Tuesday, January 05, 2021
Cooper on Trump Call: It's Like Speaking to a Child
Monday, January 04, 2021
WikiLeaks Founder Julian Assange Extradition Blocked by British Judge | DW News
The Guardian View on Trump's Strategy: Overturn Result, Cheat Democracy
THE GUARDIAN: The US president is seeking to bring down a system that defeated him
This week, Donald Trump will undermine democracy in the US by supporting the claim that Democrat Joe Biden did not fairly win last November’s presidential election. A peaceful handover of power in a democracy requires losing candidates and their followers to admit defeat. But Mr Trump has manufactured a controversy purely to maintain power and to overturn a legitimate election.
US courts have repeatedly thrown out Mr Trump’s evidence-free cases. This has not stopped the president’s accomplices in Congress. They, backed by Mr Trump’s vice-president, on Wednesday plan to challenge Mr Biden’s win to force a debate and votes in Congress. Some scholars point to a historical precedent as offering a slim, perhaps vanishing, chance that the nightmare will continue. Mr Trump will not let an opportunity pass to relitigate an election he lost. » | Editorial | Sunday, January 3, 2021
This week, Donald Trump will undermine democracy in the US by supporting the claim that Democrat Joe Biden did not fairly win last November’s presidential election. A peaceful handover of power in a democracy requires losing candidates and their followers to admit defeat. But Mr Trump has manufactured a controversy purely to maintain power and to overturn a legitimate election.
US courts have repeatedly thrown out Mr Trump’s evidence-free cases. This has not stopped the president’s accomplices in Congress. They, backed by Mr Trump’s vice-president, on Wednesday plan to challenge Mr Biden’s win to force a debate and votes in Congress. Some scholars point to a historical precedent as offering a slim, perhaps vanishing, chance that the nightmare will continue. Mr Trump will not let an opportunity pass to relitigate an election he lost. » | Editorial | Sunday, January 3, 2021
Trump Phone Call: Georgia Officials Shut Down Election Fraud Claims
Astonishing new evidence of a desperate President Donald Trump caught on tape trying to steal the election exposes the depth of his corruption and makes his Republican Capitol Hill allies complicit in his bid to thwart the will of voters.
In a fresh abuse of power, Trump tried to bully a top Georgia GOP official into finding votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win in the state. The staggering telephone call, audio of which was obtained by CNN and first reported by The Washington Post, amounted to the most serious threat yet posed by his authoritarian instincts to American democracy.
Even before the latest outrage, this week already marked a watershed moment for Biden's coming presidency, a ruptured Republican Party and the integrity of the US political system.
In a fresh abuse of power, Trump tried to bully a top Georgia GOP official into finding votes to overturn President-elect Joe Biden's win in the state. The staggering telephone call, audio of which was obtained by CNN and first reported by The Washington Post, amounted to the most serious threat yet posed by his authoritarian instincts to American democracy.
Even before the latest outrage, this week already marked a watershed moment for Biden's coming presidency, a ruptured Republican Party and the integrity of the US political system.
Sunday, January 03, 2021
The Observer View on How the West Should Deal with Rising China
THE GUARDIAN: Xi Jinping’s expansionist policies abroad and dictatorship at home make pressing the need for new geopolitical strategy
How to deal with China is the biggest geopolitical challenge facing Britain and the western democracies in 2021 – and one to which they have, as yet, supplied no coherent answer. China’s influence is growing rapidly around the world. It is predicted to overtake the US as the biggest economy by 2028. Its politicians, diplomats and military chiefs exhibit the bullish assertiveness of a new imperial superpower. This, they believe, is China’s moment.
At the same time, China is increasingly distrusted and disliked. A recent Pew global attitudes survey found negative views to be at an all-time high in Germany, South Korea and other advanced economies. Nearly three-quarters of Americans and Britons view China unfavourably, up from 35% and 16% respectively in 2002. Trust in China’s president, Xi Jinping, “to do the right thing in world affairs” has plummeted.
