Britain In Chaos, Israel-Iran War Looms, Stock Market Crash, Basham Under Fire
Here are a few things you need to know from this past weekend
1 - Britain On The Brink
UK-wide protests in the wake of the murder of three schoolgirls turned violent this weekend, with gangs of rioters setting fire to several hotels, gangs of armed Muslims roaming the streets attacking those draped in English flags, and the police, media and government being accused of a two-tier response.
A Holiday Inn housing migrants was set ablaze in Rotherham, the town in which 1,400 girls were raped over a 16 year period by largely Pakistani grooming gangs, and which the police, fearing accusations of racism, did not investigate. Another hotel in Tamworth was also set on fire.
Meanwhile large gangs of Middle-Eastern men also roamed the streets, some armed with machetes and blunt instruments, a fact ignored by the media even as it was caught live on camera. With police recorded politely asking such gangs to leave their weapons in the nearby mosque, and the comparatively light treatment given to gangs of foreign rioters in Leeds just over two weeks ago, many are making accusations of two tier policing.
After labeling protestors ‘far-right’ last week, Prime Minister Kier Starmer vowed to take on those “whipping up this action online and then running away themselves,” and offered emergency protection to mosques.
Police liaison tells a group of Muslims in Stoke that, “If you have any weapons discard them at the mosque”.
— Lewis Brackpool (@Lewis_Brackpool) August 3, 2024
How can anybody try to tell anyone that two-tier policing doesn’t exist?!pic.twitter.com/ZLcM5X5xsz
2 - Iran, Lebanon and Israel Get Closer To War
There is now widespread speculation that Iran will launch attacks on Israel, meaning that a hot war in the Middle East is perhaps closer than it has been for decades. Indeed, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken has warned that Iran and Hezbollah may attack Israel "as early as Monday."
Both Iran and Hezbollah have threatened retaliation after Hamas’ political chief Ismail Haniyeh was assassinated in Tehran last week. That action came after twelve children died in a strike on the Israeli-occupied Golan hights, likely by Hezbollah, and is part of the wider conflict instigated by Hamas on October 7th 2023.
The Christian Post reported that, “The U.S. Embassy advised American citizens in Lebanon “to book any ticket available to them, even if that flight does not depart immediately or does not follow their first-choice route.” It said they should leave Lebanon using any available commercial transportation options.”
With a number of countries urging their citizens to leave Lebanon in light of the current security situations, travelers waited in long lines at Beirut international airport, some after cutting summer holidays short, as airlines have canceled flights and fears have grown of… pic.twitter.com/Cv0A1xtBxp
— FL360aero (@fl360aero) August 4, 2024
3 - Stock Markets Tumbling
The Japanese stock index Japanese stock index suffered its “worst day since 1987” according to the Financial Times, after it plummeted 13 per cent in under 24 hours. Meanwhile the BBC reported that in Europe, “the FTSE 100 index opened 2.3% lower while the Euronext 100 tumbled by 3.5%.”. Stock markets in Taiwan, South Korea, India, Australia, Hong Kong and Shanghai also tumbled yesterday.
Such decline was apparently caused by fears that the United States’ economy may enter a recession, after weak jobs data in the US on Friday.
Bitcoin also dropped to its lowest level since February of around $50,000, and Warren Buffet’s Berkshire Hathaway dumped 55.8% of its Apple stock according to Forbes.
4 - Basham Hit Pieces Distract From The Point
Gavin Ortlund has continued to attack Megan Basham’s book, Shepherds For Sale: How Evangelical Leaders Traded the Truth for a Leftist Agenda, accusing her of “dishonesty,” “distortion,” “spin,” “misrepresentation,” and “bearing false testimony.” This comes after Basham’s book briefly referenced a video in which he pushed climate change onto Christians, and has been dealt with in more detail by Chase Davis here.
Meanwhile, squishy magazine The Dispatch released their own hit piece on the author, with Warren Cole Smith accusing Basham of writing the book primarily as a defense of Donald Trump instead of an expose of Christian leaders receiving massive donations from leftwing organizations to push their agenda.
Within 24 hours, the Dispatch has already had to issue a correction on the article, saying that they had to remove a paragraph “that said Megan Basham’s book ignores data on abortions that took place during the Trump administration. A paragraph in her book does address that issue.”
For those who have read the book, such accusations come across as laughable attempts to strain out gnats whilst swallowing a camel, as this extraordinarily well-researched expose demonstrates how corrupt major Christian institutions have become.
I’m over here wondering why BigEva overlords and beneficiaries were never this loud & vocal when @drmoore platformed & praised “Christian” Francis Collins who helps SCALP full term babies and castrate minors.
— Seth Gruber (@sgruber91) August 3, 2024
Or when @edstetzer quietly removes articles from @CTmagazine so he’s…