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667 thoughts on “Back to the Fray

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  • Tony_0pmoc

    All the pretty young girls were coming up to me – and dancing with me..and asking me Where is She??

    Where is Your Wife??

    I said there is another Party Going On Too – just go outside – and Cross The Courtyard Of The Pub…

    Yeh – She Will Probably Be in there Chatting To All Our Friends…

    If Not DANCING at The Front – When The Band Do a Song She Really Likes…

    Yes – That is Her There…

    That is My Wife

    (Yes We All Know That)

    Tony & Wife xx

  • Tony_0pmoc

    I am trying to paint her as nicely as I can with words – but it is all true – I am just trying to describe today..

    i put it down to the girl I swapped records with…

    I gave her Led Zeppelin..

    She gave me this…(it was a lot better than Leonard Cohen)

    “Neil Young – Heart Of Gold (Live at the BBC 1971)”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MkGOrIBCcg4

    I reckon I was programmed well – I can’t really complain – she is still here with me and I am about to go to bed with her and cuddle her as she gently sleeps in my arms

    Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    We will smile with blank faces – no lips at the end of our mouths pointing upwards

    we will try and look as completely fcking miserable as the cnts examining us as we go through border control…

    we won’t say a word – as I am disrobed – because I forgot that my spectacles are made of metal and I might have a fcking bomb in my sandals – which I also have to take off – as they take me to one side – and sniff my bag for any traces of drugs or explosives…and then I have to take fckin piss test and a blood test…

    And They Still Let Me Out of England -and say – Yeh Your Wife can Go Too…

    its coming back that is the problem – we hope to get to a gig – about 90 minutes after the plane is scheduled to land – and its The French and the Spanish who are Kickin’ Off

    No one could give a Fck in The UK

    That is Why We are ALL VOTING

    OUT

    Most of The Rest of Europe are With Us Too.

    We can tolerate cnts – but we ain’t going to Tolerate Tyrant Fascist Control.

    Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    Its a lovely summer lazy afternoon – and everything is at peace – hardly a sound in the garden – even the birds are surprised by the change in weather – and its too hot for them to sing…

    And we are suddenly – without any notice or warning – invaded by a load of kids – bringing food and alcohol – and they are all ogling my Grandson and making cooing noises (the boys too)

    It looks like they are going to have a BBQ

    I hope they don’t get too loud…

    Oh shiit – I hope they have got ear protectors for the baby..

    We will have to go to the pub now…

    Don’t blame me – I am not going to be here…

    The neighbours rarely get arsey – cos their kids do the same thing too.

    We can hardly complain. They are going to be playing stuff like this..

    The B-52’s – “Love Shack”

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9SOryJvTAGs

    Tony

  • Tony_0pmoc

    All we had as we were growing up was Radio Luxembourg and it only worked at night.

  • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

    Here, especially for our friends RobG, “Bevin” and the Pugnacious Irish-American, is an extract from an interview with the excellent French essayist and philosopher Pascal Bruckner.

    Q. What do you feel about the “Nuit debout” movement, which expelled your friend Alain Finkielkraut from the place de la République?

    A. To be honest, I don’t feel anything in particular about it. To restart everything from scratch is a praiseworthy objective. But what these militants have shown so far in particular is their sectarianism. As a movement it’s pretty poor. Can you mention a single new idea ti have emerged from “Nuit debout”? All we know is that they’re anti-capitalists and very Islam-friendly and that terrorism is an invention of the media and the state.”Nuit debout” is a kind of depressing May 1968. Absolutely nothing gay about it.

    Those thoughts are shared by many.

    • bevin

      Silly thoughts from a ‘celebrated French Philosopher” who’d have thought such a thing possible!
      Perhaps his observations were taken out of context. The last thing that is incumbent upon movements such as Nuit debout, which are openly dedicated to preserving laws under attack from neo-liberals, is to come up with new ideas.
      In this case they are happy to defend old ideas, adopted in the wake of the last war, designed to make life better for all. Like defending the NHS, or opposing the TTIP there is nothing to be ashamed of in this.
      The shame is in selling very old, discredited ideas as ‘reforms.’
      There is nothing novel about starving the working class into obedience.
      Nor in using emergency laws against terrorism to by pass democracy and impose unpopular laws on the very people-the French electorate- who voted specifically against such ‘reforms’ the last time that they were proposed.
      This excellent article by James Petras, who is neither French not a philosopher, is worth several square miles of the drivel that the troll called Habbakkuk proffers:
      http://www.informationclearinghouse.info/article44808.htm

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        “Perhaps his observations were taken out of context.”
        __________________

        What a feeble response, Bev.

        It was his reply to one of a number of varied of questions he was asked in a newspaper interview. I gave you the question and his answer, both unedited.

        You don’t like it up you, do you 🙂

        ********************************

        “informationclearinghouse”? Is that another one of those dubious websites of yours 🙂 🙂

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        You should try reading some Bruckner, Bev. Don’t worry, he’s not Jewish.

        • bevin

          This really is disgusting even by your low standards. There is no evidence whatsoever that I have any prejudice against Jews. In many ,months of posting on this site I have never, and would never, stoop to racism of any kind.
          The moderators would not be impinging upon anyone’s freedom of speech if they were to insist that unsubstantiated libels such as the above were removed.
          Habbacrook’s libels are so uncontrolled that he is like a demented child smearing his cradle with the contents of his nappy.
          It only needs to be added, for those who forget that this is D Day, that it was fascists sharing HabBandera’s world view, and their conformist followers, doing as they were bid, who have always been the worst anti-semites.

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            Why are you complaining when you do not hesitate to imply that I’m a fascist?

            So fuck off, Bev. 🙂

      • Resident Dissident

        From Bevin’s link

        “The first decisive blow against social reform resulted from the systematic Anglo-American breakdown of the former USSR and allied nations of the Warsaw Pact in East Europe. This was followed by the endogenous dissolution of Communist Party rule in China, Russia, Eastern Europe, the Baltic and Balkan states and their conversion into capitalist satellites. Social welfare, full employment, public pensions and health systems were shredded; labor lost all its rights except one – the right to emigrate to the West as cheap labor.”

        Well at least Petras has the honesty to say what he would like to go back to.

  • Republicofscotland

    “China is risking self-isolation from other nations of the Asia Pacific region, who are working closely with the US to build a NATO-like military alliance, which is a “principled security network” with America at its core, the Pentagon chief said.”

    “Defense Secretary Ashton Carter said Washington, as “the primary security provider in the Asia Pacific” wants China to work with the network rather than be excluded over “expansive and unprecedented actions” in the South China Sea. The US official gave the warning on Friday at the Shangri-La Dialogue, a regional security forum in Singapore.”

    https://www.rt.com/usa/345410-carter-asian-nato-china/?utm_source=browser&utm_medium=aplication_chrome&utm_campaign=chrome

    For onced I’m in agreement with American actions, very shrewd actions, I might add. By assembling a security network of nations in the area, a Southern hemisphere styled Nato if you like. The US has put pressure on the regional bully China, to stop claiming lands and seas in the region as Chinese.

    A united front by those other nations may bring China around to the debating table to discuss the matter of land and sea grab style techinques, techniques China the largest neighbour in the region has used fully to its advantage.

