Showing posts with label fascism. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fascism. Show all posts

Saturday, 26 January 2019

That Irish backstop...

Seb Dance, MEP (Labour), sums up the situation nicely:


Basically, May is trying to sell a lie to MPs. She knows, because the EU27 have told her - and indeed everyone - often enough that it's non-negotiable.

They, at least, draw their red lines at hurting people and (re)starting wars.

No backstop = breaching Good Friday Agreement = hard border = physically dividing communities and families = a return to the Troubles, which is what the GFA put an end to.

We must not forget that the March 29 deadline is now barely 2 months away. Those who talk of extending it in order to re-negotiate are dishonest, as it is impossible unless May's viciously and self-destructively xenophobic 'red lines' are removed. Those who want to extend it to hold a referendum on "May's deal, no deal, or no Brexit" have a better chance, but they're kidding themselves if they think they'll be allowed a stay past 30th June, when the new European Parliament will sit for the first time.

Moreover, the suspiciously-funded No-deal Leave lobby started ramping up its Facebook and Twitter campaigns some time ago and the far-right UK tabloids continue to spread xenophobic lies unchecked, while denouncing anyone who disagrees with their perverted views as 'traitors' (I believe there's a word for that kind of attitude. Someone came up with it about 100 years ago).

Equally suspiciously, Theresa May has admitted to knowing the 2016 referendum was corrupt, while insisting on continuing with her destructive course, encouraging xenophobia and an ever-deepening split in the country. She has also blocked police investigations into known criminal activity that affected the result of the 2016 referendum. Why? Is she afraid one of the trails the police might undercover would lead to her?

Theresa May, and a number of her cronies, shouldn't be leading the country. They should almost certainly be 'helping the police with their inquiries', as the euphemism goes. Time for Toadface Farage is already running out: the FBI are after him.There is something deeply shaming about a foreign country being more willing to track down and punish criminals destroying your democracy and your country than you are.

So, there is currently no guarantee that the result of another referendum would be any less tainted with corruption.

There is only one option left, and it's the only option that can save the UK. It will annoy a small, but admittedly vocal and violent far-right thugs. It will upset the corrupt rich, who will lose money over it, as they've been betting on the £ continuing to plummet so they can asset-strip the country. It will really piss off Putin, who wants a weakened Europe for his own expansionist wet dreams. Fuck them all, and fuck them mightily.

It will require all Governments to stop using the EU as a useful scapegoat for their own misdeeds.

It will require actually educating the British (well, the English mostly, as other countries in the Union already have it) as to what Parliament does, what the EU does, what an MP does, what local authorities do, and so on. It's called civic education, and it should be obligatory everywhere.

It will require a vote of Parliament. It's feasible. The hard bit is of course getting certain MPs to understand that their job is to put their country before everything else.

Parliament must withdraw Article 50 and commit (because it's the only way to regain even a fraction of the trust lost over Brexit) to closer ties with the EU. 

Anything else is just dicking around and trying everybody's patience.


Thursday, 18 January 2018

FAKE NEWS: Your chance to crown the king!

The Ferret-haired Fraud and his fawning acolytes are presumably unaware that "to crown" also means "to belt around the ear", aka Punching a Nazi.


But I digress.

Read this email, which just landed - entirely unrequested - in my mailbox, and then dare tell me that Trump and his mob believe in democracy and a free Press.

Trump Pence Make America Great Again

Of all the biased, absurd, and downright FAKE news stories the media wrote about us in 2017, I picked just ELEVEN of the VERY WORST.

But now it’s time for the media to hear from you.

I want YOU -- the AMERICAN PEOPLE -- to crown the KING OF FAKE NEWS of 2017.

Who deserves the fake news trophy?

Please take my survey and let me know which organization you think pushed the MOST FAKE NEWS last year.

We’re going to keep calling the FAKE NEWS MEDIA out for their liberal bias and lies.

And we will NEVER let their attacks stop us from our mission to MAKE AMERICA GREAT AGAIN!

