@DPJHodges It is called vibe politics. You just have to announce something, no matter how improbable the implementation, but it does sound nice and makes us feel good.
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Buea Pikin
12.6K posts
Buea Pikin
@bueapikin
When injustice becomes law resistance should be our duty. I cannot be silent in the face of a Genocide
Katılım Ocak 2017
603 Takip Edilen367 Takipçiler
This is a perfect illustration of the problem facing Reform. No serious practical solutions. Just political posturing. Which works fine when you’re trying to make a breakthrough. But won’t cut it when you need to move to being a serious alternative government.
Nigel Farage MP@Nigel_Farage
If you vote Reform you will not have an illegal migrant deportation facility in your area. We will hold migrants awaiting deportation in constituencies that vote Green instead. You get what you vote for.
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My monologue from today’s The Times at One with Andrew Neil:
As often happens with President Trump, it’s not long before you end up in fantasyland.
Yesterday, in a long and at times incoherent social media post, he suddenly announced the US would start ‘guiding’ — his word — commercial ships out of the Strait of Hormuz, where they have been stranded by his War on Iran.
On the face of it — at last an effort to unblock this vital supply route for the global economy.
Of course, it turned out to be no such thing. There will be no US Navy escort for stranded ships to go through the Strait in convoy. Or the navies of any other countries for that matter.
Just a so-called ‘co-ordination cell’ involving countries, insurance companies and shipping lines sharing data. Trump has dubbed it ‘Project Freedom’. But there will be precious few ships freed by this latest wheeze.
The UK’s Maritime Trade Operations agency, which works in tandem with the Royal Navy, said this morning the security threat level in the Strait remained ‘critical’. As long as that’s the case ships won’t risk the passage without Iran’s approval.
And that was before we had Iran claiming this morning to have hit a US frigate. America is categorical that none of its ships has been hit.
At first Tehran didn’t deign to respond to Trump’s latest initiative. But this morning Iran warned it would attack any commercial ships or US warships that tried to transit the Strait without its permission, reminding everyone it was in control of the Strait, which, of course, it wasn’t before Trump began his attacks on Iran.
Over 1,600 ships are now trapped on either side of the Strait. Only those of whom Iran approves and prepared to stump up $2m per ship to Tehran are allowed through.
The truth is Trump has no idea how to reopen the Strait — or how to bring his war to an acceptable end.
He’s just rejected Iran’s latest peace proposals, which were full of unacceptable nonsense — suggesting the tyrants of Tehran are still in no rush for peace. But what happens next is anybody’s guess.
Mine is that Trump will simply play for time, as he has in Gaza. Last year, to much fanfare, he announced peace had broken out in the strip and reconstruction would begin.
Since when, there’s been very little peace and no reconstruction. But our attention has moved on. Gaza makes few headlines these days, even though it’s still grim on the ground.
Trump will be hoping for the same attention deficit towards Iran. Both sides have stopped raining down missiles, bombs and drones on each other. Not much else is happening. Nothing to see here. Let’s move along.
However, there is one mighty difference with Gaza: the Strait of Hormuz. The longer that stays closed the more the global economy is likely to be crippled. That’s already happening in Asia, where shortages are spreading and economies grinding to a halt.
The same fate is heading our way, slowly but surely. We are heading for shortages and massive price rises in all manner of materials — not just oil and gas — but jet fuel, helium, naphtha, fertilisers — about which we know little but which are, in fact, vital to normal life.
No jet fuel, no flying.
No helium, no microchips, no microchips, no cars or household appliances, never mind the AI developments currently keeping the US stock market afloat.
No fertilisers, no food.
No naphtha, no building blocks for everything from textiles to rubber to car parts.
If, come June, the Strait is still closed then we will be entering a summer of misery thanks to Trump’s War. The chances grow by the day.
It has dawned on Tehran that controlling the Strait is a far more powerful weapon than a nuclear bomb. Though it’s not giving up on that either.
As the rest of us suffer, Trump will be declaring a fantasy victory. Which makes you wonder: if this is victory, what would defeat look like?
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Buea Pikin retweetledi
Reform want to round up migrants and detain them indefinitely in areas that don’t vote for them.
Yet for most of our media, it’s those marching for Palestine who are creating hatred & fear.
These disgusting plans are an affront to democracy — and must be fiercely opposed.
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@BellaWallerstei @CandiceLen @robertshrimsley Diana Abbot was suspended by the Labour party for expressing this same sentiment.
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@afneil Even if Trump is caught raping a child on the streets, 30% of Americans will still support him. He was not wrong when he said:"I can shoot someone on 5th Avenue and not lose any of my supporters".
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Six months out from November’s midterms and President Trump scores his worst approval ratings ever:
Overall, 37% approve, 62% disapprove of his second-term record.
On his handling of the Cost of Living, only 23% approve, 76% disapprove.
On Inflation it’s 27% v 72% disapproval.
