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The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea

Posted on November 03, 2020 by

When we first saw this video on Twitter through bleary half-asleep eyes this morning, we thought it was a well-done satire. But no. He actually put it out himself.

There can surely in history have never been anything that demeaned both the office of President and the USA as a nation more than the image halfway through that video of him prancing around in front of Air Force One.

Today America decides its future. And dear lord, what a choice it has.

Joe Biden (77) is a weak, senile, historically homophobic idiot. He’s totally in thrall to the transactivist agenda, and has said that if elected he’ll pass an “equality” act within his first 100 days that will essentially end all women’s rights as a sex class as well as demolishing the freedom-of-belief protections that have been in the US Constitution since it was written, along with the entire concept of empirical science.

(It’s almost his only concrete policy.)

But the only alternative available is Donald Trump (74), whose presidency has been simply a different form of reality denial. Trump is a borderline actual fascist who has openly encouraged violent racist militia while trampling over just about everything else in the Constitution. The most positive thing we can think of to say about him is that to a great many people’s considerable surprise, his first four years as the chief resident of the White House didn’t actually result in a nuclear war.

Imagine, then, the dilemma of a sane woman living in the US today and being asked to vote for one of those two options.

Last December I couldn’t bring myself to vote for either of the only two candidates who could win in Bath, because one of them was a brainless militant transactivist and the other was a Tory. The only thing my conscience would let me do was this:

If a significant proportion of left-leaning women in America can’t, when push comes to shove, bring themselves to go out and vote away all their rights today – and voting has been made so absurdly hard that there’s actually a noticeable barrier to doing so – then the opinion polls will be confounded just like in 2016 and Trump will win again.

(Or the result will be sufficiently close that Trump might do God knows what rather than concede defeat. Parts of the nation are already convulsed in violent turmoil in the wake of the murder of George Floyd, it really isn’t that big a leap to imagine a full-blown civil war, especially if encouraged and inflamed by the President.)

We know that that sort of thing can happen. In 2017 almost a third of the SNP’s voters, unimpressed with the party’s manifesto, simply didn’t bother to turn out – its vote share dropped from 50% to 37% and the party shed 40% of its MPs.

(And nobody saw it coming. As little as a week before the election the SNP had been polling at 43%. Just seven weeks before the vote it was on 47%.)

Last year, when faced with the choice between a Tory government of demonstrable and spectacular incompetence, obviously hell-bent on a disastrous no-deal Brexit, and a useless Labour party being torn asunder on multiple fronts by idiotic, self-indulgent, factional identity politics, UK voters gave Boris Johnson a hefty five-year majority.

And it’s important to note that the Tory vote had barely moved – 13.97m compared to 13.63m at the previous election – but Labour shed more than two and a half million votes and collapsed from a wafer-thin two-point hung-parliament deficit in 2017 to one of the worst results in its history, winning seven fewer seats than in its historic 1979 defeat to Margaret Thatcher.

This site cannot urge American women to “wheesht for Biden” and vote to sacrifice themselves by undoing centuries of progress in the name of stopping Trump for the good of everyone else. It’s not our rights that are on the line.

To be honest, we’re not even sure that a Biden win would be better for the world as a whole – while what Trump has done has been uniformly awful, it’s at least been mainly domestic and had little measurable impact on the world beyond US borders.

Trump, almost uniquely, hasn’t gone to war with anyone the US wasn’t already at war with, while Barack Obama failed to close Guantanamo in eight years and sent drones to bomb most of the Middle East. “Liberals” like Bill Clinton and Tony Blair have been the main drivers of war in the past generation. And most of Trump’s damage is also undoable by a future President. The harm that Biden would do would – because of the nature of democratic politics and the media – be less reversible.

So we don’t envy our cousins across the water their situation. They’re literally being asked to pick one of two evils – the destruction of women’s rights and material reality versus the destruction of decency and sanity, embodied in two old rich mad white men. Trump is the more obviously personally despicable, but the only rational response to either of them winning today is horror.

And while Wings rarely comments on politics beyond the shores of the UK, it doesn’t take a genius to see the parallels coming our way all too soon.

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309 to “The Devil And The Deep Blue Sea”

  1. meg merrilees
    Ignored
    says:

    Hmmmm!

    If it wasn’t so tragic it would be amusing.

    He’s still behaving as though he is fronting a reality TV show.

    The world holds its breath.

  2. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    Jesus,
    There is way way way more at stake in the US right now than one issue. Women’s rights are indeed at stake, pro-choice is on the ballot with the right wing anti democracy GOP running to take away reproductive choices rights.

    Look I get the whole thing about Women’s rights being threatened by the Trans Activists Agenda – I really do. But to bring this down to that ONE issue for Women (or anyone else) as a reason not to vote for Biden is nuts. And frankly surprising you are taking that line.

    You are one of the smartest people on the net for seeing through Political and Media bullshit – and yet on this one you aren’t seeing for example how US Healthcare which is a disaster for everyone except the rich – literally a life/death impact for millions is on the ballot in the US.

    The Equality Act still needs to manage to get through the House and the Senate and there’s plenty of reasons it will be corrected to sort out the nonsense of women only sports being flooded by failed male born athletes who now identify as women. That battle is still to be fought and it’s not conclusive by a long shot.

    So Biden is a risk on one level I agree but compared to the rest of it compared to losing health insurance, to denying choice for women’s bodies and reproductive rights – that risk is far far far smaller.

    Unlike the Woke SNP elements Biden and his team are about solving the big problems first (Which in Scotland is Independence) and then the rest will be debated after thats solved.

  3. James Kydd-Corr
    Ignored
    says:

    For me, the decision comes down to who do you want to be most likely to win in 2024, Pence or Harris?

  4. ronnie anderson
    Ignored
    says:

    The Prat will fall & hopefully be impeached

  5. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Unlike the Woke SNP elements Biden and his team are about solving the big problems first (Which in Scotland is Independence) and then the rest will be debated after thats solved.”

    I’m sorry, but this is exactly the argument Germans used to defend voting for Hitler and I’m fucking sick of it. The trans agenda isn’t one narrow issue – if conceded, the entire founding principles of reason, language and science are gone, and good luck building a decent country without those.

    Freedom, a wise man once said, is the freedom to say that two plus two equals four. If that is granted, all else follows. If you surrender it, expect no good to come of it. And as another wise man once said, those willing to sacrifice freedom in the name of security deserve neither, and will soon lose both.

  6. Robert graham
    Ignored
    says:

    OH DEAR

    prepare for incoming over this one even Jackey would have thought twice about posting this one

    You can almost feel the venom that’s on the way from these deranged Looney Tune La La Land nut jobs who want to decide everyone’s future we have to accommodate them they don’t give a rats arse about anybody else, The are right and have the backing of the ones at the very Top
    That tells me everything about the way and the direction the SNP are heading .

    By the way STU website on the iPad version is working fine now

  7. Morgatron
    Ignored
    says:

    Choreography by Toni Basil? Two nutcases one oblivion. Either way America is heading for trouble.

  8. Calum
    Ignored
    says:

    I knew Biden was old but 77?! The Democrats couldn’t find a candidate more likely not to die in office, really?

  9. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    So you think Biden is a raging homophobe who supports Transgender activism?

  10. Ruglonian
    Ignored
    says:

    If Trump loses then it’ll be 4 more years of The Trump Show anyway, it’s just that it’ll be outwith the White House and it’ll be him with whichever heir he’s decided is most worthy.

    His supporters aren’t going away.
    The media who love to hate him will continue to follow his every word.
    There’s no escape from this monster now, and frankly I’m amazed that no one else is recognising this inevitable horror!

  11. Patsy Millar
    Ignored
    says:

    Thank you for brightening up my day -not!

  12. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “You can almost feel the venom that’s on the way from these deranged Looney Tune La La Land nut jobs”

    Fuck ’em.

  13. Graeme
    Ignored
    says:

    If I was an American today I think I’d abstain, stay at home crack open a bottle of Kentuckys finest and drink myself to oblivion.

    But if I was forced to vote as much as I hate to admit it it would have to be Trump

  14. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Made my day – great vid – thanks Rev

  15. PB
    Ignored
    says:

    Kudos for calling out Biden and Obama!

    Tired of seeing normally smart people cheerleading the clown show that is the (un)Democratic Party of the US – Clinton, Obama and likely now Biden, they are the root cause why the world has had to put up with Trump for 4 years and nothing substantial will change for the better under Biden except fewer mean tweets coming from the POTUS account…

    On his way out Obama admitted his presidency was that of a 80’s moderate Republican – Bought and still paid for today by Wall Street, extended the Bush war doctrine and built the cages at the border to name a few of his egregious legacies covered up by an equally bought media. So much for hope and change.

    If HR Clinton is indeed Sturgeon’s ‘hero’ as she has said in the past then that explains a lot of why the SNP is the colossal corrupt shit show it is right now.

  16. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    I have voted thirty times in this election. All on the same day and at the same polling place. Yes, all of my votes will be counted.

    The thing to remember is that we are not just voting for President. Most obviously, in terms of this article, I voted in a pivotal US Senate race. If Thom Tillis wins in NC and Susan Collins holds on in Maine, the Senate will be very finely balanced. A President Biden can propose all the laws he wants, it takes an Act of Congress to pass them before he can sign them. Also remember that it takes sixty votes to break a filibuster.

    He could always try to do this executively – rewrite Rules, for example. However it is Rule-writing that has seen the Trump presidency in court on a regular basis and, to be blunt, he’s had his arse handed to him on a platter more than a few times. The US judiciary is proudly conservative-with-a-small-c. For instance, Chief Justice Roberts agreed with an abortion bill in one state. However, because the Supreme Court had struck down an almost identical law from another state in 2016, and nothing had changed since then, he voted to strike down the law.

    I took a deep breath and voted for Biden. I wish I could have voted for a moderate Republican like John Kasich, but that option wasn’t on the ballot. So I did the next best thing and voted for the candidate best placed to beat Trump. My hope is that we can dial back the incivility and have a proper election four years hence.

  17. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    I’d vote for Jo Jorgensen the Libertarian Party candidate.

  18. Doug
    Ignored
    says:

    “Unlike the Woke SNP elements Biden and his team are about solving the big problems first (Which in Scotland is Independence) and then the rest will be debated after thats solved.”

    “I’m sorry, but this is exactly the argument Germans used to defend voting for Hitler and I’m fucking sick of it. The trans agenda isn’t one narrow issue – if conceded, the entire principles of reason, language and science are gone, and good luck building a decent country without those.”

    I think you have confused me with someone who is willing to concede on the Trans agenda. I’m very much NOT conceding on that at all. Not one inch. What I believe is that the Trans Agenda should be tackled separately to the main goal.

    The problem is the SNP Exec/Cabal right now isn’t even attempting the main goal of Independence and is instead playing the Trans Agenda Game. Right now the SNP don’t have my vote and I’ve been pro Independence my entire life.

    As to the German jibe – we both know that is a vastly over simplification of the original circumstances that led to that dark path. While the German people voted in a referendum to combine the Presidency powers and the Chancellor – at no point before the enabling act did the Nazi party ever have a majority vote (of course they also banned all the other parties after that). Your argument that Germans voted because of the big goal is just not true.

    Now can we get back to the fact that Scotland needs to get out of the UK , back into the EU and on the world stage as an individual country. And then as a parallel and no less important battle make sure science, facts and reason are the basis for all decisions.

  19. Giesabrek
    Ignored
    says:

    While Biden might want to allow men to be classed as women just because they choose to wear a dress doesn’t mean to say it’ll get past the Senate or Congress.

    Also, Biden’s old age is a blessing in disguise – who is his VP? Kamala Harris, a woman I hope will be less inclined to give up the safe spaces of her gender so easily. And Bide doesn’t need to croak it, only be declared unfit due to any dementia who might have or further develop.

    It’s not an easy choice but Trump is heading towards Gilead so women are probably even more stuffed with him in charge, and should Trump die or be declared unfit, Mike Pence, backed up by a ultra-conservative Supreme Court, is even worse and will more than likely accelerate towards Gilead who unfettered glee.

  20. OldPete
    Ignored
    says:

    Trump is a disgrace in so many ways and I hope the Democrats vote him out decisively. Advocating anything else is ridiculous.

  21. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Is Trump dancing or encouraging his fellow Americans to use more dental floss?

  22. Ross
    Ignored
    says:

    Goodness me , of all the issues this election isn’t really about.

    As if women voting for Biden are weighing up this issue. Total blindspot this.

  23. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    OldPete

    cheer up mate – watch the video again – it’s fantastic!

  24. Johnny McNeill
    Ignored
    says:

    There are a number of right-wing ‘Pied Piper’ pro-Brexit plants (Trump in the US & ‘One Nation’ in AUS/NZL) some of whom who’ve made their names as ‘Men’s Rights Activists’ and whose role is to draw-in angry, disaffected young men treated abysmally by the *same State* & structures – under the guise of ‘leftist’ political correctness – being pushed & pulled ‘voluntarily’ towards fascism.

    And a key element of this divide & rule #GenderAgenda is to further agitate in order to specifically create new (‘TERF-war’/GRA) fault-lines to *divide the female demographic* who *had been previously content* with their respective parties policies & progress. And had been in general, reasonably content with their political and personal relationships with men – who themselves as a demographic are deliberately being demonised & dehumanised as part of the wider *propaganda channelling* campaign…

    We’re all being played and it really isn’t that complicated to see the *precedented* working patterns in action. You just have to believe in yourselves individually & collectively – which unfortunately – is a rarity.

    ‘The #MeToo Truth* of Nr5 #RampantSexism’ by #GaslightingGilligan; https://wp.me/p94Aj4-1Y2

    *And which is why, in part, militarisation is *inevitable* on both sides of the ‘Atlantic Bridge‘ – and beyond.

  25. Stuart Insh
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu, I assume the promised ‘equality act’ would go to the now 6-3 conservative-stacked Supreme Court?

  26. Sara
    Ignored
    says:

    There’s a lot at stake in this election.
    Yes…a lot of Trump posturing and he’s offended a lot of people (deary me …we can’t offend ppl!!) But on all the issues that matter he’s way less evil than the Democrats with their endless wars and that of his predecessors. Theres a few more children alive in the middle east thanks to the hiatus in the west’s terror campaign (largely so although his bombings of Syria were illegal)
    He should win this election – I rather liked 4 years of Americans keeping within their borders.
    And as for his Israeli position….well Israel can make as many deals with corrupt Arab leaders it likes….ultimately we don’t accept the west (britain) had any right to give away Palestinian land (amazing or not how many westerners take that arrogant high handed approach to another’s land).

  27. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Kamala Harris, a woman I hope will be less inclined to give up the safe spaces of her gender so easily.”

    If you’re pinning your hopes on Harris you’re in for a disappointment.

    https://medium.com/@courtneybswanson/kamala-harriss-record-on-trans-rights-isn-t-mixed-8101b2a0aa94

  28. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Trump is a disgrace in so many ways and I hope the Democrats vote him out decisively. Advocating anything else is ridiculous.”

    Says someone neither American nor female.

  29. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “As if women voting for Biden are weighing up this issue.”

    Elected you to speak for them, did they?

  30. Athanasius
    Ignored
    says:

    I love this man.

  31. Roger
    Ignored
    says:

    @Doug

    You seem to have missed the whole point about war. Maybe that doesn’t matter to you, but it does to me. If Clinton had won in 2016, you can bet there’d have been war by 2018.

  32. Thomas Dunlop
    Ignored
    says:

    I hate the conflation of ideas. So I am shocked you fall for it as well. Woman is a gender construct, as biology it should be female, you should have written that (sorry for the pedantry, I’m a scientist who worked with hormonal driven cancer models, brain-sex differences). Otherwise I agree with your sentiments on the issue (my main issue is that male transsexuals bring their biological sex aggressiveness to the debate). Saying that I think it would be easily resolved by having a third space for transgender people. Specific sporting events, for example, at the Olympics (subdivided for male to female, and vice versa), toilets…

  33. Roger
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart Insh says:
    3 November, 2020 at 12:16 pm

    Stu, I assume the promised ‘equality act’ would go to the now 6-3 conservative-stacked Supreme Court?

    And why do you assume that? Only a truly tiny % of legislation does

  34. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Bill Blockhead. There’s an interesting would be politician on Stu’s ballot paper. Apparently Bill wants the UK to leave the solar system by 2028. Nice satire on the brexiteers methinks.

