Watch for Alex Jones's bizarre comment at the end... What bizarre things did you do with vegetables in your teens?
Saturday 7-Up: Top Stories of 2024
4 hours ago
I am not a sheep, I have my own mind
I have had enough of being told what and how to think
Whilst we are still allowed the remnants of free speech,
I will speak out.
I also reserve the right to discuss less controversial matters should I feel the urge.
'Angela Merkel's open-door policy towards immigrants fleeing Middle East war zones will, in the long run, make Germany safer from terrorist attacks.By showing compassion to hundreds of thousands of Muslim refugees, the German Chancellor has sent a message to the world that Germany is not at war with Islam.More importantly, this means that the vast majority of Muslims resident in Germany have every reason to cooperate with the security services in the fight against terrorism.'
'... it was revealed that one of the killers, 19-year-old Adel K., was being monitored by electronic tag after twice attempting to join fanatics in Syria.His bail terms, however, allowed him to be unsupervised between 8.30am and 12.30pm. The attack happened between 9am and 11am'
In recent weeks in Europe as well as bombs and bullets we've had people crushed by a truck and killed by a knife, that leaves smashing heads with rocks, throwing people from a high place and poison. Would you care to wager how long before Western Europeans experience these types of atrocities as well?'The so-called Islamic State urged its followers to attack French people with vehicles well before the deadly attack in Nice.A speech two years ago from the jihadists' spokesman, Abu Mohammed al Adnani, encouraged devotees to turn to more basic methods of terrorism if they could not obtain guns or explosives."If you are not able to find a bomb or a bullet, then smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or crush him with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him," he said.In his remarks, Adnani singled out "the spiteful French" amid a long list of enemies topped by "the disbelieving American" and their allies.'
'The Wall Street Journal just published a shocking article revealing what Patrick Calvar, France’s director general of intelligence, has in mind.
“The confrontation is inevitable,” said Mr. Calvar. There are an estimated 15,000 Salafists among France’s seven million Muslims, “whose radical-fundamentalist creed dominates many of the predominantly Muslim housing projects at the edges of cities such as Paris, Nice or Lyon. Their preachers call for a civil war, with all Muslims tasked to wipe out the miscreants down the street”.
Yes, France is heading toward the “inevitable confrontation”.
...
On the ashes of the World Trade Center, George W. Bush rose to the fight. In those years, the United States and its European allies proved themselves “the stronger horse” and the forces of the “weaker horse” of Al Qaeda began to lose heart. When Islamists were thrown on the defensive, recruits dropped off. Attacks on Western cities diminished.
After eight years of Barack Hussein Obama and Europe’s retreat from the war on terror, the West appears to be the weaker horse and the Islamists the stronger one.
A few days ago, I asked Professor Bruce Thornton of California State University what Europe should do to reverse this horrible trend. His answer was revealing:
“There is no political will for waging total war against ISIS. It would require 100,000 troops and massive bombing to eliminate as many jihadists as possible. We would have to abandon rules of engagement that privilege the enemy’s people over our own. At home, we would have to increase deportations and publicly demand that Muslim communities in the West disavow Jihadism and Sharia law”.Of course, Europe and the West are not adopting any of these important and clearly articulated measures.
-Radical Islamists have already infiltrated Europe’s universities, mosques and cities’ outskirts.
-Institutional Islam has been able to convince Europeans that terror “has nothing to do with Islam”.
-Mainstream media is refusing even to spell the name of the enemy and it is just preparing new articles about the next victims of Jihad.
-Pope Francis is busy in preaching clemency to everybody.
-The remnant of European Jewry is fleeing the old continent.
-Europe’s armies are getting smaller by the day.
Abandon any hope: Without a major cultural revolution and shock, Europe is lost, Islamists will win! And as it goes along, we will cede more and more of our freedom and civilization to the Grand Jihad.'
"If all the other papers are taken and there's only the Guardian left, I will just look at the tablecloth."
'Islamist videos were found on the mobiles and laptop of a Syrian man who blew himself up in Ansbach on Sunday evening, Bavarian officials say.The 27-year-old caused an explosion which killed him and injured 15 people.The Bavarian interior minister says two phones, multiple SIM cards and a laptop were found with the body or at his accommodation."Some Salafist content was found," Joachim Hermann said. Investigations are ongoing.'
