Proceedings of the Castle Aching Parish Council, 1905

[Edwardian]

In the news today...

 

Well, he said he'd be back....

 

 

He now has a new target ....

 

[Compound2632]

Oh come on: "Probability of voters forgetting &c..." - high.

[Regularity]

Yep: that 46.1% of “deluded” voters seem likely to also fit in here.

Actually, for that 46.1%, it is a difficult question. What is their problem going to be? That Republicans initially supported President Trump, or that in the end, they abandoned him, thus proving that democracy is no longer active in the USA?

Edited January 11, 2021 by Regularity

[Edwardian]

It will, indeed, be interesting to see how many of the 46.1% were sane Republican voters who held their noses in 2016, but who probably won't do so again?

 

Thing is, in public, Republican politicians have invariably continued to back Loser Don - notably on the 'stolen election' challenges - until very, very late in the day.

 

It's as if they couldn't see a debacle coming.

 

Whereas most if us have been able to see one coming since 2016!

 

It's been a weird exercise in how irresponsible a president's behaviour can get before his party does anything to stop it or condemn it.

 

The answer seems to be that the incumbent can go madder than you'd like to think before anything happens.

 

Hitherto, we might have suspect that things could only go so far in an undemocratic system. One lives and learns.

[Nearholmer]

The US constitution has checks and balances, whereas part of the problem with their office-obtaining system is that it is so heavily reliant upon cheques and balances.

[burgundy]

23 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

The US constitution has checks and balances, whereas part of the problem with their office-obtaining system is that it is so heavily reliant upon cheques and balances.

Some people might wish to have an actual written constitution that had checks and balances. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

[Nearholmer]

Personally, I have ceased to care whether its written or not, provided it is practical (very un-French of me, eh?), and at the moment it surely isn't in respect of the NI, Wales, Scotland, and the regions in England. It seems mad to me that the number of layers of governance varies by place: we are a unitary authority, so have three (parish, unitary, westminter), which seems plenty, but lacking in powers at the unitary level, whereas some other places have many more (possibly at an extreme: parish, district, county, regional authority or devolved nation, westminster). And, there is no proper 'subsidiarity' (to use EU language) down the layers. 

 

TBH, I would be pretty cool about the time-limited elective-dictatorship model, with relatively few checks and balances between general elections, if the rest of it was sorted out.

Edited January 11, 2021 by Nearholmer

[Caley Jim]

6 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

...... whereas some other places have many more (possibly at an extreme: parish, district, county, regional authority or devolved nation, westminster).

To put the record straight, in Scotland there is only Regional (or Island) Councils, Devolved Government and Westminster, although the latter has no power over several aspects such as health, education and law.  there are Community Councils in some areas, but they are voluntary and act mainly as a conduit between local people and the regions.  They have no powers.

 

Jim

[Nearholmer]

Do you not have parish, district or county at all then? Regional seems s very high first level - do they deal with dog poo, and allotments?

[Compound2632]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

It's been a weird exercise in how irresponsible a president's behaviour can get before his party does anything to stop it or condemn it.

 

The answer seems to be that the incumbent can go madder than you'd like to think before anything happens.

 

Their politics has become so polarised that Republicans will go to any lengths to keep out the commie Democrats (a party traditionally somewhere to the right of our Liberal Democrats) and, one fears, vice versa. No love lost.

 

I'm looking forward to elements of the US Catholic hierarchy tying themselves in knots over having a Catholic, Democrat, president. 

[Edwardian]

16 minutes ago, Compound2632 said:

 

I'm looking forward to elements of the US Catholic hierarchy tying themselves in knots over having a Catholic, Democrat, president. 

 

Well, they've had one before.

 

More of a worry for them will be that the unclean daughters of Eve are tightening their grip on the Mass! 

 

The things people choose to get worked up about never ceases to amaze; might as well be which end of an egg to break!

 

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Edwardian
spelling!

[Regularity]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

The US constitution has checks and balances, whereas part of the problem with their office-obtaining system is that it is so heavily reliant upon cheques and balances.

 

50 minutes ago, burgundy said:

Some people might wish to have an actual written constitution that had checks and balances. 

Best wishes 

Eric 

In the USA, “cheque” is spelt “check”. Maybe they misunderstood?

 

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

Thing is, in public, Republican politicians have invariably continued to back Loser Don - notably on the 'stolen election' challenges - until very, very late in the day.

 

It's as if they couldn't see a debacle coming.

More a case of fearing the backlash if they spoke publicly about their private concerns, Insuspect.

 

I asked an Ohioan friend about the lack of the National Guard at this “march” where violence seemed likely (if not mandated) whereas they were very present at the BLM March which passed largely peacefully.

 

Apparently, the Washington DC police cannot enter the Capitol. The latter are under the control of the Executive branch of the Federal Government. For those not aware of the three branches of government in the USA, the executive branch means the President. 
 

In other words having incited his riotous assemblage of hoodlums, discontents and people who don’t understand that “rights” are balanced by responsibilities into marching on the Capitol, the person responsible for authorising the call out of the National Guard was the same man.

