Tag: News

Top Trumps, Politics Today in the USA

Top Trumps is a card game first published in 1978. Each card contains a list of numerical data, and the aim of the game is to compare these values to try to trump and win an opponent’s card. A wide variety of different packs of Top Trumps has been published.

The US Supreme Court has played a real top card in favour of Trump this week with the ruling that former presidents are partially immune from criminal prosecution. The Supreme Court ruled that Trump and future and past presidents get absolute immunity for official acts carried out as a President.

For a country that lives and dies by the rule of law and power and prestige of its own democracy this is the law to end all laws. To say that one man a President of a county has immunity for official acts carried out is bizarre and surely in conflict with the US Constitution principles of governance.

Well Joe Biden is hated by a huge majority and seen as too old to govern again so it looks very much like your going to get Trumped for your next President.

I just hope he throws all his energy into making money out of the system at the expense of the social fabric of the state and showing off about how super he is and playing lots of golf, while he is President and does not do any serious long lasting damage to your constitution and country. The sooner he has departed from the office of president and this earth the better.

If he starts messing with the freedom of press in your country and the ability of truth to flow freely through your society purely for his own gains, ego and political positioning this will be deeply damaging to the state of play of US political institutions and players.

Chinese & Russian political powerbase’s must be expectant and celebrating a potential Trump victory. Trump will try to dismantle NATO and President Putin will continue to disarm and conquer  the Ukraine and China mght well be tempted to take over Taiwan.

The majority of citizens in all countries across the world will be hoping and praying that Trumps actions and inactions will not come back to haunt them.

Living in a country that is hopefully about to come out of some 14 years of Conservative incompetence in governance this week, it will feel more like relief than a celebration and a severely punished conservative party by the electorate, could end up seeing them becoming the third largest party in British politics rather than the largest.

Sadly the US democratic system is institutionally designed for just the worship or support of two parties and even if Trump seriously damages the support for Republicanism, this will likely be a short term problem for Republicans as there is no grass root movement to ever replace them nor is there the will of the people to see them gone.

Everything is not lost, though for one think he is not in power yet and if he comes to power he will also lose it again.

Coldplay – Everything’s Not Lost (Includes Hidden Track ‘Life Is For Living’)

Aggressive apathy

Went out on the town tonight to meet with a friend and one thing that struck me with two men we met in the smoking area of the first pub was that we went into and met is that they started talking about politics, but in a very disparaging way they gave the impression that they have no belief in the importance of voting and the power of democracy. 

The fact that we have an election in parliament about to happen and that they boasted about their complete contempt for whoever has been elected in the past and also contempt for whoever will be elected in the future. Comments such as ‘they all bend the knee to the king’ and it’s all a waste of time ‘their all in it for themselves’, ‘they don’t represent the working man’.

Such negative views and contempt for UK democracy, I just don’t understand and sadly the older I get I choose not to challenge people face to face, that I don’t know (or trust), concerning their views and whether I agree with them. It did not feel like an appropriate place or time to challenge them. I feel sad for them and feel it’s a shame that they have the perspective that they do and I guess they have their reasons which I do not know.

Television broadcasters on TV love to ask members of the public for a variety of opinions on topics and politics is no different and when you hear people on TV interviewed about politics one of the views that sometimes tends to hit the TV is people saying they don’t care about politics, they are (politicians) all in it for themselves and nothing will change so there is no point in voting.

I do think such a view is again a sorry state of affairs to think and it’s hard to be critical while not being offensive to those views. Ultimately if you do nothing, boast of not thinking or having an opinion and say it’s all pointless then it becomes a self fulfilling prophecy to you. If you detach yourself from the political views of others and those in power or have potential for power then you make your negative view your version of reality.

I feel like I am a citizen of the UK and not a subject – Subject is derived from the latin words, sub and jacio, and means one who is under the power of another; but a citizen is an unit of a mass of free people, who, collectively, possess sovereignty. Subjects look up to a master, but citizens are so far equal, that none have hereditary rights superior to others.

On Thursday July the 4th 2024 across the whole of the United Kingdom we the people, citizens of this country will walk into a polling station and vote by putting an X against a person’s name on a piece of paper, which will then ultimately impact on the choice of a nation as to whom will be elected as Prime Minister and govern the for the citizens of our country.  