So please, take the 2017 Fake News Awards Survey right now to crown the ULTIMATE King of Fake News.

MAGA,

President Trump Signature Headshot
Donald J. Trump

I went to have a look, of course. Oh joy, you can nominate your own candidate. Well, well, well.

The "survey" is here. It would be such a shame if it got freeped, right?


Saturday, 16 September 2017

MOAR bots

Try not to laugh too hard. This is the rally that the RuTrolls, bots and other usual-suspect fashbois were promoting on social media and a horrendously ugly webshite called motherofallrallies-dot-com.

Looks like the propaganda isn't working as well as they'd hope.

Friday, 21 April 2017

Why Theresa May should scare you | Never Cruel Nor Cowardly

Looked at objectively, Theresa May is very clearly a political leader who, given free rein, would be a dictator.

Her history as Home Secretary is one of increasingly authoritarian rhetoric and policy, summarised by the “Go Home” vans.

Since becoming PM, govt proposed lists of foreign workers, forcing out foreign doctors, removing troops from international human rights law...

Read on: Why Theresa May should scare you | Never Cruel Nor Cowardly

Saturday, 25 March 2017

Trump the builder

Sunday, 5 March 2017

The most important paper I ever published | Edzard Ernst

WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT ABOUT ALTERNATIVE MEDICINE

My first ever scientific paper, a spin-off from my MD thesis, was published exactly 40 years ago. Since then, I have written many more articles. Readers of this blog might think that they are all on alternative medicine, but that is not the case. My most cited paper is (I think) one which combined my research in haemorheology with that in epidemiology. Yet, I would not consider it to be my most important article.

So, what is my most important publication?

It is one that relates to the history of medicine.

How come?

In 1990, I was appointed as chair of Rehabilitation Medicine at the University of Vienna. On the occasion of the official opening of the new 2000-bed university hospital in Vienna, I was asked to say a few words and thought that a review of the history of my department might be a fitting subject. But I was wrong. What I discovered while researching it turned out to be totally unfitting for the event; in fact, it contributed to my decision to leave Vienna in 1993. I did, however, summarize my findings in an article – and it is this paper that I consider my most important publication. Here is its abstract:
Misguided by the notion that the decline of the German race would be prevented by purifying “Aryan blood”...
Read on: The most important paper I ever published

Tuesday, 25 October 2016

Il Douche wants to Drain the Swamp

Time for the 5th and final Email To The Deplorables of 22nd October. Oh, don’t fret: there are plenty more. It’s just the last one received on that date. I think, though, it’s time we started addressing the accuracy of the claims the Trump camp makes, and what really happens to the money they get, especially as this is the central theme of the “Drain the Swamp” rallying-cry. Let’s start with cash from small donors, because that’s what the 5 emails so far have been whining for:
Trump used $300K of small donors' money to buy copies of his own book, to sell back to donors at an inflated price. — Steve Silberman (@stevesilberman) October 25, 2016 
Let’s not forget that the people getting these emails only signed up to be bully-boy Poll Watchers. This hasn’t been mentioned once so far. That’s strange, when you remember how much the … Continue reading

The post Il Douche wants to Drain the Swamp by Jay H first appeared on Plague of Mice.

Saturday, 10 September 2016

Politically Incorrect

You can’t hang around for long on social media without coming across code words, bandied about by those who like to think of themselves as “politically incorrect”. You can look up the origin and evolution of the term “politically correct” if you like; suffice to say that the current usage by the hard right to stigmatise those who actually want to take into account the needs of women and minorities is relatively recent.

 And frankly, if being accused of political correctness is a bad thing, I don’t want to be right. Or rather: alt-right.

So, the lexicon of the self-described “politically incorrect”. These are terms often brandished with pride by those who use them, but rarely are their precise meanings made clear. I will endeavour to repair this. One thing I can promise you is that in this post I will not use sarcasm, exaggeration for comic effect, or any other … Continue reading

The post Politically incorrect by Anarchic Teapot first appeared on Plague of Mice.