Monthly Archives: January 2017

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

Man’s amazing

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Appeasing audiences has, however, never been my aim. I tell it how it is. For us to have a better, sustainable and fairer economy, which is the pre-requisite of a new economic and political order, two things have to be consigned to history.

One is the fallacy of globalisation, supposedly based on entrepreneurial business when in fact it was based on rent seeking activity that has denied capital to those who need it to innovate to meet the needs of a growing and fast changing world population.

The system which has produced the biggest reduction in absolute poverty in the history of our species is wrong and not working.

Because…..well, because what?

Posted in Metals

This could be very fun indeed

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Fairphone have just released a report talking about how soon we’ll run out of various minerals and thus why we must recycle phones.

I’ve been in touch with them because, obviously, they’re simply misunderstood what is a mineral reserve. My sorta subject.

In fact, their entire report, not to say their entire strategy, is based upon this misunderstanding. So, let’s see if they’re willing to be told of their error…..because their mistake does in fact entirely kablooie their entire point.

Update

Well, they’ve now changed their graphics and sent me to their source. Which is still wrong but less wrong, it’s wrong in its assumptions, not in its broad logic.

So, an insight into the life of a journo. There’s a lot that could be written about which on closer inspection isn’t very interesting…..

Posted in Flatulent tosspottery

Rich woman wears expensive dress in snub to immigration chaos

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These people really need to chill:

Ivanka Trump called ‘tone deaf’ for donning $5,000 worth of aluminum foil amid immigration chaos

Sigh:

Ivanka Trump — who’s made her own fortune with a lifestyle and fashion brand — posted an image of herself in a shiny, silvery gown in front of a mirror where her husband’s hand is clearly on her posterior.

The tweet and Instagram post appeared just after midnight on Sunday morning, as immigration lawyers and protestors were scrambling to free refugee claimants stuck in U.S. immigration detention.

Posted in Politics

A period of silence from you would be welcome

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Barack Obama and his aides expected to take on President Donald Trump at some point, but they didn’t think it would happen this quickly.

Now they’re trying to find the right balance on issues that demand a response, and how to use Obama deliver the selective pushback. Obama and his team are monitoring what’s happening at the White House, and not ruling out the possibility that Obama will challenge Trump more forcefully in the coming months, according to people who’ve been in contact with the former president.

You’ve had your 8 years matey, you’re out of office. Sure, as a private citizen you’ve almost all the political rights of everyone else (you’re not allowed to run for Pres again though).

However, a period of silence would be welcome. Perhaps you might like to take up portrait painting? Building hovels for poor people? Possibly spend decades proclaiming that “I am not a crook”?

For opposer in chief of your successor is not quite what we expect from ex-Presidents.

Posted in Newspaper Watch

The Daily Mail is now running an Oz version?

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Sydneysiders who are stuck in the daily grind and unable to afford a property in the expensive local housing market might be in luck.
For less than the price of a median house in the harbourside suburb, you could be living the good life on your very own island in the Caribbean.
An island measuring almost four acres off the coast of Belize has become available on eBay – and it could be yours for as little as $660,000.

Think there’s a version of this piece which talks about the price of a one bed London flat as well.

Good freelancing trick tho’ research once rewrite many times.

And just for those tempted, that part of the world is also known as The Mosquito Coast…..

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

The curajus taxman in action!

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Middle-class taxpayers have been issued with a record number of fines for making mistakes on their returns.

HM Revenue & Customs imposed 143,000 penalties last year on people who filed inaccurate information because it deemed them not to have taken “reasonable care” — nearly three times the 55,000 fines levied in 2012.

Accountants warned yesterday that people were being penalised for forgetting to declare the interest on a long-lost savings account or omitting a health insurance policy or gym membership received through work.

The entire town of Ely is rocking such is the level of frotting and self-pleasuring going on.

The figures show that HMRC suspended the fines given to 72,000 taxpayers who made mistakes last year following criticism by First Tier Tax Tribunals, the courts that consider appeals against the taxman. The tribunals ruled that penalties should be used only when they were needed to encourage a change in behaviour. In 2012 only 16,000 fines were suspended.

