MicroB

I've noticed a new variant of Godwin's law, where any internet conversation inevitably results in comparisons to the Nazis Mike Goodwin talking years later about his Law https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2013/03/godwins-law-mike-godwin-hitler-nazi-comparisons.html But actually Godwin's Law predates before even MIke Goodwin was born. It was the East Germans who came up with it in the 50s, when they took umbrage at broadcasts from "Radio in the American Sector", which was obviously broadcasting news about the free world into the GDR. The best the GDR could come up with was to literally call the American broadcasters a bunch of Nazis. Now it seems there are elements of society, for reasons only known to themselves. to substitute Communist/Socialist for Nazi. This isn't the same as Reds-under-the-Bed. Like people who threw around the word Nazi into every conversation, this mob of thickos don't really have any idea of what Communist or Socialist (or Marxist, Trotskyite, Leninist etc) actually means.. Its just some word they heard their grandad used when they were a kid, and now they are using, in same way as "Nazi" to try and shut down discussion, which is very Communist of them. I expect Yellow Peril to see some revival in some quarters (this quite an old term of abuse, reaching back to the 19th century); the Kaiser used the term die Gelbe Gefahr, and used that as the excuse for war with China, which is reality was all about setting the stage for WW1, and ultimately who would hold hegemony over the Globe (the Kaiser thought it should be him).

Firstly, you have to take into account that "Social Media" is deliberately posting provocative articles, often selectively paraphrased, to stoke enmity and division, and, importantly, generate traffic for a forum that was recently sold, and probably, like most other forums now, dying on its knees. "Social Media" I noticed doesn't take a side, just seems to revel is the resulting discourse. I am not sure why you are trying to make this a freedom of speech thing. I suspect <deleted> stirring. The UK has no general right to free speech, but under Common Law, freedom of expression is a negative right , which means the government is obliged to take no action against a person because of their views, but no one else is obliged to help facilitate publishing those viewpoints, nor listen to them nor agree with them. ie some nutter can't demand a tv or radio station propagate his views. They can cut him off, because they are not the government. Those rights are enhanced by the ECHR, which might be moot given that the UK is likely to withdraw from that within the next 10 years. In the case of Ashkan Kareem; you misread the article, maybe because because English is not your first language. He was not arrested for chanting racist and far-right slogans. He was part of a group confronting other rioters. His defence was that he was trying to defend a mosque. But where his defence fell down was because he admitted charging the crowd, and thus guilty of violent disorder. There are allegations he threw something at the crowd, though he claimed it was just a throwing action, which is bordering on the ridiculous. Police footage suggests he threw something, at people or at cars. https://www.itv.com/news/tyne-tees/2024-08-14/man-caught-on-cctv-throwing-missile-during-violent-disorder-convicted Violoent disorder comes under the Public Order Act 1986, and there are clear sentencing guidelines. You can go to prison for upto 5 years. He plead guilty, so the Judge's job was to sentence. To his (slight) credit, he turned himself in. First the judge considers the level of culpability; A, B or C. C basically means threats of violence, and a lack of planning. Category B involves groups, and a degree of planning; he traveled to "defend the mosque", he wasn't someone passing by who on the spur of the moment, got involved. He was part of a group. Category A means you are Category B, plus you have come tooled up (ie you brought weapons). There is suspicion about whether he brought something to throw; can't be proven. So he was a Category B offender. Next is the level of harm he caused, 1, 2 or 3. 1 is the most serious, and is combinations of harm considered in category 2. Category 2 includes actual injury, destruction of private property, loss of earnings (eg the pub hat to shut, so the staff didn't get paid), cost to the public purse, attacks on police and other public servants. You get the picture. Category 3 is basically making a bunch of threats and shuting. A combination C3 is at the lowest end of the violent disorder spectrum, and for that the starting point is 26 weeks inside; mitigation can bring that down to a community order (cleaning dog <deleted> or something). A1 means probably 4 years inside, but mitigation might bring this down to 3 years. Kareem was probably B3; he could have got 2 years inside, so should consider himself lucky. He will likely be deported after serving his sentence.

