Well, If They Had Just Executed More In The Past, They Might Not Be Forced To Do This Now

Israel's parliament has approved a law that would make the death penalty the default sentence for Palestinians convicted of deadly terror attacks.

And the useful idiots are up in arms. 

Critics, including UN human rights chief Volker Türk, have described the new law as discriminatory. Türk also said its application would "constitute a war crime".

In theory, Jewish Israelis could also be executed under the law - but in practice this almost certainly would not happen, as the death penalty could only be carried out where the intention of the attack was to "negate the existence of the state of Israel".

Well, there's plenty of liberal self-hating Jews, but they mostly operate from the US and Europe...

The Palestinian Authority, which administers the West Bank, condemned the law, saying it "seeks to legitimise extrajudicial killing under legislative cover".

Israel has only executed two people in its history - one of them the infamous Nazi official Adolf Eichmann, who played an important role in perpetrating the Holocaust.

Past time they started again, then! 

You're Missing The Point, Jeremy...

...those coming across the Channel in dinghies are doing it FROM 'a place of safety'. Unless you believe France is a war zone?

Yes, I'm Sure The Danger Is In Arabella's Unsocialised Cockerpoo Puppy...

...and not Duwayne's trained killer pitbull. 

I mean, even their initial story bears that out!

Forman had seen the rottweiler before. It spent its days penned in a front garden, looking forlorn. In late October, Forman had dropped Nellie at her parents’ house after a morning walk, and was heading home to get ready for work. “I saw the owner first, standing on the edge of the pavement with the dog,” she recalls. She squeezed between the pair and some railings when the dog began to bark. “And then it just leapt up at me,” she says. “It was aiming for my face, but I put my arm up, and it took a massive chunk of it clean off. I couldn’t feel anything at first because it had taken all the nerve endings.”

Forman had joined the unfortunate ranks of Britain’s dog-bite survivors.

But not, you'll note, from the cockerpoo pup she'd bought.

Some cases grab the headlines, and cannot simply be blamed on the pandemic.

Like the one you used?

The Pet Food Manufacturers’ Association estimates there are now 12 million dogs in the UK, up about 2 million in 12 months. French bulldogs and labradors have been the most popular new dogs, according to analysis of pet insurance quotes by GoCompare.

And there's an obvious difference - if next door's Frenchie goes for my ankles, I can stomp the little sod into the middle of next week. 

The Labrador might pose more of a threat, but not as much as a dog that refuses to give up the attack after being kicked by a draught horse or shot with a taser or battered by desperate bystanders... 

As pandemic puppies grow into dogs with sharp teeth, too many lack the training to walk safely into the post-lockdown world. Meanwhile, dogs that do remember a life before Covid are on edge after a topsy-turvy year and face more upheaval as lockdown restrictions are eased. “Puppies haven’t been getting the same mental stimulation they would have done,” says Dr Jenna Kiddie, the head of canine behaviour at the Dogs Trust. “They haven’t been exposed to visitors to the home in the same way or been around other dogs. So we’re very worried about how they’re going to respond. Because they will probably respond with fear, and one way a dog can cope with fear is to use aggression.”

Typically, the dog advocates are out in force. Sensing a threat to their livelihood. 

Westgarth, whose book The Happy Dog Owner is out this month, says that even dog trainers often share the commonly held view that some attacks are inevitable and associated with certain breeds – and certain types of owners.

Any breed can bite, Westgarth adds.

Yes, it can. And if the West Highland terrier a few doors down nips me, I'm probably going to A&E for stiches. Not to the mortuary. 

I Know Who I'd Rather Hear From...

Boris Johnson:

"But I still think it's wrong that someone like Usman Khan who was sentenced 21 years or 16 years plus five on licence should have been out automatically in eight years.”

Father of Jack Merritt:

“We don’t know all the fact about this case yet, and we won’t know for some time – the inquest could take up to 2 years.

“We don’t know why Khan killed, or what, if anything could have been done differently to prevent it. Let’s have an enquiry, not a witch hunt.”

So...to sum up, we don't know all the facts and shouldn't rush to judgement, unless it's about Boris? Have I got that right?

