On topic, if I'd spent the last 6 months gleefully briefing the press about how I'd found an MP who would stand down for me, and I was hoping to appeal to the sense of fair play of the NEC to let me run, I wouldn't begin my letter, "of course, nobody wanted or expected a by-election at this time".
Sure, but unless he left his plan to get back into Parliament lying around in a photocopier they cannot officially call him out for lying through his teeth on that point.
It's very hit'n'miss. But this afternoon I wrote up a very ballpark spec for a MacOS toolbar app to show the realtime cost of a meeting based on the salaries of the people involved.
Took me maybe 10-15 minutes to write up the spec.
🤖 ─ Worked for 1m 17s
And it was done. With about another 60s or so work on it's part (maybe 30m on mine) it was spot on.
It's very hit'n'miss. But this afternoon I wrote up a very ballpark spec for a MacOS toolbar app to show the realtime cost of a meeting based on the salaries of the people involved.
Took me maybe 10-15 minutes to write up the spec.
🤖 ─ Worked for 1m 17s
And it was done. With about another 60s or so work on it's part (maybe 30m on mine) it was spot on.
On topic, if I'd spent the last 6 months gleefully briefing the press about how I'd found an MP who would stand down for me, and I was hoping to appeal to the sense of fair play of the NEC to let me run, I wouldn't begin my letter, "of course, nobody wanted or expected a by-election at this time".
Sure, but unless he left his plan to get back into Parliament lying around in a photocopier they cannot officially call him out for lying through his teeth on that point.
Well sure, but they don't need to do that. They can answer the letter in the spirit in which it was sent, with a clearly spurious justification that everyone can see means "fuck you".
We value the work you are doing as duly elected mayor and would not like to see Labour Party resources spent on a mayoral by-election when we are all busy working to deliver for the British people. End of leadership challenge.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
Are you saying White Supermacist Fascism is a bad thing?
It's very hit'n'miss. But this afternoon I wrote up a very ballpark spec for a MacOS toolbar app to show the realtime cost of a meeting based on the salaries of the people involved.
Took me maybe 10-15 minutes to write up the spec.
🤖 ─ Worked for 1m 17s
And it was done. With about another 60s or so work on it's part (maybe 30m on mine) it was spot on.
------
Are you running it with Claude Max Opus ?
Usually - but that was gpt-5.2-codex. So was effectively 'free'.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I don't see how it fails in the short term. Miller can take down every blue state one state at a time.
They don't have the manpower
Miller expected ICE in Minnesota to be greeted as heroes.
Now it's a gigantic clusterfuck that threatens the whole program.
Another shutdown is likely
Hasn't Whiskey Pete scrambled 2 battalions of regular soldiers to Minnesota?
I don't see how Miller loses in the short to medium term. Miller has one of the biggest fighting forces available to any nation at his disposal. They have 12,000 military personnel upon whom they could call on stationed in the UK alone.
Final thoughts on Bernham. The good outweighs the bad. Getting him into parliament will be good for Labour
1. He has the best chace of anyone of winning the Denton seat 2. It gives Labour a potential leader if things go tits up for Starmer 3. It'll encourage Starmer to be more courageous 4. It will make Labour look less stale 5. He is popular in the North 6. He is believed to be innovative 7. He's not from any particular wing of the Party 8. Labour need a shot in the arm. He'll give it to them 9. He will resurrect the careers of two talented ministers Angela Rayner and Louise Haigh 10.He'll introduce some of Manchester's joie de vie to the more stagnent parts of the country
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
Final thoughts on Bernham. The good outweighs the bad. Getting him into parliament will be good for Labour
1. He has the best chace of anyone of winning the Denton seat 2. It gives Labour a potential leader if things go tits up for Starmer 3. It'll encourage Starmer to be more courageous 4. It will make Labour look less stale 5. He is popular in the North 6. He is believed to be innovative 7. He's not from any particular wing of the Party 8. Labour need a shot in the arm. He'll give it to them 9. He will resurrect the careers of two talented ministers Angela Rayner and Louise Haigh 10.He'll introduce some of Manchester's joie de vie to the more stagnent parts of the country
Although what Burnham has just done is what we castigated Johnson for doing. It is simply an unnecessary indulgent Labour psychodrama rather than an unnecessary indulgent Conservative psychodrama.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
you think they are gonna be able to hold an election in Minnesota in this environment?
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
you think they are gonna be able to hold an election in Minnesota in this environment?
Sure they could, and in any case they've deployed a large proportion of their available forces in Minnesota. They don't have enough goons to do this nationwide.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
And that has no lasting consequences? I find that doubtful.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
And that has no lasting consequences? I find that doubtful.
I mean sure it has consequences, the political prosecutions variously deter certain types of people and stiffen the resistance of others. The illegal actions usually don't result in any punishment aside from being told to stop them, and often by then the damage has already been done to whatever unlucky person was the early target. Then sometimes SCOTUS goes on to decide the illegal thing is now legal and they can carry on doing it.