20% of US males have a conviction for driving while under the influence by the age of 40, George W Bush has one, Dick Cheney has two. Bush was convicted in 1976, and that had no effect on his election as Governor, nor of course, President 24 years later. He only disclosed it when running for President, and never disclosed it when running as Governor. I would put wife beaters and child abusers as lowest of the low. Alongside rapists, no matter how those rapists want to define rape. But apparently some here would rather rub shoulders with a paedophile than a drunk driver. I doubt that actually true, but I suspect someone who spits out "drunk drivers are the lowest of the low", in the context of a discussion about a politician, don't actually mean that, just stating something for effect. Most drivers caught drinking and driving have made a mistake, and the vast majority never reoffend. Most will try and deny it, saying they were unlucky, the machine didn't work properly, "I felt fine" etc. I can understand why they do that. I don't understand the rapist who attempts to belittle his victim, even after conviction, deny what he did was even a crime, and never expresses regret. Trumpf going to say sorry?

GDPR meams that many US regional affiliates, and sites like Yahoo Japan, will block content from being viewed in Europe, including the UK. Watching RT is a bit like those who used to tune into Radio Moscow during the Cold War in the belief that it gave some sort of balance to Radio 4, the World Service, VoA etc. It didn't of course.

The debacle in Afghanistan was partly driven by the collapse of the ANA, a military force that Trumpf and others spent billions building. Trumpf then went into direct face to face negotiations with the Taliban, undermining the elected government, and no doubt demoralising ANA commanders; he was supposed to have their back. He then ordered rapid drawdowns of US troops. Biden should have reversed that idiotic strategy, and that was his mistake. To his credit, Trumpf's plan was delayed by Biden from May 2020 (complete pullout of NATO) to September 2020. Some say that triggered the ANA forces collapse, others will point out it brought some time to allow most of the Afghan airforce fixed wing to get out, at least denying the Taliban most of their air transport, and ground attack capabilties. Fundementally, Trumpf was naive; he chose to believe the commitments of a fundamentalist religious terrorist grouping over an elected government. The Qatar agreement of February 2020 killed the democratic government of Afghanistan. Trumpf speaking to the Taliban was equivalent to Tricky Dickie selling out the Vietnamese by making friends with Communists. But it would have been the same, or even worse, if Trumpf had been re-elected (by worse, I suspect he would have been less willing to give vital support needed for other NATO members involved in those final operations, so besides US troops being butchered there would have been British, Germans and others.). By any measure, Trumpf's tenure was bad, maybe "not that bad", but that was in spite of him, not because of him, given the way his cabinet ended up at times just ignoring him. In many ways, because of that lack of leadership, he was an exceptionally weak leader, despite all the bombastic speeches, and that relates to him as a business man. Most business men go through building businesses up, and learn the art of leadership through that; they inspire people to work to make a business succeed. Trumpf inherited his. Hence, despite holding advantage, like Jimmy Carter, he failed to be re-elected. Most Presidents seeking re-election, get re-elected, and its PPP to mess that up.

Using that logic, neither does yours. Mr Trump did say, while describing himself as a "non-Christian" (is he pagan now?), told Christians that they won't need to vote.

Someone in authority needs a serious word with this chap; https://x.com/IvanRaiklin/status/1825254679082635623

