275 Responses to Weekend 2nd November 2024

  1. pugnazious says:

    Any coincidence that the BBC has produced a piece referencing Puerto Ricans in America just now? Naturally they are hard done by and treated appallingly.

    Illustrates the juvenile student politics mindset of so many at the BBC…a cheap, lazy attack on Trump that presumably they hope will filter through to US voters and swing the votes Kamalla’s way.

    ‘America is Anita’s all singing, all dancing number from the musical West Side Story. The Puerto Rican Sharks gang argue over whether America is a great place to live, an argument still being played out by migrants today. ‘

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/m0024lhg

       11 likes

  2. Emmanuel Goldstein says:

    Do you think Mike amesbury (the mp who sucker punched and continued punching him when he was on the ground) a man he was talking to, would be already charged if he had shouted at this man instead.

    Do you think those airport boys who attacked the wimmin policemen in Manchester airport would have been charged if they had shouted at the police wimmin instead.

    Perhaps that’s the mistake many of those jailed for posting tweets, holding true placards or shouting at the police (or their police dog) went wrong.

    They would have been better off using physical violence going by the way the lefties are being treated by the police (nothing happening)

       29 likes

    • Flotsam says:

      I’m wondering if there’s a bit more to the Manchester Airport attack on the Police, something a bit embarrassing or improper on the Police’s part? Perhaps some racist words were used, maybe with some justification but the P word is absolutely verboten these days.

         14 likes

      • Ad Hoc says:

        Well there is that film of a policeman kicking and stamping on someone’s head which seems to have been forgotten about :-/

           6 likes

        • JohnC says:

          Do you mean the one with the vicious b@stards attacking the police woman first, or the one with that bit missing ?.

          Because they both show an entirely different story. And only one is the truth.

          And anyway, what’s the difference between ‘Paki’ and ‘Brit’ ?. Apart from the fact the Left have made into an abhorrent and racist label whereas the other is fine.

          Just more of the same extreme, racist double-standards white British people are now subjected to by the modern-day fascists.

             16 likes

          • Zephir says:

            I’ll tell you the difference. Both are a contraction, to make pronunciation easier, but why would you want to contract a simple, two syllable word like “British” ?

            It’s easy enough to say in it’s normal form surely ? so the contracted version is only maybe used if you want to use it as a term of abuse ?

            And for those of our minorities who refuse to pronounce the letter “t” for the bizarre reason they think it makes them cool or streetwise to be ignorant.

            But, for a four syllable word, there is much more justification to contract to a two syllable word…

               12 likes

          • StewGreen says:

            The videos are videos, they are the truth
            They don’t show a different story
            But rather 2 parts of the same story
            And the other 8 parts are missing.
            The initial video did show viscious restraint at the end of the event, which may have been justified. But it cannot have justified the Asian lad being vicious first.

            But there is an information vacuum about the prior events, so of course one speculates
            It’s strange cos there must have been many witnesses and surely people must have started filming.

               9 likes

            • JohnC says:

              That there is one of the great mysteries Stew. Are people told not to share it under threat of prosecution or so ALL the social media companies censor it out like youtube did for the Trump interview (censoring is simply not showing it in search results. No need to take it down or anything).

              And how come events have all these witnesses but the inconvenient truths are universally censored.

              The usual one is a statement from a witness which just happens to leave any reference to ethnicity out. I saw one interview on Sky why a guy said something about knowing he was not allowed to say certain things. That can’t be the law – so it must be some directive forced on news companies by OFCOM restricting their free speech on race grounds.

              Of course none of it is there to stop people knowing what whitey did. It’s to protect BAME.

                 5 likes

  3. Zephir says:

    Funny, Joe Rogan and Trump interview “unavailable on youtube and spotify searches, first told we are told due to a “technical glitch” for, wait for it…. 5 days……

    and now:

    Some comments:

    The fact that youtube has a video with 33mil views in 2 days and doesnt show it on the first page when I search for it 😂😂😂😂 YT coping badly.

    How is this not #1 trending? 33 million in 2 days is crazy!

    Imagine how many views this would have if YouTube wasn’t hiding it.

    The lack of coverage on this is insane.

    How is this not on the homepage? Nearly 40 million views in less than a week.

       30 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Capturdese.jpg

         9 likes

    • micknotmike says:

      Morning Z,
      It’s on Rumble and working fine, nearly 3 hours so it’s all there. I’m going to capture it before the bad guys get to it.

      Strange thing about Rumble, I think it’s Canadian, so I’d expect it to be even more lefty censored, but it seems to be pretty free-thinking. Good for them.

      P.S. I’m reliably informed that Odysee has an RT news stream 24/7.

         10 likes

      • Mrs Kitty says:

        Can’t see Rumble in France because they won’t censor their content and Macron’s throwing all his toys out of the pram.

           8 likes

      • Lazy Cat says:

        Odysee has the most free speech on it imo. Odysee is like YouTube for its first two years.

        Pretty much the wild west on there, but at least you know a video won’t get removed, unless it gets a valid copyright strike.

           3 likes

    • Ian Rushlow says:

      On YouTube this morning (Sunday 9.25am), immediately found. Now 43 million views. ‘Technical glitch’ is a generic term used by YouTube, can refer to capacity and network problems, copyright and distribution rights, etc.

