Happy Passover

Hi All ,

Last post from us until Tuesday.

Happy Passover and Shabbat Shalom!

A few cool   contemporary Midrash songs - all in English -  to help this open thread:

 WHO let the Jews out?

BREAKING FREE


Cool stuff from the well cool fountainheads in Israel

Coming Home

Les Misérables - Moses/ Passover version

This is one for the  Corbyn Cult

Do you hear the people sing, singing the song of angry men? It is the song of  The Jewish  PEOPLE who will NOT be SLAVES AGAIN ....

Feel free to add your comments and songs in this open thread.

HAPPY PASSOVER!

NEXT YEAR IN JERUSALEM!🔯😎🏄🎼🍷😃

Sephardim VS Ashkenazim on Passover

Hi All,

As usual us Sephardim have different laws with regard to Passover.  This helpful video explains all 🔯😉😎

Scottish in space

Hi All,

When you need a universal translator 😆

The kingdom of Mercia

Hi all, 

Mercia- a state of two dozen systems and other territory-  founded 2029AD,  i.e. 370 years ago by descendants of the British West Midlands, one of the Heptarchy of British founded colonies , now an independent state .  With the use of  the massive resources available, it is a successful free trading , capitalist ,  manufacturing , financial services and tertiary sector economy known as " the work shop of the galaxy" and the "planets of a thousand trades" . Despite this , agricultural output is such at it can cover 80%  of needs .

The currency is, like all strong economies,  on  a non decimal  gold standard:  the Merican Livre of 7000 Piastres . Thus the M£ is a  gold of   .999 gold purity, literally a pound in weight . Other smaller  denominations such as the groat, florin, sixpence shilling, penny and farthing also   contain various amounts of gold  . There are also various paper and e money, which can, on demand, be exchanged for quantities of  gold.  The Mercia realms have many asteroid belts containing a whole periodic table of metals, including gold.  For comparison one Livre is roughly £13,600 or $20,000 in 21 st century fiat currency.

The kingdom is also bordered by a nebula of the remains of colliding neutron stars. This means that the kingdom has access to 500 earth masses ( the entire "weight"  of  earth x 500) and large silver & platinum deposits.  The nebula was given - in order to avoid massive inflation-  to  the inter dimensional conglomerate of the Royal Imperial Martian Mining Company plc , in exchange for 1000 shares per capita. The  massive dividends from these shares are by law  but into a sovereign wealth fund.

The population is 100 billion:   65%  Human , 20% Martian and 15% "other alien".  Noted for a particular  English-speaking  derived language which in verbal format is a mixture of English   Brummiese , the black country  and Martian, with some RP via Solihull and Irish/ Scottish/ Indian/ Yiddish/ Ladino/ Arabic / Hebrew/ Chinese/ Persian/ Italian/ Greek/ French and Dutch thrown in, alongside other non human, non Martian language phrases.   The script is not written in the European / English/ Latin  script , but  in modern " classical"  Martian i.e. vertical  logographic  hieroglyphs.

There are dozens of religions , which follow a " confessional system"  similar to Israel,  in respect of civil religious matters, both human and non human. There is no establishment religion many are secular or identify in a purely cultural heritage sense,  but the Martian religion is the largest at 20 billion.  There is generally religious tolerance, in the traditional British sense of  providing  people don't go nutty or kick up a fuss, go against the public good ,  try revolution or terrorism . The 'non conformists'  Christians are the largest human origin religious denomination at 16 billion, followed by Roman Catholics at 15 billion, the Church of Mercia , an Anglican denomination,  is the third largest largest of human origin  religions , albeit with many alien converts  , are  13 billion, followed by Hindus at 10 billion and Islam  and Buddhists at 5 billion each , the higher understanding had 1 billion devout and the Lutonian religion half a billion. The Jewish population is 2 %  or 2 billion. 

The cuisine is a mixture of cultures, from Curries to fish n chips, to fried breakfast to black pudding, to meat stews and chicken casseroles,  cholnet, bagels,  pineapple fried fritters to Martian willies. The main non  alcoholic beverages  are tea, coffee and Bra. The alcoholic beverages include whiskey, port, wine. But above all  and remembering the brewing heritage of Burton on Trent,   galactic wide renowned beer ,  stout, porter,  ale and larger.  The strength ranges from 5% for a beer   to 50%  for Martian triple fermented Martian Merica ale.

The system of government is a parliamentary system , based on the Westminster model. There are three houses : the Commons (835,635 members) , the Lords (250)  and the Senate (435).  The  Martian Emperor is the Monarch / Queen. Similar to  Canada or Australia, but with the Martians exerting incredible influence " behind-the-scenes"  in what some call " the veiled protectorate".   The head of government is the chief Vizer.

