Theresa May Triggers Britain's Exit from EU

Apparently this will happen in 720 days. I guess they have that much time to negotiate the terms of the ouster.

The EU -- mostly Germany, I imagine -- insists it will sign no separate trade agreement with a UK that has regained its full sovereignty. It will be treated as just another country, and have no more favorable trade status than, say, Iran.

The EU refuses a trade agreement -- which would be mutually beneficial to both the UK and EU -- because they want to make Britain's exit as painful for Britain (and for the EU, if necessary) to discourage the various other states to not follow the UK's lead.

The UK wants such an agreement, and suggests that if it doesn't secure one it may withdraw from security agreements it has with the EU. Which would compromise anti-terrorism efforts and, I imagine, might undermine NATO in the bargain.

May says "We should always put our citizens first" which sounds a little Trumpian, and I was going to make a the pull-quote of this article.

But I was disappointed to see that would be misleading. Actually, in context, she's arguing that Brussels (or really Berlin) and the UK have a responsibility to all their respective citizens, who would be harmed by a punitive, vindicative Brexit. She's not really declaring "UK First." She's just saying let's put aside hurt feelings, bruised egos, and this silly idea that the abstract idea of "Europe" is more important than the welfare of actual Europeans.

Meanwhile, the Scots, who voted against breaking from the UK partly because they wanted to remain part of the EU (Scotland has always sought European allies to balance the UK's power), now want a second vote for independence, and will explore "the next steps" in April.

This opinion piece argues that Scotland's independence is on weaker footing now than it was in 2014, because oil revenues (which help keep Scotland afloat) have dropped since 2014, when oil was $90 per barrel, and now is only $45 or so. Add into that Scotland's perpetual debts (subsidized by the UK), and Scotland just might not have the money to really stand on its own feet.

Excerpts from her formal notice to EU below:

On 23 June last year, the people of the United Kingdom voted to leave the European Union. As I have said before, that decision was no rejection of the values we share as fellow Europeans. Nor was it an attempt to do harm to the European Union or any of the remaining member states.
On the contrary, the United Kingdom wants the European Union to succeed and prosper. Instead, the referendum was a vote to restore, as we see it, our national self-determination. We are leaving the European Union, but we are not leaving Europe -- and we want to remain committed partners and allies to our friends across the continent.
Earlier this month, the United Kingdom Parliament confirmed the result of the referendum by voting with clear and convincing majorities in both of its Houses for the European Union (Notification of Withdrawal) Bill. The Bill was passed by Parliament on 13 March and it received Royal Assent from Her Majesty The Queen and became an Act of Parliament on 16 March.
Today, therefore, I am writing to give effect to the democratic decision of the people of the United Kingdom. I hereby notify the European Council in accordance with Article 50(2) of the Treaty on European Union of the United Kingdom's intention to withdraw from the European Union.
This letter sets out the approach of Her Majesty's Government to the discussions we will have about the United Kingdom's departure from the European Union and about the deep and special partnership we hope to enjoy -- as your closest friend and neighbour -- with the European Union once we leave. We believe that these objectives are in the interests not only of the United Kingdom but of the European Union and the wider world too.
It is in the best interests of both the United Kingdom and the European Union that we should use the forthcoming process to deliver these objectives in a fair and orderly manner, and with as little disruption as possible on each side. We want to make sure that Europe remains strong and prosperous and is capable of projecting its values, leading in the world, and defending itself from security threats. We want the United Kingdom, through a new deep and special partnership with a strong European Union, to play its full part in achieving these goals. We therefore believe it is necessary to agree the terms of our future partnership alongside those of our withdrawal from the European Union.

That's the part that, to me, seems like a diplomatic way of saying "Be nice or we won't be nice."

Later the diplomatically-worded threat is repeated:

...
It is for these reasons that we want to be able to agree a deep and special partnership, taking in both economic and security cooperation, but it is also because we want to play our part in making sure that Europe remains strong and prosperous and able to lead in the world, projecting its values and defending itself from security threats. And we want the United Kingdom to play its full part in realising that vision for our continent.

We want that, if you're nice.

...
We should begin technical talks on detailed policy areas as soon as possible, but we should prioritise the biggest challenges. Agreeing a high-level approach to the issues arising from our withdrawal will of course be an early priority. But we also propose a bold and ambitious Free Trade Agreement between the United Kingdom and the European Union. This should be of greater scope and ambition than any such agreement before it so that it covers sectors crucial to our linked economies such as financial services and network industries.

Posted by: Ace at 05:24 PM

Comments

(Jump to bottom of comments)

1 Now to the back of the queue, bitch.

Posted by: Ex-Prez'nit ShitMidas at March 29, 2017 05:25 PM (8ZskC)

2 Awesome.

Posted by: Flyboy at March 29, 2017 05:25 PM (duuPH)

3 Theresa May Triggers Britain's Exit from EU

More hate speech supporting political assassinations from an extremist right-wing blog, I see.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:27 PM (8ZskC)

4 England for the Engles!

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:27 PM (8ZskC)

5 I'm so triggered right now. I can't even.

Posted by: Brea Xit at March 29, 2017 05:28 PM (eXSOZ)

6 The EU refuses a trade agreement -- which would be mutually beneficial to both the UK and EU -- because they want to make Britain's exit as painful for Britain (and for the EU, if necessary) to discourage the various other states to not follow the UK's lead.

This is known in diplomatic circles as the "Flemish Flounce."

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:28 PM (8ZskC)

7 Is it just me or does the U.K. seem like they're dragging their feet on this as much as possible?

Posted by: Joe, living mobile at March 29, 2017 05:28 PM (CB81/)

8 BOOM! HEADSHOT!

Posted by: The Prime Minister at March 29, 2017 05:29 PM (rUIbB)

9 Triggered!

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (tHwdc)

10
Apparently this will happen in 720 days.

What a joke. It's already been almost 300 days since the election of Brexit!

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (J/h7H)

11 So is Germany now free to attack Russia for lebensraum again?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (8ZskC)

12 The EU has never been to GB's benefit. GB was carrying the rest of Europe and leaving the EU was to their benefit. The rank and file Brits knew this which is why they voted to leave.

And leaving will not hurt them even if they don't get any special deals.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (mpXpK)

13 In a sense, this is like when you've nutted and are thinking how to politely excuse yourself to go watch sports or read blog comments. At your own place.

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (U3e2y)

14
This is the British parliament dragging its feet.

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (J/h7H)

15 And what praytell motivates the foolish Leftist Scots to become like Belarus, as Niall Ferguson put it?

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (ujg0T)

16 Regardless of what "punitive" measures Brussels elects, the EU will fall apart in a matter of time.

It's - wait for it! - UNSUSTAINABLE.

Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (tHwdc)

17 Shit, the UK should know at least one or two people who can show them the "Irish goodbye"!

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (U3e2y)

18 16 Regardless of what "punitive" measures Brussels elects, the EU will fall apart in a matter of time.

It's - wait for it! - UNSUSTAINABLE.
Posted by: Miley, the Duchess at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (tHwdc)

The Statute of Limitations on German War Guilt is lapsing.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (ujg0T)

19 Regardless of what "punitive" measures Brussels elects, the EU will fall apart in a matter of time.

BUT WE HAVE CHOCOLATES!!!

Posted by: Brussels at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (8ZskC)

20 15
And what praytell motivates the foolish Leftist Scots to become like Belarus, as Niall Ferguson put it?

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (ujg0T)

The Scots want to go full out communist.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (mpXpK)

21 What! No trigger warning?

Posted by: Lily (formerly from HotAir now from AoSHQ) assassin in the night at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (eSu22)

22 You know who else triggered a brexit?

Posted by: flounder, rebel, vulgarian, deplorable, winner at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (GX63o)

23
720 days is more than enough time to hold another referendum vote on Brexit. And next time the Super Nationalists will NOT lose no matter what.

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:33 PM (J/h7H)

24 The first of many -xits.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:33 PM (iT57s)

25 Obama actually went over and threatened the Brits. I would have thrown him out of the country. It was plain to see that he hated the Brits and loved him some muzzies.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (mpXpK)

26 The first of many -xits.

-xits or war. The earf if overdue.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (4Utw1)

27 From what I've read, Scotland leaving would be like California leaving the US. The country's liberal voting block would be gone.

Would anyone here make the case that the rest of the UK should go to war with Scotland if they "seceded"?

It' still baffles me why our Civil War had to happen.

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (IeW7Z)

28 Two years of negotiations over how much Britain has to pay to get out of the EU. You know this is going to be a one way negotiation.

If I were King, I would just close the borders and issue some Imperial Decrees. Out! Done! Boom! Everyone has had nine months warning.

Posted by: Tonopah Talent, Inc at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (8/JWs)

29 You know who else wanted England to capitulate?

Yeah. Him.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (8ZskC)

30 May sounds like a leader whilst the EUnuchs sound like petulant children.

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (V/rjX)

31 It' still baffles me why our Civil War had to happen.
Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:34 PM (IeW7Z)

Besides the unprovoked northern aggression, you mean?

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:35 PM (8ZskC)

32 20 15
And what praytell motivates the foolish Leftist Scots to become like Belarus, as Niall Ferguson put it?