China’s overweening ambition and this concomitant rise in hostility are both relatively new. In Britain’s case, it is only five years since David Cameron hailed the dawn of a “golden era”. Back then, it seemed China’s strength, measured in hi-tech, investment and trade, could be safely harnessed to the UK’s advantage. Such collaboration, it was fondly believed, would ultimately hasten China’s transition from one-party state to democracy. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, January 3, 2021
How to deal with China is the biggest geopolitical challenge facing Britain and the western democracies in 2021 – and one to which they have, as yet, supplied no coherent answer. China’s influence is growing rapidly around the world. It is predicted to overtake the US as the biggest economy by 2028. Its politicians, diplomats and military chiefs exhibit the bullish assertiveness of a new imperial superpower. This, they believe, is China’s moment.
At the same time, China is increasingly distrusted and disliked. A recent Pew global attitudes survey found negative views to be at an all-time high in Germany, South Korea and other advanced economies. Nearly three-quarters of Americans and Britons view China unfavourably, up from 35% and 16% respectively in 2002. Trust in China’s president, Xi Jinping, “to do the right thing in world affairs” has plummeted.
China’s overweening ambition and this concomitant rise in hostility are both relatively new. In Britain’s case, it is only five years since David Cameron hailed the dawn of a “golden era”. Back then, it seemed China’s strength, measured in hi-tech, investment and trade, could be safely harnessed to the UK’s advantage. Such collaboration, it was fondly believed, would ultimately hasten China’s transition from one-party state to democracy. » | Observer editorial | Sunday, January 3, 2021
Britain Opens Door to Mix-and-Match Vaccinations, Worrying Experts
THE NEW YORK TIMES: If a second dose of one vaccine isn’t available, another may be substituted, according to the guidelines.
Amid a sputtering vaccine rollout and fears of a new and potentially more transmissible variant of the coronavirus, Britain has quietly updated its vaccination playbook to allow for a mix-and-match vaccine regimen. If a second dose of the vaccine a patient originally received isn’t available, or if the manufacturer of the first shot isn’t known, another vaccine may be substituted, health officials said.
The new guidance contradicts guidelines in the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that the authorized Covid-19 vaccines “are not interchangeable,” and that “the safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.”
Some scientists say Britain is gambling with its new guidance. “There are no data on this idea whatsoever,” said John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University. Officials in Britain “seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess.” » | Katherine J. Wu | Friday, January 1, 2021
Amid a sputtering vaccine rollout and fears of a new and potentially more transmissible variant of the coronavirus, Britain has quietly updated its vaccination playbook to allow for a mix-and-match vaccine regimen. If a second dose of the vaccine a patient originally received isn’t available, or if the manufacturer of the first shot isn’t known, another vaccine may be substituted, health officials said.
The new guidance contradicts guidelines in the United States, where the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has noted that the authorized Covid-19 vaccines “are not interchangeable,” and that “the safety and efficacy of a mixed-product series have not been evaluated. Both doses of the series should be completed with the same product.”
Some scientists say Britain is gambling with its new guidance. “There are no data on this idea whatsoever,” said John Moore, a vaccine expert at Cornell University. Officials in Britain “seem to have abandoned science completely now and are just trying to guess their way out of a mess.” » | Katherine J. Wu | Friday, January 1, 2021
‘Global Britain’ Is Willing to Trade Away Everything. Including Scruples
THE GUARDIAN: The UK’s new deal with Turkey ignores appalling human rights abuses and should have been scrutinised by parliament
The UK’s new trade agreement with Turkey, signed last week, ignores the Turkish government’s continuing human rights abuses, boosts its dangerous president, and undermines ministerial pledges that “global Britain” will uphold international laws and values. The deal took effect on 1 January without even rudimentary parliamentary scrutiny. Here, stripped of lies and bombast, is the dawning reality of Boris Johnson’s scruple-free post-Brexit world.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s “strongman” leader, is pleased as punch. He’s the new, biggest fan of Britain’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, whose shabby work this is. Erdoğan hailed the deal as the start of a “new era” and a landmark for Turkey. After years of disastrous economic mismanagement and fierce rows with the US and EU over Turkish policy towards Russia, Syria, Libya, Greece and Cyprus, Erdoğan badly needed a win. Hapless Truss delivered.
