Hey Ho, it’s Friday once again! Is it just me or are these weeks rolling through damn quick? I feel like this year has flown by and nothing has been accomplished especially considering it is the worst year on record since the second world war started in Europe and guess what that was due to a fascist power hungry leader as well. Speaking of fascist leaders let’s take a look at what has been happening overnight shall we?
So in America it was the big night of the cancelled debate where both candidates chose to do their own town hall style question and answer sessions televised by rival organisations at the same time. But I have to say in Trump’s case it was more of a question, deflect and argue session while Biden was calm and composed throughout. Biden wasn’t squeaky clean though as he would not divulge plans for the Supreme Court while Trump, a Republican, declined to disavow a bizarre online conspiracy. Both candidates were on the defensive at times on their records, Trump for a range of issues and Biden on race. One of the biggest talking points came from Trump’s Town hall where he was asked about and declined to denounce the QAnon group's false conspiracy theory that Democrats are part of a global paedophile ring. Trump at first appeared to praise QAnon followers for opposing paedophilia, but then changed tact stating he knew nothing about the movement. Funny how the most powerful man in America knows nothing about groups spreading slanderess materials about his opponents, especially when he has been accused of, but not proved in fact of such crimes himself.
Another plus from the separate town hall Q&A’s was that Biden wasn’t harassed and interrupted by Trump’s aggressive style which Trump once again showed by arguing with Savannah Guthrie, a co-host of NBC’s Today morning show, but never got the better of her. Trump was at times clearly uncomfortable with Guthrie as the question master, and his campaign attacked Guthrie less than an hour after the event finished, suggesting Guthrie had filled the role of “Joe Biden surrogate” which only served to prove that this was a nightmare scenario for the president, who has restricted himself to right-wing media outlets in recent weeks. What was seen in Guthrie was a journalist not scared to fact-check Trump in real time and at times even pushing back at Trump’s usually unchallenged rhetoric. The tone was set by Guthrie early on, when Trump claimed that the Centres for Disease Control and Prevention had found that “85% of people who wear a mask catch the coronavirus” which Guthrie instantly corrected explaining that the survey actually stated that it had been found that of a group of 150 Covid-19 patients, 85% had said they had worn a mask. One of Guthrie’s most laughable remarks [or was it a dig at Trump, who knows except Guthrie] was in response to Trump claiming one of his retweets regarding a post from a QAnon Twitter account which claimed, baselessly, that Joe Biden had had a navy Seal team killed. Guthrie asked Trump why he had retweeted the conspiracy theory tweet and he replied “That was a retweet! People can decide for themselves!” to which Guthrie responded: “I don’t get that. You’re the president, not someone’s crazy uncle”.
It was Trump who made the most headlines on the night, not for good reasons. He was erratic, argumentative and basically himself, at one point even saying “how cute”, which could be taken the wrong way depending on how you heard or read the context. Biden on the other hand actually ran out of time to answer all the audiences’ questions, so while the TV crew was packing up he stayed and answered those remaining questions, which shows his leadership potential. Either way it isn’t up to me, it isn’t up to the candidates, it all lies in the hands of the voters who have a chance to reverse their current predicament of an inept 74 year old narcissistic egotistical misogynistic fool and vote for a less inept 77 year old former VP whose values seem to align with the American public’s views at the moment. It’s up to you America! But I will say one more thing, which is I think it is unconscionable for the Trump administration to reject pleas for disaster relief funds made by California to aid in the clean-up of the damage created by the recent six weeks of wildfires that ripped through the state which has been hidden by the events of last night’s town halls, so again America I state, only you can make a change!
I could go on and on about the two white privileged men running for office in America, but that would consist of pages and pages of boring stuff, so instead I will return to dear old Blighty where we find more and more areas been considered for tier 3 COVID restrictions. Liverpool’s Mayor where they are already in tier 3 has hit back at the government stating that the government saying ‘they worked with the area’s leaders before putting them in to the very high risk category’ is a blatant lie and that the rules were imposed unilaterally on them. The Greater Manchester area which is under consideration for tier 3 has been told by the secretary of state [Dominic Rabb] that if no agreement can be reached the government has the power to go ahead with the restrictions anyway, while the North east of England have stated they would oppose the plans to do the same to that area. Elsewhere Lancashire have agreed to go in to tier 3 lockdown, which begs the question are the government going to just keep putting area after area in to localised lockdown when their own scientists have recommended a small scale ‘circuit breaker’ national lockdown to prevent further spreading of the virus which would be more of an advantage than the present method. What is been seen is an authoritarian style government imposing their will on the people without any type of debate or compromise. As a nation England is been disrespected by its government while Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland leaders at least take consultations and hear from concerned parties. On the back of this authoritarian style of governing, senior Tories have warned Johnson that he is facing a growing rebellion on his own backbenches, as some politicians are claiming that the financial support being offered to hospitality venues is inadequate, given the significant impact that England's restrictions will have on their ability to operate.
This revolt is because the government in its wisdom has decided that pubs, restaurants and hotels in Tier 2 areas can only accept groups from the same household limiting the style of groups they can accept, while pubs and bars in Tier 3 will be forced to close unless they prove they can operate as a restaurant. These new restrictions are putting a lot more businesses at risk of bankruptcy as those business will not be eligible for government support unless they are forced to close entirely by the strictest Tier 3 measures. This government is not working ethically or sensibly when it comes to the livelihoods of millions of people nationwide, dumping the United Kingdom in to what could be the worst economic recession or even depression since the 1920’s as the nations climbed out of the deadly costs of a World War and the ‘Spanish Flu’ pandemic which followed it.
Another thing coming from the Tories is the way they show boat while forgetting certain factual evidence. Johnson promised more police on the streets which is contradictive to the actual facts that English police force sizes have been reduced by 21000 officers, 23000 support staff, and 600 actual police stations while budgets have been slashed. The worst of the actions taken by this and previous Tory cabinets whilst in power is the fact that law enforcement resources are now been stretched due to the government requiring police officers to act as babysitters making sure the general public and businesses adhere to the COVID lockdown restriction they have implemented since March of this year and what do the Tories do? They send the Home Secretary [Priti Patel] out on to the streets unmasked to accompany police as they patrolled the streets of Ealing as a publicity stunt trying to push the fact that they have suddenly found sixty million pounds to fund more ‘Bobbies on the Beat’ which would not have been needed if the before mentioned cuts had not been made in the first place. Yet more ‘BS’ from a failing primeminister and his cabinet.
You know as a race of people the world has become a smaller place due to faster travel and technology, but it is still the same when it comes to the mentality of change which includes equality, liberty and freedom as well as climate. There are those for and those against. Yet it always comes across as the people in power are the ones who back away from change the most, as proven in Trump’s fascist outlook wanting to run a country like a business right out of the eighteenth century or Johnson’s arrogance to think the UK can survive without the EU harking back to pre-first world war times when men in top hats and tails controlled the power and suffragettes fought for women’s rights or the authoritarianism of the communist blocks which has kept its peoples downtrodden for over century. As a global community nothing will change unless we the people orchestrate change through our votes for a less fascist, dictatorial regimes of the future. On that I will call it a day,
Rant you tomorrow!
Back Monday.
