…well, like they used to say that was the week that was
…but since I’ve mostly been without an internet connection on anything with a physical keyboard…& it’s the weekend…& I already sounded off about brexit more than seems reasonable in the comments on yesterday’s DOT…well…it seems cruel to subject you folks to the absurd backlog of links I seem to have amassed since I last got my act together to post one of these…but on the other hand I probably can’t resist a few?
As Britain approaches yet another new deadline to strike a trade deal with the European Union on Sunday, the pound is closing out its worst week in three months. It took a sharp turn lower against the euro on Thursday, and sunk further on Friday, as traders grappled with the prospect that Britain’s trade talks with the European Union could really fail.
https://www.nytimes.com/live/2020/12/11/business/us-economy-coronavirus/
[…]
In just under three weeks, the Brexit transition period will end and, if no agreement is reached, Britain will be forced to do business with its largest trading partner on World Trade Organization terms, meaning tariffs would be introduced on goods and there would be less chance of future cooperation between services industries. So far three issues — fishing rights, business competition rules and how a deal will be enforced — have stalled the talks.
[…]
This week has been the worst for the pound since early September, when traders got spooked that Boris Johnson would thwart a trade deal by introducing a new bill that clashed with the E.U. withdrawal agreement and break international law.
[…]
The economic impact of more trade disruption in the new year once customs checks begin will weigh on a British economy attempting to scratch out a recovery during a second wave of the pandemic. Data on Thursday showed that gross domestic product increased 0.4 percent in October, a slowdown before England went into a monthlong lockdown in November.
…delusion uber alles, I guess
With no evidence that Republicans have really thought about the implications of a victory in the courts, I think we can say that these briefs and lawsuits are part of a performance, where the game is not to break kayfabe (the conceit, in professional wrestling, that what is fake is real). Still, we’ve learned something from this game, in the same way we learn something about an audience when it laughs.
We have learned that the Republican Party, or much of it, has abandoned whatever commitment to electoral democracy it had to begin with. That it views defeat on its face as illegitimate, a product of fraud concocted by opponents who don’t deserve to hold power. That it is fully the party of minority rule, committed to the idea that a vote doesn’t count if it isn’t for its candidates, and that if democracy won’t serve its partisan and ideological interests, then so much for democracy.
The ‘Trump Won’ Farce Isn’t Funny Anymore
https://www.nbcnews.com/think/opinion/female-extremists-qanon-isis-are-rise-we-need-new-strategy
…still…at least it isn’t going to work…this time, anyway?
…still raking in those campaign contributions though…always seem to be more fools to part from their money…& speaking of money
House Democrats have always been willing to pass a relief bill […] until a few days ago the Senate appeared to be moving toward a bill that, while much smaller than Democrats wanted, would be better than nothing. The main obstacle seemed to be the determination of Mitch McConnell, the Senate majority leader, to include a poison pill — a blanket exemption of businesses from any liabilities related to exposing their workers to Covid-19 risks. But observers were hopeful that an agreement could still be reached.
Then came the Trump administration intervention — a proposal from Steven Mnuchin, the treasury secretary, that McConnell quickly endorsed even though it was disastrously wrongheaded.
I’m not sure whether the coverage of this discussion has fully explained just how bad Mnuchin’s proposal is. Many headlines emphasized the cost, a bit over $900 billion, which was similar to that of the emerging bipartisan bill, suggesting that the administration was weighing in with something positive.
In fact, however, the administration proposal completely eliminated the most important piece of any relief deal — expanded benefits for the unemployed — replacing it with one-time $600 checks that would be sent to everyone.
Trump Tries to Kill Covid Relief
…because…well…it’s not like there’s a war on, right?
https://www.newsweek.com/more-americans-have-died-coronavirus-combat-during-wwii
…although the military does seem to have come out ahead in another losing battle bearing the Dolt45 trademark
…& while we’re on the subject of losing battles
…that last one certainly makes better reading than this next one, anyway
https://www.washingtonpost.com/technology/2020/12/11/facebook-breakup-technical-nightmare-insiders-say
…but it’s the weekend & said I’d stick to “a few”…still…I guess we could call this one a win?
https://www.washingtonpost.com/us-policy/2020/12/11/anonymous-shell-company-us-ban
yep…brexit is going to suck…i suspect traffic in calais and dover is going to suck too
now if we were dealing with a normal politician i’d say bojo got himself stuck in between a rock and a hard place as deciding to cave to europes demands now would be political suicide and not caving and causing a hard brexit is going to sink the fucking country…
but its bojo and im pretty sure a hard brexit was the goal all along
guess ill wait and see how bad the knockon effects will be over here
oh wow…apparently we’re threatening with gunboats to protect the fishing waters incase of a no deal now
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-politics-55286439
welp…i guess 2021 is going to be interesting times too
in unrelated news…i think some wierd form of dealing is going on in my little neighbourhood
cars drive in honk the horn…some dude trots out from one of the houses..they have a little chinwag at the car..many laughs are had…and the car fucks off again…and the dude trots back
repeat an hour ish later
im figuring its gotta be drugs….. or rona made meeting mates significantly wierder than i thought
anyhoo…since ive stopped smoking inside im seeing all kinds of things i normally would have missed puffing away indoors with me cans on
I assume Texas will file suit to have this overturned as well:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/entertainment/biden-harris-named-time-magazines-person-of-the-year/2020/12/10/f72886d0-3b6a-11eb-aad9-8959227280c4_story.html
Texas’ corrupt AG is gonna have a LOT of overturning to work on,if he wants that blanket pardon….
https://thehill.com/homenews/media/529830-german-magazine-der-spiegel-names-trump-loser-of-the-year
I am totally with this congressman’s idea!
https://news.yahoo.com/democratic-congressmember-demands-house-leaders-221300830.html
I’d be down with that…. there’d be a sort of beautiful justice in seditious fucks like Emmer having to crawl back to their own districts & apologize PROFUSELY.😈
Just put Dolly in charge of everything.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/12/11/entertainment/dolly-parton-saves-costar-trnd/index.html