Things in General

What Makes Carlos Alcaraz So Good?

Oooops! Who'd have thought it?

Oh-oh..



A lethal weapon?

it sounds more like bank breaking news, well that was not very successful last time that happened.

Police pull over ‘UFO’ for minor traffic offence

Officers in Missouri joke about interaction with ‘out of this world’ vehicle resembling alien space ship

Lilia Sebouai
3 July 2024 • 11:26am


Crawford County Sheriff's Office said the 'friendly humanoids' in the vehicle had 'come in peace' Credit: Crawford County Sheriff's Office, Missouri/Facebook

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/world-news/2024/07/03/police-pull-over-ufo-for-traffic-offence/

_________________________

Yesterday I saw a guy taking his Ostrich for walkies - give me that any day over and above an alien spaceship, at least it's real!

Isn't that indirectly silencing yourself - or is it a restricted membership only club?

It's not the intention to turn this forum into a hard line political platform, that's not it's purpose, this latest story however has all the making of Artificial Intelligence - or some might say misdirected loyaly, of Mice and Men!

Remember Capitol Hill anyone?



Mmmm ....

This story is interesting in it's own right for the simple reason something doesn't add up.  Despite the carefully selected press images, trump appears to be in the centre of his audience - were there no casualties?


A bullet whizzes past Donald Trump as a gunman opens fire at his rally in Butler, Pennsylvania, on July 13.


Trump ducks behind his lectern as he begins to realise he is under attack. The gunman has been identified as  Thomas Matthew Crooks, a 20-year-old registered Republican from Pennsylvania.

Said gunman would appear to be situated in an elevated position..



A clip round the ear and no fall-out casualties - not much of a marksman for an attempted assassin, all that bulk and the best he could do was a grazed ear?  The golf course might be a better place to play.  The press and media certainly know how to play a story.

Then we have our man of the moment rushing to his side..

I’m flying to America to support Trump in this desperate hour

He’s had a narrow miss. It’s a miracle. I implore the Left to think very carefully about how they seek to play politics

Nigel Farage

14 July 2024 • 12:17pm

There spoketh the master manipulator!  Left right left right left right ....

Still, he knows what it's like to be smothered with flying yoghurt so you can understand his resentment - Nero fiddled while Rome burned.

As an aside, watching the video coverage, what the heck is that rather short security woman doing?  In the midst of what appears to be a 'group hug' *snarl!* what exactly is she supposed to be doing - apparently not protecting the target as his whole head is poking above the parapet, ideal for another pot shot.

It will be very interesting to see how this event pans out in the long term, strange how closely it coincides with recent political movements in the UK.

Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump gestures while surrounded by U.S. Secret Service agents as he is helped off the stage at a campaign rally

Raspberry jam - more tea vicar?

by the dutch news, 1 dead, and two seriously wounded.

republicans called out to keep it low profile, so we have at least half trump with a red ear news now.

Some have made much of the diverse nature of the population in that part of the city. Nigel Farage, the leader of Reform, rather unhelpfully commented: “The politics of the subcontinent are currently playing out on the streets of Leeds. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.” His Reform colleague Lee Anderson doubled down: “Import a third world culture, then you get third world behaviour.” (Had they bothered checking the population stats, they’d have discovered that more than 70 per cent were born in the UK or Europe).

The Telegraph - 20th July 2024

Here is an example of how the industry exploits humanity for profit.

Far be it for anyone to suggest a change of diet, no instead let's stick a needle in and fill the patient with poison. What will be the long term effects of this new wonder drug?

A personal choice of course but don't fill the heads with junk about miracle cures, at least not without drawing close attention to possible side-effects and the unknown future.

The race to develop the ‘holy grail’ of weight-loss drugs

Fear of jabs has companies scrambling to be the first to launch a mass-market obesity pill

By Hannah Boland 21 July 2024 • 12:00pm

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/business/2024/07/21/race-to-produce-cheap-weight-loss-pill/

Ooops - awkard !!!

Tom Tugendhat mocked after leadership campaign slogan spells out rude word

Wording later changed but sources close to MP’s team insist tweak had nothing to do with inadvertent acronym

By Genevieve Holl-Allen, Political Reporter 25 July 2024 • 4:46pm



https://www.telegraph.co.uk/politics/2024/07/25/tom-tugendhat-leadership-slogan-mocked-turd-social-media-uk/

What - a spectacle?