    It may also soften relations between China, its neighbours and the West, however, it could have the complete opposite effect, and push China onto a war footing.

    • Trowbridge H. Ford aka The Biscuit

      This so-called bullying by China is essentially politicized territorial disputes of long standing, fired up by that warmonger Carter.

      How about saying something about that island base that the US Navy has built from scratch, off Jeju Island?

      And why isn’t China bullying North Korea to go along with what Washington wants?

      And the build up of the Spratys is to have a missile base to counter all the carrier groups that the USA has patrolling off China’s shores to keep it isolated.

      If Beijing was doing anything vaguely approaching what Washington has been doing for decades, we would have had war..

      • Republicofscotland

        “If Beijing was doing anything vaguely approaching what Washington has been doing for decades, we would have had war..”

        __________________

        Trowbridge H.Ford

        I often criticise America, and on many topics, China is in the process of expanding out and influencing the rest of the world just as the US did over one hundred years ago. I didn’t particularly like how the US, at the time and ever since has spread it’s military complex tentacles, to affect the rest of the world, mostly in a negative way.

        China is emulating the US, and even surpassing it on the financial side, which gives it the capital to build a formidable military, if it hasn’t already done so. A military that will be a threat long term not just in the region but further afield in my opinion.

        I feel that if China was left alone to pursue its goal of pinning a Chinese flag, on land and sea in the region, and claiming that this or that now has Chinese sovereignty because we say so, then who’s to say where it would all end. That’s why I feel Carter’s uniting of China’s neighbours makes sense.

        China is a far more insidious nation with regards to democracy and human rights, than the USA, in my opinion. Trowbridge, for example if you attempted to comment in China on this and that, like you comment in here, swapping out Washington for Beijing well, I’d definitely fear for your safety.

        In my opinion China is a ruthless military super power, that curtails free speech in a similar fashion to North Korea

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          “China is a far more insidious nation with regards to democracy and human rights, than the USA, in my opinion.”
          _______________________

          Glad to see your pills are working, RoS.

          Or are you just attempting to curry favour with those who keep an eye on thus blog? 🙂

          • Republicofscotland

            Habb.

            You know fine well that I criticise all sides, where criticism is due, you however are not afforded that luxury.

        • giyane

          “China is a far more insidious nation with regards to democracy and human rights, than the USA”

          But there again the citizens of North America, South America, Africa, Europe, The Middle East, The far East, um why else
          ? any where their evil finger has touched with an -com, would definitely disagree with you.

          What an extraordinary statement to make after the last 30 years of utter ruin being brought by the US to the Muslim world.

          I suppose in the Republic of Scotland pinky blurred spectacles are fine.

          • Republicofscotland

            “What an extraordinary statement to make after the last 30 years of utter ruin being brought by the US to the Muslim world.”

            _______________

            Bevin.

            It is of course your perogative to disagree with me.

            As for your above sentence, I did not condone US actions, or did you miss that sentence?

  • Mark Golding

    At 8:54 in this interview by Mark Thomas (the artist taxi driver) we assemble this ‘kick the dog’ mentality, this angry British reaction to the extinction of our society’s major pillars people had of trust, (if some were ever created originally), such as our banks, the expenses scandals (duck houses and tampons), the media (phone hacking – milly dowler), the police (hillsborough, fitups, undercover spying), just tax system – cornerstones of British life GONE, GONE, GONE…

    So extreme right wing TTIP non-public Cameron and his non-public sidekick Osborne will soon witness our, the British people’s displeasure, exasperation and ire when we vote BREXIT on June 23rd.

    They, ‘the nasties’ don’t want us to leave the EU so great our adventure has arrived – Screw you Etonians….

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7QfbPoCZZWk

    • Mark Golding

      Oh! least I forget – exit polls WILL be conducted by 38 Degrees and others and the postal vote will be watched. probed and put under a microscope, so don’t even think about deceit, trickery and fraud else a decent, honorable justice system will be enforced.

    • MJ

      “when we vote BREXIT on June 23rd”

      If we don’t the clock for the UK joining the euro will start ticking again.

  • Ben Monad

    “The Obama administration does not want peace in Syria. The Russians finally have to admit to themselves that the U.S. is no partner for a continuation of a cease fire, a coordinated attack against the Islamic State and al-Qaeda and for peace in Syria. Indeed, as Lavrov explains, the U.S. has again asked to spare al-Qaeda from Russian air strikes even as two UN Security Council resolutions demand its eradication. Huge supply convoys (vid) from Turkey are again going to the “rebels” who will, as always, share them with al-Qaeda and other terrorists.”

    http://www.moonofalabama.org/

    Rope-a-dope used to be a strategy for winning a boxing match.

    • Habbabkuk (la vita è bella)

      “moonofalabama” is a website of choice for the seriously disturbed.

      Sane people should consult it only for laughs.

      • bevin

        Why would you say that? Except as a smear?
        The website in question is very useful. It has over the years, demonstrated by providing evidence, that a number of claims trumpeted by the imperialist media are false. It was one of the first to prove that the Ghouta sarin gas attacks could not be blamed on the Syrian government. Given that this was being touted as a casus belli by the US, at the time, the revelation of the truth on the MoA site is likely to have played an important part in saving tens of thousands of lives.
        Another lie the site was the first to refute was the claim that an artificial diamond production facility in Iran was testing nuclear warheads.
        Throughout the long campaign of lies designed to create the false impression that Iran was producing nuclear weapons the MoA website carefully and scientifically examined the ‘evidence’ adduced by imperialist warmongers working through “journalists.”
        Throughout the war against Syria the site has been in the vanguard of those pointing out that the “revolution” there is not only supported by the US but armed and financed by every tyrant in the region.
        It is to be expected that the security services, which seem to have been transformed into full time agents of US warmongers, would object to the MoA site. And that will explain by Habba-cluck-cluck denounces it in such intemperate terms.
        It is in the business of proving him a liar and his employers, enemies of humanity.
        Decent people treasure nothing so much as the hatred of fascists.

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          “Why would you say that?”
          _________________________

          Because I’ve read some of it. A lot of it sounds like you, actually (“imperialist media”, “imperialist warmongers”, “enemies of humanity”, “fascists” – all the stale old CPSU clichés).

          It is bollocks – deranged, mentally-ill bollocks at that.

          D’ye understand now, Bev?

          • Resident Dissident

            Of course if its the imperialism of the Soviet Union to its member states and Warsaw pact allies Bevin would have no problem whatsoever.- in fact he would regard it as excellent.

          • bevin

            Your style of debate never changes: I pointed out a number of fairly recent services that MoA had performed in substituting truth for lies promoted by the imperialist media.
            You called this ‘bollocks-derange, mentally ill bollocks at that’.
            Which is hardly an answer.
            Then you asked
            “D’ye understand now?”
            I do. You do nothing but smear and insult, in the hope of annoying those who disagree with you-and the ruling Establishment.
            Had you any education you would realise that the terms imperialist, warmonger, and enemies of humanity all long pre-date the Russian revolution. So do the groups and practises that they describe.
            ‘Fascism’ perfectly describes your world view, that of an authoritarian conformist, genuinely enraged at the fact that the world of exploitation and savagery that is modern capitalism is understood by decent people to be in need of great improvement. And that democracy and equality are required to bring about that improvement.
            It is, I suspect, equality that you really fear, because it would tear down the threadbare defences that protect your inadequate personality from the knowledge that you are a person without qualities, who desperately clings to the wreckage of racism and imperialism to buoy himself up.