'German authorities do not know the whereabouts of 130,000 migrants, the government confessed today. It means that more than one in ten unvetted new arrivals from the Middle East have disappeared, somewhere in Europe.Of the 1.1 million migrants who registered as asylum seekers in Germany in 2015, "about 13 per cent did not turn up at the reception centres to which they had been directed," the government said in a written reply to a question from a lawmaker from the Left Party.'
'A prospect far more threatening than Brexit is emerging: a reasonable deal for the UK. Reports from Brussels suggest a compromise is doing the rounds under which it would be given continued access to the single market plus concessions on freedom of movement. This would be a grave mistake. If Britain comes out of this looking anything less than severely diminished it will be devastating for the EU.When the EU starts negotiating the terms of its divorce from the UK it must aim to inflict maximum political and economic damage. Financial powers should be repatriated from London and it must become nearly impossible for Asian, US or African multinationals to continue to have their EU headquarters in the UK. Universities, companies and cities must receive generous help to attract the best minds from their UK rivals, for instance by offering EU passports. There are many more blows the EU can deliver to make sure the UK faces a dark decade of economic stagnation and political isolation. Ideally, its economy should not get back to its pre-referendum size before, say, 2030.'
'The police has confirmed the attacker was a 21-year-old Syrian refugee but have not released his name. The motive for the attack is unclear.'
'Thousands, including Syrians, lied about their age, saying they were under 18 and without relatives. It was a ruse to get themselves at the front of the queue to claim asylum. At one stage, ten 'unaccompanied minors' per hour were entering Germany and the rest of Europe.'
'Five suspects have appeared in court in France charged with terror offences in relation to the Nice truck attack.The four men and one woman, aged between 22 and 40, are accused of helping driver Mohamed Lahouaiej-Bouhlel prepare the terror attack.One of the suspects returned to the scene of the attack the following day to film the aftermath, French prosecutor Francois Molins said.Lahouaiej-Bouhle killed 84 people when he drove into a crowd on Bastille Day.He received logistical support for the attack from the five suspects, Mr Molins said, and had planned the attack for several months.Three of the suspects, identified as Franco-Tunisians Ramzi A and Mohamed Oualid G, and a Tunisian named Chokri C, were charged as accomplices in "murder by a group with terror links".An Albanian man named as Artan and a women who is a French-Albanian dual national, identified as Enkeldja, are suspected of providing Lahouaiej-Bouhlel with a pistol and were charged with "breaking the law on weapons in relation to a terrorist group".'
'The German Federal Employment Agency admits that 74 per cent of new migrants to Germany have no qualifications and will likely only be able to do menial labour jobs.'
'I can make a fair case for saying that Jeremy Corbyn is the most hypocritical and unscrupulous leader in Labour's history. His paid employment while he was an MP was nothing so elevated as corporate lobbying. It consisted of working for the propaganda stations of Russia and Iran. If you watch the YouTubevideos of Corbyn in action, you cannot pretend that he is challenging his paymasters or even politely expressing an alternative point of view. He is a mouthpiece for his ugly employers. A willing rather than a merely mercenary mouthpiece, I grant you. Hatred of the West and the willingness to excuse any state as long as it is anti-Western animated him. He is a propagandist for the love not the money.Having said that, as he reinforces his employers' prejudices and avoids discussion of their crimes, every one of the consoling cliches that surround Corbyn and his supporters falls apart.'Jeremy is a decent man'. Really? No decent person is the flunkey of fantastically corrupt states. 'Jeremy is left-wing.' Is he? He has a funny way of showing it. Iran and Russia are self-proclaimed conservative states. Iran is the bastion of theocratic Shia conservatism. It persecutes ethnic and religious minorities – until Assad began his mass murders, Iran was the worst place in the world to be a Sunni Muslim – and jails trade unionists. Putin, meanwhile, tells the European far right to reject liberalism, and embrace his reactionary nationalism. From a Russian point of view, Corbyn and Seumas Milne's most prominent comrade is Marine le Pen.You cannot support oppression abroad and freedom at home. No one has the right to be shocked by Corbyn's association with a holocaust denier, or his supporters' willingness to resort to the grossest abuse of women, while their Pilate of a leader washes his hands and looks the other way. It is all of a piece.'