Confusing times. I thought Trump supporters rather be Russian than a Democrat. Nothing wrong with wanting friendly relations with a religion. If voting democrat means you support Russia, does voting Republican (Trumpian) mean you support rape and adultery? Of course, you'll probably claim the alleged rapey actions by Mr Trump are not true, but it is certainly true he has committed multiple acts of adultery. Then we need to discuss if Leviticus 20:10 and Deuteronomy 22:22 apply. Hamas and Iran's relationship is interesting. Its a relationship of convenience, witha common cause, but on everything else, they are diametrically opposed. The iranian government believes in something called the guardianship of the Jurist. Essentially, there should be a leading Islamic jurist, or scholar, who enjoys complete authority until the 12 Inman arrives, kind of like the second coming, and how the Pope is seen among Roman Catholics. Hamas though adheres to the Muslim Brotherhood, which was an ideology that emerged before WW2, and was heavily influenced by European fascism. This ideology rejects the notion of the organised Islamic theocracy, and that Islam itself is the politic, to be wielded by the people in the street, not the dudes in the robes. There are thus ways to split that relationship; ultimately they are uneasy bed fellows. Which is why Iran is raging about the assasination of a Hamas leader inside of Iran, but actually hasn't done anything. They don't actually care that much about Hamas. The role of Russia is even more complex. Now you will read about how how Russia i using hundreds of Iranian designed drones, initially drawn from Iranian stocks, but more lattery assembled inside of Russia (not clear if these are CKDs, or Russia is licence manufacturing them). But at the same time, most of the Russian designed drones are actually Israeli designed; Israeli companies are deeply embedded in the Russian defence industry. Russia has mostly used Israeli drones to prosecute its actions in Syria. In 2019, Israel signed an agreement with Russia not to supply Ukraine or Georgia with military hardware in return for Russia not doing the same with Iran. This is obviously now kaput. 15% of Israelis hold Russian citizenship, and among them there will be undoubtedly those who still hold a loyalty to Putin's Russia. 10% of the Russian population are Muslim, and they are suppressed. There is a Quisling administration in Chechenya, which holds extraordinary influence with Putin. Within the Ukrainian army are Chechen seperatists; with 30 years of conflict, I suspect many of these men will not hold moderate views. Now how does Iran view this situation in Russia, given its basing its position in the Islamic world as a combination of theocratic interpretation, and a constitutional document based, amazingly, on the US Constitution (well technically Khomeini brought with him when he returned from exile in 1979, a document based on the French constitution which itself was inspired by the US Constitution). It has to look the other way. These relationships are much more fickle than you suppose. Arabs hate Persians, and Persians despise the Arabs. This was at the root of things when Saddam Hussein attacked Iran, hoping to get one over. Britain promoted Zionism largely because of Imperial ambition and a need to remain relevant. The US, through Truman, supported the founding of Israel, largely because of Truman's Evangelical beliefs, where the existance of Israel is central to their pretty apocalyptic beliefs. Eisenhower evidently thought this was a load of nonsense, and blocked private shipments of munitions to the young Jewish state. Kennedy and Johnson were the ones who stepped up on the military and political aid to Israel

A reminder when most thought Palin had a screw loose. Halcyon days its seems now......

Or the guy isn't much of a politician.

Has Fatty ever used his tennis courts? And I note his pool isn't really a swimming pool. A spell in clink might actually do him some good. He can work out, lose a bit of weight.

Interestingly, the UK has links to Ukraine that go way back. Donetsk was founded in 1870, but it wasn't called Donetsk then. It was called Hugheskova, after the man who founded the city, John Hughes. Welsh migrants to the area established the Russian metallurgy industry. 70 years before Hughes, a Yorkshireman Charles Gascoigne founded what is now called Luhansk, setting up an iron foundary there. What he did there was make guns for Catherine the Great. Ironically, many of the captured Russian cannons on display around the UK, were made by Gascoigne. And it was a young Welsh journalist who brought to international attention the Holodomor. https://www.garethjones.org/

