The weekend of the 75th anniversary Victory in Europe Day . When freedom defeated tyranny . The BBC wouldn’t see its ‘ current form as a tyrant . But it is one if you are an ‘unapproved ‘ victim .
Lest We Forget
Weekend 7 May 2022
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oooh it’s meeeeeeeeeeee!
MeToo Movement is last year!
Well, the BBC are crowing about the poor showing in the local elections by the Conservative Party. They are hoping Boris will resign or be pushed out by Conservative MPs. Maybe the BBC’s part in ‘Partygate’ will come back to haunt them? Will not be before this weekend is over. Have a good weekend everyone.
Narinder Kaur’s brilliant defence of Starmer’s Beergate
Don’t blame me if you pressed PLAY
III. Duties of Members
4.By virtue of the oath, or affirmation, of allegiance taken by all Members when they are elected to the House, Members have a duty to be faithful and bear true allegiance to Her Majesty the Queen, her heirs and successors, according to law.
5.Members have a duty to uphold the law, including the general law against discrimination.
6.Members have a general duty to act in the interests of the nation as a whole; and a special duty to their constituents.
https://publications.parliament.uk/pa/cm201719/cmcode/1882/188202.htm#_idTextAnchor004
Saw her on Dan Wooten and was seriously considering writing saying if Narindar is on much more, GBNews will be losing at least two viewers. Dawn Neesom and Calvin Robinson had well thought out views on either side of the abortion debate, said with compassion. Then on came this harpie bullying them both by talking over them in an extremely aggressive way.
Dan Wooten always seems to have a 3rd wheel barnpot on his sofa. Such one is Amy Nickell ……. this is her website cv ……
“Amy’s a broadcaster, talent agent and author from London. Outspoken and opinionated, she is a regular guest on TV programmes such as ITV’s Good Morning Britain and Sky News Sunrise.
A rising voice in talk radio, Amy is fast becoming a regular panellist on TalkRadio and set to feature as a weekend guest this autumn.
Amy is an experienced live host most recently working Sky gaming, Tough Mudder and global fast-food chain Jollibee.”
Some people are so ‘up’ themselves, and it seems being opinionated and going against the grain clearly guarantees a career.
This was a reach for the remote moment, and last week we were treated to Jennie Murray subsidising her massive BBC pension.
We don’t want them GBNews, we don’t watch to have these people in our living rooms.
Stew, LOL X 5 + 🙂
Lots of white powder in the green room ?
Is that Dr. Rosena explaining the new rating system in Wandsworth?
Or Mishal in full flow on satisfactory civilian deaths in rocket attacks?
Or Faisal on Tory economics now Mason is no longer in the picture?
After the Dave Chappelle attack by a Democrat supporter the liberal left Soros backed District Attorney George Gascon, has refused to bring felony charges against the attacker, and apparantly didn’t want to prosecute him at all, so has brought a much lesser misdemenour charge instead allowing the nut case attacker to walk free.
It might not have been such a good idea as Dave has a lot of fans and it’s likely he’s going to be recognised and given the pay back he really deserves.
https://nypost.com/2021/12/16/how-george-soros-funded-progressive-das-behind-us-crime-surge/
Tower Hamlets massive Labour loss to guy who was banned from politics for 5 years cos of fraud
.. Lucky postal voting ?
rotten borough, depopulated election district that retains its original representation. The term was first applied by English parliamentary reformers of the early 19th century to such constituencies maintained by the crown or by an aristocratic patron to control seats in the House of Commons.
I enjoy serving with the right hon. Gentleman on PACAC. As a footnote to what he is saying, one of the concerns I have, which is shared by many—I know we divided on this in the Committee, and I found myself in a minority of one—is that allegations of offences are not properly investigated by the police. He might consider that to be a separate issue. As another footnote, he mentioned Tower Hamlets. Next week, we find ourselves in the horrible situation that Lutfur Rahman, who was the man who perpetrated all that electoral fraud, is on the ballot paper in Tower Hamlets. It is a fact that these problems have only been investigated to an extent, it seems.
https://www.theyworkforyou.com/debates/?id=2022-04-27a.805.0&s=Lutfur+Rahman#g823.0
If the Blue Labour Tories are so bothered about this why didn;t they deport him for his crimes, after all they could have done and they are the ones in power. Just more cowardice uselessness and incompetence.
2014….
First Muslim mayor to face fraud trial: Tower Hamlets borough boss accused of promising houses for votes
Lutfur Rahman allegedly used illegal tactics to win May mayoral election
Islamic voters were ‘told they should be good Muslims and support him’
Supporters accused of branding his main rival racist and anti-Islamic
Four voters have submitted damaging dossier of evidence to High Court
By ARTHUR MARTIN FOR THE DAILY MAIL and NICK FAGGE FOR THE DAILY MAIL
PUBLISHED: 01:36, 30 July 2014 | UPDATED: 08:56, 30 July 2014
Stew-In at the most four generations . EVERY constituency in
the land will be like Tower Hamlets. We in Barnet are the
latest to find out that you cant beat demographics when
the Muslim’s are having as many as four times many children
than the indigenous population. Gaddafi was
right. Islamic fundamentalists don’t need
to use terrorism. Demographics will for
sure win in the end. Like it has in Barnet.
What and how is this disgraceful individual being re-elected as Mayor?
Third World – £ – relatives – corruption. – postal votes – dodgy counters – threats – ….easy – see biden
Bloody Hell…
This is pretty wow…
I’m getting YouTube adverts to join the Ukraine military
and
That’s enough Twitter for today
Man legally changes his gender to identify as a woman ‘so he can retire five years earlier’ in Argentina
Tax worker Sergio Lazarovich, 60, recently changed gender to become Sergia
Change meant she could retire immediately instead of in five years’ time
A relative has now come forward to say Sergia does not truly identify as female
She has spoken out against gays and transsexuals in the past, relative says
By CHRIS PLEASANCE FOR MAILONLINE
PUBLISHED: 12:52, 26 March 2018 | UPDATED: 13:21, 26 March 2018
The programme also said that the southern part of Madagascar is ‘on the brink of the world’s first climate-induced famine’.
We should have made it clear we were reflecting the language used by the UN’s World Food Programme (WFP) in its assessment of conditions in Madagascar.
Other evidence suggests there were additional factors which made a significant contribution to the situation on the island.
28/04/2022
https://www.bbc.co.uk/helpandfeedback/corrections_clarifications
^^ Nobody reads the corrections!
The US provided intelligence that helped Ukraine sink the Moskva, Russia’s flagship Black Sea missile cruiser, several US media report.
Unnamed officials said Ukraine had asked the US about a ship sailing to the south of Odesa.
The US said it was the Moskva and helped confirm its location. Ukraine then struck it with two missiles.
The Pentagon has not commented. But a spokesman said the US gave intelligence to help Ukraine defend itself.
The unnamed US officials quoted in media reports said they did not know that Ukraine would target the Moskva after helping determine its location.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-61343044
Gets you top billing at the bbc.
Sopes and Saz must be delirious.
But a pale male and blonde Americast would be awks, surely?
Really good idea on behalf of Obama Biden – stick a queer coloured gal ( woke x3 ) in the job and she can invoke a prejudice / hate thing against any whitee journo who goes off script …..
( I assume this won’t happen because of the constant connivance of msm in supporting a mentally Ill false president
Today watch
The BBC editorial has decided the beer/curry gate thing isn’t important – in either the event – the cover up – the hypocrisy-.
Guido reported that we are unlikely to see or hear labour politicians over the next few days because the party has been instructed to avoid the media for a while . This will have been communicated to the BBC – so they won’t be asking for labour politicians to be ‘put up’ …
So we won’t be getting the ‘we asked but they declined to put someone up ‘…
..I predict that Durham plod will whitewash the inquiry – and find no case to answer – no fines –
I also predict that the Gray report will be published or leaked pretty soon to distract if starmer/growler do get heat from the curry gate ….
Wouldn’t it be strange to have new ‘leads ‘ on either side of the dispatch boxes – ? This is anorak stuff because their would be little change to the strain taxpayers will be under with rising everything … particularly interest rates hitting 3% by year end and inflation at 12% as control of the economy is lost ..
