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Off Topic News & Current affairs

Discussion in 'Charlton' started by ForestHillBilly, Feb 6, 2020.

  1. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Sadly so. Blood money.
    Supplying fake medical credibility to abusers of women. Utterly disgusting.
     
    #601
  2. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    US Election update;

    The Appeal Court in Pennsylvania has categorically thrown out Trump's appeal against a lower Court ruling that his accusations of fraud and vote-rigging have no legitimacy whatsoever.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/election-us-2020-55109168

    Now we get to the sharp end of the matter though.
    The Trump campaign can now (as far as I'm aware) take his accusations to the US Supreme Court.
    This is Trump's last throw of the dice.

    Does he seriously believe that the Supreme Court - even with it's 6 to 3 conservative majority - will overturn the judgments of two lower Courts and rule that there HAS been massive fraud and vote-rigging in Pennsylvania? Despite no evidence whatsoever being put forward to support this?

    The Appeal Court didn't even take much time to consider the case. They threw it out more-or-less straight away.
    And the Judge who delivered this verdict was appointed by Trump himself.

    Perhaps once the Supreme Court throws out his case, Trump will be forced to give up.
    There is no other legal recourse available to him.
    This use of the Supreme Court (if indeed Trump does go that far) must surely be the most frivolous and pointless in American history.

    Indeed, I would think that if Trump wishes to keep his fake election fraud conspiracy theories alive for future use, he would be better advised not to go to the Supreme Court at all. Once it trashes his case, no sane person will believe one silly word of the nonsense he is still spouting.
    What will he do then - accuse the Supreme Court of being corrupt?
     
    #602
    Last edited: Nov 28, 2020
  3. deleted.....

    deleted..... Well-Known Member

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    #603
  4. deleted.....

    deleted..... Well-Known Member

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    From ... 'A night at the Opera' Marx Bros film.... not Queen Album

    Fiorello: Hey, wait, wait. What does this say here, this thing here?
    Driftwood: Oh, that? Oh, that's the usual clause that's in every contract. That just says, it says, 'if any of the parties participating in this contract are shown not to be in their right mind, the entire agreement is automatically nullified'.
    Fiorello: Well, I don't know...
    Driftwood: It's all right, that's in every contract. That's, that's what they call a sanity clause.
    Fiorello: Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha! You can't fool me. There ain't no Sanity Clause!
     
    #604
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  5. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Short answer (in my view) No.

    I know Die Hard is set at Christmas time, but I wouldn't call it a Christmas movie.
    The whole genre of 'feel good' festive movies just passes me by.
    Bah, humbug :emoticon-0114-dull:
     
    #605
  6. deleted.....

    deleted..... Well-Known Member

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    Our colonial brothers and sisters are getting their knickers in a twist on Twitter this morning .... why?? ..... because British Airways wished the English Rugby Team the best of luck in their game against Whales today .... it seems the colonials are saying that BA should be renamed English Airways... oh dear.
     
    #606
  7. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Come on England!
     
    #607
  8. The Pub Landlord

    The Pub Landlord Well-Known Member

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    Owned by International Airlines Group, registered in Madrid with Spanish management.

    It hasn't been British for many years.
     
    #608
  9. deleted.....

    deleted..... Well-Known Member

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    Even when it was a FTSE Company I gather the majority of the shares were foreign owned
     
    #609
  10. The Pub Landlord

    The Pub Landlord Well-Known Member

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    If I recall correctly, Iberia were early investors which led to IAG being formed in the fullness of time
     
    #610

  11. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    #611
  12. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    Pennsylvania's supreme court dismisses Trump's case with prejudice. He can hardly call the judges "Enemies of the people", he appointed them.
     
    #612
  13. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    His bizarre followers are now referring to their collective delusion as the 'Kraken' (after a big mythical sea monster).
    There's a nice tongue-in-cheek illustration;

    Kraken.png

    More like the 'Crackers' conspiracy.
     
    #613
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  14. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    Text from the BBC News website;

    Trump presidency's final days: 'In his mind, he will not have lost'
    By Tara McKelvey
    BBC White House reporter

    As the Trump White House reaches its final days, an eerie quiet has descended on the premises as attempts to challenge the election result founder in the courts.

    Brian Morgenstern, the deputy communications director, was wearing a jacket with a White House emblem in his office in the West Wing. The jacket was zipped all the way up, as if he were on his way out. The room, a few doors away from the Oval Office, was dark, with the shades drawn.

    His boss, the president, was in another part of the White House. In that moment, Donald Trump was on speaker phone with Rudy Giuliani, the head of his legal effort to challenge the election, and a group of state lawmakers who had gathered for a "hearing", as they put it, at a hotel in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

    "This election was rigged and we can't let that happen," the president said on the phone.

    Morgenstern was monitoring the event on his computer screen, in a distracted manner. A moment later he swivelled in his chair and spoke to a visitor about college, real estate, baseball, and, almost as an afterthought, the president's achievements.

    Trump's effort to contest the election results in Pennsylvania failed on Friday, not long after the so-called hearing, and even that had a shaky legal foundation. An appeals court judge said there was "no basis" for his challenge. A certification of ballots showed President-elect Joe Biden won the state by more than 80,000 votes.


    The votes in Arizona were certified on Monday and in Wisconsin that could happen soon - both states Biden won. Government officials have started working towards a transition to the new administration, and the new president starts on 20 January.

    Trump continues to claim victory. Yet backstage at the White House, people see things the way they are. They know their days in the West Wing are numbered. They also know that when their boss is losing, it is best to steer clear of him.

