Saturday 30th of March 2024

meanwhile in scotland...

trump murdocky

There was great anticipation as Trump stepped up to the microphone at a press conference on the ninth hole of the course, close to a cliff. Before he could say anything, a man wearing a Turnberry sweater jumped up to apologize for having forgotten to hand out golf balls to the crowd— then tossed dozens of red golf balls featuring a black swastika in Trump’s direction. Secret Service agents surrounded the man, British comic Simon Brodkin, and escorted him away.

Trump then spoke to the world, standing in a sea of Nazi golf balls.

“This is an amazing honor; it’s an amazing day — very historic day for a lot of reasons, not only Turnberry,” Trump said in a monotone voice, with a white campaign hat pulled down low, just above his eyes. “This is one of the big votes in the history of Europe and Scotland and everywhere . . . I think that it is purely historic, and what is happening is historic.”

He didn’t dwell on that history. Instead, Trump told the crowd that his mother was born in Scotland and adored the queen. He promoted his hotel suites, alluded to zoning changes and let everyone know that the golf course’s new sprinkler system is of “the highest level.” Trump recognized the previous owners of the resort, “friends of mine from Dubai” who he said “didn’t understand this golf thing.” He also marveled at his son Eric Trump’s ability to oversee the project.

read more : https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trumps-scottish-golf-swing-a-chaotic-two-day-trip-across-the-green/2016/06/25/296bfe40-3af5-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html

 

cheaper golfing lessons...

 

“People want to take their country back,” Trump said of the Brexit vote. “They want to take their borders back. They want to take their monetary [sic] back. They want to take a lot of things back. They want to be able to have a country again. So, I think you’re going have this happen more and more. I really believe that, and I think it’s happening in the United States.”

Trump said that as president he would “embrace” Britain leaving the E.U., but also “see how it plays out.” He mused that the falling value of the pound “could very well turn out to be a positive,” benefitting the travel industry and his resort. He wouldn’t take a position on Scotland’s renewed quest for independence — as its voters sharply disagreed with England and Wales, voting to stay in the E.U. — and he criticized President Obama for taking a stance on the referendum, breaking the informal tradition of not taking aim at a sitting president from overseas. He also mentioned his foreign-policy advisers.

“I’ve been in touch with them,” he said, “but there’s nothing to talk about.”

read more: https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/donald-trumps-scottish-golf-swing-a-chaotic-two-day-trip-across-the-green/2016/06/25/296bfe40-3af5-11e6-9ccd-d6005beac8b3_story.html

 

leaving trump for clinton...

US presidential candidate Donald Trump has played down market turmoil in the wake of Britain's decision to leave the European Union on a visit to his Trump International golf course in Scotland.

Key points:

  • Donald Trump meets with Rupert Murdoch on a visit to his golf course in Scotland
  • Mr Trump has dismissed fears of global economic instability after the Brexit vote
  • Key Republican figures have announced they will not be voting for Mr Trump

Wearing an open-necked shirt, a suit and a white baseball cap with his slogan "Make America great again", Mr Trump was asked if he was worried about the volatility in financial markets following Britain's vote to leave the EU on Thursday.

"There's always turmoil no matter where you go, no matter what you do," he said.

Global stock markets lost about $US2 trillion ($2.7 trillion) in value on Friday after the vote, while sterling fell to a 31-year low.

He also met with News Corporation media mogul Rupert Murdoch and his wife Jerry Hall, giving them a tour of the Aberdeen course in a golf cart.

Mr Trump, whose mother was Scottish, was greeted by around a dozen protesters at the course waving Mexican flags, rainbow flags for Gay Pride day and signs that read "Donald stop the hating" and "Shame on you for ruining a beautiful landscape".

Asked about the protesters, Mr Trump compared them to rival candidates for the Republican nomination who he had defeated, such as Senator Ted Cruz.

"I have one or two that are contentious and that's fine because they lost, it's like some of the people I beat in the primaries," to win the Republican nomination for president, Mr Trump told reporters.


Mr Trump last year proposed a temporary ban on Muslims entering the US as a response to Islamist attacks in Paris and California, causing a furore in Europe.

In an article in a Scottish newspaper earlier this year, Mr Trump pointed to his determination to overcome local opposition to his golf course projects as an example of the leadership skills that Americans would get if he were to become president.