Posted in Flatulent tosspottery

When did Paul Mason become a turncoat?

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It does not matter that Republican-drafted legislation to pull the US out of the United Nations is a gesture: “America first” means what it says. The US designed globalisation, benefited massively from it and imposed it through the twin methods of commercial dominance and military supremacy. Now it is determined to walk away from globalisation, and on its own terms.

But until two weeks ago we were all supposed to be fighting against an American imposed globalisation, weren’t we Paul?

Posted in European Union

Polly’s interesting question

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This is the pivotal moment for Britain. Who are our true friends and allies, who share the most history, culture and mutual understanding? Trump’s arrival asks that question with a stark new urgency: the answer is not him, not his United States. Our safest haven is the European Union.

Remarkably Poll there’re a number of people who disagree.

Like the majority of people who voted in the referendum?

Posted in Civil Liberty

I find this rather interesting

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A transgender woman has been denied direct contact with her five children on the basis they would be shunned by their ultra-Orthodox Jewish community if she were allowed to meet them.

The woman will be allowed only to send letters to her children, after a judge concluded there was a real chance of “the children and their mother being marginalised or excluded by the ultra-Orthodox community” if face-to-face contact were permitted.

Because the more you read about it the more, from the Orthodox side, it seems to be about separation and possible divorce than it is about transgenderism.

Posted in Civil Liberty

So, now we know

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A 27-year-old university student has been charged with six counts of first-degree murder over a shooting at a Québec City mosque during evening prayers, in what the Canadian prime minister described as an act of terror.

Alexandre Bissonnette, a student in the social sciences faculty at Laval University, also faces five charges of attempted murder.

Bissonnette did not enter a plea during a brief court appearance late on Monday. Wearing a white prisoner jump suit, his hands and feet shackled, he stared down at the floor and fidgeted, but remained silent.

A local group dedicated to welcoming refugees, Bienvenu aux réfugiés, said Bissonnette’s name was familiar to them, describing him as an online troll who had denigrated refugees and expressed support for Marine Le Pen, the leader of France’s far-right Front National.

Or at least now we allegedly know.

Posted in Politics

George, you need to be dead to be a statesman

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George Osborne, the former Chancellor, has taken on another paid job in America on top of his role of being an MP.

Mr Osborne has become Arizona State University’s first Kissinger Fellow where he will be paid to sharpen his “skills as a statesman”.

And this rather shows the error of having people be politicians as they’re graduating out of nappies, doesn’t it?

Perhaps moving to a system where people have done something else first, as we used to, might bear fruit? You know, instead of learning how to do it after they’re fucked up and resigned?

Posted in Politics

So not electing the fascist leads to

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Austria’s governing coalition has agreed to ban full-face veils in courts, schools and other “public places” as part of a reform programme aimed at countering the rise of the far-Right in the country.

The agreement was made between the ruling coalition of Social Democrats and the centrist People’s party as Chancellor Christian Kern attempts to regain the political initiative from the far-right Freedom Party (FPO) ahead of next year’s parliamentary election.

“The full-face veil will be banned in public spaces,” Mr Kern said after the week-long negotiations concluded, adding that the ban will be implemented over the next 18 months.

I think I can just about manage it in banks and witness boxes but in public in general? We don’t ban balaclavas, do we?

Posted in Politics

Hmm, this is interesting

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Donald Trump has fired acting Attorney General Sally Yates after she ordered Justice Department lawyers to stop defending the president’s controversial immigration orders.

Ms Yates, who was appointed by Mr Obama, said she was “not convinced that the executive order is lawful”.

“I am responsible for ensuring that the positions we take in court remain consistent with this institution’s solemn obligation to always seek justice and stand for what is right,” Ms Yates wrote in a letter to Justice Department lawyers. “At present, I am not convinced that the defence of the executive order is consistent with these responsibilities.”

The Attorney General serves at the pleasure of the President. So, obviously, this can be done.

An interesting question though, what actually is the full ole? Is there an element of having to tell the rest of the Cabinet “we can’t do this, it’s illegal” or isn’t there?
Ahh, elsewhere:

He goes on to ask: “Do you think the attorney general has a responsibility to say no to the president if he asks for something that’s improper…?”

