American tourists baffled by Brexit

[struggle4progress]

By Terry Prone

... Trying to explain the inexplicable is never easy, but gets speedily impossible if you throw in racism, freedom of movement, the Troubles and branded goods like Kelloggs cornflakes disappearing.

Same thing with Boris Johnson. They listened attentively and then asked how an incompetent unattractive philandering liar could have become prime minister. Much the same way as Trump became president of the US, I rashly said.

Well, at least he cleaned up the swamp, the husband said defensively. He what? Yeah, they said, chiming together. Look at all the government people he’s fired.

I absorbed this in silence. It didn’t seem a good idea, on their first day in Ireland, to point out that most of the people Trump has fired were people he had appointed in the first place, adored for a couple of months and then taken against ...

https://www.irishexaminer.com/breakingnews/views/columnists/american-tourists-baffled-by-brexit-its-effect-on-the-border-and-boris-949455.html

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1. Brexit extension: 'Impeach Boris Johnson if law ignored'

Opposition party leaders should be ready to try to impeach the prime minister if he ignores a new no-deal Brexit law, say Plaid Cymru.

Boris Johnson has "already driven a bulldozer through the constitution", said Plaid's Westminster Leader, Liz Saville Roberts.

The law, which should gain royal assent on Monday, aims to stop the UK exiting the EU with no deal on 31 October ...

No prime minister has ever successfully been impeached but Mr Johnson himself previously supported a bid to impeach Tony Blair when he was PM in 2004 ...

https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-wales-politics-49628435

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2. KPMG predicts no-deal Brexit recession in 2020

Phillip Inman
Sun 8 Sep 2019 19.01 EDT

Britain will plunge into its first recession in a decade should the government quit the European Union without a deal, according to the latest in a string of gloomy forecasts about the UK’s fortunes outside the EU’s free trade area.

Economists at the accountancy firm KPMG said that the knock-on effects to Britain’s trade and business confidence of a no-deal Brexit would lead to the economy shrinking by 1.5% next year.

Consumer spending, which has provided between 60% and 80% of growth in the economy over the last three years, would also be severely dented ...

https://www.theguardian.com/business/2019/sep/09/kpmg-predicts-no-deal-brexit-recession-in-2020

[struggle4progress]

3. Brexit heading for dramatic Supreme Court showdown,

Rob Merrick

The battle for Brexit is heading for a nailbiting showdown in the Supreme Court in late October – when the deadline for crashing out of the EU will be just days away – after Boris Johnson’s new strategy was revealed.

Ministers plan to manufacture a legal fight to avoid directly breaking the law when compelled to ask for a further Article 50 extension, while also sidestepping the requirement to comply with it.

The “plan B” paves the way for an unprecedented constitutional crisis after parliament’s deadline for seeking a Brexit delay passes on 19 October – with the threat of the prime minister being jailed for contempt of court ...

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/politics/brexit-news-latest-boris-johnson-court-law-no-deal-article-50-a9096831.html

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4. UK Cabinet on resignation watch

... Mr Johnson has said he would rather be "dead in a ditch" than ask the EU for an extension beyond Halloween.

The Conservative Party leader buttoned down on his position further on the weekend, telling The Mail On Sunday: "I refuse to accept (Jeremy) Corbyn's pointless delay."

His stance has led to fears that more front bench ministers could walk out on the government ...

https://www.rte.ie/news/brexit/2019/0908/1074601-rudd-cabinet/

[struggle4progress]

5. Verhofstadt threatens UK with no trade deal

Mr Verhofstadt, the European Parliament’s Brexit negotiator, took to social media to offer his thoughts on an article in the Financial Times, suggesting Mr Johnson’s plan to diverge from EU rules after Brexit made it less likely that the bloc would sign up for such a trade deal. The report, which cited “officials and diplomats in Brussels”, was posted by Mr Verhofstadt, who commented: “If the UK really does want lower environment and social standards, an ambitious post Brexit EU-UK trade deal will be difficult to achieve and face a precarious ratification process” ...

https://www.express.co.uk/news/world/1175462/brexit-news-boris-johnson-guy-verhofstadt-no-deal-trade-deal-eu-latest-news-update

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6. Who needs Netflix when there's drama like Brexit?

Jane Bowron
05:00, Sep 09 2019

... Westminster in the past few days has been pulsating high-end drama, and history in the making. You remember history, don't you? ...

It's been riveting seeing Bo-Jo (Boris Johnson) try and goad Big Girl's Blouse (Jeremy Corbyn) into an election, and watch the prime minister's reaction as 21 of his Conservative MPs deserted him and he punished them with deselection.

When Bo-Jo's own bro, Jo, decided to stand down from Government, citing tensions between family loyalty and the national interests, the prime minister could've quoted his former Aussie counterpart Malcolm Turnbull's anguished cry when he said of John Key's resignation: "Say it ain't so, bro". Or he could have employed an older, more famous quote and said to his younger sibling, "Et tu Brute" ...

We don't need any streaming service to shove all this through the sieve of the dream machine to make it real. Democracy deserves more than that kind of after-the-event, laidback, armchair-spectator sport ...

https://www.stuff.co.nz/entertainment/tv-radio/115587553/who-needs-netflix-when-weve-got-real-drama-like-brexit

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7. Soubry saw Nazi Salutes at pro-Brexit rally

Basit MahmoodSunday 8 Sep 2019 3:40 pm

The leader of Change UK, Anna Soubry MP, says she had to cancel a speech at a pro-EU rally because she was too intimidated by far-right protesters. Ms Soubry claims a ‘large group of protesters’ with ‘yellow vests and the EDL’ had gathered, as pro-EU demonstrators began their protest and speeches. Ms Soubry was due to speak alongside Peter Tatchell as well as the co-leader of the Green party, Sian Berry, where she was expected to repeat her calls for a ‘people’s vote’ to break the Brexit deadlock. She says that a group of people went on to ‘give Nazi salutes’ and ‘sing in praise of Boris Johnson’ ...

https://metro.co.uk/2019/09/08/anna-soubry-saw-nazi-salutes-pro-brexit-rally-cancelled-speech-10706642/

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8. Taoiseach Varadkar says no-deal would be tragedy, plays down chance of breakthrough

Kevin Doyle
September 8 2019 4:17 PM

IT would be “a tragedy” if Europe wakes up to a no-deal Brexit on November 1, Taoiseach Leo Varadkar has said.

However, ahead of his first meeting with British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tomorrow, Mr Varadkar played down any prospects of a breakthrough ...

https://www.independent.ie/irish-news/politics/taoiseach-leo-varadkar-says-nodeal-brexit-would-be-a-tragedy-as-he-plays-down-chance-of-breakthrough-before-eu-summit-in-october-38478362.html

[Hermit-The-Prog]

9. if only we could send deplorables to Ireland for education

Those tourists were exposed to at least a few of the GOP/Fox lies.

[Initech]

10. Same shit, different country.

It doesn't take a Ph.d in political science to explain the rise in fear and hate crimes, the rise of authoritarianism, and people turning into belligerent assholes. It's the same no matter where you go these days. I am starting to think that the people who designed this current political climate that we live in, had no goal in mind, just to create as much chaos and disruption and division as possible.

[struggle4progress]

11. maybe even some of the same bad actors offstage in the wings

[canetoad]

12. Thoroughly enjoyed the full article

In the Irish Examiner. Thanks for posting.