Welcome to European Tribune. It's gone a bit quiet around here these days, but it's still going.

25 June - 1 July 2018

by Bjinse Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:19:17 PM EST

Your take on this week's news

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Display:
25 June - 1 July 2018 | 148 comments (148 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)
Europe (none / 0)
EUROPE
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:37 PM EST
Re: Europe (none / 0)

UK government under pressure to increase defense budget to 3% of GDP: "The UK maintains the biggest defense budget in Europe we have been clear we will continue to exceed NATO's 2% spending target."



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 09:23:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
Not. Gonna. Happen.

Aparently Williamson was talking about remaining a "Tier  1 military power". When May asked what that meant, Williamson didn't know.  

May doesn't appear impressed by the usual BS from the military chiefs, so I think their requests are going to be filed in the round cabinet on the floor

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 03:24:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
uh oh (none / 0)
Arlene Foster joins the hotties in Tracey Ullman sketch
"Arriving by the pool in her usual skirt and blazer, Arlene gets to know her fellow bikini-clad islanders."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 04:05:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)

"The District Grand Lodge of Gibraltar thought that in the case of the Gibraltar Market the placing of a plaque depicting the 300th Anniversary of the United Grand Lodge of England would be most appropriate, as the Foundation Stone of the original Public Market building was laid in 1876 by the then Grand Master of the United Grand Lodge of England, His Royal Highness Prince Albert Edward, The Prince of Wales, eldest son of Queen Victoria and future King Edward VII," the local Lodge said in a statement. "He did so wearing his full Masonic Regalia as the Most Worshipful the Grand Master."
Incidentally, Sánchez signals Brexit opportunity for `positive dynamic' with Gibraltar: drug busting?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 04:20:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
'Wolf Pack' sexual abuser caught seeking passport in Spain
"Explaining their decision for the conditional release, judges in the northern region of Navarra said the risk of the five men trying to flee could be contained by less harsh measures, including reporting to police three times a week and relinquishing their passports."

archived mana forte
Protests have erupted in Spain

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 05:07:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
'Future of EU does not depend on migration summit,' says Dutch prime minister
"'It would be good if this evening we can bring about a sense of calm. But I don't expect a total solution which means we will never have to talk about migration again,' Rutte said."
FAIL
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Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 05:23:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
FAIL
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Wired reported Wednesday that Exactis, a Palm Coast, Fla.-based marketing and data-aggregation company, had exposed a database containing almost 2 terabytes of data, containing nearly 340 million individual records, on a public server. That included records of 230 million consumers and 110 million businesses.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 06:03:44 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Borderless innerboobs? (none / 1)
We shall see.
Strongest Data Protection in US [!] Now Law in California
[AB 375] is not without controversy - nor is it necessarily complete, something acknowledged by co-author Assemblyman Ed Chau, D-Monterey Park.

"I think one of the things we will be looking at is the private rights of action, which has been raised by a number of people," Chau said. "The attorney general may have some issues that we need to fine-tune. There might be some immediate technical cleanup that we need to work on."
[...]
The act provides broad consumer protections including the right to know all data collected by a business, the right to say no to the sale of information, the right to delete data and the right to know the purpose of collecting data for business or commercial reasons. An important element of the act is the robust protection of children's [!] data
[...]
Opponents of the measure include Amazon, Google, AT&T and Comcast, which were expected to wage a multimillion dollar campaign had the act gone before voters. With the bill now safely signed, the bill's supporters will now turn their attention to implementation.

Or perhaps not. Top EU Court Embraces Anonymity for Litigants
Citing the recent enforcement of the new General Data Protection Regulation, the Luxembourg-based court said it has decided effective July 1 to mirror the activity of its member states.

"Against a background marked by the proliferation of means of searching for and of disseminating information," the court said Friday, local governments have been increasing personal-data protections for their citizens.
[...]
Going forward, in all requests for preliminary rulings brought after July 1, 2018, the court said it will "replace, in all its public documents, the name of natural [!] persons involved in the case by initials." ...

archived hot messes
Norwegian Court Orders
GDPR
Cloud Act

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Jun 29th, 2018 at 06:16:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
one story, two versions
AFP | French firm Lafarge charged with complicity in Syria crimes against humanity
[The Sherpa rights group] had launched the legal case against Lafarge alongside the European Center for Constitutional and Human Rights (ECCHR) and 11 former employees.
REUTERS | French put Lafarge under investigation over Syria militant payoffs
"The affair ... the scandal"

archived
qualified reporting on the ECCHR by Pro Publica


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 05:41:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
Transgender woman wins UK pension case
"The British Supreme Court asked the European Court of Justice for help in interpreting EU law."

archived
19 March Draft Highlights

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 10:39:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
sadly doesn't help me at all but it's good to see.

Trans rights have been under consistent attack in the UK for 18 months since the Tory govt (rightly) announced it was looking to improve the Gender Recognition Act in line with international agreements. It's becoming quite intense as most of the media seem very much on the anti side. So it's nice to get a win

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 03:29:50 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
My inner-Polly-Anna sez: This ruling is a good example of de facto political power. Whether or not Tory gov with parliament conforms with 19 March, the High Court imagines itself equal to the ECJ. "Consultation" may well continue over the cliff to good effect for the peoples' civil rights.

< reckless eyeballin' >

That's not to say, such independence will not be punished by future govs. REMEMBER POLAND!!

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 04:31:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
EU to open case against Poland over Supreme Court law
Poland' new Supreme Court law enters into force on 3 July and will result in early retirement of some 40% of the judges on the body, which validates election results in Poland. New staff will be named by the president, a PiS ally.
Poland's Supreme Court justice vows to defy retirement order
Demonstrations in support of Gersdorf and other defiant judges are due to take place on Tuesday and Wednesday around the court's offices in Warsaw.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 05:06:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
FAIL
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It's becoming standard practice for US tech giants to follow the letter of European rulings and regulations without really changing their behaviour.

Most recently, Facebook and Google have exhibited just a superficial compliance with the EU's General Data Protection Regulation, which requires companies to allow users to keep control of their data. The government-funded Norwegian Consumer Council issued a report showing that the tech companies' rely on "dark patterns" to discourage users from exercising their privacy rights.

The designation refers to interfaces intended to trick users into doing something, usually subscribing to a service they don't want or giving up data. Facebook and Google have used this strategy for some time, even as they superficially adhered to the European rules known as GDPR.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 02:44:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
< wipes tears > (none / 0)
For emphasis.
Without enforcement, the GDPR is a fail
There are so many fines to be collected from invalid contracts out there, it's funny.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 02:56:43 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: &lt; wipes tears &gt; (none / 1)
It's almost like they pass these laws to reassure the rubes, but leave a big wink to Corporates that it will be business as usual

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 07:19:19 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
Thousands attend Simone Veil's burial in Paris Panthéon
Thousands gathered in Paris on Sunday to pay tribute to Simone Veil, the Holocaust survivor and women's rights defender, as she was given the rare honour of a burial at the Panthéon, the resting place of France's greats.

Crowds applauded and some wore "merci Simone" images to mark the opening up of the male-dominated secular mausoleum of heroes of French nationhood to a modern woman who was also a symbol of the deportation of Jews during the second world war.

Veil, who became one of France's most revered politicians and a president of the European parliament, was known for her battle as health minister to legalise contraception and abortion in France in the face of bitter opposition. She also secured improved rights for prisoners and children in the care system. On the European stage, she continually pushed for an inclusive European Union as a way of never reliving the horrors of the past.

After her death last year, hundreds of thousands of people signed petitions to have Veil's remains transferred to the Panthéon. Veil is only the fourth woman to be honoured in her own right among the 72 men in the imposing building, over the door of which is written "The nation thanks its great men".

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 08:02:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 2)
Pentagon analyzing cost of keeping troops in Germany: report - The Hill
The Department of Defense is reportedly analyzing the ongoing costs of keeping thousands of U.S. troops stationed in Germany as President Trump considers reducing forces in the region.

The Washington Post reports that Pentagon officials stressed that the audit is limited to internal research so far and does not involve any members of the military's top brass.

The analysis comes after Trump reportedly was taken aback during a White House meeting earlier this year upon learning of the size -- 35,000 troops -- of the U.S. deployment in the country.

The president has frequently complained that NATO countries, including Germany, do not contribute their fair share of defense spending to the alliance.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 08:16:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
I would have thought a large mumber of those were based at Rammstein airbase in Germany which is used as a logistical and medical support base for deployments in N Africa and the Middle East.

