what's today's picture quiz?
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".
Hunter Biden?
We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.
Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?
No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval
We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old
You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?
I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.
OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.
OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.
I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site
But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus
Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it
@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.
If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.
You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.
Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.
The other night - after the always-entertaining @CorrectHorseBattery said he was quitting the site merely because I had returned, I had a fit of conscience, or satirical intent
I genuinely don’t want to drive people away merely by my presence. But nor will I be told what and when I can speak, above and beyond the rules, due to some special rules which only apply to me (and are often opaque if not non-existent). I get that several mods want me gone, forever, and quite a few commenters likewise - but TBH I think much of this is driven by the fact I articulately deliver opinions others don’t like, it’s got nothing to do with rule breaking
So fuck it, as I said then - mainly in jest, but now for real - call a vote. Let’s have a PB plebiscite. You can vote for me to disappear entirely and I shall do so. Or you can vote for me to stay but if I I stay then I need an end to the endless calls for me to be banned simply for having “the wrong attitudes”
Let’s do it. Let a neutral organize it. This may be seen as an ultimate exercise in narcissism by me, and it is, I am a horrific narcissist - - but on the other hand I swear if the vote goes against me I will abide by it. No more reincarnations. My narcissism will disappear forever, and those can’t abide me will be satisfied for good
I suggest One Commenter One Vote. It’s Leave or Remain Leon!
C’mon, it could be fun
I reckon it’s 5/4 Remain
What if the result is 52/48? And will it be for Leave or Remain?
I might have the novel experience of voting Leave, just for the sheer nastiness of it!
Powerful header. Has felt a bit odd that we haven't had one on what is perhaps the most significant story of the decade, America's slide into dictatorship. No criticism of the site intended.
The key question is will Americans notice the disaster before it is too late?
I'm working on one, the penultimate section of which will mention musk, yarvin, and the Network State. If sufficient people request I can expand that section to a standalone article at a later date.
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
Playing Devil's advocate, I think that attending a Hezbollah event might get one's visa looked at carefully, whatever the administration. But as with all these things I don't know the detail.
Yep, my first thought was 'oh bloody hell not another Trump idiocy stamping all over civil rights'. But of course this is a bit different, at least on the face of it. This is not someone with a green card or right to remain. It is someone on a work visa. And visiting the funeral of a known terrorist leader and then admitting you were a follower does seem like something that would ring alarm bells with the security services whoever was in power.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Powerful header. Has felt a bit odd that we haven't had one on what is perhaps the most significant story of the decade, America's slide into dictatorship. No criticism of the site intended.
The key question is will Americans notice the disaster before it is too late?
I'm working on one, the penultimate section of which will mention musk, yarvin, and the Network State. If sufficient people request I can expand that section to a standalone article at a later date.
Sounds good. Hope you will also be mentioning the importance of Thiel.
Good piece by @Cyclefree , sorry to hear that you have been ill.
Lawyers put too much trust in laws. They are actually quite limited tools that can and often should be overridden to allow an injustice to be addressed.
A democracy requires a consensus. The US has lost theirs and we are losing ours. Hoping that laws will somehow stop this is optimistic in the extreme. It just won’t.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Stop it. It's past your bedtime.
Is that called womansplaining?
No.
Is it possible for you to explain what "mansplaining" is, without womansplaining?
“If she wants to know something specific, but doesn’t want people to notice her asking questions, she should simply make incorrect statements while in the company of experts. Her companions will correct her, especially if they're men.”
- Advice for female agents in WW2, provided during SOE training
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
Playing Devil's advocate, I think that attending a Hezbollah event might get one's visa looked at carefully, whatever the administration. But as with all these things I don't know the detail.
Yep, my first thought was 'oh bloody hell not another Trump idiocy stamping all over civil rights'. But of course this is a bit different, at least on the face of it. This is not someone with a green card or right to remain. It is someone on a work visa. And visiting the funeral of a known terrorist leader and then admitting you were a follower does seem like something that would ring alarm bells with the security services whoever was in power.
