Morning Ed: Europe {2016.11.03.Th}

53 thoughts on “Morning Ed: Europe {2016.11.03.Th}”

1. Blair: On another blog, a poster pointed out that voters tend to grow tired of popular politicians after about 8 to 10 years. Blair had his eight to ten years, so British voters do not want more of him.

   Corbyn: It would take something that makes the Conservatives look very bad to make Corbyn electable and even than it might not work. Corbyn represents what Saul calls the failure mode of the political party, when the party’s members believe in it’s plank but the rest of the electorate isn’t buying it one bit. Labour has been struggling with the United Kingdom not being a country filled with starry-eyed leftist idealists since 1979.

   The Remain article goest to an article about France’s President.

   I’m disappointed that the plan to attract London’s businesses does not involve magnets.

   British courts never eviscerated libel laws like the Supreme Court did in the United States in the name of freedom of speech. Its also generally the defendant’s burden to show that their statements were true rather than the plaintiff’s burden to show that they were false like it is in the United States. The reason why the British are famously polite is because failing to do so can get quite expensive.Report

   1. I think labor’s problem is they cant stop trying to kill the canidate their membership wants. Constantly pissing on your own voters is a real good way to lose.Report

      1. Except that their membership has made a terrible mistake.

         #BanPrimariesReport

   2. If you count the British version of polite as heaping insults on their friends, then yeah, polite.Report

2. Calais Jungle: I do like the idea of “industrial or enterprise zones: still cordoned off from the rest of society, but behind barriers that are economically permeable.” But I think the gov’ts first need to figure out whether or not they are going to let these people stay long term.

   Of course, one could stop meddling in areas of the world and creating the problems of refugees in the first place, but that option seems to elude our glorious leaders.Report

   1. Once upon a time, I probably would have been in favor of them, but after seeing the long term effects in the maquiladoras in Mexico and similar zones in North Korea, I’m against them. They may help some of the people some of the time, but it locks them into a new system, and it provides outsized rewards to the connected that can game and exploit the system (and exploit the people it’s ostensibly supposed to help)Report

      1. Good point. How about we just not let them in?Report

         1. If you want to help “not let them in” I can recommend some lovely slave produced kitchenware. (The children volunteered for the slavery, if it makes you feel any better. Felt it was better than being in detention camps and doing nothing all day).

            The kids do occasionally get nasty burns from the work, of course. You’d have that on your conscience.Report

            1. If they volunteered, I have no issue.

               And I continue my effort to buy a “blood diamond”. No jeweler has any to sell and they get all snippy when I ask for written documentation that “some people died getting this stone to market”. PfftReport

               1. You have no issue with children as young as 14 getting maimed (albeit accidentally) and being unable to leave their post, because they volunteered?Report

                  1. Well, I was 16 when I worked with a bailer on a farm. My boss got “maimed” by trying to clear a jam and the mechanism almost severed a finger fully. (90% detached). I’m not seeing the issue, especially if they volunteered and they have agency.Report

                  2. Some might see an issue in that the kids cannot leave.
                     Others would see an issue in that the kids have nowhere to go.

                     I think “having agency” definitely should include the right to opt out of the job that they’re currently doing.Report

                  3. Again, if you have agency BEFORE you agree to be a slave and you are voluntarily giving up agency, please explain the problem. It was agree to. Are you telling me they didn’t agree or didn’t have agency?Report

                  4. Well, they did have agency. Just in past tense, not present.
                     And they are learning valuable skills.Report

                  5. See, slavery isn’t all that bad when it’s voluntary 🙂Report

         2. I worked so well in GermanyReport

            1. Not sure Germany made an effort….Report

               1. No, Germany certainly didn’t make any real attempt to stop them.Report

   2. Industrial and enterprise zones seem like capitalism’s equivalent of the communist labor camp or a company town updated for the twenty-first century and backed even more strongly by the government this time. They are not a good idea.Report

      1. Good point. Then I fall back on my secondary comment….don’t let them in.Report

3. A European country is launching an invasion of another country, and this is what links you’ve got?
   Shame on you for not paying attention to world affairs.
   Shame on Americans for being too obsessed with their own election…Report

   1. Is this about the Baltics? Or is this about the fleas?Report

      1. Turkey’s invading Iraq.
         News apparently never, because we’re too obsessed with our election to give a shit.Report

         1. The Cubs win the World Series, the Ottoman Empire collapses. The Cubs win the World Series, the Ottoman Empire is rebuilt. That’s just how the universe works.Report

            1. Robert Farley of LGM has been warning about restored monarchy if the Cubs win for the entirety of the series. Before long the Ottomans, Hohenzollerns, Savoys, Romanovs, and Habsburgs are going to be back on their thrones. Neo-Reactionaries must be pleased.Report

               1. Yeah, I had that series in mind. I was disappointed that we never got to Qing.Report

                  1. Farley covered the Qing dynasty.Report

                  2. Oh, ok, must of missed it.Report

4. Cosby’s lawyers argue that his failing eyesight should preclude prosecution. First he couldn’t get a fair trial b/c he was black, now this.

