The Globe Kept Spinning after 2016

Did the rotation of Earth stop after the 2016 referendum? Did you learn something since then?

Best BREXIT sign yet! From the march today pic.twitter.com/UnFo9mktKn

— Catherine Butler (@ButlerDineen) March 23, 2019

Sufficiently intelligent people check from time to time whether the paradigms for their decisions have changed. An update after three years of learning is due. Another public vote on Brexit is not against democracy, it’s against dumbness.

Boris Johnson Cheated the Queen

Regimes like the Johnson regime can grab power because opposition parties are too devided. I fear that Johnson will win that game. He is stronger than British traditions.

And the queen just could leave her work to a signing machine.

(image source: https://t.co/a3mcxPJwoa) pic.twitter.com/bzk1JvDsbO

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) August 29, 2019

 

https://t.co/dGxviIfOLS

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) August 30, 2019

 

Whoops. And the Queen can't do anything against it. https://t.co/OkymFbMFGZ

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) August 30, 2019

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https://t.co/tWWhdDNdqI

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) August 30, 2019

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Ambition

This is Boris Johnson's letter to MPs about shutting down parliament. Now without question, to be firmly placed within the history books, as the core and singular primary source, to demonstrate when the exact time of the UK democracy’s death was called. pic.twitter.com/Ul75cGLQA5

— Dr. Jennifer Cassidy (@OxfordDiplomat) August 28, 2019

"But that should be no excuse for the lack of ambition!"
Boris Johnson, 2019-08-28, Letter to the MPs

Snarks have "five unmistakable marks":
"The fifth is ambition."
Lewis Carroll, 1876, "The Hunting of the Snark".https://t.co/fgEUozRyrF pic.twitter.com/pdEuH6RzMA

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

The Bellman’s Hair?

‘Your majesty, what will it take to suspend parliament….temporarily of course’

‘One word: Epstein’ pic.twitter.com/7nO3r2TZjP

— Aaron Bastani (@AaronBastani) August 28, 2019

When the queen met the Boojum: https://t.co/jMDyeDURcvpic.twitter.com/Qx9uuexyHG

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

"The Hunting of the Snark" »may be taken as an Allegory for the Pursuit of Happiness. The characteristic “ambition” works well into this theory— … that the pursuer of happiness … betakes himself … the happiness he has failed to find elsewhere.«https://t.co/dNG7zzOkpp pic.twitter.com/fNXcFFAbad

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) July 25, 2019

Too often in that pursuit of happiness the hunters make each other unhappy.

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

How do Boris Johnson and the Bellman (in Lewis Carroll's "The Hunting of the Snark") compare? What do you think?

I rearranged some lines a bit: pic.twitter.com/CTUQQSLeBy

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

»Supporting each man on the top of the tide
By a finger entwined in his hair.«

Carroll played with ambiguity. What if (different from the image) the hair in which his finger is entwined is the Bellman's hair, and the finger…? Well, how does Boris Johnson support you Brits? pic.twitter.com/Yl04WNsQnX

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

Well, I'm a yank, but I'd say, by the short hairs, also not illustrated.

— Zero G Badillion (@ZeroGBadillion) August 28, 2019

I learned a new idiom! Perhaps Carroll meant it. https://t.co/U8jQ9AaqI4: » … by the short hairs
Under one's complete control. …. It is in effect a euphemism for have someone by the balls, the hairs in question being pubic hair. [Colloquial; second half of 1800s] …«

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

Aha! I learned something as well.

Had heard the expression as used by LBJ…

and pretty sure he was not referring to the hairs on the back of the neck.

— Zero G Badillion (@ZeroGBadillion) August 28, 2019

Snarks come in two batches:
»It next will be right
 To describe each particular batch:
Distinguishing
※ those that have feathers, and bite,
※ And those that have whiskers, and scratch.«https://t.co/dCukY792Nx

Meet another Bellman: pic.twitter.com/UcbKBN4Eg0

— Snark Sesquicentennial (@Snark150) August 28, 2019

“Capitalism Is a Lot More Important than Democracy”

Stephen Moore (senior economic adviser to the Trump campaign): "Capitalism is a lot more important than democracy."pic.twitter.com/FHJDMr4GLQ

— Lauren Werner 🗽 (@LaurenWern) August 10, 2016

Coming back to Stephen Moore's radicalism. The jaw-dropping line is "capitalism is more important than democracy" – it's like a liberal caricature of what conservatives think, but it turns out to be what they actually think. But there's more 1/ https://t.co/cS2OQBWgnd