Someone from Russia has replied to a comment posted elsewhere remarking that Jen Psaki is something of a favourite in Russia with her silly comments spawning a slew of memes over there not that you will here any of them on our bent media:
“We sent our fleet to the shores of Belarus” Really ? Belarus is of course completely landlocked
Or “mountains in the Rostov region” which is about as flat as Holland!
She has become such a figure of fun in Russia that they even have T shirts with the term Psaking on them because of her gaffes, although supporters claim she never said these things, they have been mistranslated, or that she corrected herself.
https://en.topwar.ru/49146-dzhen-psaki-shestoy-flot-k-beregam-belorussii.html
Today BylineTimes guys are pushing this they tweeted on May 3rd
\\Far-right YouTuber Paul Joseph Watson [@prisonplanet] has been secretly recorded calling people “n*ggers”, “p*kis”, “c**ns”, “f*ggots”, and saying that he wants “wipe Jews off the face of the earth”.//
It’s a short fuzzy clip, so you can’t tell the context
.. like was he parodying someone or something ?
A PJW type voice says
“Media f*ggot activists” sticking signs “up in my face trying to get me to join the gay f*ggot Palestinian cause.
I don’t give a shit about Israel and Palestine.
I care about white people.
Not sand n****r Jew P**i f*ggot c**ns”
I saw that and wondered
– why is Twitter pushing this at me?
– got the makings of a fun legal action?
There are a couple of strange things
The Byline Times said “A recording exclusively obtained by Byline Times”
#1 Not true. A guy calling themself @AntisemitismEye actually released it on Feb 13
… https://www.twitter.com/AntisemitismEye/status/1492857188490125317
#2 .. So this is a second bite of the cherry
to try to get it to go viral now.
#3 He didn’t release a longer version, so it’s impossible to judge context.
#4. @AntisemitismEye now says “We reported this to police back in feb
we have a CAD etc
tipped off by someone who went to the party where recording took place”
(I guess CAD is just the reference number the police give you, whether your report is spurious or not)
… It’s strange to report someone to police, cos you were sent a recording of something said to be from a party.
Saying things at a party, is unlikely to be a breach of any English law
Someone asked @AntisemitismEye these questions, he did reply, but declined to answer
” What was the date of the recording?
Where was it recorded?
Has it been edited or processed?
Can you name the source?
Where is the full length original recording?”
It is clearly an attempt to MONSTER PJW
.. However his individual pieces stand on their own merits.
Trying to dismiss someone’s arguments on the grounds they are a bad character, is a parallel to racism, as it is dismissing someone by applying a label to them.
OK that’s weird, Muslim PR group TellMama of all people
have an old post against @AntisemitismEye
They say he runs an account that tweets incendiary phrases very similar to the ones its accusing Watson of
.. And is him/herself subject to legal action.
“Some Other Postings By Ambrosine Shitrit who also posts as @AntisemitismEye”
https://tellmamauk.org/mrs-ambrosine-shitrit-i-am-not-anti-muslim/
I would expect that many accounts claiming to be EDL are actually bluff accounts run by antifa
but Tellmama don’t say that one is.
Ah she’s a woman
The weird thing is from 2018 people have been accusing Shitrit of being a bad sweary racist person, even making videos showing clips of her ..Often they label her “far right” “anti-Muslim”
Then in 2022 she produces a 27 second of PJW
.. So is she projecting.
One thing is cos she is pro-Israel and anti-Labour ..she get a lot of hate from Labour supporters.
The Guardian’s Zelo Street has a post against her
https://zelo-street.blogspot.com/2018/08/jewish-labour-members-targeted.html
One commenter says “Ambrosine Yolanda Shitrit, or Chetrit, whatever she is choosing to call herself this week, has a long history of threatening, bullying, lying, vile behaviour, and playing dirty tricks against anyone who disagrees with her and her rabid right wing, pro Israel, full on Zionist views. She plays victim yet she is the aggressor.
She has had literally dozens of Twitter accounts suspended for abuse and for making fake accounts of others in order to bully.
Currently she is tweeting as @AntisemitismEye as well as sockpuppet accounts.
She pretends to run organisations which combat anti Semitism but are a front for her extremist and anti Muslim views. The ‘organisations’ are to give her some veneer of credibility, but she’s soon rumbled and genuine anti racist organisations want nothing to do with her.”
Another blog post says she phoned LBC and strongly defended the Israeli rapists in Cyprus
https://azvsas.blogspot.com/2020/01/jonathan-hoffman-former-vice-chair-of.html
These are the main reasons why we cannot obtain appointments within the NHS.
“Nearly 7 Million New Registrations By Migrants With General Practitioners Since 2010”.
https://www.migrationwatchuk.org/news/2022/05/04/nearly-7-million-new-registrations-by-migrants-with-general-practitioners-since-2010
Almost two months for a blood test.
The best thing about this is, we are all paying for this rapidly deteriorating service while many thousands more pour into the country and, happily for successive Governments, no more than a whimper from the public. Never mind about housing and all the other public services financed by the taxpayer.
To vote? Turkeys voting for Christmas.
Remember, “Refugees Welcome”…..
Contd.
Just spotted this by the Nuffield Trust. Just words, worthless words. Gobbledygook in fact. Silence over the number of marauders invading the UK and NHS.
https://mailchi.mp/nuffieldtrust.org.uk/newsletter-1126767?e=b4b44b2deb
I am reading Douglas Murray’s new book , The War on the West, and very good it is too. I thought that I would check out the reviews in the papers etc. The Telegraph, Mail and the Times all give it five stars.
The Times rating is surprising as one of the points in Murray’s book is the damage of globalisation to nation states and the Times is a bastion of globalisation and rather Wokist as well.
There is no review at this time from the Guardian or Independent. Their reviewers are probably still in hospital suffering from hyperventilation after having read the first couple of chapters which denounce multiculturalism, BLM, globalism in no uncertain terms and pull few punches.
I did find the Guardian review of The Strange Death of Europe from a few years ago. Basically the review is a health warning for any Guardianistas who might inadvertently stumble across the book, read this book and the scales will fall from your eyes.Basically the Guardian reviewer found the book a far right diatribe against all modern values . Guid knows what they are going to write about his latest book when they eventually get out of hospital !
DT,
Reading between the lines, the rapidly accelerating Marxism/extreme socialism is spreading in the West like Covid. This inevitability is surely manifested in our current Tory Government masquerading as Socialists. They have to maintain acceptance and practice of Socialist principles otherwise, for the future, they will cease to exist.
If you can’t beat them, join them.
Double – I suppose the guardian has ‘cancelled ‘ the book – in the style of nazi book burning … on that subject ..PBS is currently running a series on the experience of German Jews in the 1930s.
Apparently there was a list of unapproved books which had to be burnt . People found burning a lot of these books in their possession difficult . A solution was to send them in the post to non existent addresses which the Reich postoffice would and burn the intercepted books .
I suppose blocking sites on the internet is the equivalent to this now – I understand virgin blocks this one …
BBC News web page mainly about yesterday’s election, rightly so but where is the major headline regarding Starmer being re investigated, I actually couldn’t find one..!!
If it was the PM it would be wall to wall coverage and sod the election.
BBC at its Bias best
Dafydd
I mentioned about that the Labour Party has ‘shut the shop ‘ on media exposure whilst Durham plod does the whitewash – no mr starmer – have you received a questionnaire ?
I would ask Durham plod whether they are consulting London plod on how to investigate – since such a good job was done on nailing the guilty fiends in the number 10 garden ….
The only labour politician on ‘today ‘was Blunket doing his natural far left nasty act …. Instead of the cheery Charlie chuckles he does when trying to flog a book …
It will be interesting who Brillo has on his C4 show on Sunday night (6pm?)
Maybe he ll get nut nut – or maybe not 😎
I noticed Wes ” I fought a serious illness during lockdown oops sorry it was a year before” Streeting was being his nasty and unpleasant self on the Radio this morning refusing to say whether Starmer should resign if found guilty.
The presenter had to remind “Skip through the meadow with his boyfriend “Streeting that Labour clambered for the PMs head for just being investigated, no response
Parasites
Dafydd
A more serious question is ‘ how many more times did starmer ‘ curry up ‘?
