Mysterious Explanations

There are lots of 'mystery' websites on the web, which I find highly entertaining. These usually try to pass certain well known stories or images off as being 'unexplained mysteries', or in some cases proof positive of Aliens / NASA Cover ups / Bigfoot / Conspiracy theories of all sorts etc etc etc.

1964 - Templeton Spaceman Solway Firth UK

They often give you some sort of 'facts' relating to the image or story, which will give you enough to ensure that a cursory investigation appears to prove that this is all a genuine mystery. However, dig a little deeper and the 'mystery' often rapidly disappears. 
 
Perhaps one of the oldest out there, and therefore most often used, is the so called Solway Spaceman ...

Nothing New Under The Sun

We think of satire as a Western thing .... and certainly not an Islamic idea. However, surprisingly not only has Islam had occasional outbursts of satire, but it was last seen just over a hundred years ago. How different the world was then, especially the Islamic world, which was in the grip of empires. The Russian, British, French and Ottoman Empires controlled the Islamic world, and this allowed some openness of thought by the secularists in the region.

Azerbaijan for example was controlled by Russia from the mid 19th century, and after a brief flourishing of independence after the first world war, was reoccupied by the Communist Russians until the final collapse of the Soviet empire in the 1990's. This spell of control by a non Islamic power gave this crossroads state access to ideas from East and West (and all points in between).

Comparing The Benefits Of Religious versus Secular Education 

Gender Neutral

Recently I was about to use the term 'cheeky monkeys' to describe two workers in the office who regularly take other teams treats without asking. By treats I mean team cakes or sweets etc.

'Cheeky Monkey' No Longer Innocent Expression?

However I had to check my mouth because the workers concerned were Indians. I could therefore be pulled up for using a racial insult, because they are brown skinned ... (actually I would be suspended for then telling someone to f*ck off when they tried to pull me up about 'cheeky monkeys') ... so I said something more 'racially neutral' ... I can't recall what .... probably 'thieving t*ats' ... 😈

Afghani Fun And Games - Swedish Style

I don't know what Julian Assange is worried about. It appears that rape in Sweden is little more serious than a driving offence. This particularly true if you are a foreigner where it's almost a right of passage for Swedish citizenship.

Why do I say all this?

Afghan Fun - Swedish Style - Gang Rape.

Well in yet another example of Western Liberalism gone very very wrong, a Swedish judge had handed out trivial sentences to three rapists.

The Frozen Mr Fox

Following on from the two moose frozen in combat ....This from Germany.

Frozen Fox

The poor creature was pulled from the Danube river in south-western Germany after it fell through thin ice in January 2017 being discovered by a hunter.

How The Other Half Think

Max Clifford the former millionaire publicist is currently in prison for eight historic sex assaults. He was jailed in 2014 for eight years.

Mr Clifford Still Making Headlines ....
Even If Still Just On The Streets And Tabloids.

He is once again appealing against his conviction but is now asking for Legal Aid to do so as he is too poor to even pay for photocopying the documents required to support the appeal. This is because, and I quote his QC "He is absolutely financially ruined".

Elected Autocrats Club

President (for however long he wants to be) Recep Erdogan, the winner of every vote and self claimed European said that "a strong "Yes" vote would be a lesson to the West". With with all the ballots counted, the Yes ended 51.40% and No with 48.60%, so we are about to learn what that lesson will mean.

Birds Of A Feather - Elected Autocrats Club Just Gained A New Member

However, it should be pointed out that the result is disputed by the opposition, and the process has allegedly failed to meet international standards.

Right But In The Wrong

One thing about being on the right in politics is that sometimes you are actually in the wrong. This seems to be particularly the case with the Trump administration, which seems to be determined to follow policies which are doomed to failure from the start, or are merely revivals of previously failed US social policies.

The War On Drugs Doomed To Defeat?

The latest of these is that apparently 'The Donalds' attorney general Jeff Sessions intends to revive the much discredited 'War on Drugs' ...

Pure Fun In Paradise

The news that Saudi Arabia is going to build an 'entertainment city' right on the edge of the capital Riyadh, and which apparently will be 50 times the size of Gibraltar, or about a fifth of the area of Riyadh in size, made me laugh. The idea is to "achieve a healthy and harmonious life, and provide more entertainment, joy and fun"

Religious Police Check Women's Dress On The First Ride.

Can you think of anywhere on earth as unlikely for joy and fun? ... well ignoring North Korea and the numerous other Islamic paradises on earth such as Somalia?

