Back to poppies, there were two smartly dressed late-middle-aged men in the foyer of our local Co-op supermarket last Saturday when I went in to buy a bottle of gin for our evening tipple. So I bought a metal one, paying using a card machine which didn't seem to go below £3. However one of the 'chaps' put it onto my fleece, since my hands aren't flexible enough nowadays. It's the one I always were this time of the year, So that's me demonstrating my patriotism for another week or so, and indeed I might forget to take the poppy off! For a while, anyway.
NEWS: The federal judge in the James Comey case just blasted the Trump Justice Department for adopting an “indict first, investigate second” approach in going after the former FBI director during a tense procedural hearing in the Alexandria, Va . Courthouse.
That's also a win for Trump.
He's much rather judges tossed the cases than they went to trial and his enemies were vindicated by a jury Not Guilty verdict. (As opposed to the guilty verdicts that were repeatedly handed down to Trump associates.)
Did you fall and hit your head? just checking...
Oh, I'm sure Trump won't see it as a win, and will rail against it.
But the legal system is preventing him from doing things that make him more unpopular. They are inadvertantly protecting him.
Well, it's not because there's more violent crime, because there isn't - there's less. So I guess it's due to the macho desire of both main political parties to imprison more offenders, regardless of the consequences, because they think that's what the public want. And they're probably right, sadly.
Is it possible there's less violent crime because violent criminals are spending longer in prison?
I'd also say that one factor is that the country is taking sexual offences a bit more seriously, including historical offences against children, and so you'd expect more people in prison as a result.
Marital rape wasn't a crime (in the eyes of the law) in the UK til 1991, and spousal violence, whilst illegal, would have been typically viewed as a "domestic" unless extreme.
@DavidL says that he is dealing with tidal wave of historic offences - which are often ending in long sentences for horrific crimes.
It's a contrast with the USA with respect to Epstein I think. There was a 5 year statute of limitations, which was only removed in 2006. So offences before 2001 may be impossible to prosecute.
At least, that's my understanding.
The UK is different - Chris Brain's prosecution, for example, involved allegations back to 1981.
Lammy destroyed and humiliated by the Conservatives at his first PMQs.
Add it to the US version of Zack Polanski cutting through and winning big in the US, this is turning into a catastrophic day for Labour.
The referee is supposed to wait until the end of the bout before raising the winner's hand.
Meanwhile, why does Lammy have his poppy on the right lapel not left?
Because he’s having a bad day! 🤣
Ah, the Deputy Prime Minister is wearing a new suit.
More on poppygate:-
David Lammy forgot to wear a poppy during his first session standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Justice Secretary had to be passed a poppy to pin to his lapel by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, halfway through the last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) before Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Lammy later claimed that he had forgotten to pin the poppy on his new suit, which he bought for his appearance at the despatch box on Wednesday. It was his first PMQs since succeeding Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister.
Kevin Hollinrake, the chairman of the Conservative Party, complained on X that the Deputy Prime Minister was not displaying a poppy.
Oh my God, who the f*** cares, Mr Hollinrake? This is not an important issue!
Totally agree.
BUT...unrelenting harassment is an effective opposition tool which grinds down governments. New Labour were very good at that. So maybe Team Kemi is getting its act together, grisly though it can be at times.
I'd rather an opposition that rises above such egregious politicking than sinking to their level. Effectiveness doesn't make it right.
Leaving aside the morality, the practical problem is that, "practice makes automatic." An Opposition that comes to office after years of soundbite gotchas and obsessing over minutiae will govern in the same vein, because they know no other way to be.
If I had to guess right now (and it is premature!) I'd say the Supreme Court is going to strike down Trump's tariffs.
All three liberals are clearly against the government. Barrett too. Roberts leaning that way. And we haven't even gotten to tax-hater Gorsuch yet.
Chief Justice Roberts is out. Says the major questions doctrine pretty clearly applies here; the tariffs simply can't survive that. Looks like five pretty clear votes against Trump.