         7 likes

      • JohnC says:

        I’m sure that is the case Ian, but I’m also sure there is some statistical data which says that if they delay a breaking story being seen by a certain amount of time, it will stop it being seen by some specific number of people.

        It’s a game the BBC play all the time. Lots of small tricks to nudge opinion gently in a specific direction. A friendly word talking about Kamala and a harsh sounding word for Trump. Softly softly catch the monkey.

           9 likes

  4. Flotsam says:

    It’s interesting that Labour people travel to America to campaign for Democrat Presidential candidates, something I never knew about. I was looking at the Wiki for the stuffed shirt Labour nonentity Darren Jones chief secretary to the treasury and discovered he had been America to campaign for Hilary Clinton. It’s not a new phenomena then.

    I wonder if Labour campaigned for Obama, the President who said the Britain would be at the back of the queue for a trade deal should we vote for Brexit.

    Have the Tories ever gone to America to campaign for Republican candidates?

       19 likes

  5. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/o_rob1nson/status/1852833878827839580?s=61
    The FBI has warned of two fake videos circulating online aimed at casting doubt around the US presidential election.
    These videos are v likely part of a wider Russian campaign @Shayan86 and I’ve been tracking for a long time 🧵

    ‘V. Likely.

    There are comments, but all seem from the author.

       6 likes

  6. JohnC says:

    Over 100 BBC employees accuse broadcaster of pro-Israel bias
    https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-827210

    It is astonishing that people can actually think the Jew-hating BBC reporters like Bowen, Fergal and Yolanda are actually biased in favour of Israel.

    But then you realise we aren’t told who these employees are. In fact I’m certain the vast majority will be the Muslims taken on to fit the employment quota and I’m also quite certain that if anyone dug a bit deeper, they would discover all of these people were anti-semitic racists long before this conflict started.

    As usual for these people, their complaint is not that they think the BBC is biased pro-Israel but that they are not biased enough against them.

       30 likes

  7. Eddy Booth says:

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/c74l39543q5t

    ‘Harris digs deep on the economy at North Carolina rally

    21:10 2
    Brandon Drenon

    “She says with her in the White House, she’ll be working on her “to-do” list, including tax cuts, corporate bans on price gauging, and affordable housing.”

    Perhaps gouging is the word Brandon is looking for..
    As thick as pig shit…

       17 likes

  8. tomo says:

       31 likes

  9. Zephir says:

    Hitchens:

    “Some people may be cheered up by the election of a new Tory leader yesterday. It makes no difference to me. The Conservative Party is still quite clueless about what it faces, and so cannot fight it. And this is why it failed to save us from the miserable Budget of Rachel Reeves, which will do so much harm and no good.
    It used to be quite reasonable for Labour, then the party of the working class and the trade unions, to use its time in government to help its supporters. That is how democracy works. When it went too far, as it always did, a Tory government could sweep in and clear up the mess. But since the middle 1960s, Labour has not been the party it once was.
    It became a radical movement, determined to revolutionise our society. It abolished the idea of personal responsibility. Criminals were not to blame for their crimes. Those who would not work for a living were indulged. It launched a long war on the married family, trying and failing to replace it with the state.
    The state became more powerful than parents in the upbringing of the young. Schools ceased to be places where knowledge was passed on from one generation to another. They became machines for promoting political and social equality, and political correctness.

    Immigration was welcome because it helped to make Britain less British. The armed forces were no longer there to defend the country but to intervene in idealist utopian foreign wars.
    The Tory Party never grasped this. It carried on believing that Labour was the same old tax-and spend trade union party. It never reversed or even weakened Labour’s revolutionary programme. It failed utterly to stop the Blairite takeover of the legal system and the coup d’etat of establishing a ‘Supreme Court’ in a country where Parliament is actually supposed to be supreme.
    I had the strong impression that the Tories actively collaborated with Harriet Harman and the other social revolutionaries as they rammed through their keystone Equality Act in the last years of Gordon Brown’s government.
    The only response to this in the Tory Party has been to try to conjure up what they wrongly imagine is the spirit of Margaret Thatcher: crude unsustainable tax cuts and jingoism about conflicts in which we have no national interest. They tried to ride the European issue for a while, like an elderly auntie on a bucking bronco, but they did not understand that either – and it left them lying on their backs in the dust with their bloomers showing.
    It was all very well having no ideas to speak of, in the old days. But since the Marxists took over Labour, British conservatism has needed first of all to understand what it is up against, and then to develop a counter-attack. It has done neither. Until it does, it will continue to fail – especially when it is in government.”

       29 likes

  10. Zephir says:

    Even Truss:

    “Cameron and his West London clique became known as the Notting Hill Set. It also contained many journalists and former journalists such as Michael Gove, Daniel Finkelstein and Alice Thomson, who shared an unhealthy adoration of Tony Blair in particular. They privately referred to him as ‘the master’. Cameron revelled in being ‘the heir to Blair’.