          • giyane

            Habyy can read.And I thought he just flicked through looking for page 3 bimbos.

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            Guano

            You’re obsessing with bimbos, aren’t you?

            Tel Aviv beach bimbos, page 3 bimbos…whatever next?

            My guess is that you’re not getting your leg over often enough.

        • Resident Dissident

          “It was one of the first to prove that the Ghouta sarin gas attacks could not be blamed on the Syrian government.”

          It does no such thing but then Commisars always had a very low threshold for what constitutes proof.

          • lysias

            Seymour Hersh usually is right in his reports. He has highly placed sources in the U.S. intelligence and military communities. And he has reported confidently that it is quite impossible that Assad’s government was responsible for the Ghouta sarin gas attacks.

    • Mark Golding

      A dark curtain has fallen on Syria Ben. A disturbing message discloses British/American collaboration to prodigiously use human shields to obstruct Russian bombing raids. That is a secret message to Putin from peculiarly Carter and not John Kerry. Russia WILL be exposed as blurring the boundaries of war and peace and subject to severe and paralyzing sanctions. It is black-mail on a grand scale.

      We are indeed entering a critical chapter in the liberation of Syria.

      • Ben Monad

        Yes Mark. It’s one chapter of many. Can you see anything except pyrrhic victory for any side?

  • Silvio

    Here is another interesting court room video from the King family’s lawsuit against the accused conspirator in the death of MLK Loyd Jowers. It’s video of the testimony of an expert witness, the late William Schaap, called by the Kings’ lawyer William Pepper:

    From the Youtube video description:

    The eight video parts here are of the testimony by expert witness, Attorney and Professor Emeritus William Schaap in the November-December 1999 Memphis, Tennessee wrongful death lawsuit trial of Loyd Jowers and co-conspirators in the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. Schaap gave his testimony on November 30, 1999. The jury of six whites and six blacks found Jowers guilty of involvement and that the US government was involved in carrying out the assassination.

    William Schaap’s testimony concerns the US government’s near-total control over the major media (i.e., news agencies, newspapers, etc.) and its extensive use of disinformation campaigns (i.e., outright lying on a massive scale) targeted against the US public. His testimony is based upon US government primary-documentation divulged in US Congressional hearings and the resulting reports, as well as by the testimony of named government officials involved in the disinformation operations.

    The transcript of Schaap’s testimony is available at the following link:
    Proceedings, November 30th, 1999, Volume IX, Case No. 97242-4 T.D., Circuit Court of Shelby County, Tennessee https://archive.org/details/WilliamSchaapTestimonyAtTheMartinLutherKingJrTrial

    Here’s the link to the video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PEDjivIH1PQ

  • Peter Beswick

    Tony O, we have some things in common;

    I grew up in Royton, spent a little time rt St A & O’s until I was shipped out to boarding school.

    My sisters went to O L’s and my brother Cardinal L.

    I did a bit of technical stuff

    And in the last week I have become a first time Granddad

    My local has loud live bands but I leave when they start

    My wife of 35 years is still beautiful, my children fit, healthy and a pleasure

    Your insights are insightful and clever

    If you want to make a change, you have to focus.

    Muttering never achieved anything

    Lift your game!

  • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

    Today and yesterday have been vintage days for dark conspiracies on here:

    John Kennedy’s assassination
    Robert Kennedy’s assassination
    Martin Luther King’s assassination
    Richard Nixon’s downfall
    Malcolm X’s assassination
    John Lennon’s assassination.

    Have I missed out anyone? 🙂

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        I checked out your link, “Macks”, and I saw the words “critical thinkers”.

        Surely to God you don’t place yourself in that category, do you?

        LOL

        • Macky

          Did you check with somebody above troll intelligence as I suggested, as I bet you think “critical thinkers” refers to people who like to criticise a lot ! 😀

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            No, I was just hoping you don’t “think” of yourself as a “thinker”! 🙂

          • Macky

            Oh I forgot one very original thought of yours, that you’are not a troll ! 😀

        • Macky

          @Habba-Clown, what would you know about thinking ?!

          After years on this blog, you have never expressed an original thought ! 😀

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            I know enough about thinking to know you’re incapable of it, “Macks”.

            Get back to the other blogs you infest, bless! 🙂

    • Loony

      It is noteworthy that your list of assassinated people all fit with remarkable precision the profiles of people targeted by various projects under the COINTELPRO banner.

      Perhaps a mere recourse to facts could help dispel the “dark conspiracies” that appear to be troubling you.

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        No, Loony, those are dark conspiracies in the minds of those who posted about them on here.

        Since I believe that those claims are absolute rubbish, I am supremely untroubled 🙂

        • Loony

          Your comment either displays an absence of logic or is statement that you are complicit in a conspiracy..

          COINTELPRO fits the definition of a conspiracy. Unlike many references to conspiracies COINTELPRO is a conspiracy fact as opposed to a conspiracy theory.

          The validity of any fact is determined by reference to evidence, and is not determined by reference to personal characteristics of individuals making an argument based on facts.

          To my knowledge it is not possible to determine whether the list of names you provided were victims of COINTELPRO. It is however possible to conclude, as I have done, that they all fit with remarkable precision the profiles of the types of people targeted by COINTELPRO.

          As you believe the claims to be absolute rubbish then it follows that either (i) You have knowledge of COINTELPRO that is not in the public domain or (ii) you reach conclusions based on prejudice and ignorance

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            “To my knowledge it is not possible to determine whether the list of names you provided..”
            ___________________

            You conveniently forget that I merely brought together, in a little list, the conspiracies claimed by posters over the past couple of days.

            As for reaching “conclusions based on prejudice and ignorance”, I should say that I (and most people) reach them on the basis of the application of a little common sense and a healthy refusal to believe that the death of every second prominent person is the result of some malevolent conspiracy (usually involving the intelligence services)

            “Chavez’s cancer was injected into him by the CIA” type of stuff, doncha know. 🙂

          • Loony

            Once again you make unsupported leaps of logic.

            You provided (or collated if you prefer) a list of 5 prominent people who were assassinated. This list falls many orders of magnitude short of constituting “every second prominent person.” Something that you surely must know – and hence most likely constitutes a clumsy attempt to muddy the waters.

            Your implication regarding Chavez is that any attempt to attribute his demise to anything other than natural causes would be evidence of a lack of common sense.

            It is undisputed that the US made a number of assassination attempts on Fidel Castro. Most people accept that these attempts totaled 638. Out of such a large number of attempts some were so bizarre as to appear scarcely credible when viewed through the prism of common sense. The fact that they happened both makes them credible and illustrates the limitations of the common sense approach..

            Chavez was politically close to Castro and the US attitude to Chavez was similar to its attitude to Castro. It is therefore not unreasonable to postulate that the US may have considered (or attempted) the assassination of Chavez.

            Given that Chavez is dead and that his cause of death is known then if the US assassinated him then it follows that they most likely induced cancer in him. This necessarily remains speculative, but when viewed in a wider context constitutes a reasonable line of inquiry.