Getting stopped at the border, detained and then turned around won't have been anywhere near Trump's desk. Its every day occurrence as the US border officials are a lot stricter than for instance the UK. I know people who have been sent back to the UK for quite minor issue with their paperwork, no ifs, no buts, no CNN breaking news.
Its quite a different case to do deal with a foreign leader to take gang members who aren't citizens of said foreign leaders country.
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
How dumb. Or lazy
Long been known that you should backup your main account to the cloud (with end to end encryption). For the really savvy - to a server *you* run.
Before passing through a border, you delete the main account and install your “travel account”. Takes about 2 minutes.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
"BOSTON — Federal authorities say they deported a Lebanese doctor holding an American visa last week after finding “sympathetic photos and videos” of prominent Hezbollah figures in a deleted items folder on her cell phone.
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
How dumb. Or lazy
Long been known that you should backup your main account to the cloud (with end to end encryption). For the really savvy - to a server *you* run.
Before passing through a border, you delete the main account and install your “travel account”. Takes about 2 minutes.
Then reverse at the other end.
I wonder if it was by chance she was pulled or some prior information passed to them.
Welcome to Reform UK, Cllr Manzur Hasan! #LincolnshireNeedsReform 🇬🇧
Wow. The comments below are almost universally hostile and dripping bile. Nigel can survive many things but being seen as a traitor to the cause probably isn't one of them. (And don't tell them that Nigel's approach got the endorsement of Rory the other day.) Nigel's days look numbered to me.
Good piece by @Cyclefree , sorry to hear that you have been ill.
Lawyers put too much trust in laws. They are actually quite limited tools that can and often should be overridden to allow an injustice to be addressed.
A democracy requires a consensus. The US has lost theirs and we are losing ours. Hoping that laws will somehow stop this is optimistic in the extreme. It just won’t.
Laws are like dams. In times of flood they serve a vital purpose in holding back the waters long enough for the worst pressure to be siphoned off in a controlled manner.
The US right now is in the middle of the biggest flood event since the Civil War. It needs those laws to hold long enough for saner heads to find a way to siphon off the worst of the dictatorial pressure being exerted by Trump.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Stop it. It's past your bedtime.
Is that called womansplaining?
No.
Is it possible for you to explain what "mansplaining" is, without womansplaining?
A sometimes real world phenomenon of male patronising of women, and a sometime sexist assumption of the above.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
I gave this a like although in truth I didn't agree with all of it, specifically the phrase "I like you Leon."
That was just a typo, I think.
Are you mainsplaining me about what I wrote?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ...
Call a vote or forever stop whining. You have the chance to be rid of me for good, and this result - Leon forever silenced!! - does seem to entice a number of commenters and moderators
We are PB. We love elections. We can vote on the outcome. Even bet on it. As a non-narcissist I will recuse myself from offering odds, I hate that kind of personal attention
Stop it. It's past your bedtime.
Is that called womansplaining?
Common sense.
Ah! TBH I have always been intrigued by the term "mansplaining", as I have probably met just as many women as men who are capable of explaining something in a condescending manner to those that they wish to patronise (or should I say matronise).
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
Anyone vexatiously flagging should probably be given a week's sin binning to cool off. Who do they think they are drawing the mods' attention to something that they just 'don't like'? Piss off.
Good piece by @Cyclefree , sorry to hear that you have been ill.
Lawyers put too much trust in laws. They are actually quite limited tools that can and often should be overridden to allow an injustice to be addressed.
A democracy requires a consensus. The US has lost theirs and we are losing ours. Hoping that laws will somehow stop this is optimistic in the extreme. It just won’t.
We may have no consensus on our political direction, but I don’t think we have anything even close to the nascent civil war in the US.
BBC 2 airing a PR series for Thames Water. Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? " Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
Flagging posts and calling for posters to be banned is a low-water mark here
I have called that practice out on numerous occasions
If you do not like a poster just do not engage and move on
Leave everything else to the moderators
Leon is the poster creating the story.. He's started the "Leon should be banned" narrative. It's just another ruse to hijack a thread whilst being the focus of attention.
