Owsblog II: 2018

lunes, 31 de diciembre de 2018

Outstanding opportunities outweigh obedientiary overburdening...

88 days to go. "Some people would rather see Britain fail than Brexit succeed" says Liam Fox (the international trade secretary) [The Times ££]. Correct, there are thousands of them: many of whom - and the most vocal - seem to be whining, lying gibbering idiots (and we know their worst nightmare)

Fox also says that "backing May's deal will free the UK"...[face-palm]. Much of the Times interview by Caroline Wheeler (Deputy Political Editor of The Sunday Times) is about Fox telling everyone that Brexit can only happen by supporting May's [extremely bad] deal. WTF is he on? Why do they call Fox a Brexiteer?

He does get some bits right: "As far as I'm concerned, as an elected member of parliament, I’ve been given an instruction by the British people and it’s my democratic duty to do it". Yes, correct. He wishes people "would start to see the upside of Brexit", he's sick of "hearing Brexit always portrayed in terms of the potential difficulties rather than the optimistic and confident way in which I think people who voted across the country to leave the EU saw it." Good...encouraging. BUT, he also says "What you can be sure of is that if we vote for the prime minister’s deal then its 100% certain that we will leave on March 29"; knowing how overtly bad that deal has been proven to be, these are not the words of a 'passionate Brexiteer'.

Amazingly, most of the comments on that article are from Remainers who don't seem to realise Brexiteers disagree with Fox more than they do!

Anyway Mr. Fox, how are those trade deals? "Donald Trump's offer of a 'quick, massive bilateral trade deal' won't be possible if Theresa May's Brexit deal is backed by Parliament, the US ambassador to the UK has warned." [BBC]

Outstanding opportunities outweigh obedientiary overburdening...

jueves, 13 de diciembre de 2018

Outing obvious overturns...

I liked Guido's newspaper montage today: "In a sign of just how much the British media landscape has changed since the referendum, the only two papers to come out fighting for May are the Mail and the Express – both instructing restive Tory MPs to 'now just let her get on with' it." They are also the only two newspapers blatantly targeted by TPTB as essential to change the Remoaner fortunes, comparing the headlines and editorials now to a year or two ago is stunning; all it has done however is mark them as establishment has-beens and their readership in free-fall. They will try to claim they are 'Tory supporting' and that their pathetic 180 degree about-face on Brexit is only about 'stopping Corbyn'. No, wrong: it is part of the clear establishment globalist support May's treasonous deal/stop-Brexit shite-fest and they will suffer for it.

Outing obvious overturns...

miércoles, 12 de diciembre de 2018

Outrageous...

[LINK]

Dame Cheryl Gillan is a liar; Theresa May is a liar; Alan Duncan is a liar; Liam Fox is a liar...and there are many more. Prove me wrong you fucking lying traitors.

Update: Philip Hammond is a liar. Yes, yes, this list could go on for ages.

Outrageous...

[LINK] Dame Cheryl Gillan is a liar; Theresa May is a liar; Alan Duncan is a liar; Liam Fox is a liar...and there are many more. Prove me wrong you fucking lying traitors.

Update: Philip Hammond is a liar. Yes, yes, this list could go on for ages.

lunes, 3 de diciembre de 2018

Ominous outcomes...

et tu, Olly? Treason May's chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, has warned her that the Northern Ireland 'backstop' in her deal is actually a "bad outcome". That could almost be repeated old news because the same thing was said back in April about a previous idea! Also there may be contempt of Parliament proceedings in the offing if she doesn't show the legal advice in full.

Even more trouble: President Trump was right, again, May’s deal with the EU would prevent a UK-US free trade agreement:
a 'bombshell leak': "a confidential analysis of the Withdrawal Agreement by the House of Commons' own expert legal team comes to the same conclusion as President Trump": Brexit Central. Last week's report was leaked: The Withdrawal Agreement: Legal and Governance Aspects [PDF].

"Conservative MP Marcus Fysh... “This document identifies and explains many of the very serious legal problems for the UK that would emerge from the Prime Minister’s proposed Withdrawal Agreement"".

Indeed, not only that, "Theresa May's Brexit deal is illegal and must be stopped" [DT].

Unfortunately, other previously decent 'Conservatives' have fallen by the wayside', Gove and Mordaunt this weekend adding to the boot-licker brigade putting party before country. The DT link was brought to my attention by Raedwald, who also has a better comment about Gove.

