Knives are too sharp and filing them down is solution to soaring violent crime, judge says
by Joel Adams
A judge has proposed a nationwide programme to file down the points of kitchen knives as a solution to the country’s soaring knife crime epidemic.
Last week in his valedictory address, retiring Luton Crown Court Judge Nic Madge spoke of his concern that carrying a knife had become routine in some circles and called on the Government to ban the sale of large pointed kitchen knives.
Latest figures show stabbing deaths among teenagers and young adults have reached the highest level for eight years, and knife crime overall rose 22 per cent in 2017.
In the past two months, he said, there have been 77 knife-related incidents in Bedfordshire, including three killings.
Thank God I wasn’t drinking a carbonated beverage when creating this post. Oh, the humanity!
Judge Madge told the assembled judges, barristers and court staff: “These offences often seem motiveless – one boy was stabbed because he had an argument a couple of years before at his junior school.”
He said laws designed to reduce the availability of weapons to young would-be offenders had had “almost no effect”, since the vast majority had merely taken knives from a cutlery drawer.
One easy remedy is to ban cutlery drawers. Further, cutlery drawers should be eliminated from future homes and homes being built now. That would solve a good portion of the UK’s issue with knife crime.
He asked: “But why we do need eight-inch or ten-inch kitchen knives with points?
“Butchers and fishmongers do, but how often, if at all, does a domestic chef use the point of an eight-inch or ten-inch knife? Rarely, if at all.”
Good point. The UK banned guns. It’s well and truly time to ban knives. Sporks will just have to do.
This could create another new burgeoning industry entirely: food resembling the pablum of infants. Think of the children!
Why cut your food when there’s no need? Simply create food which is mixed in blenders or, at room temperature, can be spread with a spork. The problem with that is that, sooner or later, the UK will have to deal with the pointy edges of a spork. But let’s not get ahead of ourselves just yet.
So, he said: “I would urge all those with any role in relation to knives – manufacturers, shops, the police, local authorities, the government – to consider preventing the sale of long pointed knives, except in rare, defined, circumstances, and replacing such knives with rounded ends.
“It might even be that the police could organise a programme whereby the owners of kitchen knives, which have been properly and lawfully bought for culinary purposes, could be taken somewhere to be modified, with the points being ground down into rounded ends,” he said.
As the British are wont to say: brilliant!
Office for National statistics figures published in February revealed 215 fatal stabbings had been recorded by police in the 12 months to March 2017.
This was on par with the previous year’s 212 stabbing deaths but a marked increase on the 186 in the year to March 2015.
The latest figures show ten 16 or 17 year olds lost their lives in the year to March 2017, as well as 51 people aged between 18 and 24. The combined total is the highest since 2008/9.
In the first 100 days of 2018, 53 people were killed in the capital alone, many of them victims of knife crime.
Of course, we must realize that Islam has absolutely nothing to do with the increase in knife crimes. Absolutely nothing.
When guns are outlawed, only outlaws will have guns;
When knives are outlawed, only outlaws will have knives;
When baseball bats are outlawed, only outlaws will have baseball bats;
When heavy lamps are outlawed, only outlaws will have heavy lamps;
And. . .
When rocks are outlawed, only outlaws will have rocks.
The UK should take solace in the fact that their crime rate has surpassed that of New York City. Now there’s something of which to be proud.
President Trump is unimportant. Trump is completely ignored by the G7. Trump is inconsequential. Just as this photo proves. L to R: Larry Kudlow, Teresa May, Emmanuel Macron, Angela Merkel, Shinzo Abe, John Bolton, Trump.
Trump “refuses”: what?
To sign an agreement — a “communique” the G7 nations insist upon?
For those unfamiliar, the G7 nations consist of the US, UK, Canada, Italy, France, Japan and Germany.
Russia once made it the G8 until Russia annexed Crimea and invaded Ukraine.
The G8/G7 was formed in consideration of global economies, security and energy.
My first question: what was the nature of this so-called “communique”?
Isn’t it odd that you have to look quite deeply to discern the contents of said document?
The president touted great relationships with other G-7 leaders — but then abruptly reversed on signing a joint statement and lashed out at the Canadian prime minister.
President Donald Trump said the United States will not sign a joint agreement with other G-7 countries, an abrupt reversal that will further erode relations with key U.S. allies and underscore the country’s increasing isolation under Trump.
“Based on Justin’s false statements at his news conference, and the fact that Canada is charging massive Tariffs to our U.S. farmers, workers and companies, I have instructed our U.S. Reps not to endorse the Communique as we look at Tariffs on automobiles flooding the U.S. Market!“ Trump wrote, adding that Trudeau was “very dishonest and weak.”
