Labour and Corbyn did well in 2017. The longer it took to finalize a Brexit deal, the Tories won the blame game: Brussels and HoC with Swinson and Corbyn to blame for delay. People were fed up and Labour with their detailed Manifesto prepared for a normal General Election. Gunslinger BoJo was waiting for JeCo in the O.K. Corral for a Brexit showdown.

The Republicans won the Presidency not by popular vote, but winning the swing states with smallest of margins. Playing the tactical game of winning politics.

Innovation! LOL

My Belfast Telly account is "temporarily locked out".

Updating this with the nearly-final results. The seat tally is the same either way: but it seems clear that in terms of votes & share the story is the Conservatives doing unusually well, more than it's Labour doing unusually badly pic.twitter.com/tmlN8Datut

— Edmund Griffiths (@EdmundGriffiths) 13. Dezember 2019

Maybe it's an insurrection play: Go for a fast indyref2, be denied by Johnson, stoke the flames as real Brexit takes hold. Then get a victorious referendum in a decade or so.

Fantasyland ... or make belief 🌚

Great Tory line-up: David Cameron - Theresa May - Boris Johnson and their great negotiating team members.

Due to the Germans and Merkel's CSU partners and automotive lobby group, the last 90-day extension gave BoJo the extra rope to hang Corbyn. Jo Swinson wasn't helpful.

My Take A Short Extension, No Election

Playing into the hands of the Brexiteers.

That last link...
Johnson's triumph will allow to leave the European Union on his terms

Johnson's real "terms" would be having his cake and eating it. That is definitely not on the menu.

Denis Staunton London Editor

Foreign correspondent syndrome.

Hundreds of English voters plan `move to Scotland' after General Election horror

Hundreds of English and Welsh, as well as EU immigrants living in both countries, have been taking to Twitter to share their desires to move up here, encouraging Scots to push for a second independence referendum.
[...]
Over on Google, many of those disheartened by the results have been frantically searching for information on how to make their plan to move up north a reality.

As the polls closed last night, there was a huge spike in searches for `move to Scotland', with those people also looking into `jobs in Scotland' and property sites such as Zoopla and Rightmove.

Israel was founded on principles of Socialism ... building a new natron, on agriculture and the kibbutzim community. Many students and young people from a aross the Western world traveled to Israel in a show of solidarity.

Those times have long gone ... the immigration from former Soviet sattelite states changing the nation of Israel for the worse. The Yom Kippur war of June 1967 and the occupation of Palestinian territory  changed the face of Israel as a state and reflected on its citizens. Palestinian acts of terror and reprisals continued for decades until the present day.

US Neocon policy and military interventions over the same period transformed the Middle-East into an area of scorched Earth with over a million deaths.

Today's Ynet News article not found in a headline ...

Livni's final act of decency

After 20 years, the former justice and foreign minister who came within reach of the Prime Minister's Office said goodbye to politics; and her tears were not only for herself, but for the Israeli condition.

She was the last woman standing ...

You do not have to be a left-winger to respect what Levni did. And if Israeli politics had not become so mired in the dirt (in which calling someone a leftist is the worst of all insults) it is possible that the right would also have good things to say about this direct, faithful politician who has walked about them for twenty years.

[...]

Expressions such as the "peace process", "two states for two peoples", "political negotiations" and "a Jewish and democratic state" have all disappeared from Israel's national lexicon, and hearts have hardened against those who still believe there is a path to peace, or even a partner.

Related reading ...

From the Quiet Mutiny

Israel 1948 -- A Dispatch By RFK

Netanyahu Confirms Holocaust As Political Tool of Zionism

... so it has taken four years for low engagement voters to absorb it fully. The real charge against Corbyn is that he fundamentally believes that British/white lives are of equal value with the lives of others. 5/

— Luke Pagarani (@LukePagarani) 13. Dezember 2019

I saw an interesting comment which suggested that, despite their overwhelming victory in cotland, more people actually voted against the SNP than for it.

While that doesn't matter under FPTP, it will matter a great deal if the SNP go for an early referendum. I'd have suggested a protracted process to enable the Tory brexit to begin to bite to soften opposition.

Labour liberals spent years saying Corbyn was toxic. Leftists insisted he was going to win and refused to replace him as leader. Now we have a clear verdict on that debate. [_link]

— Jonathan Chait (@jonathanchait) December 13, 2019

The Brexit vote in June 2016 was a predictor for the Trump November surprise ... matters have gone from very bad to catastrophic in a mere three years.

Too bad about the Brits, but what does it mean for us? [_link] pic.twitter.com/wbYFQk6WQI

— Kevin Drum (@kdrum) December 12, 2019

A lot of soul searching ahead and may swing the Democratic primaries pendulum to the right .... question is how far?

The bulk of the Anglophone world are Hells-bent on cutting off their own heads to spite theiir faces.

Haha it's "American" not "English" that yer speaking. And nobody over here knows how to spell, so no problem.