Ominous outcomes...

et tu, Olly? Treason May's chief Brexit adviser, Olly Robbins, has warned her that the Northern Ireland 'backstop' in her deal is actually a "bad outcome". That could almost be repeated old news because the same thing was said back in April about a previous idea! Also there may be contempt of Parliament proceedings in the offing if she doesn't show the legal advice in full.

Even more trouble: President Trump was right, again, May’s deal with the EU would prevent a UK-US free trade agreement: a 'bombshell leak': "a confidential analysis of the Withdrawal Agreement by the House of Commons' own expert legal team comes to the same conclusion as President Trump": Brexit Central. Last week's report was leaked: The Withdrawal Agreement: Legal and Governance Aspects [PDF].

"Conservative MP Marcus Fysh... “This document identifies and explains many of the very serious legal problems for the UK that would emerge from the Prime Minister’s proposed Withdrawal Agreement"".

Indeed, not only that, "Theresa May's Brexit deal is illegal and must be stopped" [DT].

Unfortunately, other previously decent 'Conservatives' have fallen by the wayside', Gove and Mordaunt this weekend adding to the boot-licker brigade putting party before country. The DT link was brought to my attention by Raedwald, who also has a better comment about Gove.

domingo, 25 de noviembre de 2018

Our ocracy's oligophrenia over outcrop...

The UK government has lost the plot completely. The Olly and May horror show continues: every single EU stipulation conceded, every UK red-line ignored...total surrender. Luckily, certainly with regard to the media hoo-hah over Gibraltar, the Chief Minister of Gibraltar, the Hon. Fabian Picardo QC reacted well; Mrs. may should read, understand and iterate his final paragraph:

"We will stick with Britain" press release HERE, pdf. Hat-tip Raedwald.

In a later press release, [PDF] also yesterday, Fabian Picardo gave a full statement after having talked with Treason May. He sounded reassured: "Theresa May made repeatedly clear despite clause 24 that she would negotiate to include us in the Withdrawal Agreement", but I would suggest he doesn't count his chickens: the 'Strong and stable' and 'No deal is better than a bad deal' mantras, amongst other, etc., spring to mind. Ian Duncan Smith on Sky News this morning [Guido] suggests slippery May has conceded over Gibraltar's future trading arrangements to Spain

In the same press release Picardo compared the crowing of Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez over the sovereignty of Gibraltar to 'pursuing the policy bidding of the Generalisimo [Franco] himself'. LOL.

Our ocracy's oligophrenia over outcrop...

lunes, 19 de noviembre de 2018

Ousting obdurate ordure...

Below I have put a portrait of the future Conservative Party, maybe in 2020 or whenever the next UK general Election is (probably a lot sooner). A sad but deserved end. The proposed Withdrawal Agreement leaves the UK worse off than before. We surrender our sovereignty (nay, our FREEDOM) and become even more under the control of the EU. This is most definitely NOT in the UK’s best interests and could only - ONLY - have been devised by traitors. There IS literally no other explication and this isn't Brexit, even in name. My MP is a good, very pro-Brexit (proven by actions and words) and it will be a shame to not vote for him.

"Intellectually, psephologically and demographically, the stage is set for the eclipse of the Tory party as an election-winning force."

Indeed: The bell tolls for the hapless Tories [CW LINK], "The Westminster bubble hailed the last election as evidence that two-party politics had returned, but a betrayal of Brexit on the scale currently envisaged would surely smash the political mould for ever."

Update: further reading and listening: There are some nasty surprises in the small-print of Theresa May’s Brexit deal [BC LINK]; reiterated by MPs [e.g. Priti P]; B4B's worst horrors, Steerpike's "40 horrors" and finally this weekend, Your Right to Know: the ERG doc "The Case against Chequers and the Draft Withdrawal Agreement in plain English" [PDF] linked from Brexit Central.

Ousting obdurate ordure...

"Intellectually, psephologically and demographically, the stage is set for the eclipse of the Tory party as an election-winning force."

domingo, 11 de noviembre de 2018

Obligations over open ossuary...

Image from The Royal British Legion, 'a national champion of Remembrance'. Our obligation is to remember. The Legion came into existence after 'The Great War', when many that had fought joined together to support to each other. "The Legion advocates a specific type of Remembrance connected to the British Armed Forces, those who were killed, those who fought with them and alongside them."