I doubt the US would downgrade that facility any time soon

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 03:31:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 2)
The US, no. The real question is: does Trump know that?
by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 06:44:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
Mention "Rammstein" to Der Drumpfenfuehrer, and all he thinks of is a pyrophilic heavy metal band.
by rifek on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 06:31:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
On again (none / 1)
Angela Merkel's coalition partner escalates asylum row - DW
German Interior Minister Horst Seehofer dramatically re-escalated the row over asylum policy on Sunday evening by saying Chancellor Angela Merkel's European Union asylum deal did not "have the same effect" as the national measures for which he has been pushing.

According to reports from sources within the Christian Social Union (CSU), the Bavarian sister party to Merkel's center-right Christian Democratic Union (CDU), party leader and immigration hardliner Seehofer also said that his crunch meeting with the chancellor on Saturday evening had "not had any effect" on their conflict.

This was a direct contradiction of Merkel's account of the meeting, which she delivered in an interview with public broadcaster ZDF on Sunday. "The sum of everything we have decided has the same effect [as national measures]," she said. "That is my personal conclusion. Of course the CSU will have to decide that for itself."

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 08:18:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
re: Art. 13

My, my, belated panic in the "sharing economy" gathers apace.
Music Industry's Nonsense 'Myth Busting' About EU's Censorship Machines Is Basically Saying 'Nuh-uh' Repeatedly
What's missing: the deal is done. Google has flipped ContentID (2008) into a milk cow and deliberately spawned an industry of ContentID "registrars" (of which PRS for Music is one) to pawn little platforms like bandcamp.com that can't afford to automate youtube ad "monetizing" and royalty collection.

So sad. OTOH, blockchains are everywhere but youtube.

archived capitalism
DMCA/DRM/WIPO
droit d'auteur / droit de suite

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Jul 2nd, 2018 at 08:44:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 2)
The reason the music industry is saying nuh-hu loudly, is that people are calling their MEPs. And writing emails. Apparently disliking the copyright reform.

JURI recently had a press-conference denouncing the "fake news" of resistance to their copyright proposal, while describing how threatening it is to receive emails form the public. Big money and foreign influence (is that Putin? I bet it is Putin) are supposed to be behind the campaign.

I've called my MEPs (and some more, for good measure). Have everybody called their MEPs? The vote is tomorrow, Thursday. (It is not the final vote, but it is a good opportunity to end this nonsense.)

(I assume my check is in the mail, because so far I haven't got any part of the "big money", not even some rubels.)

by fjallstrom on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 11:06:23 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
Good luck with that.

Americans invented this pyramid scheme.

EU 27 1/2 is getting in, haphazzardly, at the top of the market --bottom of the pyramid.

So. Permit me to allay some hysteria. ("Even if you think that people who pirate music should be executed and all news organizations are the devil, you probably like memes." I don't like memes, and I don't hope to execute "media" pirates, because I know, they are getting paid.)

I have seen things, lo, these 30 years.

The copyright holders and paywall builders will sooner rather than later yield to the Venal Imperative. In order to maximize ad revenue, slack is baked into the grift. Beside renewed interest in "fair use" and derivative indemnity, enforcement will accommodate whomsoever seeks "use rights" for a piece of the "action." The char limits to links will gradually expand to save user search costs or no one sift-thru or click-thru duplicates, updates, retractions, affiliate and abridged copies to find an "original." Much less register for user credentials with every publisher on the planet or buy a 0.99 app to track "free" read monthly quota.

People will call this IPR exploitation innovative and pay for the privilege to view publicly held information such as FRB "research" and heavily redacted court filings, converted to digital format by some entrepreneur employing zero-contract labor.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 06:51:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 2)
Yes, in practise, little will change in the walled gardens of facebook and youtube. Youtube already blocks germans from seeing videos that their censorship machines deems unsuitable, so maybe more europeans will enjoy get "this video may not be shown in your country" screen. But otherwise, there might be little change.

Outside the walled gardens, the copyright organisations will have free hand to squash what they deem bad. And fair use generally has a rather weak position in european copyright laws. For example, the Swedish sculptors copyright collection agency sued Swedish Wikipedia the other year for posting pictures of public art where less than 70 years had gone since the death of the sculptor. The sculptors won, and not having a big ad revenue stream to share, Swedish wikipedia now doesn't show pictures of public art.

From the article you link:

<quote>Article 11 has been variously called the link tax or the snippet tax. Designed to mitigate the power over publishers that Google and Facebook have amassed in the last decade, it codifies a new copyright rule for linking to news organizations and quoting text from their stories. Online platforms will have to pay for a license to link out to news publishers, and this will theoretically help support organizations that are vital for public information and drive users to their homepages.</quote>

Now, Google can afford to pay or fight, but smaller platforms could easily be crushed. Like eurotrib for example, in this very comment I quote and you link an article that this platform has not payed for linking to. Maybe we won't be crushed (maybe we are to small for anyone to pay attention), but there is no upside to having these laws.

by fjallstrom on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 10:58:08 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 3)
We won!

Winning the procedural vote here is important and winning with a margin larger then abstantations, indicates that winning the actual vote in September is within reach.

by fjallstrom on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 11:27:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
well done.
the EU is not dead.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 01:47:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
So every member of the Austrian contingent to the EP declared that they would vote against.

Surely some mistake??

by generic on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 02:08:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 1)
You mean the EPP and FPÖ lot declared one thing and voted another? Maybe they counted on nobody counting the votes.

Here is a list per EP-group on how everybody voted. The EPP has most yes-votes, then S&D. I think it looks like both a political divide and a French-German bloc.

by fjallstrom on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 03:35:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (4.00 / 2)
Of course someone had already made graphics on both those aspects:

So France, Latvia and Roumania for, Sweden (100% against, guess they don't want the pirates back), Poland, Netherlands and Lithuania against. Germany split down the middle (so much for my impression of a Franco-German bloc). No obvious geographical factors, but clearly different voting patterns in different countries.

by fjallstrom on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 03:43:06 PM EST
[ Parent ]
spin (none / 0)
AFP | EU Parliament rejects copyright law in win for US tech giants

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 05:31:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: spin (none / 0)
This law has always been spinned as "the [European] creators" vs. "the [US] GAFA".
by Bernard (bernard) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 08:03:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: spin (none / 1)
That's odd.

The article leaves this reader with the distinct impression that moral conflict is best titled France vs. "the [US] GAFA". France being manifest in the principles of droite de suite and popularity of the last four presidents of the republic.

Accordingly, a small majority of MEPs voting against French designs ("European creators"), rather than against GOOG, FB (instagram, whatsapp), TWTR, AAPL  exploitation, seems the more plausible explanation for recommitting the vote on the "reform" package.

Not more plausible than reluctance to tax GOOG, FB (instagram, whatsapp), TWTR, AAPL, but more plausible than any will ostensibly to protect the freedom of GOOG, FB (instagram, whatsapp), TWTR, AAPL paid syndicates to copy "art works." Or defend the most vexing question, What does 'Web culture' Express?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 03:16:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"walled garden" of gmail (none / 0)
Google Sued Over Third-Party Access to Emails
Google's parent company Alphabet brought in $117.8 billion in revenue in 2017 and was valued at $766.4 billion as of June 2018, according to Forbes.

Did I write "top of the market ... bottom of the pyramid"? Why, yes, I did.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 10:25:42 PM EST
[ Parent ]
landssakes. (none / 0)
Ninth Circuit Strikes Down California Royalties Law
The Ninth Circuit ruled Friday that a California state law that required artists be paid royalties from auction sales only applies to art that was sold before the establishment of the federal Copyright Act.
When was that?
The appellate panel affirmed the district court, finding that the Copyright Act, which went into effect in 1978, preempted the Golden State's law. Under the first-sale doctrine of the federal law, the owner of a copyrighted work is allowed to sell it without seeking permission of its creator.
Success has many, failure none
.
.
.
In case you were wondering what happened to the "growwn up", Jay Bybee

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 09:54:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe 'Porton Down: Putin Strikes Again!' (none / 0)
The British can't seem to put the lid back on the vial ...btw was this the same one used by US Secr of State Colin Powell in 2003 at the UN Security Council before the invasion and occupation of Iraq? The Ayatollahs of Persia be forewarned!

Excellent coverage by The Guardian in this early stage .... waiting for Boris and Theresa ... sorry, we're busy with a COBRA.

