YouTuber Who Trained His Girlfriend's Dog To Be A Nazi Facing Hate Crime Charges In Scotland

from the there's-nothing-not-ridiculous-about-that-headline dept

Wed, Mar 21st 2018 3:23am — Tim Cushing

Across the sea in the UK, offensive speech is still getting people jailed. An obnoxious person who trained his girlfriend's dog to perform the Nazi salute and respond excitedly to the phrase "gas the Jews" is looking at possible jail time after posting these exploits to YouTube under the name Count Dankula. According to Scotland resident Markus Meechan, it was the "least cute" thing he could train his girlfriend's dog to do, apparently in response to her constant gushing about the dog's cuteness.

Meechan's video racked up 3 million views on YouTube, but it really didn't start making news until local police started paying attention.

That April, soon after the video was posted, police knocked on Meechan’s door in Coatbridge, a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, he told Alex Jones. The officers told him that he was being charged with a hate crime and that the video could be seen as promoting violence against Jews. They told him to change his clothes, took pictures of his apartment and hauled him off to jail.

There's is no doubt the video is offensive. But offended people have plenty of options to counter Meechan's speech with their own. Unfortunately, the 2003 law being used against him has ensured this counterspeech is solely taking the form of testimony against Meechan.

During the trial, Ephraim Borowski, director of the Scottish Council of Jewish Communities, who lost family members during the Holocaust, said the video was “grossly offensive. It stuns me that anyone should think it is a joke," he said, according to The Times.

"My immediate reaction is that there is a clear distinction to be made between an off-hand remark and the amount of effort that is required to train a dog like that. I actually feel sorry for the dog.”

Meechan says he has no hate for Jews and did it solely to annoy his girlfriend. It was recorded, which means it was meant to entertain YouTube users, some of which likely viewed the video as generally supportive of gassing Jews (which may have helpfully aligned with their own views on the subject). But speech can be offensive without being a hate crime, and the general criminalization of offensive subject matter isn't doing much to curb actual racially-motivated criminal activity. All it's really doing is ensuring UK courts receive a steady stream of defendants who've done nothing more dangerous than publicly display their questionable opinions and terrible senses of humor.

The YouTuber is now facing a year in prison because an unfunny prank came to the attention of local police. Prosecutors are busy trying to prove intent, which should be an uphill battle. Meechan has already issued a public apology, as well as a follow-up video further distancing his distasteful prank from any support for anti-Semitism. Nevertheless, prosecutors are alleging the sole reason for the recording was to cause fear and stir up hatred. That really doesn't seem to be the case despite several bigots deciding the video's release meant they should inundate the local Jewish community council with hateful messages.

Laws enforced in this fashion don't instill a greater respect for rule of law or those who craft bad laws with good intentions. Fifteen years have passed since this law took effect and it's certainly hasn't shown much return on investment. Instead of stomping out hate, it's being used to carve holes in speech protections, ensuring the merely offensive will be given the same punishments as those who actually incite hatred and violent acts.

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Filed Under: dog, hate speech, markus meechan, nazi salute, scotland, uk, viral video

54 Comments

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Reader Comments

The First Word

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A joke taken way too seriously

—OldGeezer

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ryuugami, 21 Mar 2018 @ 3:31am

On the plus side
There's no better way to annoy a girlfriend than having to spend a year in prison for doing something stupid.
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Daydream, 21 Mar 2018 @ 3:34am

It seems to me that these prosecutors sending people to jail for teaching a dog politically incorrect tricks, are the real ones causing fear and stirring up hatred.
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Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 3:56am

Springtime for Hitler
Just as well that we hadn't got to that point when "The Producers" came out - Mel Brooks could have been in trouble.

More seriously, we need to look at who is pushing this nonsense and why.