Mercia is a middle ranking to   regional super power.  Mercia is one of the 33 states that has antimatter weapons of mass destruction and one of the dozen who can deploy  the ultimate weapon of mass destruction,  star destroyers , which can , literally cause  entire stars to go super nova, which in turn can obliterate entire planets. 

Cup of tea

Hi All,

'Goodness, a pot of tea costs 40 Septillion pounds :  three years ago you could get tea and a Belgium bun for a five pounds  and still have change!' Exclaimed Gertrude Ferguson .

'Actually love it's now 80 Septillion'  said the young barista behind the counter. 

'But I've only been in the que for five minutes!' Gertrude shouted, almost knocking  over the pram she took with her. 

'Boss says prices are going up again. They've just released a 1000 Septillion note and I'm getting a 1 quadrillion per minute pay rise'.

'Bloody Corbett' muttered Gertrude under her breath, referring to the current Labour Prime Minister , who had spent three years building "socialism in one country".  This involved nationalizing industry, collectivism of agriculture and spending, spending and spending on public services . When taxpayers had been milked and that cow was exhausted , given that no one wanted or could lend to the government, they'd simply printed as much as they wanted . This had of course created hyper inflation. The Zimbabwean dollar was worth more than pound  sterling. There was rumours that Mugabe was going to become government currency controller and take a seat in the Lords.

The barista's eyes narrowed. 'You're not one of those are you ?'

'One of what?

'A filthy banking Zionist! ' The Barista said. 'You know : the traitors, bankers and supporters of colonialism who controlled this country, via a secret cabal, before the last election and they were exposed. They're responsible for the cost of living increases, even as they are being reeducated. That's what the party and the BBC say'.

'Goodness no:  here I have my "denounce the Zionist - capitalist who cause great misery to the people " discount card. You see it is fully stamped'. 

'Great . That entitles you to a free bacon butty , we wouldn't want Zionists secretly pretending to be one of the people , you see until new legislation is passed forcing Zionists to wear identifying yellow stars, we have to be careful'.

'Marvelous' said Gertrude. ' But I'm vegetarian'.

'That's convenient'

'Well it's true. You don't think anything you've just said is antisemitic:  blaming Jews for everything , making them wear yellow stars?' 

'What?? I'm a fully paid up member of the party!  The only antisemitism that exists are the fascists of the soon to be outlawed conservative party!  No I am merely anti Zionist!  Zionists try to claim criticism of them equals antisemitism. Just because Jews are Zionists - and not all of them are -as there's some decent Jews who have a bit of humanity in them to denounce the Zionist entity . The Zionist regime must be destroyed! What a lie that an anti Zionist is antisemitic! But then that's what Zionists do. Lie. Throughout history,they've lied.  Hence people turn against them in the end.'

'But if you change the word Zionist to Jew and then actually look at historical antisemitism....  the Zionist regime is majority Jewish and you wish to destroy it ... Jews suffered a genocide... well surely you can join the dots?'

' No !  How dare you accuse me of such a thing!' And typical Zionist propaganda is to use the holocaust to make us feel sorry for them !  This justified theft of native land?!

Seeing that the conversation was going nowhere , Gertrude asked how much the tea would cost.

'So that's 80 Septs then'.

Gertrude shuffled through the pram - it contained no children- they were attending the socialist youth conference- but bundles of cash.  It seemed more dignified than using a wheelbarrow: credit, debit and e money couldn't cope with such large numbers , as there wasn't the resources to update the banking computer system .  'Let me see now ' she said as she began to bundles of cash onto the counter , until it was completely full of notes. 

The barista put the notes onto a set of scales - it was easier than counting the money-  satisfied she poured the tea inro the pot. Not that the tea was particularly great, as it was an  ersatz product.

Not long before Gertrude had finished her first gulp, she was arrested by the anti Zionist secret police and sentenced to the Yorkshire gulag, for untruths about the party....

The worst

Hi All,

There's a saying that goes something like "evil flourishes when good men do nothing".

In the recent antisemitism row, there's been the typical rallying round toward the leader (as you'd expect of any cult)  by the hard left activists. There's been a few good men and women in Labour , along with conservatives , who have spoken out and attended the rally on Monday afternoon and that's cool.

But contrary to the conspiracy theorists of the hard left the bulk of the Parliamentary Labour Party have been silent. The Blairites and pro European centre left are silent.  Of course one suspects that's because they tried and failed to dethrone Corbyn,  who got re-elected by a landslide of party members.  Yet those same MPs will eventually be targeted by activists and de selected themselves.  

I cannot help but imagine if the Labour leader had been caught posting on a KKK or anti Islamic website , then he'd be gone by now. Certainly if a conservative or ukip person had done that. But because it's only us, a half hearted and dragged out of him apology will do.  But what does this tell you about the so called Labour moderates?

