After such an extended break from blogging, you will be deeply disappointed that I restart with something as mundane and trivial as Jeremy Clarkson. I have defended the man in the past, because I much enjoy Top Gear and consider that much of what he has been criticised for in the past had been an amusing winding-up of the po-faced of the kind I employ myself. But nasty, indeed vicious bullying of a subordinate should always be a sacking offence.
That did not ought to be the question, though. He hit someone and they had to go to hospital. Where are the police? They are incredibly fond of sweeping up scores of teenagers for thought crime, but here we have an actual violent assault that spills blood, and it seems completely out of the question the perpetrator is brought to account. Why is that? I had a personal experience a couple of years ago when I was very mildly hurt – less than young Oisin – in an assault, and the police insisted on arresting the perpetrator despite my repeated requests to them not to do so. They told me rather firmly that the idea that it is the victim who has a say in pressing charges, is a myth. Why was Clarkson not arrested?
I cannot in my mind dissociate this from the non-arrest of Jimmy Savile for his crimes, despite their being well-known and reported at the time. That seems to link in to the wider paedophilia scandal, and the question of why no action was taken even in the most blatant of cases when there was compelling evidence, such as that of the extremely nasty Greville Janner MP.
But then I think still more widely as to why, for example, Jack Straw has not been charged with the crime of misfeasance in public office after boasting of using his position to obtain “under the radar” changes in regulations to benefit commercial clients, in exchange for cash. I wonder why a large number of people did not go to jail for the HSBC tax avoidance schemes or the LIBOR rigging scandal, which involved long term dishonest manipulation by hundreds of very highly paid bankers.
At the top of the tree is of course the question of why Blair has not been charged for the crime of waging illegal war. The Chilcot Inquiry heard evidence that every single one of the FCO’s elite team of Legal Advisers believed that the invasion of Iraq was an illegal war of aggression. Yet now the media disparage as nutters those who say Blair should be charged.
Then I think of all the poor and desperate people who get jailed for stealing comparatively miniscule amounts in benefit fraud, or the boy who was jailed for stealing a bottle of water in the London riots.
The conclusion is that we do not have a system of justice in this country at all. We have a system where the wealthy and governing classes and those associated with them enjoy almost absolute impunity, broken in only the rarest of cases. At the same time those at the bottom of the pile are kicked hard to keep them there. There is no more chance of justice against those in power in the UK than there is of the killers of Nemtsov being brought to book in Russia.
But what has really scared me is this thought. This situation has been like this my entire life: and I have reached the age of 56 before I realised it. A very great many people have still not realised it at all.
What does not scare me is this. I realise that if the system of justice is completely corrupted, then there is no obligation on me to follow the laws of the state. In fact it would be wrong of me to do so. I must seek my ethical compass elsewhere than in the corrupt power structure which weighs so hard upon the people.
Macky
“Habbabkuk; “NO Group Areas Act.”
The Dunce doesn’t even know of Jewish only settlements !;
https://www.afsc.org/resource/israel%E2%80%99s-settlement-policy-occupied-palestinian-territory”
___________________
You fell for it, Macky, as I knew you would.
If you read my original post carefully, Macky, you’ll observe that it refers to “Israel”.
Your link refers to the Occupied Territories.
Or do you believe that the OT are part of the State of Israel, Macky? That would surprise and dismay many on here.
Habbabkuk; “NO ban on political representation and voting.”
For the Dunce’s education;
http://www.itisapartheid.org/laws.html
https://www.middleeastmonitor.com/resources/briefing-papers/1230-israels-discrimination-against-its-arab-citizens
No, no need to thank me Habby old chap, all part of my generous nature ! 😀
Habbabkuk; “Your link refers to the Occupied Territories.”
What part of “with state funded protection and access to water, electricity, and other basic services” don’t you understand ?
“Fred, regarding armed police; I saw armed officers in Leeds city centre on weekend evenings in the 1980s.”
Are you saying police officers in England carry firearms on routine patrol?