'... people whose skin has little exposure to the Sun, or who always cover their skin to go outside, should take the supplements throughout the year.'
'A French woman and her three young daughters were wounded in a knife attack by a Moroccan man at a holiday resort in the Alps on Tuesday.The man was arrested. The woman's daughters are aged 8, 12 and 14. The youngest was left fighting for her life. Her lung was punctured. All four are in hospital.Local media reports claim that the attacker made references to the females being '"too lightly dressed".'
'France's Socialist prime minister Manuel Valls was booed by a huge crowd in Nice on Monday before and after a minute of silence in memory of the victims of the deadly Bastille Day attack.Nice residents applauded and cheered the emergency services and police, chanting "Merci, merci".But there were shouts of "Murderers!" and "Resign!" as Mr Valls and two cabinet colleagues left the seafront where thousands had gathered to remember the 84 people killed on July 14 by truck driver Mohamed Lahouaiej Bouhlel.'
'In a major development that should silence critics of Islam who have been blaming it for terrorism, UNESCO has declared that Islam is the most peaceful religion of the world.The United Nations body released a statement earlier today that revealed that UNESCO had partnered with International Peace Foundation six months back to study all religions of the world and find out which was most peaceful amongst all."After six months of rigorous study and analysis, we have concluded that Islam is the most peaceful religion," Robert McGee, head of comparative studies wing of International Peace Foundation declared in a press conference that was attended by UNESCO officials too.'
'The so-called Islamic State urged its followers to attack French people with vehicles well before the deadly attack in Nice.A speech two years ago from the jihadists' spokesman, Abu Mohammed al Adnani, encouraged devotees to turn to more basic methods of terrorism if they could not obtain guns or explosives."If you are not able to find a bomb or a bullet, then smash his head with a rock, or slaughter him with a knife, or crush him with your car, or throw him down from a high place, or choke him, or poison him," he said.In his remarks, Adnani singled out "the spiteful French" amid a long list of enemies topped by "the disbelieving American" and their allies....A month later, a man rammed his car into two Canadian soldiers in Quebec, killing one of them, in an attack that may have been inspired by Adnani's recording.In December 2014, a man rammed a van into a crowd of shoppers at a Christmas market in Nantes, injuring nearly 20 people.That came days after another driver, who witnesses said shouted Allahu Akbar (God is great), rammed pedestrians in the central French city of Dijon, wounding about a dozen.Police refrained from calling the Dijon and Nantes incidents terrorist attacks because they said both individuals had a history of psychiatric illness.Israel has seen a number of ramming attacks in recent years, mainly where lone Arabs have driven into pedestrians or bus stops, in a tactic dubbed the "run-over intifada"....Alan Mendoza, executive director of The Henry Jackson Society, a conservative think tank, said: "Nice shows an evolution of tactics from terrorists, echoing methods used against Israelis."He said the massacre in Nice underlines shows how difficult such attacks are to prevent.'
'At least 84 people have died, including children, after a lorry slammed through a crowd celebrating Bastille Day in the southern French city of Nice.The driver ploughed on for 2km on the Promenade des Anglais at about 23:00 local time, before being shot dead by police.President Francois Hollande said the attack was of "an undeniable terrorist nature".'
'The World Bank is keeping track of how the nations that have pledged to rebuild Gaza after Operation Protective Edge have been keeping their promises.It finds that only 40% of the pledges - $1.4 billion out of pledges of $3.5 billion - have been paid so far, two years after the war.However, if you break down the numbers by Muslim-majority countries and all others, an interesting pattern emerges.Non-Muslim countries and NGOs pledged about $1.4 billion and so far paid about $1 billion, about 71% of their pledges.Muslim nations pledged the bulk of the money meant to rebuild Gaza - $2.1 billion - but have paid only $360 million, which is only about 16.5% of what they pledged.Qatar pledged a whopping billion dollars to rebuild Gaza - and has paid only $150 million of it.Saudi Arabia paid only about 10% of its $500 million pledge.Kuwait, which pledged $200 million, has not paid a dime.Even Turkey, supposedly Gaza's best friend, has only paid 32% of its $200 million pledge.We've seen this pattern many times before when Arab and Muslim nations pledged huge amounts of money to Palestinians and simply didn't pay up.Arab nations paid only 21% of what they pledged at the Paris Donors Conference in December 2007.In 2010, an Arab conference to help make Jerusalem an Arab city resulted in $500 million of pledges - of which only 7% was paid.The Arab League committed to providing 7.7% of UNRWA's annual budget. As of 2010, they were only paying 1.5%.'
