Labour expels three members over attempt to unseat Jeremy Hunt

Labour has expelled three senior members in Surrey for trying to unseat the health secretary, Jeremy Hunt, by forming a progressive alliance with local Greens and Liberal Democrats to unite behind an NHS doctor standing against him.

Kate Townsend, the South West Surrey party secretary who stood in last week’s local elections, and Steve Williams, a party member for 46 years who sits on the constituency party’s executive committee, were notified of their expulsion this week.

Robert Park, a Labour member for almost five decades who chaired the Surrey Fabians and ran the regional remain campaign, has also been expelled.

Townsend and Williams have been leading figures in the campaign for a progressive alliance between local parties, where the Conservative cabinet minister has a 28,000 majority.

Williams has been working on behalf of Compass, the centre-left thinktank and champion of grassroots progressive alliance initiative, in defiance of the national party, which has said it will not entertain any notion of local party cooperation at election time. Party rules state that members must not support any other candidate for election who is running against Labour.

“We have massive support from the local party,” Williams told the Guardian. “It is such an overkill reaction to a group of people who are trying to unseat the health secretary. There was a campaign meeting last night, we only found out a few hours before that we had been expelled from the party so we weren’t able to go. People were storming out of the meeting, really very, very upset and angry.”

In a letter from the party’s head of disputes, Sam Matthews, Williams was told: “It has been brought to our attention with supporting evidence that you have publicly stated your support for a party that is standing against the Labour party in the 2017 general election, which is incompatible with membership of the Labour party.”

Williams was “ineligible to remain a member of the Labour party and have been removed from the national membership system”, the letter said, adding that he was no longer entitled to attend local Labour party meetings.

The party will consider an application for readmission only after five years, the letter said, though Williams said he was planning to appeal. The letter included supporting evidence, including Williams’ appeal for signatures for a letter to the Guardian supporting Irvine’s candidacy.

“We have been doing our best to unseat Jeremy Hunt, to hold him to account on his record because of what he has done to the health service over the last five years,” Williams said.

The initiative to back the National Health Action party’s Dr Louise Irvine, who received just over 8% of the vote in 2015, has the backing of local Labour leaders, including Townsend. Irvine, a GP, was the chair of the Save Lewisham hospital campaign, which defeated the government in court over the proposals to downgrade A&E and maternity units.

Williams said Irvine was “able, articulate, very capable of being able to hold Jeremy Hunt to account, when the NHS is such a key issue in his constituency”.

Local Lib Dem activists have also agreed not to campaign, after a meeting in Farncombe organised by Compass with members from progressive parties. The Green party has said it will not field a candidate.

Neal Lawson, chair of Compass, said: “Steve Williams has given 46 years of service to Labour and was backing a local doctor to take on Jeremy Hunt and defend the NHS. For this he got expelled by email. Labour is a tribal party in a non-tribal age.”

Park, who also stood for election for Labour last week, told the Guardian he had been expelled after an interview with the BBC’s Today programme in which he expressed cautious support for Labour standing aside.

“I have to say, I was upset,” he said. “It was a blunt, legalistic email message, I joined the party as student in 1963, I had thought particularly that somebody might have phoned to talk to me first, I’ve spent most adult life helping the cause.

“The irony is that [we are] three most loyal Labour members you could hope to get; when people were attacking [Labour leader Jeremy] Corbyn, we’ve stuck by him. Now we’re all out on our neck.”

Park said he still intended to volunteer to help Labour MPs in marginal seats, as well as considering campaigning to help the Lib Dem former cabinet minister Vince Cable regain his seat in Twickenham, south-west London.

“Whatever we do, the likelihood is that Jeremy Hunt going to win,” he said of his constituency. “Nonetheless we’re tired of having a small share of the vote and we do feel that if we get behind one candidate we can stand some chance of denting his majority.”

Labour has selected IT manager David Black to fight the seat for the party after the CLP chair, Howard Kaye, the party’s candidate in 2015, has said he would not stand again. The Lib Dems have also selected a candidate, Ollie Purkiss.

The Green party co-leader Caroline Lucas has called for talks with Corbyn, and the Lib Dem leader, Tim Farron, to make a “series of electoral alliances” in some areas against the Conservatives before the election, though both have publicly rejected her entreaties.

