No, you’re probably right, Reader, they are a hopeless cause…
No, you’re probably right, Reader, they are a hopeless cause…
The Daily Sceptic comes out today with this:
"First thought" is one way to describe people of one western nation who tend to first auto-think in a supportive way of one side in a conflict overseas and in a critical way of the other.
The letter, whose other signatories included the celebrated Israeli novelist David Grossman, said: “We never imagined that individuals on the left, advocates of equality, freedom, justice, and welfare, would reveal such extreme moral insensitivity and political recklessness.”
Not that you’d need to imagine it, since they show it at every possible opportunity.
If you watch just ONE VIDEO for the rest of the year, let it be the video just released by Reclaim MP Andrew Bridgen, for he speaks the plain, honest truth of an Englishman: and folks; there are none like us!
Some dates
Readers, I'm afraid this is a repeat of last night, waking abruptly at 0302, looking around Twitter and Gab, gathering whatever's trending and posting early. This will doubtless be followed by hours of sleep from about 0500 to about 0900.
PHILADELPHIA (WPVI) -- The SEPTA bus driver who was shot and killed Thursday morning while operating a bus in Philadelphia's Germantown section has been identified.
An agency spokesperson identified the driver as 48-year-old Bernard Gribbin from Abington, Pennsylvania. He was a 12-year employee of the transit authority and a U.S. Army veteran.
Zhontay Capers, 21, has been charged with murder, as well as other related offenses in Gribbin's death, Philadelphia police said Friday.
There was no word on a motive for this shooting.
It happened just before 10:30 a.m. at Germantown and Abbottsford avenues as Gribbin was operating a Route 23 bus. Police said he was shot six times in the chest and right abdomen.
Gribbin was rushed to Einstein Medical Center by police, where he was pronounced dead, according to officials.
Police said a woman caught on surveillance cameras was seen stepping off the bus and firing toward the driver.
"She then fires a shot toward the bus driver, re-enters the bus, and fires again. And from what we see in the video, and it's very preliminary, it appears she gets on and off several times," said Interim First Dep. Commissioner Frank Vanore.
It is hard to put an exact number on it, but more than 60 families rely on us.And what did your organisation do, then?
Eighty percent of the families and young people attending Homegrown in Tottenham are Black. Most of them come from working-class, migrant and refugee backgrounds, and face challenges around access to affordable housing and being pushed out of areas they live in due to rising costs. Our community space was a home for all of us. Before the closure, we would cook and share meals together, while young people would learn English, maths, science, and African and Caribbean history, and use films to discuss topics not always brought up in school. People would often stay all afternoon, cooking and talking.
Well, maybe that's the problem. Maybe instead, they should have been working to support their families..?
In Haringey today, many Black-led community groups are losing space and struggling to access funding. At the same time, some parts of Tottenham have changed so quickly that they feel unfamiliar and inaccessible to young people who were born here, who end up feeling like strangers.
Yeah, funny that, I often feel like a stranger. In certain parts of London.
But I'm called a racist for noticing. Never mind what I'm called for actively complaining about it. How is it you get a free pass?
At the moment we have no funding, because we don’t have time to fundraise. I try to buy families their groceries when they need it out of my own pocket, but my own family’s budget is tight as well. Every two weeks, I have to report to the job centre to claim my universal credit.
Well, clearly they should put a stop to it. If you're giving it away to others, you're claiming it under false pretences, aren't you?
What happened to Elianne Andam in Croydon is a reminder of just how vulnerable our young people are: the victims whose lives are so brutally taken, but the perpetrators too – how did they get here? And their families. No one should have their child taken from them. And no one raises a child to be a killer.
It appears in the 'community' you're writing about, no-one raises a child full-stop!
We are not talking about an incurable disease. It is a social problem that could be improved if the government stopped removing essential funding for youth centres, youth organisations, schools and existing community spaces.
Why shouldn't it? It's clearly not essential at all.
This one is going up at N.O. and OoL but not elsewhere for two particular reasons … they are netiquette, plus security.
Netiquette used to demand attribution during the blogging era of about 2004 to around 2017, and it was pretty hotly self-policed by the community, backed by copyright law. You were generally allowed to quote sections, provided you attributed by name, plus you linked.
The greatest crime was to read something at someone’s blog, then it just appeared, later, as your own work, unattributed. When quizzed, you said you’d found it on the net elsewhere … thin because while you may technically have done so … wwweeellllll, let’s leave that.
The other reason is to protect your source, as you plan to use it over and over for other topics … so you separately bring him/her into it under various names but the really hot stuff you bury. In this, you’re colluding with your source … every journo protects his sources, every policeman used to, every lawyer.
Where you don’t know the source, then you can only quote and link:
Many people have asked why it is so important for me to travel as low-carbon as possible.
And far, far more have said 'Who?'
I have three reasons. First, I want to be consistent with my moral commitment to avoid flying. Aviation is the biggest contributor to climate change of all forms of transport, a major factor in the rise in temperatures and the extreme weather events that we are witnessing more and more frequently all around the world.
Apart from that big ball of burning hydrogen in the sky, you mean?
Second, I promised all the 1,800 participants in my research in Bougainville that I would return low-carbon. I want to keep my promise. White men (of whom I am one, as I am frequently reminded here) are often referred to as giaman – liars, fraudsters in Tok Pisin – probably with good reason given the country’s turbulent colonial past. I do not want to be seen as giaman.
I wonder what the native's word for 'sucker!' is?
Finally, and most importantly, I hope my case might put a little crack into the wall of “selfishness, greed, and apathy”, which, in the words of climate lawyer Gus Speth, is the main hindrance to stopping runaway climate change. Many people will think that it is madness to give up their dream job to avoid taking one flight. But in the current era of climate breakdown, it is, in my opinion, insane to continue with “business as usual”, when science tells us that we are either dangerously close to or past the point of collapse for major ecosystems.
Yes, but the people who tell us that most often - the politicians and luvvies - aren't following your example, are they? They clearly don't believe what you claim. And with good reason.
At the time of writing, I am waiting to embark on the cargo ship on the first leg of my low-carbon journey to Europe. When I arrive in Europe in about 45 days, I will be jobless. If, on my way, I manage to persuade people that our planet is seriously endangered and that radical, extraordinary action is needed, losing my job will have been a price worth paying.
Our planet has lasted millenia, and will continue to do so. We'll adapt. Like we always have done. Those who can't? Well, they'll wind up like you.