Dark Alex's Really Long Post Thread.

[Svengoolie 3]

I'm not trying to ofrend you,  alex,  but a lot of what I hear in various media is that basically brexit was about not  letting too many of the..... You know, "not like us",  people into Britain.

As a person actually knowing about Britain personally how much of that would you  say was true on a scale of 1-10?

[Alex]

When I sat down to explain everything last night as I started I thought, wow, this whole thing is just too big to fully explain typing out. Yes, immigration was a big part of why people voted to leave. Being part of the EU gives you the right to move to any country within it to live and work. We don't have enough people in the UK willing to do certain low paid jobs and have been relying on immigrants to make up the balance, but it goes further than this. We also have a lot of foreign nationals working within our health service. Ever since the vote to leave came through these people have been returning to their home nations which means things like, crops are rotting in fields because we don't have people to pick them, waiting times for operations are increasing and so on.

Despite the benefits (although there are also drawbacks) of immigration, it is an emotive subject for many people. The whole weakness of the human race to the fear of that which is unknown is powerful and the leave campaign played this up to the max. There were also complaints about having rules imposed by the EU based in Brussels on the UK. Funnily enough, the same people who complain about this are quite happy for London to impose rules on Scotland and see no hypocrisy there. But then hypocrits rarely see that quality in themselves, but I digress.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain it is that the people who led the campaign to leave the EU did so because they wanted more power and control, while the regular people voted based on immigration (I doubt that is how anyone on the leave side would put it, but that is how I see it). Given the people organizing the whole Brexit thing are making such a huge mess of things it makes me wonder whatever made people think our own politicians could sort this all out. It isn't like they were super competent before.

On a scale on 1-10, I'd say for the average man on the street fear of immigration rated about 8.5/10.

Remember though that this is only my view, and from someone who would have preferred to remain in the EU. You'd need to get some commentary from someone on the leave side to get their views. Given my job though, most people I work with tend to be on the leave side so I get to hear their views plenty and I've tried to moderate what I've written to take both sides into account and give a more balanced opinion.

[Svengoolie 3]

Well alex I'll take your word as a britt on the street over right wing media in america trying to make out that the Muslim hoard is taking over England and imposing sharia law in major british cities.

I don't  know if you're aware of how the american right wing propaganda media portrays Brexit but here's an example.

[Alex]

Other than waking up at 07:00 for a feed, Ash slept from around 20:00 last night until 11:00 this morning. Was shocked when I looked at the clock and it said 10:50. Possibly if I hadn't gotten up and started moving around he'd have slept later.

Going to call that a win.

Last nightshift before a long weekend off work. Going to call that a win too. If I ignore everything happening outside my front door in the world, then everything is great. Had our first snowfall of the winter today. Bit earlier than usual, and with us being beside the sea it is never going to lie deep or long. None of the igloo's or giant snowmen we used to build as kids around here.

Sven, if you are reading this, then this piece might give you an idea of how things stand at the moment Brexitwise. http://news.sky.com/story/brexit-pandoras-box-about-to-burst-open-11609342, although it is hard to explain even just the last two and a half years, never mind something that has been going on back to when we first looked at joining the EU. I find myself without the amount of time it would take to cover everything properly.

Working on the D&D castle. I've sketched out the underground area, and upper two floors as well as writing just what the light from one of the towers actually was. I think I am going to fun with that and how the party reacts to it. Compared to some of the moral quandaries they've been through it is a very minor challenge, but I am looking forward to seeing how Sier Nigel's new found piety stands up to it's first problem.

Wonder how the snow will do over the weekend. Our friends who are coming over on Saturday often find their village snowed in and isolated. Be disappointing if they can't make it. I need to get two birthday cakes for it. One for Kristi and one for Garry since it was recently his birthday too. He turned 50 so is most likely past the half way point of how many days he gets to live.

Isn't that a comforting thought for those amongst us who worry about our ages? Are you more than half way through your allotted days?

Heh heh heh.

[Alex]

Well alex I'll take your word as a britt on the street over right wing media in america trying to make out that the Muslim hoard is taking over England and imposing sharia law in major british cities.

I don't  know if you're aware of how the american right wing propaganda media portrays Brexit but here's an example.

