Random News Stories

[Cain]

I think we should give him some credit.  He was more measured and thoughtful a Foreign Secretary than many in the Tory Party, despite the manifest flaws in his worldview.  I do mean that, genuinely.  The Foreign Office was also pretty much the only Tory-held ministry also not subjected to an endless stream of omnishambles, our government's preferred method of management (you'll notice all the bad press about the FCO is historical).

Also, let's just remind ourselves of the CV of the man replacing him.  While at least he's not Liam Fox, he's still an arch Eurosceptic with a military background, coming into the Foreign Office just as the MoD launches a massive modernisation of the armed forces.  "Raising eyebrows" would be one way to sum up the international reaction to such a move. 

And let's just consider why Hague has left.  Is he sick of Cameron?  Fleeing the sinking ship?  Hague and Gove were Cameron's key allies in the Cabinet, and one has now gone.  Gove has been moved to the position of Chief Whip, presumably to shore up support for Cameron in the run-up to the election.  And notice how quiet George Osborne has been of late?

Cameron's flailing, that's my only thought.  He's failing with the voters, and in particular female voters, hence the gimmick of promoting so many female MPs so close to election time.  He may be failing with elements of his own party, hence the purging of Europe moderates in favour of Eurosceptics.  And the civil service wont forget how they've had yet another crop of noob MPs shoved on them by Downing Street, just after they got the last ones trained up.

[Junkenstein]

Flailing would be a fairly accurate assessment to my eyes. He's forced himself to jump further right to try and stem the tide of UKIP bullshit and their various populist demands. Including a few women in this round is literally a token gesture which will still unfortunately secure a few votes. Full scale electioneering is probably due to start in the next month or two. Expecting the usual photo ops with babies and mosques (Two birds - send the women to the mosques. £10 says done by september)

Osbournes silence I hadn't noticed, but then I rarely notice when that odious little turd is making noise anyway. As for Hague's replacement, I assumed this to be a more overt move to try and keep UKIP voters going elsewhere, at least from what I've read so far.

Considering the future, I'm trying to work out if the next government will be better or worse than this. Almost certainly worse if the current trend holds. That's a fucking terrifying thought on a Wednesday morning. Cameron being considered competent. Even if it is only relative to his peers it's still awful.

[Junkenstein]

There's probably tons of related shit to this, mainly a note for myself to look at this more closely later:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-28322413

Mexico police have rescued more than 450 children they believe were abused at a children's home in Zamora in the western state of Michoacan.

They were allegedly subject to sexual abuse and forced to beg on the streets.

The owner, Rosa del Carmen Verduzco, and eight employees at the House of the Big Family have been arrested.

The government said the building was home to 278 boys, 174 girls and six infants under the age of three.

Map of Mexico
Also rescued were 138 adults aged up to 40, the government said.

[Junkenstein]

News where every other line is disappointing apart from one:
http://www.news.com.au/national/nsw-act/man-charged-over-attack-with-crossbow-and-axe-at-somersby/story-fnii5s3x-1226990508256

When the arrow hit the man's laptop, the attacker ran at the 56-year-old, striking him in the head with an axe.

[Junkenstein]

What the...
http://www.washingtonpost.com/local/in-sexting-case-police-want-to-photograph-teen-in-explicit-manner-his-lawyer-says/2014/07/09/18fa6ae6-07a4-11e4-8a6a-19355c7e870a_story.html?hpid=z4

Manassas City police and Prince William County prosecutors are taking a unique approach to collecting evidence in a "sexting" case involving a 17-year-old male: Authorities want to take a photo of the teen's erect genitalia to compare with a cellphone video allegedly sent to his girlfriend, his attorneys said.

The teen's attorneys are particularly incensed that investigators want to take him to a hospital for an injection that would force him to become erect.

The teen is facing two felony charges in juvenile court, manufacturing and distributing child pornography, which could lead not only to incarceration until he's 21 but also to inclusion on the state sex offender registry, at a judge's discretion, for up to the rest of his life.

It's apparently all been dropped. Even still, will someone please start fucking thinking a bit more. If you're actually seriously concerned that the kid may be some kind of predator, THAT'S FINE. Threatening to make child pornography to presumably show a jury is FUCKING EVIL AND DUMB.

I need to lay off my newsfeeds for a few days. I'm starting to suspect that a significant percentage of the world is just huffing glue and/or meth and fucking kids. It's just relentless lately.

[Telarus]

In other news of the weird: http://www.latimes.com/business/technology/la-fi-tn-noriega-activision-lawsuit-20140715-story.html

[Telarus]

Sweet Eris' TaTas... Weird Al is KILLING it this week with the new videos.