    It is ultimately this group of people who shaped the Conservative Party in government and set the trajectory for 14 years of power. It is they who need to take responsibility for the failure to deliver and the catastrophic defeat in this year’s general election.
    Whereas Blair had had a ruthless plan to subordinate institutions to Left-wing ideology, the prime concern of the ‘Cameroons’ was simply a desire to be in power. They did not have the inclination to take on the Blairite state. That might have been understandable in the heady days of the 2000s boom, but after the financial crisis hit in 2008, there should have been a major rethink.
    Lying at the heart of the British constitution is the concept of parliamentary sovereignty. Ultimately Parliament cannot be countermanded. But Blair succeeded in severely diminishing the level of authority Parliament had, partly to fit in with a European style of greater separation of powers – completely alien to British practice.
    Blair completely reconfigured the apparatus of government, creating a massive administrative state and transferring power from Parliament to the bureaucracy right under the Conservative Party’s noses. Dozen of pieces of legislation – from the Human Rights Act of 1998 to the Constitutional Reform and Governance Act of 2010 – made constitutional and legal changes with consequences that would be far-reaching.
    Blair, a Frankenstein who doesn’t understand the monster he created, still believes that what was needed was more ‘central grip’, as he put it in a recent interview. He seemingly cannot comprehend how much worse Whitehall and governance has got since the 2000s, as the result of his legislation.
    In the main, the changes he introduced gave more power to agents of the state and the legal establishment, whose instincts tend to be – and have proven to be – anti-conservative. They gave more and more power to unelected judges and lawyers, far too many of whom subscribe to a particular Left-wing world view.”

       22 likes

  11. Zephir says:

    “There were some attempts to change the status quo. Cabinet Office minister Francis Maude sought to ignite the ‘bonfire of the quangos’ through his Public Bodies Bill, but it got bogged down in a row about the public ownership of forests.
    The problem is that once an unaccountable body has been established, it needs to justify its existence by doing things or simply being seen to be doing things.
    Doing nothing is not an option if, as the chief executive of some agency or other, you are trying to argue that you are worth your six-figure salary and all that goes with it.
    All this power gives those wielding it an increasing sense of entitlement, as does the lack of accountability and ability to avoid having to answer regular questions from the media. Quangos become very hard to rein in – accusations of undermining their independence or not listening to their advice are used as political weapons. The establishment media ecosystem always sides with them rather than those seeking change.
    After Brexit, which the administrative state hated, officials became even more subversive and leaked to the Press more and more. The fact that so few Whitehall employees sympathised with the vote to leave the EU seemed to embolden many of them in challenging the decision of the British people.
    Likewise, the Conservative government’s policy to relocate illegal immigrants to Rwanda for processing, asylum and resettlement was openly challenged by Home Office staff responsible for delivering it – not only at internal meetings, but also in the courts through legal action taken by their trade unions. Senior officials such as Simon (now Lord) McDonald and Kim (now Lord) Darroch became increasingly outspoken in their utterances, blurring the line between being servants of the government and being political players in their own right.
    Of course, there were times when it was convenient for politicians to outsource difficult decisions to officials or outside bodies on whom they could pin the blame for unpopular choices.
    It was notable during the Covid pandemic, for example, that the minister fronting press conferences would usually be flanked by government scientific or medical advisers to justify the restrictive measures being announced or implemented.
    And having presided over an expansion of the scope and size of the state during the preceding decade, the Conservative government then doubled down on this during the pandemic.
    Many of my colleagues have apologised for their part in the failings of the past 14 years. But it is worth pointing out that most people in politics, whether they be advisers, MPs or even Cabinet ministers, have very little influence except over their narrow area of interest.
    It always intrigued me to monitor the reaction of any new colleague joining the Cabinet. Initially, they were excited to be sitting around the table. Yet within a month they would usually realise that the meeting was a complete waste of time – it was merely performative.
    I always said the worst thing about being in Cabinet was having to go to the meetings.
    The reality is that Cabinet decisions are generally made by very small groups of ministers beforehand or by the Prime Minister, selected advisers and the relevant Cabinet minister (if they’re lucky). It is then for the Cabinet meeting to rubber-stamp what has already been decided.
    I remember one occasion when Esther McVey tried to call a vote in Cabinet during Theresa May’s time in office, at a particular crunch point during the ongoing Brexit negotiations. It caused pandemonium.
    The bottom line is that if you don’t like the decision, your only options are to resign or grin and bear it in the name of collective responsibility.
    Aside from rare moments when a particular issue was white hot, there were never deliberative policy discussions inside the parliamentary party either – which is extraordinary given the role that MPs have in scrutinising and influencing public policy.”

       20 likes

  12. Zephir says:

    “By the summer of 2022, Rishi Sunak had key members of his future team stoking the insurgency against Boris by quitting their roles to force him out.
    Those people who deposed Boris thought all that was needed was a steady ship and more technocracy.
    But it was very clear to me that the Conservative Party was in the last-chance saloon and that the Conservative cause was on life support, largely because no one had tried to advance it.
    We needed to start delivering on our promises or we would be stuffed electorally.
    In the 2022 leadership election, I made the case that we needed to deliver radical change.
    Rishi and his allies, however, not content with having undermined Boris, also rubbished any alternative strategy that would challenge the establishment. Endless articles and comments appeared in the mainstream media from all the architects of the failure of the past 12 years, refusing to believe that they were wrong.
    The malign influence of Cummings and Gove was evident.
    Gove – who had been responsible for the installation of Theresa May as well as the removal of Boris – played games during the leadership election, first backing Kemi Badenoch and then Rishi Sunak, and indulged in ‘blue-on-blue’ attacks on me, which further poisoned the well.
    I came to believe that these people were the enemy within, who would rather a Labour government was elected than that a Conservative Party would enact truly conservative policies.