Nigel Farage arrives at the Houses of Parliament on Wednesday Credit: George Cracknell Wright

Well, they say it affects the eyesight.

Olympic bosses apologise for ‘sleazy’ drag queen Last Supper parody

The biblical scene, which included drag artists and a naked singer, was heavily criticised by politicians and members of the Catholic Church

By Will Bolton, in Paris 28 July 2024 • 12:28pm


Paris Olympics' recreation of The Last Supper Credit: X



The organisers of the Paris Olympics have apologised after a drag queen parody of Leonardo Da Vinci’s Last Supper featured in the opening ceremony.

The tableau, which recreated the biblical scene of Christ and his apostles, included drag artists and a naked singer. It was heavily criticised by politicians, and members of the Catholic Church.

On Sunday, Anne Deschamps, a Paris 2024 spokesman, said that “clearly there was never an intention to show disrespect to any religious group”. Ms Deschamps said that the opening ceremony “tried to celebrate community tolerance”.

She added: “We believe this ambition was achieved. If people have taken any offence we are really sorry.”

On Saturday, a number of prominent politicians criticised the skit, with Marion Maréchal, a far-Right member of the European Parliament, apologised to “all the Christians of the world who felt insulted”.

Matteo Salvini, Italy’s deputy prime minister, branded it insulting and “sleazy”. “Opening the Olympics by insulting billions of Christians across the world was a really bad start,” he wrote on X.


The Olympic skit parodied the mural by Leonardo

Elon Musk, the Tesla, X and Space X owner, also criticised the parody which he described as being “extremely offensive to Christians”.

Daniel French, vicar of Salcombe and Marlborough, said the skit mocked Christianity and the Last Supper “in a way it never would have for any other religion” and called on the Archbishop of Canterbury, Justin Welby, to criticise the performance.

The controversial scene featured a group of around a dozen performers striking poses behind a long table. At the centre was a woman wearing a headdress that resembled a crown, while holding her hands out in a heart shape. She was flanked by drag queens, transgender dancers, and other artists who performed alongside her.

At the end of the scene, a serving tray was placed on the stage and a scantily clad man, who was painted blue, emerged from inside.


Drag queens and dancers performed an apparent 'parody of the Last Supper' at the opening ceremony Credit: BBC

Thomas Jolly, the opening ceremony artistic director, said he was perplexed by the negative reactions to the show. He said: “Our subject was not to be subversive. We never wanted to be subversive. We wanted to talk about diversity. Diversity means being together.

“We wanted to include everybody. In France, we have artistic freedom. We are lucky in France to live in a free country.”

Painted in the late 15th-century, The Last Supper is a mural by Leonardo da Vinci. It depicts Jesus with the 12 apostles, showing the moment after he has announced that one of them will betray him.

https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2024/07/28/olympic-bosses-apologise-sleazy-drag-queen-last-supper/

Never mind about offending religious beliefs or any other form of humanity - is this really necessary?

It's not about diversity at all is it ....


Olympic Games Paris 2024 - 100 metre sprint

The Express has a reputation for being obsessive about the weather, well here's an example..



These experts do know it's possible to become acclimatized to weather conditions - don't they? In this locale 32C is commonplace during the summer months and quite frequently throughout the year, it's normal not a phenomenon.

Those living inland where the temperatures can be much higher need a jumper when visiting these parts, indeed locals can be wrapped up in winter warmers whilst the tourist walks half naked.

Moral .... 'don't panic !!!'

what a stupid suggestion, people done that for ages, everywhere, and yes it does not bring down the temperature, but it simply can cool down bodies, because most mamals, even humans do sweat and that means it will cool down with all forms of wind.

many olympics ago, the ones in los angeles it was seen as a problem for the horses who took part, so it was tested and the combination of fans, and because horses are a lot bigger, you use simply also bigger fans, moisture and some shade could bring down the risk of overheating.
we even use them together with the fire hose to cool down dairy cows in the shade inside their stables.
'
and animals know that too, because when it is hot they prefer to stay near the water with their heads catching the very little breeze that get there because the water is a bit cooler than the air.

so inside in the shade, you could imitate that easily or if you are not the sweaty type, use the wet towel or even the wet tshirt trick, and simply use the fan.

you hardly have to learn children to blow a bit on hot food, because that helps to let it cool down a lot quicker.

you could always if you are the very lucky ones look for a nice museum near you, do not try oit in amsterdam, too much in waiting in line, and see if they have some stuff from the old times like these beautiful fans the ladies and all other used, okay you have to operate it by hand, slaves are no longer available of course.

or just buy a paper made from paper, you can use them too.

just drink a bit more, and it will cool down on its own.

even wikipedia has a great piece about fans with a lot of history, so who gets bored out because of sitting in a hot dark room, you can always check if all on it is right.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hand_fan

A fan can be very handy indeed when the temperature exceeds 38'ish and the air conditioning ceases to work.