 

I believe in some countries this would be deemed a rebellion (which is how my Ohioan friend described it), others an armed insurrection, still others an attempted coup d’etat, but apparently in the USA it was people exercising the first and second amendment “rights”.

[Regularity]

7 minutes ago, Edwardian said:

The things people choose to get worked up about never ceases to amaze

Haven’t  you seen some of the discussions on this forum?

[Caley Jim]

2 hours ago, Nearholmer said:

Do you not have parish, district or county at all then? Regional seems s very high first level - do they deal with dog poo, and allotments?

Yes, they are unitary authorities so are responsible for all local authority provisions. 

 

Jim 

[Edwardian]

2 hours ago, Regularity said:

 

Apparently, the Washington DC police cannot enter the Capitol. The latter are under the control of the Executive branch of the Federal Government. For those not aware of the three branches of government in the USA, the executive branch means the President. 
 

 

 

When I was last in DC, it was with clients near 'the Hill'.  There was evidently a dedicated Capitol Police force, whose white patrol cars bore that legend.

 

Also evident, to my never ending amusement, were other white police patrol cars emblazoned with 'SECRET SERVICE'

 

And they say Americans have no sense of irony!

 

Never saw a DC metro cop that I recall.

[Nearholmer]

Re; Scotland. I live and learn. TBH, I am amazed that there isn't a tier of local governance/democracy at "village" level - ours in the 'parished' parts of England, which actually extend into a lot of towns, do a fine job of looking after the sort of trivial concerns that actually make everyday life pleasant or otherwise, are free of party politics (although notorious for petty politicking!), and most perform a sort of social function as much as looking after the small things in their realm.

 

 

Edited January 11, 2021 by Nearholmer

[CKPR]

1 hour ago, Caley Jim said:

Yes, they are unitary authorities so are responsible for all local authority provisions. 

 

Jim 

What became of West Ayrshire ?

[Caley Jim]

57 minutes ago, Nearholmer said:

Re; Scotland. I live and learn. TBH, I am amazed that there isn't a tier of local governance/democracy at "village" level.... 

I suppose the Community Councils might be considered the equivalent, but these are not 'statuary' and are only set up of there is sufficient local support for them. As I said, they have no delegated powers, but they can lobby the elected Council for things and they can set up, for example, volunteer delivery services as the Biggar one has done during the pandemic. 

 

Jim 

[Caley Jim]

3 minutes ago, CKPR said:

What became of West Ayrshire ?

It disappeared when the Regional /District authority system of local government was reorganised in 1994. 

 

Jim 

[CKPR]

1 hour ago, Nearholmer said:

Re; Scotland. I live and learn. TBH, I am amazed that there isn't a tier of local governance/democracy at "village" level - ours in the 'parished' parts of England, which actually extend into a lot of towns, do a fine job of looking after the sort of trivial concerns that actually make everyday life pleasant or otherwise, are free of party politics (although notorious for petty politicking!), and most perform a sort of social function as much as looking after the small things in their realm.

 

 

We actually have two parish councils as the Shropshire - Herefordshire border goes through our village of Richards Castle. The Post Office and Royal Mail sensibly ignore this and regard the whole village as being in Shropshire, the NHS regard us as being wholly in Herefordshire but the county councils dispatch separate bin lorries from Ludlow (Shropshire) and Leominster (Herefordshire) on different days. 

Edited January 11, 2021 by CKPR

[CKPR]

1 minute ago, Caley Jim said:

It disappeared when the Regional /District authority system of local government was reorganised in 1994. 

 

Jim 

I was worried that some Atlantis-like catastrophe had overtaken it and it now had the same same status as Doggerland.

[monkeysarefun]

1 hour ago, Edwardian said:

 

 

 

Also evident, to my never ending amusement, were other white police patrol cars emblazoned with 'SECRET SERVICE'

 

And they say Americans have no sense of irony!

 

 

 

 

Bit like UK troops in  hi viz camo?

Edited January 12, 2021 by monkeysarefun

[Malcolm 0-6-0]

10 hours ago, Compound2632 said:

 

Their politics has become so polarised that Republicans will go to any lengths to keep out the commie Democrats

 

In Australia the Democrats would fit into the moderate wing of our Conservatives. I'm constantly amazed by the number of otherwise intelligent Americans who actually equate the Democrats with either extreme socialism or communism.

 

Anyhow only 8 more days to go, but I really don't envy Biden trying to repair the awful damage to their democracy that Trump caused in the last two months. 

[burgundy]

10 hours ago, Edwardian said:

Also evident, to my never ending amusement, were other white police patrol cars emblazoned with 'SECRET SERVICE'

 

Never saw a DC metro cop that I recall.

My recollection from the 1980s was of patrol cars with the words "Secret Service Uniform Branch" on the side. 

During my daughter's time in Atlanta, I was always struck that, at any single location, you might see 3 different species of law enforcement officer. Sorting out who had jurisdiction over what must be a nightmare. 

I was also struck by seeing a heavily armed police officer at a train show.

Best wishes 

Eric

[TheQ]

8 hours ago, monkeysarefun said:

 

 

Bit like UK troops in  hi viz camo?

Have you seen them marching down the royal mile from the Edinburgh tattoo?... They have securicor or the like guarding the troops...