Politics & Stuff

[Vesper 30,235]

2 hours ago, robsblubot said:

there is an opinion article on NYT today about it https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/opinion/chimamanda-adichie-nigeria-protests.html
it's prob behind a paywall though.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Nigeria Is Murdering Its Citizens

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a sense that the country could burn to the ground.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/opinion/chimamanda-adichie-nigeria-protests.html

LAGOS, Nigeria — For years, the name SARS hung in the air here in Nigeria like a putrid fog. SARS, which stood for Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was supposed to be the elite Nigerian police unit dedicated to fighting crime, but it was really a moneymaking terror squad with no accountability. SARS was random, vicious, vilely extortionist. SARS officers would raid bars or stop buses on the road and arbitrarily arrest young men for such crimes as wearing their hair in dreadlocks, having tattoos, holding a nice phone or a laptop, driving a nice car. Then they would demand large amounts of money as “bail.”

SARS officers once arrested my cousin at a beer parlor because he arrived driving a Mercedes. They accused him of being an armed robber, ignored the work ID cards he showed them, took him to a station where they threatened to photograph him next to a gun and claim he was a robber, unless he paid them a large sum of money. My cousin is one of the fortunate few who could pay an amount large enough for SARS, and who was released. He is not one of the many tortured, or the many disappeared, like Chijioke Iloanya.

In 2012 Mr. Iloanya was 20 when SARS officers arrested him at a child dedication ceremony in Anambra State. He had committed no crime. His family tried to pay to have him released but were asked to bring more money than they had. So they sold their property to raise money and went back to the SARS office but Mr. Iloanya was no longer there. They have not seen him since. Photos of him on social media show a young man, still almost a child, with sensitive eyes and a future waiting for him. There are so many families like the Iloanyas who are caught between pain and hope, because their sons and brothers were arrested by SARS and they fear the worst, knowing the reputation of SARS, but still they dare to hope in the desperate way we humans do for those we love.

There have been End SARS protests, since 2016, but October 2020 was different, a tipping point had been reached. The protests signaled the overturning of convention — the protesters insisted on not having a central leadership, it was social rather than traditional media that documented the protests, and, in a country with firm class divisions, the protests cut across class. The protests were peaceful, insistently peaceful, consistently peaceful. They were organized mostly on social media by young Nigerians, born in the 1980s and 1990s, a disaffected generation with the courage to act. Their bravery is inspiring. They speak to hope and to the possibility of what Nigeria could become. Of those involved in the organization, none is more remarkable than a group called Feminist Coalition, set up by Nigerian feminists, who have raised more than $180,000, and have provided legal aid, security and food to protesters.

But the Nigerian government tried to disrupt their fund-raising. The Nigerian government has reportedly accused Flutterwave, the company through which the donation link was created, of accepting funds from terrorists, even though it is clear that Feminist Coalition’s members are not terrorists. Their fund-raising link suddenly stopped working. Still, they persisted, and began to raise money through Bitcoin.

From the capital city of Abuja to the small town of Ogbomosho, state agents attacked and beat up protesters. The police killed a few and detained many others, until social media and video evidence forced them to release some of the detained. Still, the protesters persisted.

The Lagos State government accused protesters of violence, but it defied common sense that a protest so consistently committed to peaceful means would suddenly turn around and become violent. Protesters know they have everything to lose in a country like Nigeria where the mere hint of violence gives free reign to murderous security forces. Nigeria’s political culture is steeped in state-sponsored thuggery. Politicians routinely hire thugs to cause chaos, especially during elections, and many people believed that thugs had been hired to compromise the protests. On social media, videos that attested to this — of thugs getting into SUVs that belonged to the government, of hardened and hungry young men admitting they were paid to join the protests and become violent. Still, the protesters persisted.

At about noon on Oct. 20, 2020, about two weeks into the protests, the Lagos State governor suddenly announced a curfew that would begin at 4 p.m., which gave people in a famously traffic-clogged state only a few hours to get home and hunker down. I feared that a curfew would provide an excuse for state violence, that in the name of restoring order, the army and police would unleash violence. Still, I was unprepared for the carnage that followed at the Lekki Toll Gate, the most prominent in Lagos. Government officials reportedly cut the security cameras, then cut off the bright floodlights, leaving only a darkness heavy with foreboding. The protesters were holding Nigerian flags, sitting on the ground, some kneeling, some singing the national anthem, peaceful and determined.