On the economy overall it’s 34% approve, 65% disapprove.
On Trump’s War with Iran, 66% disapprove, 33% approve.
There’s no way back from these dire ratings before November — and the longer the Strait of Hormuz remains closed the worse his approval ratings will get. An entirely self-inflicted albatross.
Source: Washington Post-ABC News-Ipsos poll April 24-28, 2026, among 2,560 U.S. adults with an error margin of +/- 2 percentage points.
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@Pontifex You went to Cameroon, where journalists from the English speaking region have been incarcerated for doing their job, but you stayed loudly silent. So spare us this performative nonsense.
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Today we celebrate World Press Freedom Day, sponsored by UNESCO. Unfortunately, this right is often violated, sometimes flagrantly, sometimes in hidden ways. Let us remember the many journalists and reporters who are victims of war and violence.
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Buea Pikin retweetledi
I've worked with Sanders for twenty years. He tells truths the media establishment dreads. Do listen to his thoughtful but quietly powerful manifesto below. I think his new weekly news programme can transform British journalism. It starts at 6pm this Wednesday on You Tube.
Richard Sanders@PulaRJS
Next Wednesday sees the launch of Double Down Newswatch, a new weekly magazine programme that will showcase the best of independent media. Here I explain why it's needed. youtube.com/watch?v=O8OBmd…
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It’s clear that Zack Polanski is a pound shop Jeremy Corbyn.
His party must never be allowed anywhere near the levers of power.
thesun.co.uk/news/38992660/…
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Iran is hanging on by a thread
foxbusiness.com/video/63941095…
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@owenjonesjourno @edballs You also came across as a coward in the interview. When he asked, "Are you including GMB as complicit in genocide?" You should have unequivocally said yes because they are part of the media. Instead, you started waffling.
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There's two basic problems with Labour's @edballs.
1) He hates the left.
2) He has a very thin skin.
Here's some clips from when I appeared a month after the genocide began.
The last time I ever appeared with him!
Saul Staniforth@SaulStaniforth
Well done to @ZackPolanski for calling out the fact he was being interviewed by a former Lab minister & husband of the current foreign secretary! Since the start of this year #GMB is produced by @itvnews. How can they think this is tenable? Oh & Ed took it in good grace (not)
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This is interesting....
Americans are in a giant reality show.
MAGA Voice@MAGAVoice
🚨 JUST NOW: Karoline Leavitt calls on everyone to watch tonight because Donald Trump will bring the heat and there will be “shots fired” LET’S FREAKING GO 🔥
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The legacy media is doing PR for the Iranian regime... again.
The truth is that under President Trump’s leadership, the U.S. military decimated the Iranian regime’s capabilities in just 38 days:
Iran’s defense industrial base was almost completely destroyed.
Iran’s ability to build and stockpile ballistic missiles and long-range drones has been set back by years.
The vast majority of Iran’s ballistic missiles, launcher vehicles, and long-range attack drones were destroyed.
The Iranian navy was annihilated with more than 150 of their ships sunk.
And Iran’s air forces are functionally and operationally irrelevant now.
Jennifer Jacobs@JenniferJJacobs
NEW: Iran still has more military capacity than Trump admin is admitting publicly, sources told @CBSNews. @ellee_watson @JimLaPorta and me: cbsnews.com/news/iran-more…
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Former Prime Minister Liz Truss backs Trump over Iran war as she insists conflict was 'justified' lbc.co.uk/article/liz-tr…
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Trump to participate in marathon Bible reading bbc.in/4eGuN1E
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The thing about Hegseth reciting the "prayer" that was ripped off from Tarantino is that he didn't read it during a press conference or a briefing about the war. He read it during a Christian "worship" service, as part of a series of religious/inspirational texts. So he wasn't being ironic when he asked the audience to "pray along" with him - he treated a text ripped off from a Tarantino hit man's monologue as if it was an actual prayer.
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Your tax dollars subsidizing Pete Hegseth's prayer services, where he's asked people to "pray along" with him as he recited dialogue from a Quentin Tarantino movie.
The Day Warrior@thedaywar90
Yesterday's Pentagon prayer service was held during the workday, live-streamed on Pentagon TV. Hegseth entered with his wife and sat with their children sat in the front row. Other families were in attendance. The invited pastor also brought his family. Hegseth greeted the pastor's wife by name from the podium and noted the pastor's kids in the room. This is the U.S. Secretary of Defense hosting what appears to be a family church gathering in a federal building on a Wednesday morning.
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After the recent obfuscating bluster from the White House, America wakes up this Sunday morning to two grim realities:
The Strait of Hormuz remains largely shut to Western shipping.
Iran’s top negotiator says the two countries are far from a final deal to end the war.
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@mtgreenee DNA from the blood taken around trumps ear showed similarities with that of tomatoes.
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They only closed it when Trump and Israel started a massive bombing campaign killing their leaders and school children.
It’s also interesting that we can now apparently take them at their word on this.
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