The Killing of Sarah Everard

 

Well, I have just seen the news; that evil bastard, Wayne Couzens, who kidnapped, raped, murdered and burned Sarah Everard's body in an old refrigerator before dumping her remains in a nearby pond, has been given a life tariff, in other words, a life sentence whereby he shall never be released - great news! I'll tell you what, I have read and seen media articles about all sorts of murderous crimes in my life, but this one did take the biscuit.

This afternoon I read once again with absolute horror about the tragic and fiendish death of Sarah about how this evil human being stalked his prey like a hyena in the wild. I am sure most people will feel absolute sorrow for Sarah's family especially her mum and dad who couldn't even see their daughter before she was horridly taken from them. As for this monstrous killer, I have tried and tried to fathom the depths of this bent predator, but have failed. He's the total embodiment of evil.

It would seem he had an abnormal obsession with pornography that was probably at the very root of his eventual killing of Sarah. And it just reinforces my belief that much of what we can access online these days can modify and transform our thinking, our emotions and habits. Of course, I do feel concern for all women these days, especially the younger ones, who must now be considering their future vis-a-vis their association with men. And I would just state further that this animal who took the life of Sarah is definitely in an absolute minority in our society. Of course, he shall spend the rest of his life in prison and some life that is going to be. I don't use the word karma very often as it is an over-used word not fully understood by most people who use it, but in his case, the demoniacal actions carried out on an innocent 33-year-old woman shall come back to haunt him for the rest of his life!

What does rile me and most people is this; this bastard was a Metropolitan Police employee who, according to some, had other sexual trinkets in his hold-all. One criminologist suggests that he was “Clearly interested in sadism and masochism and that his nickname at work was 'the rapist'.” And from his privileged police background, he probably thought he could literally get away with murder. My question is, did he carry out similar hideous attacks in the recent past. Because it's a matter that if you can get away with it once, why not do it again? We've just got to look back at the likes of the Moors Murderers, Ian Brady and Myra Hindley, then Fred and Rose West, Harold Shipman, Dennis Nilsen, etc.

There was quite a lot of debate on TalkRadio today about the Sara Everard murder and the question came up, should we bring back the death penalty? Well, I say no - why? Because, just think, this evil rat shall literally spend the rest of his life in solitary confinement. He'll be separated from all other prisoners. Just think, how would you feel? I'm sure this man will attempt suicide at some point. Hang him? Why never. Let the bastard go absolutely fucking crazy - every day shall be hell for him - good. Hanging him would let him off, literally, with murder! 

Why Does News Media Concentrate on Negativity?

 

Look, I'm a big fan of the news; always have been and always will be. However, in recent weeks I've been getting more and more concerned about this seeming obsession that the

likes of the BBC, ITV, Sky News, Fox, CNN - you name it - have with all things negativus (Latin for negative). I'm also a newspaper addict. I've been buying newspapers every single day for donkeys’ years! But unfortunately, the papers are going the same way as TV and online media.

So what's been a pain in the ass in recent weeks? Well, we can begin with forest fires. In Russia, they've experienced the worst forest fires ever recorded. Then there were the so-called Dixie Fire in California that has covered over 960,000 acres and, as I write, is still burning! Then the terrible bushfires in Australia. There have been terrible fires in India and throughout Europe covering Turkey, Greece, Italy and France. Then we get reports of earthquakes, floods, volcano eruptions. We're told that ice caps are melting which is a major cause of oceans and seas rising. And the news media just digest all this stuff and barrage us with it as a heavyweight boxer throws a knockout punch at his opponent.

And do you know what? It's going to get a whole lot worse: the pollution, earth's very structure and inner crust breaking, and many low-lying parts of the planet will be submerged with rising sea levels. The Maldives are already suffering from beach erosion and with only 1.27 metres above sea level, most of these islands will disappear within 20 years.

Okay, as for negative news media, I have in front of me today's (Sept 23) Daily Mail and Daily Mirror newspapers. So I was flicking through them and here's some items I picked out.