That they have been mostly silent is disgraceful . Yes our politics is tribal , hence the old expression of north  constituencies electing a cat if it wore red or blue if in the south.  But surely principles matter more.  The antisemitism row is the key issue, but in respect to Brexit , then clearly they have a different vision to the leader. They should as a matter of conviction leave the Labour party and set up a new left- social democratic party.  If they genuinely adhere to anti racism and anti antisemitism that's what they would do. But they won't. Because our electoral system doesn't favour new parties. Hence the coalition within party that we have in left and right. But that doesn't mean that they are right. Sometimes principles trump political or tribal calculations.

Get rid of that personality cult

Hi All,

So Jeremy Corbyn officially apologised. One wonders where this leaves the Chakrabti report (which told us Labour had no antisemitism problem)  or even Ken Livingstone. But regardless of the apology - as worthless as a Zimbabwe quadrillion  dollar bill, until converted into hard currency of action - what I found shocking wasn't Corbyn. 

What was shocking was the reaction of so many Corbyn supporters , who seemed to be in denial and viciously- viciously  attacked anyone online who challenged their own narrative. The narrative being Corbyn being as close to sainthood or a secular Jesus type figure as possible. Corbyn is elevated to a secular Jesus with the mob of "Zionists " calling him to be crucified in an entirely unjustified and show trial like manner.  Rather than Jews being victims , it was now Corbyn and Labour who were victims of a conspiracy of Zionists.  Why? Because the mission and destiny of  Jesus- Corbyn threatens the Zionist dominion.

More than ever it seems Labour is dominated by a cult of personality and in this episode  Jews (or as they prefer Zionists)  were scheming Tories, who were trying to overthrow the beloved sainted "decent " great helmsman.  This attitude is more dangerous than one individual. For a brief moment it was as if online waves of  Torquemada , Himmler and Stalin were alive as the way us Jews see it , if you switch Zionist for Jew, you are getting back to those tyrants eras.

Moreover unlike other antisemitism, you get the self righteousness indignation of people accused of antisemitism. I'm anti Zionist, not antisemitic. You are libellous toward me. Evil Zionist. Zio Nazi. Etc.  Oh and the classic "as a Jew"  or "Jews I know hate Zionism".  The tiny grouping of Jews on the fringes of the community are wheeled out to provide cover. They are the "good"  Jew .  The rest of us are the "bad" Jews.

You can ask.  So why are you anti - to the point of dismantling - the world's only Jewish majority state under the guise of anti Zionism?  Why is having a majority Arab Islamic state in its place acceptable, but Jews must never be afforded a state? You see Arab Palestinians , from the leadership downward , would never allow Jews to continue to live in their Palestine ,which contrary to popular belief isn't Gaza or the West Bank, but would be the entirely of the old mandate. They are always silent on where Israeli Jews would go and who would absorb them into their population. 

Writing more than a century ago , Lord Acton wrote :

"The most certain test by which we judge whether a country is really free is the amount of security enjoyed by minorities."

I will feel more secure as a minority if I didn't fear the main opposition as it is now, getting to power. I never felt that way with previous Labour or Conservative governments in waiting.  As a minority I am feeling very insecure.  When or if Labour come to power with the current leadership, how free will Britain be?

Enough is enough

Hi All,

Statement regarding  Jeremy Cornyn and Labour  from the leadership  of the British Jewish community, following the latest controversy :

Today, leaders of British Jewry tell Jeremy Corbyn that enough is enough. We have had enough of hearing that Jeremy Corbyn “opposes antisemitism”, whilst the mainstream majority of British Jews, and their concerns, are ignored by him and those he leads. There is a repeated institutional failure to properly address Jewish concerns and to tackle antisemitism, with the Chakrabarti Report being the most glaring example of this.

Jeremy Corbyn did not invent this form of politics, but he has had a lifetime within it, and now personifies its problems and dangers. He issues empty statements about opposing antisemitism, but does nothing to understand or address it. We conclude that he cannot seriously contemplate antisemitism, because he is so ideologically fixed within a far left worldview that is instinctively hostile to mainstream Jewish communities.

When Jews complain about an obviously antisemitic mural in Tower Hamlets, Corbyn of course supports the artist. Hizbollah commits terrorist atrocities against Jews, but Corbyn calls them his friends and attends pro-Hizbollah rallies in London. Exactly the same goes for Hamas. Raed Salah says Jews kill Christian children to drink their blood. Corbyn opposes his extradition and invites him for tea at the House of Commons. These are not the only cases. He is repeatedly found alongside people with blatantly antisemitic views, but claims never to hear or read them.

