leicsmac

Unfortunately, since the start of his second term, the word "surely" has found itself stretched rather considerably. I hope I'm wrong, but I fear the legal and constitutional systems won't offer enough of a barrier to someone like him wanting to do as they wish and knowing the levers to pull on how. I remember this coming up on here re the Lucy Letby case(?) too. In principle I'm all for it, but in practice I'm not sure how you really compel a person to go somewhere they don't want to go short of beating them half to death or drugging them, and I'm not sure the state should have that power except in the most urgent cases of life threatening self defence.

You're right - it isn't always, but it is, and will be, often enough to cause issues and to let him mostly exercise his will over the legal system as well as everywhere else. That has been the plan all along, after all.

I do admire your faith in the system of checks and balances and that they would stop - or indeed are stopping - Trump or his supporters in much of a meaningful fashion at all. He has numerous loyalists within the legal system for exactly this purpose.

It is really unfortunate that the actions of Convict#47 are so bombastic and consequential that they're dominating the discussion, but what can you do? On the topic, powerful and accurate from Mr Hunt there. I doubt there's many that fit the description of a sociopath as well as Clifford does.

The accumulation and retention of more power over other people. By whatever means.

Right - even if the consequences of what the man and those around him do aren't intended, they're still real and are still hurting (and are going to hurt) a lot of decent people.

Whatever one thinks about China's form of governance (and there's a lot to think about), it's a matter of simple fact that they alone among the leading nations are looking to and acting for the future in anywhere near the manner necessary. Pretty much. And the big problems with that are that people around him can use and are using his bombast to carry out highly malicious acts for their own power, and any sufficiently advanced incompetence is indistinguishable from malice anyway.

Processing gold from its ore, in the main.

50% probability of lethal dose with anywhere between 4-15 mg/kg for a lot of complex organisms. So a 1kg fish or bird would only need to ingest a very small amount of it. Hopefully not much escapes and it can be contained.

Yeah, it's very astute. International white ball cricket really appears to be in a rut. Don't think they ever looked like losing, but they perhaps did make it harder than it needed to be, yeah.

When you're dealing with a power that apparently just sees you as a subordinate, dealing with that power is going to require you to be at the top of your game. I hope Carney can deliver - goodness knows it's long past time Convict#47 got a bloody nose from someone.

Yeah, this is a procession.

That should have been obvious the moment Trump won his second term (or even his first), in all honesty.

Can't see 252 being enough, but I guess we'll find out.

Spot on. This is a clash of worldviews that really surpasses international borders. And the stakes are high.

This could well end up being rather a farce.

Entertaining match!

... well, yes. But the lack of any kind of other silverware is a little Spursy.

You know more about this than I do; are this French team really bucking the trend for being mercurial then?

Well, yeah, the Welsh are juggling the ball on the touchline like the finest in the circus tent but Scotland are still being clinical. If England can beat the French then I'm thinking the Scots can, though they're playing away from home.

Scotland could give the French pause for thought next week on this form.

Just want to say that I hugely appreciate the standard of discourse there's been on here in the last few pages. Excellent stuff.

Hopefully that doesn't become an issue. But then if it does, it will have to be hoped that the smart diplomatic minds come up with a third option and the choice isn't starkly between letting it roll with all the consequences that entails, or choosing to stop them and their tech progress with all the consequences that entails. Because that will be an incredibly ugly choice.

Well, both Britain and France could theoretically do something about either of those situations - it would just mean that everyone loses. But away from that, if the world really is immutably that way and there's nothing to be done we may as well fold it all up and run the series finale of Terran Shore right now because at some point in the near future that's going to happen anyway. If some folks want to believe there's nothing but darkness ahead and use it as a justification for failing to act now, then that's between them and their own conscience. But speaking personally, I'm not about to tell people trying to make the future a better place that things are fruitless. Do what we can until we cannot.

I've said before about there must be some line in The Art of War concerning winning while having to do not much at all; that's exactly what the Chinese are doing now.