            A refusal to consider this hypothesis as being realistically plausible constitutes nothing more than a reaffirmation of a desire to reach conclusions based on prejudice and ignorance.

          • Anon1

            Another recent piece of conspiraloonery (I think it was from Walt Golding) is that Islamic State are being operated using CIA mind control techniques.

            I suppose that at the heart of all this lunacy is a refusal to accept that evil exists in the world that isn’t the fault of the West. When the reality of Islamic extremism becomes overwhelming the conspiraloons have to dream up ever more bizarre and unhinged theories to maintain their denial.

          • Loony

            Anon1 Is there any underlying purpose to your comment?

            Take for example your concern with Islamic extremism and your conflation of this problem with a conspiracy theory involving CIA “mind control techniques” over IS fighters.

            There is no need to rely on strange theories. The facts are that the US has provided funding to IS and these facts are in the public domain and are uncontested.

            The benefit of a “wacko” conspiracy theory in relation to IS is that it diverts attention from the relevant facts of the situation. A consequence of creating, peddling, or referring to such conspiracy theories is to provide indirect support to IS. As you (quite rightly) are so against them why do you post comments that are beneficial to them?

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            Loony

            “Given that Chavez is dead (YES, WE CAN AGREE ON THAT) and that his cause of death is known (IT IS – CANCER) then if the US assassinated him then it follows that they most likely induced cancer in him (IMPECCABLE LOGIC BUT FALLS DOWN BECAUSE IT IS PREMISSED ON THE IDEA THAT HE WAS ASSASSINATED RATHER THAN DYIB IF NATURAL CAUSES) This necessarily remains speculative (YOU SEE? YOU ADMIT IT YOURSELF) but when viewed in a wider context constitutes a reasonable line of inquiry (ONLY FOR SOMEONE WHO WOULD VERY MUCH LIKE TO BELIEVE HE WAS ASSASSINATED).

            Now then, let’s turn to the list of people various posters have suggested were assassinated.

            Do you seriously believe that the two Kennedys, Martin Luther King, Malcolm X and John Lennon were assassinated as a result of some govt or intelligence agencies conspiracy (idem re Nixon’s departure from office)?

            Don’t just tell me they fit some “profile” – tell me whether you – you, “Loony” – believe.

          • Loony

            @Habbakuk – I have not suggested that either Chavez or any of the people on your collated list were assassinated by agents of the US state.

            I have referred to the COINTELPRO project and to US assassination attempts of Castro. In both cases public domain evidence is available to provide a factual basis to support the assertion that the US has sought to target (up to and including assassination) of individuals that it does not like. These are facts and they are uncontested.

            Hugo Chavez and the individuals on you collated list all fit the profile of the types of people targeted by the US. That is an observation that is also testable by reference to facts. The fact that they fit the profile does not mean that they were targeted,

            Given that projects existed to target people similar to the referenced individuals then the most relevant question is: If these people were not targeted then why were they not? What is so special about these people that even though programs existed to go after people like them they were nonetheless excluded from the program.

            You would be better advised to display less interest in inquiring into what I may or may not believe and much more interest in inquiring into facts and applying those facts so as to determine for yourself the credibility of any given hypothesis.

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          Loony

          “@Habbakuk – I have not suggested that either Chavez or any of the people on your collated list were assassinated by agents of the US state.”
          ___________________

          I know you haven’t, Loony. Those suggestions were made by other Loonies (who are now lying low, of course).

          But since you thought fit to take up the cudgels on their behalf – uninvited – I thought I’d ask you what you thought about their claims.

          So, once again : don’t worry about patterns or profiles, just tell me whether you belief those people were assassinated by agents of the state.

          If you don’t want to reveal your thoughts, then I suggest you shut up and let the original addressees reply.

          • Macky

            Loony (to Hanna-Clown); “You would be better advised to display less interest in inquiring into what I may or may not believe and much more interest in inquiring into facts and applying those facts so as to determine for yourself the credibility of any given hypothesis.”

            Asking a troll to consider facts & evidence in the public domain is like asking a vampire to wear a crucifix made of garlic on a sunny afternoon ! 😀

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            More substance from “Macks”! 🙂

            (Long tea break, I see)

          • Loony

            I have already explained to you a cogent methodology for evaluating the claims as to probability of individuals having been assassinated or targeted by agents of the state.

            Notwithstanding this explanation you continue to describe the claims as having been made by “loonies” You fail to make clear whether you consider it appropriate to brand people as “loonies” because of the claims they made or for other unconnected reasons.

            If it assumed that you consider those claims to be without merit then it is necessary for you to explain why the US would make 638 attempts on Castro’s life and none on Chavez’s life. Chavez and Castro shared the same political ideology and both positioned their countries in defiance of the US. Most importantly is the critical long term strategic position of Venezuela as the repository of the worlds second largest oil reserves. This gives Venezuela a strategic importance far in excess of Cuba, So for what reason would the US be almost maniacal in its detestation of Castro and yet entirely relaxed by the presence of his ideological twin in Venezuela.

            This is a discussion about geo-politics, the power of the state, and possible illegal actions of the state. It is not a discussion about religion. It therefore matters nothing what my beliefs are. All that matters is an evaluation of the evidence. Given that public domain information is limited and incomplete it follows that any conclusions must, by necessity, be tentative,

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            OK, Loony, I read you loud and clear.

            You don’t want to tell us if you believe the assassination stuff put out by your fellow posters.

            My guess would be that you don’t believe what they claim but are afraid to say so lest you incur their displeasure; you want to stay a member of the group.

            I just wonder why you bothered to respond in their place rather than just keeping quiet (don’t bother to answer that 🙂 )

  • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

    Poor old Squonk’s blog appears to have turned into the Trowbridge-Clark-Ben (without the Gonad) show, with occasional guest appearances by Nebelmind and Fujisan (aka Cato).

    Still, I suppose it keeps them off here to some extent (except for the Gonad, who spreads his seeds everywhere).

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          Welcome back, Node, and thank you for that substantive and thoughtful post.

          Is the list-compiling business a little slack these days? Commiserations if so.

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            So much for Node’s “culture générale”. Probably an overseas poster.

    • Macky

      You could always help out by posting some of your troll drivel over there, but that would probably be the kiss of death.

  • Mark Golding

    As a little boy I was fascinated by magnets, how they attract (+ to -) and repel (+ to +) each other seemingly with an invisible force that would reveal itself sprinkling iron filings on a piece of white card.

    Iron or Steel is like a metallic sea of electrons which are negative (-). These outer electrons are free to move about in a solid lattice of metallic ions (+) forming an ‘electronic glue’ by the strong attraction, just like powerful magnets. Banging or even better heating a magnet can destroy this attraction. Likewise in iron or steel we can break the bond by high energy.

    In fact we can work out how much energy (in joules) is needed to break the metallic bond or vaporize steel if we know it’s mass. For instance the mass of steel in a 110 storey high rise building may need about 15 terajoules of energy producing an extremely high temperature of 3000 degrees or more..

    This amount of energy is in fact equivalent to about 3 portable (weight around 23 Kg each) of low yield nuclear demolition devices – Cute little things that my late father (an explosives expert) said would “fit into a suitcase…”

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          “Macks” is taking a little tea break to do some posting.

          Does your boss know?

          Apologies for the above if you’re unwaged.

