News Today

[St Chads Lad]

Yesterday's budget added £1.4 billion to energy bills owing to its massive increase in subsidies for renewables, including £800m for offshore wind. If wind power is so cheap, why does it need so much subsidy?   

[celeste]

Because it's not managed efficiently?

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-68476289  -  MH370  one of aviation's great mysteries.


State of the Union.


President Joe Biden delivered a fiery State of the Union address on Thursday, taking repeated swipes at Donald Trump and covering the broad themes of his re-election campaign.

Mr Biden used the term "my predecessor" to refer to Mr Trump 13 times in a speech that lasted more than an hour.

He accused his likely election opponent of "bowing down" to Russia and criticised him over the Capitol riot.

Mr Biden also covered immigration, abortion, the economy and Gaza.

The atmosphere in the House chamber was raucous at times, with loud cheering from Democrats and heckling from some Republicans.

It was a spectacle more typical of a political convention than a State of the Union address - a constitutionally mandated report that is usually heavy on pageantry and policy.

But this is an election year and the stakes for Mr Biden were high. He was feisty and confrontational as he sought to draw the battle lines for his nascent campaign.

[celeste]

More wars for America,  more funding other countries if Biden has another term?

[ExileSteve]

Interestingly, FJB's handlers decided to build an eight foot high wall around the Capitol Building and fill the spaces behind it with dozens of armed security enforcers for the SOTU address. This has never happened before in the entire history of the United States. I wonder what they could possibly be worried about?

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news

photo


A ship carrying desperately needed humanitarian aid is expected to set sail this weekend, bound for Gaza.

The Spanish vessel, Open Arms, is scheduled to depart from Cyprus - the closest EU country to Gaza - and hopes to use a newly opened shipping route.

With no functioning port and shallow waters, it is still unclear where the ship will dock when it reaches Gaza.

The UN says a quarter of the Strip's population is on the brink of famine and children are starving to death.

The ship, expected to reach Gaza in the next few days, belongs to the Spanish charity of the same name, Open Arms.

It will tow a barge loaded with 200 tonnes of food provided by US charity World Central Kitchen, Open Arms founder Oscar Camps told the Associated Press.

The ship is expected to depart Cyprus' Larnaca port this weekend, and will take around two to three days to reach an undisclosed location off the coast of Gaza, Mr Camps told the news agency.

He added that the final mile of the journey - which is about 216 nautical miles in total - would be "the most complicated operation", but added that he was not "concerned at all about security".

At the destination point, a team from the World Central Kitchen has been building a pier to receive the aid, he said. The group has 60 kitchens throughout Gaza, where it will be able to distribute the food.

"What initially appeared as an insurmountable challenge is now on the verge of realization," read a post on Open Arms' X account.

"Our tugboat stands prepared to embark at a moment's notice, laden with tons of food, water, and vital supplies for Palestinian civilians."

[Parky]

It should have been release the hostages and we’ll release the food

[St Chads Lad]

Israeli protesters are blocking trucks with humanitarian aid from reaching civilians in Gaza.
Breaking through police lines, they have been seen running in front of food convoys, sitting at border gates singing Jewish songs, with some holding rowdy techno dance parties. At night they camp in tents nearby, or catch shuttle buses back to town, while some set up cotton candy machines for the many children brought to the border.


Israeli protesters, some the relatives of the 134 hostages still held by Hamas, are threatening to withhold aid until they are free and want to starve out Hamas fighters.


Some claim aid trucks are full of weapons, not food, and will be taken by terrorists anyway.

[ExileSteve]

Thank God there are still some intelligent and fully functioning human minds still operating in the realm of common discourse. There are not many left now, mind you…..

[celeste]

Rebecca Rigby, the widow of murdered Fusilier Lee Rigby, is one of the letter's signatories (pictured with son Jack in 2015)

More than 50 victims of Islamist-inspired terror attacks have signed a joint letter against what they describe as anti-Muslim hate.

