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The new revised and expanded edition of Did Muhammad Exist? contains: o 25% new material. o Answers to objections raised to the first edition. o Information that makes it clear that Islam could not have originated the way it is described as doing so in the standard, canonical Islamic accounts. o The reasons why it is more likely that the Muhammad of Islamic tradition is more myth and legend than historical figure. o Newly revealed facts showing that the current Qur’anic text is not the original, and has been changed multiple times. o Why the traditional Islamic stories of Muhammad’s...

“His own iniquities shall take the wicked himself, and he shall be holden with the cords of his sins. He shall die without instruction; and in the greatness of his folly he shall go astray" (Proverbs 5:22-23).

Lawyers for Ghislaine Maxwell, a former confidant of disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein, are asking to have some of her charges in a sex trafficking case dropped, citing the recent release of former actor Bill Cosby from prison. Maxwell is facing an eight-count indictment in connection with her role in a sex trafficking scheme with Epstein, who was a convicted sex offender. Epstein was charged in July 2019 with sex trafficking and conspiracy to commit sex trafficking but was denied bail ahead of his trial. He died in jail, and his death was ruled a suicide by a New York City...

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Luxembourg's prime minister was admitted to hospital on Sunday after testing positive for coronavirus a week ago. Xavier Bettel will have "supplementary tests and analysis" as a "precaution" and is set to stay under observation for 24 hours, said a statement from the country's government. Mr Bettel tested positive on 27 June and was suffering only mild symptoms such as fever and headache as he entered a 10-day period of self isolation.

The Oakland Zoo has begun a vaccination program to inoculate their highest risk animals from COVID-19 with an experimental vaccine that has been authorized by the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA). The Oakland Zoo received their first shipment of the experimental vaccine developed by veterinary pharmaceutical company Zoetis and began to give doses to their tigers, black bears, grizzly bears, mountain lions and ferrets, who were the first animals to receive the vaccine, according to a statement from the Oakland Zoo. They next plan to give doses to their primates, including chimpanzees, as well as fruit bats and pigs.

An essay published in the Nation on Friday accuses Americans celebrating independence of failing to “reckon with the fact that the founders of our nation were colonizers,” with American “exceptionalism” and foreign policy being “grounded in racism,” adding that issues such as climate change and “racist policing” are the “greatest existential threats” while global terrorism and threats from China, Russia, and Iran, are merely “imagined threats.” The essay, penned by the Center for International Policy’s president and CEO Salih Booker as well as board member Diana Ohlbaum, carries the title “The Willful Self-Delusion of American Independence Day,” and claims that...

Just ahead of Independence Day, Marvel Comics featured a new Captain America issue in which the Captain slams the American dream as a false promise. The first issue of the new series, “The United States of Captain America,” by writer Christopher Cantwell, was published on June 30, only four days before the country traditionally celebrates its day of independence from Great Britain. As the issue begins, Steve Rogers — the original Cap — grouses about how America is built on “lies.”

Critics slammed The New York Times on Sunday for an article that suggested the American flag has become a symbol of divisiveness. The New York Times published an article on Saturday titled: 'A Fourth of July Symbol of Unity That May No Longer Unite.' In the article, Pulitzer Prize finalist Sarah Maslin Nir examined how the American flag 'once a unifying symbol' has become a divisive symbol in the United States along political party lines.

I’m humbly requesting prayers for a friend who was involved in a devastating auto accident this evening. I have known her since childhood. She was driving up a mountain road in Northeast Alabama and a truck was driving on the wrong side of the road. The truck struck her head on. She was trapped in her mangled car which caught fire. Luckily the local Fire and Rescue Service were able to extract her from the vehicle before she was burned. She suffered a broken back. She has already endured eight previous back surgeries, so this injury will be extremely devastating....

Black progressive lawmakers on Sunday questioned the inclusivity of the freedoms celebrated on Independence Day as the White House prepared for an evening of traditional festivities. As Biden’s White House readied fireworks and burgers for America’s annual celebration of nationhood, progressives expressed their views on what the Fourth of July means from the (b)lack American perspective. “When they say that the 4th of July is about American freedom, remember this: the freedom they’re referring to is for white people. This land is stolen land and (b)lack people still aren’t free,” tweeted Missouri Rep. Cori Bush. […] In a searing op-ed...

