The truth is we never liked you//
All through the bad times//
There were no good times//
Now take your mad existence//
And please stay away."
That's right Euros are back. Unless you're Scottish.
I promise there is a point to this post. However before I get onto it I have to mention something from today's Euro 2016 football matches.
Today's second match in the second round was between Wales and Northern Ireland. About 80 minutes in Ashley Williams and Jonny Williams - they're Welsh by the way - collided knocking each other out.The medical staff obviously rushed onto the pitch and after they'd both been checked for spinal fractures and regained consciousness it became clear that the captain Ashley Williams could not move his left shoulder suggesting a fracture or dislocation. The medical staff wanted to take him off but he insisted in playing on until the end of the game.
Tonight's match is between Croatia and Portugal. In this game whenever another player or even the ball has come anywhere near Portugal's Nani he immediately falls to the ground clutching his left shoulder. So he's not just diving and feigning injury he's diving and feigning Ashley Williams' injury. I think the referees need to have a word.
That match is still going on as I write. After all it seems the only way players can score these days is when they're awarded a penalty.
Anyway. As for the point.
Between the UK's local elections in May and last Thursday's (23/6/16) EU referendum I feel like I've been slagging off Muslims constantly for the past two months. As such I think I should probably qualify my comments a bit.
In a democracy people vote for people and political parties who best represent them. The UK Labour Party seems to have decided that Muslims are an exciting and exotic novelty and become a bit obsessed with them. At the same time Labour seem to have decided that white working class people are dirty, smelly and only there to be laughed at. Funnily enough white working class voters are not voting for a Labour Party that has made quite clear that it doesn't want to represent them.
This is far from the first time that the Labour Party have got themselves all sweaty and excited over a minority ethnic group. In the 1980's when Labour were equally unelectable they became so obsessed with the black vote that they made ending apartheid in South Africa their main priority. As a result you had lots of scrawny white men like Jeremy Corbyn doing Zulu war dances in Trafalgar Square as if they were leading the Soweto uprising.
I find Labour's fetishism of ethnic groups to be in itself quite racist. If this was a post about the Oscars and we were talking about the 1970's I would describe it as; "Blackploitation."
Basically the Labour Party don't see Muslims as people. Instead they view them as ATM machines that they can use to dispense votes after pressing a few of the right buttons.
A prime example of this was the Rotherham and both the Rochdale child abuse scandals. Here the Labour Party let British Muslim men kidnap, torture and sexually abuse thousands of children. The reaction I got to these scandals from even conservative Muslim nations such as Qatar was along the lines of; "What the F*ck!"
However the British Labour Party's reaction was; "All Muslims are child abusing rapists. If we try and stop them they won't vote for us."
I would have liked to have made this point earlier today. However I was forced to delay lest I send out the wrong sort of message.
This morning I was having the first cigarette of the day while chatting to my father in the garden.
Suddenly a man wearing clearly Islamic dress decided to just let himself onto our property. When my father verbally challenged him he claimed the Fox cubs (we've got 4. They're too cute for me to make them a priority) had stolen his shoes and he demanded to search the entire property for them.
My father politely informed him that we'd checked the property and there were no shoes before asking him to leave. He refused so I politely but firmly explained that we were insisting that he left. I then turned away to finish my cigarette over by the tool shed where we keep the sledgehammers. He continued to argue with my father but when I turned around he decided to leave.
So I'm sure you can appreciate why when Labour MP's burst into tears on TV because someone's sent them a nasty email with some swear words in it I don't think that should be a policing priority.
Fortunately I've worked as both a traffic warden and football steward for 10 years so I can almost literally sh*t that sort of thing out before breakfast.
Today's little performance has it's roots in the June 12th (12/6/16) Pulse nightclub terror attack in Orlando, Florida.
Basically whomever was running Omar Mateen as an agent is really not happy about me standing up to the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). They want my G4S/SIA 'Security Clearence' revoked. In short they want to go back to 2013 when I was applying force several times a week, breaking bones and spending night's in jail.
With Rihanna back in London and his constant urging for people to 'Find Their Park' US President Barack Obama seems to be more than willing to oblige. Or at least he was last week.
Anyway back to Brexit.
One of the nastier scare stories Labour put about during the referendum campaign - particularly in London - was that Brexit would lead to the mass deportations of EU migrants. This is what is know in political circles as an utter f*cking lie.
Under the law as it stands any EU migrant has been resident - working is the best way to prove residency - in the UK for 5 years can apply for UK citizenship and provided for example that they haven't been convicted of any serious criminal offences will be granted citzenship. Whether they then give up their original citizenship is really their business. At the earliest the UK won't be leaving the EU until 2018. Therefore even if you only arrived in 2013 there is nothing to worry about.
However you know those European Health Insurance Cards (EHICS). You know the ones you've handed out to all your friends and family back home so they can bill all their medical treatment to Britain's NHS? Yeah, that's not going to work anymore.
As for Nigel Farage's announcement that he can't guarantee that the GBP3bn that Britain saves by leaving the EU will be spent on the NHS he's quite right. What that money is spent on is decided by the elected government of the day.
As Farage is not currently part of that government he can no more guarantee what they're going to spend that money on then I can. It might be an idea for the Labour Party to take off the Burqa and pull their socks up though.
This mass deportation lie is now being circulated aggressively by the Scottish National Party (SNP) leader Nicola Sturgeon.
As is the party's default position Sturgeon wants to exploit Brexit to hold a referendum on Scottish Independence. The promise being that an independent Scotland will be allowed to disregard every relevant EU and United Nation's (UN) treaty in existence and automatically become an EU member.
The problem is that no-one in the EU wants to talk to Nicola Sturgeon.
As a result she is deliberately spreading this scare story amongst EU migrants living in Scotland in the hope they will contact their national governments. The thinking being that this will put pressure on those EU governments to return Nicola Sturgeon's phonecalls.
22:20 on 25/6/16 (UK date).
Saturday, 25 June 2016
Friday, 24 June 2016
The Lohan Effect.
Possibly the most bizarre thing about last night's European Union (EU) refendum results is that they were being live Tweeted. By US actress Lindsey Lohan.
Lohan is actually a long term resident of the UK. So long term in fact I suspect that she is trying to qualify for British citizenship in order to take advantage of the EU's free movement of people. As such it should come as little surprise that Lohan was very pro-Remain.
However it seems that she has not been resident in the UK long enough to realise that the entire country is slightly smaller that the US state of Oregon. As such unlike in the US we don't actually start counting votes let alone announcing results until every polling station in the country is closed. This means that by the time the first results start to emerge it is already several hours to late to try to influence the outcome.
With Britian's entire political/media class spending last night staring at Lindsey Lohan's Twitter feed collectively going; "What the actual f*ck" I got involved when Ms Lohan was reacting to the results from Sunderland.
This was considered one of the key bellweather consituencies in the referendum. Partly because it has a record for being one of the faster areas to complete the vote count making it one of the earliest to declare its result.
Sunderland is also a traditional white, working class heartland for the Labour Party. However unlike areas such as Yorkshire it doesn't have much of an immigrant - particularly Muslim - population. This means that Labour's seeming suicide quest to abandon white working class voters in favour of Muslim immigrants has really hurt them in areas like Sunderland with the pro-Leave UK Independence Party (UKIP) picking up a lot of votes.
As such we always knew that Sunderland was going to vote to Leave. The question though was by how much. Although we're talking rough guesstimates rather than precise calculations 10% was considered the magic number. If Sunderland voted to Leave by less then 10% then Remain would win nationally but if Sunderland voted to leave by more than 10% Leave would in nationally.
As it turned out Sunderland voted to Leave by 22%. Although voting had barely even started in parts of the country that made it seem extremely unlikely that Remain would win nationally.
Immediately prior to the Sunderland result the British Pound was worth 150 US cents. In the three seconds after the Sunderland result it lost 5 cents in value plunging to 145 cents per Pound. It was one of those situations where if a trader sneezed at the wrong second they would lose a fortune.
The other interesting thing about Sunderland is that the main employer in the area is the car giant Nissan. They're located there so they can access the EU's single market due to Britain's EU membership. Nissan itself has publicly warned voters not to support the Leave campaign.
Immediately after the Sunderland result Lindsey Lohan and a lot of others started really having a go at voters in Sunderland for wrecking the UK economy. Some even went so far as to mock Nissan employees to costing themselves their jobs.
What they seem to have failed to realise is that currency plunge could actually be a good thing for Nissan workers securing their jobs. A weak pound means that exports to the Eurozone become more profitable. This shifting margin might be enough to cancel out the cost of any potential export tariffs encouraging Nissan to remain in the UK. After all shifting entire factories and supply chains between nations is a major and expensive hassle.
Two of the first British economists to argue about the role of foreign currency exchange in export policy were Gerard de Malynes and Thomas Mun way back in the 16th Century. However the financial system they were discussing - based on actual gold and silver - is so far removed from the modern one as to be utterly irrelevent. It was interesting though to see who on TV such as Vince Cable immediately got that very old and obscure reference and who suddenly had to rush to Google.
The argument over whether Nissan workers in Sunderland have lost or secured their jobs by voting to Leave explains why the financial markets are in such turmoil at the moment. There is so much uncertainty that it's a bit like chucking a file of papers up in the air and trying to predict in which order they're going to land.
This is why I think that everybody needs to take a step back for a few days to let the news settle in. Sadly the EU has different ideas calling for Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to be immediately invoked and negotiations on the UK exit to begin.
This actually helps highlight why people are now getting so p*ssed off with the EU. In their arrogance it never occured to EU leaders that Britain would vote to Leave. So for next week they've scheduled this big summit of the migrant deal and in particular Turkey's visa-free access.
Now Britain has voted to Leave this has thrown them into an absolute panic. So when they say they want Article 50 invoked urgently what they mean is they want an urgent leaders meeting to establish the EU's position before the Turkey summit. The problem being that its not even clear if the UK has a leader at the moment let alone whether they'll be able to participate in the summit.
Personally I would recommend not only cancelling the Turkey summit but the entire migrant deal. After all as I've been saying for years unless the EU is prepared to do things properly the whole thing is going to blow up in its face.
Also anthor thing that Lindsey Lohan may not be aware of is that the British people are very good at and take great pride in swearing. So much pride in fact they developed the "Profanisaurs" that lists various unusual swear words and terms of abuse.
