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We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.

Russell Square attack: Chelsea fan Zakaria Bulhan and being mentally ill for ISIS

Russell Square attack: Bernard Hepplewhite, 67, was one of the six people attacked in London by a knifeman. The Mail says he “suffered a serious injury when a deranged attacker thrust a kitchen knife into his stomach.”

Deranged? The Mail should be more careful than to give the attacker a pass. Yovel Lewkowki, one of the victims, says the alleged killer was “cool and calm”. That is the only appraisal we’ve seen on the attack from any of the victims. Does the Mail know better?

The accused, one Zakaria Bulhan, understood the charges when they were put to him in court.

So why does the Mail call him deranged?

In other news, the Mail says:

Was ‘devout Muslim’ Russell Square knifeman radicalised? Police to trawl ‘impressionable’ attacker’s PC for links to ISIS as neighbour claims mental illness is a ‘scapegoat’

Deranged or radicalised or mentally ill? You could use any of those three cover-alls in isolation of combination to explain pretty much any crime? Was Rosemary West radicalised by her husband and father? Was John Christie mentally ill? Was Hitler deranged?

The Mail adds:

Counter-terror police will today forensically study computers belonging to the Russell Square knifeman as a neighbour claimed the ‘impressionable’ teenager could have been inspired by ISIS.

Scotland Yard believe Zakaria Bulhan, 19, a Norwegian national of Somali origin who moved to the UK in 2002, was not ‘motivated by terrorism’ but its officers are trawling his possessions for extremist material.

But neighbour Parmjit Singh, a BBC radio DJ known as ‘DJ Precious’ on the Asian network, said he had known ‘impressionable’ Bulhan for seven years, adding: ‘His mental health problems are a scapegoat.’

We’ll know more when Bulhan, a “Chelsea fan”, is back in court. Yeah, he’s a fan of The Blues. Why is that a fact the Mail sees fit to share? Is being a Chelsea fan the benchmark of normality? Why do we know that Osama bin Laden supported Arsenal but not what football teams non-Muslim enemies of the State gun for? Does Anders Behring Breivik support Manchester United? Did Michael Ryan cheer on Norwich?

DJ Precious adds:

‘I think peer pressure, hanging around with gangs. He wasn’t working, he was hanging around with Somalian boys and I think they had possible links to serious ISIS people – not directly, but they see all this stuff and are inspired by it. Why would he attack an American woman tourist in a random attack? I think boys have put pressure on him to go there and do something. He was very impressionable growing up’.

Such are the facts.

 

Posted: 9th, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Tabloids | Comment


Policy Exchange Übermensch want British people barcoded

Policy Exchange sound like a revolting bunch. The Guardian reports on their plans to bran you all with a barcode:

British people should be given a “unique person number” to help the government keep track of the population following the vote for Brexit, according to a new report by a leading thinktank.

What has Brexit to do with being anti-human?

The paper from Policy Exchange said people feel Britain is being used as an “economic transit camp” and these fears could be allayed by creating a “population register”.

The Übermensch at Policy Exchange can go first. Form an orderly queue while we heat up the banding irons.

Posted: 8th, August 2016 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Reviews | Comment


Russell Square killing: ‘mentally ill’ Zakaria Bulhan understands the charges

Russell Square killing: a look at reporting on the death of Darlene Horton and Zakaria Bulhan’s arrest in London.

Bulhan, 19, has been charged with murdering Mrs Horton and attempting to murder Martin Hoenisch, Lillie Selletin, David Imber, Bernard Hepplewhite and Yovel Lewronski, who were all injured.

Daily Star: “REVEALED: Tragic last text sent by American stabbed to death in Russell Square”

THE last text sent by Darlene Horton.. has revealed how much she loved our great capital.

She texted a friend:

 “…I do love London and could stay until November easily.”

The Sun: “Darlene Horton planned to play tennis with best pal shortly before tragedy struck”

Tragedy struck. Or a killer struck?

OC Register: “San Jose man describes attempt to stop London stabbing suspect”

Martin Hoenisch, 59, is a retired firefighter. He says:

“I’m a firefighter. I’m a good guy. Any guy would try to stop this…. He [the alleged killer] never broke his stride.”

Did “cool and calm” Zakaria Bulhan say anything?

“He never said a word,” Hoenisch said.

Adding:

“I freaking love London.”

Bulhan has been at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. Much has been made of suggestions that he is mentally unwell. The Irish Times sees him in the dock.