A blurry video of what happened next has gone viral — soldiers walk toward the protesters with a terrifyingly casual calm, the kind of calm you cannot have if you are under attack, and they shoot, not up in the air, which anyway would still be an atrocity when dealing with peaceful protesters, but with their guns at arm level, shooting into a crowd of people, shooting to kill. Sparks of gunfire taint the air. It is still unclear how many died. Those at the scene say that the Nigerian army took away some bodies, and prevented ambulances from getting in to help the injured, and that there was still shooting going on hours later, in the morning.

The Nigerian state has turned on its people. The only reason to shoot into a crowd of peaceful citizens is to terrorize: to kill some and make the others back down. It is a colossal and unforgivable crime. The brazenness is chilling, that the state would murder its citizens, in such an obviously premeditated way, as though certain of the lack of consequences.

It is anarchy, a friend told me. Nigeria is descending into chaos, another friend said. They may be right, but “anarchy” and “chaos” are different ways of using language to shield what is fundamentally to blame — a failure of leadership. It did not have to be like this. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has long been ineffectual, with a kind of willful indifference. Under his leadership, insecurity has worsened; there is the sense that Nigeria could very well burn to the ground while the president remains malevolently aloof. The president himself has often telegraphed a contemptuous self-righteousness, as though engaging fully with Nigerians is beneath him. Twelve hours after soldiers shot peaceful protesters, Mr. Buhari still had not addressed the nation.

A movement cannot spread so organically and widely across Nigeria if it does not legitimately reflect the grievances of ordinary people. A democratically elected government that is unable or unwilling to fully address those grievances has failed.

In the first week of the protests, the president sent out a tweet and then gave a flaccid speech about ending SARS. The inspector general of police has announced that SARS has been scrapped, but the government has announced the dissolution of SARS a few times in the past, starting in 2017. Because Nigerians are so accustomed to the two-faced nature of their governments, to promises destroyed even before being made, it is unsurprising that the protesters distrust the government and are demanding clear actions rather than words.

For weeks I have been in my ancestral hometown, where we first buried my beloved father, and then a week later, buried his only sister, my Aunt Rebecca. Immersed in my own raw grief, the frequent moments of stunned sorrow, thinking of my father’s casket being lowered into the rain-softened earth, wondering if it might still all be a bad dream, I think with a new kind of poignancy about those who have been killed. I think of their families brutally plunged into the terrible abyss of grief, made more terrible by the knowledge that their loved ones were killed by their country. And for what? Because they peacefully asked to be allowed to live.

 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novelist and the author, most recently, of “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.”

[kellzfresh 7,229]

18 hours ago, Vesper said:

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie: Nigeria Is Murdering Its Citizens

Under President Muhammadu Buhari, there is a sense that the country could burn to the ground.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/21/opinion/chimamanda-adichie-nigeria-protests.html

LAGOS, Nigeria — For years, the name SARS hung in the air here in Nigeria like a putrid fog. SARS, which stood for Special Anti-Robbery Squad, was supposed to be the elite Nigerian police unit dedicated to fighting crime, but it was really a moneymaking terror squad with no accountability. SARS was random, vicious, vilely extortionist. SARS officers would raid bars or stop buses on the road and arbitrarily arrest young men for such crimes as wearing their hair in dreadlocks, having tattoos, holding a nice phone or a laptop, driving a nice car. Then they would demand large amounts of money as “bail.”

SARS officers once arrested my cousin at a beer parlor because he arrived driving a Mercedes. They accused him of being an armed robber, ignored the work ID cards he showed them, took him to a station where they threatened to photograph him next to a gun and claim he was a robber, unless he paid them a large sum of money. My cousin is one of the fortunate few who could pay an amount large enough for SARS, and who was released. He is not one of the many tortured, or the many disappeared, like Chijioke Iloanya.

In 2012 Mr. Iloanya was 20 when SARS officers arrested him at a child dedication ceremony in Anambra State. He had committed no crime. His family tried to pay to have him released but were asked to bring more money than they had. So they sold their property to raise money and went back to the SARS office but Mr. Iloanya was no longer there. They have not seen him since. Photos of him on social media show a young man, still almost a child, with sensitive eyes and a future waiting for him. There are so many families like the Iloanyas who are caught between pain and hope, because their sons and brothers were arrested by SARS and they fear the worst, knowing the reputation of SARS, but still they dare to hope in the desperate way we humans do for those we love.

