Boy arrested for possession of pen on royal wedding day: video

A boy is arrested on the day of the royal wedding for possession of a pen. William and Catherine, this is what's being done in your name.

Thanks heavens we're not in China.

Another video showing democracy in action.



All in all, a great weekend for burying bad news and getting away with murder. More videos here

From Grassy Knoll to The Mall: Royal Wedding Expectations Shot

Americans have the best take on this monarchy stuff. Thanks to Rigorous Intuition for the above inspiration.

On the day that a Bahrain torturer attended the royal wedding while protesters in his homeland are being slaughtered, but Tony Blair and his power-worshipping wife did not (so it's not all negative, then), bad news is buried and another nail is hammered into the coffin of democracy.

Republicans (in the British sense) everywhere are being arrested, reminiscent of baptism scene in the last reel of The Godfather where members of the opposition are wiped out with every glorious crescendo of tiny boys' voices. Telepathic Heights raided. The Zombie Flash crew and anarchists in Soho: arrested and intimidated. The Brockley Guillotiners (aged 45 to 68): arrested. The NHS is told to institute further cuts as the BBC tweets: 'The regulator of NHS foundation trusts in England has warned hospitals they must make even bigger efficiency savings than previously thought'. And thousands of the very people who'll be hit the hardest when the boot in the face kicks-in for real string up bunting instead of royal purple parasites, and hold street parties instead of shooting the guilty parties.

Sigh!

Peter Hain complained that Ed Miliband was cut out of BBC TV coverage while there was plenty of David Cameron and Ramsay MacClegg, but this is surely a narrow escape as no-one with good taste and vestigial republican beliefs would want to be seen dead in this company.

OK, on to my birthday celebrations.

Laurie Penny's Royal Wedding of Mass Distraction

Dead G20 man beaten by police: video contradicts official story

You know the man who died at the recent G20 protests in London? The 47 year old newsagent who wasn’t even part of the demo but was passing by on his way from work? The guy who police said simply collapsed and died of a heart attack as if the excitement dun ‘im in, and whose rescuers were supposed to have been pelted with bottles by the mob?

Well, it turns out the police have been caught lying. Again. Apart from the testimony from several witnesses, there's now video footage acquired by The Guardian of bystander Ian Tomlinson being batoned on the legs and falling to the ground in front of a bunch of cops. He is assisted by another civilian, walks away and then drops dead. There are no missiles being thrown in this location in these moments: the violence is all one-way.

I wonder, as with Harry Stanley, the Hackney man gunned down by the police for carrying a 12-bore coffee-table leg, and with Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician who received no warning before he was shot in the head several times with dum-dum bullets just in case he survived the first shot and the six that followed, if anyone will be held accountable. If they are running true to form, the authorities will do everything they can to blame the protesters and the dead man himself.

"Serious questions have been raised after the watchdog [IPCC] allowed City of London police to launch an inquiry into the death, despite its own officers being involved in the death. ... when a video revealed that Mr Tomlinson had been violently thrown to the ground before suffering a heart attack, a commission investigator asked the newspaper which first broke the story to remove the footage from its website." Read further



So much for democracy and the right to peaceful protest.

Meanwhile, talking about peace, former Prime Minister Tony Blair takes another payoff from interested parties in the Iraq war. First it was millions from JP Morgan, the bank which made more than any other in its capacity as co-ordinator of all the western (mostly US) banks pillaging the country. So much for conflict of interest. Then an Israeli institution — a university — pays him a million dollars. Now the Kuwaitis, old enemies of Iraq, have paid him a seven-figure sum for services rendered.

The ruling class know the game’s up and are looting the western economies with a vigour that is breathtaking to watch. Of course the press remain largely supine, chucking prolefeed at the rest of us in an attempt to distract us from the criminals dismantling our society at the very top.

More at Organised Rage, Harpy Marx, Channel 4 News, Channel 4 News videos, The Guardian

UPDATE: Petition to indict Tony Blair for war crimes

Dead G20 man beaten by police: video contradicts official story

You know the man who died at the recent G20 protests in London? The 47 year old newsagent who wasn’t even part of the demo but was passing by on his way from work? The guy who police said simply collapsed and died of a heart attack as if the excitement dun ‘im in, and whose rescuers were supposed to have been pelted with bottles by the mob?

Well, it turns out the police have been caught lying. Again. Apart from the testimony from several witnesses, there's now video footage acquired by The Guardian of bystander Ian Tomlinson being batoned on the legs and falling to the ground in front of a bunch of cops. He is assisted by another civilian, walks away and then drops dead. There are no missiles being thrown in this location in these moments: the violence is all one-way.

I wonder, as with Harry Stanley, the Hackney man gunned down by the police for carrying a 12-bore coffee-table leg, and with Jean Charles de Menezes, the Brazilian electrician who received no warning before he was shot in the head several times with dum-dum bullets just in case he survived the first shot and the six that followed, if anyone will be held accountable. If they are running true to form, the authorities will do everything they can to blame the protesters and the dead man himself.

"Serious questions have been raised after the watchdog [IPCC] allowed City of London police to launch an inquiry into the death, despite its own officers being involved in the death. ... when a video revealed that Mr Tomlinson had been violently thrown to the ground before suffering a heart attack, a commission investigator asked the newspaper which first broke the story to remove the footage from its website." Read further



So much for democracy and the right to peaceful protest.

Meanwhile, talking about peace, former Prime Minister Tony Blair takes another payoff from interested parties in the Iraq war. First it was millions from JP Morgan, the bank which made more than any other in its capacity as co-ordinator of all the western (mostly US) banks pillaging the country. So much for conflict of interest. Then an Israeli institution — a university — pays him a million dollars. Now the Kuwaitis, old enemies of Iraq, have paid him a seven-figure sum for services rendered.

The ruling class know the game’s up and are looting the western economies with a vigour that is breathtaking to watch. Of course the press remain largely supine, chucking prolefeed at the rest of us in an attempt to distract us from the criminals dismantling our society at the very top.

More at Organised Rage, Harpy Marx, Channel 4 News, Channel 4 News videos, The Guardian

UPDATE: Petition to indict Tony Blair for war crimes