Today's video features Leftovers and the Illuminati: http://youtu.be/w-0TEJMJOhk?list=PLuKg-WhduhkmIcFMN7wxfVWYu8qnk0jMN

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28339686

Nick Clegg has launched an attack on Conservative plans to limit the power of the European Court of Human Rights.

He accused David Cameron of lining up "with Vladimir Putin and other tyrants around the world by tearing up our long tradition of human rights".

Tory "extremists" - or "head bangers" - had won out over moderates like Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve, sacked in this week's reshuffle, he claimed.

Missing from article: "It's pretty much my fault" Clegg continued. "I could have done many things to stop all kinds of horror but the whiff of power I got was just too intoxicating".

Seriously, I'm leaning towards placing more blame on Clegg and the Liberals as they've pretty much enabled this kind of behaviour and acted as the whipping boy throughout the process. The only chance I can see for them to avoid a total wipeout at the next elections is to take a stand and call the whole thing to a close now so they can at least pretend to have one principle that isn't immediately compromised.

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28339686

Nick Clegg has launched an attack on Conservative plans to limit the power of the European Court of Human Rights.

He accused David Cameron of lining up "with Vladimir Putin and other tyrants around the world by tearing up our long tradition of human rights".

Tory "extremists" - or "head bangers" - had won out over moderates like Ken Clarke and Dominic Grieve, sacked in this week's reshuffle, he claimed.

Missing from article: "It's pretty much my fault" Clegg continued. "I could have done many things to stop all kinds of horror but the whiff of power I got was just too intoxicating".

Seriously, I'm leaning towards placing more blame on Clegg and the Liberals as they've pretty much enabled this kind of behaviour and acted as the whipping boy throughout the process. The only chance I can see for them to avoid a total wipeout at the next elections is to take a stand and call the whole thing to a close now so they can at least pretend to have one principle that isn't immediately compromised.

He's also wanting to scrap the bedroom tax. he's in rebellion mode. Maybe he wants to do something publically popular in order to smooth over the Lib Dems mishandling of a couple of sexual harassment charges and to ensure he actually HAS a career after the next election.

[Junkenstein]

I can't see Clegg as anything other than done at this point. He could start shitting kittens tomorrow and he'd still lose his seat at the next election. The main question around there is who is going to embarrass him by taking it.

That said, the electioneering hasn't started in earnest yet and this one is probably going to be notably bloody for everyone. There's plenty of shit to sling at everyone over the past few years and there's a whole new crop of vicious little PR scrotes looking to prove themselves.

I'm starting to suspect that Gove being shoved to the back is to allow him a bit of breathing space and allow his PR machine to crank away.

ETA - Also, welcome back Pix!

[Pope Pixie Pickle]

hey!

[Telarus]

Hey Pixie!!

Wow, Catch-22 alive and well in California.
http://www.foxnews.com/us/2014/07/18/california-couple-faces-fine-for-brown-lawn-after-complying-with-water-saving/

[xXRon_Paul_42016Xxx(weed)]

http://metro.co.uk/2014/06/28/someone-is-opening-a-real-life-version-of-the-krusty-krab-restaurant-from-spongebob-squarepants-4779391/

a real-life version of the restaurant, which was run in the cartoon series by the curmudgeonly Mr Krabs, is actually under construction.

And an early peek at the forthcoming eatery – which is located in Ramallah, Palestine – reveals that it will look remarkably similar to its under-the-sea counterpart.

[Junkenstein]

The pictures of it it ruins are going to be a little fucked up. Potentially wonderful PR though.

In other news, Planes. US/European flights cancelled to Israel and a crash in Taiwan.

Fun.

[Junkenstein]

The "Another glorious day for the UK police" files #44456/F:

The latest report has not named which campaigns were the subject of information gathering, but the BBC understands they include:

Jean Charles de Menezes - shot dead when he was mistaken for a suicide bomber in 2005
Harry Stanley - mistakenly shot dead by police in 1999
Ricky Reel - campaigners say police failed to properly investigate his 1997 suspicious death

The campaigns, from 1970 to 2005, were the result of deaths in police custody, deaths following contact with the police - including two shootings - and people who had been murdered.

In his report into undercover operations, Operation Herne's lead Derbyshire Chief Constable Mick Creedon said undercover police had gathered information relating to 18 families and campaigns for justice over the course of 35 years.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-28459711
It's not particularly hard to guess at some of the other campaigns which will be involved here, though I suspect the true number will be substantially higher than 18. This "collateral intrusion" nonsense stinks and reads to me like an admission that there's considerably more either hidden or to come. One question I do have is about how much of a political push this has had behind it. The incidents known so far were hardly high points for the various governments and were used as expected in a two man con.