The teenager mumbled his name, address and date of birth to the court with his hand over his mouth. Bulhan was unrepresented in court and sat hunched throughout the short hearing with his hand over his mouth.

He held his face in his hand as the names of the victims were read to him in court. When asked if he understood the charges, he nodded and gave the judge a thumbs-up gesture. Bulhan was remanded in custody and ordered to appear at the Old Bailey on August 9th.

He appears to have understood everything.

 

Posted: 7th, August 2016 | In: Reviews | Comment


Man mourned by wife and girlfriend in competing newspaper obituaries

To New Jersey, where thoughts are with Leroy Black, mourned by his “loving wife” and his “long-tome girlfriend”, according to his two obituaries placed in the Press of Atlantic City newspaper.

 

Leroy black obituary b

 

Mr Black, 55, died at home on Tuesday of lung cancer. He is survived by his wife Bearetta Harrison Black and his girlfriend Princess Hall. Both women placed death notices in the paper.

 

Leroy black obituary

 

Leroy black obituary

 

 

The competing obituaries were put in the newspaper separately because “the wife wanted it one way, and the girlfriend wanted it another way,” someone at the Greenidge Funeral Home said.

Surely, it is what he would have wanted.

 

Posted: 7th, August 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Transfer balls: Paul Pogba arrives at Manchester United before Juventus training

Transfer balls: It’s been 17 days since the Daily Mirror told us Pogba had “signed” for Manchester United. Today the BBC tells us that Pogba has been “summoned to Juventus training”.

To say goodbye to his former teammates? No. To train for the Italian season with his current club, Juventus.

Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri tells media:

“It makes no sense at the moment talking about potential replacements for Pogba because, right now, Pogba is a Juventus player…

“I’ve summoned Pogba together with (Patrice) Evra tomorrow night. So that means he has training here in Vinovo on Monday.”

Some news, then, to Mirror readers. But wait a moment. The Telegraph has news:

Paul Pogba set to sign for Manchester United: Frenchman arrives ‘in secret’ to complete medical

Pogba’s secret arrival is all over the newspapers.

After arriving in secret last night, the Frenchman, 23, will be undergoing his medical at a top secret location ahead of a world-record transfer to Old Trafford.

The Express explains:

Italian newspaper Gazzetta dello Sport claim the Juventus star touched down in the UK yesterday and will today complete his move to United.

The report says Juve boss Massimiliano Allegri’s comments yesterday about Pogba expected for training were merely a smokescreen.

The Italian newspaper says there are no “photographs chronicling Pogba’s arrival” because it was all top secret and only the Press in Italy and the UK know anything about it.

Over to the Mirror, where the paper of record tells us:

Manchester United transfer news and rumours: Paul Pogba to undergo medical TODAY

Today. The Press have been telling readers Pogba is joining Manchester United ‘today’ for many, many days.

Lest we forget:

 

pogba chelsea

 

pogba daily mail

 

 

pogba deal

Daily Star balls

paul pogba united

 

Such are the facts.

 

Posted: 7th, August 2016 | In: Back pages, Key Posts, Reviews, Sports | Comment (1)


City refuses to issue permits for dumpster pool parties

To Philadelphia, where locals are hiring skips (dumpsters) filling them with water supplied via a fire hydrants water and creating urban swimming holes. It’s the Olympic legacy in action.

Of course, health and safety matters. The pool fans say they power-wash the dumpster, line the bottom with plywood and tarps and cushion the corners with pool noodles. But city officials are still upset.

 

skip party dumpster

Toilet facilities not provided (BYO)

 

The Department of Licenses and Inspections’ Karen Guss says you need a permit to fill a skip with water, and she won’t grant one. “You would think this decision would not require an explanation,” says Guss.  “We are not screwing around, Philly. The city strongly recommends that residents opt for recreational options that are safer, more sanitary and less likely to deplete the resources firefighters need in an emergency.”

The issue of Pot Noodles has been forwarded to the Department of Too-Much Salt and Fat.

 

Posted: 6th, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Jews problem solved: There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party says Labour peer Shami Chakrabarti

Shami Chakrabarti tells us there is no anti-semitism in the Labour Party. Thanks to Shami Chakrabarti, Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn can rest easy in the knowledge that he and his party do not acquiesce to antisemitism.

Shami Chakrabarti  joined the Labour Party and became Chair of its Independent Inquiry into Antisemitism.

 

Corbyn anti-semitism

 

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

In utterly unrelated news, the Leader of the Labour party has nominated Shami Chakrabarti for a peerage.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

There is no antisemitism in the Labour Party.