There is clear research * that people who use curry become addicted to it . So some sun journo should be following the starmer trail to see how many curries he got fixed up on …
* sponsered by the UK curry council
Disclosure – i am a recoverinc curryholic –
I now make my own – no take aways – im cured honest .. no lime pickle …
“…the British Army; the Psychosis of Whiteness”
Many years ago, like many here, I was a member of HM Armed Forces. I was horrified to watch this video.
For those with a nervous (or angry) disposition, look away now.
What complete and utter bullsh-t….why do people believe this sh-t
The idiot in the video at best looks high and at worse needs help
G
Do you think that training is real ? ( honest question ) Sounds like someone in the mod did a cut and paste on some lefty anti whitee thing … the YouTube clip is 8 minutes – I recommend watching on double speed ..
If true – surely an issue for a MP to raise with the MoD minister team ….
These days and with the all pervading lunacy? Don’t know – but what is not in doubt is the now ubiquitous guiding principle: ‘Anything goes’.
Btw, his research is meticulous and I have never had any reason to feel uncomfortable with his offerings. Others will probably feel the same.
Not true
Information on the ‘History Debunked’ video:
https://www.forces.net/news/op-teamwork-army-tackle-cultural-and-inclusivity-issues-amongst-force
I imagine this is the document circulated:
Click to access Andrews%20%282016%29%20Psychosis%20of%20Whiteness-%20Green%20access.pdf
So is the content of the video correct or not? I am confused.
GWF
As normal, satisfy yourself. I’m just the messenger. Those above that queried it were given info from the video that was available to all including them. All gone quiet now. Make of that what you will. I’m personally happy with it.
Notice that those claiming, “Not true” or similar don’t provide any evidence.
G
You again – I’m not interested in whether that video is true or not – I’ll stick with the BBC and its’ treatment of current politics – amongst other things –
Put a video up which we don’t know it true – knock your self out – but don’t expect not to be challenged . I watched it – it the MOD thing sounded just too woke for me but I might be wrong ….
……I’m more interested in how the BBC is trying to minimise the possible crimes of the Labour remainer Leader ….
BTW – I didn’t say it was false – I asked it it was true …
“MP to raise”? Ben Wallace is in on the conspiracy!
This is Critical Race Theory. Complete rubbish. But , unfortunately , it has taken root and become rampantly invasive across the Anglosphere. If this really is now part of Military training it is deeply shocking.
My own views are that Islam , black supremacists and China represent a thousand times the threat to western civilisation than does the virtually non existent threat of white supremacy.
Oh dear I’m a racist and not in the closet!
Doublethinker
it’s rampant in our ‘Yoonies’ and disseminates down through our education system to our kids . While we have a weak and supine government unable to or unwilling to pushback against it. Why? because of self interest.
Time for the ‘Real’ Tories to stand up and be counted.
Start by defending our shores, Scrapping the Television Licence and Get Brexit Done before we are done .
Completely agree.
BBC Breakfast.
You can tell the mindset of the reporters when they use the pejorative term ‘Tory’ in their opinion pieces this morning.
I always thought it was the Conservative (and Unionist) Party.
Why she gets the big bucks.
She got a chart.
No doubt jubilation in some law firms.
“European Court of Human Rights acknowledges that converts to Christianity face persecution in Pakistan”
https://robertspencer.org/2022/05/european-court-of-human-rights-acknowledges-that-converts-to-christianity-face-persecution-in-pakistan
Another worthwhile precedent that can be distorted and spread around, and applied in many other guises to the detriment of the West. Hail the mighty Soros. Just shows what, “a few bob” can do.
This seems stange at the start, one has to get two thirds down the story to find some context..
(And of course twitter is at the bottom of the “wave of outrage”)
‘Why did the police kill my beloved boy?’: Professor movingly argues that his son’s terrible end deserves answers after 27-year-old ‘was handcuffed as he lay dying after being struck by an unmarked police BMW’
A wave of outrage has continued as ‘Justice for Arthur’ trended on Twitter.
Then we find, later on, selectively put in towards the back end of the story, such gems as:
“police had started pursuing him because the Audi he was driving was not insured ”
“Arthur is thought to have sped off before ditching his car and continuing on foot.”
“Admittedly, Arthur had been in trouble with the police before — he had a previous conviction for possessing cannabis and had also faced court over driving offences”
“Last weekend wasn’t the first time Arthur had been involved with the police. In 2018, he appeared at Eastbourne Magistrates’ Court, where he pleaded guilty to being in possession of a quantity of cannabis and was ordered to pay £85 costs.”
“In 2019 he appeared in court for drug driving, possession of cannabis and driving without a licence.”
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10791497/Why-did-police-kill-beloved-boy-Professor-argues-sons-terrible-end-deserves-answers.html
Drug driving, no insurance, driving with no license
Just a lovable little scamp then ?
and now an anti police protest proposed through the poisonous twitter
With a conservative loss of about 500 seats the bbbc are hoping this will be enough to get rid of Boris so that they can start on trying to get rid of whoever replaces him.
Radio 4 The News Quiz 6.30pm yesterday repeating today at 12.30pm .
Sneering sneering sneering , mainly at the English .
There should be windfall taxes , Ireland should be reunited , Brexit is wrong , two million people have to use food banks .
A wee little dig at Labour ; Corbyn is old .
Then the sneering bit against those who think the BBC is biased : Look We`re Not Biased See This Joke About The BBC Being Biased : which I think the panellists all wink to each other as they`re part of the Nomenklatura .
You see why the Tories are the stupid party ? to allow this organisation to exist for so long when its dead set against them and poisons minds is stupid .
To be more afraid of the likes of BBC type people than their natural supporters is stupid .
To chase for the votes of wokists who will never vote for them is stupid .
The somewhat more than cursory edition explores the rude body politic
Just as a cursory review of our media narratives might suggest we would seek to puritanise the behaviours of our politicians: ‘Sir Keir Starmer investigated over alleged lockdown breach‘ (BBC) – or, if you will, the more robust: ‘Now it’s slippery Starmer in crisis‘ (Mail)
Hillary Clinton once claimed for the left: “When they go low, You go high” – one presumes she wasn’t here referring (reefering?) to her hubby’s joints, which he allegedly blew but didn’t suck. Insert your own Monica Lewinsky gags here. The left however are more than happy to aim low…
‘How many children does Boris Johnson have?‘ (Independent)
The formerly patriotic Times sits on the fence: ‘Tories punished in south. Conservative MPs voice doubts about Johnson’s leadership…‘ – or take the more robust: ‘Election results 2022: Boris Johnson admits tough losses for Tories‘ (BBC) – where from the high perch afforded by our national broadcaster our Laura K likes to point out the electoral link to: ‘the ongoing Partygate scandal, including the prime minister’s fine for breaking lockdown rules‘
And both Caesars’ work wives’ behaviours sadly fall somewhat far from beyond reproach – eh, Hillary?: ‘DAN HODGES: The truth about the story Angela Rayner branded a desperate, perverted smear… SHE was the one who told it‘ (Mail); ‘Secretly voting Labour? Rumour mill kicks in as Carrie leaves Boris to vote alone “I’m guessing Carrie has a postal vote so she doesn’t have to be seen with him. And I bet she didn’t show it to him either,” Alastair Campbell said.‘ (A debut appearance hereabouts for The London Economic… an organ which: ‘was generally supportive of Jeremy Corbyn‘ – thank you Wiki)
Meanwhile the political journos themselves – who would happliy pillory the politicians for their less than puritanical penchants – including tractor porn (which, by the way, adds a whole new category to the designation LGBTQ+XYX – watch out for the Massey Ferguson float at your next Pride Parade) were themselves caught out less than totally Lockdown-compliant: ‘Kay Burley says she was an ‘idiot’ for breach of Covid rules last year. Sky News presenter says she let herself and viewers down by flouting regulations with birthday party…“a small number of Sky News staff attended a social event in London”…Sky’s political editor, Beth Rigby, and correspondent Inzamam Rashid were taken off air for three months.‘ (Guardian)
And just as they demand more upstanding behaviours from our elected representatives, so their own discourse coarsens: ‘Marina Hyde. Arse-kickings? Snap elections? Roll up, roll up!‘ (Guardian); ‘Queen kicks Harry & Meg off balcony‘ (Sun); ‘Mariella Frostrup. Why I need HRT like I need to breath‘ (‘i’) – calm down, dear.