My favourite is "Whore from Fife." This is considered a double insult. It suggests that you have sex with people for money. And that you come from Fife.
15:10 on 24/6/16 (UK date).
Lohan is actually a long term resident of the UK. So long term in fact I suspect that she is trying to qualify for British citizenship in order to take advantage of the EU's free movement of people. As such it should come as little surprise that Lohan was very pro-Remain.
However it seems that she has not been resident in the UK long enough to realise that the entire country is slightly smaller that the US state of Oregon. As such unlike in the US we don't actually start counting votes let alone announcing results until every polling station in the country is closed. This means that by the time the first results start to emerge it is already several hours to late to try to influence the outcome.
With Britian's entire political/media class spending last night staring at Lindsey Lohan's Twitter feed collectively going; "What the actual f*ck" I got involved when Ms Lohan was reacting to the results from Sunderland.
This was considered one of the key bellweather consituencies in the referendum. Partly because it has a record for being one of the faster areas to complete the vote count making it one of the earliest to declare its result.
Sunderland is also a traditional white, working class heartland for the Labour Party. However unlike areas such as Yorkshire it doesn't have much of an immigrant - particularly Muslim - population. This means that Labour's seeming suicide quest to abandon white working class voters in favour of Muslim immigrants has really hurt them in areas like Sunderland with the pro-Leave UK Independence Party (UKIP) picking up a lot of votes.
As such we always knew that Sunderland was going to vote to Leave. The question though was by how much. Although we're talking rough guesstimates rather than precise calculations 10% was considered the magic number. If Sunderland voted to Leave by less then 10% then Remain would win nationally but if Sunderland voted to leave by more than 10% Leave would in nationally.
As it turned out Sunderland voted to Leave by 22%. Although voting had barely even started in parts of the country that made it seem extremely unlikely that Remain would win nationally.
Immediately prior to the Sunderland result the British Pound was worth 150 US cents. In the three seconds after the Sunderland result it lost 5 cents in value plunging to 145 cents per Pound. It was one of those situations where if a trader sneezed at the wrong second they would lose a fortune.
The other interesting thing about Sunderland is that the main employer in the area is the car giant Nissan. They're located there so they can access the EU's single market due to Britain's EU membership. Nissan itself has publicly warned voters not to support the Leave campaign.
Immediately after the Sunderland result Lindsey Lohan and a lot of others started really having a go at voters in Sunderland for wrecking the UK economy. Some even went so far as to mock Nissan employees to costing themselves their jobs.
What they seem to have failed to realise is that currency plunge could actually be a good thing for Nissan workers securing their jobs. A weak pound means that exports to the Eurozone become more profitable. This shifting margin might be enough to cancel out the cost of any potential export tariffs encouraging Nissan to remain in the UK. After all shifting entire factories and supply chains between nations is a major and expensive hassle.
Two of the first British economists to argue about the role of foreign currency exchange in export policy were Gerard de Malynes and Thomas Mun way back in the 16th Century. However the financial system they were discussing - based on actual gold and silver - is so far removed from the modern one as to be utterly irrelevent. It was interesting though to see who on TV such as Vince Cable immediately got that very old and obscure reference and who suddenly had to rush to Google.
The argument over whether Nissan workers in Sunderland have lost or secured their jobs by voting to Leave explains why the financial markets are in such turmoil at the moment. There is so much uncertainty that it's a bit like chucking a file of papers up in the air and trying to predict in which order they're going to land.
This is why I think that everybody needs to take a step back for a few days to let the news settle in. Sadly the EU has different ideas calling for Article 50 of the Lisbon treaty to be immediately invoked and negotiations on the UK exit to begin.
This actually helps highlight why people are now getting so p*ssed off with the EU. In their arrogance it never occured to EU leaders that Britain would vote to Leave. So for next week they've scheduled this big summit of the migrant deal and in particular Turkey's visa-free access.
Now Britain has voted to Leave this has thrown them into an absolute panic. So when they say they want Article 50 invoked urgently what they mean is they want an urgent leaders meeting to establish the EU's position before the Turkey summit. The problem being that its not even clear if the UK has a leader at the moment let alone whether they'll be able to participate in the summit.
Personally I would recommend not only cancelling the Turkey summit but the entire migrant deal. After all as I've been saying for years unless the EU is prepared to do things properly the whole thing is going to blow up in its face.
Also anthor thing that Lindsey Lohan may not be aware of is that the British people are very good at and take great pride in swearing. So much pride in fact they developed the "Profanisaurs" that lists various unusual swear words and terms of abuse.
My favourite is "Whore from Fife." This is considered a double insult. It suggests that you have sex with people for money. And that you come from Fife.
15:10 on 24/6/16 (UK date).
The Cox That Lost It.
As I rub the sleep from my eyes I discover that the UK has indeed voted to the Leave the European Union (EU).
This entire referendum really has its roots in the May 2010 Coup d 'etat. Emboldened by that success the British Monarchy got it into its head that all it needed to do was threaten to leave the EU and the EU would throw itself at Britain's feet essentially turning the EU into an extension of the British Empire.
However by the time Britain's bluff had finally been called and it was forced to hold a referendum the Monarchy dramatically changed its position.
The problem is that by that point it had already stoked the fires of Leave for too long and they were starting to burn out of control. At the same time Britain's political classes had become so utterly self-absorbed and detached for reality that no-one believed anything they said. This became a particularly urgent problem when the deeply unpopular Labour Party threw its weight behind the Remain campaign.
With the Leave campaign surging into a double digit poll lead last week dramatic action had to be taken to rescue the situation. This occurred in the form of the lawful killing of the Labour MP Jo Cox on June 16th (16/6/16). As I explained at the time this was done essentially to end the referendum campaign a week early. It was particularly intended to stop the Labour Party campaigning for Remain by exposing Jo Cox and their links to radical Islamist terrorism.
The problem is that the Labour Party immediately went on the defensive heaping pressure on the police investigating the case to cover up their links to terrorism by charging Cox's killer with murder. The police crumbled under that pressure and an unsustainable murder charge was filed.
If anything this re-energised the Labour Remain camp who disregarded the suspension on campaigning to start campaigning even harder. They even held an obnoxiously self-indulgent memorial event to Jo Cox on Wednesday (21/6/1/6) - the day before the vote. This was so offensive and easy to troll that even I pulled my punches.
So it appears that while the Jo Cox killing did damage the Leave campaign and break its momentum it didn't do enough damage to the Remain campaign. In fact their instinct to try and exploit it probably only ended up helping the Leave camp.
As a result Leave have won with 51.9% of the vote versus Remain's 48.1% based on a 72% voter turnout.
In terms of what this means now I genuinely can't tell you.
Scotland may decide to hold another independence referendum and try to join the EU as a new nation. Or it may not. Likewise Northern Ireland may vote to leave the UK and re-join the EU as part of a united Irish Republic. Or again it may not. Starved of British funding the Eurozone economy may collapse and the entire EU might break up. Or it might not.
One thing we do know is that British Prime Minister and lead Remain campaigner David Cameron is in the process of tendering his resignation to the Queen. However we don't even know if that resignation will be accepted let alone whether it will bring down the government leading to a fresh General Election.
The key thing to listen out for is news that Article 50 of Lisbon has been invoked. This will formally start the process of Britain leaving the EU.
I suggest we let things cool down at least over the weekend. After all Britain could find itself in full riot mode by this evening.
10:30 on 24/6/16 (UK date).
This entire referendum really has its roots in the May 2010 Coup d 'etat. Emboldened by that success the British Monarchy got it into its head that all it needed to do was threaten to leave the EU and the EU would throw itself at Britain's feet essentially turning the EU into an extension of the British Empire.
However by the time Britain's bluff had finally been called and it was forced to hold a referendum the Monarchy dramatically changed its position.
The problem is that by that point it had already stoked the fires of Leave for too long and they were starting to burn out of control. At the same time Britain's political classes had become so utterly self-absorbed and detached for reality that no-one believed anything they said. This became a particularly urgent problem when the deeply unpopular Labour Party threw its weight behind the Remain campaign.
With the Leave campaign surging into a double digit poll lead last week dramatic action had to be taken to rescue the situation. This occurred in the form of the lawful killing of the Labour MP Jo Cox on June 16th (16/6/16). As I explained at the time this was done essentially to end the referendum campaign a week early. It was particularly intended to stop the Labour Party campaigning for Remain by exposing Jo Cox and their links to radical Islamist terrorism.
The problem is that the Labour Party immediately went on the defensive heaping pressure on the police investigating the case to cover up their links to terrorism by charging Cox's killer with murder. The police crumbled under that pressure and an unsustainable murder charge was filed.
If anything this re-energised the Labour Remain camp who disregarded the suspension on campaigning to start campaigning even harder. They even held an obnoxiously self-indulgent memorial event to Jo Cox on Wednesday (21/6/1/6) - the day before the vote. This was so offensive and easy to troll that even I pulled my punches.
So it appears that while the Jo Cox killing did damage the Leave campaign and break its momentum it didn't do enough damage to the Remain campaign. In fact their instinct to try and exploit it probably only ended up helping the Leave camp.
As a result Leave have won with 51.9% of the vote versus Remain's 48.1% based on a 72% voter turnout.
In terms of what this means now I genuinely can't tell you.
Scotland may decide to hold another independence referendum and try to join the EU as a new nation. Or it may not. Likewise Northern Ireland may vote to leave the UK and re-join the EU as part of a united Irish Republic. Or again it may not. Starved of British funding the Eurozone economy may collapse and the entire EU might break up. Or it might not.
One thing we do know is that British Prime Minister and lead Remain campaigner David Cameron is in the process of tendering his resignation to the Queen. However we don't even know if that resignation will be accepted let alone whether it will bring down the government leading to a fresh General Election.
The key thing to listen out for is news that Article 50 of Lisbon has been invoked. This will formally start the process of Britain leaving the EU.
I suggest we let things cool down at least over the weekend. After all Britain could find itself in full riot mode by this evening.
10:30 on 24/6/16 (UK date).
Thursday, 23 June 2016
The Pulse Terror Attack: The Motives.
On June 12th (12/6/16) the US suffered its worst terror attack since September 11th 2001 (11/9/01) when a gunman walked into the Pulse nightclub in Orlando, Florida and murdered 49 people while attempting to murder 53 others. He was killed in the course of the attack.
