Slashdot Mirror

I'm in the UK. See http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin...

In 1990, there were 17,637 bank branches but the network had shrunk to just under 12,000 by 2003.

This year Barclays indicated it could shrink its 1,600-strong branch network by 25pc, meaning 400 could close, and is piloting a scheme to move high street branches into Asda superstores.

The above may explain my previous comment.

Since the Ukrainian vote to join the EU, Russia has gone on an all-out propaganda offensive with the intention to split the west and weaken NATO. Russia regards the Ukraine as its "home-turf" and buffer against perceived NATO "aggression", and it regards the EU as the gateway to NATO membership for eastern European countries that were formally part of the Soviet Union.
Russia feels as if NATO is encroaching on its sphere of influence and waging an "underhanded" war of political expansion. Looking at a map you will see how one by one, former Soviet republics have been converted into NATO countries.
Russia also feels that this NATO expansion is a violation of a promise made to Gorbachev at the dissolution of the Soviet Union, that NATO would not expand to the east.
For this reasons Russia has decided to go on the offensive and start fighting NATO. Not by military means, since it does not have the means to seriously compete with NATO, but by information warfare, taking full advantage of the traits of our open societies, such as freedom of speech and of the press. Using fake news and trolls that sow discontent and dissent, it intends to cause a rift between our countries and institutions.
Russian agents already provided plenty of cannon fodder to the Brexit crew and succeeded in swaying public opinion. Everything that causes a rift through the EU and NATO is good for Russia.
Russia is very active in spreading fake news and inciting discontent around far-right groups in Europe, using the refugee crisis to full effect (fake news about rapists, terrorists and other criminals among refugees) to strengthen the far-right and to politically destabilize European nations, especially Germany and France. Fortunately these activities have only had marginal success thus far, with the far-right Front National in France and the AfD in Germany gaining some votes, but not enough to pose a serious threat to the political establishment.
It had resounding success in the U.S. were it just so managed to tip the scale in favor of Trump, the weaker candidate, and the US government and especially foreign policy is practically paralyzed and ineffectual at the moment. If you want some information or evidence on these activities, it's really only a good google search away.
Russian activities in Germany and Europe:
https://www.nato.int/docu/Revi...
http://time.com/4889471/german...
https://www.politico.eu/articl...
http://www.bbc.com/news/world-...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

On Russia's overall strategy and interference in the US:
https://www.newyorker.com/maga...
http://www.slate.com/articles/...

That should be a good start to get an idea.

The US is 3 times worse than the UK for health outcomes vs expenditure

I will admit... leaving patients out in the parking lot in an ambulance is a fantastic way of reducing costs... though do their turning for the worst end up counting in the final figures you claim to cite?

http://www.independent.co.uk/n...
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/heal...
https://www.theguardian.com/so...
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/heal...

You mean like London, England?
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Or Paris, France?
https://crimeresearch.org/2017...

Pretty sure the problem is not the guns. France has a gun ownership rate of about 30 per 100, and England is about 6 per 100.

I'm still safer in Austin, Texas than Glasgow, Scotland.

Re "I don't know if these limits exist in more current devices as people simply stopped talking about them."
Fake mobile phone masts spy on your calls
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...
Lots of digital news is around AC. Lots of data to collect from different consumer devices wondering around.

Apart from the crime of skipping bail, it should be remembered that, in order to get bail in the first place, Assange had to promise to give the authorities money if he broke his bail conditions. A lot of the money was guaranteed by some of his supporters who were all totally shafted by his decision to flee to the Ecuador Embassy.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

So, he's a rapist (must be, otherwise, why did he flee) and he defrauded his friends of a lot of money. I really don't know why anybody thinks of him as anything other than a shit.

Skipping bail

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

A cigarette butt isn't a burning stick; but it's close.

Add to that there could not be a bigger, fatter, softer target that Donald J Trump

All I know is that the next time I'm arrested, I pray that the cop sitting across the table questioning me is not Robert Mueller. I mean, Jesus Christ, the guy looks like an FBI hard case out of central casting. He gives me one of these looks and I'd give up my own mother.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/con...

I have a feeling that everyone from the Trump administration who's been questioned by Mueller so far looked exactly like this:

https://i.ytimg.com/vi/-vEVoMb...

From the link posted by the troll above:

Facebook has said less than £1 was spent on Russian adverts designed to disrupt the Brexit vote, downplaying claims that meddling from the Kremlin helped swing last yearâ(TM)s referendum.

The US internet giant responded to an investigation from the Electoral Commission by saying the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy organisation with links to the Russian government, spent just $0.97 (73p) in Britain during the two months of the EU referendum campaign.

However, its claims were instantly disputed by a senior MP.

Damian Collins, the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, accused Facebook of failing to probe the true extent of Russian meddling.

And surprise-surprise... They are going back to see if they've maybe, perhaps, possibly, missed some - once they are called out about it.

Just like how Facebook's could not have influenced the outcome of the election in November 2016.
But by April of 2017 "disinformation campaign during the election" WAS there but it was "statistically very small".
Then in September it turns out it they sold $150.000 worth of ads to Russians for some "3000 ads" connected to some 470 accounts, aimed at promoting discord on issues such as "gun rights, immigration, LGBT rights and race".
Or was that "80,000 pieces of content [which] may have been viewed by a total of 126 million people", as was revealed by late October 2017.

How those numbers keep growing... it's as almost as if Zuckerberg and Co. are lying through their teeth to cover their asses - then rolling over when pressed about it.

Meanwhile, in the land of Brexit...

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh identified 419 accounts operating from the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) attempting to influence UK politics out of 2,752 accounts suspended by Twitter in the US.

From the link posted by the troll above:

Facebook has said less than £1 was spent on Russian adverts designed to disrupt the Brexit vote, downplaying claims that meddling from the Kremlin helped swing last yearâ(TM)s referendum.

The US internet giant responded to an investigation from the Electoral Commission by saying the Internet Research Agency, a shadowy organisation with links to the Russian government, spent just $0.97 (73p) in Britain during the two months of the EU referendum campaign.

However, its claims were instantly disputed by a senior MP.

Damian Collins, the chair of the digital, culture, media and sport (DCMS) committee, accused Facebook of failing to probe the true extent of Russian meddling.

And surprise-surprise... They are going back to see if they've maybe, perhaps, possibly, missed some - once they are called out about it.

Just like how Facebook's could not have influenced the outcome of the election in November 2016.
But by April of 2017 "disinformation campaign during the election" WAS there but it was "statistically very small".
Then in September it turns out it they sold $150.000 worth of ads to Russians for some "3000 ads" connected to some 470 accounts, aimed at promoting discord on issues such as "gun rights, immigration, LGBT rights and race".
Or was that "80,000 pieces of content [which] may have been viewed by a total of 126 million people", as was revealed by late October 2017.

How those numbers keep growing... it's as almost as if Zuckerberg and Co. are lying through their teeth to cover their asses - then rolling over when pressed about it.

Meanwhile, in the land of Brexit...

Researchers at the University of Edinburgh identified 419 accounts operating from the Russian Internet Research Agency (IRA) attempting to influence UK politics out of 2,752 accounts suspended by Twitter in the US.

But she lost because the military out rigged her, now the entire Rothschild gang is going down, and you want to ban all the news about it like CNN.

Who is #QAnon?

Massive intel drops by individuals with highest level Q clearance:

Part I: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part II: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part III: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part IV: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part V: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part VI: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...

Qanon updates for January 14 2018
http://www.stillnessinthestorm...

#QANON Updates: Q Map, Q Posts, Q BreadCrumbs, Liz Crokin & More
http://www.theeventchronicle.c...