"They've been potting and conniving. The only good thing about it: as plotters, they're f**king useless."
'Huge Increase In Child Migrants As Afghan Parents Send Kids To EuropeAfghan parents are sending their children to Europe unaccompanied in the hope they will be granted asylum and seek reunification with the rest of their families, a report by the European Union's (EU) asylum office has said.
Last year, nearly 96,000 unaccompanied minors applied for asylum in the EU, four times as many as the previous year, with the vast majority coming from Afghanistan.Ward Lutin of the European Asylum Support Office (EASO) told Euractiv that the numbers coming from Afghanistan were "huge"."There is some social research showing that in Afghanistan, this is seen as a grouping mechanism. Families send out their children, strategically, hoping that they will manage to get a status in Europe, and then use them as anchor children and be reunited with them."European asylum authorities are seen as far more sympathetic to minors, and once those minors are granted asylum they can request for the rest of their family to be given asylum under reunification rules.'
'Council of Europe Ambassador and Amnesty International representative Bianca Jagger has tweeted out a web link attacking critics of embattled Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn for being black or Jewish.The link, which directs to a Neo-Nazi website called Metapedia, describes Iraq War-supporting Labour MPs as "negros" and "Jews", with Oona King MP listed as "Judeo-Negress hybrid".
'PMW explained that presenting Jews as agents of Satan who bring evil into the world is "a part of the PA's religious ideology", and noted that Abbas' advisor on Islam recently stressed that PA ideology views the conflict with Israel as "a conflict with Satan".
Further, a poem teaching that "Zion, is Satan with a tail" has been recited by Palestinian children six times in recent years on official PA TV, most recently in 2015.'
'One of several complaints is understood to relate to comments Corbyn made about one of his constituents, Paul Eisen. Corbyn told the committee that he had not attended any events involving Eisen after he heard that he was a Holocaust denier, but MPs want to question him further having received what they say is evidence to the contrary.One Labour MP said: "I was shocked by the answers he gave the committee and I'm not surprised they want to speak to him again. He attended Paul Eisen's events years after everyone knew about his Holocaust denial."'
'Pop singer Sir Cliff Richard is reported to be planning to sue the BBC and South Yorkshire Police for "colluding" to broadcast a police raid on his home.Officers investigating historic sex allegations against the singer launched an investigation in 2014, which was filmed by the BBC.'
'So far, unemployed people in the UK have proven reluctant to take on these jobs."The English don't like to work like us," says Roxana. "They will never come to work on a farm."If they come, they want to be someone high [up], to be a supervisor or a manager, but not to pick."Forklift truck team leader Andis Ivkins agrees. "I don't believe they'll send us home," he says. "I don't believe the English people will come and pick fruit."'
'During testimony before Congress on Thursday, FBI Director James Comey stated that the FBI's interview with presumptive Democratic presidential nominee former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton was not under oath or recorded, but it still would be a crime to lie to the FBI.'
'A 32-year-old man has admitted murdering a Glasgow shopkeeper in a religiously motivated attack.
Tanveer Ahmed, from Bradford in Yorkshire, attacked Asad Shah outside his store in the Shawlands area on 24 March. Mr Shah later died in hospital.So Ahmadiyya are known for their peaceful interfaith concerns, that's established here.
The 40-year-old was killed just hours after he posted an Easter message on Facebook to his customers.
Mr Shah was an Ahmadiyya, a group known for its peaceful interfaith concerns. Ahmed said he had "disrespected" Islam.
He pled guilty to the murder at a hearing at the High Court in Glasgow.'
'Ahmadiyya Muslims are persecuted in many parts of the world and are banned by the constitution of Pakistan from referring to themselves as Muslims.
Mr Shah was born in Rabwah, Pakistan, and moved to Glasgow in 1998 to join his father in business.