    When I won that leadership election and became Prime Minister I sought to lower the tax burden, the first Conservative PM since 2010 to do so. But opponents within the party sought to undermine me from day one.
    Gove employed the media to attack the government only weeks into my tenure. Mel Stride used his position as Treasury Select Committee chair to undermine me, while others failed to give their full-throated support in what was always going to be a challenging situation.
    I’ve been struck by how many people I’ve met in the two years since who describe what occurred as a coup to remove me from office – and from my perspective, it’s hard to disagree with that conclusion.
    I was certainly blamed for the crisis in the financial markets that was actually down to the failings of the Bank of England. And the Establishment wanted me gone because I was prepared to challenge them and fight for a very different agenda.
    Since leaving office, the Establishment has continually tried to rubbish both me and supply-side policies. I have been subject to all manner of attacks – none true – such as claims that I held parties at Chevening costing £10,000, where cocaine was taken and bathrobes stolen. I was accused of failing to secure cheaper in-flight catering costs on the Foreign Secretary’s official plane – apparently this should have been more of a priority than dealing with the biggest threat to European peace in 75 years.
    This August, when I was no longer even an MP, far-Left activists sneaked into a book talk I was giving to disrupt the open discussion I was having with the audience of all political opinions. They claimed to be standing up to the powerful, despite the fact that by then the Labour Party were in government!
    I get this criticism and these attacks because I have told fundamental truths about what was happening and how deep the problems are. The reaction has been to try to discredit me rather than conduct an honest appraisal of the failings of the system. These attacks spur me on to keep going.
    The fact that, two years after leaving Downing Street, I am still being targeted far more than my successor, who led the party to that calamitous defeat, suggests to me that it is my agenda that they see as a real threat.

    No one wants to face up to the calamitous failures – not only of the party leadership but also of the entire parliamentary party.
    Up until now, the public have blamed the politicians, not the system itself, for all that is wrong. But the time is coming when the system itself will need to be called out.
    Will the Conservative Party be willing to do that?
    This should be a key question facing Kemi Badenoch. Because she has a massive task ahead to save the Conservative Party itself from extinction and an even bigger task to save the country”

       19 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      Zephir,
      Interesting reading in the above posts. Thank you for posting. I’ve never heard Truss’s detailed insights.

      It has been suggested (not by her) that George Soros bought every UK PM since Blair, except Truss. I’ve always wondered if that was why she was ousted so quickly.

         15 likes

  13. Zephir says:

    Regarding this:

    Over 100 BBC employees accuse broadcaster of pro-Israel bias
    https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/article-827210

    See below:

    Capture-ZXv-JPG.jpg

       19 likes

  14. Zephir says:

    And, I was reading recently the pro pallestinian mob have taken over wikededia, so we see this :

    “Pallywood, a portmanteau of “Palestine” and “Hollywood”, is a disinformation campaign used to falsely accuse Palestinians for supposedly faking suffering and civilian deaths during their conflict with Israel.”

    And, upon trying to find the source for this we see:

    “This page is currently protected so that only extended confirmed users and administrators can edit it.

    Why is the page protected?

    While most articles can be edited by anyone, extended confirmed protection is sometimes necessary to prevent disruptive editing on controversial pages.

    The reason for protection can be found in the protection log. If there are no relevant entries in the protection log, the page may have been moved after being protected.”

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pallywood

       12 likes

  15. Zephir says:

       4 likes

  16. atlas_shrugged says:

    Kamala and Angela, a partnership from hell

    https://www.conservativewoman.co.uk/a-poppet-or-a-puppet/

    This dystopian nightmare of these two clowns in power is enough to disturb a good nights sleep!

       13 likes

  17. AsISeeIt says:

    TTK says calm down dear to the financial markets edition

    Were you labouring under the impression that Keir Starmer and his work wife Rachel Reeves were the bad guys who have condemned millions of pensioners to freeze in their homes this winter?

    How wrong you were. Scandal of mouldly hard-to-heat Royal rentals… Tenants at Duchy of Cornwall estate struggle to keep warm in winter (Sunday Mirror)

    Do you suspect the pro-State sector Budget has set us on track for an over-taxed stiffled enterprise broke Britain? But big corporate interests will surely have a quiet word in Stramer’s ear and explain some basic economics him?

    Au contraire. Sir Keir Starmer writes for the FT… Starmer makes tough reform pledge… Bid to calm markets… Starmer and Chancellor Rachel Reeves are making a concerted effort to reassure markets, businesses and voters that the £40bn tax rise and £28bn of extra borrowing… are not the first of several such increases (FT)

    And if you believe that – I’ve got high speed rail link contracts to sell you (cost upwardly very flexible) plus 1,000 new guests a day (weather permitting) to fill your off-season hotel accommodation

    Oh, and in case you were wondering… our BBC is still completely obsessed with the US election.

       26 likes

  18. non-licence payer says:

    The Church of England and the National Trust must be close cousins of the bBC judging by their daft output.