They warn it is "irresponsible" for some politicians to equate extremists with "the vast majority of British Muslims who deplore such violence".

Survivors and relatives of those killed during attacks in London, Manchester and Brussels are among the signatories.

It comes as the government prepares to set out a new definition of extremism.

The letter says "Islamist-inspired extremism is the country's most pressing terror threat, but not the only one".

"To defeat this threat, the single most important thing we can do is to isolate the extremists and the terrorists from the vast majority of British Muslims who deplore such violence," it reads.

However the signatories say in recent weeks there have been "too many cases where politicians and others have failed to do this" adding those intervening have, in some cases, equated "being Muslim with being an extremist."

Their letter warns responding to the Islamist threat by "feeding far right extremism, dividing communities and exaggerating the risk will feed a cycle of extremism that will put more people at risk".

The 57 signatories to the letter include Magen Inon, whose parents were killed by Hamas during the 7 October attacks on Israel.

Other people who signed the letter include Rebecca Rigby, whose husband Lee was killed by two men with extremist views outside Woolwich barracks in 2013, and Figen and Stuart Murray whose son Martyn was killed in the 2017 Manchester Arena attack.

Claudia Vince, who survived of the 2019 London Bridge attack, and Charlotte Dixon-Sutcliffe, whose partner David was killed in the Brussels Metro bombing in 2016, have also added their names.

"We also know where anti-Muslim hate can lead," the letter continues. It notes the upcoming fifth anniversary of shootings at two mosques in Christchurch, New Zealand in 2019 in which 51 worshippers were killed.

[St Chads Lad]

"Their letter warns responding to the Islamist threat by "feeding far right extremism, dividing communities and exaggerating the risk will feed a cycle of extremism that will put more people at risk"
 
  Er, who or what do they classify as 'right wing extremists? ' Oh yeah that's right,  anybody who is unhappy about the way our country is changing and are [censored] off with the constant pandering to the 'religion of peace', they talk of anti Muslim hate and where it will lead, ask the Christians in Nigeria about what anti Christian hate is, the article doesn't say who authored the letter, only signatories.


Islamists commit mass murder all over the world and somehow Muslims are always the victims,  but cite a mosque shooting in New Zealand and every non Muslim is far right, give me a break.
  This nonsense makes my pee boil. 

[Parky]

No other  religions put together causes outrage and trouble like this one does in the U.K.,

[celeste]

https://www.bbc.co.uk/news


Kate's 'doctored' photo &


Town Halls' 'Woke' jobs.

[St Chads Lad]

While 40 councils are on the brink of bankruptcy and outrage grows over the rise in council tax, one wonders what these councils have actually been spending taxpayers’ money on. Unsurprisingly, diversity’s the name, spending is the game…


The Taxpayers’ Alliance reveals that UK councils have splurged a whopping £51,775,800 on equality, diversity and inclusion hires since 2020, the figure ramping up by 41% in the last financial year alone. Cash strapped councils who have had to raise council taxes to ‘function’ have been among those who decided hiring ‘woke’ jobs to be a priority. Just one example is bankrupt Birmingham, where council tax is increasing by 21%, hiring an “Assistant Director of Community Services and Equality, Diversity & Inclusion” with an eye-watering average salary of £103,165. Nice work if you can get it…


Joanna Marchong of the TPA nailed it:


“With the cost of council tax soaring and the mounting debt councils are sitting on, taxpayers will be astonished by the money wasted on council non-jobs.”


The report comes after Hunt announced plans for a public sector productivity drive last week, suggesting he would tell UK councils to cut spending on consultants and diversity schemes. Whether he’ll actually deliver it or kick the can down the road like he did when he announced a crack down on woke waste across Whitehall is yet to be seen…

[celeste]

Except that they all have different priorities maybe woke projects is the only thing they can agree on.


Perhaps before they get their 'allocation' they should submit a list of what their financial priorities will be.