Yes no one citizen elects the ruler or governor of this country (thank god, as that would be a dictatorship a little like Russia), but collectively we will make a decision as to who will govern the United Kingdom.  

Born in a Storm – Deacon Blue

Democracy the worst form of government, except for all other forms that have been tried!

I really enjoy trying to understand and paying attention to politics – even though it is perhaps normal or fashionable to express no interest or have no view. But for me politics does matters, democracy matters and having a view and interpretation matters.

When you have a political discussion with someone or listen to the views of others in the news it’s exceptionally rare to agree or not find disagreements or points to have further discussion upon and maybe the increased amount of disagreements and diversity of opinion is what some people love about politics and on the other hand the disagreements and diversity of opinions is what puts some people of politics!

I have so far in my life voted in 7 general elections have supported 2 political parties so far and might end up supporting a third party in the next general election. Considering how interested I am in politics and democracy I feel my actual input into the political and democratic system is very small.  

When I was 18 I was a member of the Liberal Democrats a smaller party in the UK that you could have summed up being a left leaning party that believes in personal liberty for individual and advocates a change to the voting system of the UK so as to see proportional representation and more people have their views represented in the house of commons and also believes in the funding of political institutions for the benefit of all. One of the things that put me off them is when they went into power with the Conservative party which resulted in from my perspective a considerable amount of damage to the UK, where as others can argue through majority rule the British people got what they asked and voted for with Brexit when we left the European Union and introduced Conservative policies to cuts in taxes and damage public services due to lack of vision, investment and resourcing.

I have never been a member of the Labour party but I have voted for them in a general election and been served by a local Labour MP called Ben Bradshaw he was culture minister in the last labour government well over 14 years ago and is now stepping down and making way for a new local MP at the next general election. So most elections in which I have voted for have been for the Labour candidates and this election I will likely give my vote to the green party candidate in Exeter. I have regularly voted for local city councillors that are members of the green party and fortuntly they were elected to stand in my local city council. I have been a paid up member of the green party now and respect and believe in the principles and points of view of the green party. So on the election I will be choosing to vote with my principles and vote green or vote to beat the conservative and vote Labour.

I am more of an anti-Conservative party voter than I am a pro one particular party voter, I am a member of the green party because I believe they are a progressive party with practical solutions on how to  invest in and protect our environment and have policies on the local, national and international level that reflect this. But mostly I am an anti-conservative voter, if the greens seek to protect the environment then the conservative party seek to damage the environment, society and people within my own community so as to benefit from that damage financially themselves and such policies and actions I find repulsive.

A conservative will often boast about what freedoms they give to you while they profit considerably at your expense when governing you. It is argued that we live in a capitalist society and it is the only way to live. But I do not think it is that simple I would argue we are consumers not capitalists. We produce goods and services to be consumed and that way of existence can be managed and governed to ensure that the system is safe for the environment and the citizens that live within in e.g. safe water to drink and safe places to work and live. A capitalist mere profit is king society does not care whether the water is safe it only cares whether it is profitable or whether your work or live is safe only whether it is profitable to the economy.  We should aspire to work towards a consumer led society not capitalistic profit at the price of everything else society it is damaging road to destruction of this planet and must be voted against and spoken out against at every opportunity.

Deacon Blue – Peace Jobs And Freedom

What is breaking Britain?            

Politics is often points of view, opinion and perception. If you are lucky it does not actually direct affect you or where you live, you can normally continue to go about your life, work and/or retirement without it actually interfering with anything other than your opinion of politicians and your own opinions and principles.

But unfortunately Britain is very much different now and not in a good way. There has been 3 Conservative Prime Ministers since the last general election in 2019. All have done well, for themselves, all believe they did well for themselves and all would not change a thing for themselves. But as for the rest of us there is very little to show for the time that they governed us. It’s hard to sum up just  how they have damaged this country while profiting from that act at the same time.

