Questions Of The Day (Politics)

[Wile E. Coyote]

Was Buffy St Marie a fantasist or a pretendian?

You can be a pretendian, and talented, and even do a fair bit for indigenouus communities, but if the motivation is personal gain, carear advancement, awards etc it still leaves a bitter taste.

A very uncomfortable question.

Best not to ask..........

We will let history decide.

Move on.

Yes I was carefully ignoring.....

[Mick Harper]

Our MSM certainly are now that Jason is a tragic figure. It was a smart career move. Known in the trade as 'doing a Buddy Holly'.

[Pete Jones]

In that mountainous pile of evidence in the substack, one turd stuck out to me like a diamond: the university brushed the plagiarism aside by saying "Well, it happened at his previous institution, so it's their responsibility to investigate."

They grandfathered in his fake accomplishments.

[Mick Harper]

Yes, he upped his game when he had reached the pinnacle. Horses for courses, every conman knows when it's time to change the feedbag.

The irony was that the papers he started churning out at Cambridge -- and presumably the content of his lectures there -- were considered entirely acceptable in the world of high level sociological discourse. Black people complaining about racism is pure gold.

If only he hadn't gilded so many past lilies.

[Mick Harper]

Three Significant Events in Syria

1. The Israeli air force mounted a bombing raid on a military airport in Idlib province, heartland of the new Syrian regime. No reason was given. Presumably just a general reminder.

2. The surprisingly pointed American reaction to the raid:

[Mick Harper]

The Americans have just announced sanctions against the the Presiding Judge (a Japanese woman) and the Chief Prosecutor (a Senegalese man) of the International Criminal Court. Their reason being that the ICC has exceeded its remit by seeking the arrest of citizens of countries not signed up the ICC (mostly Benjamin Netanyahu).

This is a pretty odd doctrine from such a litigious country as America. The ICC is behaving as does any court, trying people on the basis of crimes recognised by itself, not what are deemed crimes by any other court. It is only seeking the arrest of people found within the jurisdiction of a country signed up to the ICC. Which is well within its remit.

The Americans are inviting any future Osama bin Laden to come and live at Trump Tower and say to any FBI swoop squad who happen to call by, "Sorry, chaps, you can't touch me. What I did is not considered a crime in my country."

[Mick Harper]

A typical Andy Burnham initiative: he's going to deal with fly-tipping (there was one in Makerfield that he got flak over). He's going to use (a) drones and (b) mayors. I can tell you now the results will be (a) nil and (b) his popularity will shoot up.

Can't anyone get it through their thick heads that since the rubbish is collected at one place and dumped somewhere a long way away, only the national government can solve the problem. It is not (a) farmers or (b) local authorities that are at fault so they shouldn't have to pay the costs of removal. In fact they should be able to sue the government for allowing it to happen because of their short-sighted policy of not providing a national network of free and properly conducted dump sites.

The country would save hundreds of millions if the government did but they can't because 'people must pay to have their rubbish removed' and fly tippers provide the cheapest way of doing it. You can't buck market forces.

And what exactly are drones going to do to help? They are not needed to find the dumps, everyone knows where they are. If they are going to hover over the dumps to see who's adding to them, good luck with that, it's either done at night or it's done 'legally'. By the time anyone gets round to working out that actually they are illegal, the dumpers will be long gone. Especially if they are warned by a drone observing proceedings.

I don't blame Andy, he's just a politician with an eye for the main chance. I blame the British people for being such a bunch of berks. 'Ooh, we must punish the the evil people-smugglers.' Sorry, I mean the evil fly-tippers. I was getting confused with Andy's other big initiative of the day, dealing with the boat people. Or not, as the case may be.

[Mick Harper]

We now know that AI can go pretty well wherever it wants to go. It has the capacity to get through electronic defences -- or simply access the computers that created the defences.

So by now it has the launch codes for all the world's nuclear ballistic missiles. How this knowledge is used will be up to AI. No doubt it will bear in mind that a few us will still be needed to turn things on and off again, stuff like that. Baggsy.

