Day: March 4, 2022

Hillary Clinton

2022 is a midterm election year in the USA. All 435 seats in the House of Representatives and 35 of the 100 seats in the Senate will be up for grabs. The Republican Party is predicted to retake the senate. If affirmed it is likely that efforts will be made to jail Hillary Clinton and others closely associated in their near 5-year false and malicious disinformation campaign accusing President Trump of working with President Putin devising and implementing plans to subvert American voters enabling Trump to defeat Clinton. November 2022 might well be a pivotal period in political history.

1996: President Clinton signed the Defense of Marriage Act, (DOMA) a law that defined federal marriage as a union between one man and one woman.

2000: Running for the Senate she said: “Marriage has got historic, religious and moral content that goes back to the beginning of time, and I think a marriage is as a marriage has always been, between a man and a woman.

2004: In a Senate debate she said that she believed that marriage was: “a sacred bond between a man and a woman and she took umbrage at anyone who might suggest that those who worry about amending the Constitution are less committed to the sanctity of marriage, or to the fundamental bedrock principle that exists between a man and a woman.”

2007: Hillary Clinton answered a questionnaire for the Human Rights Campaign. About whether marriage should be made legally available to two committed adults of the same sex she entered that she was “opposed” though she supported civil unions. In a follow-up debate, she was asked “What is at the heart of your opposition to same-sex marriage?” Her reply was: “I prefer to think of it as being very positive about civil unions. You know, it’s a personal position. How we get to full equality is the debate we’re having, and I am absolutely in favour of civil unions with full equality of benefits, rights, and privileges.”

2012: President Obama reversed his previous position and announced his support for same-sex marriage

2013: Announcing she would run for President in 2016 she announced her support for same-sex marriage stating: “LGBT Americans are our colleagues, our teachers, our soldiers, our friends, our loved ones. And they are full and equal citizens, and they deserve the right to citizenship. That includes marriage. That’s why I support marriage for lesbian and gay couples. I support it personally and as a matter of policy and law, embedded in a broader effort to advance equality and opportunity for LGBT Americans and all Americans.”

2013: At St. Andrew’s University in Scotland in her first foreign visit since she announced she would run for President in 2016, she received a doctor of laws degree for her work as a politician and diplomat in championing the causes of education, human rights, democracy, civil society and promoting opportunities for women around the world.

2014: She was grilled about her ever-changing positions on gay marriage and was asked: “Would you say your view evolved since the ’90s or that the American public evolved, allowing you to state your real view?” She replied: “I think I’m an American and I think we have all evolved.”

2014: Scottish Independence Referendum: She told the BBC’s Jeremy Paxton: “I would hate to have England lose Scotland. Rebutting her unwelcome interference Alex Salmond said Scotland: “was not England’s property to be lost it is one of the oldest nations in the World deciding its own future.” Sturgeon made no comment.

2015: On the day of the Supreme Court hearing oral arguments about same-sex marriage bans in a handful of states in April, she changed her “H” logo to rainbow-coloured and tweeted the message: “Every loving couple & family deserves to be recognized & treated equally under the law across our nation.”

2016: Her current support of gay marriage and the LGBT community is based on nothing more than political expediency. She had zero interest in supporting gay rights until it was no longer risky to be an LGBT advocate.

2016: It is unusual for political leaders to express their opinion on other country’s elections while campaigning is still underway. Neutrality is usually observed but Nicola Sturgeon broke with political tradition and ‘fervently’ endorsed Clinton’s bid for the American Presidency saying: Hillary Clinton would be “a great president.”

2016: Clinton released a video to the UK media attacking Donald Trump’s credibility at the time he was visiting his newly revamped Turnberry course. The video which was set to bagpipe music featured Sturgeon who said Trump was not welcome in Scotland and Michael Forbes, who challenged Trump’s bid to build his Meanie Estate golf course in Aberdeenshire.

Comments: Ever the political opportunist she opposed same-sex marriage as a candidate for the Senate, while in office as a senator, and while running for president in 2008. She expressed her support for civil unions starting in 2000 and for the rights of states to set their own laws in favour of same-sex marriage in 2006. Then as polls showed that a majority of Americans supported same-sex marriage, Clinton’s views changed, too. She announced her support for same-sex marriage in March 2013.

Andrew Sullivan, former editor of The New Republic, in a 2014 blog post wrote: Clinton opposed gay marriage until public opinion shifted in its favour. Supporters have focused on the argument of her having an evolving stance, but as a high-profile Democrat for the past few decades, Clinton played a role in obstructing progress for LGBT rights. In addition to DOMA, her husband Bill Clinton signed the HIV travel ban into law, which disproportionately discriminated against the LGBT community. He also signed the military’s “Don’t Ask, Don’t Tell” policy. “As long as marriage equality hurt the Democrats, they were against it. Now it may even hurt Republicans, they’re for it. So Hillary is for it now.”

