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Apocalypse looms as Kanye West announces 2020 presidential run

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls / 0 Comment
Kanye West, November 2008 by Social Is Better

Kanye West announced his candidacy to become president of America in 2020 on Sunday, in the latest sign of the coming apocalypse.

Speaking at the MTV Video Music Awards (VMAs) the rapper ended a rambling speech touching on everything from the mischievous media to visiting a grocery store with his daughter – before tagging on the end that he would like to be put in charge of the world’s leading nuclear arsenal.

“And yes, as you probably could’ve guessed in this moment, I’ve decided in 2020 to run for president,” he said, before sodding off.

Should it go ahead West’s run for presidency will see him become only the latest person since Donald Trump to make a bid for presidency after a controversial career in entertainment (business, surely? – Ed).

The rapper’s goliathan ego was most infamously shown at a previous VMA ceremony in 2009, where he jumped on stage to tell the pop Taylor Swift that he was unimpressed with her winning the Best Female Video category.

“Yo, Taylor, I’m really happy for you and I’m-a let you finish, but Beyoncé had one of the best videos of all time,” he said. “One of the best videos of all time!”

In a smart if obvious move MTV had chosen Swift to present the award to West, with the rapper profusely thanking her “for being so gracious” over his arseholery.

His final remarks before the reveal became ever more chaotic:

“I’m confident, I believe in myself. We the millennials, bro. This is a new mentality. We’re not gonna control our kids with brands. We’re not gonna teach low self esteem and that to our kids. We gonna teach our kids that they can be something. We’re gonna teach our kids that they can stand up for themselves. We’re gonna teach our kids to believe in themselves. If my grandfather was here right now he would not let me back down. I don’t know what I’m finna [going to] lose after this, but don’t matter though cause it’s not about me. It’s about ideas bro, new ideas bro. People with ideas. People who believe in truth.”

Image Credit – Kanye West, November 2008 by Social Is Better

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Facebook & Twitter rebuked over autoplaying journalist murder video

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls / 0 Comment
Twitter office, San Francisco by Aaron Durand

Social media groups were criticised by a parliamentary forum for displaying autoplaying videos of the shooting of two American journalists on live television on Thursday, in the latest pressure on Internet companies to conform to government whims.

Users of Facebook and Twitter complained they had been exposed to the attack on WDBJ7’s Alison Parker and Adam Ward in their feeds due to the widespread practice of embedding videos that play without prompting, a policy intended to increase the views and advertising revenue of online video.

Matt Warman, chair of the Parliamentary Internet, Communications and Technology Forum (Pictfor), told the BBC: “Facebook, Google, Microsoft and others have already worked together with government and regulators to prevent people being exposed to illegal, extremist content, using both automatic and manual techniques to identify footage.

“Social media, just like traditional media, should consider how shocking other content can be, and make sure consumers are warned appropriately.”

Following the shooting, which took place on Wednesday, the gunman took to social media to post a clip of the attack he had apparently recorded on his smartphone, which was then circulated online, prompting the complaints.

Though both Twitter and Facebook took down the relevant pages in short order the film and clips from the live broadcast are still readily available online.

As such I have decided to embed the clip below, as it is absurd and insulting to a reader’s intelligence to discuss a piece of embeddable media without giving them the opportunity to view it. This decision is solely mine, and does not necessarily reflect the views of others in the Right Dishonourable.

Snuff movies have become an increasingly prominent feature of social media over the past few years, most notably with the beheading of James Foley by Islamic State in August 2014, a clip of which circulated online.

The distribution of such clips is often criticised as fulfilling terrorists and mass murderers’ propaganda wishes, as well as upsetting the victims’ families. Some studies have indicated media coverage can even inspire copycats.

Image Credit – Twitter offices, San Francisco by Aaron Durand

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Lib Dems join peerage frenzy after campaigning for Lords reform

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls / 0 Comment
Westminster Old Palace Yard, 1911 by Charles Flower

The Liberal Democrats scooped up a raft of honours and peerages on Thursday for MPs kicked out of Parliament in the general election and donors to the party, despite previously campaigning to turn the Lords into an elected body.

Chief among the new lords is former business secretary Vince Cable, whose defenestration from his Commons seat in Twickenham at the general election by 2,000 votes was seen by many as the apex of the party’s destruction on that night.

He is joined by deputy leader and former Gordon MP Malcolm Bruce, former Berwick-upon-Tweed MP Alan Beith, former Hazel Grove MP Andrew Stunell, and former Bath MP Don Foster, all of whom stepped down before the general election, thus avoiding the rout the other members suffered.

Lynne Featherstone, who held her Commons seat in Hornsey and Wood Green for a decade until she lost by more than 10,000 votes to Labour MP Catherine West earlier this year, will also be made a peer.

Also recognised in the honours was Danny Alexander, second to chancellor George Osborne throughout the coalition government, who was turfed out by more than 10,000 vote in his Commons seat in Inverness, Nairn, Badenoch and Strathspey, but will now be a knight.