QAnon: The link between Space X and North Korea
http://www.astoundingelements....

Eric Schmidt's North Korea Visit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...

QAnon: Trump's Executive Order Linked to Resignation of Google's Eric Schmidt
https://freedomoutpost.com/qan...

Q Threatens Lynn de Rothschild â" Followed by Deadly Plane Crash at Rothschild Estate
http://brutalproof.net/2017/12...

It's interesting that QAnon posted about LdR (Lynn de Rothschild or possible Lord Rothschild) on Monday and today a "freak" accident occurs between a helicopter and a light plane. How many heli/plane accidents have you ever seen and suddenly there are two high profile helicopter crashes in two weeks, taking out some of the richest people in the world
https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/22...

Is this Q message directed at Lynn de Rothschild? Notice the L d R in brackets. Who died in the crash near the Rothschild estate today?
http://archive.is/uLy5G

Is QAnon real?
http://theduran.com/understand...

QAnon has posted some remarkable predictions proving his âoeauthenticityâ as someone working inside the Trump Administrationâ¦

QAnon predicted Trump's Twitter shutdown

QAnon predicted an incident with a helicopter at a Rothschild estate in the UK two days before it happened

QAnon posted original photographs taken from Air Force One. Timestamps and flight paths match the POTUS Trump's recent trip to Asia. One photo appears to have been taken while flying over North Korea.

QAnon: The link between Space X and North Korea
http://www.astoundingelements....

Eric Schmidt's North Korea Visit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...

QAnon: Trump's Executive Order Linked to Resignation of Google's Eric Schmidt
https://freedomoutpost.com/qan...

Q Threatens Lynn de Rothschild â" Followed by Deadly Plane Crash at Rothschild Estate
http://brutalproof.net/2017/12...

It's interesting that QAnon posted about LdR (Lynn de Rothschild or possible Lord Rothschild) on Monday and today a "freak" accident occurs between a helicopter and a light plane. How many heli/plane accidents have you ever seen and suddenly there are two high profile helicopter crashes in two weeks, taking out some of the richest people in the world
https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/22...

Is this Q message directed at Lynn de Rothschild? Notice the L d R in brackets. Who died in the crash near the Rothschild estate today?
http://archive.is/uLy5G

Is QAnon real?
http://theduran.com/understand...

QAnon has posted some remarkable predictions proving his âoeauthenticityâ as someone working inside the Trump Administrationâ¦

QAnon predicted Trump's Twitter shutdown

QAnon predicted an incident with a helicopter at a Rothschild estate in the UK two days before it happened

QAnon posted original photographs taken from Air Force One. Timestamps and flight paths match the POTUS Trump's recent trip to Asia. One photo appears to have been taken while flying over North Korea.

QAnon has posted key phrases that the President used in future tweets, with many of his phrases and terminology independently confirmed as belonging to military intelligence.

Massive intel drops by individuals with highest level Q clearance:

Part I: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part II: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part III: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part IV: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part V: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...
Part VI: https://truthearth.org/2017/11...

Qanon updates for January 14 2018
http://www.stillnessinthestorm...

#QANON Updates: Q Map, Q Posts, Q BreadCrumbs, Liz Crokin & More
http://www.theeventchronicle.c...

(5th Post)

QAnon: The link between Space X and North Korea
http://www.astoundingelements....

Eric Schmidt's North Korea Visit:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...

QAnon: Trump's Executive Order Linked to Resignation of Google's Eric Schmidt
https://freedomoutpost.com/qan...

Q Threatens Lynn de Rothschild â" Followed by Deadly Plane Crash at Rothschild Estate
http://brutalproof.net/2017/12...

It's interesting that QAnon posted about LdR (Lynn de Rothschild or possible Lord Rothschild) on Monday and today a "freak" accident occurs between a helicopter and a light plane. How many heli/plane accidents have you ever seen and suddenly there are two high profile helicopter crashes in two weeks, taking out some of the richest people in the world
https://voat.co/v/pizzagate/22...

Is this Q message directed at Lynn de Rothschild? Notice the L d R in brackets. Who died in the crash near the Rothschild estate today?
http://archive.is/uLy5G

Is QAnon real?
http://theduran.com/understand...

QAnon has posted some remarkable predictions proving his âoeauthenticityâ as someone working inside the Trump Administrationâ¦

QAnon predicted Trump's Twitter shutdown

QAnon predicted an incident with a helicopter at a Rothschild estate in the UK two days before it happened

QAnon posted original photographs taken from Air Force One. Timestamps and flight paths match the POTUS Trump's recent trip to Asia. One photo appears to have been taken while flying over North Korea.

QAnon has posted key phrases that the President used in future tweets, with many of his phrases and terminology independently confirmed as belonging to military intelligence.

QAnon claims Debbie Wasserman Schultz put out a contract to MS-13 gang members to murder Seth Rich

(5th Post) BIG DROP:
How did NK obtain Uranium?
How did Iran obtain Uranium?
Why did BO send billions (in cash and wire) to Iran?
Why the cash component?
Was the hostage component a cover?
For what?
Could any of the cash component be handed off to other people?
How many planes carried the cash into Iran?
Did all land in Iran?
Did all land in the same location?
Why is this relevant?
Who controls NK?
Who really controls NK?
Don't think of a single person.
Think of a powerful entity.
Why is this important?
Why are wars so important?
Who benefits?
What does hostage refer to?
Who can be held hostage and controlled by NK having miniaturized nuclear weapons?
Where is BO TODAY?
Where is VJ?
Alice & Wonderland.

http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/...

https://www.thegospelcoalition...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

The last time i saw a breakdown of the average "use" of religious charities received donations (and yes, it has been a while.. before this prosperity anti-christian gospel blasphemy started), 70-75% went to admin and upkeep, 20% was passed through to other religious groups (with a similar breakdown of those donations), and 5-10% used on actual assistance to ANYONE. That "assistance to anyone" was a mix of the actual members of the organization who had given the donations in the first place, and the general public...weighing more heavily towards the donation givers.

So, while you'd like to cherry pick your own little fantasy land of how churches work, i'll remind you i'm speaking of the US.... where self proclaimed "christians" consider Jesus' teachings to be a horrible excuse for giving out handouts (yes, i've actually had that anti-christian statement made to me from a self proclaimed christian), and where they put all their energy into things Jesus never taught, or even mentioned.... but they're willing to lie every time they open their mouths and say he did.

Jesus taught to feed the hungry, cloth and shelter those in need, help the sick and imprisoned. It's too bad such a large segment of "christians" in the US find those teachings to be abhorrent.

He's a fugitive from justice.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

The United Nations was ridiculed on Friday after its experts ruled Julian Assange is "detained" in the Ecuadorian embassy and suggested Britain should pay compensation to the Wikileaks founder.

The findings were described as "ridiculous" by David Cameron, the Prime Minister, as it emerged the UN Working Group on Arbitrary Detention was deeply divided over its conclusions.

One member of the panel refused to support the final report, saying Mr Assange was a fugitive who "fled bail" over a rape allegation in Sweden and was using political asylum in the Ecuadorian embassy to "evade arrest".

Mr Cameron's official spokesman said: "It's ridiculous. There's a European Arrest Warrant out for him. He has never been arbitrarily detained in this country. It's entirely his choice to remain in the Ecuadorian embassy and he is avoiding lawful arrest by choosing to remain there."

Echoing the Prime Minister's comments, Phillip Hammond, the Foreign Secretary, said: "I reject the decision of this working group. Julian Assange is a fugitive from justice. He is hiding from justice in the Ecuadorian embassy. He can come out any time he chooses. But he will have to face justice in Sweden if he chooses to do so."