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (ujg0T)

The Scots want to go full out communist.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (mpXpK)

Yes, they do vote Labour more than the rest of the UK. But Brussels won't take back in another Greece, with nasty weather at that.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:35 PM (ujg0T)

33 720 days? Is this a typo?

Posted by: BourbonChicken at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (VdICR)

34 Theresa May kinda looks like Mary Worth.

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (U3e2y)

35
Apparently this will happen in 720 days.

What a joke. It's already been almost 300 days since the election of Brexit!

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:30 PM (J/h7H)

----

I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (iT57s)

36 Scotland seems to be a Leftist stronghold

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (GPaiX)

37 Hey, let us go now and you can have Ireland.

Posted by: Britain at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (8ZskC)

38 The first of many -xits.
...........

There's a cream for that.

Posted by: wth at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (HgMAr)

39 It's not EU it's the MEs.

Posted by: DaveA at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (FhXTo)

40 There are no more William Wallaces in Scotland.

Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (mpXpK)

41 Is the 720 days though just the time to renegotiate a trade treaty, or could the Brexit be stopped and reversed in that time period?

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (IeW7Z)

42 Financial and network industries.

London and Heathrow, arguably the financial capital of the world and clearly the biggest in Europe and Haethrow, one of the busiest airports in the word and biggest in Europe. And a half owner of the Chunnel.

Over to you, circling the bowl EU.

Posted by: JackStraw at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (/tuJf)

43 When in the course of human events...

Posted by: xnycpeasant at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (QtQaN)

44 The Scots used to be so thrifty with their money.

Posted by: Tonopah Talent, Inc at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (8/JWs)

45 I think it's stupid and wrong you voted for Brexit.

By the way we want to vote for Scoexit which is smart and correct.

Posted by: Scotland brainiacs at March 29, 2017 05:37 PM (yIPKR)

46 Scotland seems to be a Leftist stronghold
Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (GPaiX)

Yeah, guys in dresses, so...

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (8ZskC)

47 Another little victory in the long war.
Good on her.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (zsHGH)

48 No, two years more or less.... the fact this creates such a strong reaction from Europeans is sad... but progressivism is based in faith of the system

Posted by: Former mass resident at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (uVmqw)

49 How many teeth will be lost in 720 days?

Posted by: wth at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (HgMAr)

50 I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (iT57s)

Now that was not necessary on a limey-hating thread.

Posted by: flounder, rebel, vulgarian, deplorable, winner at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (GX63o)

51
So with the Trigger I guess it's happy trails for the Brits.

Posted by: Roy Rodgers at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (yfObW)

52 The UK wants such an agreement, and suggests that if it doesn't secure one it may withdraw from security agreements it has with the EU. Which would compromise anti-terrorism efforts and, I imagine, might undermine NATO in the bargain.

If the EU separates from NATO, NATO will be relegated to USA, Canada, Iceland, Norway, UK, Albania, and Turkey.

With a EU collapse, it'd be a three way grab for Europe by Russia, rump NATO, and the nascent Caliphate.

I say we go in and grab the artwork and hot women.

Posted by: The North Atlantic Hat Organization at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (rUIbB)

53 Scotland seems to be a Leftist stronghold
Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 05:36 PM (GPaiX)

Scots.

I should have bred them out when I had the chance.

Posted by: Edward I Longshanks at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (8ZskC)

54 Now that was not necessary on a limey-hating thread.
Posted by: flounder, rebel, vulgarian, deplorable, winner at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (GX63o)

Hating? The support for the Brexit is Anglophilia in Action.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (ujg0T)

55 I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.
Posted by: rd
_________

For sure.

The train left the station, and it wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't revisit it until after the 2nd term (if he gets reelected)

Republicans blew it, and all sides are to blame.

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (IeW7Z)

56 Government-supplied bagpipes and haggis for everyone!!!

Posted by: Brussels at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (8ZskC)

57 Eurocrats are much worse than bureaucrats. And that takes some doin'.

Gee, the US and Britain both finally in charge of their own borders. Ain't we a pair, raggedy men.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (ahlxU)

58 49 How many teeth will be lost in 720 days?
Posted by: wth at March 29, 2017 05:38 PM (HgMAr)

They're never lost. They just get more crooked.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (ujg0T)

59 Two years sounds reasonable to dismantle and restructure something that was in existence for decades.

I allow five years for my national divorce plan.

Posted by: Scotland brainiacs at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (yIPKR)

60
I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.

I'll bet my left nut neither happens.

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (J/h7H)

61 720 days? Shit or get off of the pot.

Posted by: Fritz at March 29, 2017 05:40 PM (MF/hn)

62
So it'll take about 1000 days total for Brexit to happen from the vote.

How absurd.

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 05:41 PM (J/h7H)

63 "oil revenues (which help keep Scotland afloat) have dropped since 2014, when oil was $90 per barrel, and now is only $45 or so"

Not to mention that the majority of the Scots oil is under the North Sea, and those fields are drying out.

They'll still be able to extract oil, but less of it, with higher technical difficulty, and greater capital outlays. While competing with cheaper American fracked oil on export markets.

When swampy-socialist basket case Scotland first started talking about secession, the EU mandarinate, wary of taking on yet another feeble dependency at a time when they have too many of those already, had quietly warned them that EU accession would neither be immediate nor guaranteed.

It'll be interesting to see what Brussels and Strasbourg have to say this time round.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2017 05:41 PM (noWW6)

64 The UK is a nation of shopkeepers. And kufr.

Posted by: Germany at March 29, 2017 05:42 PM (vRcUp)

65
Yes, they do vote Labour more than the rest of the UK. But Brussels won't take back in another Greece, with nasty weather at that.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:35 PM (ujg0T)

Labour has already been replaced in Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP).

The EU would be unlikely to accept an independent Scotland, since it would validate separatist movements in other EU countries, especially Spain (where Catalonia has threatened unilateral independence referendum).

Also, Scotland hates the English, but the EU hates all of the UK... including Scotland.

Posted by: The North Atlantic Hat Organization at March 29, 2017 05:42 PM (rUIbB)

66 Oil is keeping Scotland afloat? If, uh, they lose, uh that, uh, revenue, my concern is, uh, that the Island of Scotland will, uh, tip over and capsize.

Posted by: Hank Johnson, brilliant leader of men and public servant at March 29, 2017 05:42 PM (8nWyX)

67 The Scots used to be so thrifty with their money.

But it isn't their money. It's "free money."

Welfare mentalities can be found in any civilization, any race, any nationality. The problem is when it becomes accepted and commonplace.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:42 PM (iT57s)

68 No pudding for you!

Posted by: Yorkshire Pudding Nazi at March 29, 2017 05:43 PM (HgMAr)

69 The EU? Never heard of it.

Posted by: Charles Gibson at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (ismre)

70 What happened to Scotland? Did all the independent freedom loving Scots go to America? and the peasant class just became welfare class or what?

Posted by: PaleRider at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (eASYU)

71 Actually, I am somewhat surprised that British politicians actually pulled the trigger.

Who will be next to exit? France, Greece, Italy?

There is always a 'what next'.

Posted by: Tonopah Talent, Inc at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (8/JWs)

72 32 20 15
And what praytell motivates the foolish Leftist Scots to become like Belarus, as Niall Ferguson put it?

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:31 PM (ujg0T)

The Scots want to go full out communist.
Posted by: Vic We Have No Party at March 29, 2017 05:32 PM (mpXpK)

Yes, they do vote Labour more than the rest of the UK. But Brussels won't take back in another Greece, with nasty weather at that.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:35 PM (ujg0T)

Bad weather, yes, but they do have haggis and deep-fried Mars bars.

Posted by: Northernlurker at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (hJrjt)

73 "Add into that Scotland's perpetual debts (subsidized by the UK), and
Scotland just might not have the money to really stand on its own feet."

Add into that the fact that 3/4 of todays Scots are hopeless drunks who wouldn't recognize a day's honest work if it jumped on a table while playing a bagpipe and dancing a jig, while it sang "I am a Day's Honest Work!!!"

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (KeRkT)

74 Some guy on NPR was saying one of the reasons Britain voted to leave the EU because they had never known war as the EU had.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (IqV8l)

75 They just hit another big field in the North Sea. But I think it is in English waters, not Scottish.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (iT57s)

76 The U.K. helps save those Euroweenies from their Hun leaders only 75 years ago. Ungrateful bastages.

Posted by: Jack Sock at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (yIPKR)

77 Artwork and hot women..

Venus de Milo perhaps?

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (V/rjX)

78 55 I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.
Posted by: rd
_________

For sure.

The train left the station, and it wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't revisit it until after the 2nd term (if he gets reelected)

Republicans blew it, and all sides are to blame.
Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (IeW7Z)

Declaring defeat when you are in a position of power.... seems kind of silly to me.

Oh.... gee... we didn't get a touchdown on the first play of the game.... I guess we should just head to the locker room....

Posted by: Calif AG at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (NgKpN)

79 Amazing.

Posted by: Chris Hayes at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (ismre)

80 The trouble with Scotland:

[ ] Leftist basket case
[ ] Haggis
[ ] Bagpipes
[ ] I'ts full of Scots

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (8ZskC)

81 Some guy on NPR was saying one of the reasons Britain voted to leave the EU because they had never known war as the EU had.
Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (IqV8l)

======

Those NPR commentators are sharp as marbles, aren't they?