Police fear Wiltshire couple have been exposed to nerve agent

Counter-terrorism police have joined the investigation into what happened to two people in Wiltshire who are in a critical condition, amid fears that they may have been exposed to a nerve agent.

Dawn Sturgess and Charlie Rowley, who were at a property in Amesbury, were initially believed to have overdosed on drugs, but their symptoms raised alarm among medics and Wiltshire police, which led them to suspect a possible nerve agent.

The couple, both in their 40s, were in a critical condition at Salisbury district hospital, Wiltshire police said on Wednesday.

Tests were being carried out on a substance at the nearby Porton Down government defence laboratory. Whitehall sources said that it was too early to tell whether the incident was related to illegal drugs or "something more sinister".

The couple are understood to be British citizens who are unlikely to have been the victims of a targeted attack.

...
Sam Hobson, 29, a friend of the couple, said he believed they had been struck down by a nerve agent.

He described how on Saturday morning Sturgess fell ill and was taken to hospital and how later that morning Rowley also became sick. He said both were in hospital in isolation and he was receiving regular calls from the authorities to check he was well. "They thought it was drugs at first. They now think it's a nerve agent," he claimed.

Must have forgotten to scrub the home front door knop of the Skripals ... or was her luggage from Russia returned via FedEx? Sloppy work by the British ...

○ In the beginning was the lie ...
○ UK Issued a DA-Notice On My Diary Result
○ How MI-7 Fake News in 1917 Impacted the Nazi Genocide

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 03:43:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe 'Porton Down: Putin Strikes Again!' (4.00 / 2)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 05:55:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe 'Porton Down: Putin Strikes Again!' (none / 1)
Gee, Vlad, you should know never to return to the scene.  Sloppy covert op, Vlad.
by rifek on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 06:34:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe 'Porton Down: Putin Strikes Again!' (none / 1)
To the contrary: by picking off pairs of Brits each month Russia will be able to vanquish the UK in about 2,500 years.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 07:29:52 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe 'Porton Down: Putin Strikes Again!' (none / 1)
Nah, we're getting used to it now.

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 07:17:00 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
African leaders set up migration body, reject EU migrant `platforms'
possibly related "integration" measure
UN rights office slams Denmark's plans to take toddlers from 'ghetto' families for values classes
in US history this policy was known as "school bussing." Over 40 years of intermittent implementation it has failed to desegregate ethnic groups, experts agree.

gahbless America.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 07:23:15 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Europe (none / 0)
How not to use the word ghetto ®.
French policeman on manslaughter charge as shooting sparks riots

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 03:54:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Genoa demands royalties from the Queen (none / 0)
Genova Today
"Your Majesty, I regret to inform you that from my books it looks like you didn't pay for the last 247 years".  Sfoggiando il suo inglese il sindaco Marco Bucci ha recitato a margine della conferenza stampa sul primo anno di governo, la frase che potrebbe essere indirizzata alla regina. Tradotta in italiano e in proposta di marketing: la Regina Elisabetta deve a Genova 274 anni di arretrati per l'affitto della bandiera. Usa i toni ironici il primo cittadino ma chissà che l'idea non sia frutto del recente viaggio con l'assessore Serafini proprio a Londra durante il quale ha portato avanti il programma di marketing territoriale."
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 02:27:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
< wipes tears > (none / 0)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 02:33:31 PM EST
[ Parent ]
German students solve Brexit (4.00 / 2)
Guardian. Asked for their analysis, as part of their Abitur, to how to solve Brexit, they come up with things like
"If I understand it correctly, the conflict with the border is there because Northern Ireland voted to stay in the EU," said Daniel Boppert, 19, a student at the Lessing gymnasium in Karlsruhe, who scored 14 out of 15 points in the written English test.

"Now they need a special solution. Perhaps they should have another referendum, but only for those in Northern Ireland, to see if they want to stay in the EU or in the UK under the new conditions after Brexit."

Isn't he aware that if it wasn't for the UK in WW2 they'd all be speaking German today? And he wants to destroy that?
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 06:21:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Does this make any sense? (none / 0)
Independent
The pound fell in the wake of Boris Johnson's resignation from the Cabinet on Monday.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 02:37:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Does this make any sense? (none / 0)
Yeah, increases odds of full blown chaos in short term.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 02:41:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Does this make any sense? (none / 0)
Boris Is Gone!

What took her so long? It was untenable when she decided to remain ... with one foot inside the EU.

Not a feasible option, so the hard Brexiteers are gone, the cherry picking of EU assets will be unacceptable, so the UK [or what's left] will face a no deal i.e. a hard Brexit.

Can she keep a cabinet together?
Can she hold on to her position?
Can the Tories prevent a new election?

More fireworks coming this week ... watch for a floating baby Trump in the London skies.

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 02:56:35 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Does this make any sense? (none / 0)
in anticipation of a challenge to May leading to a General election

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 07:34:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Economy & Finance (none / 0)
 ECONOMY & FINANCE 
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:41 PM EST
Re: Economy &amp; Finance (none / 1)
China, EU to Form Group to Modernize Global Trade Rules
On Monday, Premier Li Keqiang, China's No. 2 leader, told visiting French Premier Edouard Philippe that Beijing would allow more imports of beef and other food from France. Li said French companies were welcome to invest.

archived
Macron calls for COMPLETE OVERHAUL of world trade rules, WTO reform

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 11:43:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp; Finance (none / 0)
let me guess: it's all going to be about the dignity of the working classes
-no more trading with pariah states?
-The establishment of a global living wage and universal basic income?
-that housing rents be capped at no more than 25% of median income in any economic zone


keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 06:13:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp;amp; Finance (none / 0)
Helen!
Your optimism is leaking.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 02:11:56 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp;amp;amp; Finance (none / 1)
Sorry, a weak moment. I was tired

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 03:35:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp;amp;amp;amp; Finance (none / 1)


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 05:12:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp;amp;amp; Finance (none / 0)
More likely her sarcasm.

"It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
by ARGeezer (ARGeezer a in a circle eurotrib daught com) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 05:29:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp; Finance (none / 1)
no pots. no pans.
General strike in Argentina to protest president Macrí's economic reforms
"Today, interest rates stand at a staggering 40% and Macri has been forced [!] to turn to the IMF for aid."
Workers paralyse Argentina in third general strike
"The loan conditions include slashing the fiscal deficit to 1.3 percent in 2019 from more than three percent last year - a target which is expected to involve heavy budget cuts and increase unemployment in the public sector."

tool

archived
"It's not all particular bonds."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 12:14:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp; Finance (none / 0)

Elysium (2013) is Estado de México with a "flavor of enlightenment"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 12:32:10 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Macri Settles US Court Action Vulture Funds (none / 1)
Argentina, 'vulture' funds end 15-year debt battle | AFP - Feb. 29, 2016 |

Argentina's new market-friendly government has ended a bitter, 15-year battle with U.S. creditors, parties to the dispute announced Monday, opening the door for the South American country to escape financial pariah status.

The deal made good on a promise by President Mauricio Macri, who took office in December determined to reverse his predecessor Cristina Kirchner's refusal to bargain with what she called "vultures" picking over the country's stricken debt.

Court-appointed mediator Daniel Pollack announced in New York that a deal in principle was struck late Sunday for Buenos Aires "to settle all claims" with a payment of $4.65 billion to NML, Aurelius and two other hedge funds holding long-defaulted bonds.

"It gives me greatest pleasure to announce that the 15-year pitched battle between the Republic of Argentina and [NML owner] Elliott Management, led by Paul E. Singer, is now well on its way to being resolved," Pollack said in a statement, calling Macri "heroic."

A spokesman for Elliott, which led the creditors, confirmed, saying: "We are pleased to have reached an agreement with Argentina."

Macri wins election in Argentina, vows market reforms

How Argentina Settled a Billion-Dollar Debt Dispute With Hedge Funds | NY Times - April 2016 |

In a hotel conference room, a top Argentine politician drank coffee with two hedge fund executives -- a meeting that was nothing short of remarkable after more than a decade of bitter legal skirmishes between Argentina and a group of disgruntled debt holders who at one point seized an Argentine Navy ship. The previous Buenos Aires government reviled the hedge funds as "vultures."

That meeting on Dec. 7 between Luis Caputo, who days later would be sworn in as Argentina's finance secretary, and Jonathan Pollock and Jay Newman from Elliott Management, the $27 billion hedge fund founded by Paul E. Singer, was the start of a rapprochement leading to a momentous debt deal that has now allowed Argentina to rejoin the global financial markets that it had been locked out of for 15 years.