  35. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Woman is a gender construct, as biology it should be female, you should have written that”

    Woman already means female. The definition is “adult human female”.

  36. WhoRattledYourCage
    Ignored
    says:

    Comparing American and UK politics is folly. Don’t even try. TOTALLY different. American minds do not work like ours – FACT. They have been raised in a far more pernicious, psychotic, deranged environment. You have to live there for a few years to realise how terrifyingly vacuous and meaningless the simplistic yawning void maw at the nihilist bombastic epicentre of American ‘life’ is. No joke, no hyperbole. Unfortunately. Third world Hellhole going rapidly down the existential pan, and dragging us all down with it.

  37. Athanasius
    Ignored
    says:

    Just a note of rationality, folks. Not setting off a nuclear war is actually a GOOD thing, especially when combined with the repatriation of thousands of troops from abroad, the refusal to get involved deposing yet another “Hitler” in Syria where the rebels are worse than the government and generally pissing off the military-industrial complex by not sparking off endless moneybags worth of conflicts around the globe. And it’s a strange sort of “racist militia” which has minority members and a black Cuban leader. You don’t have to like the man. You only have to TRY to look at the issue dispassionately and it becomes obvious there’s only one way to vote.

  38. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Thanks for the inspiration Stu…

    If come polling day next year the SNP is still the same toxic brew of Sturgeon and Murrell and their acolytes, then like you I’ll be voting for the WDHP party.

  39. Ross
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh Stu , you have evidence do you that THIS is up there as a major issue for female americans voting for Biden? The significant, crucial segment of left leaning females clutching their pearls at Biden’s trans agenda have been the talk of the tacticians, I’m sure…

  40. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Ah look! Ross the SNP HQ staffer has turned up again.

  41. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Athanasius

    Don’t even bother to try – TDS is incurable (and over here in the UK, utterly pointless!).

    Just watch the video again and have a good laugh!…..man, it had me in tears, what a stroke of genius.

  42. Sharny Dubs
    Ignored
    says:

    The parallels between the American choices and our own are truly depressing.

    But you put the hammer on the nail.

    Yeah fuck em!!

  43. John Welch
    Ignored
    says:

    Trump Derangement Syndrome is alive and well, I see.

  44. Mist001
    Ignored
    says:

    Who are the biggest facists though? The left Anti-Fa or the right wing militia?

    I’d say Anti-Fa are far more insidious and dangerous so I’d recommend that the USA returns Trump and force him to close down the Southern Poverty Law Centre, since that’s where all this wokist, Anti-Fa shite is originating from.

    The right wing militia are mostly viewed as conspiracy nuts and don’t actually do very much, so are a lot less dangerous.

  45. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Mist001

    If it wasnt for the idea of Neo Right wing fascism there would be no such counter reaction as Antifa in the first place.

  46. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    The world is becoming completely deranged.

    I wish I lived in Brigadoon sometimes and only had to deaL with this insanity every hundred years of so.

  47. susanXX
    Ignored
    says:

    Fantastic article and btl too – you’re on fire today Stu!

  48. Robert Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    STU @ 12:00

    ha ha OH DEAR HUMSA WILL BE ON YER CASE yer a marked man ha ha
    Bloody caps lock on oops

    Anyway first i have heard about Biden being in agreement with our woke people

    Eh looks like a worldwide attack of the village people out to get revenge because their feeling have been hurt in the past

    Remember back in the old days when life was reasonably simple now you cant move without stepping on someone’s tootsies the pain and anguish is unbearable FFS beam me up somewhere anywhere

  49. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    The only insular positive is that Biden very much supports the Good Friday Agreement (afaik), and has talked about no trade deal with the UK if he was President.

    A very thin straw to hang on to?

  50. AYRSHIRE ROB
    Ignored
    says:

    When someone shows you who they are the first time, believe them !

    Trump is a cunt.

  51. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    You are being too harsh on old Donald.
    It’s a safety net for him should he be deposed.
    He and Boris will make a fortune as a male same
    Sex couple on the next Strictly Come Dancing Show.

    Could a constipated President and PM Paso Doble?

  52. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Robertknight

    “If come polling day next year the SNP is still the same toxic brew of Sturgeon and Murrell and their acolytes, then like you I’ll be voting for the WDHP party.”

    To what end? How do you think the WDHP party will gain Scottish Independence or influence the timetable towards a referendum with a few list seats at best?

    Why would anybody vote WDHP if they dont have a manifesto that includes plans for Employment Education Health Welfare local Government or Taxation?
    They dont look any better than the Brexit party with their one trick obsessive policy which ignores every other issue VITAL to peoples welfare and life styles and have just as much credibility. You look like nothing but extremists.

  53. Nell G
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m not advocating Trump but we were at serious threat of a new cold war had Hillary been elected also she is Sturgeon’s hero so there has got to be some sinister underlying agenda there. Yes he’s a clown and not fit for any office but he’s really not interested in anything outside of America save a few golf courses. That I can live with. If Biden gets in they will just recommence bombing the shit out of poor people with drones. America is America, it’s a culture devoid of culture. Whatever happens it’s just damage limitation for the rest of us, I just wish we were not so reliant on them.

  54. AYRSHIRE ROB
    Ignored
    says:

    Mist 001

    You’re a eegit. Antifa is not an organisation you fool,its ideology.
    Those nuts with guns in the forrests though are a different kind o breed a bit like the old hill billy films you watched in 70 ‘s 80’s – crackpots that sleep with their own.

    They drink too much moonshine like some o the eegits on here.

  55. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Biden’s only saving grace is the fact that he is not Donald Trump.
    Biden is an example of why some people in America voted for Trump in the first place. They wanted something that wasnt just another brick in the establishment wall and were so desperate for change they didnt care to look too carefully at their alternative.
    Biden will do what other US Presidents have done in the past he will obey instructions from the people who pay his campaigns and financially support his terms in office. If he is being paid heavily by pro transactivist lobby groups he will support transactive ideals if he is heavily backed by womens groups he wont. If he is heavily backed by both he will spend his term in the Whitehouse offering platitudes to both sides while avoiding doing anything pro active to help either group.

    The point is you can predict how Biden will behave you cant predict what Trump will do on any given day. He is a lethal wildcard who could trigger Armageddon on an off day.

  56. Mist001
    Ignored
    says:

    I had Moonshine once, well Potcheen. Me and a friend drank a bottle on the Saturday night, got steamboats. I went to bed, woke up on the Sunday and felt surprisingly OK. I got a cup of tea and within 30 minutes, I was steamboats again and had to go back to bed!

    Don’t dis the Moonshine.

  57. Daisy Walker
    Ignored
    says:

    From a Scottish perspective Trump plays very badly in Scotland.

    Biden would at least have a ‘honeymoon’ period of settling in.

    As far as the Good Friday Agreement is concerned – even if Trump attempts to ignore it in order to secure a UK/US trade deal, my understanding (I’m no expert) is the Senate will not allow that.

    So Scotland, Boris and Trump trade deal – or Independence?

  58. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Everybody here loathes the main stream media because of their laziness and bias but yet we accept everything they say about Trump as gospel truth.

    The man is a clown but the USA is not currently at war with Iran – which would have been the case if psyco-Clinton had gotten elected. And the USA will still not be at war anytime in the next 4 years if he gets reelected. With Biden I’m not so sure.

    Americans tend to reelect their first term presidents unless they do something spectacularly bad. Jimmy Carter was, I think, the last to suffer this fate as a result of the aborted rescue mission to free the hostages in the American embassy in Tehran after the Islamic revolution.

    So, depending on how Americans feel about covid, which is really a matter for the individual states, rather than the federal government, I think he’ll get back in. The main reason is that Biden has nothing to offer than “not Trump” and I think Americans in general will go with the devil they know.

    At least Twitter will be happy.

  59. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    AYRSHIRE ROB @ 12:58

    I read your post an immediately played the video again

    hahaha, it’s soooo funny.

  60. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    I’m saying nothing about America so I don’t sound like a Londoner talking about Scotland.

    But it’s very depressing to see a Tweet observing that US gun shops are running out of ammunition.

    I wonder if there’s anywhere in the world where politics isn’t a soul destroying parade of human mediocrity.

  61. Jeremy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Stuart McKay

    “Americans tend to reelect their first term presidents unless they do something spectacularly bad. Jimmy Carter was, I think, the last to suffer this fate”

    There was George Bush Snr as well. Only lasted one term, 1989 – 1993.

  62. robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    Given the lamentably poor choice facing Americans ( again ! ) I’m , reluctantly , inclined to agree with you Stu . For all his all- too- manifest faults Trump is not as hawkish as Biden or the Democrats generally and the fundamental attack on women’s rights and clear identity as distinct from men the demented Trans Lobby represents is just too nightmarish to contemplate . It really is a dreadful reflection of the state of American politics that they have such a pitifully poor choice of candidates and once again have to decide on the basis of the lesser evil

  63. Frank Gillougley
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh fuckity fuckity fuck fuck fuck. Ther, that’s my considered opinion. Part of the problem is that Americans speak English. If they didn’t, then we’d perceive them quite differenly, just like any other dictatorship.

  64. Socrates MacSporran
    Ignored
    says:

    I am not really bothered which candidate wins int he USA. So long as whoever is president when we become Independent and we decide to adopt a Norwegian-style approach to our oil indistry, does not immediately invade us to protect American oil interests.

    If the US armed forces thought taking on the Taliban was bad, wait until they go up against the reformed HLI and Cameronians.

  65. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Stuart MacKay @1:20 pm

    George Bush Snr was the last White House incumbent not to be re-elected Stuart. He’d done 12 consecutive years as Vice-Pres and President going into the 1992 election against Bill Clinton. Worryingly, Bush Snr now appears almost moderate by today’s standards.

  66. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    What a dismal choice.

    Trump is genuinely bonkers and undermining America’s free way of life. On his watch the country’s never been so divided and tense. He’s a mindless vandal. He’s also an incompetent one.

    Biden may be worse! A sleazeball of the first rank, senile, and a fully signed-up member of the International War Criminals’ Club. Fingerprints on some of the worst neo-liberal decisions of the past forty years. If he was British he’d be somewhere near IDS in ideology, yet he’s willing to appease the craziest type of left-wingers.

    Many also seem to think that if Trump loses then his supporters will just disappear. Instead what you’re likely to get is someone who believes the same things but is way savvier about it. To use a Spanish analogy, if Trump is Primo de Rivera, there might well be a Franco.

    A bad state of affairs for our American friends.

  67. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Socrates-

    We have a huge number of natural resources and occupy a strategically vital geographical position.

    We must be unsentimental and strike good deals with other countries; it is in their interests to do so.

  68. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Jeremy, kapelmeister

    Thanks I totally forgot about him but then there was a forest of Bushes at the time, with Jebb tipped as the next President until George Jnr. screwed him over.

    Also I don’t think we’re done with “electing cretins as leaders”. Four years is simply not long enough for Americans to get rid of this “let’s try electing a populist” streak. That bodes ill for us, as Farage is creeping out of the gutter again and with Johnson looking like he aged 100 years there’s real danger that all the talk of the UK sinking into fascism is yet to come true.

    BTW there was an article here in the local press that said that Boris will be gone by next spring as the effects of covid are still with him and he’s simply not up to the job. Another reason Farage is resurfacing.

    Other than what I said I think the Rev. is right. Women’s rights are probably going to be the major issue that nobody in the MSM saw or talked about that will decide the election.

  69. Roger
    Ignored
    says:

    AYRSHIRE ROB says:
    3 November, 2020 at 1:06 pm

    Mist 001

    You’re a eegit. Antifa is not an organisation you fool,its ideology.

    Antifa’s just an ideology, really? And you’re just a gobshite.

    https://twitter.com/MrAndyNgo/status/1323495910542700545

  70. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Stuart-

    I imagine Farage will have a big effect in England. If you were a Tory there are plenty of ways in which Johnson has failed. He’s not a conservative in the meaningful sense, he’s just a corrupt, inept chancer who panders to the worst instincts of people.

    Even if one in ten support Farage that could really alter the dynamics of politics down South. Say what you like about him but the guy is good at what he does.

    Depressingly (to me) a lot of the reaction from left-wing and liberal types has been “lol Farage”. They never, ever learn.

  71. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Neil G

    Sturgeon likes the idea of strong women with power and influence she is a Feminist which flies in the face of any idea that she supports the concept of transgender activism when it seeks to underline the very idea of what is and what isnt a Women.

    There may very well be a strong group of pro transgender activism in the SNP but Im absolutely positive it doesnt include Nicola Sturgeon.

    Nicola Sturgeon is also a Social Democrat so she will also support the concept of giving equal voice to minorities which is where the false accusation of pro transgender activism stems from.
    She wont oppose the concept of free speech for all so wont clamp down on the transgender activism within the SNP for fear of doing so but thats not the same as supporting it and its about time people like the Rev Stu here recognise and acknowledge the difference.

  72. Johnny Martin
    Ignored
    says:

    The sad thing here is for those ordinary Americans who are hoping for better domestic policies aimed at sharing the wealth even a little bit.

    Biden has promised Wall Street no change.

    Therefore, really, the only ones who won’t be really disappointed with Biden’s win by next summer are those for whom ‘beating Trump’ was all that was required. This is likely why Biden has run such an uninspiring campaign which was mainly ‘the other guy is bad’. He is offering so little.

  73. Confused
    Ignored
    says:

    deep state operatives out of langley via bohemian grove have been using hollywood as a mass brainwashing device (- this was the real conclusion of mkultra – forget drugs it’s all about the TV) for decades via predictive programming –

    e.g. blazing saddles was used for the elections immediately previous

    george dubya bush = william j lepotmane
    hedley lamarr (HEDLEY!) = dick cheney
    cleavon little = sheriff of rock ridge = obama
    rock ridge = america

    hillary clinton was dorothy, off to see the wizard of oz, with her numerous “friends of dorothy”

    she lost to –

    biff tannen = trump (back to the future)

    if biden wins, he will probably drop dead the day after being sworn in, leaving his VP in charge, which I believe is a feisty black wahmen, who will nod her head sideways and say “uh HUH” to all the world leaders; she will also use her maths brain to do orbital mechanics calculations which the patriarchy cannot handle

    – personally, if I had to choose …

    sneak attack from north korea – kim dong hits the east and west coast with one massive H bomb each, then peace shall reign

    “don’t worry children, there are no monsters anymore …”

  74. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Biden wont last more than 1 term. The Republicans can put up anybody who isnt Donald Trump and beat him without effort.
    Thats how bad he is.

  75. HandandShrimp
    Ignored
    says:

    The postal and early voting seems to indicate a hefty female turn out. It remains to be seen which way they have leaned. Trump is a shocker, vain beyond belief and devoid of any scrap of integrity. Biden by comparison is beige wallpaper.

    One would hope that a Biden win would focus on repairing the divisions within the US rather than returning to the role of World Police. However, that is a hope rather than an expectation.

    On balance, I think Biden is the better option but the threat that he might come and live in Scotland if he loses was a low blow from Trump.

  76. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @HandandShrimp

    “On balance, I think Biden is the better option but the threat that he might come and live in Scotland if he loses was a low blow from Trump.”

    Oh I dont know he might vote for Independence in the hope of one day becoming First Minister. Narcissism can do that.

  77. Muscleguy
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave
    Homophobia and Trans are deep bedfellows. Those psychiatrists who have left the Travistock in disgust have said that a great many transitioners are driven by their own or their family’s deep seated homophobia. If Sam is gay and attracted to boys and that is a problem then making Sam into Samantha takes away the problem. Sam’s attraction to boys was because she is a girl, phew!

    Do you see? If you are a homophobic politician you would also see Trans as a solution to the ‘gay problem’ since many trans people are effectively, often deliberately sterilised by the process of transition. Puberty blockers certainly sterilise people.

    If you are scientifically ignorant engough to think genetics is the only way to be born gay then you might well think that sterilising them through Trans will solve the ‘gay problem’. Thus trans is seen as a way to remove gay people.

    Then of course TRA’s and the Woke say that exclusively same sex attracted people are transphobic since they refuse to consider Trans people as partners.

    Homophobia and trans are natural partners.

  78. WhoRattledYourCage
    Ignored
    says:

    Kamala Harris slept get way to the top. Got her first political jobs from fucking her boss, who was notorious for doling out work on this sleazy fashion. Some feminist.

    https://www.americanthinker.com/blog/2020/08/willie_brown_admits_it_kamala_harris_slept_her_way_to_the_top.html

  79. Wee Crabbit Bas
    Ignored
    says:

    A lot of folks will have to put their pride on the shelf today. Or spoil their ballot with a clever keepsake photo.