But saying the US does not have any legal constraints on the administration left is empirically wrong.
Final thoughts on Bernham. The good outweighs the bad. Getting him into parliament will be good for Labour
1. He has the best chace of anyone of winning the Denton seat 2. It gives Labour a potential leader if things go tits up for Starmer 3. It'll encourage Starmer to be more courageous 4. It will make Labour look less stale 5. He is popular in the North 6. He is believed to be innovative 7. He's not from any particular wing of the Party 8. Labour need a shot in the arm. He'll give it to them 9. He will resurrect the careers of two talented ministers Angela Rayner and Louise Haigh 10.He'll introduce some of Manchester's joie de vie to the more stagnent parts of the country
There are only three reasonably plausible outcomes from Burnham standing.
1) He stands and loses. General hilarity all round, Starmer ends up down an enemy, as I don't think Burnham could come back from that.
2) He ends up in Parliament, tries to take Starmer down and fails. Result - more red on red infighting, the Burnham faction of the labour vote shuffle off to the greens.
3) He ends up in Parliament, takes Starmer on and wins. Because he's thick and doesn't understand the constraints on borrowing, he becomes Truss 2.0, creates a sovereign debt crisis, and Labour becomes unelectable for a generation.
Both 2 and 3 are very bad for the Labour Party, and 3 is also very bad for the country. I don't much care about the fate of the Labour Party, but if I did I would be praying for scenario 1.
The NPS will be created in stages, working alongside existing agencies and regional organised crime units for the transition.
Backing the plans, Neil Basu, former head of counter-terrorism policing, said NPS will be “far more capable as one national security system dealing more effectively with major crime, organised crime and terrorism in all its forms”.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, which would be merged into the new organisation, is also supporting the proposals.
I read this morning that Trump was concerned that Minneapolis wasn’t playing well for him. It was supposed to create confrontation and increase the salience of immigration, thereby favouring Trump. Instead it just looks (and seems to be) like a gang of masked thugs running riot on the streets of a major U.S. metro.
The NPS will be created in stages, working alongside existing agencies and regional organised crime units for the transition.
Backing the plans, Neil Basu, former head of counter-terrorism policing, said NPS will be “far more capable as one national security system dealing more effectively with major crime, organised crime and terrorism in all its forms”.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, which would be merged into the new organisation, is also supporting the proposals.
Another British FBI, certainly, replacing the NCA aka the British FBI. In view of recent events Stateside, perhaps they should drop that comparison.
I'm sceptical. Here's a problem; it's hard; let's have a massive reorganisation plucked out of thin air and hope for the best. What's it for? Saving money on administration by having one organisation run police helicopters, say, or to increase effectiveness by centralising serious crime investigations, or to reify the Home Secretary's mashup of Minority Report and Chinese-style surveillance?
As insane as this sounds, it’s true: Pam Bondi sent Minnesota officials a letter today saying ICE would leave the state if Minnesota turns over its voter files to the Trump Administration.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
What is ClawdBot for? The blurb makes it sound like it helps with email and social media, neither of which are a great problem for me. Or have I misunderstood?
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Oh FFS. Everyone (for some values of everyone) knew Trump 2.0 was being run by Project 2025. It was even put to him during the campaign, but he denied knowing them.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
I wonder how many countries' checks'n'balances really work?
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Oh FFS. Everyone (for some values of everyone) knew Trump 2.0 was being run by Project 2025. It was even put to him during the campaign, but he denied knowing them.
Well, quite. I'm not praising Reuters for their blindness.
My point is that Reuters - one of the last independent news organisations that attempts to be unbiased - has at least finally acknowledged its reporting was based on a false premise.
The BBC has yet to do that, and still reports US news as both sides - often leading with the administration's statements, even when it's plain that the administration is lying.
What is ClawdBot for? The blurb makes it sound like it helps with email and social media, neither of which are a great problem for me. Or have I misunderstood?
Yes you have. Its basically a general purpose framework that can control anything on your pc or that your pc can connect to and has memory of everything you have done in the past while running it. You then hook in the brain e.g Claude LLM, and it will communicate with you via messgaing app like WhatsApp (plus a local gateway). They are then plugins people are making for everything you can think ofm
The system can then to be told to do anything, given a list of tasks, you wander off, and it stays alive working through the task, peridiocally messaging you about progres, questions etc, you message back, and it goes off again. Its like having a real assistant. So people are doing thing like hey do research on this topic overnight, then you get up in the morning, its messaged you a report, then set it off coding, automatically handling emails, DMs.
So people are just getting a Mac Mini for £500 and letting this thing rip on massive lists of tasks, generating ideas, coding up apps, etc while they go about their day and dont have to be at the conputer, they just chat it to on the go via WhatsApp, iMesssage etc.
