Tag Archives: shooting

‘Knuckledragging racists’ try to use Croydon police tragedy to attack black MP

Dawn Butler: racists have used the tragic death of a police officer to attack this London MP, who also happens to be a black woman. They don’t care about the man who died – he was just a handy hook on which they could hang their bile.

This is a new depth of depravity.

After Brent MP Dawn Butler tweeted her condolences about the police officer who was shot dead at Croydon Custody Centre, the racists have turned out in their thousands to blame her for it.

Their reason is the fact that she complained about being in a car subjected to stop-and-search by (other) officers from the same force, for “driving around while black”.

These are completely separate incidents.

So Ms Butler’s highly-vocal critics are wrong to suggest that her tweet is hypocritical. Complaining about an incident of apparent racial profiling is not the same as wishing death upon any police officer.

Nor is her complaint about a stop-and-search procedure that had no justification any reason to suggest that she had somehow prevented police from finding the weapon that was used in the Croydon attack.

If you’re unaware of the facts of the case, here they are:

A long-serving police officer has been shot dead at Croydon Custody Centre in south London.

The male sergeant was shot in the chest before the suspect turned the firearm on himself, sources have told the BBC.

The man had been brought to the custody suite in a police vehicle and the shooting happened during questioning about Covid-19, the BBC was told.

It was believed the suspect – who is critically ill in hospital – was known to counter-terrorism police.

Ms Butler had clashed with other police officers in a very widely-reported incident which she recorded, using her mobile phone.

But it is insanity to suggest that she held the actions of those officers against the entire force – or that, even if she had, she would want any police officers to die. That is what has been implied today.

Ms Butler tweeted the following:

As a London MP, it is entirely appropriate for her to have sent this message.

Brace yourself, because here come a few of the replies:

There have been many, many more.

Notice the number of flags in the profile pictures? What does that suggest to you? To me it suggests racism – English nationalism, “Britain for the British” and all the usual bilge.

Many of the attacks focused on the Chris Phillips quote about stop-and-search, so let’s put an answer to them straight away:

Notable among the critics was that humdrum right-wing rabble-rumbler Julia Hartley Doodah, who added this to the mix:

… and had her derriere minced into burger meat and handed back to her:

Fortunately, it seems there are still more decent people in the UK than loudmouthed racist imbeciles. Let’s give reason some space now:

Oh, and perhaps someone who has served as a police officer should have a say:

No, she wasn’t. Her behaviour was entirely proper. Those who attacked her are the shame of the nation.

But I do think some politicians should take blame for what has happened here: Boris Johnson, Nigel Farage. David Cameron. Anybody who used the EU referendum campaign to stir up jingoistic, fake patriotism that was really racism in disguise. Priti Patel, for insisting on deporting refugees. Theresa May, for insisting on deporting UK citizens. Successive Tory governments that encouraged the claim that foreigners were coming to the UK and taking citizens’ jobs and/or claiming state benefits. The list goes on and on.

Racism is on the rise because right-wing politicians thought it would make them popular.

But who’s getting the blame for it in this story?

The black person.

And who’s being ignored in the rush to lay that blame?

The dead person.

What a hateful day.

Source: Police officer shot dead at Croydon Custody Centre – BBC News

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Shooting range that used image of Shamima Begum is a LONG way off-target

The target: Using an image of Shamima Begum in this way may be seen as racist, Islamophobic, and misogynist.

It’s one thing to suggest that IS defector Shamima Begum should not be allowed to return to the UK – but putting her face on a target in a shooting range is completely beyond the pale.

You may recall that This Site ran a poll to gauge public feeling on Ms Begum’s request to return and Home Secretary Sajid Javid’s decision to revoke her citizenship of the UK instead.

After nearly nine days – and 2,151 votes – the result was relatively close, with around 56 per cent saying she should be stripped of citizenship and 44 per cent saying she should keep it.

But there is a world of difference between wanting that young woman to face the consequences of her actions and wishing actual harm upon her, of course – and this is why the decision of the Ultimate Airsoft Range in Wallasey, Merseyside, is unacceptable.

By using an image of Ms Begum as a target on the shooting range, it is encouraging unhealthy fantasies of harming her – and people like her.

We’re looking at racism, Islamophobia, possibly also misogyny. None are welcome.

Amazingly, a spokesperson for the centre actually said the decision to use her as a target allows children as young as six to “have some light-hearted fun bringing out the inner child in all”!

As one commenter in the Mirror‘s version of this story stated: “That’s the ‘inner child?’ Blimey. Wouldn’t want to meet the inner parents.”

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Grouse shooting estates: Why is Theresa May starving our public services in order to make a small number of toffs extremely rich?

Why were we funding these estates in the first place, let alone increasing that funding now?

Public money is for services to which all the public may have need or should have access.

Grouse shooting estates do not qualify.

Mrs May needs to explain why she is depriving us all of the services I mentioned above, and using the money to make a very small number of people exceedingly rich.