The fact that Johnson used the spectre of Turkish migrants to frighten Leave voters in 2016 appears forgotten now. His government has created a favourable bilateral trade framework, and promised bespoke “upgrades”, to a leader who frequently mocks the EU and faces possible European trade sanctions. How does that square with Johnson’s vow to be “the best friend and ally the EU could have”? The level playing field is already tipping. » | Simon Tisdall | Sunday, January 3, 2021
The UK’s new trade agreement with Turkey, signed last week, ignores the Turkish government’s continuing human rights abuses, boosts its dangerous president, and undermines ministerial pledges that “global Britain” will uphold international laws and values. The deal took effect on 1 January without even rudimentary parliamentary scrutiny. Here, stripped of lies and bombast, is the dawning reality of Boris Johnson’s scruple-free post-Brexit world.
Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, Turkey’s “strongman” leader, is pleased as punch. He’s the new, biggest fan of Britain’s international trade secretary, Liz Truss, whose shabby work this is. Erdoğan hailed the deal as the start of a “new era” and a landmark for Turkey. After years of disastrous economic mismanagement and fierce rows with the US and EU over Turkish policy towards Russia, Syria, Libya, Greece and Cyprus, Erdoğan badly needed a win. Hapless Truss delivered.
The fact that Johnson used the spectre of Turkish migrants to frighten Leave voters in 2016 appears forgotten now. His government has created a favourable bilateral trade framework, and promised bespoke “upgrades”, to a leader who frequently mocks the EU and faces possible European trade sanctions. How does that square with Johnson’s vow to be “the best friend and ally the EU could have”? The level playing field is already tipping. » | Simon Tisdall | Sunday, January 3, 2021
Nancy Pelosi and Mitch McConnell's Homes Vandalised
BBC: Vandals in the US have attacked the homes of House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate majority leader Mitch McConnell.
Fake blood and a severed pig's head were reportedly left outside Democrat Ms Pelosi's California house, which was also daubed with graffiti.
The words "where's my money" and some expletives were scrawled on on Republican Mr McConnell's house in Kentucky.
It comes amid a political battle over a coronavirus stimulus package. » | Saturday, January 2, 2021
Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi homes vandalised in Covid protests »
Fake blood and a severed pig's head were reportedly left outside Democrat Ms Pelosi's California house, which was also daubed with graffiti.
The words "where's my money" and some expletives were scrawled on on Republican Mr McConnell's house in Kentucky.
It comes amid a political battle over a coronavirus stimulus package. » | Saturday, January 2, 2021
Mitch McConnell and Nancy Pelosi homes vandalised in Covid protests »
Saturday, January 02, 2021
Opinion: The Wreckage Betsy DeVos Leaves Behind
THE NEW YORK TIMES: The Education Department lies in ruins right when it’s needed most.
The departing education secretary, Betsy DeVos, will be remembered as perhaps the most disastrous leader in the Education Department’s history. Her lack of vision has been apparent in a variety of contexts, but never more so than this fall when she told districts that were seeking guidance on how to operate during the coronavirus pandemic that it was not her responsibility to track school district infection rates or keep track of school reopening plans. This telling remark implies a vision of the Education Department as a mere bystander in a crisis that disrupted the lives of more than 50 million schoolchildren. » | The Editorial Board | Saturday, January 2, 2021
The departing education secretary, Betsy DeVos, will be remembered as perhaps the most disastrous leader in the Education Department’s history. Her lack of vision has been apparent in a variety of contexts, but never more so than this fall when she told districts that were seeking guidance on how to operate during the coronavirus pandemic that it was not her responsibility to track school district infection rates or keep track of school reopening plans. This telling remark implies a vision of the Education Department as a mere bystander in a crisis that disrupted the lives of more than 50 million schoolchildren. » | The Editorial Board | Saturday, January 2, 2021
An Embattled Public Servant in a Fractured France
THE NEW YORK TIMES: Nicolas Cadène sees the failings of France’s secular model even as he upholds it.