Ladies And Gentlemen, Meet The New Brendan Cox!

'Don't use my son's death for political propaganda!' says Jack Merritt, as he uses his access to the 'Guardian' to do exactly that...

What Jack would want from this is for all of us to walk through the door he has booted down, in his black Doc Martens.

That door opens up a world where we do not lock up and throw away the key. Where we do not give indeterminate sentences, or convict people on joint enterprise. Where we do not slash prison budgets, and where we focus on rehabilitation not revenge. Where we do not consistently undermine our public services, the lifeline of our nation. Jack believed in the inherent goodness of humanity, and felt a deep social responsibility to protect that.

That belief got him killed. I'd rather it didn't get any future innocents killed.

So that door can stay firmly closed, with the Islamist terrorists firmly on the other side of it.

Forgot The Bit About 'Render Unto Caesar', Did You,,,?

For me, then, the health of a just society is measured by the way it treats the poorest, those on the edge of things. That’s why I support the mayor of Liverpool, his colleagues and 10 other councils across the country who are refusing to share sensitive personal data on non-UK rough sleepers with the Home Office.

That's the Bishop of Liverpool, suggesting it's right to take a line of non-co-operation with the state.

I believe that no undocumented person will accept help from homelessness outreach workers if by doing so their details will be shared with officials who want to deport them. This is not a negligible risk. In the Home Office’s own words: “The service is not an enforcement approach, but action may be considered on a case-by-case basis.”

That's what we have a Home Office for - to ensure that those not entitled to be here aren't, for long.

I have a vision for this country – one shared by many others – that has no room for the hostile environment. This is rooted in my faith as a Christian, and in the long traditions of our country as a place of welcome and care for the displaced, traditions enshrined in the NHS, of care for all, of the pursuit of lawful justice certainly. 

That'll be the NHS that's being bled dry by people not entitled to its help? And the lawful justice that says if you want to live here there's a way to do so legally?

I guess religion really does rot the brain, after enough exposure...

Useful Idiots Again...

Jacob Berkson from Brighton Migrant Solidarity, the protesters who clashed with police this afternoon, said: “The protest is about preventing immigration snatching people from our community and putting them indefinitely in detention.

“We are a peaceful resistance to a hostile environment.

“We’re here to support these people so [immigration officers] will think twice before coming back to our town.”

'Your' town? It seems you're determined to make it someone else's town....

The Home Office said the 17 men arrested for immigration offences presented themselves as Albanian, Indian, Ukrainian and Kazakhstani.

In other words, no-one's quite sure what they really are. So, what about those swinging fines for companies employing illegals, then?

A spokeswoman for U&I said: "We are committed to ethical practice and our contracts with construction contractors require that they abide by employment and immigration law and that all site personnel are qualified to come on site.

"We are aware that Home Office officials have visited the site this morning, and we are unable to provide any further details until their investigation is complete.’’

By which time you're hoping it'll be quietly forgotten.

It's About Time Part 2876328

A campaign group has voiced fresh concerns over Southend Council’s plan to introduce an order to ban begging, after national figures showed a massive increase in fines issued by local authorities.

The Manifesto Club slammed the council for “heartless penalisation” after reviewing a draft Public Spaces Protection Order (PSPO), which could see beggars hit with fines of up to £1,000.

Hurrah! Long overdue.

But who on earth could argue against this, and why?

The Manifesto Club says that a review of the PSPOs that had been introduced show that councils are failing to abide by statutory guidance, which says the orders should not be used to target rough sleeping or restrict the use of public spaces.

Guidance is just that. You don't have to take it.

Josie Appleton, director of Manifesto Club said the order is "firmly targeted at the homeless community", adding: “They would be unable to ask the public for money, which is in many cases the only way they can eat and survive. They cannot put up tents overnight in order to protect themselves from winter cold, nor can they enjoy a quiet drink on a bench.

“They are not allowed to sleep in a public place if others believe that this has a ‘detrimental impact’ on the quality of life of others. The truth is that the real ‘detrimental effect’ will be on the quality of life of homeless people – a community which, more than others, requires our help, rather than such heartless penalisation.”