The Daily Mail:

·         'It Was Murder' - Mum insists NHS killed cancer patient . . .

·         Power Firms Fall Like Dominoes - Millions facing fuel bill shock . . .

·         New Assisted Dying Plans May Lead to Euthanasia - Denied dignity by healthcare system . . .

·         Ocean Levels See Record Rises as Ice Melts Faster - Ice hits a new low . . .

·         Girl of 15 Kills Herself - She was on drugs linked to suicides . . .

The Daily Mirror:

·         Xmas Trees Shortfall and Meat Prices Will Rocket - Problems with price increases and supply chains . . .

·         Boyfriend in Court over Murder of Mum and Kids - Heartfelt tributes to tragic victims . . .

·         200,000 Kids Are Asking for Help - Pandemic mental health crisis . . .

·         Suddenly Anna Stopped Moving - Lover strangled Brit in hotel . . .

·         Knife Thug's Sick Boasts in Prison - Killer gloats online over victim . . .

You will notice by reading to this point that there is one thing that I have left out. Yes, you guessed, Covid-19. I don't know about you guys but I have had my fill of the relentless coverage of this virus. Yes, I am well aware, as everybody else is, of how this horrendous pandemic has created suffering and chaos in every aspect of our lives and lifestyles. But again, the news media, daily, keep ramming down our throats the statistics like an alcoholic opening his second bottle of whisky within 12 hours!

So how do we handle this barrow load of negativism on a day-to-day basis? Simple. You turn off your television or radio as soon as the news comes on. You avoid all forms of newspapers and magazines again on a daily basis. You avoid Internet news items many of which you’d see on Yahoo, etc. So how would I go about it? Go and make a cup of coffee, have a beer or a large glass of veeno! But I need my newspapers - my only addiction😀😁😀!!

China Still Not Owning Up to Covid-19 Outbreak

 

As I write this blog, currently, there are nearly 230 million cases of the virus worldwide with a figure of 4,715,000 deaths. This awful pandemic has brought additional suffering to millions of people around the world. It has led to businesses collapsing and travel restrictions the likes of which we've never known before. It has ended up causing havoc in the sports, education, business and entertainment industries. Yes, we have vaccines but in many cases they are ineffective! Forgive me for banging on about it but this virus is here to stay and there could be more even dangerous variants in the near future.

It is approximately 20 months since we first learned that this horrible virus existed and seemingly emerging from the city of Wuhan, Xinjiang Province, in China. This is a fact! Since the outbreak it's fair to say that China, under the dictatorship of the Chinese Communist Party (CCP), has covered up the actual origins, initially stating that it sprung from bats and then from live animals in the so-called ‘wet markets’ in the city. It’s now known that the Institute of Virology labs in Wuhan were experimenting with what has been seen as ‘bio-weapons’, biological toxins or infectious agents such as bacteria, viruses, insects, and fungi with the intent to kill. If one were to put two and two together one would assume that the virus escaped from these labs. But the CCP refute such allegations.

A recent report issued this month (September) by an exhaustive American Republican investigation more or less proves that the virus originated in one of the labs of the virology institute but how it escaped is still a bit of a mystery. If we say it leaked then the report would suggest a laboratory technician ‘caught’ the virus unknowingly and would be ‘patient zero’. Well, here’s my take on things. I suggest that the various lab machinery was maybe not 100% safe and that a technician contracted the virus and possibly went to the ‘wet market’ to buy food, etc. So he walks around the market touching counters, foodstuffs, handling other bits and pieces and just coming into contact with hundreds of people that day, transmitted the virus to dozens. They in turn within a 24-hour period would have transmitted the virus to family and friends. From here it spread like wildfire. So researchers reckon this outbreak would have taken place as far back as November 2019. The rest is history.