Theresa May says there isn’t enough money for doctors, nurses, hospitals, firefighters, so little money that she has had to cut 20,000 frontline police officers, not enough money to help the 400,000 more children in poverty since her government came to power, the 300,000 more pensioners in poverty or the homeless whose numbers have risen by 53% since 2010 …

… BUT SHE’S FOUND ENOUGH OF OUR MONEY TO INCREASE SUBSIDIES FOR GROUSE SHOOTING ESTATES FROM £30 PER HECTARE TO £56 PER HECTARE?

The amount you are now paying for her wealthy mates ‘sport’ has risen from £45m to £84m.

Exceedingly rich people are about to get considerably richer – all willingly paid for by you and me.

Source: Theresa May INCREASES taxpayer subsidies for her wealthy mates to go grouse shooting | Pride’s Purge

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Cynical post-Pittsburgh posturing by the usual ‘left anti-Semitism’ liars

Commemorated: Memorials to the fallen outside the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh.

This is utterly vile: On the day 11 people were murdered in a synagogue in Pittsburgh – apparently by an adherent of the political far-right, bandwagon-jumpers claiming to speak for British Jews were lining up to accuse left-wingers in the United Kingdom.

Authorities in the US have alleged that 46-year-old Robert Bowers burst into the Tree of Life Synagogue in Pittsburgh and gunned down 11 people who were there for Shabbat – the Jewish sabbath, just before 9.54am (EDT) on Saturday, October 27. Six others were wounded.

Bowers was arrested after a short gunfight with police. He has been charged with 29 criminal offences, including 11 federal hate-crime charges. The 11 counts of using a firearm to kill carry a maximum penalty of death.

Other charges include obstructing the exercise of religious beliefs resulting in death, weapons offences and seriously injuring police officers. The FBI was investigating the shooting as a federal hate crime.

According to The Guardian, “The suspect appeared to have far-right views… Social media accounts in the name of Robert Bowers contained antisemitic rants.”

In the UK, someone apparently connected with those who have been accusing Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters in the Labour Party of anti-Semitism used a sock-puppet Twitter account to launch a false-flag attack against Labour.

In response to a tweet by Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu expressing sorrow at the attack, this account tweeted: “YOU BROUGHT THIS ON YOURSELVES.”

The person behind the tweet was an apparently-nonexistent entity calling itself Dean Brown (@DeanBrownLab), who was described by anti-Corbyn Twitter account ‘Left Over’ as “a former Labour Party staffer, is a @jeremycorbynsupporter and a member of both @UKLabour and @PeoplesMomentum”. No such person exists.

The account appeared to have been created to post the tweet, and bears similarity to another account – @WesBrownLab – that fooled Yvette Cooper last year. “Wesley Brown” self-described as “Special Adviser to RT. Hon Jeremy Corbyn MP” – but nobody of that name has ever worked for the Labour Party, let alone as an advisor to Mr Corbyn.

You can read the full details on the Skwawkbox blog. Notice that the accounts listed at the end of the ‘Left Over’ tweet belong to people (or groups of them) who have been regular features of the campaign to use false accusations of anti-Semitism against Jeremy Corbyn and his (genuine) supporters:

Saddeningly, left-wing comedy talent David Schneider joined in by attacking “the left’s and Labour’s failure on anti-semitism” – with reference to two tweets, neither of which could be said for sure to come from Left, or Labour, sources. He tweeted:

The author of the first tweet he mentioned was this person:

Maybe I didn’t go far enough into his timeline to find out, but while I see plenty of socially-conscious retweets, I don’t see a lot of evidence that this person is a committed lefty, let alone a Labour supporter. I’m prepared to be contradicted on that one. As for the reference to a separate matter in a different country – well, we’ll come to that.

Jenny Tonge is, of course, a Liberal Democrat and therefore neither left-wing nor a member or supporter of the Labour Party.

Yet Mr Schneider tweeted:

(For clarity, Mr Schneider is wrong where he says anti-Semitism may be unwitting, and needs to clarify what he means by “due to ignorance”. Anti-Semitism is hatred of Jews, because they are Jews – and people can’t hate unwittingly or because they don’t know what is considered to be hatred in this instance. Even the IHRA definition of anti-Semitism states that A-S only “may” be evidenced by apparent correlation with the examples it quotes.)

Here’s a left-wing response to the Pittsburgh synagogue killings:

Here’s another:

This is the Skwawkbox response:

Angela Rayner is Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary:

John McDonnell is Labour’s Shadow Chancellor:

And Jeremy Corbyn is Labour’s leader, of course – and a man who has been falsely accused of anti-Semitism too many times to count:

All have given the dead and wounded of the Pittsburgh shooting the respect they deserve.

And yet…

Fox News got in on the act, over in the States:

This is despite the fact that the man accused of the killings is said to be a neo-Nazi.