I'm a microbiologist of over 35 years standing (yikes, has it been that long). During that time, I worked developing ways to detect the worst pathogens known to man, and unknown to man. I was also a biological safety officer for a major Plc (in addition to being a senior researcher). These days I preach microbiology from an office. We started talking about this virus in early January 2020, and, as you do, speculate about its origins. 98% of the microbial world is completely unknown, The potential for new diseases is infinite. The world only starts picking up on them well into the infection's development. Many burn out, without making a single headline. Take MERS; this was another coronavirus, related to SARS, and related to Sars-Cov-2. It made the headlines around the world when some elderly Saudi was evacuated to London with a respiratory illness, and an Anglo-Dutch team identified the virus. MERS has an incredibly high mortality rate. But at least 6 months before this virus was identified, I was writing articles on the Amman cluster, where some doctors and ER nurse died following a short respiratory illness. It seemed significant to me at the time, and later on was confirmed to be MERS. MERs had the potential to cause a frightening pandemic, and for a few years, we were anxiously keeping an eye on the annual haj, and the potential for new cases. But they never happened. Its not gone away, there are still cases. His high mortality rate probably limits forward transmission, But MERS appeared following a change in human behaviour. All emerging infectious diseases follow the same path. Flu, an avian virus, impacted humans farming pigs 2000+ years ago. It was about the time when someone invented the pig sty, rather than taking the pigs out to forage. MERS emerged because of the wealth of the Gulf. It became commonly associated with elderly Arab men who kept a few camels. Saudi Arabia imports camels, due to rising demand for camel meat, camels for racing and for old men wishing to keep a few camels around after retiring from a prosperous job. The camels mostly come from the Canaries, Australia (the feral Afghan camels) and Sudan. The MERS virus was only found in Sudanese camels. The change in human behaviour was Saudi Arabia now being full of wealthy old men pining for something resembling the Bedu lifestyle in old age (ie the good old days). and all buying camels. The story of COVID-19, and its origins, will occupy entire lifetimes. We still do not know exactly where Spanish Flu came from, thought there is strong circumstantial evidence that it emerged in China in 1917 (newly discovered old Chinese medical records), about the time the British and French were recruiting coolies to serve on the Western Front, and these coolie battalions were then shipped via Canada and Kansas. What really caused this virus to take off, besides the unusual act of mostly young Chinese men being shipped off to France, was the end of WW1. There was a priority to evacuate men in the hospitals home. Other soldiers remained at their posts, allowing a virus to circulate among relatively fit men living in close proximity, leading to recombination events, and selection of a strain with heightened virulance. After 120+ years, we are getting closer. As for COVID-19, my working theory why this EID becames a pandemic so quickly was, again, due to a change in human behaviour, this time "Globalisation". Wuhan, by 2020, had become part of a global supply chain for the textiles and car parts industries, leading to particular traffic between Wuhan and Italy. The city's residents had become much more properous, and were enjoying a lifestyle far better than during their parents in the 1960s, when there was genuine hunger. Part of this means indulging in exotic meats. This prosperity attracted the attention of Western banks, who has invested heavily into the surrounding farming sector, pushing traditional farmers out onto lands not farmed before, increasing the chances of first contact with novel disease causing organisms. The increased farming activity has also driven up demand for fertiliser. The area is well known for bat guano deposits, that itinerant miners excavate. Let it be remembered that coronaviruses circulate among the bat community Bats has really slow immune systems, and these viruses don't really bother them. There are a number of scenarios for transmission. Wuhan is a prosperous city, with more more coming from the rural area. One reason is to bring in livestock for the wet market. There is more prospect of human to human contact, and livestock to human contact. Then you have all the international visitors. One cannot disregard the laboratory, but as a microbiologist with experience of the kinds of facilties involved, I find it incredibly unlikely. Some assume if it came from the lab, it must be some sort of engineered strain. well, maybe, probably not. The Wuhan Institute of Virology has a number of functions. One of which is to conduct research on novel pathogens. Around the world, in the major metropolises, you will find research institutes looking at some of the nastiest pathogens know. For instance, Colindale in London, is one of Health England's main reference labs, the other being the civvie lab at Porton Down. Where my lab was, was in one of the Home Counties close to London, and it was a private lab. The other function of the Wuhan lab was as a reference lab, meaning they received clinical samples coming from hospital labs for further investigation. Every city will have at least one hospital, and typically, that hospital will have a pathology laboratory, which will include a virology section. In those labs, the scientists are deliberately propagating viruses to identify them. That means producing millions up millions of viruses. And mostly this will be in fairly open bench BSL2 and BSL3 labs; the scientists aren't usually wearing breathing apparatus. Hazardous work can be conducted in open front laminar flow cabinets venting to atmosphere via a HEPA filter. So a lab origin might be from a BSL 4 research lab, a lab that was newly built by a French firm, and which was apparently in good corder, with a combination of physical and non-physical (ie training) controls in place. Another origin would be from the reference lab, which would be at a lower standard, but there are still controls in place. If reference labs didn't have controls for BSL-2 labs, then why aren't they the source of STDs in your city? But lab leaks do occur, when someone circumvents a control. The last smallpox death in the UK was in 1978, a forensic photographer in Birmingham. The photographer's office was below a lab looking at Smallpox. For many years it was thought poorly maintained ducting was to blame. But this has been ruled out. As a result of death, the head of the Birmingham Medical School microbiology department took his own life. He had been harassed by the Press and others, who accused him of genetically manipulating the Smallpox virus, utter nonsense. Where it emerged from; its still most likely a zoonitic infection. 60% of all human infections have crossed the species barrier

They didn't falsify a medical using a corrupt physician.