Well, one can’t expect lady-like modes of speech or behaviours these days: ‘Emma Barnett. Why you shouldn’t say it with flowers‘ (‘i’)
The globalist technocrat FT Weekend bemoans: ‘Tim Harford on nudge theory. What went wrong?‘ – shall we tell him? It went something like this – instead of gently nudging us toward sensible hygenic habits in the public health realm you technocrats declared martial law and locked us indoors under pain of arrest. Your climate change mitigation policies rather buggered our energy supply capacity prior to alternatives being up and running – and then you took your eye off the ball in foreign affairs allowing a bloody major war to break out in eastern europe – now you think you can beat Putin with economic sanctions which hurt us as much as they hurt Russia and you think that’ll work with three quarters of the planet either siding with Russia, or don’t care.
‘Western banks braced for $10bn losses in forced retreat from Russia‘ (FT) – so when we see monthly charges appear on our current account and our pension projections dip again, we’ll know we’re doing our little bit to support Zelenskyy.
‘Revealed: ‘anti-oligarch’ Ukrainian president’s offshore connections. Volodymyr Zelenskiy has railed against politicians hiding wealth offshore but failed to disclose links to BVI firm‘ – the Guardian website there warns me this October 2021 article is more than 6 months old – you bet your boots it is!
Tim Harford is a Financial Times columnist, BBC broadcaster, and the author of eight books… of course he is.
‘The climate won’t wait. We need a carbon tax now‘ (Tim Harford, FT, October 2021 – how’s that working out for you, Tim?)
‘A friend recently wrote to me agonising over an ethical question. He was pondering a long-haul trip to see his family but was all too aware that the flight would have a huge carbon footprint. Could the journey possibly be justified?‘ – one would tend to suggest Tim find himself some new less pious less priggish friends… but was this “friend” actually you, Tim?
You do the maths…
‘I suggested that my friend find out what the carbon footprint was (a tonne of CO2, it turns out) and then imagine a hypothetical carbon tax. Would he still be willing to travel if he had to pay the tax? If not, the trip wasn’t worth it.‘
It’s been a relatively long while since we heard of “Long Covid”
Can our BBC help us out here?
‘Have I got Covid, a bad cold or something else? …the official list of Covid symptoms has been expanded in England… The updated guidance now lists nine extra symptoms, including a sore throat, muscle pains and diarrhoea‘ (BBC) – doesn’t exactly narrow it down, does it?
‘Long Covid: What is it and what are the symptoms?‘ (BBC) – Ah, here we go… ‘The Office for National Statistics (ONS) estimates about 1.5 million people in the UK have “long Covid”‘ – No shit!? Sorry, there was me moaning about the coarsening of journalistic language… I mean of course – yes shit – if diarrhoea is now also a symptom.
‘Long Covid isn’t fully understood‘ (BBC) – well let’s do some research…
‘The Dubious Origins of Long Covid. Echoes of chronic fatigue in the effort to blame the coronavirus for a host of questionable symptoms‘ (Wall Street Journal March 2021)
‘The concept of long Covid has a highly unorthodox origin: Long Covid is largely an invention of vocal patient activist groups… online surveys produced by Body Politic, which launched in 2018 and describes itself atop its website’s homepage as “a queer feminist wellness collective merging the personal and the political.”‘
‘In March 2020, the group’s co-founders created the Body Politic Covid-19 Support Group, and as part of their mission of “cultivating patient led research,” the organization coordinated a series of online surveys on persistent symptoms. Based on the results of these, Body Politic produced the first report on long Covid in May.‘
They do say when America sneezes, the world catches a cold.
‘But many of the survey respondents who attributed their symptoms to the aftermath of a Covid-19 infection likely never had the virus in the first place. Of those who self-identified as having persistent symptoms attributed to Covid and responded to the first survey, not even a quarter had tested positive for the virus. Nearly half (47.8%) never had testing and 27.5% tested negative for Covid-19. Body Politic publicized the results of a larger, second survey in December 2020. Of the 3,762 respondents, a mere 600, or 15.9%, had tested positive for the virus at any time.‘
‘A central feature underlying many psychosomatic-symptom disorders is a fixed belief that one is ill and unlikely to recover. By drawing attention to and legitimizing the ever-present threat of long Covid, medical authorities will lead a large group of impressionable patients to believe that their Covid-19 symptoms have not resolved and that they are helpless victims of an unrelenting sickness.‘
Hat tip to the National Review-linked Commentary Magazine Podcast for putting Mr AsISeeIt onto this debunking of so-called Long Covid.
AISI, Covid is a virus. Many viruses – excellent exception, the dear old common cold – can lead to PVF which our Fedup 2 is allergic to. PVF = Post Viral Fatigue. Not really understood by the medical profession, bless ’em, a neighbour of mine had ME and fought for years to ‘get it recognised’ in the National Health Service. Got a gong for it, too, from Her Maj.
The classic example is the Epstein-Barr virus, a.k.a. Glandular Fever a.k.a. in US as mononucleosis. That can lead to long term viral fatigue but not as frequently as whatever virus that causes ME.
I put the wrong link up thread for the Ukranian military recruiting site
https://fightforua.org/
they are buying pre-roll adverts on YouTube – which is something of a first?
– I initially thought the ad was for a computer game – it had that sort of a vibe to it.
Shopping List:
combat veterans
combat medics
antitank on modern platforms
linguists
electronic warfare
special operators
drone pilots
Made me think of the adverts taken out by Saddam Hussein in Egypt 1981 to recruit Iran-Iraq cannon fodder there – albeit offering “farms for heroes”
Has anybody else seen these ads + managed to get a url / download link?
elsewhere … the disinformation tsarperson opines:
Some of the recent council election results haven’t just looked dodgy, they’re bloody sinister…
Tower Hamlets elected Lutfur Rahman (good old Cockney name) even though he’d been stripped of the office a few years ago for fraud. You really couldn’t make this stuff up.
It’s a truism that if you import the third world you become the third world.
The honourable man then had the brass neck to make his acceptance speech saying it was a good day for democracy and for progressive politics. Oh yeh, I’m sure it will be.
I’m sorry to say that the writing is on the wall for London and perhaps for most urban areas of Britain. It’s there in the absolutely endless immigration that has altered the complexion of our nation forever. It’s there in the gormless and ugly graffiti that scars our once elegant old buildings. And it’s there in the form of this political spiv and all those like him. This creature isn’t just a snake oil salesman, this is the bloody snake.
Yes, the writing is on the wall…
And it’s written in Bengalese…Arabic…Urdu…
hmmm…
Jubilation across the nation?
Not if the BBC can spoil it.
Personally I don’t give a fig what the BBC says about anything . I only want them to be forced to fund themselves . I also don’t give a fig about where the various bits and bobs of the Crown Jewels came from. But I am very strongly against paying any kind of reparations for events of hundreds of years ago.
Many societies throughout history have practised slavery, and Muslim societies were no exception.
It’s thought that as many people were enslaved in the Eastern slave trade as in the Atlantic slave trade.
It’s ironic that when the Atlantic slave trade was abolished the Eastern trade expanded, suggesting that for some Africans the abolition of the Atlantic trade didn’t lead to freedom, but merely changed their slave destination.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/religion/religions/islam/history/slavery_1.shtml
Twenty-four hours from Calais to the Crowne Plaza: The Mail tracks a group of migrants ushered to the UK by French and British ships – then put up in a four-star West London hotel
Group of migrants took rubber dinghy to UK and ended up in a swanky hotel
Door to door, the migrants’ journey to the £100-a-night room took less than 24h
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-10791247/The-Mail-tracks-group-migrants-ushered-UK-four-star-West-London-hotel.html
Some 90 minutes after they pushed off, their boat was spotted by FS Laplace, a French government vessel ostensibly patrolling the Calais coast to stop migrant boats and turn them back.
Using ship-tracking software, the Mail has seen how the French ship halted its patrol and began to move towards the migrants’ dinghy as it travelled north towards the English coast.
FS Laplace then changed course towards English waters, away from Calais, and began to escort the migrants in the direction of Dover.