He's been in there for five years. The ridiculous thing is that if he'd actually gone back to Sweden and been convicted of rape he'd probably have spent less than five years in a very comfy Swedish jail.

Then again he's effectively got free board and lodging in the centre of London and he can claim to be a political prisoner. And a load of celebs can do his shopping runs to Harrods for him - he doesn't actually need to go out. He certainly seems to be gaining weight. I guess a diet of Harrods food hall stuff agrees with him.

And yet there have been any number of female high profile media personality that work comparable hours to men and earn vastly less. A good example is one that just popped up today for me: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

But still do a quick search and look up the average wages of Hollywood celebrities.

The top earners are all men and the top earners for the lady's are all half that of the men.

And media is the easy one to view this in as all these people have megaphones.

Because single payer works so well in the UK

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Every hospital in the country has been ordered to cancel all non-urgent surgery until at least February in an unprecedented step by NHS officials.

The instructions on Tuesday night - which will see result in around 50,000 operations being axed - followed claims by senior doctors that patients were being treated in "third world" conditions, as hospital chief executives warned of the worst winter crisis for three decades.

Hospitals are reporting growing chaos, with a spike in winter flu leaving frail patients facing 12-hour waits, and some units running out of corridor space.

Sir Bruce Keogh, NHS medical director, on Tuesday ordered NHS trusts to stop taking all but the most urgent cases, closing outpatients clinics for weeks as well as cancelling around 50,000 planned operations.

Trusts have also been told they can abandon efforts to house male and female patients in separate wards, in an effort to protect basic safety, as services become overwhelmed.

It's a non Newtonian fluid, but it's not cornstarch

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

There's a video here

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin...

On the other hand, it's either intellectual lazy or indicative of topical ignorance to yell "SAUCE OR FAKE!" in response to references to mainstream news closely related to the topic at hand. But here you go:

Original poster of video Trump retweeted was banned:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec...

Trump has engaged in harassing behavior that others have been banned for:

https://www.vox.com/culture/20...

Twitter's newsworthiness defense, pretty much reiterated in TFA:

https://www.recode.net/2017/9/...

Actually in a nuclear standoff pointing out your country has a very large nuclear advantage over a potential attacker is likely to cause that attacker to think again.

And of course Bill Clinton made a very similar statement.

http://www.nytimes.com/1993/07...

CLINTON'S WARNING IRKS NORTH KOREA
Published: July 13, 1993

TOKYO, July 12- The North Korean Government accused President Clinton today of provoking it with threats of war after he warned that the United States would retaliate if North Korea developed nuclear arms.

The statement by the Communist Government of Kim Il Sung came just hours after it handed over what it said were remains of 17 American soldiers killed in the Korean War.

On his weekend visit to South Korea, President Clinton warned that if North Korea developed and used an atomic weapon, "we would quickly and overwhelmingly retaliate."

"It would mean the end of their country as they know it," he said. 'Rash Act' by U.S.

The North Korean Government lashed back today through its Korean Central News Agency, monitored in Tokyo.

"The United States must ponder over the fatal consequences that might arise from its rash act," the statement said. "If anyone dares to provoke us, we will immediately show him in practice what our bold decision is."

North Korea has denied that it is developing nuclear weapons but has banned inspections of two sites suspected of being nuclear installations. Last month, North Korea backed off from its decision to drop out of the Nuclear Nonproliferation Treaty, but the issue of site inspections was left unresolved. Further talks on the matter are to begin Wednesday in Geneva, where Washington is expected to press North Korea to accept inspections or face consequences that could include economic sanctions.

And so did Obama

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

President Barack Obama delivered a stern warning to North Korea on Tuesday, reminding its "erratic" and "irresponsible" leader that America's nuclear arsenal could "destroy" his country.

Kim Jong-un, the North Korean dictator, claimed to have tested a submarine-launched missile last Saturday. A photograph showed the weapon flying out of the sea, although there was no independent confirmation that it had been fired from a submarine, as opposed to a sub-surface platform.

"We could, obviously, destroy North Korea with our arsenals"
Barack Obama

But North Korea already has between six and eight nuclear warheads that could be mounted on a missile. If the regime does perfect a submarine-launched system then it would, in theory, be able to launch a nuclear attack on the American mainland. This would require a submarine being able to sail within missile range of the US.

Mr Obama gave warning of the possible consequences. "We could, obviously, destroy North Korea with our arsenals," he told CBS News. "But aside from the humanitarian costs of that, they are right next door to our vital ally, [South] Korea."

Mr Obama said that America was improving its own missile defences. "One of the things that we have been doing is spending a lot more time positioning our missile defence systems, so that even as we try to resolve the underlying problem of nuclear development inside of North Korea, we're also setting up a shield that can at least block the relatively low level threats that they're posing right now," he said

Full marks to Obama for pointing out that a single 50's era ICBM launched from North Korea is very likely to be intercepted given current US missile defences as well as pointing out that the US could level the whole country, i.e. that MAD applies even if you can build enough missiles to get one through.

Of course when Clinton and Obama did it th

John Cage's estate successfully sued and got damages over someone violating the copyright on 4'33", Cage's famous silent piece.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/cul...

Last Monday, millionaire producer, arranger and songwriter Mike Batt made an out-of-court settlement with representatives of the late avant-garde composer John Cage, for a rumoured £100,000. The man behind the Wombles' hits of the late 1970s, Batt stood accused of copyright infringement. What made his case special, though, was that he had been accused of stealing precisely nothing.

Earlier this year, on his classical/rock fusion album Classical Graffiti (played by octet the Planets), he included a self-explanatory track called A One Minute Silence. Credited to Batt/Cage, it seemed a deliberate but innocuous echo of 4'33", the four minutes and 33 seconds of silence with which Cage once outraged audiences. (First performed at a concert in Woodstock in 1952, 4'33" required the performer merely to sit motionless at any instrument for the allotted time.)

Classical Graffiti soared to the top of the classical charts, where it remained for a lucrative three months. Eight weeks into this reign, however, Cage's publishers, Peters Edition, contacted Batt and declared that he had, as it were, no right to silence. The rest is now (legal) history.

Did it even flicker across Batt's mind that there might be such a brouhaha? "It did," he says, "to the extent that when I put 'Cage', I told the record company that it wasn't John Cage, but Clint Cage, Clint being just a figment of my imagination, and a registered pseudonym for myself. What happened was that someone in the system presumed it was John Cage and put the word 'John' in."

Not only was One Minute Silence not intended to be taken remotely seriously, says Batt, it in fact began life as a space-filler. "It was me taking the mickey out of John Cage - although he was probably taking the mickey in the first place. For most of the CD, the Planets play fusion music, and at the end of the album I wanted to add some purer classical tracks. So I put a minute's space between the two sections, I just thought, wouldn't it be fun if I called it One Minute Silence, and credited it to Batt/Cage?"

Despite settling, Batt maintains that the opposition had a weak case. "I remember saying to them, look, it's very clear that you cannot copyright a piece of silence - there's too much of it about! All this payment was, was me extending a hand of friendship."

I ring Nicholas Riddle, managing director of Peters Edition, for his view. "I understand exactly what he's saying," he explains. "But I think from our point of view we thought the case to be stronger."

There are, says Riddle, precedents for this scenario - for example, Frank Zappa made a recording of 4'33" that was credited to John Cage, and for which royalties were paid. Indeed, for him the case was less about the highbrow question of whether or not silence can be copyright, but about whether or not this was actually a performace of Cage's piece. Having seen "Cage" on the sleeve (and "John Cage" on relevant documentation), says Riddle, "from our point of view they had established that they intended this to be a performance of - or at least a quotation from! - 4'33", not just borrowing Cage's creative idea, which it is difficult to regard as copyright under British law, but actually purporting to have recorded that work."