Again and again, Jeremy Corbyn has sided with antisemites rather than Jews. At best, this derives from the far left’s obsessive hatred of Zionism, Zionists and Israel. At worst, it suggests a conspiratorial worldview in which mainstream Jewish communities are believed to be a hostile entity, a class enemy. When Jeremy Corbyn was elected leader of the Labour Party, Jews expressed sincere and profound fears as to how such politics would impact upon their wellbeing. Our concerns were never taken seriously. Three years on, the Party and British Jews are reaping the consequences.

Routine statements against antisemitism “and all forms of racism” get nowhere near dealing with the problem, because what distinguishes antisemitism from other forms of racism is the power that Jews are alleged to hold, and how they are charged with conspiring together against what is good. This is not only historic, or about what Jeremy Corbyn did before being Party leader. It is also utterly contemporary. There is literally not a single day in which Labour Party spaces, either online or in meetings, do not repeat the same fundamental antisemitic slanders against Jews. We are told that our concerns are faked, and done at the command of Israel and/or Zionism (whatever that means); that antisemitism is merely “criticism of Israel”; that we call any and all criticism of Israel “antisemitic”; that the Rothschilds run the world; that ISIS terrorism is a fake front for Israel; that Zionists are the new Nazis; and that Zionists collaborate with Nazis.

Rightly or wrongly, those who push this offensive material regard Jeremy Corbyn as their figurehead. They display an obsessive hatred of Israel alongside conspiracy theories and fake news. These repeated actions do serous harm to British Jews and to the British Labour Party.

Jeremy Corbyn is the only person with the standing to demand that all of this stops. Enough is enough.

Board of Deputies of British Jews, Jewish Leadership Council

How Martians react to our probes

Hi All,

' I have called this extraordinary meeting of the Bahar bowling club, [Mars 556/67/77, founded circa 77,000,000BC ] , because of the latest probe sent from earth.'.

The chairman of the bowling club- who also happened to be the head of the Martian CIA/ MI6/KGB equivalent raged' The curiosity rover was bad enough and went straight through Mrs Farquard's flower arrangements, but this? This is too much. A Telsa and a never ending repeat of David Bowie? !'

' That's right ' said someone from the crowd. ' couldn't they do something classical . Batoven or the meat lof? '

'Goodness!  It was much more agreeable when the dinosaur men were in control of Earth,at least we didn't have them probing us' said Mrs Dismember.

'Sad about that asteroid' quipped someone from the crowd.

'That was the Svinge. Didn't they piss off King Fak El Fak?'  Enquired some knowledgeable geek.

'Well quite'  said the bowls club chairman. 'Meat lof is a brilliant artist and if the humans has sent his music to us ...'

'What are we going to do  about it?' Asked another.

' I've read in the daily wail that this is a prelude to a human invasion - these guys want a colony here' muttered the village post mistress.

'And we even tried to get them to think this planet is uninhabitable , but they still want to colonize it'  said an exasperated publican.

'Well it's time to get tough. I've spoken to Her Imperial Majesty, and she's authorised a full invasion of Earth. Either these savages stop provoking us with probes, rovers, telseas and david bowie or we'll do it for them'

 There was a general chorus of agreement.

'But aren't we a bit overstretched? I get we've got the local militia , but I heard on the grapevine we're involved in 667,000,000  wars across 570 different dimensional realities'  said a heckler.

'Have no fear stout fellow'.  Our allies across the dimensions, of  the Saguaro  Federation, The   Zarafah Communion and the Kingdoms of Northumbria , Mercia , Wessex , Peebles and The Far Texas Republic have agreed to join us. Furthermore Her Imperial Majesty is currently birthing an entire  legion of fighters, battleships, carriers and soldiers for this very task'.

' So ladies and gentlemen let us end this meeting with the  first verse of the national anthem as we say no to Human Earther probing!!'


O Mars !
Terre de nos aïeux,
Ton front est ceint de fleurons glorieux.

Car ton bras sait porter l'épée,
Il sait porter la croix.

Ton histoire est une épopée,
Des plus brillants exploits.

Et ta valeur, de foi trempée,
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.
Protégera nos foyers et nos droits.

Rapprochement with Russia? The conservative case

Hi All,

Despite the current frosty relationship between Russia and Britain , I still think that there needs to be a rapprochement with Russia, from a conservative/ realist / Machiavellian/Disraeli perspective. 

First let us face facts 

Russia has been and probably always will be led by an authoritarian government. Whether it was the Tsars , the Soviets or Putin, you won't ever get Russia to become London/  Californian liberals.

Once we've accepted this we must understand some other Russian viewpoints:

1.  After the fall of communism, rather than entering a capitalist golden age, Russia was basically sold ("raped")  to the lowest bidder, whether via  foreign investment or more accurately by the "oligarchs".  This occurred while the average Joe Russian citizen became even poorer than under the Soviets . Liberty , in the western sense didn't happen either..