       24 likes

  19. StewGreen says:

    Video New Culture Forum discuss the strange double standard
    Between thebcKaba case & Peter Lynch and Southport
    With Kaba it’s not subjudice when the BBC pushes it’s narrative the Chris Kaba was a victim, the policeman must be named etc.
    Even though Kaba was driving a car used in a recent shooting , was refusing to stop and seemed to be about to drive the car at police.
    You are not allowed to speculate about the Southport killer, even though it fits a pattern and the establishment is clearly holding back info
    And when Peter Lynch goes on a protest about this
    And shouts at police and tries to stand his ground just like many other people did in BLM demos
    He is the one selected for vilification and 3 years in jail
    Cos somehow his standing up is a great threat to the state.

       24 likes

  20. Lazy Cat says:

    With regards to the death of Peter Lynch and double standards at the BBC (above), one concurs fully.

    The footage I have seen of Mr. Lynch’s actions were, in my opinion, absolutely unworthy of a custodial sentence of any length.

    Now I will caveat what I say with the fact that there may be more footage which is more incriminating than what we have seen.

    But one can only go off by what one has seen. Or by what information was released officially.

    Weasel words like ‘appalling’ or being a ‘disgraceful example’ to his grandchildren did not really give me a complete picture.

    I also do not know if Mr Lynch was driven to suicide due to being threatened and bullied by ‘groups’ within the prison. That he may not have been protected from such things. The poor man was not, it seems, in good health and almost certainly unable to physically defend himself from a prison mob if attacked.

    All this is conjucture until we have the details (if any) of why he killed himself.

    From the ‘riot’ footage I have seen, all I saw was an overly stressed and aggressive female police officer hit Mr. Lynch with her shield while she was shouting at him to ‘get back’.

    Didn’t he have a right to stand and peacefully protest in this country? He then shouted ‘Scum!’ (it seemed he said this after being smashed to the ground with a riot shield) at the police and said he would, ‘Pray for our children.’

    If this is the sum of why this man was imprisoned, leading directly to his death (that to me is an obvious link), then there should be a proper inquiry into this suicide.

    1. Did this man really deserve a prison sentence for his ‘crimes’? Was there a political motivation to imprison him and who was supplying this pressure to the police and the courts?

    2. Was his health, including his mental health, taken into account at sentencing or while he was in prison?

    3. Did the female police officer panic and overreact to the situation at hand (by smashing him to the ground with a riot shield when he was just standing there and not attacking anyone)?

    Again, one caveats this by saying that perhaps there was more footage I have not seen.

    But until the people see it, they; including me; will speculate ( any politician or police chief trying to say we can’t do this can f.. off quite frankly) and come up with their own conclusions.

    If it comes to light that Mr Lynch’s ‘crimes’ are what was seen on social media, then I hope his family sue those responsible.

       33 likes

  21. digg says:

    Watching a World at War episode covering the Nazi treatment of citizens caught listening to non-German radio stations. Prison, fines etc.

    Couldn’t help but being reminded of the treatment currently being threatened by the “regulators” to media outlets saying things they don’t approve of or any member of Joe Public engaging in non-speak being incarcerated by the new government.

    It’s a fine line ain’t it?

       29 likes

    • Lazy Cat says:

      Indeed.

      The Online Harms Bill is setting out plans for ‘trusted’ sources.

      Controlled media, in other words.

      Guess what politicians and police chiefs?

      We have a legal right to speculate on pretty much anything and everything.

      It’s called general conversation. It used to be a thing in public houses up and down the country, until the pubs started closing and a vicious, overly sensitive mob bought computers and joined the internet. They should never have been allowed on the web. They are too pathetic to listen to the views of others without losing their (tiny) minds.

      Speculation is just that.

      It is not stating something as fact.

      The alternative to alternative media (some of which is absolute nonsense…but I’ll be the judge of that thanks) is to just accept what your government and its controlled media tells you.

      Which is an authoritarian ideological stance.

      They can get effed.

      I am quite good at smelling BS, and our political class and the likes of the BBC, Channel 4, Sky and The Guardian are so full of it that’s it’s coming out of their ears!

      And these are the ‘sources we should trust not to post fake news’.

      Ha!

         24 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Yes, the new approved Nazis..

      dbbabzw-1ae19c04-b6fa-48b1-9b6f-65180c0669bb.jpg

         11 likes

  22. Zephir says:

    US is a “republic” not a “democracy,” God knows what we are at the moment:

    “In the aftermath of World War I, President Woodrow Wilson set out to make the world “safe for democracy”.

    Since then, U.S. Presidents have marched to the drumbeat of Wilsonian idealism. Indeed, most U.S. foreign policy is carried out under the pretext, and in some cases perhaps the genuine belief, that America is delivering democracy to the rest of the world.

    Most people, including most Americans, would be surprised to learn that the word “democracy” does not appear in the Declaration of Independence (1776) or the Constitution of the United States of America (1789).

    They would also be shocked to learn the reason for the absence of the word democracy in the founding documents of the U.S.A.

    Contrary to what propaganda has led the public to believe, America’s Founding Fathers were extremely skeptical and anxious about democracy.

    They were aware of the evils that accompany a tyranny of the majority.

    The Framers of the Constitution went to great lengths to ensure that the federal government was NOT based on the will of the majority and was not, therefore, democratic.

    With this in mind, the Constitution divided the federal government into legislative, executive and judicial branches.

    Each branch was designed to check the power of the other branches. The Founders did not want to rely only on the voters to check government power. As a result, citizens were given very little power to select federal officials.