They have been issued for some time if known to be needed or on sensitive sites, targets for terrorists. There have always been rapid response vehicles just in case they are needed but are you stating that the ordinary bobby on the beat in England carries a firearm as a matter of routine?
Habbabkuk
Having just sunk about two thousand pounds sterling into the Israeli economy, it’s going to take an awful lot of boycotted tins of Israeli beans from the food bank for Macky
to match my effort, don’t you think?
Co-pilot Andreas Lubitz was suffering from depression, like Steve Ivens starting back in Februsary 2012, because of what he was learning about what Captain Patrick Sondenheimer et al. were up to, especially crashing one of their airliners to create the current panic – as would anyone in their position.
How about talking to the psychiatrist that Lubitz was seeing, and ask him what Andreas was bothered about – what the investigators of Ivens murder never did.
Sometimes basically healthy people become depressed about what is confronting them – like when Clinton’s Chief of Staff Leon Panetta, the CIA leadership, American Ambassador to Portugal Elizabeth Frawley Bagley et al. were trying to kill me – but I never suspected it until I decided to move to Sweden, so I never sought help, but I would have if I had known.
And the biggest part of the cover up is the stealing or destruction of the memory card of the FDR, as in the Sukhoi sabotage – what would ruin the pack of lies that the Franco-German authorities are cranking out.
Habbabkuk; “Let me know if I’ve missed out anything important, won’t you”
Yes of course;
Separate Unequal Application of the Law to Jew and Non-Jew
Housing Segregation and Discrimination in Funding for Arab Communities
Housing Demolitions
Economic and Social Privilege Given to Jews
Segregation Allows for Unequal Funding Between Jew and Non-Jew Discrimination in funding for Arab towns
Segregation and discriminatory funding of schools
Wide Spread Racial Profiling
Poisoning, Uprooting of Bedouin Israeli Citizens’ Crops
Failure to Protect Arab Citizens During Wartime
Failure to Compensate Jewish and Arab Citizens Equally for War Damages
Enough to be getting on with ?
“Now, now Joey,temper,temper,youd better not,show up to your ITV2 debate,with that kind of condescending attitude.”
I thought the SNP had given you knuckle dragging Nazi scum the elbow.
Told WingsoverBath to fly away and come back when you’re old enough to vote.
Fuck off and die retard.
Anon : “I don’t know how best to break this to you but the poor menial burdened with the task of having to read your letter will most likely bin it on sight as the work of yet another anti-Israel obsessive of the sort he receives perhaps five to ten times a day in a similar vein.”
Hey, thanks for the encouragement, five to ten times a day, you reckon. That’s 3000 people per year spending an average of 80 pounds per week = a quarter of a million pounds each year. Then if we estimate that perhaps only about 2 or 3 per cent of people planning to boycott Israeli goods would write a letter about it, then include a factor, let’s say x10, for all the people who’ve been doing it for years and have already written (or not) a letter, and we have a ballpark figure of 100 million quid a year up for grabs. Hey everybody, Anon reckons that boycotting Israeli products is definitely an effective strategy. You’re wasted on this blog, Anon. You could get a job working for FOA.
FOA advocates the boycott of Israel at multiple levels, in order to pressure Israel into ending its illegal and immoral occupation of the West Bank and Gaza Strip. Boycott is a means for ordinary people who are angered by Israel’s attacks on civilians to give voice to their anger through positive action.
http://www.foa.org.uk/campaigns/boycott-israeli-produce
Fred, 6:51 pm:
What right have parents to dictate in a free country? Because some would, and children are under parents’ power. What checks and balances would you want implemented?
Macky
I must congratulate you on your avatar. It almost perfectly matches an El Al tail fin.
Republicofscotland, Fred’s not an Essex Man, nor anything like one. Not that you can always tell that from some of his comments 🙁
“What right have parents to dictate in a free country? Because some would, and children are under parents’ power. What checks and balances would you want implemented?”
It sounds like you are the one requiring checks and balances not me. I’m the one thinks parents should have more rights over their own children than the state does not less.