All Josie cares about is 'the rights' of homeless people - ordinary taxpayers can just pay through the nose for services these parasites mostly scorn.

Well, we've had enough. And we've made it clear to the council.

A council spokesperson said: “The reasons why a PSPO is needed as an additional tool to tackle persistent and unreasonable anti-social behaviour, was outlined when we launched the PSPO consultation in January.

“The consultation ended in March and we are still collating the results, before drafting a report to be compiled and presented to cabinet.”

Southend Council leader John Lamb has also defended the PSPO proposal, stating in a cabinet meeting at the end of last year that it would not curb people’s liberties but ensure they “act in a way where they respect other people’s liberties”.

Your pets aren't welcome on the streets any more, Josie. You want them? House a few yourself.

How Dare You Talk To The Pariahs!

Earlier today, THQ Nordic announced an AMA on its Twitter account. That wouldn't have been a big deal, but unlike most 'ask me anything' sessions, which take place on Reddit, this one was hosted on anonymous imageboard 8chan.

People not into games are probably looking baffled at this point!

Let the SJWs disguised as games journalists tell you why this is a very, very bad thing indeed:

If you're unfamiliar with 8chan, Google once delisted it and warned users of "suspected child abuse content." It has included boards dedicated to pedophilia and fascism, and is known generally for racism, misogyny, and coordinated harassment.

Oh noes!

In an apology statement sent to PC Gamer and posted after the session, THQ Nordic PR and marketing director Philipp Brock said he didn't "understand the history and the controversy" of the site before agreeing to and participating in the AMA.

That's hard to completely believe. The official THQ Nordic Twitter account promised that someone would "take care of the nasty stuff" in the AMA thread, and it's unclear what "nasty stuff" THQ Nordic could've been referring to if not the stuff the site is best known for.

So what terrible, awful things did this exercise throw up?

...in response to being asked not to "censor any games nor appeal to the SocJus crowd" because the company is "doing fine as is," Brock said that THQ Nordic will "try to stay that way."

Hmmm....

While it's possible to impersonate others on 8chan—which also makes it a bad place for an AMA—these posts are specially tagged to indicate that they come from Brock. The official THQ Nordic account also 'liked' a tweet defending the AMA and calling those who had a problem with it "sensitive simons."

Seems you rather proved the point they're trying to make, eh? You grabbed that tar baby with both hands, didn't you?

More popcorn, anyone?

Put The Onions Away, 'Guardian'...

The mechanical engineer, who has lived in the country for a decade, was stopped from working in June when he exhausted his appeal rights over his original asylum application in 2016.

More than 100,000 people have signed a petition calling on the Home Office to halt his removal.

Oh noes! Have they got the right BabySeal (© DumbJon) this time?

Macharia, who has received repeated letters demanding he pay the council tax, has no income and while his application is considered, is surviving on handouts from his 69-year-old mother, Jacinta, who is working extra shifts as an agency nurse. She suffers from arthritis and lives in sheltered housing.

She is paying Macharia’s £365 monthly rent plus bills while he waits to hear from the Home Office about his case.

Oooh, sure looks like it! Well, how c...

Wait.

Macharia has been in the UK since 2009, arriving on a student visa. He has twice been granted extensions to remain, as a student and then as a highly skilled migrant.

He claimed asylum in May 2016, arguing that he would be persecuted in Kenya where homosexual activity is illegal.

He's played the system like a fiddle. There may well be hard luck cases out there, but the progressive press unerringly picks the wrong ones.

Just Hide Out In A Ditch, Love....

...it's Police Scotland, after all, they'll never find you there:

Larysa Switlyk, 33, 'a world-renowned hunter' from Sarasota, Florida, was accused of 'trophy hunting' wild animals on the island of Islay, Scotland in September after she posed for a series of Instagram photos during the hunt.

Now, Police Scotland have confirmed that the hunter, who regularly posts photos of her hunts alongside her boyfriend Jason, has been reported for firearms offences, along with a 41-year-old man also from the US.

While she was pictured with slain goats, stags and sheep on Islay, hunting animals in season is not illegal in Scotland and she is facing a charge under Section 11a of the Firearms Act, which relates to how you can use borrowed shotguns legally.