  80. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Muscleguy

    Wow. Do you really believe that a Hetrosexual Homophobic politician with ambitions for the highest office in the Western world will actually think along the lines of ending or degrading the issue from his perspective of homosexuality by supporting the idea of Women with cocks?

    Please tell me that was tongue in cheek.

  81. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Kapelmeister @ 12:10pm, I hear you. I voted for a “Third party” candidate in 2016 because I couldn’t stomach the idea of Trump or Clinton. This time, Biden is more palatable and, although I would have liked to vote for one of the other candidates (five named choices – Republican, Democrat, Constitution, Green, Libertarian – as well as a write-in option) I think this election is far too important to allow Trump another four years.

    I am slightly concerned that, if Biden becomes incapacitated, Kamala Harris will step into his shoes. I am also well aware that the vote is not just for President but is also for a whole administration. There are more political appointees at the top of executive departments in the USA than there traditionally is in other countries, including the British Isles. It wasn’t an easy choice but, on this occasion, I think “Never Trumpers” have to coalesce around one candidate and that candidate is Joe Biden.

  82. WhoRattledYourCage
    Ignored
    says:

    She is also a narcissistic, punitive sociopath. Watch the video of her laughing aboot locking poor people up and shiver at the thought of her at the helm of the USA, if and when Biden had some health problem. Total zoomer.

    https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/jan/30/kamala-harris-truant-children-parents-prosecutions-clip

  83. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    ‘Trump is a borderline actual fascist who has openly encouraged violent racist militia’

    ‘Trump is the more obviously personally despicable’

    It is not my place to say what anyone’s politics should be,nor which politician they should support or like, but given the actual facts readily available at this second it takes someone who has decided to remain in their own ideological bubble to make both of those statements.

    Yet you hate it when the media states easily disproven lies about yourself or anyone who you support.

    Do 2 things for your own integrity:

    1 – inform yourself
    2 – try to be less of a hypocrite

    Thank god you have infinitely higher standards when it comes to the Scottish political theatre.

    Its my pleasure 🙂

  84. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu, I am interested in your view that Joe Biden is senile. Before you wrote that, how much weight did you give to the fact that he has lived his entire life with a stutter?

  85. Fireproofjim
    Ignored
    says:

    What astonishes me is that there are 300 million Americans and those two are the best their system could come up with.
    I have many American friends all of whom are rational, kind and generous people. Nothing like Trump or Biden, but it seems the worst of the worst come to the top of their political system.
    It was Billy Connolly who said “ The very fact that they want to stand for Parliament should be enough to bar them for life”.

  86. MaggieC
    Ignored
    says:

    Re Harassment and Complaints Committee ,

    This article is from the Scotsman about documents released by the Committee this morning ,

    “Emails and documents produced by the former first minister and his legal team expose a litany of failings by the Scottish Government in its handling of harassment complaints against Alex Salmond. “

    https://archive.vn/p4Qb2

    And from the Harassment and Complaints Committee ,

    “ Legal firm Levy & McRae, representing the Former First Minister Alex Salmond, submitted documents relating to the Judicial Review for the Committee’s consideration (please note due to the size of this file it may take several minutes to open this document) “

    https://www.parliament.scot/AS-Documents-Final-Redactions-02112020-GD-PM.pdf

  87. Allium
    Ignored
    says:

    Nicola Sturgeon absolutely does support the TRA agenda. She’s a liberal feminist, not a Julie Bindel-style second waver. She buys into it 100%, with enthusiasm, just look at some of her closest associates. She hopes introducing Yogyakarta to Scotland will be her proud legacy, and passport to an important international job. She is the one pushing GRA, she is the one at the helm.

  88. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Biden is a misogynist arse, Trump is also an arse but during his time, has he bombed any middle eastern country back to the stone age?

    If I was in the US, I’d probably abstain

  89. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    Allium is correct, if you have any extreme opinions in the SNP, like “wanting to make an attempt to fulfil its purpose”, look what happens to you, but if you tell a woman that she deserves to be burned alive for not loving your girl dick (the words make me sick), and please, have a constituency. If she was against it, she’d have done something about it.

  90. Nell G
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave

    Sturgeon is no feminist, she is a power hungry opportunist who has chosen to side with the Trans brigade because she knows they are an untouchable rabid pack who you can’t openly criticise for fear of being branded a transphobe and by extension homophobic. Of course there is a distinct difference between the two groups.

    If a feminist can be defined as someone with an unhealthy hatred for straight white males then that’s our Nicola in a nutshell. If it’s someone who wishes to protect safe spaces for women and their hard fought rights then that’s something she’s not.

  91. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Allium

    Ok so give me 1 example of where that support for the actual TRA agenda manifested itself and wasnt simply support for the right to have an agenda.
    She has never pushed for GRA in her life. She has supported and continues to support LGBT rights as a whole and has taken no side in the conflict between Feminists and transgenders over Gender recognition. As a feminist im sure her sympathies lie with the feminists but as a Social Democrat her sympathies also lie with free speech and representation for all. She has to balance these sympathies as the FM which pisses off people on both sides who want her to champion their agendas.

  92. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    Instead of fighting for Scotland to Remain in the EU as decided by the sovereign people of Scotland, the SNP’s MPs blocked England’s Brexit deals.

    Then Labour and the SNP went along with the Tories’ plan to hold another general election, with Sturgeon’s bravado: “Bring it on”.

    Scots may shake their heads in wonder at politics in America but even Trump does not allow his nation to be ruled by another country.

    Whereas, in Scotland, we have the spineless colonial administrator SNP Scot Govt, in a parliament of colonial administrators ruled over by a very dodgy Nicola Sturgeon, wife of the equally dodgy Peter Murrell.

    People are still looking to the SNP to topple the British Empire; it’s laughable.

    The SNP can’t even liberate the SNP from the sticky mitts of the dodgy Murrells.

    A Scot Govt so incompetent, they couldn’t even bring down one man, Alex Salmond with their botched conspiracy. So, incompetent, their attempted cover-up of the conspiracy is as watertight as the Titanic after it met an iceberg.

    And the SNP have now become as dodgy as Father Ted with their: “The money was just resting in my account” excuses for the disappearance of the Indyref funds in the creative accounting of SNP HQ.

    Women don’t have penises; and the SNP politicians don’t have any balls – when it comes to fighting for the restoration of Scotland’s national sovereignty.

  93. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Neil G

    Absolute horseshite motivated by the fact that you desperately want her to side with your point of view rather than acknowledge she cant because it conflicts with her Social Democratic ideals and her JOB as FM of a Social Democratic party where EVERYBODY and EVERY GROUP has to be treated with equal consideration.

    If you’re so desperate to be a one issue extremist then vote for the Brexit party Im sure they share your ideals on transgender politics.

  94. Allium
    Ignored
    says:

    LOL! No, her sympathies do not lie with the feminists. Good God, this stuff is electoral poison but she refuses to back away from the insanity of it. The buck stops with her. Whether its backing Rhiannon, her shilling for SAS at every opportunity, her backroom staffing, her bizarre attempts at trolling radfems on twitter, her redefinition of the word woman to include men in actual ScotGov policy (so that real feminists have to fundraise for a judicial review), or the absurd amount on funding handed out to engender, Stonewall etc without one equivalent penny awarded to feminist groups it is perfectly clear whose side she is on.

  95. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Colin Alexander

    That was nothing but a pitiful meaningless hate filled rant without a shred of credibility or worth.
    If you’re so emotionally set on hating the SNP and the regime then by all means dont vote for them or support them but stop making up pitiful excuses and bare faced lies to justify it try opening up and explain TRUTHFULLY where this emotive animosity comes from.

  96. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Allium

    So no actual examples then just another hate filled rant without substance. Shocker.

  97. MorvenM
    Ignored
    says:

    https://twitter.com/RodneyClaeys/status/1323543391599095808

    Hope this is right and the Mango Mussolini is on his way out.

    I agree it’s a terrible choice for women between the r@pist and the reality denier.

    It’s a bit unfair to say Biden is senile though. He’s losing his marbles, but he’s not quite there yet. As he’s not actually insane, he may be open to persuasion on the transgender issue.

    I believe was keen to score woke brownie points to secure the nomination, but will be more pragmatic if he gets elected. I hope Kamala Harris doesn’t have much influence on him though – she’s a true believer.

    I hope he gives her a busy job to occupy her that has nothing to do with women’s rights. Fingers crossed.

  98. Joe
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave

    Looks more like a substance-filled hate-free description of reality to me.

  99. susanXX
    Ignored
    says:

    No Dave @2:40pm and @2:45pm. It is not possible to be neutral on the trans rights v women’s rights issue as one is grounded in science and reality, the other is an aggressive, colonizing ideology with no connection to science or reality. So NS HAS chosen a side, by omission. And it is the wrong side.

  100. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave @2:54

    Any pro-indy hate filled rants against Sturgeon and Murrell are fine by me. Because they are truly hateful.

  101. Allium
    Ignored
    says:

    I honestly pity you Sturgeonistas now. The cognitive dissonance is all you have left.

  102. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @A Person

    “Allium is correct, if you have any extreme opinions in the SNP, like “wanting to make an attempt to fulfil its purpose”, look what happens to you, but if you tell a woman that she deserves to be burned alive for not loving your girl dick (the words make me sick), and please, have a constituency. If she was against it, she’d have done something about it.”

    Well for one thing nobody wants the Scottish Government to be an extremist organisation that supports any idea of extremism in any form so not seeing ignoring attempts to introduce extreme ideas into the SNP as a bad thing.

    What exactly should Nicola Sturgeon have done to somebody who says “she deserves to be burned alive for not loving your girl dick even if she was actually told somebody said it?

    Is she supposed to react to every negative statement made by everybody and anybody hearing it either first hand or second hand from somebody else?

    See this is just another example of a pitiful attempt to find a grievance when no real tangible grievance exists because an excuse is needed to express an emotional point of view.

    Grow up.

  103. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Kapelmeister

    So give me an example of somebody in the public eye you dont hate.

  104. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Looking across attachments by Maggie C, it becomes very obvious they wanted the head of Alex. Despite warning after warning they continued on an illegal path.

    The BIG question. Did Nicola know?

    If she did then she has to go. If she didn’t ,then who the hell is running Scotland? Leslie Evans and Murrell?

  105. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Allium

    Save your pity for those reduced to projecting themselves onto others because their agenda cant be supported with substance.

  106. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave 3:06

    Monty Don.

  107. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Susanxx

    “Chosen a side by omission”

    Isnt that an example of choosing both sides?

  108. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Joe says

    “Looks more like a substance-filled hate-free description of reality to me.”

    Perhaps you dont understand the meaning of the term substance then.

  109. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave is funny…

    …….but not as funny as that video!!

    I swear to God, I must’ve watched it 6 times – lifts the spirits!

  110. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    @dave her refusal to sign the Women’s Pledge but signing the Out4Indy one.
    Being photographed with O4I group, Mridul Wadhwa. No condenmation of MW, TW lying on her application form to get a job in a Rape Crisis Centre.

    Her refusal to ackowledge that TW can be as dangerous as some men, when shown the example of Katie Dolatowski sexually assaulting two young girls in Kirkcaldy, her response was to mention an alleged rape of a TW in Belgium.

    Stop defending the indefensible.

  111. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @ahundredthidiot

    What video? I could use a good laugh after all the depressing horseshite Ive read on here today.

  112. WhoRattledYourCage
    Ignored
    says:

    Interesting to see American politics causing arguments here. 30 years ago most people wouldn’t have even known the difference between their two main parties. Just shows you how much we have been brainwashed to obsess over the place and its every braindead utterance. Then again, this is a place for political anorak, so I suppose it evens out.

  113. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Damn, I used the r word again

  114. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Bob Mack

    Boris Johnson is running Scotland via the Scotland Office. Leslie Evans is an employee of the Scotland Office.
    Ask Alex Salmond he understands how it works.

  115. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Dave-

    It was sarcasm! How is “the SNP wanting to make an attempt to fulfill its purpose” an extreme idea? It’s very telling that you think it is.

    No, obviously Sturgeon cannot be expected to know everything everybody has ever said. But that actually proves my point. For instance, she knows that racism is a thing without having to be shown every racist slur. So if it is exposed that a candidate has made a racist slur, they can be turned away, and quite rightly so. But she also knows that hideous, violent misogyny by trans activists is a thing, yet such people are not merely not dealt with, but actively promoted and protected.

    If pointing this out is “creating division”, well, okay then, the SNP don’t own me and I’m not obligated to them. By your logic if someone comes to your house to set it on fire and you object that’s “causing division”.

    Your argument is so incoherent and weak that I think you’re just trolling so cheerio.

    To be honest your argument is so incoherent that I can’t be bothered engaging with you.

  116. susanXX
    Ignored
    says:

    No it’s not Dave. It’s not calling out vicious abuse when it should be called out. As for grievance seeking, that is the trans agenda in a nutshell because it cannot make one rational statement to back up its pyschobabble.

  117. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    I swear, if Trump wins, am playing YMCA oot the back garden phull pelt, rolling aboot buck naked in the mud, save for ma MAGA hat.

    year har!

  118. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave @3:18

    Evans is Permanent Secretary to the Scottish Government. She is not part of the Scotland Office, which is a Whitehall department.

  119. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Kapelmeister

    “Monty Don”

    I can only applaud such honesty that results in self depreciation without concern.

  120. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave,

    You could be right, but in this instance we actually know Leslie Evans acted on instructions from Nicola. That is fairly well documented by Ms Evans herself.

  121. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Kapelmeister

    The Civil Service in Scotland is run EXCLUSIVELY from the Scotland Office even those who are tasked to work within the Scottish Parliament.

    She is an EMPLOYEE of the Scotland Office as ALL CIVIL SERVICE RECRUITMENT in Scotland is from within the Scotland Office.

    Leslie Evans was one choice presented to the Scottish Government from a tiny pool of choices compiled from within the Scotland Office.

    The common denominator here is the SCOTLAND OFFICE.

  122. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Bob Mack

    What precise instructions are you referring to? I have no doubt Nicola Sturgeon has instructed Leslie Evans to do many things as has her EMPOYERS within the Scotland Office.

  123. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave

    You don’t seem to be very well informed about the SNP. Do you usually rely solely on The National and Wee Ginger Dug blog for your political knowledge?

    If you think my assertions are wrong, specify where.

    Show me where the indyref funds are, for starters, and I would gladly hold my hands up and admit I got it wrong.

  124. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    Susanxx

    Nicola Sturgeon was not elected by her constituents to call out examples of verbal abuse nor was she elected by the party as leader to call out verbal abuse she was elected to serve her constituents on EVERY ISSUE that affects their lives and elected by the party to LEAD them in their task of GOVERNMENT.

    When did you lose site of that FACT?

  125. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    The world’s GREATEST democracy.
    https://www.thesatirist.com/news/us-democracy-proves-itself-best-in-the-world.html
    ¡Ay caramba!
    D’oh!

  126. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Colin Alexander

    “If you think my assertions are wrong, specify where.”

    Im calling out the FACT that you’ve done nothing but ASSERT the onus is now on you to justify your assertions instead you look like you’re choosing to cop out because you cant and because you cant you’re justifying my position in calling it out.

    “Show me where the indyref funds are, for starters, and I would gladly hold my hands up and admit I got it wrong.”

    PROVE to me they are missing.

  127. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Skip_NC @ 14:20

    Good luck with your vote for ‘I’m running for Senator against George Trump and I never know what State I’m in’ Biden.

    some stutter that, but best of luck to you over in the States – you’ll need it either way, may the best man win (or woman).

    Dave @ 15:15

    C’mon Man! – it’s right at the top of the piece

  128. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @A Person

    This also applies to your last rant of a post.

    Nicola Sturgeon was not elected by her constituents to call out examples of verbal abuse nor was she elected by the party as leader to call out verbal abuse she was elected to serve her constituents on EVERY ISSUE that affects their lives and elected by the party to LEAD them in their task of GOVERNMENT.

    When did you lose site of that FACT?

  129. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I think America is more of a business than a country now, and that reflects itself on who can run for presidency, money be the key requirement, huge amounts of cash given by sponsors who have their own agendas when the POTUS takes office.