There have been End SARS protests, since 2016, but October 2020 was different, a tipping point had been reached. The protests signaled the overturning of convention — the protesters insisted on not having a central leadership, it was social rather than traditional media that documented the protests, and, in a country with firm class divisions, the protests cut across class. The protests were peaceful, insistently peaceful, consistently peaceful. They were organized mostly on social media by young Nigerians, born in the 1980s and 1990s, a disaffected generation with the courage to act. Their bravery is inspiring. They speak to hope and to the possibility of what Nigeria could become. Of those involved in the organization, none is more remarkable than a group called Feminist Coalition, set up by Nigerian feminists, who have raised more than $180,000, and have provided legal aid, security and food to protesters.

But the Nigerian government tried to disrupt their fund-raising. The Nigerian government has reportedly accused Flutterwave, the company through which the donation link was created, of accepting funds from terrorists, even though it is clear that Feminist Coalition’s members are not terrorists. Their fund-raising link suddenly stopped working. Still, they persisted, and began to raise money through Bitcoin.

From the capital city of Abuja to the small town of Ogbomosho, state agents attacked and beat up protesters. The police killed a few and detained many others, until social media and video evidence forced them to release some of the detained. Still, the protesters persisted.

The Lagos State government accused protesters of violence, but it defied common sense that a protest so consistently committed to peaceful means would suddenly turn around and become violent. Protesters know they have everything to lose in a country like Nigeria where the mere hint of violence gives free reign to murderous security forces. Nigeria’s political culture is steeped in state-sponsored thuggery. Politicians routinely hire thugs to cause chaos, especially during elections, and many people believed that thugs had been hired to compromise the protests. On social media, videos that attested to this — of thugs getting into SUVs that belonged to the government, of hardened and hungry young men admitting they were paid to join the protests and become violent. Still, the protesters persisted.

At about noon on Oct. 20, 2020, about two weeks into the protests, the Lagos State governor suddenly announced a curfew that would begin at 4 p.m., which gave people in a famously traffic-clogged state only a few hours to get home and hunker down. I feared that a curfew would provide an excuse for state violence, that in the name of restoring order, the army and police would unleash violence. Still, I was unprepared for the carnage that followed at the Lekki Toll Gate, the most prominent in Lagos. Government officials reportedly cut the security cameras, then cut off the bright floodlights, leaving only a darkness heavy with foreboding. The protesters were holding Nigerian flags, sitting on the ground, some kneeling, some singing the national anthem, peaceful and determined.

A blurry video of what happened next has gone viral — soldiers walk toward the protesters with a terrifyingly casual calm, the kind of calm you cannot have if you are under attack, and they shoot, not up in the air, which anyway would still be an atrocity when dealing with peaceful protesters, but with their guns at arm level, shooting into a crowd of people, shooting to kill. Sparks of gunfire taint the air. It is still unclear how many died. Those at the scene say that the Nigerian army took away some bodies, and prevented ambulances from getting in to help the injured, and that there was still shooting going on hours later, in the morning.

The Nigerian state has turned on its people. The only reason to shoot into a crowd of peaceful citizens is to terrorize: to kill some and make the others back down. It is a colossal and unforgivable crime. The brazenness is chilling, that the state would murder its citizens, in such an obviously premeditated way, as though certain of the lack of consequences.

It is anarchy, a friend told me. Nigeria is descending into chaos, another friend said. They may be right, but “anarchy” and “chaos” are different ways of using language to shield what is fundamentally to blame — a failure of leadership. It did not have to be like this. The government of President Muhammadu Buhari has long been ineffectual, with a kind of willful indifference. Under his leadership, insecurity has worsened; there is the sense that Nigeria could very well burn to the ground while the president remains malevolently aloof. The president himself has often telegraphed a contemptuous self-righteousness, as though engaging fully with Nigerians is beneath him. Twelve hours after soldiers shot peaceful protesters, Mr. Buhari still had not addressed the nation.

A movement cannot spread so organically and widely across Nigeria if it does not legitimately reflect the grievances of ordinary people. A democratically elected government that is unable or unwilling to fully address those grievances has failed.

In the first week of the protests, the president sent out a tweet and then gave a flaccid speech about ending SARS. The inspector general of police has announced that SARS has been scrapped, but the government has announced the dissolution of SARS a few times in the past, starting in 2017. Because Nigerians are so accustomed to the two-faced nature of their governments, to promises destroyed even before being made, it is unsurprising that the protesters distrust the government and are demanding clear actions rather than words.

