tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post2407225757366415808..comments2023-09-28T13:28:52.243+01:00Comments on Raedwald: Europe - Organised crime bosses back the EURaedwaldhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comBlogger34125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-91966614644468032412019-02-11T12:25:02.861+00:002019-02-11T12:25:02.861+00:00Anonymous (5 February 2019 at 19:07): "Gettin...Anonymous (5 February 2019 at 19:07): "Getting divorced after forty years and running a business together "just like never having been married in the first place", says Budgie."<br /><br />That's a strawman, Anon. Signing the Lisbon treaty is not marriage and not like marriage. The EU is not a husband nor a wife; and neither is the UK. If you cannot think about the EU except by analogy then a better one (no analogy is perfect, obviously) is an LLP - a limited liability partnership. It is perfectly possible for a member to leave an LLP.<br /><br />(I was away for a few days, so did not spot this initially).Budgienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-22429201224302830562019-02-06T08:18:29.470+00:002019-02-06T08:18:29.470+00:00"The trolls sole objective is to disrupt and ..."The trolls sole objective is to disrupt and distort dialogue". He just can't help making your point can he Radders?Marknoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-78706461216020311412019-02-06T07:52:08.027+00:002019-02-06T07:52:08.027+00:00Damn those facts eh?
You make out that the EU is ...Damn those facts eh?<br /><br />You make out that the EU is awful. It is not, and the stats show that.<br /><br />So where would you prefer? Latin America? Africa? China? The islamic world? The ex-USSR? The 30,000-gun-deaths-a-year US? That leaves Aus, NZ, and Canada pretty well, about the same population as Italy, oh, and Japan.<br /><br />You claims are bizarre, and unbalanced.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-52257637312522223052019-02-06T05:44:08.918+00:002019-02-06T05:44:08.918+00:00K - fair comment.
The troll's sole objective ...K - fair comment.<br /><br />The troll's sole objective is to disrupt and distort dialogue. So far I've given them warning that I'll delete comments (and I do) that contain just a 'spam' URL link<br /><br />I'm now extending that to comments that contain irrelevant or misleading links with no clear direct relevance to the post. <br /><br />If the troll really wants to engage in dialogue, argument and discussion I'll give them a fair go. Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-74271364450218490442019-02-06T00:07:39.994+00:002019-02-06T00:07:39.994+00:00fregbert et al -- please be assured that I've ...fregbert et al -- please be assured that I've posted here as anon 2 for several years. I am not one of the neu-troll types; however, I don't want to change my old moniker.<br /><br />I would hope you can spot the difference: in both content and style.anon 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-37136238251747118812019-02-05T22:59:10.946+00:002019-02-05T22:59:10.946+00:00I have to agree that the trolls are spoiling this ...I have to agree that the trolls are spoiling this blog for me. I like the fact that views such as Jack Ketch's are explored, having recognised him as a contrarian old bugger since the late Anna Raccoon's much missed blog.<br />However the pointless deflection tactics of the various Anons are effectively hi-jacking the comments sections of this blog.<br />My view is that the odd comment posted as Anon is ok but repeated anonymity is<br />the refuge of trolls who should not have a place on a civilised and thought provoking blog such as this one.fregberthttps://www.blogger.com/profile/12266873546545170830noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-80039181884069565072019-02-05T21:46:43.101+00:002019-02-05T21:46:43.101+00:00@Anonymous 20:41
I don't think Raedwald is co...@Anonymous 20:41<br /><br />I don't think Raedwald is confusing them. Of course the corrupt organisations themselves are in member states but how do they keep getting hold of EU funds?<br /><br />The first question to ask would be whether they somehow get access to more EU funds than national funds. If it's the same then it's probably not an EU level issue per se but even then why should relatively less corrupt countries like the UK and Germany allow their funds to be stolen in Italy or Spain? At that point either the net contributors should control how their money is spent or you accept corruption is a normal part of the EU.<br /><br />It should be noted that the EFTA states also contribute to these projects via the EEA and Norway Grants and they get to decide where their money is spent whereas for EU members everything is allocated by the Commission.<br /><br />Also the CPI graphs in that report are what Raedwald should have posted in response to Anon 08:37.Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-40874450795458742312019-02-05T21:29:29.838+00:002019-02-05T21:29:29.838+00:00Interesting --- and, of course, one begins to wond...Interesting --- and, of course, one begins to wonder about connections between cultural marxism and the mafia. This is of particular interest in connection with the fiercely independent US of A, whose marxist profs. (including those based in England) are fiecely against Brexit .....anon 2noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-23128470089833804652019-02-05T21:16:10.372+00:002019-02-05T21:16:10.372+00:00@Raedwald Why do you even respond to some Anons?
