Our bigly armada is...somewhere! Watch out, gentleman! Trump cont..

[TheClaws]

As the armada appears in waters nowhere near where it was said to be, Trump blusters on in his usual dignified, courtly manner. Easter weekend had us worried about nuclear strikes; DT put a fair bit of work into his golf swing. Business as usual! Carry on, everyone!

Morning all

I suspect the Georgia result could depend on Trump and on the Republican candidate positions.
If she's too extreme, then she could lose. If she's moderate she's more likely to win.

Bloody hell, I'm sitting next to someone speaking French on the phone. Should I mention any battles? :)

Caroline O.‏ @RVAwonk 12h12 hours ago
I called it in Jan: Trump's EO targets H-1B work visas, but not H-2A/H-2B visas. You know why? Because he hires foreign workers himself. twitter.com/RVAwonk/status/826575146102226945 …

Gah! Ossoff was so, so close! Am i reading this right, that the run off will be in June? That seems a long time right now and plenty of time for another 3% of people in Georgia to realise Trump is crazy mad. Assuming he hasn't already been impeached by then.

However, this gives Dems until June to encourage more people to vote. Aaaaaand it also means that it gives the GOP more time to annoy and disgust people between now and June - they've got some new EOs coming out soon, plus if Trump and a number of GOP get taken down, the GOP reputation will take a beating and may cause some to vote Dem. It's not necessarily a bad thing.

They just keep poking the bees nest, don't they?

Telegraph World News‏Verified account @TelegraphWorld 9m9 minutes ago
More
US 'sword stands ready', Mike Pence warns North Korea www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2017/04/19/us-sword-stands-ready-mike-pence-warns-north-korea/?utm_source=dlvr.it&utm_medium=twitter …

The Guardian‏Verified account @guardian 11m11 minutes ago
Election 2017: May seeks MPs' backing for early vote – politics live trib.al/AHsZ7BO

To be honest, I'm not sure she'll get it. In this time where we are getting decisions from government that floor us regularly, I'm interested to see what happens.

Huffington Post UK‏Verified account @HuffPostUK 13m13 minutes ago
More
Tim Farron branded an 'absolute disgrace' after excruciating Channel 4 interview: huff.to/2om1buL

The Independent‏Verified account @Independent 20m20 minutes ago
Theresa May scheduled the election to distract from Tory fraud scandal, say MPs ind.pn/2pQx2UP

The Independent‏Verified account @Independent 20m20 minutes ago
Ivanka Trump faces new conflict of interest allegations after winning valuable Chinese business deals ind.pn/2pxfxt7

Bigly place mark

Koala Didn't mean it, but I love it!

Ukip leader Paul Nuttall suggested Ms May's election announcement may have been motivated in part to avoid "the prospect of a slew of Tory-held by-elections caused by the seeming systematic breach of electoral law at the last election, predominantly in places where Ukip were pressing the Conservatives hard".

Possibly not the best idea for UKIP to be sticking their heads above the parapet on this, given they're being accused of the same breach of electoral law in the same election.

Ukip failed to declare election expenses in seat lost by Nigel Farage
www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2016/06/13/ukip-failed-to-declare-election-expenses-in-seat-lost-by-nigel-f/

Calls to investigate South Thanet UKIP election costs
www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-39055343

(Of course, that could just be an accusation. Wouldn't want to assume accusation = guilt. I hope Hope Not Hate have handed their information to the police.)

I'm pretty sure May will get her snap election. Corbyn, living in his own weird world, supports it because he thinks he'll do well.

Re Twitler's latest moronic tweets: I really don't understand how anyone thinks he's doing a good job, never mind the highly educated and intelligent people I know who support him.

Placemarking

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
To be very clear: PM needs 434 MPs to vote in favour of the motion "that there shall be an early parliamentary general election"...

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
... an abstention is effectively a vote against the GE on these terms...PM then have to or get someone else to table no confidence motion

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
Id have thought the political theatre of forcing a PM to table a no confidence motion in herself, might have tempted the Opposition, but no

Faisal Islam‏ @faisalislam
E.g. Corbyn could've said: happy to negotiate terms for Lab to vote for GE, but if PM wants to unilaterally, confidence mechanism available

Interesting article in the context of Trump/GOP voters (and not only, of course):

WHY FACTS DON’T CHANGE OUR MINDS
www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/02/27/why-facts-dont-change-our-minds?mbid=social_facebook

Genuinely, how on earth can Corbyn think he'll do well? This is surely going to be a one subject campaign, and his support of Brexit doesn't bode well for him amongst potential Labour voters who are Remainers and shocked at the referendum result.

Maybe he thinks it will become a Brexit quasi-referendum.

Ups, my bad. I hadn't realised that Corbyn was for soft-Brexit.

Do you think he may change his position for the election?

Morning
Thanks for the new thread The Claws

Michael Crick‏ @MichaelLCrick
BREAKING: The CPS have told Channel 4 News tonight that they are considering charges against more than 30 individuals. #electionexpenses

Mitch Benn @MitchBenn**
In case you were wondering, THIS is why we're having an election in June; the Tories might lose their majority if we don't. Utterly cynical.

Mitch Benn‏ @MitchBenn**
Replying to @MitchBenn**
And if Corbyn wasn't so thick and obstinate, he'd have realised this and vetoed the election. The Tories could have been OUT by autumn.

What a fantastic try by Ossof.

Good luck to him at the next stage.

According to the NYT Handal is a fairly mainstream Republican - I guess the questions are whether the Reps can unite or whether there are too many different splinter groups, whether the Dems can get their vote out again, and whether non-voters decide to vote now they know it could go either way.

But a fantastic result!

Sorry meant to post this link to the NYT

www.nytimes.com/2017/04/18/us/politics/georgia-special-election-jon-ossoff.html?_r=0