Latest Moan From You and Me 2025

I'm not sure I can stay up all night... maybe I'll stream it later, but Channel 4s "Trump v the Truth" on Wednesday night from 10pm to 3am on Thursday looks like a good watch.

 

5 hrs! Will that be sufficient airtime?

 

Maybe not...

 

"A whistling woman and a crowing hen, ain't no good to God nor men".

 

I'd rather people didn't. Especially when you're standing by them in a queue and can't escape.
I have a neighbour next door but one who whistles constantly. I am aware of every moment he is out in his garden. It's not tuneful either.

 

The saying I grew up with @Ergates was “ A whistling woman and a crowing hen Is enough to drive the devil out of its den”.

 

It can, a few years ago i had the police knock on our door because of a whistle, some one wolf whistled and a lady walking past reported it, i had to say it wasn't me but being male they didn't belive me when i said it's a black bird on the telegrth pole outside which when it sung the very last bit sounded like a wolf whistle, it took a long time to prove it wasn't me till one day i got the police out and they then hear it for themself

 

For anyone still in doubt about the character of Charlie Kirk here's the words of a black American Christian preacher:

Rev. Dr. Howard-John Wesley set social media on fire with his passionate sermon. “Charlie Kirk did not deserve to be assassinated. But I’m overwhelmed seeing the flags of the United States of America at half-staff calling this nation to honor and venerate a man who was an unapologetic racist and spent all of his life sowing seeds of division and hate into this land. And hearing people with selective rage who are mad about Charlie Kirk, but didn’t give a damn about Melissa Hortman and her husband when they were shot down in their home, tell me I ought to have compassion for the death of a man who had no respect for my own life.”

Charlie Kirk was an avowed white supremacist who laundered his despicable propaganda under the hood of being a “debater” and a “free speech” advocate — but it’s telling that none of the memorials for Charlie Kirk contain any of the things he said and that MAGA scolds are trying to get people fired just for sharing the things he actually said.

Wesley dropped a hammer on Kirk and MAGA, saying “I am sorry, but there’s nowhere in Bible where we are taught to honor evil. How you die does not redeem how you lived. You do not become a hero in your death when you are a weapon of the enemy in your life.”

Charlie Kirk spent his career building a propaganda network with which to hoodwink young college students and ruthlessly bullying those he disagreed with. A reprehensible racist, sexist, and bigot who said the Civil Rights Act was a mistake, Kirk played a huge role in making America’s political discourse as toxic as it is today and should be remembered as the vile man he was. We cannot allow history to be rewritten.

And Trump let drop this little gem yesterday: "Smart people don't like me".

And this is an example of what they're doing to brown people - ICE descended on a new factory being built by Koreans but destined to employ thousands of Americans. i wouldn't be surprised if they closed it down now.

 

I have never heard of this Reverend, though anyone with a religious title is, by definition, setting themselves up as a "persuader" of others and sets my inner alarm bells ringing.

However, the point is not how unpleasant a man Kirk may have been, but that assassinating someone for their political (or religious) views is not a solution for addressing divisive rhetoric.

When someone's death hits the headlines, their supporters are allowed to sing their praises. I was reading a story recently about a teen who accidentally killed himself and the family were quoted as saying what a fantastic boy he was, loved by all he met, etc, etc. It transpired he had been charged with over 300 offences in his short life. You wouldn't expect his family to say, "Actually, he was a right little ***!" And neither would you expect that of Kirk's entourage.

 

Constance Marten has been sentenced to 14 yrs in prison. This bothers me. Yes, her baby girl died in her care and had she sought medical help, she may not have done. But, the reason she didn't seek that help was Social Services would have removed the child. So, her "crime" really was evading authorities and, as a result of this, the baby came to harm. Does this warrant 14 yrs? It seems a bit excessive when people serve less time for murder, or do other things that harm their children (being too drugged or drunk to care for them, for example) and maybe aren't even charged. Four children under 5 died in a house fire a few yrs ago while their mother was out, but she didn't get a sentence that long. (I'm not suggesting she was treated too leniently as she was struggling with their care.)

If you take into account someone who has just given birth has their hormones all over the place and may not be thinking straight, plus she was with a coercive, violent partner, then 14 yrs seems very harsh, IMV.

 

@ViewAhead - time and time again, drunk/drug drivers get a fine and a suspended sentence and that's it. Even when they seriously injure, or even kill someone, they basically get a slap on the wrist, and as for banning them. Pointless. They'll still get in a car drunk or on drugs and drive.
You'd have thought the fact that the partner is clearly a manipulative, controlling ******d, would have influenced the sentence.
The justice system in this country is farcical.

 

I hope Vance won’t dare to accuse the UK of stifling free speech again. It looks like anyone in the US found to have exercised their right to free speech to state the truth about Kirk and his beliefs, is going to be hounded out of their job by the authorities. Including those who couldn’t be described as celebrating his death, but pointing out his racist statements, anti women remarks, and his support of weapons, with ‘acceptable’ collateral deaths. He may not have advocated violence, but he was still a bad person.
Evidently only people like him now have the right to free speech in the USA. So, so very sad.

 

There has been a greater outpouring of "grief" for that right wing fascist in the USA than for recent school shootings. There is something seriously unblanced about that society. I note you have a tendency @ViewAhead to doubt information from or about the good guys and feel pity for the dead or just plain stupid no matter how bad they are.

I agree the sentencing of Constance Marten is unjust. Her upbringing, tho wealthy and priveleged, was not ideal in a broken family and I don't think she received adequate support when she started having babies. Given his record, I suspect her partner manipulated and bullied her.

 

I don't really divide into "good" or "bad", @Obelix-Vendée. I like to look at things from several angles, and then factor "what is (and, crucially, isn't) being reported, by whom, and why" into the complex equation.

It's too simplistic to imply one side is right and another wrong. Everything is shades of grey.

It would be a harsh world in which feeling pity for "the plain stupid" was disallowed.