Last week, Argentina successfully sold $16.5 billion in bonds to international investors, a record amount for any developing country. And on Friday, Elliott and the other bondholders finally received their reward in the form of billions of dollars in repayment, representing returns worth multiple times their original investments.

In 2912, major GOP donor Paul Singer pushed Paul Ryan on the ticket with Matt Romney ...

○ Mitt Romney's Bailout Bonanza, his hedge fund donors made billions on auto industry bail-out

In 2007 before the financial crisis, Paul Singer was a "small" time GOP donor overseeing Elliott Associates a $9 bn hedge fund. In 2016, Paul Singer took a more hands-on approach in electing a Republican as the next US president ...

So there is a link of Fusion GPS of the British "dodgy" dossier and Cambridge Analytica with major GOP donors and the Middle East lobby of UAE, Emirates and the Jewish State of Israel. A predetermined search by US Congress and special prosecutor for election collusion looking East towards Russia is bound to fail except for minor facts of corruption. It fits UK/US foreign policy narrative to make and keep Russia a pariah state and Putin enemy #1.

Archives: Is criticising financial capitalism anti-American?

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 04:37:50 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Tories and business (none / 1)
BBC
Asked about corporate concerns over a so-called hard Brexit, at an event for EU diplomats in London last week, Mr Johnson is reported to have replied: "Fuck business."
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 05:48:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Tories and business (none / 0)
of course he did. He has no interest in industry, only in gangster finance

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 06:15:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Tories and business (none / 0)
He has no interest in anything constructive or useful, just bombast and bollocks.
by rifek on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 06:36:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Planting 2 billion trees (none / 1)

One minor quibble I have with the JG - BIG arguments is that proponents of the first insist that inflation will be minimal compared to a guaranteed basic income. But the really good stuff, like planting 2 billion trees like the CCC did does not increase production in the conventional sense. So I'd expect the effect on inflation to be broadly the same.

by generic on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 03:28:18 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Planting 2 billion trees (none / 0)
Followed a link from yr post and came across this twitter account. At first glance ... nice discussion.



'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 06:02:53 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp; Finance (none / 1)
U.S. offers German car bosses 'zero tariffs' solution to trade row - Handelsblatt

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 08:07:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp;amp; Finance (none / 1)
sounds like he's trying the same trick as the UK Tory arty. I imagine he'll get no further than they did.

Some people simply do not understand the concept of laws, rules and regulations for mutual benefit.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 07:13:56 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Economy &amp; Finance (none / 0)
G2 Not a Trade War, A Fight for Economic Supremacy

Beyond the trade war, US and China fight for economic supremacy | DW Opinion |

Forget about the term "trade war." After all, we're not talking about electrical appliances or soybean deliveries. US tariffs on imports from China and retaliatory Chinese tariffs on agricultural products from the US are symbolic acts -- good to attract media attention, and bad for the populations concerned.

The current trade conflict is only the most visible sign of a much bigger battle in the epochal race for power, domination and supremacy in the 21st century. What we're witnessing is the clash of two geopolitical giants, a clash between "America First" and "Made in China."

Will the United States remain the measure of all things like it has been over the past 150 years, and will the American way of life remain modernity's gold standard? Or will China be back as the strongest economic power, with Beijing believing that's the way it should be? For centuries on end, until less than 200 years ago, China was indeed way ahead of the rest economically.

G7? G20? G2!

US President Donald Trump has never concealed his "America First" ambitions. Everything else has been of secondary importance to him and may only be a means to support his main goal -- to pursue US interests. And for Trump, there's only one adversary standing in the way: China.

China's cooperation is critical in pushing North Korea to give up its nuclear and missile programs, but that's not likely to stop U.S. President Donald Trump from pressing ahead with additional tariffs on Chinese products.

○ Trump slaps $50 billion worth of tariffs on China, setting off a new trade war | CNBC - June 15, 2018 |
○ China holds the $1.2 trillion T-bill weapon | CNBC |

Related articles ...

○ Dictatorial bent of US is the real global threat: China Daily editorial

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 11:35:54 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Trump (none / 0)
TRUMP
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:44 PM EST
Re: Trump (none / 0)
Melanialogie | TRANS
Außerdem wichtig ist, dass Melania Trump öffentlich nicht viel spricht. Die Idee ihres Mannes betreffend, Präsident zu werden, war sie zunächst nicht so richtig on fire. Zwar gab sie bekannt, dass sie ihn "hundertprozentig" unterstützen werde, aber sie sagte ebenfalls, dass sie sich vor allem um ihren gemeinsamen Sohn kümmern wolle, denn "I chose not to go into politics".



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 04:38:57 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (4.00 / 2)
re: public property

Another cut to Griswold and Roe. I expected this despite the preponderance of amicus briefs.
California Pregnancy-Center Rules Unravel at Supreme Court

"Assuming that this is a substantial state interest, the licensed notice is not sufficiently drawn to achieve it," the ruling states.
[...]
Attorney General Jeff Sessions applauded the court's ruling Tuesday. "Speakers [PRIVATELY FUNDED "HEALTH CARE" PROVIDERS] should not be forced by their government to promote a message with which they disagree, and pro-life pregnancy centers in California should not be forced to advertise abortion [SIC] and undermine the very reason they exist," Sessions said.
from the opinion, NIFLA vs. Becerra
The license notice likely violates the First Amendment
A plethora of Pro-Choice vanity "activists" have been on the back foot for 35 years, assuming the "right" settled, while SCOTUS whittled away applications of civil rights with specious arguments. Where reproductive health care concerns female petitioners, the SCOTUS continuously errs on the side of their adversaries, in effect, pitting disinterested individuals against the needs of any one individual. In this case the interested party, the one who literally bears the burden of responsibility. This is the language of psychopathy: There is no boundary between me and thee.

Nadie es libre.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 05:58:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
Lemme seee. The last time I referred to "poll smoking" somebody here called me a homophobe. Walp, I'll go one further.

Take a drag on today's self-congratulatory headline. Which is nice in light of the number of states' legislatures that have enacted restrictions to abortion, gynecological, and contraceptive services since the US Congress passed the motherfuckin Hyde Act.

And be mindful about properly extinguishing your enthusiasm before you review the complete survey of common wisdom.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 04:48:01 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
since 1976

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 10:42:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
re: smoking, 1st Amd, 5th Amd, Hamdi, baby-mamas, and , "Black-Robed Rulers". Rlly?

Cigar and Pipe Tobacco Firms Can Forego Health Warning Statements

[U.S. District Judge Amit] Mehta's July 5 opinion notes that the appeal presents "serious legal questions" about the constitutionality of the FDA's rule, particularly in light of a recent Supreme Court decision in [NIFL] v. Becerra, which held that anti-abortion crisis pregnancy centers don't have to tell pregnant women about state services, including abortion.
[...]
Mehta's July 5 opinion notes that per D.C. Circuit precedent, the court must grant an injunction pending appeal when parties present serious legal questions.... "Plaintiffs likely will suffer irreparable harm absent injunctive relief: they will have to communicate purely factual government speech in a form and size to which they object; will have their own commercial speech diminished; and will have to incur millions of dollars in compliance costs, which they will not be able to recover if the warnings regime is determined to be unconstitutional," the opinion says.
I promise you: Pro-Choice vanity activists haven't a clue what's coming. If they did, test cases would already be the pipeline. Wack-a-state with Planned Parenthood funding for the next half century is not going to cut it.
States Dispute Immigrants' Constitutional Right to Abortion


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 11:21:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (4.00 / 3)

by generic on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 08:18:38 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (4.00 / 2)
The Forward
No state or entity is absolved of mass shootings of protesters. There is no justification. Palestinian people deserve basic human dignity, as anyone else.

Democrats can't be silent about this anymore. https://t.co/wJGATOtDsR-- Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (@Ocasio2018)

I guess the Democratic Party isn't going to support her.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 09:40:13 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
Democratic Party is OK with the mass shooting of protestors as long as they are brown people.

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 12:35:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 1)
well, there is this one.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 06:31:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)

if only they were all naked

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 10:00:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 1)
This Week in Melodrama: Trump vs FDR Packing

last cited in Free Speech


The century is young. And Robert Bork is still dead.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 03:40:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 1)
"I hope that in the next century we will come to terms with our abysmal ignorance of the Muslim world. ..."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 07:10:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
Tops! Thank you for this link.

