Sep 042019
 


Salvador Dali Neo-Cubist Academy (Composition with Three Figures) 1926

 

No, I’m still not taking sides in the Brexit proceedings. I have no horse in that fight. As I’ve said 1000 times, I can fully imagine that a country might want to leave the trappings of the EU. But just as often I’ve said that the way the Tories have gone about leaving appears deeply flawed. They have never seemed to take serious the amount of effort required for a smooth exit.

And after being an EU member for 40+ years, that effort could only be gigantic. But not one moment during Theresa May’s ‘reign’, let alone under Boris, have I gotten the impression that the UK is ready. They’ve spent their time fighting amongst each other about the shape and form Brexit should take, but neglected the practical implications of changing 1000s of rules and regulations and treaties and laws.

And sure, maybe a lot of work was done in secret, can’t very well do nothing at all, but none of that would matter very much; you need to show that you’re ready, not merely suggest it. And from what I can gather from the latest numbers I’ve seen, expectations are still that 50-60% of trucks (lorries) will not have the required paperwork once the UK leaves.

This may yet be brought down to 40% or even 30%, but that would still be highly disruptive. And it appears unnecessary. Three years should have been sufficient to accomplish much more and much better. Predictions of 48-hour waiting times for trucks are all over, and for an economy built on just-in-time delivery that won’t do.

But oh well, it may already be water under the bridge. Boris Johnson lost bigly yesterday in a vote over control of the Commons and chances are he’ll lose biglier in today’s vote over a no-deal Brexit bill. Unless he (or actually Dominic Cummings) plays 4-D chess and has seen it all coming from miles away.

I can see Johnson setting things up to get the election he wanted, but I have a harder time seeing why he would want Jeremy Corbyn to have the power to halt that election unless the Commons today vote down any and all odds of a no-deal. But then I’ll be the first to admit I’m not yet a grandmaster in 4-D chess.

Dominic Cummings would have to be, though, to pull this one off. Did he expect 21 Tories to side against ‘their own’ Boris? If they had voted with him, the result would have been 322-307 in favor of Boris. Did they know they wouldn’t get it? Do they know they won’t get it today either? An additional extension to January 31 2020 is also part of the whole package. Will Cummings still be around by then?

 

 

Sterling is surging as I write this, And I really must wonder why. Don’t think that’s due to my 4-D skills either. Jeremy Corbyn made it very clear last night that Labour won’t support snap elections (and without them Boris won’t have the 2/3 majority he needs) unless no-deal is off the table for real. Is the pound surging because Boris is plummeting, and Corbyn now calls the shots? Does that make sense? Man, it already hurts in 3-D…

Still, I started writing this, really, because of the title. Couldn’t let that one get away. It’s something used to describe Boris Johnson in a court case in Scotland yesterday by lawyer Aidan O’Neill QC, speaking for a group of 75 MPs and peers who brought the case (against prorogation of Parliament). Love the details here: Aidan O’Neill is a “double silk”, being Queen’s Counsel at both the Scottish and English Bars.

And love the term, obviously, especially since it’s not used in a tabloid, but in a courtroom. By a double silk, no less. In the end, it’s all about the theater. Still, what came to light was not merely a little detail.

Johnson Decided To Suspend Parliament ‘Two Weeks Before Asking Queen’

Boris Johnson had secretly decided to suspend parliament nearly two weeks before asking the Queen, according to memos from Downing Street read out in court. The court in Edinburgh heard the first memo was written by Nikki da Costa, the prime minister’s senior legal adviser, on 15 August and spelled out the plan to suspend parliament in the week beginning 9 September. Her memo was circulated to a very small circle of key figures in Downing Street, including Mark Sedwill, the cabinet secretary, Ed Lister, the prime minister’s chief of staff, and Dominic Cummings, Johnson’s controversial chief adviser.


In public Johnson was then refusing to confirm he planned to do so but he ticked the secret memo and said “yes”, before sending Da Costa a handwritten note the following day, where he criticised the convention where MPs return for several weeks of Commons business after the summer holidays before breaking again for conference season. He told Da Costa the “whole September session [at Westminster] is a rigmarole introduced to show the public that MPs are earning their crust. I don’t see anything especially shocking about this prorogation.”.