Local Greens made the decision to stand down in the recent Richmond Park byelection, in which the Lib Dems’ Sarah Olney unseated the former Tory mayoral candidate Zac Goldsmith.

The party has also decided to stand aside in several seats at the general election in June, including Ealing Central and Acton, to bolster the chances of Labour’s Rupa Huq in the marginal.

Lucas has called for Labour and the Lib Dems to respond similarly to strengthen her party’s chances of taking the Isle of Wight, where the party hopes to capture the traditionally Conservative seat after its good showing in local elections.

Labour expels three members over attempt to unseat Jeremy Hunt

NaturalNews De-Listed by Google in Attempt to “Smooth the Information Flow” to the Masses

The bold attack upon NaturalNews and all it’s affiliated websites by Google de-listing them is unprecedented. Censorship in this form effectively means two thirds of the internet will not be able to access NaturalNews information or products. A huge financial hit for business side of things as well. This all falls in line with the blueprint layed out in several documents on how to “smooth the information flow” and provide a “shared understanding” of what reliable information is to the masses. In an effort to destroy so-called “fake news“. Which really means any point of view not propagated by the establishment. Real journalism linking to real facts, documents and scientific studies in now considered fake news. Truly Orwellian. This author writing about the subject just a weeks ago on BlogsNaturalNews. The very site used as a justification for the take down. I watch in horror as the mechanics of the plan fall into place.

National Intelligence Council Report Describes the Final Solution for “Fake News”

The two documents are cited in the article.

National Intelligence Council the report titled Global Trends Assessment: Paradox of Progress

World Economic Forum’s  Global Risks Report 2017

A chapter in the World Economic Forum’s Global Risks Report 2017 . One of the documents covered in the article. It details how to “smooth the information flow” and questions “democratic ideals like free speech and the market place of ideas“. Falls right into line with the other document from National Intelligence Council and what is happening now with some of the major players in alternative media.

In the chapter Trends Transforming the Global Landscape there is a section titled Converging Trends Will Transform  Power and Politics. This word product puts in stark terms how the internet has empowered individuals and alternative media to influence opinion and spread information on a global scale as never before. It offers only one solution at the end of the chapter to the problem of “fake news” that has broken the monopolies. Can you guess what that is?

This report was issued a week before the Obama Administration left office. Here is their solution.

For authoritarian-minded leaders and regimes, the impulse to coerce and manipulate information—as well as the technical means to do so—will increase.   GTA p27

Chilling to free speech as it is being applied to some of the biggest names in fact based media. InfoWars being banned by Google adroll and NaturalNews being de-listed by Google off two thirds of the internet.

Undermining the “shared understanding” provided by complete corporate control of  almost all media that made globalization possible. Leading “some” to question democratic ideals like free speech and the marketplace of ideas. Wow. It doesn’t take a technocrat to figure out who the “some” are. The sky is falling and the information environment is fragmented because the globalists cannot compete in the market place of ideas. So shut it down. Competition is a sin.

Please sign the White House Petition against this tyranny

Visit RaptormanReports for news, science, and history.

Sources:

National Intelligence Council Report Describes the Final Solution for “Fake News”

https://www.dni.gov/index.php/global-trends/trends-transforming-the-global-landscape

http://blogs.naturalnews.com/

https://petitions.whitehouse.gov/petition/petition-ban-googles-blatant-suppression-free-speech

NaturalNews De-Listed by Google in Attempt to “Smooth the Information Flow” to the Masses

Experience: my attempt to go 21 days without a whinge ended up taking six months | Michael Dawson

Sunday 24 July 8.43am. In the midst of the US presidential election, news breaks that WikiLeaks plans to release 20,000 hacked Democratic Party emails that will likely damage Hillary Clinton’s chances, and enhance Donald Trump’s. I read the relevant passage aloud to my wife, before adding my own searing commentary: “I would’ve thought Assange and Co would have the intelligence to realise …” I suddenly pause.

A ripple of panic pulses through me. Am I complaining?

Over the past five months that question is one that has developed the ability to paralyse me. Why? Because I’m in the throes of what has turned out to be an epic challenge. I am trying to go 21 days without complaining. A self-imposed abstinence from grumbling of any kind: no slander of public figures, no whining about the weather. Nothing.

