There is a tradition of American Presidential inaugurations attracting the greatest American artists to perform. Previous inaugurations have featured such national musical icons as Frank Sinatra, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen and Aretha Franklin.
Following in this tradition, Donald Trump has invited a host of American superstars to sing at his inauguration - Elton John, Celine Dion, and Andrea Bocelli. Oh, hold on a minute...
Never mind, they've all reportedly declined the invitation anyway, though Trump has secured a couple of other American icons (and even some of the Rockettes are said to be unhappy about it). I guess those sneaky Limeys, Canucks and Eyeties just don't want America to be great again.
(And whatever possessed whoever in Trump's team thought of asking Elton John, given the incoming Vice President's well-documented homophobia?) Reportedly he may instead play at an alternative "not my president" concert in Miami.
Anyway, here's wishing a Merry Christmas to all my readers!
Sunday, December 25, 2016
Sunday, December 18, 2016
Thursday, December 15, 2016
Facts are such inconvenient things
Donald Trump’s rejection of the CIA's findings probably stems from
the same root as his invention of 3 million phantom illegal votes for Hillary
Clinton. Trump knows in his heart, or what passes for one, that a substantial
majority of American voters rejected him, and that while he has won the
electoral college, he has no true mandate from the people. His enormous ego
demands that he disavow any fact which would diminish his victory in his own
estimation, hence the number of imaginary illegal votes he dreams up conveniently
exceeds the 2.8 million vote margin by which Hillary defeated him in the
popular vote. Anything else which would cast doubt on his win, such as the
Russian hacks, must also be denied in order to feed his fragile self-esteem.
On a side note, it is questionable how long Americans will
accept the continuation of the electoral college system. This was originally
devised to ensure that any President enjoyed broad acceptability across many states of the young union,
not just in a few populous ones.
As the electoral map shows, this works – Trump won 30 states to Clinton's 20 – but America's demographics have changed dramatically since the system was put in place. As the country’s
population becomes increasingly concentrated in a few heavily populated coastal
states, such as California, New York, Texas and Florida, it is likely that
electoral college wins which go contrary to the popular vote will become more
frequent. We are already seeing the beginning of a movement to challenge the
current system – "Not My President" – and Americans will increasingly ask why the will of the
overwhelming majority of the people has to be frustrated in order to keep
Wyoming and North Dakota happy. Watch
this space.
Tuesday, December 13, 2016
Tomorrow’s News Today
From Private Beach - the blog that brings you the news before it happens!
Thursday 15 December 2016 - Hong Kong was engulfed by a tidal wave of tedium today as New People's Party leader Regina Ip, at her long-awaited-with-disinterest press conference, finally announced what everyone has known for weeks that she was going to say.
Massive Tremor of Boredom Shakes Hong Kong
Thursday 15 December 2016 - Hong Kong was engulfed by a tidal wave of tedium today as New People's Party leader Regina Ip, at her long-awaited-with-disinterest press conference, finally announced what everyone has known for weeks that she was going to say.
Monday, December 05, 2016
Government Applies to Strip Hong Kong Chief Executive of His Office
Following his
successful request to the High Court to unseat two young Legislative Council
members on the grounds that they had not taken their oaths of office with due
sincerity, Hong Kong’s Secretary for justice Rimsky Yuen today announced that the
government is applying for a judicial review against Chief Executive CY Leung
on the same basis. Explaining the move, Yuen stated: “The CE has sworn
allegiance to the Hong Kong SAR, but his actions in office clearly demonstrate
that his true allegiance is to the Chinese Communist Party, heedless of the
interests of Hong Kong. This places him
in obvious breach of the NPCSC’s recent interpretation of the Basic Law,
requiring oaths to be taken sincerely.”
“Furthermore,” Yuen
continued: “Article 43 of the Basic Law states that the CE shall ‘represent
Hong Kong’. Having been elected by only
689 votes, and with his support ratings consistently running well below 50%, the
CE is also unable to fulfil this requirement.
Accordingly we shall be asking the Court to declare his office vacant.”
Yuen was at pains to
point out that this decision was made purely on legal grounds, with no
political considerations being taken into account.
Saturday, December 03, 2016
Door to Nowhere
I feel oddly bereft – as if I had pushed my way through the heavy
coats to the back of the wardrobe, only to find that the entrance to Narnia was
no longer there. In a world where the
likes of Donald Trump and CY Leung can ru(i)n our lives, we all need a doorway
to a better world – however imaginary.
Logolikes
Wednesday, November 09, 2016
America Commits Suicide
There will be time for analysis later - I just wanted to be first with that headline.