    I’m not sure though if Trump paid for his own campaign in the run up to his first term. It is true to say though that Trump is the most outrageous person ever to become POTUS, his open racist comments, his ridiculous claims of knowing more about just about everything than anyone else, his overriding the medical profession on Covid, at one point almost promoting injecting ones self with bleach as a cure for Covid.

    But he is a businessman, and that’s why a significant amount of Americans love him. Biden isn’t much better, the corruption surrounding his family with Ukraine in mind is well documented, in an ideal world both men wouldn’t be allowed anywhere near the Whitehouse. I feel sorry for Americans they’re stuck between a rock and a hard place, on which of these men should become Americas next POTUS.

  130. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @ahundredthidiot

    Ok Ta.

  131. Republicofscotland
    Ignored
    says:

    I should’ve added to my above comment for what its worth, that Bernie Sanders might have made a decent fist as POTUS, if his own DNC hadn’t screwed him again out of the nomination.

    Even the Democrats fear socialism in America.

  132. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave…

    Your whack-a-mole approach to defending Surgeon’s SNP against those who have legitimate complaints and concerns is frankly disturbing.

    Reminds me of someone else whose favourite recourse is to cry “Fake news, fake news” despite the evidence to the contrary being there for all to see.

    FYI… The fictional WDHP party is simply a means of spoiling the (constituency) ballot. I wouldn’t lend my vote to the SNP in its current form and I suspect that a Wokerati clone of ‘Daddy Bear’ will be on the ticket here, and I sure as hell won’t be supporting the policies they’ll be advocating – which won’t include any genuine effort to secure IndyRef2/Indy, so I’ll not be losing any sleep over it.

  133. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    kapelmeister Leslie Evans also reports to her masters in Whitehall every Wednesday in Person.

  134. susanXX
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave is DARVO in action. I’m going to ignore from now on.

  135. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Just for info

    The Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, a left leaning, liberal news outlet in Pennsylvania – traditionally pro-Democrat – endorsed Donald J Trump.

    Why?……..jobs.

    Biden screwed his chances during the Presidential debate when he said the Oil Industry was over. 47 years in politics and not a clue.

    Its the Economy stupid……always is. Just like our own loss in 2014 – we just couldn’t answer the big questions well enough to convince enough (Pensions, Currency, Europe).

    I predict a landslide for Trump……now….where’s that video!

  136. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    “Nicola Sturgeon is also a Social Democrat so she will also support the concept of giving equal voice to minorities which is where the false accusation of pro transgender activism stems from.”

    In a democracy, the rule-of-law must be coherent and compatible with bounded-rationality, which limits the will of man through a respect for public morality. Otherwise it ain’t democracy, and policy simply becomes a vehicle for eugenics, enabled through excessive legal instrumentalism. That’s exactly what enabled the Nazis to do their thing. So I’d suggest no true Social Democrat would either set out to undermine the ethical rationalism of government, or allow it to happen. Especially in such a clearly illegal fashion.

    “She wont oppose the concept of free speech for all so wont clamp down on the transgender activism within the SNP for fear of doing so but thats not the same as supporting it and its about time people like the Rev Stu here recognise and acknowledge the difference.

    From the perspective of critical rationalism, tolerating intolerance is an effective way of loosing your democracy. The trans-activists within the party are openly hostile towards, and intolerant of, liberal science. As well as the existing fabric of legal rights protection so far secured by natal women. So allowing their presence in the party, actively hurts Scotland’s democracy.

  137. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave

    I said the indyref funds have disappeared into the SNP accounts. The SNP accounts have been published and do not show a separate total for the indyref funds that were raised. Therefore, they HAVE disappeared into the SNP accounts.

    The onus is on the SNP to prove they have not touched a penny of the indyref funds and that they have remained ring-fenced. As they repeatedly refused to show donors where the money is, people have no option but to come to their own conclusions.

    And just to set the record straight. I don’t hate the Murrells or the SNP: you mistake my scorn and contempt for them as hatred.

    I believe they should get a fair trial like Alex Salmond.

  138. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Colin Alexander

    “I said the indyref funds have disappeared into the SNP accounts.”

    No you didnt here is what you posted

    “Show me where the indyref funds are, for starters, and I would gladly hold my hands up and admit I got it wrong.”

    ” The SNP accounts have been published and do not show a separate total for the indyref funds that were raised. Therefore, they HAVE disappeared into the SNP accounts.”

    Your conclusion reached as a result of your assertion is another assertion. Your building assertions based on your own assertions without providing a single shred of evidence or justification.

    “The onus is on the SNP to prove they have not touched a penny of the indyref funds and that they have remained ring-fenced.”

    It isnt but if it was how would they be able to do that?

    “As they repeatedly refused to show donors where the money is”

    You’ve asserted that they showed they put them into their own accounts. You’re now contradicting your own assertions.

    “people have no option but to come to their own conclusions.”

    They have the option of not coming to their own conclusions especially when they contradict themselves and can find no justification for doing so.

    Imagine anybody mistaking scorn and contempt for hatred when it is expressed with despite and a complete lack of justification.

  139. ClanDonald
    Ignored
    says:

    Two things stand out for me in your insightful yet alarming post on global politics:

    You were on twitter this morning?!?

    You took a pink marker pen into the voting booth?

  140. Jack McArthur
    Ignored
    says:

    Ancient Egyptians show in tomb paintings people who are upside down. Related texts describe these people being averse to what is good and preferring instead lies, filth and so forth. They are shown first being punished for their crimes and then annihilated.

    This reminds me of this upside down world. People calling themselves anti-fascists but are fascists of the worst sort. People calling themselves liberals but are silencers of free speech. People calling black as white and dark as light.

    In the tomb of King of Tutankhamun were found two tiny mummies of still born children who were buried as human beings even though they never entered into this world alive. I remember reading a while back how aborted children were being used to heat hospitals in the UK. Ancient Egyptian texts describe how children in their mothers womb have their face turned towards god. Millennia later Jesus would teach a very similar thing.

    Like I say, this world seems like those tomb depictions mentioned above.

  141. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Colin Alexander,

    The money IS in the SNP accounts apparently. Woven in like a thread according to the Treasurer.

    He failed to explain this “weave” though to the unenlightened.

    Just so happens I think they have blown it on other things

  142. Fergus Denoon
    Ignored
    says:

    Isn’t it male rights that will be discriminated against?

    Women wont have urinals taken away…

  143. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Cameron B Brodie

    “In a democracy, the rule-of-law must be coherent and compatible with bounded-rationality, which limits the will of man through a respect for public morality. Otherwise it ain’t democracy, and policy simply becomes a vehicle for eugenics, enabled through excessive legal instrumentalism. That’s exactly what enabled the Nazis to do their thing. So I’d suggest no true Social Democrat would either set out to undermine the ethical rationalism of government, or allow it to happen. Especially in such a clearly illegal fashion.”

    A lovely paragraph that bears no relation to anything posted today. However.

    “In a democracy, the rule-of-law must be coherent and compatible with bounded-rationality, which limits the will of man through a respect for public morality. Otherwise it ain’t democracy,”

    Absolute horseshite. Democracy is defined simply as the expression of the will of a Majority. It is not Governed by any other consideration. It can occur with or without statute law.

    “and policy simply becomes a vehicle for eugenics, enabled through excessive legal instrumentalism.”

    A meaningless scramble of words designed ONLY to look clever and articulate rather than provide a shred of substance to a point especially in light of the FACT that what preceded it was pure dishonest horseshite.

    “So I’d suggest no true Social Democrat would either set out to undermine the ethical rationalism of government, or allow it to happen. Especially in such a clearly illegal fashion.”

    And as a result of what came before this conclusion was reached we got nothing but a gibbering piece of fancy prose which didnt even provide a point of view or rationality to what came before.

    As a post used to avoid any real attempt to deal with points raised its a masterpiece.

  144. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Ahundredthidiot @ 4:13pm, there will be no landslide for Trump. Based on latest polling, it is reasonable to assume that Biden has about 210 electoral college votes (the west coast and the north-eastern states & DC) in the bank, whereas Trump can count on about 125 electoral college votes – basically down the middle of the country and the gulf states outside Florida. it takes 270 Electoral College votes to win.

    It is hard to see how Trump would be in a position to credibly declare victory tonight. It is easier for Biden, but still not a high probability. For instance, here in NC, he would need to be ahead by over 100,000 votes at the end of the night to be reasonably certain of picking up our 15 Electoral College votes. There are 136,700 mail-in ballots that have not been returned and fully processed. A high number of those will be military ballots which can be expected to break disproportionately for Trump.

    If Trump is going to win, it will be in the coming days, rather than tonight. If Biden has a really good night (winning the Great Lakes states, North Carolina and Florida convincingly and picking up or holding the non-coastal western states) he may be able to claim victory by tomorrow morning. I can’t help feeling, though, that it will come down to Pennsylvania. The early voting and mail-in ballot counting in that state will be done after today. In any case, there is an ongoing lawsuit as to whether mail-in ballots received by PA after today can be counted. That issue could easily end up in the Supreme Court.

    As for the popular vote, Trump lost that last time and, frankly, I expect the same this time. because of the winner-take-all in most states, every vote that Biden gets in, eg, California over Trump is basically wasted.

  145. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    I sometimes wonder at US politics. Putting forward a 77 year old for arguably one of the most stressful and demanding roles in the world?

    Unless they are using Kamala Harris as their contingency, as if Biden became incapacitated she would assume control.

  146. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Bob Mack

    “The money IS in the SNP accounts apparently.”

    IT IS? or APPARENTLY IS?

    “He failed to explain this “weave” though to the unenlightened.

    Just so happens I think they have blown it on other things”

    If they blew it on other things how come you’re saying its still in their accounts? “Apparently”

    Is there something wrong with you people you feel the need to persist in this campaign of self denial and reality avoidance because you cant justify your need to attack the SNP and the Government?

  147. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Beaker, it was essentially an anti-Sanders vote. The Democratic Party needed to pick someone quickly and Biden was the only one that could cobble together a coalition. The endorsement of Biden by Jim Clyburn (a congressman from South Carolina who is, as we say here, African American) was critical in helping Biden secure victory in that state’s primary and in the others that followed it shortly afterwards. Warren and Buttigieg’s endorsements didn’t hurt either.

  148. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave
    “Absolute horseshite. Democracy is defined simply as the expression of the will of a Majority. It is not Governed by any other consideration. It can occur with or without statute law.”

    The LSE appear to believe in the importance of “Rational tools of government in a world of bounded rationality”. Do you have evidence to suggest they are wrong and you are correct? If not, it would appear you’re the one who is dissembling and obscuring the truth. Now why would you do that?

    https://www.lse.ac.uk/accounting/assets/CARR/documents/D-P/Disspaper75.pdf

  149. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave,

    No Dave. The Treasurer said the money is there. He just did not explain where. Perfectly simple to point it out in a column or two, I would imagine. Or maybe not in this case.

  150. Cath
    Ignored
    says:

    Women’s rights are indeed at stake, pro-choice is on the ballot with the right wing anti democracy GOP running to take away reproductive choices rights.

    This is one issue on which the right and left are as one in being beholden to a men’s rights movement which seeks to undermine or remove women’s rights. The left wishes to remove women’s right to talk about themselves or meet or represent themselves. The democrats already had that guy in a dress with a boner being elected to a women only position – which is even more desperately needed in the US than here. They have never had a female president.

    So yes, if you’re a woman in the US right now, you have a choice of two shades of old, white, very rich men who wish to remove and roll back women’s rights.

  151. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Cameron B Brodie

    The LSE appear to believe in the importance of “Rational tools of government in a world of bounded rationality”. Do you have evidence to suggest they are wrong and you are correct?

    Why would I need to provide evidence to anything Ive never stated implied denied or acknowledged?

  152. Dave
    Ignored
    says:

    @Bob Mack

    No Dave. The Treasurer said the money is there. He just did not explain where. Perfectly simple to point it out in a column or two, I would imagine. Or maybe not in this case.

    So you either choose to believe him or you dont you dont ASSERT one way or the other without providing the justification for doing so.

  153. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “Isn’t it male rights that will be discriminated against?

    Women wont have urinals taken away…”

    No. Nothing has happened to men’s toilets. Men get to keep their toilets, because urinals are useless to transmen. What you get now are men’s toilets and unisex toilets.

  154. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “PROVE to me they are missing.”

    This is not arguing in good faith. They’re missing because the SNP’s entire net assets according to their accounts are less than half the money supposedly in the referendum fund, and the amount of liquid cash they have is only one sixth of the referendum fund. Those are iron, uncontested facts, from which it can be stated with no fear of contradiction that at an absolute minimum, MOST of the referendum fund is missing.

    Accordingly, Dave is banned.

  155. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Dave
    “Why would I need to provide evidence to anything Ive never stated implied denied or acknowledged?”

    Your words are my evidence, so where’s yours?

    “Absolute horseshite. Democracy is defined simply as the expression of the will of a Majority. It is not Governed by any other consideration. It can occur with or without statute law.”

    I think you have a rather regressive view of democracy, and think it is you that needs to justify majoritarian rule that is divorced from bounded rationality, and the Natural law. As that’s the sort of legal pseudo-science that supports Brexit.

    http://opiniojuris.org/2013/10/09/behavioral-international-law-introduction/

  156. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Lenny @4:06

    Doesn’t Evans, as a civil servant with Permanent Secretary rank, report to the Cabinet Secretary and not to the Permanent Secretary at the Scotland Office, who is the same rank? Not that it matters. Whoever Evans reports to she’s up to no good.

  157. Duncan Clark
    Ignored
    says:

    If Monty Don was in charge of England, would the presenters of the Beechgrove Garden become the Scottish Cabinet?

  158. shug
    Ignored
    says:

    BBC do not seem to be reporting the English infection and death rate today!!

  159. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    On my own personal evil detecting radar Joe Biden is showing up as a significantly larger blip than Donald Trump. Nowhere near as bad as Hillary Clinton v Trump in 2016 but still a lot worse.

    Plus you are not really voting for Biden, he wont last long and then you will have Harris and more curiously whoever she picks to help her which I can tell you now will be horrific (and I have not a clue who it will be).

    The other thing is that the mainstream media absolutely hate Donald Trump and I absolutely hate the mainstream media. I have been watching this for a while now and I still don’t know really why they hate Trump so much but by God they do. All the reasons they give us are bullshit (Trump is right in that regard). It is a very curious situation. It is like the real reasons they hate him can’t be revealed.

    So there is definitely a bit of the enemy of my enemy is my friend going on with Trump even if I cant understand exactly why they hate him so much.

    And it does not matter how much Trump bends over for Israel (which is 99% on everything they want) the MSM still hate him. So what is it I wonder…

    So I’d say it is not a choice between two evils but a choice between the lesser of two evils.

    Trump is a massive ego, puts arseholes like Jared Kushner in charge of everything, never reads a book, only watches cable news, has a shit vocabulary (how many times a day does he say ‘tremendous’), will probably do something stupid with Iran in his second term if he wins and a million other annoying things… but compared to the evil that is the democratic party these days if you held a gun to my head and said Trump or Biden pick or die… no hesitation Trump.

    I also have been thinking for a long while now that the SNP and the US democrats are increasing similar. Both utter slaves to ‘progressive’ politics. If Sturgeon really said that about Hillary Clinton it just goes to show how far gone she is. Shocking but not surprising at this point. This is the woman who went cheek to cheek with Alastair Campbell for a selfie when she should have been at an AUOB march instead. These are glimpses of the real Nicola.

    I predict a Trump win. I thought it would be bigger than last time but with Biden being milder and less dislikeable than Clinton it could be closer than 2016. Looking at the turnout at these Trump rallies I’d be shocked if he lost this. Biden’s campaign is still born in comparison. But unfortunately I do think vote rigging is going to play a significant factor in this election. How much who knows at this point.

    Thinking of jacking politics myself. Too depressing now on all fronts. It feels like something hidden has declared war on us, the normal people, the nobodies.

  160. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    “The other thing is that the mainstream media absolutely hate Donald Trump and I absolutely hate the mainstream media. I have been watching this for a while now and I still don’t know really why they hate Trump so much but by God they do. All the reasons they give us are bullshit (Trump is right in that regard). It is a very curious situation. It is like the real reasons they hate him can’t be revealed. ”

    Trump is a sock-puppet of the radical-right, who pose a serious threat to global law and order, as well as democracy and global public health. Don’t believe me? Well here’s the European Consortium for Political Research’s view on “The Influence of Radical Right Populist Parties on Policy-Making in Europe”.

    https://ecpr.eu/Events/Event/PanelDetails/4791

  161. Wee Chid
    Ignored
    says:

    ClanDonald says:
    3 November, 2020 at 4:35 pm

    “You took a pink marker pen into the voting booth?”