I would end this blog by stating that there are conspiracy theorists who are suggesting that when the outbreak happened, the CCP intentionally covered it up. Why? Because by February 12, 2020, we had the Chinese New Year, a time when thousands upon thousands of Chinese go on holiday not just to other parts of China but to destinations all over the planet. So there you have it, take it or leave it, but one thing is for certain, the Chinese government intentionally kept the outbreak a secret for weeks before ultimately admitting the virus was a deadly reality! To be honest I don’t think we shall ever find out the truth about what was eventually named the ‘kung-fu virus’!

The Year I Was Born

 

It's a fact of life that the older you get the more you tend to look back on previous years, times and events. I decided to have a look back at what was going on in the year I was born: 1952. Before that, I can tell you I was born on a Tuesday, it was the Year of the Dragon, my zodiac sign was/is Pisces and it's now been, as of today, 25,404 days on this planet! Oh and I am seemingly a 'baby boomer', a little guy who was born between 1946 - 1964; something to do with a spike in sexual activities by married couples (and others) after WWII.

 

So I thought I'd take a look back in history and check out the major topics, events and other stuff that was going on when Ian Oliver entered this world. I shall limit these historical examples to the UK.

 

Firstly, Princess Elizabeth became Queen Elizabeth II following the death of her father King George VI. Britain created and detonated its first atom bomb as part of Operation Hurricane. The first pop music charts were produced by NME showing the American singer, Al Martino, at Number 1 with Here in My Heart. A one-shilling charge (£0/1/0) was introduced for prescription drugs dispensed under the National Health Service. Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet bear, first appeared on BBC Television (loved that little guy). Tea rationing ended, after 13 years, as announced by the Government mostly due to the end of WWII. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap started its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London; went to see this great play years ago!

 

Sooty, Harry Corbett's glove puppet bear, first appeared on BBC Television. British troops remained in Korea, where they have spent the last eighteen months, after a breakdown of talks that were aimed at ending the Korean War. Tea rationing ended, after thirteen years, as announced by the Government two days earlier. Agatha Christie's play The Mousetrap started its run at the New Ambassadors Theatre in London. It would still be running in London as of 2021, having transferred next door to St Martin's Theatre in 1974.

 

Born in 1952:  Sharon Osbourne, Tim Healey, Douglas Adams, Alan Wells, Liam Neeson, Alexi Sayle, Joe Strummer, Mel Smith, Clive Anderson, Jenny Agutter . . .

Died in 1952: King George VI, Sir Stafford Cripps, Gertrude Lawrence, Waldorf Astor, etc.

 

And lastly, there was the Great Smog of London. The toxic mix of smoke and fog that descended on 5 December, 1952 was unlike anything the city had seen before and killed over 4,000 people. So, a horrific example of how hellish the weather was in some instances 69 years ago. That kind of toxic atmosphere is just a bit like the hellish pollution being emitted from 250-odd coal-fired power stations in China!

Is Karma Fact or Fiction?

 

Looking back over the years this word, karma, has been misrepresented by so many people. I've lost count of the number of times so-called entertainment celebrities have spat out the word and who probably haven't a clue as to its real meaning. You get the likes of Madonna, Kim Kardashian, Brad Pitt, Gary Oldman, Liam Neeson and other narcissists - you know what I mean? It follows on from these other celebrity-chat catchwords of recent years: awesome, chilling out, bodacious, dude, OMG (oh my god), etc, etc.

But the word karma; what exactly does it mean? I came across this word many moons ago when I got interested in it, initially in Hinduism, and then Buddhism. In the West, back in the day, the word karma was translated as cause and effect. You have a cause - something happens - and then you have an outcome to the cause - the effect. If only it was as simple as that.

The word 'karma' comes from the ancient Indian languages of Sanskrit and Pali that goes back over 3,000 years ago. In this blog, I shall try to describe karma from the Buddhist perspective. Basically, karma is action with intention. When you think about it all our actions have some kind of intention. In one case we want ‘this’ to happen but in another case, we ‘don’t want’ this to happen.