 

It appears very clear what was ‘shocking‘, and if it had not been shocking there would have been no reason to keep it secret. C’mon, at least try.

 

[..] The documents, revealed in heavily redacted form for the first time at 10.55pm on Monday, were sent to the legal team acting for 75 MPs and peers who are challenging prorogation in the court of session in Edinburgh. Aidan O’Neill QC, acting for the MPs and peers, said he only received an unredacted version of the documents on Tuesday morning.


He told Lord Doherty, the judge hearing the case, this proved Johnson was plotting to suspend parliament at the same time that his government’s lawyers had told the court in Edinburgh the question of prorogation was “hypothetical and academic” because no such decision had been taken. The UK government had also refused to give the court any sworn affidavits setting out why prorogation was necessary and the prime minister had ignored O’Neill’s suggestion last week that he should provide one to the court.

 

Yeah, well, that’s the ‘shocking’ thing: doing one thing in secret and saying the opposite in public.

Accusing Johnson of “incontinent mendacity, O’Neill said the prime minister had shown an unwillingness to acknowledge and speak the truth. He said: “He has chosen not to be accountable to this court and seeks not to be accountable to parliament.” David Johnston QC, acting for the UK government, apologised to the court for failing to produce the papers until the night before the hearing and admitted the government had breached the deadline for submitting them.


He said they were being produced in the spirit of transparency, to allow the court to understand the process behind the decision to seek prorogation. Reading from a brief prepared by the government, Johnston insisted the legal action was academic because MPs were still being given time to sit and vote before exit day on 31 October, and set their own agenda. “We are not dealing with an executive which is out of control,” he said.

It is very obvious what Boris et al were trying to do and they can call it the Will of the People all they want, but the Will of the People is not, and should not be, secret. Here’s a bit more of what Mr. Double Silk had to say about Boris in Edinburgh, via the Press Association:

 

Mr O’Neill described Mr Johnson as having a record that was “characterised by incontinent mendacity, an unwillingness or inability to speak the truth”. He pointed to the documents as showing the suspension of parliament policy was being considered much earlier than announced and argued the court had been misled. Mr O’Neill said: “This court was told nothing of that and was told in fact that this judicial review is academic, hypothetical and premature.


“That is not true. This court and these petitioners were being actively misled.” He argued the real reason to suspend parliament was to allow a no-deal Brexit to take place by removing proper scrutiny. Mr O’Neill also said Mr Johnson was trying to govern as an “autocracy” using “one-man rule” by these attempts. He added: “Why were these specific dates chosen? It’s because they think they’re gaming the system.”

 

Meanwhile, the Edinburgh court has rejected the case against prorogation, which was probably expected. British law, especially because the country has no constitution, is pretty opaque.

 

The court of session in Edinburgh has rejected an attempt to prevent Boris Johnson’s prorogation of the House of Commons. Lord Doherty, the judge who heard the case, said the decision could not be measured against legal standards as it was matter of high policy and political judgment, and was therefore for politicians to settle. “In my opinion, there has been no contravention of the rule of law. Parliament is the master of its own proceedings. It is for parliament to decide when it sits. Parliament can sit before and after prorogation,” he said.

He told the court it was for parliament, and ultimately the electorate, to hold the government accountable for such political decisions. The case was initiated by the campaigning barrister Jolyon Maugham QC alongside a cross-party group of 75 MPs and peers, including the SNP’s Joanna Cherry. After the ruling Maugham tweeted: “The idea that if the PM suspends parliament the court can’t get involved looses some ugly demons. If he can do it for 34 days, why not 34 weeks, or 34 months? Where does this political power end?

“It’s not the law as I understand it. Yesterday’s hearing was always going to be a bit of a pre-season friendly. We’re now focused on the inner house, hopefully later this week, and then the supreme court on 17 September.”

“Parliament is the master of its own proceedings. It is for parliament to decide when it sits. Parliament can sit before and after prorogation..” There appears to be a contradiction in terms here, which is exactly why the case was brought. On the one hand, the judge says Parliament decides to sit when it wants, on the other he acknowledges it can’t sit when a PM decides to pro-rogue it.