'Sapere aude'
by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 07:35:28 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 1)
Thank the Angry Arab for provoking me to "dive deeper."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 29th, 2018 at 04:23:18 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 1)
I wasn't even looking for more.
But of course, the topical passions rise before they fall. I wade ankle deep into the moment.

Here comes Mr St Clair with a concise indictment of Mr Kennedy's ambivalence and animus* at the service of Reagan (Democrats). Wherein a study (Posner and Landes [!], 2008, 63 pp) casually placed purports to quantify the ideological rank, or "judicial behavior," of SCOTUS figures. HTML digest, pdf text. The abstract itself is frightfully equivocal to start, as is the custom among certain academics signifying some objective, secular purview and ahh propensity to pecuniary interest in "social justice." (As opposed, one may suppose, to divine justice.) I expect, the gist of the study will tend over time, like the regressive plot above, to affirm mean judicial behavior of the US American polity --"conformity of effect" codify as law. After all, the principles and procedures of jurisprudence express little but doctrinaire respect for status quo: stare decisis. "Judicial activists" are outliers. And Kennedy, the mythical "swing vote," a cavity for standing water, is by definition no outlier.

We find a political-polarization effect among Justices appointed by Democratic but not by Republican Presidents; that is, the fewer the judges appointed by Democratic Presidents, the more liberally they vote. With regard to court of appeals judges, we find a conformity effect: if the number of judges appointed by Republican Presidents increases (decreases) relative to the number appointed by Democratic Presidents, all judges in the circuit tend to vote more conservatively (more liberally).
* DICTION CORNER. Gratuitous use this word --like "egregious," "massacre," "era," "traffick," "empowerment", etc. -- in popular discourse has come into fashion.

Kennedy's animus toward Warren was at least partly rooted in the contentious relationship between the former Chief Justice[1].

The connotation lately attached to it by US-Eng. speakers, rifling euphemisms of "hate" or "memes" of mysticism, is derogatory. Otherwise its meaning conveys no such value in annals of literature or law. Latin, nom. sing. declension: animus (masc.), anima (fem.), soul syn. mind, intention, mens rea. Animus like weight and height is a property of a natural person. Please temper your judgment where you encounter this pretentious tool.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 04:50:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (none / 0)
FAIL
Wilkinson did not base her decision to boot Sanders on the press secretary's gender, race, sexual orientation or any other [?] protected characteristic [?]. Unlike [?!] the Colorado baker who became a cause célèbre among right-wing Trump supporters for discriminating against gay couples, Wilkinson and her staff concluded they could not serve Sanders in good conscience [!] because of her immoral [!] actions, not her identity.
This child just dismissed the entire bill of rights --in particular the association clause-- the 14th Amd, 42 U.S. Code Subchapter III - PUBLIC ACCOMMODATIONS AND SERVICES OPERATED BY PRIVATE ENTITIES (persons with disabilities), and 42 U.S. Code § 2000a - Prohibition against discrimination or segregation in places of public accommodation.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 11:35:58 PM EST
[ Parent ]
"rule of law, not &tc" (none / 0)
The Supreme Court's Five `Black-Robed Rulers'
In a time of deep polarization, the lawless majority of the Court has chosen to side with the powerful few against the vast majority.
KATRINA VANDEN HEUVEL

lost the plot, have you now?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 08:11:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
here it is. (none / 1)
DEBBIE WASSERMAN SCHULTZ: Unpledged delegates exist really to make sure that party leaders and elected officials don't have to be in a position where they are running against grassroots activists. We are, as a Democratic Party, really highlight and emphasize inclusiveness and diversity at our convention. And so, we want to give every opportunity to grassroots activists and diverse, committed Democrats to be able to participate, attend and be a delegate at the convention. And so, we separate out those unpledged delegates to make sure that there is [NOT competition between them.
[...]
AARON MATE: Right. Okay, so on that front, let's talk about a few key cases. You have a gubernatorial race in New York between Cynthia Nixon, seen as the progressive favorite, and the incumbent governor, Andrew Cuomo. How is the fight over rules, and this suspicion that the rules are rigged against progressives like Nixon, playing out when it comes to that race?

LARRY COHEN: It's huge in that race because there's three point six million unaffiliated voters in New York. They're not in any party. They were registered without a party, in many cases almost automatically, when getting a license. Many of them are young and they had to join the Democratic Party on October 13 of 2017, exactly eleven months before the gubernatorial and legislative primary. It doesn't even stop with Cynthia Nixon.

As you likely know, or viewers would know, there's eight people, eight senators [SIC] in New York that are Democrats from heavily Democratic areas that caucus with the Republicans. They all have challengers. In fact, we're supporting all those challengers. Those challengers can't look to those millions of unaffiliated voters, the ones who live in those districts, because they're shut out because they didn't switch last year. We've been pushing all year to change that. In fact, the Democratic Party itself could change it in New York. And at their convention a few weeks ago, they tabled the resolution to do so.



Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 11:01:32 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: "rule of law, not &amp;tc" (none / 0)
Here's another one.
Justice Kennedy and the Myth of the Legal Neutrality
I have crossed the path of many examples though, demonstrating what appears to be common belief that law is NOT a political instrument; that "democratically elected representatives"--legislatures, congress, assemblies-- do NOT formulate and enact law; jurists do without hide nor hair of an army.

I'll tell you what: I hope I am dead before Teh People discover the Uniform Commercial Code (UCC) of the United States. It'll save me the embarrassment of living.

What is the matter with you people?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 12:42:19 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: "rule of law, not &amp;tc" (none / 0)
Here is another one.
Female [US] lawmakers, candidates must be the voice for women worldwide
Because?
Andrea Taylor is a nonresident fellow in the Atlantic Council's Rafik Hariri Center for the Middle East.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 05:57:51 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: "rule of law, not &amp;tc" (none / 1)
Here is another one.
Sessions Nixes 24 DOJ Guidance Documents
signifying nothing BUT utter disregard for US history, US common law, US federal agencies' purviews.
Regents of the Uni v. of Cal. v. Bakke 438 U.S. 265 (1978), a private action
Held: The judgment below is affirmed insofar as it orders respondent's admission to Davis and invalidates petitioner's special admissions program, [p267] but is reversed insofar as it prohibits petitioner from taking race into account as a factor in its future admissions decisions.
Now, I remember this one as it happened. I am black. At the time I was 3rd yr high school. I intended to apply for university enrollment and was generally conversant with the objectives of affirmative action obligation in admission policy by institution, public or private.

"Bakke's basic approach"
At that time the US federal government had still scarcely applied EEOC --NOT DOJ-- enforcement outside private sector employment. I was alarmed. This ruling conspicuously circumscribed the obligations of the public to remedy historical discrimination against ethnic minorities' desegregating institutional funds and resources. This case put in place a formula applied to every "similarly situated" complaint of discrimination over the next 40 years. Fisher vs. Texas (2016) is a stellar boilerplate production, crediting A. Kennedy affirmed in part, reversed in part.

Furtherfuckingmore, Mr Richard Posner, to whom I have here referred before disparaged the ruling and perverted the remedial meaning of affirmative action with the coin favored by reactionary conservatives ever since: casting "reverse discrimination" at any selection process that does not favor a white applicant.

The Bakke case received enormous attention while it was awaiting decision in the United States Supreme Court, largely because reverse discrimination, generally under the euphemistic name of "affirmative action," has become almost as deeply entrenched an institution in American life as was segregated public education in the South before the Brown (1954!) decision. A decision broadly and unequivocally outlawing reverse discrimination would have exposed innumerable universities, corporations, labor unions, and other institutions to successful lawsuits for reverse discrimination. It would have outraged liberal opinion, the federal government's affirmative action bureaucracy, the leadership of a number of minority organizations, and other vocal and influential groups. And, according to a Gallup Poll, it would have pleased the vast majority of the American people, including almost two-thirds  of all nonwhites.4
Attaching "progressive" alarm today to "guidelines"a whistle in the graveyard.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 07:07:05 PM EST
[ Parent ]
< wipes tears > (none / 0)
re: public property

Rights Advocates Blast Law Aimed at prostitution slavery capitalism Sex Trafficking

