Random News Stories

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Although I can't help wondering if that story is somehow related to this story: http://www.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/africa/09/07/herorats.detect.landmines/index.html

[Cardinal Pizza Deliverance.]

http://www.news.com.au/world-news/snipers-deployed-in-war-on-mutant-rats/story-fndir2ev-1226590560751

I CAN DIE HAPPY NOW.

Save the rat that's surrounded by four turtles. That one is Master Splinter.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-21731368

Clegg using the Charlie Sheen definition of "Winning"

[Cain]

Haha, I thought the exact same thing when I saw that headline.

[Junkenstein]

The lack of self awareness is painful.

On a different note:

Sidorov felt moved to do something nice for this beleaguered woman he'd never met. He created a donation site on Indiegogo with the stated goal of raising $5,000 for Klein as a token of people's kindness. "Lets give her something she will never forget," he wrote to prospective donors. "A vacation of a lifetime!"
By the time Sidorov's funding drive ended a month later, more than 32,000 people had given a total of $703,168. Klein accepted the money and soon after retired from her bus monitor job. She gave $100,000 to establish the Karen Klein Anti-Bullying Foundation. She kept the rest.

When we watch the truly nasty scene that unfolded on the school bus that day, we all want to give Karen Klein a big hug. We might even, like Max Sidorov, want to send her on a lovely vacation. It seems much less obvious that we'd want to hand her $700,000.
Compare the 10 minutes of verbal abuse that Klein endures in this video to the ordeal of Lydia Tillman—a Colorado woman who was raped, savagely beaten, doused with bleach, and left for dead in an apartment her attacker had set on fire. Tillman survived after leaping out a second-story window. She suffered a stroke, was put in a coma, and awoke five weeks later without speech or motor skills. Her brother launched an Indiegogo campaign that managed to raise a smidge more than its goal of $65,000. This money wasn't meant to fund a vacation for Tillman or to let her quit her job, but rather to pay for a surgery that would allow her to eat solid food again

Short article regarding the various viral videos of late and their resulting donation campaigns. Not exactly hard reporting but it's made me re-consider these various donation campaigns. I was pretty sure they were awful before but now I'm fairly certain.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-21737627

HA

HAHA

AHAHAHAHHAAHAHAHAHAAHA

[Junkenstein]

http://www.freep.com/article/20130311/NEWS0102/303110133/Kwame-Kilpatrick-Bobby-Ferguson-guilty-racketeering-extortion-dad-guilty-1-tax-count

I'm amazed Detroit hasn't actually been repossessed by OCP yet.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/03/07/judge-in-kermit-gosnell-abortion-case-dismisses-pro-life-jurors/

This trial could have some interesting consequences. Either way the usual pro and anti crowd will spout the same soundbites.

[Junkenstein]

http://rt.com/usa/brooklyn-riot-police-protesters-127/

Police intervened when more than a hundred people joined in a candlelit vigil in the East Flatbush neighborhood in Brooklyn, New York, where 16-year-old Kimani Gray was shot 11 times by police on Saturday.

Brooklynites on Twitter reported that police followed the march and searched apartment buildings in the neighborhood without warrants, looking for children who had been seen throwing bottles at police from neighborhood rooftops.

March participants chanted "NYPD KKK how many kids will you kill today," people report from the scene.

"I'm in the middle of the riot action at Church and Snyder in my district. Right now, things are tense," New York City Councilman Jumaane D. Williams, who represents the area, said on Twitter.

Sixteen-year-old Kimani Gray was shot and killed on Saturday night after, police say, pointing a gun at approaching cops.

According to the officers involved in the shooting, the teenager adjusted his belt "suspiciously," and after they exited their vehicle to investigate, he pointed a .357 caliber revolver at them. Both officers fired at the suspect, hitting Gray eleven times in his torso and legs.

Witnesses say Gray, who was running for his life when he was shot, did not have a gun. "Stay down, or we'll shoot you again," police said once Gray had been hit, according to The New York Times.

After the shooting Gray was rushed to a hospital but was declared dead on arrival.

I've not seen a word of this in UK media.

[Junkenstein]

http://raniakhalek.com/2013/03/11/medias-absence-causes-confusion-over-kimani-gray-protest/

Closest I can find to actual reporting, I hesitate to use the term "media blackout" but it kind of looks like it. Unless young (Possibly) unarmed minority kids killed by US police isn't really news any more. I guess it isn't. It's been happening for long enough.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-21751766

Mr Postol says that while he cannot say what the performance of Iron Dome was in Operation Pillar of Defence, "all the available evidence unambiguously indicates a drastically lower level of performance than the 84% claimed by the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF)."

His view is that the successful hit rate on incoming warheads could be as low as 5-10%.

Mr Postol says that if the IDF wants to make such claims, then it should provide the data to back them up.

It seems bloated military projects may not be as effective as the PR claims.

Wonders never cease.

[Juana]

http://raniakhalek.com/2013/03/11/medias-absence-causes-confusion-over-kimani-gray-protest/

Closest I can find to actual reporting, I hesitate to use the term "media blackout" but it kind of looks like it. Unless young (Possibly) unarmed minority kids killed by US police isn't really news any more. I guess it isn't. It's been happening for long enough.

Not really, unfortunately. It's to be expected, really. I don't really trust the NYPD, all things considered, and am inclined to think the kid was unarmed.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://raniakhalek.com/2013/03/11/medias-absence-causes-confusion-over-kimani-gray-protest/

Closest I can find to actual reporting, I hesitate to use the term "media blackout" but it kind of looks like it. Unless young (Possibly) unarmed minority kids killed by US police isn't really news any more. I guess it isn't. It's been happening for long enough.

Not really, unfortunately. It's to be expected, really. I don't really trust the NYPD, all things considered, and am inclined to think the kid was unarmed.

PAGING AMADOU DIALLO!
\

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.lifenews.com/2013/03/07/judge-in-kermit-gosnell-abortion-case-dismisses-pro-life-jurors/

This trial could have some interesting consequences. Either way the usual pro and anti crowd will spout the same soundbites.

I was unaware of the case.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/10/28/andrea-moton-and-sherry-w_n_1063847.html

Holy shit, this is monstrous.

[Junkenstein]

Yup.

Just the kind of case you need to reframe the abortion debate. I would hope this is an exceptional incidence but I suspect it may be portrayed by some to be happening everywhere. Horrific shit tends to be good for creating horrific laws. Think about all the crazy GOP statements from the past year. Expect to hear them again soon referencing this, with a side of "I told you so"

And just enough people will buy it to keep the bullshit going on and on.