Thanks for the links.

Paywall? https://archive.is/q2nUu

Courts should not be political. If you break the law you go to jail.

Xitter. Pronounced just the way you think.

Is this the “Find out” stage then?

Actions have consequences. Sad people had to figure it out this way.

I honestly hope not, although I worry for the US.

From the site. I don’t change their headlines.

Paywall? https://archive.is/w7wtM

Far more common here. You see top center a lot, bottom left often and bottom right sometimes.

What adults do to themselves doesn’t really bother me, but I feel sorry for the little girls I see dressed like this. Why the hell would you dress a 7yo in that? According to the Quran “men and women should dress modestly”, but why force it on small girls?

If anything I’d ban it for kids. Once you turn 18 you can do what you want. Come to think of it I’d put the same condition on not medically necessary circumcisions.

a full-face veil.

Never seen that on anyone So a transparent veil is prohibited if combined with hair coverings? Or just in general?

I have conflicting feelings about this ban. If it helps women who don’t want to wear it but is forced, great, but if it instead stops women from being part of society because they’re not allowed outside without the coverings, (either by religious choice, or forced by family), not so great.

What’s the difference between the woman in the center at the top row vs the bottom row? Skin tone?

No no, we have our own asshats to deal with, you can have this one back after he’s served his time in jail here.

Paywalled? https://archive.is/gAwNM

Been posting to “Europe” since forever. Still only a fraction of users compared to that other site. About 3000 monthly I believe. Driving engagement is harder than it seems.

While plastic bags isn’t the main culprit of plastic waste, I enjoyed seeing less plastic in the environment too.

In case of paywall.

https://archive.is/nSXj1

The UK wasn’t a founding member.

I’m an American, so it’s maybe hard to put myself exactly in the same shoes, but if I were in the EU and able to act freely, I’d personally make the concession to permit the opt-outs to the UK if it permitted for Rejoin (that is, I don’t think that there is great harm, as things were working all right earlier and that any precedent concerns could be addressed arguing that this is a special case) and if I were in the UK and could act freely, I’d make the concession to the EU to give up the opt-outs if it permitted for Rejoin (that is, I think that ultimately, the UK was going to have to give up the opt-outs anyway if staying in the EU…I don’t think that Sweden’s approach of kicking the can down the road repeatedly on monetary union, for example, is going to be sustainable ad infinitum).

Yeah. There are political realities to take into account but there’s a lot to be gained by both sides, so it’ll be a negotiation with a lot of give and take. But the deal that the UK had is gone forever.

Yeah, the existence of the TCA does mean that this is considerably less of a factor than otherwise would be the case, but there are still going to be affected parties – the economic disruption that Brexit would cause was one of the most-prominent arguments in favor of Remain I saw pre-referendum (auto factories using JIT manufacturing will close, vendors doing cross-Channel sales will go under, etc), and this would run through that again.

The TCA is a very bare bones deal. It’s pretty close to a no deal actually. The main problem is that the UK isn’t trading with “the EU” anymore. They’re trading with France, with all the rules that France has for 3rd countries. And with NL, that might have different rules.

Politically, it will be hard for the EU to permit the UK to rejoin with the opt-outs that the UK had. It has denied new members that wanted opt-outs on the grounds that those aren’t being done any more. The EU would need to unanimously vote to add the UK and extend it those opt-outs. And in the UK, the referendum that was close was on being in the EU with those opt-outs, some of which I understand would be politically difficult in the UK to not have. So the very close Leave referendum is perhaps not the best guide to a hypothetical Rejoin referendum, since the latter would probably not have the same state of affairs on offer that the former did.

I don’t think that’s an option. I think it’s a new application and new terms negotiated between the EU and the UK, not “back to how it was”. This will certainly take time to negotiate and to find support for. On both sides.

Economic disruption and the greater political weight of incumbents. Any change in economic environment involves disruption, will cause people to be laid off and businesses to go under. These existing organizations are more organized and speak with a louder voice than the not-yet-extant businesses and job slots who will exist in a post-change environment. It’s one reason why free trade agreements – though normally advantageous to a country as a whole – are hard to get through, as the businesses who will go under and workers who will lose their jobs are organized and very vocal on the matter, whereas the businesses who will be formed as a result of the change and the workers who will be hired do not exist, probably don’t know who they are, and have little effective voice.

Trading with “RoW” is hard while trading within the single market was easy. Rejoining the EU wouldn’t disrupt much other than lowering barriers.

Your other points I pretty much agree with.

My point exactly from a post a few months ago. You have to choose from more immigration, lower living standards, reduced public services or higher taxes.

Why are our politicians so bad at explaining this?