pilowsky

The findings may be even more disturbing than the headline. One reason why respondents may not be in favour of splitting into two countries is that they believe that they ought to be united under their way of governance and that the people that disagree with their worldview are simply occupying space that doesn't belong to them. This attitude goes back further than the crusades. Do you think that the Taliban are in favour of secession? No, they have a very firm view about the right, true and proper way that their ancient lands should be governed. They have no tolerance for ambiguity in this regard. How about the person sleeping rough on the streets of New York in front of Trump Towers? When asked to secede from the pavement and occupy some other spot they would aver that the position that they occupy is rightfully theirs: other people can go elsewhere. Hollywood reflects this prevailing worldview. It is not entertainment it is a reflection of the conscious real beliefs of the people willing to pay for its product. There are two extremely popular 'fictional' figures in the world. One is the guy in the red cape sent by his father to save the people of earth - sound familiar? The other is termed 'the lone moral agent'; Shane, the Equalizer, Batman. There is nothing intrinsically 'super' about these people, but they know the difference between right and wrong. A problem that has baffled philosophers for centuries but which everyone knows the answer to. The crisis facing the USA is nothing new. It's as old as humanity. Put two people in a room and they'll fight over who gets to stand closest to the door. Then they'll run simulations about it and observe how animals decide who gets to sit closest to the door. If people can get excited about how far they can hit a ball with a stick, imagine how excited they get when money is involved.

Don't miss the bit in the middle.

American politics has always been in the thrall of theocrats. . Perhaps the best way of trying to visualise what the actual American people (Those people that have lived and worked there for >15 years and are over the age of 18 - criteria that still disenfranchised a large swathe of the tax-paying public) may want is to ask what governance and policymaking and the judicial system would look like if there really was one vote one value. I note that in order to institutionalise Gerrymandering, American voter registration requires participants to provide an address and their party affiliation. This means that the partisan committees that determine districts can efficiently work out how to pack all the bad (read black, poor, non-Republican etc.) voters into one area and reserve the rest for the white church-going folk who actually know how a country ought to be run. It's a fair bet it would not include becoming President when you lose the election. Of course, you could give a false party affiliation or address, but that's a Federal offence punishable by 5+ years in prison. After which, you are a felon; and will not be allowed to vote.

What is "legal" voting? Is that where only people that the local authorities think are 'worthy' of voting are allowed to vote? Voting in America is the equivalent of a gated community; it is designed to make it as difficult as possible to get in if you are not the "right sort". If everyone doesn't get to vote at every election, then that's immoral. No taxation without representation. But oh no, America is more than happy to suck the blood out of millions of taxpayers and never allow them to be represented. Even if they do manage to cast a vote, a Senatorial oligarchy prevents them from being represented, and by stacking the supreme court, the lickspittles deny them any real justice.

The whole debate about voter fraud in America is bonkers. The anxiety about it refers to the racist belief that only certain people should vote because you need particular personal qualities (i.e. you're white) to be capable of voting. The concept was examined in Robert Heinlein's dystopic vision of America in Starship Troopers where only certain people are entitled to be citizens and they have to defend the world from evil 'others' portrayed as invading insects. This is how America acts in foreign policy to this day. Only wealth and whiteness are valid - look at the excitement at the murder of one white woman - (Pettito) in the all-white press compared to the relative lack of outrage about the background noise of black men and women being murdered - sometimes by police. A civilised society cares about all its citizens, who are all allowed to vote in free and fair elections. The government is not stymied by a Gerrymandered House of Lords (in the USA, the Senate), where a tiny portion of the population regulates the activity of the representative House. The voter fraud in America is that everyone is not required to vote, and if they struggle and manage to vote, their vote is negated by wealthy white oligarchs in the Senate. Even the term 'identification' is loaded in the USA and is almost a trope for "prove that you're white enough to be important". America is not a democracy, it is not an experiment, it does not have 'values'. It is more akin to Goldings "Lord of the Flies" - such a popular idea in American fiction that it is constantly remade in stories - such as "Hunger Games".

yea - dulce et decorum est

If it was Namyats, what would 4♠ mean?

People "forget" to alert all sorts of things in Australia - it's the wild west down south.

Not a good analogy. When active suspension was introduced in Formula 1 cars did become "too fast" and the innovation was outlawed.

It appears that the people in this club "voted to take back control of their Laws and leave the Union" (to paraphrase a certain person). Leave them to enjoy their empty shelves and freezing winters.

Perhaps the grifting email requests now have a pre-ticked checkbox that states "In the event of my death I bequeath etc". This could explain a lot.

Is this really what it said? Does this mean that control bids made 'below' 3NT could be left unalerted during the auction, but those over 3NT needed to be?

What were the GIB alerts? Did the 2♣ bid mean "good support in diamonds"? And what did the 3♣ bid mean?

[hv=pc=n&s=sa52hqj98d9643c83&d=s&v=b&b=7&a=pppp]133|200| From the practice table. I was a little surprised to find that all three robots passed after looking at my dismal 3442 - 7 count. What did the three robots have?[/hv]

You seem to have encountered one of those creatures that inhabit the dark underworld of online gaming (not restricted to Bridge - or life, for that matter). There are some people for whom the truth is a moveable feast. Outcomes that are not what they desire are considered unacceptable. Only outcomes that comport with their worldview are acceptable. Avoid such creatures at all costs. Remember that only the "King" of the table can control who sits at the table. To avoid this happening in the future, construct an empire (table) with yourself as King. That way, you can stipulate the unwritten rules of behaviour. If the outcome is not to your liking you will be able to call for an audit of the results.

A lot of heat is being generated over the Ivermectin story. It seems that anything that has anything to do with COVID19 now takes on a political flavour. Yes. Getting vaccinated is the number one thing to do. Politicising the development of medications for people that get the disease is bad. Here is a reference to an article entitled "Ivermectin as a potential treatment for COVID-19?" The authors (actual experts) point out several critical inadequacies in the RCT recently conducted.

baa

Possibly, but I thought it was a fairly modest achievement given that India is only a subcontinent.

Or bellwether?

The real difference is in the health care system. Normal first world countries happily put up with seatbelt and helmet laws because we community rate stupidity. We don't want to pay for your right to have a head injury when you come off your motorbike - whatever your age. We also have bicycle helmet laws - although unfortunately, they are still free to wear lycra.

dog whistle - and good to see irony is dead.

I just watched (well skipped over quite a bit of) the three-hour presentation to the Arizona Senate of the "Audit". The first part was a presentation by a person with many impressive sounding qualifications - until you read his Wikipedia entry - Shiva Ayurradai. Among his many achievements was the invention of EMAIL. The takeaway from the audit was that quite a few votes were flipped from Biden to Trump. If the elections were conducted by the Cyber ninjas - who checked the ballots using a DLSR (sic) camera (whatever that is) - Biden would be President with a wider margin - the same applied to the Senate race. Still, there was something there for everyone. The main conclusion was the elections should be run carefully and be secure. Good idea.

House committees are very important in American (and UnAmerican) political life. Here is a documentary produced by the HUAC. I've watched a few of the old sessions going back to the 1950s. Including Ronald Reagan appearing at the time of the Hollywood 10 - he opposed the idea of banning the CP - on free speech grounds. He states inter alia that we have done a good job of preventing a vocal minority from taking over. He was wearing spectacles. Ou sont les Republicans d'antan?

Here is the worlds best card 'magician' explaining the f .

I think it became emotionally attached to the ♠A.