          • Ben Monad

            Frick and Frack are back in the rack. Or is it Tweedledum and Tweedledee speaking in unison, but not for free. It’s a bona fide Bromance.

          • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

            Better than Monad and Gonad in a cloud of marijuana smoke

          • Republicofscotland

            Jim.

            Welcome back Jim, how is our resident Humanitarian, in a strictly fictional keyboard sense of course.

            I’m pretty sure a great humanist (who probably sees himself as a cross between Dr. David Livingstone and Mother Theresa) such as Jim, would rather spend his time on far flung shores defending the oppressed under Amnesty International’s banner, rather than commenting in here.

            Afterall, one so passionate about Mr Nassar’s plight ought to be out there fighting his corner. What I really mean Jim, if you’ve time enough to romp about in Wales, surely you’ve time enough to aid Mr Nassar?

            Then again Jim is a paper tiger.

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            RoS

            Probably a silly question, but…..what”s your point, exactly?

            _____________________

            BTW, since you’re here: you never did get round to answering why you keep spelling “influential” as “influencial” (ie, as in Spanish).

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            And that was a very influencial reply, RoS 🙂

    • Jim

      RoS :

      You patently don’t give a fuck about Osama Nassar or his friends. But you do like hanging around on here with homophobic neo-Nazi uber-turds, as does the Magisterial Davis when he pokes his nose in occasionally, and ‘Che’ Bevin too. Nice company!

      • Republicofscotland

        Jim.

        Now now Jim, profanity doesn’t become a conscientious humanitarian, instead of projecting your aggression towards me, shouldn’t you be focusing all that pent up emotion, into aiding poor old Mr Nassar.

        You see Jim, if you put half as much energy into actually doing something physicaly positive about Mr Nassar’s predicament as you do, thumping away on your keyboard, well the world would be, a little bit better a place to live in.

        Cue the expletives from our humanitarian champion of the QWERTY style of course. ?

        • Jim

          Pointing out your total lack of empathy is my point Scotland old boy. It seems to have whizzed right over your empty head. That and the questionable company you keep, along with Comrade Bevin and the Magisterial lurker.

        • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

          And what do you do that’s “physically positive” about any of the many subjects you post about, RoS?

          Let’s take a simple and easily-achievable example – do you observe the BDS campaign iro Israeli goods and services?

          • Republicofscotland

            My dear Habb, have I ever professed to you that I have physically banged the BDS drum? I think not.

            Our passionate humanitarian however, has been pushing (quite forcefully I might add) Mr Nassar’s plight, using it as a whipping stick on those who don’t quite meet his stratospheric humanitarian goals. Of course I doubt there’s a ounce of humanity in Jim (cue the obscenities en masse).

            No in my opinion Jim our lover of mankind is a very transparent agent provocateur, of the literal kind of course. ?

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            RoS

            “My dear Habb, have I ever professed to you that I have physically banged the BDS drum? I think not.”
            ______________________

            You accused Jim of banging the drum on here but of doing nothing practical (ie, in the real world).

            I asked you what you have done/were doing, practically, to work against the things you keep posting on about here. In that connection I asked you if, for example, you were practising BDS against Israeli goods and services.

            Your answer is given in quotes, above.

            It is very feeble, since you have gone on about BDS on here.

            The conclusion must be that you sound off on here, interminably, but you do nothing in the real world.

            Perhaps you’re trying to keep under the radar?

            Perhaps you belong to those who feel emboldened by the “anonymity” of the internet to say things you would not dare to say to your friend, colleagues and even strangers in the real world.

            Or perhaps you are bored and just on here for laughs? 🙂

    • MJ

      Brazil is paying the price for taking a leading role in establishing a new global monetary system that will consign the thieving western system to the dustbin of history where it belongs. Only India has yet to get the treatment but it probably won’t have to wait long.

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        Oh Gawd, here we go again.

        One of the BRICs fucks up its economy and of course it’s the evil West which is really responsible.

        Just like Senor Nicolas Maduro Moro’s Venezuela, oil-rich with a shortage of toilet paper.

        • Herbie

          It’ll be a very different and much better world when City and Wall St parasites are no longer able to mess with the economies of others.

  • Pan

    Have you considered writing this drivel for something like “Bunty” or whatever little girls read these days? I’m getting an irresistible urge to puke.

      • Loretha

        He could just make his own blog called “Wet dreams of a wet behind the ears teenage loser”

  • Silvio

    Oh dear, here is another example of one of the good ones picked off in the prime of life. It is said, “Only the good die young” – true enough, especially when the CIA is there to see to it that they do.

    What Did the Death of Bobby Kennedy Mean? And Who Was the Second Shooter?

    In commemoration of Bobby Kennedy’s assassination on this day nearly half a century ago, WhoWhatWhy offers a real treat to students of history. In an extensive podcast, Kennedy confidante Paul Schrade, who was also shot that fateful night, talks about his relationship to RFK and reveals insights never heard before. The 91-year-old Schrade begins with a leisurely reminiscence on early labor and political days, of special interest to those with some background in those issues. Starting nine minutes in, he turns to the RFK assassination.

    Paul Schrade had known Bobby Kennedy for years. They had worked in the political trenches, helped organize the farmworkers in California and developed a close bond. That night in the pantry of the Ambassador Hotel, Schrade was shot in the head and Kennedy was killed. For years Schrade has maintained that Sirhan Sirhan was not the lone shooter. He has devoted himself to proving that assertion.

    In this conversation with WhoWhatWhy’s Jeff Schechtman, Schrade, now 91, talks at great length about his relationship with Bobby and what happened that night.

    http://whowhatwhy.org/2016/06/05/death-bobby-kennedy-mean/

  • MJ

    Was wondering whether any muslims here might have a view as to why Muhammad Ali pbuh is not being buried in accordance with Islamic law ie within 24 hours of death?

    • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

      Perhaps because an autopsy will be carried out to establish whether the CIA injected him with Alzheimers?

      The “Chavez” treatment, so to speak.

      • Loony

        You seem to have difficulty in following an argument.

        The postulated hypothesis is that cancer was somehow induced in Chavez. There is no suggestion from anyone (apart for you) that Chavez ever suffered from Alzheimers or that anyone sought to induce Chavez with Alzheimers.

        I do hope you are well, and not suffering from any confusion – the type of confusion for example that may be attributable to Alzheimers.

  • Silvio

    US government says, “Trust us; would we lie to you?” Meanwhile, it destroys evidence related to 9/11.

    US Government Intentionally Destroys 9/11 Evidence
    Posted on June 4, 2016 by WashingtonsBlog
    Presumption of a Cover-Up …

    Judges and lawyers know that – if someone intentionally destroys evidence – he’s probably trying to hide his crime. American law has long recognized that destruction of evidence raises a presumption of guilt for the person who destroyed the evidence.

    So what does it mean when the US government intentionally destroyed massive amounts of evidence related to 9/11?

    For example, it was revealed last week that the judge overseeing the trial of surviving 9/11 suspects conspired with the prosecution to destroy evidence relevant to a key suspect’s defense. And see this.

    More at: http://www.washingtonsblog.com/2016/06/us-government-intentionally-destroys-911-evidence.html

    • MJ

      Destruction of evidence started on day one. The steel from the towers for instance was cut up and sold to China before investigators could get their hands on it. That’s why we don’t know for sure why the towers collapsed.