The Muslim population of the UK, depending on who you listen to is somewhere between 4% up to 12% and most people on the street think it is much higher than it really is. I think it is between 5 to 6%, although it is growing. Yes Muslims have asked for an area of the UK to be set aside for them and ran by sharia law but were told to bugger off. Where sharia law can be accommodated within UK law it is allowed (for example Muslims can divorce under sharia law (the settlements are made by clerics for example) as long as the outcome agrees with UK law and I assume if one party decides they want everything to be dealt with under regular courts then that is how it is done. As far as I am aware they receive no special excemptions), but as I do not know any Muslims my knowledge in this area in 3rd hand.

I'd have to point out though that all this stuff dealing with religious differences comes from UK law rather than anything imposed by the EU. We are also having quite a few companies quitting the UK and moving their operations to Europe so I'd have to say several large international businesses are not looking at the UK as being a great place to have your company post Brexit (not all companies, or even most so far, but enough that it is going to hurt). I've not heard of any companies saying they are going to invest money in the UK as soon as we get out of the EU. I am sure if their were the leave camp would be trumpeting that as loudly as they can.

[justme2013]

Don't forget that almost as soon as Brexit was voted for it started coming out that the leave campaign had lied or made up many of their promises and campaign points, and that almost every single leader of the leave campaign stepped back so that they didn't have to be in charge.

There are many reasons that a second referendum is being asked for, one is that the vote was within a margin of error, I said this about the Scottish independence vote (I was for remaining because of being in the EU) and I'll say it about this, it was not a definitive result. It should have required at least 55% or 60% of the vote to pass, in the US I believe it's 2/3 or a super majority is needed for constitutional amendments heck it's required to impeach the president as well, both Scottish Independence and Brexit should have required a super majority in my opinion because they are such important political movements. It's interesting if you look at how the vote for Brexit went across the country, it was primarily poor areas without a lot of industry that voted for it because of the misinformation from the leave campaign.

Theresa May inherited a mess from David Cameron (who lost the Brexit vote, and many who voted for Brexit did it because David Cameron was against it, he wasn't very popular) and she's not managed to clean up the mess at all and has in all honesty just muddied the waters and not accomplished anything other than being so unpopular that she managed to loose the majority of parliament when she called for a snap election. The Tory's are still the largest party in parliament but she's had to team up with a very right wing Northern Ireland party to have the majority needed to push her bills and laws through and have a functioning government.

It really isn't a simple situation and there's a lot more backstory to it and the current mess that it is.

[Alex]

Spent most of last night mapping out more of the player's castle. I got one whole floor done. But hey, that is the ground floor and first floor completed. The second floor I finished this morning. I think the third floor will be the highest, then the underground level. After that, I have one more thing to design and I am done there building it.

I'll be happy when I reach that point.

Mind you, I still have the write-up parts to do, so not out of the woods yet. Garry and Karen should be here anytime now with the kids. Going to teach them 'Lords of Waterdeep', and then try a game we've not played before 'Revolution'. Trying to persuade them to join in our D&D campaign, mostly so when it finishes Garry will want to run his own campaign and I can get to play in a 3.5 game (although since the local games shop has started stocking 5th ed I guess I'll be upgrading).

Watching Star Trek Discovery. Decided not to renew our Netflix membership so trying to finish the season before it runs out tomorrow. If I don't... well I am sure I'll survive. I can also check how it ends on Wikipedia or something.

Woohoo, I finally won a game of 'Lords of Waterdeep' instead of constantly coming second. In your face players of a lesser ability! Lol, I don't tend to take games that seriously (well, unless I am playing with someone I don't like, in which case I'll go all out to win). Got Kristi and Garry a birthday cake each (which cost around $30. I must remember to check the prices on these things beforehand).

[Alex]

Ah, peace and quiet how I have missed thee.

Both Kristi and Ash are sleeping quietly and everything is still. Not that I object to my new life, but these moments of tranquility are still something special for me.

I even got to go to the toilet on my own. Oh undreamed of nirvana!

Anyway, just finished cooking breakfast only it is now lunchtime.

One of the women from Ghostbusters is unhappy they are making a follow-up to the original two films. Should have made a less s**t remake then. Although as I said a while ago, I'd rather see women make something new and different than attempt to retread ground that has already been covered.

Who you gonna call? Not her.

[Rev. Powell]

When I sat down to explain everything last night as I started I thought, wow, this whole thing is just too big to fully explain typing out. Yes, immigration was a big part of why people voted to leave. Being part of the EU gives you the right to move to any country within it to live and work. We don't have enough people in the UK willing to do certain low paid jobs and have been relying on immigrants to make up the balance, but it goes further than this. We also have a lot of foreign nationals working within our health service. Ever since the vote to leave came through these people have been returning to their home nations which means things like, crops are rotting in fields because we don't have people to pick them, waiting times for operations are increasing and so on.