Claude Code (bad name as not just for code) can do a fair bit of this, but it doesnt work as well and very heavily limited.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
As Jack Smith noted in his evidence to Congress (which has barely been reported, so much shit has been going on), the rule of law is not self-executing.
Checks and balances exist to distribute power, and the US constitution has done a pretty good job of that. But an accident of history has handed every branch of government to one party at the same time as a decades long effort to staff the Supreme Court with right wing radicals came to fruition.
Check and balances make it a bit easier to preserve a democracy. They don't do the job on their own.
What is ClawdBot for? The blurb makes it sound like it helps with email and social media, neither of which are a great problem for me. Or have I misunderstood?
Yes you have. Its basically a general purpose framework that can control anything on your pc or that your pc can connect to and has memory of everything you have done in the past while running it. You then hook in the brain e.g Claude LLM, and it will communicate with you via messgaing app like WhatsApp (plus a local gateway). They are then plugins people are making for everything you can think ofm
The system can then to be told to do anything, given a list of tasks, you wander off, and it stays alive working through the task, peridiocally messaging you about progres, questions etc, you message back, and it goes off again. Its like having a real assistant. So people are doing thing like hey do research on this topic overnight, then you get up in the morning, its messaged you a report, then set it off coding, automatically handling emails, DMs.
So people are just getting a Mac Mini for £500 and letting this thing rip on massive lists of tasks, generating ideas, coding up apps, etc while they go about their day and dont have to be at the conputer, they just chat it to on the go via WhatsApp, iMesssage etc.
Claude Code (bad name as not just for code) can do a fair bit of this, but it doesnt work as well and very heavily limited.
Thanks. Is a Mac Mini needed? I was thinking of trying it in a Windows (or maybe linux) virtual machine on my pc – would a completely separate machine be best?
What is ClawdBot for? The blurb makes it sound like it helps with email and social media, neither of which are a great problem for me. Or have I misunderstood?
Yes you have. Its basically a general purpose framework that can control anything on your pc or that your pc can connect to and has memory of everything you have done in the past while running it. You then hook in the brain e.g Claude LLM, and it will communicate with you via messgaing app like WhatsApp (plus a local gateway). They are then plugins people are making for everything you can think ofm
The system can then to be told to do anything, given a list of tasks, you wander off, and it stays alive working through the task, peridiocally messaging you about progres, questions etc, you message back, and it goes off again. Its like having a real assistant. So people are doing thing like hey do research on this topic overnight, then you get up in the morning, its messaged you a report, then set it off coding, automatically handling emails, DMs.
So people are just getting a Mac Mini for £500 and letting this thing rip on massive lists of tasks, generating ideas, coding up apps, etc while they go about their day and dont have to be at the conputer, they just chat it to on the go via WhatsApp, iMesssage etc.
Claude Code (bad name as not just for code) can do a fair bit of this, but it doesnt work as well and very heavily limited.
Thanks. Is a Mac Mini needed? I was thinking of trying it in a Windows (or maybe linux) virtual machine on my pc – would a completely separate machine be best?
No it can be any computer. But it has total control of the machine so you dont want it on your main machine. Mac mini are popular as cheap, powerful enough for the job, unix based and easy to put mac os in a sandbox.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Oh FFS. Everyone (for some values of everyone) knew Trump 2.0 was being run by Project 2025. It was even put to him during the campaign, but he denied knowing them.
Well, quite. I'm not praising Reuters for their blindness.
My point is that Reuters - one of the last independent news organisations that attempts to be unbiased - has at least finally acknowledged its reporting was based on a false premise.
The BBC has yet to do that, and still reports US news as both sides - often leading with the administration's statements, even when it's plain that the administration is lying.
Here's an example this morning.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cjd0vl1d9vrt ..Federal and state officials have conflicting accounts of the events which lead to Pretti's death Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says agents fired "defensive shots" after Pretti "reacted violently", while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says the account of events from federal authorities is "nonsense" and "lies"..
I was talking to a second hand car dealer the other day. They were saying all this focus on the likes of pubs, their costs are absolutely through the roof due to the cummulative effect of so many tax changes. Absolutely eye watering and quite a few well known and respected dealers have gone busto recently as the monthly running costs.
oh no. not second hand car dealers. oh shit.
Tbf, it would be annoying if we couldn't buy or sell 2nd hand cars.
It would be quite funny to see WeBuyAnyCar go bust, though.
My son in law works for them at the moment, so it wouldn't be that funny. Their margins are much lower that I expected because they sell the cars they buy through auctions and they are bought up by garages and second hand dealers on the cheap.
WBAC is owned by British Car Auctions so it's an integrated supply chain for the retail car trade.
I was talking to a second hand car dealer the other day. They were saying all this focus on the likes of pubs, their costs are absolutely through the roof due to the cummulative effect of so many tax changes. Absolutely eye watering and quite a few well known and respected dealers have gone busto recently as the monthly running costs.
oh no. not second hand car dealers. oh shit.
Tbf, it would be annoying if we couldn't buy or sell 2nd hand cars.
