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1,681 thoughts on “One of the Following is True

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  • colin alexander

    Get well soon.

    I received a reply from the EU Commission in response to an email to the President of the EU Commission, Jean-Claude Juncker regarding Spain / Catalonia. I hope the contents of it don’t make you sick to the stomach again, but it’s understandable if you do feel that way:

    I have received a reply from the EU Commission, which I print in full:

    Dear Mr Alexander,

    Thank you for your message of 1 October 2017, which expresses personal views, to President Juncker which he has passed on to me for a response.

    Let me start by saying that as the Commission has publicly stated on 2 October 2017, beyond the purely legal aspects of this matter, we believe that these are times for unity and stability, not divisiveness and fragmentation.

    In the same statement the Commission called on all relevant players to now move very swiftly from confrontation to dialogue. Violence can never be an instrument in politics. We expressed our trust in the leadership of Prime Minister Mariano Rajoy to manage this difficult process in full respect of the Spanish Constitution and of the fundamental rights of citizens enshrined therein.

    The position of the Commission on this issue was echoed by First Vice-President Timmermans in his intervention in the Plenary Session of the European Parliament on 4 October 2017.

    Last 11 October, the Commission again reiterated its earlier call for the full respect of the Spanish Constitutional order and its trust in the Spanish Institutions and all political forces who are working towards a solution within the framework of the Spanish Constitution.

    Pursuant to the law of the European Union, it is exclusively up to the Member States to ensure that they comply with their obligations regarding fundamental rights which result from international agreements and from their national Constitution. The Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union only applies in the context of the implementation of EU law.

    Yours sincerely,

    Henning KLAUS

    Head of Unit

    European Commission

    Secretariat-General

    Unit B.2 “Institutional Affairs”

    BERL 5/332

    B-1049 Brussels/Belgium

  • BrianFujisan

    Hope the illness passes Quickly… Best not to Over eat – In general –

    はらはちぶんめにいしゃいらず (hara hachibunme ni isha irazu)

  • Macky

    The third possibility is of course;

    c) No blogging recently, as the mere thought of recently being financially ruined, has done to me, what the Kelly/Gilllian affair did to the BBC.

    Which would explain the curious lack of comment on the Priti Patel affair, which is afterall very similar to the Liam Fox/Adam Werritty case, and on which Craig blogged extensively.

    A conspiracy theory eagerly waiting to be debunked ! 😉

  • Sharp Ears

    It says a lot about the country and its electorate that Netanyahoo would be re-elected.

    ‘The Trials of Benjamin Netanyahu
    Ramzy Baroud
    November 14th, 2017

    Whether the string of scandals, now hounding Israeli Prime Minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, lead to his sacking or not, it matters little.

    Though nearly half of Israelis polled last July – well before the scandals took a much dirtier turn – believe that Netanyahu is corrupt, a majority of Israelis said that they would still vote for him.’

    https://dissidentvoice.org/2017/11/the-trials-of-benjamin-netanyahu/

    • nevermind

      Could happen here as well, Sharp Ears, if the unmentionable, self serving, jet lagging moderniser would ever get a chance at leading the Labour Party again, and he has been groomed massaged,manicured and mollycoddled par excellence, the British public would scream in delight in the foresight of more wars, arms deals and glorified lies.

      • nevermind

        agree, great article, ta Sharp ears, just the writing is delicious, describing Wikileaks as the ‘landfill of venality’, is very poetic.
        James Clapper been round the block a few times, he is the oil can lubricator general for the military industrial complex. As the man who picked up the can from where McCarthy’s dropped it, with the same kind venom, but delivered in a more focused and shrill crescendo, echoed by the media, off course, he is doing this in a chaotic climate which does not reflect the eventualities that could develop.

        What shall we call this? Clapp-erratics, Clapperism, Clappermanics, Clapper mania? any more suggestions? this is too serious as not to raise a smile, the man is one big loudspeaker, a one man rave.
        But who’s going to turn him down?
        help…. call the police, they love a good rave, beats having to run and apprehend a fit burglar.

        How do we change this madness and lack of ideas? Would it make a difference to have a global strike for peace and zero pollution, put the spanners down for one week, with an organised global demonstration by children? to boot the message.

        I have no cheques coming in from Russia, but the idea ^, afaik, is first heard here.

