Obviously the human tragedy of the death of Jo Cox, a mother of young children, is rightly uppermost in our mind after today’s appalling murder. There has been much random killing lately that appears broadly “terrorist” in nature, including in Orlando and Tel Aviv, and the human stories are always tragic; every violent death carries a dreadful freight of grief and loss.
But the Jo Cox death has caused immediate and fierce debate as to whether it was “terrorism” or not. This follows closely a similar and interesting debate over the Orlando killings. The questions raised over Omar Mateen, who undoubtedly had mental health issues, and was himself perhaps gay, complicated the question of his motivation, beyond his own declaration of loyalty to ISIS. It is to the credit of the US political establishment that their reaction reflected this complexity, Trump aside.
There is however a stark contrast in the UK. On the one hand we have the treatment of the Leyton tube knife attack and of the murder of Lee Rigby, both of which were unequivocally presented as Islamic terrorist incidents despite the obvious mental health problems of the perpetrators. On the other we have the media treatment of the Jo Cox murder, which there is a reluctance to call out as right wing terrorism. That the man is reported as yelling “Britain First” is apparently much less relevant to terrorism than if he had shouted “Allahu Akbar”.
The investigation is not being led by the counter-terrorism police. Simply put, if Tommy Mair were a Muslim, it would be.
Similarly, when Gregoire Moutaux was arrested ten days ago returning from Ukraine to France for Euro 2016 armed with five Kalashnikovs, two anti-tank grenade launchers, 5,000 rounds of ammunition, 100 detonators, and twelve kilos of high explosive, the media storm would still not have abated today if he had been a Muslim. There was more publicity for the Muslim who owned some fertiliser in a garage, or the Islamic “liquid bomb” plot which owned no detonators, explosives or suspicious liquids, or the Islamic “ricin plot” which owned no ricin.
It is a fact that the only terrorist arrested in Britain in this century who actually possessed a viable bomb and intended to use it was named Ryan McGee. He was a soldier, had a swastika on his wall and intended to kill Muslims. He was convicted – but not of terrorism with which, not being a Muslim, he was never charged. Many Muslims on the other hand have been jailed for terrorism for internet fantasy or boasting which had nowhere near reached the stage of preparation McGee had attained.
Terrorism has not officially been redefined as a crime of violence committed by a Muslim, but it might as well be. Just as the “Prevent strategy” has not officially been redefined as the control of Muslims not fully signed up to neo-liberalism, but might as well be.
Nobody has more consistently opposed than me the appalling use of racism to divert the attention of ordinary people from the cause of their poverty, which simply put is the vast wealth gap to the burgeoning stinking rich. I abhor UKIP, I abhor right wing politics.
I hold that the fashionable slogan “it is not racist to be concerned about immigration” is a lie.
Yet I do not accept in the least the argument put forward by Alex Massie in the Spectator that it is the rhetoric of Johnson, Hannan and Farage that caused the climate in which Jo Cox was murdered. Massie’s article is being much applauded by the Remain camp across political parties. Yet the only place where emotions have been whipped into a frenzy by the referendum campaign is precisely in the right wing Conservative milieu that Massie inhabits. Indeed Massie’s article is precisely proof of that very fact; it is a vicious and underhand blow in the bitter internecine battle within the Tory party. However much I dislike Johnson, Gove et al, to claim they inspired the murder of Jo Cox is wrong. They couldn’t inspire a souffle to rise, let alone the masses. The referendum campaign is more likely to induce a catatonic state than rage. What Massie is doing is giving vent to the vile hatred of Conservatives for each other that is rending the Tory Party apart.
It should be applauded because it is good to see Tories tearing each other apart, but not because Massie is right.
In a move that shows the fuddy-duddies of the Spectator haven’t actually quite understood the internet yet, they have taken down Massie’s initial article and replaced it with a version in which the names of all the Tories he accuses are removed and the new article blames only Farage. The link I give above is to the original captured by archive.org.
It is sad that Jo Cox’s tragic death becomes discussed by everybody – myself included – in political terms so quickly. That does not mean that I, or even Mr Massie or the many mainstream media journalists involved, do not genuinely feel for her family. It seems to me very probable that Tommy Mair was motivated by hatred of immigrants when he reportedly shouted “Britain First” and killed Jo Cox. But that hatred of immigrants has been fostered over many years by the right wing in the UK – including virtually the entire Conservative Party, not just the Brexiteers. Stoking of racist emotion has been a deliberate long term ploy to provide a focus of blame for the victims in society of the consequences of neo-liberalism.