Top conservative columnist leaving Republican Party over Trump

Mr Trump is facing an increasing internal Republican revolt with prominent long-standing members of the party speaking out against his candidacy.

Influential conservative columnist George Will said he is leaving the Republican Party over Mr Trump's polarising campaign and urged others to follow suit, even if it means rival Democrats take the White House.

Mr Will, a Washington Post columnist, told a luncheon Friday: "This is not my party," according to the conservative PJ Media news website.

Henry Paulson, a Republican who was US Treasury secretary during the 2008 financial meltdown, on Friday called a Trump presidency "unthinkable" and said he will vote for Democrat Hillary Clinton.

"When it comes to the presidency, I will not vote for Donald Trump," Mr Paulson, who was chief executive of Goldman Sachs before becoming Treasury chief under Republican President George W Bush, wrote in an opinion piece in the Washington Post.

"I'll be voting for Hillary Clinton, with the hope that she can bring Americans together to do the things necessary to strengthen our economy, our environment and our place in the world.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-26/donald-trump-plays-down-post-brexit-market-turmoil/7544676

 

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Yep, the warmongers are leaving Trump and this has nothing to with him wanting to make love to Russia while la Madam Clinton wants to make war...

meanwhile in scotland...

The Scottish Parliament may have the constitutional power to block the United Kingdom's exit from the European Union, First Minister Nicola Sturgeon says.

Key points:

  • Ms Sturgeon says Scotland could veto Brexit laws to protect its interests
  • It would do so by blocking a motion of legislative consent
  • First Minister says independence referendum 'highly likely'

Scotland, a nation of five million people, voted to stay in the EU by 62 to 38 per cent in the Brexit referendum, putting it at odds with the UK as a whole, which voted 52 to 48 per cent in favour of an exit from the bloc.

Under the UK's complex arrangements to devolve some powers to Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, legislation generated in London to give effect to the vote to leave the EU would have to gain consent from the three devolved Parliaments.

Asked on BBC television whether she would consider asking the Scottish Parliament to block a motion of legislative consent, Sturgeon said: "Of course".

"If the Scottish Parliament was judging this on the basis of what's right for Scotland then the option of saying that we're not going to vote for something that is against Scotland's interest, of course that's going to be on the table," she said.

"Don't get me wrong, I care about the rest of the UK, I care about England, that's why I'm so upset at the UK-wide decision that's been taken."

Ms Sturgeon's Scottish National Party holds 63 of the 129 Scottish Parliament seats.

When asked whether she could imagine the fury of the British people if she stopped them from leaving Europe, she said it was similar to the fury of the Scottish.

"I can, but it's perhaps very similar to the fury of many people in Scotland right now, as we face the prospect of being taken out of the European Union against our will," she said.

read more: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2016-06-26/sturgeon-to-negotiate-best-way-forward-for-scotland/7545104

save cash...

 

This editorial from the New York Times is full of its own boots. Here it is in Italics with Gus annotations in Bold.

 

NYT: Apart from creating economic turmoil, Britain’s calamitous vote to leave the European Union could have no less profound foreign policy consequences, weakening the interlocking web of Western institutions and alliances that have helped guarantee international peace and stability for 70 years.

Gus: SAYS WHO? Till about 1989 when the Berlin Wall fell, the only thing that kept peace was the "cold war". Gorbachev trusted the Yanks when he dismantled the USSR not come near the former Soviet Union countries. The USA lied. Slowly over the years since 1989, they have given cash incentives (bribes) for these countries to fall into the traps of US styled capitalism, in which greed becomes the only motivator of survival. 

 

Ukraine is a major case in point, where "opposition" political parties were financed by the CIA. Most of these "opposition" party were comprised of Fascist thugs. The press was also mired in disinformation in order to create a coup that ousted a legitimately elected President

 

This is also a testing moment for President Obama, who has been understandably preoccupied with building alliances in Asia, but must once again make Europe and the trans-Atlantic alliance a priority and find ways to rebuild consensus and chart a united path forward. Otherwise, the major beneficiaries will be Russia and China, both challenging the established Western-led order.

 

Russia and China are NOT challenging the established Western-led order. It is the Western-led order which is challenging the existence of Russia and China, through many channels of disinformation and sabre-rattling.