It’s an exercise that I first heard of while listening to a podcast by Tim Ferriss, the productivity expert and quasi self-help guru. Ferriss in turn discovered it after it was popularised by a new age pastor from Kansas City by the name of Will Bowen. And while I identify neither as a member of the self-help set nor the god squad, I was instantly fascinated by the mission.

The rules are ostensibly simple: put an elastic band on one wrist. Every time you complain, switch it over to the other wrist. Repeat, until the band has remained on one wrist for three weeks.

The simplicity is compelling, but the moment you start it becomes awfully complex. It turns out that “Am I complaining?” can be a very hard question to answer, because what is a complaint? There’s obviously the dictionary definition: an expression of discontent about a person or state of affairs, something like that. But in practise it gets murky. Consider the following three phrases.

1. “It’s cold.”


2. “Damn it’s cold.”


3. “Damn this cold.”

I think we could all agree that (1) is probably not a complaint. Assuming the weather is actually cold, it’s just a statement of fact. And we could reach a similar consensus that (3) definitely is a complaint. But what about (2)? What about (1) said in a slightly whiny tone of voice? What if someone else says (3) and you agree with them?

Or how about this: “I would’ve thought Assange and Co would have the intelligence to realise that a Trump government will not be good for people like him.” Is that a complaint, a pointed observation, or merely the expression of a dashed expectation?

On that particular Sunday morning, I decide it is not a complaint. I turn the page and leave the worn-out hair elastic clinging to my left wrist.

Monday 25 July 11.19am. The following day I meet my wife for coffee. As we approach the cafe, I spot a former colleague waiting at the counter. Let’s call him Gary. I’m not a fan of Gary’s. I mean, I wish him no specific harm. He’s not a bad person – he just has an awful sense of humour. Dad jokes and cries of “Taxi!” when a glass breaks are the cornerstones of his comedic oeuvre. Now I’ll have to endure some of it and, worse, my sweet wife will be subjected to it. For a moment I forget myself. As I spot The Gazmeister I let out a big sigh and two words slither out after it: “This idiot.”

That sentence isn’t even a sentence. It doesn’t have a verb. But the moment I utter it, I know the truth. It’s a complaint. I change the elastic band over and brace myself for some punny pleasantries. It stings, because at that point I was into my fourth consecutive day without complaint. And in five long months of trying, the longest I have gone is six days.

Not complaining is really, really hard. Until you try to stop, you’ve no idea how often you do it. It’s not a question of whether you’re an inherently positive person or a negative one. Complaint is a pivotal part of all conversation – it can be used for good as well as evil. A lot of the time, we complain as a way to connect. A shared moan is a time-honoured technique for relating to a co-worker, fellow traveller or life partner. Who hasn’t felt the warm rush of catharsis that occurs when you discover that someone else hates that thing you hate? Bellyaching is bonding.

So it’s wrong to say that complaints are wholly negative. In fact, some can be extremely positive. In a certain light, you could even view the whole of human progress as the result of complaints. Complaints about slow horses, or polio. Complaints about apartheid, or gender inequality.

We need complaints, and we need negativity. But for me at least, this challenge is not about disputing that fact. Nor is it about worshipping at the altar of positivity. The reality is you can perform some verbal gymnastics that allow you to express negative sentiments without complaining. “This traffic sucks” can become “I would love it if this traffic would clear.”

But in order to do that you’ll need to pause and really think about your choice of words. This is where the challenge becomes fascinating, because you start to realise how little thought we give to what comes out of our gob. The words just tumble out, like goods being looted from a supermarket. By focusing the mind on complaints, you employ someone to work the checkout. And why is that of any benefit? Well, it becomes a sprawling and highly effective exercise in mindfulness.

Mindfulness, in case you missed it, is approaching the status of full-blown fad – pretty impressive for something that is a few millennia old. One description is that it’s the practice of being present in any given moment. If that smells a bit too much like smouldering sandalwood for your liking, try “being aware of what you’re doing and what’s happening around you”.

Buddhists long ago observed what they call the “monkey mind”, the idea that the mind is inherently a bit restless and fidgety. If you don’t give it a clear task, it will either keep a running commentary, or wander off on tangents. Your head becomes filled with an endless, meandering chatter – a din that has been blamed for everything from anxiety to insomnia. The solution, say the Buddhists, is to give the monkey a job. It could be watching your breath come and go (meditation), or it could be keeping a keen eye on what you’re doing (mindfulness).

