Taken from RT (Russia Today) about the Salzburg Brexit Summit.

Or, I could have called it "A Lesson From CaliforniCo".....

Salzburg Brexit summit – no more Mr Nice Guy.....

Shakespeare in his pomp could not have woven a plot with the intrigue of Brexit.

In fact, more than intrigue, so tortuous and agonizing have negotiations between London and Brussels been it’s a fair bet that if Jesus Christ himself had been asked to come down off the cross to help resolve matters, he would have lasted about as long as it took to clamber back to the relative sanctuary and sanity of Calvary.
But now, after Theresa May’s failed attempt to persuade her counterparts at the Salzburg summit of the EU27 to support her so-called Chequers plan on the terms of the UK’s departure, the fog of obfuscation has lifted to reveal that the choice facing the UK could not be simpler. For the UK it is either a hard Brexit, involving a complete break with the EU, or no Brexit at all.

Between those diametrically opposite positions lies a spaghetti soup of issues that have proved impossible to untangle in round after round of negotiations, as the clock counts inexorably down towards the date of the UK’s formal exit from the EU on 29 March 2019.

Emerging as the EU's most recalcitrant opponent of budging an inch when it comes to Brexit is French President Emmanuel Macron – to all intents Tony Blair's successor as the epitome of the confected liberal whose every utterance should come with a public health warning attached. Like the French artillery at Waterloo, Macron has waded into the issue with such vituperation it will only have succeeded in comforting supporters of Brexit that their decision to v**e to leave in 2016 was the right one.

At the close of the summit, Macron enunciated thus: "We all agreed on this today, the proposals [of Theresa May] in their current state are not acceptable, especially on the economic side of it. The Chequers plan cannot be take it or leave it."

Not satisfied with that he went further, urging his fellow EU heads of state to stick together and remain united when it comes to ensuring that the integrity of the bloc remains paramount, while also proclaiming that "Brexit shows us one thing: it's not that easy to exit the European Union, it's not without cost, it's not without consequences.''

In just this one sentence the French President revealed that when it comes to Brexit the emphasis of the EU must be to punish Britain for daring to exit, rather than attempt to arrive at a compromise agreement that squares the circle of respecting the result of the 2016 referendum, in which a slim majority of four per cent v**ed to Brexit, while ensuring Britain's departure is effected in such a way that economic and trade relations between both parties continue with the minimum of disruption.

Centrifugal forces across the EU have attracted unprecedented support in recent years. Moreover, the fact that said anti-EU centrifugal forces are dominated by anti-immigration right wing parties –reflected in the e******n of Viktor Orban as Prime Minister of Hungary and the rise to prominence in Italy of the League Party as part of a coalition government– throws up worrying comparisons with the 1930s, the last time Europe was so divided.

And yet Macron and his liberal fellow travellers have only themselves to blame for the ills that have befallen the EU. How can it be otherwise when the neoliberal economic model they hold so dear, and the very foundation upon which the bloc rests, has had such a corrosive impact on the lives of millions across Europe.

This impact is measured in more and more downward pressure on incomes, inflation, insecure employment, the spread of unemployment, and a lack of prospects for young people, thus murdering hope.

(Pay attention here liberal kiddies...t...) In t***h, the entire premise of this neoliberal EU crashed on the rocks of the 2008 global economic crisis and resulting recession. Even worse, the dire consequences of such have been exacerbated by austerity, rolled out across the bloc in response in what has been tantamount to a mass experiment in human despair.

A race to the bottom for ordinary working people is the grim reality that has been wrought, forced as they have been to compete for ever more scarce crumbs from the neoliberal table with workers from other countries. (Hmmm, should we replace US here with Mexican workers....??….t....)


Full Article here....: http://www.rt.com/op-ed/439091-brexit-theresa-may-eu/

This has produced a concomitant rise in anti-migrant hostility and xenophobia, benefiting the fortunes of the anti-migrant right, previously mentioned. Add to the mix the worst and most far-reaching refugee crisis Europe has had to deal with since the Second World War, which in its magnitude stands as an indictment of the wreckage sown by a hegemonic foreign policy of regime change wars without end, and what's not to love about the EU?

Democrats will exploit Kavanaugh’s accuser all the way to E******n Day
https://nypost.com/2018/09/20/democrats-will-exploit-kavanaughs-accuser-all-the-way-to-e******n-day/

Are Senate Democrats really interested in learning the t***h about the high-school sex-assault accusation against Brett Kavanaugh? Or are they just scheming to exploit it in the fall campaign?

