Random News Stories

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-25709371

The inventor of the Kalashnikov assault rifle apparently wrote to the head of the Russian Orthodox Church before he died expressing fears he was personally responsible for the people it killed.

Mikhail Kalashnikov, who died last month aged 94, wrote a long emotional letter to Patriarch Kirill in May 2012, church officials say.

He said he was suffering "spiritual pain" over the many deaths it caused.

Kalashnikov had previously refused to accept responsibility for those killed.

It's unclear, though, how much of this he wrote himself. Izvestia quotes Kalashnikov's daughter, Elena, as saying she believes a priest helped her father compose the letter

An odd tale. There's benefit here for someone, but I'm not sure who. Putin/Russian Orthodox Church would be the easy and obvious guesses but I can't see any gain for them compared to silence on the subject. He seemed to have made little cash from the design so financial incentive is probably out.

Which leaves me with an old scared man facing the end and not wanting to admit to himself that he may have been directly culpable for countless deaths.

Needless to say, I think the reply from the church would be very interesting indeed.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-25641247

Parents suspected of child abuse should flee the country rather than face justice in the family courts, one MP has told BBC Panorama.

Liberal Democrat John Hemming, chairman of the Justice for Families campaign group, said parents should "go abroad", if it is legal.

But the courts advisory service, Cafcass, said going abroad did not solve the problem for most parents.

The government said family justice reform was a "critical priority".

In 2012, local authorities made a record 10,218 applications to take children away from parents.

This figure was 11% higher than in 2010-11 and 61.6% higher than in 2007-08, according to Cafcass, which said applications had been rising since the case of Baby P in 2008.

This Panorama will probably be worth watching. I'd suspect many will take him up on his idea of "bugger it - bail" and the resulting kids who end up overseas will have a variety of lives. I sadly bet that many will not end well or last long.

[Junkenstein]

Hey, who had mid-january for the Pope to start showing the crazy?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25723422

Pope Francis has issued his strongest condemnation yet of abortion, calling it a "horrific" symptom of a "throwaway culture" that placed too little value on human life.

He said it was was "frightful" to think about early pregnancy terminations.

Since his election in March, the pope has not spoken out against abortion as sternly as his predecessors.

He made the comments is his yearly "State of the World" address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican.

"It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day," he said in part of the speech that addressed the rights of children around the world.

"Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary."

Our correspondent says that the Pope's stance favouring mercy over condemnation has made more conservative Roman Catholics uneasy, but they will welcome his latest remarks.

Just to be clear, Abortion is always bad and favouring condemnation over mercy will make you friends in the catholic church. There's something to be said about how this reflects on our own punishment obsessed cultures, but I might start making some kind of point.

Laugh, Laugh at the funny Pope.

[Junkenstein]

For fans of UK infrastucture projects, HS2 continues to go for broke in all possible regards:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-25724576

The new chairman of HS2 has pledged to deliver the high-speed rail project more cheaply, as he started the job.

Sir David Higgins also told the BBC his priorities were to build the £50bn project more quickly and "get benefits to the north earlier".

There is "no other way" to make a "step-change" to the UK's transport capacity, he told BBC Radio 4 Today.

The real fun will come in after the thing is finished, found to be unprofitable and sold off at a massive loss. It's also fun to note that despite the stated "will cut costs" the number is now at £50 Billion. I'm guessing north of 75 minimum by the time it's all done and dusted.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hey, who had mid-january for the Pope to start showing the crazy?
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-25723422

Pope Francis has issued his strongest condemnation yet of abortion, calling it a "horrific" symptom of a "throwaway culture" that placed too little value on human life.

He said it was was "frightful" to think about early pregnancy terminations.

Since his election in March, the pope has not spoken out against abortion as sternly as his predecessors.

He made the comments is his yearly "State of the World" address to diplomats accredited to the Vatican.

"It is horrific even to think that there are children, victims of abortion, who will never see the light of day," he said in part of the speech that addressed the rights of children around the world.

"Unfortunately, what is thrown away is not only food and dispensable objects, but often human beings themselves, who are discarded as unnecessary."

Our correspondent says that the Pope's stance favouring mercy over condemnation has made more conservative Roman Catholics uneasy, but they will welcome his latest remarks.

Just to be clear, Abortion is always bad and favouring condemnation over mercy will make you friends in the catholic church. There's something to be said about how this reflects on our own punishment obsessed cultures, but I might start making some kind of point.