      Other key evidence was simply not collected. The planes have never been formally identified (despite enough wreckage being found to make identification routine and straightforward) so, bizarre as it may seem, we don’t know for sure what hit the towers and the Pentagon.

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        Craig has asked people not to post on 9/11.

        There are dozens of websites for 9/11 ConspiraLoons.

        So please respect Craig’s wishes and do not pollute his blog.

        Thank you.

      • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

        BTW, “MJ”, that’s four zany posts in quite a short time. Are you on something?

      • lysias

        Craig has not asked people not to post on 9/11. He has asked them to confine their posts on that subject to the “The 9/11 Post” thread (link on the right towards the top of this and other pages).

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          BTW, since you’re around again – you haven’t yet told us why you think Richard Nixon was spared assassination.

          Original thoughts preferably, but a quotation from a book you’ve just read would also be acceptable at a pinch.

          Thanks.

          • Herbie

            Yeah well.

            There was the small matter of Agnew to be dealt with first.

            Had to get a replacement VP. They certainly didn’t want Agnew to take the presidency.

            And even when they got Ford in place, you don’t really want two president whackings in ten years. That’s within everyone’s memory. People might get a clue.

            Best to keep these things old memories, generational like.

            I mean, how many president whackings can you handle before you realise you’re living in an eternal Scorcese tribute.

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            Herbie

            It was very generous of you to try to reply in our Transatlantic friend’s name.

            I note that our TF, having dropped his little conspiracy turdlet about Nixon, has ducked below the parapet 🙂

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            Herbie

            So, according to you, “they” didn’t kill Nixon precisely because “they” had already killed JFK.

            By that “logic”, shouldn’t “they” have killed another subsequent President because “they” didn’t kill Nixon?

            Is there some logic struggling to get out there, Professor?

          • Herbie

            Not quite.

            Had they whacked Nixon when Agnew was still VP then they’d have had to whack Agnew too.

            They had to get rid of Agnew first.

            That’s one component.

            But, more generally, it’s bad form to be whacking a number of presidents in a small time frame.

            Would make it look like one of those latin American dictatorships they were running at the time.

            They’d been sloppy enough as it was.

            Hence the massive investigations into their activities around that time.

            Hardly a secret:

            “By the early years of the 1970s, a series of troubling revelations started to appear in the press concerning intelligence activities. First came the revelations of Christopher Pyle in January 1970 of the U.S. Army’s spying on the civilian population[1][2] and Sam Ervin’s Senate investigations produced more revelations.[3] Then on December 22, 1974, The New York Times published a lengthy article by Seymour Hersh detailing operations engaged in by the CIA over the years that had been dubbed the “family jewels”. Covert action programs involving assassination attempts against foreign leaders and covert attempts to subvert foreign governments were reported for the first time. In addition, the article discussed efforts by intelligence agencies to collect information on the political activities of US citizens.[4]”

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

          • Habbabkuk (flush out fakes)

            Great quote, Professor Herbie, but what’s it got to do with assassinating US Presidents?

            I guess you’re too busy concentrating on the “big picture” to check whether your sources and links are relevant…..

          • Herbie

            If you’re really interested in how the US works, watch the Church commitee hearings, and read their report.

            What becomes clear is that the CIA were operating internally in the US the way they operated abroad.

            That’s the point really.

            It’s why Carter subsequently sacked many thousands of them and put Turner in charge.

            All to no avail unfortunately.

            The main sackees simply set up their own international terrorist outfit abroad.

            It’s called The Safari Club:

            “The United States was not a member of the group, but was involved to some degree, particularly through its Central Intelligence Agency. Henry Kissinger is credited with the American strategy of supporting the Safari Club implicitly—allowing it to fulfill American objectives by proxy without risking direct responsibility.[13] This function became particularly important after the U.S. Congress passed the War Powers Resolution in 1973 and the Clark Amendment in 1976, reacting against covert military actions orchestrated within the government’s Executive branch.[14]”

        • Silvio

          Thanks for that info. I was under the impression that Craig had just banned discussing the matter of the building collapses, bit not other matters surrounding 9/11 (except on the dedicated 9/11 thread of course). I will of course adhere to Craig’s wishes in the future, and the mods can delete my above 9/11 post. Craig, my apologies.

    • Beth

      That was interesting Silvio. Glad you posted here because I don’t read the other thread. Amazing that the actual 9/11 commissioners are prepared to resign and say the White House has been covering up evidence.

      • lysias

        John Farmer, Jr. was Senior Counsel to the 9/11 Commission. He had had a career in the highest legal levels of government in his state of New Jersey: he was both Assistant U.S. Atttorney and state Attorney general. I assume he owed his appointment on the commission to one of the chairmen of the commission, former New Jersey Governor Tom Kean. In his 2009 book The Ground Truth: The Untold Story of America Under Attack on 9/11 Farmer wrote: “At some level of government, at some point in time, a decision was made not to tell the truth about the national response to the attacks on the morning of 9/11. We owe the truth to the families of the victims of 9/11. We owe it to the American public as well, because only by understanding what has gone wrong in the past can we assure our nation’s safety in the future.”

  • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

    Welcome back, Jim, hope you en,joyed your break.

    I’ve missed you and so has “Macks”, so much so that he just couldn’t stop talking about toy in your absence.

    Were your ears tingling…? 🙂

    • Jim

      Hi Habbs, it was a fantastic few days. Crib Goch with a mate and his ten year old (first day in the hills) really good to get away from the insidious mind pollution. I promised my friend I’d stay away but just couldn’t resist posting the Mick J. Knighthood little jibe! Strict avoidance of the loathsome homophobic neo-Nazi though! That little turd can fester in his own excrement. ?

      • Macky

        LOL ! Dim Jim & Habba-Clown, two cheeks of the same troll backside !

        Oh say it ain’t so Dim Jim, I will miss your incisive wit & words of wisdom ! 😀

        • Habbabkuk (they don't like it up 'em, do they)

          You already said that, “Macks”.

          But you dpn’t do originality, do you.

          Needle, gramophone, stuck. 🙂

          • Macky

            You weren’t paying attention Troll Clown as I said “two cheeks of the same Troll Arse” the first time; egg on troll face time again for you ! 😀

      • Republicofscotland

        Jim.

        So Jim couldn’t stay away, isn’t there some humanitarian cause that would be better served by you than commenting in here? I mean surely the suffering of the oppressed outweighs a Mick Jagger jibe anyday?

        Oh, that’s right I almost forgot Jim’s humanitarianism, doesn’t extend beyond his keyboard. ?

        • Jim

          The two can coexist RoS! Pointing out the risible faux-revolutionary posing of Mick and the boys is good fun, it’s time idiot children like Rob grew up a bit. Exile is still one of best albums ever made though. ?

          • Republicofscotland

            Oh my dear Jim, our esteemed keyboard humanitarian, youd better not let Habb or Anon1, see you commenting that two can coexist. That kind of treacherous talk, brings them out in a cold sweat.

            I wonder if Mick and the boys, as you call them, donated any of the proceeds of that 1972 album, to the families of the thousands of dead Syrians who died during the Yom Kippur war of 72.