Now read this.

Posted: 5th, August 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comments (6)


Page 3 stunna Sam Fox in ‘big boobs hell’ balls

In Samantha Fox’s Big Boob Hell”, the Daily Star looks at the former Page 3 stalwart now starring on Celebrity Big Brother, and says: “My boobs were too big for Page 3.”

How about Page 3 and Page 4?

 

sam fox the sun

Former Sun stalwart Sam Fox in class

 

Sam adds:

“I asked my mum if I looked fat in a dress because my boobs looked too big in it. She said, ‘Your boobs are great’. I only realised they were fine when other women began paying for surgery to have boobs like mine.”

Did women really browse the aisle of Messers Nip ‘n’ Tuck’s surgery and say ‘I’ll have the Sams’? And did they realise that having ‘Sams’ is akin to being in hell – a hell that looks like being caught in your undies riding a small rocking horse:

 

 

Posted: 5th, August 2016 | In: Celebrities, Reviews, Tabloids, TV & Radio | Comment


Russell Square murder: when cool, calm and crazed Zakaria Bulhan met Darlene Horton and Yovel Lewkowki

Russell Square knife attack: when cool and calm Zakaria Bulhan met Darlene Horton and Yovel Lewkowki, A round-up of media news on a suspected murder in London.

 

Zakariah Bulxan / Bulhan Russell Square

 

The BBC: “Russell Square stabbings: Man arrested on suspicion of murder”

A man. Anything more about this man who allegedly murdered a US citizen called Darlene Horton, 64, an innocent on holiday in London with her husband? Not yet. Not on the BBC.

Police believe the attack in Russell Square on Wednesday was “spontaneous”, with victims “selected at random”.

He just went nuts? He saw a knife, picked it up and just went nuts, allegedly knifing to death Darlene Horton and stabbing five others from Britain, America, Israel and Australia?

Police arrested a 19-year-old Norwegian national of Somali origin. They say there is no evidence of radicalisation.

So why mention it, then? And radicalised by who or what? The BBC does not say.

The Met Police’s assistant commissioner for specialist operations, Mark Rowley, said the investigation was increasingly pointing to the attack being “triggered by mental health issues”.

Aren’t they always. Mental health issues can pretty much describe anything and everything. Maybe instead of using a Taser to down the alleged killer, the police should have called in an emergency therapist?

The Guardian: “London stabbing: suspect is Norwegian Somali with ‘no evidence’ of terror – as it happened”

The Israeli woman injured in the Russell Square stabbings is an 18-year-old from Tel Aviv on a pre-enlistment trip to London…

What you might call ‘holiday’.

Yuval Labkovsky was returning to her hotel with her grandfather, after eating in a Thai restaurant, when she was set upon. Labkovsky was lightly injured in her hand during the stabbing attack and released after treatment in hospital.

She tells YNet news

“On the way back from the hotel, I heard screams and saw two men running toward me… I was afraid that it was a terror attack and was sure the two men were running away from the incident.

“I approached the first and felt a pain in my hand. I thought I was just hit, but it turned out he was the stabber. The second man, who was chasing him, was the man who tried, and later succeeded, in catching him.

“I saw a woman lying on the floor, covered in blood. Her husband supported her. Suddenly I realized I was also bleeding. I’m not afraid in Israel, so I have no reason to start being afraid in London.”

In Israel the stabbings are not random and spontaneous. They are organised. Mental illness is not given as a factor. But to the Guardian the alleged’s killers mind is an issue:

Jo Loughran, interim director of Time to Change, the mental health anti-stigma campaign run by Mind and Rethink Mental Illness, has urged the media to ensure any reporting of a mental health element to the Russell Square attacks is “informed and balanced”.

She says:

We understand that the police have released an update about the tragic incident at Russell Square stating that mental health is an increasingly significant factor in this case. The media must rightly report on this angle but we encourage them to do so responsibly.

They report on that angle because it’s easy.

There have been a number of horrendous acts of violence committed across Europe over recent weeks. As the media look to unpick these extremely complex incidents to explore motivations and reason we urge journalists and editors to provide well informed and balanced coverage of mental health. Millions of people experience mental health problems every year and the overwhelming majority will never pose a risk to others.

Maybe – just maybe – he wasn’t driven to it by mental illness. Maybe – just maybe – the alleged killer is not the victim here.

Daily Mail: “Russell Square ‘knifeman’ named this evening as Somali-born Zakaria Bulhan, 19, from Tooting, south London”

And on mental health?

