Westminstenders: Pah International Law. Who needs it?

[RedToothBrush]

I mean its not as if trade deals and human rights are relevant is it?

(sorry eating my dinner so must be brief)

@HoneysuckIejasmine

Ruth Bader Ginsberg has died.

Mitch McConnell confirms they'll get to push a judge through before election.

This is major.

Ginsburg was desperately trying to hold on til the election.

Her death now is a disaster tbh.

The ambition of the hard liners in the trump administration is to destroy the constitution. This potentially gives them the ability to do so now.

It certainly doesn't bode well for women's rights.

Interesting timing, given the Hitachi loss.

www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-8706033/Smart-meters-used-switch-electricity-without-warning-compensation.html

Government mulls emergency measures that would enable networks to SWITCH OFF your electricity without warning or compensation

Ofgem reviewing plans to give energy networks the ability to shut down domestic electricity supplies 
A new sort of smart meter would need to be installed in every home in the UK 
Would have the ability to switch off high usage devices such as electric vehicle chargers and central heating systems 
Sources close to discussions told us that government is 'open' to proposing legislation to support these powers

Yy Red, absolute disaster. Poor Ruth, she deserved a retirement but had to keep battling to keep these monsters in line. It does not bode well at all. America is lost as a progressive nation.

@DGRossetti

Interesting timing, given the Hitachi loss.

www.dailymail.co.uk/money/bills/article-8706033/Smart-meters-used-switch-electricity-without-warning-compensation.html

Government mulls emergency measures that would enable networks to SWITCH OFF your electricity without warning or compensation

Ofgem reviewing plans to give energy networks the ability to shut down domestic electricity supplies 
A new sort of smart meter would need to be installed in every home in the UK 
Would have the ability to switch off high usage devices such as electric vehicle chargers and central heating systems 
Sources close to discussions told us that government is 'open' to proposing legislation to support these powers</div></div>

There was a poster on MN a few years ago who was dead against smart meters for this reason. I have never got a smart meter because they were right - having come up against the sheer incompetence of energy companies many times, I don't trust them not to completely screw up and cut people off.

This is major.[] Ginsburg was desperately trying to hold on til the election.[] Her death now is a disaster tbh. [] The ambition of the hard liners in the trump administration is to destroy the constitution. This potentially gives them the ability to do so now.

I have to be honest. If your constitution hinges on the death of an 87 - or 94 - year old woman, then you were in the shit a long time ago.

There's a odd line from a Led Zeppelin song that seems to echo now much more than the 70s when it was written

...our time is flying - see the candle burning low,
It is the new world rising, from the shambles of the old
(If we could just join hands ...)

There's also a line about "all this wonder of earthly plunder will leave us anything to show ..."

There was a poster on MN a few years ago who was dead against smart meters for this reason.

I immediately decided to never have one when they lied trick more credulous souls into getting them fitted ...

I forget exactly what it was about but there were people in the States who were having their water and electricity switched off. I think it was for something like non payment of state fines or something else really minor. At present i believe the situation in the uk is that you cant have your water cut off even if you dont pay your bills due to your humsn rights. Its a bit more complex for gas and electricity.

But yes i think our lack of long term planning for electricity is that we are headed for brown outs. Im keen to get solar panels for the house as its suitable to do that. Its just that at present there arent the massive subsidies available which the people we know who have it, were able to get. Im sure its something we will eventually invest in. It hadnt really occurred to me that it might be more necessary than we thought. A story worth keeping an eye on then...

And no its not fair that people like us have the financial option to avoid this scenario happening to us.

Smart meters won’t work with my 400 yo 3ft thick walls and ropey Internet. However we get regular power outages in high winds so it all balances out I suppose.

We never got a smart meter because we have one of the old style meters with the disc that goes round - when the sun shines on our solar panels it goes backwards and rolls back some of the electricity we’ve used

The panels don’t do us any good in a power cut though, RTB. Because the system is designed to send excess power to the grid, it shuts off altogether during a power cut, or it would be hazardous for people working on the line. It would be nice if we could keep our power if the government decided to cut us off though. In that scenario, it would also be useful to invest in batteries to store the power - we considered it when we had our panels installed, but it was prohibitively expensive back then.

