Random News Stories

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24112067

A Muslim woman can stand trial wearing a full-face veil but must remove it to give evidence, a judge has ruled.

Judge Peter Murphy made the ruling at Blackfriars Crown Court in London where the woman is due to stand trial accused of intimidating a witness.

The 22-year-old woman, from Hackney, has refused to remove her niqab and reveal her face in front of any man.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Cue bigotry from all the usual places. For examples, see the top rated comments here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24106142

It's apparently acceptable to discriminate as long as you do it according to your cultural norms, apparently.

If she was testifying against someone, I'd side with the court on this one.

As the defendant, I think she should be able to wear it.

In my opinion it should be either or none.

I don't know why she isn't simply reassigned to a female judge.

Well if you do this you're allowing criminals to dictate to the Justice system. That could have interesting consequences.

As long as your ID can be verified in emergency situations (I'd class being in court as an emergency, particularly if you're the defendant) then I have trouble finding a problem with people wearing what they want.

That brings up the other question of if this is even the right person on trial to begin with.

What really struck me here was the legitimised outpouring of bigotry. "Go back to where you came from" with a popular stance. It's perfect EDL/BNP/UKIP fodder. Muslims+ can't see their face= don't like it, feel scared/uncomfortable. There's something rather sad about this level of reaction.

It'll be interesting to contrast it to similar french laws.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24112067

A Muslim woman can stand trial wearing a full-face veil but must remove it to give evidence, a judge has ruled.

Judge Peter Murphy made the ruling at Blackfriars Crown Court in London where the woman is due to stand trial accused of intimidating a witness.

The 22-year-old woman, from Hackney, has refused to remove her niqab and reveal her face in front of any man.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Cue bigotry from all the usual places. For examples, see the top rated comments here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24106142

It's apparently acceptable to discriminate as long as you do it according to your cultural norms, apparently.

If she was testifying against someone, I'd side with the court on this one.

As the defendant, I think she should be able to wear it.

In my opinion it should be either or none.

I don't know why she isn't simply reassigned to a female judge.

Well, you have the right, under common law, to confront your accuser, meaning no face covering.

There's no rule like that for when you're the defendant.

[tyrannosaurus vex]

I'm an asshole, because my solution would be to rule that having a religion that tells you what to do is silly and shouldn't even be considered a serious request in a place for grown-ups.

[Junkenstein]

I'm an asshole, because my solution would be to rule that having a religion that tells you what to do is silly and shouldn't even be considered a serious request in a place for grown-ups.

I imagine your life expectancy if you gained political office to be around the same as mine would be.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24112067

A Muslim woman can stand trial wearing a full-face veil but must remove it to give evidence, a judge has ruled.

Judge Peter Murphy made the ruling at Blackfriars Crown Court in London where the woman is due to stand trial accused of intimidating a witness.

The 22-year-old woman, from Hackney, has refused to remove her niqab and reveal her face in front of any man.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Cue bigotry from all the usual places. For examples, see the top rated comments here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24106142

It's apparently acceptable to discriminate as long as you do it according to your cultural norms, apparently.

If she was testifying against someone, I'd side with the court on this one.

As the defendant, I think she should be able to wear it.

In my opinion it should be either or none.

I don't know why she isn't simply reassigned to a female judge.

Well, you have the right, under common law, to confront your accuser, meaning no face covering.

There's no rule like that for when you're the defendant.

Is that what that law means? Not that they must be identified by name and physically present?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-24112067

A Muslim woman can stand trial wearing a full-face veil but must remove it to give evidence, a judge has ruled.

Judge Peter Murphy made the ruling at Blackfriars Crown Court in London where the woman is due to stand trial accused of intimidating a witness.

The 22-year-old woman, from Hackney, has refused to remove her niqab and reveal her face in front of any man.

The woman, who cannot be named for legal reasons, pleaded not guilty at an earlier hearing.

Cue bigotry from all the usual places. For examples, see the top rated comments here:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24106142

It's apparently acceptable to discriminate as long as you do it according to your cultural norms, apparently.

If she was testifying against someone, I'd side with the court on this one.

As the defendant, I think she should be able to wear it.

In my opinion it should be either or none.

I don't know why she isn't simply reassigned to a female judge.

Well, you have the right, under common law, to confront your accuser, meaning no face covering.

There's no rule like that for when you're the defendant.

Is that what that law means? Not that they must be identified by name and physically present?

I think it means both.  I am not a lawyer, though.  I am a Holy Man™.  The two are not mutually exclusive, but that's how you bet.

[Junkenstein]

Ha.
HA HA.

OH HO HO HO:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24170617

S lawmakers have narrowly voted to cut food stamp benefits from next year despite a veto threat from the White House and opposition by lobby groups.

The Republican-led House of Representatives passed the bill by 217-200. But it has little chance in the Democratic-held Senate.

The bill would save $39bn (£24bn) over a decade, but affect four million people on the programme.

It comes a day after census data showed 15% of Americans live in poverty.

Invest in your local prison today!