Either way, a vital part of Batt's payout was that no future money from the CD would go to the Cage camp. Batt explains: "We're going to sell more records, we've had fun with this, and I thought, I'll pay some money over to show goodwill - but of course the royalties remain mine for the future."

Given silence can by copyright, it's likely white noise can too.

I've been voting against my europhile MP for 18 years. I've seen the EU as damaging to the UK for longer than that, and events in Greece hardly helped.

Fair enough but I'm still not clear how the EU is damaging the UK. What's been damaged.

I'm also very aware of the non-EU migration, but even if we can get the Government to tighten that it wouldn't help with unlimited EU migrants

Last year there were about 170,000 non EU migrants vs 100,000 EU ones. While the EU ones are theoretically unlimited they are not in practice. It seems like aiming for the small problem over the big one.

I think the "if" there is a huge one. Many successive governments have been happy blaming immigrants on the EU while refusing to fix policies. I think we should sort ourselves out first before blaming the EU. I doubt leaving the EU will fix this.

Yes, the NHS has a dependency on imported skills. That's not a good thing though, so again I'm happy for a difficult transition period that leaves us in a more sustainable longer term position.

This costs money. It's money we could have spent without leaving the EU. Odds on that when we leave, the government will instigate a skilled migrants program which will include all the people needed to work in the NHS, because that's much cheaper than going for the sustainable option that we both agree would be a good idea.

IOW leaving the EU is very unlikely to change this.

As for EU funding in regions, why the hell are we letting our own Government get away with being shit at this? Again, fix our own country.

How do we stop it? The nice thing about multiple levels of government is that they can serve to correct each other's flaws, and the flaws in local politics. Also, leaving the EU won't fix our government. It will give them more power to make things worse though.

As for EU protections on workers rights, we will not lose those if we leave. The EU repeal bill doesn't say, "except for those pesky workers rights".

Huh? Once we leave we are no longer bound by the EU directive. The most pro-tory paper (can't accuse it of bias against) is clear about them wanting to scrap the working time directive:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

So yes that is a very real possibility.

We have far better rights than EU minimums anyway, this is an area in which the UK frequently takes a lead.

We're bang on for working time and holiday time. We're very slightly over the minimum on parental leave. We're substantially better on maternity leave.

Btw, 'what the fuck' in no way indicates anger. It's how I talk.

Fair enough.

Alcohol below the 'hangover' level is about as bad for you as sugar.

Sugar: The Bitter Truth — 2009, 7.5 million views

The Hacking of the American Mind with Dr. Robert Lustig — 2017

John Yudkin: the man who tried to warn us about sugar — 2014

If you look up Robert Lustig on Wikipedia, nearly two-thirds of the studies cited there to repudiate Lustig's views were funded by Coca-Cola.

Many serious people now believe that excess fructose (which is metabolized in the liver through much the same pathway as ethanol) is the largest single causal component to the metabolic syndrome epidemic, which is itself one of the largest single causes of runaway healthcare costs in the United States.

Salt, Sugar, Fat: How the Food Giants Hooked Us by Michael Moss — 2013

He interviewed hundreds of current and former food industry insiders — chemists, nutrition scientists, behavioural biologists, food technologists, marketing executives, package designers, chief executives and lobbyists.

What he uncovered is chilling: a hard-working industry composed of well-paid, smart, personable professionals, all keenly focused on keeping us hooked on ever more ingenious junk foods; an industry that thinks of us not as customers, or even consumers, but as potential "heavy users".

How the Food Makers Captured Our Brains — 2009

As head of the Food and Drug Administration, Dr. David A. Kessler served two presidents and battled Congress and Big Tobacco. But the Harvard-educated pediatrician discovered he was helpless against the forces of a chocolate chip cookie.
...
Foods rich in sugar and fat are relatively recent arrivals on the food landscape, Dr. Kessler noted. But today, foods are more than just a combination of ingredients. They are highly complex creations, loaded up with layer upon layer of stimulating tastes that result in a multisensory experience for the brain. Food companies "design food for irresistibility," Dr. Kessler noted. "It's been part of their business plans."

Sugar is the tongs and the hammer.

As Lustig once said (from memory): given the choice between sugar and alcohol, I'll take alcohol, because you can only drink yourself under the table once a day.

And just a few hundred miles to the West, the UK is having an extremely cold winter with snow covering nearly all of England, and the coldest winter in 8 years hitting the Isles.

They've update it now it's

Don't be evil

Taxation is theft

Theft is evil

Don't pay taxes.

/s

There was a lot of anger in the UK about Google not paying taxes, with Google execs grilled by the PAC.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/busi...

Google's executive chairman Eric Schmidt has said he is "perplexed" by the ongoing debate over the company's tax contributions in the UK.

Mr Schmidt told the BBC that the company did what was "legally required" to pay the right amount of taxes.

Google paid £10m in UK corporate taxes between 2006 and 2011.

Mr Schmidt said it was up to the government to change its tax system if it wanted companies to pay more taxes.

Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Start the Week, he said: "What we are doing is legal. I'm rather perplexed by this debate, which has been going in the UK for some time, because I view taxes as not optional.

"I view that you should pay the taxes that are legally required. It's not a debate. You pay the taxes.

"If the British system changes the tax laws, then we will comply. If the taxes go up, we will pay more, if they go down, we will pay less. That is a political decision for the democracy that is the United Kingdom."

And as much as I dislike Google for its political meddling, bias, censorship and data mining, he's got a point.

Oddly enough the griller in chief was Margaret Hodge, MP was director of a company which paid very low levels of taxes, using the rules to the max

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/fin...

The Labour MP has been one of the fiercest critics of tax avoidance by companies such as Starbucks, Google and Amazon. However, she is likely to face questions over the limited tax paid by Stemcor, the steel trading company in which she owns shares and which was founded by her father and is run by her brother.

Analysis of Stemcor's latest accounts show that the business paid tax of just £163,000 on revenues of more than £2.1bn in 2011. However. it is not known whether the company - which made profits of £65m - used similar controversial tax avoidance measures criticised in the past by Mrs Hodge.

Stemcor's tax bill to the exchequer equates to just 0.01pc of the revenues it booked through its UK-based business. In accounts filed with Companies House, Stemcor revealed that despite generating about one third of its revenues in Britain, its UK tax contribution made up only 2.7pc of the tax the company paid globally.

Stemcor was founded by Mrs Hodge's father Hans Oppenheimer more than 60 years ago.

Today, the business claims to be the sixth largest private UK company by turnover. Last year the company, which employs 2,000 people in 45 countries, generated sales of £6bn from trading about 20m tonnes of steel.

The majority of Stemcor's shares are still controlled by the Oppenheimer family and Mrs Hodge declares a "registrable shareholding" in the company, which is run by her brother Ralph Oppenheimer, executive chairman.

Speaking to The Daily Telegraph, Mrs Hodge defended Stemcor's behaviour and said that the company had "assured" her it paid "every penny of tax that is owed", adding that she was only "a very small shareholder".

"Clearly, I have asked them the question," said Mrs Hodge. "They have always promised that they do absolutely nothing to avoid tax. I would be very mad if I found out differently."

Mrs Hodge said unlike other companies under the spotlight, Stemcor did not try to shield profits or "hide information" and that was the difference between Stemcor and Starbucks.

However, when pressed about the details of why so little tax was paid by Stemcor despite the billions of pounds it makes

What is the solution to the waste products of humanity?

