Good review of Brexit

Not a bad review(1) here of Brexit, short portion;

Britain’s Democratic Failure

By Kenneth Rogoff, Professor of Economics and Public Policy at Harvard University and recipient of the 2011 Deutsche Bank Prize in Financial Economics, was the chief economist of the International Monetary Fund from 2001 to 2003. 

CAMBRIDGE – The real lunacy of the United Kingdom’s vote to leave the European Union was not that British leaders dared to ask their populace to weigh the benefits of membership against the immigration pressures it presents. Rather, it was the absurdly low bar for exit, requiring only a simple majority. Given voter turnout of 70%, this meant that the leave campaign won with only 36% of eligible voters backing it.

This isn’t democracy; it is Russian roulette for republics. A decision of enormous consequence – far greater even than amending a country’s constitution (of course, the United Kingdom lacks a written one) – has been made without any appropriate checks and balances.

 Note:

(1) https://www.project-syndicate.org/commentary/brexit-democratic-failure-for-uk-by-kenneth-rogoff-2016-06

Blairites are covertly campaigning to lose Labour the May elections

Campaigning for the May 2016 elections has now officially begun. But a few desperate Blairites are working to lose Labour seats in those elections, according to some reports – all so they can try to oust Jeremy Corbyn as leader.

Tucked away in an article about Corbyn and the May local elections, the BBC reports:

But privately some in Labour’s ranks have been wondering whether to “take the foot off the gas” when it comes to campaigning because a poorer result could convince some of the newer members of the party that Jeremy Corbyn is indeed unelectable in large parts of England, outside London.

This little paragraph is included almost as an aside. But if true, it is explosive. It shows that individuals within Labour are considering sabotaging their own party’s prospects in the Welsh Assembly, Scottish Parliament, English council and London Mayoral elections so they can oust a leader they dislike.

Ten days ago, Labour’s John Prescott made a more explicit accusation in The Mirror, with his trademark bluntness [my emphasis]:

Sadly, a small number of MPs – I call them Bitterites – are still desperate to remove Corbyn. They’re gutted the Tories are in chaos and Labour edging ahead. The main Bitterite MPs – whose only “skill” seems to have been Press spokesmen for Blair and Brown – want to drive down Labour’s standing in the polls and encourage bad results in this May’s elections.

The Blairites are unhappy. Despite their best efforts, the “unelectable” Jeremy Corbyn won the Labour leadership election by a landslide. He caught the party’s – and the voting public’s – imagination in a way that none of his Blairite and Brownite rivals could. So they found themselves lumbered with a leader who stands for everything they hate.

What to do? Well, at first they decided to give Corbyn enough rope and time to hang himself. That has not gone well. Despite an overwhelming media onslaught and countless briefings against him from his own party, Corbyn has taken a lead over David Cameron and the Conservative party in the polls, even before those polls reflect the fallout from the Panama Papers. His policies are popular, and he has won a series ofvictories against the government. All of this, reportedly, has led most Labour MPs to believe that Corbyn is set to stay for the long haul.

But a few MPs are still agitating for a coup. And now they are pinning their hopes on the May elections – specifically, on their own party crashing and burning in the May elections. While nobody is likely to try and stage a coup until after the EU referendum in June, anonymous sources have briefed that they will try to depose him before the Labour party conference in September. And poor results for Labour in the May elections, they seem to think, would lay the groundwork perfectly.

While it’s a deeply cynical position – and a futile one, given both Corbyn’s promise that he will stay on the ballot paper and his ever-increasing popularity among party members – those taking it would say they just want Labour to be electable in the longer-term.(1)

Outrageous. This is political party treason. I hope they get de-selected

Note:

(1) http://www.thecanary.co/2016/04/08/blairites-covertly-campaigning-lose-labour-may-elections/

The Right Dishonourable Podcast

Right Dishonourable podcast

The Right Dishonourable Podcast is a relatively good, well done, interesting (for me at least, IMO) podcast on social & cultural issues.

gaulliste libre post on Greece developments

Blog gaulliste libre: Avec la Grèce, la gauche de la gauche s’est discré...:

Donald Trump Leading After 1st GOP Debate

He's in the lead still, even more, now that the first GOP debate has been held by FNC. He was criticised for his answer to Ms. Kelly on women and responded on Twitter and the press https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HY1SePRIZKc.