For weeks I have been in my ancestral hometown, where we first buried my beloved father, and then a week later, buried his only sister, my Aunt Rebecca. Immersed in my own raw grief, the frequent moments of stunned sorrow, thinking of my father’s casket being lowered into the rain-softened earth, wondering if it might still all be a bad dream, I think with a new kind of poignancy about those who have been killed. I think of their families brutally plunged into the terrible abyss of grief, made more terrible by the knowledge that their loved ones were killed by their country. And for what? Because they peacefully asked to be allowed to live.

 

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a novelist and the author, most recently, of “Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.”

So sad. I hope the president one day pays for this crime.

[Vesper 30,235]

TIME Replaced Its Logo on the Cover For the First Time in Its Nearly 100-Year History. Here's Why We Did It

https://time.com/5902712/time-replaced-logo-cover-voting/

 

 

[Yeboii 1,844]

Second debate Trump v. Biden is on right now!

[NikkiCFC 8,344]

Would love Trump to do interview with Colbert again.

That would be more interesting.

[Fernando 6,586]

Watching the interview and It's clear that Trump is only concern about economic development. Everything else is flying from one ear to the next. While Biden is concerned about public health. 

[Yeboii 1,844]

Biden keeps yelling and yelling... 

[Vesper 30,235]

52 minutes ago, Yeboii said:

Biden keeps yelling and yelling... 

bullshit

you have balls of brass trying to accuse anyone versus Trump of yelling

Trump is in a perpetual rage for the last 5 and half years, ever since that fat fuck racist cut came down the escalator in Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, and kicked off his campaign of hate, ignorance, greed, and death by calling Mexicans rapists and killers

stop the fucking gaslighting

[Vesper 30,235]

 

[Yeboii 1,844]

44 minutes ago, Vesper said:

bullshit

you have balls of brass trying to accuse anyone versus Trump of yelling

Trump is in a perpetual rage for the last 5 and half years, ever since that fat fuck racist cut came down the escalator in Trump Tower on June 16, 2015, and kicked off his campaign of hate, ignorance, greed, and death by calling Mexicans rapists and killers

stop the fucking gaslighting

wow okayyyy....?

I simply made an observation on what was happening for a good 20 minutes of the debate. Biden, who usually is pretty calm, raised his voice numerous times while answering pretty routine questions. He even pointed angrily at the moderator for a while as he was yelling. While Trump has much history with raising his voice, he didn't do that on this occation. 

My comment had nothing to do with me saying that Trump is better or vice-versa. Just a funny observation.

[Vesper 30,235]

1 hour ago, Yeboii said:

wow okayyyy....?

I simply made an observation on what was happening for a good 20 minutes of the debate. Biden, who usually is pretty calm, raised his voice numerous times while answering pretty routine questions. He even pointed angrily at the moderator for a while as he was yelling. While Trump has much history with raising his voice, he didn't do that on this occation. 

My comment had nothing to do with me saying that Trump is better or vice-versa. Just a funny observation.

well, if that tis the case then I retract the full-on -blast, but there are far too many MAGAt vermin posts on here and I get instantly argy bargy

As a lesbian and a person of colour, every thing that Trump stands for, especially the empowerment of open raw white nationalism/racism/misogyny/homophobia now openly rearing its head on steroids, is abhorrent to me

that doesn't even deal with the insane geo-political geo-military, geo-economic global instability he has been weaving and bringing forth for years

sorry if I took your comment the wrong way

I am on hair trigger as I may take a position in Miami (a not insignificant promotion) with my firm next year, and will not take it (and thus possibly kneecap my career trajectory with the firm) if that motherfucker is still POTUS

that fundie slag Coney-Barrett, who will soon be rammed onto the US Supreme Course is also extraordinarily hostile to LGBTQ issues, and will likely help roll back gay marriage in the US, and there is ZERO chance I would ever live in nation that doesn't legally recognise my marriage

[robsblubot 3,595]

Heh there are far more progressive places in the US than Miami or Florida, but good luck (in whichever form it may take).

I think a lot of people find Trump abhorrent. Many in the GOP hate him as well. What some conservatives are not getting is that this is not Bush II that we hate him because he's a GOP president... it goes way beyond disagreeing with someone's policies. I don't even find comedians who mock trump funny, because having a terrible person like him as the president of the USA is just so sad.

Now, the batshit crazy judge isn't entirely on trump. That's mostly Moscow Mitch and his "pact" that puts party above country.

