In the news

Oh dear

1 Attachment

Really, this was never ever in doubt. The hysteria whipped up by the media for a candidate who only reached the second round because of a three-way split between two fairly centrist candidates and a slightly more leftist one is ridiculous-even the fact that her vote share has gone from 20something percent to an anticipated thirty something percent is just a reflection of how little perceived difference or choice there was between other parties. The 35% she'll get will in large part be a protest at the inability of mainstream regional politics to provide solutions to global issues, much like Brexit. Really, she's a fucking embarrassment like Farage who has greatly benefitted from a disproportionate amount of attention given to her partly as a result of her abuse of the same EU funds that UKIP suckled from in the ultimate act of political irony...

Terrifying, isn't it? I really despair for humanity when confronted with such widespread stupidity and ignorance...

"U.S. may soon expand electronics ban to all European flights,"

Laptops or ipads will have to go in the hold - probably to allow the contents to be captured by Cambridge Analytica

http://www.marketwatch.com/story/us-may-soon-expand-electronics-ban-to-all-european-flights-2017-05-08

To hell with flying without being able to plug my daughter into Peppa Pig on the iPad.

And haircuts in Puerto Rico

https://theintercept.com/2017/05/09/puerto-ricos-123-billion-bankruptcy-is-the-cost-of-u-s-colonialism/

FBI Director fired... Cover up?

Depends on how likely it is that Trump has sacked Comey for making two announcements regarding Hilary's emails that won Trump the election. And which he congratulated Comey for making, previously. I'd say that's unlikely, so a different motive may be in play.

I do hope that Trump spends the rest of his life in jail. Preferably with Bannon.

Suspicion that his firing was to interfere with the Russia probe.

It's a very frightening turn of events... For everyone, everywhere...

This Venn diagram might be helpful.

1 Attachment

I don't think he is that clever. Donald just forgets he is no longer on the apprentice. whenever he fires someone it appeals to his base supporters as they like the drama.

That timely transfer of ownership of 18/19% of shares in Rosneft needs to resurface.

Remember you used to read these sci-fi stories about future states led by crazed, ruthless despotic hardmen with their sinister cadres of ideologically pure thought police? And you used to think, this is an entertaining issue of 2000AD, but a wee bit far-fetched when the world is moving more and more towards open, socialism-tinged, liberal democracies. Remember that?

All the Trees Will Die, and Then So Will You

A beetle-and-fungus combo is about to wipe out millions of Southern California trees..

This.

For some reason it hasn't had much attention but it's potentially a very big deal.

It came on a night when CNN reported that a grand jury had issued subpoenas in the investigation of the Trump camp’s contacts with Russian officials, and after had confirmed to Congress that more than one person connected to the Trump campaign was the subject of an FBI counter-intelligence investigation. He had also indicated that he was investigating leaks from inside the FBI to the Trump campaign in the course of the election.

Jebus take the wheel!

Something is definitely going down. I doubt Trump will still be president next year.

He could just be destroying any mechanism that has the potential to impeach/bring him down as a way of holding on to power. That's a scary prospect for any country, let alone the de facto superpower.

It's fucking fucked and scary as hell...

I've seen zero evidence of the Republican Party's elected representatives in either the House or the Senate having any interest in opposing him, never mind impeaching him. It's hard to see how he'll be impeached without a major shift in attitude amongst them.

I'm not so sure about that. I think a bunch of them are just sitting back and waiting until the fireworks really go off and they'll move quickly to remove him.

The issue being, what would the resulting Republican party be like? Would it be a Ted Cruz or Ryan Paul thing? That would probably be worse in some ways.

Have you seen the termination letter to Comey?

"While I greatly appreciate you informing me, on three separate occasions, that I am not under investigation, I nevertheless concur with the judgment of the Department of Justice that you are not able to effectively lead the Bureau."

WTF?

I've not read the termination letter, but here's the statement the White House issued.

1 Attachment