This year is the 100th Anniversary of the end of that 'war to end all wars'. "The absolute horror of the First World War, if not realised when reading details, is brought home when we look at the numbers of dead and wounded", Open ossuaries

Update: stunned by something I've just read at SteynOnline: "Exactly a century ago - on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month - the guns fell silent on Europe's battlefields. The belligerents had agreed the terms of the peace at 5am that November morning, and the news was relayed to the commanders in the field shortly thereafter that hostilities would cease at eleven o'clock. And then they all went back to firing at each other for a final six hours. On that last day, British imperial forces lost some 2,400 men, the French 1,170, the Germans 4,120, the Americans about 3,000."

"The dead in those last hours of the Great War outnumbered the toll of D Day twenty-six years later, the difference being that those who died in 1944 were fighting to win a war whose outcome they did not know. On November 11th 1918 over eleven thousand men fell in a conflict whose victors and vanquished had already been settled and agreed." [my emphasis]

Unbelievable: "Hell cannot be so terrible as this. Humanity is mad; it must be mad to do what it is doing.", anonymous French soldier, reference to the 'hell' of Verdun.

Obligations over open ossuary...

"The dead in those last hours of the Great War outnumbered the toll of D Day twenty-six years later, the difference being that those who died in 1944 were fighting to win a war whose outcome they did not know. On November 11th 1918 over eleven thousand men fell in a conflict whose victors and vanquished had already been settled and agreed." [my emphasis]

Unbelievable: "Hell cannot be so terrible as this. Humanity is mad; it must be mad to do what it is doing.", anonymous French soldier, reference to the 'hell' of Verdun.

sábado, 10 de noviembre de 2018

Odible ochlocracy...

A government by mobs worthy of hatred if you need to know what I think that title means. [edit 10.11.18, 8:18 p.m.]"the Führer has decided that... demonstrations should not be prepared or organized by the party, but insofar as they erupt spontaneously, they are not to be hampered."

Last night was the 80th anniversary of the November pogrom, the Night of Broken Glass, Kristallnacht ('...viewed by historians as part of Nazi Germany's broader racial policy, and the beginning of the Final Solution and The Holocaust', Wiki). I wouldn't have known if I hadn't read Raedwald's blog today. A really nicely written blog-post:

"A pane of window glass is an odd thing. Just 4mm thick, and so fragile that a child's ball may shatter it, in our minds it is as much of a bulwark against the elements, against the chaos of the street, against the bad outside as nine inches of brick and mortar. Anyone who has had a broken front window pane will know the sudden vulnerability, the sense of unprotectedness, the anxiety and the naked exposure of that void. Until mended, we can't sleep...."

The rest is equally good, plus the comments, which I enjoyed, can be found HERE.

Odible ochlocracy...

"A pane of window glass is an odd thing. Just 4mm thick, and so fragile that a child's ball may shatter it, in our minds it is as much of a bulwark against the elements, against the chaos of the street, against the bad outside as nine inches of brick and mortar. Anyone who has had a broken front window pane will know the sudden vulnerability, the sense of unprotectedness, the anxiety and the naked exposure of that void. Until mended, we can't sleep...."

The rest is equally good, plus the comments, which I enjoyed, can be found HERE.

domingo, 21 de octubre de 2018

Orthopterology over onolatry...

Hazard a guess at these two countries: the first country "is one of the region’s oldest and strongest democracies.

"It boasts a stronger social safety net than any of its neighbors and is making progress on its promise to deliver free health care and higher education to all its citizens. It is a model of social mobility and a magnet for immigrants from across Latin America and Europe.

"The press is free, and the political system is open; opposing parties compete fiercely in elections and regularly alternate power peacefully. It sidestepped the wave of military juntas that mired some Latin American countries in dictatorship. Thanks to a long political alliance and deep trade and investment ties with the United States, it serves as the Latin American headquarters for a slew of multinational corporations. It has the best infrastructure in South America. It is still unmistakably a developing country, with its share of corruption, injustice, and dysfunction, but it is well ahead of other poor countries by almost any measure...