Taking the elections slightly aside for a moment, and the problem here is becoming of representation. Perhaps we will be able to fix some of that by election day (talking about congress too), but if not, representation will get even more skewed towards the minority. In other words, congress, white house, and now the supreme court will always side with the minority on most issues. Although you are definitely right to be concerned, I suspect going back in LGBTQ's rights will be so unpopular that they may not dare go there (they only have a fraction of conservatives on these issues). On the other hand, they did vote for Citizens United, because corporations are people too.   

We are witnessing the making of an authoritarian president - don't think he's too shy about that.

https://www.nytimes.com/2020/10/22/us/politics/trump-executive-order-federal-workers.html

"Trump Issues Order Giving Him More Leeway to Hire and Fire Federal Workers
The move would give the president greater freedom to weed out what he sees as a “deep state” bureaucracy. The executive order, which could be rescinded if he is not re-elected, was condemned by civil service unions."

How can you provide oversight over someone who has the power to get rid of you?

[Fulham Broadway 17,338]

Watched the debate and 'Trump Show' on BBC. See him just as an egotistical spoilt Reality TV  star now, who would say black is white just to get out of a lie.

The real tragedy is that US politics has come down to two multi millionaires in a head to head that spent so much time saying how corrupt the other one was. Really ?? The US population deserve way better than this. Sadly going the same way in the UK , where lying and cheating and fraud by MPs is no longer a resigning matter, but now 'acceptable'. This amoral  behaviour filters down into the rest of society   -we need a sea change in politics before society is really fucked.

[Atomiswave 6,118]

37 minutes ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Watched the debate and 'Trump Show' on BBC. See him just as an egotistical spoilt Reality TV  star now, who would say black is white just to get out of a lie.

The real tragedy is that US politics has come down to two multi millionaires in a head to head that spent so much time saying how corrupt the other one was. Really ?? The US population deserve way better than this. Sadly going the same way in the UK , where lying and cheating and fraud by MPs is no longer a resigning matter, but now 'acceptable'. This amoral  behaviour filters down into the rest of society   -we need a sea change in politics before society is really fucked.

Sorry mate the society is already fucked and has been for a while. Said it before and I'll say it again, these 2 cunts are the best the US can offer? How is that even possible, its possible cuz they are both puppets, they have been put there by people much higher up. Its no better in EU for that matter. Boris is nothing but a clown, its a disgrace we have allowed this to happen.

[Vesper 30,235]

9 hours ago, Fulham Broadway said:

Watched the debate and 'Trump Show' on BBC. See him just as an egotistical spoilt Reality TV  star now, who would say black is white just to get out of a lie.

The real tragedy is that US politics has come down to two multi millionaires in a head to head that spent so much time saying how corrupt the other one was. Really ?? The US population deserve way better than this. Sadly going the same way in the UK , where lying and cheating and fraud by MPs is no longer a resigning matter, but now 'acceptable'. This amoral  behaviour filters down into the rest of society   -we need a sea change in politics before society is really fucked.

Biden has always been a bankster puppet (Delaware is his home state, where so many financial firms are incorporated due to lax oversight and tax laws) BUT, until he left office, he was basically still in debt, and not remotely a multi-millionaire. He has cashed in with a 10 million USD book deal and a shedload of massively compensated  for speeches, but is far from an oligarch himself.

What he is, unfortunately, is a fucking neoliberal at heart, and very much a 'club' (the Senate) good old boy. He has made a lot of (for America, not for anywhere lese) progressive noises, but I fear he will fold as soon as he gets pushback. The DNC helped grease the skids for him after he performed terribly in the beginning. Most of the Democratic Party was terrified of Sanders winning the nomination and then getting crushed (which would have happened, again unfortunately). The US is so artificially spun to the right in terms of its centre political axis.

The whole thing is terribly depressing. I am ONLY in this all because the world (not just the US) simply cannot afford for Trump to win again. I have almost no hope for any really positive change from a Biden regime, OTHER than he is far more stable and less racist than the traitorous monster Trump. Soft gradually corporate tyranny versus an almost certain civil war within 20 years (or less) should Trump win.

I still think that even if Biden wins, there is a good chance the US rips itself apart within 20 years. The RW has tossed away all pretence of reality (and the very concept of truth) and I fear has presently and quite likely permanently unleashed the hellhounds of white nationalism in terms of an open, raw platform of raging hatred.

[robsblubot 3,595]

heh get rid of the electoral college and things will be a lot fairer overnight. No surprise here though... 