Ambulance Chasing Societies

It wasn't much of a surprise .... the lawyers for the school clock/bomb boy, Ahmed Mohamed aged 14, want a $15 million settlement for the "severe psychological trauma" caused to him, by a teacher mistaking his clock for a 'suicide bomb'. The family lawyers are asking for $10m (£7m) from the city of Irving, and a further $5m (£3.3m) from the Irving Independent School District, saying that Ahmed Mohamed was "publicly mistreated" and remains mentally and physically scarred.

Liberals Shocked As School Clock- Bomb Boy - Sues For Big Bucks

So a minor bruise and a few moments of distress are worth $15 million dollars?

The case is still ongoing a year or so later, with the city's lawyers demanding that the whole case be dropped as it was their duty to consider student and staff safety, above the feelings of one particular student. The family had already lost a series of attempts to sue a number of news and blogging outlets under US freedom of speech provisions. He of course has left the US to take up a scholarship from the Qatar Foundation in Qatar.

Mini Update - May 2017:

The latest court claim by the family (a racial or religious discrimination case), has been thrown out of court. What this must be costing in legal fees and who is funding it all would be an interesting fact.

Failed Creeds And Ruined Lives

More Muslim Asian organised rape gang arrests in Oxford under the same police operation.

Oxford Child Rape Scandal - Arrests Like These Across The City

Six men - all from Oxford - appeared before Oxford magistrates on 4 April for multiple sex offences against underage girls. They are: Shabir Dogar, 22; Shabaz Khan, 23; Shohab Dogar, 23; Yasin Hamid, 20; Usman Iddris, 22; and Joseph Suraina, 22. Waqas Hussain, 24, of no fixed abode. Waqas Hussain has also been charged with the attempted sexual assault of a girl under 13, as have Shabir Dogar and Shohab Dogar.

Forever Clueless

Jeremy Corbyn is not a man I would vote for. He's basically a hard left politician, wedded to the policies I recall being espoused by Tony Benn (another man whose views were hard left), in the 1960's and 1970's.

Corbyn Lives In The 1970's and 1980's Where Life Was Simpler
..... Michael Foot and Tony Benn Were Left Wingers

They had a certain amount of traction then, as the western socialist tide reached its high point, but since then these ideas have ebbed and are now only followed in broken states such as Venezuela and other failed South and Latin American states. Take for instance his latest policy announcement of 'free' school meals for primary school children.

Sub Stories

In a story that reminded me a lot of the mythical Scottish football fans sailing to Argentina in 1974 in a submarine to watch their team 'win the world cup (which of course they didn't)', the US coast guards made an unusual interception earlier this year. Their US Navy Plane radar indicated an unknown underwater craft in their territorial waters, and no doubt with their minds full of visions of the mystery subs off the Swedish coast, or maybe even of the Cuba crisis, they raced out to intercept it.

Narco Subs Are Getting More Inventive .... Capt Nemo Would Be Flattered.

What they found was a little more prosaic but no less threatening to the civil society ... It was drug smugglers running in on the pacific seaboard from somewhere 200 miles south of Mexico.

All In The White House Family

For a man who was going to 'drain the swamp' in Washington, Pres. Trump and his family sure are getting that swamp mud well greased into their backs.

All In The White House Family

First his son-in-law Jared Kushner became a senior adviser to the commander-in-chief and then Ivanka Trump has joined the Administration as 'first daughter' and as the unpaid 'Assistant to the President'. Its kind of strange to see a US President appoint members of his own family to the administration .... but then the whole administration is looking increasingly strange as the weeks go by.

Pure Madness

If anything more is needed to confirm how backward the Taliban, IS and others of that ilk really are, its the fact that in 99% of the world polio is eradicated.

Polio Eradication ... Almost

 

Polio is a highly infectious disease, caused by a virus which invades the nervous system, and mainly affects children aged under five, was endemic in many parts of the world as recently as 1995, but a worldwide drive has all but cleared it out, but for the last two countries.

 

Indentured Indignities

Not so long ago I posted on one of the modern forms of slavery, indentured servants in the Asian and Muslim regions (as opposed to people trafficking). So perhaps its no surprise that a scandal has erupted in Singapore, where a couple starved their Filipino maid.

Ms Gawidan The Maid, Lim Choon Hong
 and his wife Chong Sui Foon

The couple, finance trader Lim Choon Hong and his wife Chong Sui Foon, pleaded guilty and were convicted and jailed with sentences of three weeks, and three months respectively, for starving their domestic worker. This after their maid ran away and went to a charity .... where she was found to have lost 20kg (44 lbs) - about 40% of her body weight after being kept on a restricted diet of bread and instant noodles.