The claimed benefits are as varied as they are numerous: improved focus, anger management, treatment of depression, lower blood pressure, stress relief, general wellbeing. It’s a laundry list of advantages that has seen mindfulness teachings adopted by everyone from captains of industry to captains of football teams. All sorts are trying to experience the benefits of silencing their simian. There are countless ways to do it, but I’ve found one of the best ways to shut him up is to have him monitor your moaning.

27 July. Mid-morning a colleague and I travel to a meeting in his 2006 Toyota, a vehicle he calls Sonia Kluger, after the Australian media personality. I ask him how he feels now that his people mover has become associated with calls to ban Muslim immigration. He says there’s not much he can do about it. But our conversation has taken a turn, and we make some very pointed observations about Isis and the state of the world. I come dangerously close to complaining, but stop just short.

It’s not until later that evening that things fall apart. Over dinner a family member tells us she’s recently discovered that her former boss underpaid her entitlements. The business is no longer trading, so she’s unlikely to see the money owed. I simply can’t participate in the conversation without making negative comments about the person in question. It occurs to me that if I have any chance of making it to 21 days, I’ll need to recognise these situations immediately, and turn mute.

It’s that recognition that is the hard part though. That’s what makes it so different from other abstinences. When someone breaks their commitment to Dry July, they do so consciously. I’d imagine very few people get halfway through a beer and suddenly remember that they’re meant to be off the sauce. But that is exactly how it is with complaints. By the time you realise a gripe is in the vicinity, it’s usually too late.

5 August. Seven days and counting, a new record. I call the bank about two errors it has made, and manage to correct both without complaining. Instead, I simply state that I “can’t understand” why these things occurred when I was led to believe they would not occur. Sure I sound like a robot, but who cares? I’ve completed a task with a high degree of difficulty. If not complaining were figure skating, the bank call would be equivalent to a triple axel. I might not have shown much grace through the air, but I stuck the landing.

12 August. It’s at this point that I could veer off on a tangent about the general level of whingeing in the world. I could note that social media has amplified gripes about everything from overpriced avocados to sluggish Wi-Fi. I could write about how millennials are profuse whingers, surpassed only by non-millennials when you get them on to the topic of those wretched millennials. I could do all that, but I won’t. That would be a meta-whinge, and I’m 14 days without complaint. I’m into the home stretch and I’m not about to slip up now.

19 August. I took on whining, and I won. Were there some 50/50 calls that went in my favour? You bet there were. But when it’s all said (or weirdly bottled up) and done, I achieved my objective. Thrust into all manner of less-than-stellar scenarios, I summoned the strength to stifle my disapproval. I came, I saw, I concurred. Not only that, I did it at a time when the Pokémon GO frenzy was at its peak.

So how do I feel? Well, unsurprisingly, there’s not some powerful benefit that is unlocked on the 21st day. Rather there is an accumulation. I definitely think my focus has improved, along with general calmness. But perhaps the most noticeable benefit is a greater sense of control. You might think your level of control is just fine as it is – I certainly did – but it can be much better. If you try to stop complaining you’ll see what I mean.

Turning off autopilot is hard to do, and you’ll find those muscles that steer the plane have atrophied. But if you pump them up for a few weeks, the flight becomes more interesting and engaging.

How do I feel? Can’t complain.

Experience: my attempt to go 21 days without a whinge ended up taking six months | Michael Dawson

Why Biodynamic Wines Are Greater For You: 6 To Attempt Now

Some of the wine world’s large names have been farming biodynamically for years: Domaine Romanée Conti, M. Chapoutier, and Boisset to title a number of. But, 1 of my favorite biodynamic farmers is the humble Olivier Humbrecht of Alsace’s Domaine Zind Humbrecht. His insights, as well as his command of the details, make him a compelling minister of biodynamic wine farming.

Read my 1st installment in this series about organic, biodynamic and sustainable  wines right here.

At a recent tasting, Humbrecht is  clad in wellingtons and a vest jacket streaked with bits of dried mud across the lapel.  Certainly, his filth-stained jacket is representative of his passionate, no nonsense agricultural genius. He talks about biodynamics with the informed, gutsy self confidence of a man firmly convicted. “Conventional vines are brain dead and on life help. Biodynamic farming is so evident to me like cooking for your little one, you do it for the well being and well-being of the following generation, and in this situation, for the vineyard.”