It’s a remarkable change of tune for the United States. U.S. officials worked closely with G-7 negotiators for days on the communique, and other nations took pains to ensure that Trump would sign on, despite deep disagreements on trade.
Wait. Let’s not get silly. Didn’t Trump say for some time that if he isn’t satisfied, he’s not signing on? And this comes as a shock how? Coming from Politico, this next paragraph is revelatory.
For Trump, the decision may be a political winner. The president’s base is deeply skeptical of the system of international cooperation that has for so long been at the core of U.S. foreign and economic policy.
Haven’t seen anything in the article about the contents of the agreement or “communique” yet.
Tensions over trade, meanwhile, dominated the summit. As POLITICO reportedon Friday, Trump, during a private meeting, floated the idea of ending all tariffs and trade barriers between the U.S. and its G-7 allies. Right before leaving for Singapore, Trump upped the ante in his press conference with reporters, warning that he could cut off or severely limit trade access to the United States if G-7 countries don’t cooperate.
Trump states the obvious next.
“We’re the piggybank that everybody is robbing,” Trump said. “And that ends.”
Are we a proverbial “piggy bank”? Oddly enough I have a memory and access to the internet. I seem to recall that the US lost 500,000 soldiers defeating Germany and its allies in World War II. We liberated all of Europe and the rest of the world from Germany not just once, but twice. Let’s go back a tad bit further. German troops fought against America in the Revolutionary War.
Yet Germany is kvetching — as is the rest of Europe — when they’ve been getting a free ride on the backs of American Taxpayers as they continue not paying their requisite 2% of GDP to help finance NATO. BusinessInsider.com reports:
Only five of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s 28 member countries last year met the alliance goal of spending at least 2% of their gross domestic product on defense.
Which countries are not reaching the 2 percent?
France 1.79
Turkey 1.69
Norway 1.55
Lithuania 1.49
Latvia 1.46
Romania 1.41
Portugal 1.38
Bulgaria 1.30
Croatia 1.21
Germany 1.20
Netherlands 1.16
Denmark 1.14
Slovakia 1.12
Italy 1.11
Albania 1.11
Hungary 1.02
Slovenia 1.02
Canada 1.02
Czech Republic 1.01
Belgium 0.91
Spain 0.90
Luxembourg 0.42
It’s as if Europe and the rest of the G7 are saying something similar to “if the US isn’t willing to pay for our lavish lifestyles, then we’re taking our toys — the ones the US funded — and going home.” The US runs a $151 billion dollar trade deficit with Europe. Is that “fundamental fairness?”
Then there are, naturally, the tariffs.
Addressing Canadian tariffs alone, here are a few. Canada has — ahem — 19,500 tariffs.
Dairy: 270%
Sausage: 70%
Barley Seeds: 58%
Durum Wheat: 49%
Bovine Products: 27%
Table Linens: 18%
A side note: when the US exited the TPP (Trans Pacific Partnership), Canada acquired protectionist deals under the guise of protecting what it termed “cultural industries.” Translated: “We are protecting Canada and everyone else can go to hell.” Trudeau literally said that “we got a better deal for Canada.” It’s fine to Canada to be protectionist; inherently unfair for the US to consider the same.
Let us not forget that Mexico already has a $3 billion dollar tariff system in place.
As a result of the US finally beginning to stand on its own two legs, the EU has stated it will target the US on:
Cranberries — already at 22%
Orange Juice: 23%
Whiskey: 11%
Motorbikes: 6%
Germany has tariffs four times higher on our vehicles than we on theirs. Where is the “fundamental fairness” of that?
Canada has said that it will retaliate with $13 billion dollars in tariffs on US goods, and the EU says it will lay $3 billion dollars in tariffs on US goods also.
It also becomes evident that countries are targeting very specific constituencies and lawmakers in the US. Countries are looking at our electoral maps in making these determinations, ensuring that President Trump’s decisions are going to hurt voters in Iowa, Indiana, Kentucky and similar states.
Because, you see, up to now the US and its presidents have been afraid to reveal these inequities and concomitant hypocrisy. The EU and Canadian bleat that “you don’t do this to friends” covers up that “friends” of the US have been “doing” the US for years. It is so commonplace that to upset the imbalance is to entreat war.
Look, in terms of fair trade, the numbers are on the side of President Trump. There is a massive trade imbalance yet — let’s look at IMF figures.