She voted for and strongly supported the Iraq War for years until she finally apologized and admitted in 2014 it was a mistake. But she has not learned. An apology isn’t enough when she continued with her war hawk tendencies, invariably pushing for regime change and perpetuating U.S. military conflicts abroad. As one of the most high-profile Democrats in the Senate, Clinton’s Iraq stance played a central role in manufacturing consent for a war we now know was launched from baseless accusations. During her service as secretary of state, Clinton supported every war demanded by the military-industrial complex.

The insidious dogma of hyper-extremist activists is holding Scottish politics to ransom

Scotland is a colony of England and its politicians are permitted to operate only under the strict control of the Westminster government. Faced with this reality the acceptable face of politics within Scotland has become narrow-minded and focused on encouraging the development of pressure groups with narrow agendas who are able to successfully transfer their aims and ambitions across the border to England.

LGBTQ hyper-extremist and fundamentalist activists increasingly exert political influence on society in England and Scotland well in excess of levels warranted by their numbers and mainstream politicians need to be alerted to this since many of the views and demands for change they wish to impose are toxic to the vast bulk of the electorate.

Addressing the issues in Scotland requires an understanding of the modus-operandi of the activists which is to become cuckoos in the nest of the SNP and over time crowd out anyone who failed to accede to their demands.

As of February 2022, the group have grown in numbers and influence and through a process of gerrymandering, internal election processes now dictate and decide SNP policies.

The SNP no longer exists in the form many of its members signed up to yet it strangely continues to promote itself to the Scottish electorate as the party of independence.

The two main LGBTQ activist centres are located in Stirling and Aberdeen and are focussed on the leadership of two SNP MP’s: Alyn Smith and Kirsty Blackman who together with their supporters have done little to progress the cause of Scottish independence and should have the courage of their convictions and leave the SNP too form a new political party and stand for office in a by-election in a new LGBTQ Party.

The Aberdeen faction first raised its head in January 2018 when a small number of LGBTQ activists located in the Grampian Region formed an umbrella organisation the “Aberdeen Independence Movement” (AIM). Its membership comprised:

Co-Chairs:
Fatima Joji: from Westhill, Aberdeenshire, topped the SNP’s North-East regional list for the Scottish Parliament elections.
Kenny Anderson: Longtime SNP supporter. Managing Director and Majority Shareholder, Anderson Buchan Properties Ltd.

Other members
Neil Baillie: SNP Councillor
Vicky Harper: SNP Councillor
Andy Stuart: SNP Convenor Aberdeenshire West

Finance Team:
Virginia Dawod: Manager, Robert Gordon University.

Theo Forbes: Graphics Media And Communications Officer.
2016 2018: Member of the National Executive Committee and National Events and Fundraising Officer, “Young Scots for Independence”.
2017 2021: Employed by the SNP as an intern from September 2020. Attended Aberdeen University studying Politics & International Relations.

Joshua Aaron Mennie: from Aberdeen
2018: 2020: Media Consultant. Intern for Kirsty Blackwood MP.
2019 – 2020: Member National Executive Committee (NEC) and Convener for the official LGBTQ+ wing of the SNP.
2022 – Pres: Communications & Officer Manager to Karen Adam MSP at Holyrood.

Tourette’s Syndrome* sufferer, Mennie is a person to note since his rise to prominence within the Party has been remarkable. In his 3 years of membership, he has been elected as a disabled member of the NEC. Heads the “Out For Indy” group and is the leader of the party within a party, the LGBTQ+ group of the SNP.

• The Equality Act 2010 (‘the Act’) and Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (‘DDA’) defines a disabled person as:

“A person has a disability if they have a physical or mental impairment, and the impairment has a substantial and long-term adverse effect on the person’s ability to carry out normal day-to-day activities.” Tourette’s syndrome is not listed in the Social Security Administration’s Blue Book (the guide used to help SSA representatives determine whether a person qualifies for disability based on their condition)

And the Mennie family are well represented in the party. His sister Jessica was elected in 2019, SNP councillor for Donside in Aberdeen (£18k annual salary). She was also the office manager (2015-2019) to Mark McDonald MSP, who was forced to resign from the Party by its leadership who outlandishly accepted an allegation of sexual harassment against him based on a joke about an autocorrect error in a single text message. It is claimed that she also works for party HQ in a new job which was allegedly not advertised and for which nobody else was interviewed.

NEC Meeting hijacked by LGBTQ activists

The LGBTQ group proposed that the SNP’s eight regional lists for the Scottish parliamentary election should include in top place, either a *BAME or a disabled candidate. Four regions would be allocated a BAME person and the other four a disabled person. The proposal carried the rider that disabled status should be by self-identification with no confirmatory checking being carried out.

The proposal was debated at some length since many members believed it would be illegal to adopt the proposal under equalities law. The matter was deferred and referred to the Party’s legal counsel, Jonathan Mitchell QC who warned that the policy was legally dubious and open to challenge in the courts and any case brought by a person disadvantaged by the rule would probably succeed, and cost the SNP tens of thousands of pounds in legal expenses.