Anecdotal evidence means nothing, I don’t point out that the pilot who just killed 150 people went to a state school therefore it proves they are all bad. It’s a simple matter of how much power the state should have over people’s personal lives.
This may be worth attending, but the write-up for the speakers don’t exactly fill me with confidence !
“Russia-EU Relations: Building bridges or digging trenches?”
https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/mlms-euseries-russia-eu-relations-building-bridges-or-digging-trenches-tickets-16318964462?ref=enivtefor001&invite=NzcyOTY1NC9tLnZhc3NpbGlvdUBidGludGVybmV0LmNvbS8w&utm_source=eb_email&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=inviteformal001&utm_term=eventpage
Macky
You are being a chump and a dishonest chump.
Just to take two examples of your dishonesty:
1/. Political rights and representation.
The current, new-elected Knesset contains a number of Arab political parties. It is safe to assume that Israeli Arabs voted for them in thre recent general election.
Question to Macky : pleqse let us know if blacks had the right to vote in apartheid-era South Africa and if there were any black African parties represented in the South Africa parliament.
2/. Marriage and sexual relations.
Sexual relations between Jews and non-Jews are legal in Israel.
Question to Macky : was this the case in apartheid-era South Africa?
Re marriage : Macky, quoting from the US Embassy website, informs us that “with very few exceptions, Israeli civil law does not permit marriages between Jews and non-Jews within the state of Israel.”
But he omits to tell us that “Israeli law generally only permits religious leaders to perform marriage ceremonies and rarely permits civil marriages.” (same source). So it would appear that civil marriage is difficult in Israel, whether between Jews or between Jews and non-Jews.
Question to Macky : was marriage across the races merely difficult in South Africa or was it illegal? Could a black South African marry a white South African outside South Africa and then return to live, legally, in South Africa?
>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>
Macky, I’m afraid it’s you who is the Dunce fir attempting to show that life in Israel for the Arab Israeli is the aqme as life for a South Africqn nion-white in apartheid-era South Africa.
Give up, you’re on a hiding to nothing.
Fred says:
“Republicofscotland, Fred’s not an Essex Man, nor anything like one.”
Nor would it be anything to be ashamed of if I were.
As for the first lie about the crash, look at how the authorities and the media have reacted to the Captain briefing Lubitz about how to land at Dusseldorf. just after the plane has taken off from Barcelona.
This is a two-hour trip where the pilots only leave the cockpit for a quick pee, but Sondenheimer apparently is not going to be there for the duration of the flight, and he wasn’t, leaving the co-pilot to think WTFIGO!
The Captain’s behavior is most suspicious, not the sullen co-pilot’s.
Node
It must give immense pleasure to a nobody like yourself to believe he is changing the course of world history by firing off boring letters to supermarkets that aren’t in the slightest bit interested in what you have to say, but they really have no interest in anti-Jew obsessives and will continue to sell Israeli products just as consumers will continue to buy them.
Habbabkuk; “Macky, I’m afraid it’s you who is the Dunce fir attempting to show that life in Israel for the Arab Israeli is the aqme as life for a South Africqn nion-white in apartheid-era South Africa.”
Let’s hear from four Nobel Peace Prize people who know better than you;
Desmond Tutu – 1984 Nobel Peace Prize
“If you change the names, the description of what is happening in the Gaza Strip and the West Bank would be a description of what is happening in South Africa” 1989
Nelson Mandela – 1993 Nobel Peace Prize
“…injustice and gross human rights violations were being perpetrated in Palestine. In the same period the UN took a strong stand against apartheid; …which helped to bring an end to this iniquitous system. But we know too well that our freedom is incomplete without the freedom of the Palestinians.”
Jimmy Carter – 2002 Nobel Peace Prize
“When Israel does occupy this territory deep within the West Bank, and connects the 200-or-so settlements with each other, with a road, and then prohibits the Palestinians from using that road, or in many cases even crossing the road, this perpetrates even worse instances of apartness, or apartheid, than we witnessed even in South Africa.”