One hopes they've boned up on firearms laws since their last debacle...

Ms Switlyk drew intense criticism from politicians and celebrities after posting the photos - although many commenters mocked her for posing so proudly with a sheep.

Police Scotland added that they had received several complaints about hunting in September and the Procurator Fiscal is now investigating.

No, I have no idea why Police Scotland are mocked and derided as little more than hapless lackeys in blue of the offendatrons...

British hunter Jenna Gearing was one of those involved in the trip but said she quit early disgusted by Ms Switlyk's attitude.

'I'm not friends with her [Larysa] any longer and In fact the reason I left that hunt early was because I was so against what she stood for and her morals.

'I'd left the hunting trip before that photo was taken but it is an embarrassment to people that hunt like me and my family, who do it for sustainability, management and to eat wholesome freerange meat that I can source.'

There's always some useful idiot who thinks that they can avoid a clampdown on their sport by throwing someone else under the bus, isn't there? Do they never learn?

"The Nazis Are Coming, The Nazis Are Coming..!"

Thank goodness we've got people like this to tell us that the illegal Afghans & Syrians & who knows what invading our country via small boats from across the Channel are really fleeing the imminent Fourth Reich!

I Don't Think 'Differently' Is The Appropriate Word Here...

Yesterday morning we published a story that had a profound effect on our entire newsroom.

It's Liverpool, so of course, it's a heartwarming tale of how people came together to help their fellow citizens.

Within six hours of our story going live - our readers had contributed an incredible £7,000 to a fund launched to help the siblings cover funeral costs and the huge financial challenges that now lie ahead for them.

And here's another heartwarming tale of how people came together to help....

Well, not their fellow citizens. Far from it.

...yesterday also brought us the incredible moment a group of young Liverpool fans found they had been travelling back from France with two alleged asylum seekers hidden in their coach. The young men were discovered stowed in the vehicle after the fans had returned to British soil. The immediate reaction from the Reds fans? Naturally, it was to embrace the two young men, make them feel safe and welcome and even pose for a photo.

We don't know the specific circumstances that have led these two young men to try and make it to the UK - but it stands to reason that you must be escaping from a pretty difficult situation if you are ready to risk your life by travelling in the engine compartment of a coach for miles on end - with no idea how far you will get.

No, not 'differently'. Try 'with extreme gullibility' instead...

You Can Safely Ignore These Objections...

Sadiq Khan, the mayor of London, has come under pressure to order Cressida Dick, the Metropolitan police commissioner, to...

Pull her finger out and get a grip on London's street crime epidemic?

...stop plans for officers to patrol residential areas of the city with their guns on show.

By which utter morons, may I ask?

Len Duvall, a Labour member of the London Assembly (Ed: Translation: career obstructive guttersnipe) and former chair of the Metropolitan Police Authority, the body which used to oversee the Met, said: “Now the police with guns are in cars, in central London because of the terrorist threat, or for a specific operation.

“Police walking around a [council] estate with guns is a crazy thing. It creates a different atmosphere. It does not make sense and has not been thought through.”

Stafford Scott of the Monitoring Group (Ed: Translation - fulltime taxpayer funded race-baiter), which campaigns against what it sees as police injustices, said: “The more oppressive the policing and state response is, the more the violence will increase. These kids have been bullied by the police and its partners for most of their lives.

“They cannot fight the state so they fight each other. The police need to identify those who are a real threat and not simply use the violence as an excuse to oppress large sections of the community.”

Ah. The usual suspects. Listening to them is what got us into this state. Try something new. 

The Left’s March Through The Institutions Is Nearly Complete…

Some people were so moved by the plight of migrants in Calais, they traveled to France to donate clothes and food.

And for ‘some people’, don’t read hard-working taxpayers, but – of course!- the usual suspects, just like the last time:

Juliet Kilpin, 45, from Westcliff, a member of Avenue Baptist Church and co-ordinator at mission agency Urban Expression, visited the camp with two others.

She went with Matt Dominey, 17, a pupil at Southend High School for Boys, and 20-year-old university student Grace Claydon, from Hawkwell.

