Monday 14 January 2019

MONEY FOR A RAINY DAY

I am sorry I have been so mesmerized by the goings on in the craziest White House I have ever seen, that the latest Madeleine news has slipped under my radar. That’s if you call Tracey Kandhola’s reports of the ever suffering parents recent receipt of another big wadge of cash latest news.  And, I compare trawling through tabloid stories online to climbing Trump’s imaginary wall or crossing the Alps with elephants, by the time you have zapped all the ads for Fat Fifty and Funerals Are Us, you have lost the will to live.  But to get to the crunch it’s really just Tracey K reminding us the parents are still suffering and need our sympathy and cash.
 
Now, quite why she brings our attention to the Madeleine Fund is curious indeed. From a PR perspective, is it a good idea to juxtapose the huge pile of cash the parents are sitting on with a reminder that Operation Grange are continually asking for more funds?  And whoever heard of a Charity, even a faux one, holding onto cash for a rainy day?  Kudos for the honesty, though not sure ‘please give generously for future legal fees’ would make a great slogan.  Personally, I think their defence should go along the numbers line, as in Tapas Two, or Tapas Six, or go bigger, Tapas Lovers Worldwide (not in the Textusa sense), but you get my drift.   
 
Kate did of course pledge to donate all the royalties from her book to the Madeleine Fund. People don’t however see this as generosity on her part, it is after all, her daughter who is missing.  Then of course, the objectives of The Fund incorporate any needs the parents might have, effectively a piggy bank in which to dip every time they sue someone, especially newspapers, publishers and Goncalo Amaral.
 
Of course a good lawyer, of the Uriah Heep variety, could argue very effectively that the Company’s Articles allow the parents to use the Fund however they wish.  Former Fund Director Esther McVie stated categorically that the Fund would not be used for legal fees.  There ended her Directorship and any nonsense talk of bringing checks and balances to the use of the Fund.  
 
So legally, the McCanns are acting within the bounds of responsible company running.  But morally? Hmmm.  And have they paid all their legal debts in Portugal?  Having lost in the highest Court in the Land, all the legal costs - their own and those of Goncalo Amaral and two other Defendants fell in the laps of the parents. Now this is where it is hard to see the separation between the parents’ private income and The Fund. Are they clear and separate entities?  One source suggested they (parents or Fund?) may have to pay Goncalo Amaral damages, or they need the £800k+ to sue him further.  They are not pressing a further search for Madeleine once Operation Grange closes, but it is implied, almost as an afterthought.  
 
As to why TK continues to inform us of the movement of large sums of money in the parents’ bank accounts, I remain perplexed.  Letting the world know they are keeping nearly a million quid for a rainy day, is insulting, especially to all those parents out there who’s missing kids have not received a fraction of the assistance and publicity given to the McCanns.  The financial help they could give others in their position is immeasurable, and, err, immediate.  They could relieve the financial pressure from the police who are searching for their daughter, they could put up a half million pound reward and still have loadsamoney for a rainy day.  But as Clarence said, allegedly, 3 or 4 million may sound like a lot, but when you are running a full A list entourage, it’s just peanuts.  My fees alone could run a small hospital in a disaster zone, what doctor wouldn’t choose snake oil over emergency medical aid? 
 
No matter what way you look at, the parents are free to use the Madeleine Fund  for whatever they choose, legally they made sure to cover themselves on every front to ensure the company's final objective is never reached.  The handing over of the remainder of the Fund to 'other' children's charities. 
 
As for the comparisons between the finding of Jayme Closs and the disappearance of Madeleine McCann, there aren't any.
 



Wednesday 2 January 2019

HAPPY NEW YEAR - REVELATIONS IN SIGHT

Happy New Year to one and all, my wish is that we all achieve our dreams and desires, or at the very least, move a few steps closer to them.  2019 I believe, will be the year of Justice, firstly for humanity with the trial and incrimination of the Trump Crime Family, secondly the total annihilation of the treacherous Theresa May who panders to the deplorables just as much as Trump (my reference to deplorables btw includes billionaire tory donors). Then thirdly, Justice for little Madeleine McCann, the child with the face that launched a thousand posters and a thousand Crisis Management Agencies.
 