Tuesday, November 08, 2016
Sunday, November 06, 2016
A Basket of Deplorables
Women for Trump - I'd give 'em a 1 - maybe a 1,5 if they lose the egotistical braggart with the bad haircut. Supporting a candidate who has made so many demeaning remarks about women indicates an alarmingly low level of self-esteem.
Then there are the men - some Trump supporters are pretty dim bulbs. One (so obese that if I was Trump, I'd probably call him Mr Piggy) was on the TV news the other night, asking "If I don't need a permit to exercise my right to free speech [guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution], why do I need one to exercise my 2nd amendment rights?"
Well, if you're going to claim rights on the basis of the American Constitution, you might try reading it first. The 2nd Amendment specifically sets gun ownership rights within the context of "a well-regulated militia". In other words, the Founding Fathers never intended a free-for-all - they envisaged a certain level of regulation. Which doesn't stop supposed "law-and-order" candidate Trump from insisting that even the mentally disturbed and suspected terrorists should be free to arm themselves. Duh.
Then there are the men - some Trump supporters are pretty dim bulbs. One (so obese that if I was Trump, I'd probably call him Mr Piggy) was on the TV news the other night, asking "If I don't need a permit to exercise my right to free speech [guaranteed by the 1st Amendment to the US Constitution], why do I need one to exercise my 2nd amendment rights?"
Well, if you're going to claim rights on the basis of the American Constitution, you might try reading it first. The 2nd Amendment specifically sets gun ownership rights within the context of "a well-regulated militia". In other words, the Founding Fathers never intended a free-for-all - they envisaged a certain level of regulation. Which doesn't stop supposed "law-and-order" candidate Trump from insisting that even the mentally disturbed and suspected terrorists should be free to arm themselves. Duh.
Turds of a feather
Saturday, November 05, 2016
Monday, October 10, 2016
The Giulanification of Donald
Rudolph Giulani's argument is, like most other excuses for Trump, nonsense. Giulani argues that Trump is under an obligation to maximise profit for his shareholders. It is true that those in charge of a public company are so obliged, within certain legal and ethical boundaries. But the Trump Organization, Donald's main business vehicle, is privately held. As such, Trump can essentially do whatever the law allows him to get away with. He could even choose to pay tax if he wanted to.
Thursday, October 06, 2016
Thursday, September 29, 2016
Amazing Technological Advance
The Restaurant That Dares Not Spell Its Name Consistently
Monday, August 15, 2016
Dead On Target
It is of course outrageous for Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump to suggest that in certain circumstances, shooting an American President could be a good thing. On the other hand, if Trump himself gets elected, we might just be forced to concede that there is something worthwhile in the idea after all.
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Downcycling
Labels:
Environment,
Humour,
People,
Politics,
Stupidity
Thursday, July 14, 2016
May You Never
Whenever I hear a Tory Prime Minister announcing their intention to govern for all the population and not just a privileged elite, my instinctive reaction is to recall the words of wisdom uttered by those great philosophers at the University of Woolloomooloo: "Howls of derisive laughter, Bruce".
However, Theresa May's first speech as PM yesterday was interesting for going into considerable detail on the existence of specific social barriers to upward mobility - barriers rarely acknowledged to exist by those in her party. This marks a clear turn away from the crude Thatcher philosophy that if you're poor it's just because you don't work hard enough, and back to the "One Nation" Toryism of the Macmillan days - though perhaps with less of the whiff of noblesse oblige that accompanied it then.
May has an unenviable job ahead - she will be judged primarily on how successfully she can implement a policy opposed by almost half the British people, 2 of its 4 constituent nations, its largest city, and she herself - not to mention me.
However, Theresa May's first speech as PM yesterday was interesting for going into considerable detail on the existence of specific social barriers to upward mobility - barriers rarely acknowledged to exist by those in her party. This marks a clear turn away from the crude Thatcher philosophy that if you're poor it's just because you don't work hard enough, and back to the "One Nation" Toryism of the Macmillan days - though perhaps with less of the whiff of noblesse oblige that accompanied it then.
May has an unenviable job ahead - she will be judged primarily on how successfully she can implement a policy opposed by almost half the British people, 2 of its 4 constituent nations, its largest city, and she herself - not to mention me.
Thursday, June 23, 2016
No Laughing Matter Really
Having lived out of Britain for four decades, I no longer have a vote there, so I can't participate in today's referendum on EU membership. If I could, I would vote to stay in. Not only are many of the "Leave" arguments exaggerated and unrealistic, but the campaign to quit seems to attract a large number of xenophobes and racists, as Jo Cox's murder sadly indicates.