Posted by: Flyboy at March 29, 2017 05:46 PM (duuPH)

82 70 What happened to Scotland? Did all the independent freedom loving Scots go to America? and the peasant class just became welfare class or what?
Posted by: PaleRider at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (eASYU)

My grandfather Campbell came to America when he was 24.

Posted by: Jack Sock at March 29, 2017 05:46 PM (yIPKR)

83 Busy posting day.

The Geordies would drown in booze if it weren't for the English subsidizing them...oh, wait, they magically discovered a huge offshore oil deposit recently that might make them economically viable...so Scots are a future Norway petrowelfare state...

Posted by: JEM at March 29, 2017 05:46 PM (TppKb)

84 The trouble with Scotland:

[ ] Leftist basket case

[ ] Haggis

[ ] Bagpipes

[ ] I'ts full of Scots

------------

Oh, no contest. F'ing Bagpipes.

Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 05:47 PM (c6/9Q)

85 "The [Obamacare] train left the station, and it wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't
revisit it until after the 2nd term (if he gets reelected). Republicans blew it, and all sides are to blame."

It's instructive to recall where the endlessly repeated GOP mantra of "Repeal and replace" originally came from.

It was a napkin-scribble talking point from a flack in Mitch McConnell's policy shop, a guy who later went on to do lobbying work for the crony capitalists at the U.S. Chamber of Commerce.

Gosh, with an intellectual pedigree like that, I can't possibly fathom why there wasn't any actual repeal vote, and why even the comically flaccid redesign proposal failed.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2017 05:47 PM (noWW6)

86 Some guy on NPR was saying one of the reasons Britain voted to leave the EU because they had never known war as the EU had.

Posted by: Bertram Cabot, Jr. at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (IqV8l)

yeah this what happens when leftists go to school and occupy their time with women issues, or African drum studies.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 05:47 PM (aMlLZ)

87 OT - Trump tweet 13 minutes ago...

Today's EO established a commission on combating drug addiction and the opioid crisis. Watch listening session

He finally found a bridge job for Chris Christie.

Posted by: E Depluribus Unum at March 29, 2017 05:47 PM (ZFUt7)

88 Bad weather, yes, but they do have haggis and deep-fried Mars bars.

Posted by: Northernlurker at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (hJrjt)
............

Plus, I've heard there's redhead chicks in all the barns.

Posted by: wth at March 29, 2017 05:47 PM (HgMAr)

89 Sean Connery in The Longest Day, "It takes an Irishman ta play da pipes."

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:48 PM (V/rjX)

90 Those NPR commentators are sharp as marbles, aren't they?

Please tell me this really wasn't the gist of the discussion...that level of sheer stone-faced stupidity can't possibly exist, can it?

Posted by: JEM at March 29, 2017 05:48 PM (TppKb)

91 Labour has already been replaced in Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP).

Socialism plus a feeble witted separatism! I wonder if the Commiecrats will be successful into making the Southwest USA America's Quebec.

The EU would be unlikely to accept an independent Scotland, since it would validate separatist movements in other EU countries, especially Spain (where Catalonia has threatened unilateral independence referendum).

Indeed. i am waiting for Flanders to separate from the rest of Belgium, leaving a Froggy rump state. Talleyrand was probably right.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:49 PM (ujg0T)

92 This is gonna shock a lot of people but....I like Scottish girls.

Again, the accent. But they have a bit of the Aussie wildness about them. Wild rides.

I'm also pro-bagpipe, though. So....grain of salt or two.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 05:49 PM (zsHGH)

93 it seems that a lot of English jokes contain references to Scots...and Scots and vegetables

Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 05:50 PM (c6/9Q)

94 When will the protesters start ramping up?
Are there any claims of Russian collusion yet? Did May have tea and crumpets with the Russian ambassador at any time in her life?

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 05:50 PM (6V6KE)

95 "What happened to Scotland?"

Postwar UK "industrial policy" dictated in Westminster and Whitehall meant that the former entrepreneurial and manufacturing dynamism of the Scots was going to find itself overruled by central planners at every step.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2017 05:50 PM (noWW6)

96 This is gonna shock a lot of people but....I like Scottish girls.

"Shocked" hardly begins to describe it.

Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (8ZskC)

97 Good! I hope this means I don't have to eat anymore Brussel Sprouts!

Posted by: Little English Kid at the Table at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (gbWkA)

98 Please tell me this really wasn't the gist of the discussion...that level of sheer stone-faced stupidity can't possibly exist, can it?

Posted by: JEM at March 29, 2017 05:48 PM (TppKb)

Sure it can, they're leftists.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (aMlLZ)

99 >>>The trouble with Scotland:

[ ] They don't know whether to cultivate all of that peat for whisky or oil.

Posted by: Fritz at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (MF/hn)

100 "'isten ta NPRrrrrr.... we've da bains of rock sturgeons ya hearrrr...."

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (V/rjX)

101 Heck, I hope Scotland does leave the British Union; it'll give those clown-monkeys in CA a good look at what happens when

The leader of Scotland's Conservative Party claimed that 90% of Scots are dependent on state welfare. [IB Times]

the Norks get frisky with their ICBMs.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (ahlxU)

102 *executioner tears guts out with razor sharp scythe*

"FREEDOM!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!" - *dies*

*executioner divides up corpse and distributes parts to the four corners of the EU as a warning*

Posted by: Theresa May at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (zKIA2)

103 Declaring defeat when you are in a position of power.... seems kind of silly to me.

Oh.... gee... we didn't get a touchdown on the first play of the game.... I guess we should just head to the locker room....
Posted by: Calif AG
____________

Remember when Republicans promised on Day 1 to repeal it?

Besides, I'm basically just repeating what Trump said.

He said he would move on and wait for it to implode if he couldn't find a path forward. So I'm taking him at his word, which is always subject to change.

Parts of ObamaCare are here to stay, just like Obama's judicial picks.

Hopefully some pro market reforms can be made along the way.

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (IeW7Z)

104 80 The trouble with Scotland:

[ ] Leftist basket case
[ ] Haggis
[ ] Bagpipes
[ ] I'ts full of Scots

If it's not Scottish, it's Crap!

https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=seN7AKSwMFU

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:52 PM (iT57s)

105 Labour has already been replaced in Scotland by the Scottish National Party (SNP).

SNP removed utterly and completely UK Labour from Scotland, I think the Tories have more (like, uh, one) seat than Labour up there.

Since Geordie Country was of great importance to Labour, the SNP bag of Scotland hurt them vastly.

Posted by: JEM at March 29, 2017 05:52 PM (TppKb)

106 Who will be next to exit? France, Greece, Italy?

There is always a 'what next'.

Posted by: Tonopah Talent, Inc at March 29, 2017 05:44 PM (8/JWs)

Three Euro-skeptic parties in Italy are polling, combined, at over 50%.

Posted by: The Hatexit at March 29, 2017 05:53 PM (rUIbB)

107 We will fight them in the hills and on the beaches. We will fight them in the streets. We will never surrender!

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 05:53 PM (gbWkA)

108 it seems that a lot of English jokes contain references to Scots...and Scots and vegetables

Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 05:50 PM (c6/9Q)
..............

Maybe they should try a vegetable or two, and maybe even brush their teeth after.

Posted by: Scottish Comedian at March 29, 2017 05:54 PM (HgMAr)

109 78 55 I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.
Posted by: rd
_________

For sure.

The train left the station, and it wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't revisit it until after the 2nd term (if he gets reelected)

Republicans blew it, and all sides are to blame.
Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (IeW7Z)

Declaring defeat when you are in a position of power.... seems kind of silly to me.

Oh.... gee... we didn't get a touchdown on the first play of the game.... I guess we should just head to the locker room....
Posted by: Calif AG at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (NgKpN)

Hear hear! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?!

OK, fun and joke aside, it has been less than 100 days, Ryan being spanked, pwned and schooled by the Freedom Caucus was a GOOD thing, and let's get back to the drawing board.

Which, yes, will mean putting something forward to replace Obamunistcare. The pre-Obamunist system wasn't sustainable either, from Medicare facing the same Social Security problems to femicommunists carping over trivial matters like subsidized birth control.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:54 PM (ujg0T)

110 Hat, is Il Duce's granddaughter still wrapped up in politics?

Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:54 PM (V/rjX)

111 Good! I hope this means I don't have to eat anymore Brussel Sprouts!
Posted by: Little English Kid at the Table at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (gbWkA)

*watches*

*waits*

Posted by: Okra at March 29, 2017 05:55 PM (8nWyX)

112 You can have your Scots girls.
For me it's a redheaded Irish lass. Not the radicalized IRA lassie though.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 05:55 PM (6V6KE)

113 "It' still baffles me why our Civil War had to happen."

To me it was a fight over who would control the West and the future.

The future Mr. Gitts!