Police called to Russell Square at 10.30pm last night after crazed man ‘went on the rampage’ with kitchen knife

Not mentally ill, then. He was crazy!

Zakaria Bulhan, 19, moved to the UK from Norway in 2002, and was said to be suffering possible ‘mental health issues’ when he allegedly began silently stabbing his unsuspecting victims in a busy London street last night.

His former friends from Graveney School in Tooting, south London, have now revealed how Chelsea football fan Bulhan was a quiet boy who was bullied in the early stages of secondary school. One friend said: ‘He was quite quiet, but had friends. He was a little bullied but nothing too extreme.’

A victim of bullying and poor mental health, then.

Earlier today, police raided the south London council flat where he lived with his family. Neighbours of alleged knifeman said his mother was ‘really nice’ but knew little about her two sons… The family live on the middle floor of a three-storey block of flats next to St George’s Hospital in Tooting…

The unnamed woman said: ‘There was lots of policemen there this morning. The mother is always here. She’s really kind and friendly and always opened the door and got parcels for us.

Parcels?

‘They’re a Muslim family, the mother always wore a full black burka.’

Relevant?

A downstairs neighbour confirmed that a mother and two young men live in the flat. He said… ‘I’ve never had a conversation with either of the two boys. Apparently they are Somalian but they all speak with an English accent. The mother is really quiet. She always has her hijab on but she’s a very pleasant woman and speaks proper English’.

Burka or hijab? No photos of her to help us decide, but plenty of the aforesaid Israeli woman, now called Yovel Lewkowki:

 

Yovel Russell square

 

Says Yovel:

‘The attacker was dark-skinned and bald and the knife he was holding was a small kitchen knife,’ she said. ‘He was very calm and cool.’

No crazed, then. Calm and cool.

 

Posted: 4th, August 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (2)


Unemployed cheese expert arrested for heated row over cheese sandwich

Time to ban heated cheese, which leads to heated rows and heated violence. The unemployed should be first to feel the full force of the cheese police

A Georgia man is facing criminal charges after raging at his spouse for making a grilled cheese sandwich too cheesy, cops allege.

 

heated cheese row

 

According to an Athens-Clarke County Police Department report, James De Paola, 55, began “shouting and cursing” at his wife Michelle during a confrontation last Wednesday afternoon in the couple’s Athens home.

The unemployed De Paola became incensed at his 51-year-old spouse due to her “using three slices of cheese in a grilled cheese sandwich.” De Paola told cops that he had told the victim she “could make a grilled cheese sandwich with two pieces of cheese instead of three.”

 

The unemployed should be banned from all cheese and cheese-related items. And cheese should not come in slices. It comes in triangles.

Posted: 4th, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Russell Square terror attack: mental health, Spanish victims and an Arab gang

One woman dead. Five others stabbed in what the BBC calls a “London attack”. The dead woman was knifed to death in Russell Square. She was in her 60s. The suspected killer is 19. He has been captured alive. No guns. He was Tasered.

London Mayor Sadiq Khan wants everyone to be “calm and vigilant”.

 

Russell square terror knife

 

The BBC headline states a reason for why it happened: “Metropolitan Police: Mental health ‘factor in knife attack’.”

Not quite. The Met also say it might be a terror attack.

The Mail adds: “A knifeman has gone on the rampage in central London and stabbed to death a woman in her 60s and injured five more people in a potential terror attack.”

But he was alone, right. We know that. No. The Mail adds:

There are fears that the knifeman operated with an accomplice as the Met refused to rule out arresting more suspects. One witness said he saw ‘a man flee on a motorbike’. Others suggested a gang may have been involved.

Suggested. May. Fears. What about facts?

The Star stirs: “Russell Square knife attack: Is second suspect still at large?”

Only two? No more? The paper adds:

A 35-year-old eyewitness told the Daily Star Online that two “Middle Eastern” men were acting suspiciously at the scene after the attack – and one of them sped away on a motorbike…

The eyewitness said: “There were two men of Middle Eastern descent acting suspiciously outside the Imperial Hotel.”

Middle-eastern descent? What an odd description. Are they Arabic looking? Is this, then, the sort of stabbing incident that occurs in Israel?

The Sun has more on the “bloodbath”.

A WOMAN in her 60s has been killed and five others injured in a bloody central London knife attack that police believe may be terror-related.

Unlike the BBC, mental health and a random killing is not the central issue. To the Sun, this is about terror.