It's easy enough just to scroll past his lengthy posts. Not so easy to miss the concise ones mind. It was a lot more amicable on here last week but perhaps we need our very own enfant terrible to mix things up.
Trump invited Conor McGregor, the Reform-y Tomm-eh esque UFC dude in to the WH and the Oval Office, for St Paddy's Day, and left the Teseaichoichscshuckseoischyeiaghhrshffffqooowooo fuming half a mile down the road
I know Donald Trump is not always to everyone's taste, on PB, but he can be fucking funny
I'm calling you out on this. There is nothing funny about inviting a convicted rapist to the White House. Imagine - go on, you're a writer, you can do it - one of the women or girls close to you, someone you care about a lot and feel protective towards, that they've been raped and that they have to see their rapist admired and celebrated because he has a nice line in suits and repartee.
It's not hard to imagine. And if you can't ask one of the many women you know how they'd feel about their rapist being treated in this way. How would you feel about a Conor McGregor if it was someone you loved he hurt? I have been raped. I have seen my rapist treated as a great fellow because he could charm. They didn't see the violence and abuse of an inexperienced and naive girls that followed that charm. Nor the shame and guilt and fear that I felt afterwards. And what happened to me has happened to pretty much every woman, in some form or other. And we are absolutely fucking sick of seeing the appalling men who treat us in this way dismissed by others because, hey, they are funny and sharp.
We don't want to be victims. We wish - Christ we wish it every fucking day since we were 11 or so - that we weren't victims, that we didn't have to take steps all the time to avoid this. And we wish that when we slip up we got the benefit of the doubt. But no it's the abusers, those who turn a blind eye, those who egg them on and those who do "it's only a bit of banter/he's a nice guy really" who get the benefit of the doubt.
You are not the only man on here who gives the impression - maybe unthinkingly - that women are somehow not fully human, only really support animals for men, the people who fit in with what's left when men have got what they want first. This forum frankly has one hell of a blind spot about the woman's perspective on life. But it is precisely because of attitudes like this that people like Trump get away with behaviour which is disgusting, not decent and should have no place in any country trying to be civilised.
I like you Leon. But sometimes you really need to think about what you say.
And if I sound furious, put it down to having been ill for longer than is pleasant, if that helps. It'll have a word - hysteria. That'll be the one.
It's the love of the transgressor. The mad, bad, boy. The "truly free". The infantile worship of the "propaganda of the deed". The one not held back by "bourgeoise morality".
Hunter Biden?
We are getting to the point where we need to call Prevent for you.
Or should we wait for the Pizza Parlour Basement phase?
No, PB has reached the insane point when anyone who dares to mention an awkward fact that might discomfort the Dems, the American Left, the anti-Trumpers - is regarded as a Nazi, a conspiracy theorist, and a Trumpite coup-encourager, and so forth. Rather than someone pointing out that there are two sides to this story, and there is a reason so many Americans voted Trump and abhor the Democrats, they are not all Hitler-its thickos, even at the same time as Trump IS a mad buffoon who should be nowhere near the Oval
We saw the same shit vis a vis Ukraine, we see it here, it’s just a sad dumbing down of the site, as inability to do nuance, a kind of dim, morally shrill groupthink, and it is getting REALLY old
You never learn do you. You were suspended from the site for a week for your attitude and behaviour. Things don't change much. How many days is it now?
I would like to think that the moderators are running out of patience with you.
OGH has told me to permanently ban Leon if he breaks the site rules again or goes down the white babies angle.
OGH isn't going to be out of pocket because Leon cannot follow the rules.
I am quite willing to follow rules (It helps if they are clear) - it’s your site
But if I am merely going to be banned for attitudes and opinions and gags which enrage the centrist dads, then PB is not really a debate forum but a silo of deadening consensus
Eg what have I done today which is remote bannable? Made a few jokes, insulted Irish orthography, pointed out - quite truthfully - that serious allegations swirl against the Biden family, some of which have turned into confessions and convictions. That’s it
@leon mate - take a break. Step away for an hour or two. Go and investigate the quality of the snacks in the airport lounge you are waiting in.