This may just be a stupid prank but the idea that is now in the law is that what matters is that someone feels offended rather than whether the speech in question is actually offensive (and by the way it doesn't even seem to matter if the speech is simply reporting a true fact). This seems to be so open to abuse that it makes me wionder who wants to abuse it..
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OldGeezer (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 3:59am

A joke taken way too seriously
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flyinginn (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 3:59am

We've had prosecutions this week for teaching a dog to do something offensive on a video and for downloading a book from the 70s which remains easily available. So a good week for the public, who are presumably catatonic with anxiety about someone reading Mein Kampf. I'm concerned that the unwary might be radicalised by reading something really dangerous, like Magna Carta.
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Ninja (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:28am

The lengths people go for a good trolling. I witnessed a master.

No, seriously, it doesn't seem the guy is a bigoted asshole. It should have been taken as the joke it is. Context matters. There are plenty of content out there making fun of Nazi stuff (including Jewish people) and true bigots, I hope they prosecute all. Won't hold my breath though.
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OldGeezer (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:34am

A joke taken way too seriously
Accidentally hit enter after only typing the title. There should be a way to edit or delete your own comment here like Facebook. Years ago when my son was in high school a teacher was talking to his class about a school shooting. She overheard my son make a tasteless comment to a kid next to him & she freaked out. They detained him after school & would not release him until after they called me & my ex in. There was a full conference room of teachers & administration & counselors. Each one of them took turns talking. His teachers was in tears. We had to assure them that neither me or my ex had any guns in our homes & my son had no interest in them. He had only made a bad joke. They overreacted to this, but in many school shootings people had ignored warning signs of troubled kids & maybe an intervention could have saved lives. I don't know exactly where you draw the line, but arresting someone for training a dog for offensive tricks, are you kidding me? Taking the video down & maybe suspending the account because of terms of service violations could be justified. I have seen people's accounts suspended on Facebook because of extremely vulgar language in all their posts. Probably in response to complaints.
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Retsibsi (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:36am

There seems to be rather more to this story than is being presented at first sight. If you read these accounts then, from some of the details given, there's a suggestion that he is rather less the "Jack The Lad" he makes himself out to be...

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotland-glasgow-west-43478925

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/cri me/pug-nazi-salute-youtube-video-owner-guilty-hate-crime-mark-meechan-lanarkshire-a8265301.html
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:51am

Re: Springtime for Hitler
>More seriously, we need to look at who is pushing this nonsense and why.

It's politicians, who really do believe that if you can stop the speech you solve the problems. Just look at all the attempts and rhetoric about removing terrorist speech from the Internet.
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Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:51am

Re:
, there's a suggestion that he is rather less the "Jack The Lad" he makes himself out to be...

Funnily that's not what I got from your two links - quite the reverse in fact.

I got a telling statement from his solicitor:

Mr Brown said there was no evidence of a complainer in the case, adding Police Scotland was not contacted by anyone who found the video "grossly offensive or menacing. He added that it seems that the police pursued the matter themselves in an attempt to establish their diversity credentials.

I also got a statement of support from Ricky Gervais and a comment that Jewish comedian David Baddiel had also supported the accused.
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Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 4:57am

Re: Re: Springtime for Hitler
It's politicians, who really do believe that if you can stop the speech you solve the problems

I don't think it's as general as that. Censorship is usually put in place to protect a lie. So what are the lies that the politicians want to protect?

By the way - from the links posted later on about this it seems that not only can you be prosecuted for posting something that someone else finds offensive (no matter how irrationally) but you can also be prosecuted for posting something that someone thinks someone else will think is offensive...
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Jigsy, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:16am

I actually can't help wonder what would have happened had he tried to get the dog to become a member of one of those Neo-Nazi groups that exist here instead.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:24am

Re: Re: Re: Springtime for Hitler
Censorship is usually put in place to protect those in power, because they are scared that alternative views will lead to alternative power groups gaining the ascendancy.
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Rikuo, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:32am

You'll want to edit the article slightly. Meacham has been found guilty and his sentencing is on April 23rd.
I am most interested in if the uk police are going to go after John Cleese and/or Prince Harry who have both dressed up like Nazis.
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Cowardly Lion, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:42am

Re: Re:
That's my view as well. The UK has itself become a bit of a joke in itself. Take this, a popular, beloved TV show in 1975, the same period where the slightly subversive Monty Python was being aired on one of the other UK's 2 TV channels:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ra96Q4_qlHI

"I was working in this catholic club last night, in Wigan, and I could tell it was a Catholic club because they called the Bingo numbers out in Latin so that the Protestants couldn't win...".