        • SA

          Nevermind
          “What shall we call this? Clapp-erratics, Clapperism, Clappermanics, Clapper mania? any more suggestions? “

          How about Claptrap.

  • reel guid

    People are retweeting a Jeremy Corbyn tweet from April 26 20011.

    “Try Russia Today. Free of Royal Wedding and more objective on Libya than most”.

    Well if it’s good enough for ol’ Corby….

    Curious that he actually had a capital R and capital W for royal wedding.
    Is Jeremy a secret royalist…….sorry I mean Royalist?

    • giyane

      When he gets into 10 Downing Street, which May looks likely to vacate in a few days time, 2 things will immediately need to be done: 1: open the windows to empty out the foul stink of poisonous Tory plotting and 2: tea and sandwiches with the Queen. I’d be Putting Capitals on the Royal Corgies if I was him.

  • Emanuel

    If I were you I would check with one of leading ‘journalists’ (many are on the CIA’s payroll) to find out if what the Russians pay is as lucrative! Apart from that, get well soon.

  • giyane

    I think it is important to emphasise that the co-ordinated pincer movement by USUKIS and Russia against Islamists in Syria is pure coincidence. Yes, pure, co-ordinated, co-incidence of the kind that requires grown-up politicians to insult eachother publicly in the MSM.

    See also the co-ordinated co-incidence of Boris’s bungle with Iran. The Obama pact with Iran allowed Iran to receive millions of dollars of latest US weaponry with which to mop up IS. Our leaders generally regard us peeps as indescribably stupid, incapable of joining dots, and unaware of the incapability of a politician to open its mouth without lying.

  • Republicofscotland

    Oops the Labour man who suggested that he favoured no one as leader of the London Labour branch office leader in Scotland, either Sarwar or Leonard, only for it to be revealed he favoured Leonard, and his daughter was running his campaign, has been made to step aside over his conduct.

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-scotland-politics-41995175

    “Scottish interim Labour leader Alex Rowley has stepped aside from the role amid claims about his conduct, the party has said.”

    I wonder if Jackie Baillie, will call as vigioursly for Mr Rowley’s resignation (if the allegations are true) as much as she has over Mark MacDonald’s.

    Or will Baillie give one of her infamous “single fish” replies.

      • Republicofscotland

        reel guid.

        Now there’s a surprise, the London branch office of Labour in Scotland, stumbles from one crisis to another.

  • Republicofscotland

    Tit-for-tat as Russian authorities, vote up a law that media in Russia who receive money from outside nations must now be registered as a foreign agents.

    This move comes as RT (America) is about to be forced to register as a foreign agent in the USA.

    Meanwhile US officials are told not use Kaspersky software, as it might be “risky” however absolutely no evidence is forthcoming.

    No need to guess who’s winning the propaganda war.

    • Republicofscotland

      Wikileaks vault 8 release claims CIA, forged digital certs imitating Kaspersky Lab.

      “The CIA wrote code to impersonate Kaspersky Labs in order to more easily siphon off sensitive data from hack targets, according to leaked intel released by Wikileaks on Thursday.”

      “Forged digital certificates were reportedly used to “authenticate” malicious implants developed by the CIA. Wikileaks said:”

      https://www.theregister.co.uk/2017/11/10/cia_kaspersky_fake_certs_ploy/

      I wouldn’t put anything past the CIA.

      • MJ

        Par for the course. Kaspersky is the only AV service with a track record of detecting and identifying Windows back doors (much loved by spy agencies). It was Kaspersky that isolated Stuxnet. No wonder we’re being advised to avoid Kaspersky.

        • Republicofscotland

          “It was Kaspersky that isolated Stuxnet.”

          But wasn’t that good thing? Afterall Stuxnet, was a very destructive virus created by the CIA, to damage the Iranian nuclear programme.

          The Israeli’s modified it, and it became doubly dangerous, causing mayhem across the globe.

          • MJ

            Yes. While pressure was increasing to catastrophic levels, control systems were showing pressure at normal levels. Very Stuxnet. Did Fukishima use the Siemens control system? When Germany very publicly took an axe to its nuclear industry in the wake of Fukishima, it was only the older, Siemens plants that were closed down.

