Off Topic News & Current affairs

What does Matt Hancock, that great defender of free speech, have to say about this news?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-55611467

Outrageous.
Telling people who are in a life-threatening situation though no fault of their own not to speak to the press.
This is England, not North Korea.

 

US update:

Some more detail about the Democrats' plans to curb the threat of President Trump between now and January 20th, and then beyond...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55611630

The gist of it seems to be an immediate formal request for Vice President Mike Pence to invoke the 25th Amendment as soon as possible and assume the Presidential powers until Joe Biden is sworn in on January 20th.
Then a vote in the House of Representatives on the first stage of impeachment of Donal Trump, but no advancement of the impeachment to the Senate until at least 100 days after Joe Biden becomes President.
This will allow the new President to begin work on important parts of his agenda (presumably including fighting Coronavirus, and new policies on the economy, defence & climate change) work which could not proceed if the impeachment went to the Senate immediately.
This would also allow time for the Supreme Court to decide if it was even legal to impeach an ex-President.

The goal for the Democrats and everyone else who believes Trump is an imminent danger to peace and democracy in the USA is to get him barred from Public Office for life. This they will achieve if they can complete the impeachment eventually.

I'm still far from sure they can get the two thirds majority required in the Senate for a successful impeachment, even if it is allowed to proceed.
And this option does mean that the whole 'coup attempt' issue will fester like an open wound for months on end.
But sadly that will probably happen anyway, whatever they do.

As President, Trump's duty was to try to improve the unity of the American People, to bring different views together as much as possible - not exploit differences and magnify them over 4 years in order to ultimately create and unleash a far-right splinter group intent on violent revolution.
But that is what he chose to do.
In the end it will probably take a decade or more to root out and neutralise this new source of extremism and domestic terrorism. Many lives will be lost.
But the storming of Capitol Hill has at least made it clear to everybody how dangerous these people are.
And that democracy must be strengthened to defend itself against their lies.

 

Excellent.
Withdrawing funds from Republicans who still insist on supporting Trump's lies about election fraud might make them think twice.

Corporate leaders are usually pragmatic in their pursuit of profit.
Ironic really, that big US companies are more concerned about remaining in tune with the public mood than some politicians.

 

I thought the President said he was going to focus on the orderly, peaceful and seamless transition of power?

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55625707

Five people have already died because of his incitement to insurrection.
Now the FBI warns that armed protests by far-right Pro-Trump militias could break out in any or all of the 50 States of the Union between 16th and 20th January.
What is the response of the man they worship enough to commit acts of terrorism for?

Has he appeared on national television to order them to stand down?
To exhort them not to attack State Capital buildings or assault the Police?
To plead for the peaceful transition of power - which should be a given; the single most basic hallmark of a free and fair democracy?
No.

Mike Pence and the other Republicans who have refused to invoke the 25th Amendment will share responsibility for every riot, every injury and every additional death that occurs around the week of the new President's inauguration. The Republican lawmakers who still back Trump and refuse to acknowledge that Joe Biden won a fair election will share that responsibility.
Thousands of far-right fanatics across the continent have been emboldened by the storming of Capitol Hill.
They won't get the Revolution or the Civil War that they dream of. But they will probably march and riot and cause as much chaos and terror as they are able.


So much for the President who claimed so proudly that he and his party stood for Law and Order.

I've read that Trump plans to launch his 2024 Election campaign on the very day Joe Biden is inaugurated.
Presumably a campaign based on his continuing lies about election fraud.
Even if the Democrats cannot get him barred from Public office for life, his campaign and his allies will likely be starved of corporate funds, and he will probably be disowned (eventually) by the Republican Party. His personal wealth will likely be needed to defend him from dozens of lawsuits and attempted prosecutions over the next few years.

If Trump decides to start his own Party and stand as an Independent, it would be in the interest of all moderate Republicans to oppose him and discredit him. Otherwise he will split the conservative voter base in America and hand a landslide victory to the Democrats in 2024.