If PB is a pub, a metaphor you have used now and again, then I am an old git gently putting an arm around your shoulder and saying: maybe that's enough for one evening old son.
You are an asset to this site most of the time imho, sparky, interesting, bombastic, entertaining etc etc and unlike some, I enjoy the travel stuff. For health reasons I can no longer travel so maybe this is some vicarious thing, but anyway.
Don't get banned permanently which it seems you are on the brink of.
The other night - after the always-entertaining @CorrectHorseBattery said he was quitting the site merely because I had returned, I had a fit of conscience, or satirical intent
I genuinely don’t want to drive people away merely by my presence. But nor will I be told what and when I can speak, above and beyond the rules, due to some special rules which only apply to me (and are often opaque if not non-existent). I get that several mods want me gone, forever, and quite a few commenters likewise - but TBH I think much of this is driven by the fact I articulately deliver opinions others don’t like, it’s got nothing to do with rule breaking
So fuck it, as I said then - mainly in jest, but now for real - call a vote. Let’s have a PB plebiscite. You can vote for me to disappear entirely and I shall do so. Or you can vote for me to stay but if I I stay then I need an end to the endless calls for me to be banned simply for having “the wrong attitudes”
Let’s do it. Let a neutral organize it. This may be seen as an ultimate exercise in narcissism by me, and it is, I am a horrific narcissist - - but on the other hand I swear if the vote goes against me I will abide by it. No more reincarnations. My narcissism will disappear forever, and those can’t abide me will be satisfied for good
I suggest One Commenter One Vote. It’s Leave or Remain Leon!
C’mon, it could be fun
I reckon it’s 5/4 Remain
What if the result is 52/48? And will it be for Leave or Remain?
If will be the settled will of the British people, apart from ScottXP, obvs.
Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
BBC 2 airing a PR series for Thames Water. Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? " Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
BBC 2 airing a PR series for Thames Water. Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? " Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
BBC 2 airing a PR series for Thames Water. Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? " Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
Absolutely disgraceful . They don’t need to go after the most vulnerable. Wtf has happened to the Labour Party !
Farage will be able to reprise the Kinnock campaign at the next election: “If Keir Starmer wins, I warn you not to get old; I warn you not to become injured; I warn you not to get depressed…”
Keir Starmer will unveil drastic cuts to disability benefits on Tuesday, despite deep opposition from Labour MPs and poverty campaigners, and warnings from economists against making kneejerk savings to hit fiscal targets.
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
Have we seen any details of the measures? I am not sure why they would affect people incapable of washing themselves?
S Times claimed they had leak/info on this and that the points system for PIP would be changed so that those that could wash their upper body would not get points (or maybe it was lower body - I forget).
Good piece by @Cyclefree , sorry to hear that you have been ill.
Lawyers put too much trust in laws. They are actually quite limited tools that can and often should be overridden to allow an injustice to be addressed.
A democracy requires a consensus. The US has lost theirs and we are losing ours. Hoping that laws will somehow stop this is optimistic in the extreme. It just won’t.
Laws are like dams. In times of flood they serve a vital purpose in holding back the waters long enough for the worst pressure to be siphoned off in a controlled manner.
The US right now is in the middle of the biggest flood event since the Civil War. It needs those laws to hold long enough for saner heads to find a way to siphon off the worst of the dictatorial pressure being exerted by Trump.
What many seem to have forgotten is that laws *follow* the will of the populace.
Which is why statesmen and women are required - to try and win acceptance of new ideas.
Comments
Beaten by his father, bullied by his peers, and unable to act without priojrecting the worst things outward.
It’s boring. Really boring. Call a vote and if I lose I will shuffle off this PB coil
Can’t be fairer than that. We are nothing if not a democracy of ghosts
Technology means passport queues and indeed passports and visas will soon be history. People will be scanned in stealth as they arrive. Miscreants will be sieved accordingly
Anyone with a passport under 5 years old may be holding the last passport they ever own
“Holidaymakers to be spared passport queues by facial recognition scans
‘Contactless corridors’ at ports will automatically scan British travellers returning home”
(Telegraph)
Staying + greater self-analysis.