US GDP: $20 trillion dollars.
Japan: $5.2 trillion
Germany: $4.2 trillion
France: $2.9 trillion
UK: $2.9 trillion
Italy: $2.2 trillion
Canada: $1.8 trillion
Total of G6: $19.2trillion dollars vs the US at $20 trillion dollars.
And oh yeah: the US is close to being the number one oil producer on the planet.
Back to the “communique.” Not one reference to its contents in the Politico article. CNN didn’t have it. I went through seven other media outlets before I actually found a copy of the actual “agreement” at Reuters.com. It contains the standard Leftist feel-good pablum that any 15-year-old at Parkland could write.
Resultingly, Canadians, Europeans, Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots are outraged that Trump has insisted that the United States stop bending over, holding its ankles and insisting there be no lubricant when other countries hammer through the door of the US economic sphincter.
Let there be no mistake: it’s the continual tapping of the veins of the American Taxpayer that has allowed Europe to become the Socialist, paradisal, Utopian experiment each country has wished to be. Why should they have to pay for their own defense, build their own huge militaries, expend prodigious amounts of service cash when it could be better spent on social programs for their own people? Hell, the US will cover us. They always have and they always will.
Europeans have not had to pay for a substantial portion of their defense and, further, it was the Marshall Plan which, following World War II, rebuilt Western Europe to the tune of $13 billion dollars ($110 billion in 2016 dollars) when it was Germany that tried to enslave the globe. What other nation did that then? Correct. No other.
The Europeans and Canada still insist, these days, that US veins be tapped because, after all, why should anyone upset the proverbial “good thing”?
Steve Hilton nails it.
The United States appeared to have, up to this point, what BZ calls Historical Alzheimers — to the great benefit of Europe. Just keep the cash rolling, Jack, and things will be just fine.
As in: shut up and pay for our socialist, paradisal, Utopian ways. And oh yeah, keep paying for our European defense as well. We live right next to Russia, after all. Tariffs? Don’t mention them.
Then comes President Donald John Trump, the guy with the dead orange cat on his head. Bull, meet China shop.
Expecting Europe and Canada to pay some of its own freight?
Expecting some kind of fundamental fairness in trade?
Charles Krauthammer, 68-year-old columnist, journalist, scholar, author of “Things That Matter,” Fox News panelist and correspondent, a Harvard Medical School graduate, a board certified psychiatrist, Pulitzer prize winner, a man who is fluent in French and Hebrew — may have but a few weeks to live.
Fox News star Charles Krauthammer reveals he has weeks to live in heartbreaking letter
by Greg Wilson
Charles Krauthammer, the beloved and brilliant Fox News Channel personality who gave up a pioneering career in psychiatry to become a Pulitzer Prize-winning political analyst, on Friday revealed the heartbreaking news that he is in the final stages of a losing battle with cancer.
The 68-year-old’s incisive takes on politics of the day have been missing from Fox News Channel’s “Special Report” for nearly a year as he battled an abdominal tumor and subsequent complications, but colleagues and viewers alike had held out hope that he would return to the evening show he helped establish as must-viewing. But in an eloquent, yet unblinking letter to co-workers, friends and Fox News Channel viewers, Krauthammer disclosed that he has just weeks to live.
I have been uncharacteristically silent these past ten months. I had thought that silence would soon be coming to an end, but I’m afraid I must tell you now that fate has decided on a different course for me.
In August of last year, I underwent surgery to remove a cancerous tumor in my abdomen. That operation was thought to have been a success, but it caused a cascade
of secondary complications which I have been fighting in hospital ever since. It was a long and hard fight with many setbacks, but I was steadily, if slowly, overcoming each obstacle along the way and gradually making my way back to health.
However, recent tests have revealed that the cancer has returned. There was no sign of it as recently as a month ago, which means it is aggressive and spreading rapidly. My doctors tell me their best estimate is that I have only a few weeks left to live. This is the final verdict. My fight is over.
I wish to thank my doctors and caregivers, whose efforts have been magnificent. My dear friends, who have given me a lifetime of memories and whose support has sustained me through these difficult months. And all of my partners at The Washington Post, Fox News, and Crown Publishing.
I thank my colleagues, my readers, and my viewers, who have made my career possible and given consequence to my life’s work. I believe that the pursuit of truth and right ideas through honest debate and rigorous argument is a noble undertaking. I am grateful to have played a small role in the conversations that have helped guide this extraordinary nation’s destiny.