In 1975, quite funny. In 2018, a crime. If you watch the whole thing, try counting the Irish jokes... You'll soon run out of fingers.
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David Longfellow, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:44am

Much ado about nothing...
Obviously the Scots have zero actual substance to their culture if they spend time and money worrying about trivialities like this one.
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JoeCool (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:46am

Re: A joke taken way too seriously
Isn't weird how schools overreact to things like that (and the "finger gun" and "gun-shaped" poptarts), yet somehow always manage to overlook the HUGE problems that actually cause school violence? I think that's partly why some kids go postal - they see the teachers overreacting to nothing while their huge problems go ignored.
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Vidiot (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:00am

Re: Re: Re:
Or the entire sitcom "Mrs. Brown's Boys". All the lads would be in the feckin' hoosegow.
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Gary (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:10am

Wrong Target
Why hasn't the dog been charged?
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OldGeezer (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:17am

Re: Re: A joke taken way too seriously
Have to agree. Bullies are the problem. As someone that had been bullied in school back in school in the 60's, in a way I have an insight into these kids minds. I took my brothers advice when he told me if a kid hits me, hit them back. Even if it means I get my ass kicked, the bully will think twice about picking on me again. Now kids go home & get their dad's guns.
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A Non-Moose Cow Herd, 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:46am

Acting like the Nazi's they so hate.
Man makes fun of Nazi's, then has his life turned upside down by them. That's what the real headline should be. His pug video was no different than anything Monty Python has done in the past. It's so sad to see a law abused in this way. I hope those attacking him see the irony of their own actions some day, because what they're doing now is no different than what the Nazi's would do to you if you joked about them back then.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:09am

lol everything free speech related is reduced to either a joke or talking about people being offended.
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Richard (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:35am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Springtime for Hitler
And of course they always start by pursuing someone that they think no one will want to defend. That establishes the precedent.

After that they can slowly spread the net wider.

First they came for the Nazis....
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:39am

Re:
Truly bigoted, perhaps not.

But a bit of an asshole? Definitely.

Deserving of jail time? Only in a totalitarian police state.
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POYB, 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:40am

Re: Join Neo Nazis
Eh... Is your comment a joke? Dank isn't a Nazi. His dog isn't a Nazi. What people seem to be missing here is...the dog is mocking Nazis. This entire issue is ridiculous. The point was to make the dog as least cute as possible. Nazis aren't cute. A dog saluting... pretty funny.
And...where are these neo Nazis you speak of? Do they have some meeting place outside of prisons in America?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:41am

Minion has FACT wrong: already convicted!
Sheesh. How do you miss that? Was on Drudge months ago. What combination of blindness and laziness misses key fact? -- My bet is was hoping to spin this anomaly out into a series.

Anyhoo, lesson is: don't teach your nasty little dog nasty little tricks.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 7:46am

So whats the punishment if I train my dog to shit on a picture of a politicians face ?
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 8:16am

This dude was posting online as Count Dankula. I can see his HD full of rare pepes from here.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 8:43am

Re: Minion has FACT wrong: already convicted!
it probably was trained to 'shake' hands - i've seen dogs paw at the air all the time assuming they're being commanded to shake or anticipating the command via body language.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 8:56am

I think the worst part of it is that guy has a girlfriend.
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james, 21 Mar 2018 @ 10:20am

Re:
Wait, what book? What happened?
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ShadowNinja (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 10:33am

Re: Wrong Target
Because he was just following orders.
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Mr. Cohn, 21 Mar 2018 @ 10:44am

@Tim Cushing

He hasn't been sentenced yet, so it's (presently) incorrect to say he is facing a year in jail.

Also, as a Jewish person, I have to say I found the humor funny and not offensive in the least. I interpreted it as comparing heinous Nazi ideology as something harmless and inoffensive as a pug. It's mocking Nazis.

