I see no Russian trolls!

The weirdness continues.

This Russian account tweeted just once: a smear of ProPublica, that somehow got 23k RTs. pic.twitter.com/S4F1lsIJEz

— Eric Umansky (@ericuman) 25 August 2017

Parity!

... as sterling has reached 8 year lows versus € had a big impact on trade weighted sterling, because most of our trade is with Europe

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) 24 August 2017

Collapse of £ manifestly had more negative impact on consumers via real earnings than beneficial impact on manufacturers via competitiveness

— Alian5 (@LiberalWrittler) 25 August 2017

So far, in 2017, statistics show this unarguably correct...drag on consumption real -6 month lag post-ref, outweighing exporter boost so far https://t.co/LuVgLBfZmj

— Faisal Islam (@faisalislam) 25 August 2017

Profile of a Russian troll

The Monuments Must Go: An Open Letter From Great, Great Grandsons of Stonewall Jackson | Democracy Now!

Full text of letter from William and Warren Christian, the great, great grandsons of Confederate Gen. Stonewall Jackson to Richmond Mayor Levar Stoney and Members of the Monument Avenue Commission.

Dear Mayor Stoney and Members of the Monument Avenue Commission,

We are native Richmonders and also the great, great grandsons of Stonewall Jackson. As two of the closest living relatives to Stonewall...

Read on: The Monuments Must Go: An Open Letter From Great, Great Grandsons of Stonewall Jackson | Democracy Now!

Mic.com: The History of Confederate Monuments

The truth behind most of the Confederate monuments being torn down tells an even larger story than you'd realize — @JackSmithIV explains. pic.twitter.com/Ppu2ojdO71

— Mic (@mic) 19 August 2017

The Brexit Blog: The German car industry and Brexit

The German car industry occupies a particular and peculiar place within the Brexiter imagination. Particular, because it is invariably cited to ‘prove’ that an excellent UK-EU trade deal is inevitable. French cheese and Italian Prosecco occasionally feature in pursuit of the same argument but less often, perhaps because Brexiters hope that referencing German cars will make some “Vorsprung Durch Technik” rub off on their threadbare case.

At all events, the centrality of German car makers to the case for Brexit was expressed repeatedly during the Referendum campaign by, for example, Peter Hargreaves, the biggest individual donor (£3.2M) to the Leave campaign...

Read on: The Brexit Blog: The German car industry and Brexit

Collaboration Helps Consolidate European Movement UK - European Movement

The European Movement UK (EMUK) is consolidating its presence through formal collaboration with like-minded organisations. We now have an official partnership with Scientists for EU, Healthier IN the EU, and an affiliation agreement with Britain for Europe.

We are at a time when opposition to plans to exit the European Union is becoming more organised. Theresa May lost any mandate she thought she had for a hard Brexit after the General Election and now more and more people are uniting behind the belief that leaving the EU is a disastrous mistake and we need to steer the UK away from the cliff edge...

Read on: Collaboration Helps Consolidate European Movement UK - European Movement

Brexit means...

Not sure who to credit for this absolute gem. Nails it. pic.twitter.com/s1bdGWOR5E

— Julie Owen Moylan (@JulieOwenMoylan) 9 August 2017

Brexit round-up – referendum promises, EU position, UK position, Ireland, single market, Brexit bill, ECJ – Jack of Kent blog

As I am taking a break from active tweeting (and am instead just promoting my posts and so on), this is a round-up of interesting links on Brexit and similar stuff...

Read full post: Brexit round-up – referendum promises, EU position, UK position, Ireland, single market, Brexit bill, ECJ – Jack of Kent blog

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Jack of Kent contains much useful analysis of the legal ramifications of Brexit and is well worth a follow.

Brexit Costs Over A Hundred Times EU Membership Per Day | Byline.com

Over A Year After The Brexit Vote, Britain Can Start To Count The Costs Of Its Democratic Folly

Humans without spreadsheets are nothing.