[Junkenstein]

UKIP on course to be a political force according to UKIP.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-24185796

UKIP is still on course to be a significant political force in the 2015 general election despite the furore over Godfrey Bloom's comments about women, Nigel Farage has said. He said his party had "fundamentally changed" the national debate on Europe, immigration and education.

UKIP MEP Godfrey Bloom: "I made a joke and said oh well you're all sluts and everybody laughed including all the women"

This fundamental change seems to be a reversion to 1970's norms.

[Junkenstein]

Loan sharks not loan sharks according to loan sharks:

"Our detractors are miscommunicating by calling this industry legal loan sharking. Because it is blurring the edges for people as to what a loan shark actually is," says Caroline Walton, corporate affairs director of Dollar Financial UK, which owns The Money Shop.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-24032952

[Junkenstein]

Probably deserving of it's own thread

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24217252

A British woman is thought to be among militants who killed at least 62 people at a Kenyan shopping centre, the country's foreign minister has said.

Amina Mohamed said the woman had "done this many times before" and "two or three" Americans were also attackers.

Ms Mohamed's comments have fuelled speculation about the possible involvement in the attack of British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite - the widow of 7 July suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

She is known to be in East Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.

Ms Mohamed told the PBS NewsHour programme on Monday: "From the information that we have, two or three Americans [were involved] and I think, so far, I have heard of one Brit... a woman ... and I think she has done this many times before."

The Americans are believed to have been aged about 18 or 19, of Somali or Arab origin and lived in "Minnesota and one other place", she said

Information still coming out, but this feels like there's going to be much more to it. Western Jihadis (For want of a better term right now) seem to be increasingly common in the Middle East. There's potentially troubling implications with this as it implies the fanaticism is developed in western states and then being exported to where they can best fight the good fight. For other examples, see reports of Westerners involved in the Syria fuckup.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.vice.com/en_uk/read/anabel-hernandez-says-the-mexican-government-is-the-worlds-largest-drugs-cartel

On the 19th of January, 2001, the head of Mexico's largest drug cartel escaped from his maximum security prison. According to Mexican investigative journalist Anabel Hernandez, Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, leader of the Sinaloas cartel, was escorted through the prison in a Mexican government's officials uniform – accompanied by conspiring government officers – and out to a helicopter that flew him to freedom. The official government report claims that El Chapo escaped in a laundry bin.

If what Hernandez found while researching Guzmán's escape is true, it's pretty much the pinnacle of the government corruption that has accommodated and aided Mexico's drug cartels throughout their long and bloody grip over the country.

Hernandez was looking into El Chapo's escape as part of the five-year-long research for her new book Narcoland: The Mexican Drug Lords and their Godfathers, which investigates the Mexican government and business elite's ties to the country's drug cartels. In the book, she claims that ex-president Vicente Fox started the war between Mexico's cartels, and that – since El Chapo's release – the government has continued to conspire with the Sinaloa cartel, allowing the web of corruption that keeps Mexico's cartels thriving to keep on growing. 

I'll be picking that book up ASAP. Sounds like it's a good read. The cartel/government links are already established but more light this the better. really.

[Reginald Ret]

Probably deserving of it's own thread

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-24217252

A British woman is thought to be among militants who killed at least 62 people at a Kenyan shopping centre, the country's foreign minister has said.

Amina Mohamed said the woman had "done this many times before" and "two or three" Americans were also attackers.

Ms Mohamed's comments have fuelled speculation about the possible involvement in the attack of British terror suspect Samantha Lewthwaite - the widow of 7 July suicide bomber Jermaine Lindsay.

She is known to be in East Africa and is wanted by Kenyan police over alleged links to a terrorist cell that planned to bomb the country's coast.

Ms Mohamed told the PBS NewsHour programme on Monday: "From the information that we have, two or three Americans [were involved] and I think, so far, I have heard of one Brit... a woman ... and I think she has done this many times before."

The Americans are believed to have been aged about 18 or 19, of Somali or Arab origin and lived in "Minnesota and one other place", she said

Information still coming out, but this feels like there's going to be much more to it. Western Jihadis (For want of a better term right now) seem to be increasingly common in the Middle East. There's potentially troubling implications with this as it implies the fanaticism is developed in western states and then being exported to where they can best fight the good fight. For other examples, see reports of Westerners involved in the Syria fuckup.

I find it fascinating that smudgy British or American Jihadis are never refered to by their nationality.

[Salty]

 

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/23-3

Fuck yeah.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

https://www.commondreams.org/headline/2013/09/23-3

Fuck yeah.

Remember when WE used to get pissed?  Yeah, me neither.   

[Junkenstein]

The workers, 80% of whom are women, have demanded a $100 monthly wage for their contributions to the $20-billion industry, and called the factory owners' offer of just a 20% raise "inhuman and humiliating." Their current monthly wage is $38, prompting one protester to say,  "We work to survive but we can't even cover our basic needs."

In the first instance, setting fire to the factories in many cases is probably just speeding up the inevitable. Panorama/BBC article mentioned is quite good if you can get access to it. They took a jaunt round Dhaka recently and found several instances of deliberately misleading time sheets, factory gates being locked "to prevent stealing" and more.