2. Russia became surrounded by NATO and feels "encircled"

3. Russia like Britain and France feel that they are among the world's great powers, even as America and China overshadow this claim.  They do want to be treated as such. In short they are a proud people who want to be listened to.

Of course there are some hiccups to get over in Ukraine and Syria , closer to home the recent assassination attempt. 

I think we have to accept that Ukraine (half of it!) and Syria are within the Russian sphere of influence.  In respect of Ukraine Putin must be told "this far and no further".  As a realist ,I'm sure he will get the message.

In respect of Syria. Let them have it.  The country is, even after military success,  nothing but wasteland  rubble, it's people all over the place .  It will take a decade to rebuild, even without outside interference. I doubt Russia or Iran  will pay for this rebuilding, so it will remain weak for decades .  The Turks and Iranians will shortly come to blows and Russia's convenient allianz with Iran is just that. Sooner or later Iran and Assad are going to clash. You can't reconcile an Arab secular nationalist government with Iran's particular  and non Arab religious fundamentalism.  

Turkey will try to take more territory. Thus exposing Russia to a potential conflict with a NATO country (even better no European power is going to come to the Sultan's land grab, whatever the paper of the Atlantic treaty  says, but even better if the odious Sultan gets dragged into a Vietnam type situation) .  

I've been watching "star trek". If Russia are the Klingon empire , then we need to  agree to a "neutral Zone " ( i.e. Lebanon/ Ukraine)  then this will keep Israel happy or at least give Israel a free hand to deal with Hezbollah without Russian backing.  Iran Israel can deal with. Russia would be more difficult, but then Israel and Russian do NOT have to be adversaries. The Israeli population has a significant percentage of Jews who are Russian speakers.  Russia was the first to recognise Israel. Israel thrashed the Arabs who had hi tech Russian war machine , with French planes ( zut alors!) and knackered out British and American tanks (proving strategic and tactical thinking outweigh military technology).

As for the UK  , post Brexit we need to look for friends and or business partners. If we cannot be friends then we can be business partners with Russia. I have no beef with the people of Russia and I don't think they do either. In respect of the assassinations, maybe the dissidents could go to the Caribbean or some other tax haven. Or maybe we could have a gentlemen's agreement . But I think we need to pick our battles carefully. There are greater threats than Russia to the UK :  Russia hasn't threatened to dissolve and dissect the UK. What allies(EU) *cough*. Northern Ireland *cough*. (EU). Have?

I found this on the internet and I have no quarrel with such people..the lion and the bear can have a rapprochement. Or we'll have to kiss their assets back to Siberia.   Let us pray it doesn't happen.

And in any case Britain has claim on Russia via Queen Victoria.  Prince Harry and Meghan as Tsar and Tsarian of Russia?  LOL!  That'd be cool.

Jacob [Israel] & sons

Hi All,

Jacob [Israel] & sons , well cool modern Midrash song :

Shabbat Shalom

Hi All,

Usual open thread .

[We've been busy spring cleaning and getting rid of chametz - in short leaven or food mixed with leaven - for Passover, which starts next Friday].

The Ascendancy

 Hi All,

A prologue to a story.

Day 10 , month of Frimas , year 31 (from the founding of the revolution).

The Equality for All People's Republic of the Socialist Ascendancy 

140 light years from Earth

The Regents of  the Worker's Council of Public Safety was in theory nothing more than  a sub-committee of the People's Politburo, which was in turn accountable to the Party Conference, elected by party members (those members being admitted, by the Worker's Council itself). However because the Ascendancy was a Marxist-Leninist- Equalities state,  in practise the Council was the supreme decision making decision in the Republic.  The members held no actual executive positions,  although they were often given self important titles as befits them, but decided the strategic direction of internal and external policies .

The Regents were in a good mood;  the department of 'cooking the books ' had produced a 110,000 page pamphlet , summarising various key statistics and how they showed the success of socialism . For not only was the birth rate increasing by 113%  (under ' workers decree' 770) fusion reactor production up by 13,460%,   chemicals by 17,744%,  silver, gold, platinum ,oil, gas ,coal , iron and  steel production by5, 220%, the battleship programme by 15,533% , the production of guillotines by 11,554% (the rate of 'counter revolutionary' executions necessitating such production figures), agricultural production by 44,506% and an unemployment rate of 0%, a growth rate of 1,245,056,000% and inflation - outlawed by workers decree 661- was at 0% .