As I have argued so often, terrorism is unfortunately easy. Even a misfit like Thomas Mair can carry out a successful terrorist attack if they really want to do it. Almost everybody reading this blog could kill somebody tomorrow if they really wanted and were careless of their own life. That is why I have never believed the official nonsense about the thousands of totally unproductive Islamic terrorists we are harbouring, and the scores of plots the security services have brilliantly and secretly foiled. There is not more political death because fortunately the impulse to such killing is an extremely rare pathology.
Horrible things happen in a complicated and unfair world. Unless we see a truly revolutionary social change which fundamentally addresses the distribution of work, reward and wealth and the ownership of enterprises, societal coherence is going to continue to deteriorate. One brand of Tory versus another and Brexiteer versus Remainer are fluff, and not relevant to the current tragedy.
I posted this on the other Clement Freud thread, it’s apposite here too, if not more:
I’d say too it was another ‘success’ for the mumbo-jumbo and concentrated nonsense that calls itself psychiatry and for the priests and priestesses of this most dangerous cult. It’s highly unlikely that this would have occured without their misguided, if not downright malicious efforts. Another and possibly greater factor will of course be the pharmaceutical cocktail the individual, presently, and over the the recent past few years, has imbibed, from an industry that has killed tens of millions and kills, numerically a parliament full of MPs every single day.
The National Alliance in the USA, a white supremacy, anti-semitic group, has gone underground, and one can only suspect that Tommy Mair, the assassin of Jo Cox, is trying to revive it in the UK by breaking with the EU.
This is a political assassination.
Actually, one can suspect lots of other things as well, as we’re in the process of finding out on this thread alone. I’m still waiting for someone to explain that Mrs. Cox, like Mrs. Lindh, was assassinated by the Mossad.
Just trolling by you to explain away what neo -Nazis are doing in the UK.
Never even implied that the Mossad is behind this one, so you will be awaiting a very long time for what loony you wants.
Nope, just pointing out that empty speculation is just that: empty.
Trowbridge: bollocks (unsurprisingly). There’s little or nothing political about it. Some will try to and many already are trying to exploit it, yes.
Responsibility lies primarily with the big pharma, mental healthcare quackery, the DWP (benefits agency), and with the inevitable and long-term effects of right-wing economic policies on individuals. If Brexiters are to blame then I would single out Ian Duncan Smith for some guilt, but not for his EU policies, and also blame his predecessor at the DWP, James Purnell, who I confidently assume is a staunch Remain’er.
and director of strategy and digital at the BBC and a past chair of Labour Friends of Israel.
A prominent Labour politician, who is a great supporter of staying in the EU on the eve of the referendum, is murdered by a person whoo has dealt with a noted white supremacy group in the States for a long time, and you have the hutzpa to say that there is nothing political about it.
You should get your meds increased.
I agree with you on much of this, but I disagree with your acquittal of the Brexit campaign.
It is true that the right have been demonising immigrants for many years. But it is only the Brexit campaign that has whipped the subject up into an urgent issue of national survival. While such an attack could have happened at any time, I don’t think it is coincidence that it has happened now.
More bollocks Trowbridge: Hardly prominent, she only became an MP last year, hardly anyone – including most of her constituents – outside the England’s Westminster Parliamentary bubble would even have heard of her.
Did her killer even know she was an MP? It’s reported she intervened in dispute between Mair and an older man.
Oh, right, it was just some kind of manslaughter by an innocent guy, short on his meds and long on his weapons, in a dispute with another older man when Jo Cox, unknown in her constituency, unnecessarily intervened!
You really need to get your head examined.
It certainly has nothing in common with the assassination of Ian Gow as you suggested yesterday
I never said, even suggested, it had anything to do with Gow’s assassination, and it didn’t.
Just noted that that last assassination of a British politician occurred a quarter century ago, as the media has noted too.
I completely agree; the double standards are evident to many. If there had been an attack on a right-wing politician by a Muslim, ISIS sympathiser or not, we would have the shrieks of “terrorism’ for many months, if not years, to come.
So campaigning is suspended tomorrow and possibly through Sunday as well. It’s beginning to look like the sad death of Joe Cox is being used to close down debate and arrest any further slide towards Leave in the polls during Purdah, when the government is forbidden from boosting its lead by propagandising and scaremongering. A period of total Purdah has therefore being declared, to include both the Remain and Leave campaigns, and two-minute silences and lowered flags across the land will allow people to reflect on how hateful and racist it is to leave the European Union.
In the meantime, the corporate media blame the actions of the mentally unhinged Tommy Mair on the arguments about immigration put forward by the Leave campaign, with the aim of it being sufficiently saturated into the public consciousness that to be concerned about immigration is racist and causes tragic deaths such as that of the Joe Cox MP at the hands of far-right lunatics.