Ms Yates replied: “I believe the attorney general or the deputy attorney general has an obligation to follow the law and the constitution and to give their independent legal advice to the president.”

Hmm….

Posted in Feminism

And a warm welcome to the sexist scientists then

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An open letter from women of science:

Science is foundational in a progressive society, fuels innovation, and touches the lives of every person on this planet. The anti-knowledge and anti-science sentiments expressed repeatedly during the U.S. presidential election threaten the very foundations of our society. Our work as scientists and our values as human beings are under attack. We fear that the scientific progress and momentum in tackling our biggest challenges, including staving off the worst impacts of climate change, will be severely hindered under this next U.S. administration. Our planet cannot afford to lose any time.

In this new era of anti-science and misinformation, we as women scientists re-affirm our commitment to build a more inclusive society and scientific enterprise. We reject the hateful rhetoric that was given a voice during the U.S. presidential election and which targeted minority groups, women, LGBTQIA, immigrants, and people with disabilities, and attempted to discredit the role of science in our society. Many of us feel personally threatened by this divisive and destructive rhetoric and have turned to each other for understanding, strength, and a path forward. We are members of racial, ethnic, and religious minority groups. We are immigrants. We are people with disabilities. We are LGBTQIA. We are scientists. We are women.

The I is intersex. Sorry, you just failed the SJW Snowflake test. Still, there’s always sammiches need making, eh?

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

Did they? Really?

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My comment to all who are now of that opinion is simple. It’s that it’s time to stop such petty self-indulgent nonsense and realise that there are bigger issues to deal with in life, like the existential crisis facing this country.

Let’s not beat about the bush. This week the government will start the process of getting parliamentary authority for a course of action they quite specifically said in their manifesto that they would not pursue and for which they will only publish a whiter paper when the Act is passed.

The manifesto said they would ignore the result of a referendum, did it?

My word.

Posted in Ragging on Ritchie

My speech what I wrote myself

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Tax abuse

Tax avoidance is supposedly legal – it exploits loopholes in the law
Tax evasion is illegal – it involves straightforward lying to tax authorities
Both have the same purpose
To free-ride the state and other citizens whilst enjoying the collective goods that they create
That’s why both are rightly called tax abuse

Actually, me, the Spudmonster, I’m the only person who calls them both tax abuse. Because everyone else calls tax avoidance “obeying the law”.

What tax abuse does to markets

Denies them the information they need to allocate capital efficiently
The opacity tax abuse needs increases risk for all market participants
Increased risk increases required rate of return for investments
That reduces the amount of funding for investment and so market activity

And that’s me jumping the shark. Paying less money to government decreases the amount of investment in the economy.

Err, yes Spud, yes.

Posted in Civil Liberty

Hmm, so who did it?

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That Quebec mosque attack. No one really knows who the two under arrest are. Well, obviously they do and the police might well also. There are reports of white extremists, others of Arab or Moroccan backgrounds for at least one of them.

Going to be interesting to find out. And to see who has leapt to which prejudice before knowing, too.

Posted in Feminism

Could we please find some transgender person who is offended by the word Mother?

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From now on, expectant mothers — in other words pregnant women — are to be referred to as ‘pregnant people’ in order not to offend the sensibilities of members of the transgender community.
What is even more extraordinary is that this is not some half-baked agenda dreamed up by members of a student lobby group, but official new guidance issued by no less an august institution than the British Medical Association.
In a new advisory booklet entitled A Guide To Effective Communication: Inclusive Language In The Workplace, the BMA’s 160,000-odd members are informed that ‘a large majority of people that have been pregnant or have given birth identify as women’.
The idiocy of this statement alone is enough to make my hackles rise. But it gets worse: ‘However, there are some intersex men and trans men who may get pregnant.’

At which point the nation will rise up as one and mock them mercilessly. The future being a sneer at an SJW forever.

No, seriously, could anyone who is in fact transgender and who is offended by “pregnant people” being called “pregnant women” please make themselves known? Because we’ve some introduction to the rest of us people that needs to be done here.