Binden is almost a ridiculous candidate, but he is a "safe" one and above all, he's a human being which makes him the only pick in this ticket. Hilary was terrible though, but still not the monster Trump is.

IMO, the crazy amount of money in politics, even citizen united itself, is just a natural "progression" of pure capitalism. Money will find its way into the most effective investments... and politics can be very effective.
"Soft money will find its way and seep into the political system and corrode it, unless we plug every hole." sen schumer

BTW, google 'cuomo on colbert" that bit was both entertaining and truthful as Cuomo described how it is to deal with this administration and criticize their "handling" (if you can call it that) of the pandemic.

[Vesper 30,235]

3 hours ago, robsblubot said:

heh get rid of the electoral college and things will be a lot fairer overnight. No surprise here though... 

Binden is almost a ridiculous candidate, but he is a "safe" one and above all, he's a human being which makes him the only pick in this ticket. Hilary was terrible though, but still not the monster Trump is.

IMO, the crazy amount of money in politics, even citizen united itself, is just a natural "progression" of pure capitalism. Money will find its way into the most effective investments... and politics can be very effective.
"Soft money will find its way and seep into the political system and corrode it, unless we plug every hole." sen schumer

BTW, google 'cuomo on colbert" that bit was both entertaining and truthful as Cuomo described how it is to deal with this administration and criticize their "handling" (if you can call it that) of the pandemic.

it takes a constitutional amendment to get rid of the electoral college, so it will never happen, as the small states will never cede the unfair power they now have

A Wyoming resident's POTUS vote is worth almost 4 times more than a California resident's vote, becuase Wyoming still gets 3 EV (2 senators and their lobe House rep) despite only having around 580,000 people

CA has 55 EV's BUT they have over 40 million people

If they had the same Electoral votes, adjusted for population, as Wyoming does, California would have 210 EV¨s not 55

its so fucked up, and its the ONLY reason there ever are Republican presidents now

there is a way to fix it

and no, not the Interstate Voting Compact, which will be found (especially now with a had RW 6-3 SCOTUS9 to be unconstitutional due to violating the Compact clause in the constitution (plus Red states will never sign onto a Blue wall)

to fix the electoral college 

the US has only one real option

drastically expand the size of the House of Representatives

that will massively increase the number of total EV's and then they can be doled out much more evenly

it only takes an act of Congress, not a constitutional amendment

the last time the House was expanded was 1913, when the US only had 97 million people. now it has 331 million (or more)

if the US had the same number of reps per person Sweden does (349 for a 10.15 million population)

The US House of representatives would have around 11,500 members!!!

it has 435 now (voting)

If the US House had the same as the UK house of commons (850 in a 68 million person UK), the US House would have around 3,200 members

you do not have to take the US to 3,200

but it needs to be increased to around 2,001

that yields a shedload more EV's to give to all the big US states who now are getting fucked

also, to fix the US Senate

they need to add DC and Puerto Rica as new states (they both have more people than Wyoming) and split california into North Cali and South Cali

that will yield 6 new Democratic Senators

as it stands

buy 2030 to 2032 or so

just 30% of the US population will control 70% of the 100 Senate seats

and that 30% is far more RW, rural, isolated, non travelling, far more reactionary, older, whiter, more fundy religious, less educated, poorer, more racist, than the other 70% of the nation, who will be stuck with only 30 seats, out of 100

6 new Dem seats will help balance that a bit

as it stands now, the RW has constitutionally 'kettled' (kettling is when police force a huge crowd into dead end streets to contain and control) the other side, as more and more people move into giant urban areas that already are Democratic, so they get fucked again

combined that with the RW voting suppression, illegal gerrymandering, and now the insane RW federal court packing that they have done etc

and you have a completely illegitimate minority rule atm

if not fixed, it WILL lead to a dissolution of the union and quite likely a violent civil war to get there

especially if the now radical RW SCOTUS and the rest of the stacked federal judiciary attempt to roll back all Brown v Board (1953, the case that declared separate but equal was unconstitutional and laid the groundwork for all the great civil right movements) and after civil rights protections for women and racial ethnic minorities, LGBTQ folk, etc and then try and nationalise the christofascist tyranny  (starting with attempts to force ALL states to ban abortion and to take away most all racial protections, and all LGBTQ protections and rights, including marriage) via federal troops (so ironic, as the racist RW always was the huge champion for STATES RIGHTS, in fact the US Civil was fought over that and slavery was the biggest states rights issue)

They will try and force all the Blue Democratic states to submit to their insane bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia and religious fascism

civil war will ensue shortly there after if they make that level of power play attempts

finally, the Democrats need to expand the Supreme Court to 15, and add 6 new justices

that re-balances the court to a 3 vote (9 to 6) liberal majority, as if the Rethugs had not stolen the 3 seats now, over the past 5 years, it would be 6-3 liberal, not 6-3 hard RW

THAT expansion will stop the civil war drumbeats in my above scenario

 

 

[Vesper 30,235]

this is from another site

and it is great

 

Parliament voted 321-261 on 21 October not to provide free school meals over school holidays to children in England who qualify. The roll call of who voted how can be seen here.