    Morgenstern says it is business as usual: "We're upbeat. We're still working hard." He was the only one in a warren of West Wing offices, however. He held a cloth mask in his hands, and he fiddled with the mask's strings, as if they were worry beads. The only sound was the low hum of a TV in another room.

    Usually those offices are full of people - aides working all hours. But not now.

    Jack O'Donnell, who once managed a casino in Atlantic City, New Jersey, for Trump, says he understands why the people who work for the president would clear out at a time like this.
    "You're walking on egg shells. Nobody wants to say the wrong thing."


    Once, O'Donnell recalls, Trump was walking through a low-ceilinged room in a building that was in the midst of renovation. "There were some issues," says O'Donnell. He was referring to problems with the renovation, mistakes that Trump soon noticed.

    "He jumped up in the air and punched the ceiling," says O'Donnell. "Nobody wants to be around him when he's mad."

    The president's rage, and his ambition and drive, are legendary. He has been successful in part by embracing positive aphorisms and denying failure, a leadership style that was established early in his career and that lately has gone into overdrive.

    He appeared in the West Wing briefing room last week to brag about the stock market. The Dow Jones had closed above 30,000, a record level. The president, says Morgenstern, was "celebrating the success of the market that was certainly in part due to his policies", such as "improving trade deals" and "energy independence".

    Investors said stocks rose because a transition to a Biden administration had been officially announced. But for Trump, the victory belonged to him.
    His claims of victory, and his refusal to admit defeat, has no impact on the outcome - the transition to a Biden White House is under way.


    Yet the president's stance matters - millions of people admire him. They will follow him once he leaves the White House, whether he is running again for office, as many hope, or building a media empire. On the day Trump spoke to lawmakers in Gettysburg, supporters gathered outside the hotel with signs: "Stop election fraud."

    In the book Trump: The Greatest Show on Earth: The Deals, the Downfall, the Reinvention, people who know him said he saw former President Jimmy Carter, defeated in 1980 after one term, as a cautionary tale.

    "As fast as you skyrocketed up is how fast you can plummet," he said, according to the book's sources, adding that Carter faded into obscurity after leaving the White House and became as anonymous as "a travelling salesman".


    To prevent failure, Trump denies reality, say those who know him. He filed multiple bankruptcies as a businessman, yet acted as though it was part of a plan. "He would say: 'I did it intentionally,'" recalls Jack O'Donnell, who worked for him, adding: "It's nonsense."
    "In his mind, he will not have lost," says O'Donnell, describing the election. "He will never concede. It will always be: 'It was taken from me.'"

    Trump is now fighting for Republican control of the Senate and plans to go to Georgia on Saturday to support candidates in run-off elections.

    Meanwhile, outside Morgenstern's office, one of the empty desks is decorated with a coaster: "Failure is not an option."
    The motto sums up Trump's philosophy and his approach to the presidency - at least until he leaves.


    Even after four years, I still find it staggering that a man so obsessed with winning that he denies reality when faced with his failings, so displaying a grave lack of emotional maturity, should have become President of the United States.
     
    #614
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2020
  15. The Penguin

    The Penguin Well-Known Member

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    What pleased a lot of people about Trump's election was that it upset those damned lefties, Gary Lineker, Meghan Markle, Lily Allen etc etc.
     
    #615
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  16. The Punter’s Pal

    The Punter’s Pal Well-Known Member

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    What pleased me (at the time) about Trump’s unexpected win was that it was a painful slap in the face for Obama, and a deserved rejection of the appalling Hillary Clinton and her perverted husband (Epstein’s mate).

    Unfortunately it soon became very apparent that the Donald was not up to the job.
     
    #616
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  17. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    I agree that the election of Trump in 2016 sent out powerful messages about
    A) Disillusionment with the 'liberal' establishment (including the moderate wing of the Republican party)
    B) Deep dislike of Hilary Clinton, for any number of reasons.

    Naively, I recall hoping that once Trump had won, he would feel the huge responsibility on his shoulders and grow up a bit; become more of a Statesman.
    Of course this did not happen. He doesn't have it in him.
     
    #617
  18. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    #618
  19. lardiman

    lardiman The truth is out there
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    US Attorney General (close ally of Donald Trump) says the Justice Department finds no evidence of fraud in the 2020 US Election.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55153366

    "There's been one assertion that would be systemic fraud and that would be the claim that machines were programmed essentially to skew the election results," Mr Barr told AP News on Tuesday, referring to the assertion that ballot machines were hacked to give more votes to Mr Biden.

    Mr Barr said that the Department of Justice (DOJ) and the Department of Homeland Security have investigated that claim, "and so far, we haven't seen anything to substantiate that.
    There's a growing tendency to use the criminal justice system as sort of a default fix-all, and people don't like something they want the Department of Justice to come in and 'investigate" he added.


    How much more plainly can this conclusion be put?
    And by one of the closest allies Donald Trump has ever had during his 4 years as President.
    To be honest it's something of a scandal in itself (as Mr Barr said in so many words) that the DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security has been more or less forced to devote considerable time and manpower, debunking a claim that never had any credibility whatsoever even from day 1.

    I cannot see any way the Trump camp can expect anything from the Supreme Court.
    Surely it is time now to end the self-inflicted harm the Republican party is doing to itself, and democracy in the USA.
    It's been four weeks now. That's more than long enough.
     
    #619
    Last edited: Dec 1, 2020
  20. Ken Shabby

    Ken Shabby Well-Known Member

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    I expected nothing less than this farce from Donald. But the Republican party is guilty by association for standing by in silence. Damaging democracy in order to keep an idiot in power says terrible things about where they are prepared to go. The evidence continues to be nothing more than the ravings of Trump and Giuliani. Time for the Republicans to stand up.
     
    #620
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