Thankfully we have spreadsheets.

Over a year since the UK's decision to dice with disaster, the costs of Brexit can start to be counted. The amount due to the EU by way of spending commitments made by Britain for the years ahead could be as high as £100 billion. When sterling crashed the day after the vote, £2 trillion was wiped from stock markets. The cost to the UK economy in 2016 was £1.6 trillion likely to rise for 2017 as the impact continues. But people don't seem to grasp this...

Full article: Brexit Costs Over A Hundred Times EU Membership Per Day by J.J. Patrick

Anti-immigrant rhetoric

Dealing with #Racism? Here's the Top Four Comebacks :-) pic.twitter.com/SlM7RQy2W2

— Far Right Watch (@Far_Right_Watch) 5 August 2017

Hamilton 68: Tracking Putin's Propaganda Push... Aug 2 2017

For full, up-to-date details, see Hamilton 68: Tracking Putin's Propaganda Push... To America

Top Themes
Updated on August 2, 4:26 AM
We examined unique stories that appeared each day in the lists of Top and Trending URLs from July 21 to July 31, 2017. Articles were categorized according to issues they addressed, including primary, secondary, and tertiary themes, as many stories speak to multiple issues. The three most common primary issues out of the 91 stories analyzed involved US partisan politics, the conflict in Syria, and the investigation of Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller. Digging deeper, the 54 stories related to partisan politics include 30 hostile to the Democratic Party, 14 supportive of President Trump, 2 hostile to the Republic Party establishment, and 2 targeting the U.S. Intelligence Community. Of 18 stories related to Syria, 14 attacked US actions, while 4 lauded the actions of Russia and their allies. The 9 articles targeting Robert Mueller and his investigation were uniformly hostile.

Transcripts of Trump’s calls with Mexico and Australia - Washington Post

The Washington Post has obtained transcripts of two conversations President Trump had with foreign leaders: one with Mexican President Enrique Peña Nieto and another with Australian Prime Minister Malcolm Turnbull: Transcripts of Trump’s calls with Mexico and Australia - Washington Post

The transcripts include annotations to help readers understand what is happening.

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Highlights - Mexico

1. Trump threatens potential tariffs on Mexican goods. 
2. Trump vows to help fight the “tough hombres” driving the Mexican drug trade. 
3. Trump seems to acknowledge that his threats to make Mexico pay had left him cornered politically. 
4. Trump asks that they avoid publicly disagreeing over how the wall will be funded. 
5. Trump describes the wall as “the least important thing we are talking about.” 
6. Trump tells Peña Nieto to stop saying publicly that his government would never pay for the wall. 

A couple of comments on the comments: 

• Peña Nieto may make a habit of speaking Spanish in formal situations, in spite of having an excellent grasp of English, but it would be a mistake to assume this stems from any sense of insecurity. It gives him a distinct advantage in that it gives him more time to observe the other's reactions and choose his next move.
• Trump's insistence on using Peña Nieto's forename in a formal meeting between heads of state is not merely ignorant and rude; it shows that he thinks he can treat sensitive international negotiations the way a salesman would try to soft soap someone into signing a contract.

The rest more or less speaks for itself. Trump alternates between flannel and empty boasts about the election. It's entertaining and eye-opening at the same time. The man clearly believes he's been put at the head of some mafia-like organisation; his contempt for his electorate is rivalled only by his contempt for the truth.

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Highlights - Australia 

1. Trump tells Turnbull that accepting the refugees “will make us look awfully bad.” 
2. Turnbull tries to explain to Trump that the refugee deal is consistent with the travel ban 
3. Turnbull tells Trump that the deal is “really, really important” to Australia. 
4. Trump says the refugee deal is “going to kill me.” 
5. Trump calls the agreement a “stupid deal” that will make him “look terrible.” 
6. Trump tells Turnbull “I have had it” and ends the call.

The two are birds of a feather and they still can't work anything out.