The gloves will then come off next week as a bombardment of smearing and liberal intolerance will be unleashed against Leave, the likes of which have never been seen before as MPs retreat behind 2-inch-thick armour-plated glass in order to converse with the public, around half of which are likely to be heavily armed far-right extremists. The government will announce it is prepared for the worst-case scenario of a Brexit but that it cannot guarantee the safety of the public from Britain First militia and a post-apocalyptic plague of flesh-eating locusts descending upon them and devouring them alive.
And we were so close.
I wonder if the CIA’s MK-ULTRA mind control project, which was officially discontinued, survives in some form.
More likely that the actions of a man with mental health problems and the memory of a charming young murdered woman are being used to manipulate public opinion against Leave.
Sure does.
The Israelis have it, as Mijailo Mijailovic’s assassination of Swedish Foreign Minister Anna Lindh demonstrated.
Tommy Mair might have been programmed by someone, even by British spooks.
Could make any earthquake unnecessary in the run-up to the referendum.
The British spooks have no reluctance to kill anyone when it serves their purpose,
Just ask Gareth Williams, Gudrun Loftus, Steve Rawlings, Mike Todd, and the victims of these unsolved air crashes, especially MH370.
You should realize that the program used now is making a Manchurian Candidate through drugs and hypnosis while MK-ULTRA had much more limited aims.
It started with Hsrvey et al. trying to make alleged double agent LHO into a Manchurian Candidate to kill JFK, but when he refused, they made him into the patsy assassin, especially after the unexpected cockup in Dallas.
Sirhan Sirhan, the alleged killer of Robert Kennedy, showed all the signs of having been hypnotized.
And RFK was killed, along with MLK, by the same vile crew aka The Plumbers.
I think most here equate MK Ultra with alien abduction and JFK second shooters. You don’t need to control all the behaviors of a subject. It’s like pin-the-tail-on-the-donkey. They disorient with spin, the just point you in the preferred direction. After that, you’re on your own.
There is documentary proof that MK-ULTRA was a CIA program that actually existed.
It is a fact that Oswald did not fire the shot that killed JFK. It came from the wrong direction. Since whoever fired the fatal shot may have been the only shooter, it is possible that there was not a second shooter. The evidence suggests Oswald did no shooting.
Sirhan had all the earmarks of hypnosis. Rosie Grier the 350 pound former Rams lineman could not break Sirhan’s grip on his gun. I am not saying MK wasn’t real. They just found it’s easier and less culpable for handlers to set it and forget it.
Careful. That’s ‘nutter’ territory. Anyway, I think we have sufficient crazy inventory so that mere suggestion whispered in a delusional ear suffices. I call it ‘point and shoot’.
I think enough people will still vote LEAVE. Simply shouting “racist!” at them is not a convincing argument to do otherwise.
After all, if they’re not racists, anything said to them after the slur will be ignored, so the point will be lost. If they are racist, such a slur is likely to produce a “So what?” response. As a tactic of those wishing to persuade people to REMAIN, it’s worse than useless.
The idea is not to convert those who have made up their minds, but to plant the idea in the heads of the undecided that Leave is far-right, xenophobic, racist, etc, and to shamelessly use this poor woman’s corpse to further promote that smear during this period of mock grieving.
Who would have thought it would come to this, that to want sovereignty for your country and the ability for it to make its own laws and elect it’s own representatives you would be branded a racist extremist.
We’re going to lose. It was never going to be a fair contest. Just wait and see what’s in store for us next week when the gloves really come off.
Judging from the front page headline in today’s ‘Daily Star’ the gloves have already been removed- Mair is bluntly described as a ‘Brexit Gunman’.
Is that so. The bastards.
It is to be hoped that your analysis is wrong. In the end it matters both a little and a lot.
It matters little because the EU is incapable of survival, and so its end is assured.
It matters a lot because the next obvious assault on the EU will likely come from a toxic mixture of French rioters and French political nationalists. A UK “Brexit” would be an altogether more civilized way to slay this monster.
If the French fail then it will likely be left to the Russians to sweep it away. They will not fail, but the problem is that all of humanity may also get swept away as collateral damage. It says more than is bearable to comprehend that people are more fearful of being smeared with accusations of racism than they are fearful of the destruction of the species.
Since you put it like that, we might as well all give up hope and start building bomb shelters…
We are not yet at that stage. There is still hope. A first step is that enough people come to appreciate to EU for the death cult that it is.
Look at the suffering of Southern Europe. Look at the unequivocal EU support for Ukrainian neo Nazis, and their support for self harming economic sanctions against Russia. Look at their incoherent policy toward refugees and the vast suffering that the CAP inflicts on third world farmers. Only today Draghi is seriously talking about unleashing helicopter money. Look at Deutsche Bank, and ask why its share price is at a record low.
Look at German bond yields and try to recall that only historical precedent for this was just prior to the advent of German hyper inflation. Try to appreciate that the only policy the EU has is to impoverish the mass of its population in perpetuity, and that it is completely immune to rational argument and is organizationally incapable of reform.