That aside, air conditioning can seriously affect your health (not forgetting your bank balance!) and try walking from an air conditioned establishment into the outside heat - it really seems much hotter than before you walked in.

There is no need to close schools or any other establishments when it gets a bit sweaty, keep out of the sun if possible (not always, especially for those who work in the great outdoors) and drink water.

Wrapping in cotton wool is not good in the long term. You need to face the elements to build immunity.

i know i worked large parts of life in the outdoors, and making hay does not work well in the cooler times of the year.
and starting later did usually not was the best idea, we already did that all days. but stay out the sun in the afternoon, litres of cold tea, home made, not that sugary stuff from the shop, keep eating and simply take it as it comes.

i did prefer the true cold over the hot days. and you get used to it all. i hate airco, indeed the change in temperatures are too large to feel nice.

and you can always look for other places where it is even hotter, or other weather you do not fancy too. there are people who have to work in it too.

but i do like that i still have a house where you can open up the windows at night. but for the few days in a row it is just fit yourself too it, last year it was some weeks, and you do adapt still quickly to it. but maybe the western world people are just to much bound by the clock. forgetting we can adapt to a lot.

So it continues.

It's not quite clear exactly why the police are being targeted, perhaps only because they are standing in the way. Whatever, the participants appear to find it all very amusing - at least those you can see that aren't disguised!

Cowardice.

As it stands, Kier Starmer and his government are getting the blame for not only the recent uprising across the UK but also how it's being handled - or not as the case may be!

One thing's for sure and also sticks out like a sore thumb, the opposition are using the situation to bring down a newly elected government that hasn't even had the opportunity to get it's feet under the table, let alone make any impression!

So the opposition must be asked .... 'what would you do, how would you handle the current situation that has erupted across the nation?'  

Is that a pin we hear dropped?

No response was the stern reply!

Much like the situation with migration, the opposition's answer appears to be simply 'stop the boats' and deport all to somewhere anywhere else!  An admirable sentiment but is it really a possibility?  When considering the problem involves just about every corner of the globe, north south east and west, how can one little dot on the landscape make such a radical suggestion that through the eyes of even the novice, would be totally unworkable!

What would you do, keep pushing the boats back into the channel to float indefinitely - worse still man woman and child perish?  Perish the thought!

Never forget, the immigrants are human beings.  If for very genuine reasons the likes of the UK or any other nation, can't accommodate the influx then negotiate with fellow nations affected by mass immigration.  Find a workable solution where everyone benefits - bar the criminal syndicates that are making transportation possible - if not perilous.

Would you take yourself to the shores of the channel dressed in your finest 'King Canute' (think about it!) ensemble and try turning back the tide?  Could you stand and watch fellow human beings drown or does your dogmatic view think them to be lesser beings thus superfluous to requirements?

Civil unrest and/or war is not the answer, neither is ignoring an apparent problem that affects human life and well being.

Conservatives left UK wide open to far-right violence, says former adviser

Exclusive: Dame Sara Khan, who advised May, Johnson and Sunak, says recent administrations failed the country

Daniel Boffey Chief reporter
Sun 4 Aug 2024 22.59 BST

The Conservative government left the UK wide open to the far-right violence erupting across parts of the country by ignoring red flags and stoking fires with a culture war agenda, a senior adviser on extremism to Tory prime ministers has said.

Dame Sara Khan, who was Rishi Sunak’s independent adviser for social cohesion and resilience until May this year and acted as counter-extremism commissioner under Theresa May and Boris Johnson, said the recent administrations had failed the British people.

Repeated and urgent counsel that far-right extremists were exploiting gaps in the law to foment violence on social media had been ignored while top-rank politicians in a series of administrations sought to gain advantage by waging culture wars, Khan said, in a damning intervention.