I decided against a smart meter because of information that could be accessed by anyone else
and yes, being able to switch off power to a household for reasons unrelated to electricity bills was also one of my quiet concerns

Not just the company that would have that means, but also a government
Handy to be able to switch off or punish dissidents

We're in a conservation area so can't put solar panels on our roof

We've seen some solar panels in a local garden of a similar house, on what looks like a fancy summer house. Problem is that that garden is on a south facing slope - whereas our garden is a north facing slope, with a very high brick wall at the back, so would get limited sun.

re Ginsberg replacement:

iirc when Obama left office, there were judges that had been awaiting approval for months, but blocked by a Republican Congress

Can the Democrats in the House of Reps block a Trump appointee ?
Or are POTUS and Senate sufficient to push through a far right Trumper
(e.g. one who quietly promised e.g. to reverse any future criminal convictions of Trump or his gang)

That's going to be interesting: dh and ds we're discussing just that this morning. Mitt Romney is unlikely to fall in line with a Republican Trump nominee and there's another Republican senator who is also a waverer (can't remember her name). That would make it 51:49. Just need one more....

Ginsberg article from The Atlantic

www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2020/09/ruth-bader-ginsburg-dies/616132/?utm_source=pocket-newtab-global-en-GB

Looks like the future of SCOTUS all hangs on Senate Republican votes:

Kurt Andersenn@KBAndersen*

Two years ago, @LindseyGrahamSC, the current chair of the Senate Judiciary Committee, said this about filling a SCOTUS seat in 2020:
“If an opening comes in the last year of President Trump's term, and the primary process has started, we'll wait to the next election.”

Jonathan Alterr@jonathanalter*

Very tough for Gardner to vote with McConnell unless he's sure he's a dead duck.
Which he isn't.
Same logic for Collins.
Murkowski already on record against.

Democrats only need one more (Grassley? Romney? Alexander?) to block nomination.

< sounds a bit optimistic about Gardner & Collins - they'll want lucrative sinecures after they leave the Senate - but Romney has defied Trump before >

If Trump rushes its because he knows he will LOSE in November
a POTUS who knew they were going to win
would wait
but Trump knows he is a loser

Apparently according to dh (don't know if it is mentioned in The Atlantic article), the quickest a Supreme Court judge has been appointed is 47 days.

There are 46 days until the election.....

Although I wouldn't put it past Trump to try to appoint after the election, even if he's lost, as he is still technically POTUS until 25 January

Which would cause a constitutional nightmare

@ListeningQuietly

If Trump rushes its because he knows he will LOSE in November a POTUS who knew they were going to win would wait but Trump knows he is a loser

.... imo, like many narcissists, he wants what he wants NOW, like a tantrumming toddler even if he could wait, he doesn't want to

Did you see that one of Raab’s bodyguards left a loaded gun on a plane ? www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-54216511

Is this evidence that incompetence is contagious? If so, I think the whole cabinet needs to self isolate immediately

Remember it's possible to draw the presidential election. At which point SCOTUS swing into action.

8 supremes means SCOTUS can deadlock too.

Quite aside from the remote disconnection capability, my aversion to smart meters comes from the mendacity in pushing them ..

Smart meters save you money

OK, well fit one to my water and gas first then ...

It's not moving the 200 jobs that are concerning (to those of us not among them !)
but the reason for this happening:

https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2020-09-18/jpmorgan-to-relocate-200-london-bankers-as-no-deal-brexit-looms

JPMorgan Chase & Co. told about 200 staff Friday to plan to move out of London
because it sees little prospect of the U.K. winning a deal on financial services as the nation prepares to exit the European Union.

Hi.
I see the great RBG has died. An amazing woman. RIP.
I'm busy moving my mum into more suitable accommodation so the news of potential lockdown is stressing me out.
Looks like our Northumberland holiday is off too.
Not much to celebrate atm.

I see there's been some pictures published to mark Johnson's first year as PM.

www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-8535427/amp/Boris-Johnson-pictured-rescue-dog-Dilyn-meeting-key-figures-COVID-19-talks.html?__twitter_impression=true&fbclid=IwAR2UkwLMN7gNfo0cHfDTPE1lQB2Dhd26QMzePCT0SOLLCTOsLWu1Rczkc_s

Is it just me or do all these pictures look like they need captions for whats going on?

And in none of them does Johnson look in control or statesmanly.

Instead he looks like he's trying desparately how to work out how to log onto his facebook account to see if he's got enough likes yet today in one of them and he looks utterly terrified in most of the rest of them.