#Politics#Elections#UE#Democracy: "An election is a device for maximising conflict and minimising democracy. Parties gain ground by sowing division and anger, often around trivial issues that play to their advantage. At the same time, as the big players seek to appease commercial lobbies and the billionaire press, they converge disastrously on far more important issues, such as austerity, privatised public services, massive inequality of wealth and the unfolding genocide in Gaza. Many of those who seek election manipulate, distract and lie.
Communities are set against each other: see how the Tories appeal to their elderly base by treating young people as a problem to be solved, currently through national service. The parties reduce our complex choices to a brutal binary; sometimes, as in the 2019 election, to a three-word slogan (Get Brexit Done). Vast questions, such as the environmental crisis, the spiral of accumulation by the wealthy, the possibility of food system failure or the resurgent threat of nuclear war, remain unresolved and generally unmentioned. All that is left to us, except for a 10-second action every five years, is to sit and hope. We end up, in our supposedly representative system, with a highly unrepresentative parliament and a perennial sense of disappointment.
Just as capitalism is arguably the opposite of markets, general elections such as the one we now face could be seen as the opposite of democracy. But, as with so many aspects of public life, entirely different concepts have been hopelessly confused. Elections are not democracy and democracy is not elections.
Earlier societies recognised the distinction. Aristotle and Montesquieu observed that elections generated (respectively) “oligarchical” and “aristocratic” rule."
Israeli media report that Israel’s Ambassador to the UN Gilad Erdan informed his US counterpart Linda Thomas-Greenfield that the occupation state opposes the Security Council resolution, advanced by the US, which expresses support for Biden's ceasefire proposal.
Israel objected an updated version of the resolution refers to the exchange deal as one that will bring about a “ceasefire,” as opposed to the original version that referred to a “cessation of hostilities, which Israel reads as less permanent in nature.
Israel also opposed a new clause in the draft that “rejects any attempt at demographic or territorial change in the Gaza Strip, including actions that reduce the territory of Gaza, such as through the permanent establishment officially or unofficially of so-called buffer zones.”
In Britain, former Conservative Member of Parliament Julian Knight, who was suspended from the party over allegations of sexual assault, has announced he will run in the election as an independent. Seems to me he could start and run for the Sexual Assault Party.
Political analysts are still dissecting India's election results. Yes, Prime Minister Narendra Modi won a historic third term. But his BJP party lost a significant number of seats.
What does it all mean for the world's largest democracy? Business Insider has a great selection of stories covering all the angles. Dive deep here: https://flip.it/ctg0ik
“The word ‘prophet’ might bring to mind a Gandalf-like figure: long white beard, eyes that see into the spirit realm, etc. These Texas prophets don’t much resemble that image.“
A federal judge in Washington, D.C., orders former Donald Trump adviser Steve Bannon to report to prison on July 1 for defying Jan. 6 subpoenas.
CBS News reports: "A jury found Bannon guilty of two counts of contempt of Congress in 2022 after he refused to comply with a subpoena from the House Select Committee that investigated the Jan. 6, 2021, Capitol attack."
From the archives, 2022: ”We know now from decades of clinical practice, and now over the last couple of decades of research, that the earlier that we affirm someone, the better outcomes they have in terms of mental health and physical health.” https://www.texasobserver.org/healthcare-for-trans-kids-is-not-abuse/
BREAKING NEWS - NYTimes Thursday, June 6, 2024 12:57
A judge ordered the longtime Trump ally Steve Bannon to begin his prison sentence for defying a House subpoena by July 1.
Bannon faces a four-month sentence for refusing to comply with a subpoena from the Jan. 6 committee. #politics#Conservatives#ConservativesReallyAreThatBad#jailed#LockHimUp