    I’m assuming it was a postal vote – otherwise the polling clerk and presiding officer failed in their duty to stop a voter committing the illegal act of photographing and publishing their ballot paper.

  162. Lenny Hartley
    Ignored
    says:

    Nae idea but it was reported on either Craig Murray or here (i think as until very recently they were the only blogs I read) that she went to Whitehall every Wednesday to keep her real bosses up to date in a meeting of Senior UK Civil Servants

  163. Robert graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Well that’s a Surprise eh ,
    The UK terror alert Threat Level has been raised to Severe coincidentally on the same day Patel the bought and paid for Home Secretary suggested more than 2 people gathering to mount a protest ,any protest constitutes a danger to the state ,Patel the English Governments representative that appears to work for that small Middle East state that has access to and is able to exert undue interference in and on the United States and after the removal of Corbyn from the Labour Party and so now has gained significant Influence on every major political party in this country , Let’s Hope the SNP are exempt from the Friends gang , British politics is maybe now as never before in the grasp of the friends gang friends of this friends of that organisation , all these small coincidences happening while we weren’t looking or paying attention .Somthing is in the planing not for our benefit and not within our country .

  164. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    *****REV*****

    If I hover over some peoples icons it comes up as a wee box where there might be the option to click into someones profile.

    not noticed that before and only works on a few – might be worth checking out at your end?

  165. Robert graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Oops just noticed
    Cams back
    Aw Naw

  166. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    Stu thank fuck for that ban , I felt as if I was on a carnival roundabout after a swally, Dave or Peter we seeeee you, peace for a wee while until he comes back under a NEW name , never mind justifying nicola where’s oor dosh

  167. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Mac-

    I agree with much of your post but rallies are not a good indicator of success.

    We had better rallies and way better style and enthusiasm in 2014 and we lost.

    Corbyn had big rallies and he got pummelled.

    The silent majority don’t go to rallies but they do vote. Not sure what that might mean in this election mind you.

    I’d predict a Biden win because he’s absolutely miles ahead in the polls- and before laugh at that, the polls last time were right. They predicted that Clinton would win by 3%. She won by 2% but the way it was distributed meant Trump won very narrowly. It was only a shock to the pundits because they ignored the polls and told themselves Trump couldn’t win.

  168. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Robert graham
    As the man said, it’s always the right time to do what is right. So it’s always the right time to support democracy. 😉

    https://www.socialistsanddemocrats.eu/sites/default/files/SD_Counter_Radical_Right_Brochure_Web_Spreads_en_170201.pdf

  169. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Mac @ 5:49pm, here is a map that you can manipulate to try out various scenarios: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/trump-biden-election-map/?cid=abcnews. The only state left blank is Pennsylvania – the state that most likely will be the “tipping point.” They have 20 electoral votes.

    In this scenario, whoever wins Pennsylvania wins the election. If you want to play about with scenarios, I suggest focusing on Pennsylvania (more or less rectangular state in the north-east), Florida (most south-easterly state), North Carolina (three states up the east coast from Florida, just below blue Virginia) and the Great lakes states of Minnesota, Wisconsin & Michigan (north, next to the “red wall”). The map in the link assumes Trump will win all the states where it is too close to call. That might be a bit of a stretch, always assuming the polling is closer than it was in 2016.

    Do you still think Trump is likely to win? it’s certainly possible, but likely?

  170. Cuilean
    Ignored
    says:

    You know, Stu, I’d have been sorely tempted to have voted for ‘Mr Blockhead.’

    What a wonderful name for any politician. ‘Blockhead For President! Vote Blockhead! etc.

    Unless, of course, he was trumped by Mr Potatohead.

  171. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    I know what you mean about the rallies. Don’t disagree.

    But where are the ‘shy’ voters here in this election? They are more likely to be Trump supporters I suspect.

    YES had plenty Shy No’s waiting for them. NO was ‘uncool’.
    Corbyn had plenty Shy Tories waiting for him. (Although he was more politically assassinated by a foreign state.) Being a Tory is ‘uncool’.
    But Trump has Shy Trump voters waiting for him. Becasue being a Trump supporter is ‘uncool’.

    There are no shy democrats… The Trump supporters are the ones who have been vilified, called racists, nazis, supremacists etc.. They are the ‘shy’ ones when it comes to polling, not the democrats.

    So that plus all the huge visible support for Trump that is lacking for Biden… makes me think it will be like 2016 all over again but even stronger. I initially was predicting a Trump landslide.

    Of course I am feeling a lot less sure now we are on election day. My gut is still saying this could be a big Trump win, bigger that 2016 with both houses going red as well.

    But there is so much deep chicanery going on though… it is a very dirty war and they are desperate. And we know that desperate people can do desperate things. So who knows what will happen. It feels like dangerous times.

  172. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    “There are no shy democrats… The Trump supporters are the ones who have been vilified, called racists, nazis, supremacists etc.. They are the ‘shy’ ones when it comes to polling, not the democrats.”

    This would appear to be an opinion the supports “Donald Trump, the anti-Muslim far right and the new conservative revolution”.

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01419870.2020.1749688

  173. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Twathater,

    The fact Dave et al are here is because they are feeling the need to defend Nicola. That is much different from just ignoring the claims.

  174. Alec Lomax
    Ignored
    says:

    We get it Mac. You like Trump.

  175. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Biden is simply the pro-war, pro-wall st status quo. A known quantity for the everyday neoliberals and back to business as usual. Obama promised a partial write-down of mortgage debt for people caught up in the sub-prime scandal. At the same time he was promising Wall Street that he was the only candidate who could keep the pitch forks out. He kept his promise to wall st of course and shafted everyone else.
    I spoke to American friends who now live here. They seem to be hanging onto the hope that Biden has hinted at a green new deal but as with Obama, we have heard this crap before

    I think the horror (partly due to the monstering) of trump will get Biden over the line

  176. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Mac-

    True and I also think people actively resent the “cool” option. Remember in 2016, Clinton spent the week before having rallies with various musicians and actors, which gives off a very condescending vibe. “Hello, little voter people, you’re all so thick that you’ll vote as you’re told to by these shiny celebrities, so here they are to tell you to vote for me.” Having celebrities involved in political campaigns is just an ego trip for the politicians- they’ve finally been included in the cool kids!

  177. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Actually Alec what I get is you don’t.

    I am talking as a betting man here. I just want to pick the winner.

  178. lumilumi
    Ignored
    says:

    Ugh, (lol if it wasn’t such a serious matter) at that video clip.

    Who advised Donald Trump dad dancing as a campaign gimmick was a good look? Maybe nobody did, maybe it’s all his own idea, and he thinks he has the greatest moves, sigh.

    It is a delibeate campaign gimmick, he always makes the same moves (bigly floss your teeth, or alternatively, double wank; then clap hands a couple of times, end by raising right hand in a wave).

    Does he even know what The Village People’s song YMCA was about?

    It doesn’t matter, his true believers will lap it up, his detractors will cringe and laugh in disbelief. It won’t matter because U.S. politics has become so polarised and the reporting so shallow that “dad dancing moments” and the reporting and social media frenzy of it might decide the election, instead of real policies and issues.

    Real policies and issues are complex, require facts (of the statistical or proven scientific kind. You know, real facts. Not made-up ones, i.e. lies), analysis, dialogue, negotiation, compromise to find a way forward for a shared common goal. (e.g. the good of the citizens and the country of USA.)

    It’s far easier to simplify things, create us vs. them mentality, deny facts, give catchy soundbites, lie, and demonise your opponents.

    This malaise, this infantilizing, in political life is not confined to the USA. The UK and the Brexit shenanigans are a prime example, but it’s going on in many other “western democratic” countries as well. (And probably elsewhere, but I claim no deeper knowledge of it.)

    What use is democracy if it becomes dysfunctional through people not taking an interest, not educating themselves, and money buying flashy PR and political campaigns, media all bought up by über-rich media barons, so no independent loud, visible media voices, the populace fed with sweet lies, rather than uncomfortable truths.

    I think an ancient Greek philosopher, I forget which one, warned against the demagogues (populist in today’s parlance).

    But here we are.

    Democracy and human rights are in a crisis, once again. Because of the rise of fascist tendencies all around the world, e.g. the U.S.

    But we should keep a candle (or two, as was and is the custom in my country) shining through the dark times. Better times will come, one day.

    It’s just a bit shitty I have to live through the shitty times.

  179. Famous15
    Ignored
    says:

    The only hope for democracy is Bill Blockhead.

    Tell us all about him.

  180. ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    The Proud Boys is run by a Cuban American who also happens to be black. It was started as a joke by Gavin McInnes and the outfit claim to champion masculinity in the face of wokism/PC culture

    Just sayin…….

    But they probably do all have guns and they are definitely not on the Left of politics – a crime these days by all accounts.

    Pretty sure half of America is boarded up in preparation for a hissy fit from BLM though, and not the Proud Boys.

    Them there marxists just love a good book burning if you don’t agree with ’em!

  181. ScottieDog
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh, and if previous post came across as pro-trump, I certainly am not. I’d be voting Biden. The situation however is depressing

  182. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    “Pretty sure half of America is boarded up in preparation for a hissy fit from BLM though, and not the Proud Boys.

    Them there marxists just love a good book burning if you don’t agree with ’em!”

    And there’s the voice of the radical-right.

    https://www.radicalrightanalysis.com/tag/proud-boys/

  183. Dave Hansell
    Ignored
    says:

    Sometimes the only sane and rational outcome of a contest is for both of them to lose.

  184. tridentitycrisis
    Ignored
    says:

    I used to love this site, anticipation whetted for another incisive filleting of the opponents of independence. Now my heart sinks when I get a notification of a new posting in my inbox. The anti-trans focus is becoming too all-consuming. Seeing everything through this limiting prism is not productive. The attacks on the SNP remind me of Stalin during the “Third Period” communist era of 1928-34. This doctrine declared that the real enemies of socialism were not the Fascists, but the Social Democrats, who were labelled as Social Fascists. This disastrous policy helped Hitler into power and was ditched in 1934 to be replaced by attempts to build popular fronts with parties close to the communists – too little too late as it happened.
    As for the critique of Joe Biden… yes, he once was opposed to gay marriage, but changed his mind and is now a staunch supporter of this right. Just like the Pope who has also changed Catholic doctrine on same-sex relationships. Surely we welcome converts, otherwise we’d never win enough support for independence. “Only fools and fanatics never changer their minds,” said George Bernard Shaw. Biden is not an ideal candidate, but I’d vote for a breeze-block if it stood against Trump. He is the epitome of human wickedness. I don’t think Stuart is as much of an expert on US politics as he is on British and Scottish affairs.

  185. Robert Louis
    Ignored
    says:

    And so, as we enter the last few months of 2020, planet earth trundles its merry way to hell in a handcart. Lead by two epic clowns of men, Trump and Johnson. Any hopes I had with the SNP are now gone, they too are corrupt and corrupting, lying on a near daily basis, to hide their mis-deeds. Where IS the ring-fenced referendum money Nicola??? Talk about betrayal, well the SNP are right at the top of the list.

  186. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    I had very strong opinions about the Bush & Cheney regime.

    For me that was the most manifestly evil 8 years I have witnessed in US politics by far.

    Obama was also awful for different reasons but it felt like a holiday compared to Bush/Cheney.

    Trump is hard to define. He is not a politician yet he has used his skills to win and folk are struggling to understand it.

    You cannot say anything positive about Trump (as a neutral) without his opposition going off their nuts. I have never seen anything like this before.

    It is like a collective loss of reason. Which is why I bring up Bush. It was not that long ago but people could still interact. Now they can’t. It is noticeable.

  187. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    “The anti-trans focus is becoming too all-consuming. Seeing everything through this limiting prism is not productive. The attacks on the SNP remind me of Stalin during the “Third Period” communist era of 1928-34. This doctrine declared that the real enemies of socialism were not the Fascists, but the Social Democrats, who were labelled as Social Fascists. This disastrous policy helped Hitler into power and was ditched in 1934 to be replaced by attempts to build popular fronts with parties close to the communists – too little too late as it happened.”

    It simply isn’t possible to support democracy if you are hostile towards bounded rationality, which the GRA amendments are intensely hostile towards. As is Brexit.

    https://medcraveonline.com/MOJCRR/bounded-rationality-in-decisionndashmaking.html

  188. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    @Skip_NC says:
    3 November, 2020 at 5:02 pm
    “Beaker, it was essentially an anti-Sanders vote. The Democratic Party needed to pick someone quickly and Biden was the only one that could cobble together a coalition. ”

    That makes it clearer. I don’t follow US politics closely, but given what’s happened this year already it wouldn’t surprise me if Biden wins. I still think he’s crazy going for the job at 77. The schedule must be mental.

  189. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    Cbb 5.57

    You wrote “Don’t believe me? Well here’s the European Consortium for Political Research’s view on “The Influence of Radical Right Populist Parties on Policy-Making in Europe”.”

    I don’t know whether you are serious when you write such things. What you are doing is called an appeal to authority as part of your argument. In essence, you are saying that some person /organisation, wrote something, so it must be true and it therefore trumps any argument against it.

    Here’s the news CBB. It doesn’t!

    It doesnt mater what the issue is or the subject matter being discussed, researching to find someone/ some party, that agrees with your position, changes nothing. Its just another opinion.

    What do we know about the European Consortium for Political Research? On their website, they write:

    “Our members are universities, and the communities within them, engaged in the research and teaching of social sciences.”

    We know they are acedmics (i.e. they dont have proper jobs or work in industry or commerce). They work within Universities (i.e. they work in a hotbed of woke, lefty, right on, safe spaces where, incidentally, the whole transgender rights thing is up front and centre). They dont have to earn revenue or make a profit. They dont get furloughed and lose part of their salary, etc, etc, etc.

    Hopefully, you will get my point Cammy. It doesnt matter whether you link to a paper or ask us to accept their superior wisdom because you say we should, … we dont Cammy.

    We form our own views based on a whole raft of our personal experiences, views and opinions.

    If you cant persuade people using your own, original words, – you are not going to do it because you are pointing us at a bunch of woke acedmics that teach social sciences.

    Do you understand Cammy?

  190. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    OK, Mac, if it’s betting, a small wager on Trump may be a good idea. It would depend on the odds. I would not bet next month’s mortgage or rent on it though.

    The chances of the Republicans taking back the House are miniscule. The Senate may very well go to the Democrats, but I don’t think it’s a done deal. Remember, there are fewer shy Republicans than there are Trump voters.

  191. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    I see ‘Sensibledave’ is still hostile towards ethical reason. So here’s a look at “Rationality and bounded rationality: you can’t have one without the other”. Which comes from the The European Journal of the History of Economic Thought, which is a source I would think any reasonable person might respect, if not support. Though dave appears smitten by “common sense conservatism”, which is the stealth-vehicle of choice for modern day fascism (see Brexit).

    https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/09672567.2018.1523206

  192. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    Whether we like or dislike President Trump is secondary to why Scotland’s independence ‘leaders’, who now talk about the need for international recognition, did not deploy the now perhaps most famous Scotsman (by parental descent) in the world to better effect. All Holyrood did was insult the US President, the most powerful politician on the planet! I’m wondering how exactly that helped our quest for liberation and international recognition?

    Here is a man, son of a Scottish woman, who retains strong family and business connections to Scotland, and who is the President of the United States. And all these PC airheads in Holyrood can do is insult him and tell him he aint welcome, and that they don’t want his golf courses?

    Any savvy national political leadership would have lauded him, laid out the red carpet, claimed him as he is, a son of Scotland. And they would ask him, ‘Mr. President, how can you help Scotland be independent again’?

  193. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Alf Baird at 8:14

    “Any savvy national political leadership would have lauded him, laid out the red carpet, claimed him as he is, a son of Scotland. And they would ask him, ‘Mr. President, how can you help Scotland be independent again’?”

    Please…

    Think Brexit, think Farage, think again!

  194. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    It is election eve skip so it is fun to make predictions. C’mon folks…

    I rarely bet although this time I emptied my bookies’ account of its 100 quid that had been mouldering in there for years and went all in on Trump (on the shitest odds possible of course, I have knack of timing that to perfection). I think you could have got pretty good odds (3/1) considering Trump is an incumbent had you known what you were doing, which I didn’t. I got slightly better than evens or some shite.