          • Macky

            Just the unbelievable criminal recklessness is releasing a virus that messes with nuclear installations, should involve severe censure & punishments; those who devised & authorised such an insanely dangerous scheme should be behind bars, and reparations to Japan, with full responsibility for the clean-up operations, should be the very minimum.

          • Sharp Ears

            ..
            Or security at Schipol Airport, from which the so called Underpants Bomber flew, without a passport if I remember correctly. That led to security for all being screwed down even tighter and the growth of Homeland Security departments worldwide. Cui bono?

          • Loony

            Fukushima is nothing to do with Siemens. The OEM is GE.

            Japan is not noted for its corruption and this negates Siemens main competitive advantage. Siemens are big in Europe, the US and Africa – all much more receptive jurisdictions for corruption, Any resistance to corruption in Europe is routinely steamrollered away by the German state – thus clearing a path for lawless German enterprises – of which Siemens is just one player among many.

          • MJ

            Yes and it gets worse with each new version. Only the very earliest releases of Windows 95 had decent security.

  • Macky

    In her Russophobic agenda-driven Lord Mayor’s Banquet Speech, May pontificates, “Russia’s illegal annexation of Crimea was the first time since the Second World War that one sovereign nation has forcibly taken territory from another in Europe.”

    However there is of course the illegal occupation of 36% of territory & 57% of coastline of sovereign European nation, namely the Republic of Cyprus – “forcibly taken” by Turkey in 1974, not to mention Serbia being bombed into giving up Kosovo.

    • giyane

      Daft woman talking as if Britain makes the laws again. No mention of the Henry VIII coup by which the Tories have vampired dry all UK domestic law. Gosh it’s hard work projecting all your own crimes onto the nominated bad guys of the world. When can we get a government that is a quarter sane?

    • SA

      Look, the whole purpose of this speech is to cause a diversion and sadly some Blairites like Ben Bradshaw are helping.
      The Guardian is crawling with examples of Russian interference on Brexit right on que as if they have been primed.
      Suddenly the agenda has moved from sec scandals, Priti Patel, Johnson and so on to this latest exampple of Russian interference.

  • reel guid

    Illustrative of unionist fear of Salmond’s show is Jon Snow’s ill-tempered badgering of the man on C4 News.

    And these metropolitan faux socialists like Snow really don’t like the Jocks getting above themselves. A political TV show with a famous Scot Nat having full editorial control? Outrageous!

      • reel guid

        I heard talk of it going out at 6.30pm. If that’s true it could often ruin teatime for a lot of britnats.

    • giyane

      ” ill-tempered badgering “. Have you ever met a badger ? Or is that epithet from Beatrice Potter? Which would you prefer, straight liars like Theresa May who falsely accuse Putin of interfering in the UK, David Icke who has convinced the younger generation that we’ve been interbred with lizards making us so hard-hearted that no-one can afford a house to live in, or a TV presenter who gets visibly enraged by being lied to on air?

      Salmond’s a pile of steaming horse-shite.

  • Iain Orr

    We need your pains in the stomach to cease so that you can resume being a pain in the stomach to the Kremlin, the White House, Number 10 and many other buildings suffering fro0m infestations.

  • nevermind

    the article written by Jason Hirthler finishes with this paragraph, an advice which could have easily come from Craig or our community, if that’s the right description, its apt and to the point, applicable to anyone today.

    “Let’s be honest. You won’t get truth from our intelligence agencies and you won’t get it from mainstream media. The latter serves the former. The former serves the ruling class community of which it is a central part. They are beholden to the same ideology. They share the same motivations. If you want the real story, read non-corporate news media. If you want facts, find sources outside the state. If you want democracy, spread the inconvenient truth.”

  • Sharp Ears

    The Johnson family – the well known self publicists.

    The father, Stanley, businessman ex World Bank and the European Parliament,
    is going on the dire ITV reality show taking place in Australia, I’m a Celebrity, Get Me Out of Here! His appearance comes with a large fee presumably.

  • reel guid

    Alex Salmond’s RT show is a modern day version of a broadcasting venture by another former SNP leader, the late Gordon Wilson. Wilson’s idea, the pirate station Radio Free Scotland which broadcast between 1956 and 1965 is credited by many historians as being a significant factor in turning the SNP from occasional bye-election second or third place into a major player in Scottish politics.