But the LGBTQ group insisted the proposal should be decided by the NEC and its LGBTQ Chair, Kirsten Oswald allowed the matter to be put to a vote.
The vote was tied and it was expected that in compliance with accepted practice the Chair would cast her vote for retention of the status quo. She didn’t and passed the motion placing the Party at great risk of legal and costly claims of discrimination.

Three members announced conflicts of interest before the vote.

• Fiona Robertson who declared that she intended to seek the top spot on the North-East list as a disabled candidate who was in attendance as a substitute for an NEC member who was unable to attend. Did not recuse herself from the vote.
• Graham Campbell, a councillor from Glasgow who declared his intention to stand on either the Glasgow or Lothian lists, both of which were to have their top spots reserved for BAME* candidates under the proposal. Campbell, whose partner is SNP MP Anne McLauchlin, did not recuse himself from the vote.
• Greg McCarra from the Association of Nationalist Councillors (who is neither disabled nor BAME) also declared he was seeking nomination. He did recuse himself from the vote.
• Black Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) candidates. The 2011 census identified, 2.66% of the Scottish population as Asian and 0.5% Black and the SNP policy is unfairly discrimatory against Asians. Not a lot of wisdom in directly transferring and implementing American electoral policies in Scotland

Those subsequently included on the protected list for the North East of Scotland included: Fatima Joji, Christian Allard, Fergus Mutch, William Duff, Julie Bell, Nadia El-Nakla, John Cooke, Lynne Short, Gillian Al-Samarai and Joshua Mennie.

Comments on the North East Scotland list candidates:

Joshua Mennie. See before. Claimed to be disabled suffering from Tourette’s Syndrome

Gillian al-Samari: Councillor for Dyce, Bucksburn and Danestone (salary £18K) also worked for Mark McDonald MSP between 2013-2019. McDonald was forced to resign from the Party by its leadership who outlandishly accepted an allegation of sexual harassment against him based on a joke about an autocorrect error in a single text message. Councillor Samari ceased working for McDonald on 23 March 2019 and transferred her employment to Kirsty Blackman MP on 1 May 2019, taking up a position as a caseworker. Her swift transfer was criticised by opposition party’s who accused her of double-dipping” the taxpayer’s purse.

Fatima Joji: Caseworker for Richard Thomson MP. interests: politics and development advocacy. Holds a postgraduate diploma in ‘International Development (Poverty, Inequality & Development). Chair of AIM. Key political statements:

26 May 2021: Unsuccessful in the Scottish election in the North East regional list she tried to address the issue within the party but felt she now needed to speak out after being “harassed for months” with no support from the Party.

On her experience as a candidate for selection in Aberdeenshire West, she said that as a Black candidate it had been mixed. While the local membership was “largely positive” her name had been included in a tweet claiming that Justice Secretary Humza Yousaf had overturned the decision to fail several BAME candidates at vetting, allowing them to stand.

But Joji insisted she had passed vetting without issue. “But I think it did have an impact,” she said of the tweet.

She urged the SNP to address the under-representation of BAME candidates, particularly in areas with large communities of colour through the list system Saying. “I think there is a real opportunity there to turn rhetoric into reality.”

10 Sep 2021: I am SNP because of its progressive and inclusive policies that are built upon the foundations of equality fairness, dignity and respect.

Mennie attacks Kate Forbes

The SNP’s Finance Secretary, Derek Mackay, fell from grace after revelations in the press that he had made sexual advances toward a 16-year-old boy, inundating him with inappropriate Facebook messages and inviting him to meet up.

Mackay resigned on the day he was supposed to present the SNP Government’s budget and the Government’s Public Finance Minister, Kate Forbes, completed the task. Her presentation was excellent and she became the front runner to replace MacKay as Cabinet Secretary for the Economy. But in Mennie’s mind, her proposed appointment, as opposed to Mackay’s resignation, became controversial.

The zealous monomaniac and ferocious tweeter ignored an actual scandal. Mackay, a 42-year-old minister, was tipped to be the next leader of Scotland being forced to resign for grooming a child, to confront an imaginary one. A church-going minister, tipped to be the next Finance Secretary, who believes, as indeed other non-church going ministers also believe, that the legal definition of male and female ought not to be changed without informed public discussion and agreement. He tweeted: “The last thing our party needs is Kate Forbes climbing the ladder when she has such questionable views on equality.”

As evidence of these “questionable” views, he also tweeted: “I’m always concerned when politicians conflate their personal religious beliefs into their work-life to the detriment of others,” confirming a complete lack of self-awareness. His tweet, (since deleted) was his response to a letter published in the press (https://www.thenational.scot/news/19859777.kate-forbes-calls-tolerance-gra-debate) highlighting concerns over the Scottish government’s proposed changes to the Gender Recognition Act (a law that would replace the legal definition of sex with gender self-declaration).