“The writing was clearly on the wall for some time,” Khan said. “All my reports have shown, in a nutshell that, firstly, these extremist and cohesion threats are worsening; secondly, that our country is woefully unprepared. We’ve got a gap in our legislation which is allowing these extremists to operate with impunity.

“Previous governments have astonishingly failed to address these trends, and they’ve taken instead, in my view, approaches that have actually been counterproductive and actually just defy any logical rationale.

“They scrapped the counter-extremism strategy [in 2021], including all the resources and funding for local areas across the country who are struggling with extremist activity and extremist actors. And the government, at that time, did not replace it with anything. They left local authorities struggling to deal with consistent extremist challenges in their area.

“Political leadership is really important and how our politicians behave is really, really critical, because I’ve seen, and I’m sure other people have seen, politicians who have actually, indirectly or directly undermined social cohesion because they’ve used inflammatory language.”
Dozens arrested across UK as Cooper says ‘violent thugs will pay the price’ – as it happened
Read more

Khan, who has previously criticised those who described the pro-Palestine protests as “hate marches”, a formulation of words used by the former home secretary Suella Braverman, said the rhetoric used by some senior politicians in recent years had given a green light to those holding racist views.

She said: “I went to parts of the country where they were very upfront with me and just said: ‘Look, because of some of the inflammatory language used by politicians, the same language would then be co-opted by, you know, far-right extremists and others, who would then use that to undermine cohesion in a local area.’

“There’s a serious duty on our politicians to not engage in inflammatory language; to not use, for example, dehumanising language about asylum seekers, refugees and, you know, people who are coming to our country.

“Of course, there’s a legitimate debate about immigration, about numbers and all of those things, but there’s a way that you can talk about these issues without using dehumanising and inflammatory language. Because, by using that language, you just see extremists co-opting that. You see people saying, well, if politicians can use that language, why can’t we?”

Khan, a British Muslim raised in Bradford, who published a review for Michael Gove in March this year on social cohesion in the UK known as the Khan review, said there had been growing evidence in recent years of the far right spreading disinformation to cause unrest, with outbreaks of unrest in Oldham, Knowsley and Barrow.

Khan, who wrote a report in 2021 with the current Met commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, calling for a change in the law on extremism, said it remained the case that it was legal to stir up racial hatred that is not threatening, abusive or insulting.

“And that’s why we’ve seen lawful fascist and neo-Nazi organisations in this country who are doing precisely that,” Khan said. “There are claims about white genocide, promoting dangerous narratives, which is intended to stir up hatred against a racial and religious group.

“There is a kind of growth and influence, not only far-right influencers, but also other extremist actors. There is the use of disinformation on social media.

“Hateful extremism has evolved significantly in the last decade, and extremists have professionalised and coordinated, locally, nationally, transnationally, they’re using social media to spread their extremist ideology and spreading disinformation.

“Our rules have failed to evolve with this growing extremist threat, there are gaps in our legislation that is allowing them to, in effect, operate with impunity.”

Khan said the political tumult in recent years, with the country having five different prime ministers in seven years, had enfeebled the government.

She said: “I was dealing with three different home secretaries because of the kind of political instability you had. Home secretaries who had different interests and views about how to tackle this problem, and so some were very forthcoming and supportive, but I think others were less so.

“Why it was that they didn’t respond to the reports, ultimately, is a question for them, but it’s just astonishing that they didn’t do anything about it.”

There was also, she said, a lack of institutional knowledge about how to combat disinformation and protect vulnerable people.

She said: “What local authorities were telling me was that the far right would find out where asylum hotels would be before the local authority did, because the communication between the Home Office and them was just not working.”

On Sunday, police clashed with rioters outside a hotel housing asylum seekers in Rotherham, with demonstrators chanting “Get them out” as they smashed the windows of the Holiday Inn Express.

Khan added: “They’ve (the Conservatives) actually failed those people in communities who are trying to protect cohesion, you know, who are trying to push back against extremist actors.

“Ultimately, unless we address these problems, it will get worse.”

A Conservative spokesperson said: “Rishi Sunak as prime minister made it clear that we must stand up to extremism in all its forms. The police must take a zero-tolerance approach to extremist tactics, and we set out reforms to how governments deal with extremists, redoubled our support for the Prevent programme and demanded that universities stopped extremist activity on campus.

“We must stand together to combat the forces of division and give the police the powers they need to protect our country and values.”

https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/article/2024/aug/04/conservatives-left-uk-wide-open-to-far-right-violence-says-former-adviser