I long for the days when people stop being offended on the behalf of others of my faith and heritage. I'd be glad to debate Ephraim Borowski on the matter if given the opportunity, but until then I have to chide people to condemn ridiculous, over-the-top humor as hateful.
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Mr. Cohn, 21 Mar 2018 @ 10:47am

Re:
*who condemn
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 11:31am

Re: A joke taken way too seriously
Nope, this is the result of all the "offend me not" leftists.

Any offense is entirely determined by the receiving party.
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Anon Moose, 21 Mar 2018 @ 11:41am

Will someone please email this story to the BBC breakfast team?
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Uriel-238 (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 12:42pm

Lack of free speech in the UK.
Neil Gaiman has noted on multiple occasions the lack of free speech guarantees in the United Kingdom. He's had to make trips to the United States to acquire and read a number of books The 120 Days of Sodom for instance.

This is something that Parliament has refused to relinquish: the people of Great Britain cannot be trusted to hold their tongues when appropriate. Brits cannot be trusted with dangerous knowledge (such as the process of making explosives). Nor can they be trusted to mind their propriety of letters. So if an official is offended by a new book, it can get banned. If a lord is offended by what you someone says in public, he can be arrested for it. And if a specific bit of literature is too racy / too enigmatic / too political for the Queen, it can be prohibited for publication or for reading.

So criminal charges for teaching a dog to Nazi-salute is actually something that Scots can anticipate.

As Gaiman has noted in the many times he's had run-ins with UK speech control, it isn't necessarily right. Authorities have a lot of say as to what is proper public discussion and what isn't, and as a result many Brits are punished for exercising what would be freedoms in the US. But for now, it is the norm.

Heart and hand for Caesar
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 12:51pm

Re:
Did you know Colonel Kink (Werner Klemperer) who played a Nazi on a TV comedy show called Hogans Heros was, in fact, a Jew!!! Werner Klemperer escaped Nazi Germany in 1933.

In fact, Every actor and actress who portrayed a Nazi in the series was Jewish in real-life.

The Nazi's did a lot of bad things, but so have many others in human history. If you try to hide History, you're bound to repeat it. I don't really care that this guy did what he did. It's a little in bad taste, but so what. It's a joke. If anything it kind of makes Nazi's the butt of the joke.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 12:54pm

Re: Re: Re: A joke taken way too seriously
People are really pulling out the guns way too soon. Guns never solve your school issues. The good thing is at some point you're done with school and don't have to see any of those people ever again.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 12:56pm

Re: Re: Join Neo Nazis
Exactly!!!! Some people really need to get a life and worry about themselves and not others.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 2:47pm

Re: Re:
You hit the nail on the head. Had this 'nazi dog' skit been done by Sacha Baron Cohen in a Borat movie, police would have never batted an eye. Two reasons for that:

1. Cohen is himself Jewish so he gets an automatic pass that no non-Jew would ever get.

2. A multi-million dollar Hollywood production, no matter how offensive, gets an automatic pass that the typical working-class Youtuber would never get.

Call it High Court/Low Court or whatever else, but that's how the system works.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 2:52pm

I can see who the real Nazi's are. Glad there is no law against being a A-hole, or a Nazi for that matter.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 5:32pm

Re: Neil Gaiman
It might be worth noting that Neil Gaiman came from a family of prominent British Scientologists. Unlike the US, which has Constitutional guarantees of free speech as well as religion, the UK government has tended to take a very dim view of the Scientology cult. Growing up feeling as an oppressed minority could have profoundly affected his outlook on issues about freedoms in the UK.

It was Neil Gaiman's nephew who was involved in a groundbreaking Supreme Court fight five years ago to get Scientology recognized as a religion in the UK.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/home-news/couple-get-married-in-britains-first-scientology- wedding-9147501.html
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JoeCool (profile), 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:04pm

Re:
I can tell you right now looking back over the decades, women prefer to go after "bad boys" thinking they can "change them". Instead, they wind up destroying their lives. My dad's caregiver was a prime example: she moved from one loser boyfriend to another to another, and all were the obsessed stalker loser variety who would throw rocks through her window, sabotage her truck, and kill her pets. Her most frequent way of finding a new boyfriend was to pick up a loser begging in the local Walmart parking lot, thinking she'd turn their lives around. Instead, they were just a new ball and chain.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 6:08pm

Re: Re: A joke taken way too seriously
Actually, the "offend me not" policy comes from both sides of the political spectrum, whether is left or right.