200 of the 338 ridings are in Ontario and Quebec and if the Liberals win these strongly, it won't matter if the Conservatives pile up seats in Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.
If you do not like a poster just do not engage and move on
Leave everything else to the moderators
My Sao Paolo flight is full of Brazilians but frankly it could be Moscow-Irkutsk
Judge Boasberg DENIES government’s request to vacate 5 pm hearing over whether the Trump administration violated court order re: deportation of Venezuelan migrants
@dennycarter.bsky.social
Love to see government lawyers cite the Big Boy Can Do Whatever He Wants Act and a judge be like, uh no
Another issue for proposed local Government re-organisation in Surrey - a second Borough Council with enormous debt.
https://www.getsurrey.co.uk/news/surrey-news/spelthorne-council-critical-financial-position-31217965?int_source=nba#comments-wrapper
One of the options is to split Surrey into two unitaries - east and west. However, neither successor authority would want to be saddled with debts from the previous councils so it's likely the debts will simply be written off.
Plus you are PB Travel correspondent by default
Anyway my Brazilian flight is taking off. Obregado and bom dia to all - even @Roger and @Mexicanpete
Sounds like he's got a mental health issue and a problem with alcohol?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hL0FtV7yASw
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-14505437/Musk-impeach-judge-James-Boasberg-block-deportation-Tren-Aragua.html
It's a bit like one of David Davis's vanity by elections. Throw down a stupid challenge safe in the knowledge of an inevitable win.
One for go
One for stay
Looks like a recount
Lovers in the end
Whisper we'll be Ghosts Again
I've clearly missed some drama?
It's easy enough just to scroll past his lengthy posts. Not so easy to miss the concise ones mind. It was a lot more amicable on here last week but perhaps we need our very own enfant terrible to mix things up.
Pompey was worried that he wasn’t as popular as he used to be. He gave out that he was ill (some say he was, others that it was a total fake) and had himself carried on a litter through the countryside.
Of course, it was the chunk of countryside where he owned all the land. So his tenants came out to protest their love for him.
France and Canada will launch a new intelligence and security partnership after the meeting between Macron and Carney today, Reuters reports.
@rolandmcs.bsky.social
Seems significant. Possibly the start of a new "Five Eyes" with France replacing the US.
That would blow a few Brexiter minds. The existing Five Eyes was sometimes cited by Brexiters as evidence we were not European but Anglospherical.
"King Charles gave a warm welcome to the new Canadian Prime Minister Mark Carney when he visited Buckingham Palace.
It was another symbolic gesture of support for Canada from a King, wearing a red tie, who has to send coded signals rather than spell things out in words...
...At a tree planting ceremony in Buckingham Palace, the tree chosen was a maple."
However will we crack these damned Enigma-like codes?
It was really quite grim. Only took about 10-15 years of complaints for it to be stopped.
Seeking votes for and against his banning is childish nonsense
JUST IN: DOJ is asking the DC circuit to remove Judge Boasberg from the case over Trump’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act.
Hard to see the circuit doing this, but the ask itself is extraordinary.
A lot of councils saw commercial property investment as a possible way forward and at a time when the property market was on its knees following the events of 2008, the only groups going into commercial property investment were pension funds and local councils and at the time retail was king and acquiring commercial property especially shopping centres for investment looked a decent move.
Rental yields of 6-8% guaranteed a steady annual income which alleviated the need to rely so much on the largesse of the Government. However, while those who got in early did well for a while, latecomers like Spelthorne found the good deals had gone and they were fighting with other councils and other property investment companies for what was left, the prices were going up and the yields down.
Covid came and retail has never recovered- shopping centres have devalued in price and rental yields have slumped and councils which didn't get out quickly enough are sitting on assets worth a fraction of what they paid for them.
Frenchman- We have the most beatiful language in the world. We have words like 'Papillon'...