But there are larger issues the GOP in the USA ought to consider;

However, Trump’s ugly bombast is a distraction from a far more serious problem for the GOP. Three years after Romney lost the women’s vote by a double-digit margin, in part because of his support for defunding Planned Parenthood, the presidential debates last week made clear Republicans have only become more disrespectful toward women’s bodies, more deranged in their hatred of Planned Parenthood, and more dismissive of female voters.(1)

Note:
(1) http://www.thenation.com/article/the-gops-contempt-for-women/

US Republican Senators can't handle Iran deal.

Their performances in hearings demonstrates they can't handle international diplomacy or negotiations, etc

Link: Slate.com article 'Not Fit to Lead'

French get unfair flak

Just mt view, the French get more flak than they deserve. Though with the Calais problem(1)  they do deserve it, but not elsewhere.



Notes:
(1) http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-33751619

Fawkes Got Fawked!

http://zelo-street.blogspot.com.au/2015/07/guido-fawked-owen-jones-smear-hypocrisy.html

Oh what a tangled web some weave!

Berlin 1945 in colour

Berlin in 1945 in colour

A very clear collection of clips on YT of Germany's divided capital under Allied occupation

ALP Socialist Left Forum: Responding to Chris Bowen on Labor's 'Socialist Ob...

ALP Socialist Left Forum: Responding to Chris Bowen on Labor's 'Socialist Ob...: above: Federal Labor Shadow Treasurer, Chris Bowen The following article is a critique of a recent contribution on debate surroundin...

Aust. Coalition Govt. in poll loss

The current Federal Government of Australia is polled to lose the next federal election here in Australia. Trailing behind the ALP, the Australian Labor Party(1).

Not hard to guess why. PM Abbot has broken nearly all major 2013 election promises he made, and repeatedly attacked the working-class with welfare cuts, changes to the retirement pension, funding cuts to the ABC & SBS and even his promise not to raise taxes or make deals with the Greens in the Senate which he has broken to increase petrol taxes.

On and on the pledge breaking goes. Combined with a clearly biased Speaker of the House of Reps(2)

Note:
(1) https://pbs.twimg.com/media/CHidIyHWoAARXec.jpg
(2) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0J1sjXYKnyg

US & UK claim Edward Snowden docs. somehow resp. for Rival's detection

If Mark White(1) wants his readers to actually believe there were leaks by Mister Snowden, he's had plenty of time to read up. I doubt he can read millions of files without access to them.

Just giving the spin from MI6 & the CIA is just the writings of vulgar propaganda. And judgment of acts is supposed to be based on motivations and physical outcomes, not vague, alleged, possible outcomes.

Note:
(1) http://news.sky.com/story/1501852/spy-leaks-have-put-more-than-lives-at-risk

More Gazans would vote for Fatah in latest poll

Fatah in poll lead(1).

Their business of course, but Hamas has clearly lost the political majority it gained in 2006.

Note:
(1) http://www.pcpsr.org/en/node/609

interested party: "You have pissed me off:" Dems defend Montana eart...

interested party: "You have pissed me off:" Dems defend Montana eart...: An astroturf group in Montana calling itself 'Americans For Prosperity' has been targeting the Republican lawmakers who have not ple...

Israel election campaign continues

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu on Sunday panned the international community for negotiating 

with Iran while taking no steps to curb its sponsorship of global terrorism, as top American and 

Iranian diplomats attempted to hammer out a deal in Geneva

Meanwhile, the police commissioner said the evidence against the Netanyahus with regard to alleged financial impropriety was solid enough to warrant an investigation, and the attorney general was reviewing the accusations against the premier and his wife.