 

Since World War II, the United States, aided principally by Britain, has worked to reduce the potential for international conflict, with particular success in Europe; encourage democratic governance; promote free markets; and lift billions of people out of poverty. This was achieved by working with its allies to establish multiple reinforcing institutions, including NATO, the military alliance that now has 28 members; the E.U., the economic alliance that will have 27 members when Britain leaves; the World Bank; and the International Monetary Fund. In short, together America and Europe wrote the rules and norms by which much of the world now lives.

US-style Free Market is the bane of democracy. Most of the purpose of this "free market" is to impose the Empire on countries that may be poor but are free. The US free market style destroy local economies in favour of multi-nationals. NATO was to have been disbanded when the USSR was dismatled. The US and its allies lied. The IMF and the World Bank are instruments to turn "free" states into slaves of the Empire — Greece included.

 

The policies pursued by the West have sometimes been flawed and sometimes failed, but the system that linked America and Europe in a common defense and common political cause ended the Cold War, reunited Germany, built a new Europe and sought in one way or another to address every other major threat. A crucial brick in that system is now in danger of being removed.

The reunification of Germany was due to Gorbachev ONLY. He could have told Reagan to get stuffed. He trusted the Americans. They lied.

 

 

This stunning development [Brexit] comes at a time when these institutions were already under stress and when many people on both sides of the Atlantic had grown complacent about the relationship and its reinforcing commitments. Europe is economically battered, overwhelmed by refugees fleeing chaos in the Middle East and fearful of attacks within its borders by the Islamic State and other terrorists.

The Middle East problem is mostly exacerbated by the alliance of the USA with the Saudis who are the sponsors of 99 per cent of terrorism in the world. The US has two goals: weaken Europe so it cannot compete and get oil cheap. The US wants Europe to be dependent not dependable. Weakening Europe on the financial front and the refugees crisis is the US method at the moment.

 

Compounding the problem is Russia’s president, Vladimir Putin. Ruthlessly playing a weak hand, he has worked hard to undermine NATO and challenge the post-Cold War order by invading Ukraine, funding right-wing groups in France and elsewhere and recklessly brandishing his military power from the Baltics to Syria. European countries have struggled to remain united on issues ranging from NATO’s budget to how best to respond to Mr. Putin.

It is in the interest of Russia's existence that NATO be gone. There is little proof that Putin has financed right-wing groups in Europe but there are many that the US financed goons in Ukraine. Putin has not recklessly brandished military power. He has acted in favour of the best solution for Syria and has only shown teeth for US troops frolicking in too close to the Russian borders, including in the Black Sea. Europe should come to term with what is best for it and reject the US-inspired embargo against Russia which hurts the Europeans more than it hurts the Russians. Another method for Washington to keep Europe at its mercy.

 

 

Meanwhile, China, a rising power that sometimes makes common cause with Russia, has been challenging the United States by expanding its control over the South China Sea and establishing its own Asian regional development bank as a means of wielding economic influence.

Is this why it's called the South CHINA Sea? What is wrong with China having "economic" influence versus the US Empire controlling the economy of Asia to make some cheap Nike shoes?

 

Britain’s departure must be negotiated with the E.U. and could take as long as two years. Even with this break, Britain would remain in NATO, but less as a leading European power than as a more inward-looking nation consumed with national politics. That would mean a Britain less able or willing to address the economic and security challenges of Europe as a whole and less inclined to support American-led responses to crises across the globe. The referendum could also inspire nationalist forces elsewhere in Europe to step up their own assault on European integration.

The UK was not a team player in the EU alliance. Never was. Always asking for favours of the Union, while spying on Merkel and Hollande and other shenanigans on behalf of the Yanks. Not a good look.

 

The vote is a setback for President Obama, who urged Britain to remain in the E.U. when he visited London in April. On Friday, he insisted that Britain and the E.U. would both remain America’s indispensable partners. Other administration officials promised to work closely with Britain to ease the E.U. transition.

The US has nothing to do with this Europe divorce. The US should stay out of it and let things be. Some members of the EU community don't trust the US.

 

It’s hard to imagine that Europe could once again deteriorate into rival nation-states and that Europe and America could drift apart. Even so, Mr. Obama must work with Germany and France, the other two European powers, to understand the forces behind the Brexit vote, address the grievances that produced such a result and reaffirm and strengthen the alliance and its common agenda. Next month’s NATO summit meeting is an opportunity to begin that process.