For all of these reasons it must end. The best chance of bringing this whole rotting structure crashing down is for the British to vote leave. Failing that other forces will come to the fore that will surely slay the monster.
Destroying the EU is a necessary, but not sufficient step, to secure salvation. The US must also be brought under control. There is hope in the US and it takes the unlikely form of Donald Trump. That Donald Trump is the source of hope speaks to the dreadfulness of our predicament. That Trump is flawed does not need stating, and his flaws will make his task all the greater. How much better then if the British have already acted before he assumes center stage.
If all of this fails then you are probably correct, it will time to abandon hope. The British would be well advised to heed the words of Leonardo di Vinci “It is easier to resist at the beginning than at the end”
So your version of hope is to destroy everything that is good about this world on purpose?
If you believe a supranational death cult to be a good thing then the answer to your question is Yes.
Maybe you would have been happier in South/Central America at the time of the Aztecs – you could have kept yourself busy justifying the need to rip out ever more human hearts to placate the gods.
Yes. It may sound cynical, but it occurs to me that the sacrifice of just half a dozen more MPs could close down democratic debate until after the referendum. Thank goodness we live in such a free country!
Meanwhile, elsewhere in the world, hundreds of people are being deliberately murdered every day, often in fiendishly cruel ways. But they’re foreign, and not politicians, so they don’t matter.
If George Galloway had been killed by the Jewish fanatic who assaulted him not so long ago, would we be seeing this kind of reaction?
In my experience, any attack on a politician trying to pursue his/her goals through peaceful means tends to shock the system, even if the said politician was plenty loony or scary while they were still alive.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pim_Fortuyn
Jo Cox, Friend of Palestine.
‘scores of plots’:
according to the MILKWHITE comments here
https://www.techdirt.com/articles/20160614/10371834705/scottish-law-enforcement-also-apparently-hooked-up-to-nsa-gchqs-data-firehose.shtml
O, if someone on the internet said it, it must be true.
Right, especially what you say!
Craig,
Just heard today’s world at one (BBC R4) reference Alex Massie’s piece re the death of Jo Cox. The issue of whether political life is too brutal was a theme.
Of course there was not enough time to point out that about a month ago Goldsmith and Cameron (at PMQs) were labelling Sadiq Khan as a supporter of Sulamain Gani, who they claimed was a supporter of IS. In fact Gani had said that he supported the creation of an Islamic state. Michael Fallon had the stupidity to say it on LBC, so Gani is considering suing him. Doubtless Cameron will now be spewing out torrents of hypocrisy. He didn’t even have the guts to apologise in the house of commons as David Davis had called for.
http://www.theguardian.com/politics/2016/may/11/david-cameron-apologises-after-saying-ex-imam-supported-islamic-state
Another recent death caught my ear recently – it got about 30 seconds on the news
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-wales-south-west-wales-36536631
I also half heard a report of a woman’s death due to the ever present failure of mental health services. I couldn’t find a link, but here’s one of many such reports:-
http://www.itv.com/news/granada/2016-03-17/father-criticises-mental-health-services-after-daughters-death/
On the point about poverty and the wealth gap I recently saw Michael Moore’s ‘Where to Invade Next’, which I would recommend. I laughed through most of it but found one moment so poignant I almost started blubbering. What was so depressing about the film was that many of the criticisms of the US could be applied to the UK. Moore didn’t ‘invade’ the UK, presumably because there was no idea he wished to nick for the US. Moore (I think) wants the UK to stay in the EU. I want to leave, because I think the EU would be much better off without the neo-liberal pestilence that infects the UK, particularly in the city. Monery laundering anybody?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-20673466
“Terrorism has not officially been redefined as a crime of violence committed by a Muslim, but it might as well be”.
Just as racism was redefined, long ago, as unfair discrimination by a White person against a person of colour.
Hmmm. No mention of Orlando. Just some caucasoid armed to the teeth who got little attention for his trouble. Paris was a big deal, though eh Craig? But let’s not get all bigoted and look too closely at specific culture, religion and psychology of our preeminent and infamous terrorists. That wouldn’t be nice.
Good point, Ben.
Omar Mateen another Manchurian Candidate?
Could be.
I’ll have to look into it.
‘I hold that the fashionable slogan “it is not racist to be concerned about immigration” is a lie’.
Well, for a start the whole notion of “racism” has to do with values, not facts. Some people believe racism is bad; others don’t (really!) While many people have entirely conflicting definitions of racism. So it’s a category error to say that the slogan in question is “a lie”, as a lie is a statement contrary to fact. Challenging a value, or set of values, can never be a lie – although some may deem it provocative or even wicked (which are, of course, further value judgments).
