Splendid Isolation

Papieren Bitte

How nice:


Biden Admin Cooperates With Big Tech To Find Out What Americans Watch Online

In a way, I’m glad that I post my rage against the Machine here, rather than on “social media” such as FecesBook, InstaLame or TwatterX.

Then on the other hand, sometimes I wish that I didn’t, and just ranted all over the above so that nobody could be in any doubt whatsoever about my feelings towards this kind of bullshit.

Back in the old Racist Republic, my phone was tapped for over seven years after the student protests of the early 1970s, which had seen me arrested, briefly imprisoned and charged with “rioting”.

I can’t help thinking that my old buddies at the Security Branch would have sold their children to have had the surveillance capability of today’s American Gestapo.

I said it back then, and I’m not afraid to say it again here, in my adopted country:

Shootin’ Time

And then there’s this, over in Britishland:

An award-winning fish and chip shop has been ordered to remove a Union flag mural by council officials ‘because it’s inappropriate for the area’.   

Chris Kanizi, 65, who owns Golden Chippy, in Greenwich, south-east London, has been told to paint over the mural of the humanoid fish which is adored by tourists.

Greenwich council said they received a ‘number of complaints’ about the mural, which features the phrase ‘A Great British Meal’, they said was an ‘unauthorised advert’.

And here’s the oh-so offensive item in question:

Imagine a burger place in Murka being told to take down a sign which reads  “The All-American Meal” because some immigrants might feel excluded.

Of course, the UK has no First Amendment, so government can do pretty much whatever the fuck it wants to do in cases like this.

Hold Back

From Reader Mike L. comes this piece of good news:

A Pennsylvania man says he is celebrating his Mega Millions win by getting engaged.  The man, who didn’t release his identity to the public, reportedly won a $1 million Mega Millions prize in New Jersey with a ticket he ordered using the Jackpocket app.  Representatives with the lottery app said the lucky winner decided to purchase the winning ticket while on a break from work.

First things first:  I hope he had the foresight to hold back $450k in taxes from that million, otherwise his friendly local neighborhood IRS agent is going to give it to him good, as will the poxy New Jersey tax enforcers.

Second thing:  yes, his luck was good, but not that good.  Why?

The winning ticket matched all five white balls, just missing the gold Mega Ball.

Had he got the Mega Ball, his winnings would have been about $120 million, in which case he could have got engaged in a cabana at the Four Seasons in the Seychelles:

As it is, his $550k is a lovely windfall, but after buying a decent house, an engagement ring and paying for the wedding, he’ll still have to keep on working.

Being a millionaire isn’t what it used to be…

Sublime, Meet Ridiculous

Readers may remember this little bit of news from last week:

A driver who was trapped behind the wheel of an out-of-control Jaguar I-Pace has revealed to MailOnline how he almost cheated death as his car accelerated up to 100mph on the busy M62 motorway without brakes.

Nathan Owen, 31, was on his way back from his first day at a new job when his 2019 electric car started malfunctioning, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

But in a shock revelation, Mr Owen told how his car had also gone rogue on the motorway in December, this time reaching up to 120mph.

Well, if you thought that was the end of the story, you forgot that this happened in Britishland, so of course there’s a sequel:

Police have arrested a Jaguar I-Pace driver on suspicion of dangerous driving after his ‘out-of-control’ car had to be rammed off the road by officers when it ‘went rogue’ at speeds of up to 100mph.

Nathan Owen, 31, was arrested by Merseyside Police in relation to the incident on the M62 on Wednesday, March 6.

He was arrested on suspicion of dangerous driving and causing a public nuisance and taken into police custody to be questioned.

Mr Owen claimed his £80,000 electric car went gone rogue on the motorway that day, sparking a huge police operation to bring his car to a stop after 35 minutes of hell.

His arrest comes after a detailed investigation was carried out by police and Jaguar Land Rover (JLR) – who said it ‘seeks to investigate all reports of issues relating to product safety’.

Yeah, surrounded by umpteen police cars, he just carried on speeding — of course it’s his fault, even though ’twas Owen himself who called the rozzers for help.

Once again, I’m reminded of the incident in Joseph Heller’s Catch-22, when MPs burst into a hotel room where Aarfy has just thrown a whore out of a window to her death — and arrest Yossarian for being AWOL.

Fucking hell.

Not Red, Not Even Herrings

You need to read the report about the “pipe bombs” that were discovered outside both the DNC and RNC heaquarters buildings in Washington D.C. on Jan 6 2020.  The report exposes either incomparable incompetence by the FBI, or else a degree of indifference about the supposed bombs and their implications, which leads me to suggest the executive summary of the whole business.

There were no bombs, and the FBI knew they weren’t bombs.  The bomb-like devices were a plant to increase the supposed imminence of civil unrest and insurrection and feelings of paranoia and fear among members of Congress and the public on Jan 6.  And the FBI were absolutely complicit in, if not the actual creators of this entire charade.

Now you can read the article, and see if the above summary is refuted by anything therein.

Going Medieval

Britishland:

Brits:  “If guns are banned, can we use swords?”
Britcops:  “No.”
Brits:  “How about crossbows, then?”
Britcops:  “We’ll get back to you on that*.”

*The Home Office has launched an eight-week consultation to see if there should be a licensing system to control the use, ownership and supply of crossbows.

Frogland:

The Principality of Monaco plans to follow in the footsteps of its surrounding French neighbours by organising a national day dedicated to the collection of weapons and ammunition that have been found or inherited by individuals.

At the end of 2022, France managed to collect more than 150,000 weapons without inflicting legal or administrative proceedings on the weapons’ former owners.

The head of the Administrative Police Division, Rémy Le Juste, addressed the topic at the Monaco Police’s well wishes for the New Year, saying “this is a major subject which deserves everyone’s attention, given the somewhat troubled international context that we are going through.”

Le Juste admitted that “It still happens that our services intervene with individuals who find themselves owners through inheritance of undeclared weapons dating from the Second World War,” and added: “We encourage, from now on, all people who find themselves, despite themselves, possessing weapons to call on our services: either to have them destroyed or to make them unfit for their use, and this, without these people being subject to criminal charges, subject of course to the agreement of the judicial authorities.”

Only knights, the King’s men and the king’s favorites may own weapons of war.  Peasants:  non.

U.S.:

“A well regulated Militia, being necessary to the security of a free State, the right of the people to keep and bear Arms, shall not be infringed.”