It would be quite funny to see WeBuyAnyCar go bust, though.
Owned by BCA so highly unlikely. The WBAC cheat code is bribe the valuer otherwise you are going to get fucked and will deserve it. Motorway are way worse!
Oddly, the one time I used Motorway I had an excellent experience. I got £600 more than they quoted, and I didn't get knocked down at all on price by the valuer which was a big help because I was very short of money at the time and needed that cash from my spare car.
The Fukkers are a party owned and operated by wealthy charlatans to attract moronic nativists with neck tats that say "MAM" and a Chinaphone with a broken screen.
Made me laugh! They are the ones the BBC choose when they do their vox pops which does suggest the BBC researchers have cottoned on.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
By stopping, do you mean - moving on to do something else illegal? I don't see much evidence of illegal activity reducing...
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Oh FFS. Everyone (for some values of everyone) knew Trump 2.0 was being run by Project 2025. It was even put to him during the campaign, but he denied knowing them.
Well, quite. I'm not praising Reuters for their blindness.
My point is that Reuters - one of the last independent news organisations that attempts to be unbiased - has at least finally acknowledged its reporting was based on a false premise.
The BBC has yet to do that, and still reports US news as both sides - often leading with the administration's statements, even when it's plain that the administration is lying.
Sarah Smith in trying to appear scrupulously impartial sane washes the madness. This is why I rely on the brilliant Simon Marks. Marks catalogues the insanity and castigates third parties, like Starmer, for normalising the very abnormal.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.
There's no real equivalent to the infamous Article 48 in the US Constitution.
The problem really is the complacency of the Senate coupled with the corruption of the Supreme Court (whom I note have still not ruled on tariffs, which if the immunity farce is anything to go by suggests a majority are looking for sophistic ways of ruling Trump's crimes to be legal). If either institution had done its job properly in the last five years the US would not be in this mess.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.
There's no real equivalent to the infamous Article 48 in the US Constitution.
The problem really is the complacency of the Senate coupled with the corruption of the Supreme Court (whom I note have still not ruled on tariffs, which if the immunity farce is anything to go by suggests a majority are looking for sophistic ways of ruling Trump's crimes to be legal). If either institution had done its job properly in the last five years the US would not be in this mess.
The one constant remaining beacon of hope in the unfolding shitshow is just how incompetent the regime is. They do have all the power with no constraints, and they are doing everything they can to fuck it up.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
Haven't you read Project 2025. It's all in there. See pages 141/142
The role of ICE Deportation Officers should be clarified. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) should be identified as being primarily responsible for enforcing civil immigration regulations, including the civil arrest, detention, and removal of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without warrant where appropriate, subject only to the civil warrant requirements of the INA where appropriate.
All ICE memoranda identifying “sensitive zones” where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded. Rely on the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.
There's no real equivalent to the infamous Article 48 in the US Constitution.
The problem really is the complacency of the Senate coupled with the corruption of the Supreme Court (whom I note have still not ruled on tariffs, which if the immunity farce is anything to go by suggests a majority are looking for sophistic ways of ruling Trump's crimes to be legal). If either institution had done its job properly in the last five years the US would not be in this mess.
The one constant remaining beacon of hope in the unfolding shitshow is just how incompetent the regime is. They do have all the power with no constraints, and they are doing everything they can to fuck it up.
Bizarrely, the fact Trump is an elderly dementia addled pillock is probably the key there. As long as he continues to hold power it's difficult for those who are as malign as he is *and* intelligent, competent and energetic - the likes of Miller, Vance, Hegseth and Gabbard - to do as much damage as they would wish.
They're still causing a hell of a lot of trouble though. Look at Kash Patel firing all FBI agents who are not loyal to Trump (most definitely illegally and without any sort of process). Or Noem having random people murdered. Or Vance and Leavitt randomly insulting all the US' allies while sucking up to Russia.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
Haven't you read Project 2025. It's all in there. See pages 141/142
The role of ICE Deportation Officers should be clarified. ICE Enforcement and Removal Operations (ERO) should be identified as being primarily responsible for enforcing civil immigration regulations, including the civil arrest, detention, and removal of immigration violators anywhere in the United States, without warrant where appropriate, subject only to the civil warrant requirements of the INA where appropriate.
All ICE memoranda identifying “sensitive zones” where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded. Rely on the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations
'the good judgement of ICE' would be where a judge in Minnesota sends these two murderers away for life.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
That is the nature of non authoritarian constitutions, including ours. The moment the consent of the politically powerful is withheld it relies on the constitutional monopoly holders of enforcement (police, army, courts) to enforce using such force as is necessary. This all relies on the good chaps theory of government. To that extent the theory is true. It's defect is different. Ie that a classics degree from Oxford makes you the best person to make key decisions on major engineering projects and so on.