A small example on the local front around where I live is the potholes on the vast majority of roads around Devon and also along national county lanes across the whole of the UK. The holes in the road, damage cars, increase risks of accidents and are so common are now normal on rural roads here now. The difference in well run effective Ireland and cheap don’t fix it can’t fix it Britain is shameful. Councils across the whole country have had their finances squeezed across the country and cut back. So much so that it’s now normal to have a poor council that can’t pay for what it tries to deliver and councils going bankrupt because they can no longer balance the budgets set before them and by them.

What were once state supplied utilities and activities such as water suppliers and postal delivery services are now private companies. Many of the water companies have racked up debt in order to pump money to their share holders pockets at the expense of refusing to clean up our water supplies or rivers and coastal areas. There is an area called Brixton in Devon that is even suffering from an outbreak of cryptosporidium virus which is still an ongoing outbreak while they announce the increase dividends to their share holders.

If you can’t do the little things its then a question of by just how much are they screwing up the big things.

So an election has now been called for the 4th July 2024 and I hope the Conservative are heavily defeated this time in the UK, before they suck any more of the blood and marrow out of Britain!

Cassetteboy – Tory-Zero (Rishi’s Version)

Our Father who Art in algorithm

God be thy source coder!

A new physics paper suggests that we may all be living in a computer simulation.

Ok so this is one of the latest physics theories, which to be honest I am in no position to prove or disprove whether it is correct. But the sheer fact that a top physicist publishes what they believe to be ‘evidence’ that we’re living in a computer simulation is kind of fascinating.

Even if this were to one day be proven correct, just what exactly would that mean? I still have freedom of thought and will to write this article and publish it, so in no way am I being coerced into what to think, say or write. So us digital dudes do have some form of self expression and freedom of movement and thought within this computer simulation, just tapping my foot to confirm I also have freedom of movement, yep that’s true also.

But other bigger questions still appear such as who wrote the program and why and even how is the dam thing run and what happens if it crashes?

Also what would be the consequences of finding out that this is a simulation and would there be any cheats or ways of following or even bending the rules?

What are those rules, who wrote or writes them, is it non-consequential to follow them or are their actions and consequences for what you do, think, say or believe? Is the creator alive or dead or even more mind bending in a simulation themselves?

Also according to the programme why is the world in the situation it is, why do we live in what can be perceived to be a dystopian form of reality than a kinder utopian form of existence. Men and women have always focused on trying to better their existence and improving their lot sometimes even trying to improve the lot of their fellow man and women too. Yet somehow things can so quickly go badly wrong or for want of a better phrase turn to shit more often than not more often on global scale of shear incompetence, greed and downright skulduggery behaviour intent and attitude.   

Another interesting thing that I pondered on this subject is what happens when we die? Are we uploaded to the source (god), are we switched off, deleted or reset and started off in a new sentience?

The whole theory of whether we live in a computer simulation or what type of universe we live within godless, spiritual or deity controlled or uncontrolled has always fascinated me. The idea that there are so many sentient beings on this planet all ticking away with their own thoughts evolving or devolving, being born or dieing, or choosing to think in a certain way or not think at all is kind of fascinating.

Then you go to the next level of whether we are being looked after, controlled, ruled or governed by other thinking sentient beings or one ultimately powerful being that is omnipotent and omnipresent or whether we are just in an a soulless existence not run by anything or one, with no control or existence or even a simulation which runs itself as its created died a long time ago. All of these varying theories on the nature of existence have always fascinated me in many ways and to certain degrees at different times of my life.  

I wonder where in the machine of life or tapestry of existence, your views fit into or flow through to?

If only it were as simple or as dramatic as ‘The Matrix’ and there were sides to choose or rules to follow and or break free from!

The Matrix Resurrections – Official Trailer 1

Gaza is not a warzone it’s a one sided slaughter!

Countries take great pride in their military, revel in their fallen comrades and thank those that still serve in the forces. Or it’s all grist to the mill. (Grist is the corn that is brought to the mill to be ground into flour. In the days when farmers took ‘grist to the mill’ the phrase would have meant “everything can be made useful, or be a source of profit.”

As soon as you join the military you are taught of the honour and sacrifice of those that went before you. Your not just taught how to kill but you’re taught that when your side goes to war, your going in on the right side, so that when push comes to shove you don’t doubt, you don’t hesitate and most of all you are an effective killer of the other side.