"hold them by the nose, kick them in the a** and give them hell all of the time" General George S. Patton Jr.-"The Speech" When Donald Trump was in the White House British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, a major beneficiary of Trump support, said there was a: "method" in Trump's actions. And indeed there is. A relentless attack, a relentless enticement of the politically biased media was evident in Sarasota on Saturday night. As distasteful as their political bias is even Bill Clinton called the major media "the liberal media" the biased media are a known quantity. A good political...

Now, one would assume that South Asian population cities such as Birmingham, Bradford and Manchester would heavily disagree with the nation’s decision. But the fascinating thing that I had uncovered while doing research, was that a majority of South Asians actually voted for leaving the EU. According to blogger Asad Abbasi, who wrote an article for the London School of Economics why South Asians voted for Brexit, the numbers outside London are astounding. “Outside London, nearly every constituency with a double-digit South Asian population voted Leave. Luton has a 25 percent Asian population; Leave won there with a 19 percent...

While parts of Australia are opening up, others are facing longer lockdowns. The lockdown has ended in Brisbane and Perth, but strict mask rules are in still place. In Sydney, St George Dragons rugby league stars have been caught at a house party in a major breach of COVID rules

Jean Shepherd the famous writer of "The Christmas Story", as an older "Ralph," recalls his memory of a particular Fourth of July from his high-school years in Hollman, Indiana. Ralph plays the sousaphone in the high-school band to the instructions of the baton-twirling drum master Wilbur Duckworth. Ralph is grudgingly set up on a blind date, only to find himself in the company of the gorgeous Miss Junior Corn Blossom, who rejects his advances. On the Fourth of July Duckworth causes a power outage by twirling his baton onto an electrical line during a parade; the town drunk Ludlow Kissel...

Mark Zuckerberg posted a cringeworthy clip to his Instagram account on July 4 in which he rides above the water on an electronic surfboard while holding an American flag to the tune of John Denver's hit song Take Me Home, Country Roads. Zuckerberg, who is worth about $128 billion, has often been photographed in meme-worthy situations. The Independence Day post alone has been watched nearly 470,000 times within three hours of having been posted. 'Happy July 4th!' Zuckerberg, 37, wrote in the caption. According to the website WindFoilZone.com, a complete eFoil setup can 'vary in price anywhere from $4,000 to...

Fourteenth Sunday in Ordinary Time Mark 6:1-6 Friends, today’s Gospel develops a theme that is uncomfortable. It tells how the people of Nazareth rejected Jesus. Authentically religious people, authentically spiritual people, will almost always be opposed. The logic behind this is simple and unanswerable: we live in a world gone wrong, a world turned upside down; therefore, when someone comes speaking the truth to us, we will think that they are crazy and dangerous. Think for just a moment what would happen to you if you consistently and publicly spoke the word of God to our culture. If you spoke...

Watch the controlled demolition of what remains of Champlain Towers South. Video Here.

I have returned from a much-needed 12-day break from the news, returning to California and finding little has changed from the mask-mad mandates that have been imposed for over a year. Reviewing recent reports, I have noted that our media seems to be relatively silent on a factor that may be significant in assessing risk of hospitalization or death from COVID-19: obesity. For example, [SNIP] two new, large studies from England and Mexico provide new details on obesity as a risk factor for poor COVID-19–related outcomes. In the first study, published yesterday in The Lancet Diabetes & Endocrinology, University of...

This is insanity, driving local public outrage and vows to avoid these establishments: high-end restaurants in Chicago are still blaming COVID social distancing polices for a strictly enforced policy of a $100 minimum for each person to dine. “A Chicago man was outraged when he was faced with a minimum payment to eat at a restaurant, and he thinks the rule should go away now that the city is opening back up,” a local CBS affiliate reports. But the rule isn’t going away, many restaurants say while claiming the continued requirement is toward ensuring operations are in line with COVID-related...