I mentioned David Schneider’s condemnation of people who linked the Pittsburgh incident with Israel’s attacks on Palestinians. He believed they were inappropriate, so I hope he will join with other right-thinking people in condemning the way Labour’s Chris Williamson was dogpiled by Twitter users for retweeting a link to a Skwawkbox article about the President of the Board of Deputies of British Jews using apparently anti-Semitic language.

This completely separate story was linked with Pittsburgh by the dogpilers, for no reason other than that they broke on the same day. Here’s Mr Williamson’s tweet – the dogpiling starts immediately:

‘Left Over’ and the accounts mentioned in its tweet, the five UK journalists who linked the Pittsburgh killings with Jeremy Corbyn, Chris Williamson’s dogpilers and – sadly – David Schneider are all responsible for an anti-left, anti-Labour, anti-Corbyn-and-his-supporters smear that is all the more disgusting because of its context.

All should make public apologies immediately. Some should face disciplinary procedures for false reporting.

But we all know that’s not going to happen, don’t we?

Not while anti-Semitism is the one accusation people can make against political figures without any need for proof whatsoever.

I know far too much about such matters myself. I was accused of anti-Semitism by fake crusaders similar to those listed above, and suspended from the UK Labour Party, nearly 18 months ago. After a botched decision by the party’s National Executive Committee that heard no evidence from me, I will finally have a chance to state my innocence next month.

I am also appealing for people who support justice to help fund legal action against my accusers. If you are willing to help, please visit my JustGiving page and donate what you can.

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Gun law in US? Trump protester shot after confrontation on Portland bridge

A protester gestures at police at Portland's Pioneer Square - but it was a member of the public who shot a protester down on Morrison Bridge, Portland.

A protester gestures at police at Portland’s Pioneer Square – but it was a member of the public who shot a protester down on Morrison Bridge, Portland.

Americans who support Donald Trump have started taking the law into their own hands, then.

The shooting of an anti-Trump protester by a member of the public certainly suggests that gun law – rule by those who carry firearms – is back, and the West is once again wild.

Violence in the States is getting worse. The police need to get a grip because there’s no evidence that they’ll get it under control any time soon. What if they can’t?

An anti-Trump protester has been shot after a confrontation with another man as another night of demonstrations against the President-elect took place in US cities.

Police in Portland, Oregon, said [a] man got out of his vehicle on the city’s Morrison Bridge where he confronted and shot the protester.

Dozens of people were crossing the bridge when the shooting happened at 12.45am.

The victim does not have life-threatening injuries but the suspect is still at large, said police.

There has so far been no comment on the reasons behind the shooting.

Source: Trump protester shot after confrontation on Portland bridge

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Labour’s plan to protect animals

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Here’s another terrific Labour Party policy announcement that seems to have been overlooked by the news media: Animal protection.

The policy was announced by Maria Eagle and runs as follows:

1)         Labour will protect the Hunting Act
 Ten years ago the Labour Party ended the cruel practice of hunting with dogs, because we believe that causing defenceless animals to suffer in the name of sport has no place in a civilised society. But just as we celebrate the Hunting Act, the Tories plan to repeal it. Only Labour can protect the Hunting Act because Labour is the only major party committed to defending it.

2)         Labour will ban wild animals in circuses
Travelling circuses are no place for wild animals. Being moved from place to place in cramped and substandard enclosures, forced training and performance, loud noises and crowds of people are the unavoidable distressing realities for animals in circuses. Despite promising to ban the use of wild animals in travelling circuses, the Tory-led Government has failed to do so. The next Labour government will ban this cruel practice.

3)         Labour will end the ineffective and inhumane badger culls
Badger culls are supposed to reduce Bovine TB but experts say the Tories’ culls will make the problem worse. Following repeated failures to meet deadlines and targets, the Tories are effectively pursing an unscientific mass cull with no rigorous monitoring or evaluation. Labour will end this and develop a better plan to eradicate Bovine TB.

4)         Labour will improve the protection of dogs and cats
At present we have ineffective regulation, a lack of information for pet owners and a failure to deal with irresponsible and cruel breeding practices. Labour will review the inadequate regulations on the sale and breeding of dogs and cats and develop a new strategy to improve their welfare.

5)         Labour will tackle wildlife crime and reduce animal cruelty on shooting estates
More needs to be done to protect animal welfare on shooting estates. The next Labour government will undertake an independent review into the most effective way to end the illegal persecution of birds of prey, such as the hen harrier; prevent non-target animals getting trapped in snares; and ensure the humane treatment of game birds.

6)         Labour will lead the fight against global animal cruelty
The humane treatment of animals should be a benchmark for any civilised society. National governments have a duty to work together to prevent cruelty around the world. Labour will push to end all commercial whaling and prevent the poaching and near extinction of endangered species such as elephants, rhinos and tigers.

These are great strides forward for animals.

What are the Tories doing?

Oh yes: Subsidising grouse-shooting.

Follow me on Twitter: @MidWalesMike

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