One of the latest atrocities committed by Israel is to completely destroy and decoltate the main hospital in Gaza inthe name of killing terrorists’ sadly the citizens living around the hospital or getting treatment in the hospital are not just collateral damage but grist for the mill(itary machine). I have recently been visiting our local Royal Devon and Exeter hospital in Exeter due to one of my relatives being considerably ill, his National Health Service treatment has been first class and is truly giving him more than a fighting chance of a good recovery and life, but imagine living in gaze and having the al-Shifa hospital in Gaza as your main hospital it just doesn’t bare thinking about.

al-Shifa hospital in Gaza or what’s left of it

If you wanted to target a people and not a source of terrorism you would destroy their medical facilities, stop there means of being fed, watered and destroy over 50% of the building’s with their country which you control, this is still not a war it’s genocide.

Israel might be the one pulling the trigger and dropping the bombs but it is countries like mine and the US that are continuing to supply guns, bombs and F 16 planes.

Israel also needs to insure it tells its own people what it wants them to hear and so with this in mind, the Israeli parliament has approved a law giving the government the power to ban broadcasts of TV channels including Al Jazeera, the Qatari-owned network.

Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu said he would “act immediately” to close the network’s local office.

The US expressed concern over the move.

What is the point of expressing concerns when you are adding fuel to the fire by supplying the petrol that is then set alight by Netanyahu. Its like handing a box of matches to a child and saying these are those wooden sticks I told you not to play with and when they start to throw those lit matches about rather than taking the matches of a child just express concern and hand them more matches.

Facebook Outage!

I survived the great Facebook outage of March 2024 and you know what, so did you my friend!

I tried to login to Facebook today when it turns out it had already been down for about 3 hours and it was asking me to enter password, at this time I realised I had about 3 passwords in my phone for it and was unsure which was the right one and the fact that none of them were working was even more confusing. I then had a message come saying they would send me a message through whatsapp with a code that I had to enter and access facebook, that did not work either, so they also offered me the option of sending a text to my phone which of course did not work either.

While all this was going on I was also logging onto google to check out if there was any news on Facebook having crashed and reassuringly all over the internet there were many articles about it being down and also a comment I could relate to saying  “Anyone else freak out and think they was being hacked?” well yes for a second yes I did.

Funny how when I was a teenager I had no mobile phone or concept of wifi and yet now in a time such as this, in a county such as mine, a mobile phone with wifi and a pair of glasses on to read what is or ia not working on the screen, are all taken for granted as essential parts of everyday life. So when it stops working we try to work out what has gone wrong or what the heck s going on.

I also wanted to send a message to friends and joke around with them but on messenger or Facebook saying that the computer is now fighting back and the revolution has began, so see you on the other side! But luckily for them I could not as facebook and messenger where still down!

The Flaming Lips – Yoshimi Battles the Pink Robots Pt. 1

A world in flux

The world is forever changing, for some this presents opportunities and for some it presents threats. It is not just about what is happening but it is about how you perceive it to be happening or how you are informed or misinformed on what is going on.

With increased technological developments taking place as well as a communications network like none ever developed on our planet prior to the last 20 years with the internet, TV and telecommunications.  We can now see, hear and be informed within seconds or minutes of developments on earth that we might never have been informed about or might have possibly only learned about after the event years later in history books or documentaries.

So our means of communicating changes has changed as well. Our climate is also changing, as again to our ability to be informed of those changes. We were not always aware of big earthquakes, volcanoes, storms and hurricanes affecting places around the globe. But now with 24 hour news it’s very much a news filler item to watch the suffering of others around the globe in these horrific condition and not only that but due to global climate chaos they are actually happening more frequently too.

Industrialisation of work force and artificial intelligence developments making AI better than humans at doing jobs we once thought we could do for life? So not only do we have to worry about will we earn enough to be attractive and provide for another partner or family, we now could end up finding that our career passion the job we love doing is ultimately not able to be done by us any more and has been outsourced to a PC or machine of some other type.