The good chaps theory of getting on together in every possible respect is at the heart of our culture. It works remarkably often.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
You’ll find the 2nd amendment Trump supporters all of a sudden will ignore it was a legally owned firearm and the state has a right to carry law.
The guy was executed in broad daylight because he came to the aid of a woman .
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
The answer to that is long and IANAE but it is fairly clear that the first thing they must have in its place is certainty that something as boring as elections or the house or the judicial system can't just stop it by taking away their power. WRT November elections and 2028, bet (or refrain from) accordingly.
And this is not mostly about Trump. It's about the whole gangster setup. Watch for the 'Reichstag fire' process between now and November.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
I was talking to a second hand car dealer the other day. They were saying all this focus on the likes of pubs, their costs are absolutely through the roof due to the cummulative effect of so many tax changes. Absolutely eye watering and quite a few well known and respected dealers have gone busto recently as the monthly running costs.
oh no. not second hand car dealers. oh shit.
Tbf, it would be annoying if we couldn't buy or sell 2nd hand cars.
It would be quite funny to see WeBuyAnyCar go bust, though.
Owned by BCA so highly unlikely. The WBAC cheat code is bribe the valuer otherwise you are going to get fucked and will deserve it. Motorway are way worse!
Oddly, the one time I used Motorway I had an excellent experience. I got £600 more than they quoted, and I didn't get knocked down at all on price by the valuer which was a big help because I was very short of money at the time and needed that cash from my spare car.
Maybe I was just lucky though.
The last time I used motorway it was painful but the car was a wreck and had engine problems so it was just a matter of all information was provided when you bid so pay what you offered or head back home (and eventually they did pay).
Usually I just go to the local Evans Halshaw as they will offer £300 or so more than the WBAC / Motorway start price and sort the paperwork in a hour or so.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
EDIT: Despite restoring confederate monuments claiming the US shouldn't scrub its heritage, yesterday they removed exhibits in Philadelphia explaining slavery
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
By stopping, do you mean - moving on to do something else illegal? I don't see much evidence of illegal activity reducing...
Well, we can only speculate on whether they'd be doing the second illegal thing if the court hadn't prohibited them from doing the first. But on the question "are there still legal constraints on what they're doing" the answer is, "yes".
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
I think the micro-analysis of what actually happened completely misses the point here. To be brutal, the murder of these two individuals is just another couple of additions to a long list of state violence in the US. Nothing special about that.
What's different is that in both cases all investigations have been blocked by the Federal Government, and that same government has labelled both victims "terrorists". The family of the first victim has been investigated by ICE and now some of the witnesses of the second have (apparently) had to go into hiding to avoid the same. We've passed the threshold into fascism I think.
It gets even worse . The victim was legally carrying a fire arm , in the tussle his gun was taken by a member of ICE who is seen walking away with it and then they executed him .
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
The one thing that gives me optimism that democracy will continue after 2028 is that the administration seems to be determined to alienate everyone you might need for a successful coup d'etat. They've been doing everything they can to upset the military and now apparently they're trying to cancel the rights of gun owners.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I thought the elections would be held but compromised in 2026 and 2028. I think it is most likely they won't be held as the Insurrection Act will have been invoked for both events. They are not playing around this time.
IIUC the Insurrection Act isn't a magic thing that cancels elections. It allows them to sent the military to places to support law enforcement. They still have the same legal constraints that police do and they still have to obey the courts. If you can tell the military to act illegally to stop people voting then that might be relevant, but that's where you need the support of the military.
There are no legal constraints left. Mark Kelly will be prosecuted/ court martialed ( he has already had his pension cut and been recalled to service to invoke a court martial) for imploring military personnel to ignore ILLEGAL orders from the Commander in Chief.
What's happening here is that the administration is constantly doing illegal thing, getting told to stop by the courts, and then, grudgingly, stopping. They keep bringing prosecutions against political enemies and the courts keep throwing them out.
By stopping, do you mean - moving on to do something else illegal? I don't see much evidence of illegal activity reducing...
Well, we can only speculate on whether they'd be doing the second illegal thing if the court hadn't prohibited them from doing the first. But on the question "are there still legal constraints on what they're doing" the answer is, "yes".
Are they still doing illegal things despite those legal constraints? yes.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
and sandpit and mr glenn blame the dems
And Leon thinks this is comparable to a delayed county council election. *
*which I agree is wrong but the worst example of whataboutery I've ever seen on PB. Even the Charlie Kirk comparison doesn't work because 1) he wasn't shot by the state 2) Obama didn't call him a terrorist 3) the guy who did it was arrested.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
Hard to say, Project 25 is less a consistent blueprint, more a repository for batshit crazy right wing ideas. But the general direction of travel is towards an explicitly "Christian" authoritarian state with extreme inequality. And destroying their domestic enemies.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.
A feature of the Nazi takeover in the early '30s was that the far right had captured much of the judiciary before they came to power, hence closing off the legal system as a check and balance, or route to redress, once the regime started to dismantle democracy. Consider, for example the number of left-wing activists prosecuted, and the severity of penalties they received, with the handful of SA and other far-right individuals done for acting violently outside the law.