            I’m confident Jim, that you being the great humanitarian that you are, in the literal sense of course wrote a letter to the press expressing your outrage, at the plight of those poor Syrians.

          • Jim

            Still in short trousers then, Scotland. You still refuse to address the issue of your utter contempt for Osama Nassar and evident warmth of feeling for loathsome homophobic neo-Nazi’s. Strange that.

          • Republicofscotland

            Jim.

            I see the penny still hasn’t dropped, it’s not Mr Nassar’s plight per se that I have contempt for, no Jim, it’s you using his case as Justice Blindfolded, to attack those in here who don’t agree with you.

            We could of course push Mr Assange’s plight, but alas for Jim our great humanitarian, there’s no anti-Assad angle to be had from that particular acorn.

            Jim keeps introducing, homophobic Neo-Nazi’s, a strange approach from one so passionate about humanity, in a fictitious sense of course.

          • Jim

            No, your contempt ‘per se’ for Osama Nassar is evident from your own posts. I give you ‘Great Unwashed’ your honour. This obvious contempt is further exemplified by your friendship with and sympathy for the views of a certain little personage called ‘Macky’. I rest my case.

    • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

      That – for once – was an interesting article from “globalresearch”.

      As a matter of interest, does anyone here know where Blair spends most of his time these days?

      • Republicofscotland

        Habb.

        Hold the press, Habb admits GR article is interesting, surely not?

        Is this a leap year?

        Is the forecast for blue moon tonight?

        April 1st has passed, surely our great sceptic and denouncer of all things unestablishment like, and detrimental to Israeli progressiveness, hasn’t turned a new leaf ?

        I fear however like Jim our very own defender of the great unwashed, in a purely fictitious sense of course, Habb, is merely jumping the shark, to seem a little more affable.

        • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

          Thanks, RoS.

          Do you happen to know where Blair spends most of his time these days?

          If you do, please share.

          • Republicofscotland

            Who cares Habb where Blair spends his time?

            He should however be spending his time in a 8 x 6.

            Though I fear, such a outcome would not sit easy on the shoulders of our compassionate humanitarian Jim, in a purely literal sense of course.

        • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

          And apologies, of course, for asking you for facts.

        • Jim

          Osama Nassar is a ‘member of the great unwashed’ now. What a charming specimen you are Mr Scotland! Friends with fascist ultra-nationalist homophobes, contempt for Nassar, you really are excelling yourself! Well done!

          • Republicofscotland

            Oh Jim, pretentious do gooding, doesn’t sit easy on your non-existent humanitarian shoulders, and it’s visible for all to see.

            Digging out a Amnesty International case and beating others over the head with it, won’t wash in here I’m afraid.

            You’re no Harriet Tubman, that’s for sure.

            Still to me you’ll always be our passionate humanitarian of the keyboard.

          • Jim

            RoS :

            The delusion! What is on display for the world to see is your contempt and the company you keep. It seems to be difficult for you to get it though. You could try posting a link to the Guardian to bolster your position, that seems to work well in such cases. ?

      • Alan

        “As a matter of interest, does anyone here know where Blair spends most of his time these days?”

        A small Buckinghamshire village, not far from Aylesbury, where he purchased a house.

  • RobG

    Martin Luther King was assassinated by ‘US government agencies, according to a 1999 US court ruling…

    http://www.globalresearch.ca/court-decision-u-s-government-agencies-found-guilty-in-martin-luther-kings-assassination/5320024

    … and it’s wonderfully Orwellian that ‘Martin Luther King Day’ is celebrated every January in the US; but don’t get me onto all that.

    I’ll just say, though, that there were only two US presidents who were serious about putting the federal reserve bank under state control: Lincoln and Kennedy. Both of them were assassinated. That’s a funny coincidence, innit trolls. Likewise with Iraq, Libya, Syria and Iran, all of whom abandoned the petrodollar, and all of whom have either been destroyed or are in the process of being destroyed. That’s another funny coincidence, innit trolls.

    Those darn conspiracy theories…

      • lysias

        Before and after the Civil War, paper money in the U.S. was issued by private banks. During the war, to finance its expenses without paying the heavy interest that the private banks demanded, the U.S. Treasury issued its own paper money, called “greenbacks”.

        Similarly, JFK, to replace the exclusive power to issue money that the privately owned Federal Reserve had had up to that point, issued Executive Order 11,110 on June 4, 1963, which authorized the U.S. Treasury to issue its own paper money, the Silver Certificates.

      • RobG

        The ‘First Bank of the United States’ was established in 1791, its charter signed by George Washington, and it was a precursor to the federal reserve bank…

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

        The First Bank and Second banks of the United States’ were a private companies. President Lincoln wanted to put national finance under state control. Lincoln was assassinated.

        It’s called debunking the rollocks that trolls come out with.

        I could also debunk that batshit crazy right wing web site you link to, but I’ll save that for another day.

        • lysias

          The Second Bank of the United States expired in 1836 after President Andrew Jackson vetoed the legislation extending its charter in 1832. The banks that Lincoln’s Treasury acted against were state banks, but they were as privately owned as the two Banks of the United States had been.

          And the Federal Reserve has been privately owned since it was established in 1913 (although some — not a majority — of the members of its boards are appointed by the U.S. government).

          • lysias

            No, he wasn’t. In both cases, a president tried to take away the money-making power of private individuals and to transfer it to the government, and in both cases that president was assassinated.

          • Jim

            The little matter of the details being totally wrong rather weakens his and your case.

          • Jim

            You were attempting to salvage the wreck of Rob’s post by alluding to the private nature of these other banks. Rob’s post was rubbish and no amount of shoring up with your information makes what he said correct. Simple.

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            I note that our Transatlantic Friend is gloating his conspiracy theories again.

            Latest addition to the list: President Lincoln.

            *************************

            BTW, we’re still waiting for his personal thoughts on why President Nixon was “forced from office but allowed to live” instead of being assassinated.

          • lysias

            An Englishman living in France posting on the details of fiscal policy in the U.S. a century and a half ago is bound to get some details wrong. But he got the essentials right.

          • lysias

            If the essentials were right, it was not rubbish.

            Personally, I very much doubt that bankers had anything to do with John Wilkes Booth’s assassination conspiracy, but the coincidence is still worth mentioning and pondering. And the likelihood that bankers were among the elites offended by JFK’s actions some of whom conspirated in the conspiracy to assassinate him is much greater.

          • Jim

            It’s agree to disagree time. Details like basic facts are quite important if you have a point to make. I agree with you about the doubtful claims of conspiracy posited. Regarding JFK I wasted a few years of my life banging on about that after reading Garrison’s book and watching Stone’s movie, and taking John Pilger’s word that it was all a ‘parallel government’ conspiracy, until I realised it was all utter rubbish. My poor friends, I apologise for the boring lectures I harangued you with! I really swallowed the drivel hook line and sinker.

          • lysias

            That there was a government conspiracy to kill JFK is proved by many recent books, most notably James Douglass’s JFK and the Unspeakable and the five-volume Inside the Assassination Records Review Board by Douglas Horne, former chief analyst of military records for the Assassination Records Review Board, a body with subpoena powers established by Act of Congress in 1994.

          • Habbabkuk (flush out fakes)

            Our Transatlantic Friend proclaims

            “That there was a government conspiracy to kill JFK is proved by many recent books,”
            ___________________

            The inference of which is that books – books, that is, of the sort our TF seems to spend much of his time (“just recently”) reading – can by themselves “prove” something.

