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"I swear that I will pay true allegiance to the people of this planet, and to their heirs and successors, according to Common Law. So help me God."

Hm. That does feel better

Not surprising in a state where disagreement is a crime to be cracked down on by anybody with even an atom of power.

Welcome.

[Anderson in the Swampy South]

Not got it to hand, but is the recent reprint of Anderson in the Swampy South on there?

I'm not alone, right...?

Or at the very least your c.v.

Grim.

According to missingpeople.org, 70,000 children go missing every year, but "only 2% for longer than a week." That's one thousand, four hundred children missing for at least a week per year. Of those found, one in seven report sexual abuse. It doesn't say how many are never found.

The possibilities are horrifying.

Something dark lurks in the depths of our society, and it has power.

Ditto Prince Charles and Lady Diana. You don't get that well-in without some serious and most likely thoroughly illegal vetting.

Rotten to the core, the lot of them. But I guess that's just Chinatown.

[Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story]

Inspired by a snidey post I made in another thread, I came across the two-part Netflix documentary, Jimmy Savile: A British Horror Story. A difficult watch, in places (especially the second part), but very balanced and thought-provoking. It casts light on the minds of an absolute monster who fooled a nation, a nation taken in, and the silent agony of the victims. Recommended - if you have a strong stomach.

Members of both Houses of Parliament are required by law to take an oath of allegiance to the Crown. MPs cannot take their seat, speak in debates, vote or receive a salary until taking the oath or affirmation. They could also be fined £500 and have their seat declared vacant "as if they were dead" if they attempted to do so.

The wording of the oath comes from the Promissory Oaths Act 1868. The form and manner of giving the oath are set out in the Oaths Act 1978. MPs take the oath by holding the sacred text in their uplifted hand and saying the words of the oath: "I swear by Almighty God that I will be faithful and bear true allegiance to His Majesty King Charles, his heirs and successors, according to law. So help me God."

You vote for them, but their loyalty is not to you. For a crown that professes not to interfere with parliamentary business, this is pretty heavy-handed interference.

"In 1935, the Congress of American Writers was held in New York City, followed by another two years later. They called on 'the hundreds of poets, novelists, dramatists, critics, short story writers and journalists' to discuss the 'rapid crumbling of capitalism' and the beckoning of another war. They were electric events which, according to one account, were attended by 3,500 members of the public with more than a thousand turned away.

"Arthur Miller, Myra Page, Lillian Hellman, Dashiell Hammett warned that fascism was rising, often disguised, and the responsibility lay with writers and journalists to speak out. Telegrams of support from Thomas Mann, John Steinbeck, Ernest Hemingway, C Day Lewis, Upton Sinclair and Albert Einstein were read out.

"The journalist and novelist Martha Gellhorn spoke up for the homeless and unemployed, and 'all of us under the shadow of violent great power'.

"Martha, who became a close friend, told me later over her customary glass of Famous Grouse and soda: 'The responsibility I felt as a journalist was immense. I had witnessed the injustices and suffering delivered by the Depression, and I knew, we all knew, what was coming if silences were not broken.'

"Her words echo across the silences today: they are silences filled with a consensus of propaganda that contaminates almost everything we read, see and hear. Let me give you one example:

"On 7 March, the two oldest newspapers in Australia, the Sydney Morning Herald and The Age, published several pages on 'the looming threat' of China. They coloured the Pacific Ocean red. Chinese eyes were martial, on the march and menacing. The Yellow Peril was about to fall down as if by the weight of gravity..."

Full article: John Pilger on the Coming War. Speak Up, Now.

I often wonder about First Contact with aliens - was alien technology used to build MC1? Maybe we should get the descendants of Erich von Däniken on the case...