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 05:56 PM (SIY7D)

114 The EU may break up, but there's a different dynamic going on with the Continent than with Britain. Britain's leaving is easy because Britain was never fully in, having kept the pound. Wait until the EU nations have to try to divvy up the bar tab for their common debts when they split up. (It's not just the currency, but the loans and long-term contract liabilities!)

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 05:57 PM (SIY7D)

115 Which, yes, will mean putting something forward to replace Obamunistcare. The pre-Obamunist system wasn't sustainable either, from Medicare facing the same Social Security problems to femicommunists carping over trivial matters like subsidized birth control.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:54 PM (ujg0T)

Nah.... its more fun to bitch about Trump, and declare defeat...

Wow.... sounds... very GOPe'ish...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 05:57 PM (NgKpN)

116 109 78 55 I bet Britain is out of the EU before Obamacare gets repealed.
Posted by: rd
_________

For sure.

The train left the station, and it wouldn't surprise me if Trump doesn't revisit it until after the 2nd term (if he gets reelected)

Republicans blew it, and all sides are to blame.
Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:39 PM (IeW7Z)

Declaring defeat when you are in a position of power.... seems kind of silly to me.

Oh.... gee... we didn't get a touchdown on the first play of the game.... I guess we should just head to the locker room....
Posted by: Calif AG at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (NgKpN)

Hear hear! Was it over when the Germans bombed Pearl Harbor?!?!

OK, fun and joke aside, it has been less than 100 days, Ryan being spanked, pwned and schooled by the Freedom Caucus was a GOOD thing, and let's get back to the drawing board.

Which, yes, will mean putting something forward to replace Obamunistcare. The pre-Obamunist system wasn't sustainable either, from Medicare facing the same Social Security problems to femicommunists carping over trivial matters like subsidized birth control.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:54 PM (ujg0T)

Repeal it effective July 2019. That gives them a good 18 months to find a reasonable replacement.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 05:58 PM (iT57s)

117 "Today's EO established a commission on combating drug addiction and the opioid crisis."

Well! Now _there_ you have sweeping forward thinking! I just knew that Trump's loudly touted "Office of American Innovation" was going to come up with a bunch of great new ideas.

And a commission! Why hasn't anyone ever done THAT before?

Herbert C. Hoover administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Franklin D. Roosevelt administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Dwight D. Eisenhower administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Lyndon B. Johnson administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Richard M. Nixon administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Ronald W. Reagan administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

George H.W. Bush administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

William J. Clinton administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

George W. Bush administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Barack H. Obama administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Donald J. Trump administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

One of these times it's _really gonna work_. Serious you guys.

Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2017 05:58 PM (noWW6)

118 Good! I hope this means I don't have to eat anymore Brussel Sprouts!

Posted by: Little English Kid at the Table at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (gbWkA)

I never tried one. The wife tries to get me to eat them, but I don't like cabbage, and the wife says "yeah but they're little cabbages".

Oh that's different, moose shit always tastes better when its in smaller pieces (eye roll)

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 05:58 PM (aMlLZ)

119 My calculation was if they couldn't repeal ObamaCare in those first 100 days, it was largely here for good.

I would LOVE to be wrong, but even if it implodes, all those people getting free healthcare will still be getting free healthcare on the new system. Those parasites are always first in line for Republicans despite those same people never voting Republican.

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (IeW7Z)

120 Rule Britannia
Britannia rules the waves
Britain shall never, never, never, never, never be slaves.

Posted by: Mark in Sandy UT at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (xGX1p)

121 Knock Knock

Who's there?

Mailman.

Where's my dole check?

Posted by: wth - doing Scottish standup at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (HgMAr)

122 O/T but I thought this was funny because it happened in a Target dressing room and I forgot to bring it up this am:

http://b96.cbslocal.com/video/ 3642933-man-tried-to-film- girl-in-target-dressing-room- in-palatine/

How dare some girl be frightened of a creepy old guy and his cellphone while she is changing!

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (MIKMs)

123 Nah.... its more fun to bitch about Trump, and declare defeat...

Wow.... sounds... very GOPe'ish...
Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 05:57 PM (NgKpN)

I DO think that is an inherent weakness on Our Side. The Commiecrats have an incremental goal, which they will continue until death. A destructive, foolish, treasonous goal, but a goal nonetheless.

Whereas Our Side just wants to Stop Their Side, or ideally undo it. But at that point there, we start squabbling and fizzling out.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (ujg0T)

124
The thing that interests me is that May was anti-Brexit before the big vote. Not rabidly so, but definitely anti.

And now she's actually following the will of the people, not trying to shove her own views down their throats.

Refreshing.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (cuZZW)

125 Given the ongoing influx of Mohammedeans, this is kind of like rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic.

Posted by: Diogenes at March 29, 2017 06:00 PM (0tfLf)

126 Now, on to Brussels and victory!

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:00 PM (gbWkA)

127 Yes, they do vote Labour more than the rest of the UK. But Brussels won't take back in another Greece, with nasty weather at that.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:35 PM (ujg0T)

And haggis! Don't forget the haggis!

Posted by: Fox2! at March 29, 2017 06:00 PM (Dj5/i)

128 Barack H. Obama administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"
..........

Reggie, go get me another eight ball!

Posted by: wth - doing Scottish standup at March 29, 2017 06:01 PM (HgMAr)

129 Haggis will stunt your brain!

Posted by: Angus MacDangle at March 29, 2017 06:01 PM (ky239)

130 The last straw was when the EU banned electric teapots and toasters because they weren't energy efficient.
Nothing riles up a Brit more than messin' with their tea and toast.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 06:01 PM (6V6KE)

131 torquewrench - got a chuckle actually from the ironic comments from Trump and Wolf administrations, states keep legalizing Marijuana then wonder why addictions are multiplying

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:01 PM (GPaiX)

132 One of these times it's _really gonna work_. Serious you guys.

Well, it's either what we've been doing, or the Reason approach, or the Malaysian approach - bang in the forehead and a body bag.

Not suggesting which one is correct, but there ARE options.

Posted by: JEM at March 29, 2017 06:02 PM (TppKb)

133 I'm Henry the eighth I am, Henry the eighth I am I am...

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:03 PM (gbWkA)

134 How much of the opioid epidemic are doctors basically taking the role of legalized drug dealers?

Posted by: Maritime at March 29, 2017 06:03 PM (IeW7Z)

135 You can have your Scots girls.
For me it's a redheaded Irish lass. Not the radicalized IRA lassie though.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 05:55 PM (6V6KE)

You know, when I went to Ireland I didn't see many gingers, but I did see a shitload of blonds, and a decent amount of the younger women were dying their hair dark, like it was some "in" fashion.

The woman though....frigging beautiful. Holy shit...I mean like....holy shit they were smoking.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 06:03 PM (aMlLZ)

136
The thing that interests me is that May was anti-Brexit before the big vote. Not rabidly so, but definitely anti.

And now she's actually following the will of the people, not trying to shove her own views down their throats.

Refreshing.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (cuZZW)

Where's their Chamber of Commerce to gum things up?

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 06:03 PM (iT57s)

137 Rule Brittania! Marmalade and jam!

I've got a job, I'm off the dole
So shove that red flag up your hole.

The Proletariat can kiss, my fundamental orifice
I've got a foreman's job at last

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 06:03 PM (SIY7D)

138 131 torquewrench - got a chuckle actually from the ironic comments from Trump and Wolf administrations, states keep legalizing Marijuana then wonder why addictions are multiplying
Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:01 PM (GPaiX)

"Prohibition is an awful flop.
We like it.
It can't stop what it's meant to stop.
We like it.
It's left a trail of graft and slime,
It's filled our land with vice and crime,
It don't prohibit worth a dime,
Nevertheless, we're for it."
--Franklin P. Adams, New York World, 1931.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 06:04 PM (ujg0T)

139 George W. Bush administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Barack H. Obama administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

Donald J. Trump administration: "We're going to get to grips with this addiction crisis!"

One of these times it's _really gonna work_. Serious you guys.
Posted by: torquewrench at March 29, 2017 05:58 PM (noWW6)

We would have been a combo breaker...

*shoots heroin into eyeballs*

Posted by: The Libertarian Party at March 29, 2017 06:04 PM (rUIbB)

140 Hey ho let's go!

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:05 PM (gbWkA)

141 My daughter is ginger blond. While in Dublin for a semester, tourists often stopped her to take her picture thinking she was local.

There are a lot more blonds in Ireland than there are in Germany

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 06:06 PM (SIY7D)

142 >>>The last straw was when the EU banned electric teapots and toasters because they weren't energy efficient<<<

How big of a loser do you have to be to chastise someone or someNation over teapots and toasters? That should be an automatic fucking asskicking.