It has to be noted that the photos (there are more) were taken after he had left the marines, which was a time which Hamel stated "taught me how to live like an adult". If the photos were taken at Ohio State, then he was 23-24 and working for a Republican senator. Hi jinks at uni when you are 18-19, fine, its how Prime Minister David Cameron largely got away with the story how he inserted his member into a severed pigs head while at uni. Apparently all students do this. At 24, one is supposed to be a responsible adult. But the photos are not from Ohio, where maybe he was an immature 24 year old, but from Yale, when he was aged 28 years, a postgraduate. former marine with experience in a combat zone, and who volunteered to work for politicians. Context is everything of course. It was a party, where a variety of costumes were available, and he went for the tranvestite look (but with his pudgy face, he's no Lily Savage). But context is everything. At age 8, Hamel thought he was a homosexual. He discussed this with his grandmother, who's married name he would later adopt while at Yale, dressed in drag. How did the Grandmother deal with the confused little boy? By asking him if he wanted to conduct fellatio on a man to prove he was a homosexual. That is not normal, and no wonder his own mother ended up a drug addict with a mother like that, a grandmother who Hamel apparently worships. He grew up in a highly sexualised household where little boys knew the ins and outs of homosexual sex, and were taught crude sexual language from a young age. Now it doesn't really matter if he experimented at University following an abusive childhood. What matters is that it reveals hypocrisy. He's generally against LBGTQ rights, same gender marriage. He also at one time compared Trump to Hitler. Is he that fluid in his principals? And if Trump is elected, its pretty likely the man previously known as Hamel will end up with his finger on the proverbial button following the 25th Amendment (Trump is obese, plus has family history of dementia. Obesity accelerates dementia onset. His father was a pretty thin man). Trump thinks it doesn't matter who is the VP; it does. The VP is an elected role, and Trump can't fire him when in office. We are now reminded of this image (Mayor Guliani in drag. Guliani was later caught on camera attempting to masturbate in front of someone he thought was a vulnerable woman who was looking for help) Maybe Hamel reminded Trump of a character in his favourite Lectar movie, ie. Buffalo Bill in his woman suit.

