Well the weekends here again, for the lucky few who actually have weekends. Let's see what this weekend brings with it to rant about.
First to America as usual.It hasn't been a good day for Trump supporters as two advocates of Trump methods lose their positions. The first to go is the president of one of the world's largest evangelical Christian colleges who has agreed to step aside after posting a photo of himself with his trousers unzipped. Jerry Falwell, a vocal supporter of President Donald Trump, said he would take an indefinite leave of absence from Liberty University in Virginia after he conceded that the Instagram photo was "weird", but defended it as "all in good fun". The university simply stated on Friday that the Executive Committee of Liberty University's Board of Trustees, acting on behalf of the full Board, met today and requested that Jerry Falwell, Jr take an indefinite leave of absence from his roles as President and Chancellor of Liberty University, to which he has agreed, effective immediately. This is a college who has a strict code of conduct for how students must behave at the university, including barring premarital sex and the consumption of media either on or off campus that is offensive to Liberty's standards and traditions, such as lewd lyrics, anti-Christian messages, sexual content and nudity ( for F*** sake), not to mention the fact they control hairstyles and fashions which they claim are to "avoid extremes" and students are to dress modestly at all times. I thought this type of place went out with the invention of the television, but low and behold in deepest darkest Virginia, Americans still act like the puritans that disembarked the Mayflower where women don't show there ankles or necks and men control the world.
Anyway that's what Evangelicals call good old fashioned fun, but on to the second loss for Trump which is the failure of Joe Arpaio (the controversial former sheriff known for his harsh immigration tactics) in a bid to regain his old job in the US state of Arizona. This is the man who proclaimed himself the "toughest sheriff", but was beaten in the Republican primary for the role in Maricopa County (sounds like an old west type of place) by his former deputy. What is more startling is the fact that Mr Arpaio, 88, was convicted of criminal contempt after defying a court order to stop traffic patrols targeting suspected undocumented immigrants and then as he faced a six month jail sentence was pardoned by Trump (more open presidential misconduct). Arpaio, who was sheriff for twenty four years, lost by about six thousand votes, according to the Maricopa County Elections Department and was beaten by his former aide Jerry Sheridan who will now face Democrat Paul Penzone who removed Arpaio from office in 2016 in a landslide victory. In the run up to the election, Arpaio thought it was a good idea to vow to continue his controversial policing tactics with policies that included housing county jail inmates in tents and regular immigration sweeps which he introduced during his time as sheriff, as well as bringing back chain gangs (wow this guy really does belong in the old west). Come on people wake up and smell what is brewing in your country. When people like Trump, Arpaio and many, many more white privileged bigots within the Republican party want to return America back in time of slavery and indentured servitude where rich white folk rule the land and answered with 'YES BOSS, RIGHT AWAY BOSS'. Why is it that these ageing white men think that they are the answer to state and country problems, what happened to the retirement age where over sixties simply put on their slippers, put their feet up and quietly die off letting the younger generation take charge and resurrect the shit storm these incompetent sixty to ninety year old's have created through years of mismanagement. The biggest problem I see is the fact that nepotism is quietly growing within business and politics like the fact that Trump inserted a financial sponsor of his election in to the position of 'Post Master General' with no experience of the role or the way the USPS is run and whose first action was to remove thirty three qualified postal management positions stripping the hierarchy back, so he has sole control of the postal service. Then as a Trump allie in hiding he has started to tamper with the way mail in voting scheme is by nearly tripling the cost to states for mail in voters return ballots letters. Are the American people just blind or stupid to the fact such nepotism is allowing Trump to infiltrate every part of the American infrastructure with his 'YES PEOPLE' which could lead to the formation of a dictatorship and civil war where once again we see American families pitted against each other on battlefields, please somebody put us out of the misery we call 'TRUMPISM' one way or another.
On that I need top check out my own backyard in dear old Blighty. Well as I keep stating the current government is filled with money hungry self serving elected officials in it to profit rather than serve their constituents and the proof just keeps popping out. The last Tory Government took around eighteen years to be found out for their backhanded propositions mired in sleaze, but Johnson’s administration is smelling of it already after just one year. Whether they dole out lucrative contracts, help billionaire property developers cut costs, or hand out lifetime seats in the House of Lords, the guiding principle seems to be brazen cronyism, coupled with the arrogance of those who believe they are untouchable along with the fact that rules are for little people not them. As I pointed out the other day about masks not fit for purpose supplied by a private equity firm through a company that had little experience of producing personal protective equipment or indeed anything for that matter with a share capital of just one hundred pounds, yet this company, Prospermill, did have a crucial asset as it was co-owned by one Andrew Mills, adviser to the government, staunch Brexiteer and cheerleader for international trade secretary, Liz Truss. Somehow Prospermill managed to persuade the government to part with two hundred and fifty two million pounds, boasting that it had secured exclusive rights over a PPE factory in China. Just one problem, the products are useless due to there ear loops rather than head loops, basically the government has once again shown their ineptitude to fact check properly before spending tax payers money to corrupt investment bankers, it's the eighties and the rise of the yuppies all over again.