Posted by: Fritz at March 29, 2017 06:06 PM (MF/hn)

143 Mark in Sandy Ut- Was thinking the other day after their latest terrorism attack
Rule Britannia
Britannia rules the waves
Britain shall one day be under sharia and be Islamic slaves

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:06 PM (GPaiX)

144 We're the real reason for all the blonds in Ireland.

Posted by: The Viking Hords at March 29, 2017 06:07 PM (gbWkA)

145 The EU may break up, but there's a different dynamic
going on with the Continent than with Britain. Britain's leaving is
easy because Britain was never fully in, having kept the pound. Wait
until the EU nations have to try to divvy up the bar tab for their
common debts when they split up. (It's not just the currency, but the
loans and long-term contract liabilities!) Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 05:57 PM (SIY7D)
=====

Britain also has former colonies, protectorates, and separate countries (Australia, Canada, et al) and some very good ongoing trade deals worldwide. They can thank old LizzieII for that foresight as she made those ties a centerpiece.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 29, 2017 06:07 PM (MIKMs)

146 135 @ Berserker
If you think Irish girls are hawt (and I surely do), check out the babes in Iceland. Steamin' hawt and friendly too..if you catch my drift.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 06:08 PM (6V6KE)

147
Addiction and Scotland. Might just cue up Trainspotting.

Think I might have to fast forward over 'the worst toilet in Scotland' sequence. Pretty sure that won't improve on another viewing.

Posted by: E Depluribus Unum at March 29, 2017 06:08 PM (ZFUt7)

148 The EU says they want something like 60 billion euros from the UK to pay for the separation. Lets see that's 59 billion for the EU elites, and that should let them live really large. Come to Vegas, we will help you spend it.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:09 PM (odQZE)

149 118 I never tried one. [brussels sprout]

Posted by: Berzerker

Oh, you should try one. Then you can be sure in your hate, as I am.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 06:10 PM (ahlxU)

150 I dont think the UK will really leave the EU. May was a remainer during the referendum and she wont ask her fellow Brits to sacrifice for independence, because she doesnt believe in independence herself.

The Uk will probably leave formally and remain dependent through the host of supranational sub- and paralel-institutions to the EU that have bloomed over there since ww2, like the European Economic Area.

Leaving the EU is really pointless as long as you tolerate a political class that will find other ways to trample your national independence. And this is exactly the reason that the referendum was a mistake (other than being extra-constitutional that is).

Posted by: Nurse Ratched at March 29, 2017 06:10 PM (oQIG9)

151 Drug abuse, Great Britain, Scotland and depressing thoughts,

Train Spotting II is being filmed.

Posted by: rd at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (iT57s)

152 "It' still baffles me why our Civil War had to happen."

It's actually a very good concept to study - nobody really wanted a war, nobody thought there would be a long war, everybody would have chosen something else if they had known how things would turn out - and yet, collectively, the nation chose a course of action that was the *Worst* and most destructive course of action out of all the possibilities available.

It says a lot about human nature.

(And if you want to study a Civil War that was even more insane, read up on the one waged in England from about 1640 - 1650. The bit with Charles I was only a small fraction of the actual conflict, but it gets talked about since that part seems to be at least slightly sane)

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (KeRkT)

153 One should have a Brussel sprout every few years just to remind you how bad they are.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (GPaiX)

154 Genetically, Iceland is about a third Irish, IIRC.

A lot of women stolen by Vikings

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (SIY7D)

155

I DO think that is an inherent weakness on Our Side. The Commiecrats have an incremental goal, which they will continue until death. A destructive, foolish, treasonous goal, but a goal nonetheless.

Whereas Our Side just wants to Stop Their Side, or ideally undo it. But at that point there, we start squabbling and fizzling out.
Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (ujg0T)

OH, I totally agree with you.... the Repubs in the House and Senate have played Prevent defense for so long, that they don't know how to blitz anymore...

But you know? I was in the US Navy when we went from Carter, to Reagan.... the shift in attitude was startling.... and happened quickly.

And it happened because we BELIEVED... we bought into the idea that we were winners...

If WE do not believe the Repubs in the House and Senate can do anything... if the President, and the PRESS, constantly tell them they are losers...

Self Fulfilling Prophecy..... if you do not bother to fight, you will loose.

But in order to WIN, you must fight to win.

Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (NgKpN)

156 Flerlinsilr! H'glaeken cir Blaaaaahgh!

*vomits*

Posted by: Exceptionally drunken Welshman, all up in your face at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (6Eg/6)

157 This is a nice palette cleanser from the last thread.

Posted by: thathalfrican - straight killin' it at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (nDcc3)

158 M�nti Pyth�n ik den H�lie Gr�ilen R�tern nik Akten Di Wik Als� wik Als� als� wik Wi n�t trei a h�liday in Sweden this y�r?

Posted by: The Viking Horde at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (gbWkA)

159 How big of a loser do you have to be to chastise someone or someNation over teapots and toasters? That should be an automatic fucking asskicking.

Posted by: Fritz at March 29, 2017 06:06 PM (MF/hn)
...............

Now what the heck are they gonna do with all those crumpets?

Posted by: wth at March 29, 2017 06:12 PM (HgMAr)

160 The EU -- mostly Germany, I imagine -- insists it will sign no separate trade agreement with a UK that has regained its full sovereignty. It will be treated as just another country, and have no more favorable trade status than, say, Iran.

Have the Germans forgotten that their economy is export driven? They're hardly in a position to get narky on trade agreements. There's a reason they finance other countries' debt: it's so those countries can buy German products.

Posted by: Deplorable Jay Guevara at March 29, 2017 06:12 PM (SRKgf)

161 This is gonna shock a lot of people but....I like Scottish girls.

"Shocked" hardly begins to describe it.
Posted by: Cicero (@cicero) at March 29, 2017 05:51 PM (8ZskC)

LOL

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (zsHGH)

162 Just to be safe, I just bought a bunch of Macallan 12 year.

Posted by: VA GOP Sucks at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (2VN2E)

163 Serious you guys, repeal on day one!

Posted by: Max Power at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (q177U)

164 Wars, I have read where Hitler expected to conquer Russia in a month, no kidding. Nothing ever turns out quite as you expect it will.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (odQZE)

165 Totally off topic, but, I figure everyone can use a giggle.

Today's episode of Weird Wacky Wild True Life adventures.

It's 74 degrees in beautiful South Tulsa, so I decide it's time to wash out the non-recycle trash bin. I dig out my flip flops and drag the bin close to the hose on the front of the house. Did I mention how clear and bright blue and beautiful the sky was? I am hosing away, dumping, hosing some more, and THEN:

The sky opened up and started raining so hard that I could barely see the mailbox thirty feet away. The sun still shone and the sky was still crystal blue. I was soaked before I could manage to get under the porch overhang 4 feet away, where I proceeded to get even wetter because the rain was coming at me at a 45 degree angle.

Moral of today's adventure: Either don't clean the bin or turn the hose on self first so I'll already be wet.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, who is now luxuriating in vast pools of winning! at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (kXoT0)

166 Early the other morning on talk radio (Levin or Stigall ?) said
Conservatives want to be left alone
Leftists want to rule your life

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (GPaiX)

167 I was a lousy President, but a handsome, handsome man.

Posted by: Zombie Franklin Pierce at March 29, 2017 06:13 PM (ul9CR)

168 124
The thing that interests me is that May was anti-Brexit before the big vote. Not rabidly so, but definitely anti.

And now she's actually following the will of the people, not trying to shove her own views down their throats.

Refreshing.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 29, 2017 05:59 PM (cuZZW)

Y'know, when she got the PM job a lot of Brexiters were pretty doom and gloom about it. Others were more of a wait and see position, stating she had been in favor of leaving the EU in the past. There was also a lot of chatter to the effect that May's support of "Stay" was really soft and was more out of loyalty to her boss. Given her slow and steady, methodical approach to enforcing Brexit, it looks like the doom and gloomers were wrong, fortunately. BTW, someone upthread asked if the process could be reversed in the next 2 years: Theoretically, probably but practically no. Parliament would have to pass another bill, and I seriously doubt they'd do that without another referendum. The UK Supreme Court seriously fucked up requiring parliament to pass a bill to invoke Article 50.

Posted by: Jackal at March 29, 2017 06:14 PM (NiR1r)

169 OH, I totally agree with you.... the Repubs in the House and Senate have played Prevent defense for so long, that they don't know how to blitz anymore...

But you know? I was in the US Navy when we went from Carter, to Reagan.... the shift in attitude was startling.... and happened quickly.

And it happened because we BELIEVED... we bought into the idea that we were winners...

If WE do not believe the Repubs in the House and Senate can do anything... if the President, and the PRESS, constantly tell them they are losers...

Self Fulfilling Prophecy..... if you do not bother to fight, you will loose.

But in order to WIN, you must fight to win.
Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (NgKpN)

And I totally agree with that!

Which is why the NeverTrump people infuriated me and continue to do so.

Primary is long since over, and we rally around the candidate, now President, that we have.

And there IS a new feeling. Repealing this climate crap alone might cause the Dow Jones to jump 500 points.

Posted by: Curmudgeon at March 29, 2017 06:15 PM (ujg0T)

170 166 Early the other morning on talk radio (Levin or Stigall ?) said
Conservatives want to be left alone
Leftists want to rule your life

Yep.
2 rules of business:
1. Mind yours.
2. Stay the fuck outta mine.

Don't start none, won't be none.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:15 PM (4Utw1)

171 "I dont think the UK will really leave the EU. May was a remainer during
the referendum and she wont ask her fellow Brits to sacrifice for
independence, because she doesnt believe in independence herself."