Trump’s government has unequivocally crossed a threshold now where even well -documented truth is irrelevant and the murder of US citizens by the state is formally sanctioned.
The US regime are really testing the limits of gaslighting
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
There is now very clear footage. The guy gets between ICE and a woman (they seem to particularly relish beating up women) both are pepper sprayed. The guy is taken down and pistol whipped by an ICE goon. His legally concealed weapon is removed. An ICE agent shoots him ( accidentally?). Several ICE agents panic and half a dozen shots are released.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
and sandpit and mr glenn blame the dems
And Leon thinks this is comparable to a delayed county council election. *
*which I agree is wrong but the worst example of whataboutery I've ever seen on PB. Even the Charlie Kirk comparison doesn't work because 1) he wasn't shot by the state 2) Obama didn't call him a terrorist 3) the guy who did it was arrested.
That Leon oscillates between being a troll and being a twat is hardly news.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
Hard to say, Project 25 is less a consistent blueprint, more a repository for batshit crazy right wing ideas. But the general direction of travel is towards an explicitly "Christian" authoritarian state with extreme inequality. And destroying their domestic enemies.
On the subject of theocracies, and leaving Putin's Russian Orthodoxy aside, I see the Saudis are starting to look more menacing than Iran. Iran doesn't have access to nuclear arms (yet)
Trump has praised the bravery of British troops in Afghanistan - the nearest he will go to an apology - but other countries will not let his insult rest. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto is writing to the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte. 53 Italian soldiers were killed and 723 injured in Afghanistan. Meloni - who tries to avoid the diplomatic front lines if there is a row with Trump - after 36 hours branded his remarks as "unacceptable". All across Europe, populists are deciding how far to run from the Trump contagion.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
It ought to have been pretty obvious to any journalist doing their work that Trump's staff were a very different crew to the first time around.
And it's not as though his opponent hadn't described that agenda in some detail.
But I suppose it's fair to say the speed and extent of what they've done in a year might be a surprise - and Reuters deserve credit for acknowledging it out loud.
Meanwhile Smith and Webb cheerfully report it almost like business as usual.
The worrying thing is how many Americans still support the regime
AOC posted about the latest execution on TwiX, and about half of the replies are still 'he had it coming'
Difficult to know if they are just Hungarian bots or not though. Blue tick = bot is a good general rule. Even r/Conservative is struggling with this one, mainly because the Noem has justified by pointing out the man had a holstered gun. A lot of confused gun nuts in America right now.
Andy Street always seems like a decent, sensible, intelligent guy - but it's very hard to recover nevertheless from the information that he's the gay life partner of Michael Fabricant.
Minnesota State officials (BCA) had a SIGNED warrant from an independent judge to investigate the shooting. DHS DENIED them access to the scene and said they would investigate themselves.
It turns out the much-vaunted US Constitution is crucially dependent on the good chap theory and is a chocolate fireguard when faced with a less than good chap and his backers. Much like international law, come to think of it.
Another parallel with the Weimar Republic then.
A feature of the Nazi takeover in the early '30s was that the far right had captured much of the judiciary before they came to power, hence closing off the legal system as a check and balance, or route to redress, once the regime started to dismantle democracy. Consider, for example the number of left-wing activists prosecuted, and the severity of penalties they received, with the handful of SA and other far-right individuals done for acting violently outside the law.
And the constitution of the Soviet Union was chock full of human rights and protections. Tankies loved to wave that one, especially post Helsinki…
The Soviet judges worked to a theory that the needs of the state outweighed the rights of the individual. Always. Because the state was right.
Therefore any opposition to the rightness of the state was a criminal act, since it risked harming the collective rights of those ruled by the state.
Pam Bondi sent a letter to officials in Minnesota today saying ICE will be removed from the state if they turn over their voter rolls to Trump. This is very obviously an attempt from Trump to cheat in 2026.
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
It ought to have been pretty obvious to any journalist doing their work that Trump's staff were a very different crew to the first time around.
And it's not as though his opponent hadn't described that agenda in some detail.
But I suppose it's fair to say the speed and extent of what they've done in a year might be a surprise - and Reuters deserve credit for acknowledging it out loud.
Meanwhile Smith and Webb cheerfully report it almost like business as usual.
Consider what you ask of the journalists.
Then remember that the same journalists were still asking questions about Murder Tuesday, during COVID, after six months
This is at least more honest than a large number of news organisations. The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.' https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
Not entirely unreasonable, as Trump's first term was extremely chaotic and unfocused. I did have dinner with one of the principal architects of Project 2025 though and he scared the bejesus out of me. To be honest nothing Trump has done has surprised me. The goal of these people is total power, they carry a deep loathing for the coastal elites that comes from a place of intellectual insecurity and they want to destroy liberal America for ever. They won't stop until somebody stops them.