    Further, neither the President, nor members of the judiciary, nor the Senate were elected by direct popular vote. Only the members of the House of Representatives were directly elected by popular vote. Even in this case, the franchise was quite restricted.”

       12 likes

  23. Zephir says:

    “The Constitution was designed to further the cause of liberty, NOT democracy.

    To do that, the Constitution protected individuals’ rights from the government, as well as from their fellow citizens.

    To that end, the Constitution laid down clear, unequivocal and enforceable rules to protect individuals’ rights.

    In consequence, BOTH the government’s scope and scale were strictly limited.

    Economic liberty, which is a precondition for growth and prosperity, was enshrined in the Constitution.”

       11 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      Zephir,

      ” I pledge allegiance to the flag of The United States of America.
      And to The Republic for which it stands. One nation, under God, with liberty and justice for all ”

      Every American child learns this oath in school.

         8 likes

  24. pugnazious says:

    ‘maintaining “community relations”’

    LOL….not telling you the dangerous, illegal stuff that certain people get up to in the name of their religion or race because it might make people ask questions about that ‘community’ and its values.

    We can’t tell you you have a cancer as you might think badly of cancer…and thus we cannot treat you…you must suffer in silence.

    https://unherd.com/2024/11/we-need-to-talk-about-southport/

       13 likes

  25. Zephir says:

    I am reminded of our bbc chief fact checker …

    Capturhhe.jpg

       23 likes

  26. pugnazious says:

    Listening to R4 news this morning and Jon Donnison reports about this…

    ‘A polio vaccination campaign in north Gaza is expected to resume on Sunday, a day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said six people, including four children, were injured following a strike on the Sheikh Radwan clinic.’

    Definitely gave the implication that it was Israel’s doing…followed immediately by telling us how many Palestinians had been killed recently by ‘strikes’…adding to the list of Israeli ‘kills’…alleged….and conflating the two stories.

    Donnison has already been caught out twice blaming Israel for missile strikes that were in fact Palestinian rocket misfires and he made it international news. Will this be the third time? If so isn’t it time the BBC retired him to somewhere where he can’t do any harm?

    As the Jewish Chronicle notes Donnison has a long history of spreading dangerous disinformation that favours the Palestinian narrative…

    ‘The BBC is being urged to take further action against Jon Donnison, who has worked for the corporation for 15 years. In November 2012, he shared a picture of a young girl lying on a hospital bed with bloodied clothes, whichhad been taken in Syria.

    Posting on X/Twitter, he captioned the image with the words: “Heartbreaking. Pain in #Gaza’.” The original photograph was posted by Palestinian journalist Hazem Balousha. ‘

       17 likes

  27. pugnazious says:

    The BBC still not reporting this despite it being all over the news elsewhere….unless it is tucked away in a BBC local news backwater….

    ‘Labour MP shares post ‘saying Kemi Badenoch is blackface of white supremacy’’

    Why would the BBC not want to report that when we all know it would savage any Tory or Reform Party MP who said something similar?

    Why is the BBC trying to hide a deeply unpleasant, racist and divisive comment by a Labour MP? Starmer can ignore the right-leaning Press but once the BBC reports it he’d have to do something and suspend yet another Black MP for racism and hate…ala Abbott. Not a good look when you’re an organisation that tries to promote the idea that Blacks are oppressed victims of Whitey.

       26 likes

  28. MarkyMark says:

    Lord Alli to provide free clothes to all the elderly this winter – plus free glasses to see their winter payment disappear.

       14 likes

    • BRISSLES says:

      MM that gave me a thought. For the past few winters outside my local Co-op (yes the one where I got my purse nicked), there is a large basket for kindly people to put unwanted blankets and throws for other folk to help themselves to. I now wonder if thieves will be pinching those to flog on auction sites – must be more profitable than robbing old (?) Ladies I’d have thought.

         7 likes

  29. atlas_shrugged says:

    After Idaho bans the Experimental mRNA Gene Therapy another state starts asking questions:

    Sudden Deaths of Teen Athletes in Tennessee Ignite Firestorm Over COVID Vaccine Safety

    https://vigilantnews.com/post/sudden-deaths-of-four-teen-athletes-in-tennessee-ignite-firestorm-over-covid-vaccine-safety/

    Add to this J.D. Vance concerns after suffering adverse reactions from mRNA Covid ‘vaccine’:

    https://vigilantnews.com/post/j-d-vance-drops-vaccine-bombshell-personal-story/

       11 likes

  30. atlas_shrugged says:

    Hey bBC

    Any more news about the arrested ‘Yorkshire boy’ of 14 who stabbed a 13 year-old girl.

    Will there be any pictures of him in school uniform when he was 5 years-old working down pit? Was he a good Catholic? Did he sing in the choir? Did the knife leap up and stab the girl all on its own?

    So many questions bBC and you are so silent.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g7880646jo

       22 likes

  31. MarkyMark says:

    WE ARE LIVING IN MADNESS ….

    Relatives of a “good Samaritan” murdered by a man who was only released from jail the day before are taking legal action against a number of authorities.

    Father-of-one Alan Geddes, 56, was stabbed 40 times by Stuart Quinn after letting him stay in his home in Aberdeen in December 2019.

    Quinn had gone to a homeless unit after his release only to find it was shut, before being taken in by Mr Geddes. Quinn was jailed for a minimum of 18 years for the murder.