At 6.07am, in the middle of the Channel, FS Laplace met the British Border Force vessel Hurricane to arrange a handover of the 23 migrants.
inally, at 12.37am yesterday morning — less than 24 hours after their journey began before dawn on Thursday — they had arrived. Within minutes, the migrants were checking in to the Crowne Plaza Hotel in West Drayton, near Heathrow Airport. They were among thousands of migrants currently being accommodated in such places at a cost of nearly £5 million per day — and growing — to the public purse.
The migrants were now enjoying what the traffickers had promised them all along: a free hotel room with a comfortable bed and three meals a day, all thanks to the British taxpayer.
Z
The top comment “I HAVE NO WORDS” just about sums it up.
There it all is in black and white and nobody cares.
Nobody to complain to.
Apathy will be the death of us.
About us (UK Home Office)
The first duty of the government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure. The Home Office has been at the front line of this endeavour since 1782. As such, the Home Office plays a fundamental role in the security and economic prosperity of the United Kingdom.
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about
Home Office loses track of more than 600,000 people who should have left country, finds immigration watchdog
UK border checks branded ‘shambolic’
May Bulman
Social Affairs Correspondent
Thursday 29 March 2018
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/home-office-immigration-visa-out-stay-lose-track-uk-people-customs-control-a8278966.html
Wednesday the day before the local elections I wrote a piece about how the media was full of hand wringing stories about the so called ‘cost of living crisis’ now that election is past there is absolutely nothing in the media at all about this manufactured issue.
There are pieces about inflation in general and the cost of a weeks shopping increasing by around 5.9% but absolutely nothing about a ‘cost of living crisis’ which has evaporated like the morning mist on a Spring day.
This was blatant bias on the part of the media and attempting to interfere with the outcome of an elections. The fact so much of the media carried this non story again points to central control of the media, NUJ perhaps ?
The BBC’S main sports story on their website is the women’s
rugby league cup final. There is a picture of it on the website.
Is there anybody there actually watching it?
https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/rugby-union/61351443
………………………………….
03 August 2021
Why sports concussions are worse for women
As women’s soccer, rugby and other sports gain popularity, scientists are racing to understand how the female brain responds to head injury.
Katharine Sanderson
https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-021-02089-2
Ian Woodall, Westminster Council’s former interim chief investment officer, defrauded its pension fund between 2009 and 2012
DETECTIVES say they are still searching for almost £1million from Westminster Council’s pension fund eight years after it was trousered by a top boss.
The council’s former interim chief investment officer, Ian Woodall, from Dorking, was convicted of fraud by abuse of position and money laundering on Monday after a 10-day trial at Southwark Crown Court. He is due to be sentenced on November 16.
https://www.islingtontribune.co.uk/article/bid-to-recoup-pension-cash-stolen-by-former-top-boss-at-council
StreetMic LiveStream: Tommy Robinson – The Rape of Britain
Was buffering earlier (naturally).
It doesn’t look like a huge turnout (naturally – suppressed).
Tommy Robinson is live in Telford with thousands of his supporters as he unveils part2 of a provocative documentary film entitled the ‘Rape of Britain.’ Telford is one of many locations where some Pakistani men received prison sentences after they ‘groomed’ and raped young girls.
………………………….
“The first duty of the (UK) government is to keep citizens safe and the country secure.”
https://www.gov.uk/government/organisations/home-office/about
It looks like boris’ faffing about on article 16 has cost the DUP in NI and given Sinn Fein the majority.
Every week they (Tories) threaten to declare article 16 and that’s as far as it goes.
Just like Rwanda, vat and a host of other things promised but not delivered or some pathetic version claimed to have been delivered such as brino.
Let’s face it, we gave the Tories a majority to get brexit done but they are dithering with just about every aspect of it (fishing for example)
Yet,
They stuck this bit about the green crap somewhere in their manifesto which the vast majority didn’t want and didn’t notice but they are going flat out with that and ignoring a proper brexit which we did want.
Boris – left of labour!
Yes – always remember it is Sinn Fein IRA …. After the IRA was told to shut up shop by the Americans when they discovered terrorism on 9/11 – they’ve always been there …. Still are –
…… The idea of tribalism returning during a North South Referendum fills one with dread – with the potential for that spreading across to Scotland ….
I plead guilty – here – to being both English and a Brexiter and not writing about the BBC – but be assured the BBC would pour petrol on any fire (again) ….
Fedup2….
I remember being involved in a major riot in Londonderry in 1978 ish… There was an American film crew filming and we were astonished to discover some of the rioters were being told when to riot and when to lob the stones by the film crew so they could get a good shot…
I think your correct, tribalism is a serious worry. It’s never gone away… Just been kept to an acceptable level but could flare up at anytime..Just needs the right spark to ignite it
Dafydd
I always remember a discussion on the demographics of Northern Ireland a long time ago … it assessed that the RC votes would outnumber Prodestanf votes by about now – mid 2020s – whether people would vote for unification now – along ‘ religious / tribal ‘ lines is another matter – and I understand that the separation is not what it was ….
… re unification would mean EU membership – of course ….
One wonders whether change in monarch might trigger something – and maybe more changes too …
The wokes and other UK enemies, including the racist, sexist scum employed by the bbc know that the Queen is beyond attack.
I predict once she is gone it we be an all out attack on that particular institution, whatever anyone thinks of it, it will be an attack on anyone white and born before 1980 or so
Fedup2
“… re unification would mean EU membership – of course ….”
Of course the ‘Free’ Irish would then lose their independence and financial aid and all the rest of the benefits of being attached to Great Britain.
Taffman – yes that’s true – and a lot of people in Northern Ireland earn a living working for various bits of the British State – the cross border smuggling and fraud operations would take an enormous hit too ….
Not sure how the EU would deal with the ‘common travel area” but I’m jumping forward to problems which may not happen for a few years yet ….
A rather long article I came across today but, it is talking about the woke twitterati et al and their logical fallacies in attacking all and sundry they disagree with.
Next time we have a night time visit see if you can spot the maxincony tactics within………(I draw your attention to the TU QUOQUE part:
…otherwise known as “no u.” A tu quoque fallacy occurs when someone accuses their opponent of hypocrisy or inconsistency so as to discredit them. This is a logical fallacy whether or not said accusation is true)
BEGGING THE QUESTION
Not only is this the fallacy I encounter most frequently on Quora or anywhere else, but it also—not entirely uncoincidentally—is the one I’m most tired of seeing. Begging the question occurs when someone’s argument assumes the truth of the argument’s conclusion instead of supporting it with facts and evidence. It’s similar to circular reasoning. An argument which begs the question assumes that its conclusions are indisputable, when in reality their truth is in serious doubt.
You’ve likely encountered many examples of this fallacy yourself. People who argue that the death penalty is wrong because killing people is wrong are guilty of begging the question. So are the people who claim God is real because the universe is too perfectly ordered to have been created by accident.
As a libertarian, I am regularly deluged by begging-the-question fallacies.
“Government obviously provides services to the consumer in a more efficient manner than the private sector, so privatization makes no sense.”
“Without laws, society would descend into anarchy. Libertarians advocate lawless chaos.”
“You owe society for being permitted to live in it and partake of its benefits, so pay your damn taxes.”
Every single one of the arguments above is predicated on a falsehood, and is therefore begging the question. And I’m goddamn sick and tired of seeing them. It’s gotten to the point where I no longer engage with anyone who comments on one of my answers and leads with one of these fallacious arguments. Once people set aside their bias and actually begin to think critically about governance without resorting to logical fallacies, then I’ll engage with them.
STRAWMAN FALLACY
Probably the most well-known logical fallacy there is. Y’all know it. You’ve all had to deal with it. And it’s depressingly common on this platform, almost as common as begging the question. You make a statement on Quora. It could be controversial, but it could also be something completely inert (“Maple doughnuts are the best”). Immediately, a horde of screeching social justice warriors jumps down your throat. They claim that you’re spreading anti-chocolate and anti-pink-frosting-with-sprinkles hate, and that you must be some kind of confectionery racist. You never said a stinking word about chocolate doughnuts, or doughnuts with pink frosting and sprinkles. But your opponents don’t care. They’re intentionally twisting your words to make it seem like you’re arguing something you’re not. They’ve set up a strawman—an imaginary version of the argument you made, one easier to attack and take down than your actual argument. You may readily imagine that I, a libertarian, get plenty of this nonsense.