Due to the time difference this attack was unfolding as I got up on that Sunday morning. At that time the police were not releasing many details of the attack as they first tried to respond to it. With no initial reports of any fatalities this sounded to me like the sort of stunt a government stages to send coded messages to other governments.
Encountering around one story a day like that at the moment I decided that events in Orlando were something I could get back to once I'd woken up a bit and more details had become available.
By the time I returned to the story about six hours later the extent of the slaughter had become clear. With possibly more than 100 people killed it was obvious this was not something that the US would do to itself.
In situations as traumatic as this is becomes all too easy to fixate on strange little details and see hidden meaning in random coincidences.
The example that always sticks with me is of an older Irish woman who was in Church when a naked swordsman attacked the congregation. All she could remember about the attack was being outraged that a man had exposed his circumcised penis in a Church. It was obviously easier for her brain to process being outraged at that than the extreme and bloody violence that surrounded it.
With the Pulse nightclub being a gay nightclub the fact that 49 people were killed provides another example. In American Football/Super Bowl code gay people are represented by the San Francisco 49's. Therefore the death toll of 49 could be viewed as a reference to that.
However I gather from local medical professionals that the attacker had an extremely good go at killing a lot more than 49 people. Therefore this coincidence seems to be just that. A random coincidence.
Being aware of how easy it is to find false meaning in random coincidence once I'd realised that the Pulse attack was a genuine attack I sort of dismissed all the things that sounded like intentional references out of hand.
However I have since considered it more carefully and there are number of elements of the attack that seem both intentional and planned.
The Eurovision Song Contest: It was two days prior to the Pulse attack that I finished my marathon coverage of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest which took place in mid-May. Although there is much more to it than that the Song Contest has a very large gay following. You could almost joke that it is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Global Gay Conspiracy.
Due to them being small in number and the often irrational hatred of homophobia the gay community has long learnt to be self-sufficient and to look after itself. The Pulse nightclub seems to be a perfect example of this. Far from being just a place where people go to drink and hook-up the Pulse nightclub is almost the centre of the Orlando gay community advocating on behalf of that community and providing support to its members.
For example the funerals of the attack victims held last Friday (17/6/16) were protested by the always charming Westboro Baptist Church and their "God Hates Fags" signs. It was Pulse's clientele that arranged for people carrying Rainbow coloured billboards to block the mourners view of the protests.
Therefore you could almost say that if the Eurovision Song Contest is the AGM of the Global Gay Conspiracy than the Pulse nightclub is its Orlando branch office.
The big topic at this year's Song Contest was the Shamali (Northern) Province of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This was created in the broad geographic area of what used to be known as Ukraine when the US overthrew the elected government in February 2014.
Apart from creating a brutal civil war and the refugee crisis they always produce this was done to provide the US with an excuse to place economic sanctions on Russia for opposing ISIL without the US being forced to formally admit that it supports ISIL.
The creation of Shamali Province was done as a US apology for preventing Saudi Arabia continuing with its plans to launch terrorist attacks against the February 2014 Winter Olympics that were taking place in near-by Sochi, Russia.
If you've read my marathon coverage of this year's Song Contest you would know that with the possible exception of Latvia there was absolutely no support for Shamali Province within Europe. In fact the Eurovision juries seemed to have conspired together to punish Shamali Province by forcing it to host the 2017 contest.
Almost immediately this reckless decision by the Eurovision juries had very dramatic consequences.
Clearly misreading the insult as a compliment the junta that controls Shamali Province responded to the Song Contest by abandoning the standing ceasefire and launching a fresh offensive to seize control of Donetsk Airport. With Donetsk Airport more or less being opened for the Euro 2012 football tournament the fact that it is now a war damaged wreck works quite a few nerves in Europe. Particularly as the continent prepares for the Euro 2016 football tournament.
In response to the junta's offensive Russia lashed out by releasing Nadiya Savchenko from custody allowing her to return to Shamali Province. A convicted war criminal and member of the illegal neo-Nazi Aidar Battalion Nadiya Savchenko is an absolute nutcase. However she remains extremely popular amongst all the other nutcases in Shamali Province. As such there is a real risk that she will move to overthrow the junta's declared President Petro Poroshenko who has got to be one of the few sane people left in Shamali Province.
The big concern with Shamali Province hosting the 2017 Song Contest though is security.
Shamali Province is populated by a heady mix of old fashioned Nazis, neo-Nazis and Turkish backed Islamic extremists all of whom take an extremely dim view of the global gay conspiracy. Being an active warzone Shamali Province is absolutely awash with military grade heavy weapons. Taking the 2017 Song Contest there is like taking it to Baghdad, Iraq or Damascus, Syria. I actually think it might be slightly safer to take Eurovision to Damascus at the moment.
Despite being the creator and sole sponsor of Shamali Province even the US is extremely concerned about Eurovision's plans.
Two days before the Pulse attack on June 10th (10/6/16) a black man was shot and killed by police at Texas' Love Field Airport in a domestic violence incident. This obviously picked up the theme of Donetsk Airport while acknowledging the domestic violence/terrorism risk in Shamali Province and mocking US President Obama's Black Lives Matter (BLM) anti-police campaign.
The day before the Pulse attack on June 11th (11/6/16) former contestant on the US version of "The Voice" Christina Grimmie was shot and killed as she met fans following a concert at a nightclub in Orlando close to the Pulse nightclub.
Grimmie looks similar to the singer Jamala who represented Shamali Province at Eurovision this year. As such that seemed to be the US - at the very least - acknowledging the security challenges to Shamali Province hosting the 2017 Song Contest. That sort of attack by a deranged fan would probably be considered the least of the security threats.
As such the Pulse terror attack seemed to be a clear warning to the US in particular - Continue to support ISIL and Shamali Province or else.
In the worst response imaginable the US immediately caved into the threat and two days later (14/6/16) an extra USD220million in financial support for Shamali Province.
At around 17:20 on 23/6/16 (UK date) have barely started. I shall continue after dinner and possibly into tomorrow.
Edited at around 19:40 on 23/6/16 (UK date) to add;
The Euro 2016 Football Tournament: Starting two days before the Pulse terror attack this is the next big pan-European event following the Eurovision Song Contest.
In the run-up to Euro 2016 the big fear has been of radical Islamist terrorism.
This is because of the November 30th 2015 (30/11/15) Massacres in Paris, the capital of Euro 2016 host nation France. Although 130 people were murdered in total that night across various locations the most significant loss of life occurred at the Bataclan concert venue/nightclub where gunmen slaughtered 89. The connection between that and the Pulse nightclub attack should be self-evident.
The Pulse attack was carried out by a Muslim man called Omar Mateen. There is a very famous Belgian footballer called Dries Mertens. When Mertens took to the field in Belgium's opening game against Italy on June 13th (13/6/16) the BBC commentators could barely bring themselves to say his name.
The ISIL cell that carried out the Paris Massacres was based in the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital Brussels.
As such the Pulse nightclub attack also seemed to be a warning to the European nations - particularly France - to continue supporting ISIL and Shamali Province or face the consequences.
As with the December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) San Bernardino attacks it carried the added threat that because US President Barack Obama is not prepared to protect the US from radical Islamist terrorists he's not going to be prepared to protect America's allies. Even its oldest one.
With the US seeming to payout a $220m reward to the Pulse nightclub attackers the European Union (EU) also seems to have decided that it would be prudent to obey.
Despite the performance of Eurovision in which Italy appeared to formally recognise Crimea as part of Russia on June 21st (21/6/16) the EU decided to extend sanctions on Russia over Shamali Province for a further six months. However this is a provisional decision that still needs to be confirmed at a meeting next week.
The 2016 Summer Olympics: Omar Mateen had previously worked for British private security firm G4S.
G4S is a company that has been involved in many scandals. However probably the most high profile one was when they failed to deliver on a contract to provide security for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK. This forced the British hosts to send in the military to fill the gap.
This of course occurred at a time when ISIL were being referred to simply as the "Saudi Irregular Army (SIA)." Following the Olympics scandal G4S was fined heavily by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) regulator. There was even talk of the SIA itself being disbanded but I feel I'm going off on a bit of a tangent.
Obviously the thought that someone like Omar Mateen could pass the background checks to become an armed security guard at the 2016 is utterly terrifying for both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the 2016 hosts Brazil.
On the night it was attacked Pulse was hosting a Latin theme night. Along with the fact that Florida has a high Hispanic population this meant that most of those killed or wounded in the attack were of Hispanic heritage. In what I myself consider to be a small form of racism I assumed that all these Hispanics were also American citizens.
However a significant proportion of them were either holiday makers or first or second generation migrants that all South American governments were immediately forced to go on alert in case any of their nationals had been killed or wounded. This included 2016 Olympic host Brazil.
Five days after the attack on Friday June 17th (17/6/16) the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) met to decide whether Russian Track & Field athletes should be banned from the 2016 Olympics. As with the gay-rights-for-gays protests during the 2014 Winter Olympics this is seen as a politically motivated attempt to embarrass Russia over its longstanding opposition to ISIL.
Therefore the Pulse terror attack also seemed to be a clear threat to Brazil and the IOC - Boycott Russia or the games are getting blown up like Volgograd was just before the Sochi games.
British Parliamentarian Sebastian Lord Coe's success as an athlete comes from the 1980 Summer Olympics which were boycotted by the US and the 1984 Summer Olympics which were boycotted by the Soviet Union. Therefore without political boycotts Lord Coe is more accurately described as "Olympic Loser Sebastian Coe."
Obviously then "Killer Coe" didn't need any more encouragement to issue a political boycott.. The matter is currently been considered by the IOC.
The Fight For Climate Change: Curiously for a gay nightclub Pulse is not owned by a gay person. Instead it is owned by Barbara Pomo who opened it in honour of her gay older brother John who died of AIDS. The "Pulse" of the name is a reference to his heart pumping HIV+ blood through his veins.
For reasons that are too convoluted to get into here the issue of HIV/AIDS has long been synonymous with international efforts to combat climate change. Particularly the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus (REDD+) program.
One of the big battles at the COP21 Summit that immediately followed the Paris Massacres was between the US and Brazil over whether REDD+ should be included as a funding mechanism named what has gone on to be known as the "Paris Agreement." As part of this discussion the US announced that actor Charlie Sheen is HIV+. Henceforth that part of the agreement has become known as "The Sheen Clause."
