Kicking a man when he's down.

[Gob]

So you prohibited the Irish, and all Catholics, from entering the country?

I was talking about internment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius

[Gob]

And that worked out so well, didn't it? In the end the violence was stopped only by sitting down and negotiating with the terrorists, something which in today's climate would never be seen as acceptable.

Would the IRA have come to the table without internment? We'll never know.

However, with the IRA there was a structured and defined leadership, with ISIS there isn't, so sitting down and chatting with them over tea and cakes at Downing Street isn't really going to be an option.

[BoSoxGal]

What would be the criteria for internment? What evidence would suffice to deprive persons of their liberty absent actual criminal acts or planning criminal acts?

[Big RR]

Simple, once the rule of law is abrogated it's whatever the president (or maybe the majority of congress and the president) wants (especially of the courts are compliant). And people will stand and cheer as the concepts of freedom and liberty are further stuffed into the sewer.

[Guinevere]

So you prohibited the Irish, and all Catholics, from entering the country?

I was talking about internment.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Operation_Demetrius

From your link:

The introduction of internment, the way the arrests were carried out, and the abuse of those arrested, led to mass protests and a sharp increase in violence. Amid the violence, about 7,000 people fled or were forced out of their homes. The interrogation techniques used on the internees were described by the European Commission of Human Rights in 1976 as torture, but the European Court of Human Rights (ECHR) ruled on appeal in 1978 that while the techniques were "inhuman and degrading", they did not constitute torture.[2] It was later revealed that the British government had withheld information from the ECHR and that a policy of torture had in fact been authorized by British government ministers.[3] In December 2014, the Irish government asked the ECHR to revise its 1978 judgement.[4]

No thanks. I'll stick with the rule of law, not whatever some tin pot authoritarian leader claims the rule of law to be.

[Big RR]

I agree. And I think any violation of that rule must be exposed and remedied, to keep it viable; in the end, it is our only protection.

[Lord Jim]

In the other Big News on this Very Big News Day, the British exit poll showed the Tories coming up 12 seats short of a majority, meaning a "Hung Parliament" but the trends in the early returns are showing the exit poll projected results to have significantly over-stated the Labour vote and understated the turnout for the Conservatives...

Wouldn't be the first time that exit polls have turned out to be wrong...

[ex-khobar Andy]

Results from the UK general election so far (8.08 PM my time; 2.08 AM UK time) seem to be going against Teresa May. Losses for the Tories and SNP (but I think no-one expected the Scottish Nationalist to hold onto their huge gains in 2015) and UK Independence Party which is a Trumpish force. May called the election (UK does not have fixed terms like the US and, with some limitations, the PM can call an election when it looks as if it might be advantageous to do so) in order to strengthen her majority so that she has more clout in Brexit negotiations. Well it looks as if that has backfired and my guess is that before the week is out she will be out and we will have a new PM. It won't be Corbyn but the Tories, if still the largest party which seems likely, will pick someone else. Which inexorably and sadly leads us to Boris Johnson. It is still possible under the UK system that if he can cobble together some sort of coalition, Corbyn could become PM but I think that is fantasy land.

Edited to correct a couple of typos. I plead fat finger syndrome, FF

[Gob]

May will not be PM tomorrow morning.

[RayThom]

Live coverage:

Exit Poll Predicts Conservatives Will Be Largest Party - But NO Majority
http://www.mirror.co.uk/news/politics/l ... 7-10581988

[Sue U]

There's not going to be a lot of energy and enthusiam within the party apparatus to try and turn out a big Labour vote to make him Prime Minister...

I don't know if May will hit the 100 seat majority mark, but its very tough see how she wont wind up with a much more robust majority then she has now...

Ahem.

[ex-khobar Andy]

I wish I had seen that post from LJ - I might have been able to take another $20 off him as I did with his woefully inaccurate GWB predictions in 2004.

[Gob]

Hung parliament.....I wish....