PARIS — France is in theory a nondiscriminatory society where the state upholds strict religious neutrality and people are free to believe, or not, in any God they wish. It is a nation, in its self image, that through education dissolves differences of faith and ethnicity in a shared commitment to the rights and responsibilities of French citizenship.
This model, known as laïcité, often inadequately translated as secularism, is embraced by a majority of French people. They or their forebears became French in this way. No politician here would utter the words “In God we trust.” The Roman Catholic Church was removed more than a century ago from French public life. The country’s lay model supplants any deity.
But, in a country with an uneasy relationship to Islam, laïcité is also contested as the shield behind which France discriminates against its large Muslim population and avoids confronting its prejudices. As a result, the job of Nicolas Cadène, a mildly disheveled official with a mop of brown hair and multiple law degrees, has become a focus of controversy. » | Roger Cohen | Friday, January 1, 2021
Lire en français »
PARIS — France is in theory a nondiscriminatory society where the state upholds strict religious neutrality and people are free to believe, or not, in any God they wish. It is a nation, in its self image, that through education dissolves differences of faith and ethnicity in a shared commitment to the rights and responsibilities of French citizenship.
This model, known as laïcité, often inadequately translated as secularism, is embraced by a majority of French people. They or their forebears became French in this way. No politician here would utter the words “In God we trust.” The Roman Catholic Church was removed more than a century ago from French public life. The country’s lay model supplants any deity.
But, in a country with an uneasy relationship to Islam, laïcité is also contested as the shield behind which France discriminates against its large Muslim population and avoids confronting its prejudices. As a result, the job of Nicolas Cadène, a mildly disheveled official with a mop of brown hair and multiple law degrees, has become a focus of controversy. » | Roger Cohen | Friday, January 1, 2021
Lire en français »
Opinion: Britain Has Lost Itself
THE NEW YORK TIMES: My grandparents, who fled Nazi Germany for Britain, would be heartbroken to see the country today.
At long last, it happened.
Shortly before midnight on Thursday, Britain completed its exit from the European Union, replacing a close 47-year long relationship with the continent with something far more distant. Now it will have to live through difficult years of separation that will sap its political vibrancy and diminish its role on the world stage. Though a trade deal was belatedly agreed, the economic fallout may be dire, too.
Yet for many, it’s also a deeply personal moment. My grandparents, who escaped Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II, found a home in Britain — to them, it was a beacon of light and hope. But they would be heartbroken to see it today. Inward, polarized and absurdly self-aggrandizing, Britain has lost itself. In sorrow, I mourn the passing of the country that was my family’s salvation. » | Peter Gumbel* | Friday, January 1, 2021
* Mr. Gumbel is the author of “Citizens of Everywhere.”
At long last, it happened.
Shortly before midnight on Thursday, Britain completed its exit from the European Union, replacing a close 47-year long relationship with the continent with something far more distant. Now it will have to live through difficult years of separation that will sap its political vibrancy and diminish its role on the world stage. Though a trade deal was belatedly agreed, the economic fallout may be dire, too.
Yet for many, it’s also a deeply personal moment. My grandparents, who escaped Nazi Germany on the eve of World War II, found a home in Britain — to them, it was a beacon of light and hope. But they would be heartbroken to see it today. Inward, polarized and absurdly self-aggrandizing, Britain has lost itself. In sorrow, I mourn the passing of the country that was my family’s salvation. » | Peter Gumbel* | Friday, January 1, 2021
* Mr. Gumbel is the author of “Citizens of Everywhere.”
