Archive for November, 2016
Paradoxes for our times / 5
November 5, 2016
The sum of all wisdom by the mathematics of philosophy
November 4, 2016The sum of all wisdom is the summation across the population, of the integrals over time of the second values derivative of knowledge.
Not the philosophy of mathematics but the mathematics of philosophy!
Brexit is still some way away – as a way opens to stop it
November 3, 2016It was already clear in July that constitutionally, a non-binding referendum result needed an explicit parliamentary vote to trigger the formal Brexit process. The High Court in the UK agrees with that view – though the Supreme Court will still have to have its say.
Back in July, I posted:
Brexit is not going to happen any time soon.
If it happens at all.
It seems according to constitutional law experts that any government with any Prime Minister will need a vote in parliament to give authority to an Article 50 notification of intention to withdraw from the EU. Once triggered, withdrawal is inevitable and time-bound. But there is no majority in the current parliament for leaving. And it could be the best part of a year before such a vote in parliament can even be held. For any chance of such a vote being passed it will need a General Election fought on precisely such a question and that the party or parties in favour of an exit win such an election. But it is also possible that such a vote can not, in the reasonable future, be passed. ….
….. (It occurs to me that if Nicola Sturgeon wants to postpone, if not block, Brexit she should get the European Court of Justice to rule on whether or not a parliamentary vote is needed to give authority to a government to invoke Article 50. Even EU bureaucrats can not quibble with that).
Now the High Court confirms that opinion.
BBC:
Parliament must vote on whether the UK can start the process of leaving the European Union, the High Court has ruled. This means the government cannot trigger Article 50 of the Lisbon Treaty – beginning formal discussions with the EU – on their own. Theresa May says the referendum – and existing ministerial powers – mean MPs do not need to vote, but campaigners called this unconstitutional.
The government is expected to appeal.
Ministers were given the go-ahead for a further hearing to take place at the Supreme Court, which is expected to take place before the end of the year.
The prime minister has said she will activate Article 50, formally notifying the EU of the UK’s intention to leave, by the end of next March. This follows the UK’s decision to back Brexit in June’s referendum by a margin of 51.9% to 48.1%. The EU’s other 27 members have said negotiations about the terms of the UK’s exit – due to last two years – cannot begin until Article 50 has been invoked.
Gina Miller, who brought the case, said outside the High Court that the government should make the “wise decision of not appealing”.
To what extent the referendum would compel UK MP’s to follow the referendum results remains to be seen. Probably the government will not be quite brave enough to hold a free vote among MP’s. Whether the EU will shoot itself in the foot (again) or actually take on much overdue and much needed reform is perhaps even more interesting.
I have a theory that while representative democracies used to, from time to time, throw up genuine leaders, the current trend of giving in to mass demonstrations and calling a referendum for any and all questions only allows space for sheep-like followers. The point in this case is whether a government is to be one of sheep or one of leaders?
Stop Brexit – image Market Watch
FIFA goes from corruption to idiocy
November 3, 2016FIFA now goes from the heights of corruption to the depths of idiocy. Why is a Senegalese with little common sense now the Secretary General of FIFA? Of course she is a woman and a Muslim and supremely correct politically. But not very sensible. Clearly – with her UN experience – she is very well trained in “world government” idiocy.
She wants to ban the poppy. If she thinks the poppy is a religious or political statement then she is an idiot.
BBC: The Football Associations of England and Scotland say they will defy a ban on players wearing poppies when the teams meet on Armistice Day. The FAs will let players wear black armbands with poppy emblems and are willing to accept any punishment.
Fifa general secretary Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura told BBC Sport “any kind of sanction” could follow. World football’s governing body prohibits political, religious or commercial messages on shirts.
UK Prime Minister Theresa May has called the rule “outrageous”.
What the new FIFA Secretary General has not the intelligence to understand is that she is herself a political statement of the worst kind.
Samoura – the politically correct face of FIFA
FIFA:The FIFA Council today appointed Fatma Samba Diouf Samoura of Senegal as FIFA Secretary General (SG). Ms Samoura is a 21-year veteran of United Nations programmes who is currently the UN’s Resident/Humanitarian Coordinator and UNDP Resident Representative in Nigeria. The announcement was made by FIFA President Gianni Infantino at the 66th FIFA Congress in Mexico City.