A separate housing report by the State Comptroller was slated to be released later this week, but ahead of its publication, Netanyahu’s rivals attacked him for the high cost of living.(1)

Unfortunately most domestic issues not being addressed, certainly not by the Right-wing parties. And the planned speech by Netanyahu to the US Congress should not occur, in my view.

Note:

(1) http://www.timesofisrael.com/february-22-2015-netanyahu-likud-comptroller-elections-iran/

Chris Christie losing supporters

It has begun, particularly due to his character flaws and behaviour;

He does not return phone calls. He does not ask for support. He arrives late for meetings. And he acts as if he has all the time in the world.

The complaints have piled up for weeks, dismaying many longtime supporters of Gov. Chris Christie of New Jersey and sending others into the arms of his rivals for the presidential nomination, according to interviews with more than two dozen Republican donors and strategists.

As a half-dozen other candidates aggressively raise money and chase endorsements in Iowa and New Hampshire, friends and detractors alike say Mr. Christie’s view of his status and pre-eminence within the Republican field is increasingly at odds with the picture outside his inner circle.Policy advisers, donors and even a prominent New Jersey state senator who met his wife through Mr. Christie have all flirted with or committed to rival candidates. One potential donor, Woody Johnson, the billionaire owner of the New York Jets, will back Jeb Bush, according to three people close to the Bush campaign. Mr. Johnson attended a round of Bush fund-raising events on Wednesday in Chicago, where the former Florida governor acknowledged him by name.

In Iowa and New Hampshire, Mr. Christie’s negative ratings in some opinion polls are higher than his favorable ones. He has been slower than Mr. Bush to lock down support within the Republican Party’s pool of big-name “bundlers,” and it is unclear how quickly Mr. Christie is amassing cash. A spokesman declined to say, or even provide a range for, how much money the governor’s leadership political action committee has raised.

“He’s a very popular figure, but he’s made a mistake by not creating the necessary momentum for the kind of national organization you need to be successful,” said Anthony Scaramucci, a New York hedge fund manager who is now backing Gov. Scott Walker of Wisconsin. “He’s not touching enough people. And I think this is a classic rookie mistake.”

Friends say Mr. Christie is both understaffed and too controlling. They also say he is convinced that his raw talent and charisma can overcome the political obstacles in his way. Thomas H. Kean, a former governor of New Jersey and Mr. Christie’s onetime mentor, with whom he mended fences after a public break, said Mr. Christie had “gotten in the habit of kind of doing everything himself.”

“You can’t do that in a presidential campaign,” Mr. Kean said.

Link;

1. http://www.nytimes.com/2015/02/20/us/some-chris-christie-supporters-now-turn-their-backs.html

Elected senate would replace House of Lords under Labour

Elected senate would replace House of Lords under Labour

He will tell a conference in Blackpool on Saturday the current system "fails to represent large parts of the UK".

Senators would be elected from Scotland, Wales, Northern Ireland and the English regions instead of from constituencies like MPs.

This will give the senate a "clearly defined different role", Labour says.

Mr Miliband is expected to say: "We're going to reverse a century of centralisation and make sure that £30bn of resources is devolved to the city and country regions that need it.(1)

Wow, an elected UK upper house on the table once more!

Note:
(1) www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-29857849

Scottish Labour leadership: 'Political wake-up call'

Fellow MSP and leadership contender Sarah Boyack said: "That's why we've got to focus on reconnecting with people, reconnecting with those Labour voters who voted with us in the past but voted 'Yes' in the referendum."(1)

No offence, but what about a change in policies? Scotland isn't Right-wing

Note:
(1) http://www.bbc.com/news/uk-scotland-29847397

BBCWORLD NEWS24 Countdowns Compilation

The BBC has the best countdowns-music, etc, IMO

BBC has Right-wing bias

Contrary to the UK Right's complaints, the BBC does NOT have a Left-wing bias. Rather it has a Right-wing bias as Cardiff University has found after a review;

https://theconversation.com/hard-evidence-how-biased-is-the-bbc-17028

http://downloads.bbc.co.uk/bbctrust/assets/files/pdf/our_work/breadth_opinion/content_analysis.pdf