The way I read it is if they leave we will have to renegotiate trade agreements with the remainder of the EU as well as Britain and that first priority will be the EU because they are larger than Britain and therefore more of a priority. Not that he will personally decide that Britain is last, just that in our own self interest that's the way it will go. And that process will take years to sort out.
Overheard a kiddo, probably 6 or 7, telling a friend about our future. "I know who's going to be president and you don't! He's an evil villain named Trump!!" I may have peed myself a little trying to hold back laughter. Welcome to American politics folks!
And the leader of the U.K. Independence Party saying "yeah that $350 million we guaranteed. would be put towards the National Health Service, that's not going to happen. But there's definitely a giant pot of money that will magically appear and we can spend it on everything you want" I might have paraphrased that slightly.
There is a metric fuckton of poorly stated and emotional laden misinformation surrounding the UK deciding to leave the E.U. Firstly, everyone going on about how the pound and stock markets are crashing worldwide, blah blah blah. It's not much to get worked up over. Yes, markets reacted with a down day over a country deciding to leave a coalition with a set of countries, that's about it. The world isn't ending. The worldwide stock markets aren't crashing and within a few weeks will most likely be at the exact levels, if not higher, than they were yesterday. Second, the main crux of what it means to be a E.U. member is very much like it is to be a state in America. You can move freely between each state, you can trade freely between each state, you use a common method of currency between each state, you get some benefits if your state happens to have a natural disaster or your state is on the verge of bankruptcy, you work as a union. Also, there may be laws passed centrally to the E.U. that must be followed by every state. Think abortion laws, or gay marriage laws. Pretty simple concept. The UK leaving doesn't change much about their country other than they are no longer part of that union. They will have to negotiate trade deals just like every other country that is not an E.U. country. They MIGHT need passports to travel to other E.U. countries or they might just take the route Sweden and Norway did. They MIGHT start using the pound as their main currency again and not use the Euro anymore, MIGHT. Outside of that, not much is going to change with their country. They will continue to be the 5th largest economy in the world. They will continue to import and export goods. They will continue to do everything a normal country does that isn't tied to the EU. The time that it becomes a big deal is when the UK can't support itself as a country anymore. That's when things start to turn for the worst. In that case, regardless if they were in the E.U. or not, it's bleak any way you slice it. Look at Greece, a member of the E.U. being propped up by other countries charity to them because they have fucked up their own country. Third, and most importantly, if Scotland and Ireland want to vote for independence, AWESOME! We have this really weird mindset when dealing with issues like this. All over the world, depending on who we like and who we don't, we have a different idea of when people should be able to have an independent state. Palestinians, nope nope nope, they are evil and should all be dead. Taiwan, those poor bastards are ruled by China and they need to be free! North Korea, fuck that country and everyone who lives there, we should just nuke it based on the fact we really just hate the 4 people who run the government. Scotland, eh, no one really cares about Scotland it's whatever. This kind of backwards thinking is what creates the ridiculous outpouring of shitty commentary when people make decisions not in line with making the entire world one homogeneous pool of people. We can be normal people, who live in separate countries, who aren't out to fuck everyone over that doesn't belong to our country. This is one of the things we are starting to regress from. The ability to make progress with people who have differing opinions without needing to either wipe out the opposing side or taking control of them and assimilating them to your way of life.
Firstly, British citizens already need passports to travel to other EU countries. Secondly, Ireland already has independence. Thirdly, as the UK is leaving the EU, misinformation will revert to being measured in imperial fucktons, not metric fucktonnes.
They do need passports to travel, but they might negotiate into the Schengen area now they are exiting the EU. You will still need a passport for identification in certain instances, but it wouldn't be expressly needed for travel. Yes technically "Ireland" has it's independence, but Northern Ireland may now vote to leave the UK and reunify with Ireland or possibly just exist as it's own country separate from the UK. We'll see what happens there. Touche!
Britain's politics are definitely as fucked as ours: "-- an online petition demanding a second referendum on Britain's decision to leave the EU is nearing 1.5 million signatures" http://www.cnn.com/2016/06/25/politics/uk-referendum-regrexit/index.html
Just fucking mind-blowing. This is like when you're misbehaving as a kid and your mom threatens to leave you at the mall or something, but then she actually does. And you start crying.
That petition can be signed by anyone, British or not. And more than once per person. Its nothing but noise.
The whole Brexit thing reminds me a lot of something that happened in Idaho about 30 years ago. It was put to the ballot whether or not to have a lottery in the state. It passed. Interesting thing about Idaho is it's actually 2 states. Idaho and North Utah. So, despite the measure passing by popular vote, the North Utah portion of the state blocked it. For years. I think the breaking point was when a delegation from real Idaho went down to Boise and dumped $1M worth of losing Washington states scratch off tickets on the senate floor and told them "No, we're not mistaken. This is what we really do want. Here's a million dollars worth of trash for you."
The amount of news stories today concerning the Brexit promises being completely false or unrealistic is astounding. Couple that with more stories and twitter rants about people who either *felt* misled or too stupid to know what they were doing is equally astounding. More disturbing than anything. No, you don't get a do-over. Unreal. There are enough of these people that I don't think it is some incrementally minute minority.
Come again? I've never heard that, and a few minutes of Google Fu shows nothing that mentions that. Do you have any links to some info?
Whaddayaknow... people taking a shallow bite out of the available info, forming an immediate opinion, then not taking responsibility after the crushing reality hits home. Colour me surprised.
It's not literally 2 states....it's an expression. North and south Idaho have almost nothing in common. South Idaho is an extension of Utah with an over abundance of Mormons and a lot of agriculture...ie...potatoes. North Idaho...well...mountains, no potatoes, trees, lakes, and much fewer Mormons.
One interesting factor about the current political climate in the UK, US and Australia is the common presence of Rupert Murdoch's media machine. Strangely, countries like Canada and the rest of Europe seem to still have logic and reason as part of their political structure. Also, the guys behind Brexit, especially Boris Johnson have been unusually subdued, as opposed to jubilant (you know, the way winners feel?). I'm curious if Cameron's resignation doomed the actual Brexit from taking place, if only because none of the guys behind it are going to accept responsibility for the inevitable crashing and burning of the UK economy and in a larger sense, social structure. Would a Brexit mean that all of the EU residents are now immigrants, and would have to leave? Imagine what a drain that would be for their health system, key businesses and markets (families selling homes to leave the country, etc). What a cluster fuck.
Trump reverses his stance and now says that there will not be mass deportations of illegals if he's elected. http://www.bloomberg.com/politics/a...ation-plan-wouldn-t-feature-mass-deportations
Fucks sake. People are protesting the San Fransisco gay pride parade. Why? "The executive director of the Transgender, Gender Variant, and Intersex Justice Project, Black Lives Matter and the St. James Infirmary said Friday that they are pulling out of Sunday's parade to protest the heavy police presence and metal detectors that will be present weekend. TGI Justice Project Executive Director Janetta Johnson says the measures make LGBT people who have been mistreated by police feel less safe and are at odds with the parade's theme, which is "For Racial and Economic Justice." Apparently no one is ever happy. "You're not protecting us!" "You're protecting us to much!" Literally 2 weeks after the Orlando attack and they're upset that the police are trying to keep everyone safe. What the fuck is wrong with them?