This was the allegation coming from James Hamel. James Hamel needs to explain how he managed only 6 months in Iraq out of 4 years service, mostly photographing birthday cakes, handshakes and oil changes, while fellow marines were enduring on average 14 month tours. Hamel also needs to explain why he decided not to transfer to the Marine Reserve, despite being a fit young man. He has to explain why after leaving the Corp, he took a conscious decision, as a grown man, to eschew the name he was known as while a Marine to take the name of his maternal Grandfather. Hamel was a good enough name when he joined the Marines, why was he so ashamed of it as he tried to break into Venture Capitalism? Afraid someone would remember him? 15% of WW2 veterans never picked up a rifle, but they were important to the effort. Today, 40% of service members will never deploy to a combat zone. Of those 60%, only 10% see any combat. But all are important. In the age of drones, those in the backend will increase, and their importance will increase. My late father served in the British army for 25 years, and was called back to the Colours for Operation Granby. Afterwards, he finally stood down. if he was still around, he'd punch out the lights of any armchair general who'd call him a deserter. He did his duty. All service people are deserving of respect, no matter what era they were in; if anything, its the reservists and part timers who are most deserving. During moments of national crisis, they perform the unenviable task of juggling two lives. My good American friend, a professor at a State University, has now seen 23 years service, after joining the Army Reserve folowing 911. He has spent 15 years on deployment, rising to unit command. All that time, he has worked in his educational duties at two colleges, thanks to online capabilities. Hamel, when he went to Iraq, was noted to be right away studying online at Ohio State for the day he would be an ex-Marine. As soon as he joined, he was already planning to leave. Good for him. As a kid at the time, I remember 1981. That was when we were being prepped for WW3, told how to build bomb shelters in our homes, as tensions ratcheted between the USSR and USA. Walz, like a similarly aged Hamel 24 years later, took the proverbial shilling to service his country. If Walz didn't do that, like thousands of reservists and National Guardsmen at the time, there is a possibility that Hamel literally wouldn't exist in 2024, or he'll be Russian speaking. Walz was deployed to Italy in 2003 as a Battle Casualty Replacement for Afghanistan. He went in the full expectation that he could be sent to Afghanistan to fill in a wrecked and combat ineffective unit that had been mullered at the hands of the Taliban. Hamel is now complaining not enough Americans died in Afghanistan so that Walz would have been sent there? Hamel says he is fully transparent about his service. We have to take his word for that. We have no idea how he managed to serve so little in Iraq during his service. Why he decided to leave. Why he didn't transfer to the reserve. Why, during one Enlistment, and not being short of a few braincells (evidenced by is later Law degree), he only managed E-4; not exactly a stand out record for someone who wishes to be VP. What Hamel did in Iraq https://static.dvidshub.net/media/pubs/pdf_0376.pdf https://www.dvidshub.net/news/5060/houston-native-comes-full-circle-iraq https://www.dvidshub.net/image/11887/vmgr-252-air-crews-make-mission-possible-iraq https://static.dvidshub.net/media/pubs/pdf_0357.pdf https://static.dvidshub.net/media/pubs/pdf_6564.pdf Hamel needs to explain why he voted against expanding VA benefits. Which Walz might benefit from; his military service meant he lost hearing due to artillary fire. When he re-enlisted in 2001, following 911 (and when his first born arrived), he had to go to a medical board to appeal against being thrown out due to medical disability. Hamel is a vain man. He didn't like people laughing at him about supposed masturbation on a sofa. You can tellhe's vain because of that ridiculous beard he wears, to hide that pudgy chinless face. Plus all the eyeliner he wears (Trump likes men not afraid to wear makeup). Hamel threw the stones first. Maybe more details will emerge of the 3.5 years he wasn't in Iraq and at Cherry Point.

https://www.theguardian.com/politics/article/2024/aug/11/far-right-disorder-had-clear-russian-involvement-says-ex-mi6-spy https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/11/uk-two-tier-treats-far-right-attacks-less-harshly-islamist-violence-rusi

I'm assuming from your user name you are not from Europe, and probably don't really understand that Winters in Europe can be quite cold, hence your assumption that t-shirts only are often worn a European winter. Some reading for you https://www.researchgate.net/profile/Matteo-Mattavelli-2/publication/295918492_Develpment_of_a_Glaciological_Spatial_Data_Infrastructure_to_assess_glaciers_response_to_climatic_fluctuations/links/56d0816d08ae4d8d64a38fc0/Develpment-of-a-Glaciological-Spatial-Data-Infrastructure-to-assess-glaciers-response-to-climatic-fluctuations.pdf?origin=publication_detail&_tp=eyJjb250ZXh0Ijp7ImZpcnN0UGFnZSI6Il9kaXJlY3QiLCJwYWdlIjoicHVibGljYXRpb25Eb3dubG9hZCIsInByZXZpb3VzUGFnZSI6InB1YmxpY2F0aW9uIn19

Isn't Donald Trump her opponent? If you are referring to Tim Walz; the draft in the US ended in 1973 by President Nixon. In 1973, Tim Walz was 9 years old. Are you advocating that the US military needs to recruit child soldiers. And looking Trump's running mate, the man currently named James Vance. He apparently had a tour of 6 months in Iraq in 2005. At the time, that wasn't a full tour; typically it was 14-19 months, later 12 months. Why did Vance/Hamel get special treatment in leaving early, when other Marines had to endure far longer. He was a Marine photographer. What did he do there? Well, some of the photos he took in the combat zone. Steel yourself. Its strong stuff. He doesn't appear to have stepped foot outside of Al Asad Airbase during his his entire truncated tour. The biggest risk he faced waspaper cuts. He did 4 years service, and somehow only did 6 months soft duties deployment during all that time. From 2003-2010, my brother did 3 tours of Iraq and 2 in Afghanistan. A good friend of mine has done 22 year in the US Army Reserve, Nominally, he is a university professor, but he ended up 15 years deployed overseas, mostly Middle East. What connections did Chubby Vance/Hamel that allowed him to shirk his duty in return for a free university degree? Not exacty how Marine photographers were portrayed in Full Metal Jacket Tampon fact; now part of Russian combat first aid kit. You shove them into bullet holes.

