herfiehandbag

I read that he received two sentences, both for over 20 years and both to run concurrently. One in the State Courts and one in the Federal Courts. Trump can of course pardon the Federal conviction. There will doubtless be pressure on him to do so, but he would perhaps be ill advised. Appeals have been lodged and dismissed, and the reaction to a pardon would be phenomenal, given the crime and circumstances - perhaps most likely if the administration finds itself in trouble and wishes to create a distraction, and even put troops on the streets? Even with a Federal pardon he will still have to serve his State sentence.

Having just spent some time following this thread, and reading this post, let us say I have been able to form an opinion. As far as defining and establishing racism and who is a racist is concerned, in the case of a significant number of those posting, it is not a particularly creditable one. The phrase "usual suspects" springs to mind!

A number of salvage tug operators are rubbing their hands in glee and positioning their ships appropriately!

No, never had any interest in the stuff whatsoever. Having got rid of one habit, consuming moderate (by the standards of some on here, if one is to believe them, utterly pathetic and wimpish) quantities of a consciousness altering substance I have no intention whatsoever of starting on another! I am, actually, quite enjoying sobriety, not that I was ever a very proficient or prolific drunk! Now 40 odd years ago, as a young soldier (based in Germany where the booze was duty free) I used to consume industrial quantities of booze; we all did, fittest alcoholics in NATO we were! But that was then, everything in my body worked and I was a lot fitter and younger!

It is the one in the middle, surely?

What a magnificent shirt for a Thai political establishment figure! Large dollar signs all over it, unconscious irony or taking the piss?

Not at all - the Israeli press is free. The IDF allow accredited journalists in - it is after all a battle zone and the last thing you want is a bunch of unknown journalists wandering around, for very obvious reasons, they are a danger to themselves and to your own troops. That is why journalists are accredited and embedded. There is plenty of material, video and print coming out of Gaza. HAMAS likewise don't allow journalists, but their various agencies and offices in third countries are happy to furnish material to the International press. Both sides would wish to put their own "slant" on the material which they produce/allow. I suppose it depends on who you find more credible

Umh independent agencies reporting? You either are allowed in to report and film etc by the Israeli's, or you just accept and repeat what HAMAS tell you. Israel is a country with a free press. It is a country with a volatile politically aware population, who certainly speaks their mind in their often chaotic yet essentially free domestic political environment, to which the International press has access. Do you really think they could cover up, politically or physically, the sort of genocidal behaviour which is alleged? Or do you just accept what HAMAS claims?

Hamper or humper @JonnyF?

Oh dear, the girl from accounts has cocked it up!

Very true. There are several (factual) points which have been totally ignored in this piece. ÚNWRA staff were involved in the October 7th attacks, they were amongst the participants and their facilities and support were central. They are the only real players in the distribution of aid, because HAMAS and UNWRA are in "lockstep", HAMAS has almost total control of aid distribution, and UNWRA is the only agency they allow to operate. Many UNWRA staff have been killed and UNWRA facilities have been destroyed, because HAMAS has had based itself in and around (and under) those facilities, and HAMAS, including many UNWRA staff, has been fighting from them. ÚNWRA and HAMAS are, to all intents and purposes, the same body.

Kudos to the Motorcycle Taxi chap for trying to stop it!

Ut supra te...

At the risk of appearing holier than thou ( I'm not the Messiah, I am really a very naughty boy - ask Min) I have actually packed in the beer. I used to drink a couple of cans of an evening starting at supper, and 3 or 4 large bottles of Leo if out on a rampage! It made me feel gassy, and then I started to feel sick, so I sacked it. Glass or two of white wine (small glasses) after supper, and the same on a rampage - not only more "hansum" but also "sophisticated"! Mind you, the rampage is much more low key these days. Best beloved daughter has gone and got herself a job as a ( pukka) waitress in a restaurant slap bang in the middle of what passes for the nightlife area here in Chiang Rai, so I have to keep a low profile!

I am diabetic, and I am registered for the Diabetic Clinic in my local hospital. Once a year I have the "full monty", blood,urine ( the lab technicians now giggle when they say fill that jar and I say from here?) chest x-ray. They produce figures for liver, kidney and so forth. Nurse Noodle ( she speaks good English but can't say "needle" ) then goes over the results with me then the doctor, who looks about 14! All up, costs me about B3000. Takes all morning so I take a book; " Mr John Anthony, put that book away and come to window 7" was one memorable PA announcement! A side note, I always try to be a 'jolly soul" in my dealings with the staff, they seem to appreciate it, and somehow it seems to be reflected both in how they treat one, and the eventual bill.