"The second country is one of Latin America’s most impoverished nations and its newest dictatorship. Its schools lie half deserted. The health system has been devastated by decades of underinvestment, corruption, and neglect; long-vanquished diseases, such as malaria and measles, have returned. Only a tiny elite can afford enough to eat. An epidemic of violence has made it one of the most murderous countries in the world. [sic]

"It is the source of Latin America’s largest refugee migration in a generation, with millions of citizens fleeing in the last few years alone. Hardly anyone (aside from other autocratic governments) recognizes its sham elections, and the small portion of the media not under direct state control still follows the official line for fear of reprisals. By the end of 2018, its economy will have shrunk by about half in the last five years. It is a major cocaine-trafficking hub, and key power brokers in its political elite have been indicted in the United States on drug charges. Prices double every 25 days. The main airport is largely deserted, used by just a handful of holdout airlines bringing few passengers to and from the outside world."

The two countries? Answer: these two countries are in fact the same country: Venezuela. Forty years is a long time.

(Highlight with cursor to see answer).

Read the rest of the article HERE. 'Venezuela’s Suicide. Lessons From a Failed State.' By Moisés Naím and Francisco Toro at Foreign Affairs Magazine.

Orthopterology over onolatry...

Hazard a guess at these two countries: the first country "is one of the region’s oldest and strongest democracies.

"It boasts a stronger social safety net than any of its neighbors and is making progress on its promise to deliver free health care and higher education to all its citizens. It is a model of social mobility and a magnet for immigrants from across Latin America and Europe.

"The second country is one of Latin America’s most impoverished nations and its newest dictatorship. Its schools lie half deserted. The health system has been devastated by decades of underinvestment, corruption, and neglect; long-vanquished diseases, such as malaria and measles, have returned. Only a tiny elite can afford enough to eat. An epidemic of violence has made it one of the most murderous countries in the world. [sic]

"It is the source of Latin America’s largest refugee migration in a generation, with millions of citizens fleeing in the last few years alone. Hardly anyone (aside from other autocratic governments) recognizes its sham elections, and the small portion of the media not under direct state control still follows the official line for fear of reprisals. By the end of 2018, its economy will have shrunk by about half in the last five years. It is a major cocaine-trafficking hub, and key power brokers in its political elite have been indicted in the United States on drug charges. Prices double every 25 days. The main airport is largely deserted, used by just a handful of holdout airlines bringing few passengers to and from the outside world."

The two countries? Answer: these two countries are in fact the same country: Venezuela. Forty years is a long time.
(Highlight with cursor to see answer).

Read the rest of the article HERE. 'Venezuela’s Suicide. Lessons From a Failed State.' By Moisés Naím and Francisco Toro at Foreign Affairs Magazine.

miércoles, 10 de octubre de 2018

Obvious obscurantism; overtly obsequious...

Opaque or obtuse? [edited] Lots of 'o's describing the government attempts at professional behaviour; they are woefully poor. That and: 'The Government has ignored the basic principles of successful negotiation in its dealings with Brussels', IMHO they have ignored the basic principles of standing up for themselves and those they purport to represent. But David Heathcoat-Amory - once a near neighbour - writing at Brexit Central hits the nail/s on the head; hopefully the nails of the 'Chequers' coffin. Firstly, and most importantly:

"The EU referendum decision was categorical and final. Both sides of the argument agreed this in advance. The Leave decision is not a radical constitutional experiment: Britain will be joining the rest of the world, which is founded on the principle of national self-government, which includes unconditional control over citizenship, borders, laws and trade policy."

Only those with open or hidden invested personal (monetary) interests that are jeopardised would seriously believe anything different. And they are most probably wrong about the 'jeopardised' bit too.

Heathcoat-Armory makes one mistake, he says "At root there is a failure to understand the true nature of the EU", IMHO this is simply not true: May and Hammond, the treacherous senior civil servants in their dealings, plus Soubry, Clarke, Clegg, Blair, Major, Mandelson, Campbell, Adonis et al in their vociferous and increasingly shrieky cries for a 2nd referendum (or cancelling of the 2016 vote) understand all too well the true nature of the EU. That is precisely the problem: the blithering ramblings, the convoluted speeches, the twisting of words and the seeming incompetence at all and every step is all intentional: they know the true nature of the EU and want it!

"The EU is not an association of nation states coming together for certain common purposes. It is a highly self-interested bureaucracy which has one response to any problem: more Europe. Its entire legal order is founded on the principle of ever closer union."

This has always been the case and to be honest, most EU founders, formers and followers have never denied it!

Obvious obscurantism; overtly obsequious...

"The EU referendum decision was categorical and final. Both sides of the argument agreed this in advance. The Leave decision is not a radical constitutional experiment: Britain will be joining the rest of the world, which is founded on the principle of national self-government, which includes unconditional control over citizenship, borders, laws and trade policy."