As a matter of fact, however, I think Craig is quite mistaken. Think it through. The population of the UK is now substantially less than 1% of the world’s total population. There are well over 7 billion people on Earth who do not (currently) live in the UK. If they all tried to enter the country, it would become quite crowded. The UK’s population density is about 679 per square mile, compared to the overall world population density (land areas excluding Antarctica) of 140. If everyone in the world entered the UK, its population density would be a little under 78,000 per square mile. That obviously wouldn’t work, and you may say it’s absurd to talk about it at all. But wait a moment. Given that a very large number of people who currently live abroad would like to live in the UK, how should you decide (1) how many should be allowed in; and (2) which people should be allowed in?
Those are the questions that UKIP and other groups are asking, and they are questions that must be asked and answered. No matter how high one’s ethical standards or how good one’s intentions, it is no good shutting one’s eyes tightly and refusing to face the facts or to make necessary decisions.
In a wildlife preservation area, it may be necessary to control the population of deer, elephants, rabbits or any other creature. The reason is very simple: if there are too many, they will die of hunger or from other causes. Is it racist to control an animal population for the good of its members and to make sure their offspring can continue to live and thrive? Then why does it suddenly become racist when human beings do it?
Well, for a start the whole notion of “racism” has to do with values, not facts. Some people believe racism is bad; others don’t (really!) While many people have entirely conflicting definitions of racism. So it’s a category error to say that the slogan in question is “a lie”, as a lie is a statement contrary to fact. Challenging a value, or set of values, can never be a lie – although some may deem it provocative or even wicked (which are, of course, further value judgments).
Huh? Can you run that one by me again?
The population of the UK is now substantially less than 1% of the world’s total population. There are well over 7 billion people on Earth who do not (currently) live in the UK. If they all tried to enter the country, it would become quite crowded.
Wait, you’re going with the literal version of the “UK is full” argument? That is new! We had someone like that in Dutch politics in the 1980s, but his intellectual heirs have generally preferred the metaphorical version. Good for you, relying on the classics!
“Huh? Can you run that one by me again?”
I could, but if you didn’t understand the first version I don’t hold out much hope. This is basic logic and ethics, as taught to 10-year-olds (or should be).
It may be news to you, but the ideas of “racism” and “racial discrimination” are value judgments. That is, they rely on the belief that treating people differently according to their race is wrong. Do I really have to explain why any sentence that says something is “right” or “wrong” is a value judgment, and not a statement of fact? (Quite apart from the open question whether it is even meaningful to refer to different races of homo sapiens).
As for your other point, it seems you feel that an idea’s age should be held against it. Many of us, on the contrary, believe that the older an idea that is still active and useful, the more likely it is to be correct. Do you think that the alphabet, or the cardninal numbers, or basic logic, or the technology known as “books”, are out of date and thus no longer worthy of attention?
It may be news to you, but the ideas of “racism” and “racial discrimination” are value judgments.
No they’re not.
they rely on the belief that treating people differently according to their race is wrong.
No they don’t. Otherwise no one would ever describe themselves as a racist, while historically (and recently) plenty of people have.
As for your other point, it seems you feel that an idea’s age should be held against it. Many of us, on the contrary, believe that the older an idea that is still active and useful, the more likely it is to be correct.
I think I’ve spotted your problem there. The problem isn’t that the idea of the UK being literally full is old, but that it was a stupid notion even when it was first proposed, so much so that no politician, no matter how racist, has seen fit to use it unironically since.
If you read my original comment carefully, you will see that I did not say that “the UK is full”. That was your over-simplification of what I said. What I pointed out was that the UK could not accommodate everyone on Earth; and that therefore it is necessary to decide how many people should be admitted each year – and what people. That is all that an immigration control policy is, and that is all that UKIP and like-minded people are asking for.
There is absolutely nothing there that even hints at racial discrimination. (Although personally, I don’t really believe in “races”. All I see is people, of different outward appearances, inward characters, educations, cultures, religions, and other beliefs. I have a great deal more common ground with a decent peaceful hard-working Muslim, of whatever colour or nationality, than I do with people like David Cameron, Barack Obama, or – apparently – some of the commenters on this blog).
Awww, that’s cute, you don’t see races! Then I guess you couldn’t possibly be a racist!
As said above,
“Who would have thought it would come to this, that to want sovereignty for your country and the ability for it to make its own laws and elect it’s own representatives you would be branded a racist extremist. ”
Welcome to the club. We who seek Scottish independence are used to it. We had the same Project Fear, and it frightened enough folk into voting No.
Really interesting to note in John Marks’ The Search for the ‘Manchurian Candidate’ that he concluded at the outset on this note: “To what extent the British and Canadians continued cannot be told. The CIA did not stop until the 1970s.” (p. 33)
Looks like London has all kinds of material on it, but it refuses to release it, and the Agency cannot do so because of international agreements.