    Salmond’s venture comes at a time when the UK state has never been weaker and when the independence movement is poised to make the final push to the goal. And with the nationalist dominance of the internet battle and the dogged persistence of the pro-indy National paper, the traditional unionist control of broadcasting and newspapers is being successfully countered.

    • Stu

      “And with the nationalist dominance of the internet battle and the dogged persistence of the pro-indy National paper, the traditional unionist control of broadcasting and newspapers is being successfully countered.”

      Very true and to be welcomed.

      However will support for independence decrease given that the SNP have clearly decided to focus on administration rather than Indyref2?

  • reel guid

    Labour MPs abstained this week on letting the Scottish Parliament have a say on brexit.

    Corbyn backed the likes of Kelvin Hopkins. But Corbyn sells Scotland down the river.

    And didn’t Labour MPs come up on the train en masse during the indyref campaign to tell us Scotland could lead the union if we stayed?

    • Loony

      Stunning, absolutely stunning.

      The referenced story is about The Daily Express and NOT The Daily Mail.

      The only interest in the story seems to revolve around political spin and bias. No-one seems interested in the inevitable consequences of the magnitude of the debt. A bit like being concerned that the paintwork on the Titanic may be damaged by saltwater.

      • SA

        The size of the debt is known to all and is the same for both parties. It is the sensible way that Labour wishes to deal with it by investing in the future against the fact that the Tories feel that the best way is to give tax breaks to the rich and privatise everything. Hope that is clear.

        • Loony

          If the size of the debt is known to all then it follows that everyone knows that it is a problem so large that it cannot be dealt with.

          You can go right or left or up or down or backward or forward and you cannot deal with debt of this magnitude. Hope that is clear!!

          • Shatnersrug

            The only thing that’s stunning loony is that you detect and further more even care that there is a difference between the Mail and the Express. I can’t. They’re both fundamental enemies of the people of this country.

          • Loony

            This blog post is entitled “One of the Following is True”

            Unfortunately nothing in your post is true. How can the Mail or the Express be fundamental enemies of the people? No-one is forced to read what they publish, and everyone is free to point out errors or flaws in their opinions.

            If they really are enemies of the people then surely they should be closed down. If they were to be closed down then that is tantamount to saying that “free speech is the enemy of the people” How else other than through free speech are ideas to be formulated and refined? Presumably we would be reliant on divine revelation.

            What is an enemy of the people is the magnitude of the debt crisis, which is now so great that it is mathematically provable that it cannot be resolved. Perhaps math too is an enemy of the people. For what reason would people become so obsessed about opinions with which they disagree and so disinterested in actual fact based analysis? Smells like nihilism to me – which basically reduces to the people being the enemy of the people.

  • Loony

    Oh look here comes the return of slavery

    http://www.newsweek.com/slave-auctions-libya-smugglers-are-selling-migrants-400-dollars-710623?piano_t=1

    This version of slavery seems to involve Africans selling Africans to other Africans and enabled by the first black President of the US. Given the paucity of opportunity to heap opprobrium on inherent racists and the eternal beneficiaries of white privilege I am confident that no-one will be interested in this story.

    …and thus we see that a loathing of working class people remains so great that it trumps any desire to stamp out the evil of slavery. The educated and the enlightened still seem unable to figure out exactly how this all ends.

  • Stu

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2017/nov/15/christopher-steele-trump-russia-dossier-accurate

    One man intelligence agency Christopher Steele has resurfaced and claimed that his dossier is 70%-90% true. The massive absurdity of this claim will no doubt be exceeded by the reaction of the brainless neo-McCarthyites who patrol the web.

    The story Steele is selling involves his being hired in June 2016 and by the 20th of June he had discovered the existence of the Piss Tape being used to blackmail Trump. It involves multiple high level Putin associates risking their lives to inform him of Russia’s strategy to influence the election for seemingly no personal gain.

    If we believe Christopher Steele he has single handedly uncovered the greatest conspiracy in political history. Despite this he is refusing to testify in front of Congress and seems very unconcerned about his own personal safety.

    • Shatnersrug

      So his first name is Christopher like Christopher Reeves and his surname is Steele like Man of Steel. It’s almost like it’s made up isn’t it ?

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