...@Raedwald Why do you even respond to some Anons?<br /><br />This is a blog post about organised crime and Anon immediately derailed with murder rate (not even adjusted per capita by default which is why he didn't notice Ireland is worse than the UK) and cost of "violence containment" (I also doubt he realised the map isn't the actual rate of violence).<br /><br />So with clear evidence that Anon is an idiot, why did you entertain him with Swedish rape stats instead of trying to shift back to something relevant like corruption perception indexes? Now on a blog post about the misappropriated EU funds you're arguing with someone over feminist issues of rape convictions.<br /><br />You are letting trolls drive your comment section.Knoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-87892208826317775492019-02-05T20:41:29.507+00:002019-02-05T20:41:29.507+00:00You confuse the issue of corruption etc. within th...You confuse the issue of corruption etc. within the EU institutions, with that within the member states.<br /><br />Here is the analysis, by the EU, of the latter.<br /><br />https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/what-we-do/policies/organized-crime-and-human-trafficking/corruption/anti-corruption-report_en<br />Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-26941889633850347702019-02-05T19:22:12.427+00:002019-02-05T19:22:12.427+00:00I am more even handed over the EU's failings. ...I am more even handed over the EU's failings. I suspect that the EU political system provides 'niches' for organisations to profit from, some intentionally and some accidentally. <br /><br />So... organised crime has found ways of exploiting a niche, large corporations have found ways of exploiting a different niche, and politicians and bureaucrats have found ways of exploiting their niches too. There's very little help for small businesses and ordinary people though.<br /><br />Arguably Brexit is proving challenging because there are too many exploitable niches providing a good living for those who occupy them. There are perhaps too many niches because the EU has been a political project from the start, rather than one arising out of a history of economic and social changes balancing each other.<br /><br />We are better off out... but we will still need to tame the local niches being exploited by our own elites. Did somebody say 'drain the swamp'?DiscoveredJoyshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05300239909689336895noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-89623051028381805022019-02-05T19:07:51.264+00:002019-02-05T19:07:51.264+00:00Getting divorced after forty years and running a b...Getting divorced after forty years and running a business together "just like never having been married in the first place", says Budgie.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-13022925128016484522019-02-05T18:30:11.534+00:002019-02-05T18:30:11.534+00:00Jack Ketch said: "... a crash and burn Brexit...Jack Ketch said: "... a crash and burn Brexit ...". Would that be the same "crash and burn" independence of the EU that New Zealand enjoys?<br /><br />Can't defend the EU, so invent "crash and burn", and say it quickly as though it is established fact hoping no-one will notice how silly it is.Budgienoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-36513099500296196642019-02-05T18:11:35.510+00:002019-02-05T18:11:35.510+00:00The gross resignation and acceptance of this "...<i><br />The gross resignation and acceptance of this "modern", gangster run western society is dreadful. Many, here it would seem, argue "that's the way it's done".</i>- Oldrightie<br /><br />That's the way it's done? Better would be to say "that's the way it has <i>always</i> been done!" Or did I miss the history lesson at school when they told of us an era when 'gangsters' didn't run our society...or any other for that matter? Our own dear Queen is only a few generations from her German Robber Baron ancestors? Mind you the gangsters of yesterday often had better vowels and table manners but, in truth, today's gangsters are tomorrow's elite. They will simply swap the Super Dry for ermine, the Nike for Savile Row ('see my tailor, he's called Simon').jack ketchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921268825653615322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-72364210653922576192019-02-05T17:22:55.348+00:002019-02-05T17:22:55.348+00:00The gross resignation and acceptance of this "...The gross resignation and acceptance of this "modern", gangster run western society is dreadful. Many, here it would seem, argue "that's the way it's done".<br /><br />In which case, it still isn't right and is exceptionally depressing. As for best laces to live, right now Russia outshines anywhere else in my book. Why? It has a LEADER. Oldrightiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03192587284458430556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-58231063505894031822019-02-05T17:15:14.184+00:002019-02-05T17:15:14.184+00:00Many gangsters are deeply embedded in the deep sta...Many gangsters are deeply embedded in the deep state and all of its institutions. Banks especially. Facilitated by politicians and a fair few Mandarins. https://bit.ly/2pRxLqG Remember Kinnock's "corruption whitewash" for the EU? Oldrightiehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03192587284458430556noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-39719157341675115912019-02-05T13:39:05.886+00:002019-02-05T13:39:05.886+00:00ten times harder to break than heroin-Colleague An...<i>ten times harder to break than heroin</i>-Colleague Announcement<br /><br />I hope your comment was meant in jest, poking fun at the junk science of the anti-smoker fASHists?