This is in contrast to the Welsh, Scottish and Northern Ireland governments' decisions to provide this help at least up to Easter next year.

The sums involved are minor compared to other often eyewatering and too often horrendously wasteful outlay during the COVID pandemic - e.g. the initiative will cost £10-11 million in both Wales and Scotland.

It's hard to think of any other intervention at the moment that could be more cost-effective other than paying Dominic Cummings, Boris Johnson, the cabinet - indeed, the whole Tory government - to fuck off somewhere very distant and remote and never plague us again.

The backlash has been immediate, from the trivial of Rishi Sunak being given a life ban from his local pub to Tory MP Caroline Ansell resigning as parliamentary private secretary at the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs to Nigel Farage tweeting "If the government can subsidise Eat Out to Help Out, not being seen to give poor kids lunch in the school holidays looks mean and is wrong." to a groundswell of initiatives from businesses and councils to fill the gap.

If you've been following the news over last day or so, you'll no doubt gather the footballer I'm referring to in the OP title is Marcus Rashford, who's ridden the wave of revulsion, and constructive action in response, since the vote and is serving as a very effective figurehead.

Throughout the last couple of days his Twitter account has been retweeting initiatives from all across England, ranging from Macdonald's donation of 1 million free meals to other national and local businesses offering their contributions to local councils finding the money from their already overstretched budgets to make humanitarian provision.

His last tweet this evening reads:

 

 

Marcus Rashford MBE
@MarcusRashford

I’m signing off with a feeling a pride tonight. The superstars of this nation lie in local communities. Even after taking the biggest hits you have wrapped your arms around your community to catch children as they fell. I really can’t thank you enough, you’re amazing ♥️

The hashtag #endchildfoodpoverty is being used to spread the word, campaign and share resources and information.

It's not hard to be heartened, like Rashford, at the outpouring of goodwill, which has gone far beyond wellwishes to concrete action.

This contrasts unflatteringly with what's come out of the government and Tories at large before, during and after the vote.

Here's Ben Bradley (FSM = free school meals):



His main contribution so far has been to pathetically pester Rashford on Twitter to attend some self-seeking local photo opportunity under the guise of "dialogue":



Here's Baronness Nicky Morgan on last night's BBC Question Time, peering down from her new elevated position in the Lords to show that charity begins at home - her home, apparently, and nobody else's - and adding an unappetizing soupçon of childish spite as her pièce de résistance:

 

 

BBC Question Time
@bbcquestiontime

“The Labour party might have found they got more supporters if the deputy leader hadn’t called one of the Conservative MPs scum.”

Nicky Morgan clashes with @bphillipsonMP over free school meals. On #bbcqt, 10:45pm, @bbcone

"Scum" is among the milder expressions that are flying about at the moment:

 

 

ComradeGeordie
@ComradeGeordie

Working class North east people voting Tory! What did you expect would happen? Ice cream and Jelly! Save your crocodile tears
😡
 
 

I'm not the only one to have been reminded of the stellar words of a superb German comedian:



Many do pay their taxes in the UK (as an aside, charity is not unknown in Germany, either). Needless to say, the richest pay the least proportionately, and too many make it a mark of honour - good business - to pay as little as possible or none.

There's plenty of money sloshing around in the COVID slurry at the moment. The sums involved in free school meal provision are minuscule compared to the billions wasted on unscrutinized contracts that will never be fulfilled.

Maybe each and every schoolkid in need to should put in a bid to supply PPE to the government - if as successful as the Tories' cronies, they'd never go hungry again.

