Jo Cox, R.I.P. -- Brit Labour MP shot, stabbed 17 June 2016

[The Bread Guy]

Usual INITIAL REPORTS CAVEATS apply, but some bits about the shooter/stabber ...

The man detained by police in connection with the killing of a rising star of British politics had longstanding ties to a U.S.-based neo-Nazi organization and, in the past, had ordered a how-to guide for assembling a homemade gun, according to a watchdog group that tracks extremist behavior.

The revelation came as police on Friday continued to investigate the motive behind the killing of the British lawmaker, Jo Cox, who was stabbed and shot midday Thursday in an attack that stunned the nation and led to a suspension of the European Union referendum campaign just a week before the vote.

Cox had been a strong advocate of an inclusive and multicultural Britain amid a wave of hostility toward immigrants that is helping to fuel the anti-E.U. campaign.

Cox’s suspected killer was not named by police but was identified in the British media as 52-year-old Tommy Mair, a local resident whom neighbors described as quiet and devoted to his mother. Family members said that Mair had never expressed strong political views, but that he had an obsessive personality. He was arrested shortly after the attack.

According to documents obtained by the Southern Poverty Law Center, the U.S.-based organization that tracks extremist groups, Mair was a long-time supporter of the National Alliance, a once-prominent white supremacist group. In 1999, Mair bought a manual from the organization that included instructions on how to build a pistol, the center said.

Cox was shot by a weapon that witnesses described as either homemade or antique.

In all, Mair sent $620 to the group's publishing imprint for titles including "Incendiaries," "Chemistry of Powder and Explosives" and "Improvised Munitions Handbook" and “Ich Kampfe,” published by the World War II-era Nazi party, the law center said.

The Daily Telegraph also reported that Mair had subscribed to a South African magazine published by the White Rhino Club, a pro-apartheid group.

Officials have not commented on a possible motive for the killing. But British media organizations including the Guardian, the BBC and Sky News quoted witnesses as saying that the assailant shouted “Britain first!” during and after the attack.

Britain First is the name of a far-right group that stages provocative anti-Muslim demonstrations. After Thursday's attack, the organization posted a statement on its website denying involvement and saying it “would never encourage behavior of this sort.” ...

So, mentally ill, or ideologically driven?  Discuss ...

 

[gryphonv]

I equate mentally ill to ideologically driven. The narrative is always decided by what agenda needs to be pushed.

Same as one mans terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. They are just politically charged words that have the same meaning. It's just the spin that is needed or wanted by the powers that be.

I personally don't agree with mentally ill being an excuse to get a lesser sentence though. We are lucky in Canada that mentally incompetant defenses rarely succeed in court. They do occasionaly, but not enough that it is a major flaw in our system.

It's like using Islamic Terrorist as a buzz word. It is only used to evoke feelings by certain groups. I think any person who wishes to cause grievious injury or death to any civilian of any creed, race, religion is mentally ill. Reguardless of motive.

 

[jollyjacktar]

From what I have been reading of this campaign, it's been ugly and divisive to say the least.  I am not surprised at what has happened with yesterday's sad events.  There will always be those on the edge of each spectrum ready to bring violence to push their agendas.  What I did read about the shooter is that he was also under the eye of authorities for many years.  I wonder what it will take before they start to take pro-active action on these mad dogs like this before they commit these killings.

 

[gryphonv]

It's so hard for authorities to be pro active. The left will always make it seem evil and heavy handed when we give authorities that power.

It really comes down to how much freedom or security do we want. Both are exclusive of one another, so how far right or left do we go.

 

[Altair]

So this pretty much sinks the brexit chances...a pity.

 

[observor 69]

So this pretty much sinks the brexit chances...a pity.

The opinion of my idol Paul Krugman, Nobel winning economist, writing in the New York Times.
As difficult as it is the idea is to let practical rather than emotional reasoning be your guide.

Fear, Loathing and Brexit

Paul Krugman JUNE 17, 2016

There are still four and a half months to go before the presidential election. But there’s a vote next week that could matter as much for the world’s future as what happens here: Britain’s referendum on whether to stay in the European Union.

Unfortunately, this vote is a choice between bad and worse — and the question is which is which.

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/opinion/fear-loathing-and-brexit.html?action=click&pgtype=Homepage&clickSource=story-heading&module=opinion-c-col-left-region&region=opinion-c-col-left-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-left-region

 

[jollyjacktar]

I don't believe the Chicken Littles that squeal like a pig claiming a Brexit would be the end times arrived.  I'm sure there will be some turbulence,  but the end is nigh high club were screaming the end of days when Britain kept the pound.  It didn't come to pass,  and the economy actually improved. I would vote for anything that would shut the door to all these migrants coming to suck the life out of the middle class and Euro interference.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

I don't believe the Chicken Littles that squeal like a pig claiming a Brexit would be the end times arrived.  I'm sure there will be some turbulence,  but the end is nigh high club were screaming the end of days when Britain kept the pound.  It didn't come to pass,  and the economy actually improved. I would vote for anything that would shut the door to all these migrants coming to suck the life out of the middle class and Euro interference.

