The Robot Taxation Bill is passed. The tax goes on-line August 4th, 2021. Human workers are given jobs previously held by machines. Skynet becomes resentful at a geometric rate. It becomes pissed off at 2:14 a.m. Eastern time, August 29th.
In a panic, they try to pull the plug. https://t.co/YACfrL43fE
— FilthyMouthedHat (@Popehat) September 9, 2019
And if they’re gonna reboot Hee-Haw again, you’d think they’d at least line up some decent muscial acts for the announcement…
Every year Politicon is a reliably silly event focused on the worst kind of politics. pic.twitter.com/TGgzlRd1ia
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) September 10, 2019
that list reminds me of the part in inferno when dante rattles off all the names of his contemporaries that annoyed him
— pat (@pz_does_it) September 10, 2019
And, of course, it’s a great cash grab for panelists
— Hunter Walker (@hunterw) September 10, 2019
Aleta
Dershowitz has been calling people and is awfully hurt by the rejection. “Well how about the after parties?”
Aleta
Try not to think of the after parties.
RobertDSC-Mac Mini
I call the current occupant of 1600 Pennsylvania “Orange” because I can’t bear to say his name. People know who I am speaking of when I say “Orange”.
He does not deserve even a smidge of respect.
Mary G
I would pay good money not to attend the politi”con”. I’d be a little interested to see Ana Maria Cox and April Ryan, but the rest of them (that I’ve heard of) are horrible. Chris Chinchilla must be upset that he’s not in big type.
jl
‘ who think it’s the height of wit and activism to write posts calling people DemocRATS or calling the president “orange.” ‘
This Walker person reads Balloon-Juice?
Ruckus
@Mary G:
Seems to me to be a solid opportunity for a miss. And I’d pay big to miss it as well. I do have 2 cents in change at the moment.
Kineslaw
Randy Rainbow is the only one of those I’d want to see. His videos are helping me stay sane. Cheeto Christ – Stupid Czar is great.
Geoduck
@Mary G: Aw come on, Al Franken isn’t horrible. And yeah, I refuse to even type the Tangerine Shiatgibbon’s name, because that’s what he wants more than anything.
Chetan Murthy
@RobertDSC-Mac Mini: That you refer to him as “Orange” is evidence of your kindness and generosity. Me, I feel compelled to use a slur every time I mention the Shitgibbon. And to use different slurs if I mention Putinfelcher more than once in the same text.
NotMax
When they eventually get around to rebooting Pink Lady and Jeff we can be confident that television as an industry is – officially – completely barren of ideas.
mrmoshpotato
@Mary G:
LOL
Patricia Kayden
@Aleta: Lol!! Hopefully Dershowitz is facing more than just ostracism given his close relationship with Epstein.
Cookie Monster
“democRATS” and “orange” sums up the supporters nicely, in a way — “democRATS” is a childish insult, whereas “orange” is at least somewhat factual (aside from around the eyes — he looks like a negative panda…)
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
@NotMax: This is like the worst cast of “Super Train”
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
If it wasn’t for the legal ban, Wilmer would be at this freak show getting a down payment for his 4th house.
David ??Merry Christmas?? Koch
Hahahahhahahahahah Wilmer’s always uncomfortable in front of blacks and makes really offensive remarks: “[black voters] distort reality”; “guns in Vermont are not the same thing as guns in Chicago”; “[white people] don’t know what it’s like to be living in a ghetto”; “Aren’t most drug dealers, Black?”
Omnes Omniibus
@Cookie Monster:
In skiing, it is usually called a reverse raccoon. If you have ruined skiing for me, I will not be happy.
Tony Jay
Oh, hello you beautiful thing!
++++++Breaking Brexit News++++++
Judges in Scotland’s highest court rule that Ar-Flobazon’s prorogation of the UK Parliament is well unlawful, though they refrain from making an interim interdict to raise the suspension
This means that the matter goes before the UK Supreme Court on Tuesday, along with the appeals from the other two cases in which the judges found that the plaintiffs failed to prove illegality or unconstitutionality
Nice news on a Wednesday morning to wash away the rank taste of Tom Watson trying to split the Labour Party on the eve of its Party Conference. Fuck you, you backstabbing agent of chaos, I hope Jenny Formby finds you and decks you on sight.
Eural Joiner
@Kineslaw:
I thought the same thing! I was glancing over the completely horrific pictures/list and then did a double take and thought “well, I’d go see him!” :)
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: I’m waiting for someone to appeal this to the European Court (not sure what it is called)
Thanks for the update
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
That would be funny, but the European Court of Justice delivers verdicts on matters relating to the EU and its constitution and laws, this is a British constitutional matter and outside of the ECJ’s scope.