They decided to act after becoming increasingly frustrated at the “dehumanisation of migrants trying to find a way into the UK”.

This seems to be becoming a trend – opinionated do-gooders demanding recognition in local newspapers.

Mrs Kilpin said: “David Cameron made me do it when he described the migrants as a swarm.

“The national media have demonised these people and have stoked fear among the British public, so I wanted to go over myself and see what it is like.

“I put the word out that I was going and 48 hours later we had a car-full of stuff in donations and £1,000 to take over.

“One of our friends had made contact with the grassroots charities and volunteers, so we gave them the clothes and helped form a system to hand out food.

“We took over about 350 packs of biscuits and when they ran out there were still people queuing. There must have been about 500 there needing food.

“It was very eye-opening – we saw the world in one square mile. Everyone had heartbreaking stories as to why they were there.”

Yes, I’m sure they did. They always do, because they know there are people – like you! – naïve enough to lap that stuff up.

And never ask awkward questions, like ‘Where are all the women and children?’ or ‘Why have you ‘poor starvlings’ all got smartphones and new trainers?’…

Matt, who is studying politics, history, sociology and English literature, is a family friend of Mrs Kilpin and shared her views on the situation. He and Grace, an international development student, wanted to see the crisis at first hand.

He said: “I was aware of the situation, but what struck me the most was the scale of it.

“If there is a war-torn country in the world, then they were represented in Calais. “They want to make a life for themselves, they were excited by English culture and had a respect for it.”

Yup, they have so much respect for English culture they break our laws to get here. Back to the classroom, sonny…

When a man told me, “our skin may be different colours, but we are all one blood”, I couldn’t help but feel embarrassed by the demonising rhetoric being used by some back home against the hundreds of people I met.

You ought to feel embarrassed at your naivety. I hope this story is around in about 20 years time so you can cringe at just how much of an idiot you were.

Reasons Why I Love Twitter Part 357...

...which is, I think, approximately the number of pounds in weight of this protester at yesterday's 'Day of Action' by the great unwashed.

I Guess Village People Won’t Be Reforming, Then..?

Pharrell Williams has apologised for posing in a feather headdress for the latest edition of Elle UK.

The Happy singer triggered a #NotHappy Twitter campaign after it emerged that he was wearing a Native American war bonnet on the magazine's July cover.

/facepalm

Williams does allegedly have some Native American ancestry. This "doesn't matter", argued the Indian Country Today Media Network.

Of course it doesn’t. It never does when the identity politics crowd go on the warpath…

Whoops! Maybe that wasn’t the right term? *evil grin*

As stars including Kesha, Outkast and Harry Styles have now hopefully learned, the headdress is not simply a quirky hat.

I think, actually, all they’ve learned (I certainly have!) is that some identity groups are pretty well-balanced, having massive chips on both shoulders…

Please, Fasten These Chains On Me…

The young man’s name was Daniel or Dan, Mr Peck said. He said: “When I pulled him out he told me ‘I don’t know what happened. I got whacked and the next thing I got thrown off the bridge’.

“He had obviously been drinking. The story I heard was he was being pursued and decided to chuck himself off the bridge to get away from them.

“A few of the guys had Halloween painted faces. I’m a bit concerned about the safety of these guys. They are young men but they are also someone’s children.”

Then it’s time they grew up, or Darwin will have his way with them. Still, never mind, the apparatus of the emergency services will rush to their aid:

A spokesman for London Ambulance said: “We were called just before 1.30am on October 27 to reports of someone in the river.”

They sent a medic in a car, an ambulance and a hazardous area response team and took a man in his 20s to hospital.

I thought they were short-handed?

But, in the comments, there’s an example (assuming it isn't a subtle spoof) of just what sort of mentality the rest of us are up against:

DB says... I am glad that there has been no death or serious injury in this case. When will the council finally decide that the riverside is not the best place for establishments that are primarily geared up towards children and young people drinking heavily? It really is a recipe for disaster.

Yes. Put down that relaxing pint at the pretty little riverside pub, don’t you realise you are standing in a lethal trap!