You would be right, EXCEPT for how insanely self-destructive that EU itself is. The EU has already told the UK that if they won't accept complete open borders between themselves and the rest of Europe, then the EU is going to do everything it can to kick the UK out and cut all ties. Yeah, that's stupid and self defeating, since even a slight amount of negotiation on this point and the UK would have been glad to stay. (that's what Cameron tried) But the EU and it's commissars have always been "we have to have 100% total authority or you're out!"

So that's why they have to leave the EU - because the EU is too pridefully stupid to let them stay under any terms except unconditional surrender.

(and this is also why the EU needs to be destroyed completely)

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:16 PM (KeRkT)

172 Britain also has former colonies, protectorates, and separate countries (Australia, Canada, et al) and some very good ongoing trade deals worldwide. They can thank old LizzieII for that foresight as she made those ties a centerpiece.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 29, 2017 06:07 PM (MIKMs)

The Anglosphere as the worlds dominating power.

Make it happen.

Posted by: I ♥ Imperialism at March 29, 2017 06:16 PM (rUIbB)

173 It's actually a very good concept to study - nobody really wanted a war, nobody thought there would be a long war, everybody would have chosen something else if they had known how things would turn out - and yet, collectively, the nation chose a course of action that was the *Worst* and most destructive course of action out of all the possibilities available.

It says a lot about human nature.

(And if you want to study a Civil War that was even more insane, read up on the one waged in England from about 1640 - 1650. The bit with Charles I was only a small fraction of the actual conflict, but it gets talked about since that part seems to be at least slightly sane)
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (KeRkT)

Jah, good point. Everyone thought the ACW would be a short fight and that the other side would fold at the first sign of a fight.

I try to keep that in mind when I think about a shooting war in Cali or NY.

Antonia Fraser's Cromwell Biography is good reading if you want to bone up on the English Civil War. The English still had bark on them, back in those days. Bloody conflict and it got very strange and factional and political on the Parlimentary side...which is why Cromwell took power.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:16 PM (zsHGH)

174 Hows come my o's with the slash through them don't transfer? Racists!

Posted by: The Viking Horde at March 29, 2017 06:16 PM (gbWkA)

175 Brussels sprouts are an acquired taste. I used to loathe them until my neighbor went to a Brussels sprouts farm near Half Moon Bay and brought back a couple of stalks of them. She steamed them, slathered them in butter with a touch of salt and pepper. Deeeelishif so.
Must have been the freshness that made them good.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 06:17 PM (6V6KE)

176 palette cleanser

Turpentine?

Posted by: zombie Bob Ross at March 29, 2017 06:17 PM (wpC7C)

177 @Sherry McEvil

Ow. Sorry to hear about the drowning. It's a crazy Spring, all right.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (zsHGH)

178 174 Pixy has some strange rules, some things pass others not so much

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (GPaiX)

179 77 Artwork and hot women..

Venus de Milo perhaps?
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (V/rjX)

Nah, surely we can find some statures that aren't defective.

Posted by: rickl at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (sdi6R)

180 Rush said the dems would go to war if Kali tried to secede; never would recover from the loss of 55 electoral college votes.

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (gbWkA)

181 Oh, you should try one. Then you can be sure in your hate, as I am.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 06:10 PM (ahlxU)

One should have a Brussel sprout every few years just to remind you how bad they are.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (GPaiX)

Oh hell no. Not in a box, not with a fox, not on a train, not in a plane.....

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (aMlLZ)

182 Flerlinsilr! H'glaeken cir Blaaaaahgh!

*vomits*

Posted by: Exceptionally drunken Welshman, all up in your face at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (6Eg/6)
..............

Why sure, pick me up at eight.

Posted by: Welsh girl at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (HgMAr)

183 Theoretically, probably but practically no. Parliament would have to pass another bill, and I seriously doubt they'd do that without another referendum. The UK Supreme Court seriously fucked up requiring parliament to pass a bill to invoke Article 50.

Posted by: Jackal at March 29, 2017 06:14 PM (NiR1r)

Once Article 50 is triggered, it is irreversible.

Posted by: The Article L Hat at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (rUIbB)

184 179 77 Artwork and hot women..

Venus de Milo perhaps?
Posted by: Anna Puma at March 29, 2017 05:45 PM (V/rjX)

Nah, surely we can find some statures that aren't defective.
Posted by: rickl at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (sdi6R)

Yeah... she'd have a really hard time making samiches...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (NgKpN)

185 Must have been the freshness that made them good.

Posted by: I'm Tucker Carlson and I will destroy you at March 29, 2017 06:17 PM (6V6KE)

I actually like brussels sprouts, but I think its the butter I really like. Like steamed clams, dipping them in butter is what I really like about them..Take away the butter, and probably not.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (odQZE)

186 �Drug abuse, Great Britain, Scotland and depressing thoughts,�Train Spotting II is being filmed.
Posted by: rd

It should not have taken 20 years to figure out a sequel was in order. Hopefully the opiod suppositories don't escape in the bathroom again.

I can't imagine how they can equal the original.

Posted by: E Depluribus Unum at March 29, 2017 06:20 PM (ZFUt7)

187 Jah, good point. Everyone thought the ACW would be a short fight and that the other side would fold at the first sign of a fight.

I try to keep that in mind when I think about a shooting war in Cali or NY.

You had a lot more agrarian/country boys back then. They were used to a hard life. The basement dwellers and skinny jeans crew now?
Don't underestimate them. But don't overestimate them.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:20 PM (4Utw1)

188 183 Theoretically, probably but practically no. Parliament would have to pass another bill, and I seriously doubt they'd do that without another referendum. The UK Supreme Court seriously fucked up requiring parliament to pass a bill to invoke Article 50.

Posted by: Jackal at March 29, 2017 06:14 PM (NiR1r)

Once Article 50 is triggered, it is irreversible.
Posted by: The Article L Hat at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (rUIbB)

OH.... you silly Hat Person....

You think we have to follow our OWN rules???

Posted by: EU Mandarins at March 29, 2017 06:20 PM (NgKpN)

189 Check out the sign pic in my nic -- It's worth a smile.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 06:21 PM (ahlxU)

190 @Sherry McEvil

Ow. Sorry to hear about the drowning. It's a crazy Spring, all right.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (zsHGH)

It was funny. Just had to share. I have driven through those little micro bursts in a car, but, this one was up close and personal.

Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, who is now luxuriating in vast pools of winning! at March 29, 2017 06:21 PM (kXoT0)

191 Brussel Sprouts with bacon!

Posted by: Ignoramus at March 29, 2017 06:22 PM (SIY7D)

192 All this Brussels sprout hate. So sad.

Posted by: bluebell at March 29, 2017 06:22 PM (sBOL1)

193 All because Brussels tried to take away their tea kettles.

Posted by: Dave in Fla at March 29, 2017 06:23 PM (wfDW1)

194 The present Germany really is the fourth reich in form and function - of the bureaucratic, militant atheistic, velvet glove, iron fist, Trotskyist sort. Strassborg-Hague Dictatorial Multiculturalism. Enclave-ethnic carveouts.

Poland, the Baltic nations and eastern Europe could cede and form a Promethean alliance. The old thessocracies Brits, the Dykies and France form-up. Germany and a few vassals ally.

Posted by: 13times at March 29, 2017 06:23 PM (WHVu+)

195 Check out the sign pic in my nic -- It's worth a smile.

Posted by: GnuBreed at March 29, 2017 06:21 PM (ahlxU)

Awesome, and frigging true.

Posted by: Berserker- Dragonheads Division at March 29, 2017 06:23 PM (aMlLZ)

196 You just don't mess with a Limey's tea.

Posted by: WhatWhatWhat? at March 29, 2017 06:24 PM (ul9CR)

197 Everyone thought the ACW would be a short fight and that the other side would fold at the first sign of a fight.

I try to keep that in mind when I think about a shooting war in Cali or NY.

You had a lot more agrarian/country boys back then. They were used to a hard life. The basement dwellers and skinny jeans crew now?
Don't underestimate them. But don't overestimate them.
Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:20 PM (4Utw1)

I hope you're right. In a weird, sad way, I hope we find out. Before all the dangerous old guys get too old.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:24 PM (zsHGH)

198 We boned!

Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 29, 2017 06:24 PM (ve0bY)

199 >>This is gonna shock a lot of people but....I like Scottish girls.

Careful. The guys wear skirts over there.

Posted by: garrett at March 29, 2017 06:25 PM (MmiC2)

200 192 All this Brussels sprout hate. So sad.

Posted by: bluebell at March 29, 2017 06:22 PM (sBOL1)

I tried Brussels once... it got hot at Quatre Bras, and then I really got into hot water at Waterloo...

Posted by: Napoleon at March 29, 2017 06:25 PM (NgKpN)

201 Britain should let Scotland go, obviously.

Posted by: Grump928(C) at March 29, 2017 06:25 PM (LTHVh)

202 Just two months before the Brexit vote, the EU announced that it would ban popular high powered British tea kettles and toasters.

High powered??

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (odQZE)

203 Someone told me the woman in Iceland were hot but due to the high, cold winds all year long, by the time the Icelandic broads are 40 years old they all look like they had a 4 pack a day habit since birth.

Goodbye EU, Hello EuroCaliphate!