Mairead Corrigan-Maguire – 1976 Nobel Peace Prize
“I have just come back with my colleague Ann Patterson from Palestine. We joined with the nonviolent resistance movement of the Palestinian people and the Israeli activists in order to do a nonviolent protest to ask that international law be upheld and that the apartheid wall [be removed]. And let’s face it; what the Israelis are doing in Palestine is building an apartheid system. And the world remains silent. Did the world remain silent when there was apartheid built in South Africa? No it did not.”
Anon
“Having just sunk about two thousand pounds sterling into the Israeli economy, it’s going to take an awful lot of boycotted tins of Israeli beans from the food bank for Macky to match my effort, don’t you think?”
_______________________
A mountain of tins, I’d say.
BTW, did you – as I did – find highly amusing the spectacle of Macky busily trawling the internet in an attempt to “refute” – seriatim – the aspects of life in Israel I pointed to in order to demonstrate that Israel is NOT by any stretch of the imagination an apartheid state?
In his haste to “refute”, the Bluntest Knife managed to confuse Israel and the OT, misread the US Embassy website article on marriage and dropped a clanger on the issue of political rights.
Why do we bother, I sometimes ask myself.
And if Sondenheimer was going to spend the rest of the flight somewhere else, like in the passenger cabin, Lubitz would be quite right to make sure that some unauthorized person didn’t barge into the cockpit.
Fred
Children shouldn’t be thought of as owned by their parents. Unfortunately, that is the way many parents think and feel.
“It takes a village to raise a child”.
The evidence is not merely anecdotal. Strong evidence exists that children are most often abused by those closest to them. In addition to that which is undeniably abuse, there is a whole range of generally accepted neglect, intimidation, indoctrination, etc.
You see, if Macky and similar fools continually refer to the Occupied Territories in order to justify their assertion that Israel is an apartheid state, then that means that they consider the Occupied Territories to be part of Israel.
That claim goes further than anything the govt of Israel has ever claimed.
Fred, 7:58 pm, by “Essex Man” I don’t mean a man from Essex. I mean the likes of Chris “false flag bin wagon” Spivey.
Republicofscotland, Fred’s not an Essex Man, nor anything like one. Not that you can always tell that from some of his comments
________________________________
Clark.
I suppose with his dirty little foul mouth,Fred,does his reputation no favours.
I do recall though,Fred bitching like a little girl,because you or someone else outed information about him.
Yes, Fred was whining like a loose fan belt.
To give you an indication of when it happened, it was right around the time,of your manic depressive comments,thankfully it appears,you’ve overcome,such notions.
Maybe you could help Fred with his anger issues,perhaps Fred could watch the film Anger Management.
Fred should try singing the song “I’m Pretty ” from West Side Story.
Anon : “It must give immense pleasure to a nobody like yourself to believe he is changing the course of world history by firing off boring letters to supermarkets that aren’t in the slightest bit interested in what you have to say, but they really have no interest in anti-Jew obsessives and will continue to sell Israeli products just as consumers will continue to buy them.”
Hey Anon, you’re sounding a bit desperate now, almost as if you’re trying to re-assure yourself.
You’re correct, of course, I’m a nobody. Just an insignificant footsoldier in a long war. But lots of soldiers make an army, and as long as there are people like you reminding us that we’re fighting a just cause, there will be new recruits and few desertions. An army that gets bigger and bigger by the day . . . inevitable result.
Anyway I’ve sent off my letters, and it’s all thanks to you. I’ve emailed all the supermarkets in my area, but I suppose I could write to others as well. What do you reckon? Should I? Gonna make it worth my while?
And when the plane is in steep descent, and the Captain changes his mind about returning to the cockpit, why does he start trying to get Lubitz’s attention by knocking so quietly?
Was Sondenheimer afraid of waking him up as the mickey was kicking in?
Nor would it be anything to be ashamed of if I were.
_____________________________
You forget youself Fred,you have no shame.
Fred, anyway, I suspect you don’t really believe what you’ve been posting. I suspect you’re just trying to inflame me, on two counts as we both know.