Boris Bails Over Brexit

The resignation today of Britain's Foreign Secretary, the loony Trump doppelgänger Boris "Batty Boris" Johnson was the latest event in a conservative government that appears to be on shaky ground over their Brexit policies, which are akin to Very Stable Genius Donald "Rump" Trump's reactionary "America First" policies. A nativist hardliner, Johnson objected to Prime Minister Theresa May's plan to soften some rules that Britain would operate under as they proceed to withdraw from the European Union (i.e, "soft Brexit"). Johnson is the third Cabinet minister to resign in just days, and a week before Rump arrives there to do Putin's bidding hold discussions with PM May.

Interestingly, Johnson and the Brexit movement were apparently also helped by the thugs in Moscow to secure the referendum vote that approved Britain's exit from the EU. Cambridge Analytica whistleblower Christopher Wylie alleges that his former company used the same techniques during the Brexit campaign as they used in the U.S. to forward Moscow's interests in creating false narratives / fake news / data manipulation / voter fraud to undermine Britain and the EU. As the best known voice for Brexit, Johnson was chin deep in the dirty tricks during the referendum vote. As with Rump's "America First" fraud, Brexit is a fringe policy that, if executed, will make Britain poorer and Russia stronger, which seems to be the common theme between Trumpists and their counterparts in Britain and Europe.

BONUS: Like the clownish reality host showman in the Oval Office, Boris is no slouch when it comes to foolish behavior. Cockatoos of a feather collude together.

(photo: Looking very Trumpy there Boris Borisevich)

Monday Reading - Narcissists, "Populists," And Arsonists

Narcissist:   Martin Longman gives us evidence of how neo- fascist re-Tweeter Donald "Rump" Trump fits all the sub- categories of the classic Narcissist (and who his "narcissistic suppliers" are =cough= Chris Christie =cough=):

I’m pretty firmly convinced at this point that the best predictor of what Trump will do is to look at what classic narcissists do. As we’ve seen with Trump’s business practices, he is “fraudulent, deceptive, arrogant, and exploitive” in his dealings and routinely engages in “pathological lying and swindling.” 

He perfectly fits the definition of an Elitist Narcissist:

Elitist narcissist: Feels privileged and empowered by virtue of special childhood status and pseudo achievements; entitled façade bears little relation to reality; seeks favored and good life; is upwardly mobile; cultivates special status and advantages by association.

In his dealings with competitors, both business and political, he’s often “callous, brutal, rancorous, aggressive, biting, merciless, vicious, cruel, spiteful; hateful and jealous,” which are all descriptors of a Malignant Narcissist. 

He hits all the marks of a Compensatory Narcissist: “Seeks to counteract or cancel out deep feelings of inferiority and lack of self-esteem; offsets deficits by creating illusions of being superior, exceptional, admirable, noteworthy; self-worth results from self-enhancement.” We can see this in how he lies about his Wharton Business degree and constantly assures us that he has one of the highest I.Q. scores.

"Populist":   Paul Krugman on just one aspect of Rump's phony economic populism:

... Trumponomics goes beyond the usual Republican assertions that cutting taxes on corporations and the rich, ending environmental regulation and so on will conjure up the magic of the marketplace and make everyone prosper. It also involves posing as a populist, claiming that getting tough on foreigners and ripping up our trade agreements will bring back the well-paying jobs America has lost.  [snip]

In fact, even as he tried to pose as a populist he repeated the same falsehoods usually used to justify anti-worker policies. We are, he declared, “one of the highest taxed nations in the world.” Actually, among 34 advanced countries, we’re No. 31. And, regulations are “an even greater impediment” to our competitiveness than taxes: Actually, we’re far less regulated than, say, Germany, which runs a gigantic trade surplus.

Arsonist:   First, Boris "Brexit" Johnson slinks off, now another Brexit domino falls:

Nigel Farage announced Monday that he will step down as the leader of the UK Independence Party, saying, "I've done my bit" to get Britain out of the European Union. 

He said the party was "in a good position" following the EU referendum and that his political ambition had been achieved.

Said the arsonist: "The house is burning.  I've done my bit.  Ta!" Yes, that would be Nigel "Nigel" Farage, the inbred shitgibbon* on the right with the Union Jack shoes (with Rupert "Aargh" Murdoch, of course):



*Long live Scotland!

The UK's Donald Trump: A Foreshadowing

(click to enlarge)

Presumed Rethuglican Presidential nominee and neo-fascist bigot Donald "Rump" Trump offered one more example of his unfitness for the Presidency this past week in his ludicrous appearance in Scotland as the Brexit vote was being announced. Touting his Turnberry golf resort's amenities (sprinkler systems, suites) in his press conference rather than discussing the seismic shift in Europe, Rump then praised the vote to exit the EU in Scotland, which had voted decisively to stay in. Since he's a stone-cold narcissist, he also opined that the UK's exit from the EU would weaken the British pound and help bring people to his golf course. Big picture! Presidential!

Sadly for the UK, Rump has a doppelgänger in the form of former London Mayor and buffoon Boris Johnson.  They even bear a resemblance to one another.  As a member of the Conservative Party, Johnson was one of the leaders of the "Leave" movement, opposing his Party's leadership on the issue. He shares many of his American counterpart's nativist and anti-immigration sentiments. (In an ironic twist,  Johnson was born to British parents in New York City, ironically not far from Rump's and Omar Mateen's birthplaces, and has Turkish ancestry -- his grandfather was named Osman Kemal). As with most petty demagogues, after the Brexit vote and as the damaging consequences were apparent, Johnson and other "Leavers" have been ducking questions about the terrible ripple effects on the UK's economy, not to mention questions about the movement's backtracking on promises made during the election. It appears that they had no plan, since they apparently didn't believe British voters were foolish enough to actually vote to leave the EU.