 How does Operation Grange end, hypothetically?  Does it implicate all those, who we who have studied this case way too intently, believe were/are involved (and who's names we dare not say out loud)?  It is hard to see how they can be ruled out.  If Madeleine wasn't abducted, then everything the McCanns and their supporters did that night and thereafter was fraudulent.  That's pretty mindblowing, and would explain why it has taken 7 years to investigate.
 
The only thing to apply when reading or studying this case is logic and reasoning.   As nice a person as you might be, you really need to read beyond the headlines of causes you support.  You need to ensure that the money you are so generously donating, is helping real, genuine causes. 
 
The McCanns have no intention of handing their remaining £750k or any other funds they may raise, to childrens charities.  The Madeleine Fund remains a non charitable company for the benefit of one child only.  Or more accurately, for the benefit of the one child's family.  Not even a magician or a founder of a crisis management agency can make that sound good. 
 
I was trying to reply to a post on my last blog, but as he/she pointed out, the comments are overflowing and becoming impossible to track.  Oops, poor housekeeping on my part, but in my defence, it was the holidays!  Also, I should point out that I do believe this year will see a conclusion to the Madeleine case, and, under the rules of war, my conscience told me to ‘give them a break’.  I also try to respond to McCann press releases, my blog is the anti spin version of what’s going on and nothing has transpired since the McCanns annual Christmas message.
 
Gerry and Kate McCann have truly had the wind knocked out of their sails, according to their Christmas message, brought to us by superfan Tracey Kandhola.  Their ‘brief, but poignant festive message’, thanks their supporters for their kind and continuing good wishes and laments that Christmas will never be the same. They miss Madeleine dearly, but they make no appeals to her or for her.  It is quite sad, because it would appear from their message that they know nothing about the Operation Grange investigation.  Or.  They know enough not to keep on about abductors, age progression pictures of Madeleine and leaving no stone unturned.
 
It would be too cruel to imagine Operation Grange were telling the parents nothing, and I struggle to believe that is the case.  The brevity of the McCanns Christmas message suggests they dare not talk about continuing their search when the unsolved files are shelved as they were a year or so ago. Cressida Dick has now confirmed publicly that won’t happen.
 
Gerry and Kate still have hope, but not much it would appear. They still don’t accept that Madeleine is dead, not publicly at least, because accepting Madeleine as dead would somehow incriminate them. As long as the world believes Madeleine is alive, they are innocent.  It would also bring in a long forgotten clause in the Madeleine Fund objectives.  That is the handing over of anything remaining in the Fund to [other] childrens’ charities. Strictly speaking Madeleine must be found and her abductor brought to justice, but what happens in the event there was no abductor? Legal eagles could have a ball with those wordings.
 
Police chiefs have to be very, very, careful with what they say, they are accountable to we the public. It would be absurd for Cressida Dick to say there will be a conclusion to Operation Grange, if the conclusion were not in sight. I suspect her statement will have sent those involved in Madeleine’s disappearance into a tailspin.  They still had hope that they had out- manoeuvered Scotland Yard’s finest, and the case would once again be filed.    
 
After 12 years, 7 years for Operation Grange, talk of new leads is absurd and everyone, bar Tracey Kandhola, knows that. Who believes OG is so haphazard that they have just been sitting there waiting for new leads to come in?  It begs the question, what the hell have they been doing this past 7 years if they need new leads to keep the investigation funded.
 
For those who take me literally, please don’t.  I believe those detectives working on the Madeleine case are doing their jobs. Those attacking them are showing their own ignorance, especially those who are accusing the detectives of treating the investigation like a jamboree.  They are contemptible and projecting what they would do if they had the same job.
 
For all the knocks and blows life has given me (for which I blame myself), I still believe in the goodness of human nature. One of my favourite movie quotes ‘I have always depended on the kindness of strangers’, is never far from my thoughts. Those random acts of kindness restore your faith when you least expect it.  A couple of summers ago I wandered, hot and flustered into McDonalds.  Now I hasten to add, I am not the usual McDonalds customer, I had been captivated by those lush adverts for smoothies and I had to try one. In my change the girl behind the counter gave me a very special 50p pence, a rare collectible, and as she placed it in my hand, she said this is for you. Why? possibly because I asked her how her day had been and what flavour [smoothie] did she recommend, her kindly gesture was a timely reminder of ‘the kindness of strangers’, and of the Laws of Attraction, you get back what you put out.
 