[Lord Jim]

There's not going to be a lot of energy and enthusiam within the party apparatus to try and turn out a big Labour vote to make him Prime Minister...

I don't know if May will hit the 100 seat majority mark, but its very tough see how she wont wind up with a much more robust majority then she has now...

Ahem.

We need to bring back unlimited post editing...

[BoSoxGal]

[MajGenl.Meade]

http://www.nbcnews.com/storyline/brexit ... -s-n770176

LONDON — In fact, the Conservatives lost in most of the electoral districts in which May campaigned hardest.

May's aloof awkwardness was exposed last week when she was asked in an interview to name the naughtiest thing she had done in her life. Blushing, the pastor's daughter said the worst thing she could think of was running through a farmer's field of crops as a child.

As the results came in early Friday, former minister Osborne brutally observed that May was now "probably reflecting that the worst thing she’s done in her life is no longer running through a wheat field.”

[Big RR]

A hung Parliament it is--318 seats for the Tories, short of a majority; the papers are talking of a minority government with the backing of a conservative northern irish party holding 10 votes.

[Lord Jim]

That's what I'm hearing as being the most likely outcome too...

Ordinarily after such a colossal self-inflicted fuck-up, even being able to retain power, you would expect the PM to resign...

But with the Brexit negociations due to start in 10 days, my understanding is there's not a lot of appetite among the Conservative MPs for a prolonged and nasty leadership fight so May will probably stay on, at least for a while...

(Of course now that I've predicted that, she'll probably be out this afternoon...)

[Big RR]

That seems to be the general feeling, and I would imagine replacing her might split the conservatives into two (or more) camps, making a no confidence vote a likely outcome--I doubt they would chance it. But time will tell.

[Lord Jim]

DUP leader vows to help bring stability to UK with Conservatives

The Democratic Unionist leader and most recent first minister of Northern Ireland, Arlene Foster, says she wants to “bring stability to our nation” by backing Theresa May and the Conservatives to continue in power.

Foster said in Belfast on Friday afternoon that she was entering discussions with May over the details of any arrangement that would prop up a minority government.

Foster said the election in Northern Ireland, which saw 10 DUP MPs, including two new ones, elected to the Commons, was a “great result” for the union.

She confirmed that May had been in contact with her on Friday morning about gaining DUP support for a Tory administration.

“I make no apology for wanting the best for Northern Ireland and all of the union,” Foster said at the Stormont hotel in Belfast just across the road from the main entrance to the Stormont parliament, which remains shut down while talks begin next week to restore devolution.

The DUP leader said her party’s triumph and the result in Scotland, where the Scottish National party suffered losses, had “sent a clear and resounding message” to those who wished to tear the UK apart.

DUP figures insist their relationship with May’s team has been close since she became prime minister 11 months ago, and that late-night talks had been driven by their dismay at the possibility of Jeremy Corbyn becoming prime minister.

A DUP source said: “We want there to be a government. We have worked well with May. The alternative is intolerable. For as long as Corbyn leads Labour, we will ensure there’s a Tory PM.”

It has been reported that the two parties do not believe it necessary to enter a formal coalition to govern.

Senior DUP figures claimed they moved quickly to form an agreement to stop any chance of Corbyn entering No 10.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/20 ... rn-ireland

If for some reason this doesn't get worked out, (and obviously both parties have very strong incentive to reach an agreement) the most likely result would be another election, not a Corbyn-led Labour government...

If you add up the seats for all of the other parties and every independent (except for the Tories and the DUP) you only get to 321; five short of a majority....

I think it's unlikely that a DUP backed minority Conservative government will be stable enough to last a full five years, but then I didn't think the Tory Lib-Dem coalition government would last a full term either...

The only really bright spot I see in this election is the substantial drop (21 seats) for the Scottish National Party; that makes the prospect of a second Independence Referendum a dead issue, at least for the time being...