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (5VlCp)

204 190 @Sherry McEvil

Ow. Sorry to hear about the drowning. It's a crazy Spring, all right.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:18 PM (zsHGH)

It was funny. Just had to share. I have driven through those little micro bursts in a car, but, this one was up close and personal.
Posted by: Sherry McEvil, Stiletto Corsettes, who is now luxuriating in vast pools of winning! at March 29, 2017 06:21 PM (kXoT0)

See what happens when you don't pay your Carbon Tax?

Posted by: Mother Gaia! at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (NgKpN)

205 So that's why they have to leave the EU - because the EU is too pridefully stupid to let them stay under any terms except unconditional surrender.

(and this is also why the EU needs to be destroyed completely)
Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:16 PM (KeRkT)
__________

It would be way more self-destructive for the EU not to do this. For the Eurocrats this choice is a win-win: either the UK accepts all the ties of membership without being a member, so that everyone in Europe who might flirt with independence will ask themselves "whats the point"? Or the complete cut-off will cause severe economic pain, which may be enough to convince soft "leavers" in other countries not to follow the Brexit example.

Add to this that the Tory leadership is as fond of the EU as the GOP establishment is of Obamacare and these negotiations will probably turn out to go rather bad for the UK.

Additional upside for the Tories: UKIP is probably as good as dead, because their signature issue is gone.

Posted by: Nurse Ratched at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (oQIG9)

206
156 Flerlinsilr! H'glaeken cir Blaaaaahgh!

*vomits*

Posted by: Exceptionally drunken Welshman, all up in your face at March 29, 2017 06:11 PM (6Eg/6)

I call bullshit. You're not Welsh.

The Welsh don't use vowels.

Posted by: IllTemperedCur at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (cuZZW)

207 What else does Scotland export, tartan?

The market for Bay City Rollers albums dried up long ago.

And there ain't no civilized countries eating haggis.

Posted by: WhatWhatWhat? at March 29, 2017 06:27 PM (ul9CR)

208 202 Just two months before the Brexit vote, the EU announced that it would ban popular high powered British tea kettles and toasters.

High powered??
Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (odQZE)

With the toast that goes up?

Posted by: rickl at March 29, 2017 06:27 PM (sdi6R)

209 This is gonna shock a lot of people but....I like Scottish girls.

Careful. The guys wear skirts over there.
Posted by: garrett at March 29, 2017 06:25 PM (MmiC2)

Yeah but it's not like Japan or Thailand. Scottish men look nothing like Scottish women. Thankfully.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:28 PM (zsHGH)

210 63 "oil revenues (which help keep Scotland afloat) have dropped since 2014, when oil was $90 per barrel, and now is only $45 or so"

Not to mention that the majority of the Scots oil is under the North Sea, and those fields are drying out.

---------------

I doubt they're drying out. The will and the funds to drill there may be though.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2017 06:28 PM (Fmupd)

211 188 183 Theoretically, probably but practically no. Parliament would have to pass another bill, and I seriously doubt they'd do that without another referendum. The UK Supreme Court seriously fucked up requiring parliament to pass a bill to invoke Article 50.

Posted by: Jackal at March 29, 2017 06:14 PM (NiR1r)

Once Article 50 is triggered, it is irreversible.
Posted by: The Article L Hat at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (rUIbB)

OH.... you silly Hat Person....

You think we have to follow our OWN rules???
Posted by: EU Mandarins at March 29, 2017 06:20 PM (NgKpN)

My precise thoughts. Which is why the UK Supreme Court's ruling requiring a fresh Act of Parliament had the effect solidifying Brexit. You can take back the Brit equivalent of an EO waaay easier and faster than passing another bill. When May's Government signaled that yes, they were going to pass a bill to allow the Government to activate Article 50, Brexit became a question of When, not if.

Posted by: Jackal at March 29, 2017 06:28 PM (NiR1r)

212 Scotland blew it in the Darien scheme (1698-1700) when they thought it would be really cool to set up a rival to England's colonies in the new world.

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

Read for a good laugh or two...Lots of drinking, piracy, and fun.

Posted by: William Eaton at March 29, 2017 06:28 PM (MuTTO)

213 What else does Scotland export, tartan?

============

wool that comes from sheep. lots and lots of sheep.

Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 06:28 PM (c6/9Q)

214 What else does Scotland export, tartan?

The market for Bay City Rollers albums dried up long ago.

Single malt scotch.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (4Utw1)

215
What else does Scotland export, tartan?

Posted by: WhatWhatWhat? at March 29, 2017 06:27 PM (ul9CR)

Whisky is actually a very large export.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (odQZE)

216 All I want in life are the simple things: A huge Scrooge McDuckian vault full of cash, a fortress of solitude and an overwhelming amount of deployable weaponry.

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (gbWkA)

217 Effing Scots. My ancestors are mainly Scots-the Ulster Plantations variety. They were a tough, self sufficient bunch.

The ones with any gumption left a long time ago.

Posted by: ChupaMe at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (7r8PI)

218 The men in skirts were the best part.

Posted by: Zombie King James at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (ul9CR)

219 Yeah but it's not like Japan or Thailand. Scottish men look nothing like Scottish women. Thankfully.

============

depend on an angle

Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 06:30 PM (c6/9Q)

220 The Swiss aren't EU members either.

Posted by: mustbequantum at March 29, 2017 06:30 PM (MIKMs)

221 215 Whisky is actually a very large export.
Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (odQZE)

=======

Not nearly large enough.

Posted by: TheJamesMadison's Phone at March 29, 2017 06:31 PM (Jj43a)

222 When riding the train from London to Edinburgh, sheep, sheep sheep....everywhere. Far more sheep in the northern UK and Scotland than people.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:31 PM (odQZE)

223 "You had a lot more agrarian/country boys back then. They were used to a
hard life. The basement dwellers and skinny jeans crew now?

Don't underestimate them. But don't overestimate them."

A few years back I read an interesting comment by an American Captain in Iraq, who had led a patrol unit, which included searching for IED's and other threats. He found that there were two types of recruit that were really good at it - country boys who had done a lot of hunting out in the country, and some inner city kids who'd grown up in real bad neighborhoods. He surmised that it had to do with an innate 360 degree sense of awareness, and the knowledge that something dangerous could come at you from any direction at any time. He also felt that a lot of suburban kids, while they were smart and could pass all the tests, in the field tended to only focus intently on that which was directly in front of them. (like a video game focus) And they would usually miss something sneaking up from an unexpected direction.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:32 PM (KeRkT)

224 Just two months before the Brexit vote, the EU announced that it would ban popular high powered British tea kettles and toasters.

High powered??

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:26 PM (odQZE)

Assault toasters, dontchaknow...

Posted by: The High Powered Hat at March 29, 2017 06:33 PM (rUIbB)

225 Gotta flush low powered Brit tea kettles twice.

Posted by: 13times at March 29, 2017 06:35 PM (WHVu+)

226 All I want in life are the simple things: A huge Scrooge McDuckian vault full of cash, a fortress of solitude and an overwhelming amount of deployable weaponry.

Posted by: Strobe at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM (gbWkA)

You forgot the army of nekomimi cyborg meido...

Posted by: Nekomimi Mode at March 29, 2017 06:35 PM (rUIbB)

227 I'd love to hear the Horde's opinion on this.

Are women who do Cross Fit sexy? Are they too masculine? (I mean the competition ladies not the just for fitness ones)

Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 29, 2017 06:36 PM (ve0bY)

228 I don't see secession so much as I see the formation of vigilante groups. My history is hazy, but I do know that before Montana was a state, robbery was apparently pretty common. Vigilantes stepped in quite openly and became a political power in the state. Aside from that, all I know is a few scenes from The Godfather and Gone with the Wind. After that rape case in Maryland I'm not sure I'd even be able to manage a Tsk Tsk if unknown citizens chose to respond.

Any historians amongst the Horde know more? How do groups of vigilantes form? Are we there yet?

Posted by: Wenda (sic) at March 29, 2017 06:37 PM (Kr0FZ)

229 Yeah but it's not like Japan or Thailand. Scottish men look nothing like Scottish women. Thankfully.

============

depend on an angle
Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 06:30 PM (c6/9Q)

It would have to be a pretty funny angle.

Which reminds me, I need to watch Snatch again.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:37 PM (zsHGH)

230 I took a bus trip from East Anglia to Scotland, roads were not as fast as they are now, maybe 8 hrs at least.

Posted by: Skip at March 29, 2017 06:37 PM (GPaiX)

231 >>>Are women who do Cross Fit sexy? Are they too masculine?

Depends on 2 things:
-whether they're speaking, and
-the dosage they're taking.

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at March 29, 2017 06:37 PM (GOOHU)

232 I'd love to hear the Horde's opinion on this.

Are women who do Cross Fit sexy?

In a dark room, if their bodies feel like a muscled guy's, no.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:38 PM (4Utw1)

233
Most people who do Crossfit look like messes.

Go to any gym and barely half the people in there even look like they've even *thought* of picking up a weight in their lives.