Despite the benefits (although there are also drawbacks) of immigration, it is an emotive subject for many people. The whole weakness of the human race to the fear of that which is unknown is powerful and the leave campaign played this up to the max. There were also complaints about having rules imposed by the EU based in Brussels on the UK. Funnily enough, the same people who complain about this are quite happy for London to impose rules on Scotland and see no hypocrisy there. But then hypocrits rarely see that quality in themselves, but I digress.

Perhaps the easiest way to explain it is that the people who led the campaign to leave the EU did so because they wanted more power and control, while the regular people voted based on immigration (I doubt that is how anyone on the leave side would put it, but that is how I see it). Given the people organizing the whole Brexit thing are making such a huge mess of things it makes me wonder whatever made people think our own politicians could sort this all out. It isn't like they were super competent before.

On a scale on 1-10, I'd say for the average man on the street fear of immigration rated about 8.5/10.

Remember though that this is only my view, and from someone who would have preferred to remain in the EU. You'd need to get some commentary from someone on the leave side to get their views. Given my job though, most people I work with tend to be on the leave side so I get to hear their views plenty and I've tried to moderate what I've written to take both sides into account and give a more balanced opinion.

Every time I worry about how messed up the US is right now, I look to the UK and realize that things could actually be worse.

It's a bad time to be a western democracy right now.

[Svengoolie 3]

Until peolle realize that Vladimir Putin and china hate democracy and freedom in any form and are working at every level to destroy it,  and respond in force,  democracy will continue to have a hard time.

[RCMerchant]

Did my Ma just put Brill Creem in my hair and stand me at a bus stop?

[RCMerchant]

Until peolle realize that Vladimir Putin and china hate democracy and freedom in any form and are working at every level to destroy it,  and respond in force,  democracy will continue to have a hard time.

People are stupid.
Most folks don't care about, or even know, wtf about Russia or China. They think in TV sound bites.
That's why Trump is President. People are stupid.
But I have faith in us idiots. Like everything, this too will pass.
(Ain't that some Bible s**t?)

[Alex]

Had Vicky round for dinner tonight. Kristi made BBQ chicken and pork ribs. Of course, Kristi cooked way too much food, so I know what I'll be having for lunch tomorrow.  

Thought Ash had stuck something in his mouth tonight, so went to fish it out and felt the top of a tooth just poking through. Since he has been teething for 6 months now, I am glad he finally has something to show for it although I am not looking forward to the inevitable biting. He was a happy little man tonight though and went to bed more or less with a smile on his face (ok, there was a little bit of crying when he was put to bed, but only a couple of minutes).

The Brexit mess continues. Neighbouring countries are now coming to the conclusion that a no deal scenario is a real possibility (I get the impression they thought we would never risk damaging our own economy to that degree, so never seriously looked at it. Hah! Take that Europe, we really are that stupid). A new plan is being presented to the House if by new plan you mean the old plan with just a few minor changes. It does seem to be the Northern Ireland backstop that is the big sticking point. Anyone wishing to know what that is should google it. Right now I think the only way to sort this mess out sensibly would be to storm the Houses of Parliment with shotguns and swear words.

I wonder if the shutdown in the US government is still going on? Do other first world countries let this kind of s**t go on, or is it exclusive to English speaking nations?

And we pay them for this, and yet don't laugh when they claim to represent us.

Oh well, I guess in the end we get the politicians we deserve. We must do because we keep electing the buggers.

Democracy really should be one man, one vote. I volunteer to be that man, so what I vote for goes lol. I am going to be horribly sexist and not give women the vote, because if you give them the vote, they'll only end up voting for a woman and once one of them gets in power it will really go to rats**t.

As if Maggie Thatcher wasn't bad enough, we went and got another one who actually makes me miss the old battleaxe. At least I knew where she stood, even if it was mostly on people like me's necks.

I wonder what the best political system is really. Is Democracy really better than say a Monarchy, Theocracy or Dictatorship? By that, I mean how much better is the average person under one system than another? I guess the real test would be would you go and live under one of those systems rather than a Democratic government. Not seriously debating this, just a random wandering of thoughts, although it is a path I've wandered along before.

[ER]

I take heart in my conviction that the nature of entropy suggests the political cycle begins and ends in anarchy just as a universe that was birthed in silence and darkness will one day end in silence and darkness.

Just before it all begins once more.

[indianasmith]

The best form of government is an absolute monarchy with me as the monarch.
I'll fix this old planet up in a hurry!