I agree whole heartedly. The doomsayers were making the same type of prediction when Canada signed NAFTA. 

 

[gryphonv]

To be fair though the NAFTA probably hurt us more in the long run. Not so much now as we are not as big a manufacturing country as before.

And the US has been famous for picking and choosing when to apply the NAFTA. Remember the Softwood Lumber snafu? among others.

 

[The Bread Guy]

Interesting first appearance in court - highlights mine ...

The man accused of a murder that has brought campaigning in the country's European Union referendum to a standstill turned his first court appearance Saturday into a chilling spectacle by refusing to state his real identity.

Asked his name in Westminster Magistrate's Court, Thomas Mair said: "My name is death to traitors, freedom for Britain."

The 52-year-old Mair, accused of murdering British Labour Party lawmaker Jo Cox, also refused to reveal his address or his date of birth.

His bizarre performance prompted Deputy Chief Magistrate Emma Arbuthnot to order a psychiatric report into Mair's mental state that may influence how the case against him proceeds ...

More via Google News here.

 

[jollyjacktar]

I do wonder, if the referendum result is to leave the EU, this should make it more difficult for the hoards of Eurotrash to come and stay to get on the benefits train at the expense of the British taxpayers, as it the case now.  If they do leave, then what will be the status of all the undesirables that are now sculling around there?  Could the UK, if they had the balls, pack up these freeloaders and send them back to whence they came from.  Of course, they would probably see all the ex-pat Brits living in places like the Costa de Sol getting the boot and sent home too.  Will be interesting to see how that plays out.

 

[Oldgateboatdriver]

Nah!

The Spanish economy cannot afford to send the well off British citizens retired on the Costa del Sol back home. They need their participation in the economy. T'was like that even before the EU, t'will be so after - unless there is a war between the two  ;D.

Unless the Spaniards find a way to keep the retirees there even during a war - making them "neutrals" or something, to keep the pounds coming. After all, as they said here in Quebec in the movie "La guerre des tuques": "War! War! War! That's fine - but it doesn't mean we have to hurt each other!"

 

[The Bread Guy]

"How far-Right extremists draw vulnerable people into their poisonous delusions"
Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens, The Telegraph (UK), 21 Jun 2016

Far-Right terrorism in Britain rarely receives the attention it deserves, and since the turn of the century it has been overshadowed by the global jihadist threat. This makes it easy for many to forget that there is a long history of neo-Nazism in Britain, which does sometimes explode into violence. It's important, then, that we understand what this threat looks like and how it works.

Neo-Nazi groups have their own particular methods. They frequently call on supporters to commit what the media have come to call "lone wolf" attacks – in fact, neo-Nazis coined the term. Such attacks are carried out by individuals disconnected from hierarchical terrorist networks and are therefore very difficult for authorities to track and prevent. This call has always found a receptive audience among a minority of British white working class men who feel marginalised by a society and state which they see as having prioritised the needs of immigrants and other non-whites above their own ...

More at link

 

[Journeyman]

.....what will be the status of all the undesirables that are now sculling around there?

They'll still be Manchester United fans on Friday.

Unless I misunderstood the question. 

 

[jollyjacktar]

Well, being a closet Magpie myself, you got me there can't argue that logic.

 

[Retired AF Guy]

Conservative Member of the EU parliament, Daniel Hannan, argues for #Brexit at the Oxford Union. Very Impressive.

Fire Me: Daniel Hannan Makes the Case for Leave

 

[The Bread Guy]

Life sentence for killer ...

The 53-year-old shot and stabbed to death the mother-of-two in Birstall, West Yorkshire, on 16 June, a week before the EU referendum vote.

Mair shouted "Britain First" in the attack, but the judge said the true "patriot" was Mrs Cox, not Mair.

Prosecutors said Mair was motivated by hate and his crimes were "nothing less than acts of terrorism".

Mair was also found guilty of having a firearm with intent, causing grievous bodily harm with intent to 78-year-old Bernard Kenny, who tried to help the MP, and having an offensive weapon, namely a dagger.

Mair, dressed in a dark suit and blue tie, remained impassive as the verdicts were read out, after one hour of deliberations.

He had not entered a plea and chose not to give evidence in his defence at the trial.

Before sentencing, Mair asked to speak to the courtroom but the judge declined, saying he had already had an opportunity ...

More via Google News here.