  195. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    robertknight @ 8.18

    “Think Brexit, think Farage, think again!”

    Well, think what you like about Nigel Farage, but he got Brexit done. Similarly, think what you like of Donald Trump, but he is President and may well be elected again.

    Has nobody in Scotland ever heard of realpolitik?

  196. Willie
    Ignored
    says:

    Mary Anne MacLeod first language was not English but Gaidhlig. She was a Gael from the Isle of Lewis.

    Trump has first cousins on the Isle of Lewis. Trump has Scottish blood.

    As the most powerful politician in the world and we the most downtrodden wee nation in the world we can afford to reject Trump.

    By comparison the Irish have huge sway in the USA.

    Yes Alf, too poor,too proud to ever be independent. Trump’s mother had it to succeed, Trump had it to become President, and we, we got, well what have we got.

    Humped again, and again, and again. We certainly got the stamina for that.

  197. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Beaker @ 7:56pm, we will see how it’s going for Biden at about 8:15pm (1:15am in Scotland), when North Carolina posts the early in-person voting (including mine!) and the mail-in votes received by yesterday morning. Election Day results will follow quickly thereafter. Florida should be reporting most of their results around the same time. If Biden is comfortably ahead in those states by around 2am your time, his chances of success will go up quite a lot.

    If you choose not to stay up all night, a really good night for Biden will settle this contest by noon tomorrow (7am here). A really good night would be winning certain states by enough that the late-arriving postal votes don’t matter: North Carolina, Florida, Michigan, Minnesota and Wisconsin. If he does that, he doesn’t need Pennsylvania.

    As it happens, a federal judge covering Pennsylvania and Wisconsin has just ordered the US Postal Service to sweep their sorting offices and make sure all ballots are delivered by close of poll. So we may get a conclusive result sooner rather than later.

  198. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    allium and susan XX: the party could not have been captured as it has by the tans lobby if Nicola Sturgeon did not agree with this stuff, so you are both right, in any opinion. Any leader who felt that a minister was out of kilter would remove that minister.

    Dave: didn’t Nicola Sturgeon Address the Floor of the General Assembly of the UN on trans rights? What she didn’t do was Address the Floor on Scottish independence.

  199. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    CBB 8.13

    It is a testament to your naivety, stupidity and idiocy that someone that who “pretends” to lofty intellectualism, manages to reach a conclusion that anyone (lefty, liberal or Tory) that voted to Leave is, ergo, a fascist.

    Btw, I voted Remain.

    You are the absolute personification of the term “tw*t”!!!

  200. Somerled
    Ignored
    says:

    I agree with much of what you have written here but i would add the Democrats with BLM and Antifa both funded by Billionaires who are Marxists are the racists and troublemakers who will try and create a civil war.

    Also Joe Biden is completely corrupt. Craig Murray says he will write about it but if you watch Tucker Carlson you will already know about the money he received from Ukraine and China. Emails and Hunter Bidens dodgy sex videos are on gtv.org too.

    Finally Ryan Dawson of ancreport.com Anti-Neo Con who is an investigator into Palestine, Epstein and more has just done a documentary Cornpops on Biden Crime family and links to the mob, plus James Biden getting $billions to build non existent houses in Iraq. Joe Biden also owns an island next to Jeffrey Epstein.

    I’m no fan of Trump but he was nominated 3 times for Nobel Peace prize, he never started any wars and tried to carry out every policy he campaigned for. Trump haters are mostly irrational left wing loonies who scream and cry, just like the trans activists. The Democrats will destroy USA and start more wars.

  201. Samuel Coleman
    Ignored
    says:

    Could someone please explain to me why transgenderism, of all things, has become become a global political issue? I just don’t get it.

  202. tridentitycrisis
    Ignored
    says:

    How many trans people are there in Scotland?

  203. robertknight
    Ignored
    says:

    Alf Baird at 8:26

    “Has nobody in Scotland ever heard of realpolitik?”

    If an Indy Scotland was to be a mini-Brexit Britain, packed with a bunch of xenophobic mouth beathers and covert coat wearing spivs, who scraped 51% on a manifesto of lies, then I’d be using my Scottish passport to GTF outta here ASAP!

    Can’t wait for the French trawlers to blockade the Channel ports in January over their lack of access to British waters. See how popular Nigel and Boris are once the lorry queues are stretching back to the M25.

  204. cynicalHighlander
    Ignored
    says:

    @tridentitycrisis

    Maybe 1,000 or so.

  205. lumilumi
    Ignored
    says:

    I spoke on the phone with my elderly dad tonight, Of course we discussed the U.S. Presidential election. He takes great interest in it.

    We all, as a family (me a pre-teen), lived in the US through the election when Ronald Reagan was elected. In my school, as civics education exercise, we had our own vote. Anderson won!

    Anderson who?!? The independent candidate, not Ronald Reagan or Jimmy Carter. It was just a school mock vote, but goes to show what my school, or the parents of my school mates were like.

    We lived in a small town with a big university and a couple of federal research institutions. The local council and school councils wanted to invest heavily in education. The public schools were excellent.

    My maths teacher was a Polish mathematics genious, who’d been helped to escape Poland (then under USSR cosh) by some research guy in one of the Federal research agengies in our town. Mr Okolowich was too difficult for the school kids, so he, in broken Engish, asked us to kall him Mr O. The best maths teacher I’ve ever had.

    Back then, Colorado was a sure “blue” (Democrat) state, later it changed “red”” (Republican) for a while, our family friends grumbling about “imported republicanism”. It happended because economic boom brought lots of new jobs and people from other states or abroad.

    So it’s a bit condescending and patronising (and hypocritical) of the “old Coloradians” to resent the “new Coloradians”.

    Colorado might be turning “blue” (Democrat) in this election. Or probably not. A combination of local politics, loathing of the Republican/Democratic politics/ presidential candidate.

  206. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Alf Baird
    Farage has caused irreparable damaged to British politics, with the help of corporate power and dark money. These are not forces likely to help us, and we should not seek their support. So I tend to agree with robertknight. “Think Brexit, think Farage, think again!”.

    ——–

    There is no point in my responding to dave, as he’s the voice of ‘One Nation’ British nationalism, which articulates the ethos and tradition of English Torydum. However, some might be interested in supporting democracy, so here’s a look at the “Law and Rationality : A Historiographical Survey of the Understanding of Motivation and Human Agency in Early Legal Anthropology”.

    https://www.cliothemis.com/Law-and-Rationality-A

    “The purpose of this article is to examine how nineteenth-century legal science conceptualized and dealt with otherness in law, with examples of legal phenomena such as ordeal and blood revenge to illustrate how the concept of legal rationality evolved in the early legal anthropology and how it still influences our understanding of legal otherness. It provides new insights on how, in the treatment of specific legal institutions, the ideas of reason and rationality could change as scholars used European medieval history to aid in the understanding of indigenous cultures.”

  207. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    Samuel 8.40

    … it’s all about identity politics and the culture wars. The left (and it is always the left) believe that the rights of an identified group, trump the rights of an individual that isn’t part of the group. That’s all you need to know.

  208. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sensibledave,

    Is that why Trump nominated another Republican for the Supreme Court?

  209. robbo
    Ignored
    says:

    Skip_NC says:
    3 November, 2020 at 8:28 pm
    Beaker @ 7:56pm, we

    I hope it does go the way you want. Trump has been trying to suppress the vote for months- pure cheating twat.

    I do think it has backfired on him because he thought messing with postal service (still is even now) just rallied the democrats more. Trump is relying on his vote to turn up on election day because most of them would not be concerned by the virus, but just as many democrats are coming out too. That, along with estimates democrats hold the majority in early votes(100+ million) maybe 65-70% then Trump needs all his base and more and for democrats to stay in the hoose!. Seems that’s not happening.

    He’s been playing this card from beginning, that’s why he wants the vote called early (by on day poll booth votes)before all votes are counted by post or absentee That’s what cheating means ,not his bullshit. Well done democrats campaign managers being alert to it.

    Hopefully it’ll tell in count and we don’t need to see anymore of that shite bad uncle dancing. Or hear anymore crap lies coming from that mouth of his.

    I do hope he doesn’t come here to BONNIE if he loses. We have enough golf courses and his hair couldn’t take the Scottish south or northwesterly wind anyhow.

  210. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Alf-

    Comes back to the same shite doesn’t it? Fuck Trump, yes, but offered a golden opportunity to ingratiate our country, the country whose interests they are entrusted with protecting, with the leader of the most powerful country in the world, they didn’t do it. I’ll bet you it never even entered their heads. Much better to get nice passing references in the Guardian and NY Times, to get Twitter users saying “if only she was our leader”, or to let court “comedian” Janet Godley- about as funny as a school shooting- to stand outside his golf course screaming abuse (literally just “Trump Is A C**t”).

    Oh and by the way, woke progressives like Jacinda Arden and Justin Trudeau have tried to get along with Trump. Who knows, maybe they have a sense of duty to their countries?

    Another example of NS’s narcissism. All about her and her image.

  211. Terry
    Ignored
    says:

    Lots more revelations today on the waste of half a million pounds on the doomed Salmond witch hunt by the snp govt and civil service.

    The next few weeks of the Sturgeon Inquiry at Holyrood should prove telling. The truth will out. But for someone who is on her brief (good) and is indeed a control freak (not so good) the idea that Nicola didn’t know about this horrendous episode in Scottish political life is inconceivable.

  212. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Samuel Coleman,

    Money my fear fellow.Money.

  213. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronB Brodie

    It was robertknight who brought Farage into the discussion, not me. However I agree with you that the likes of Farage would be unlikely to help the cause of Scottish independence.

    The intentional ruination by the SNP Scottish Government of the potential for good relations with President Trump including regarding Scottish independence is what I was alluding to.

  214. Tannadice Boy
    Ignored
    says:

    There is an important vote going on tonight but there is also an important vote in Holyrood tomorrow. If NS loses the vote tomorrow I hope she acquiesces to the situation and releases the SG legal advice. The will of the Parliament and at all. Otherwise it will be a thousand cuts because there is plenty in the pipeline. I would not like to see that happen to anybody. She should be preparing her dignified exit even though she tried to stuff my hero Alex Salmond. Let’s keep it civil Scotland and let her go that will be painful enough for her. On the another vote crisps, peanuts and beer on standby. Should be good TV whatever way it goes.

  215. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    Bob Mack

    …. The issue is unrelated bob. If I follow your warped logic, you arguing that trump has promoted an individual … over absolutely everyone else?

  216. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Alf Baird
    Trump is a puppet of modern day fascism, so I’d consider he is toxic to Scotland’s political emancipation and cultural liberation. That’s what I’m pointing to.

  217. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sensibledave,

    No the logic isn’t fkawed. He promoted an individual who would cede to Republican authority rather than one who was impartial.

  218. McDuff
    Ignored
    says:

    tridentitycrisis

    You are a pratt.
    I know its not a very intellectual criticism but I think it suits.

  219. boris
    Ignored
    says:

    Operational Deployment of British Forces Decided by Blair –  Casualty Rates Escalate

    The  Governor of Helmand insisted that British forces protect towns throughout the province. Refusing his request the British forces commander told him he did not have the personnel numbers needed to support the strategy but following high level political meetings he was ordered from Westminster to accede to the wishes of the Governor. The demands of their political masters would have serious repercussions on the soldiers on the ground.

    His forces were split into units numbering between 40-100 and deployed to defend the towns of Sangin, Musa Qala, Nawzad and Garmsir and other places from small poorly built fortified bases.

    The deployment played right into the hands of the Taliban who surrounded and relentlessly attacked the bases for days on end inflicting significant casualties on the British defenders without much loss to themselves.

    https://caltonjock.com/2020/11/03/blair-and-his-cronies-dictated-operational-policy-in-afghanistan-with-result-that-british-casualties-in-afghanistan-were-four-times-higher-than-us-forces-a-heartbreaking-record-of-incompetence/

  220. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Robbo, it’s not the raw votes that matter, it’s the distribution of them. Biden could win 100% of the vote in California and he’d get the same 55 Electoral College votes that he would get with a one vote victory. So, although I feel better now about Trump losing than I did at this time on election day four years ago, there is still a worry that he might snag Florida and/or North Carolina. If he does that, we must await Pennsylvania, who take longer to count their mail-in ballots. That is why I have said that Biden must be doing really well tonight to be able to claim victory tomorrow morning.

  221. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    CameronB Brodie

    Scotland’s governance seems rather toxic already, without Trump.

  222. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Alf Baird
    Agreed. 🙁

  223. Lorna Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    Thomas Dunlop: you suggest a third space for trans people. I have suggested that as a compromise on several threads in The National, but, you know what, they never accept it. They simply do not want to campaign as trans people – or, at least, the trans lobby doesn’t. They absolutely, unflinchingly, quite deliberately and intransigently demand that they get access to women’s rights and spaces. This is why I believe that the agenda is very different from one of merely accommodating people who do suffer from body dysphoria, which must be a very distressing condition.

    Cross-dressing males and other fetishists will also come under the trans umbrella and have access to women’s protected spaces. There is no middle ground with the trans lobby. I think that genuine body dysphoria people are being used, like women, to assert an agenda which owes more to sexual fetishism than it does to trans rights (which they already have, incidentally, although it is always framed as a fight for trans rights as if they were denied them).

    A psychiatrist in America, I think it was, has said that people with body dysphoria know they have this condition and that they do not believe they are actually women in the sense of being natal women or females; they know they are trans people.

    So why is the Scottish government so determined to redefine what a woman is to accommodate people who know perfectly well that they are not women. They might want to be women, they might want to live as women and marry as women, etc. but that can only ever be their own perception of what a women is, not actually what a woman is – and their perception is, more often than not, a caricature or an exaggerated version of what they perceive a woman to be. It is beyond rational comprehension why this is happening and we are having to fight the same fights all over again in the 21st century – to participate in public life. The trans lobby is utterly determined to take all of that way from us. This is a type of misogyny that goes beyond anything we have seen before, and the Scottish government is actually enabling it.

  224. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    … nah bob, you have missed the point!

    Whether it is the Supreme Court or a shelf stacker at Tesco, an individual has been chosen for the role … instead of anyone (everyone) else. Not identity politics Bob.

    When you create “all women” short lists for example, you seek to favour a particular group. In so doing, you discriminate against everyone that isn’t a woman. You take away their right to be an MSP say, because you favour an identified group. Just wrong bob. Just wrong.

  225. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sensibldaave,

    You favour the Republican party and their donors and vested interests instead. Or does that not count?

  226. Scot Finlayson
    Ignored
    says:

    Don`t know if this is UK or England,

    `The coronavirus-related deaths in Britain rose by 397 to 47,250, the highest daily increase since May, according to official figures released Tuesday.

    Another 20,018 people in Britain have tested positive for COVID-19, bringing the total number of coronavirus cases in the country to 1,073,882, the data showed.`

  227. Annie 621
    Ignored
    says:

    STUpendous Rev X

  228. Sensibledave
    Ignored
    says:

    Bob. … you may we’ll have a point to make, but it is a different one to the one being discussed.

  229. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Bob Mack 6.58pm TBQH we have enough NS apologists and sycophants making all sorts of excuses for her all over t’internet,Dave’s aggression towards people who don’t accept his opinions despite evidence to the contrary reminded me of erstwhile contributors like SC and Bungo Pony who had all dissenters down as MISCREANTS I noticed he comments occasionally on Iain Lawsons blog still calling out all NS detractors

  230. robert Hughes
    Ignored
    says:

    Lorna Campbell – your insight on this deeply disturbing phenomenon is just brilliant . I’ve been trying to understand what’s driving it – is it reflective of some change in collective human psyche , or just the same tired old misogynist garbage in new ” dress ” , or is there a more sinister ulterior motive ? Whatever it is , it cannot be allowed to steamroller the hard-won rights of women , indeed the very reality of womanhood

  231. Elmac
    Ignored
    says:

    Just a few thoughts on the US election

    Trump is guilty of many things but Biden and his family are obviously corrupt. The fact that no person of any decent morality can get anywhere near the White House is a fact. See Bernie Sanders for a case in point. They need money to get there and they can only get that by selling their soul and their scruples to the highest bidder. All politicians aspiring to the top positions are the same on both sides of the Atlantic.