As I scribble notes, his canine Scotty is underneath the table, resting his enormous warm head on my knee. Scotty heaves a wonderful canine sigh as if he’s heard this sermon before. Humbrecht presses on about viticulture, the French economic system and the dire straits of typical wine making. His raw, unflinching honesty about why biodynamic farming issues for the long term of winemaking everywhere, not just Alsace, is a bit alarming. He refers to anecdotal proof of the higher cancer costs between traditional winemakers and, he adds, “When you use chemical compounds they destroy your terroir they ruin all sense of spot. They harden the soil and force vine roots to grow upward.”

Biodynamics requires the method significantly deeper, involving practices that eschew man-created chemical inputs for all-natural ones and generating a single farm organism through elaborate efforts such as packing a cow horn (preferably a healthier, lactating cow) with cow manure and burying it in autumn. The horn is then harvested in the spring and mixed with water to make a special tea. This manure tea is sprayed on plants to inspire healthful soil composition and discourage undesirable pests.

Many winemakers skip the voodoo aspects of biodynamics (moon phases and vortex stirring) and emphasis on the herbal teas and other all-natural sprays –as well as planting vegetation that attracts the good insects. I’m simplifying the complete organization, but in quick, biodynamics needs constant interest and a perfect stability between animal, plant, soil and climate.

Humbrecht’s ardor for good manure, attentive pruning, and following nature’s cues, (he relies on all-natural wild yeasts to ferment, which can often get much more than a year to full) utilised to make him something of a progressive in Alsace. But, his status as a progressive is shifting. Humbrecht sees the curiosity from the new generation of winemakers rising and now there are now more than thirty official biodynamic producers in Alsace.

Kevin Parker, proprietor of Chateau Maris in southern France’s Languedoc area, confirms the shift in thinking, noting,“ten many years ago I couldn’t give away a bottle of biodynamic wine. These days our wine sales are at record highs we get calls from buyers saying I need to have ten,000 instances of biodynamic wine. Men and women are turned on to this. Wine is a purely discretionary item so why drink a bottle of chemical substances?”

He is quick to note, “We don’t dance in vineyards at two:30 in the morning under the moon and bury cow horns. But a single point there is no denying is that some of the ideal wines in the globe are created biodynamicaly it is proving itself in a lot of terroirs, across numerous grape varietals, and we have the substantial scores to show it.”

Most of us just pop the cork and pour, not truly contemplating how our wines had been “raised.” But it’s a query worth asking. Beneath are six wines to commence the conversation.

Biodynamic Wines to consider Now:

2011 Jeriko Estate Pinot Noir Reserve, Mendocino, CA.
Cherry and peaty earth aromas on the nose with a silky feminine mouthfeel, fine tannins and a thread of violets. This was in fact 1 of the number of, if only, wines labeled with the word (and the Demeter brand), biodynamic. Search for that to adjust as more wineries leverage this distinction.

Domaine Zind-Humbrecht Gewurztraminer Gueberschwihr, Alsace, FR. Seductive aromatics of roses and spices are followed by lingering richness on the palate, precise vibrant acidity and classy structure. Also attempt his Riesling, Pinot Gris.

2011 Deloach Estate Vineyard Olivet Bench Russian River Valley, Pinot Noir. Bing cherry, sweet spices of clove nutmeg in the background, dark earth. Tannins are soft and construction is great. Concentrated and pure.

2008 Marco Abella Mas Mallola Priorat, Spain. Grapes for this natural wine were cultivated at the highest altitude of the 9 Priorat villages –yielding large acidity which lends a particular vibrancy to the wine. A blend of grenache and carignan with smaller quantities of cabernet sauvignon and merlot, it has an inviting nose of raspberry and black cherry, followed by rustic dried herbs on the palate. Dusty tannins and wonderful construction with complexity and a lingering finish.

Why Biodynamic Wines Are Greater For You: 6 To Attempt Now

Seven Luscious Biodynamic Wines To Attempt Now

This a hundred% Carignan wine has sultry dark fruits (black currant), dried herbs, exact tannins, and a vibrant texture with a runway length finish. Starting up with the 2014 vintage, all wines at Maris will be aged the winery’s 1-of-a-kind all-all-natural hemp cellar.