Posted by: iSoothsayer iPro iLX at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (J/h7H)

234 I'd love to hear the Horde's opinion on this.

Are women who do Cross Fit sexy? Are they too masculine? (I mean the competition ladies not the just for fitness ones)
Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe

Yes, as a generality. But I am very partial to fit girls and I used to date a female bodybuilder. So...grain of salt and all that.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (zsHGH)

235 >>>Are women who do Cross Fit sexy? Are they too masculine?

Ummmmm......No. If I want six pack abs, I get a dude.

Posted by: Hairyback Guy at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (5VlCp)

236 Scottish men look nothing like Scottish women. Thankfully.

============

depend on an angle
Posted by: runner at March 29, 2017 06:30 PM (c6/9Q)

It would have to be a pretty funny angle.

Which reminds me, I need to watch Snatch again.
Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards

Watch Braveheart again.

Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (4Utw1)

237 I call bullshit. You're not Welsh.

The Welsh don't use vowels.
Posted by: IllTemperedCur

----

They also have no "Z."

How do their comic strip characters get any sleep?

Posted by: RKae at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (4DpAT)

238 >>>How do groups of vigilantes form? Are we there yet?

I have been accepting applications for the Winona Riders for some time now. If you own an Amphicat the fee is waived and you can name your rank!!

Posted by: Banana Splits Guy at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (GOOHU)

239 Since this amounts to an acrimonious divorce I wonder how Brussels is going to react when the UK demands payment for their share of the property (buildings, land, wine cellars, pension funds, art collections, any asset really) that have been purchased with UK money. Brussels squawking sounds like they want alimony and full custody of all trade too.

Posted by: Lester at March 29, 2017 06:40 PM (LfJIn)

240 Any historians amongst the Horde know more? How do groups of vigilantes form? Are we there yet?

Posted by: Wenda (sic) at March 29, 2017 06:37 PM (Kr0FZ)

Um...no comment on the latter question.

I will say that vigilantism normally comes from a stressor event applied to very self-motivated and self-reliant individuals in an atmosphere where conventional law enforcement is either negligent or non-existent.

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:41 PM (zsHGH)

241 720 days...that sounds awfully wibbly wobbly timey wimey.

Posted by: Big Fat Meanie at March 29, 2017 06:41 PM (SEy7A)

242 Watch Braveheart again.
Posted by: rickb223 at March 29, 2017 06:39 PM (4Utw1)

Actually, now I'm afraid to...

Is this going to end up like the Crying Game or the Danish Girl?

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:42 PM (zsHGH)

243 So many sheep, so little time

Posted by: NZ Farm Boy at March 29, 2017 06:43 PM (SIY7D)

244 "Any historians amongst the Horde know more? How do groups of vigilantes form? Are we there yet?"

The sad fact is that vigilantes only form when they get a wink and a nod from the local power structure, like the black shirts at Berkley got. If some true vigilantes had shown up and pumped a couple rounds into those blackshirts, then the State of California would be using every resource at its disposal to track them down and eliminate them.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:43 PM (KeRkT)

245 Also Nood

Posted by: Mark Andrew Edwards at March 29, 2017 06:44 PM (zsHGH)

246 Whiskey is actually a very large export.

Posted by: Colin at March 29, 2017 06:29 PM

FIFY.

Posted by: An cailleach ann da litriu na hEireann at March 29, 2017 06:45 PM (DMUuz)

247 Want to know if a nice looking woman does cross-fit? Wait a couple of minutes and she'll tell you. And then she'll tell you again...........and again and again.

Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2017 06:46 PM (Fmupd)

248 "The EU -- mostly Germany, I imagine -- insists it will sign no separate trade agreement with a UK that has regained its full sovereignty."

The problem is that the UK won't regain its full sovereignty, even when outside the EU. Even Norway and Switzerland, who are not in the EU, have to comply with EU rules and regulations. The UK has the same fate awaiting it. The only way the UK will fully realize a true "Brexit" is when the EU no longer exists or is rendered as noticeable in every day lives as, say, the Council of Europe. Brexit may well hasten that day. But the idea that the UK is now on the way to regaining its full sovereignty is an open question.

As for the Scots - they want to be part of the EU for a more sinister reason: they want to out-Swede the Swedes. They want an overwhelmingly powerful State that makes Sweden's look tiny by comparison. The SNP looks at the oil coming out of the North Sea and see it as the meal ticket for funding that Nanny State that will allow the Scots to live a perpetual adolescence. (That the oil could well run out of the North Sea, or at least be economically unfeasible to recover, or that oil prices can plunge long term, imperiling the Scots, are possibilities that are ignored as they are inconvenient.) If the Scots can remain in the EU, this, to Scots who adhere to this vision, can leech off the EU to help fund the Nanny State of their dreams.

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at March 29, 2017 06:46 PM (QUhLG)

249 The other model for "vigilantes" is Missouri back during the ACW, in which both sides made great use of roaming gangs of gunman, and instead of wars of armies vs. armies, it ended up being town vs town, house vs house, and family vs family.

It's estimated that Missouri lost 1/3 of its population between 1861 and 1865. A little bit like our own little Lebanon. Quantrill's Raiders grew out of that, and later on the James Gang..

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:47 PM (KeRkT)

250 The EU has already told the Scots "No dice - no entry" even if they do gain their independence. The EU's stupidity is never ending.

Posted by: Tom Servo at March 29, 2017 06:49 PM (KeRkT)

251 Yeah... she'd have a really hard time making samiches...

Posted by: Don Q. at March 29, 2017 06:19 PM (NgKpN)

No hand jobs, either.

Posted by: Alberta Oil Peon at March 29, 2017 07:06 PM (WDdjT)

252 I just don't...get the EU. What is there to preserve? Free trade? sign a free trade agreement. Mutual defense?" isn't that NATO's job? what is GB missing out on? travel without a passport? Who gives a crap? Merkl deciding on her own to allow millions of Syrians in? No thanks.

Why are they so intent to preserve something that has little but symbolic value? Stay, leave, who gives a shit? England not going to war with the continent, and they are not going to war with them.

Posted by: George Orwell's Ghost at March 29, 2017 07:08 PM (UgF8H)

253 If I were Trump, I'd call up England and say we'll negotiate a free trade agreement with you that will take effect immediately on leaving the EU. No problem buddy. A one page agreement that all goods will enter each country from the other duty free - no side agreements, no fancy language.

Posted by: George Orwell's Ghost at March 29, 2017 07:10 PM (UgF8H)

254 250 The EU has already told the Scots "No dice - no entry" even if they do gain their independence. The EU's stupidity is never ending.

The EU can't afford to open that Pandora's box. If they were to bring Scotland into the EU, then (such is the fear) other secessionist movements will have another case to make for secession (such as regions of Spain like the Basque region, Catalonia; the Belgian halves of Wallonia and the Flemings, etc.) Hence the EU trying to steer clear of intra-UK discussions of secession, independence, devolution, and so forth.

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at March 29, 2017 07:12 PM (QUhLG)

255
"253 If I were Trump, I'd call up England and say we'll negotiate a free trade agreement with you that will take effect immediately on leaving the EU. No problem buddy. A one page agreement that all goods will enter each country from the other duty free - no side agreements, no fancy language."

Except that Trump is extremely hostile to free trade, so this won't happen.

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at March 29, 2017 07:14 PM (QUhLG)

256 247 Want to know if a nice looking woman does cross-fit? Wait a couple of minutes and she'll tell you. And then she'll tell you again...........and again and again.
Posted by: Soona at March 29, 2017 06:46 PM (Fmupd

I laughed out loud at that joke.

Before I got seriously injured in 2008, I had a friend from college who was trying to get me into it. He is a pretty big spokesman around the Cross Fit sphere. I wanted to get involved because I love pushing myself to extreme limits. Now that I'm getting healthy and training again I have been watching competitions for training ideas.....

They admit they are a cult and boy are those women manly. There has to be major Photoshop going on because the pictures don't match the real film.

Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 29, 2017 07:18 PM (ve0bY)

257 Scotland by itself is in worse economic shape than Greece. The pEU has already told them no on separate membership.

The bailout money is drying up.

Posted by: Yakov in Illinois at March 29, 2017 07:20 PM (d76uN)

258 I have set as a goal in training to complete a Murph.

Posted by: Phone of Widespread Pepe at March 29, 2017 07:21 PM (ve0bY)

259 152: It's actually a very good concept to study - nobody really wanted a war, nobody thought there would be a long war, everybody would have chosen something else if they had known how things would turn out - and yet, collectively, the nation chose a course of action that was the *Worst* and most destructive course of action out of all the possibilities available.

It says a lot about human nature.

This really can be said about virtually any war in history.

Posted by: CatchThirtyThr33 at March 29, 2017 07:33 PM (QUhLG)

260 The Great and good Britain should form a new federation called the nonEU.

Posted by: Marooned at March 29, 2017 08:58 PM (KdYVH)

261 Had the U.K. any vision of its true potential and its capacity to achieve it, they would just say...

"Nice little EU you got there, Gov. Twould be a shame if, you know, something were to HAPPEN to it, eh Gov? Like for example me an my nasty cousin across the pond was to kick you ass back into the fucken Stone Age, an not in a good way, know what I mean?"

Posted by: Ray Van Dune at March 29, 2017 09:53 PM (LeUrG)

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