Thought for the Day

[Stavros]

Following the abuse of Black players in England's loss to Italy in the '2020' Euro tournament, on social media, and the defacing of a mural of Marcus Rashford in Manchester, Boris Johnson said

“This England team deserve to be lauded as heroes, not racially abused on social media. Those responsible for this appalling abuse should be ashamed of themselves and crawl back under the rock from which you emerged”.

Home Secretary Priti Patel stated that -
"...she was “disgusted that England players who have given so much for our country this summer have been subject to vile racist abuse on social media.

“It has no place in our country and I back the police to hold those responsible accountable,”. She later reiterated her condemnation of the racist abuse as she spoke in the House of Commons and said the government would do more to make tech companies stamp out online abuse on their platforms to make sure racists online “have no place to hide, and action is taken”.
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/...s-penalty-miss

Perhaps they could have added for clarification -
'But if you are part of the Windrush Generation, we will continue to do all we can to throw you out of the country, and if it is found we made an error, we will do all we can to make sure you never receive a penny in compensation'.

[Stavros]

According to the US Constitution-

"If two or more persons in any State or Territory, or in any place subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, conspire to overthrow, put down, or to destroy by force the Government of the United States, or to levy war against them, or to oppose by force the authority thereof, or by force to prevent, hinder, or delay the execution of any law of the United States, or by force to seize, take, or possess any property of the United States contrary to the authority thereof, they shall each be fined under this title or imprisoned not more than twenty years, or both."
https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18/2384

The events of the 6th January were not the exercise of free speech -as critics of Sedition (like Jim Jordan) might claim- because a speech act is wholly different from the physical, illegal entry into the Capitol with the explicit aim of preventing Congress from completing the process of a democratic election, thus denying the Congress its right to rule, and the people their choice of President.

So why haven't those arrested been charged with Sedition? And why have those who encouraged, and supported the act of sedition on the 6th January also not been arrested and charged?

[Stavros]

I admit I don't know much about Nancy Pelosi, but it seems to me she is on a road to nowhere with the Jan 6 Enquiry. The second Impeachment was of huge importance, but in the Senate it failed, for even though Mitch McConnell attacked Trump after the vote, he ensured the vote itself was meaningless. The point is that the Sectarian divide is making Congress all but irrelevant, as a Supreme Court opposed to universal suffrage empowers States, so that the US is moving from three branches of Government held together by the Constitution, to State Power, where the State defines/re-defines the Constitution and any Federal Law it chooses, so that in reality power now resides in the State and Congress can go fuck itself. The Enquiry will thus be condemned as a biased attack on Trump even as he and his Party attempts to re-write the history we have seen so that there was no anti-American sedition on the 6th of January, just some boisterous tourists breaking a few rules. Whatever the outcome, the Party of Trump literally coudn't care less about it. The inablity of Speaker Pelosi and indeed, President Biden to score any points against the antii-American Trump may in reality be masking a popular resentment that could prevent the Party of Trump from taking back House and Senate next year, but the aggressive anti-American movement Trump now leads with willing executioners in Texas, Florida and Congress, makes me wonder if the US that was born in 1776 is now on its last legs.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/...ck-panel-trump

[filghy2]

This article looks at how anti-Americanism has become deeply embedded in right-wing circles. These self-proclaimed patriots are prepared to denigrate and undermine their country if it doesn't conform to their demands. This ranges from denigration of Olympic athletes who don't conform to their narrow standards to justifying overthrowing the constitution.
https://www.vox.com/22600500/olympic...-anti-american

The recent revelation that Trump pressured the Justice Department to declare the election corrupt shows just how close the US came to an even worse crisis over the election. If Trump does not face any legal consequences for this and his other actions there is something seriously wrong and the US will be practically inviting another attempt in future. With the Republican attempts to purge officials who resisted Trump's claims and legal changes allowing electoral officials to be overridden it could well succeed next time.
https://www.vox.com/2021/7/31/226034...rosen-donoghue

[Stavros]

He has got away with it so far, and his entire career is marked by an ability to use the law to escape justice and then demand compensation, just as he realised years ago that a business loss can be transformed into a financial success through tax remittances -it is hard to believe the people round him, ike Kevin McCarthy can't see a scam when it is shoved in their face, but he chooses to accept it, as does that 'Dumb son of a bitch' Mitch McConnell -in what other country does a man insult and abuse people who then grovel to him in reply?

But is it not the case that when Trump publicly called on Russia to help his campaign in 2016, he broke the Election Campaign Law of 1971, but was not arrested? Did the FBI believe that to do so would have been seen to be interfering in an election campaign -that the law was passed to control? He got away with that, and later with regard to those 100+ meetings with Russians and a studied indifference to the Money Trail, in part because it was not in Mueller's remit, and in part to AG Barr's determination to protect the Presidency, even as he could see it being demeaned by a man who literally then and now has no idea what a President can or cannot do, and has no real understanding of what the 'separation of powers' means in the US Constitution.

This is one reason why the US is in, or headed into the most serious crisis since the anti-American war of 1861-65, and as long as those with responsibility bend the knee to Trump and ignore his blatant criminality they will take the US on a journey to its end. They also calculate that if Kamala Harris is the nominee in 2024, it's a slam dunk for Trump, but that's a whole other story.

[sukumvit boy]

Upon opening my front door this morning I was surprised to find a 9 X 5 inch zip lock plastic bag containing 2, 8 1/2 by 11 inch glossy sheets attached to the doorknob. One was entitled "End CCP" (Chinese Communist Party ) and the other "Falun Dafa" (Falun Gong) !
The area of Los Angeles where I live has some Filipino residents but no significant Chinese population.
Interesting to see that Wikipedia describes Falun Gong as a right wing "cult" that supported Trump and has been unjustly attacked by the Chinese Communist Party , they otherwise appear crazy but peaceful.

[filghy2]

It seems that the Chinese government cracked down on Falun Gong because they felt threatened by people having a rival source of loyalty to the CCP. I wasn't aware of their far right linkages, though it seems to be increasingly normal for religionists in the US nowadays. Perhaps this happened as a response to their persecution, but it does give the CCP a propaganda weapon to justify their actions.

[Stavros]

In fact the Communist Party approved of Falun Gong until 1999, when it was declared an 'evil cult' and many of its folllowers arrested, imprisoned and in some cases, tortured and killed -see the FT article linked below.

It resonates with the Boxer Rebellion of 1899/1900 which targeted forreigners in China, but Christian Missionaries in particular, indeed it may be the precursor of the May 4th Movement-

https://www.ft.com/content/f8bb94fe-...4-00144feabdc0

The Boxer Rebellion
https://www.facinghistory.org/nanjin...oxer-rebellion

May 4th Movement
http://afe.easia.columbia.edu/specia..._mayfourth.htm

[Stavros]

If Donald Trump refuses to concede that he lost the 2020 election, and that he remains President, how can his party hold any Primaries or Caucuses, or a Convention to nominate their 2024 candidate as he still occupies that position? It means there can be no other candidate, and that -unless he declines to run- he is the only 'canddate' -? Is this not so?

[Stavros]

An additional point i shoud have made to the above, is that if Trump insists he did not lose the 2020 election, he can't run in 2024 as a President can only serve two terms. Trump would have to concede he lost the 2020 election in order to run for a second term in 2024, but can he openly admit that he lost the 2020 election?