 

This is something you expect to see from some sort of African puppet state .... not the Country who claims to lead the 'Free World'

Armed group ‘planning huge uprising’ in DC if Trump removed by 25th amendment, according to report (msn.com)

 

A story I read in The Sun this morning;

School sends pupil home, telling her to wear a shorter skirt

A Muslim girl who has worn an ankle-length skirt to school for years was repeatedly sent home in December and told to come back in a shorter skirt, because her manner of dress was in breach of the uniform code.
She consistently refused to do this - good for her.

This is utter craziness in my view.
Firstly, skirts for girls should not be compulsory.
They should have the option to wear trousers.
Secondly, why is this girl's long skirt suddenly a problem?

This school needs to look long and hard at itself, instead of obsessing with skirt lengths for its female pupils.
Too short - send them home of course.
But too long??

 

What is the point in impeaching Trump? The problem is that millions of Americans believe his lies, and there's no law against lying. Nothing is going to stop them believing lies, they are too far down the rabbit-hole. The REpublican Party will eventually come to its senses, realise he's a loser and he will go the way of other unsuccesful demagogues.

 

This is partially correct, but very inaccurate in many regards.
(I'll fully list them later when I have time).

The 'Left Wing' violence was a reaction to a man having a police officer kneel on his neck until he died.
Just the latest in a long line of deaths of civilians at the hands of the Police.
People being killed by Police officers evokes strong reactions wherever it happens.

The 'Right wing" violence was a reaction to the calls of a President who refused to accept he had lost a free and fair election.
Politicians refusing to accept reality normally evokes little more than laughter.
But this politician has been sowing the seeds of his election fraud lies for years rather than months.
He has been abusing his position to undermine democracy and groom an army of fanatics.

As far as I'm aware the BLM movement has never directly attacked democracy by claiming for months that the US Election system is corrupt and rigged, and inciting its followers to overthrow the elected parliament of the United States.
And as somebody astutely pointed out, if that march on the Capitol Building had been a BLM march, the rioters would probably have been massacred by the dozen.

 

One of BLM's rallying cries is 'No justice, no peace' result, a whole summer of civil disobedience.
More white people are killed by police officers than blacks, although if you resist arrest and generally play up when arrested there is more chance of injury or worse.
A black man is more likely to be murdered by another black man than a policeman, maybe BLM should seek the answer to that problem rather than the rare case of over the top policing.
I agree had it been BLM marching on Capitol Hill the civil guard would had been there in force and the demonstrators wouldn't had got anywhere near the building because the BLM had previous for wanton destruction.

 

Presumably if a black man is murdered by another black man then the murderer will be charged under the law if he is caught, whereas the police have not had to face justice, and the BLM movement has arisen only because such killings have been caught on camera. There has been a whole series of incidents like this, and because the police are supposed to protect the citizens, not kill them, there has been a reaction. Why should there not be, just because of unconnected murders of black-on-black?

 

If a policeman/women kills a suspect they face charges regardless of colour, it's outrageous that in 2020/21 it's only highlighted when the victim is black.

 

There have been a series of black men killed by the police, I haven't been aware of the police being caught on camera killing white men, although if they have been killing white men as well I stand corrected.

 

Points not highlighted I won't dispute.
I'll take it on trust that the information is correct if I don't actually know.



1. The BLM riots have occurred over the course of 7 months since they began. They have not been continuous for that length of time. In order to compare them fairly with the Trump riots, we'll have to wait 7 months.

2. The BLM protests may have been encouraged by the media and some politicians. No mainstream media outlet or politician encouraged rioting and lawlessness that followed from some BLM protest events. Protesting is not the same as rioting / insurrection. The Trump supporters in Washington DC last Wednesday were doing nothing wrong - until they stormed the Capitol building.

3. I don't know how many people have died because of BLM riots. I do know that 5 people died because of the Trump riot. That only one of them was shot dead is not really relevant in my view. I also know 2 people were shot dead at a BLM protest/riot, by a teenager who had travelled to the location from another State.