"While none of the plaintiffs support sex trafficking [!]... there are a variety of attitudes in the world about sex work [!] itself."
"I detect a diction problem."
"We advocate decriminalizing sex work, consenting adult sex work. FOSTA is so broadly worded it can be applied to that type of advocacy. It's a misguided effort. It could really harm the human rights of sex workers or anyone who wishes to speak or tweet or repost material about or in aid of sex workers," [general counsel of Human Rights Watch, Dinah] PoKempner said.
Woodhull Freedom Foundation et al. vs. Sessions, 52 pp

reference

No person shall be held to answer for a capital, or otherwise infamous crime, unless on a presentment or indictment of a grand jury, except in cases arising in the land or naval forces, or in the militia, when in actual service in time of war or public danger; nor shall any person be subject for the same offense to be twice put in jeopardy of life or limb; nor shall be compelled in any criminal case to be a witness against himself, nor be deprived of life, liberty, or property, without due process of law; nor shall private property be taken for public use, without just compensation.

archived FOSTA/SESTA
if you need to ask ...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 08:45:54 PM EST
[ Parent ]
heh (none / 0)
re: 1st Amd
FOSTA's restrictions on speech cannot satisfy strict scrutiny because they do not effectively serve a compelling interest and are not the least restrictive means of attempting to do so, its operative provisions are vague and overly broad, and its selective alteration of federal immunity for online intermediaries is designed to promote censorship. These constitutional defects are magnified by the law's ex post facto application.
This test is the fulcrum on which reasoning to reverse appellate court ruling for the state in NLIF vs Becerra relies.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 09:30:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Mann Act Revival UPDATE (none / 0)
Stupid Patent of the Month: Alleged Cult Leader Wants to 'Improve Performance'
featuring this.empowerment(Raniere) AND a blast from the past, Alice v. CLS Bank! In order of appearance, not significance in "social order." lordhavemercy.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 03:29:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: &lt; wipes tears &gt; (none / 0)
As it happens there was analog to Ms Donegan's whisper list to which she might have availed her services. In the public interest.
59. VerifyHim formerly maintained various online tools that helped sex workers avoid abusive clients. It described itself as "the biggest dating blacklist database on earth." One such resource was JUST FOR SAFETY, which had screening tools designed to help sex workers check to see if they might be meeting someone dangerous, create communities of common interest, and talk directly to each other about safety. Following passage of FOSTA, VerifyHim took down many of these tools, including JUST FOR SAFETY, and explained that it is "working to change the direction of the site."
Woodhull's Sexual Freedom Summit
75. Woodhull is aware on information and belief that numerous websites that provided information about sex workers or sex work have closed, blocked United States users, or shut down channels associated with this category of information, such as: Craigslist.org (closed its adult personals ads), reddit.com (closed sub-reddits such as r/escorts, r/maleescorts, r/sugardaddy, r/hookers, r/sexworkerblogs), yellowpages.com (closed adult boards), cityvibe.com (closed), men4rentnow.com (closed), theeroticreview.com (closed due to FOSTA), nightshift.co (closed due to FOSTA), myproviderguide.com (closed), and others.
So.
Why is it that so many govs criminalize "commercial sex acts," or prostitution?

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 04:19:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: &amp;lt; wipes tears &amp;gt; (none / 0)
alrighty then.

Nothing in the plea mitigates the undisputed fact that prostitution is illegal in the USA, except a couple of counties in NV. Ergo states' (second-party) underlying cause of action, alleged "third-parties" ("online users") crime any conspiracy to commit the crime of prostitution --ie. the act, recruitment, aid and abet, solicitation eg. advertising (together "trafficking").

However, publishers (first party, "online platform") may, possibly, obtain summary, injunctive relief from liability for alleged third-party crime under 1st Am.

Most comical is, studied attempts and failure to disassociate professional definitions of "sex work" (complementary social services) and prostitution.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 06:20:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Trump (4.00 / 3)
Scott Pruitt resigns: Trump's scandal-ridden EPA chief steps down | The Guardian |

...
Trump added that: "I have no doubt that Andy will continue on with our great and lasting EPA agenda. We have made tremendous progress and the future of the EPA is very bright!"

Pruitt, a former attorney general of Oklahoma, had come under increasing pressure over ethical issues including the use of public funds for travel and office improvements; for using an obscure provision of the Safe Drinking Water Act to give pay raises to two aides; and for having paid $50 a night to rent a room in a Capitol Hill townhouse from the wife of an energy industry lobbyist.

An EPA ethics official who initially said the condo deal was not inappropriate subsequently rowed back on that claim.

○ Creeping Despotism Log #2

'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 08:44:20 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Ladies and Gentlemen .... (none / 1)
A message from the President of the United States of America:

I have broken more Elton John records, he seems to have a lot of records. And I, by the way, I don't have a musical instrument. I don't have a guitar or an organ. No organ. Elton has an organ. And lots of other people helping. No we've broken a lot of records. We've broken virtually every record. Because you know, look I only need this space. They need much more room. For basketball, for hockey and all of the sports, they need a lot of room. We don't need it. We have people in that space. So we break all of these records. Really we do it without like, the musical instruments. This is the only musical: the mouth. And hopefully the brain attached to the mouth. Right? The brain, more important than the mouth, is the brain. The brain is much more important.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Sat Jul 7th, 2018 at 01:08:25 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Ladies and Gentlemen .... (none / 0)
And a message from his critics:
The derogatory use of the term snowflake comes, in large part, from the film Fight Club, an adaptation of the 1996 Chuck Pahluniak novel of the same name.[CITE] In it, the narrator joins an underground men's fighting club, where members repeat the mantra, "You are not a beautiful and unique snowflake." Men's rights activists, bodybuilding forums, and the political Right have picked up on this mantra, which many have called the "manosphere." In reality, the roots are far deeper, emanating from the Right's need to reject the threat of communism by labeling it "red" or "pink," hence "wussified" or feminine. Republicans, then, use the rhetoric of "men" while Democrats are "women."

## turnitin

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 01:14:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
World (none / 0)
 WORLD 
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:47 PM EST
Good news from Colorado (none / 1)
Emily Sirota defeats Planned Parenthood. If you want to know why that is good news, read Naked Capitalism.
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 05:25:26 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: World (none / 0)
Several hundred Syrian refugees in Lebanon return to Syria
People gathered in minivans and tractors in the morning, loading them with mattresses, water tanks and furniture. Lebanese security personnel recorded the names of Syrians as they passed through a checkpoint on the way out of Arsal. The refugees were headed for Qalamoun across the border, a region cleared of insurgents by Syrian army offensives in which Lebanon's Iran-backed Hezbollah movement played a leading role. Those leaving said they had submitted their names to Lebanese authorities, who in turn sent the names to Syria for approval from the state.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 04:56:09 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: World (none / 0)
re: meddling and interference, "unwitting co-conspirators"

Hong Kong's Paradoxical "Independence" Movement

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 02:40:08 PM EST
[ Parent ]
The Democratic Party is still hopeless (none / 1)
Slate
Moira Jayne Walsh, a 27-year-old former waitress and labor organizer, captured a bit of national attention after she won a seat in the Rhode Island House in 2016. "I decided that I wasn't just going to work on legislation, because there has been so much neglect in my neighborhood for so many years that I wanted to make sure that people felt that they had a sense of community," she told The Atlantic that November.

Walsh has since been a progressive voice in the legislature and supports increasing the minimum wage and marijuana legalization. She also caused a stir in March when she said in a radio interview that there was an "insane amount of drinking" among legislators at the statehouse. All this might go some way towards explaining why the state Democratic Party has endorsed her opponent in the upcoming primaries--a man who appears to have once been a vocal supporter of Donald Trump and alt-right figures.

by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 07:38:29 AM EST
[ Parent ]
That's the Rhode Island Democratic Party (none / 0)
Rhode Island Democrats rescind endorsements following backlash
Facing a progressive insurgency in a state largely run by Democrats who oppose abortion rights and enjoy favorable ratings from the National Rifle Association, the party released a slate of endorsements earlier this week which critics said was aimed at punishing three female state legislators who ousted old-guard members two years ago, along with a fourth women running for an open state Senate seat this year.

In a letter to Rhode Island's secretary of state dated Wednesday, McNamara withdrew the Democratic Party's endorsement of Michael Earnheart, a former Republican who voted for President Donald Trump running against progressive state Rep. Moira Jayne Walsh. The party also withdrew its endorsement of a former state senator with multiple drunken driving arrests, who is vying for the open state Senate seat. Now, the party will not endorse a candidate in either race.

by Bernard (bernard) on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 08:22:49 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: World (none / 0)
illegal child 'adoption,' or trafficking
Mother Teresa's charity sold babies: Indian police
THE THREAT OF INTERNATIONAL ADOPTION FOR MIGRANT CHILDREN SEPARATED FROM THEIR FAMILIES

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 05:08:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
LIVING OFF THE PLANET
Environment, Energy, Agriculture, Food
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:50 PM EST
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 1)

Government rejects plan for £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea - The Guardian

The government has rejected plans for a £1.3bn tidal lagoon in Swansea Bay, dashing industry hopes of Britain leading development of a new source of renewable energy and sparking widespread criticism.