Faced with a backlash against accuser Christine Blasey Ford’s refusal to testify next Monday, her lawyer suddenly shifted strategy — saying Ford’s prepared to testify “next week,” but only under “fair” terms.

Yet the lawyer also insisted that testimony “is not possible” on Monday. So with committee rules requiring at least a week’s notice, that could push off her appearance into October, with a v**e on Kavanaugh’s nomination not possible until shortly before E******n Day.

Which would make Democrats very happy, even if — especially if — Kavanaugh is confirmed. As Axios reports, they’re already making plans to repeat their tactics after the g****r-charged Clarence Thomas hearings, which led to the e******n of a record number of female Democrats in the “Year of the Woman” in 1992.

This time, they see the GOP losing “the war of public opinion,” letting Dems shift the fall debate away from economic growth into a referendum on women’s rights.

And, as Axios also reports, Democrats “feel confident” that “every rich liberal in America would help fund this effort.”

Democrats would love to block Kavanaugh, but they’re more focused on using Ford to win big at the polls. That’s political cynicism at its worst.

This is one of those cases that would be very hard to defend the cop, yet those on the right are going to be inclined simply not to say anything if they have to say the cop did wrong, that cops can't shoot someone in their own homes and say oops, I made a mistake.

https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2018/09/09/theres-enough-evidence-charge-dallas-officer-accused-k*****g-man-his-home-lawyer-says/?utm_term=.73bc3dfd487c

I've been reading articles about this from the start, and it's one of those cases that seems impossible to defend, but defend it the right will do.Please if you identify with the right and find this unacceptable please just say so, saying nothing is sort of an indicator you won't take a stand against cops k*****g people, especially for no reason except negligence or incompetence.

This cop's story has changed and that is well documented. There is no single story she is telling that makes any sense or is a defense against at least a manslaughter charge. She supposedly didn't know it wasn't her apartment, yet she was knocking on the door? Her key wasn't working so when the door opened she was startled by a strange man in her apartment? She apparently was inside the apartment when the shooting occurred, how could she not know it wasn't her apartment?

This thing stinks, and defending this cop is ludicrous, but Cruz is going there.

And here I thought the Catholics had cornered the market on promiscuous children!

http://www.patheos.com/blogs/progressivesecularhumanist/2016/09/former-ohio-mayor-claims-his-4-year-old-rape-victim-was-willing-participant/#eaISwpFbC4gdcyt3.01

Former Ohio mayor and Christian conservative admits to raping little girl.

A Former Ohio mayor who dedicated his life to Christ admits he raped a four-year-old girl but claims his victim initiated sexual contact and was a willing participant.

Richard Keenan, who served as mayor of Hubbard, Ohio, in 2010 and 2011, was indicted last month on eight counts of rape and 12 counts of attempted rape and gross sexual imposition.

Keenan, who has described himself in the past as a “dedicated” Christian, is facing multiple counts of rape and attempted rape of a child after confessing to the sex abuse to his wife, a pastor, a social worker and his brother- and sister-in-law.

Prosecutors say Keenan admitted to sexually assaulting the girl over a three-year period, beginning when she was 4 years old.

Keenan blamed the victim for being a “willing participant,” according to court documents.

According to court documents, Keenan first admitted to a local pastor that he molested the girl, who was 4 at the time.

NY Daily News reports:

He (Keenan) said the girl walked in on him in the bathroom and “asked him if she could touch his pee-pee.” Keenan said he kissed, fondled and performed oral sex on the girl, and let her kiss his g*****ls, court docs say.

Keenan called his brother and sister-in-law to confess the crime and said he “had gone way, way too far and way over the line,” the docs say. When his wife confronted him about it, he told her, “I did it.”

So here's where the whole "practicing religion" thing starts to get hinky. The owner of the business forced his employees to go to bible studies as a requirement to keep their jobs. The employee told him he was not comfortable being told he had to attend these studies, and that it was not legal for him to do so. He attended for awhile because he needed the job, but at some point refused to go and was fired.

To my way of thinking it's impossible to conflate the owner's right to practice his religious beliefs by forcing them on other people who are free to believe and practice or not wh**ever it is they believe or do not believe.

This whole religious thing is heating up, make no mistake, and courts and court biases are becoming a part of it

https://www.oregonlive.com/pacific-northwest-news/index.ssf/2018/08/lawsuit_oregon_construction_wo.html