The  Regents could also celebrate a general election win. The day before there had been a general election for the National Assembly, the Parliament of the Republic. Voting was open and  not by secret ballot, compulsory for the entire population and not just Party members , but the   result was yet another victory for the Party . The Party had won another landslide with 100% of the seats, 100 % of the popular  vote, on a 100% turnout of the entire population (the state votes on behalf of children, minors, prisoners, the mentally ill and anyone who was too ill enough to vote), with a 100% swing toward the Party.  Only 545,000  people out of 2, billion  didn't vote and they had all died during the election, but no one had voted for them after they had died.  The Council  decided that these people needed to be tried for the counter revolutionary activity of dying before voting and also that the leaders of their communities for not voting on these dead people's behalf should also be arrested, tried and executed; counter revolution was an act of terrorism against the Party, who were the vanguard of the people and the people were the vanguard of the state.

There was some trepidation in the room. While the Republic ruled over 15 star system and contained at least 8 planets which should be a breadbasket and while socialism was the perfect economic model, for reasons unknown (officially it was put down to counter revolutionary bourgeois as other human governments and most alien government traded with the Republic),  it had been reported that half of the citizens were malnourished  and the other half were  eating cats, rats and floor , claiming that there was no food. The Minster for food-  one of the 1% of the population who was a party member and who dined on steak, caviar and wine- had dismissed such talk as wicked propaganda  and had suggested that people could eat their own dead as human meat was 'just like chicken'.   Even the Worker's Ascendant- the official newspaper of the Party- had called for him to be tried for counter revolutionary activity.

The Secretary General for the Revolutionary Peace  suggested that as the bourgeois was responsible then the Republic should take back what was their own. In short s/he (gender specific words are mostly illegal under worker's decree 6) proposed a raid on bordering systems to fill the entirely non existent  gap in agricultural products....and also to promote revolutionary democratic equal socialism among the oppressed people of the outside world. A list was drawn up of  potential systems: Zarafah, Geri, Jaffraf, Ziraph, Gurfanuntz, Kiang, Okapi, Graffa, Varr, Naria, Chard 450, Saguaro and Northumbria . As Zarafah was the nearest system, it was decided to take that one first and if successful other peaceful revolutions would take place.

They only needed to take Zarafah and the rest would fall like dominos.

BOTUS

Hi All,

This is cool - BOTUS - Bunny of the United States .  Although you could also say LOTUS ,  Lagamorph of the United States.

Alternative Bingo

Hi All,

Have fun with this one!

 LOL!

Notices

Hi All,

This is a reminder to people (we know who), that if you wish to constantly talk about Brexit, when this is not the main topic of the blog post, that there is a Brexit page for people to use. We won't put up a 'loony bin' page (yet) for all the ridiculous conspiracy theory stuff that some people post here and besides which our patient is not infinite. So a gentle warning to those interlopers who are trying to disrupt conversation here with silly posts not to do it. Of course every thread is flexible, but this is aimed at certain  people, who fully well know what they are doing.

Russian Election special

Hi All,

Putin re elected in Russia with 72%  of the vote.

Some things don't change :

Diet Coke ad

Hi All,

Well the latest diet coke advert has me convinced !

What about the rest of you ?!

Shabbat Shalom!

Hi All,

What a week!

Shabbat Shalom and usual open thread.

Pieces of eight

Hi All,

Not I haven't become a parrot! 

But what's interesting is that the pieces of eight was a coin - the Spanish dollar- a one ounce silver coin that served as global silver currency for as long as the Spanish Empire existed. 

Today there's no currency that is directly transferable into specie at a price set by the government ,i.e. precious metals such as platinum, silver and gold. I collect bullion coins ago about 1 ounce and fine purity, which are issued by various mints around the world. Platinum and gold coins are quite expensive, but silver, while it is  a precious metal , is relatively cheap in relation to the other two. 

I buy  these  coins ,  as well as  keeping some  physical cash and diamonds because as my grandmother taught me they are good things to have if you need to escape a country quickly and also because it is a hedge against inflation. 

Don't forget it is highly likely that Corbev could come to power in a few years or well before that there could be another economic crash in which the government has to bail out financial institutions. In both cases it's highly likely that the government will be forced to increase the  e-printing of the pound sterling , to pay for either or both.  

The printing of money (supply) without demand is inflationary. More accurately inflation is a subtle regressive tax which hurts people on lower incomes ,  which is why conservatives , who govern in the interests of all classess of society and believe in the welfare of the poor  , aim to keep the rate of inflation low and the currency stable .

 While the UK has been printing money for a decade it has been giving this money to a handful of banks, rather than the general population. These banks are only interested in making more money, thus the cash has gone into stocks, and  to a lesser extent loans. Thus house prices and the stock market have been inflated , rather than inflation on the goods and services "normal"  people use.  

With Corbev the Labour party intent to spend in the real economy , doubtless with massive public sector pay increases.  It is not that the increase in spending creates inflation , if it is matched by tax increases or borrowing at market rates  . But eventually the government will find that it's borrowing is maxed out and taxes have hit a plateau. It is then that the government  would force the central bank to create money out of thin air and this does create inflation. It is the psychology of people which creates what my sister calls the speeding up of the "velocity of money"  around the system .