    Both Trump and Biden are at the fringe of losing their mental faculty. The signs are there on both counts despite being prepped like trained chimps before their media events. They are both asking for a 4 year term by the end of which time Trump will be pushing 80 and Biden will be 81 – is that really the best the USA can do or does it just suit the money men?

    Trump is an out and out egotist nutcase and very dangerous but the facts are he has not started any new wars and has reduced the numbers of troops posted overseas. I suppose he deserves some credit for that compared with previous regimes. He needs to go for the sake of his country but, as the so called leader of the free world, the USA also needs to drastically up the calibre of who it elects to lead it if it is to regain international respect. I would absolve Obama from criticism to the extent that he was hamstrung by a hostile senate and the other mob, but he did preside over a lot of death and destruction so he is not lilywhite. Dubya was a ridiculous caricature of a man controlled by big business. Much as you may dislike Trump I doubt anyone or any group can ultimately control him.

    It really is the case of the Devil and the deep blue sea. The USA need rid of Trump but a product of the Clinton clan is not the answer. As the French would say “Plus ça change, plus c’est la même chose”.

  232. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Elmac, what is your opinion of Trump’s actions (inaction?) in Syria in allowing Turkey to waltz in?

  233. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    I see a lot of people today are talking optimistically about Scotland turning a corner and the infection rates indicating we are on a plateau. The reason we are seeing apparent evidence of that is down to two things – 1) the lag or time between catching the virus and presenting at hospitals, and 2) the school break in mid October. It’s an illusion and we can expect a return to the exponential growth trajectory in about 5 days. Schools are key to understanding all this, as I’ve said before; they’re basically disease distribution systems.

    I’m also predicting Trump will win. He will win because enough people in the US are angry and confused enough to vote for him as a way of punishing the MSM and “liberal elite”. The context is such that many there are made to feel ashamed for supporting Trump, exacerbating the situation further and skewing the polls which under-report levels of support for him. A similar thing happens in the UK with Tory voters.

    So, there you have it.

  234. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Lorna Campbell at 9.28

    Hear hear, times a million!

  235. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Sensibledave,

    No it’s not. Supreme Court judges affect all aspects of the Constitution. To have them biased towards a political viewpoint with a lifelong term in office, rather than balanced most certainly favours a grouping of people who identify under one umbrella term. In this case Republicans.

    This of course is at the expense of other groups.

  236. Michael Laing
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Lorna Campbell: I’d like to add my name to the others who’ve commented in support of your comment at 9.28pm. You’ve clearly expressed my view on this issue.

  237. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    Well said Lorna Campbell. These people are not in good faith and cannot be appeased.

  238. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    I hope the next USA govt drops the extradition of Julian Assange. My prediction is that an elderly rich Caucasian will win and the poor, especially those with health problems will continue to lose out in a country where many people cannot afford health care.

  239. lumilumi
    Ignored
    says:

    Amusing tidbit. Kamala Harris’s first name in my language means “horrible”, “awful”.

  240. lumilumi
    Ignored
    says:

    Earlier today, I spoke with my dad, who’s being following U.S. politics for decades.

    He naively thinks a) Biden will win; and b) Biden’s win will somehow heal the rift in American society.

    Sorry, dad, but you’re naive.

    Even if Joe Biden won this round, the “trumpists”, the feeling of disgruntelment, won’t go anywhere.

  241. Livionian
    Ignored
    says:

    The corrupt political class have only themselves to blame for trump coming to power, and if it happens again similarly no one is to blame but them. The arrogance, self preservation, offering no real meaningful ideas and not listening to people’s problems. No wonder that an ‘outsider’ was able to swoop in.

    As incompetent as he made be, the systematic incompetence of the liberal elite is much more unforgivable. Everyone was so shocked when trump won last time, purely out of arrogance and the political class taking support of decent people for granted. It was bound to come back and haunt them and it did.

    Two more points; Trump might win tonight and everyone will be shocked because they haven’t learned a single thing in 4 years. And the similarities between the USA and the UK are striking.

    It will happen to us unless our leaders start leading and listening

  242. Stan Broadwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Hi Cam B

    That’s you a free man again, after another night in Solitary confinement.

    You remind me of Steve Mcqueen Cam, when he appeared in the movie “The Great Escape” I think it was.

    McQueen was repeatedly sent to Solitary confinement with his baseball glove and ball, and you would hear the sound of the ball hitting off the wall

    He reappeared as the cool hero and eventually tried to escape by jumping the fence on a motorbike.

    Are you really as cool as Steve McQueen Cam???

    If you are, then I want your autograph mate.

  243. LeggyPeggy
    Ignored
    says:

    Tridentitycrisis at 8.43 pm

    How many trans people are there in Scotland?

    This is from The Crown Office and Procurator Fiscal Service ( COPFS)

    GUIDANCE FOR PROSECUTORS IN RELATION TO TRANSGENDER ACCUSED
    Introduction
    Diverse communities are greatly valued in Scotland and COPFS recognises that the general principles of equality, fairness and access to justice apply to all communities that have contact with the criminal justice system, including those within the Transgender community

    Background ,

    According to current figures it can be estimated that around 250 people in Scotland have received Gender Recognition Certificates and a further 250- 500 transgender people are eligible for Gender Recognition Certificates but have not applied for them. In addition, over 200 further transgender people in Scotland are currently in the early stages of transition and receiving NHS medical assistance. It is unclear how many transgender people in Scotland present part-time in a different gender without accessing any medical assistance .

  244. Stan Broadwood
    Ignored
    says:

    Regards this American election, I’m no mad Trump fan but I just can’t go that wee chancer Biden.

    Why does he remind me of Willie Rennie???

    Is it because he is just another wee self serving, careerist, waste of time???

    He has made millions from doing nothing.

    And like England, the American economy is fucked. Covid has finished these two countries.

    By the time they recover, the world order will have moved on.

  245. David F
    Ignored
    says:

    LeggyPeggy says:
    4 November, 2020 at 12:34 am

    Interesting. So there are maybe a couple of hundred “trans” guys in Scotland. And probably tens of thousands of perverts. So if following GRA a hundred guys go into a female changing room, the chances are that one might be an actual trans guy and the other ninety-nine will be perverts…

    (Obviously that’s not counting people like Mridhul Wadwa, who are both trans guys and perverts)

  246. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    So, about 1 in every 27500 men in Scotland are trans. Basically, if you used a women’s toilet once every day along with 10 other random people (at the same time), it could be over 7 years before you shared a toilet with trans guy.

  247. Rev. Stuart Campbell
    Ignored
    says:

    “I don’t think Stuart is as much of an expert on US politics as he is on British and Scottish affairs.”

    I’ve never in my life claimed to be an expert, or even slightly knowledgeable, about US politics. I called the last election a year in advance because anyone who wasn’t a total fucking idiot could see that Trump would beat Hillary Clinton. I’ve no idea who’ll win this one. But I know a couple of cunts when I see them.

  248. David F
    Ignored
    says:

    Hatuey says:
    4 November, 2020 at 1:20 am

    So, about 1 in every 27500 men in Scotland are trans. Basically, if you used a women’s toilet once every day along with 10 other random people (at the same time), it could be over 7 years before you shared a toilet with trans guy…

    Conversely,you would probably have shared a toilet with a couple of hundred perverts and fetishists over the same period

  249. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    David, that’s not converse. Sorry.

  250. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    Which is most likely to start a nuclear war, Biden or Trump?

    I’d say Biden.

  251. lumilumi
    Ignored
    says:

    Lorna Campbell @ 9:28pm

    Thank you for a well-reasoned, reasonable piece. I agree with most everything. You expressed it all better than I could’ve.

    Being an adult human female (woman), I’ve never felt as threatened in my life than I do now.

    “Social justice warriors”, the woke, are also against “cultural appropriation”. How the hell do they reconcile in their minds the biggest cultural appropriation of it all: men approriating women’s spaces, feelings, womanhood itself? Is it because women don’t matter?

    No, no, don’t hurt transwomen’s (men’s) feelings, that’s BAD. Never mind the feelings of women and girls, because they’re just hysterical, emotional and wrong. Men and transwomen know better, so just shut up, or be slurred as a TERF.

    And where in this are transmen?

    Hardly anywhere. Because they’re women. They can’t colonise or appropriate “manhood” the way male-priviliged transwomen can approppriate and colonise “womanhood”.

    What a surprise. [irony emoticon]

  252. LeggyPeggy
    Ignored
    says:

    David F at 12.46 am ,

    The problem is that a man may self declare as a “ trans “ woman and and hold a gender recognition certificate but the worry is that they’ve not had surgery so physically they are still a man .

    Hatuey at 1.20 am ,

    Whether it’s a “ trans “ woman or not its the fact that some men want to take over WOMAN only spaces whether thats toilets , changing rooms , single sex wards in hospitals and how many men declare they are “ trans “ women and are admitted to woman’s prisons .

    The point to this whole matter is that they want to wipe out the word WOMAN and everything that we’ve had to fight for in the past .

    Why do you think For Women Scot are having to go to court to Stop the Scottish Government redefining “woman” to include men , as the Scottish Government have already done this on public boards in Scotland , so a board that’s supposed to be 50/50 equal representation could end up being all men and “ trans “ women .

    https://www.gov.scot/publications/gender-representation-public-boards-scotland-act-2018-statutory-guidance/pages/2/

    Link to home page ,

    https://forwomen.scot/

  253. twathater
    Ignored
    says:

    As Dan has posted at 11.07pm George Kerevan has listed the Board of directors for OUR NEW investment bank yet here we all are worrying how America will vote, maybe we don’t have to worry about America because the arseholes NS has appointed are just going to sell us to America (very cheap)but maybe the money will be ringfenced or maybe woven through

    Maggie C AGAIN thanks for ALL your links to the Sturgeon trial, I have read some of them and no wonder AS case cost so much, just like now the SG were spinning so much shite and misinformation that you would need to have been on top of it 24/7,
    I really MUST APPLAUD the jury for deciphering this giant morass of lies and spin and seeing through it and coming to the right conclusion, Please god the committee come to the same conclusion and get RID of these lying arseholes and their leader and I hope the Scot Parliament DEMAND police action and charges

  254. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    lumilumi
    “Social justice warriors”, the woke, are also against “cultural appropriation”. How the hell do they reconcile in their minds the biggest cultural appropriation of it all: men approriating women’s spaces, feelings, womanhood itself? Is it because women don’t matter?”

    I’d suggest that many who claim to be WOKE, simply don’t understand WOKE theory. So their social practice is unlikely to be awake and capable of supporting democracy and public health. Covid-19 shows us how important is to be awake, as men and BEM individuals are more at risk than women.

    So I’d suggest turning against WOKE theory because of inept practice, is akin to chuck the baby out with the bath-water. As WOKE theory is intended to support the social position of natal women and ethnic minorities, by enabling inclusive legal practice. Thereby enabling resistance to neo-liberalism and the radical right.

    https://www.scielo.br/scielo.php?script=sci_arttext&pid=S0101-31572010000300006

    “This paper discusses Herbert A. Simon’s conception of rationality in two of its principal general definitions: bounded rationality and procedural rationality. It argues that the latter is the one that better synthesizes the author’s view about rational behavior and that the former fills mainly a critical function. They are complementarily used by Simon in this sense. In spite of that, it is argued that it is the low degree of specificity of the concept of bounded rationality one of the reasons for its relatively greater success.”

  255. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    sorry….BEM women may be at less risk from covid-18, but at most risk from the radical-right.

  256. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Covi-19 obvs., sorry.

  257. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    Sorry, I should have left that until tomorrow. BEM men appear to be more at risk from covid-19 than Caucasian women. Biology matters, as does international law. Mkay!

    https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/0022343390027003006

    “On Bounded Rationality and the Framing of Decisions in International Relations: Towards a Dynamic Network Model of World Politics”.

  258. Ahundredthidiot
    Ignored
    says:

    Gubbin

    He might even get the popular vote at this rate

  259. David F
    Ignored
    says:

    Hatuey says:
    4 November, 2020 at 1:31 am

    David, that’s not converse. Sorry.

    Yes it is Hatuey. Sorry.

  260. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    Oh for God’s sake, even though I hate the prick, what a turn up for the books…

  261. Hatuey
    Ignored
    says:

    We can see even now that the polls got it wrong again.

  262. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    twathater says:
    4 November, 2020 at 2:17 am
    As Dan has posted at 11.07pm George Kerevan has listed the Board of directors for OUR NEW investment bank yet here we all are worrying how America will vote…

    Jesus wept.

    I try very hard not to give in to hate, but Sturgeon is making my blood boil these days. She’s a walking talking disaster for Scotland. Pure shark food proving popular with sharks.

    Be very keen to see what Richard Murphy makes of these appointments. Cannot imagine it will be positive.

  263. A. Bruce
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Lorna Campbell 9:28

    I agree 100% Well said.

  264. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    Seems the Tories have brought a motion for debate in the parliament today which calls for the Scottish govt to publish the legal advice re abandonment of Salmond prosecution.

    Have checked the parliament channel online, it’s not listed yet. Presumably it’s this afternoon.

    A friend mentioned that with all eyes on the States this would be a good day to bury bad news. Likewise, this debate could also be missed by many.

  265. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    All the signs that I’m reading on the US election suggest Trump has won?
    He has 213 of the 270 required votes and apparently the polls show he has
    38 coming from the state of Texas and has the key Florida votes in the bag?

    So their 10 million Covid case and 240,000 deaths is fake news?

    There is no global warming?

    God has blessed him with great intellect?

    Now a loonatic narcissist Whatsit is about to inherit the earth formerly known as the UK.

    I fear humanity and the planet are running down the road to hell!

  266. Contrary
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Brotherhood

    I was wondering what Whitehall might be up to, now the wall-to-wall US election coverage has started, I’m not practiced enough yet to wonder about it closer to home. Thanks for pointing it out.

    I’ve been sick of the amount of interest the media takes in US elections,,, since the last one. Now, I’m a geek, so I would never deny any other geek information on their chosen subject, but this has zero public interest in the UK – it’s getting shoved down our throats as though it’s interesting, or relevant.

    Tell us the results when it’s done – the rest of it? I couldn’t give a fuck. Trump will win – he has, apparently, created employment: that is, more people have jobs now than before – and of course, he hasn’t gone to war. And, as usual, people will vote where they see some personal financial gain to themselves, not on existential or constitutional matters, I’m just being grumpy because I hate the BBC lavishing so much more time on the fucking Americans than they do on Scots – we pay them (even with not paying the extra TV tax, it’s your income tax that still goes to them), so we get to hear about the fascinating world of the US voting system. Wow. That’s news.

    It’s not relevant to our lives because we cannot influence it in any way, and we don’t have a vote. Only the results matter.

    If you feel any desire to influence Americans on how to vote, assume you’ve been influenced by propaganda. Foreign countries can’t interfere in another’s democracy, but how about you influence your citizens to take an interest to give their ‘opinion’. Is it your opinion? Probably not.

    The last round of US presidential election coverage and, most weirdly of all, the inauguration, covered up for Westminster voting on Trident renewal, and the spying laws vote going through – those very directly affect our lives. There was something else too, I’ve forgotten, because there are so many shit things that come out of Westminster, who can keep up eh?

    I’m grumpy.

  267. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    I think Jenny Godley could win the next election here with
    Frank Gettgedoor as Deputy First Minister and the Clicky Pen
    overseeing the Hate Crime Bill, Trans Anything they want and
    Corrupt Banking Systems.

  268. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    I see the odds on a Trump victory have tumbled since I went to bed last night yet he is still trailing in terms of the electoral college. You can get 2/1 odds on Biden winning now. Trump is 2/5 odds on favourite.

    I am guessing it must look favourable for Trump in the remaining states.

    Squeaky bum time for all.

  269. Ian Brotherhood
    Ignored
    says:

    @Contrary –

    😉

    You never know, there may well be some folk in the US who are pissed off they can’t get decent coverage of the debate in the Scottish parliament.

  270. Contrary
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian Brotherhood

    😀

    Haha, then those people are geeks!

  271. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    @Mac,

    Not over yet. The outstanding votes in several States are from Democratic urban areas. They will most certainly go to Biden.

    I’m hearing Trump is mobilising to go to The Supreme Court to get counting to stop today bedsheets knows that time now favours Biden

  272. Bob Mack
    Ignored
    says:

    Bedsheets?

    Predictatext is on I think.( Because).