"The EU is not an association of nation states coming together for certain common purposes. It is a highly self-interested bureaucracy which has one response to any problem: more Europe. Its entire legal order is founded on the principle of ever closer union."

This has always been the case and to be honest, most EU founders, formers and followers have never denied it!

viernes, 5 de octubre de 2018

Order Order on overt one-sidedness...

To be honest I would have said 80-20 at the very least. "Brexiteers always like to complain about Brexit bias on the BBC". Indeed, and don't forget the normal everyday bias, anyone fair-minded and the Right and right side of centre already know this. Anyhow, "Guido has crunched the numbers on the BBC’s three flagship panel shows, Question Time, Politics Live and Any Questions to see if they have a point... "

A whopping 87% of the panels had a Remainer majority – only 13% of shows had a panel equally balanced between Leavers and Remainers. Not once have Leavers outnumbered Remainers.

No surprise at all. That is just Brexit; the 'Left-Right' bias they normally have is easily just as bad. How many hundreds of times have a 'student', a 'nurse', a 'single mum', a 'council estate resident', an 'economist', a 'whatever', turned out to be a paid up dyed-in-the-wool raving lefty activist?...happens most days. How many sane normal moderately Right wing guests have been introduced clearly highlighting their political allegiance....all of them, and how many 'innocents' called 'Far-Right'? BBC bias is wrong, insidious, sinister and pretty damn treacherous.

Come the day, they should be treated as per Mr Ecks' (a commentator at Raedwald's and elsewhere) proposed treatment of the Civil Service traitors "fire the Senior Civil Service en masse, without a penny compo and their pensions confiscated. If needed use Bliar's Civil Contingences Act to prevent any attempts by the sacked scum to run to lawyers/judges. They go out and stay out.

The chief enemies of a decent UK would be out on their cultural Marxist arses and shock waves of terror would flow thro' the wannabe global elite all around the planet."

Yep. Soon as possible please.

Order Order on overt one-sidedness...

A whopping 87% of the panels had a Remainer majority – only 13% of shows had a panel equally balanced between Leavers and Remainers. Not once have Leavers outnumbered Remainers.

martes, 18 de septiembre de 2018

Oxley opines...

Image: 18.06.16, The Spectator: Out and into the World.

On Brexit Central Alan Oxley opines that the UK Government doesn’t really get what is at stake...the Brexit White Paper based on 'Chequers' is "unintelligible, incoherent and includes matters which do not warrant attention", something we can all agree based on the waffle and piffle emanating from complicit MPs and tame MSM; "most importantly [the Brexit White Paper] lays out no platform which any government could use in undertaking something as significant as withdrawal from the EU." Nuff said.

Now, Oxley may be an Aussie with his own interests but as ex Chairman of GATT he knows what he is saying when, in typical clear and blunt Aussie style he says:

"Clearly those who oversaw preparation of the paper had no basic understanding of the fundamental issues or how to address them."

Hear hear! "Why is at least one third of the paper related to vague discussions of issues instead of concrete propositions... [?]", smoke an mirrors to fool dim-witted politicians Alan!

"What is the sense in surrendering future control over any changes to an organisation from which the British people have decided to separate?"

Exactly! ...and an organisation heading only one way...and it ain't 'up'.

Oxley opines...

Image: 18.06.16, The Spectator: Out and into the World.

"Clearly those who oversaw preparation of the paper had no basic understanding of the fundamental issues or how to address them."

Hear hear! "Why is at least one third of the paper related to vague discussions of issues instead of concrete propositions... [?]", smoke an mirrors to fool dim-witted politicians Alan!

"What is the sense in surrendering future control over any changes to an organisation from which the British people have decided to separate?"

Exactly! ...and an organisation heading only one way...and it ain't 'up'.

sábado, 15 de septiembre de 2018

Offence offensive II...

Battle of Britain Hurricanes

...or 'defence offence offensive' given that The Battle of Britain was a great defensive effort. How to ruin a good day and a memorial day at that: I hate to whinge (ahem...OK, I love it) but Niall McCarthy, Data Journalist at Statista has really pissed me off: first the email: "Bloody Foreigners
2,424 British pilots flew against the Luftwaffe during that summer in 1940 and 452 were killed. Many foreign pilots also fought in the battle... ...Britain owes its immigrants a debt of gratitude and amid an air of anger and uncertainty post-Brexit, their decisive intervention at the nation's darkest hour in 1940 seems to be long forgotten by some." FFS, making things worse the article and graph have the title "How Britain owes its immigrants a debt of gratitude" (and btw his graph is wrong anyway missing out at least three nationalities that took part).