Ministers said the project, which would have been subsidised through household energy bills for decades, was too expensive compared with alternatives such as offshore windfarms and nuclear power.

The business secretary, Greg Clark, told parliament he had "left no stone unturned" in considering whether to support the scheme.

"The inescapable conclusion of an extensive analysis is, however novel and appealing the proposal that has been made is ... the cost that would be incurred by consumers and taxpayers would be so much higher than alternative sources of low-carbon power that it would be irresponsible to enter into a contract with the provider," he said.

Clark said backing the lagoon would cost the average consumer £700 more by 2050, compared with a mix of offshore wind and nuclear power.

by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:36:11 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
all of the costings are bullshit, from a tory perspective if it's not nuclear, fuck 'em

keep to the Fen Causeway
by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 06:17:47 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
Tidal power is a lot higher-impact on ecosystems than nukes. And nothing much other than northsea wind and nukes make sense for the UK.
by Thomas on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 12:14:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
tbh the Swansea bay scheme was exactly the sort of large bang per buck low impact localised scheme green campaigners have been asking for.

As opposed to the utterly idiotic Severn Barrage scheme beloved of politicians and corporate largesse.

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 07:28:27 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
Warming Drives Spread of Toxic Algae in US, Researchers Say
"They're starting earlier, they're lasting longer, and their peaks seem to be getting bigger"

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 11:34:39 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 1)
Not only in the USA; the whole Caribbean arc is affected:

Communities Innovate to Address Sargassum Seaweed on St Lucia's Coast - Caribbean360

Sargassum is free-floating brown macro-algae that lives in the temperate and tropical oceans of the world. In the open ocean, the floating seaweed provides important ecosystem services by acting as habitats for a diverse group of marine animals. It provides food, shade, and shelter to many types of specialized fish, crustaceans, and turtles. When it reaches the coastline, it provides fertilizer for the plant ecosystems that protect the shoreline from erosion and promotes biodiversity of marine bird and wildlife.

Since 2011, excessively large quantities of Sargassum have accumulated in the Caribbean Sea, only to wash ashore in several Caribbean countries.


by Bernard (bernard) on Tue Jun 26th, 2018 at 08:14:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
The Great Coal Jobs Fraud
"The planned 500 MW Kosovo e Re power plant is the regional prize winner in terms of exaggerated employment claims."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 29th, 2018 at 09:20:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
FAIL
We use cookies to understand how you use our site and to improve your experience. This includes personalizing content and advertising. To learn more, click here. By continuing to use our site, you accept our use of cookies, revised Privacy Policy and Terms of Use.
Bali volcano: Airport reopens after Mount Agung forced flight delays
Bali airport reopens after ash threat from volcano stranded thousands
The international airport on the Indonesian resort island of Bali reopened on Friday afternoon after a nearly 12-hour closure due to a volcanic ash threat that disrupted travel plans for thousands. Nearly 450 flights were cancelled on Friday, affecting some 75,000 people, as the Mount Agung volcano gushed a 2500m column of ash and smoke for a second day. The National Disaster Mitigation Agency said tests showed there was no ash in Ngurah Rai International Airport's airspace and the airport reopened at 2.30pm (6.30pm NZ Time).


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Fri Jun 29th, 2018 at 09:55:36 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living Off the Planet (none / 0)
'I don't want ships to kill me': Marseille fights cruise liner pollution
Marseille, desperate to shake off its old stereotypes of drug-smuggling and gang wars, as seen in the 1971 film The French Connection, has reinvented itself as a major tourist destination in the last decade and expects 2 million cruise passengers a year by 2020. It is also one of France's most polluted cities, mainly because of road traffic and industry.

Shipping pollution, including industrial shipping, is estimated to account for up to 10% of the city's air pollution problem. The culprits include the large number of ferries transporting cars and passengers to Corsica and north African countries including Morocco and Algeria.

If locals are targeting cruise ships in particular to lower their pollution levels, it's because they feel cruise line operators should be moving away from cheap heavy fuel to clean energy and because a kind of floating tourism that suffocates local people living near ports doesn't sit well with the luxury holiday brochures.

by Bernard (bernard) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 08:06:37 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Living On the Planet (none / 0)
 LIVING ON THE PLANET 
 Society, Culture, History, Information 
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:54 PM EST
< wipes tears > (none / 0)
A Recipe for Disaster

The question then, is why nobody in business journalism is questioning Six Sigma.
The answers are many.
(a) Profits were taken.
(b) Gilens and Page incomplete theorem
(c) It's not me.
(d) Needs more AI.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 02:19:59 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: &lt; wipes tears &gt; (none / 0)
jobs saved or created: Svante Pääbo
Mini Neanderthal Brains Are Growing in Petri Dishes

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 12:07:39 AM EST
[ Parent ]
wut (none / 0)
US press corpse unhinged


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 03:54:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living On the Planet (none / 0)
Norwegian Court Orders Website Of Public Domain Court Decisions Shut Down With No Due Process
(1) Wium Lie has been sued for a completely absurd reason of (2) helping a site publish public domain court rulings that (3) are not even protected by a database right and (4) the judge ruled in favor of the plaintiff (5) in 24 hours (6) before Lie could respond and (7) ordered him to pay the legal fees of the other side.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 08:28:02 PM EST
[ Parent ]
No more hoodies (none / 0)
by generic on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 06:38:22 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living On the Planet (none / 1)
Would they lie to us??
Right next to the author badge and the program and the map: a tiny matte-black 2001 monolith, maybe a little longer than a pack of cigarettes, maybe half as wide, thick as a cellphone. One button says "ABC", the other says something in Chinese. Speak in English while pressing ABC: once you release the button, the box translates what you said into spoken Chinese.  Press the Chinese button and speak in that language, and the box speaks to you in English.

I try it out on "There are no cats on Baffin Isle". The cylinder hears "There are no cats on bath, in aisle", which is pretty damn good given the phonetic ambiguity of that line. Other, more conventional sentences are translated flawlessly. I loan this magic box to Eric and Gillian, who will be tootling around the countryside after the con; they report afterward that it was a "lifesaver".

Totally self-contained. No internet connection required.  And so cheap that the con was literally giving them away.

If something that size can pull off two-way realtime translation between languages as different as English and Chinese, don't try to tell me that Cortana has to outsource "Play Add Violence, medium volume" to the fucking Cloud.

by generic on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 12:42:53 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living On the Planet (4.00 / 2)
Everything I don't know how to do is easy.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 12:58:23 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living On the Planet (none / 1)
Anne Frank's family tried escaping to US but thwarted by 'bureaucracy' - report
The family of the diarist Anne Frank twice tried to obtain US immigration visas but were thwarted by red tape, according to a new report published 76 years after they were forced into hiding in Nazi-occupied Amsterdam.

The report, issued by the Anne Frank House and the US Holocaust Memorial Museum in Washington, details the challenges faced by Jewish families looking to escape the anti-semitic Nazi grip on Europe and negotiate anti-refugee sentiment then building in the United States.

Gertjan Broek, a researcher at the Anne Frank House, and Rebecca Erbelding from the USHMM wrote in their report that Otto Frank, Anne's father, began seeking ways to escape to the US as early as 1938. At the time, the US had no specific refugee policy, but enforced quotas based on national origin.

by Bernard (bernard) on Sun Jul 8th, 2018 at 08:07:45 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Living On the Planet (none / 0)
Anne Frank's family tried escaping to US but thwarted by "bureaucracy" anti-semitic bigotry

there, FIFY

keep to the Fen Causeway

by Helen (lareinagal at yahoo dot co dot uk) on Mon Jul 9th, 2018 at 07:32:24 PM EST
[ Parent ]
On This Date (none / 0)
ON THIS DATE
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:21:58 PM EST
Re: On This Date (none / 0)
Today -100: June 28, 1918: Of Spanish flu, abysses of annihilation, and pushes
The US War Dept says there is no influenza in the army. The US War Dept is so wrong.
It only afflicts German troops on the western front.

archived legends
More important - In January 1918, Spanish flu was first observed - in Kansas...

