Awaiting a tweet tirade against Jeremy Corbyn

Jeremy Corbyn has declined an invitation to attend a state dinner with Donald Trump when the US president visits the UK in June.

Trump has accepted an invitation to a long-delayed state visit, including a formal white-tie dinner hosted by the Queen.

  Guardian

Has she already recovered from Dubya's visit?

In a statement, the Labour leader said he disagreed with the prime minister’s decision to offer a formal visit to the US leader and confirmed he would not attend any state dinner.

[...]

His statement follows similar refusals from the Commons Speaker, John Bercow, and the Liberal Democrat leader, Sir Vince Cable.

[...]

“Theresa May should not be rolling out the red carpet for a state visit to honour a president who rips up vital international treaties, backs climate change denial and uses racist and misogynist rhetoric,” said Corbyn.

“Maintaining an important relationship with the United States does not require the pomp and ceremony of a state visit. It is disappointing that the prime minister has again opted to kowtow to this US administration.”

[...]

“I would welcome a meeting with President Trump to discuss all matters of interest,” he said.

I don't think that's going to happen.

More than 80 MPs from opposition parties have signed a bid to block the visit by a president accused of “misogynism, racism and xenophobia”.

Protesters are expected to gather for the president’s visit.

I'm sure.

Jeremy Corbyn does the unthinkable

Labour is entangled in a fresh row over Israel after it emerged that Jeremy Corbyn has refused to attend an official dinner with the the country’s prime minister this week to mark the centenary of the Balfour Declaration, which helped to pave the way for a Jewish nation state.

The Labour leader’s snub came as Israel’s ambassador to London told The Sunday Times that those who oppose the historic declaration are “extremists” who reject Israel’s right to exist and could be viewed on a par with terrorist groups such as Hamas.

  The Times

A terrorist because he won't go to dinner to kiss Netanyahu's ass.  Who said he opposed the declaration and Israel's right to exist?  He doesn't want to dine with a monster.  He's sending foreign secretary Emily Thornberry.  Oh, wait...a woman?!  Salt in the wound.  Go, Jeremy!

The ambassador, Mark Regev, also suggested a “vocal minority” of British students and academics are still intent upon the destruction of Israel, 70 years after the country came into being.

No they're not, you slimeball. They're intent upon freeing Palestine from the illegal settlements and harsh, cruel Israeli occupation.

Israel and Trump have a lot in common.  White supremacy tendencies, privileged and constantly whining.

I'm starting to like this guy.

Inspiration from Across the Pond

What a Novel Idea

A little action to go with those "thoughts and prayers" that are always so quickly and easily offered up with nothing else by politicians.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

The Old Guard Losing Its Grip

With the showing that Bernie Sanders made in the US, and now that of Jeremy Corbyn in England, it's obvious that the old white conservative establishment is on shaky legs. They're either going to have to give over or change their ways. Or crack down and become dictators.

Theresa May will visit Buckingham Palace at lunchtime to request the Queen’s permission to form a government, after reaching an informal agreement with the unionist DUP.

[...]

The prime minister called the snap poll in the hope of winning a resounding personal mandate, with just days to go before Brexit talks with Brussels begin in earnest. But high turnout among young voters and an upbeat campaign by Jeremy Corbyn, with the Labour leader addressing jubilant rallies up and down the country, deprived the Conservatives of their majority.

[...]

With 649 of 650 seats declared, the Conservatives have 318 MPs, 12 fewer than when May called the election. Labour won seats deep in traditional Tory territory, taking their total to 261, up 31.

[...]

The DUP is socially conservative and enthusiastically pro-Brexit – and could also press for a boost to public spending in Northern Ireland, as well as assurances that it will not be treated differently to the rest of the UK in any Brexit deal.

[...]

The Brexit secretary, David Davis, who was instrumental in pressing for May to call an early poll, is understood to have discussed the prime minister’s plans with her on Friday morning. Senior Conservatives said pro-Brexit MPs were keen to see May remain in post to press ahead with negotiating Britain’s exit from the European Union.

[...]

Meanwhile Labour will press for [May] to resign, and try to show that it could form a coalition of its own – though the parliamentary arithmetic looks difficult, and the Liberal Democrats have repeatedly said they will not make electoral pacts.

John McDonnell, the shadow chancellor, called May a “lame duck” prime minister. “In the interests of the country we are willing to form a government, a minority government, and put forward a programme, a Queen’s speech, as well as an alternative budget and also an alternative programme for the Brexit negotiations and then it is up to other parties whether they support us,” he told Good Morning Britain.