And CIA under madman John Brennan could certainly have resumed the practice.
For those saddos like me who will be up all night, here are the expected declaration times for the EU referendum results on June 24th.
https://t.co/3mjqwlzTw1
Earlier Loony wrote:
Here is a Youtube video of the late Professor Bartlett explaining in layman’s terms the quite simple mathematics behind the exponential function and the importance of understanding the implications of the exponential function when planning for the future when growth is involved.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o0ghHia-M54
Glenn Greenwald points out the double standards;
https://theintercept.com/2016/06/17/why-is-the-killer-of-british-mp-jo-cox-not-being-called-a-terrorist/
Somewhat topical….http://www.covertbookreport.com/boston-bomber-tsarnaev-was-under-investigation-despite-fbi-denial/
“..yet a shadowy program used by the feds to keep individuals deemed a “national security concern” from obtaining citizenship looks like the reason Tsarnaev’s naturalization application was held up — to the very moment of his death. This program is called the Controlled Application Review and Resolution Program (CARRP).
Significantly, CARRP is also used to manipulate foreign nationals (mostly Muslims) to do the FBI’s bidding by — ironically — flagging them as a “national security concern,” according to an extensive ACLU investigation into the program.”
“To manipulate foreign nationals ( mostly Muslims) to do the FBI’s bidding”. That is the key right there. In the words of the Tsarnaev brothers mother Zubeidat:
‘They were set up, FBI followed them for years’ –
I wonder if we will get some video of Tommy Mair saying something detrimental to the leave campaign.
“it’s all about the money”
Is this guy Omar Mateen ? **UPDATE** – IT IS!! (clip from “The Big Fix” documentary)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ExIhb5GEqWA
He had a concealed-carry permit with one of the world’s largest security co’s. ‘Natch!
http://www.globalresearch.ca/orlando-killer-omar-mateen-harbored-by-g4s-the-worlds-largest-private-security-company/5531101
It is, of course, indeed “all about the money” :
http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-06-17/global-stocks-rebound-brexit-odds-decline-following-tragic-death-uk-lawmaker
PSYOP (ery)
min 5.53
“Omar Mateen Bad Boy”
Omar Mateen Is a Really Bad Actor
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=edY5qLa1Bvg
“Sources say that the suspected killer was lucid when first questioned. A picture is now emerging of a deliberately targeted attack in which Mair lay in wait for the MP as she emerged from her constituency meeting on Thursday. Witnesses have confirmed that he shouted “Britain first” or “Put Britain first” as he attacked Cox, who was 41 and had two children. Britain First is the name of a far-right political party.”
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2016/jun/17/jo-cox-suspect-thomas-mair-bought-gun-manuals-from-us-neo-nazis-group-claims?CMP=share_btn_tw
Seems to me he’s only a “nutter” in the sense that all racists are.
I’m slightly surprised that he didn’t reportedly shout, “This is for Nigel Farage and UKIP!”
But perhaps that would look a bit too obvious.
Tom, that is the most amusing thing I’ve ever read on here.
But can we believe what we’ve been told about this murder at all? It’s possible it’s a huge coincidence that the first murder of a sitting MP since Ian Gow happened with a week to go before one of the most important political events in most of our lifetimes. But personally this strikes me as the same kind of covert political assassination that claimed David Kelly and removed the last obstacle to the Iraq War. In this country, it is possible that a lone nutcase would murder an MP but would someone well-informed enough about the issues and the personalities do so? Personally I doubt it, although I know little about the suspect in this case.
The cold fact is that the Remain campaign benefits greatly from this atrocity – just as things were beginning to look ropey for them. Meanwhile, the virulently Brexit newspapers have been brought to heel with a story that will run for days instead of scare stories about Albanian immigrants.
It’s all very suspicious.
“But can we believe what we’ve been told about this murder at all?”
Probably not, IMHO. It’s simply amazing how little certainty remains when you realize that you cannot believe a single word that the government or the mass media say.
Many, many informed American commentators have expressed strong disbelief in the official stories about 9/11, the Boston Marathon attacks, the attacks in France and Belgium, and several reported massacres in the USA (most recently Orlando). See, as just one example among many, http://www.paulcraigroberts.org/2016/06/13/orlando-shooting-paul-craig-roberts/
I think it is extremely unlikely that this is any kind of planned assassination. Firstly, I do not think anyone could have any certainty about how public opinion would change after this tragic event. True, some people might regard it as an act of depravity by anti-EU forces and vote to Remain accordingly. It strikes me as at least as likely that other people would follow your apparent reasoning and regard it as a provocation, and be outraged as a consequence. There seems to be evidence to suggest that the event has benefited the Brexit position.
http://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2016/06/17/exclusive-poll-eu-support-falls-after-jo-cox-murder/86031038/
Furthermore, I doubt that this Mr Mair would coolly and in his right mind be induced by anyone to carry out an action which will inevitably result in a very long, if not lifelong, incarceration. Much more probable that he was acting for himself according to his own emotional landscape, I think.