And we STILL haven't gotten to Gorsuch...
That's a win for the President, because it means less inflation and less economic damage. They're bailing him out.
In general anything that stops him doing things is good for America and the wider world. He'll be pissed off though. Messing around with tariffs is next to golf as a hobby. Maybe even above it.
Lammy destroyed and humiliated by the Conservatives at his first PMQs.
Add it to the US version of Zack Polanski cutting through and winning big in the US, this is turning into a catastrophic day for Labour.
The referee is supposed to wait until the end of the bout before raising the winner's hand.
Meanwhile, why does Lammy have his poppy on the right lapel not left?
Because he’s having a bad day! 🤣
Ah, the Deputy Prime Minister is wearing a new suit.
More on poppygate:-
David Lammy forgot to wear a poppy during his first session standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Justice Secretary had to be passed a poppy to pin to his lapel by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, halfway through the last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) before Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Lammy later claimed that he had forgotten to pin the poppy on his new suit, which he bought for his appearance at the despatch box on Wednesday. It was his first PMQs since succeeding Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister.
Kevin Hollinrake, the chairman of the Conservative Party, complained on X that the Deputy Prime Minister was not displaying a poppy.
Oh my God, who the f*** cares, Mr Hollinrake? This is not an important issue!
Totally agree.
BUT...unrelenting harassment is an effective opposition tool which grinds down governments. New Labour were very good at that. So maybe Team Kemi is getting its act together, grisly though it can be at times.
I'd rather an opposition that rises above such egregious politicking than sinking to their level. Effectiveness doesn't make it right.
Well it’s nothing new. Why should the Tories stop when Labour did it for years ?
Lammy destroyed and humiliated by the Conservatives at his first PMQs.
Add it to the US version of Zack Polanski cutting through and winning big in the US, this is turning into a catastrophic day for Labour.
The referee is supposed to wait until the end of the bout before raising the winner's hand.
Meanwhile, why does Lammy have his poppy on the right lapel not left?
Because he’s having a bad day! 🤣
Ah, the Deputy Prime Minister is wearing a new suit.
More on poppygate:-
David Lammy forgot to wear a poppy during his first session standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Justice Secretary had to be passed a poppy to pin to his lapel by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, halfway through the last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) before Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Lammy later claimed that he had forgotten to pin the poppy on his new suit, which he bought for his appearance at the despatch box on Wednesday. It was his first PMQs since succeeding Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister.
Kevin Hollinrake, the chairman of the Conservative Party, complained on X that the Deputy Prime Minister was not displaying a poppy.
FFS. Is this the level of politics we have at the moment.
Time for a GE so we can get rid of these morons permanently.
To replace them with morons with absolutely no experience?
335 of the 650 were 'new' as in never been a MP before - highest level since 1945. That's how bad the previous lot were which is why the cleansing needs to be completed.
@AndrewDesiderio NEWS — INSIDE THE ROOM per multiple GOP senators...
After reporters were kicked out, Trump said the election results showed that the shutdown has been “worse for us than for them” & that R’s “are getting killed.”
Trump said the GOP will become a “dead party” if they don’t nuke the filibuster.
Trump got into it with Lindsey Graham after Graham tried to make the point that they can still use reconciliation to pass legislation with a simple majority
Trump snapped at Graham: “Lindsey, you and I both know that there’s so much you can’t do with reconciliation...”
Ever tougher sentencing, a bigger population, more offences (no one was jailed in 1993 for hurty things posed on X).
As ever the questions are:
What is prison for? Does is work?
Fin.
It's a bit more complicated than that, because there are multiple outcomes one wants to achieve:
(1) One wants the deterrent effect to be large enough do discourage most crimes (2) One wants offenders to come out of prison useful members of society, so that they don't just yoyo between in and out of prison (3) One wants to minimize miscarriages of justice while ensuring justice is not delayed and (4) One wants to do this for a reasonable sum of money. There's no point in cutting crime 90% if we're all starving to death.
