Yes, he promised us rain today – a 90% chance with 14mm in the daytime and 10mm through the night. The current forecast however for this evening has changed slightly and we now have a 50% chance of rain and an estimated 3mm
And so what was the weather like today then? Why, it was glorious non-stop sunshine of course. So much so that the batteries are fully-charged again and I did a huge load of washing this morning. And while it was a-doing I started to look around the verandah for a paper that I’ve lost. That progressed into a full-scale tidy up and reorganisation in there that has lasted all day and still is nowhere near finished. Even so, there’s quite an improvement, even though the casual observer might not think so. And of course, I haven’t found the paper I was looking for that started all of this off. I need to find it as I have to go into Pionsat and I can’t go without this paper (well, I can but it makes the journey rather pointless).
And this evening’s weather? A brilliantly clear sky with thousands of stars.
And in other news, Rhys and I are well-known for our fundamental differences of opinion on American politics and the bearing of arms and the like, and we have long-since agreed to differ about this. But every now and again we find ourselves surprisingly arranged on the same side. And it’s with this in mind that I want to draw your attention to a legal case that has been hitting the news in the UK. A family comes home from their mosque and finds three men burgling their home. The family is captured and tied up while the burglary continues. As the burgalrs leave, the father of the family breaks free and grabs hold of his brother and the two of them chase the three villains. They catch up with one of them and hit him with a cricket bat to incapacitate him.
The burglar is tried and convicted and given a two-year supervision order. The two brothers, one of whom remember was tied up by the burglars and was forced to watch his family tied up, well they get prison sentences. And not just any ordinary prison sentences either but 30 and 39 months respectively.
Now that is not the part of the procedure that is obscene. The worst part of the whole affair is the judge’s comments. The burglars have committed a “serious and wicked offence” – and the sentence for that crime is probation. The judge goes on to say that “If persons were permitted to take the law into their own hands and inflict their own instant and violent punishment on an apprehended offender rather than letting justice take its course, then the rule of law and our system of criminal justice, which are the hallmarks of a civilised society, would collapse.“
So let’s talk about that. How many of the THREE offenders have been brought to justice? The answer is “jusr one”. And which one was it that was brought to justice? Why, the one that the victims hit with a cricket bat. If the victims had not hit him with a cricket bat it is likely that he would have made his getaway with his two colleagues and would never have been brought to justice at all.
And seeing as he was brought before justice, how come justice did not prevail upon him to disclose the names of his partners in crime? I suppose that this is justice in the UK taking its course. If I had been in charge of the trial it wouldn’t have been two years supervision it would have been five years inside. Three times five years is fifteen years and the criminal who had been captured would have to serve the lot if he wouldn’t disclose the names of his colleagues. Soon put a stop to the vow of Omerta, that would.
Of course, the irony of his comments seems to have sailed right over the head of the trial judge. Maybe someone should hit him with a cricket bat and knock some sense into him. But I feel that it would take more than that to knock some sense into the UK right now. I’m glad I don’t live there any more.
Britain is training its population to be passive victims and punishing those that stand for anything.
There’s even more to it. The burglars broke in carrying weapons, threatened the family with knives, threatened to kill them and to rape the mother and daughter. Not only that but the ‘brain damage’ is so bad that the one who was caught has already been arrested again for another crime. Contrast that with the two men who were jailed who are, even according to the police and the judge law-abiding, upstanding members of their community and the family have been threatened since and still live in fear of another attack. Where is justice in this case?
Justice in this country consists of patting the criminals on the head and punishing the victims. It’s a joke and it’s getting so no one trusts the courts, not even the police.
To gain respect, the police need to give up a load of their pay – they’re the most overpaid police in the world. This means that the job attracts people that want money rather than to do the job – exactly the wrong kind of people to be policemen. Thatcher overpaid them to quell dissent. Their pay needs to drop about 25%. They also need to give up their stupid arsenal of weapons. A policeman does not need more than a revolver and a bolt-action rifle. If they need machine guns then the police are the wrong people for the job.
Another problem is the police have too many roles. They need to be broken up into separate organisations with very clear goals. Something like:
Police – for roaming the streets and apprehending petty criminals. Also for investigating crimes against people and businesses.
Drugs Force – for investigating, capturing and interrogating drug dealers and the drug lords.
Immigration force – for rounding up and deporting illegal aliens.
ETC
Ordinary cops here don’t carry guns. Even the few who are rated to don’t carry them as a matter of course. We have a system that allows rapid response to weapons incidents without armed cops wandering the streets. Frankly I prefer it this way because I wouldn’t trust most of them with that power. Also, as your FBI found out, people with rifles and revolvers can’t stop criminals with body armour and automatic weapons. Sadly you can’t take the automatics out of the hands of every crook so you have to give the police the tools they need to stop them.
Body armour doesn’t protect against a head shot. Besides – a shotgun blast to body armour is enough to knock somebody to the floor…
Body armour isn’t bullt-proof – it’s just bullet resistant. The force has to go somewhere…
I suspect it may be hard to fire accurately enough to hit a small target when you’ve hundreds of rounds per minute whistling past your ears. Body armour offers some protection to the largest target area of the body. It’s why soldiers and police seem fond of it. As for a shotgun, the range is relatively limited. The reload rate is slow and although it may knock them down it may not make them release the weapon, meaning they can fire back faster than you can, hollywood westerns not withstanding!