“You’re a libertarian? Why do you want to abolish government?”
“Why on earth would you want to repeal anti-discrimination laws? Wait, don’t tell me. It’s because you want to keep black and brown people away from your business, right?”
“Wait, you’re against hate speech laws? Why do you support hate?”
Building and destroying strawmen is the woke left’s stock-in-trade. They delight in accusing fiscal conservatives of classism, gun owners of racism, and pro-lifers of misogyny…and a whole host of other ridiculous, hyperbolic nonsense besides.
GENETIC FALLACY
Let’s say you’ve made an argument. It’s a very good argument. It’s lengthy. It’s thorough. It’s well-reasoned. It’s eloquent. It’s well-researched and backed up with copious citations. You spend something like 30 or 40 minutes making it. You’re expecting a polite, rational, erudite reply from your opponent. But instead, he comes back at you with something like this:
“Oh, that study you cited was conducted by the Heritage Foundation. They’re notoriously racist.”
“You’re a white person. You don’t have any right to be commenting on this issue.”
“Ayn Rand? Seriously? She was a complete kook. You can’t take anything she wrote seriously.”
[sigh]
Sad, but true. This is what’s known as the genetic fallacy, wherein someone tries to discredit an argument by discrediting its origin or author rather than discrediting the argument itself. Suffice it to say that there’s hardly a lazier or more intellectually dishonest tactic in the whole wide world. I’m not implying that certain sources can’t be discredited—there are certainly disreputable, untrustworthy fonts of information out there, like MSNBC—but in many cases, unscrupulous debaters will go after the source of a sound argument rather than trying to take down the argument itself, which is a genetic fallacy.
BANDWAGON FALLACY
Another name for argumentum ad populum (appeal to popularity), the bandwagon fallacy occurs when someone argues that something is right or true or good or moral simply because a majority of people agree that it is. As an American, I get hit with this one a lot. I’m sure my fellow Ameri-Quorans can attest to encountering it frequently as well, especially in debates with our Commonwealth brethren over certain peculiarities of American culture. To wit:
“Every other civilized country in the world believes healthcare is a human right, and has a national healthcare system. America needs to catch up.”
“The USA is the only country that believes firearm ownership is a right. Every other country takes sensible measures to combat gun violence. Do you still think the USA is correct in its views on gun ownership?”
“Every other advanced nation did a better job of containing COVID-19, and had a smaller percentage of deaths as a result. The USA’s blinkered focus on the preservation of its citizens’ individual rights is myopic and irresponsible. Other countries believe individual rights are secondary to the collective good. The USA should do the same.”
Screw that noise. I don’t care how many countries—or people—believe that individual rights must carry water for social utility, or that no one has the God-given right to carry a firearm. They’re wrong. It doesn’t matter how many people believe something if it’s a wrongheaded belief. They’re still wrong.
HASTY GENERALIZATION
Not only have you encountered this fallacy before, you’ve almost certainly used it—multiple times. Ever been cut off in traffic by somebody in a Ford Mustang or a Dodge Charger and muttered to yourself, “People who drive sports cars are assholes”? Or had a bad experience with a lawyer and thought, “All lawyers are crooks”? That’s a hasty generalization. You’ve drawn a conclusion based on a sample size that’s far too small to justify said conclusion. I used a picture of Archie Bunker (from the TV show All in the Family) to illustrate this fallacy because his entire worldview is predicated on hasty generalizations. I encounter this fallacy frequently both on and off Quora.
“Libertarians are just selfish rich white people.”
(Just because the two or three libertarians you’ve seen on TV were wealthy and white?)
“Californians are rude.”
(Just because one of them cut you off in traffic?)
“Helicopter pilots are crazy.”
(Just because I explained to you what dynamic rollover is?)
Don’t let anyone try to fool you into believing that Republicans are racist, that Christians are stupid, that Mexicans are dishonest, or that vaccinations cause autism. Just laugh them right off the street.
APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
Aw, Jesus. Speaking of vaccinations…
Have you ever gotten into a debate with someone on Quora about COVID vaccines (or climate change, or any other semi-scientific topic) and they started off an argument like this?
“Dr. Fauci says…”
“The CDC reported…”
“Climate experts agree that…”
If somebody name-drops a competent (or incompetent) authority while making a claim and expects you to accept that claim because the aforementioned authority said it was true, without offering any supporting evidence, then that somebody has made an appeal to authority. It is not a valid argument, and should not be treated as such. It’s no different than a kid on the playground who insists that his fellows must believe him because “My daddy told me so.” By golly, folks, I have had it up to here with lazy-ass liberal Quorans expecting me to swallow whatever they’re trying to tell me about COVID or climate change simply because “The experts said so.” The implication is that I’m dumb, and smart people are smart, and I should just shut up and do whatever they say. No thanks, amigo.
APPEAL TO EMOTION
Won’t somebody think of the children?
It sounds ludicrous to the adult ear, but the puerile and the jejune on Quora and elsewhere are still trying to advance their agendas by tugging on our heartstrings instead of swaying us with ratiocination. As a proud American, a gun owner, a supporter of the Second Amendment, and an unabashed capitalist, I get hit with appeals to emotion all the freaking time. I’m sure you’ve heard arguments like this:
“We need to do something to stop innocent children from being killed by guns.”
“You want to downsize the government and deregulate the private sector? But the poor people! They’re going to suffer!”
“Wait, you DON’T support mandatory lockdowns and mask mandates and quarantines? Do you WANT old people to die just so you can exercise your freedom?”
Not only is there a paucity of evidence to support any of these claims, but the arguments are clearly intended to manipulate one’s emotions. The first is intended to elicit feelings of remorse for hypothetical dead kids; the second is supposed to make you feel sympathy for the plight of the indigent and destitute; and the third is supposed to make you feel scared and guilty about possibly transmitting a 97%-nonlethal disease to the elderly and immunocompromised.
Please knock it off. It isn’t impressing or fooling anyone.
AD HOMINEM
Master debaters [snicker] attack their opponents’ arguments. Lazy, inept, invidious, insecure, and childish debaters attack their opponent personally. This is known as ad hominem, an attack upon the author of an argument rather than the argument itself. This fallacy is so depressingly common on Quora that I thought twice about even giving you examples. They’re so trite and banal as to be nauseating.
“You’re against hate speech laws? You’re a disgusting Nazi.”
“You want to repeal anti-discrimination laws? You’re a racist pig.”
“Ayn Rand was an insane sexual deviant. Her ‘philosophy’ isn’t worth a hootenanny goddamn.”
Enough said. These arguments aren’t worth a hootenanny goddamn.
NON SEQUITUR
A non sequitur is an argument or conclusion which does not logically follow the foregoing arguments or conclusions. (I used a picture of a pack mule to illustrate this particular fallacy because mules are famous for being stubborn and not following things.) I’m sure you’ve stumbled over a few of these nonsensical assertions during your time on Quora. As a libertarian, I get hit with ’em all the time:
“If we abolished government, the US would descend into lawless chaos.”
“This country will turn into a hyper-corporate dystopia if we roll back economic regulations.”
“You know what you get when you downsize government? Somalia.”
Variations on a theme, and all classic examples of non sequiturs. Specious assumptions and prejudiced opinions are no substitute for facts and logic. Just because someone thinks the US will descend into gory anarchy if the libertarians get their way doesn’t mean it actually will. Not by a long shot. The conclusions don’t even logically follow one another. There have been numerous examples throughout history of people living in minarchist societies in peace and safety. Society doesn’t automatically break down overnight if there isn’t a strong centralized government to oversee it. But for some reason, people insist on jumping to conclusions. Don’t let them kid you. Call these fallacious arguments out wherever you see them.
FALSE ANALOGY
In case the picture didn’t clue you in, a false analogy is a fallacy in which someone assumes that because two things are alike in certain ways, they must be alike in other ways. Comparing apples to oranges, in other words. I often encounter false analogies by dint of being an American, a gun owner, and an erstwhile conservative on Quora:
“Schoolchildren in the USA recite a ‘pledge of allegiance’ each morning. This is exactly the same sort of far-right nationalism displayed by Nazi Germany.”
“Gun rights activists’ fears of government tyranny and white supremacists’ fears about whites’ declining position in American society are very similar. Therefore it is safe to assume that gun rights activists are, by and large, white supremacists.”