One wants justice for victims?
Many years ago, a friend got "rolled" when coming out of pub. Left with life changing injuries.
His wife had doubts about the claim by the defendants (they caught them fairly quickly) and *the prosecution* that it was just an accident when he hit his head on the curb.
So she tracked down an expert on such wounds - given evidence many times, Prof teaching at a top medical school etc.
And when the prosecutor wouldn't see her, asked the judge what to do.
Which resulted in the prosecutor literally shouting at her, outside the court. Apparently, the prosecutor had lined up the whole thing - the teenagers in question would avoid serious time etc, would plead guilty. It would all be nice and tidy.
This was in the days before "Victim centred justice" - I was a bit startled by the idea that the process was such a game.
The two teenagers got off with a slap on the wrist - a short time in youth custody. They went back to rolling drunks and it ended badly for them.
This is an interesting perspective on the Yaxley-Lennon prosecution failure from the other day from the Black Belt Barrister.
It sounds like insufficient police background knowledge and attention to detail. If his account is accurate - which I would expect it to be - they were not very good witnesses in Court, and records were insufficient or missing. Or perhaps they knew they were on a sticky wicket and " er er er"-ed it. Training courses are indicated, perhaps.
This is an interesting perspective on the Yaxley-Lennon prosecution failure from the other day from the Black Belt Barrister.
It sounds like insufficient police background knowledge and attention to detail. If his account is accurate - which I would expect it to be - they were not very good witnesses in Court, and records were insufficient or missing. Or perhaps they knew they were on a sticky wicket and " er er er"-ed it. Training courses are indicated, perhaps.
Lammy destroyed and humiliated by the Conservatives at his first PMQs.
Add it to the US version of Zack Polanski cutting through and winning big in the US, this is turning into a catastrophic day for Labour.
The referee is supposed to wait until the end of the bout before raising the winner's hand.
Meanwhile, why does Lammy have his poppy on the right lapel not left?
Because he’s having a bad day! 🤣
Ah, the Deputy Prime Minister is wearing a new suit.
More on poppygate:-
David Lammy forgot to wear a poppy during his first session standing in for Sir Keir Starmer at Prime Minister’s Questions.
The Justice Secretary had to be passed a poppy to pin to his lapel by Bridget Phillipson, the Education Secretary, halfway through the last Prime Minister’s Questions (PMQs) before Remembrance Sunday.
Mr Lammy later claimed that he had forgotten to pin the poppy on his new suit, which he bought for his appearance at the despatch box on Wednesday. It was his first PMQs since succeeding Angela Rayner as deputy prime minister.
Kevin Hollinrake, the chairman of the Conservative Party, complained on X that the Deputy Prime Minister was not displaying a poppy.
FFS. Is this the level of politics we have at the moment.
Time for a GE so we can get rid of these morons permanently.
At the moment ?
It’s been like it for years. It’s pathetic. David Lammy is not a traitor, not anti Brit, not disrespectful of our fallen soldiers. It’s fake anger and there’s a lot of it about across the house
I'd argue David Lammy has taken treasonous actions with BIOT, surrendered over Gibraltar and conceded the concept of reparations at the Commonwealth.
Comments
However one of the 'chaps' put it onto my fleece, since my hands aren't flexible enough nowadays. It's the one I always were this time of the year, So that's me demonstrating my patriotism for another week or so, and indeed I might forget to take the poppy off! For a while, anyway.
But the legal system is preventing him from doing things that make him more unpopular. They are inadvertantly protecting him.
At least, that's my understanding.
The UK is different - Chris Brain's prosecution, for example, involved allegations back to 1981.
New Thread
It sounds like insufficient police background knowledge and attention to detail. If his account is accurate - which I would expect it to be - they were not very good witnesses in Court, and records were insufficient or missing. Or perhaps they knew they were on a sticky wicket and " er er er"-ed it. Training courses are indicated, perhaps.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IWj4XdBI47g
But, not over a poppy.