The US itself has cited the dispute with Brazil over REDD+ as one possible reason why the Paris Agreement is a failure. After all I think you can see how negotiators might have got confused during the negotiations.
Four days after the Pulse attack US Secretary of State John Kerry began a trip to the Danish Arctic to generally stare at glaciers and fraudulently promote the Paris Agreement as a way to combat climate change. At the same time Charlie Sheen has been visiting the UK and I presume other European nations to talk about his HIV diagnosis.
I can quite easily see how someone with prior knowledge of these two trips who supports global warming might get a little paranoid and start thinking the US was encouraging nations to dump the Paris Agreement in order to resume work on something that might actually combat change.
As such the Pulse attack also seemed to be a general threat to the World to ratify the Paris Agreement like good little boys and girls and not dare to mention the notion of combating climate change ever again.
I think there is at least a second part to this post. Provided the EU referendum doesn't suck up to much of my time I will try and publish that tomorrow. I'm sure you can appreciate why I really want to avoid sitting here writing during Euro 2016 matches.
As for Obama's claim that there is nothing indicating that Mateen had outside help in planning and carrying out the attack. Well I genuinely think that is an indicator that he's finally been stripped of his National Security Clearance and is therefore no longer allowed to attend briefings.
21:15 on 23/6/16 (UK date).
Due to the time difference this attack was unfolding as I got up on that Sunday morning. At that time the police were not releasing many details of the attack as they first tried to respond to it. With no initial reports of any fatalities this sounded to me like the sort of stunt a government stages to send coded messages to other governments.
Encountering around one story a day like that at the moment I decided that events in Orlando were something I could get back to once I'd woken up a bit and more details had become available.
By the time I returned to the story about six hours later the extent of the slaughter had become clear. With possibly more than 100 people killed it was obvious this was not something that the US would do to itself.
In situations as traumatic as this is becomes all too easy to fixate on strange little details and see hidden meaning in random coincidences.
The example that always sticks with me is of an older Irish woman who was in Church when a naked swordsman attacked the congregation. All she could remember about the attack was being outraged that a man had exposed his circumcised penis in a Church. It was obviously easier for her brain to process being outraged at that than the extreme and bloody violence that surrounded it.
With the Pulse nightclub being a gay nightclub the fact that 49 people were killed provides another example. In American Football/Super Bowl code gay people are represented by the San Francisco 49's. Therefore the death toll of 49 could be viewed as a reference to that.
However I gather from local medical professionals that the attacker had an extremely good go at killing a lot more than 49 people. Therefore this coincidence seems to be just that. A random coincidence.
Being aware of how easy it is to find false meaning in random coincidence once I'd realised that the Pulse attack was a genuine attack I sort of dismissed all the things that sounded like intentional references out of hand.
However I have since considered it more carefully and there are number of elements of the attack that seem both intentional and planned.
The Eurovision Song Contest: It was two days prior to the Pulse attack that I finished my marathon coverage of the 2016 Eurovision Song Contest which took place in mid-May. Although there is much more to it than that the Song Contest has a very large gay following. You could almost joke that it is the Annual General Meeting (AGM) of the Global Gay Conspiracy.
Due to them being small in number and the often irrational hatred of homophobia the gay community has long learnt to be self-sufficient and to look after itself. The Pulse nightclub seems to be a perfect example of this. Far from being just a place where people go to drink and hook-up the Pulse nightclub is almost the centre of the Orlando gay community advocating on behalf of that community and providing support to its members.
For example the funerals of the attack victims held last Friday (17/6/16) were protested by the always charming Westboro Baptist Church and their "God Hates Fags" signs. It was Pulse's clientele that arranged for people carrying Rainbow coloured billboards to block the mourners view of the protests.
Therefore you could almost say that if the Eurovision Song Contest is the AGM of the Global Gay Conspiracy than the Pulse nightclub is its Orlando branch office.
The big topic at this year's Song Contest was the Shamali (Northern) Province of the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL). This was created in the broad geographic area of what used to be known as Ukraine when the US overthrew the elected government in February 2014.
Apart from creating a brutal civil war and the refugee crisis they always produce this was done to provide the US with an excuse to place economic sanctions on Russia for opposing ISIL without the US being forced to formally admit that it supports ISIL.
The creation of Shamali Province was done as a US apology for preventing Saudi Arabia continuing with its plans to launch terrorist attacks against the February 2014 Winter Olympics that were taking place in near-by Sochi, Russia.
If you've read my marathon coverage of this year's Song Contest you would know that with the possible exception of Latvia there was absolutely no support for Shamali Province within Europe. In fact the Eurovision juries seemed to have conspired together to punish Shamali Province by forcing it to host the 2017 contest.
Almost immediately this reckless decision by the Eurovision juries had very dramatic consequences.
Clearly misreading the insult as a compliment the junta that controls Shamali Province responded to the Song Contest by abandoning the standing ceasefire and launching a fresh offensive to seize control of Donetsk Airport. With Donetsk Airport more or less being opened for the Euro 2012 football tournament the fact that it is now a war damaged wreck works quite a few nerves in Europe. Particularly as the continent prepares for the Euro 2016 football tournament.
In response to the junta's offensive Russia lashed out by releasing Nadiya Savchenko from custody allowing her to return to Shamali Province. A convicted war criminal and member of the illegal neo-Nazi Aidar Battalion Nadiya Savchenko is an absolute nutcase. However she remains extremely popular amongst all the other nutcases in Shamali Province. As such there is a real risk that she will move to overthrow the junta's declared President Petro Poroshenko who has got to be one of the few sane people left in Shamali Province.
The big concern with Shamali Province hosting the 2017 Song Contest though is security.
Shamali Province is populated by a heady mix of old fashioned Nazis, neo-Nazis and Turkish backed Islamic extremists all of whom take an extremely dim view of the global gay conspiracy. Being an active warzone Shamali Province is absolutely awash with military grade heavy weapons. Taking the 2017 Song Contest there is like taking it to Baghdad, Iraq or Damascus, Syria. I actually think it might be slightly safer to take Eurovision to Damascus at the moment.
Despite being the creator and sole sponsor of Shamali Province even the US is extremely concerned about Eurovision's plans.
Two days before the Pulse attack on June 10th (10/6/16) a black man was shot and killed by police at Texas' Love Field Airport in a domestic violence incident. This obviously picked up the theme of Donetsk Airport while acknowledging the domestic violence/terrorism risk in Shamali Province and mocking US President Obama's Black Lives Matter (BLM) anti-police campaign.
The day before the Pulse attack on June 11th (11/6/16) former contestant on the US version of "The Voice" Christina Grimmie was shot and killed as she met fans following a concert at a nightclub in Orlando close to the Pulse nightclub.
Grimmie looks similar to the singer Jamala who represented Shamali Province at Eurovision this year. As such that seemed to be the US - at the very least - acknowledging the security challenges to Shamali Province hosting the 2017 Song Contest. That sort of attack by a deranged fan would probably be considered the least of the security threats.
As such the Pulse terror attack seemed to be a clear warning to the US in particular - Continue to support ISIL and Shamali Province or else.
In the worst response imaginable the US immediately caved into the threat and two days later (14/6/16) an extra USD220million in financial support for Shamali Province.
At around 17:20 on 23/6/16 (UK date) have barely started. I shall continue after dinner and possibly into tomorrow.
Edited at around 19:40 on 23/6/16 (UK date) to add;
The Euro 2016 Football Tournament: Starting two days before the Pulse terror attack this is the next big pan-European event following the Eurovision Song Contest.
In the run-up to Euro 2016 the big fear has been of radical Islamist terrorism.
This is because of the November 30th 2015 (30/11/15) Massacres in Paris, the capital of Euro 2016 host nation France. Although 130 people were murdered in total that night across various locations the most significant loss of life occurred at the Bataclan concert venue/nightclub where gunmen slaughtered 89. The connection between that and the Pulse nightclub attack should be self-evident.
The Pulse attack was carried out by a Muslim man called Omar Mateen. There is a very famous Belgian footballer called Dries Mertens. When Mertens took to the field in Belgium's opening game against Italy on June 13th (13/6/16) the BBC commentators could barely bring themselves to say his name.
The ISIL cell that carried out the Paris Massacres was based in the Molenbeek district of the Belgian capital Brussels.
As such the Pulse nightclub attack also seemed to be a warning to the European nations - particularly France - to continue supporting ISIL and Shamali Province or face the consequences.
As with the December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) San Bernardino attacks it carried the added threat that because US President Barack Obama is not prepared to protect the US from radical Islamist terrorists he's not going to be prepared to protect America's allies. Even its oldest one.
With the US seeming to payout a $220m reward to the Pulse nightclub attackers the European Union (EU) also seems to have decided that it would be prudent to obey.
Despite the performance of Eurovision in which Italy appeared to formally recognise Crimea as part of Russia on June 21st (21/6/16) the EU decided to extend sanctions on Russia over Shamali Province for a further six months. However this is a provisional decision that still needs to be confirmed at a meeting next week.
The 2016 Summer Olympics: Omar Mateen had previously worked for British private security firm G4S.
G4S is a company that has been involved in many scandals. However probably the most high profile one was when they failed to deliver on a contract to provide security for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, UK. This forced the British hosts to send in the military to fill the gap.
This of course occurred at a time when ISIL were being referred to simply as the "Saudi Irregular Army (SIA)." Following the Olympics scandal G4S was fined heavily by the Security Industry Authority (SIA) regulator. There was even talk of the SIA itself being disbanded but I feel I'm going off on a bit of a tangent.
Obviously the thought that someone like Omar Mateen could pass the background checks to become an armed security guard at the 2016 is utterly terrifying for both the International Olympic Committee (IOC) and the 2016 hosts Brazil.
On the night it was attacked Pulse was hosting a Latin theme night. Along with the fact that Florida has a high Hispanic population this meant that most of those killed or wounded in the attack were of Hispanic heritage. In what I myself consider to be a small form of racism I assumed that all these Hispanics were also American citizens.
However a significant proportion of them were either holiday makers or first or second generation migrants that all South American governments were immediately forced to go on alert in case any of their nationals had been killed or wounded. This included 2016 Olympic host Brazil.
Five days after the attack on Friday June 17th (17/6/16) the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) met to decide whether Russian Track & Field athletes should be banned from the 2016 Olympics. As with the gay-rights-for-gays protests during the 2014 Winter Olympics this is seen as a politically motivated attempt to embarrass Russia over its longstanding opposition to ISIL.