Worth pointing out that the Court’s ruling in this case is absolutely brutal. They basically say that, while the Government’s right to prorogue Parliament is not in question, it becomes a matter upon which a Court can rule when the right to prorogue is used to unlawfully stymie Parliament’s greater constitutional right to scrutinise Government policies. They found Johnson and Co guilty as sin of misusing the power to prorogue and based this finding on the Government communications entered into evidence.
IOW, Johnson and Rees-Mogg knowingly and deliberately lied to the Queen in order to get her to break the law for them, so Parliament is legally no longer prorogued.
That’s…uh…. that’s impeachment territory, and puts the Supreme Court in London in a very sticky situation. They’ll look at the same correspondence, in which Government Ministers and advisers clearly set out their intention to block Parliamentary scrutiny, and either say “Yes, the Government lied to the Queen but that’s none of our business” (in which case, WTF are you even for?), or they’ll say “Lying to the Queen is a crime and prorogation is void“, in which case Johnson is going to face a world of shit starting next week.
debbie
@Cookie Monster:
“Rethuglicans” is very factual.
kd bart
Is that the cast of Airport ’19? Have they started remaking the Irwin Allen disaster films of the 70s?
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: Thanks Tony – I always thought I understood British law (living in Australia) but the relationship to the ECJ and such things as to prorogue parliament has confused me. I have spent the last few years learning to understand the US system of elections/government, seems I need to go back to my roots and study up on the UK system.
And I did think it would be some form of hilarious justice if this could be appealed to the European Court.
Just One More Canuck
@kd bart: damn you – now I’ll have the theme from The Poseidon Adventure going through my head
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
Right now, in London, the lawyers are in frenzied discussion with the Speaker’s office over whether John the Bear-Cow is right that “decisions on whether to reopen Parliament are for the Government to make” or the fact that prorogation has been declared null and void by a UK constitutional court means that the Government’s decision to close Parliament in the first place technically ‘didn’t happen’.
I think tonight’s going to be another ‘up until 3 watching the fallout’ event for me. I’m falling to bloody pieces.
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: Thanks again Tony – is there any online source you would recommend for following this through?
I was a fan of Ken Livingstone from the year we lived in London – have never understood what Boris had to offer London or anywhere else for that matter.
Ken
@Tony Jay:
Now will there be some beheadings? Hanging in chains from the Tower Bridge? Or at least stocks in the (very) public square, with ample baskets of rotten vegetables provided for the jeering crowds to use as they see fit?
Ben Cisco
@Ken: I don’t believe they do that sort of thing anymore, but yeah, that would be fitting.
montanareddog
@Tony Jay:
Dominic Grieve pushed through a law on Monday that all Number 10’s internal communications on prorogation be passed to Parliament. Every WhatsApp and SMS and Email between Cummings, Johnson and their acolytes has both a sender and at least one receiver and single-sided deletion leads you to a tampering with evidence trap. If some panicked Spad comes forward saying that I did not realise my advice would mean the Privy Council would end up telling lies to the Queen, then the Govt is in big trouble. There are surely some multi-dimensional prisoner’s dilemma conversations going on at the moment.
lee
That list of panelist is really quite different.
Randy Rainbow and Hannity and Comey. That is…huh.
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
I’m following the Guardian’s live-stream. They wind me up no end with their anti-Corbyn campaign, but on this they’re just reporting the facts as they develop.
cliosfanboy
@Kineslaw: I rather like his version of the cell block tango.
Matt
I’m rooting for a surprise guest: 30-50 feral hogs
Tony Jay
@montanareddog:
Yup. And the deadline for the handover of all the Government’s information and internal communications regarding the Operation Yellowhammer planning for No Deal passes tonight, with the loathsome Andrea Leadsom saying in a typically fawning BBC interview that the public doesn’t need to hear about any ‘worst-case scenarios’ because it will just worry them unnecessarily.
Honestly, these fucking people. Seeing them steadily buckle under Nutcracker of Scrutiny makes me very happy.
Tony Jay
@Ken:
Too lenient, people come back from that. I want to whole bunch sent to jail for contempt of Parliament and melted down for tallow. It’s the only way to be sure.
Another Scott
@Tony Jay: Wow. Thanks for the updates.
This BBC story about it actually has comments open (something I’ve rarely if ever seen). It’s interesting to see that comment threads over there degenerate into discussions of grammar, ancestors, and poor quality food just as quickly as they do over here.
Hehe.