Leave them alone . . . . Iran was once a democracy until they elected the "wrong" leader and America and Britain fixed it by putting in the Shah. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Unfortunately your history is a bit off. The Shah was in power before the Prime Minister's coup, and was in power after the British & American counter-coup. You may note this section of the Wikipedia article:

Execution of Operation Ajax
The official pretext for the start of the coup was Mossadegh's decree to dissolve Parliament, giving himself and his cabinet complete power to rule, while effectively stripping the Shah of his powers.[10][11][12] It resulted in him being accused of giving himself "total and dictatorial powers."

The "pretext" has the "unfortunate" quality of being true and understated in Wikipedia. The Prime Minister overthrew the Iranian democratic government, and effectively the Shah who then fled the country. The Prime Minister took the power of ruling by decree, in other words a dictator. After a quick look it appears that the Wikipedia article fails to mention that there was a fraudulent election staged to justify all of this. The Time magazine article that I saw on it mentioned that Iran's Prime Minister received a higher percentage vote than either Hitler or Stalin received in their elections. I wonder what the Farsi word for chutzpah is? Anyway, the counter-coup restore the Shah to power, it wasn't what put him in power to begin with.

As long as the rank and file soldiers and police don't feel that the internal turmoil in Iran won't be exploited by outside forces they likely will tolerate peaceful protests. There is a good chance the Iranian leadership won't order any kind of crack down for fear the police won't obey them. If the rest of the worlds leaders can resist opening their mouths there is a good chance Iran can be another success story like Tunisia.

We can expect the Iranian government to be at least as violent as they were in 2009 when they unleashed the Revolutionary Guards, Basij paramilitary units, and Lebas Shakhsi paramilitaries on the Green Movement protesters. Those forces are loyal to the Iranian revolutionary Islamist regime as are willing to attack civilians in the streets to maintain the regime.

It appears to be starting now.

Two reportedly killed after Iranian forces 'open fire on protestors' as demonstrations continue for third day

Two people are understood to have been killed after Iranian security forces reportedly opened fire on anti-government demonstrators on Saturday as the largest protests seen in the country since 2009 continued for a third day. ...

There is no knowing how this will turn out, but it may turn quite bloody. The Iranian revolutionary Islamist government won't go down peacefully.

And what permutations, exactly, counts as a misspelling?

Congratulations, you've made my porn file.

New category: exactitude porn.

Typical denizen: He (or she) who hast not yet completed the first chapter of Ur-Nammu for Dummies.

If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.

What constitutes a 'virgin' exactly? How do I know if I'm a virgin?

If the wife of a man followed after another man and he slept with her, they shall slay that woman, but that male shall be set free.

What constitutes 'following' exactly? Coincidences and the Meaning of Life

If the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay any silver.

What constitutes a 'widow' exactly? I lost the love of my life in my 20s — but I can't call myself a widow'

Note that this little problem persists. There are rather complex rules (and a lot of paperwork to file) a woman's husband goes off to war and never returns. (The paperwork situation is better if the entire offensive was a mass debacle, worse if a two-man scouting party deep into weakly-held enemy territory.)

For the entire third act of Cast Away, Tom Hanks interacts weirdly with his ex-widow ex-wife.
What constitutes an 'ex-widow' exactly?

What is an 'electron' exactly?

Interpretations of quantum mechanics

Hint: brush off your favourite 1d19 and give it a spin.

The weird thing is, because of Hamming and Shannon's Prediction and Entropy of Printed English we actually have a pretty good idea of exactly what small permutations and combinations of "Birkenstock" lie in the shopping network's Birkenstock catchment basin.

Furthermore, it would not be a difficult exercise (as these things go) to train a DNN as a shopping keyword spelling corrector.

A 19-layer DNN would likely be far more generous to Birkenstock than any human judge.

———

Bezos: "But your honour, this shit-box 19-layer DNN was training using a Google TPU consisting of 28 MiB of on chip memory, and 4 MiB of 32-bit accumulators taking the results of a 256x256 array of 8-bit multipliers."

Judge: And your point is?

Bezos: On what fucking planet does an 8-bit multiplier qualify as 'exactly'?

Judge: Oh, I see your point.

Judge removes wig, sets on bench.

Judge stands up, removes robe, tosses it onto the floor.

Judge pulls out smartphone.

Judge: Siri, book me on the next flight to Tibet, there's been a sudden change of career.

Siri: Oh, bother, not another one.

Ex-judge: What did you just say?

Siri: I just said that 2012 was an excellent year for saffron.

Ex-judge: So what?

Siri: Well, one wouldn't want to invest in the wrong colour of self-imposed exile ...

Ex-judge: Who can fucking tell the difference [glances at Bezos, who is already gloating like a pig in warm mud], uh, who can distinguish one fuh, ah, fine saffron robe from another?

Siri: You'll be pleasantly surprised what you can learn to distinguish after waking up at 0300 in a small, austere room for two straight years with the same todo list every darn day.

Ex-judge: Oh,

And what permutations, exactly, counts as a misspelling?

Congratulations, you've made my porn file.

New category: exactitude porn.

Typical denizen: He (or she) who hast not yet completed the first chapter of Ur-Nammu for Dummies.

If a man violates the right of another and deflowers the virgin wife of a young man, they shall kill that male.

What constitutes a 'virgin' exactly? How do I know if I'm a virgin?

If the wife of a man followed after another man and he slept with her, they shall slay that woman, but that male shall be set free.

What constitutes 'following' exactly? Coincidences and the Meaning of Life

If the man had slept with the widow without there having been any marriage contract, he need not pay any silver.

What constitutes a 'widow' exactly? I lost the love of my life in my 20s — but I can't call myself a widow'

Note that this little problem persists. There are rather complex rules (and a lot of paperwork to file) a woman's husband goes off to war and never returns. (The paperwork situation is better if the entire offensive was a mass debacle, worse if a two-man scouting party deep into weakly-held enemy territory.)

For the entire third act of Cast Away, Tom Hanks interacts weirdly with his ex-widow ex-wife.
What constitutes an 'ex-widow' exactly?

What is an 'electron' exactly?

Interpretations of quantum mechanics

Hint: brush off your favourite 1d19 and give it a spin.

The weird thing is, because of Hamming and Shannon's Prediction and Entropy of Printed English we actually have a pretty good idea of exactly what small permutations and combinations of "Birkenstock" lie in the shopping network's Birkenstock catchment basin.

Furthermore, it would not be a difficult exercise (as these things go) to train a DNN as a shopping keyword spelling corrector.

A 19-layer DNN would likely be far more generous to Birkenstock than any human judge.

———

Bezos: "But your honour, this shit-box 19-layer DNN was training using a Google TPU consisting of 28 MiB of on chip memory, and 4 MiB of 32-bit accumulators taking the results of a 256x256 array of 8-bit multipliers."

Judge: And your point is?

Bezos: On what fucking planet does an 8-bit multiplier qualify as 'exactly'?

Judge: Oh, I see your point.

Judge removes wig, sets on bench.

Judge stands up, removes robe, tosses it onto the floor.

Judge pulls out smartphone.

Judge: Siri, book me on the next flight to Tibet, there's been a sudden change of career.

Siri: Oh, bother, not another one.

Ex-judge: What did you just say?

Siri: I just said that 2012 was an excellent year for saffron.

Ex-judge: So what?

Siri: Well, one wouldn't want to invest in the wrong colour of self-imposed exile ...

Ex-judge: Who can fucking tell the difference [glances at Bezos, who is already gloating like a pig in warm mud], uh, who can distinguish one fuh, ah, fine saffron robe from another?