Therefore the Pulse terror attack also seemed to be a clear threat to Brazil and the IOC - Boycott Russia or the games are getting blown up like Volgograd was just before the Sochi games.
British Parliamentarian Sebastian Lord Coe's success as an athlete comes from the 1980 Summer Olympics which were boycotted by the US and the 1984 Summer Olympics which were boycotted by the Soviet Union. Therefore without political boycotts Lord Coe is more accurately described as "Olympic Loser Sebastian Coe."
Obviously then "Killer Coe" didn't need any more encouragement to issue a political boycott.. The matter is currently been considered by the IOC.
The Fight For Climate Change: Curiously for a gay nightclub Pulse is not owned by a gay person. Instead it is owned by Barbara Pomo who opened it in honour of her gay older brother John who died of AIDS. The "Pulse" of the name is a reference to his heart pumping HIV+ blood through his veins.
For reasons that are too convoluted to get into here the issue of HIV/AIDS has long been synonymous with international efforts to combat climate change. Particularly the Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and forest Degradation plus (REDD+) program.
One of the big battles at the COP21 Summit that immediately followed the Paris Massacres was between the US and Brazil over whether REDD+ should be included as a funding mechanism named what has gone on to be known as the "Paris Agreement." As part of this discussion the US announced that actor Charlie Sheen is HIV+. Henceforth that part of the agreement has become known as "The Sheen Clause."
The US itself has cited the dispute with Brazil over REDD+ as one possible reason why the Paris Agreement is a failure. After all I think you can see how negotiators might have got confused during the negotiations.
Four days after the Pulse attack US Secretary of State John Kerry began a trip to the Danish Arctic to generally stare at glaciers and fraudulently promote the Paris Agreement as a way to combat climate change. At the same time Charlie Sheen has been visiting the UK and I presume other European nations to talk about his HIV diagnosis.
I can quite easily see how someone with prior knowledge of these two trips who supports global warming might get a little paranoid and start thinking the US was encouraging nations to dump the Paris Agreement in order to resume work on something that might actually combat change.
As such the Pulse attack also seemed to be a general threat to the World to ratify the Paris Agreement like good little boys and girls and not dare to mention the notion of combating climate change ever again.
I think there is at least a second part to this post. Provided the EU referendum doesn't suck up to much of my time I will try and publish that tomorrow. I'm sure you can appreciate why I really want to avoid sitting here writing during Euro 2016 matches.
As for Obama's claim that there is nothing indicating that Mateen had outside help in planning and carrying out the attack. Well I genuinely think that is an indicator that he's finally been stripped of his National Security Clearance and is therefore no longer allowed to attend briefings.
21:15 on 23/6/16 (UK date).
Wednesday, 22 June 2016
I Just Don't Get the EU Referendum
Tomorrow (23/6/16) voters in the UK will go to the polls in a referendum to decide whether to remain as members of the European Union (EU) or to leave.
This represents one of the more important decisions in British history. Certainly the most important since the UK voted to join the EU back in 1972. As something of a political blogger you would expect me to have an opinion on the issue.
The problem is. Well the first problem is that I've been extremely busy at the moment. For pretty much the last six months I've been sitting there going; "I need to do something about that tomorrow." Right before another terrorist attack or some related crisis suddenly develops. The main problem though is that I simply don't understand what all the fuss is about.
What I would have liked to have done is discuss this renegotiation agreement that British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled back in February 2016.
I would have begun by explaining that in order to decide whether any negotiation had been a success or failure you would first have to look at what the objectives were going into that negotiation. I would then explained that this is where I find myself stuck because I genuinely have no idea what the British government has been trying to achieve when it comes to the EU.
One thing we do know for sure is that if Britain votes to remain then things will remain exactly as they are now.
An area of EU policy I have been following extremely closely is the agreement between the EU and Turkey over the migrant crisis. One thing that is obvious to all on that issue is that the agreement that was published on March 18th (18/3/16) bears absolutely no relation to the plan that has been put into action.
For example the published agreement requires that all migrants on the Greek islands go through the asylum process. Those who are successful have to be relocated from the Greek islands before the EU can start sending those who failed back to Turkey. This was completely ignored and the EU started returning migrants just two weeks later.
Therefore I think it is safe to assume that Cameron's renegotiation agreement is not worth the paper that it is written on. As such it can be completely excluded from the discussion and if you look at the discussion it is clear that it already has been.
It is the migrant deal with Turkey that has really undermined my confidence in the entire discussion surrounding the referendum debate. A key part of the deal is that Turks are to be given visa-free access to the EU. Although it is being frantically debated as I write this is expected to go into force next week.
Throughout the referendum debate whenever the Remain campaign have been asked about this issue they've replied; "Turkey won't be joining the EU." That may be the case but that's not the question that is being asked. The question being asked is whether Turkish migrants will be able to freely travel to the UK. I'm still waiting for the Remain camp to answer that question.
It is of course much harder to predict what will happen if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Due to the way in which the World has become much closely interlinked and globalised a vote to leave does not suddenly mean that the UK will end its relationship with the EU. For example the British and French military's are very closely linked together under an agreement that has nothing to do with the EU. As such a vote to leave simply means that the UK will begin to renegotiate its relationship with the EU.
This is likely to be one of the most complicated political negotiations ever seen. It took the Czech Republic and Slovakia five years to negotiate their separation and that was two federal regions attempting to separate rather one nation trying the separate from 27 others. During these negotiations you will see various complex issued being leveraged against each other.
For example the EU might be prepared to take a very tough line on the UK agreeing to the free movement of people and increased workers rights in order to reduce the tariffs UK business will have to pay to export to the EU. However that almost laughably understates the almost infinite number of variables and possible outcomes that these negotiations will produce.
As with most divorces this division of assets and discussions of visitation and access rights is likely to take place in the acrimonious atmosphere of old scores being settled.
These negotiations that will last for an absolute minimum of five years will create a lot of uncertainty. It is for this reason that many business leaders are backing the Remain camp. It has long been said that business can cope with good news and it can cope with bad news. What it cannot cope with is uncertainty. What they seem to have failed to factor into their decision though is that it is extremely unlikely that the existing trade relationship will come to an end before the new relationship is agreed.
Also the UK seems to have quite a strong hand in these negotiations.
Although it's due more to mistakes made by the EU rather than the success of British government policy the British economy is in a stronger position than the Eurozone economy. Take for example the Greek bailout. If Britain leaves the EU and takes its prime AAA credit rating with it this will cause the EU's entire credit rating to fall. That will make borrowing more expensive and there the Greek bailout less likely to succeed.
Then there is the issue of the poorer, newer EU member states such as Poland and Romania. If you take away the UK's vast contribution to the EU development funds these nations receive at the same time taking away the remittances they receive from migrants working in the UK they more or less don't have economies. As such a British exit will plunge those nations into recession bringing down the Eurozone economy as a whole.
Obviously the UK exports a lot of goods to the EU. However the EU also exports a lot of goods to the UK. With the already weak Eurozone economy being plunged into further difficulties by a British exit it is likely that the EU is going to be a lot more desperate to trade with the UK than the UK is going to be desperate to trade with the EU.
However as always in economics there is no such thing as good and bad. It really depends on your individual circumstances and how they are affected.
Therefore it seems likely that I will be voting to Leave tomorrow. However I may still change my mind at the last minute and vote to Remain.
Alternatively I might just abstain and stay at home.
13:10 on 22/6/16 (UK date).
This represents one of the more important decisions in British history. Certainly the most important since the UK voted to join the EU back in 1972. As something of a political blogger you would expect me to have an opinion on the issue.
The problem is. Well the first problem is that I've been extremely busy at the moment. For pretty much the last six months I've been sitting there going; "I need to do something about that tomorrow." Right before another terrorist attack or some related crisis suddenly develops. The main problem though is that I simply don't understand what all the fuss is about.
What I would have liked to have done is discuss this renegotiation agreement that British Prime Minister David Cameron unveiled back in February 2016.
I would have begun by explaining that in order to decide whether any negotiation had been a success or failure you would first have to look at what the objectives were going into that negotiation. I would then explained that this is where I find myself stuck because I genuinely have no idea what the British government has been trying to achieve when it comes to the EU.
One thing we do know for sure is that if Britain votes to remain then things will remain exactly as they are now.
An area of EU policy I have been following extremely closely is the agreement between the EU and Turkey over the migrant crisis. One thing that is obvious to all on that issue is that the agreement that was published on March 18th (18/3/16) bears absolutely no relation to the plan that has been put into action.
For example the published agreement requires that all migrants on the Greek islands go through the asylum process. Those who are successful have to be relocated from the Greek islands before the EU can start sending those who failed back to Turkey. This was completely ignored and the EU started returning migrants just two weeks later.
Therefore I think it is safe to assume that Cameron's renegotiation agreement is not worth the paper that it is written on. As such it can be completely excluded from the discussion and if you look at the discussion it is clear that it already has been.
It is the migrant deal with Turkey that has really undermined my confidence in the entire discussion surrounding the referendum debate. A key part of the deal is that Turks are to be given visa-free access to the EU. Although it is being frantically debated as I write this is expected to go into force next week.
Throughout the referendum debate whenever the Remain campaign have been asked about this issue they've replied; "Turkey won't be joining the EU." That may be the case but that's not the question that is being asked. The question being asked is whether Turkish migrants will be able to freely travel to the UK. I'm still waiting for the Remain camp to answer that question.
It is of course much harder to predict what will happen if Britain votes to leave the EU.
Due to the way in which the World has become much closely interlinked and globalised a vote to leave does not suddenly mean that the UK will end its relationship with the EU. For example the British and French military's are very closely linked together under an agreement that has nothing to do with the EU. As such a vote to leave simply means that the UK will begin to renegotiate its relationship with the EU.
This is likely to be one of the most complicated political negotiations ever seen. It took the Czech Republic and Slovakia five years to negotiate their separation and that was two federal regions attempting to separate rather one nation trying the separate from 27 others. During these negotiations you will see various complex issued being leveraged against each other.
For example the EU might be prepared to take a very tough line on the UK agreeing to the free movement of people and increased workers rights in order to reduce the tariffs UK business will have to pay to export to the EU. However that almost laughably understates the almost infinite number of variables and possible outcomes that these negotiations will produce.