A very long video, but one that showed the Rotherham riot, and how it developed from a shouting match between two groups into full blown lets-kill-the police barbarity; 1. The Thin Blue Line at one point was very thin. The hotel has roads on 3 sides and a carpark to the rear, and police were effectively under siege as the mob moved around to probe weaknesses. It took a while for the police to receive reinforcements from the BTP and establish a proper cordon. I thought the police were amazingly stoic throughout all this. Chatting amicably to members of the public, even with the rioters. I hoped they took down the masked guy in the skinny grey trackie. He seemed particularly deserving some time at His Majesty's Pleasure. 2. The power of a police dog or two. A couple of dogs rabbed a rioting lad and took him down. The experience immediately drained his bravado so much he was then led away by a single copper with a firm grasp of his wrist. 3. The age of the protestors was surprising; a lot of 40-60 somethings prancing about. An OAP couple claimed they were only there because they had lost their winter fuel allowance to pay for the asylum seekers. But the husband was then seen prancing around in front of the police line with all the manner of someone who had done this before. 4. The Right Wingers (or whatever you want to call them) seemed curiously obsessed about Paedophillia. You see, they thought it was a good idea to bring their kids along to day out (and I saw a few hiding behind their kids at times), but accused all the media and youtubers as being "pedos" trying to film their kids. One cameraman was violently assaulted during this. And at one time, there was a placard blaming Jimmy Saville. 5. Horrific moment was when some of the mob were able to enter the hotel, and the cameraman managed to film an unmasked thug gleefully tossing a lighter to another, as they attempted to set fire to a hotel housing 200 people. I was someone unnerved by the demographics of the rioters. I've had first hand experience of riots in Belfast, and their the rioters are mostly youth, with older guys at the back handing out the molotovs and directing their foot soldiers. In Rotherham, the rioters seemed to be mostly tatoo'd 40 somethings, or ever those in their 50s. People who ought to know better. Lock 'em up.

First rioters appearing in court. Backgrounds seem very Victorian https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/live-updates-court-violent-disorder-29678441 In the past, this lot would have been deported to the Colonies (which meant living in a prison ship for upto 2 years, while they filled it, before sailing). Where to put them. Could be some rich irony. In 1982, the MOD chartered the Bibby Venture and the Bibby Resolution to serve as floating barracks in the Falklands. These were later sold to New York City as Prison ships during a period of over crowding. Later the Resolution was sold back to the UK, and became HMP Weare at Portland. The ship later became oil worker accomodation in Nigeria, and apparently survives. More recently, the idea was revived with the Bibby Stockholm, to house migrants undergoing processing to determine their legal status. Apparently it provides very comfortable accomodation. Its now being decommissioned; while the decision was taken by the incoming government, really there have been months of objection from Dorset residents. Perhaps it should be repurposed as a floating prison for these rioters, a return to the traditional values that presumably drove them to destroy property and people. Mail bag sewing is a bit passe, but I think Holiday Inn has some laundry that needs hemming.

I will be very surprised if any of the rioters have "tried the democratic approach", ie, have voted. Did democracy fail in 1919, or did the rioters have a noble cause?

And probably all of the rioters didn't bother.

And sunk if he gets in. You lot are stuck it seems. Of course, you have 33 senatorial seats up for grabs. That also affcts the path the US takes. I can't explain Trump's behaviour at 1:23. During a little interlude when he's complaining about microphones, when the interviewer, whom his clearly disliked turns away, he grabs her bottle and clearly closes the top extra tight, forcefully, before replacing it, hoping no one noticed. Why would he do that? He had his own bottle of water on his right. Edit: The Germaphobe thought it was his water, and drank it.