Niall clearly hasn't noticed the myriad museums and memorials, especially the Polish War Memorial - that I used to pass every week - nor the commemorative services and wreath laying every year. Has he heard the phrase "The Few", or "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"? He probably doesn't know that many of the pilots were encouraged to stay as their homes no longer existed. Worse, he insinuates they are forgotten by xenophobes and ties it all to 'anger and uncertainty post-Brexit'; he can fuck right off.

Offence offensive II...

Battle of Britain Hurricanes

...or 'defence offence offensive' given that The Battle of Britain was a great defensive effort. How to ruin a good day and a memorial day at that: I hate to whinge (ahem...OK, I love it) but Niall McCarthy, Data Journalist at Statista has really pissed me off: first the email: "Bloody Foreigners2,424 British pilots flew against the Luftwaffe during that summer in 1940 and 452 were killed. Many foreign pilots also fought in the battle... ...Britain owes its immigrants a debt of gratitude and amid an air of anger and uncertainty post-Brexit, their decisive intervention at the nation's darkest hour in 1940 seems to be long forgotten by some." FFS, making things worse the article and graph have the title "How Britain owes its immigrants a debt of gratitude" (and btw his graph is wrong anyway missing out at least three nationalities that took part). Niall clearly hasn't noticed the myriad museums and memorials, especially the Polish War Memorial - that I used to pass every week - nor the commemorative services and wreath laying every year. Has he heard the phrase "The Few", or "Never in the field of human conflict was so much owed by so many to so few"? He probably doesn't know that many of the pilots were encouraged to stay as their homes no longer existed. Worse, he insinuates they are forgotten by xenophobes and ties it all to 'anger and uncertainty post-Brexit'; he can fuck right off.

viernes, 14 de septiembre de 2018

Offence offensive...

Interesting that the howling outrage mob are at it again. I am talking of course about those that claim racism etc., re Mark Knight's cartoon in The Herald Sun (report in News.com.au) He says his portrayal was "never about race or gender — rather the sporting superstar’s bad behaviour", something obvious to normal people but not obvious to racists. Knight says he suspended his Twitter account overnight because of abuse towards his family... par for the course for the violent, nasty Left.

Reminded me of the outrage a few years ago in the New York Post, (report in Guardian) re the racism row over a chimpanzee cartoon; people equated the chimp with Obama...so who's the racist? You see a monkey and think it must be a cartoon of a black person? In that Owsblog post there is a cartoon of President Bush as a chimp...no outrage; they are outraged when it is Obama, or Williams...they see a black person and think chimp, or vice versa. They are racist.

Same for the Ross Barkley 'gorilla' "racism" last year [BBC] when Sun columnist Kelvin MacKenzie compared Barkley to a "gorilla at the zoo". Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson told BBC Sport he reported the article to the police for a "racial slur" because Barkley's grandfather was born in Nigeria...who's the racist? Not MacKenzie but Liverpool mayor Anderson who relates a Nigerian to a gorilla!

Offence offensive...

sábado, 8 de septiembre de 2018

Obambulating Obama...

Obama, "a restoration of honesty and decency and lawfulness in our government" (snigger) clearly part of the problem; most definitely NOT part of the solution. Clearly his horrendously rabble-rousing comments - apart from being part of the permanent protest - are intended to try to spark the stalling Democrats for the congressional mid-term elections in November but he has just put a massive target on his back. Oh, can I say that? Or is it still racist (last paragraph), despite being what anyone could say about anyone, when it's directed at Obama it must be racist.

Obambulating Obama...

viernes, 10 de agosto de 2018

Optimistic Ows...

[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed]

Not the bookies' favourite but I predict Arsenal will win the Premier League this season.

Chart from Statista

Follow-up comment in the comments :-(

Optimistic Ows...

[Edited: 'dead' image/video removed]

Not the bookies' favourite but I predict Arsenal will win the Premier League this season.

Chart from Statista

Follow-up comment in the comments :-(

Optimistic Ows...

Infographic: The bookmakers' favourites to win the Premier League | Statista

Not the bookies' favourite but I predict Arsenal will win the Premier League this season.