<br />I pray God you don't seriously believe that coming off tobacco is in anyway comparable to heroin withdrawal. As Raed says, I <i>chose</i> to smoke and stopping smoking means a few days of being mildly narked with the rest of the world and his brother (although in the long term it can also mean a year-long cold and IBS). No one who has been through, or witnessed, a heroin addict coming off would believe such nonsense. And yes I speak from some quite considerable experience in terms of 'real' addictions.jack ketchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921268825653615322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-14298811104146870642019-02-05T13:17:28.501+00:002019-02-05T13:17:28.501+00:00Uhm, I have no addictions at all. You are, as usua...Uhm, I have no addictions at all. You are, as usual, misinformed.<br /><br />I chose to smoke and then I chose not to smoke. <br /><br />You probably can't understand that. Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-38147716243398621232019-02-05T13:04:07.101+00:002019-02-05T13:04:07.101+00:00Ah, so you're a user, with a reality-twisting ...Ah, so you're a user, with a reality-twisting addiction, ten times harder to break than heroin, then Raed?<br /><br />Commiserations old chap. This Is A Colleague Announcementnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-66158557332857825872019-02-05T12:44:14.884+00:002019-02-05T12:44:14.884+00:00Jack - to be frank, the idea of the UK enjoying a ...Jack - to be frank, the idea of the UK enjoying a bonanza of cheap genuine smuggled fags post-Brexit really appeals to me - it would be some reward for all the poor bastard smokers who have suffered so long under a brutal duty regime<br /><br />I've been on the snuff for nearly 5 years now but am still a professional smoker at heart - I love the smoky gasthauses here and applaud fags at €4,50 for Austria's dedicated smokers, te Refuseniks of Europe. <br /><br />If only someone in government could see the potential in terms of Brexit popularity of a tsunami of legit tabs in every pub in Britain ..Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-54605104830758298382019-02-05T12:33:02.292+00:002019-02-05T12:33:02.292+00:00Raed, when I saw your title "Europe - Organis...Raed, when I saw your title "Europe - Organised crime bosses back the EU" I misread it as 'back the UK' due to the government's pronouncement yesterday , that in the event of a crash and burn Brexit, no customs checks will be performed on HGV coming in from the EU.<br /><br />So I'm hoping that European organized crime will get itself organised and ship in container load after load of cheap <i>genuine</i> tobacco :) -put the Chinese counterfeit gangs out of business over night. Unfortunately they will probably show their usual lack of business acumen and ship in vast quantities of products with far less profit margin like hash. jack ketchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921268825653615322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-10938568599479859742019-02-05T12:17:23.409+00:002019-02-05T12:17:23.409+00:00Ah yes Anon - that wonderful Swedish judicial effi...Ah yes Anon - that wonderful Swedish judicial efficiency, right up there with South Africa, Costa Rica, Surinam and Bermuda - which must also be, by your definition, the safest countries in the world in which to live, with women free to walk the streets safe from the threat of rape .. Raedwaldhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11699610899843349594noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-86126890822110583832019-02-05T12:05:33.758+00:002019-02-05T12:05:33.758+00:00Jack, your suggestion-Dave G
Was I suggesting any...<i>Jack, your suggestion</i>-Dave G<br /><br />Was I suggesting anything? I thought I was merely pointing out the realities of the situation-specifically regarding NI, for the benefit of those who still believe there are fairies, Care Bears and cake bearing unicorns. (full disclosure: I was a card carrying SFer).<br /><br />My personal 'suggestion' or 'solution' to corruption in public office/agency would be not 'zero tolerance' but '100% transparency'. When I can google up the current bank statements of anyone 'in power' then I shall believe whichever 'we must fight corruption' politician. Lead by example. The place for your 'zero tolerance' would be in regard to politicians (et al) being , under pain of 10 years at her Maj's grave displeasure, forbidden to have any undisclosed accounts/straw men/Swiss kontos etc etc . <br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />jack ketchhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07921268825653615322noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-9617634233825975722019-02-05T11:53:06.684+00:002019-02-05T11:53:06.684+00:00As your cynical mind knows only too well Raed, rap...As your cynical mind knows only too well Raed, rape is drastically under-reported, and in the UK even then, only about one-in-three cases secures a conviction., and that would be part of the reason.<br /><br />In many countries the poor victims would themselves be subject to the most appalling accusations too.<br /><br />In Sweden, the definition of the offence is far much broader, and victims are treated sympathetically, which results in many more reports.<br /><br />So overall, Sweden is one of the world's safest countries, as the stats show. Your intemperate outburst shows that I hit a nerve, I'd say.<br /><br />But why ever let facts stand in the way of yet another preposterous smear campaign?Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1537213245172078183.post-86433386172995431532019-02-05T11:42:59.079+00:002019-02-05T11:42:59.079+00:00Dave_G mentioned Dr Kelly. I'm probably not al...Dave_G mentioned Dr Kelly. I'm probably not alone in sharing his suspicions. That got me thinking about John Smith and Robin Cook. Son I had a rummage around the internet, this turned up:<br /><br />HTTPS://shaphan_typepad.com/2006/05/questions_about.html<br /><br />I apologise for not being clever enough to do links.<br /><br />Young lad to father: "I'm considering a career in organised crime".<br />father to son: "Public or private sector?".<br />Andy5759noreply@blogger.com