A 19-year-old man was arrested at the scene after being tasered by police in Russell Square – just yards from where the 7/7 attacks bus bomb detonated in 2005.

Four women and one man were also injured in the horrific attack in Russell Square.

One witness described seeing another man ‘flee from the scene on a motorbike’ as police confirmed mental health was a likely factor.

They said: “I heard a scream, and then we went to the park and I saw a girl lying on the floor with blood coming from her back. Another girl had blood on her arm.

“They all spoke Spanish so I guess they were a group. I only saw the victim and the girl with the arm stabbed from that group.

“I just saw blood just next to her. She was lying on the floor with a friend hugging her.”

The Guardian disagrees. This is about mental illness:

Knife attack in London’s Russell Square leaves woman dead and five injured – Police say 19-year-old man arrested and mental health a significant factor in the attack.

No. They said it could be a factor. The Guardian and the BBC are setting the story to fit an agenda. The Sun and Star are saying what many wonder when they first hear of such an attack.

No-one panic. No-one mention the war.

 

Posted: 4th, August 2016 | In: Back pages, Reviews | Comment


UKIP wants to ban Muslim schools: first they came for the kids and the parents

What is the point of education? The Telegraph  looks at Lisa Duffy’s views on the matter of who decides what children learn at school. Duffy is a councillor in Cambridgeshire. She wants to lead UKIP. She wants a say in what children can be taught at school.

A “total ban” on Muslim state schools has been called for by Lisa Duffy, the Ukip leadership hopeful.

Ms Duffy, who is expected to be announced as once of the candidates in the party’s leadership race at noon today, has called for Islamic faith schools to be shut down in a bid to tackle radicalisation.

Duffy knows best. She wants to ban traditions she considers to be the wrong ones. An attack on freedom of education can be readily linked to an attack on freedom of worship, something any liberal country should hold dear.

Maybe Duffy doesn’t like what she sees as intolerance preached as faith schools. Maybe this is why Duffy wants to ban them, censor views alternative to her own? Duffy is a bansturbator. She tells the Express:

“I will be calling for the Government to close British Islamic faith schools. That doesn’t mean I am picking on British Islam…

Wrong. It does.

“…but if you think about what our security services are looking at 2,000 individuals that have come from those faith schools. When does indoctrination start?”

Dunno, Lisa. Where did you learn your illiberal views?

She adds:

“I am not far right, I am very much common sense and centre right.”

Lisa affects to know what the country’s values are and then undermines them. Freedom for all is great so long as it is freedom from things Duffy doesn’t much like.

Why should the State know better than parents? Why should education be so politicised? Why should education adhere to a homogenous ‘norm’ proscribed by the elite? Parents must be free to chose the schools that reflect their own prejudices, views and wants.

 

religious school

 

Why doesn’t the State do something truly radical: ask teachers what they think and let them set the curriculum? (And interfering parents are every bit as dire as the State dictating what is right thinking.)

And if not religious schools, then why non-faith State schools, places where moving targets, new techniques and measures of learning create a system lacking substance – where children are schooled not educated. State schools are often out-performed by their religious-orientated rivals, where knowledge can be tested across ages and critical thinking is encouraged and engaged.

Lisa Duffy should try it.

Posted: 3rd, August 2016 | In: Broadsheets, Key Posts, Reviews | Comment


Turbine Watch: Windmill Fire Live Video Palladam Tamilnadu 2016

Alternative energy video of the day is called “Windmill Fire – Live Video Palladam Tamilnadu 2016”. Clean energy – we’re not quite there yet:

Posted: 3rd, August 2016 | In: Reviews | Comment


Plastic bag tax makes a pigs ear from an avoska

Plastic bags. you pays loads money for your shopping then are asked to cough up  surcharge to carry the stuff. Tim Newman:

I think the behaviour that governments and the lobbyists want the citizens to adopt is one whereby they turn up to the supermarket with one or more robust, reusable grocery bags but this only really works when the shopping trip is planned. What somebody is supposed to do if they pop into the supermarket to buy more than two items on the way home is anyone’s guess, unless they fancy forking out a fiver for one of those robust, reusable grocery bags. I expect what we’ll find is people taking up the habit of carrying around a small, compact bag in case they need to do some unscheduled grocery shopping at some point in the day. During the good old days of the Soviet Union, the happy citizens would routinely carry around a string bag called an avoska, which roughly translates as “perhaps bag”, on the off-chance they would stumble across a store selling something worth buying and would be able to carry it home (before swapping it with a neighbour or friend in return for something they might actually want).