He had posted a message on Facebook which read: "Good Friday and a very happy Easter, especially to my beloved Christian nationx."
The shopkeeper had also uploaded hundreds of videos about his spiritual beliefs to YouTube, most of which were filmed behind the counter of his shop.
Mr Shah was found with stab wounds in Minard Road, Shawlands, at about 21:00 on 24 March.
Ahmed, a cab driver in Bradford, was arrested shortly afterwards and later said in a statement released through his lawyer that he had killed Mr Shah as he had falsely claimed to be a prophet.'Ahmadiyya are persecuted in many parts of the world and in Pakistan are banned from calling themselves Muslims. Why should that bother us in the UK? Because the prejudices and hatreds of communities from around the world have been imported to this country.
So one Muslim killed another Muslim, albeit one that the first Muslim didn't consider a Muslim, beacause the first Muslim considered that the second Muslim, albeit one that the first Muslim didn't consider a Muslim, had desrespected the messenger of Islam. That seems straightforward and perfectly understndable in 21st century Britain...''Mindset of hate'
Ahmed said: "Asad Shah disrespected the messenger of Islam the Prophet Muhammad peace be upon him. Mr Shah claimed to be a Prophet.
"If I had not done this others would and there would have been more killing and violence in the world."
His statement was immediately condemned by Ahmadiyya Muslim leaders, who said: "In some countries Ahmadiyya Muslim members, Christians and people of other faiths are routinely attacked and murdered by extremists for accusations of blasphemy.
"Such killings are completely against the teachings of Islam.
"We must not let the same mindset of hate and violence take root here in Glasgow, and for that matter, the UK and anywhere in the world."'
'Who are the Ahmadiyya Muslim Community?
The Ahmadiyya Muslim Community was founded in 1889. Its origins are in British-controlled northern India. The community identifies itself as a Muslim movement and follows the teachings of the Koran.
The community's website says it has tens of millions of members across 206 countries. Its current headquarters are in the UK.
The Ahmadiyya community takes its name from its founder Mirza Ghulam Ahmad, who was born in 1835 and was regarded by his followers as the messiah and a prophet.
Ghulam Ahmad saw himself as a renewer of Islam and claimed to have been chosen by Allah.
The community "categorically rejects and condemns every form of terrorism" and also endorse a separation of the mosque and state.'That's an interesting section, informative but also confusing. Ahmadiyyas identify as Muslims, but we know from earlier that Pakistan does not allow them to do so. There's a repetition of Ahmadiyya rejecting and condemning terrorism and also that they believe in a separation of mosque and state.
'The murder of Mr Shah, who was well-known in the area, shocked the local community, with Scottish First Minister Nicola Sturgeon among those to pay their respects to him.'Maybe they couldn't find a Sunni leader of Pakistani heritage to condemn the murders, maybe they didn't bother looking for one.
'France is totally bankrupt': French jobs minister Michel Sapin embarrasses Francois Hollande with shocking statement on state of the country's economy.Unexpected news came during a France's employment minister Michel Sapin has admitted the country is "totally bankrupt".The unexpected news came during a radio interview yesterday and is thought to have sent the country's business leaders into a state of shock."There is a state but it is a totally bankrupt state," Mr Sapin said. "That is why we had to put a deficit reduction plan in place, and nothing should make us turn away from that objective."'
'When asked what he thought about normalization with Israel and Palestinian officials taking part in Israeli conferences, Abu al-Einein said: "If you ask me my blunt position, I would say — every place you find an Israeli, slit his throat. Likewise, I am against talks, negotiations, meetings, and normalization in all its forms with the Israeli occupation."'
'"My son used to pray five times a day from a young age. But we never imagined this. There was nothing at home, no books or anything to indicate he was leaning that way, So we had no inkling."'
'The attackers are all Bangladeshis from rich families and with good educations, according to Bangladeshi's home minister Asaduzzaman Khan.'