Any thought on what they want in it's place or is it just destroy anything in its path?
Hard to say, Project 25 is less a consistent blueprint, more a repository for batshit crazy right wing ideas. But the general direction of travel is towards an explicitly "Christian" authoritarian state with extreme inequality. And destroying their domestic enemies.
Pam Bondi sent a letter to officials in Minnesota today saying ICE will be removed from the state if they turn over their voter rolls to Trump. This is very obviously an attempt from Trump to cheat in 2026.
Comments
Took me maybe 10-15 minutes to write up the spec. And it was done. With about another 60s or so work on it's part (maybe 30m on mine) it was spot on.
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Are you running it with Claude Max Opus ?
We value the work you are doing as duly elected mayor and would not like to see Labour Party resources spent on a mayoral by-election when we are all busy working to deliver for the British people. End of leadership challenge.
The defensive shots line from the scum surrounding Trump is a total lie .
Are you running it with Claude Max Opus ?
Usually - but that was gpt-5.2-codex. So was effectively 'free'.
You can't lie to gun owners about something involving a gun, if there's something involving a gun in the media they'll spend the next week obsessing over possible every detail of it.
I don't see how Miller loses in the short to medium term. Miller has one of the biggest fighting forces available to any nation at his disposal. They have 12,000 military personnel upon whom they could call on stationed in the UK alone.
1. He has the best chace of anyone of winning the Denton seat
2. It gives Labour a potential leader if things go tits up for Starmer
3. It'll encourage Starmer to be more courageous
4. It will make Labour look less stale
5. He is popular in the North
6. He is believed to be innovative
7. He's not from any particular wing of the Party
8. Labour need a shot in the arm. He'll give it to them
9. He will resurrect the careers of two talented ministers Angela Rayner and Louise Haigh
10.He'll introduce some of Manchester's joie de vie to the more stagnent parts of the country
But saying the US does not have any legal constraints on the administration left is empirically wrong.
1) He stands and loses. General hilarity all round, Starmer ends up down an enemy, as I don't think Burnham could come back from that.
2) He ends up in Parliament, tries to take Starmer down and fails. Result - more red on red infighting, the Burnham faction of the labour vote shuffle off to the greens.
3) He ends up in Parliament, takes Starmer on and wins. Because he's thick and doesn't understand the constraints on borrowing, he becomes Truss 2.0, creates a sovereign debt crisis, and Labour becomes unelectable for a generation.
Both 2 and 3 are very bad for the Labour Party, and 3 is also very bad for the country. I don't much care about the fate of the Labour Party, but if I did I would be praying for scenario 1.
Backing the plans, Neil Basu, former head of counter-terrorism policing, said NPS will be “far more capable as one national security system dealing more effectively with major crime, organised crime and terrorism in all its forms”.
Graeme Biggar, director general of the National Crime Agency, which would be merged into the new organisation, is also supporting the proposals.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2026/jan/24/home-office-to-launch-british-fbi-to-deal-with-serious-uk-wide
Another 2035 plan?
If ICE doesn't work, the whole project is in jeopardy
What part of a plan requiring hundreds of thousands of racist, trigger-happy goons to implement it could possibly go wrong?
I'm sceptical. Here's a problem; it's hard; let's have a massive reorganisation plucked out of thin air and hope for the best. What's it for? Saving money on administration by having one organisation run police helicopters, say, or to increase effectiveness by centralising serious crime investigations, or to reify the Home Secretary's mashup of Minority Report and Chinese-style surveillance?
They’re openly using state violence as a bargaining chip to seize election infrastructure.
https://x.com/mattmfm/status/2015218874111639976
This is unconstitutional and any conclusion DHS comes to can’t be trusted.
https://x.com/RepJimmyGomez/status/2015178523648864646
The BBC's US editor has yet to be as honest.
Reuters North America editor Sally Buzbee on covering Trump's return: 'I don't think in those first few days we understood what an organized agenda they had.'
https://x.com/Reuters/status/2015122486384341196
I'm not praising Reuters for their blindness.
My point is that Reuters - one of the last independent news organisations that attempts to be unbiased - has at least finally acknowledged its reporting was based on a false premise.
The BBC has yet to do that, and still reports US news as both sides - often leading with the administration's statements, even when it's plain that the administration is lying.
The system can then to be told to do anything, given a list of tasks, you wander off, and it stays alive working through the task, peridiocally messaging you about progres, questions etc, you message back, and it goes off again. Its like having a real assistant. So people are doing thing like hey do research on this topic overnight, then you get up in the morning, its messaged you a report, then set it off coding, automatically handling emails, DMs.
So people are just getting a Mac Mini for £500 and letting this thing rip on massive lists of tasks, generating ideas, coding up apps, etc while they go about their day and dont have to be at the conputer, they just chat it to on the go via WhatsApp, iMesssage etc.
Claude Code (bad name as not just for code) can do a fair bit of this, but it doesnt work as well and very heavily limited.