Seven Luscious Biodynamic Wines To Attempt Now

Why Commissioner Silver"s Attempt To Increase The NBA Age Necessity Is A Colossal Error

By all accounts, new NBA Commissioner Adam Silver is both intelligent and nicely-liked.  He understands engineering, gets along well with individuals, and has a vivid potential as the leader of America’s premier professional basketball league.

Even so, in his 1st month on the work, Commissioner Silver has currently made one colossal blunder — announcing his intent to improve the NBA age necessity.

If anybody evaluates Adam Silver’s overall performance as commissioner based mostly on his ability to raise the NBA minimum age necessity, the outcomes will not be quite.  The NBA age necessity is an very dicey topic, both legally and politically.

Legally, it is effectively settled that any sports league with market place energy cannot unilaterally enhance its age necessity with out quite likely violating antitrust law.  In the 1960s, the NBA had a rule that necessary its gamers to be four many years removed from large school just before coming into the league draft.  Hall of Fame center Spencer Haywood challenged the rule in court, and the rule was overturned.

Based on this legal actuality, Commissioner Silver virtually certainly could not raise the league’s age necessity alone.  He would need to very first get union approval.

Furthermore, it is hugely unlikely that the NBA Players Association would agree to increase the minimum age necessity at this time.  Even although a greater age necessity would provide existing NBA gamers with a lot more work protection, the union still has sturdy legal and political motives for opposing this kind of a modify.

From a purely legal point of view, the NBA gamers union may possibly be reluctant to enhance the league’s age requirement based mostly on the worry of receiving sued by youthful gamers that grow to be excluded from the league.  To the extent the union purports to represent prospective new entrants into their league, they legally owe these prospective entrants a duty of honest representation.  This signifies that the union may possibly not act towards potential new entrants in a method that is arbitrary, discriminatory, nor in negative faith.

Even though there is small case law on this problem in the context of minimum age specifications, there is at least  some legal precedent that implies a sports activities union’s agreement to increase the league age requirement may possibly be seen as discriminatory.  Thus, the NBA Players Association would be extremely unlikely to bear this legal threat – at least with no the written guarantee of total indemnification from the league.

In addition, past the pure legal danger, there is also a massive political threat to the NBA Gamers Association raising its minimal age necessity.  Although a lot of NBA players may prefer a rule that keeps young gamers out the league, several gamers, as effectively as followers, are also proponents of school athletes’ rights – thus pushing the union in the opposition path.

In addition, the principal law company that represents the NBA gamers in collective bargaining, Winston Strawn, lately opened a new practice group to aid defend student-athletes’ rights towards the NCAA.  It would surely not bode nicely for the long term of this group if other Winston Strawn lawyers are doing work to exacerbate the plight of younger athletes by helping to raise the league’s minimal age necessity.

Of course, it is achievable that someday the NBA players union would be far more open to growing the NBA minimal age rule – perhaps at the conclusion of the following collective bargaining agreement, or as soon as the courts (hopefully) overturn the NCAA’s ‘no pay’ principles in the Pupil-Athlete Name and Likenesses Litigation — generating it attainable for best university athletes to earn livable wages even though enjoying on the level.

But, even to the extent there is a appropriate time for NBA Commissioner Adam Silver to consider on the NBA minimum age requirement that time surely is not to now.

For now, the greatest move for Adam Silver would be to drop his talk about raising the NBA age requirement, and to revisit the issue either at the finish of the existing NBA collective bargaining agreement, or once a court (hopefully) rules in favor of the plaintiff in the Student-Athlete Title and Likeness Licensing Litigation and overturns the NCAA’s ‘no pay’ principles for Division I university basketball gamers.

In the interim, there are so several much more pressing issues that new NBA commissioner Adam Silver could handle that would show far a lot more fruitful, and much less divisive.

____________________________

Marc Edelman is an Associate Professor of Law at the City University of New York’s Baruch University, Zicklin College of Company, exactly where he has published far more than 25 law review articles on sports law matters.  His most latest articles include “A Quick Treatise on Amateurism and Antitrust Law” and “The Long term of Amateurism after Antitrust Scrutiny.”

Why Commissioner Silver"s Attempt To Increase The NBA Age Necessity Is A Colossal Error