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 06:17:30 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: On This Date (4.00 / 2)
by generic on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 02:55:17 PM EST
[ Parent ]
People & Klatsch (none / 0)
 PEOPLE AND KLATSCH 
by Bjinse on Mon Jun 25th, 2018 at 08:22:01 PM EST
Re: People &amp; Klatsch (none / 0)
NYC to Donetsk & back" - a new film
feature length documentary


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jun 27th, 2018 at 08:01:02 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: People &amp; Klatsch (none / 0)
by generic on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 05:18:35 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: People & Klatsch (none / 0)
John and Sergei: Small Talk
.
Bolton lays ground for Trump, Putin summit

"To begin with, I regret to have to point out that Russian-US relations are not at their best. ... I believe that this is largely due to sharp domestic political strife in the United States, but your visit to Moscow gives us hope that we can make at least the first steps toward restoring full-fledged relations between our states. Russia has never sought confrontation," Putin said.

Putin also played a good host by congratulating Bolton on the United States' obtaining the right to host the 2026 FIFA World Cup soccer tournament. Russia is hosting this year's tourney. "So far, we have been able to run this event properly. We will be glad to share our experience with you," Putin added.

Bolton played along. "I very much look forward to discussing with you ... how to improve Russian-US relations, find areas where we can agree and make progress together. ... We are most appreciative of your courtesy and graciousness here, and I look forward to learning how you handled the World Cup so successfully, among other things."  

Geez ... John must surely miss Henry Kissinger and his the knowledge of Football, especially the Argentine game of 1978, in particular the match Peru - Argentina 0-6 with benefits for both regimes.

○ Trump to meet Putin regardless of 'noise' at home as it's in US national interest - Bolton | RT |


'Sapere aude'

by Oui (Oui) on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 06:27:33 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: People &amp; Klatsch (none / 1)
now listening to c-span live, Rosenstein and Wray being interrogated by House judiciary committee. Subpoena talk bandied and posturing by members of both parties.

"congressional oversight"

A startling presumption 10 minutes into it is: no one claiming authority to compel either agency to comply --by might or right-- placing DOJ and FBI personnel above the law or beyond the reach of the executive or some alternative chain of command preferred by um minority members of the committee. "accountability," the rubes call it, or "self-organizing system". I forget which applies to "political bias," or that condition not beatification.

Adam Schiff was quoted deriding document disclosure as "collaboration masquerading as oversight." because he's not the one charged of a crime, I suppose.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Thu Jun 28th, 2018 at 07:45:10 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: People &amp; Klatsch (none / 0)
"Issue-oriented" promo escapes Facebook 'political advertising' authorities with a million views,
Viral 'Walk Away' Video Highlight Growing Movement of Democrats Leaving the Party
odd "cross-over" appeal, and a simulcast.

landssakes. gracious. What is the world coming to?

archive
Notice from the Publisher
Facebook tightens issue ads, political ads to prevent election interference
Facebook Community Standards

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Fri Jun 29th, 2018 at 08:28:34 PM EST
[ Parent ]
< wipes tears > (none / 1)
Was listening late last night to recording of Yvette's Friday live stream. She got punked by a caller! His speech began with sympathy for the political aspirations of her audience, "native blacks, descendants of slaves (DOS)." Because, he confessed, he is a "white identarian" seeking self-determination, too. Yvette was, like, waitwut? CLICK.

Cracked me up. There was a Virginia caller who interrupted WPFW 's talk show daily. He lived to harass the DC "progressive" politics hour.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Sat Jun 30th, 2018 at 05:16:55 PM EST
[ Parent ]
o. snap. (none / 1)
It's a "thing."
WHY YOUNG WHITE MEN ARE ABANDONING THE DEMOCRATS
A shock [?!] poll by Reuters/Ipsos* (April 2018) reveals that the Democrats are shedding millennial votes, with support dropping by nine percentage points since 2016. This shift is most pronounced among white millennial men, who now favour Republicans over Democrats by 11 percentage points.
[...]
In the identitarian worldview, `white men' are responsible for all the world's woes - the phrases `white people' and `white men' are practically shorthand for evil.
* Reuters search feature is disabled.

archived Adorno. uh oh.
resistance to identarian exclusions

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.

by Cat on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 07:48:07 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: o. snap. (none / 0)
Dems demand too much submission to their moral highs.

Are there numbers for non-white males?

by das monde on Tue Jul 3rd, 2018 at 11:02:21 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: o. snap. (none / 1)
  1. I linked (above) to a comment which provides a link to a synopsis of Adorno's philosophical theory, of which "3. Identity Thinking and Instrumental Reason" in which the author states.
    Adorno coined the term 'identity thinking' to refer to that form of thinking which is the most expressive philosophical manifestation of power and domination. Drawing a contrast between his own form of dialectical thinking and identity thinking, Adorno wrote that "dialectics seek to say what something is, while 'identarian' thinking says what something comes under, what it exemplifies or represents, and what, accordingly, it is not itself." (1990:149). A perfect example of identity thinking would be those forms of reasoning found within bureaucracies where individual human beings are assembled within different classes or categories.
    Racism is but one accessory of instrumental reasoning which justifies the structure and agency of the political apparatus in toto (N). Wealth, income, education attainment, location, marital status and so forth --omitted in the press release-- are human traits, believed by statisticians to inform wtf.
  2. The purpose of this quasi-demographic population survey of political allegiance is to test the efficacy of the apparatus. I did note, documentation of the poll is not readily available at Reuters. I searched, because I, too, immediately questioned data collection methodology.
  3. Accordingly, "numbers for non-white males" are systematically omitted from the evaluation of political allegiance within this particular group of people (n) that cannot represent (N). The data presented convey no extrinsic value. The exercise then is merely to identify a locus of the statisticians' prurient interests.


Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 12:23:43 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: o. snap. (4.00 / 3)
Lost whites in the South during the civil rights movement too, by some strange coincidence.
by Colman (colman at eurotrib.com) on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 10:36:06 AM EST
[ Parent ]
Propaganda (none / 1)
GOP is getting hysterical about their chances in the midterms.  It's easy to shade opinion polls to fit the message, Rasmussen - for one - does it all the time and the easiest of all is on-line opinion polls.


She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
by ATinNM on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 02:53:16 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: Propaganda (none / 0)
More about the inception of this from dKos.

Right-wing Twitter goes ape for #WalkAway bots

The Right Wing Noise Machine likes to use all of their various media outlets to 'cognitively capture' their audience in a self-reinforcing miasma of supposedly independent but in reality inter-connected cocoon of misinformation.  

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 07:34:14 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Speaking of hysterical GOP (none / 0)
Trump's Risky Bet on His Base

One finding in the June 1-4 NBC News/Wall Street Journal poll that did not get nearly enough attention was that on a scale of 1 to 10, with 10 being those with a very high interest in the upcoming midterm election, 63 percent of Democrats pegged themselves as either 9 or 10, compared to just 47 percent of Republicans and 44 percent of independents. Another is that while Democrats had a 10-point lead on the generic congressional-ballot test, respondents in currently Democratic-held districts gave Democrats a 22-point lead, while those in Republican-held districts gave the GOP just a 1-point advantage.

[emphasis added]

A one point advantage going into a crucial election means the GOP is facing serious defeat in the midterms.  Meaning both the House and Senate are in play with the edge to the Democrats.
 

She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre

by ATinNM on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 07:47:25 PM EST
[ Parent ]
OMG! (none / 0)
Did you see that!
the youtube pulled down the vid.

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Thu Jul 5th, 2018 at 01:53:29 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: People &amp; Klatsch (none / 0)
Portland Police revoke permit, declare riot as protesters clash downtown
"Things turned ugly shortly after 6 p.m., when Patriot Prayer protesters spilled into Third Avenue to begin their permitted march through the streets of Portland."

Diversity is the key to economic and political evolution.
by Cat on Sun Jul 1st, 2018 at 06:24:40 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Graffiti in Genova (none / 0)
by gk (gk (gk quattro due due sette @gmail.com)) on Fri Jul 6th, 2018 at 06:23:04 PM EST
[ Parent ]
Re: 25 June - 1 July 2018 (none / 1)
Here is a practical tool for phone numbers to EPP-PES MEPs, who is considered the group that can be and needs to be swayed.
by fjallstrom on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 11:29:51 AM EST
Re: 25 June - 1 July 2018 (none / 0)
That was supposed to go with my other comment about Article 13. Nevermind.
by fjallstrom on Wed Jul 4th, 2018 at 11:30:37 AM EST
[ Parent ]
25 June - 1 July 2018 | 148 comments (148 topical, 0 editorial, 0 hidden)


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