    Relatives of the victim are now pursuing a damages case in the Court of Session against the Scottish Prison Service, the Scottish government, NHS Grampian, Aberdeen City Council and the Scottish Courts and Tribunals Service.

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cx24p2vv4lgo

    …………………………

    Sir Keir Starmer ‘angry’ to see prisoners popping champagne after their early release
    https://news.sky.com/story/sir-keir-starmer-angry-to-see-prisoners-popping-champagne-after-their-early-release-13216474

       14 likes

  32. Zephir says:

    “Sir Keir Starmer ‘angry’ to see prisoners popping champagne after their early release.”

    I understand this as I drove to the shops the other day, I was bloody fuming that the car took me to the shops.

       14 likes

    • Zephir says:

      Starmer should be in jail for stating that people are thugs and WOULD BE JAILED, before any arrests or trials, if any were already on bail this is even worse.

         20 likes

    • tomo says:

      I’m wondering if the tweets that don’t embed are driven by who’s posting them or if this (bBBC) system or Twitter / X are running a visibility filter

      – anybody?

         4 likes

      • Lucy Pevensey says:

        tomo, I wonder too. I have no answer. I’m starting to think it’s an internet compatibility problem.
        No Idea what the techie term would be. This site is quite antiquated now. (I feel old)

           4 likes

        • tomo says:

          I don’t, on balance – see it as a problem with this site’s coding – it has the pawprints of manipulation at Twitter….

             2 likes

      • vlad says:

        I, too, have been unable to have twitter / X posts open up here for a few months now, no idea why. Something’s changed.

           2 likes

    • tomo says:

      some-judge.jpg

         10 likes

  33. Zephir says:

    Well they are trying their best, CNN:

    “How Donald Trump is laying the groundwork to dispute the election results – again”

       15 likes

  34. Zephir says:

    clinton says election was stolen when SHE LOST:

       8 likes

    • pugnazious says:

      She never said that…it never happened….Trump is the only person in history to have ever contested an election result!

         13 likes

  35. MarkyMark says:

    UK IS SO RACIST… FACT!

    Refugee runner is Afghan women’s ‘voice for change’
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c154vz0z3y8o

    Ms Painda and her six siblings grew up working on their father’s farm after school, climbing hills with friends and living a “beautiful” life, she said.

    Her school was an hour-long walk from home, and often she and her friends would run after lorries and jump on to avoid walking. That was her first experience of running.

    But she and her family fled a few years after the Taliban took over the country in 1996.

    During their journey, her family was shot at by the Taliban. They were also robbed of their belongings at the Pakistan border.

    “When I crossed that finish line in Chamonix, I felt that literally all the Afghan women were with me. I felt so strong and so great. It was a beautiful experience.”

       2 likes

  36. Fedup2 says:

    I’ve decided to go with my view that Harris will be the next president – hence forth known as PINO – president in name only – as Obama gets his 4th term .

    I have therefore committed a one pound to the cause in the hope that I lose it – President Trump has everything stacked against him – except the decent voters …

       16 likes

  37. Fedup2 says:

    There is talk of veterans ‘turning their backs ‘ on Starmer at the cenotaph next Sunday . My initial view was ‘yes – do it ‘ … but now I think that’s not the thing to do . Whatever else – he is the PM and at that place on that day the office should be recognised . Bit old fashioned.. I know …

       8 likes

    • Docmarooned says:

      Why Fedup? In the past the prime minister was a figure of respect. Not any more since Bliar and subsequent useless morons have rendered the office not worthy of the position.

         19 likes

    • Mrs Kitty says:

      I feel that it’s up to each veteran to decide and whatever they do should be supported. As a wife of a veteran my decision would be to attend a local memorial service.

         7 likes

    • vlad says:

      !00% disagree with Fedup2.
      Turning their backs would be a dignified way of protesting.

         6 likes

      • Fedup2 says:

        Vlad – yes I might change my view – as I say – I detest starmer – one less lawyer would be welcome – but even a passive demo at the cenotaph seems off to me … and seeing the Nigerian girl also won’t be a happy sight for me …

           4 likes

  38. BRISSLES says:

    Probably not the best thing to do, it’s likely they would be castigated for choosing to protest on the most emotional day in the national psyche.

       3 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Yes I’ve been to Whitehall for the procession many times – it’s not the time of place for demonstrations – however much I detest the existence of Starmer and all he represents ….

      …and Kemi will be rehearsing her poppy wreath by now …a Nigerian and a Marxist at the head of the governing parties – no wonder he are declining so quickly …

         9 likes

  39. friend of yogi bear says:

    JUDGEMENT DAY…..WHAT THE MARKETS SAY…

    Reeevenomics hit everybody , like a pissed MP’s sucker punch on Wednesday afternoon , in a way that was sadly predictable…some reasons have been offered like ..it was somebody else’s fault that we lied , etc ,etc. Interestingly the O.B.R. report did ‘nt back that up but judging from her interview today with Trevor Phillips ,Rachel” l worked at the Bank of England “Reeeves says she will never mislead us again….well that’s all right then.

    So with Gilts at a whole percentage point higher than after the Liz Truss disaster budget , why is the BBC so silent on the subject.
    We have been told so many times that the markets give the ultimate verdict on how successful ,or otherwise a Budget has been , so why the silence this time.