“Both rape and the denial of access to abortion are violations of a woman’s right to bodily autonomy. Therefore, denying a woman an abortion is the moral equivalent of rape.”
Yeah, no. Apples and oranges are both round fruits, but bite into them and you’ll discover that they are most definitely not the same. Just because crocodiles and hippopotamuses are both semi-aquatic animals with powerful bites doesn’t mean they’re at all equivalent. And there is absolutely no comparison between the United States and Nazi Germany.
Be really wary of false analogies on Quora. People love to use them here. Especially the trolls.
FALLACY OF COMPOSITION
You can’t assume that just because something is true for a part of something, it’s true for the whole. (Hell, I should have used Archie Bunker’s picture for this fallacy, too.) That’s the “fallacy of composition.” Tell me you haven’t seen arguments like this on Quora:
“The catalytic converter in the new Dodge Dart breaks if you take a speed bump too quickly. The car’s a poorly designed piece of crap.”
“I’ve never had a good experience with Macy’s customer service department. The company just doesn’t understand what good service is.”
“Donald Trump was the Republican nominee for president, and he’s a racist pig. Republicans are therefore racist pigs for supporting him.”
This seems, on the face of it, similar to the hasty generalization fallacy, and indeed the two fallacies are superficially similar. But there are subtle differences. Hasty generalizations occur when you draw a conclusion based on an inadequate sample size. The fallacy of composition occurs when you judge a whole by the character or quality of its component parts. In the above examples, the speaker is judging the entire car based on the quality of one of its parts (or rather the lack thereof), the entire Macy’s corporation based on the poor service they received from a single department, and the entire Republican Party based on the opinions and behavior of its (former) figurehead. See the difference?
I get this fallacy frequently, particularly from sufferers of Trump Derangement Syndrome and opponents of libertarianism (two different groups, but there’s a lot of overlap). I also receive it from America-haters who insist that things like the cost of healthcare in the US and the country’s “bungled” response to the COVID pandemic are incontrovertible proof that the entire country is a failed state. Hogwash.
TU QUOQUE
…otherwise known as “no u.” A tu quoque fallacy occurs when someone accuses their opponent of hypocrisy or inconsistency so as to discredit them. This is a logical fallacy whether or not said accusation is true, and it does not clear the speaker (or whatever he’s defending) of all charges. Nor does it discredit his interlocutor. But people keep using it regardless.
Enter the wumaos.
“Uyghurs in China aren’t being oppressed. You know who is being oppressed? Black people shot by police in America.”
Enter the anti-libertarians.
“How can you say that taxation is theft and that you want to abolish it when you’re still driving on public roads and checking out public library books?”
Enter the anti-Objectivists.
“Ayn Rand took advantage of Social Security late in life. So much for her vaunted ‘Objectivism.’ She was obviously a hypocrite and a liar.”
News flash: none of that matters. Whataboutism doesn’t change the fact that Uyghurs are being oppressed, taxation is theft, and Ayn Rand was an Objectivist (and therefore firmly believed that the government has no business robbing Peter to pay for Paul’s welfare benefits, thereby foisting a subjective definition of morality upon the populace). Before you go critiquing other people or their positions or accusing them of hypocrisy, address the charges laid at your own doorstep. None of this “I am rubber, you are glue” buncombe.
Speaking of trying to throw people off the trail…
RED HERRING
That’s a red snapper, but whatever. You get the idea. Something fishy happens when I’m debating with gun control activists on Quora about the natural right to bear arms:
“A militia couldn’t possibly defeat a modern military force like the US Army.”
On the rare occasions when I engage with members of Quora’s pro-choice community, this argument sometimes crops up:
“You can’t claim to care about the lives of unborn children when thousands of American kids are being shot to death because of a lack of sensible gun laws.”
In these regressive, politically correct times, it’s common for intellectual midgets to write off historical figures (or even entire civilizations) based on a single attribute or deed that is fashionably considered objectionable:
“Who cares if the Mongols helped convey the compass, gunpowder, and the printing press to Europe and thereby ushered in the Renaissance? They were a bunch of murdering, thieving rapists.”
These are classic examples of the red herring fallacy, wherein irrelevant information is brought into a debate in an attempt to sidetrack one’s opponent from the actual issue. It’s a diversionary tactic, much like the tu quoque fallacy. It’s very subtle and easy to miss, especially when the irrelevant topic being introduced is superficially similar or peripheral to the primary topic. But you mustn’t let yourself be derailed like that, my young Padawan. The truth is, it doesn’t matter whether a militia is capable of beating the US military in an open shooting war. That question has no bearing on the discussion of the natural right to bear arms. Gun-related deaths in the United States are wholly irrelevant to the abortion debate. How the Mongols conducted their conquests isn’t germane to the topic of the practical effects of those conquests and the ways in which the Mongol Empire may have altered the course of world history.
Got that? Good.
Whew.
I’m about blown out, people. This answer took me a couple of days to write, and I had to do a disgraceful amount of research. But I’m glad I did it. It refreshed my memory about a lot of different logical fallacies, and it gave me a chance to vent about how often I’ve encountered them on this platform. Hopefully I’ve forearmed you against these sorts of lazy, inadequate arguments. Now go forth and deflate them, my minions.
Here is a new fallacy, which I have recognised, used on social media. It’s one of the many fallacies of relevance
ARGUMENTUM PER GRAPHICS
You produce an argument in the comments and someone rep-lies with a GIF in order to ridicule your argument without having to refute your claims.
Another
ARGUMENTUM AD VERECUNDIAM -APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
95% of climate scientists agree that…
My favourite version of this argument was in a post war meeting of the allies when someone mentioned that the Pope disapproved of something and Stalin asked how many divisions did the Pope have under his command.
I can’t stop
Argumentum ad Misericordiam (argument from pity or misery)
Appeal to pity. The man on trial for murdering his parents appeals for mercy because he is an orphan
Covered above:
APPEAL TO AUTHORITY
Aw, Jesus. Speaking of vaccinations…
Have you ever gotten into a debate with someone on Quora about COVID vaccines (or climate change, or any other semi-scientific topic) and they started off an argument like this?
“Dr. Fauci says…”
“The CDC reported…”
“Climate experts agree that…”
APPEAL TO EMOTION
Won’t somebody think of the children?
It sounds ludicrous to the adult ear, but the puerile and the jejune on Quora and elsewhere are still trying to advance their agendas by tugging on our heartstrings instead of swaying us with ratiocination. As a proud American, a gun owner, a supporter of the Second Amendment, and an unabashed capitalist, I get hit with appeals to emotion all the freaking time. I’m sure you’ve heard arguments like this:
“We need to do something to stop innocent children from being killed by guns.”
“You want to downsize the government and deregulate the private sector? But the poor people! They’re going to suffer!”
“Wait, you DON’T support mandatory lockdowns and mask mandates and quarantines? Do you WANT old people to die just so you can exercise your freedom?”
Something to do with the Packham zoo?
I was pondering this quite recently, how many of our illegal “guests” are thoroughly screened for ALL possible communicable disease ?
If not why not ?
Well, it was that or ‘historic’.
Saudi Arabia’s religious police stopped schoolgirls from leaving a blazing building because they were not wearing correct Islamic dress, according to Saudi newspapers.
In a rare criticism of the kingdom’s powerful “mutaween” police, the Saudi media has accused them of hindering attempts to save 15 girls who died in the fire on Monday.
About 800 pupils were inside the school in the holy city of Mecca when the tragedy occurred.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm
One witness said he saw three policemen “beating young girls to prevent them from leaving the school because they were not wearing the abaya”.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/middle_east/1874471.stm
No surprise … been there – seen them in action.
Just inspires me to give up smoking if I ever visit Nottingham
Having some knowledge of the fitness requirements to enter the brigade in the 80s I would love to see how she got in
A group of 30 candidates running out heavy hose reel and winding it up again bent double in a hot August in full kit over and over again while having fire offficers shouting and screaming abuse at you to go faster until 50 % drop out puking up and collapsing then into the smoke house dragging two fire extinguishers through narrow tunnels on all fours with a fire next to you over and over etc etc
I bet my house she never did any of that
No amount of gym fitness prepares you for that (unless you exercise in a furnace for months on end)
Because they used take only the ones who were fittest at the end not wimmin or muzzies because they are wimmin or muzzies
simple matter of public safety, the best of the best
Tolerance is one way …
In Mecca, only Muslims are allowed, while non-Muslims may not enter or pass through. Attempting to enter Mecca as a non-Muslim can result in penalties such as a fine; being in Mecca as a non-Muslim can result in deportation.