Consider the EU referendum a shot across the bow by England (L. 53.4% vs R. 46.6%) ...

Yesterday's decisive victory not only sets London on a collision course with the EU, but a choice that loosens ties to Scotland and Northern Ireland. 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿

It's no secret that personally I wanted the UK to #remain in the #EU. But the British people have decided & we have to accept their choice: With Johnson's victory #Brexit has become inevitable. Our goal now has to be to keep relations with the UK as close as possible. #UKElection

— Norbert Röttgen (@n_roettgen) December 13, 2019

Congratulations for your impressive electoral victory @BorisJohnson! The withdrawal agreement will now hopefully soon be ratified and we can focus on the future relationship between the #EU and the #UK which should be as close as possible. pic.twitter.com/jGfHOLzZZP

— Sebastian Kurz (@sebastiankurz) December 13, 2019

Congratulations to @BorisJohnson on his victory in the UK General Election. The Irish government and my department now stand ready to seize the moment and focus on getting #Stormont up and running for all the people and parties in Northern Ireland.

— Simon Coveney (@simoncoveney) December 13, 2019

Johnson's triumph will allow to leave the European Union on his terms

The European Commission has just announced an agreement whereby English will be the official language of the European Union rather than German, which was the other possibility.

As part of the negotiations, the British Government conceded that English spelling had some room for improvement and has accepted a 5- year phase-in plan that would become known as "Euro-English".

In the first year, "s" will replace the soft "c". Sertainly, this will make the sivil servants jump with joy. The hard "c" will be dropped in favour of "k". This should klear up konfusion, and keyboards kan have one less letter.

There will be growing publik enthusiasm in the sekond year when the troublesome "ph" will be replaced with "f". This will make words like fotograf 20% shorter.

In the 3rd year, publik akseptanse of the new spelling kan be expekted to reach the stage where more komplikated changes are possible.

Governments will enkourage the removal of double letters which have always ben a deterent to akurate speling.

Also, al wil agre that the horibl mes of the silent "e" in the languag is disgrasful and it should go away.

By the 4th yer people wil be reseptiv to steps such as replasing "th" with "z" and "w" with "v".

During ze fifz yer, ze unesesary "o" kan be dropd from vords kontaining "ou" and after ziz fifz yer, ve vil hav a reil sensi bl riten styl.

Zer vil be no mor trubl or difikultis and evrivun vil find it ezi TU understand ech oza. Ze drem of a united urop vil finali kum tru.

Und efter ze fifz yer, ve vil al be speking German like zey vunted in ze forst plas.

If zis mad you smil, pleas pas on to oza pepl.

And Congratulations you have learnt German within minutes...

Reaction to Overwhelming Conservative Victory from Europe | France24 |

I think I can agree with this:
BORIS: Everyone Dies - The Something Awful Forums

1) brexit became a huge deal ("OVEN READY!!!"), causing labour to bleed to three parties: the tories (to an extent, but not that much, there's still enough residual hate for them in the relevant areas to hope for the future), the brexit party (ersatz tories without the baggage) and the liberal democrats (remoaner central). because . johnson actually having a deal he could pass off as his own and meaningfully distinct from may's was a huge boon to him here, so thanks EU for that. you fuckers.

2. the character assassination of jeremy corbyn was much more advanced at this stage, with the antisemitism stuff being a part of this. continual, universal negative coverage for four years saw his popularity ratings steadily drop, and the constant internal struggles in the party re: brexit position was extremely costly for his image as a stalwart champion of righteous causes
   
3. corbyn speaks very well to a relatively small group of voters: people like us, who are politically aware and who have been homeless for decades. apart from that, he's not that effective as a personal campaigner, and once the press and the tories (but i repeat myself) figured out how to put him in positions where he couldn't deploy his strengths (e.g. he actually knows what he's saying and why), his weaknesses (he's not quick on his feet, and he's tied to positions in which he doesn't believe) became apparent.

basically, brexit turned into a culture war thing and a centre/periphery conflict. those always benefit the class with more cohesion, which in britain (and the west in general) is the ruling class

and this from Richard Seymour, from before the election and in an otherwise classical piece of Zwangsoptimismus.

I would guess that the calculation is roughly as follows. The Tory vote, as long as they keep promising to deliver Brexit, is secure. They supporters of Brexit have already shown that they don't mind being lied to, egregiously, because they assume that all politicians are liars anyway. Ironically, the only people who really suffer from Tory lies are Labour. Labour suffers in the direct sense that just enough people might believe the lies if they are smears or scaremongering. And while the Tories actively benefit from the defensive cynicism of some voters, their fear of being let down, Labour needs to cut through that. The more the infosphere is flooded with blatant and egregious misrepresentations, the more on guard some voters will be over anyone making a big political offer. Above all, confusion favours those wielding simple answers. If everyone's lying, if all politicians are untrustworthy, there is nonetheless one thing all voters firmly believe: Johnson is committed to delivering Brexit. That message, amid the swirl of deceits, has been hammered home with robotic insistence. Thus, they teach people to desire one simple thing, one paltry concession to a nebulous popular will.