  273. A Person
    Ignored
    says:

    -Contrary-

    Somebody pointed out that the kind of person who puts an EU flag in their social media doesn’t know when European countries are having an election let alone the issues, parties and politicians, but they hyperventilate about “Jefferson County Ohio has voted for the winner in every election since 1960”. It’s pure weird!

  274. Grey Gull
    Ignored
    says:

    Ian B @6.46
    This is a link to today’s business. The debate is sometime this afternoon. Murdo Fraser has a motion calling for all legal evidence to be produced but I see John Swinney has put forward an amendment trying to defuse it with a lot of words!

    https://bb.parliament.scot/#20201104

  275. Robert graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Been dipping in and out of the US Election Results since last night

    BBC 220 Biden 213 Trump

    iTV the same as BBC

    RT 238. Biden 213 Trump

    It’s been the same all night now either RT is way ahead or someone is fiddling with the numbers

    I Guess we only get what we are meant to see , just seems odd

  276. Mac
    Ignored
    says:

    Listening to guy who really knows his way around the US electoral system and he says Trump has clearly won this. Says he is too far ahead in enough key states and they should be called.

    Predicts there is now going to be an attempt to flip the result using postal votes or whatever.

    My winnings are going to be in legal limbo here for weeks I just fucking know it.

  277. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    Posting this again.


    https://twitter.com/GeorgeKerevan/status/1323713330821894148

    “In despair. Board of Scot National Investment Bank announced: escapees from Shell, UK Treasury (yes!), Macquarie (under investigation for tax fraud), JP Morgan Chase, asset stripper Bridgepoint, London Investment Banking Association, & former private sec to 2 Tory Chancellors”.

    Is this what happens when the Scottish Government’s chief economics advisor is Benny Higgins from the Duke of Buccleuch’s Estate?

    Thank’s for all the effort Common Weal and Richard Murphy, but youz can fek off now. Queen Nicola has issued her edict.

    A wee bird is telling me, Nicola is trying to commission Gavin McCrone to write a wee report about Scotland’s National Investment Bank, which we’ll all be eager to read the moment it’s released 30 years from now… but that story needs corroboration.. I might have made it up.

    It’s enough to make you weep. Scotland is being perniciously sold down the river by Sturgeon and her band of happy idiot henchmen, and all we’re doing about is gawping at the broken state of American politics.

    We have a bonfire burning out of control right outside Bute House, and they’re using Scotland’s future as fuel.

    Is there nobody willing to step up and be Scotland’s Firefighter in Chief and put a stop to Sturgeon and her madness?

  278. katherine hamilton
    Ignored
    says:

    Biden wins Arizona. All he needs is Wisconsin and Michigan. He’ll win those.
    Biden wins.
    (OK, Rev, get the hammer out!)

  279. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    One of the many hands working Biden the glove puppet.
    https://www.theblaze.com/op-ed/joe-biden-ties-great-reset

  280. Ronald Fraser
    Ignored
    says:

    Andrew Niel asks Nigel Farage, “when has Postal Vote fraud ever occurred in any UK election?”

    How about the 2014 Scottish Independence referendum Andrew, where the Tank Commander knew the final results of the postal vote count, before they had even been finished being counted.

    And a wee add on,,,the BBC have had it in for Trump ever since Trump declared after he was elected last time, that the BBC was the spreader of Fake News.

    The BBC have gone after him ever since.

  281. McDuff
    Ignored
    says:

    Breeks.
    Spot on. I’m sick to death of words and waffle from Sturgeon and her pretendy zeal
    zeal for independence.
    And I’m still bemused at the vast majority of SNP MP/MSP’s who remain strangely silent in the face of her anti independence stance.

  282. Alf Baird
    Ignored
    says:

    Twathater

    Yes, you are right, the Vienna Convention has many relevant condiyions which a National Party serious about independence might have been expected to pursue, and not least:

    Article 50
    Corruption of a representative of a State
    If the expression of a State’s consent to be bound by a treaty has been procured through the corruption of its representative directly or indirectly by another negotiating State, the State may invoke such corruption as invalidating its consent to be bound by the treaty.

    and, in the context of the more recent case of Brexit and specifically the likely violation of ToU Art VI:

    Article 60
    Termination or suspension of the operation of a treaty
    as a consequence of its breach
    1. A material breach of a bilateral treaty by one of the parties entitles the other to invoke the breach as a ground for terminating the treaty or suspending its operation in whole or in part.

    We really should question why the SNP majorities in Westminster and Holyrood have never bothered to terminate the Treaty. Scotland is already a sovereign power within a treaty based arrangement which it is at liberty to terminate on various grounds under international law. This is why I and others have continually suggested that the SNP majorities terminate the treaty as a lawful route to withdrawing from the UK union arrangement.

  283. Colin Alexander
    Ignored
    says:

    One of the reasons Salmond stepped into the leadership contest in 2004 and backed Sturgeon on a joint ticket was because Salmond wanted to block those with more socialist / social justice principles from becoming the leaders of the SNP.

    So, I see no point in moaning about Sturgeon and the Scot Govt jumping into bed with the Tory bankers. That’s been SNP plans for the last sixteen years. Take off the rose-tinted glasses and remember, Alex Salmond was a banker and friend of the bankers.

    Sure, the SNP might appear to be less oppressive than the Tories (or Red Tories) regarding some Social Security benefit decisions but, you only have to look at the wider picture about who the SNP have running all the major institutions in Scotland and making all the big decisions.

    Is Scotland significantly different in the pay differences between those at the top and those at the bottom in public services or publicly funded services?

    A classic example is Wheatley Group CEO. Wheatley Group controls a number of housing associations across Scotland, such as Glasgow Housing Association. Their CEO gets over £250,000. Within the SNP itself, many of us would like to know how much Mr Murrell and their other top staff are receiving. It is guesstimated over £100,000.

    The SNP portrayed themselves as great social justice reformers and champions of indy. It has largely been a marketing ploy. The social justice reformers such as Jim Sillars, Margo MacDonald, Alex Neil, Kenny MacAskill got frozen out in favour of Salmond’s and then Sturgeon’s banker-friendly pals, gay sex / gender reformers and the British Establishment administrators.

  284. Contrary
    Ignored
    says:

    Breaks,

    I spotted that link and posted it on Richard Murphy’s blog for his opinion. He has just responded:

    “Richard Murphy says:
    November 4 2020 at 9:12 am
    I read this

    Really not impressed

    No representation of broader society in there at all”

    He’s brief with his replies (so that’s a long one!). You can never tell when he might come out with a blog on something though. (He’s focusing on,,, the US elections – sigh. But at least they are relevant to him (GND, international tax laws, global social justice))

  285. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    The US election voting system and poll updates are
    Confusing to say the least.

    The States still counting show Trump leading with enough votes to
    Take him well thru the 270 required and Biden leading in States that
    could only deliver a total 259.

    Why Trump is crying foul, I have no idea.

    I’m curious about Biden’s selection by the Democrats.
    He is showing his age mentally and physically now and
    would be in office in his 80’s if elected.
    Does this mean all the younger or even more astute Democrats
    Don’t want to be President during a term that will see the Covid economic
    Crash, increasing unemployment, growing radical uprising and global warming catastrophe?

  286. Ronald Fraser
    Ignored
    says:

    With this new Hate Crime Bill and GRA Bill coming in, would a man be able to walk in to a female changing room and just sit there?

    And if any female decided to take the law into her own hands and started to shout and physically push this guy out of the changing room, then will she get charged with assault and threatening and abusive language against an innocent member of the public?

    And Sturgeon thinks this is a vote winner?

  287. Liz
    Ignored
    says:

    Sturgeon now saying she can’t rule out level 4 lockdown next week.
    She is so predictable, as soon as she heard about furlough,I knee she woukd do this, gives her a reason to do what she has wanted to do all along and blame WM

  288. Effijy
    Ignored
    says:

    Have a look for yourself-

    Biden is not going to win Michigan!

    https://www.google.co.uk/search?q=us+election+latest&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8&hl=en-gb&client=safari

    I can’t see how Trump can lose with those figures?

  289. Stuart MacKay
    Ignored
    says:

    Effijy

    I think it’s just positioning by Trump. Given the screw-ups and court battles of previous elections, notably Bush vs Gore, Trump is just staking out his turf and letting everybody know there will be an enormous battle is there is any doubt or shenanigans.

    Not sure what that really achieves but given that Gore was steamrollered into conceding it’s probably a sensible move.

  290. Breeks
    Ignored
    says:

    https://www.barrheadboy.com/six-days-to-save-the-snp/

    “the SNP draft agenda last night, which contained only 6 resolutions out of over 130 that branches submitted…”

    I’m not in the SNP, (thank goodness), but surely this qualifies as taking the piss?

    6 Resolutions, and none of them containing any deviation from running headfirst into a Section 30 brick wall. Whoopie!

    Just a question, does the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Alex Salmond stitch up have “Death by Firing Squad” within it’s remit? Sorry if that shocks your sensibilities, – just speculating on where any miracles might spawn from to save Scotland and Scottish Independence from the SNP.

  291. Dave Hansell
    Ignored
    says:

    Those concerned about the age of the presidential candidates should not fret too much about whether whichever of the two numpty billionaires is eventually declared the “winner” makes the distance.

    Death, apparently, is no impediment in the US system of ‘democracy’:

    https://mobile.twitter.com/CarissaKVEW/status/1323921252357185538

    On the present trajectory of reality denial politics anyone with any spare money should get down to the bookies and wager a 2024 presidential run off between Woodrow Wilson and Ronald Reagan.

    A side bet may also be worth considering of Flipper and Skippy being the Vice Presidential running mates.

  292. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Effijy, it depends on what votes are left uncounted. Green Bay, Wisconsin has only just finished counting. Nevada just has mail in ballots left. Democratic leaning areas in Michigan are finishing up their count right now and there is some counting still to do in Detroit. In Detroit, they weigh the Democratic vote. So the only issue is if Democrats turn out to vote.

    Here’s the math. If Biden wins Nevada (6 Electoral College votes), Michigan (16) and Wisconsin (10) Biden gets to exactly 270 and becomes the next president.

  293. Beaker
    Ignored
    says:

    @Dave Hansell says:
    4 November, 2020 at 10:42 am
    “A side bet may also be worth considering of Flipper and Skippy being the Vice Presidential running mates.”

    You missed out the muppets:

    Kermit the Frog and Miss Piggy

    and

    Animal and (of course) Beaker 🙂

    (I have an Animal t-shirt – get one it will change your life)

  294. Ottomanboi
    Ignored
    says:

    Whoever gets the US presidency Scotland’s situation remains the same. A neo-puritan ‘woke’ cult is at the helm. Freedom, choice and individual integrity are being jackbooted out. Independence is not the priority, social engineering using a ‘fabulous’ strain of flu as rational, is

  295. Strathy
    Ignored
    says:

    There is an important vote in Holyrood this afternoon.

    As highlighted above by Ian Brotherhood at 6.46am and Grey Gull at 8.31am and 8.39am.

    The motion is on whether the Scottish Government should have to publish the legal advice that it received about the Salmond judicial review.

    Swinney is trying to neutralise the motion by amending it to allow the Goverment to keep the advice secret.

    Why amend the motion rather than just vote against it?

    Have they done a deal with the Greens (who said they would back the original motion)? They could still vote for the motion, but it would be amended so that it wouldn’t achieve anything.

    Worth watching alongside the news from the American election.

  296. Skip_NC
    Ignored
    says:

    Beaker, Skippy is constitutionally barred from being President and, therefore, Vice-President. I suppose he could be Secretary of State. Might do quite a good job.

  297. kapelmeister
    Ignored
    says:

    Colin Alexander @9:22

    “Alex Salmond was a banker….”

    No, he worked at RBS as an oil economist. He was never a banker.

  298. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    It is very simple peeps. Scots will never enjoy democracy while standing under Westminster, which is institutionally racist against Scots. If ‘our’ Lord Advocate wasn’t apparently a friend of English fascism, we might have a hope that out legal system might protect us. Unfortunately, he is clearly working with the Scottish government to destroy Scots law and the potential for justice and democracy in Scotland, so you’re all on to plumbs. Sorry.

  299. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ CameronB Brodie

    Between 2.40 and 2.57 this morning, there are 3 posts from you, all correcting an earlier post.

    Would it be possible for you to draft your post, then wait a minute or two instead of submitting straight away? Then you would have the chance to re-read your draft, and correct it before posting.

    That would have several benefits. It would prevent confusion for people who read the wrong version, it would make you look more competent, and it would, ultimately, save you effort.

  300. cirsium
    Ignored
    says:

    @Liz, 9.42
    Sturgeon now saying she can’t rule out level 4 lockdown next week.
    She is so predictable, as soon as she heard about furlough,I knee she woukd do this, gives her a reason to do what she has wanted to do all along and blame WM

    I agree. Ms Sturgeon continues to follow the advice of SAGE, the committee which wildly overestimated the deaths when this coronavirus first appeared, the committee whose membership is over-weighted with mathematical modellers and fatally deficient in pragmatic, empirical, evidence-led experienced scientists, especially of the medical, immunological and expert generalist variety.

    Here is the view of the Centre for Evidence-based Medicine. https://www.cebm.net/covid-19/the-innacuracoes-in-the-sage-models/

    Small and medium sized enterprises are the engine which drives the Scottish economy. Further shutting down of their activity is going to wreck the Scottish economy. Standing in the wreckage and blaming Westminster is going to be as much use as Mr Blackford’s empty rhetoric “Scotland will not be dragged out etc”.

  301. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat
    I hear you, though it’s often difficult to put an end to bad habits (see Scotland’s subservience to English Torydum). 😉

  302. crazycat
    Ignored
    says:

    @ Cameron

    That’s true, but for a man of your talents, it should not be an insurmountable obstacle.

  303. CameronB Brodie
    Ignored
    says:

    crazycat
    I’ll do my best. 😉

  304. David Caledonia
    Ignored
    says:

    Trump all the way, if he ran down penny ave buck naked I would still vote for him
    Wish he could turn into Nicola Sturgeon then maybe we could at least have someone we can trust in charge of the Scottish Nutcase ( not for independence ) Party

  305. Graham
    Ignored
    says:

    Ever the optimist, me.

    Of course, the Yellowstone super-volcano erupting again in our time can yet make all this controversy seem trivial.

    Even without Trump’s malignant divisive influence, with his virtual inciting of armed uprising in rebellion against state governors, I doubt ‘the centre can hold’ under such circumstances.

    One way or another – triggered politically or geologically or both – I expect to see the end of the ‘United’ States of America within my lifetime..

    My only question is whether states will begin seceding from (or being expelled from?) the union in the direct aftermath of this election, or not till a bit later..

    In advance of the yet greater unravelling I anticipate, may I suggest ‘Untied States of America’ as future convenient handle for the assorted remnants? It will save us having to alter ‘USA’ in drop-down lists, addresses, etc. when we’ll all likely have more important things to concentrate on.

  306. lawrenceab
    Ignored
    says:

    for Rev. Stu
    also Samuel Coleman

    Stu, you have laboured mightily to bring forward the dangers these trans gender activists pose to civil society, I would say more, to our civilisation as a whole. A year ago, most would think you OTT. Not now.

    To move the problématique one stage up to its philosophical level, where it can best be understood and fall into place, I bring to your kind attention an article that for me really expounds clearly the serious danger these doctrines pose to us all, us being the children of the Enlightenment (taught as you put it succintly that “two + two = four)”. The whole mess started with the post-modernists – Foucault et al – and their pernicious doctrine that all is relative, there is no absolute truth.

    Please have a look if you have not already seen it:
    https://andrewsullivan.substack.com/p/the-roots-of-wokeness?token=eyJ1c2VyX2lkIjoyMzE3OTgzLCJwb3N0X2lkIjo3NzgwNTUsIl8iOiJZeXFxdyIsImlhdCI6MTU5NjIxNTY0NiwiZXhwIjoxNTk2MjE5MjQ2LCJpc3MiOiJwdWItNjEzNzEiLCJzdWIiOiJwb3N0LXJlYWN0aW9uIn0.IA5FycJ7wsbGjW8CP6r2Q3XaR6R0phPP9b0Ngkq4mrA

    Notice in that article Sullivan references a brilliant book that exposes the intellectual dishonesties of the woke movement: “Cynical Theories: how activist scholarship made everything about race, gender and identity”. By Helen Pluckrose and James Lindsay. Required reading! Check it online.

    You are right to bang on about this. It is not a niche issue. By insisting that truth is what those in power say it is, the Social Justice movement subverts our entire Western culture.



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