            I would humbly suggest that facts prove or disprove matters of this nature.

            And that the authors of the sort of books our TF seems to spend much of their time reading might – they are human, after all – just might succumb to the temptation of selecting the facts that suit their case and ignoring others, or of interpreting facts in accordance with their own theories.

            A bit like lawyers’ modus operandi, in fact.

          • lysias

            I challenge anyone to read the five volumes of Horne’s magnum opus and not be convinced. It is full of facts.

  • Doug Scorgie

    bevin
    June 6, 2016 at 14:46

    “This really is disgusting even by your low standards. There is no evidence whatsoever that I have any prejudice against Jews.”
    …………………………………………………….

    Of course there is no evidence bevin otherwise Mr H would have supplied it.

    He is here (with others) to disrupt this blog and frequently accuses posters of anti-Semitism if they criticise Israel or Zionism, which is what Zionists do.

    They don’t like facts or genuine history. They cannot justify support for Israel without resorting to lies, misrepresentation, character assassination and name calling i.e. Jew-hater.

    He is undoubtedly a nasty Zionist and politically to the far right.

    That is a brief and unauthorised biography of Habbabkuk.

    • Jim

      Bevin and Davis support the views of people like the estimable ‘Macky’ and his friends, who serially posts links to anti-Semitic sites like the Saker. Bevin recently posted about the ‘foul stench in the worlds nostrils’ that is Israel, and fantasised about its destruction. He is without any doubt an anti-Semitic personality. His own statements and the company he keeps on here make that quite clear. He is a liar, as evidenced by his recent pathetic attempt to dissemble regarding his link to Paul Craig Roberts’ Pol Pot opinion piece. A person not to be trusted.

      • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

        You have nailed “Bevs” down perfectly, Jim.

        You are almost ready to move on to your next, higher level of understanding, which is: there are many “Bevs” on this blog.

        • Jim

          I’m going to try and escape before this insane pit and its denizens drags me down Habbs! I’m absolutely sure you’re right though. Bevin is a real piece of work! I don’t think I’ve ever seen anyone quite so deluded. It’s a wonder to behold. ?

          • bevin

            Of course you haven’t actually seen me at all. You have disagreed with my opinions and, being incapable of engaging with them, you have reached for excrement to fling. Lie follows lie. And the style is always that of Vyshinsky who, during the treason trials used precisely the same technique of claiming associations which didn’t exist, between one prisoner and a designated enemy, then building on this claim to assert behaviour that never existed.
            Thus “Bevin and Davis” (who he?) “support the views of people like Macky” (like in what respect? And what views are we talking about?) “who serially posts to anti-semitic websites like The Saker’s.”

            Half truths, falsehoods, cheap tricks and truths told with bad intent.
            What have we done to serve such abuse? Do not we debate reasonably?
            Of course we do, because our purpose is not to disrupt and provoke but to share our opinions and learn from others.
            Jim and Habbakuk smell of the Beer Halls in Munich where stormtroopers gathered to shout down opponents, before, stinking of beer they went into the streets to beat up those who offended them.
            Fascism is, above all, a style, a form of anti-intellectualism, denying the importance of reason and accuracy in the use of facts; in the street it takes the form of the boot in the face, on the internet it takes the form of the sort of stuff that these trolls vomit forth, an unending stream of tendentiousness and abuse, aimed at knocking thought on the head. And driving serious people, in despair, from the public forum.
            From such people as these trolls Concentration Camp guards and willing executioners are recruited, their consciences buried in callouses and compromises, too fearful to think for themselves and jealous of those who will.

          • Herbie

            That’s pretty much it, Bev.

            There’s democracy and reason, and then there’s habby and co.

            Anyway, since the habbies are obviously the status quo ists, representatives of those who rule us.

            Innit it funny to catch them out like this.

            I mean, so much work went into the construction of this democratic myth, this reason, this rationalism, things must be very bad when they themselves play so fast and loose with it.

            Just watch the EU In/Out debate in mainstream media.

            It’s childish.

            And the broader geopolitical context which is so pushing this issue and other seccessions is barely mentioned.

          • Jim

            Jesus Christ, I’ve just read Bevin’s passionate diatribe. You still haven’t explained the Saudi-South America ‘slip ‘o the tongue’ Bev old boy. Or the complete drivel you spouted in explaining away Roberts’ insane opinion piece and your appreciation of it. Or your friendship with homophobic neo-Nazis on this site. Or your lack of empathy with people like Osama Nassar. Or your barely veiled anti-Semitism, masked behind ‘Palestinian solidarity’. Odd that.

          • Habbabkuk (Are you a person of interest?)

            Did anyone else belly-laugh when – of all people – that old Stalinist “Bevs” accused Jim of using Vyshinsky’s style?

        • Republicofscotland

          Habb old boy, I thought mans love for his fellow man ( not in a erotic sense) through humanitarianism was the highest level of understanding?

          Our resident passionate humanitarian Jim, in the fugacious sense of course, should in a manner of speaking, already be at the highest level of understanding.

          Surely Jim has already reached the zenith of humanity, through his keyboard?

          • Jim

            I don’t know about that Scotland, but you’ve definitely reached a nadir of sorts with your open contempt for Osama Nassar, and your friendship with homophobic Nazi’s. Well done.

      • Resident Dissident

        The next think Bevin will be telling us was that there was no anti-Semitism or racism in his beloved and much lamented Soviet Union.

        • Ben Monad

          Pedestrian false-equivilency. Change from trumpet to flute for the sake of our ears.

    • Ben Monad

      They are at least zionista, but probably hasbaric. Cue the ‘anti-semitism’ card for their generic responses to anti-semitic Jewry, as though their anti-arab policies were absolved from their racist ideology. Jim is just another racist calling out his version of racism to no avail.

  • Tony_0pmoc

    I could never stand Alex Jones – mainly because of his manner and his voice which reminds me of someone scratching a blackboard with his fingernails. However I do agree with some of his views – and he does have a massive internet audience – and sometimes has some very interesting guests.

    Paul Joseph Watson has contributed to Alex Jones’ InfoWars thing for 5 years or so..

    He is very much younger – still looks like a kid to me..his wiki almost completely deleted suggests he was born in Kent..and maybe he was ..but I think he might have grown up in Sheffield.

    I much prefer his accent – and he has started doing some very powerful videos…

    I have so far only seen the first few minutes of this – I suspect I will agree with much of the rest.

    Its not that we don’t like Europeans – We obviously do..

    We just can’t stand the horrible people in Control of The EU.

    No one has elected them..They are just there…

    So how the hell do we get rid of them?

    In theory we can vote out the turds supposedly in control of The UK…

    what options do we have with this lot – They are like The East German Stasi – or The Very Worst of The USSR

    We have got to vote OUT

    Come on Craig Murray – Change your mind.

    The Saker has been relentlessly slagging us British Off and to be fair he has a point. He prefers The Italians and The French – and thinks we are all brain dead zombies – just doing what the Neocon Freaks in America tell us to do as if us British are Their whores and slaves.

    “The Truth About #Brexit”

    http://thesaker.is/the-truth-about-brexit/

    Tony

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