Tag: politics

A Conspiracy of Politicians

~ Ruth ~ 3 Comments

A couple of caveats from me with regard to the contents of this post: (1) I am not American, but British, so am very much an outsider looking in to the thoroughly puzzling machinations of a foreign government, and (2) The current political processes in Britain look just as decidedly dodgy as in the US, so we’re in absolutely no position to judge.

I don’t really understand the point of Impeachment if the so-called ‘trial’ is being held within an admittedly prejudiced environment where a politically motivated and imbalanced jury have effectively already made up their minds to judge the accused on partisan grounds regardless of evidence provided by witnesses – oh wait, no witnesses are allowed – WTF? What kind of tragic farce is this, anyway? Is there a collective noun for politicians? How about a conspiracy, because to my very non-American mind that pretty much sums it all up…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Conspiracy

Out of the Frying Pan, Into the Fire

~ Ruth ~ 10 Comments

Today is the day that the UK leaves the EU, and I feel really sad it’s finally come to this. I honestly believe we’re jumping collectively out of the frying pan and into the fire, and the chaos is only now truly beginning. Although ‘collectively’ is perhaps a bit of a misnomer, as the divide between the half of the country that always wanted to leave and the half of the country that always wanted to stay is as deep as it was on the day of the referendum, and is still truly divisive. I accept with heavy heart that we may indeed be exiting the European Union, but I still want it recognised that it is not being done in my name.

When the result of any referendum is that close, to me it’s not a question of re-running it, of re-hashing old arguements, but of the half on the ‘winning’ side of the arguement being gracious to those on the ‘losing’ side. Accept that you may have won the vote, but appreciate that nevertheless only half the country is with you, and act accordingly. You may have a majority, but only just: The result was far from unanimous. So don’t turn it into an uncivil war of wounding words, don’t twist the truth into multiple misrepresentations of fact or expound a nasty narrative of vitriolic extremes. We are not the enemy.

Don’t try to turn half the population into traitors – because if anything, it’s those of us who wished to stay that have been betrayed by your bullying behaviour, not the other way around. Realise that perhaps this is not a propitious time for proposing street parties and national celebration across the board. Don’t be so cavalier with dismissing our dismay, remember there are still puritans amongst us protesting against such flamboyance who prefer taking a more sober approach. It’s bad enough that it’s happening at all without the ludicrous idea of Big Ben chiming in at a cost of a cool half a million – but thankfully at least that plan has now been shelved.

That whole ugly cartoonish image portrayed to the world of puffed-up Brexiteers gloating over whinging Remoaners is an embarrassment. Nigel Farage and his cronies waving their Union Jack flags so disrespectfully within the European Parliament this week is an embarrassment. For those of us who wished to remain, being dragged out of the EU against our wishes is bad enough without having our noses rubbed in it gleefully by people who should know better. Britain should be greater than this.

JusJoJan 31: Chaos

Provocative? Hell, Yeah!

~ Ruth ~ 3 Comments

Fandango has come up with a humdinger of a provocative question this week – well, actually three questions, all variations on a theme, about Trump and the current Iran crisis. (Caused, incidentally, by Trump himself. HE pulled America out of the Iran deal, and imposed severe sanctions on Iran – and then when Iran was clearly unhappy about it and started making things difficult instead of doing his bidding, Trump assassinated one of their top army guys. Who was definitely a bad hombre, but that’s not the point.)

To be honest, whatever the particular topic of the questions, if it’s to do with Trump then I’d probably find it provocative – that dumbass arrogant oversized-bully-boy of a man provokes the hell out of me just by breathing! Someone give him a pretzel to choke on. I can feel my heart-rate rising erratically even just THINKING about him… Grrr…

Anyway, here are the questions:

Do you feel that Donald Trump was justified in ordering a drone strike that resulted in the assassination of Qasem Soleimani in an airstrike in Baghdad last week?

Do you think this decision will lead America into a hot war with Iran?

Do you think Trump’s motives are political and self-serving?

And here are my answers:

Chucking all your toys out the pram just because you don’t get your own way is never a good global strategy for any high-ranking political leader, especially for a bossy, swaggering, narcissistic wanna-be autocrat who thoroughly believes his own hype and thinks he rules the whole world, not just one country, however large. So no, not justified in my book.

Luckily for the rest of the world – and surprisingly – Iran seems to be behaving more like the sensible grown-up in this crisis to Trump’s childish, thoughtless tantrum-throwing, so thankfully it looks today like war may well be averted after all. Maybe. No thanks to you-know-who, however much he bigs himself up.

Everything Trump does is self-serving, because he’s a self-centred narcissist who thinks he’s the best and thinks he knows best about everything, even stuff he knows nothing about – like diplomacy, and foreign policy, and running a country properly without alienating said country from the rest of the world… oh yeah, and being a decent human being.

Fandango’s Provocative Question

Touting their Fear-Mongering Bullshit

~ Ruth ~ 2 Comments

I’m sitting here watching Andrew Marr’s Sunday morning show on the TV and in particular a one-to-one interview with Sajid Javid, our current Chancellor of the Exchequer. And honestly, Sajid Javid seems far more comfortable and well-versed in touting his fear-mongering bullshit about what a Labour government lead by Jeremy Corbyn would be like than discussing in-depth any potential post-election Conservative Party pledges. Give him his due, Andy Marr is constantly picking him up on it and correcting him but seriously guys – all I’m left feeling is that the Tory party are terrified of having their empty promises exposed and they’re running shit-scared of the electorate…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Tout

Haters Gonna Hate

~ Ruth ~ 3 Comments

So apparently we’re having a General Election on December 12th, and the usual election campaigning has begun. My understanding of election campaigning is that each political party should tell us what THEY intend to do for the country, and once we’ve heard what all the different parties tell us exactly what THEY intend to do for us all, we make an informed choice and each choose which party to vote for.

However, already (only one day in) things have become confused. If I hear a Conservative politician speak on the campaign trail, I expect him or her to convince me why I should vote for the Conservative Party by explaining basic Conservative policies. Or when a Labour politician is given air time, I expect Labour Party policies to be expounded positively. Instead, Tories seem intent on telling me what an awful mess a Labour Government would make of the country, and Labour are falling over themselves to slag off the Tories.

Personally I don’t want to vote for anyone who is effectively saying ‘ Don’t vote for them, they’re crap’ as a favoured twisted campaign tactic – hiding behind negative anti-other-guy criticism is hardly germane to the question of what YOUR party can positively offer to prospective voters. My message to all those Haters-Gonna-Hate-style politicians out there – forget spewing your skewed opinion on what you think your opponent might or might not do, stick to voicing only your OWN message in plain straightforward language. And if you can’t do that, don’t expect me to vote for you…

Fandango’s One Word Challenge: Germane