Friday, January 01, 2021
Brexit In Effect: UK's Access to Single Market Ends
Brexit : les Britanniques orphelins d’Erasmus
LE MONDE: Editorial. La décision de Boris Johnson de quitter le programme européen d’échanges universitaires est regrettable, autant pour les jeunes du Royaume-Uni que pour ceux de l’Union européenne.
Editorial du « Monde ». C’est l’une des nombreuses fausses promesses de Boris Johnson. Interpellé il y a un an par un député écossais dans la fièvre d’un débat sur le Brexit à la Chambre des communes, le premier ministre britannique garantissait que, non,« Erasmus n’était pas menacé ». La réalité s’impose aujourd’hui aux étudiants du Royaume-Uni avec « l’accord de commerce et de coopération » agréé le 24 décembre par Londres et Bruxelles : Erasmus, pour eux, c’est fini. Ils n’en bénéficieront plus pour aller étudier à l’étranger, pas plus que les universités britanniques n’en bénéficieront pour accueillir les étudiants de l’Union européenne. » | Éditorial | samedi 30 décembre 2020
Editorial du « Monde ». C’est l’une des nombreuses fausses promesses de Boris Johnson. Interpellé il y a un an par un député écossais dans la fièvre d’un débat sur le Brexit à la Chambre des communes, le premier ministre britannique garantissait que, non,« Erasmus n’était pas menacé ». La réalité s’impose aujourd’hui aux étudiants du Royaume-Uni avec « l’accord de commerce et de coopération » agréé le 24 décembre par Londres et Bruxelles : Erasmus, pour eux, c’est fini. Ils n’en bénéficieront plus pour aller étudier à l’étranger, pas plus que les universités britanniques n’en bénéficieront pour accueillir les étudiants de l’Union européenne. » | Éditorial | samedi 30 décembre 2020
Thursday, December 31, 2020
Brexit: Seven Things Changing on 1 January
BBC: From 1 January, the free movement of people and goods and services between the UK and the EU will end. This means significant differences to how people live, work and travel.
Here are some of the most important things that are changing. » | Paul Kerley | Thursday, December 31, 2020
Here are some of the most important things that are changing. » | Paul Kerley | Thursday, December 31, 2020
Stanley Johnson Confirms Application for French Passport on Eve of Brexit
Boris Johnson’s father Stanley has confirmed that he is applying for a French passport on the eve of Britain’s Brexit transition period coming to an end.
In an interview with the French radio station RTL, he said: “It’s not a question of becoming French. If I understand correctly I am French! My mother was born in France, her mother was completely French as was her grandfather. “For me it’s a question of obtaining what I already have and I am very happy about that.”
Johnson, 80, served as an MEP 40 years ago, and was one of the first UK civil servants to work in Brussels after Britain joined the European Union, then the European Economic Community, in 1973. He went on to work for the European commission. » | Harry Taylor | Thursday, December 31, 2020
The UK is good enough for the plebs, but only the European Union is good enough for the privileged few! This is sick and disgusting! We'll be told next that BoJo, his son, has secretly applied for French citizenship so as not to lose his EU rights! – ©Mark
View from the EU: Britain 'Taken over by Gamblers, Liars, Clowns and Their Cheerleaders'
Britain faces an uncertain future as it finally pulls clear of the EU’s orbit, continental commentators have predicted, its reputation for pragmatism and probity shredded by a Brexit process most see as profoundly populist and dangerously dishonest.
“For us, the UK has always been seen as like-minded: economically progressive, politically stable, respect for the rule of law – a beacon of western liberal democracy,” said Rem Korteweg, of the Clingendael Institute thinktank in the Netherlands.