This is the outcome and the side that Rump praised, using a version of his taking-your-country-back rhetoric. It shows starkly not only that he has no grasp on international economic issues, but that his judgement is too flawed and dangerous to be anywhere near the White House.

(cartoon: Darren Bell, via Gocomics.com)

A Very Bad Poll For Hillary Clinton

The latest Washington Post/ABC News poll has a bad number for Hillary Clinton vs. orange codpiece Donald "Rump" Trump (our emphasis):

... [I]n a head-to-head general election matchup, Clinton leads Trump 51 percent to 39 percent among registered voters nationwide, the poll found.

"Bad," you say?  Twelve points!? With that kind of a lead, she has it in the bag!  With new energy and new Millennial voters coming into the Democratic Party, not to mention Rump's toxicity, this will be a cakewalk!  People can relax, stay home or purity vote for Jill Stein even!

Let's see if there are any recent examples of how this thinking might go disastrously wrong...

When you look at the [Brexit] numbers, it’s quite fascinating. The youngest voters wanted to stay in wide margins, and the oldest voters wanted to leave. 

And that’s the exact opposite of who turned out to vote. Older voters turned out, younger voters did not. So it didn’t matter if the overwhelming majority of millennials preferred to remain in the EU, they simply didn’t vote to express that opinion.  [snip]

... You might think your vote doesn’t matter — and that is what’s going on if you’re voting for a third party, in your heart of hearts you “know” that your vote won’t really get Trump elected. Well, you might want to talk to some British millennials right about now.

That, unfortunately, fits a pattern in this country of the most progressive cohort (today, the Millennials) simply not bothering to show up to vote.  If this historic trend continues in the 2016 election, it could spell disaster for us.  (We're not picking on Millennials here;  the youngest voting generation has always shown a reluctance to get into the voting booth.)  Here's a chart that's been on the Internetz that illustrates what not exercising your voting franchise means, again in terms of the Brexit voters:



No matter what the polls tell us, no matter the margins between now and election day, no matter who else is on the ballot, every American who values liberal democracy, equality, tolerance, and human decency has to get themselves to the polls and vote for Clinton and every other Democrat on the ballot.  Just a reminder what happens when you "assume:"

Your WTF of the day: only 30% of Leave voters thought the UK would actually Leave. The others thought they could get away with a protest.

— Mark Chadbourn (@Chadbourn) June 24, 2016

(h/t americablog)

Brexit And Bregret: The Jane Austen Edition

Funny (and true) Brexit analysis by Bill Maher (h/t P.E.C.):

They voted for Pride & Prejudice over Sense & Sensibility. @BillMaher reacts to #Brexit in his #RealTime monologue:https://t.co/74CCkxW3pT

— Real Time (@RealTimers) June 25, 2016

Brexit in haste, Bregret at leisure.

Little Britain

As Yanks, we've kept our blog away from the run-up to yesterday's Brexit vote, quietly hoping that British voters would do the smart, right thing:  vote to remain in the European Union.  Now that voters have opted for Britain to leave, we must sadly observe that, apparently, there are more self- destructive, racist, clueless  meatheads in Britain than we were accounting for.

Among the results in just the last 12 hours:

- the pound dropped overnight to a 31- year low;
- in fact, the pound dropped so far, Britain is no longer the 5th largest economy in the world;
- the London market is in "free fall" and markets around the world started a deep nose-dive this morning;
- Britain's credit rating will drop;
- Scotland, which voted overwhelmingly to remain, is considering anew an independence referendum;
- and, most unfortunately, the vote hands the racist leader of the UK Independence party, Nigel "Nigel" Farage (a.k.a., "Little Trump") a huge victory.

British Tory PM David Cameron announced his resignation after the vote, a fitting political end to the person  dimwit who brought this calamity on his country by fulfilling what he thought was a self- preserving campaign pledge to hold the vote.

Much will be written in the days and months ahead about this decision, including the ominous potential for a fractured, Balkanized Europe engaged first in trade wars, then in hot wars.  But the economic and political fallout from this vote is already pointing to a poorer, weaker, smaller Britain -- a Little Britain -- that, in opting to go it alone, will soon find that no country is an island, even theirs.

(An aside:  as a measure for Brits and Americans as to how foolish this decision was, it has received the blessing of none other than neo- fascist ignoramus and bankruptcy expert Donald "Rump" Trump.)

BONUS:  If it's possible to laugh at this moment, Andy Borowitz does it with "British Lose Right To Claim Americans Are Dumber."

BONUS II:  True  --

Still looking for somebody in England to have a silver lining take on Brexit, but I think they're all at the bank.

— Bob Schooley (@Rschooley) June 24, 2016

Apparently the UK economy has lost $350 billion value in two hours. Or 40 years' worth of 'unaffordable' EU contributions

— Jack Grover (@Balloon_Fish) June 24, 2016

Jubilant Leave voter ‘will catch up with the financial news later’ https://t.co/IOfFYu3anI pic.twitter.com/1Sl0g6N99Y

— The Daily Mash (@thedailymash) June 24, 2016