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

What you can easily miss is that Moore is calling for what amounts to a loyalty purge at the Fed 2/ pic.twitter.com/rxRu1UoQgy

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

After all, what does Moore think makes those hundreds of economists worthless? He had multiple confrontations with Fed analysis in 2008 and after, in which he kept claiming that the Fed's policies would produce soaring inflation. Obviously Fed economists disagreed 3/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

They were, of course, completely right; he was completely wrong. So on what basis does he declare them "worthless", with the wrong model? Well, their model is wrong in the sense that it doesn't confirm his (false) prejudices. 4/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

It would be interesting to ask who he considers to be "good" economists. I'm sure that having been wrong about everything for the past decade plus is a key qualification. Anyway, the point isn't just that Moore is a bad analyst. He wants to purge anyone competent 5/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

So people who suggest that a Moore appointment wouldn't be a disaster are missing the bigger picture. Trump is trying to do to the Fed what he's doing at DHS, purging the professionals and replacing them with apparatchiks. Moore would be just the beginning 6/

— Paul Krugman (@paulkrugman) April 15, 2019

London, 2019-03-23: Two Million Friends of Europe

Put it to the people pic.twitter.com/12Bo1VrpMu

— Led By Donkeys (@ByDonkeys) March 23, 2019

2 million friends or Europe enjoyed an early Spring Saturday in London.

 

Actually, Brian, they do. Always. For operational reasons. They used to release them, but they stopped as it was contentious. But they still give unofficial estimates privately. And they always do two calculations. The first is based on special calculations and a rule of thumb >

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

>assumed density of 3.5 people per square metre. They then, however, continue updating this estimate with a second stage calculation that looks at people still joining the back of a march and an updated density ratio based on how long a demo takes to get between two fixed points>

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

>That is why final estimates often differ. Because some matches are much more tightly packed and slow moving than others. This updated ratio can change the calculation dramatically. In this case, the 1m estimate first surfaced before the front started moving. After that point>

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

>and this is very important, the police advised the front of the march to start moving annhour earlier than they had intended, because they were experiencing “unusually high density and rate of people joining at the back” and became concerned. People continued arriving in a>

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

>regular stream for at least two more hours. And according to everyone on the march it was unusually tightly packed and slow moving. This makes the original 1m estimate, very unreliable. But having released it, I suspect, organisers did not want to update, as they would face>

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

>accusations precisely like this. 1m is a great, iconic number anyway. At the end of the march the police unofficial rough estimate to organisers was closer to 2m. Had this confirmed by two separate sources. It may be wrong, but it’s more reliable than the static 1pm figure. END

— Alex Andreou (@sturdyAlex) March 23, 2019

 

They use software and aerial footage that basically counts a line of people and multiplies them by the volume of the location. I was told by contacts in the Met that two million was their estimate (I posted this but took it down as I can't prove my sources).

— UK4Europe #FBPE 🇪🇺🇬🇧 (@UK4Europe) March 24, 2019

Democratic Double Check

It seems that Theresa May pretends to protect democracy by not offering a 2nd referendum because in reality she wants to “protect” herself from having to admit that she made several big mistakes. These mistakes would become clearly visible if a 2nd referendum would take place. To Theresa May, saving her own face is more important than the future of the United Kingdom and its citizens.

Claiming that asking people for their opinion in a 2nd referendum would do harm to democracy is utterly foolish. A 2nd referendum will be based on knowledge which was not available to the voters who participated in the 1st referendum. That’s obvious. Theresa May can think clearly and knows that. Therefore not offering a second referendum is worse than foolish. It is selfish and evil.

After May's heroic failure: Check and adjust! A 2nd referendum is more democracy and smarter democracy.

Applying the Deming Cycle (plan–do–check–act or plan–do–check–adjust, https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV) is good governance.

The UK should do it.

The EU should do it.

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 16, 2019

 

Good governance requires "Double Check" (actually more: a cycle of checks): https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV .

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 15, 2019

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Governments should practise good governance: https://t.co/P1r9mHxoTV

— Goetz Kluge (@Bonnetmaker) January 15, 2019

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@JolyonMaugham @JMPSimor @Nigel_Farage @acgrayling @OxfordDiplomat @SPD2212 @Shortbloke @abcpoppins pic.twitter.com/Ei7leXOmKP

— 🔶 Limited Ferry Sevices without a Ferry (@Wade73605662) January 14, 2019

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