So these issues are happening and one main inevitability is that change is constant and continuous, you cannot stop change from happening but you can engage to what is changing and reflect on it, accommodate it, do your best to manage it in your life or try to understand it and how it effects you.

One way I get my head around understanding changes going on in the political world is by supporting and advocating for changes I want to see by joining a political party such as the Green Party, or becoming a member of a charity such as Moor Trees. Though my contributions may be small in the scheme of things, they still matter and contributing to a bigger picture for potential positive change in a way I would like the world around me to be shaped. Change is not always negative and great and beautiful things do come into this world when changes are able to be made and realised.

Another way to perhaps be aware of change and understand how it affects you is to read, listen and watch news articles and stories. Though not always a pleasant thing to do and best not to put your interpretations all into one basket of news sources but to take from a variety of sources. The newspaper review on BBC news or UK Sky (Not Murdock owned or dictated to news) can be informative when they discuss the next days headlines with some interpretations of what those headlines are. I tend to find the more you just listen to one persons perspective though the more chance you have of being misinformed, manipulated or indoctrinated into another’s view when its far more important to try and think for yourself.

One final little point is regarding if the world is changing for better or worse are we at the end of time? Or the end of days or is an apocalypse around our corner. Well I hope not but again that’s just a matter of opinion. People have feared, expected or written about living in the end of days, a war that will end all war or Armageddon being around the corner for thousands of years in religious circles and I can only assume if you believe in a certain deity then you have also had to be prepared that it’s only a matter of time before they call last orders at the global bar and closing time on all earth, man and existence as we know it. If you don’t believe in said god then you will alternatively think that’s an impossibility of a God that does not exist to call time on something that they have no power over because they are not here to do it! Finally on this point about whether we could be entering a time of growth, goodness, fear or darkness.

Well I don’t believe in a god that could destroy its own creation as a promise it made to its people. I don’t believe in a god that puts some people on the side of being good people due to where or who they were born from or came from and others on the side of evil due to where they were born or who they were born from or came from. I really just don’t accept that the god I pray to, believe in or work for and live by could be so narrow minded! The god I believe in is not fighting for Armageddon against an inherent enemy but fighting for justice for all of life and creation.

White Shadow by Coldplay

Gaza City on life support

the Israel government has chosen to turn the power off on that life support, which will result in many innocent people in their hospitals beds in Gaza City having nowhere to be moved to or treated plugged into machines that no longer work. Still preparing for a ground invasion which might well have started by the time this post has been read or is up on my site.

At least 1,400 people are now believed to have died in the massacre committed by Hamas and so many tears and lives have been shed on both sides of this week’s war. A Terrorist organisation or a counties government that have a strong will and desire, capability and capacity to kill the innocent in any place and on any side should be fought against and stopped at every turn.

The backing and following of international humanitarian norms and rights has in many ways helped save lives and to a greater extent keep the peace. But conflicts do continue to flare up across the globe and get out of control from time to time and human rights and right to life are side stepped or disregarded completely.

Some current global views around the world seem to imply that human rights are no longer important to them or atrocities are acceptable so long as your side is the only side commuting them and that you can get away with that and not be inflicted back on their side. Also the view that might is right and if you can kill an enemy then they are no longer get back up to defend themselves or come back and do worse to their enemies.  

But how many innocent lives on one side of a boarder justify the killing of innocent lives on the other side of that boarder. With all is going on, the fear for many is where will it all end and when, how much of a price will be paid by people for the actions of those in power with guns and bombs, that making the decisions on either side to choose to end the lives of the innocent as a politically calculated policy in order to move their cause further down a bloody corpse scattered road.

The First World War started in August 1914. It would last for more than four years, and kill about nine million people in uniform. In the same time period the war and other violent conflicts would kill an estimated twenty million civilians. The world would never be the same. World War II was the largest and most violent military conflict in human history. Official casualty sources estimate battle deaths at nearly 15 million military personnel and civilian deaths at over 38 million.

Hostile and dangerous events and action can spin out of control and lead to greater conflict and suffering within the blink of an eye. Israel does have a right to defend itself but what about the rights of Palestinian citizens to life. With Israel openly stating its mission to eradicate a terrorist group and its members who live within Gaza and amongst the people of Gaza, we will have to wait and see who Israel is prepared to kill and how those killings are going to take place and what impact this has on shaping of the region and globe.

