The Political Thread

[M.I.K.]

Nah, only the good guys get assassinated, as the late, great Bill Hicks pointed out, "We always kill the guys that try to help us, always, and let the little demons run amok: John Lennon murdered, John Kennedy murdered, Martin Luther King murdered, Gandhi murdered, Jesus murdered.....Ronald Reagan....wounded."

On the other hand... Rasputin, Julius Caesar, Lee Harvey Oswald, Mussolini, Reinhard Heydrich...

[Hawkmumbler]

Jim and Mikey have it right. The far right complain about how violent the left have become, totally ignoring the fact the right has always been violent.

[Goaty]

Half million signed

https://petition.parliament.uk/petitions/171928

[Tjm86]

Another added.  Now at over 600 000.  Wonder how long its been up.  Should look and see.

[The Legendary Shark]

...Lee Harvey Oswald...

Now there's a can of worms...

[Modern Panther]

We can be pretty sure that the same voices who declare "the people have spoken" in reference to the referendum will be declaring this petition irrelevant and elitist.

[Old Tankie]

Bit of a difference between a government held referendum and a petition.

[Modern Panther]

There is, but the push for a sudden and brutal brexit at any cost is largely due to the much-voiced view that "the people have spoken", and what the right wing media and politicians of this country really care about is the opinion of ordinary, hard working people.  So much do that the government considered it utterly unnecessary to debate the issue, or even follow our nation's laws.

Such a caring and considerate attitude towards the will of the nation is unlikely to extend to this particular issue. In fact, expect it to be completely brushed under the carpet.

763,000 signatories and rising.

[Theblazeuk]

Problem with the punch a Nazi approach is what happens when they punch back? And then there are reprisals. And then we are all in the shit.

Liberal punches neo-Nazi: global debate; much hand-wringing.

Neo-Nazi shoots liberal: modest coverage in local press.

Point well made but will go ignored by those who need it.

This is week one. Steve Bannon is on the security committee and the joint chiefs are on the outs. A racist and flagrantly callous order has been put into immediate effect.

It's all the more horrific because it's so... stupid.

[Eric Plumrose]

Furthermore, when did "I disagree with you" mutate into "I hate you"?

[The Legendary Shark]

 I think it's time to remind all civil servants and government employees that "I was just following orders" is NOT a valid excuse.

[sheridan]

763,000 signatories and rising.

827,301 (except the webpage keeps automatically updating every eight or nine seconds and now it's 829,122 831,370).

[Definitely Not Mister Pops]

I expect there will be a perfunctory debate over this in parliament. In the highly unlikely event that Tangerine Palpatine is banned, Jaffa cake the Hutt is petulant enough to ban all Brits from Murkah in retaliation

[Frank]

I expect there will be a perfunctory debate over this in parliament ...

We already had one in response to the last petition to ban Trump from the UK, last Summer (587,000 signatures).

The petition that attracted the greatest number of signatures in the history of that site (4 million) pointlessly called for a change to the rules of the Brexit referendum (after the vote). And that's why we aren't leaving the EU anymore.

Looking down the list of that site's most popular petitions - two calls to sack Jeremy Hunt, legalise dope, close all UK borders immediately - I can't see a single one that's changed government policy.

[The Legendary Shark]

Since when did The People's opinion on anything change government policy? All it ever does is change labels, like turning the Poll Tax into the Council Charge.