WHY WOMEN STAND BEHIND MEN DURING THE PRAYER.
https://islamictextinstitute.co.za/prayer-women-behind-men/
Walking law suit
Maybe our bbc staff should take them in?
Unless in Wandsworth… pricey.
Diversity and Inclusion Manager
Job Reference: 918-MX8809
Employer:NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)Department:Diversity and InclusionLocation:National – See advertSalary:£47,126 to £53,219 plus HAC’s where applicable
Thats not even a medical student! Nurse I think.
Must be handy having a doctor or nurse as a lodger
Whenever you tell them you feel sick, they can send you a text from their bedroom asking to never call them directly if its an emergency and fill out a questionnaire:
Then they can text you again: oh, its an emergency go to A and E or call NHS 111
And by the way please wear a mask when I pay my rent and wash your hands and the bath plughole is blocked with my pubes again, sort it out will you ?
“Thats not even a medical student! Nurse I think.”
If you want to spot the difference between a student and a doctor or nurse I always turn to the classics
Frankenstein was a student, not a doctor, says it all really, obsession with alternative power etc.
But no waiting list in his castle, although I believe the receptionists at my surgery have taken Igor as a role model without his charms.
The DefendersOfTheBBC Facebook page is a bit quiet
No new posts since 2016
(That last post was a complaint the BBC were keeping a football pundit off-air on account of him being the victim in a court case .. a childhood football coach had abused him)
RE Marky Mark
Diversity and Inclusion Manager
Job Reference: 918-MX8809
Employer:NHS Blood and Transplant (NHSBT)Department:Diversity and InclusionLocation:National – See advertSalary:£47,126 to £53,219 plus HAC’s where applicable
A lot of this shite is because of lawyers and the law, I do some voluntary work and nearly walked out after some of the crap including a two hour induction on all aspects of safety for a poxy little charity shop.
I have worked in some bloody dangerous places and used some rather dangerous stuff like hydrofluoric acid and cyanide.
I decided it is not their fault but the compensation greed culture pervading our society
Blair: 54% more new laws every year than Thatcher
Research by Sweet & Maxwell
But biggest percentage increase in new legislation under Major
Tony Blair has been responsible for 54% more new laws per year in office than Margaret
Thatcher, reveals research by Sweet and ; Maxwell, the information provider. According to
figures from Sweet & Maxwell’s Westlaw UK and Lawtel online legal information
services it is estimated that an average of 2,663 new laws were added every year under
Blair, compared to an average of just 1,724 under Thatcher (graph below).
The statistics reveal that there has been a long term trend for each Government to
legislate more aggressively than its predecessors. This has been most marked in areas
such as criminal law, where 40 Criminal Justice Acts have been introduced since 1997,
and employment law.
The Sweet & Maxwell research also shows that the biggest increase in legislative activity
was under John Major. He introduced 39% more laws per year than Margaret Thatcher,
whilst Blair enacted 11% more laws per year than Major.
In total Tony Blair’s administration was the most prolific, introducing a total of 26,849
new laws over his entire premiership. Margaret Thatcher introduced a total of 19,827
new laws during her time in power whilst John Major introduced 15,212 new laws during his much shorter regime
Sweet & Maxwell says that it will be interesting to see whether the tide of legislation
continues to rise at such a ferocious pace under Gordon Brown.
Len Sealy, Professor of Law, University of Cambridge, and a Sweet & Maxwell author; “I
think that a lot of the legislation is not so much originated by governments as part of
their policy but is a reactive response to what are perceived as the concerns of us as a
society – fed from day to day by the media, which can make every bit of news into a
crisis.”
“We have lived in recent years in a blame/compensation culture which demands that
somebody does something about every accident or bit of misconduct, and politicians and
their departments feel obliged to react. Whether this is an issue of health and safety,
consumer protection, discrimination, putting a regulation on the books or increasing a
penalty makes a political point, even if not always followed up by adequate funding or
enforcement.”
“Similarly, we like to think that we are these days a much more caring community, and
rather than leave this to the community to handle itself initiatives are often taken by
government. Governments like to be seen to be doing something in the headlines.”
Professor Sealy points out that the Blair years have seen a dramatic increase in the
amount of EU legislation that becomes law in the UK without it ever having to be
passed through UK Parliament as a statute or statutory instrument (i.e. they would not
be included in the above statistics).
Says Professor Sealy: “There were over 2,100 European Regulations in 2006. A random
selection shows the huge range of subjects they cover: cross-border insolvency;
importing of bed-linen; import values of certain fruit and vegetables; the buying-in of
butter; evaluation of statistics on labour costs; access of poultry to open-air runs. All
became law here without our legislators having to lift a finger.”
Professor Sealy says another recent phenomenon is not simply the number of statutes
but also their size. Of the 2006 Acts, five had over 100 pages, three over 200, one over
300, one over 500 and one over 700! The Companies Act 2006, was the longest Act of
2006, and is also the longest Act in British Parliamentary history, with 1,300 sections,
covering nearly 700 pages, and containing no less than 15 schedules.
The research by Sweet & Maxwell, a Thomson business (NYSE: TOC: TSX: TOC),
shows that 98% of new legislation introduced over the last ten years have been
introduced as statutory instruments.
Sweet & Maxwell explain that statutory instruments receive less Parliamentary debating
time and, potentially, less scrutiny than statutes. It is why Governments prefer to use
statutory instruments and opposing parties feel they stifle the scrutiny new legislation
demands.
ENDS
Westlaw UK (www.westlaw.co.uk) was first introduced to the marketplace in 1999
Click to access 260607.pdf
Interesting insight as to what might happen on May 9th Putins Victory day:
North Korea’s musical show ends with a mock-up video showing missiles blowing up America
https://www.businessinsider.com/north-korea-musical-show-video-missiles-blowing-up-america-trump-donald-war-kim-sung-jong-un-2017-4?r=US&IR=T
North Korea’s state television aired footage of a musical show marking the birthday of founding father Kim Il Sung, which ended with a mock-up video of missiles engulfing the United States in flames.
A choral performance attended by Kim Jong Un, the elder Kim’s grandson, was held on Sunday (April 16), a day after a huge military parade in Pyongyang, which also marked the 105th birth anniversary of Kim Il Sung.
Hell is about to freeze over in Tunbridge Wells!
https://www.kentonline.co.uk/tunbridge-wells/news/borough-election-results-due-after-voters-head-to-polls-266751/
The TW Alliance party is a good bunch of dedicated people, who actually do something for residents! They don’t wander around looking pompous, they roll up their sleeves and get stuck in – notably to reduce the vast icepack now enveloping a once-great place to visit.
Of course, Greg Clark is as safe as houses, but local issues actually invite local hard-working representatives, who aren’t swayed like the awful London Boroughs and other big city elements of fiddling about and general political, downright disgrace.
Nothing from the BBC of course, but we never take any notice of them anyway, most citizens around here don’t!
Worth repeating:
an average of 2,663 new laws were added every year under Blair
BBC headlines each time Boris tries
Errm Boris has actually tried ? That’s the big difference between BLiar and this cowardly useless incompetent bunch.
What BLiar did cannot be defended, but he had vision and drive, and the competence to do what he wanted to do. Boris has none of these things and views his position as an inconvenience between parties.
Also on Facebook the phrase “Biased BBC” is mostly used by a handful of activists claiming the BBC is biased IN FAVOUR of the Tories
A search on the term
I did one non-lefty comment
Love the new advert for ITV news , independent and for you ,
My arse ,biased as the BBC ,and over paid too .
Their news coverage is in most cases diabolical , but not if you are a labour voter etc .
One of the lefty BBC supporters has written an article
: Will the BBC bring about its own downfall?
“What is clear is that the public’s negative perception of the BBC overshadows the great work that it does.”
https://wolvesofwestminster.co.uk/will-the-bbc-bring-about-its-own-downfall