British Worms Turning

I haven’t been Over There for a while, and it’s probably a Good Thing I haven’t because in addition to London’s “congestion charge” (a.k.a. let’s create an additional tax revenue stream by scalping drivers) there’s now something called the Ultra Low Emissions Zone “ULEZ” (here’s the explanation, I couldn’t be bothered to type it out).

Anyway, it seems that more than a few Londoners have taken exception to this little scheme.  Cameras (both fixed and in mobile units) are used as an enforcement tool, like London doesn’t have enough of those poxy things already — and the fed-up public have decided to take matters into their own hands, to show Hizzoner the Mayor what they think about this nonsense:

For the first time since the anger of the Poll Tax riots during Margaret Thatcher’s time as Prime Minister or the anti-Iraq war demonstrations under Tony Blair, we are witnessing an outpouring of anger against the government. In this case it is anger at the anti-car measures by the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan. Citizens are attacking and disabling the network of cameras in London that monitors all traffic and fine cars that do not meet certain standards.

The attack on the motorist in London goes back to 2003 when the then London Mayor, Ken Livingstone, implemented the Congestion Zone whereby drivers would have to pay to enter. The public were told that this would cut congestion but many felt it was just anyway to extract money from the motorist. Public transport in London is very good but never before has there been a road charge in the UK. The London Congestion zone was, and probably still is, the largest in the world.

The next attack on motorists was the Low Emission Zone (LEZ) which was also introduced by Ken Livingstone in 2008 and was, as the name suggests, a charge/fine based on vehicle emissions. It was expanded a number of times and now covers all of London. This was to target older trucks and large vehicles. Ken Livinstone was a Labour socialist mayor but the next intrusion came from the so-called Conservative mayor of London, Boris Johnson.

In 2014 Boris announced the creation of the Ultra Low Emissions Zone (ULEZ) which was targeted at car drivers. Five years later the ULEZ zone started in central London and older cars entered the zone to pay for the privilege of driving on London roads for that and every day. The cost of driving an older car into central London was now £12.50 for ULEZ and £15 for Congestion Charge. That’s over $30 a day to drive on a public road.

The fightback we are seeing today has been dubbed the ULEZ “Blade Runners.” Hundreds of the ULEZ cameras have been damaged or destroyed across London. Campaigners/vigilantes/angry citizens (take your pick) are cutting wires on the equipment and spraying the lenses with paint. Up to a quarter of all the cameras have been attacked. To combat this fight back, Sadiq Khan has employed an army of CCTV camera vans to drive around and fill these blackspots. But now we are seeing vans parking in front of these vans to block their camera and render them useless.

There is so much frustration against this onslaught in motorists that the legacy media is even running stories on the Blade Runners and interviewing them so their story can get out. This “lawbreaking” seems to be championed by sections of the media which is intriguing and encouraging. The public has been invited to take part in consultations on the introduction of both of these charges but the government was always going to implement them. They claim it is about the environment but it seems to be about something else which the government are always short of. Money!

The congestion charge rakes in £220 million every year. That’s a quarter of a billion dollars every year. A quarter of that (£55 million) is used to administer the zone but the rest is pure profit. A tax on the motorist. The ULEZ expansion is estimated to net Sadiq Khan up to £300m in its first year. That’s half a billion dollars a year.

The attacks on this network are only increasing. Not only are the public against the fines but they are also against this new level of surveillance. Sadiq Khan operates a network of 1,544 Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) cameras. ULEZ will add another 2,700.

Does anyone believe the lie that this is about saving the planet and nothing to do with raising more tax?

LOL.  Keep it up, British people.

Ordinarily, I’d suggest a more drastic solution to the problem, i.e. an ancient and much-used British legal device:

…but no doubt some Brit rozzer would have a problem with that.

Up Yours, Governor (Part 2)

Adding to the fun and games response to NewMexGov Grisham’s “I’m banning gun carrying because it’s a health issue” initiative comes this most excellent news:

There are now six lawsuits (and counting) challenging New Mexico Governor Michelle Lujan Grisham’s public health order suspending Second Amendment carry rights in the Bernalillo County and the city of Albuquerque. While literally no local authorities are willing to enforce her clearly unconstitutional diktat, Grisham is still claiming that the New Mexico State Police will do her dirty work.

The State Police, however, have remained strangely silent on the matter and no one has been cited for any violations.

This afternoon, however, New Mexico Attorney General Raúl Torrez delivered the latest body-blow to the Governor’s authoritarian tendencies by announcing in a letter to Grisham that his office will not be defending her in court.

So this anti-gun asshole bitch will either have to pay the legal defense costs herself, or get some liberal law firm to do it pro bono — or beg for money from the Soros-type socialist billionaires.

Of course, she could always end this quite easily by killing herself rescinding the stupid order (thereby making the issue moot).