    Reeeves former employer will have their B of E interest rate meeting soon , to decide which direction the base rate should go. Where’s the smart money on that….mortgages up , and no doubt somebody else’s fault , eh Rachel..

    Could it be that the BBC is protecting the Labour “government”.
    Surely not, after all I’ve seen that famous BBC warrior Clive Myrie , you know , him in the BBC advert declaring that everyday he gets up and fights , so that the BBC audience can have the “truth”.

    What a sad pathetic shadow of a once ,long ago prized organisation . An animal in the state the BBC is in now would be put down.

       18 likes

    • Lazy Cat says:

      Yes.

      What is evident about this Labour government is that everything is the fault of the ‘mess left by the Tories’ or that ‘plenty of other MPs do it, so what’s the problem?’

      Like little children refusing to accept responsibility .

      “But he called me poo poo face first!”

      “It wasn’t me, it must have been one of the other boys or girls ”

      “But he took a chocolate off the Christmas tree first!”

      I do think social media has a lot to answer for. Now, nobody seems to accept responsibility for eff ups or deliberate wrongdoing because it ‘ruins their rep’.

      They also act as though a spiteful child had been put in charge of the country. Just look at the political prisoners.

         9 likes

  40. pugnazious says:

    Same here…same here….except perhaps the BBC is 100% negative about Trump…..

    GbZ9729bwAIzBfn?format=jpg&name=large

       10 likes

  41. MarkyMark says:

    Badenoch brings out the race grifters.

    “Question for Lammy: is he sure Badenoch’s ancestors did not sell his own ancestors to some Europeans?”

       7 likes

  42. MarkyMark says:

    “As usual David Starkey delivers a superb speech of what the majority complains about. The fact that minorities have more rights than the majority. That governments strive to work for the minorities and not the majority. The fact that the cultures of minorities are put above the culture of the majority. Awesome lecture.”

    Britain is Governed by Minorities for Minorities: David Starkey

       9 likes

  43. Guest Who says:

    https://x.com/joekaren46/status/1852637569785241723?s=61
    These are not fighters, these are doctors and nurses , These are the medical staff at Kamal Adwan Hospital.

    Here was me thinking that was the block’s PRESS team.

       4 likes

  44. MarkyMark says:

    THE WEST IS CLOSED FOR BUSINESS….

    “‘I am having a vasectomy as we can’t afford a child'”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c4g7x5kl5l8o

    THE WEST HAS HAD ITS BALLS CUT OFF.

       5 likes

    • Lucy Pevensey says:

      MM,
      That treatment should be mandatory & free on the Global Health Service for every male who arrives illegally in The UK. Advertise it. The boats will stop.

         2 likes

  45. Lazy Cat says:

    On the US election, I am convinced that we’ll see a repeat of the last election.

    Seemingly almost guaranteed win for Trump, tech glitch, then all votes go to Mrs BJ.

    I just think the ‘3am glitch’ will happen a bit earlier so it doesn’t look so dodgy.

    If it happens again goodness knows what will happen.

    Hopefully peace, love and understanding breaks out etc.

       11 likes

  46. MarkyMark says:

    “Unite union may bring legal action over winter fuel payments”
    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/c0j8zen1wnpo

    …………………

    Name of donor: UCATT
    Address of donor: 177 Abbeville Road, London SW4 9RL

    Amount of donation or nature and value if donation in kind: £3,000

    Date of receipt: 15 January 2015

    Date of acceptance: 15 January 2015

    Donor status: trade union

    https://www.theyworkforyou.com/regmem/?p=24851

       1 likes

  47. Lazy Cat says:

    If Kemi B wants a cat in hell’s chance of winning back voters, she needs to say she wants to:

    1. Sign us out of the ECHR.
    2. Instantly deport any dinghy mob rocking up on our shores.
    3. Round up all those who came in illegally and deport.
    4. Refer to the ‘far right rioters’ as ‘political prisoners’ and say she will hold an inquiry into Starmer’s possible influence/ pressure on the police and court actions taken.
    5. Stop thenet zero insanity.
    6. Stop politicians being nothing more than puppets of their sponsors.
    7. Limit MP expenses to 10k p.a. unless there is a damn good reason.
    8. Limit voting rights and benefit rights (including free NHS access and free schooling) to those who have had at least two great-grandparents born here.

    I’m not holding my breath.

       21 likes

    • Fedup2 says:

      Lazy – she ll do nothing .

      Im concerned that her ‘outlook ‘ won’t be ‘British ‘ – like sunak – pulling out of the 80th DDay commemoration to do an interview with effing ITV – no idea of the history – sacrifice – and just think – if that dolt hadn’t gone for anelection he’d be PM still

         11 likes

    • Lazy Cat says:

      What always makes me laugh is the excuse that MPs ‘need’ a second home in London due to parliament being far from their own constituency.

      They’re on 90k up! Most (like Lammy) have several fingers in several ‘iffy’ pies.

      And most of them are hardly ever there!

      Pay your own bloody rent/mortgage like the rest of us!

      Or better still, build a tower block with some basic flats near parliament and shove them in there.

      Or even better, shove them in those hotels that house the dinghy mob.

         10 likes

    • moggiemoo says:

      She’ll probably say those things. We already have a bunch of tossers who say things. They then do something else. I no longer trust any of them, Reform included.

         4 likes