For some people, particularly middle-class environmentalists, forcing the masses to adopt practices common in the Soviet Union is probably seen as progress.

The plastic bag charge is nuts.

 

Posted: 2nd, August 2016 | In: Reviews | Comment


John Lennon demands a return to the Great British blue passport in the Sun

“TIME to bing back the Great British passport,” demands the Sun. It’s front-page news. The paper says the blue passport is a “symbol of the UK regaining sovereignty from the EU”.

We want a pledge from No10 to reintroduce the true blue, ditched in 1988 for an EU-approved burgundy passport.

 

passport the sun

 

Tory MP  Andrew Rosindell adds: “It’s a matter of identity. Having the pink European passports has been a humiliation.”

 

Liz Hurley naked

Liz Hurley – using her Britishness to build a career as a stereotypical British woman on American telly

 

It’s burgundy, Andrew.  Your old analogue driving licence was pink. Colour matters. Your passport is a fashion choice. Don’t believe us – believe actress Liz Hurley, then, who when not using the Union flag as a merkin, is saying things like:

 “I yearn for the days when my (gorgeous navy blue) passport got stamped when I went anywhere in Europe and I loved puzzling over fistfuls of Italian lire, French francs and Deutschmarks. It was glamorous and exciting.”

The Sun shows us John Lennon’s old British passport. It was blue. Did Lennon go for the pink one? No. Granted, he was dead before it was introduced. Yes, he did chose in live in America. But the Sun has made it’s point – the pink one is not what the resting Beatle would have wanted.  “Imagine,” says Lennon, “there are no countries… that don’t show due respect to the Great British Blue passport.”

Imagine…

Posted: 2nd, August 2016 | In: Celebrities, Reviews | Comment


Democrat convention: woman catches fire stomping on burning US Flag

Meanwhile…at the Democrat Party’s convention, a woman stomping on a burning US flag caught fire.

Posted: 2nd, August 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment


Armed men and a baby prepare for Doomsday in Kentucky with Walmart goods and marijuana

walmart doomsdayFirst the good news: there will be plenty of supplies to eat when the world ends. Now the less good news: only Walmart produce can survive armageddon. We know this because police spotted “a car full of men in body armour holding semi-automatic weapons” at the Richmond Road Walmart in Lexington, Kentucky.

A six-month old baby was also in the car.

The group told Lt Jackie Newman they were preparing for Doomsday and needed supplies.

The men were armed with pistols and semi-automatic rifles. A licence is not required to have semi-automatic weapons in a car – but the marijuana the men had with them is banned. They were given a citation for the weed but were not charged with any other violations.

Isn’t America great.

Spotter

Posted: 2nd, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Police arrest tambourine playing man who wrote ‘The Matrix Has U’ in sand

Hey, Mr Tambourine Man, take your instrument and **** off, or else. That’s the message British police gave a man they arrested after he was seen playing a tambourine to watching crowds on the sandbanks of the River Mersey in Liverpool.

Before his arrest the man wrote “The Matrix has U” in the sand.

 

The Matrix Has U Merseyside

 

The Matrix Has U

 

Toby Fagan, saw it:

“I was down the Pier Head and I saw all these emergency service vehicles down there. I headed down to see what was going on and the area was starting to be cordoned off. He was walking up and down the banks of the Mersey playing a tambourine. I sort of stayed with him as it happened, he went almost down to the ECHO Arena.

“Then he was detained by the police after being chased across the mudflats. It was quite interesting, not something you see everyday. He wrote ‘The Matrix has U’ and he seemed of the opinion he was doing nothing wrong, he was shouting for the crowd to join him.”

The Pied Piper has many guises. The crowd didn’t move into the trap.

Merseyside Police say the man has been arrested but for what crime they cannot specify. We’d go for attempted kidnap, carrying a tambourine in public whilst not in a 1960s tribute band and graffiti.

Posted: 1st, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Drugs baron’s life in a luxurious suite of prison cells

Londoners in search of affordable housing can head to Paraguay – just remember to take a huge stash of cocaine in your suitcase on departure. With any luck you too will be housed in one of the country’s well-appointed prison cells.

Until recetly, Brazilian drug lord Jarvis Chimenes Pavao was living in fully furnished three-room cell, boasting a conference room, plasma screen television, library, kitchen, air conditioning and an en-suite bathroom. When ‘out’, Pavao would rent his pad to other inmates.

