[Young Master Smeet]

Most of the research funding in the UK is mandates open access to scientific papers arising from the research.  I think that trend is true across the EU and the States.  Progress is being made in the FAIR data principles:https://www.force11.org/group/fairgroup/fairprinciplesIn many ways, Science is communism in action today, bursting at the seems of proprietary society.  The science workers are proletarians working for a salary.  The workers run science from top to bottom, just not in their own interests.Note how, in the article, our dear friends at Elsevier, are using the free labour of scientists as content creators and reviewers.Just to say, publishers do play a valuable role, when they select and market content, we will still need some of that function even in socialism: teh alternative is to look at the wild west of predatory publishing of fake open access journals with made up editorial boards.

[Young Master Smeet]

p.p.s.Hubble, new Horizons, kind of, we had to actively go out and get that data, it didn't find itself.

[Young Master Smeet]

Can you disprove the photos from New horizons?  Can you provide me with an account of how they came into being?  Can you demonstrate how the elite consciously concoct their science?  After all, if they don't consciously concoct it, it's as real for them as it is for us, so we might as well take it as real.p.s.MarxDemocratic methodsSocialismWorkersRevolutionCreation of objects-for-us.

[Young Master Smeet]

robbo203 wrote:

 But even so, Pluto has an objective existence.  Its existence can be independently verified by multiple observers viewing it through a  telescope.

Indeed, the rebuttel here is the same as the rebuttal of solipsism: if humans have created the world, for us, it makes no difference in it's scope, in how we interact with it, how we relate to other humans in relation to that world than if it has an objective appearance.  unless Anyone here is arguing that be mere fiat, by thought alone, we could unmake the Kuiper Belt object, and erase all past observations of it, and all future independent observations of the night sky.Certainly, we could, in theory, reach the point where humanity could unmake pluto, possibly make it so it has never happened, but for most of us, that doesn't methodologically change the facts of the experience of accounting for what Hubble and New Horizons have shown us on the matter.

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-40338220Barclays staff charged over the funds they got from Qatar to avoid a government bailout.

BBC wrote:

The first charge, conspiracy to commit fraud, relates to "advisory" fees paid to Qatar. The second – "unlawful assistance" – could be more serious.It relates to a £2bn loan advanced to Qatar after the fundraisings were negotiated – the implication being that there was a money-go-round at work – Barclays was handing Qatar some of the money it was using to support the British bank.

SOunds very similar to the allegations made by Varoufakis about Greece and Aris and Zorba.

[Young Master Smeet]

Interesting concentration of France Insurmise in Paris.  Also, look at the FN fail.

[Young Master Smeet]

[Young Master Smeet]

Macronm gets his landslide:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/French_legislative_election,_2017#Results_summary9 Million for his coaltion, 5 for th centre right, and 1 for the centre left.  left reformism has collapsed in France, and Macron's Liberal Party ruls the roost: expect big strikes, given the individual right to strike in France, changes to labour law are hard to enforce.  That's 43% of the vote, roughly what the Tories had here.The national Front wilted, they got 8 million votes in the 1st round of the Predsidential election, only 3 million in the 1st ropund of the Legislative election.  Macron's vote actually held static between 1st round of the presidential elections, and 1st round of the legislative elections.  La France insoumise also wilted: obviously, without the Presidency their insurgency would be muted, but clearly their followers didn't mobilise to check Macron.Let's look at Macron's manifesto:

Macron wrote:

Tomorrow, the respective roles of the law, the industry agreement and the company agreement will be redefined. The actors of collective bargaining, in particular the trade unions of employees, will see their place strengthened. Negotiations at company level, or, failing that, agreements concluded at the branch level, will be privileged….Beyond the competences in social law, these courses must also address the specific challenges of managing a company, so that unions and employers can better understand each other and come to common solutions rather than confronting sterile positions…We will allow each employee to bring resources financed by the employer to the union of his choice.We will promote union involvement, recognition of it in careers in companies and fight against trade union discrimination.

https://en-marche.fr/emmanuel-macron/le-programme/dialogue-social

Macron wrote:

We can not promise "job security" in a world where technological change is making certain jobs obsolete and making others emerge. But there are two things we can guarantee: that we can evolve from one job to another, and that we are protected against the loss of jobs. It is at the time of transitions that we must most benefit from solidarities, to help us cross the course.

And an investment plan:

Macron wrote:

The investment plan will amount to 50 billion euros over five years. It will rise from 2018 and will end in 2022.

Looked at in the round, I don't think that is to far from what Corbyn was promising, n'est pas?

[Young Master Smeet]

https://theconversation.com/even-if-raqqa-and-mosul-fall-islamic-state-is-far-from-finished-79370

Quote:

The extent of the coalition forces’ involvement is only now becoming clear. The West is now directly and closely involved in the war on the ground as well as in the air; many of these troops might be special forces who prefer to keep a low profile, but nonetheless, the Middle East is once again becoming host to thousands of Western “boots on the ground”.

and

Quote:

As the battle to liberate Mosul in Iraq moved deeper into the city, Navy SEALs began wearing black fatigues to blend in with Iraqi counter-terror operatives going street by street, and house by house, to flush IS fighters into the open.The same source reports that US special forces are directly engaged alongside the SDF in Raqqa. Part of the reason for this, as well as the extensive use of air power and artillery support, is that IS is proving tenacious in the extreme when defending its main bases.

and

Quote:

IS forces are still laagered in the old city, and even control three outer districts. During the fighting, they have crippled the Iraqi Army’s Counter Terror Service, or Golden Division – the very force the Baghdad government will depend on to control an expected post-Mosul insurgency.