We await developments with bated breath.

Point Of Principle

I see that the medical scaremongers and charlatans are now mumbling (soon to be shouting, no doubt) about how the latest ‘n greatest Covid variant is going to kill us all unless we do all that shit that didn’t work the last time.

I might as well get it off my chest now:

  • I will not wear a face mask, because they’ve been proven ineffective and hamper my breathing
  • I will not patronize any business (or government office) that mandates the use thereof
  • I will likewise not curtail my social or commercial activities under terms of any government-mandated lockdown
  • I will not get yet another vaccination of some unproven (and apparently also ineffective) drug against this new Covid, nor any other Covid strain for that matter
  • any attempt to coerce me into doing any of the above will meet with a hostile, perhaps (depending on the circumstances) even violent response from me.

Others may join me in this, or not — it is a matter of complete indifference to me, as this is a purely personal position.

Corollary: 

We know what you’re trying to do, and it’s not going to work.

Preaching To The Choir

Of course the Left wants to muzzle people who disagree with their agenda:

The College of Psychologists of Ontario, which has embraced radical gender theory in recent years, has threatened to remove Peterson’s clinical psychology license over his social media activity if he did not go through a so-called “specified continuing education or remedial program.” 

…and unsurprisingly, the Canucki courts (another bunch of Stalinists) has sided with these assholes:

On Wednesday, the Ontario Superior Court of Justice ordered Peterson to pay $25,000 to the College of Psychologists and upheld the order that he go through a social media education program. 

Also unsurprisingly, Jordan Peterson has told them to fuck off, in his polite manner.

Here’s my thought on the matter.  If there’s some wealthy conservative tycoon out there who wants to put his money where it will do a lot of good, he should announce the endowment of a Department of Modern Psychology at, say, Hillsdale College, to be headed by Dr. Jordan Peterson.

Why Hillsdale?

Regular Readers of this website know my philosophy about education.  It is based on the principles of Albert Jay Nock, which can be summarized as follows:  “Educate only those who are receptive to being educated, instead of trying to educate everybody.”

Kids who attend Hillsdale College are likely to be conservative (or at least their parents are), and Peterson’s teachings are more likely to be appreciated and reinforced by their receptive audience.

From a practical perspective, this would take Peterson away from the toxic College of Psychologists of Ontario and still-more toxic Canadian environment, put him in a position which encourages his thinking and analysis, and would create a platform for his message.  Also, Peterson would be forever immune to censure and “re-education” (a.k.a. psychological bullying).

In the long run, this would be far more effective than contributing to Chris Christie’s doomed presidential election bid.

Just a thought.

Stupid Idiots

Some people just haven’t got the memo.  Like senior hillbilly Asa Hutchinson [who? nemmind, just stay with me here]:

GOP presidential candidate former Gov. Asa Hutchinson (R-AR) said Sunday on CNN’s “State of the Union” that former President Donald Trump is in “serious jeopardy” of being found not to be qualified to be president.

…and the rest of his statement is all politico-legal jargon about “courts” and whatever.

You clueless idiot.  Can’t you see that the more people line up against Trump — especially the DoJ, the White House and morons like yourself — the more likely that conservative voters who are just pissed off at the whole circus will just say, “Fuck all y’all!” and vote for Trump in still-greater numbers, just out of spite?

Regardless, Asa old bean, if Trump is found “not qualified” to be president (by whom? on what grounds?), then what does that make you?

Ya Thank?

From the Redcoats Burn Down The White House! news department:

Some Republican senators are concerned that conservative populism is taking over the Republican Party — concerns which coincide with increased distrust in federal agencies and establishment media outlets.

Wow, I wonder how they managed to figure this out… so late in the game.

Clueless idiots.  Oh wait:  here might be a clue:

Distrust for basic institutions has continued to bubble throughout President Biden’s time in office, particularly in light of the Department of Justice (DOJ) targeting former President Donald Trump while seemingly allowing Biden family corruption to go relatively unaddressed.

And Congress is right on it:

Such mounting concerns led to the creation of the Select Subcommittee on the Weaponization of the Federal Government, which has worked to showcase the corruption of the FBI and DOJ.

A show of hands, please:  how many of you think that this subcommittee’s findings will result in anyone being fired, imprisoned or even fined for said corruption?

None of you, huh?  Me neither.

I’m a conservative, all right, but I’m nowhere close to being a populist, politically speaking.  But if we look at the scale between “Boys will be boys” at one end and “Hang every last one of them from lamp posts” at the other, with each passing day I’m finding myself sliding ever closer to the “Never mind the gallows;  we have lots of ammo”  position.

What amazes me is that “some Republican senators” are only now becoming aware of how common my position is turning, even amongst the more polite conservatives.

And when the Communists steal the 2024 election with millions of fraudulent mail-in ballots?

We’ll just have to see.