I leave this life with no regrets. It was a wonderful life full and complete with the great loves and great endeavors that make it worth living. I am sad to leave, but I leave with the knowledge that I lived the life that I intended.
Featuring Right thinking from a left brain, doing the job the American Media Maggots won’t, embracing ubiquitous, sagacious perspicacity and broadcasting behind enemy lines in Occupied Fornicalia from the veritable Belly of the Beast, the Bill Mill in Sacramento, Fornicalia, I continue to proffer my thanks to the SHR Media Network for allowing me to utilize their studio and hijack their air twice weekly, Tuesdays and Thursdays, thanks to my shameless contract — as well as appear on the Sack Heads: Against Tyranny Show every Wednesday night.
We are continuing to have phone issues in the studio so I decided it was going to be a one-man show tonight replete, however, with more buttery political goodness than most normal individuals are accustomed.
SCOTUS rules against hot-and-cold-running abortions for illegals;
Jeff Sessions: the most dangerous man in DC so far?
Stefan Halper was the Page/Papadopoulos “honey trap;”
Halper inserted the Russian Connection;
WHO signed off on inserting Stefan Halper?
Barack Hussein Obama was completely uninvolved in government;
In his case, ignorance is in fact bliss;
Plus more and more and more buttery political goodness exposing the Master of Puppets for eight years following 2008: Barack Hussein Obama.
For DISH subscribers: your Hopper has recently been wired to play YouTube videos. You can now toss ol’ BZ onto your massive flatscreen TV and watch him in all of his obese, biased and politically-execrable potty-mouthed goodness. Quarter in a hat.
If you care to listen to the show in Spreaker, well, you can’t. No one can. Not even Mark Zuckerberg. Spreaker crapped out last night, entirely. But: good news.
If you care to watch the show on the SHR Media YouTube channel, click on the red arrow in the middle of the video. Please SUBSCRIBE to the SHR Media channel.
If you care to watch the show on the SHR Media Facebook page (in glorious color), click right here. Kindly LIKE us on Facebook. You can FOLLOW us on Twitter @SHRMediaGroup. Please FOLLOW ol’ BZ @BZep. Thanks so much.
Please join me, the Bloviating Zeppelin(on Twitter @BZep, Facebook as Biff Zeppe and the Bloviating Zeppelin, and on Gab.ai @BZep), every Tuesday and Thursday night on the SHR Media Network from 11 PM to 1 AM Eastern and 8 PM to 10 PM Pacific, at the Berserk Bobcat Saloon — where the speech is free but the drinks are not.
As ever, thank you so kindly for listening, commenting, and interacting in the chat room or listening later via podcast.
Please remember that BZ can only monitor the SHRMEDIA.COM chat — though there is chat available on both Facebook and YouTube. If you wish to interact with myself and the bulk of the chatters, I heartily recommend and invite you into the SHR Media page for complete and utter satisfaction or triple your money back. Only a slight 92% restocking fee involved. Offer not valid in Bolivia or on Zephron.
Want to listen to all the Berserk Bobcat Saloon archives in podcast? Go here.
Want to watch the show live on Facebook? Go to the SHR Media page on Facebook here.
Want to watch past Berserk Bobcat Saloon shows on YouTube? Go here.
Want to watch the show on High Plains TV? Go here.
Thank you one and all for listening, watching and supporting the SHR Media Network: “Conservative Media Done Right.”
I’ll readily admit up front that I am a rather judgmental person and my BSTL (Bullshit Tolerance Level) has dwindled over the years as well as my tolerance for ignorance and rudeness. That said even ten years ago I could not have done the job that Sarah Huckabee Sanders is doing today as White House Principal Deputy Press Secretary.
Any semblance of fairness or courtesy displayed to her is gone. Because she is linked to President Trump, the gloves are off. She is, in the minds of Leftists, Demorats and the American Media Maggots as evil as Trump himself as she is doing his bidding, they believe.
You want evidence? Watch and listen to both April Ryan and James Acosta.
Then, Jim Acosta.
Attacked like this every day, my civility would rot after the first session and, clearly, I would be fired.
How Sarah Sanders can take it on the chin like this with ad hominem attacks, attacks on her looks (The Daily Beast calling her a “butch queen”) — ? What about this personal attack from foaming “journalist” Brian Karem?
Then there was the Washington
Then there was this knee-slapping skit from Chelsea Handler. How odd; women attacking women. Oh, right. It’s okay if you’re attacking Conservative women.
Sarah Sanders has to operate with the patience of Job and the grace of a saint under fire like this every day, five days a week and sometimes multiple times per day.