Such appointments will fuel suspicion that since its reform under Labour prime minister Tony Blair the Lords and the honours system is regularly abused to empower politicians rejected by voters, as well as invite allegations of hypocrisy upon the Liberal Democrats.

Government guidelines state the wider honours system is intended to recognised those that “made achievements in public life” or “committed themselves to serving and helping Britain”, though ostensibly it recognises those that helped whichever parties happened to be in power at the time.

In a statement Tim Farron, leader of the Lib Dems, said:

“Liberal Democrats are committed to root and branch reform of the House of Lords. Today’s appointments introduce a new wave of Lib Dems determined to fight for change.”

Among the benefits of being a Lord are a £150 or £300 stipend that can be claimed for attending a session in the chamber, as well as the opportunity to influence and delay legislation as it passes up from the Commons for review.

At present the Lords numbers 781, making it the second largest legislative body behind the National People’s Congress in China, a rubber stamping chamber that numbers 2,987, for a nation of more than 1.3bn people.

With these additional peers the Lords will number 826, for a nation of 64m.

Image Credit – Westminster Old Palace Yard, 1911 by Charles Flower

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Jackboot May bans Tyler the Creator from UK in latest free speech clampdown

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls / 1 Comment
Tyler the Creator in Pomona, California, by demxx

Theresa May banned the rapper Tyler the Creator from entering Britain for up to five years this week in the Home Office’s latest attack on freedom of speech.

In a letter to the artist’s manager Christian Clancy, the home secretary claimed lyrics from Tyler’s early albums Bastard (2009) and Goblin (2011) “encourages violence and intolerance of homosexuality” and “fosters hatred with views that seek to provoke others to terrorist acts”, despite reportedly acknowledging the lyrics were written from the perspective of an alter ego.

Taking to Twitter Tyler announced cancellations in a number of British cities, apologising to fans:

Tyler has been to Britain more than 20 times in the last five years, according to his manager, who said the ban was part of “a broader issue of free speech” and failed to note changes in his client’s views since recording those albums.

“I’m not defending his old lyrics,” Clancy said. “To be honest they make me cringe, but I stand beside him because of who he actually is.

“There’s a lot to absorb and understand, but while he gets painted as some sort of antichrist I want to make sure people know the facts, which are that he hasn’t delved into those lyrics in years – he writes songs about cars and spreading your wings.”

He also speculated, unconvincingly, that Tyler’s race might have factored into the decision.

A spokesperson for Jackboot May defended the home secretary’s right to exclude those whose presence is not “conducive to the public good” – whatever that means.

The case of Tyler follows the banning of the dating coach Julien Blanc from entering the country at the end of last year over material he posted online that campaigners labelled racist and sexist.

In an interview with American broadcaster CNN, Blanc defended himself, saying jokes had been taken out of context and that the spin on his words was not in line with what he taught.

Clancy’s full response to Tyler’s banning can be viewed below:

http://thephuckery.tumblr.com/post/127650317172/tyler-uk

Image Credit – Tyler the Creator in Pomona, California, by demxx

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28 percent of Corbyn supporters think ‘world is controlled by secretive elite’

Posted on by Jimmy Nicholls / 0 Comment
Illuminati Eye Re Black by Wendelin Jacober

Some 28 percent of those likely to vote for hard leftist Jeremy Corbyn in the Labour leadership election strongly agreed with the view that “the world is controlled by a secretive elite.”

Those backing the North Islington MP are more likely to describe themselves as “dreamers”, oppose being told what to do and welcome change than those opting for the other three candidates in the election, according to data from the pollster YouGov.

Labour leadership attitudes survey, August 2015, YouGov

Commenting on these specific findings, which were taken outside of the context of the Labour leadership election, Freddie Sayers, editor-in-chief of YouGov, said:

At first, the loose positivity of being a ‘dreamer’ seems to clash with the almost militant-sounding statements that the ‘world is controlled by a secretive elite’ and ‘I don’t like being told what to do.’ But in the context of a perceived political elite who have defined a permissible ‘centre-ground’ and who reject as extremist any ideas outside it, it makes perfect sense. It’s not necessarily about specific policies – they are intuitively more attracted to non-conformist alternatives and Jeremy Corbyn appeals to their broader world view.

Other findings from YouGov’s polling, most of which took place in the first week of August, confirmed that Corbyn’s backers were generally poorer, more leftwing and more likely to get their news through social media than supporters of Andy Burnham, Yvette Cooper and Liz Kendall.

Policies Corbyn’s lot strongly backed included utility nationalisation (86 percent), greater redistribution of wealth (85 percent), and less private sector involvement in healthcare (84 percent).

Almost half disapproved of Royal Air Force (RAF) involvement bombing of Islamic State, two-fifths think university tuition should be entirely paid by the government, and almost two-thirds oppose the British royal family (the only sensible view – Ed).

Rather bemusingly, 18 percent of all the Labour voters polled by YouGov did not claim to be interested in politics, and 15 percent did not describe themselves as leftwing, with a small segment seeing themselves as rightwing or centre-right.

A full breakdown of the results can be seen here.

Image Credit – Illuminati Eye Re Black by Wendelin Jacober, cropped by the Right Dishonourable