I have long felt that Britain would have far more influence in the EU if it was less half-hearted about its membership. For example instead of coming back every few years to squeeze a better deal out of the other members, it should propose a long-term mechanism which would periodically review every member country's contributions to ensure they remained fair, then seek support from other countries to implement it.
If Britain does vote to leave, I predict that within a few years Scotland will vote again on whether to remain in a United Kingdom that would be very different from the one they chose to remain in last time. Having secured their independence, they would then reapply for EU membership, leaving the rump of the UK out in the cold with diminished influence. But hey, at least Boris Johnson's ego would be stroked. What could be more important?
I have long felt that Britain would have far more influence in the EU if it was less half-hearted about its membership. For example instead of coming back every few years to squeeze a better deal out of the other members, it should propose a long-term mechanism which would periodically review every member country's contributions to ensure they remained fair, then seek support from other countries to implement it.
If Britain does vote to leave, I predict that within a few years Scotland will vote again on whether to remain in a United Kingdom that would be very different from the one they chose to remain in last time. Having secured their independence, they would then reapply for EU membership, leaving the rump of the UK out in the cold with diminished influence. But hey, at least Boris Johnson's ego would be stroked. What could be more important?
Sunday, March 13, 2016
The Equal Opportunity Candidate
Special bonus: how Donald Trump will start World War Three!
Calling the North Korean leader "Fat Boy" to his face, instead of behind his back like every other world leader.Tuesday, March 08, 2016
Unfortunate Resource Locator
As always in these cases, you wonder if they are playing games with you or just being woefully ignorant.
Labels:
Hong Kong,
Humour,
Questions,
Signs,
Technology
Sunday, February 28, 2016
Wednesday, February 03, 2016
Who's Cruzy Now?
Iowa Republican caucuses winner Ted Cruz's victory speech - after the obligatory nod to God - sought to project him as a grassroots anti-establishment candidate, an outsider. The next President of the United States, he claimed, "will not be chosen by the Washington establishment" and "will not be chosen by the lobbyists". Presumably this indicates that Cruz - a Senator in Washington, whose campaign contributors [and here] include a bunch of SuperPACs as well as the usual Wall Street suspects like the oil and gas industry and financial institutions such as Goldman Sachs, the controversial investment bank up to its ears in both the 2008 financial crisis and the Greek debt crisis - does not expect to become the next President!
Cruz is no stranger to self-contradiction - according to the BBC, as solicitor general "he argued in favour of the death penalty and late-term abortion bans", thereby contriving to be simultaneously both pro-life and anti-life! But that is a contradiction he shares with most of the religious right wing in America, to whom human life is apparently more valuable before birth than afterwards.
Cruz is not of course the only Republican candidate who hasn't thought things through - Marco Rubio, third-placed Republican candidate in Iowa, blames mental illness for America's epidemic of gun violence. At the same time, he has vowed to dismantle President Obama's health care reforms which have made health care more affordable for millions. Perhaps he wants more untreated nutcases roaming the streets with guns?
One of the stated aims of this blog is "to make sense of the world". Guys like this make that very difficult,
Cruz is no stranger to self-contradiction - according to the BBC, as solicitor general "he argued in favour of the death penalty and late-term abortion bans", thereby contriving to be simultaneously both pro-life and anti-life! But that is a contradiction he shares with most of the religious right wing in America, to whom human life is apparently more valuable before birth than afterwards.
Cruz is not of course the only Republican candidate who hasn't thought things through - Marco Rubio, third-placed Republican candidate in Iowa, blames mental illness for America's epidemic of gun violence. At the same time, he has vowed to dismantle President Obama's health care reforms which have made health care more affordable for millions. Perhaps he wants more untreated nutcases roaming the streets with guns?
One of the stated aims of this blog is "to make sense of the world". Guys like this make that very difficult,
Tuesday, February 02, 2016
Carrie on Dreaming
Beleaguered Chief Secretary Carrie Lam appeared on the TV news a couple of days ago at the Hong Kong Institution of Engineers Fun Day in front of a banner proclaiming:
"Your Dreams. Our Goals."(Unfortunately I have not been able to find a photo of this online - perhaps the media are getting tired of reporting every boring move made by senior government figures.)
Apparently this is the HKIE's slogan, not the government's latest vacuous feel-good campaign, but it did get me thinking:
Some of My Dreams
|
The Government’s Goal?
|
Real democracy
|
X
|
Human rights
|
X
|
Protection of the Country Parks
|
X
|
Rule of law / judicial
independence
|
X
|
Academic freedom
|
X
|
Universal pension scheme
|
X
|
A cap on tourist numbers
|
X
|
Conservation of historic heritage
|
X
|
No white elephant projects
|
X
|
I guess one man’s dream is another man’s (or Party’s) nightmare.
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