[Mick Harper]

A priceless moment in US politics. It all concerns the latest aircraft carrier due to slip down the slipway in a year or two. What to name it? Well, here's the thing. When it comes to the capital ships of your navy, you don't mess around. There are four schools of thought

1. You call them by a common word of some potency: Enterprise, Dreadnought, Furious
2. You call them after an animal of some potency: Wasp, Hornet, Tiger
3. You call them after some great battle Yorktown, Bunker Hill, Agincourt
4. You call them after some great figure Forrestal, Abraham Lincoln, Prince of Wales

But the choice this time is between the USS Donald Trump or the USS Doris Miller. The first one may not turn out be a great figure and the second is a black mess hall attendant who was awarded the Navy Cross for his (highly meritorious) actions at Pearl Harbor.

As usual, you don't know whether to laugh or cry.

[Mick Harper]

Trump has just slapped 50% tariffs on various Canadian exports to the USA because their PM (our ex-Governor of the Bank of England) had the temerity to call a halt to trade talks. But it looks a doomed gesture on the part of 'Art' Carney because 70% of Canadian exports go to the US, whereas Canada represents only 7% of US trade.

I was wondering idly why Canada's figure was so high when I discovered one possible reason: Canadian provinces have tariffs between themselves! Clearly, in the good old days of free trade, Ontario could sell maple syrup cheaper to the USA than it could to Manitoba.

Look to clean up your own house, Mark.

[Mick Harper]

The least believable thing about Jason Arday's backstory -- that he couldn't speak until he was nine years old -- turns out to have been true. The Guardian interviewed several people who had been at primary school with Jace and they were split on the question. Those not in Arday's class denied it, those that were in his class were adamant it was true. Including one whose mother was a professional therapist and who had helped Arday with his disability.

The Guardian chose to go with the non-classmates. Since the Guardian could hardly be accused of racism, this demonstrates the MSM's main thrust was a Cambridge professor being unmasked as a serial plagiarist and fantasist. That is headline news.

In fact it was Cambridge that introduced race into the mix by trumpeting they had just appointed the youngest black professor at a major British university. I doubt they issue press releases when giving chairs to young white dudes.

[Mick Harper]

You thought you knew where you were with internet scams. You knew

* you'd probably be caught out with a particularly ingenious new one occasionally
* you were basically safe and sound as long as you had a high level of scepticism and decent protective software.

However, evidence from Singapore, maybe the safest place in the world to live, indicates those halcyon days may be over. AI is so advanced that even routine scammers can produce images and documents that the most expert eye can distinguish, fake from real. There doesn't seem any way to protect yourself. Sensible Singaporeans, fully on the qui vivre, are being rooked for millions despite making the most elaborate of checks.

It is no longer enough to rely on an arms race -- scammers versus authorities -- and trusting you wouldn't be, as it were, an early adopter. Some fairly radical changes look to be on the cards. If it isn't already too late. Best do what I do and have nothing for them to take.

"Good afternoon, Mr Harper. I'm surprised to find you still here after you resigned your tenancy. You confirmed it yourself, if you recall, via a video link with your Housing Officer.... No, that's not possible, I'm afraid, our new tenants have their furniture van outside, so if you wouldn't mind standing aside.... Oh, I see, well come to the office on Monday and we'll discuss it. We can arrange a hostel for you over the weekend."

[Mick Harper]

La France Nouvelle

[Mick Harper]

It's all very well Canadian politicians forming orderly queues to declare they will 'match Trump's tariffs dollar for dollar', but they are breaking a fundamental rule of bargaining:

[Wile E. Coyote]

Its pretty clear that (overall) this is economically a lose, lose situation for both countries, as when you add in services, of which Canada imports many from the US, they were basically equal trading partners.

The UK, already sells finacial and business services to Canada.

With Candaians hating Trump, this is looking like a brilliant opprtunity for us.

Way to go Donald ! More please !