That’s the entire case right there. The PM decides when Parliament sits, not Parliament itself. It’s obvious why a judge wouldn’t want to interfere -hot potato-, just like -and because- it’s far from obvious that (s)he can. Ergo: the PM rules the UK. Not Parliament. Parliament is decoration. Amusing at times, but then decoration might as well be, since it’s the only function it has.

I’m done, One last thing. I was reading back some things from last week and happenstanced on this Boris quote: “We asked the people to vote on whether they wanted to stay in or leave the EU; they voted to leave by a big majority.”.

The vote was 51.89%. Makes you wonder how he would define a small majority. But you know, I’m good. To see Boris accused of incontinent mendacity made my day. And I don’t even have anything against him. It’s all just theater. The entire British political system is (and do throw in the Queen, as hard as you can). Just theater, that much is obvious now, if it wasn’t already.

And all these MPs are pretending they didn’t already know. Hello! You’re on the Truman Show!

 

 

 

 

Home Forums Incontinent Mendacity

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  • #49548

    Salvador Dali Neo-Cubist Academy (Composition with Three Figures) 1926   No, I’m still not taking sides in the Brexit proceedings. I have no hors
    [See the full post at: Incontinent Mendacity]

    #49551
    zerosum
    Participant

    The entire British political system is (and do throw in the Queen, as hard as you can). Just theater, that much is obvious now, if it wasn’t already.

    Ask the people in the street. They know. They figured it out a long time ago. There is no deal that can help the people. The rich and powerful rulers are fighting to get an advantage over each other.

    As usual, the victims will not be the rich.

    #49552
    zerosum
    Participant

    Time for the USA to make a deal. There is an offer on the table.
    Time for the USA to stop hurting the people in the street.

    https://www.zerohedge.com/news/2019-09-04/iran-affirms-15bn-oil-sales-guarantee-could-save-nuclear-deal-awaits-us-decision

    #49553
    seychelles
    Participant

    …. but neglected the practical implications of changing 1000s of rules and regulations and treaties and laws.

    But that would require real work, skill and knowledge, not coasting on some self-serving algorithm while spewing forth anti-Logos to justify a political sinecure paycheck. Oh, and all those rules, regulations, treaties and laws were set up as a “mandate” FROM THE GET-GO to make a reversal nigh impossible. All of those legal documents should be safely ignored if initially made in bad faith. Perversion of Western legal systems has been perhaps the most toxic achievement of the Zioglobalist-neocon cabal.

    #49556

    Wow, impressive bunch of responses so far. Best one appears to be about the US and Iran, though neither has anything to do with the topic of the article. Must be me.

    #49557

    Last night I did an interview that turned out great, though I had no such expectations, with Michael Dowd, who with his wife Connie is putting together an extensive series of such interviews with many people like me on the topic of Post-Doom.

    Their take is: when did you first realize we are fcuked, how did you react then (grief, anger), what do you do about it now, and how do you see the future.

    They must have like 40-50 people on their list by now, from Steve Keen who I insisted upon, to Nicole, dear friends like Nate Hagens, Jim Kunstler and Dave Holmgren, plus scores of people I don’t know and/or never heard of.

    The way we set up TAE back in the day was Nicole did the talking, she’s very good at that. But since she’s longtime AWOL by now, maybe I should do more of that.

    Here’s a link to Micheal and Connie’s first few videos:

    #49558

    UK Parliament just approved a bill to stop no-deal exit from EU.

    Next stop: Dominic Cummings. What’s he got left?

    #49559
    Dr. D
    Participant

    “Boris Johnson had secretly decided to suspend parliament nearly two weeks before asking the Queen,”

    Dumbest. Paper. Ever.

    YES he had decided to try that ahead of time, because it would have been a pretty workable idea. And yes, it is provocative. But what is “The Guardian” suggesting? Boris should have showed up for tea and suddenly said, “By Jove, Liz, I JUST thought of something! We should Prorogue Parliament! Whaddya say, old gal?”
    Um, no, FIRST because you have to HAVE a plan before you TRY a plan, and second, because he HAS TWO PLANS, because the Queen could have (and arguably should have) said no. Which means the P.M. has a number of plans to accomplish his, his voters and constituents’ goals, and is working them in order of likelihood.
    Genius, Guardian, just genius. Same paper that says Trump is an idiot, after winning on the same pass play 17 candidates in a row.