Here's a real-life example of karma. A friend of mines back in 2019 was pulled up in his car by traffic police; it was in a supermarket car park. He was told to get out of the car by the two policemen. One started asking about his car insurance, road tax and MOT whilst the other walked around the car checking the tyres, etc. To cut a long story short, the police had carried out an Automatic Number Plate Recognition (ANPR) device check and discovered he had no car insurance or road tax and no MOT. He was fined £300.00 for the offence(s). He explained to me that losing his job a year earlier had caused him to try and save money which resulted in this sorry tale. But, this was karma 'in action'. Had he maintained his car insurance and road tax payments, and ensured his car had an MOT, then this would have not happened. It was his actions that resulted in bad karma coming back to haunt him. Lessons learned, as they say.

I’m sure that most of you can look back in your lives and recall similar instances of personal karma. With karma, and by our actions, we cannot so much control our lives but remove the possibilities of bad karma. Of course we shall always look for the good karma in ourselves: helping the ill and the sick, helping an old-age pensioner (OAP) cross the road, also give up your seat on a packed bus or train to an OAP, feed the birds or rescue a lost dog in the street, give some money to those with little or none.

So are we talking fact or fiction? Well, it certainly is not the latter. Karma does not necessarily mean past actions. It embraces both past and present deeds. Buddhism, of course, has reincarnation or rebirth as a central doctrine. As your present state of mindfulness and understanding animate and condition your current thoughts, words, and deeds, so your current actions are moderating the effects of past thoughts, words, and deeds. This is why I cannot emphasize enough to try and live a clean, honest life because what you do in this life will determine one’s future incarnation.

I shall end this blog with a quote from the Tibetan Buddhist teacher, Traleg Kyabgon (now deceased) from his excellent book, Karma - What It Is and What It Isn’t and Why it Matters: ‘Our actions are dependent on our perceptions of things, what we think about them, and the types of emotions we consequently experience and this brings us back around again to the sort of actions we perform. How we deal with these multiple layers of experience determines, in the end, whether we become a noble or an ignoble person.’

Extinction Rebellion - Hopefully Extinct Soon!

 

I must confess there are not many organisations in this world that I dislike - I could even use the word - hate! But these arseholes, Extinction Rebellion (XR for short), that describes themselves as an international 'non-violent civil disobedience movement’ is one for sure. This is woke madness! They have this crazy idea that says life on Earth is in crisis and facing a mass extinction. It wants governments, not just here in the UK but around the world, to declare a 'climate and ecological emergency'. Tell you what, plonkers, take yourselves off to Beijing and see how far you get with your demonstrations. You'd bloody well end up in one of those 'concentration' camps where the Uighurs are caged. The report I read the other day said that XR had stated that 'it now has groups willing to take action in dozens of countries.' Which ones? Maybe Russia, North Korea, China, Iran Afghanistan, Belarus, Saudi Arabia, Syria, Vietnam, Libya, Nigeria? You people really are living in a delusory universe.

On the 16th January last year I was driving past Shell UK's headquarters here in Aberdeen when I saw these pricks blocking the entrance to the site. I stopped for a minute and was aghast that the security guards seemed to do nothing. It was then that I decided to look into these morons. This insane gang was formed in 2018 and has carried out demonstrations mainly in London, and in places such as Manchester, Sheffield, Edinburgh, Portsmouth, Bristol, Leeds and on it goes. In 2019, a whole bunch of these pricks went on a hunger strike - unbelievable but true - supposedly to highlight issues of hunger in many of the poorer nations in the world. Look, jerks, instead of going on hunger strike, why not get a job, contribute to the economy and donate money to charity?

My overarching memory of this bunch of thickos was in September last year when they targeted and blocked news printer presses at Broxbourne in Hertfordshire, Knowsley in Merseyside, and near Motherwell, North Lanarkshire. Eighty of these scabs were arrested. I mean this was an attempt to strangle free speech and targeting the printing of The Times, the Daily Mail, the Daily Telegraph, The Financial Times and the Sun. Of course, these are ' right-wing' newspapers. Why not block the printing presses of the Daily Mirror, the Morning Star, the Guardian or the Daily Star? No, because these are all your left-wing fruitcake newspapers.