4. Do we have any examples of Democrat politicians not condemning BLM riots (RIOTS, not demonstrations) when specifically asked about them? The first reaction of any politician is to condemn rioting - except Donald Trump. It was actually his third reaction, after two pro-riot tweets in which he called the rioters Patriots, told them he loved them and that they were very special, and that he understood their pain.

5. There has been plenty of outrage and condemnation of BLM rioters, from all mainstream sides of the political spectrum. The sheer level of shock and disbelief that was caused by the scenes of Trump rioters trashing the Capitol building has naturally caused outrage which has eclipsed responses to earlier BLM riots. Moreover, BLM leaders and most radical hawks are not wealthy, powerful politicians. And their spiritual leader is not the President of the United States.
It is the concept of a President, sworn to uphold liberty and equality, defeated fairly at the ballot box, who then incites a campaign of violence by his extremist followers with the aim of overturning the election result. That behaviour has appalled so many people around the world.

 

When Obama was elected he had over 60 million votes and won convincingly, this last election Trump had 75 million votes and Biden over 80 million, so using basic maths that's 35 million extra voters over a eight year period, so to a point you can understand Trump believing he has been deceived a little bit.
This is a article from a few years back that makes a few points of interest.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-36826297

 

The police do not harm White people.

 

That's an interesting article, although a lot has gone on since it was published.
There is literally not a single shred of evidence to support Trump's claims. He was claiming fraud months before the election, lying the groundwork for what has happened since the election, grooming his followers, installing republican judges who he hoped would return the favour. He was even caught on tape asking a local official to "find him 11,000 votes" so that he could overturn the Georgia result. Now his followers want to hang Mike Pence for not backing his lies. It's Trump who has tried to steal the election.

 

This is America we are talking about Penguin, I'm sure Donald has got at least one rabbit in the hat to produce before Biden takes over.

 

Yes, he's still President, and has that power. A nervous few days lie ahead.

 

We enter the last week of the Trump administration...

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-55642101

The President is totally unrepentant about his incitement of the storming of Capitol Hill last week, though he has not repeated his election fraud lies during the last 24 hours or so as far as I'm aware.
His arrogance and victim role-playing is back in full effect, claiming the impeachment is part of the biggest witch-hunt in history.

This from a man whose army of fanatics forced the entire US Congress to flee for their lives, while security guards barricaded the doors of the Senate chamber to protect them from a rampaging mob.
America's enemies are making massive capital out of those scenes, endlessly replayed on TV in Russia, China and across the Middle East before jubilant audiences. The Russian media (on the orders of Vladimir Putin of course) is backing Trump's false claims that US democracy is corrupt. This plays right into Putins's hands.

On some level Trump must be aware of the massive harm he has done to the reputation of his country around the world, and the limitless fuel he has given to tyrants and dictators in their campaigns to convince their own populations and everyone else that democracy does not work. The Chinese are openly holding up Trump's behaviour and recent events in Washington DC as proof that democracy is a failed philosophy, and that their way is better.

But the outgoing President does not appear to care about any of this.
His return to stubborn refusal to accept any responsibility, and his delusion that he still commands massive support among the American People is turning the stomachs of and ever increasing number of Republican politicians and lawmakers.
Trump's approval rating is down in the low 30's at present. Unsurprisingly, lower than it has ever been.
In the wake of the anarchy in Washington DC over 60% of Americans now actively disapprove of him.
And Congress will never forgive him for the terror and chaos they were subjected to.


The period between 3rd November and now has been utterly astonishing.
In living memory, outgoing Presidents (having accepted their defeat and conceded with dignity) spend the transitional period quietly, cooperating with the incoming administration, maybe issuing a few pardons, and looking forward to their future role as Ex-President - a position usually regarded with esteem and even affection by millions of Americans. US former Presidents are seen as ambassadors for their party and the whole nation, and are almost always well respected by the people.

This soon-to-be Ex-President appears intent on continuing a campaign of disinformation designed to divide America and undermine its foundation of democracy, simply because he is pathologically unable to accept that he was defeated fairly in a free election.
I hope his policy of dishonesty and denial is ultimately rejected by the Republican Party, and the wealthy sponsors he will need in order to mount a credible campaign for re-election in 2024.