Europe can only grow better for this. NATO should be disbanded and all could save some cash.

 

more useless comments from christendom at the abc...

 

 

 

 


After Brexit? The Referendum and Its Discontents
Scott Stephens (Introduction)

 

 

It is difficult to overestimate the gravity of Britain's decision to leave the European Union. I've invited a number of exceptionally perceptive theologians, philosophers and political theorists to reflect on the meaning of the referendum, whether it is morally binding or democratically legitimate, and what it means for the future.



The Rt. Rev. Dr Rowan Williams

The Christian imperative is surely to tackle fears at their root and hold up the model of a truly interdependent world in which the welfare of each is inseparable from the welfare of all, nationally and globally; the model of the Body of Christ.

GUS: BULLSHIT


John Milbank
  1. Christians are duty bound for theological and historical reasons to support the ever closer union of Europe (which does not imply a superstate) and to deny the value of absolute sovereignty or the lone nation-state. Tragically, the Reformation, Roundhead, nonconformist, puritan, whig, capitalist, liberal version of Britishness last night triumphed over our deep ancient character which is Catholic or Anglican, Cavalier, Jacobite, High Tory or Socialist. The spirit of both Burke and Cobbett has been denied by the small-minded, bitter, puritanical, greedy and Unitarian element in our modern legacy. Unfortunately it has duped the working classes, once again to their further ruination.
  2. The vote was very nearly a 50/50 split. That is no basis on which to proceed with leaving the EU.
  3. Young people much more voted Remain. We cannot allow deluded old people to destroy their future.

I do not accept this result as legitimate and I invite all true-hearted English and Welsh people (the Scots and Irish have voted to remain) to join me in a struggle against it, in solidarity with our fellow Europeans.

GUS : TOO FUKUN LATE...



Austen Ivereigh

 

Here is what happens next. The Conservative MPs will elect a new leader, and therefore Prime Minister, by the end of September. He (or possibly she) will secure their mandate by calling an election, which the Labour Party will lose spectacularly. The new PM, pro-Brexit and riding the populist wave, will govern virtually without an opposition. Cameron's technocratic liberal conservatism will be replaced by a populist, anti-corporate conservatism, a petit-bourgeois nationalism perfectly in tune with the reduced role on the world stage that England - by then dismembered from both the European Union and the United Kingdom - comes to occupy.

I hope I'm proved wrong.

GUS: LIVING IN DREAMLAND. YOU'RE WRONG...

 

Jonathan Chaplin

 

We can expect the deficiencies of our electoral and party systems to come into sharper relief as the two main parties scramble to respond over the coming weeks and months to the leadership crises unleashed by the Brexit vote, which will again painfully lay bare their deeper crises of convictional identity. It is, tragically, too late for efforts to remedy Britain's home-grown "democratic deficit" to repair our shattered relationship with the EU. But if ever our grandchildren - it will surely take at least that long - are to have any meaningful chance of rebuilding that relationship, the deficit will have to be fixed at home first. Taking the needed steps towards that end now would be one small declaration of hope in the very idea of a living, conviction-based representative democracy, in Britain and in Europe.


GUS: YOUR LEADERS ARE ROBBING YOU BLIND !

 


 

Canon Dr Angus Ritchie

 

 

The two issues - social justice for the communities left behind by capitalism and a spiritual foundation for our common life - are of course deeply connected. The church is called to live out a Gospel which affirms the unique dignity of every human being, whose true fulfilment can only be found in communities which worship God and embody his mercy and justice. This is not a time to issue pronouncements from a place of privilege and self-righteousness, but to follow Christ into England's Nazareths with humble and repentant hearts.

 

GUS: WHAT IS THIS SHIT?


 

Frank Mols

What also appears to have plummeted to 1980s levels is the morale of progressive Briton's, who now face the dire prospect of addressing growing inequality through national institutions and elections. Certainly, the labour movement was a British product, and perhaps Britain can pull it off again. But that seems unlikely and to forget that globalization and economic integration are a reality, whether we like it or not!

GUS: NO ! IF WE DON'T LIKE TO BE FLOGGED WE SAY SO AND WE HOPE TO DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT.

GLOBALISATION IS A EUPHEMISM FOR EMPIRE WITH VASSALS AND SLAVES including destruction of culture — PLUS WARS WE DON'T NEED, just to sell more Coca Cola...