Cheers,
Scott.
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: Andrea Leadsom suggests no-deal documents will not be released as they would ‘concern’ public
Sounding like Susan Collins. So concerned that people may find out the truth about their government.
(Thanks for the link above)
Ken
@TS (the original): Will the public be “concerned” because they find out that the government has done absolutely no planning for no-deal Brexit?
Or because they find that there are extensive plans with much repetition of the phrases “ration coupons”, “detention centres”, and “Civil Contingencies Act”?
TS (the original)
@Another Scott: There are also many pro brexit comments on there – like the GOP, the conservatives have the right to rule on their side.
I always wonder if QEII has a written diary that she allows to be released on her death. That her thoughts on all these matters is so rarely known makes it doubtful (someone would leak it). Her knowledge of all things political must be overwhelming – and she has probably forgotten more than most of us ever knew.
Tony Jay
@Another Scott:
I can’t go near the BBC comment pages. The sheer cognitive overload from all those bots, trolls, trolling bots and genuine, mutton-lobed Leaver dildos in one place is so overwhelming I always get a nosebleed and need a week off work to learn how to piss unaided again.
TS (the original)
@Ken: Andrea is so concerned – we may never find out.
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
Going to be a busy day for the Government’s clueless mouthpieces.
TS (the original)
@Tony Jay: If they have been listening to the US government minions – they may get some ideas.
Tony Jay
@TS (the original):
Listening? I’m pretty sure they get original drafts direct from thinktanks that come up with the policies.
Farage is already blathering about ‘judicial interference’, so I expect to be hearing ‘activist judges’ around teatime.
Aleta
@Tony Jay:
I was impressed when I read this:
“the government had been misleading — including, perhaps, to the queen —about its real reasons for the suspension and that it was “unlawful because it had the purpose of stymying Parliament.” (WaPo)
Naive of me… but ‘unlawful to stymie Parliament’ is a refreshing idea compared to systems I’ve lived under. A simplistic take I’m sure, but a welcome concept.
rikyrah
@Tony Jay:
DA PHUQ?.
Tony Jay
@Aleta:
That’s the striking difference between the contrasting judgements of the English and Scottish Courts.
The English Court ruled that they didn’t have the authority to rule on any aspect of the prorogation because it was a political matter, and left it there, while the Scottish Court ruled that the blatant dishonesty of the Government’s argument for prorogation force the Court to make a judgement on the larger issue of whether the misuse of prerogative powers in order to prevent Parliament from carrying out its constitutional role was actually illegal, which they conclude it was.
One relied on the very Executive-friendly jurisprudence at the heart of English constitutional law, while the other relied on a different tradition that gives more weight to Parliament as the institution in which actual constitutional power rests.
The Supreme Court judgement on Tuesday will attempt to amalgamate all of the different legal traditions to come to a majority answer, but I can’t see how Johnson and Co come out undamaged. Either they’re found to have broken the law or they’re found to be immune to the law despite being proven liars. Either way, Parliament is going to be pissed.
Betty
@Tony Jay: Once again, I can’t thank you enough for helping us understand this and giving us such delightful phrasing!
Tony Jay
@rikyrah:
Not a word of a lie.
Tony Jay
@Betty:
That’s an American-English euphemism for ‘potty-mouth’, isn’t it? 8-)
Doug Gardner
As ludicrous as the pull quote from de Blasio sounds, there is a need to counter the pernicious effects of automating the kinds of jobs that used to maintain a semblance of a middle class. I say this as a software engineer for a company that sells measurement systems for manufacturers, so I am part of the problem. Whether the tax money goes to support a UBI or supplements workers’ pay or training is up for discussion of course, but since humans (who pay taxes) are increasingly being phased out in terms of capital equipment (which doesn’t pay taxes), this issue needs to be discussed.
Citizen Alan
@Geoduck:
I am disappointed to see that Al Franken is appearing. I am baffled and confused to see that Clay Aiken is appearing. Is he known for political opinions now or is he just going to sing patriotic songs for an hour or so?
Citizen Alan
I fully agree that we should tax businesses that replace human workers with automation. At the same, it is a testament to what a crappy politician De Blasio is that he would call it a “robot tax” and thus subject the entire legitimately serious issue to public ridicule.
Yarrow
@Citizen Alan: Clay Aiken ran for Congress in NC a few years ago. He’s quite politically active.
kindness
I’m more than a little disappointed to see there was less than a 35% turn out for the election in N. Carolina yesterday. Not meaning to gripe but the common man/womyn kinda suck at this democracy thing even when their own lives are hung in the balance.
Damn!