Chart from Statista

lunes, 6 de agosto de 2018

Olfactible oast offering...

A beer for pussies? No, a beer from pussies: the first beer with specific lactic acid bacteria from a selected vagina. Polish brewer* Order of Yoni have produced a beer containing the 'quintessence of femininity.'

Zero Hedge has the details: "Polish 'Vagina Beer' Contains 'Essence' Of Two Smoking Hot Models". "The secret of the beer lies in her vagina". No really, that’s what the Order of Yoni have on their website. And those worried about health issues fear not: the beauties in question "had undergone gynecological [sic] examinations, and then the material was double-checked in the Poznan lab to make sure that the lactic acid bacteria were isolated from the smear." Right, now I’m losing my appetite a bit...

In the Order of Yoni's FAQ they reveal in fact that they don’t brew in their own brewery but that they are ‘a craft brewery’ “that commissions brewing to our befriended, partner breweries”. Not sure whether it’s a joke or not, but they go on to say they are looking for supermodels, actresses, celebrities etc., for a future launch of a special series of beers with, for example, edible gold and saffron. Their strap-line “Bottled Instinct” sounds like a poor translation to me; will it have a yeasty aftertaste?

Olfactible oast offering...

domingo, 5 de agosto de 2018

Oakus opportunities...

...of the US Oak! :-)

Interesting chart on the Visual Capitalist of milestones for US companies, prompted by Apple's recent trillion USD market valuation, "through a period of over 200 years of U.S. market history. It was inspired by this interesting post by Global Financial Data, which is worth reading in its own right."

Interesting indeed, for example, there I learnt that before 1900, the London & Northwestern Railway was the largest railroad and the largest company in the world (before that the Bank of England held the honour).

The Visual Capitalist post also mentions that Apple is not in fact the first company globally to ever hit the one trillion USD landmark: the "feat was achieved momentarily by PetroChina in 2007, after a successful debut on the Shanghai Stock Exchange that same year." Momentarily because after the one-day tripling of stock value it subsequently collapsed by nearly 80%.

What I find more interesting is the drop by more than a third in the number of companies: from 7912 in 1995 down to 5186 this year. In fact the total number of companies peaked at 9,850 in 1999; so a drop of very nearly 50% in the first 18 years of this century.

Oakus opportunities...

domingo, 1 de julio de 2018

Ova over oil...

Un oeuf is enough as the old classic goes, but in Venezuela the cost of one egg is the same as 126 litres of petrol (3.33 lorry loads) ... no, you didn't misread that. Ludicrous. "La crisis venezolana es una férrea traducción del incoherente manejo que el régimen chavista y madurista le ha dado a la economía del país durante los últimos 20 años, que hoy se encuentra desquiciada y desequilibrada" [LINK]...more or less: 'The Venezuelan crisis is a fierce representation of the incoherent management that the Chavista and [now] Madurista regime has given to the country's economy during the last 20 years, which today is deranged and unbalanced.' Deranged, I'll say; believe it or not...according to Calisa in Venezuela al Diá, Venezuelan Economist José Toro Hardy has reported* that "A petrol truck takes 38,000 litres; 1L of 91 octane petrol costs 1 Bolivar per litre [yes, one Bolivar]; therefore the cost of the truck-load is Bs38,000. Meanwhile a tray of 30 eggs costs Bs3,800,000 (they tell me that it is already more expensive). That leads to the unusual conclusion that the equivalent of the cost of the tray of eggs you could pay for 100 trucks of gasoline." Making an egg the cost of more than three truck-loads of petrol. Unusual? he also calls it 'Awful'; in fact it's fucking obscene and ridiculous.

I was so wrong in early 2006; but also so right later that year: lot has flowed under the bridge since Orinoco oil overflowing..."The Orinoco river oil strip will become the world's greatest reservoir of petroleum for the next years". This may explain why Chavez seemed so cocky and triumphant as he strutted his stuff on his world tour in the last few weeks. In my opinion it only makes him more of a danger."

* Full article: Banca y Negocio.

Ova over oil...

miércoles, 27 de junio de 2018

Obrogation opportunities II...

Obrogation: to alter the law by passing a new law. From previous post: "The UK's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill now only requires Royal Assent, which will be on 26 June 2018..." :our Independence Day is assured.