 

cell drug lord cell drug lord a cell drug lord

 

Pavao was due to complete his sentence for money laundering next year, at the end of which he was likely to face extradition to Brazil. He has now been transferred to a special unit away from his luxury cell in Tacumbu prison, near the capital Asuncion.

It being handier for the airport.

Posted: 1st, August 2016 | In: Reviews, Strange But True | Comment


Lidl Britain crisis: nuts might not contain nuts

The country is in crisis. The Telegraph reports on a consumer panic:

German discounter Lidl is removing its brand of fruit yoghurts and honey peanuts from the shelves because it fails to tell customers they might contain milk and peanuts.

Only ‘might’? Not ‘do’. Supermarkets are hedging their bets.

nuts lidl

 

What else might a pot of yoghurt or packet of nuts contain? Pretty much anything, right?

Posted: 1st, August 2016 | In: Broadsheets, Reviews | Comment


16% of Hispanic voters would vote for Harambe over Clinton and Trump

Public Policy Polling finds that 5 percent of US voters would vote for Harambe if the dead gorilla stood to be President of the United States. Among Hispanic voters, the figure rises to 16%.

president Harmabe

You will recall that Harambe was shot dead at Cincinnati Zoo after he began dragging a four-year-old human child around his enclosure.

 

 

Clinton lucifer

 

Also, 18 percent of voters think Hillary Clinton has ties to Lucifer.

 

Posted: 31st, July 2016 | In: Key Posts, Politicians, Reviews | Comment


Public shaming: Adam Cripe v ‘furious woman’ at En Salon hairdressers in Escondido, California

To Escondido, California, where Adam Cripe is displeased with the $18 hairstyle he got at En Salon. “It was so terrible, I went home and I shaved my head,” says Cripe.  At the salon, he met another customer:

“The lady who was getting her hair cut comes around the corner screaming at me. She gets up in my face and says you’re uneducated, you’re a tattooed piece of shit… And ‘her husband] says, ‘quit being a sissy, it’ll grow back.’”

Cripe alleges salon employees did not intervene.

 

Adam CRipe hair salon

Cripe’s haircut aroused passions

 

It gets messier.

“She starts coming at me accusing me of assaulting her, which you can see on the video,” he adds. “I never even touched her, I was holding my phone up, hands in the air…. Pushing me, pushing me. You know a little bigger lady, bump me with her chest, she chest bumped me…

“Then at one point she grabbed my little love handle right here and squeezed it really hard and tried to push me back with that.”

Outside, he says the lady told him in words that suggest English is not her first language: “Get out here and pound it down.”

 

 

Adam Cripe then takes to his Facebook page. Having avoided swearing on the TV news, Cripe is happy to utter lots of swears in this video:

 

 

Is this an example pub public shaming? We don’t know the woman. It’s a small spat in a small shop that has escalated, fanned by the media. Is it fair that the woman is filmed, humiliated and called names on the giant echo chamber that is social media? Had the police been called, then, sure, the video, such as it is, might well have been useful. But this doesn’t look like justice. It looks more like revenge.

 

Posted: 31st, July 2016 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (7)


Ansbach bomb mystery solved: why the victim did it

When a man armed with a bomb blew himself up outside a music festival in Germany, the media went into action. Why had he done it?

Reuters went into action: “Syrian man denied asylum killed in German blast.”

The poor man. He was killed in a country that denied him asylum. This man suffered terribly at our hands. Reuters continues:

A 27-year-old Syrian man who had been denied asylum in Germany a year ago died on Sunday when a bomb he was carrying exploded outside a music festival in Ansbach, Germany…

A bomb he was carrying exploded? Was he taking it a museum, having found it?

Interior Minister Joachim Herrmann said the man had tried to commit suicide twice before.

And he failed a third time. The “bomb exploded”. He was “killed”. He is the victim.

The Guardian leads with: “A 27-year-old man who had been denied asylum dies after explosion in southern German town”

An explosion.

The BBC: “Ansbach explosion: Syrian asylum seeker blows himself up in Germany.”

A failed Syrian asylum seeker has blown himself up and injured 15 other people with a backpack bomb near a festival in the south German town of Ansbach. The 27-year-old man, who faced deportation to Bulgaria, detonated the device after being refused entry to the music festival.

He was clearly an avid music fan. Denied entry he had nothing else to live for – well, aside from a new life in Bulgaria.

CNBC: “Bomb-carrying Syrian dies outside German music festival; 12 wounded.”