It was only last year when someone deliberately dived into the river and was killed after drinking too much and I am sure more have died in the past. It is all very well putting up barriers to stop them doing it, but if they want to dive in they will and the outcome is never going to be good.

Oh, I don’t know about that. Sometimes the outcome raises our national IQ by a jot!

I think that everyone over the age of 25 would like to see these places closed altogether, but there is clearly a demand for them so let's just get them sited away from the river.

I find it hard to believe that this commenter really does think everyone over the age of 25 wants to see pubs closed down.

Is Failing ObamaCare Really Just ‘Working As Intended’..?

Marc Rubin certainly seems to be hinting at that:

The glitches and problems with the website are actually, for the moment a blessing for Democrats and Obama himself. They serve as a temporary smoke screen to the real problems which will soon become evident and which were inherent in the law itself, a law for those not aware, that was primarily written by the insurance industry (see the PBS documentary on Frontline) after Obama gave in to their demands and dropped the public option. Obamacare won't be the signature accomplishment of his presidency as his supporters like to trumpet, but his signature failure.

Yup, they wanted single payer, but they settled for ObamaCare. Now the impending failure of the program gives them the impetus they need to push for an abomination like the NHS.

What will soon be apparent once the glitches with the web sites are fixed is that Obamacare will not get remotely close to the 32 million needed to make the program work (or even the 7 million the government predicts will sign up by March 2014). And that will have nothing to do with the website, but what people see on the site once they get there.

Yes, indeed!

As noted at Patterico and Protein Wisdom, once the LIVs that Obama has bamboozled see just what it is they are going to have to pay for – yes, them, not ‘the rich’! – they suddenly realise they’ve been had.

As Robert Frank pointed out in the business section of the New York Times, for Obamacare to succeed, millions of young, healthy uninsured people need to buy into the program and purchase insurance. All of them. One look at the proposed premiums for the bottom tier plans designed to attract those millions and anyone not blinded by wishful thinking could have seen that Obamacare was going to fail.

The assumption is either that Obama and his acolytes are truly blind, or that they had an ulterior motive all along...

The cost alone of these "low end" policies are producing sticker shock when people see them. It gets worse when people see what the insurance companies are actually offering for these premiums. That's when they get the second shock.

Well, indeed! And why wouldn't they?

Congressional Democrats should start getting out in front of what is going to be a mammoth failure, and start running on the idea of having supported a public option in the first place over Obamacare. They should promote the idea of a Democratic Congress in 2014 passing a public option to make this work.

So, was thre (planned) disaster of ObamaCare just a way of softening the American public up for what they wanted all along?

Ooooh, A New Baby Seal For The Left!

The shooting of Shaaliver appeared to fall within the guidelines for using deadly force, police officials said.

...some in Shaaliver’s neighborhood, including the boy’s aunt, Quwana Barcene, 35, .... compared her nephew to Trayvon Martin in Florida.

“Him, Trayvon Martin, it’s never going to end,” she said.

“A child. Fourteen years old. Fourteen years old. Gone. Shot in the head. By police.”

At Shaaliver’s housing project, the Gouverneur Morris II Houses, his friends gathered to support his parents.

“This is unreal, how the police get away with murder,” his aunt, Ms. Barcene, said. “They get away with murder.”

And what was this little innocent doing at the time? Was he wandering home with his pop and his sweeties like the Blessed St Trayvon?

Just after 3 a.m. on Sunday, the pop of gunshots cut through the air.

Two rookie police officers — barely a month out of the Police Academy, and now on foot patrol in the Bronx — hurried toward the sound.

They headed east on East 151st Street to find a chase unfolding, one person running down the middle of the street, another following with a handgun. The officers ordered the second figure to drop his gun. Instead, another shot rang out. One of the officers fired a single shot. The bullet struck the gunman in his lower left jaw, killing him.

Not was it his only brush with the law:

...court records showed he had been caught with a gun at least once before; his last brush with the law involved his arrest on a charge of attempted murder, after a rival gang member was shot in May.

All this, the police said, at age 14.

Doesn't seem as if the police are getting away with murder. It does seem, though, as if Shaaliver fully expected to...