Brexit Central:

"the Government’s flagship piece of Brexit legislation did indeed receive its Royal Assent yesterday when the Queen formally signed it into law. Lest we forget, Section 1 of the now European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 states 'The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day” - with exit day explicitly defined in the Act “as 29 March 2019 at 11.00pm'"

My emphasis. Here it is (PDF)

Obrogation opportunities II...

"the Government’s flagship piece of Brexit legislation did indeed receive its Royal Assent yesterday when the Queen formally signed it into law. Lest we forget, Section 1 of the now European Union (Withdrawal) Act 2018 states 'The European Communities Act 1972 is repealed on exit day” - with exit day explicitly defined in the Act “as 29 March 2019 at 11.00pm'"

My emphasis. Here it is (PDF)

sábado, 23 de junio de 2018

Obrogation opportunities...

Happy UK Independence Day! 23rd June 2016 was the day - to great shock from everyone - we voted Brexit. Two years on we are still wrangling about various details but the date is set. Worth a read of The Mogg's words "Brexit and Beyond: Britain’s Place in the World in the 2020s" [Brexit Central]. He is one of the very few - even among government Brexiteers - that refuses to be negative. John Redwood is another, here on The Commentator praising the US Ambassador who say we should be more positive: “To see this defeatist attitude towards Brexit is a bit sorrowing to me,”...isn't it embarrassing that we have to be told?

Rees-Mogg ends with "I have always thought that by and large, individuals making decisions for themselves, make better decisions than others can do for them. This applies on the national scale too. The nation state can make better decisions for itself than other nations can impose upon it. I believe it for the United Kingdom and I believe it for other nations around the world. That is the opportunity for the UK in 2020 and beyond. It is to have confidence in ourselves to make the alliances that will lead to success and to ensure that we have the right economic policies in place."

And if mistakes are made, they are OUR mistakes.

The UK's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill now only requires Royal Assent, which will be on 26 June 2018...

Obrogation opportunities...

Rees-Mogg ends with "I have always thought that by and large, individuals making decisions for themselves, make better decisions than others can do for them. This applies on the national scale too. The nation state can make better decisions for itself than other nations can impose upon it. I believe it for the United Kingdom and I believe it for other nations around the world. That is the opportunity for the UK in 2020 and beyond. It is to have confidence in ourselves to make the alliances that will lead to success and to ensure that we have the right economic policies in place."

And if mistakes are made, they are OUR mistakes.

The UK's European Union (Withdrawal) Bill now only requires Royal Assent, which will be on 26 June 2018...

viernes, 1 de junio de 2018

Opiate overdose obduracy...

Or Options on opiates III if you follow this blog or like reading interesting stuff! (Options on opiates and Options on opiates II; I like that second one: chloroform, cannabis, alcohol and morphine in a single cough medicine! Then cocaine to cure the addiction!)...

Anyhoo...

I am currently reading an enjoyable fiction novel that has the plot of opiate addiction. The author mentions that this is nothing new and is really a repeat of what happened in the period up to WWI. Although I knew a bit about it - re laudanum luvvies - it chimed exactly with an article I was reading in the NYT (yes, yes, I know): "The late-19th-century opiate epidemic was nearly identical to the one now spreading across the United States", from Clinton Lawson's "America’s 150-Year Opioid Epidemic"..."In the case of the opioid epidemic, history is literally repeating itself.". the article very maturely points out that the main problem is to find a way to take the appropriate steps to both 'confront the powerful interests that drive' the over-prescribing of opiate painkillers and avoid over-criminalising the 'victims': most addicts aren't needle using zombie-looking dropouts in a dirty 'trainspotting toilet' backdrop. And some of these [CBS] "prescription painkillers are about 50 times more potent than heroin and up to 100 times more potent than morphine."

The Council on Foreign Relations has a great background on the issue and although the US Opiate Epidemic is clearly the worst, they are certainly not alone (scroll down to "How are other countries dealing with opioid addiction" HERE). In the UK too, opioid abuse is growing. "Britain already has Europe’s highest proportion of heroin addicts, and last year, drug-related deaths hit a record high in England and Wales" and as previously mentioned, it isn't always the "classic". The image above is from the same article, look closely: click to enlarge.

More info: NIH/NIDA, where it also tells the sorry tale that from July 2016 through September 2017 opioid overdoses increased 30 percent in 45 states; in the Midwest region where a large number of my family (not immediate) live, the increase was 70 percent.