U2 – Sometimes You Can’t Make It On Your Own

When South West Water works or fails!

South West Water was formed in 1989 when the water industry in the United Kingdom was privatised. It is responsible for the supply of the region’s drinking water, the treatment and disposal of sewage, and the protection of inland and bathing waters. You would think something like water would be a great industry to be involved in, potentially profitable for those running it while also being a public good where customers benefit from clean water in the tap, in their rivers and at the beaches.

Sadly that is not the business model that exists and it make me think if a human capitalist organisation can fail to run something as simple and beneficial as the water that you drink then what other private companies also failing to run or do damage to our eco systems when operating. I know that to exploit an individual whether customer or employee is to produce profit, it therefore logical to assume that many organisations do inflict damage on the environment as a means of making money and generating profit.    

Pollution in the UK waterways is a major problem and at a time of increased global climate change and damage and degradation to eco systems, the pollution pumped into our local waterways by the water industries is continuing to cause damage and illness to living organisms.  

Earlier this year South West Water was given a £2.1m fine for pollution offences which is the largest ever fine imposed for environmental offences in Devon and Cornwall. Surfers Against Sewage (SAS) a marine conservation charity working with communities to protect oceans, waves, beaches and marine life. It was created in 1990 by a group of Cornish surfer’s. According to Surfers Against Sewage the issues causing the sewage pollution crisis are that the UK’s antiquated sewerage system is woefully inadequate. Water companies have failed to invest to protect the coastal and river environment. They instead rely on a network of around 18,000 licensed sewer overflows to routinely discharge raw sewage into rivers and the ocean. In 2021 alone sewage discharged into rivers and seas 370,000 times for a total of 2.7 million hours.

Polluters have simply been profiteering from polluting. Water companies have paid out an eyewatering £60 billion in dividends to shareholders over the last 30 years. And CEOs are often granted six figure pay packets every year. And to make things worse, the government are now allowing water companies to self monitor their environmental performance resulting in ever increasing abuses of the system. In 2021, Southern Water were fined £90 million for serial misreporting and the Environment Agency and Ofwat have launched the largest ever investigation of water company behaviour after water companies admitted they may have illegally released untreated sewage into rivers and waterways. The weak enforcement of existing regulation from consistently underfunded and under resourced environment agencies means there is no effective driver to ensure water companies change their behaviour.

And as if the stench of the sewage stink could not get any worse, the current water quality testing regimes designed to protect water users and the environment are set up to fail us. Evidence shows that we have a water quality testing regime that wilfully discounts and ignores the worst pollution events in the country and thus misleads the public about the safety of the waters.

South West Water PR gurus seem to be a million miles away from the reality above while pumping sewage into our water systems they are also pumping out press releases asking their customers to urge to conserve water and save the planet! If only SWW could take their own advice.

One thing about capitalist ventures that often fails an eco system or environment is that you cannot quantify the profitability or loss to an environment when you fail to look after it. There is no loss in earnings to having a failed ecosystem merely ever decreasing resources that you then pay more for. Regulations of a safe and sustainable system is not at the heart of how to run a profitable capitalist good or utility and yet effective regulation in a capitalist venture that ensures effective management, clean waters and the risk of having the ownership of the business taken away if the company is clearly failing to do the one thing it was created to do which is provide clean water. There is a huge risk with capitalist ventures that they merely risk putting into their calculations an amount of money put aside for paying for pollution breaches rather than using that money to prevent them in the first place. This does a disservice to the ecosystems that the water companies have been created to clean and protect and also demonstrates where capitalism is failing at the expense of our living environment.

The UK is littered with failed utilities and public goods from the 1980 and 90’s selloff and cull of public services we were peddled the view and principle that profits are good and ownership by the state bad. If these water companies were still run as a public owned utility what is happening today would be a political scandal but seeing as its a private company, the morality of the situation is just written off as a fat cat boss profiteering at the expense of its own customers and the environment, it’s what capitalists do so who really cares.  

The Waterboys – This is the Sea