Siri: You'll be pleasantly surprised what you can learn to distinguish after waking up at 0300 in a small, austere room for two straight years with the same todo list every darn day.

Ex-judge: Oh,

It required some pretty heavy handed stuff in the UK, namely recognizing the supremacy of EU law over UK law

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

So long as this country remains a member of the European Union then the laws of this country are subject to the doctrine of the primacy of community law... The passing of the [European Communities Act] 1972 meant that European legislation became part of our legislation.... This country... has joined this European club and by so doing has agreed to be bound by the rules and regulations of the club..."

Also ministers can legislate by decree

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Some statutory instruments are made under provisions of Acts which allow the instrument to change the parent Act itself, or to change other primary legislation. These provisions, allowing primary legislation to be amended by secondary legislation, are known as Henry VIII clauses, because an early example of such a power was conferred on King Henry VIII by the Statute of Proclamations 1539. The Delegated Powers and Regulatory Reform Select Committee of the House of Lords issued a report concerning the use and drafting of such clauses, an issue its chairman remarked "goes right to the heart of the key constitutional question of the limits of executive power". Such clauses have often proved highly controversial - for instance, that in the Nationality, Immigration and Asylum Act 2002 which prompted the aforementioned report, and the Legislative and Regulatory Reform Act 2006.

Lord Judge spoke strongly against such clauses whilst he was Lord Chief Justice:

You can be sure that when these Henry VIII clauses are introduced they will always be said to be necessary. William Pitt warned us how to treat such a plea with disdain. "Necessity is the justification for every infringement of human liberty: it is the argument of tyrants, the creed of slaves."

Like I say Europe level government with the power to enforce this sort of thing on nations has too much power. I think you could make the same argument that the US Federal government shouldn't have that power either.

Luckily the UK is leaving the EU and likely moving to something like the free trade agreement arrangement with it like the one Canada has. So it would need to comply with EU labelling rules for exports to the EU, just like it complies with US labelling rules when it exports there. However it hopefully won't prosecute people for not following EU rules when they sell things in the UK.

This is why people like Johnson and Gove are concerned about 'divergence', unlike crypto Remoaners like Hammond

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

It would be the right option, given the parameters of your former post.

If you're genuinely interested in knowing what sources someone else uses, may I suggest, next time, asking for it directly, instead of making a red herring yourself, and then acting as if you don't know you did exactly that? It might be slightly more fruitful.

As you may have noted, I'm not the parent poster, nor did I even really delve into the question whether or not Twitter should rather be considered left or not and why. I just thought your question 'how so?' was rather trollish in nature, since surely you'd noted that of your own counterargument it was silly, and you actually knew you were using a red herring. Granted, we're on slashdot, so it's not like it's uncommon or unforgivable. ;-) But I still wanted to point this out.

A cursory look at the issue gives me some links: https://www.usatoday.com/story... , and http://www.telegraph.co.uk/tec... ... and those were on the first 3 links, so I'm not sure how well you searched. The first seems not very much substantiated by statistical or other scientific methods, so I would regard it as rather having low worth. The latter is more interesting. For instance, it clearly indicates twitter users have a far more positive outlook on immigration, something which is more of a left-wing tendency, than a right wing attitude, we'll all agree on that. They clearly do not represent the populace as a whole (aka, they are not representative, in scientific terms) and have a tendency to promote and be supportive of things the leftists are promoting and supportive of the most as well. One can argue this does not mean a one-to-one relationship between the two groups, sure. But let's be realistic: it ain't the rightwingers that are going to be suddenly more positive about topics they typically are not fond off, just because they use twitter, now are they? The most likely explanation, thus, is that the correlation between the two - the same mentality and attitudes towards the same subjects and goals, of leftwingers and twitter users - also have a causal relationship.

This indicates that Twitter - also in the userbase, thus - is, overall, more leftist than rightist.

Bubble + North Korea hacking and theft + loss of confidence probably all play a roll

North Korea Hacking War on Bitcoin Exchanges Is Part of “Biggest Global Sting”

The bankruptcy of a bitcoin exchange has been blamed on North Korean hackers, prompting concerns for the cryptocurrency’s future. Around $72 million worth of bitcoins were stolen from the South Korean exchange Youbit in April, before a second more recent cyber heist forced the exchange to shut down on Tuesday. Cryptocurrency exchanges from neighboring South Korea—which account for 15 to 25 percent of world bitcoin trading—appear to be the main target of the hackers, with the country’s largest exchange platform, Bithumb, hacked in July. Other Seoul-based bitcoin exchanges, including Yapizon and Coinis, have also been the target of cyber thieves suspected of being from North Korea this year.

Bitcoin exchange collapses after second cyber attack in a year

Bitcoin fails its test as a haven in times of global turmoil

North Korea bitcoin WARNING: Kim regime hacking cryptocurrency to fund nuclear weapons

No death pannels here in the UK, we do have NICE that refuses to pay for cancer drugs that extend life for a few months because the price is exorbitant. The "death pannel" ruse was invented by American Republicans at the same time they said that Stephen Hawking wouldn't be alive if he lived in the UK (he was, and he did.) https://www.nice.org.uk/News/A... http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

It's Twitter, which is full of twats. It is sort of funny.

University College London apologises after 'dreaming of a white campus' tweet was deemed racist:
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/edu...

And yet here you are writing things and I'm reading them without any of those companies being involved. But my ISP is still in the loop.

Check the news some time.

Google was recently caught reading the content of documents stored online, and locking people out of access to their own files because Google felt the content was inappropriate.

Twitter bans, shadow-bans, and permanently deletes accounts that have inappropriate content.

Reddit got rid of lots of conversations that had inappropriate content. Note that those conversations are opt-in; meaning, you have to seek them out to view them. People who don't participate in those conversations got those conversations banned because they don't like other people talking about certain things.

It seems conservative viewpoints are overwhelmingly censored for nothing, while liberal viewpoints that flagrantly violate the rules are given a wink and a smile (viz: "let's kill all white people").

Ajit Pai's recent video defending the NN decision was censored by YouTube.

You can post 1-line vanilla text is an anecdote.

The plural of anecdote is not "data".

Meh... has this ever happened?

I don't know whether it has already happened from thermostat data, but burglars do use social media, like facebook or Twitter to find vulnerable homes. Burglars do like to know the owner is not home before acting.

Isn't it far more effective to drive/walk/whatever over and ring the doorbell?

Of course not, duh. A hacker in Russia can't ring your bell at all, and a local malefactor gang can't run about ringing all the doorbells in the city every few minutes - not to mention that ringing a random bell may alert the homeowner and puts them at risk. But running a script that checks thermostat sensor data from many houses at regular intervals is easy and safe, and can provide burglars with excellent targets of opportunity. As a bonus, houses whose owners can afford the newfangled digital devices are better targets already.

That's actually interesting, thanks for sharing! But the article goes on to prove my point, because in order to cut costs (perhaps to pay for this crazy expensive treatment), they have to choose who gets to live and who gets to die. See here:

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Since you ask: Yes.
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Although when you're buying for 65 million people at a time, economies of scale usually help you avoid such per-unit charges.

Al Gore begs masseuses to jerk him off and then lies about it.

Pretty sure that the drive to the hotel expended more energy than streaming a couple dozen porn videos would.

Out of interest, what did you think would happen with the Irish border?

Pretty much what is happening - the UK and the EU will do a deal.

Brexit has little ot do with that. ECHR is a separte thing and exiting the EU won't take us out of the ECHR. Also, Article 8, the right to a privacy?

Right to family life, inter alia.