 

[robsblubot 3,595]

24 minutes ago, Vesper said:

it takes a constitutional amendment to get rid of the electoral college, so it will never happen, as the small states will never cede the unfair power they now have

A Wyoming resident's POTUS vote is worth almost 4 times more than a California resident's vote, becuase Wyoming still gets 3 EV (2 senators and their lobe House rep) despite only having around 580,000 people

CA has 55 EV's BUT they have over 40 million people

If they had the same Electoral votes, adjusted for population, as Wyoming does, California would have 210 EV¨s not 55

its so fucked up, and its the ONLY reason there ever are Republican presidents now

there is a way to fix it

and no, not the Interstate Voting Compact, which will be found (especially now with a had RW 6-3 SCOTUS9 to be unconstitutional due to violating the Compact clause in the constitution (plus Red states will never sign onto a Blue wall)

to fix the electoral college 

the US has only one real option

drastically expand the size of the House of Representatives

that will massively increase the number of total EV's and then they can be doled out much more evenly

it only takes an act of Congress, not a constitutional amendment

the last time the House was expanded was 1913, when the US only had 97 million people. now it has 331 million (or more)

if the US had the same number of reps per person Sweden does (349 for a 10.15 million population)

The US House of representatives would have around 11,500 members!!!

it has 435 now (voting)

If the US House had the same as the UK house of commons (850 in a 68 million person UK), the US House would have around 3,200 members

you do not have to take the US to 3,200

but it needs to be increased to around 2,001

that yields a shedload more EV's to give to all the big US states who now are getting fucked

also, to fix the US Senate

they need to add DC and Puerto Rica as new states (they both have more people than Wyoming) and split california into North Cali and South Cali

that will yield 6 new Democratic Senators

as it stands

buy 2030 to 2032 or so

just 30% of the US population will control 70% of the 100 Senate seats

and that 30% is far more RW, rural, isolated, non travelling, far more reactionary, older, whiter, more fundy religious, less educated, poorer, more racist, than the other 70% of the nation, who will be stuck with only 30 seats, out of 100

6 new Dem seats will help balance that a bit

as it stands now, the RW has constitutionally 'kettled' (kettling is when police force a huge crowd into dead end streets to contain and control) the other side, as more and more people move into giant urban areas that already are Democratic, so they get fucked again

combined that with the RW voting suppression, illegal gerrymandering, and now the insane RW federal court packing that they have done etc

and you have a completely illegitimate minority rule atm

if not fixed, it WILL lead to a dissolution of the union and quite likely a violent civil war to get there

especially if the now radical RW SCOTUS and the rest of the stacked federal judiciary attempt to roll back all Brown v Board (1953, the case that declared separate but equal was unconstitutional and laid the groundwork for all the great civil right movements) and after civil rights protections for women and racial ethnic minorities, LGBTQ folk, etc and then try and nationalise the christofascist tyranny  (starting with attempts to force ALL states to ban abortion and to take away most all racial protections, and all LGBTQ protections and rights, including marriage) via federal troops (so ironic, as the racist RW always was the huge champion for STATES RIGHTS, in fact the US Civil was fought over that and slavery was the biggest states rights issue)

They will try and force all the Blue Democratic states to submit to their insane bigotry, racism, misogyny, homophobia and religious fascism

civil war will ensue shortly there after if they make that level of power play attempts

 

 

There is also Washington DC... prime example of taxation without representation. They are super blue, so the GOP is terribly afraid DC gets any representation.

I'm not entirely sure a pacific separation wouldn't be in the cards for the future. The feeling seems to be mutual: as in the blue estates don't want to deal with red states and vice versa.

All of this is only possible because the GOP and their crazy views actually have representation, even if smaller.

Fox New proves that people can be convinced of literally anything.

* Democrats are full of shit in certain areas too, but nothing compared to Fox News and GOP propaganda. The anti-science rhetoric alone should be grounds for legal action esp during a pandemic.

 

[Vesper 30,235]

2 minutes ago, robsblubot said:

There is also Washington DC... prime example of taxation without representation. They are super blue, so the GOP is terribly afraid DC gets any representation.

I'm not entirely sure a pacific separation wouldn't be in the cards for the future. The feeling seems to be mutual: as in the blue estates don't want to deal with red states and vice versa.

It's all possible because the GOP and their crazy. views actually have representation, even if smaller.

Fox New proves that people can be convinced of literally anything.

* Democrats are full of shit in certain areas too, but nothing compared to Fox News and GOP propaganda. The anti-science rhetoric alone should be grounds for legal action esp during a pandemic.

 

I said to add DC as a state, along with Puerto Rico and then split Californai into North and South

that will add 6 new Democratic Senators and help to sort it 

look at my original long post

I also added more at the end about re-balancing the SCOTUS