Who will join Netherlands🇳🇱 in the final?🔥🥁
Norway🇳🇴 and Spain🇪🇸 meet for the second #Japan2019 semi-final in 10 minutes📢
Watch it live👇: [_link] @NORhandball @RFEBalonmano #handinhand pic.twitter.com/HdMbsOowyP

— IHF (@ihf_info) December 13, 2019

Irish News: Nigel Dodds and Emma Little-Pengelly lose their seats

The moment it's confirmed DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has lost the North Belfast seat he has held since 2001. Sinn Féin's John Finucane is the new MP - the first time a non-unionist has been elected member of parliament for North Belfast. #GE19 @irish_news pic.twitter.com/v30eA7KG9l

— Brendan Hughes (@brendanhughes64) December 13, 2019

She may not have been at the election count, but Green Party leader @ClareBaileyGPNI received a special thanks for her 'enormous courage and political generosity' from new MP @ClaireHanna after standing aside to bolster the pro-Remain vote in South Belfast.#GE19 @irish_news pic.twitter.com/UXZyVOI2tP

— Brendan Hughes (@brendanhughes64) December 13, 2019

Irish News: Nigel Dodds and Emma Little-Pengelly lose their seats

The moment it's confirmed DUP deputy leader Nigel Dodds has lost the North Belfast seat he has held since 2001. Sinn Féin's John Finucane is the new MP - the first time a non-unionist has been elected member of parliament for North Belfast. #GE19 @irish_news pic.twitter.com/v30eA7KG9l

— Brendan Hughes (@brendanhughes64) December 13, 2019

She may not have been at the election count, but Green Party leader @ClareBaileyGPNI received a special thanks for her 'enormous courage and political generosity' from new MP @ClaireHanna after standing aside to bolster the pro-Remain vote in South Belfast.#GE19 @irish_news pic.twitter.com/UXZyVOI2tP

— Brendan Hughes (@brendanhughes64) December 13, 2019

A tabloid PM speaking their language.

Corbyn was never in with a chance. Too much of the hard wordses and thinky things. Bet he finks he's cleverer than us. Creep.

Comparison to results of EU Referendum ....

Map results UK - Leave vs Remain

Independent ex-MPs who left Labour and Tories fail to win

Five reasons why Labour lost the election

Ugly recrimination by a Labour candidate who lost their seat; "The only upside of this is that Corbyn will have to go. He can retire to the Chagos Islands. They own this lock, stock and barrel."

How awful ... a lot of ignorance on Human Rights and International Law ... a long journey for Labour recovery, if at all possible.

'Devastating' exit poll triggers bitter blame game in Labour's ranks [_link]

— Kate Proctor (@Kate_M_Proctor) December 13, 2019

In that the Tories will have it blow up if they need a new distraction from all the money they steal/people dying in the streets once people finallyget sick of Brexit.

LIVE NOW - press statement [_link]

— Charles Michel (@eucopresident) December 13, 2019

Just compare today's map of the Conservative vote with the map of EU Referendum - June 2016

How optimism is confronted by hard reality minutes later ...

20 minutes left! Every vote counts. Don't miss out. #VoteLibDem to stay in the EU & build a better, brighter future 👉[_link] pic.twitter.com/EnNQSzSHEY

— Liberal Democrats (@LibDems) December 12, 2019

Related reading ...

Why Liberal Democrats didn't vote for their own party in GE2015

Excellent analysis!

Gone full circle from the Enlightenment ... the Buffoon in the Colonies is now King George, taxes are being scrapped just south of Boston ... and leading an imperium across the globe. Did 1917 ever happen?

Congratulations to Boris Johnson on his great WIN! Britain and the United States will now be free to strike a massive new Trade Deal after BREXIT. This deal has the potential to be far bigger and more lucrative than any deal that could be made with the E.U. Celebrate Boris!

— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) December 13, 2019

Related reading ...

"The Brink": Right-wing plan to ruin the World starting with the EU
Signs of Fascism in a Post-Democratic State

Big enough and stupid enough to be a fucking nuisance, all the same.

I think it's time to recognize that Pfeffle's campaign was not inept, except in our eyes. It took the British electorate for fools, and it worked.

Buffoonery, lies, shitposting, targeted FB ads, make up a winning formula in a media environment of billionaire newspapers, skewed TV, one-liners on smartphone "news feeds", and permission to lie on social network political ads. The reduction of complexity to bone-headed simplicity is colossal. Corbyn's reasonable explanations are of another age.

Now, next stop Brexit crash-out, and fuck the gammons who voted Tory. They'll still be shouting they were right even as what's left of their country is plundered. In fact, there'll be even more resentment under the surface, easy to exploit in a fascist drift.

US beware: this result is also a victory for Trumpian populism. It may come naturally to Bozza, but his politics is Trump-inspired.