Craig,
You hit the nail on the head here:-
” That the man is reported as yelling “Britain First” is apparently much less relevant to terrorism than if he had shouted “Allahu Akbar”.”
Craig Murray could I ask you if it is legal and ethical to have a Trial by media, after all the Hyp of the Levinson Case, where all the Tabloids were held to account for disgraceful reporting. I do not condone what this man has done as I live in Leeds and it is a terrible act, but these tabloids and Politicians are having a field day without any knowledge of legal facts apart from he said ,she said, and declaring it a Brexit issue. I’m afraid there are many issues in this country at the moment and it could simply be, it was Mental Health, eviction or loss off benefits, and no scenarios should be made up before it goes to court and all the facts are known. After all we are supposed to have a fair Justice system, and the Tabloids and Politicians have all ready tried him for Brexit.
“In my twenty-six years in this country, I have never felt more foreign, less welcome, more marginalised, or less safe. I am not alone. Hundreds of migrants I speak to feel this way. I spend every minute of every day trying to justify my existence, against a wall of blind hatred. It is that hatred that killed Jo Cox. And we all must look into our conscience and answer the question: “Have I contributed”? ”
https://www.byline.com/column/11/article/1109
A question that some posting here, especially need to ask themselves.
Why is this interesting?
I have been in countries where I have been systematically discriminated against, where I have been beaten by the Police for walking down the street at the “wrong” time of day. Countries where people have tired to shoot me and countries where a local hobby was trying to run people like me down when I crossed the street.
I very much doubt whether the local population cared whether I was or dead, much less whether I felt foreign, welcome or marginalized. In fact had I felt welcome there is little doubt that they would have stepped up their efforts to disabuse me of my feeling.
A principle difference is I dealt with it, and did not spend my time demanding sympathy or writing heart rending missives about my plight. People really should get out more and see the world for what it really is. It most definitely is not the world that brainwashed lunatics that write for “liberal media” describe.
Sorry Loony, either you haven’t read the piece, or you have & it has obviously gone completely over your head.
Macky someone who uses the epithet “liberal media” to denote the Oligarch Owned Media and the state propaganda organs is clearly a lunatic and proud of it as his/her moniker proves. However you then expect this “person” to follow the link read and pass an informed opinion?
Loony.
After your medium-sized ‘net essay of grande self-pity, and where you basically start with the same word that you finish with (Loony & Lunatic – hidden confession?), it probably won’t surprised you to learn that I am confused, in fact, about that last paragraph where you have used that “lunatic” word.
Are you suggesting it is those in the media who write about liberals who should get out more, or actual liberals? Because by your writing it seems like you mean liberals, eventhough liberals are those who are out and about putting things right more than any other descriptive of person/party voter, the only sound of any sanity around at this anxious or fragile moment in time. The amount of sheep I come across on the Internet is incredible, but not incredible in a good way. Just to remind the people and party that has put is in so much trouble are the Conservatives, and the politicial leader that has been most excited and welcoming of immigrants -both legal and illegal – has been Jeremy Corbyn of Labour. And liberals have done nothing wrong at all. Don’t forget.
Karen Let us be clear. There is an undercurrent in the news that the British MP was killed by a man who may have had racist motives. There is a lot of insinuation that there are many other racists at large in the UK and that racists somehow share a dislike of the EU,
I share the view that racism should be categorically condemned. Where I differ from liberals is that I condemn it always and everywhere.
However if anti racists tend to be supportive of the EU then I would like them to explain why they support an organization that funds and otherwise supports the manifestly racist, indeed neo-Nazi, regime of Ukraine. Perhaps you can help?
Please do let me know when your liberal friends intend to get “out and about putting things right” with regard to the overt support of fascists
Of course it may be that you do not intend getting out and about with regard to this matter it is considered more important to deal with the plethora of racists present in your own society.
The superb irony in all of this (and which is highly relevant to you sheep allusion) is that racists in the UK likely do not present any systemic threat to the continuation of society. Conversely continuing to fund Ukrainian neo-Nazis not only exposes the grotesque double standards at play but also moves us all closer to annihilation by way of nuclear war.
Sounds like the author is over-egging it a bit. Another one using this sad death for political advantage.
Beyond help Anon1, if somebody more than anybody needed to understand that piece it was you.