 So my sister  explains that if there's big public sector pay increases, there's enough aggregation of people for them to start spending in the economy. Unfortunately the economy can only produce so much in a particular time frame , thus eventually more money is trying to buy the same amount of goods, these goods in effect became rationed , via price increases . As the costs of goods and services increase this causes the velocity of money to increase around the economy as people psychologically begin to think that prices are going up and will go up , therefore they'd better spend money before they can't afford x, y, z. 

That creates a feed back mechanism by which prices are forced up faster than they ordinary would and greater than the initial pay increases.  The typical response of a socialism government to this is not to decrease or control the supply and speed of money, but to create more money for the public sector wages to match the inflation increases. This exacerbates the situation, with ever increasing inflation than can lead to hyper inflation (Weimar Germany, Hungary, Zimbabwe, Venezuela) if left unchecked. 

Therefore as a hedge against this scenario , I coin collect.

Pieces of eight!!!!

Strange bedfellows

Hi All,

What do Anti-Semites, Russia bots and Corbynites have in common? They all of course dispute the claims of the British government over the recent spy poison affair  and are happily letting rip on social media.  One is tempted simply to ignore it until this latest affair dies down. It gets wearisome trying to swim through the fake news, conspiracy theories (e.g. it's really Mossad/Jew/Israel)  and trying to reach an informed opinion .

But in many ways this is besides the point. What interests me is the "sides" people take. 

I get why Russian bot nationalists would like Putin and incidentally religious or social conservatives for his take on the culture wars.  The Anti-Semites like him because he's seen to stand up to the west . This would be because  as well all know is controlled by the 'Zionist bankers' - read Jews-while at the same  time also being responsible for Communism and the deaths resulting :hey we're pretty cool having being able to invent both capitalism and communism in the same breath, but then anti-Semites  are loons who suffer from cognitive dissidence. But what I don't get is the far left/alt left support for Putin's Russia. This Russia is not the Russia of the Soviet Union. Neither is it the Russia of the Tsars. It is a Russia that the left would presumably and in normal circumstances dislike. Be it the social policy /gays. Or the authoritarian form of government.  Or the staunch nationalism , rather than internationalism . Why then do the Corbyn types treat this as a conspiracy theory and defend a government they would otherwise criticise ?  

Because the left hate Britain ?

Because they think of Russia as being the fountain of communism?

Because the Tories are behind the policy and they hate everything Tories do, as default?

Because the moderate centre -left is antagonistic toward Russia?

Answers on a postcard.

PS- Another answer on a postcard :

So,if Russia is that great a threat to our national security, why has this and every other government repeatedly slashed the defence budget? Why are we increasingly reliant on Gas from Russia ? It is becoming obvious Europe will do bugger all to help us, because of this gas issue  and Trump took a whole week to offer half hearted support, so that's NATO out. It's all very well to try to act or speak like a great power . Providing you've got the military strength to back it up. The UK has got bugger all & quite frankly I dread it if we are ever involved in another war. I don't doubt the professionalism of the defence forces. But I think they've been stretched to breaking point. It will be shown in a great power war, however limited and even in a NATO style coalition.

Musk to Mars!

Hi All,

During the weekend Elon Musk has been telling the great and the good that the human race must flee to Mars if a part of humanity is  to survive world war three :

“It’s important to get a self-sustaining base on Mars because it’s far enough away from earth that [in the event of a war] it’s more likely to survive than a moon base,” Musk said on stage at SXSW .

“If there’s a third world war we want to make sure there’s enough of a seed of human civilisation somewhere else to bring it back and shorten the length of the dark ages,” Musk said, responding to questions from his friend Jonah Nolan, the co-creator of the TV show Westworld.

Of course Musk doesn't know that Mars is already inhabited by one of the oldest space faring  species  in the multiverse. Why all the UFOs , otherwise?  The stargates in Porton Down ,Masada and Cheyenne Mountains ....

Plus there's Paul, a grey Alien type :

Peace of the Sabbath

Hi All,

Shabbat Shalom translates as the peace of the Sabbath (be with you).  It is therefore fitting that overnight we received news that America and North Korea's  leadership is going to meet up for talks at some future date.  This is good news in so much as peace is being given a chance before war. Let us pray that peace will be with Trump and Kim . After all you don't make peace with friends , but enemies and there's the old expression "only Nixon can go to China".  

 And as Ruth noted in a comment , if Trump did succeed he should get a peace prize. Obama ,strangely, got one before doing anything and actually increased drone killings compared to Bush & engaged in more secret covert wars.  Although no one cared because it was Obama.  The European Union got a gong, despite failing miserably to stop the slaughter of the Yugoslavia wars , the misery of their austerity  and the fact NATO was the real organisation which deserves a peace prize  . 