In Spain you can get fined (or even in jail) for offending God or the King, for example. In fact, there was a recent ruling from the European Court of Human Rights telling off Spain regarding that.

That, of course, if you don't get into jail for being a puppeteer, twitting jokes about Carrero Blanco (though she got free in the end, she had to go through all the ordeal), rapping against the King (3 years in jail, iirc), the police or the government and a lengthy list of cases.

Of course, threaten by radio to shoot a left-wing politician and nothing happens. Even if the reverse done to a right-wing one would get the person doing it in jail in no time.
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Anonymous Coward, 21 Mar 2018 @ 8:31pm

Re: Re:
Was it that she was actively seeking loser-type boyfriends, or that such people were just the best she could ever get?
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Jigsy, 22 Mar 2018 @ 6:37am

Re: Re: Join Neo Nazis
I don't recall saying he was a Nazi; nice strawman, though.

My general wondering is why it's wrong to teach a dog a Nazi salute, but perfectly okay for people to join Neo-Nazi groups. (At least here in the UK.)

Even Holocaust Denial isn't a crime here.

Would the same thing have happened if had he taught the dog to deny the holocaust?

It's very idiosyncratic.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 22 Mar 2018 @ 7:08am

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Springtime for Hitler
As I tweeted to Mike Stuchberry, they're already seeing this in Poland, where pointing out complicity with the Nazis during WW2 [is a criminal offence](https://www.pbs.org/newshour/world/it-is-now-a-crime-to-say-poland-helped-nazi-germany-duri ng-holocaust).

Wendy Cockcroft's Rule #2: Powers created to protect certain groups can and will be abused.
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Wendy Cockcroft, 22 Mar 2018 @ 8:25am

Re: Re: Re: Re:
What amuses me about all this is that Katie Hopkins is running free. She referred to "migrants" as "cockcroaches." Later on she said it was a tribute to their resilience but honestly you've got one of two choices in a crisis: wait to die or try to survive. Basically, if you work for the right wing press you get a pass but woe betide mere mortals like me. I often skate close to the edge in my blog posts because I lean right socially and honestly sometimes I wonder if, one day, after writing about a case of "I identify as a cactus so call me Spiky from now on" I'll have Plod knocking at my door for being un-politically correct.

What Meechan did was stupid and obnoxious but jail time? Save it for the banksters. Being a prat shouldn't be a crime.
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Jigsy, 22 Mar 2018 @ 1:09pm

Interesting fact about the judge, just fyi.

Based on some comments I saw elsewhere by some Scottish people, he allowed a doctor who possessed over 5,000 images of child pornography - which, can actually mean anything these days - to walk free.
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JoeCool (profile), 24 Mar 2018 @ 7:08pm

Re: Re: Re:
Actively seeking them. She had a number of guys I knew who were interested in her, but they were all "good guys" and she wasn't interested. It was really kinda sad. Most of her boyfriends wound up in jail before she would move on, then they'd get out later and the stalking would occur, along with dead pets and damage to her truck and house. She's a pretty extreme case, but I have only ever known a few women who went for nice guys. I was a nice guy and had real trouble getting dates. The reason is easy to see - if you become a friend first, they don't want to lose a friend if dating doesn't work out, so you never get a date if you're a friend. They rather hook up with a complete stranger than date a friend.
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Anonymous Coward, 24 Mar 2018 @ 8:15pm

We should be glad the "selfie monkey" wasn't trained to be a photographer.
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Toestubber (profile), 28 Mar 2018 @ 2:15pm

Many doubts
"There's is no doubt the video is offensive."

Speak for yourself. He clearly mocked Hitler and nazism, which was pure hilarity until the state got involved.
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Toestubber (profile), 28 Mar 2018 @ 2:21pm

Re: Re: Re: Re: Re: Springtime for Hitler
First they came for the Nazis....

...then they came for the people who even mention nazis.
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