Accusing the author of using a murder for political advantage, is just grotesque projection; it wasn’t so long along that you posted a link to a graphic image of dead Africans to promote your Islamophobic agenda, whereas they were actually victims of an industrial accident, and it wasn’t so long ago that you posted an Islamophobic “Fact List”, no doubt lifted from some racist site, which was exposed as complete fabrications as soon as Clark started to look into the first few “facts” .
There are some Commentators here that I find repellent, you are very much one of these.
“it wasn’t so long along that you posted a link to a graphic image of dead Africans to promote your Islamophobic agenda, whereas they were actually victims of an industrial accident”
Well let’s have the link, please.
Which won’t be forthcoming because you are lying through your arse.
Deny it all you want, posters who were around at the time will remember it, and I’ve just remembered another one of your Hate spreading “specials”, in the aftermath of a terrorist incident, you linked to a clip of cheering, boisterously joyful British Muslims, claiming they were “celebrating” the terrorist incident, which another Commentator (Sofia I think) quickly proved to be a fake, as it was doctored footage of Muslim cricket fans.
I fear you’ve got the wrong man, Macky.
Let’s have the links, and then you can prove to everyone that you are not lying through your arse.
“Posters who were around at the time will remember” just won’t cut it, I’m afraid.
IIRC, that video came courtesy of Jemand (the Nazi Aussi), not Anon1.
@Glem, yes that rings bells, it could well have been Jemand instead of Anon1, vile bigots are so grossly similar that they tend to merge in the mind after being exposed to their output for a while ; so yes thank you for probably putting me right, as maybe it was Jemand for this & also the African picture.
@Anon1, sorry for probably mixing you up with another vile bigot, but one Islamphobe posting fake demonising propaganda is very much like another.
You’re welcome, no problem.
Sorry I’ve got better things to do then trawling for hours just to prove what is obvious to anybody acquainted with your posting history here, namely that you are a very nasty Islamophobe; at least you admit to posting the Islamophobe “Fact List”, as you really have no choice but to admit to as Clark is still around.
So that’s a “No” then.
You’ve clearly got the time to respond to all my comments but none of the time to provide the evidence to support your accusations.
Which is because you are making them up.
Run along now, Macky. I’m done with you. 😀
(PS, thanks to Glenn above for clarifying.)
See above you dip-shit bigot.
Macky – In a previous thread, your correspondent Jim called you a homophobe, without bothering to back it up. You didn’t like that at all, and fair enough IMHO. Someone makes an accusation like that, then they should prove it, not get all vague.
Here, you do exactly the same to Anon1, but suddenly you just don’t see the need for an accuser to provide proof anymore!
Can you understand, even for a moment, why this might be considered a problem?
See above, and the difference is that I was being accused of being a homophobic on the strength of one single deliberately misinterpreted question that I had I asked, so absurd that when Dim Jim later tried to justify his smear he had to alter my actual words in his doctored quote. Stating that Anon1 is a vile Islamophobe isn’t based on a single incident, but rather a proven track-record over a long time, and although I may have mixed him up for being responsible for some fake demonising propaganda, .he is not denying that he has put up fake demonising propaganda, ie the “Fact List”, so I can’t see how the two situations are really comparable at all.
38 degrees is circulating a choice “of ways we can honour Jo Cox.” One way is to contribute to charities suggested by her husband. I notice that Save The Children, which he hurriedly resigned from, isn’t one of them.
Incidentally, jumping on this emotional bandwagon is further proof that 38degrees has lost its way.
When a person has been brutally murdered there needs to be a sense of tact. However, friends of Jo Cox have set up a fund in her name to raise money for three causes that she fought tirelessly for as an MP…
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/live/2016/jun/17/jo-cox-death-police-labour-mp-latest-updates?page=with:block-5764205de4b0b4b233940c3f#block-5764205de4b0b4b233940c3f
One of those causes is a ‘charity’ operating in Syria called the White Helmets. It seems likely that Jo Cox didn’t know what the White Helmets really are…
http://www.globalresearch.ca/video-syria-white-helmets-exposed-nobel-peace-prize-for-al-qaeda/5522628
This is perhaps yet another indicator of just how crazy and Orwellian the western world has become.
So if everybody was the same colour, would only be a terrorist, that’s all I want to know.
EDIT (Thank You Apple spellchecker ~ NOT).
If everybody was the same colour, would Tommy be a terrorist?
exactly
Here are three surreal headlines;
Taliban Holds More of Afghanistan Now Than Any Time Since 2001
State Dept Officials Demand US Attack Assad Instead of ISIS in Syria
Worried About “Stigmatizing” Cluster Bombs, House Approves More Sales to Saudi Arabia
And this is a very interesting piece by Justin Raimondo;
http://original.antiwar.com/justin/2016/06/16/something-going-worse-thought/