As with most divorces this division of assets and discussions of visitation and access rights is likely to take place in the acrimonious atmosphere of old scores being settled.
These negotiations that will last for an absolute minimum of five years will create a lot of uncertainty. It is for this reason that many business leaders are backing the Remain camp. It has long been said that business can cope with good news and it can cope with bad news. What it cannot cope with is uncertainty. What they seem to have failed to factor into their decision though is that it is extremely unlikely that the existing trade relationship will come to an end before the new relationship is agreed.
Also the UK seems to have quite a strong hand in these negotiations.
Although it's due more to mistakes made by the EU rather than the success of British government policy the British economy is in a stronger position than the Eurozone economy. Take for example the Greek bailout. If Britain leaves the EU and takes its prime AAA credit rating with it this will cause the EU's entire credit rating to fall. That will make borrowing more expensive and there the Greek bailout less likely to succeed.
Then there is the issue of the poorer, newer EU member states such as Poland and Romania. If you take away the UK's vast contribution to the EU development funds these nations receive at the same time taking away the remittances they receive from migrants working in the UK they more or less don't have economies. As such a British exit will plunge those nations into recession bringing down the Eurozone economy as a whole.
Obviously the UK exports a lot of goods to the EU. However the EU also exports a lot of goods to the UK. With the already weak Eurozone economy being plunged into further difficulties by a British exit it is likely that the EU is going to be a lot more desperate to trade with the UK than the UK is going to be desperate to trade with the EU.
However as always in economics there is no such thing as good and bad. It really depends on your individual circumstances and how they are affected.
Therefore it seems likely that I will be voting to Leave tomorrow. However I may still change my mind at the last minute and vote to Remain.
Alternatively I might just abstain and stay at home.
13:10 on 22/6/16 (UK date).
Monday, 20 June 2016
So Remainers Need Professional Help Then.
Between May 7th (7/5/16) and May 14th (14/5/16) 2016 the 61st Eurovision
Song Contest was held in Stockholm, Sweden.
The UK were represented by Joe & Jake with the song; "You Are Not Alone." As I said at the time this was a barely disguised pledge that the full apparatus of the British state are being ranged to secure a "Remain" result at this Thursday's (23/6/16) referendum on membership of the European Union (EU).
Almost immediately that pledge was tested.
On Friday June 10th (10/6/16) the British Labour Party threw its full support behind the Remain campaign. This had the predictable result of almost immediately handing the "Leave" campaign a 10 point lead in the polls. If the Labour campaign had been allowed to continue all the way up to polling day support to Leave would only have grown.
So last Thursday (16/6/16) remedial action was taken in the form of the lawful killing of Labour MP and Remain campaigner Jo Cox.
Obviously this helped to slightly smear the Leave campaign. It is claimed that the killer shouted "Britain First." This is a reference to a neo-Nazi terror group that have come up before in discussions about the fight against radical Islamist terrorism. Particularly with the US. However if you don't move in those circles it would be easy to confuse it with the campaign that wants to put Britain first by voting to leave the EU. It also of course brings a small sympathy vote to the Remain campaign.
However the main objective was to stop the referendum campaign in its tracks.
Initially it looked like it was going to achieve this. Campaigning was formally suspended on Thursday and due to Parliament being recalled today to pay tribute it officially remains suspended until 00:00 (local) tomorrow (21/6/16). As such there shouldn't have been campaigners from either side appearing on the Sunday TV politics shows. Last night's Town Hall event with Remain campaigner Prime Minister David Cameron should not have taken place. Tonight's Town Hall event with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn most certainly should not be taking place.
Corbyn launched his Remain campaign on the TV Show "The Last Leg." As part of the comedy format of the program jokes were made about Corbyn's reputation as a geek by asking him if he could name every station on the train journey between London Paddington station and Cardiff Central station. He could.
As Jo Cox was being killed a train with "FIRST" written on it in massive letters derailed at Paddington station. Due to the derailment of the First Train thousands of commuters were forced to - *coughs, clears throat* - REMAIN AT WORK!
What was critical in making the operation a success was making sure that the killing was portrayed not as part of the referendum campaign but as a result Labour and Jo Cox links to radical Islamist terrorism. In light of that week alone's radical Islamist terror attacks in Florida, US and France this is a conversation we urgently need to be having.
This discussion would have put so much pressure on the Labour Party that they would be prevented from campaigning and everyone could go back to forgetting that Labour has a position on Europe. This would have been achieved by the police declining to charge the alleged killer Tommy Mair with murder until Jo Cox's links to terrorism had been investigated.
Unfortunately the people who are tasked with keeping us safe from terrorism - West Yorkshire Police's Counter Terror command - then decided to give us all reason to be afraid. Be very afraid.
The Labour Party and in particular Jo Cox's career politician husband Brendan Cox reacted to this burgeoning counter terrorism investigation in exactly the same way they've responded to countless other counter terrorism investigation. They launched a big public relations campaign to garner public sympathy in an attempt to intimidate the police into backing off.
You may remember that when Mohammed Emwazi was revealed to be "Jihadi John" the Labour Party affiliated group CAGE UK did much the same thing. In their press conference they too referred to Emwazi as a kind and gentle man committed to humanitarian work. Being more experienced the Labour Party first went to the trouble of staging a flower-laden memorial to provide a backdrop for their press conferences in the hope of maximising the emotional impact.
The big effort though was the Go Fund Me page that Brendan Cox set up.
One of the groups this claims to be raising money for is the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets). This group is funded out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and based in Turkey. It's founder is a British mercenary. Far from being a humanitarian group they are the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda. They specialise in murdering non-Sunni Syrians and hiding the bodies in wrecked buildings in the hope of blaming the deaths on the Syrian government.
Although they are covered by the listing of Al Qaeda the White Helmets are not currently formally individually listed as a proscribed terror group. However with the groups Arab figurehead being denied entry to the US on the grounds of terrorism that conversation is certainly taking place.
The second group Brendan Cox claims to be raising money for is Hope Not Hate. Similar to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the US this is a street action group that Labour is threatening to bring out in riot. Obviously though they will need to get the Anarchists on side in order to achieve that.
The third group is the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS). They have been included as a direct challenge to the Crown not to launch a counter terrorism investigation. It serves as a dog whistle to the Anarchists that Labour need to support Hope Not Hate hinting that the Tommy Mair is a Royal volunteer. Prior to the launching of the fundraising campaign Labour supporters started a rumour that Tommy Mair was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which is a another way of suggesting he was a Royal volunteer.
Labour have also repeatedly described the killing as an "Attack on Democracy." The subtext being; "Rise up and fight for us against the tyrannical Crown!"
Being astonishingly bad at their job West Yorkshire Police bowed to the pressure of this rabble rousing and baselessly charged Tommy Mair with murder.
This has given the Remain campaign an entirely undeserved sense of accomplishment. They immediately abandoned their desire to mourn Jo Cox and relaunched their campaign in the hope the death can be used to further smear the Leave campaign.
This afternoon Tommy Mair appeared at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). Although there are certainly grounds to do so even dismissing the murder charge without prejudice as per double jeopardy would be a big statement for the Crown to make.
It would also come too late to prevent Corbyn's TV appearance tonight. Fortunately anyone interested in actual politics will be watching the England v Slovakia game. Or perhaps more accurately the Russia v Wales rioting.
So instead the Crown has shifted the narrative.
Now Britain has withdrawn its threat to leave the EU it has a lot of work to do repairing its relationship with the EU. As those familiar with Andy Murray's shock 2013 win on the; "Slippery Courts of the All England Club" at Wimbledon know the high levels of corruption within the British legal system is going to be a major sticking point.
I would say that the fate of Justice Hogg of Madeline McCann fame is far from certain. However I think it's pretty clear what needs to happen to her.
Mair's next Court appearance is to take place on polling day. That can only be viewed as it is intended - Judicial interference in the democratic process.
16:30 on 20/6/16 (UK date).
The UK were represented by Joe & Jake with the song; "You Are Not Alone." As I said at the time this was a barely disguised pledge that the full apparatus of the British state are being ranged to secure a "Remain" result at this Thursday's (23/6/16) referendum on membership of the European Union (EU).
Almost immediately that pledge was tested.
On Friday June 10th (10/6/16) the British Labour Party threw its full support behind the Remain campaign. This had the predictable result of almost immediately handing the "Leave" campaign a 10 point lead in the polls. If the Labour campaign had been allowed to continue all the way up to polling day support to Leave would only have grown.
So last Thursday (16/6/16) remedial action was taken in the form of the lawful killing of Labour MP and Remain campaigner Jo Cox.
Obviously this helped to slightly smear the Leave campaign. It is claimed that the killer shouted "Britain First." This is a reference to a neo-Nazi terror group that have come up before in discussions about the fight against radical Islamist terrorism. Particularly with the US. However if you don't move in those circles it would be easy to confuse it with the campaign that wants to put Britain first by voting to leave the EU. It also of course brings a small sympathy vote to the Remain campaign.
However the main objective was to stop the referendum campaign in its tracks.
Initially it looked like it was going to achieve this. Campaigning was formally suspended on Thursday and due to Parliament being recalled today to pay tribute it officially remains suspended until 00:00 (local) tomorrow (21/6/16). As such there shouldn't have been campaigners from either side appearing on the Sunday TV politics shows. Last night's Town Hall event with Remain campaigner Prime Minister David Cameron should not have taken place. Tonight's Town Hall event with Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn most certainly should not be taking place.
Corbyn launched his Remain campaign on the TV Show "The Last Leg." As part of the comedy format of the program jokes were made about Corbyn's reputation as a geek by asking him if he could name every station on the train journey between London Paddington station and Cardiff Central station. He could.
As Jo Cox was being killed a train with "FIRST" written on it in massive letters derailed at Paddington station. Due to the derailment of the First Train thousands of commuters were forced to - *coughs, clears throat* - REMAIN AT WORK!
What was critical in making the operation a success was making sure that the killing was portrayed not as part of the referendum campaign but as a result Labour and Jo Cox links to radical Islamist terrorism. In light of that week alone's radical Islamist terror attacks in Florida, US and France this is a conversation we urgently need to be having.
This discussion would have put so much pressure on the Labour Party that they would be prevented from campaigning and everyone could go back to forgetting that Labour has a position on Europe. This would have been achieved by the police declining to charge the alleged killer Tommy Mair with murder until Jo Cox's links to terrorism had been investigated.
