Whilst it's true that American justice is preferable to North Korean, even so, it's worth bearing in mind that where-as the Americans will sentence you to 380 years in jail, the North Koreans will just shoot you and save you the time and trouble! This problem with American justice, as I see it from 'over here', has been rumbling around in the back of my mind for some time but recent events have brought it to the fore.
But let me set the background. I have watched with a mixture of shock and disgust the way in which the Obama regime has, via its glove-puppet, Eric Holder, blatantly interfered with the judicial system - the Zimmerman and Ferguson cases are but two examples that might have brought down disaster on the heads of two innocent men. Then there is the way in which the IRS, the American equivalent of HM Revenue & Customs, has been deployed against political opponents. Then, without following it in detail, I have seen what amounts to brazen daylight robbery being inflicted on BP for its part of the Gulf oil spillage. It seems as though the entire southern United States has queued up like so many Oliver Twists and repeated the mantra, "Please, sir, can I have some more?"
Instead of being examined rigorously to establish whether a) they had a claim at all and b) whether it was of the order of magnitude suggested by their lawyers - who were all in for a cut of the pie! - the craven judges, playing to their home crowd, simply banged the gavel and ordered BP to pay up - and to keep on paying up!
As I say, this has been rumbling in my consciousness for some time but the very latest case has brought it forward with a jolt. I refer to Mr. Navinder Singh Sarao (37) who lives with his mum and dad - and his computer! - in a semi-detached house in Hounslow. Mr. Sarao may be Indian by ethnicity but he is a true-blue English eccentric of the first water! Apparently, on leaving school he immediately went to work for various share dealing companies where he quickly learned all the latest techniques offered by high speed computer dealing.
Taken during his school days.
Needless to say it wasn't too long before he branched out on his own as a sole trader operating from his bedroom in Hounslow. In 2010 there was a huge and sudden drop in the New York Stock Exchange which sent the whole world into a state requiring smelling salts - if not something stronger! At this point, goose-stepping in from stage Left, enter the real villains of the story, the CFCT (Commodity Futures Trading Commission), the FBI and behind them the disgusting Eric Holder and his politically corrupted Department of (Democrat) Justice. Working on the good old bureaucratic principle that 'someone is to blame' - provided that 'someone' is not a member of the bureaucracy - they decided that out of the zillions of trades preceding the sudden crash, Mr. Sarao's were the sole cause and effect.
Now, no shitty story from 'this our septic Isle' is complete these days without a mention of Mr. Tony Blair. Thus, in The Daily Mail today we have a fascinating article - and I do urge you all to read it - by a Mr. David Bermingham. He is a man who knows where-of he writes having been one of that trio of ex-Nat West bankers who were hauled off to the USA - rightly or wrongly I do not know - and told that they could plead their innocence in which case they would be found guilty and sentenced to several hundred years in jail, or they could just plead guilty, serve some time and then be booted out. Yeeeeeees, quite, that's what passes for justice 'over there'. But surely, you splutter (er, you are spluttering aren't you?), the Yanks can't just haul us 'over there' when they feel like it? Well they can, actually, because that nice Mr. Blair signed a deal allowing them to do exactly that - but without any reciprocal arrangements the other way round!
In other words, if some American scumbag cheats you out of your money then as far as the American judicial system is concerned you can go whistle Dixie! This heinous state of legal affairs is not, of course, the fault of 'the cousins' who have always operated on the basic notion that one never gives a sucker an even break, and suckers don't come much bigger than Mr. Tony Blair. One wonders - but only for a mini-second, of course, perish the thought - what favours Mr. Blair obtained from this totally one-sided deal with its inherent injustice and cruelty? We are, after all, or at least, we are supposed to be, subjects of Her Majesty, not His Superior Highness, the President of the United States!
ADDITIONAL: I forgot to urge you to visit the Streetwise Professor who has three very erudite posts on the financial background to the Sareo case. Definitely worth the effort even if, like me, you don't quite understand all the intricacies of stock market dealing.
Pleasant tho' it is to blame Mr Tony Blair, I think blame probably lies elsewhere. I spent 7 years in Whitehall and it was part of the job as an intelligence officer to mingle with high ranking civil servants of MoD, the Foreign Office, Home Office and Cabinet Office. To a man (and woman) they were confident they knew everything. Even when they didn't.
Posted by: backofanenvelope | Monday, 27 April 2015 at 18:08
No, not this time, BOE, Blair is one hundred percent to blame. He it was he who signed this one-way agreement which allows the Feds to hoist British citizens 'over there' to face the travesty of their (in)justice system without us at least enjoying a similar thrill from doing the same to them. Let me repeat, I do not blame the 'cousins', I blame the self-enriching little shit that Blair obviously is.
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 27 April 2015 at 20:29
You could not really call it an agreement but a concession to the USA. An agreement is normally mutially beneficial.
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Monday, 27 April 2015 at 20:36
well, Jimmy, we will need to read the history books to find out but I can't remember any reason for Blair to concede to the USA. They were more than desperate to maintain our support for their Iraq policy, er, if 'policy' is quite the word!
Posted by: David Duff | Monday, 27 April 2015 at 20:53
David I do not think Blair was a puppet regarding the Iraq War 11 but suspect he was leading and promoting. As you say history will maybe! announce the truth.
We should have finished the job 1991/2 but will have to wait out for the real reason for not doing so.
Maybe the Arms Bazzar has something to do with the continuity of having war!
Posted by: jimmy glesga | Monday, 27 April 2015 at 22:23
For justice try the 'John Doe ' raids in Wisconsin.
Posted by: john malpas | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 00:46
I covered that a week ago, Malpas, you were obviously not paying attention so you will hand in a hundred lines by tomorrow morning!
http://duffandnonsense.typepad.com/duff_nonsense/2015/04/wheres-this-moscow-beijing-kazakstan.html
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 08:34
There is not so much a spirit of "justice" over here as there is a rage to "get even" with certain ideas, groups and even individuals no matter where they are. A single person can be representative of an entire class of people if need be.
Posted by: Whitewall | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 13:29
I must say, Whitewall, that I am frequently shocked at the sheer malevolence that seems to be part of American political discourse these days. Where will it end?
Posted by: David Duff | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 18:25
David, we are too. You know about warfare of course, but now there is a term being used in some quarters--lawfare. Perfect examples are what you brought forth in your treatment of Wisconsin and Texas last week. The problem gets worse when the " Caesarism" of Obama is challenged openly and the people that dare to do it don't back down to the racism charge or what ever is hurled at them.
Then there is the ever present and growing divide between left and right on the view of what politics is about. For the right, they hope for a world without threat. For the left, they hope for a world without opposition. Can't be reconciled. Therefore we are going to fight.
Posted by: Whitewall | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 18:44
Whitewall's so very correct actually. Whether the antagonists [such as they're comprised] realize it or not.
The Emancipation Proclamation from *Father Abraham.*
"...all persons held as slaves within any State or designated part of a State, the people whereof shall then be in rebellion against the United States, shall be then, thenceforward, and forever free..."
_____________
Baltimore David you're seeing in our very recent news?
Your 1915, our 1865? Our 1868 required Fourteenth Amendment? Three years after *Father Abraham "freed the slaves" in the American South*?
Heed David: a test is to follow.
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 19:43
There is another recognition over here. One your fellow Blair recognized while the rest of ya'll might not've.
Nowadays under our system:
The Process is the Punishment.
Posted by: JK | Tuesday, 28 April 2015 at 19:56