    And he dragged his feet on admitting it, as the surprise move would have the requisite impact, and therefore success, only if he did? …So you’re saying he’s a politician and Member of Parliament. Surprise.

    “Mr. Johnson as having a record that was “characterised by incontinent mendacity, an unwillingness or inability to speak the truth”.

    …And is thus eligible for Parliament, as IF YOU TOLD EVERYBODY YOUR PLANS AHEAD OF TIME, YOU WOULDN’T GET ALL THAT MUCH OVER ON THE OPPOSITION, WOULD YOU?

    And it IS a deeply oppositional system, but it’s theirs.

    “it was for parliament, and ultimately the electorate, to hold the government accountable”

    And how exactly are they going to do that? They JUST HAD a vote. They JUST voted Leave. Parliament said “We don’t care what you vote, so suck it, peasants and non-Londoners” (but I repeat myself) So Parliament is a “self-regulating body” like Enron? Yeah, I know.

    “The idea that if the PM suspends parliament the court can’t get involved looses some ugly demons. If he can do it for 34 days, why not 34 weeks, or 34 months?”

    Um, I think because the Queen has to authorize it? And she did. She could (and maybe should) have said “three days” or even “three hours.” Or maybe you want to remove the Queen from even this power now? Ignore she existed?

    “There appears to be a contradiction in terms here,”

    Yes, there does. If I’ve read correctly, technically, Parliament DOESN’T EXIST for that period, and the Ministers are demoted to common citizens. That means they can’t sit even if they wanted, until the Queen’s time is up.
    However, unlike saying the Queen or the PM is the ruler, they’re not. As happened ‘back when, in ol’ 1215, ultimately they will have to work together, the Royal authority, the money power and the dual legislature/executive as Britain has it. So they’ll get their day all right. Atm, they’re in no danger of having a mock government of dictatorship. Yay. At the same time, they are PROVING they have a mock DEMOCRACY, that refuses to cede power to the winning side. Not entirely, perhaps, but disturbingly.

    But tune in tomorrow. Shocking to “The Guardian”, I know, but probably BoJo n Co have even THREE plans! Maybe as many as FOUR! Why? Because they’re all legal weasels who backstab each other for a living, and expect this sort of thing, this kind of self-defeating opposition, every minute from the time they enter ‘til they leave, and it rolls merrily on after their deaths for 1,000 years so far.

    YES, he has a plan C. However, as plans go, it must therefore be a less good one.

    #49560

    That interview with Michael Dowd won’t likely come out for months, because they’re recording all these things in a short period of time only to have to edit them later, which takes much more time than the talking.

    Meanwhile, I am right now watching Dick Cavett in 1973 interviewing one of my all time favorite people:

    #49561

    Meanwhile in the real world, Boris Johnson keeps on losing. There will be no no-deal Brexit, and there won’t be a snap election either. As per House votes, that is. Anything left up them there sleeves? See you tomorrow!

    #49563
    scraplet
    Participant

    Everyone I know is angry. Unless I live in bubble (and I try very hard to ensure I don’t), Labour will be wiped out in their traditional coalfield and industrial heartland safe seats because of this. I can only vote for the Brexit Party now. Boris and Farage just need a non-competition pact for a Brexit majority.

    #49571
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    Ilargi
    Thank you for the Brando vid; I’d forgotten his commitment to the American Indian movement.
    Love the man; love his movies…
    Brando kept his integrity and both feet firmly grounded…
    Rare indeed for any human, much less an actor.
    He was so much more.

    #49579

    V. Arnold,

    I’ve been sharing a lot of Brando and Ali videos lately with a dear friend in the US. Unfortunately, there is not an endless supply of those. And yes, both men were exceptional in their craft as well as their intelligence and courage. I don’t know if they ever met.

    #49589
    V. Arnold
    Participant

    And yes, both men were exceptional in their craft as well as their intelligence and courage.

    I could not agree more. I sure wouldn’t mind if you posted some Ali vids…

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