But I have wandered.  Forgive me, I am drinking the remains of the prosceco, amazingly still sparkly after two days sitting open on the side! Hic. My interpretation of Cressida Dick’s statement is, that something will happen soon.  Previous chiefs of police haven’t gone that far, that is they have left any conclusion open ended, they have at times sounded as if they didn’t really want answers.  It has been quite bizarre, I put it down to the McCanns having Carter Ruck on a retainer.  
 
But the walls of Jericho are crumbling (bin playing a lot of Trivial Pursuit over Christmas, :)).  No one, not even the parents or Sky News are pushing the abduction story anymore. All those agencies that were founded on stirring up a shitstorm when a child goes missing, have found themselves twiddling their thumbs.  All those fatalistic stories of middle class children of responsible parents being stolen from their beds, proved to be nothing but an urban myth started by the McCanns and promoted by Jim Gamble and Missing People.  Nothing tugs at the purse strings like danger to children.  Two parents who knowingly and willingly, left three tiny children on their own in a holiday apartment for 6 nights in a row, got to preach to the rest of us about child safety. It’s like Karen Matthews lecturing us on how to store children under the divan.
 
Karma works in mysterious ways, that’s for sure.  But wishing evil on others and using your cruelest daggers, almost always come back to bite you on the arse.  In a nutshell you reap what you sow.  And the McCanns’ reaping stage was over the top prolific.  They planted seeds here, there and everywhere.  Their ‘crime’ could have been headlines for one, two weeks tops, but they chose to make it global, and they chose to blame other people.  They started a war they could never win, particularly in this age of social media.  For every critic they knocked down, a hundred more took their place.  But kudos to them, it takes some kind of megalomaniac ego, to believe you could take control of public opinion ad infinitum, especially on the internet. Our antiquated libel laws allow the McCanns to stop the flow of information through our mainstream media, but the internet is lawless and the more they try to hide the truth, the more they are put under the spotlight.   Especially by those of us online who can see straight through 'all of this'.
 
Ultimately truth will prevail.  Nothing else will fit in those blank places on the jigsaw puzzle.  Too much evidence exists to even attempt trying to squeeze a burglar into the timelines and lack of evidence of a break in. The parents' claim that the predator had been watching them, fits the no break in evidence, but in every other sense, is ludicrous.  This is when the 'Madeleine is special' stories began to circulate.  And it was this specialness that led to her abduction.  Firstly, yuck, every 3 year old girl is special and adorable, and charmingly, each is unique.  Happily I have no idea what goes on the head of a paedophile, wtf for example, makes a 3 year old special?  It is nonsense, and creepy nonsense at that.  Unfortunately it is the kind of creepy nonsense that appeals to freaks and weirdos who get off on the idea that Madeleine was some sort of Lolita. 
 
But, darn, I have moved on from the 'not in the slightest bit stale' prosecutto onto a feisty little pink pinot gregio (stored properly) that I have drowned with ice cubes and am drinking from one of my beautiful 'ball' glasses.   A present from a dear friend and a boon for clumsy drunks like moi, who see glasses with stems as an unnecessary obstacle to drunkenness and debauchery.  Ok, I'll take that back.  There is a certain elegance to staying sober enough throughout the evening to serve the correct alcoholic beverage in the correctly shaped glass! 
 
Again I have digressed.  There is a good chance the ending of this case will see a (temporary) revival of the McCanns and Madeleine in our newspapers.  If the revelations go as far as they should, the case should again dominate the newspapers, but we have to remember it is up against Trump and Brexit, a good time to bury bad news.  How does Operation Grange end, hypothetically?  Does it implicate all those who we who have studied this case way too intently, believe were/are involved?  My answer would be, how can it not?  As amazing as the Mccanns search for Madeleine was, it had British government and police backing, how tf did that happen?  I believe this case will end, not just with multiple prosecutions, but perhaps also a public inquiry.  How do British Citizens abroad get so much governmental assistance that it fucks up the home country's investigation?  No wonder David Cameron gave the Portuguese a full Scotland Yard Inquiry.