Al Jazeera: “A 27-year-old Syrian man died when a bomb he was carrying in a rucksack went off outside a music festival in Germany and wounded 12 people, an official said. A spokesman for the prosecutor’s office in Ansbach said the attacker’s motive wasn’t clear.”

The bomb went off. He did not detonate the bomb. It just went off. Why he died remains a mystery.

The Mail: “Syrian suicide bomber – nicknamed ‘Rambo’ – who blew himself up outside German music festival had pledged allegiance to ISIS, had Islamist videos at his home and had enough chemicals to make ANOTHER bomb.”

Ah. That’s why the asylum seeker was killed when the bomb he was carrying went off. He was an Islamist trying to murder people. Thanks to the Mail, the mystery has been cleared up.

 

Posted: 31st, July 2016 | In: Broadsheets, Reviews, Tabloids | Comment


Jeremy Corbyn flying pig news: ‘Labour can win snap General election under my leadership’

The Guardian creates the world-class clickbait headline: “Jeremy Corbyn: Labour could win snap general election.”

But wait a moment. Did Corbyn actually says it? Does he think Labour can win the General Election?

The Conservative government has had “a field day” amid Labour divisions, Jeremy Corbyn has said in a Guardian interview, while insisting he believes the party could win a snap general election…

…when asked whether Labour could win a potential snap election this autumn or next spring, Corbyn seemed confident. “We’re going to go for it and win it,” he said.

‘Seemed confident’. He seems delusional.

 

Posted: 30th, July 2016 | In: Broadsheets, Politicians, Reviews | Comment


Brexit: trawling for racism proves prejudice against the white working class

The Indy has news that Britain is in the grip of an explosion of post-Brexit race crimes.

 

Brexit racism

 

The website “reveals: the “shocking scale of racist hate since the Brexit vote”. After “painstaking” research, the Indy found 500 incidents in the past “weeks”.

We soon discover that the painstaking research was not carried out by the Indy, It was merely granted “access to a database”

A picture of nationwide hatred emerged after The Independent was allowed exclusive access to a database of accounts collected by the social media sites PostRefRacismWorrying Signs and iStreetWatch.

All verified racist incidents, then, right? You can post an incident anonymously on the site Worrying Signs. The Moderators will then moderate it. How can they check if it happened or not without a witness and evidence?

These are some incidents on the  Worrying Signs blog:

 

Brexit racism

 

London – 22 July
I was on the platform of the central line in Tottenham Court Road tube station, and I saw a woman wearing a veil in front of me looking at her shoulder. I noticed it was wet. I asked her was she ok, she said someone spilt alcohol on her. I asked if she thought it might be an accident, she didn’t think so. I didn’t see the incident but I believe her. I said I was really sorry that happened to her. I wish I had asked her if she wanted to report it. But I was too shocked. I left the station and then returned to report it to staff,
Did anyone speak up or offer support?
I asked her if she was ok, and we had a brief chat. I also reported it to staff.

 

Screen Shot 2016-07-30 at 08.42.10

 

Bridlington – 13 July
Called a Pole
Did anyone speak up or offer support?
No

 

Brexit racism

Brexit racism

 

 

Racism is hateful. One offence is revolting. But is the Indy cranking up isolated incidents and linking it to Brexit to fit an agenda that holds Leave voters as bigots? A post-Brexit ComRes poll found that only 34 per cent said immigration was their main concern.

Racism is manifest in many ways. We’ve argued that favouring Europeans within the EU over Africans is a form of racism. Making Bulgarians and Romanians wait seven years to join the EU was bigotry in action.

It is not hard to think that Brexit has given a few numbskulls the confidence to says nasty things to people. But there is a whiff of another kind of prejudice at play in the Indy’s story and the aforesaid campaign groups’ activism, one that says people who voted out – a large majority of the white working class did – are driven by racism.

That’s an abhorrent view.

Trawl for examples of racism and use the stats to prove you’re right. Pre-judge an incident and chalk it down one as driven by racism. Is it really like the 1970s and 1980s, when the police and the state sanctioned racism? Is the Indy right to speak of  “Comparisons with 1930s Nazi Germany” and not at all hyperbolic in doing so?

Rather than speaking up and taking a stand against racism, the Indy is undermining the ugliness of racism, making light of past horrors and demeaning victims.

Britain is not a country infected by a race hate epidemic. But seeking ways to define 17.4 million people who voted for Brexit as racist is prejudiced.

Posted: 29th, July 2016 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comments (8)