Laugh, Laugh at the funny Pope.

I don't think he's crazy.  I think he just has strong and opposing (to us) views on this particular subject.

[Junkenstein]

Maybe a bad way of phrasing it. I was more thinking that the cracks are starting to show in the nice old man façade. You knew it was coming, but he did a good show of not dealing with it for a while. He's opened his mouth about it now though so further comment is practically mandated.

[LMNO]

As far as I can tell, it falls in line with current church doctrine.  I don't see the crazy, or the cracks.


Although, it would be interesting to have a conversation with him regarding the studies involving poverty and abortion, to see how he reconciles the two.

Although the women who participated in the Turnaway Study were in comparable economic positions when they sought abortions, the woman who were unable to terminate their unwanted pregnancies were more likely to have slipped into poverty just a year later.

[Junkenstein]

Well the thing is, that's a conversation that he'll never have now. Any chance of him breaking from standard doctrine has pretty much vanished. I have no idea why, but there seemed to be a bit of optimism about this guy for some reason. I guess it was more noticeable to me as "Here's the new Pope, same as the old Pope". Like the last few posts in the science/tech weekly thread show, this stuff gains more traction practically daily and it's getting to a point where advocating the opposite is probably either done by routine, stupidity or evil.

As I can't prove "evil" (though historical evidence is odd remember) and doubt he's a fool (Managed to convince the others to vote for him) then it leaves me thinking he's saying this shit because this is the kind of shit a pope says.

[Cain]

Just so you're aware, the narrative around Chris Christie and the Traffic Problems of Petty Vengeance is falling apart.

Instead, it seems like what occured may have a lot more to do with a certain real-estate deal...

Councilman Joseph L. Cervieri Jr. said the mayor discussed the possibility of endorsing Christie late last spring or in the early summer and quickly dismissed it.

"The whole conversation was maybe a two-minute conversation," Cervieri said. That such a minor slight could trigger such a major retaliation months later, as the governor was heading for a landslide victory, is "a possibility — but what is the probability?"

Still other conjecture swirls around a billion-dollar redevelopment project that is underway at the foot of the George Washington Bridge.

"Part of the marketing is easy access to the George Washington Bridge," Weinberg said.

There's no coherent theory yet...but the possibility has only been bandied around for a few days now.

[LMNO]

What, sort of a "nice traffic pattern you've got there, it'd be a shame if anything happened to it" kind of thing?

The various emails and texts do seem to support petty vengance, but if theyr meeting was really that short, then I'd say that increases the probability that it really was some underlings fucking around and not letting the big man know about it.

[Cain]

One theory I've heard suggests it was devised to undermine the "easy access" advertising of the real estate developers, to shake them down for money for a Presidential campaign bid.

But that doesn't quite ring right either.

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

As far as I can tell, it falls in line with current church doctrine.  I don't see the crazy, or the cracks.


Although, it would be interesting to have a conversation with him regarding the studies involving poverty and abortion, to see how he reconciles the two.

Although the women who participated in the Turnaway Study were in comparable economic positions when they sought abortions, the woman who were unable to terminate their unwanted pregnancies were more likely to have slipped into poverty just a year later.

Yep. Actual people who are thrown away > fetuses that are thrown away.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Well the thing is, that's a conversation that he'll never have now. Any chance of him breaking from standard doctrine has pretty much vanished. I have no idea why, but there seemed to be a bit of optimism about this guy for some reason. I guess it was more noticeable to me as "Here's the new Pope, same as the old Pope". Like the last few posts in the science/tech weekly thread show, this stuff gains more traction practically daily and it's getting to a point where advocating the opposite is probably either done by routine, stupidity or evil.

As I can't prove "evil" (though historical evidence is odd remember) and doubt he's a fool (Managed to convince the others to vote for him) then it leaves me thinking he's saying this shit because this is the kind of shit a pope says.

Popes can't just contradict previous popes anytime they please.

[Junkenstein]

I understand that on one level, but there's still a monkey in my head shouting "WHY NOT".

A Pope that took say, a sensible stance on birth control would be an incredible force for good. Not being able to do so just seems like the institution will always be a force if not for evil then for the continued shittiness.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

I understand that on one level, but there's still a monkey in my head shouting "WHY NOT".

A Pope that took say, a sensible stance on birth control would be an incredible force for good. Not being able to do so just seems like the institution will always be a force if not for evil then for the continued shittiness.

Comes down to papal infallibility.