And just last week several of these boneheads ganged up on a Barclays bank and the JP Morgan's headquarters in London and had glued themselves to plant pots and some had also glued their hands to fellow protesters. And, wait for it, some had stripped themselves naked. Is this the actions of fair-minded, intelligent people? Well, what do you think? Look, we are all, every single one of us, contributing to climate change: car and motorbike owners, rail and underground passengers, the use of plastic bags, etc. As for the XR screwballs, I wonder how many own a car, a motorbike, a scooter, who take these to their local petrol stations and get them topped up. And the ones with jobs, but who don’t have a car or motorbike or scooter, do they take the bus, the tram, the train or the underground tube to get to work?

I’ll finish this blog by telling these people, instead of blocking streets and buildings and creating mayhem, go to the Government, chat with Boris Johnson, and work out together a more orderly way of going about your business. Because to continue the way you are going you might just find an anti-XR group who will clash with you and Hell knows what will happen next!

United States Wars - Afghan Lessons Learnt?

 

As a young boy whilst attending primary and secondary schools in Central Scotland back in the 60s, we were taught and learned much about the United States of America. It was the richest country in the world, made great films, music, had worldwide sports stars and was the Land of the Free. When in our teens we would go to McDonalds, ate hamburgers and French fries and drank Coca-Cola. Americanisation had arrived in Britain. I was a great lover of music. There were the likes of Elvis Presley, the Four Tops, Roy Orbison, Stevie Wonder, the Three Degrees, Bob Dylan; I could go on. Yes, we all thought America, a great country, marvellous, the origin of such greatness in the world . . . the land of liberalisation and free speech.

If only things were really like that. Why? Because there was another side to this great country - military interests - and in this blog I will explain as best as I can why recent events (August 31 - September 1) in Afghanistan finally resulted in American military failure. But, you know, America has gotten involved in so many armed conflicts resulting in death and destruction that it makes me wonder why?

Let's take a look at recent escapades (wars). Forget the Second World War. Between 1950 and 1974/1975 there was the involvement in Indochina, firstly, the Korean War with the so-called enemies of China, Russia and of course North Korea. Two years later it was America's Vietnam War and its disastrous exit from Saigon. One would think that America had learned its lessons after nearly 25 years fighting in Indochina but no! Between 1966 and 1969 the Americans found themselves back in Korea this time to do with the Demilitarized Zone; this resulted in three years spent fighting with no territorial changes. From 1982 - 1990 America was involved in conflicts in Lebanon, Grenada and Panama. All of these conflicts came under the heading of the Cold War but it was in August 1990 and Operation Desert Shield, that would see the United States waging war against Iraq in The Middle East and the so-called Iraqi No-Fly Zone Enforcement Operations that would last 12 years.

In Europe after the breakup of the Soviet Union, America got involved in ridiculous conflicts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Kosovo War in Serbia between 1992 and 1999. But then Afghanistan happened. And yet another Iraq War that had American involvement between 2003 - 2011 which led to the overthrow of Saddam Hussein's government and his eventual capture and death. And remember this is all going on during the war in Afghanistan. And lastly, we had American intervention in Operation Ocean Shield (against Somali pirates), the Libyan Crisis and first civil war and the disastrous involvement in Syria.

Phew, it sounds like a mad nightmare. And the costs? Well having done quite a bit of research on the subject it would seem that the United States, from 1950 to the present day, would have spent at least $5 trillion on all these wars and conflicts. Deaths? This is difficult to clarify but I would suggest that from this same time period America lost at least, and I’d say at a minimum, 102,000 lives.

And then we had Joe ‘the Stooge’ Biden who said evacuating all Americans from Afghanistan was a victory. Sorry, mate, it was no victory but a loss. And then he stated that he vowed to defend the US against evolving threats from terrorist groups, such as ISIS, without getting the US involved in another ground war. “The U.S. must now confront challenges from powerful adversaries such as Russia and China as well.”

Look, there’s never winners in war, only losers followed by hurt and suffering.