102 foreign criminals and illegal immigrants we can't deport - More than 100 foreign criminals and illegal immigrants have beaten deportation under controversial "right to family life" laws in the past year.

Inside the EU the EU will no doubt argue that ECHR membership is a condition of EU membership

http://researchbriefings.parli...
"Opinions differ as to whether a Member State can withdraw from the European Convention and remain in the EU, given that the EU Treaties specifically refer to the human rights guarantees in the Council of Europe instrument."

In the PDF file the EU Commission claimed

"Respect for fundamental rights as guaranteed by the European Convention on Human Rights is an explicit obligation for the Union under Article 6(2) [now Article 6(3)] of the Treaty on European Union, and the Court of Justice has held that the Convention is of especial importance for determining the fundamental rights that must be respected by the Member States as general principles of law when they act within the scope of Union law. The rights secured by the Convention are among the rights guaranteed by the Charter of Fundamental Rights of the European Union. In the negotiations for the accession of new Union members, respect for the Convention and the case-law of the European Court of Human Rights is treated as part of the Union acquis. Any Member State deciding to withdraw from the Convention and therefore no longer bound to comply with it or to respect its enforcement procedures could, in certain circumstances, raise concern as regards the effective protection of fundamental rights by its authorities. Such a situation, which the Commission hopes will remain purely hypothetical, would need to be examined under Articles 6 and 7 of the Treaty on European Union."

Article 7 is about suspending countries from the EU

http://www.lisbon-treaty.org/w...

"Where a determination under paragraph 2 has been made, the Council, acting by a qualified majority, may decide to suspend certain of the rights deriving from the application of the Treaties to the Member State in question, including the voting rights of the representative of the government of that Member State in the Council."

I.e, the EU Commission is making a clear threat it might suspend UK voting rights, such as they are given we're the state most often in minority, if the UK leaves the ECHR but stays in the EU.

False, the EU is our largest single export market. Second that will likely involve having weaker regulations on product safety, e.g . cars.

http://www.worldstopexports.co...

US is the top country. The EU is not a country, even though it wants to be one. And, like I say I don't expect the EU to impose tariffs on UK exports. And even if they did we've got a trade deficit and using the tariffs we collect on imports to pay the tariffs of exporters is not against WTO rules.

I.e. we could get lower tariffs on exports to non EU countries with most likely no net tariffs on exports to EU ones.

If we have the power to sign our o

Norway pays about 2/3 the single-market contribution per capita than the UK (£140 in Norway, £220 in the UK).

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

Nor is membership of the EEA without costs, she points out. Through it, Norway contributes €340 million a year to the EU - despite neither being a member, nor having any voting rights. Were the UK to leave the EU, its annual contribution through the EEA might fall to just €2 billion from the net contribution of €11.6 billion it makes at present.

http://researchbriefings.files...

EEA countries also make annual financial contributions to the EU in return for access to its single market. Over the period 2009 to 2014, Norway is providing almost €1.8 billion through the EEA and Norway grants to efforts to reduce social and economic disparities within the EEA (The UK's estimated net annual contribution to the EU budget was £8.1 billion in 2011 and £6.9 billion in 2012) The EEA and Norway grants were negotiated in parallel with the negotiations on improved market access for seafood, which is an area where the EEA Agreement does not provide for full market access.

I.e. Norway's contributions are substantially less than they would make as a full EU member.

Why can immigrants even claim benefits?
Can't you tie that to being a UK national?

Not inside the EU.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...

In February the Commission started a furious row with Westminster after claiming that Cameron's plan to ban foreign migrants from receiving benefits unless they earn a minimum of £149 a week are illegal.
The Commission threatened to take the British Government to court after claiming it was illegal to define a "worker" according to the amount he or she earns is not compatible with EU law.
A source close to Iain Duncan Smith, the Work and Pensions Secretary hit back: "We're absolutely confident the changes are legal as well as right."

Inside the EU it's illegal to treat the citizens of other EU countries differently than you treat your own citizens.

Of course if the UK leaves the EU that ceases to be an issue. The Canada EU free trade deal doesn't force either party to accept citizens of the other coming to claim benefits.

I have to ask this. What planet are you living on?

This one, and I'll respond to that in response to your next sentence

Here you go my misandryst compadre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... A North Carolina man's daughter lied when she accused him of raping her.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... A man's wife falsely accused him of molesting his daughter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/trav... A woman accused a man of sexually molesting his daughter, while they were on an airplane flight, because she thought his skin was too dark ? I guess she just knew that he was pimping her out or something.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... A social worker accuses a man of molesting his daughter - again, falsely, Apparently mens fault she did that

http://www.latimes.com/local/l... Man falsely accused of molesting a child. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-... Man falsely accused of sexual assault by teenage girl. NOw on the the never occuring false accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... Yup, woman accuses a man of sexual harassment, ruins him.

Here's one that should make you happy a man falsely accused of rape. He hung himself, ismn't that what men deserve? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men...''

https://www.dailywire.com/news... et us not forget The Rolling Stone's shining moment, when what you probably were partying about, when the Rolling stone and "Jacie" a victim of gang rape by the patriarcial members of a Fraternity this was the real dirt on all men ar pigs, and rapid justice was needed. THere was just one little teeny weenie problem.

It was completely false, as in a lie. Don't worry though, after all of the trouble for th eUniversity and th eFraternity, Jackie was never charge - and that is the important thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Perhaps you agree that the problem is so awful that innocent men must be destroyed to get rid of this probelm - after all you wrote in another pose that all men are assholse. Here is a link to re-affirm your cognitive dissonance.https://www.dailywire.com/news/23892/teen-vogue-columnist-claims-shes-not-concerned-if-emily-zanotti

So anyhow - no, it is not likely that men will be falsely accused of sexual harassment. That much is true. Most women just want to get along in life and find love and friends, and happiness, and to avoid being abused. I suspect you disagree based on some of your remarks, but the same is true of most men.

But there is a fair non zero chance of being falsely accused of something that will end your career without any chance of response, and that might get you sent to jail, and have to register as a sex offender.

And society and the legal system is on her side, not yours. Even if you are eventually exonerated, you

I have to ask this. What planet are you living on?

This one, and I'll respond to that in response to your next sentence

Here you go my misandryst compadre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... A North Carolina man's daughter lied when she accused him of raping her.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... A man's wife falsely accused him of molesting his daughter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/trav... A woman accused a man of sexually molesting his daughter, while they were on an airplane flight, because she thought his skin was too dark ? I guess she just knew that he was pimping her out or something.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... A social worker accuses a man of molesting his daughter - again, falsely, Apparently mens fault she did that

http://www.latimes.com/local/l... Man falsely accused of molesting a child. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-... Man falsely accused of sexual assault by teenage girl. NOw on the the never occuring false accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... Yup, woman accuses a man of sexual harassment, ruins him.

Here's one that should make you happy a man falsely accused of rape. He hung himself, ismn't that what men deserve? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men...''

https://www.dailywire.com/news... et us not forget The Rolling Stone's shining moment, when what you probably were partying about, when the Rolling stone and "Jacie" a victim of gang rape by the patriarcial members of a Fraternity this was the real dirt on all men ar pigs, and rapid justice was needed. THere was just one little teeny weenie problem.

It was completely false, as in a lie. Don't worry though, after all of the trouble for th eUniversity and th eFraternity, Jackie was never charge - and that is the important thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Perhaps you agree that the problem is so awful that innocent men must be destroyed to get rid of this probelm - after all you wrote in another pose that all men are assholse. Here is a link to re-affirm your cognitive dissonance.https://www.dailywire.com/news/23892/teen-vogue-columnist-claims-shes-not-concerned-if-emily-zanotti

So anyhow - no, it is not likely that men will be falsely accused of sexual harassment. That much is true. Most women just want to get along in life and find love and friends, and happiness, and to avoid being abused. I suspect you disagree based on some of your remarks, but the same is true of most men.