'Think about what happened for a moment. At an event to launch a report into Labour's attitude to anti-Semitism, the leader of the Labour Party – in a prepared script – thought the most appropriate thing he could say was: "Our Jewish friends are no more responsible for the actions of Israel or the Netanyahu Government than our Muslim friends are for those of various self-styled Islamic states or organisations."One might say that the irony that he was launching a report condemning inappropriate comparisons with Israel was lost on him. But, as I will explain, it wasn't lost at all; it was deliberate. Some have tried to argue that his words do not compare Israel with Isil. You have to wonder if they can read. His point is that both Israel and Isil are extremists, terrorists, call them what you will. And while Muslims are decent because they do not support Isil's actions, so too Jews are decent when they do not support Israel. And, of course, only when they do not support Israel.You could describe this as cloth-eared, or even stupid – and since he became Labour leader, the narrative has usually been that Mr Corbyn isn't up to the job, doesn't get it, isn't really to be taken seriously. But that is to give him credit he does not deserve.The truth is far more unsavoury. It's clear from his speech that for Jeremy Corbyn, anti-Semitism is something to be weaponised. This was not some off-the-cuff remark, some slip. These were his – or probably Seumas Milne's – considered words. At a meeting on anti-Semitism, he thought the most appropriate thing that he could say was to compare Israel with Isil. This is hard-Left dog whistle politics. With "anti-Zionism" a defining feature of the hard-Left, this is using anti-Semitism as a tool.If you doubt me, consider what else happened this morning. A Labour MP, who has spent her entire political career fighting racism, who worked at Hope Not Hate and has fought Islamaphobia and, as Mr Corbyn would put it, "all forms of racism", was singled out for attack by a Momentum activist. Singled out and abused directly in front of Corbyn.Singled out and abused in front of Mr Corbyn while the Labour leader stood by and watched. Singled out and abused for being part of a conspiracy - a classic anti-Semitic trope - while Mr Corbyn said nothing.That MP, Ruth Smeeth, had to leave the meeting because the abuse was so upsetting. And that MP is Jewish. Which Mr Corbyn knows full well. This is not the "hapless" Jeremy Corbyn of caricature. This is the cynicism of the true revolutionary.Let's stop this ludicrous idea that Jeremy Corbyn is some amiable buffoon who's simply out of his depth. As this morning showed, Jeremy Corbyn is one the nastiest and most cynical politicians ever to operate on the national stage.He is happy to stand by and watch, saying and doing nothing, while a Jewish Labour MP is viciously abused at an event about anti-Semitism.'
'It's surely about time – and not too late – for conservatives to look behind Mrs May's carefully-wrought image and consider if she really is the right person to lead the party and the country.There's a vast gulf between being effective in office, and being effective at promoting yourself; it's not one that Theresa May has yet crossed.'
'Rob in Cheshire on July 1, 2016 at 7:32 pmIf, after Brexit, there is seasonal farm work here, Romanians and Bulgarians will be perfectly able to apply for work permits to do it, and get paid a decent wage. They will not, however, be able to bring their children over here to be educated, their elderly relatives over here to get treatment on the NHS, or expect to be housed at public expense.They are not British, they don't want to be British, they have not been betrayed by the British. If there is work to be done, they can do it, get paid, and go home. That's all we owe them, and that's all they owe us.'
'Ministers and senior Tory MPs are discussing whether Theresa May could be installed as leader without a vote by ordinary members if she has overwhelming support in the parliamentary party.
Mrs May could have the backing of up to half the 330 Conservative MPs when the first round of votes is held next Tuesday. A senior Tory minister, however, called yesterday on fellow MPs to decide on a new leader quickly, without the need for a wider vote.Anna Soubry, the business minister and a prominent EU supporter, said that it was bad for Britain to allow uncertainty to continue…'
'Rumours are doing the rounds that several as yet undeclared Theresa May supporters are considering endorsing Andrea Leadsom in order to keep Michael Gove off the ballot. With less than half of the parliamentary party openly declared, May currently has 87 MPs publicly backing her and many more supporters yet to declare – she is absolutely nailed on to make the final two.Her allies are allegedly now pushing her right-wing Leave backers over to Leadsom, with the aim that Andrea gets the numbers to beat Gove to the ballot.This would make sense as a calculated piece of election skullduggery – May's friends know the membership is unlikely to choose Andrea over Theresa, Gove is the high-profile Brexit candidate they want to keep off the ballot. 'Do these May supporters not remember the last Labour Party leadership contest when Jeremy Corbyn only got the necessary number of nominations because other candidates leant some of their nominations to ensure a wide debate?