“Fatma is a woman with international experience and vision who has worked on some of the most challenging issues of our time,” President Infantino said. “She has a proven ability to build and lead teams, and improve the way organisations perform. Importantly for FIFA, she also understands that transparency and accountability are at the heart of any well-run and responsible organisation.”
As required under FIFA statutes, Ms Samoura will undergo an eligibility check administered by the independent Review Committee, per Article 37 of the FIFA Statutes. Ms Samoura will assume the role of FIFA Secretary General before mid-June.
The FIFA eligibility check does not check for stupidity.
The strange tale of King Bho, the witch and the buffoon
November 1, 2016A fable for our times
In this time, in a land across the sea, the people of a Once Great Country are to decide on a new ruler. The incumbent king has no choice but to step down because rulers are not allowed to reign forever. They have to relinquish their power after 8 years of wearing the crown and King Bho’s eight years are up. The ruler does not have to be a King. The people can choose a Queen if they wish though they had never done so before. The ruler has to be either a King or a Queen. The rules of Monarchy did not allow for a half-King/ half-Queen to be enthroned. However the consort of the King or Queen, though expected to be of the opposite sex, may, in fact be either.
At this particular time, about 2 months before King Bho has to step aside, a Great Convention of all the people is to be held on one particular day (November 8th). All the people will have their say to choose between the two main claimants to the throne. Nobody is still quite sure how the two claimants have taken their places on the Final List. (During King Bho’s reign the Once Great Country has degraded slowly to become a somewhat indulgent, degenerate and depraved place. But that is another story.)
The first contender, a woman, (Witch Hills of Little Rock) is known to be a powerful witch who desperately wishes to be Queen and to rule with her own Court. Even her own supporters acknowledge she is a witch but claim she is a “white witch”. Of course her detractors claim she is all evil and a “black witch”. There is little doubt that if she becomes Queen she will reign as a Red Queen and many “heads will off”. She has claimed that she is well-trained to be a Queen since she had been the consort of a previous King (the infamous King Bill of Lewinsky). Many suspect that King Bill had only become King, and remained King, because she had used her witchcraft and her weirding powers not only to eliminate all whistlers but also to procure buxom paramours to satisfy the depravities of the King. Nevertheless, Lady Hills has developed and enlarged her own band of bewitched sycophants and acolytes who are now leading the charge to have her enthroned as Queen. During the campaign to get her included on the final list, she has used her witchcraft to very good effect and has ensured that her sycophants and fellow witches have eliminated all opposition. The Witch Abedin and the Witch Brazile have been particularly adept at ensnaring gullible and perverted men to their cause and made sure that the aged but Honourable Bensanders, who tried to challenge for her place on the Final List, was discredited and humiliated. Many men were also bewitched and ensnared to the cause of Witch Hills. In any event Witch Hills of Little Rock won her place on the Final List to be considered by the people for monarch. King Bho – who was himself the first ever monarch of mixed blood – now supports, though somewhat reluctantly, the elevation of Witch Hills to become the first ever Queen of the Once Great Country.
The second contender on the Final List is a professional buffoon but an, apparently, very rich buffoon. Clown de Trump has had a raucous and an eventful journey on his way onto the Final List. He was opposed by many dull and sober men (and even a dull and sober woman), of little talent, along the way. But they were all – unexpectedly – laughed away by a disillusioned audience. All the spectators who were expecting a sober play were blown away by the farce which developed. The slapstick nature of the competition meant that Clown de Trump dominated the proceedings and his sober opponents could not keep up. They all fell, one after another, by the wayside, extinguished by the roustabout and their own lack of talent. Finally, only Clown de Trump was left standing to take his place in the Final List. He promised the people that he would Make the Country Great Again, which was very uplifting but nobody – not even Clown de Trump – had any idea of how he would achieve that. He promised to bring Law and Order back to the Once Great Country and that struck a nerve.
With just a week to go before the Great Convention of November 8th, the war of words between Witch Hills of Little Rock and Clown de Trump is now reaching a crescendo. Most people are expecting Witch Hills to win and be crowned Queen. But the buffoon is still in the lists and is refusing to go quietly. A witch or a buffoon? The people shall decide what they themselves deserve.
The world watches, bemused and bewildered. Is this truly what this Once Great Country been reduced to? A witch or a buffoon?
The k2p blog 