“I’m afraid that’s been seriously hit by the past four years. The Dutch have seen a country in a deep identity crisis; it’s been like watching a close friend go through a really, really difficult time. Brexit is an exercise in emotion, not rationality; in choosing your own facts. And it’s not clear how it will end.” » | Jon Henley, Europe correspondent | Thursday, December 31, 2020
BoJo – Coco’s Brother
The Clown Test: If it looks like a clown, behaves like a clown, and talks like a clown, then it probably is a clown. – ©Mark
The Guardian View on the Brexit Debate: No Scrutiny, No Choice
THE GUARDIAN: A truncated parliamentary session, less than 48 hours before the end of the transition period, was too little, too late
In a damning assessment of Wednesday’s token debate on Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal, the Hansard Society’s senior researcher dismissed it as “a farce.” As one of the most depressing and shambolic periods in British political history reaches a denouement, perhaps that should have come as no surprise.
MPs were allotted five hours to discuss the 1,246-page treaty, agreed last week, which completes Britain’s departure from the European Union. Such a derisory level of scrutiny, said Hansard’s Brigid Fowler, was “an abdication of parliament’s constitutional responsibilities.” Exuding insouciance, the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, quickly revealed the government’s contempt for such notions. The risibly short session, he told MPs, was merely the “icing on the Christmas cake that the prime minister delivered for the nation”. So much, then, for the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty, the lodestar that supposedly guided the Brexit project. In the absence of any alternative, bar a disastrous no-deal exit on New Year’s Day, the European Union (future relationship) bill was rushed through by a majority of 448. Cognisant of its myriad flaws, Mr Johnson had good grounds for wanting it to be waved through on the fly. » | Editorial | Wednesday, December 30, 2020
In a damning assessment of Wednesday’s token debate on Boris Johnson’s Brexit trade deal, the Hansard Society’s senior researcher dismissed it as “a farce.” As one of the most depressing and shambolic periods in British political history reaches a denouement, perhaps that should have come as no surprise.
MPs were allotted five hours to discuss the 1,246-page treaty, agreed last week, which completes Britain’s departure from the European Union. Such a derisory level of scrutiny, said Hansard’s Brigid Fowler, was “an abdication of parliament’s constitutional responsibilities.” Exuding insouciance, the leader of the House of Commons, Jacob Rees-Mogg, quickly revealed the government’s contempt for such notions. The risibly short session, he told MPs, was merely the “icing on the Christmas cake that the prime minister delivered for the nation”. So much, then, for the restoration of parliamentary sovereignty, the lodestar that supposedly guided the Brexit project. In the absence of any alternative, bar a disastrous no-deal exit on New Year’s Day, the European Union (future relationship) bill was rushed through by a majority of 448. Cognisant of its myriad flaws, Mr Johnson had good grounds for wanting it to be waved through on the fly. » | Editorial | Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Wednesday, December 30, 2020
Two Kingdoms in the Third Reich - Professor Alec Ryrie
Nazism was not a Christian movement in any meaningful sense https://www.gresham.ac.uk/lectures-an...
German Protestants of the 1920s and 1930s shared many Nazi assumptions and voted disproportionately for the Nazi party, partly in the hope that they might use it for their own ends. One result was the German Christian movement, which tried to create a dejudaised Christianity which the Nazi state would accept with a place in the coming Aryan utopia. Many moderate, sensible Christians in Germany, even in the supposedly anti-Nazi 'Confessing Church', collaborated with the regime in other ways. This lecture will explore how so many Christians came to support Nazism, and how some managed to oppose it.
German Protestants of the 1920s and 1930s shared many Nazi assumptions and voted disproportionately for the Nazi party, partly in the hope that they might use it for their own ends. One result was the German Christian movement, which tried to create a dejudaised Christianity which the Nazi state would accept with a place in the coming Aryan utopia. Many moderate, sensible Christians in Germany, even in the supposedly anti-Nazi 'Confessing Church', collaborated with the regime in other ways. This lecture will explore how so many Christians came to support Nazism, and how some managed to oppose it.
'Delusional': Watch Rev. Sharpton React to Trump’s Nobel Prize Fraud | The Beat with Ari Melber
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