Englishman-Well we have 'Butterfly'
Spaniard-and what about our 'Mariposa'?
Portuguese-.....Or our 'Borboleta'?
German-......And what's wrong with 'Schmetterling'?
Why would it upset anyone to have a different 5 eyes in the circumstances
Everything with you is brexit, when the narrative has changed beyond recognition and the future lies with a new expanded Western defence alliance and trading relationships which is much wider than the EU
...and then deport Musk, and the cabinet....
Rasha Alawieh, a physician specializing in kidney transplants and professor at Brown University, also told Customs and Border Protection agents that while visiting Lebanon last month she attended the funeral of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and followed his teachings “from a religious perspective” but not a political one, according to an official report on her interrogation by an immigration officer."
You gotta delete the deleted items, innit.
But Spelthorne is a smallish second tier council, spending about £25 million a year. And yes, their investment income brings in about 40% of that. A billion quid is an awful lot to borrow.
"gangs [that] will come to constitute a package, which may be sufficiently stable to deserve a collective name such as Roman Catholicism ... or ... component parts to a single virus". (emphasis mine)
I think what Musk is trying to say is that the "woke" is like a religion. As an argument I personally problem with that per se, but some close to Trump might.
Just popped home for a quick break, happened to accidentally attend the Hezbollah leaders funeral, easy done.
Its also worth restating, just because you have been granted a visa to work in the US, that does not guarantee anything. The border officials can deny you entry even if you have one, they have rather a lot of discretion when it comes to these matters.
Seems to be avoiding the big question, "you borrowed billions for investment then took it as divvies and didn't do the investment. Why shouldn't you be nationalised and the creditors wiped out? "
Question, if you're a profit maximising water company allowed to discharge untreated sewage when you're overwhelmed by rainfall, would you treat sewage or wait for it to rain?
Brave. Very brave.
I do like Leon. But his inner toddler needs pretty regularly and very firmly to be told that it's time for bed and sent upstairs. So ... Stop it. It's past your bedtime.
9% seek help
1% what's today's picture quiz?
https://x.com/reformparty_uk/status/1901702576732770756
Welcome to Reform UK, Cllr Manzur Hasan!
#LincolnshireNeedsReform 🇬🇧
Lawyers put too much trust in laws. They are actually quite limited tools that can and often should be overridden to allow an injustice to be addressed.
A democracy requires a consensus. The US has lost theirs and we are losing ours. Hoping that laws will somehow stop this is optimistic in the extreme. It just won’t.
“If she wants to know something specific, but doesn’t want people to notice her asking questions, she should simply make incorrect statements while in the company of experts. Her companions will correct her, especially if they're men.”
- Advice for female agents in WW2, provided during SOE training
https://bsky.app/profile/garius.bsky.social/post/3lkl3posobg2w
Its quite a different case to do deal with a foreign leader to take gang members who aren't citizens of said foreign leaders country.
Long been known that you should backup your main account to the cloud (with end to end encryption). For the really savvy - to a server *you* run.
Before passing through a border, you delete the main account and install your “travel account”. Takes about 2 minutes.
Then reverse at the other end.
I’ve become more convinced with every passing day that the US has the thickest section of voters on the planet . Low information is being kind .
The US right now is in the middle of the biggest flood event since the Civil War. It needs those laws to hold long enough for saner heads to find a way to siphon off the worst of the dictatorial pressure being exerted by Trump.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c7vzq9436zdo
In the government’s most controversial move yet, it will announce a package of changes expected to affect some of the UK’s most severely disabled people.
The measures could deny benefits for people who need some help washing themselves, preparing food or remembering to go to the toilet, as ministers attempt to overhaul the welfare system and balance the books.
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2025/mar/17/keir-starmer-to-unveil-drastic-disability-benefit-cuts-despite-opposition
https://www.axios.com/local/salt-lake-city/2025/03/17/navajo-code-talkers-trump-dei-military-websites-wwii
Which is why statesmen and women are required - to try and win acceptance of new ideas.