Unfortunately the people who are tasked with keeping us safe from terrorism - West Yorkshire Police's Counter Terror command - then decided to give us all reason to be afraid. Be very afraid.
The Labour Party and in particular Jo Cox's career politician husband Brendan Cox reacted to this burgeoning counter terrorism investigation in exactly the same way they've responded to countless other counter terrorism investigation. They launched a big public relations campaign to garner public sympathy in an attempt to intimidate the police into backing off.
You may remember that when Mohammed Emwazi was revealed to be "Jihadi John" the Labour Party affiliated group CAGE UK did much the same thing. In their press conference they too referred to Emwazi as a kind and gentle man committed to humanitarian work. Being more experienced the Labour Party first went to the trouble of staging a flower-laden memorial to provide a backdrop for their press conferences in the hope of maximising the emotional impact.
The big effort though was the Go Fund Me page that Brendan Cox set up.
One of the groups this claims to be raising money for is the Syrian Civil Defence (White Helmets). This group is funded out of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) and based in Turkey. It's founder is a British mercenary. Far from being a humanitarian group they are the propaganda arm of Al Qaeda. They specialise in murdering non-Sunni Syrians and hiding the bodies in wrecked buildings in the hope of blaming the deaths on the Syrian government.
Although they are covered by the listing of Al Qaeda the White Helmets are not currently formally individually listed as a proscribed terror group. However with the groups Arab figurehead being denied entry to the US on the grounds of terrorism that conversation is certainly taking place.
The second group Brendan Cox claims to be raising money for is Hope Not Hate. Similar to Black Lives Matter (BLM) in the US this is a street action group that Labour is threatening to bring out in riot. Obviously though they will need to get the Anarchists on side in order to achieve that.
The third group is the Royal Voluntary Service (RVS). They have been included as a direct challenge to the Crown not to launch a counter terrorism investigation. It serves as a dog whistle to the Anarchists that Labour need to support Hope Not Hate hinting that the Tommy Mair is a Royal volunteer. Prior to the launching of the fundraising campaign Labour supporters started a rumour that Tommy Mair was a member of the Ulster Volunteer Force (UVF) which is a another way of suggesting he was a Royal volunteer.
Labour have also repeatedly described the killing as an "Attack on Democracy." The subtext being; "Rise up and fight for us against the tyrannical Crown!"
Being astonishingly bad at their job West Yorkshire Police bowed to the pressure of this rabble rousing and baselessly charged Tommy Mair with murder.
This has given the Remain campaign an entirely undeserved sense of accomplishment. They immediately abandoned their desire to mourn Jo Cox and relaunched their campaign in the hope the death can be used to further smear the Leave campaign.
This afternoon Tommy Mair appeared at the Central Criminal Court (Old Bailey). Although there are certainly grounds to do so even dismissing the murder charge without prejudice as per double jeopardy would be a big statement for the Crown to make.
It would also come too late to prevent Corbyn's TV appearance tonight. Fortunately anyone interested in actual politics will be watching the England v Slovakia game. Or perhaps more accurately the Russia v Wales rioting.
So instead the Crown has shifted the narrative.
Now Britain has withdrawn its threat to leave the EU it has a lot of work to do repairing its relationship with the EU. As those familiar with Andy Murray's shock 2013 win on the; "Slippery Courts of the All England Club" at Wimbledon know the high levels of corruption within the British legal system is going to be a major sticking point.
I would say that the fate of Justice Hogg of Madeline McCann fame is far from certain. However I think it's pretty clear what needs to happen to her.
Mair's next Court appearance is to take place on polling day. That can only be viewed as it is intended - Judicial interference in the democratic process.
16:30 on 20/6/16 (UK date).
Thursday, 16 June 2016
The Lawful Killing of Jo Cox.
This afternoon British Member of Parliament (MP) for the Labour Party Jo Cox was shot and killed on the streets of Birstall, Yorkshire.
If you are a supporter of the US Democrat Party you will obviously be shocked that someone has been shot and killed on the streets of the UK.
After all we banned all assault weapons in 1987 in an emotional response to the Hungerford Massacre in which 16 people were killed. Then in 1996 we banned all handguns in an emotional response the Dunblane Massacre in which 16 people were killed.
However if you are British you'll be used to things like the 2010 Cumbria Massacre in which 12 people were shot and killed. Therefore you will be much more shocked to learn that in Yorkshire there remained a member of the Labour Party who was not a Muslim.
As their annihilation in the 2015 General Election demonstrate the Labour Party have not been doing well of late. The main reason for this is that they have systematically abandoned the values of the white, working class voting base from which they were formed to, frankly, suck the c*ck of any Muslim. No matter how extreme.
To understand just how badly the Labour Party are doing at the moment you only need to look at how excited they were that they're candidate Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London back in May.
To give you an idea of how utterly out of proportion Labour's excitement over this was the list of British Muslim politicians who've held more powerful positions than London Mayor actually includes Sadiq Khan. Twice. When he was Minister of State for Communities in 2008 and Minister of State for Transport in 2009.
The Labour Mayoral campaign also demonstrates the extent to which the Party abandoned their core values and those of their voters. In order to be seen as a 'good Muslim' Kahn's campaign made a point of the fact it employed people such as Shueb Salar who advocated the beating of homosexuals in public.
Khan himself gave a number of speeches at campaign events where women were segregated from men. This included one at which he appeared in front of the black flag of Jihad that was hosted by an Islamic TV channel that advocated marital rape and declared women who wear perfume to be prostitutes.
In the course of his campaign he was supported by former Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone who claimed that Adolf Hitler supported the creation of the state of Israel and accused Jews of being willing participants in the Nazi holocaust. This came after Labour MP for Bradford West, Yorkshire Naz Shah was caught declaring Judaism to be a bogus religion and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
What really did for the Labour Party though was it's conduct in the Rotherham, Yorkshire sex abuse scandal.
Here between 1997 and 2013 a gang of Muslim men of Pakistani origin systematically abducted, tortured, raped and sex trafficked at least 1,400 white working class girls some as young as 12. The Labour controlled local Council protected the gang from prosecution because they didn't want to alienate Muslim voters by telling them that they couldn't abduct, rape and torture children.
If this was not bad enough in Rochdale, Greater Manchester the local Labour controlled Council let another gang of British Pakistani Muslims systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic at least 47 white working children between 2008 and 2009. The Labour Party in Rochdale then did it again allowing another gang of British Pakistani Muslims to systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic even more white working class children between 2012 and 2016.
Prior to her death Jo Cox founded and chaired the Parliamentary "Friends of Syria" group. As with the international Friends of Syria group this group is dedicated to the support of radical Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaeda, The Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) in Syria.
On December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) the British Parliament voted on authorising military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Jo Cox declined to participate in this vote claiming that it would be better to find a way to accommodate ISIL and their self-declared genocidal agenda.
As I'm sure you've heard on Sunday (12/6/16) an Muslim man walked into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, US and murdered 49 people while attempting to murder 53 more. He claimed this attack in the name of ISIL.
With the Pulse nightclub being a gay club this prompted an outpouring of grief from the global gay community with vigils for the dead being held across the World. The main British vigil was held outside the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street in London.
The reason why the Admiral Duncan was chosen for the vigil is that on April 30th 1999 (30/4/99) it was itself bombed in a terrorist attack. With the device used being a simple pipebomb made from blackpowder recovered from commercial fireworks it only succeeded in killing 3 people and wounding 70 more.
The bomber David Copeland was at the very least inspired by a Neo-Nazi terror group that was active in the UK at the time known as "Combat 18." As in the word "Combat" followed by the 1st and 8th letters of the English alphabet; Adolf Hitler.
With Al Qaeda very much changing the way that domestic terrorism is policed on September 11th 2001 Combat 18 were wiped out around 9 seconds later. However recently a replacement for Combat 18 has begun to emerge in the form of "Britain First." You may have heard whispered mentions of them in relation to the murder of Sikh doctor Sarandev Singh Bhambra in Mold, Wales on January 14th 2015 (14/1/15).
As again you may have heard on Monday (13/6/16) a Muslim man murdered two police officers in Paris, France orphaning the married couple's 3 year old child. Broadcasting his crime live on the Internet the attacker claimed his actions in the name of ISIL and promised more attacks.
Just yesterday (15/6/16) police in Belgium received threats that a group of ISIL fighters were travelling from Syria to carry out mass casualty terror attacks in both France and Belgium.
Today I'm working my way through the latest United Nations (UN) report on how ISIL continue to attempt to wipe out the Yezidi ethnic group by systematically abducting, raping, torturing, sex trafficking and murdering Yezidi women and children.
So as for Jo Cox I'm inclined to think that someone finally decided that they'd had enough and shot the silly b*tch in the face.
The police have arrested a suspect - named locally as Tommy Mair - in connection to the killing. This puts them in an extremely awkward position.
Under British - and international law - you are allowed to kill in defence of self or another. Shooting dead a paedophile who is about to rape a child or a gunman who is about to storm into a crowded nightclub are prime examples a this principle.
Also the UK voted to pass UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2170 (2014). A Chapter 7 resolution this not only authorises but obligates everybody to use every method at their disposal to defeat ISIL and Al Qaeda. Due to the precedent set in the conviction of Charles Taylor on April 26th 2012 (2012) that includes anybody who is aiding those groups including through the provision of medical or other humanitarian aid.
As such the killing of Jo Cox and any other member of the British Friends of Syria Parliamentary group is lawful under 2170 (2014).
Although I'm not sure of the exact time of arrest the police now have 36 hours to decide whether to charge or release their suspect. As far as I can tell the only criminal offence he could possibly have committed is unlawful possession of a firearm.
I gather that US President Barack Obama is now more committed than ever to banning all guns in the US.
Except for the ones carried by his armed guards of course.
20:00 on 16/6/16 (UK date).
Edited at around 10:20 on 18/6/16 (UK date) to add;
Jo Cox was pronounced dead at 12:50 on Thursday (16/6/16). It is reasonable to assume that Tommy Mair was formally arrested at around 13:00 give or take.
Initially the police would have had 24 hours to hold him taking us up to 13:00 on Friday (17/6/16). A senior police officer could than authorises his detention for a further 12 hours bringing us up to 01:00 today. Beyond that the police would have had to apply to a Judge to further extend his detention.