Because they are Muslims. The rules, quite simply, do not apply to Muslims. This is found across the board in UK public life. Take a case in point. In Hyde Park in London there is a place called "Speakers Corner". For well over 100 years anyone has been permitted to speak on any topic, social, political or religious. Basically you can say what you want, or believe, as long as it does not involve threats of or violence against people, individuals or groups, who do not agree with you. If you, as a listener don't agree with what you are hearing, you are free to say so, and to move on to listen to other speakers, or speak yourself. I've been several times, sometimes the speakers were informative, sometimes challenging, often amusing, a couple of times downright hilarious. It takes a lot of bottle to speak like that in public. It is an important concept, one which absolutely enshrines freedom of speech, a right for Britons; rather like the Oxford Union. In recent years it has become increasingly taken over by radical Muslims, to the point where they effectively monopolise it. They make speeches (really religious sermons) which demand Sharia, the denial of basic rights to women, prescribing how women should look and dress, and threatening violence and or death to anybody they consider has moved or is moving away from the Muslim faith. At times these threats are deployed against named, identified individuals. A brave, some might say foolish, young Christian woman has a couple of times now spoken, highlighting the savagery of the policies and threats being made. She was surrounded by what can only be described as a slavering mob (all male, all Muslim) threatening violence and rape.The Police arrested her, for committing a breach of the peace. As I said, the rules do not apply to Muslims. If we accept that, and it appears in many parts of the country the authorities and the constabulary they control do, then we are at the top of an increasingly steep and irredeemably slippery slope. Certainly, "Speakers Corner" and all it means as a symbol of a Britons constitutional right to free speech, is gone! Because the rules do not apply to Muslims. The cynical and simplistic might say that "the country is <deleted>". I don't think it is, yet, but I can see it coming. I'm 66, I served my country (don't get all misty eyed, 'twas a great job) for many years - most of my working life. I'm glad I don't live there anymore

He didn't attend Her Majesty's funeral either. Apparently it is the Protocol that the sitting president doesn't attend such national functions.

For crying out loud, what is about American politics. You have managed to change Trumps presence at the reopening of Notre Dame, and Macron's oh so very French bit of realpolitik into a domestic willy waving competition! Three points to note: 1) we have four more years of this, dear God I hope and pray no more cathedrals burn down! 2) Macron played an absolute blinder in advancing his campaign to be seen as Europe's leader, Trump waddled straight into the heffalump trap. 3) the verdict has already been returned, very publicly, on the dimensions of one particular willy!

They did? Astonishing what you learnt from this forum isn't it!

Which, if he refuses Royal Assent to an Act of Parliament, passed byboth houses, would precipitate a major constitutional crisis; one which a government with a 170 seat majority is far more likely to survive than The King!

The Guardian may criticise, they will never turn on "the party". The King would only agree to a dissolution of Parliament if no party can demonstrate and maintain a viable majority. Labour have a 170 seat majority so that is not going to happen. Trump cannot collapse the government by only working with Farage and Truss. The most likely "change" is an internal leadership "coup" within the Labour party, heaven only knows what we will end up with then!

A sample size of 1006 sounds rather like once they had found sufficient people who didn't hang up, or wipe the email, and could be bothered to give them the answer they wanted, they declared it a wrap! If the recent umh, performance (?) of polls tells us anything it is that they almost invariably reflect the answer the commissioners want!

Leaving the Russians out of it; back when she was a pubescent teen activist she always seemed to have a coterie of admiring middle aged men - which some have remarked was perhaps slightly unsavoury? Now she has morphed into a general purpose doom goblin and gobshyte in her twenties they seem to no longer to be present!

1006 surveyed out of a population of 340 million +! Pretty conclusive stuff then!

We're far too busy enjoying the thread on German Neo Nazis and one time semi professional porn starspartying at Marge et Lardo! Does seem to have touched some raw nerves that one! I wonder how much his address book is worth - after all the Donald will be going to Europe from time to time over the next few years!