   http://www.foxnews.com/entertainment/2016/11/02/cosby-lawyers-say-comedian-is-too-blind-to-defend-himself.htmlReport

   1. It’s almost as though it’s the lawyers’ job to advocate for their client in whatever way is possible.Report

      1. But don’t let that stop you from being outraged.Report

         1. Honestly, when I hear a lawyer public defend their client, I reflexively dismiss it. It has the same credibility as a TV commercial.Report

      2. It is our job but that doesn’t mean it isn’t BS.Report

   2. People doing what they are paid to do, outrage follows.Report

   3. When did anyone say Cosby can’t get a fair trial because he’s black?Report

      1. Cosby’s own defense team.

         http://www.thedailybeast.com/articles/2016/10/06/bill-cosby-plays-the-race-card-to-avoid-standing-trial.htmlReport

   4. I thought Cosby was being attacked because he’s conservative.Report

      1. Attacked by whom?Report

         1. By his rape accusers and the media. It was a whole thing that the Cosby allegations were only being aired because he spoke ill of black culture. And note, those claims were being made by people who aren’t being paid to defend Cosby, they’re doing it pro bono.

            http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2014/11/18/why-liberals-are-turning-on-bill-cosby-over-rape-allegations.htmlReport

5. UK High Court rules Government cannot trigger Article 50 without parliamentary approval

   http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/11/03/high-court-to-rule-on-brexit-legal-battle-and-theresa-mays-decis/Report

   1. I’m going to put this story in a Linkage post in a few moments. Seems important enough to be worth a standalone discussion, at least to me it does.Report

6. More Russia than Europe, but Putin gives Russian Citizenship to Steven Seagal.

   Does this mean we can deport him to Russia now?Report

7. Since Cosby has come up, Owen has become interested in the show “Little Bill”. We were “gifted” a DVD from someone who was clearing off their shelves. There is an episode of the show on it. It is actually a really good show. But… Bill Cosby. It’s okay for him to still watch it, right?Report

   1. The eternal question.

      “This artist was horrible. Should I be allowed to enjoy zher art?”

      On one level, you have an out if you run with “if I buy it used, Cosby won’t see a cent”. This will allow you to enjoy a whole bunch of stuff. You have another if you wait for the artist to die before you purchase the art in question. (Bonus for those who want to listen to Jimi Hendrix!)

      If you require that your artists must be moral exemplars, I could point you to something like this. But, then again, I was raised in a household where we listened to Sandi Patty and not Amy Grant because Amy Grant came across as a little too forward. When Sandi got divorced, wooo doggies. There were discussions about whether we needed to get rid of her albums.Report

      1. I find myself liking Wagner’s music more than when I was younger, but Wagner himself less. I used to believe his anti-semitism was just your typical 19th century European anti-semitism. Then I looked into it more.Report

         1. There is something that feels greasy about enjoying the art of a monster.

            I wrote a short paragraph about an artist that most of us (here, anyway) would know of and then about zher relationship with another artist that ended up driving the other artist mad.

            If you didn’t know about this messed up story (and it is kinda messed up), that might result in you enjoying this artist’s art a lot less. And, lemme tell ya, you’ve enjoyed this artist’s art.

            I decided to erase the paragraph because I felt like I’d be destroying something and not creating something by telling you this story that happened more than a century ago between people who are long dead and the only thing that remains of their relationship are a bunch of pieces that people today still enjoy and say “golly, this artist was ahead of zher time.”

            Is anybody really curious about who the artist was? Do they wonder as they look at a work “I don’t know if I can enjoy this because I don’t know how this person treated zher significant other”?

            Are you going to wonder that the next time you find yourself pausing in a museum before something makes you stop and look… really, really look?Report

            1. The person I described below was an assassin, in a prior (before art) life.
               I’ve witnessed art by forgers (and you’ve liked their art too, never fear — some of them do visual arts), and murderers alike.

               The art remains glorious.Report

            2. My favourite thing about Wagner’s anti-semitism is that apparently Nietzsche liked to troll him about it.Report

      2. Jay,
         Yes, that artist was horrible. She blew up a man’s bladder from the inside!
         … wait, were we not talking about people in the witness protection program?
         Pity.Report

         1. In college, we visited one of one of my classes’s art major’s art installations. The only piece that stays with me yet was a hat rack upon which was glued dozens and dozens of dildoes.

            Sadly, I don’t remember the piece’s name.Report

            1. I feel there’s an efficiency/engineering joke in there.Report

            2. “Breitbart Yacht”Report

8. Pharrell Williams Begs Women to Vote Hillary: She’s Dishonest, But So Are You

   Of Clinton, he added, “Has she been dishonest about things? Sure. Have you?” Accusing Clinton’s opponents and Trump of “gender bias,” he said, “She don’t lie no more than any other politician does.”

   http://variety.com/2016/film/news/pharrell-williams-2-1201906431/Report

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