[...]

Tory MP Anna Soubry broke ranks to say May should “consider her position”.

“It is bad. She is in a very difficult place … It was a dreadful night. I’ve lost some excellent and remarkable friends,” she said. “This is a very bad moment for the Conservative party and we need to take stock and our leader needs to take stock.”

  Guardian

We'll see if the Tories learned any more than our Democrats did from this unexpected showing.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Meanwhile, in Britain

Britain has a parliamentary system with first-past-the-post voting — a contrast both to the presidential system in the United States and the proportional representation seen in some European parliaments. This system means that Britons have one vote to choose their local member of Parliament. Whichever party has the most seats in Parliament will then form a government, with the party's leader as prime minister.

[...]

Historically, this has resulted in Britain having a two-party system dominated by the center-right Conservatives and the center-left Labour Party.

[...]

Theresa May of the Conservatives. May was a dark horse in last year's battle to succeed Cameron as prime minister, outmaneuvering bigger names such as Boris Johnson. Formerly Britain's home secretary for six years — a major cabinet position that includes national security responsibilities — May is Britain's second female prime minister after Margaret Thatcher. She is regarded as savvy by political observers but has sometimes appeared awkward on the campaign trail. May opposed Brexit during the referendum campaign but has taken a hard-line approach to negotiations.

Jeremy Corbyn of the Labour Party. For decades, Corbyn was a relatively obscure figure on Labour's far left, better known for his speeches at antiwar demonstrations than his hand in policy. But after Labour suffered an unexpected defeat in the 2015 election, the quirks of the party's internal politics handed him the party leadership. Corbyn has been dubbed unelectable and faced considerable opposition from his own party, but his radical chic and pro-spending policies have won over considerable numbers of younger voters. Corbyn campaigned for Britain to stay in the E.U. ahead of the 2015 referendum. Labour now supports Brexit but favors a less confrontational negotiating style.

[...]

When the prime minister called the election, she had good reason to believe she would not only win — but win in a landslide. Corbyn was viewed as an ineffective leader at best. Even politicians from his own party were predicting a “historic and catastrophic defeat,” with some warning that Britain could be heading toward a one-party state.

However, in the weeks since the election was called, Labour's numbers have rebounded dramatically.

  WaPo

How can the political elites be so wrong about the citizens of their country in both the US and Great Britain? Apparently they don't get out much.

Live results here (Labor just won Battersea and Ealing Central-places I've never heard of):

They're having a long night in England.

Meanwhile in Britain

Why did Theresa May call for today's early election anyway?

Here's an article analyzing that move from May 2:

In the aftermath of David Cameron’s resignation, the Conservatives held an internal election, but in the end May’s rivals fell apart, leaving her as the only choice left. This is not the stuff of mandates.

With one fell swoop, May can consolidate support, strengthen her Brexit negotiating position, and expand her party’s advantage.

Although conservatives appear to have a sizable advantage over Labour — 330 to 229 — this is misleading. There are 650 seats, meaning a majority requires 326. While the Conservative Party has a majority, and while an oppositional coalition remains unlikely, there is much to be gained by shoring up and even expanding this already-held advantage.


[...]

Given these political realities, there appears to be little downside, and much to be gained, by calling for this election. Which is why May’s move is being touted as politically savvy.
  

And here's the current analysis:

May called a snap election in April, aiming to increase that majority substantially. Given that, at the time, the Conservatives had a lead in the polls of some 20 points, it appeared likely that her party would crush a Labour Party still recovering from the fallout of its 2015 defeat.

But in the near two months since, May has come under fire for her policy U-turns and cuts to the police force during a campaign interrupted by terrorist attacks in Manchester and London. Some polls at the weekend even had the Tory lead as low as just one percent.

  Newsweek

May may be regretting her decision.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Good Luck to Great Britain

They Don't Understand Irony

This Boris Johnson tweet happened after the Manchester attack, and on the same day as the London Bridge attack.

Recalls George W Bush administration conspicuously leaving out the 9/11 attacks when claiming they were the only ones who could keep us safe from terrorists.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Down to the Wire in the UK

That's a Big Number, Don

More than a million people have signed a parliamentary petition demanding that US President Donald Trump is prevented from making a state visit to Britain.

Monday's milestone far exceeds the 100,000 signatures needed to get parliament to consider debating the issue.