At 00:25 today West Yorkshire police announced that they'd charged Mair with a great number of offences including, controversially, murder. It seems pretty obvious what has happened here.
Approaching the deadline the police had it strongly indicated to them not to seek an extension because such a request would be refused. So the police did what they always do in this type of situation - massively overcharge in the hope that at least something sticks.
You can almost hear the conversation between West Yorkshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London;
"You're adamant you want to charge?"
"Yes."
"Is that your final answer. Are you sure you wouldn't like to phone a friend. Possibly an adult?"
"No. We want to charge."
"Okay. We'll get you a Court date on Monday (20/6/16). When the rest of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) group is back in session."
Such was the level of alarm generated by the conduct of West Yorkshire police that Mair was immediately transferred to London. He's just been remanded in custody. That means to a central London police station where the investigation can begin and he can be given access to legal representation.
Of course what a competent police force would have done is charge Mair with unlawfully firearm possession and request that he is remanded. That would allow them to continue the rest of their investigation.
The big problem they're going to face is that for at least the last year West Yorkshire police themselves have been descibing the threat posed by Jo Cox to the general public - including Mair - as; "Severe." They have also been urging the public to take precautions against that threat.
Demonstrating the threat the Cox's and associates pose to the UK the husband has launched a fund raising campaign for groups who give money to people who have this nasty habit of being blown up in US & UK air-strikes in Syria & Iraq. The figurehead of the White Helmets group is actually considered such a terrorist threat that he is barred from entering the US.
Therefore as a result of West Yorkshire's screw up we now have at least two days in which British people are likely to be mislead into thinking that funding terrorist groups in somehow acceptable rather than a criminal act.
10:40 on 18/6/16 (UK date).
If you are a supporter of the US Democrat Party you will obviously be shocked that someone has been shot and killed on the streets of the UK.
After all we banned all assault weapons in 1987 in an emotional response to the Hungerford Massacre in which 16 people were killed. Then in 1996 we banned all handguns in an emotional response the Dunblane Massacre in which 16 people were killed.
However if you are British you'll be used to things like the 2010 Cumbria Massacre in which 12 people were shot and killed. Therefore you will be much more shocked to learn that in Yorkshire there remained a member of the Labour Party who was not a Muslim.
As their annihilation in the 2015 General Election demonstrate the Labour Party have not been doing well of late. The main reason for this is that they have systematically abandoned the values of the white, working class voting base from which they were formed to, frankly, suck the c*ck of any Muslim. No matter how extreme.
To understand just how badly the Labour Party are doing at the moment you only need to look at how excited they were that they're candidate Sadiq Khan was elected Mayor of London back in May.
To give you an idea of how utterly out of proportion Labour's excitement over this was the list of British Muslim politicians who've held more powerful positions than London Mayor actually includes Sadiq Khan. Twice. When he was Minister of State for Communities in 2008 and Minister of State for Transport in 2009.
The Labour Mayoral campaign also demonstrates the extent to which the Party abandoned their core values and those of their voters. In order to be seen as a 'good Muslim' Kahn's campaign made a point of the fact it employed people such as Shueb Salar who advocated the beating of homosexuals in public.
Khan himself gave a number of speeches at campaign events where women were segregated from men. This included one at which he appeared in front of the black flag of Jihad that was hosted by an Islamic TV channel that advocated marital rape and declared women who wear perfume to be prostitutes.
In the course of his campaign he was supported by former Labour London Mayor Ken Livingstone who claimed that Adolf Hitler supported the creation of the state of Israel and accused Jews of being willing participants in the Nazi holocaust. This came after Labour MP for Bradford West, Yorkshire Naz Shah was caught declaring Judaism to be a bogus religion and calling for the destruction of the state of Israel.
What really did for the Labour Party though was it's conduct in the Rotherham, Yorkshire sex abuse scandal.
Here between 1997 and 2013 a gang of Muslim men of Pakistani origin systematically abducted, tortured, raped and sex trafficked at least 1,400 white working class girls some as young as 12. The Labour controlled local Council protected the gang from prosecution because they didn't want to alienate Muslim voters by telling them that they couldn't abduct, rape and torture children.
If this was not bad enough in Rochdale, Greater Manchester the local Labour controlled Council let another gang of British Pakistani Muslims systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic at least 47 white working children between 2008 and 2009. The Labour Party in Rochdale then did it again allowing another gang of British Pakistani Muslims to systematically abduct, rape, torture and sex traffic even more white working class children between 2012 and 2016.
Prior to her death Jo Cox founded and chaired the Parliamentary "Friends of Syria" group. As with the international Friends of Syria group this group is dedicated to the support of radical Islamist terror groups such as Al Qaeda, The Islamic Movement of the Freemen of the Levant/Harakat ash-Sham al-Islamiyya (Ahrar al-Sham) and the Army of Islam/Jaish al-Islam (JAI) in Syria.
On December 2nd 2015 (2/12/15) the British Parliament voted on authorising military action against the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL) in Syria. Jo Cox declined to participate in this vote claiming that it would be better to find a way to accommodate ISIL and their self-declared genocidal agenda.
As I'm sure you've heard on Sunday (12/6/16) an Muslim man walked into a nightclub in Orlando, Florida, US and murdered 49 people while attempting to murder 53 more. He claimed this attack in the name of ISIL.
With the Pulse nightclub being a gay club this prompted an outpouring of grief from the global gay community with vigils for the dead being held across the World. The main British vigil was held outside the Admiral Duncan pub on Old Compton Street in London.
The reason why the Admiral Duncan was chosen for the vigil is that on April 30th 1999 (30/4/99) it was itself bombed in a terrorist attack. With the device used being a simple pipebomb made from blackpowder recovered from commercial fireworks it only succeeded in killing 3 people and wounding 70 more.
The bomber David Copeland was at the very least inspired by a Neo-Nazi terror group that was active in the UK at the time known as "Combat 18." As in the word "Combat" followed by the 1st and 8th letters of the English alphabet; Adolf Hitler.
With Al Qaeda very much changing the way that domestic terrorism is policed on September 11th 2001 Combat 18 were wiped out around 9 seconds later. However recently a replacement for Combat 18 has begun to emerge in the form of "Britain First." You may have heard whispered mentions of them in relation to the murder of Sikh doctor Sarandev Singh Bhambra in Mold, Wales on January 14th 2015 (14/1/15).
As again you may have heard on Monday (13/6/16) a Muslim man murdered two police officers in Paris, France orphaning the married couple's 3 year old child. Broadcasting his crime live on the Internet the attacker claimed his actions in the name of ISIL and promised more attacks.
Just yesterday (15/6/16) police in Belgium received threats that a group of ISIL fighters were travelling from Syria to carry out mass casualty terror attacks in both France and Belgium.
Today I'm working my way through the latest United Nations (UN) report on how ISIL continue to attempt to wipe out the Yezidi ethnic group by systematically abducting, raping, torturing, sex trafficking and murdering Yezidi women and children.
So as for Jo Cox I'm inclined to think that someone finally decided that they'd had enough and shot the silly b*tch in the face.
The police have arrested a suspect - named locally as Tommy Mair - in connection to the killing. This puts them in an extremely awkward position.
Under British - and international law - you are allowed to kill in defence of self or another. Shooting dead a paedophile who is about to rape a child or a gunman who is about to storm into a crowded nightclub are prime examples a this principle.
Also the UK voted to pass UN Security Council (UNSC) Resolution 2170 (2014). A Chapter 7 resolution this not only authorises but obligates everybody to use every method at their disposal to defeat ISIL and Al Qaeda. Due to the precedent set in the conviction of Charles Taylor on April 26th 2012 (2012) that includes anybody who is aiding those groups including through the provision of medical or other humanitarian aid.
As such the killing of Jo Cox and any other member of the British Friends of Syria Parliamentary group is lawful under 2170 (2014).
Although I'm not sure of the exact time of arrest the police now have 36 hours to decide whether to charge or release their suspect. As far as I can tell the only criminal offence he could possibly have committed is unlawful possession of a firearm.
I gather that US President Barack Obama is now more committed than ever to banning all guns in the US.
Except for the ones carried by his armed guards of course.
20:00 on 16/6/16 (UK date).
Edited at around 10:20 on 18/6/16 (UK date) to add;
Jo Cox was pronounced dead at 12:50 on Thursday (16/6/16). It is reasonable to assume that Tommy Mair was formally arrested at around 13:00 give or take.
Initially the police would have had 24 hours to hold him taking us up to 13:00 on Friday (17/6/16). A senior police officer could than authorises his detention for a further 12 hours bringing us up to 01:00 today. Beyond that the police would have had to apply to a Judge to further extend his detention.
At 00:25 today West Yorkshire police announced that they'd charged Mair with a great number of offences including, controversially, murder. It seems pretty obvious what has happened here.
Approaching the deadline the police had it strongly indicated to them not to seek an extension because such a request would be refused. So the police did what they always do in this type of situation - massively overcharge in the hope that at least something sticks.
You can almost hear the conversation between West Yorkshire police and the Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) in London;
"You're adamant you want to charge?"
"Yes."
"Is that your final answer. Are you sure you wouldn't like to phone a friend. Possibly an adult?"
"No. We want to charge."
"Okay. We'll get you a Court date on Monday (20/6/16). When the rest of the Special Educational Needs (SEN) group is back in session."
Such was the level of alarm generated by the conduct of West Yorkshire police that Mair was immediately transferred to London. He's just been remanded in custody. That means to a central London police station where the investigation can begin and he can be given access to legal representation.
Of course what a competent police force would have done is charge Mair with unlawfully firearm possession and request that he is remanded. That would allow them to continue the rest of their investigation.
The big problem they're going to face is that for at least the last year West Yorkshire police themselves have been descibing the threat posed by Jo Cox to the general public - including Mair - as; "Severe." They have also been urging the public to take precautions against that threat.
Demonstrating the threat the Cox's and associates pose to the UK the husband has launched a fund raising campaign for groups who give money to people who have this nasty habit of being blown up in US & UK air-strikes in Syria & Iraq. The figurehead of the White Helmets group is actually considered such a terrorist threat that he is barred from entering the US.
Therefore as a result of West Yorkshire's screw up we now have at least two days in which British people are likely to be mislead into thinking that funding terrorist groups in somehow acceptable rather than a criminal act.
10:40 on 18/6/16 (UK date).
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