Checks and balances exist to distribute power, and the US constitution has done a pretty good job of that.
But an accident of history has handed every branch of government to one party at the same time as a decades long effort to staff the Supreme Court with right wing radicals came to fruition.
Check and balances make it a bit easier to preserve a democracy. They don't do the job on their own.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cjd0vl1d9vrt
..Federal and state officials have conflicting accounts of the events which lead to Pretti's death
Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem says agents fired "defensive shots" after Pretti "reacted violently", while Minnesota Governor Tim Walz says the account of events from federal authorities is "nonsense" and "lies"..
I’m not even sure my apprentice wage was taxed then.
Maybe I was just lucky though.
https://www.thetimes.com/article/a402657f-b99a-45bd-8de2-2b1ffcb06a7b?shareToken=93ee0d6dbc015e83af9dd27787c8243b
Everybody can see the videos of masked goons shooting a man in the street
They are still trying to spin that he was a threat
It's insane
The problem really is the complacency of the Senate coupled with the corruption of the Supreme Court (whom I note have still not ruled on tariffs, which if the immunity farce is anything to go by suggests a majority are looking for sophistic ways of ruling Trump's crimes to be legal). If either institution had done its job properly in the last five years the US would not be in this mess.
All ICE memoranda identifying “sensitive zones” where ICE personnel are prohibited from operating should be rescinded. Rely on the good judgment of officers in the field to avoid inappropriate situations
They're still causing a hell of a lot of trouble though. Look at Kash Patel firing all FBI agents who are not loyal to Trump (most definitely illegally and without any sort of process). Or Noem having random people murdered. Or Vance and Leavitt randomly insulting all the US' allies while sucking up to Russia.
Miller, Bovino, Bondi and Trump claim the win. This is the Wild West.
The good chaps theory of getting on together in every possible respect is at the heart of our culture. It works remarkably often.
The guy was executed in broad daylight because he came to the aid of a woman .
And this is not mostly about Trump. It's about the whole gangster setup. Watch for the 'Reichstag fire' process between now and November.
Usually I just go to the local Evans Halshaw as they will offer £300 or so more than the WBAC / Motorway start price and sort the paperwork in a hour or so.
EDIT: Despite restoring confederate monuments claiming the US shouldn't scrub its heritage, yesterday they removed exhibits in Philadelphia explaining slavery
What's different is that in both cases all investigations have been blocked by the Federal Government, and that same government has labelled both victims "terrorists". The family of the first victim has been investigated by ICE and now some of the witnesses of the second have (apparently) had to go into hiding to avoid the same. We've passed the threshold into fascism I think.
*which I agree is wrong but the worst example of whataboutery I've ever seen on PB. Even the Charlie Kirk comparison doesn't work because 1) he wasn't shot by the state 2) Obama didn't call him a terrorist 3) the guy who did it was arrested.
They started out claiming brown people were their enemies.
Yesterday their enemy turned out to be a white advocate for the second amendment.
Eventually they run out of enemies to shoot...
Trump’s government has unequivocally crossed a threshold now where even well -documented truth is irrelevant and the murder of US citizens by the state is formally sanctioned.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/24/minneapolis-shooting-ice?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
https://nationalinterest.org/blog/middle-east-watch/why-is-saudi-arabia-abandoning-peace
AOC posted about the latest execution on TwiX, and about half of the replies are still 'he had it coming'
Trump has praised the bravery of British troops in Afghanistan - the nearest he will go to an apology - but other countries will not let his insult rest. Italian Defence Minister Guido Crosetto is writing to the US Defence Secretary Pete Hegseth and Nato secretary general Mark Rutte. 53 Italian soldiers were killed and 723 injured in Afghanistan. Meloni - who tries to avoid the diplomatic front lines if there is a row with Trump - after 36 hours branded his remarks as "unacceptable". All across Europe, populists are deciding how far to run from the Trump contagion.
https://x.com/patrickwintour/status/2015343055683932322?s=20
And it's not as though his opponent hadn't described that agenda in some detail.
But I suppose it's fair to say the speed and extent of what they've done in a year might be a surprise - and Reuters deserve credit for acknowledging it out loud.
Meanwhile Smith and Webb cheerfully report it almost like business as usual.
We live in hope some might find a spine !
The Soviet judges worked to a theory that the needs of the state outweighed the rights of the individual. Always. Because the state was right.
Therefore any opposition to the rightness of the state was a criminal act, since it risked harming the collective rights of those ruled by the state.
Pam Bondi sent a letter to officials in Minnesota today saying ICE will be removed from the state if they turn over their voter rolls to Trump. This is very obviously an attempt from Trump to cheat in 2026.
https://x.com/harryjsisson/status/2015226245642928564?s=20
Then remember that the same journalists were still asking questions about Murder Tuesday, during COVID, after six months
https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Gell-Mann_Amnesia_effect
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/America_First_Policy_Institute