The petition gathered the large number of signatures in less than 24 hours.

  alJazeera

He's looking at the very least at some ugly protests if he goes. But look at the bright side. He wouldn't be getting on any helicopters.



It's all in the name: tRump.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Ban Trump

An online petition to prevent US President Donald Trump making an official state visit to the UK has generated enough signatures to warrant it being considered for debate in parliament.

[...]

[T]he petition has crossed the threshold needed for it to be debated in the British Parliament and currently boasts more than 140,000 signatures beyond the 100,000 required to trigger a parliamentary debate.

[...]

The petition gathered over 80,000 signatures in the last hour alone.

[...]

“Donald Trump should be allowed to enter the UK in his capacity as head of the US Government, but he should not be invited to make an official State Visit because it would cause embarrassment to Her Majesty the Queen,”the petition states.

[...]

“Donald Trump's well documented misogyny and vulgarity disqualifies him from being received by Her Majesty the Queen or the Prince of Wales. Therefore during the term of his presidency Donald Trump should not be invited to the United Kingdom for an official State Visit.”

  RT

MP Jeremy Corbyn has signed on. I like it.

UPDATE 1/31:  A counter petition.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Jeremy Corbyn Is Standing Conventional Wisdom on Its Head

Despite the ceaseless and virulent opposition to Jeremy Corbyn as leader of the British Labour Party in British mainstream media, he has been re-elected to that position by 61% of the vote. This must be scary for the British media. Are people no longer listening to them?

This must also be scary for US mainstream media who have been dumping on Trump lately and seem to be poised to continue. What if Americans don't listen to THEM? Power of the press in decline? 

Perhaps that's what happens when you cease to be a force to keep government in line and instead become a government propaganda machine.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Could Be Describing the Democrats in the US

If there is one thing more breathtaking than [Jeremy] Corbyn’s election as leader of the Labour party [in Britain], it has been the inability of his detractors to engage with the meaning of that victory. His win was so emphatic that they could not deny it. And so they decided not to understand its root causes but to undo its effect.

Corbyn campaigned against austerity, war and nuclear weapons in particular and for a reorientation back towards Labour’s socialist roots in general. He spoke in plain English of big principle rather than the evasive vacuities of managerial electoralism. His critics, unable to imagine a world in which it was possible that a person with his politics or style could be the overwhelming choice of Labour party members, concluded the problem was not their imagination but reality. The voters had simply made the wrong decision. Corbyn had to go.

The Parliamentary Labour party has obsessed about nothing else for the best part of a year. In all that time it has not produced a plausible strategy, programme or policy designed to win back those who voted for Corbyn.

[...]

Corbyn is supposedly to blame for all of this. It is he who is selfish and egomaniacal – not the people who launched the coup to replace him. It is he, with the support of the membership and the unions, who is isolated – not the PLP. If he loved the Labour party, he would abandon the overwhelming majority who voted for him and his political agenda and give it back – the sense of entitlement could not be more evident – to its rightful owners.

[...]

If Corbyn resigned tomorrow, the issues that he raised would still stand and the PLP would still have no coherent response to them. He did not create the dislocation between the PLP and the membership; he merely illustrates it. [...] In the absence of any reckoning as to how that discrepancy came about and any idea what to do about it, his critics are going to destroy the party they claim they love to save it from a leader it prefers.

  Guardian

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Thwarting the Anti-Corbyn Rules

The Labour leadership election is in full swing after the party's ruling body met for six hours to decide the rules.

But while Jeremy Corbyn's been allowed on the ballot, one change by the National Executive Committee (NEC) left his backers furious.

It raised the one-off voting fee for 'registered supporters' who aren't Labour members from £3 to £25.

[...]

Following speculation online, the Unite union confirmed to us it is still open to register people as 'affiliates'.

This means you will get an automatic vote in the Labour leadership election if they sign up here before August 8.

[...]



  Mirror

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Brexit Politics

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Let's Have More of the Same, Only Harder

This is a Labour party member.  Like today's Democrats in the states.  Today's liberals are anything but.

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Good Advice for Anyone Trying to Make a Change

...but hey, do what you want...you will anyway.

Jeremy Corbyn Has a Richard Clarke Moment

LONDON: British opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn on Wednesday apologized for the Iraq war on behalf of his Labour Party after former Labour prime minister Tony Blair defended his actions despite a damning inquiry report.

"I now apologize sincerely on behalf of my party for the disastrous decision to go to war in Iraq," Corbyn said after meeting families of British soldiers who died.

  Daily Star

Why Do They Hate Jeremy Corbyn?