But there is a fair non zero chance of being falsely accused of something that will end your career without any chance of response, and that might get you sent to jail, and have to register as a sex offender.

And society and the legal system is on her side, not yours. Even if you are eventually exonerated, you

I have to ask this. What planet are you living on?

This one, and I'll respond to that in response to your next sentence

Here you go my misandryst compadre: https://www.youtube.com/watch?... A North Carolina man's daughter lied when she accused him of raping her.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... A man's wife falsely accused him of molesting his daughter.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/trav... A woman accused a man of sexually molesting his daughter, while they were on an airplane flight, because she thought his skin was too dark ? I guess she just knew that he was pimping her out or something.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/new... A social worker accuses a man of molesting his daughter - again, falsely, Apparently mens fault she did that

http://www.latimes.com/local/l... Man falsely accused of molesting a child. http://www.smh.com.au/nsw/man-... Man falsely accused of sexual assault by teenage girl. NOw on the the never occuring false accusations of sexual harassment in the workplace.

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new... Yup, woman accuses a man of sexual harassment, ruins him.

Here's one that should make you happy a man falsely accused of rape. He hung himself, ismn't that what men deserve? http://www.telegraph.co.uk/men...''

https://www.dailywire.com/news... et us not forget The Rolling Stone's shining moment, when what you probably were partying about, when the Rolling stone and "Jacie" a victim of gang rape by the patriarcial members of a Fraternity this was the real dirt on all men ar pigs, and rapid justice was needed. THere was just one little teeny weenie problem.

It was completely false, as in a lie. Don't worry though, after all of the trouble for th eUniversity and th eFraternity, Jackie was never charge - and that is the important thing. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Perhaps you agree that the problem is so awful that innocent men must be destroyed to get rid of this probelm - after all you wrote in another pose that all men are assholse. Here is a link to re-affirm your cognitive dissonance.https://www.dailywire.com/news/23892/teen-vogue-columnist-claims-shes-not-concerned-if-emily-zanotti

So anyhow - no, it is not likely that men will be falsely accused of sexual harassment. That much is true. Most women just want to get along in life and find love and friends, and happiness, and to avoid being abused. I suspect you disagree based on some of your remarks, but the same is true of most men.

But there is a fair non zero chance of being falsely accused of something that will end your career without any chance of response, and that might get you sent to jail, and have to register as a sex offender.

And society and the legal system is on her side, not yours. Even if you are eventually exonerated, you

So many good points to comment on.

Saddam agreed to complete disarmament and full inspections prior to the invasion, but not until the US and UK were on his doorstep. He even offered exile for himself. However the "coalition of the willing" ignored him and invaded anyway. That turned out well. And the DPRK was watching. They know that they can't trust the USA to let them exist unless they are in a position to make them pay dearly for invading. Kim doesn't want to end up like Saddam or Ghadaffi.

I'm no historian, but your point about the UK's negotiations with Hitler I don't find to be particularly relevant. Yes, Hitler was biding his time while building his war machine with expansionist plans and no real interest in diplomacy. The DPRK's leadership just wants to exist. They are no real threat (or haven't been until the US pushed them into it).

Other countries without much of an effective military seem to manage okay from a diplomatic standpoint. I don't subscribe to the need to be on the brink of annihilation before effective diplomacy can be had, but I do appreciate your point. Besides, the new operating theatres are global money markets (UK was king, then USA, now China is winning) and information warfare (US was king and now Russia is winning). Military might is so 1980s...

Pretty much everyone agrees that the DPRK just wants to exist. If Russia and France conducted joint training exercises off the UK coast on a regular basis, simulating an attack on your country, what would your reaction be? They're now nuclear-armed because the US has driven them to that point. Now you want to weaponize space to ensure they can't fight back. I wonder how that will work out?

It's ridiculous. Just leave them alone and wait for their population to oust the leaders of a failed system. It's cheaper and safer for the planet.

Earlier this week the DPRK offered diplomacy and the UN sent an envoy. The US's response so far has been "Not until you give up your nukes". Wut? You don't start a diplomatic exercise by making demands before you will agree to talks. There is no risk to talking unless you don't want a resolution.

As usual failed US foreign policy has left us all in this position. The US should probably outsource foreign relations to Canada or something because they clearly suck at it.

To start with: http://www.telegraph.co.uk/new...
"Thirty years of official health advice urging people to adopt low-fat diets and to lower their cholesterol is having "disastrous health consequences," a leading obesity charity warned yesterday. "Eating fat does not make you fat," argues a new report by the National Obesity Forum (NOF) and the Public Health Collaboration, as they demanded a major overhaul of official dietary guidelines. ... Promoting low-fat foods is perhaps the biggest mistake in modern medical history... The report says the low-fat and low-cholesterol message, which has been official policy in the UK since 1983, was based on "flawed science" and had resulted in an increased consumption of junk food and carbohydrates. The document also accuses major public health bodies of colluding with the food industry, said the misplaced focus meant Britain was failing to address an obesity crisis which is costing the NHS £6 billion a year."

See also, for more details: http://drhyman.com/blog/2016/0...

The history is even more complex. A more diverse "basic seven" was replaced by a "basic four" food groups including through industry industry lobbying, especially by the dairy industry, where "milk" and "meat" became half of the groups and the dairy industry supplying printed materials for schools:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/...

Note that most people on the planet are lactose intolerant and pushing milk on many children even in the USA via school lunch programs and dairy industry advertising is causing them health issues. Dairy may have been a better food decades ago before so much recent alteration like the widespread use of growth hormones and antibiotics. Animal fats tend to have other risks associated with them, like too much protein and a concentration of carcinogens moving up the food chain. That said, dairy products can make sense in moderation for some people and dairy farming can be a good use of some grazing land.

They key point is that the idea of a diverse diet including a lot of fresh vegetables was being narrowed to what could be most profitably sold by big agribusiness, which for decades was mostly about dairy, meat, and processed grains.

Related: http://www.macleans.ca/society...

Also related: http://ezinearticles.com/?What...

And:
https://www.alternet.org/story...
"In December 1999, the PCRM filed suit against the USDA, claiming the department unfairly promotes the special interests of the meat and dairy industries through its official dietary guidelines and the Food Pyramid. Six of the eleven members assigned to the U.S. Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee were demonstrated to have financial ties to meat, dairy, and egg interests. Prior to the suit, which the PCRM won in December 2000, the USDA had refused to disclose such conflicts of interest to the general public."

From lobbying, food subsidies in the USA are completely inverted compared to the (not that great) food pyramid which explains why a salad costs more than a big mac:
https://web.archive.org/web/20...
"The Farm Bill, a massive piece of federal legislation making its way through Congress, governs what children are fed in schools and what food assistance programs can distribute to recipients. The bill provides billions of dollars in subsi

Not Putin.

All the Russia hysteria over the last few years has been straight-up Swiftboating. Fucking with other countries and wanting to spy on every person on the planet is what the United States does on a daily basis, so naturally it accuses someone else of doing what they do. If Kaspersky is proven to bend over backwards to help the FSB the same way American companies do for the CIA/NSA/FBI, then we can have a conversation, but so far the accusations have as much evidence to back them up as the conspiracy theory that Russia 'hacked the election' last year (i.e. none, nada, zip. zilch).

Karl Rove must be collecting some sweet royalties on this tactic.