Worth reading in full: the fall of Raqqa and Mosul will not be the end of IS, and if Rogers is right, then the Iraqi state will not be worth much when this is over.

[Young Master Smeet]

Well, while Mosul is quiet, this at least has made the front page of the BBC website:http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40271450

Quote:

UN war crimes investigators say US-led coalition air strikes on Islamic State militants in the Syrian city of Raqqa are causing "staggering loss of life".Hundreds of civilians are reported to have been killed since March, as coalition warplanes support an offensive by a Kurdish-led alliance.In the past week, Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) fighters have pushed into the west, east and north of Raqqa.The battle for the city has also led to 160,000 civilians fleeing their homes.

Oh, and our god friend white phospherous is back:

Quote:

Separately, Human Rights Watch warned that the coalition's use of artillery-delivered white phosphorus in Raqqa and in the last remaining IS-held parts of the northern Iraqi city of Mosul was endangering civilians.White phosphorus can be used for several purposes on the battlefield – as a smoke screen, for signalling and marking, and as an incendiary weapon.However, international law prohibits its use in civilian areas because of its indiscriminate effects. On contact, it can burn people, thermally and chemically, down to the bone.

[Young Master Smeet]

Pour le socialisme, la république et la démocratie, pour l’Internationale ouvrière

POID wrote:

C’est pourquoi, ce 11 juin, tous les candidats à l’élection présidentielle ont perdu une part importante de leur électorat. La République en marche a perdu 1,3 million des voix recueillies par Macron le 23 avril ; le Front national a perdu près de 4,5 millions de voix ; la droite, près de 3 millions ; La France insoumise a perdu plus de 4,5 millions de voix, les deux tiers des voix obtenues par Mélenchon ; le Parti socialiste, 600 000 voix. Tous ont perdu une fraction importante de leur électorat. Tous sont frappés par le rejet.

[Young Master Smeet]

Me and another comrade received ours in advance of the election, so it can't have been all.  I saw evidence on twitter of others receiving.

[Young Master Smeet]

How we compare:http://averypublicsociologist.blogspot.co.uk/2017/06/2017-far-left-uk-general-election.htmlAlliance for Green SocialismKensington – John Lloyd 49 (0.1%, -0.2%)Leeds North East – Celia Foote 116 (0.2%, -0.7%)Leeds North West – Mike Davies 47 (0.1%, +0.1%)Communist LeagueIslington North – Andres Mendoza 7 (0.0%, +0.0%)Manchester Gorton – Peter Clifford 27 (0.1%, +0.1%)People Before Profit AllianceWest Belfast – Gerry Carroll 4,132 (10.2%, -9.0%)Socialist Labour PartyBirmingham Perry Barr – Shangara Bhatoe 592 (1.3%, +0.5%)Bootle – Kim Bryan 424 (0.8%, +0.8%)North Cornwall – Robert Hawkins 138 (0.3%, +0.3%)Socialist Party of Great BritainBattersea – Daniel Lambert 32 (0.1%, +0.1%)Islington North – Bill Martin 21 (0.0%, -0.2%)Swansea West – Brian Johnson 92 (0.2%, -0.1%)Workers PartyBelfast North – Gemma Weir 360 (0.7%, -1.6%)Belfast West – Conor Campbell 348 (0.9%, -0.8%)Workers Revolutionary PartyCamberwell and Peckham – Aminata Sellu 131 (0.2%, +0.0%)Ealing Southall – Arj Thiara 362 (0.8%, +0.8%)Hackney South and Shoreditch – Jonty Leff 86 (0.2%, +0.1%)Hornsey and Wood Green – Anna Athow 55 (0.1%, +0.0%)Sheffield Brightside and Hillsborough – Mike Driver 137 (0.3%, +0.3%)Just to echo Adam's suggestion, we should target safe Labour seats, but, I'd add, we should target left-wing Labour MPs in safe seats.I'd defend the Islington north campaign, it did raise our profile, and I think the area is worth persevering with (it'll be interestig to se our council election result).

[Young Master Smeet]

Did anyone see this in he News?http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-40200008?ocid=socialflow_twitter

Quote:

The UN has received reports that 231 Iraqi civilians have been killed by so-called Islamic State while attempting to flee Mosul over the past two weeks.At least 204 are believed to have been shot dead by militants during clashes with Iraqi security forces in the Shifa district last Thursday and Saturday.The UN said it had noted a "significant escalation" in such killings.There are also reports of between 50 and 80 civilians being killed in an air strike on the Zanjili area on 31 May.

Now, this is undoubtedly a brutal massacre, but why did it not get a higher billing in the broadcast news (this report is the BBC version of a footnote to cover their backs).  Iraq body count has a report of 19 burnt alive by Isis on the 10th?  This is the opfficial enemy in its death throes: the fall of Aleppo was covered minutely, so why not this?  It is a terrible battle against monsters who are maximising the civilian casualties.Simply trying to minimise the scale of he suffering lest it lead to domestic blowback?  Surely, psy-ops can spin this: the fact s the UK is involved in a hot war, hundreds if not thousands of troops are comitted to this battle, so why the silence?

[Young Master Smeet]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-40242531Establishment uniting around Macron?Looks like En Marche has drawn in time served SP candidates and assorted hangers on from the wreckage. 

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