Remember General Michael Flynn, who was installed as the National Security Advisor and then sacked? He's lied about his communications with Russia, supposedly, so he had to go. Turns out that he retroactively registered as a Foreign Agent yesterday as he was working for months for another country. Anyone like to guess which one? Russia? No, it's Turkey. A completely different foreign dictator was paying him. Ergogan's government chucked about half a million at him and rumours suggest that they'd like it back now, as he got caught. Extreme vetting? The best people? Not really. To make things worse, Vice-President Mike Pence denied knowing anything about it, feigning surprise and indignation. Is ignorance better than collusion? I guess so. Only it turns out that he did know, as he was sent letters asking him about it back in November. Oops.
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/mar/09/michael-flynn-foreign-agent-sean-spicer Spicers always worth a listen on such matters.....
Interesting perspective... Trump and the media - Is it war or love? - http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/entertainment-arts-39221378 Suggests that the mainstream media, villified by Trump and his acolytes, might be benefiting from the renewed attention - boosting circulation and revenues. See the point, but don't see that it evidences any kind of symbiotic relationship that might lessen the desire of the likes of the NYT to call the Administration to account.
"The Tories committing electoral fraud during the 2015 election? Nah, that's not worth reporting..." - everyone except Channel 4 News, apparently.
Saw this yesterday. It's not clearcut - even listening to the whistleblowers, who frankly you wouldn't choose as the most reliable of witnesses!
Trump attacked the press, so they've gone after him like they should already have been doing before the election. They got complacent and paid the price for it. Getting back to investigative journalism has resulted in an increase in interest. The other thing is that Trump's a ****ing lunatic and a liability. Political stories are suddenly seeming a lot more important and interesting. There's a new scandal or five every day.
I've been reading about a group of people who abandoned everything they'd been taught about ethics, humanity and decency due to the charms of group bonding and the intoxication of pure evil, and wound up worshiping a disgusting pig. Then I thought, the news is too depressing, maybe I'll reread Lord of the Flies.
Makes you wonder how long it will take before the two houses have figured out that this presidency can only end like a slow motion train crash, unless they act first!...
To his credit, Trump has already done in five months what Obama could not in eight years, which is make Obamacare popular. Recent polls put its approval rating at around 60%. Even some Republicans, it seems, are not wildly enamored of a let's-throw-the-poor-and-weak-under-the-bus-and-hand-the-savings-to-those-who-need-money-least approach. Not surprisingly, this group seems to include those of them elected to national office. Realizing they will be blamed for the health care mess if they actually pass something, they're on track to do **** all. It will be, like abortion, an issue they use election after election to raise money with. But maybe I'm being unfair. Uniting the country on the health care issue takes some doing. Yet everyone from the farthest right Republican to the farthest left socialist, it seems, agrees the Republican health care plan is crap. The Republican party does exactly one thing, which is to loot the American treasury on behalf of the rich. This results in two other things: raising the deficit and crashing the economy. Everything else amounts to lies, whipping up group hates, or both.
My son's been studying this book at school (as I did). I still find it disturbing. Current events show how human nature doesn't change. The concepts of what's right or wrong or good or evil just depend on your point of view and whether you feel justified in what you do. The book tells us that all human nature is savage and unforgiving.
I wonder how many people who pledged actually read the full text rather than skim the first couple of paragraphs: https://www.justgiving.com/fundraising/justiceforkatiehopkins ...which reminds me: for one beautiful moment, the entire country came together as one to laugh at that failed game show contestant losing a six figure sum because she was too stupid to write an apology when she was asked to. It's worth remembering that Croydon Central is one of the constituencies being looked at - at which point it's also worth that Gavin Barwell had a certain former Notts County player canvassing on his behalf, which means that if we're lucky we could see Judas getting a prison sentence for aiding and abetting electoral fraud.
So the Brexit bill returns to the Commons. Madame May could deal with the whole Brexit issue in seconds. ............ dumping it in the bin along with her rubbish UKIPConservative Party members. Although, I am not a politician there are far, far more pressing issues facing the Government like investment in education, the NHS, housing, how to increase revenues fairly (ha, ha) and there is the matter of the White House idiot.
David Davies has the gall to say that MPs should leave the Bill unchanged just so Theresa May can bulldoze it through as early as Tuesday morning - and his reasoning is even more unbalanced, as he claims there is not enough time to give MPs a meaningful vote on the deal. Then make time, you ****ing dolt! What the hell were you doing for the past nine months??? Isn't the issue far more important than May's self-imposed timetable? Or should I read between the lines and read Davies' comments as "The Government does not want to give Parliament a meaningful vote" - or to put it another way, Leavers either don't get to have the parliamentary sovereignty they were so adamant they wanted nine months ago, or they get the dictatorship they apparently wanted when they were up in arms when Gina Miller went to the Supreme Court to state that our parliament should have sovereignty.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-39246392 More evidence - if any were actually needed - to highlight the unsuitability of Turkey to be a member of the EU. Erdogans policies of increasing Presidential domination, whilst moving the country from the secular state that has provided relative stability to a more fundamental Islamist regime, continue to cause concern throughout the region.
The three Brexiteers are morons. With Davies the moron in chief. Smug **** looks sooooo pleased with himself.
Somebody should send them for a Work Capacity Assessment, as that might be the first time their "Why haven't you killed yourself yet?" question is justifiable. Yup, that's right, it's in the policies and guidelines of DWP assessors to put disabled and vulnerable claimants through a series of questions asking them if they are feeling suicidal, if they have ever tried to act on those feelings, and how they intended to go through with it, the exact questions that should not be asked of those diagnosed with clinical depression - yet has there been a single word said about this in the mainstream media? Of course not.
