All posts by nedhamson

Activist, writer, researcher, addicted to sharing information and facts.

British diplomats to pull out from EU decision-making meetings within days

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Critics say No 10 move to quit bloc’s institutional structures leaves UK blindsided

British diplomats will pull out from the EU’s institutional structures of power in Brussels within days, under plans being drawn up by Downing Street.

In an attempt to reinforce the message that the UK is leaving the EU by 31 October, “do or die”, the UK would stop attending the day-to-day meetings that inform the bloc’s decision-making.

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Monday Open Thread | Kamala Harris: Trump Administration Is Running A “Campaign Of Terror” against minority communities | 3CHICSPOLITICO

The thug pretending to be president IS running a campaign of terror. It is no different than the klan’s reign of racial terror against Black people. His hateful words are radicalizing people …

Source: Monday Open Thread | Kamala Harris: Trump Administration Is Running A “Campaign Of Terror” against minority communities | 3CHICSPOLITICO

““This administration has directed DHS to conduct these raids as part of what I believe is this administration’s campaign of terror, which is to make whole populations of people afraid to go to work,” Harris said. “Children are afraid to go to school for fear that when they come home, their parents won’t be there.””

Another day in paradise

Donald Trump re-tweeted this about the Epstein suicide:

Died of SUICIDE on 24/7 SUICIDE WATCH ? Yeah right! How does that happen#JefferyEpstein had information on Bill Clinton & now he’s dead

I see #TrumpBodyCount trending but we know who did this!

RT if you’re not Surprised#EpsteinSuicide #ClintonBodyCount #ClintonCrimeFamily pic.twitter.com/Y9tGAWaAxX

— Terrence K. Williams (@w_terrence) August 10, 2019

Asking whether Trump “believes” the Clintons murdered Epstein is a meaningless question, because Donald Trump doesn’t have beliefs, at least not in the way that an even minimally psychologically healthy person does. He has desires, impulses, and an instinctual talent for the worst sort of demagoguery. His election as president, and even more so the complete inability of the system to remove him from office, are both compelling evidence that the American political system is in the process of failing in a radical way.

That this thought is literally unthinkable for almost all of our elites does not make it less true.

As to what happened to Epstein, I think it’s overwhelmingly likely he committed suicide because that failing system “decided,” in a diffuse, inchoate way, that it would be best if he committed suicide, and then acted, or more precisely didn’t act, accordingly.

Whether you want to call that a conspiracy turns on whether you agree with whichever sociologist described society as a conspiracy against its own members.

On a related topic, the absurdity of Joe Biden’s status as the frontrunner for the Democratic presidential nomination becomes more evident every day:

It seems Joe Biden can’t escape the gaffe curse. The frontrunner to become the Democratic presidential nominee told reporters in Iowa on Saturday that “those kids in Parkland came up to see me when I was vice president.” But when they went to Capitol Hill, Biden said, lawmakers were “basically cowering, not wanting to see them. They did not want to face it on camera.” The problem with this tale? The shooting at Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland, Fla., that left 17 dead took place in 2018, more than a year after Biden left the White House.

It looks like Biden repeated the gaffe twice. There is video of Biden telling the same story but with slightly different words at a forum on gun violence. “I watched what happened when the kids from Parkland marched up to, and I met with them and they went off to up on the Hill and I was vice president they went to the Hill … all those congressmen were like, ‘No, I’m not here. I’m not here.’ 

This happened literally the day after Biden made a couple of similarly disturbing and symptomatic blunders. This is happening several months before the presidential campaign is in full swing, when Biden is relatively rested and unburdened by the demands of a full campaign schedule.

And it’s happening 17 months before he would take the oath of office. (The sort of cognitive deterioration associated with advancing age tends to be exponential not linear, so when an old person is slipping mentally, 17 months is a long time).

In its own way, the possibility that Biden might be the Democratic party’s challenger to Trump is as big an indictment of the political system as Trump’s continuing presidency. Both things represent complete and total failures of a system that seems on the verge of entering a historical death spiral, it it isn’t in one already.

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‘Oh my God, what I did say?’ How Justin Trudeau learned to deal with Donald Trump

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The moment Donald Trump slapped tariffs on Canada’s steel imports was the moment Justin Trudeau realized he couldn’t take U.S. president at his word. That hard lesson in the new reality of the Canada-U.S. relationship and several others learned by the prime minister are outlined in a new book by the CBC’s Aaron Wherry.

Trump administration defends Ice raids and says timing was ‘unfortunate’ | US news | The Guardian

He said Sunday on CNN: “I understand that the girl is upset. And I get that. But her father committed a crime.” <So that made it ok, somehow, to punish her? What? What kind of monsters have we become?>

Source: Trump administration defends Ice raids and says timing was ‘unfortunate’ | US news | The Guardian

Shackles and restraints used on hundreds of deportees from UK

British racism is alive and well = sad

David Lammy MP says ‘chilling’ figures reveal abuse of power by authorities

Hundreds of people deported from the UK were restrained by a variety of methods including shackles, the Guardian has learned.

There were 447 cases where one or more forms of restraint were used between April 2018 and March 2019. Information on restraint using rigid bar handcuffs, leg restraints and waist restraint belts was provided to the Guardian in a freedom of information response.

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Caroline Lucas calls for emergency female cabinet to block no-deal Brexit

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Green MP urges 10 top female politicians to form cabinet of national unity to deliver fresh referendum

The Green MP, Caroline Lucas, has thrown down the gauntlet to 10 high-profile female politicians over blocking a no-deal Brexit, proposing a cabinet of national unity including Labour’s Emily Thornberry, the Liberal Democrat leader, Jo Swinson, and the former Conservative cabinet minister Justine Greening to seek legislation for a fresh referendum.

In an extraordinary proposal that will be viewed with scepticism by rival parties, Lucas offered to broker a deal with female MPs from all the main political parties in Westminster, as well as the SNP’s leader, Nicola Sturgeon.

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Imran Khan likens inaction over Kashmir to appeasing Hitler

spot on!

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Pakistan PM remarks come as tensions rise over India’s removal of special status

The Pakistani prime minister, Imran Khan, has likened the Indian government to Nazis, warning that global inaction over Kashmir would be the same as appeasing Hitler.

His comments came as authorities in Indian-administered Kashmir reportedly reimposed some curfew rules in parts of the territory, following an easing of restrictions in Srinagar, the region’s main city, that had allowed people to visit shops over the weekend and attend Friday prayers.

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