But for now we can be glad that some effort is being made to regain the initiative for peace.  Let us hope it is akin to Disraeli at the Congress of Berlin , who came back with owning Cyprus&"peace with honour".  As Bismarck said “Der alte Jude, das ist der Mann [the old Jew, he is the man],” he remarked. Hopefully we will be able to say in the future  Der alte Trump, das ist der Mann.

International women's day

Hi All,

Someone said to me that only the Labour party represented  the blue collar or working class, women and minorities properly.

So here goes . In the last 40 years

50% of Tory Prime Ministers havd been women.

Of 7  Conservative Party leaders:

2  have been women

1 was Orthodox Jewish 

1 was Roman Catholic 

1 was Methodist 

1 was the daughter of a shop keeper

1 the son of a circus performer

1 was from Yorkshire

In the same period :

0% of Labour leaders have been women.

0% from an ethnic  or religious  minority 

0%  from a  working class background,but solidly middle-class.

Tomb raider

One to watch & will it be as good as the Angelina Jolie films? :

Couldn't resist

Hi All,

Sorry I know I said wast taking a self denying ordinance in regards to Brexit .

But sometimes the insults of left liberal remoamer fanatics drive me to to posting this :

Shabbat Shalom !

Hi All,

Usual Shabbat open thread to finish off the week - next week maybe some sci fi. Stay tuned!

Wrath of the Bahar

Hi All,

This is a space opera story.

What were they thinking?

Hi All,

You know the EU has gone mental even an economically and socially  liberal,immigration advocating  - although neutral in the referendum- think tank disagrees with the EU's latest "negotiations" regarding the Northern Irish border question. 

For as the open Europe comments :

Open Europe’s Stephen Booth writes that the UK Government could not possibly agree to this EU withdrawal text, which would effectively cede sovereignty over Northern Ireland to Brussels by default. The EU cannot simply disregard inconvenient political commitments agreed – by both sides – in December. Brussels now risks creating a serious political mess.

Theresa May also correctly said that no British government could sign up to this de facto annexation attempt on British territorial sovereignty.

There's a few takeaways from this article  :

1) Quote :Irish Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has urged Sinn Fein to take their seats in Parliament for the first time in order “to make things better for Ireland.”  So. Foreign head of a foreign  government is overtly trying to interfere in the territorial and legal makeup of the UK, even as Ireland is the UK's biggest export market.

2). The EU proposal is cherry picking of the highest order.  Firstly this text would only apply to Northern Ireland, not the rest of the UK. Second it means Northern Ireland staying in the customs union and this is the BIG EU cherry pick , some but not all parts of the single market, under a "common regulatory area". So in effect this implies a form of (not necessarily a good one) of bespoke agreement and cherry picking. This is something which the EU  has constantly said that the UK cannot have. Clearly though this argument is political and not legal , because the EU itself is now cherry picking when it wants to do so.

Incidentally there was a lot less reporting on May on regards to the rights of EU citizens during the transition. But again the EU is cheery picking because they are only granting British citizens rights in the countries they live in a present , rather than the FULL rights Britain is giving. Thus it is one sided cherry picking by the EU.

3). We can see just from 1 and 2 , the problems here are not legal, economic,  trade or cherry picking. They are inherently political. The EU Commission , being the head of the Mafia like protection racket that is the EU is 

A). Trying to look after the Republic of Ireland, without thinking about the complexity of Northern Ireland's internal political balance. However this is just a side show because the EU know it is the UK's weak spot. Which leads to point B.

B). The EU negotiating stance is not based on any good will or functionary interpretation of legal texts or treaties. It is inherently political and as noted before the EU wants to punish the UK as a warning to other states who would consider leaving. However they have gone from covert attempts at punishment to a full blown cat o nine tails. It isn't so much of a negotiated settlement, other than a drive by shooting. 

C). The border and trade can be settled in a comprehensive way and if compromise was the order of the day a mutually agreed fashion - this is political and boils down to politics. Unfortunately the EU's default position is to punish. This has even shock remain people and soft brexit people. It's an open goal for anyone who wants to keep Britain in the EU. Thanks chaps you've done us Brexiters a favour.

D) . Terrorism. Whatever the outcome ,a hard border does not and should not give legitimacy to terrorism. Respectable politicians should think twice before suggesting leaving the EU is an excuse to terrorists to take up arms. After all if it is good enough for IRA terrorists , then you are saying it would be good enough for - a hypothetical bunch of- English nationalist terrorists to start off if Brexit was reversed . We are a liberal democracy and not a banana republic , so let's keep it that way by respecting a democratic referendum and so do things by democratic peaceful means .