Random News Stories

[Junkenstein]

Amateur. I've not stopped twerking since November.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Amateur. I've not stopped twerking since November.

[Junkenstein]

It's Tuesday, 11:20 AM and it's the random news thread.

You know what that means, right?

Laughter. Sweet, sweet laughter.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26019668

A man who served as UKIP's Commonwealth spokesman for a year is the former leader of a kidnapping gang in Pakistan, BBC Newsnight has revealed.

Mujeeb ur Rehman Bhutto's gang were behind a high-profile kidnapping in Karachi in 2004 and he then took a £56,000 ransom payment in Manchester.

In 2005, Bhutto, of Leeds, admitted being the gang's "boss" and was jailed for seven years by a UK court.

UKIP said Bhutto, 35, had "recently" resigned his party membership.

A party spokesman said: "When we recently became aware of possible issues relating to his past and raised the matter with him, he resigned his membership."

Bhutto said he had now joined the Conservative Party, but the Tories said they had rejected his application to become a member.

Because there are no convicted criminals in the Tory party. At all. None.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/education-26015532

There is nothing inevitable about the weaker academic performance of poorer pupils, says an analysis of Pisa tests by the OECD's Andreas Schleicher.

Mr Schleicher, who runs the tests, says the high results of deprived pupils in some Asian countries shows what poor pupils in the UK could achieve.

The most disadvantaged pupils in Shanghai match the maths test results of wealthy pupils in the UK.

Mr Schleicher says it "debunks the myth that poverty is destiny".

Need to look into this more, but there's something odd here to say the least.

[Junkenstein]

The Amanda Knox fiasco rolls on. Barely worth discussing, really.

That said:

What's interesting about this article is really the comments. Some people have some very curious ideas about the way justice works in their country.
http://www.cbsnews.com/news/amanda-knox-i-will-never-go-willingly-back-to-italy/

SWEETCAKESMARIA February 1, 2014 6:6AM
@fleetwood1955  Americans are doing what Americans typically do and that is put the criminal justice system on trial. Now all you hear about is that poor innocent girl. Well my sympathy goes out to that poor innocent murdered girl and her family.

@sweetcakesmaria @fleetwood1955 Is that what we do? Use your omniscience to explain why Amanda Knox didn't return immediately to the US or at least get a lawyer if she was guilty?  Give me a motive that is at least up to a B-movie level of plausibility?  Explain how she cleaned every speck of her DNA from the victim's bedroom but left Guede's?  The US justice system is far from perfect particularly in regards to poor defendants but we do start with the supposition that everyone is guilty until proven innocent.  Whatever Italy may say, they do the opposite

Indeed.

[Cain]

PISA tests use a bullshit methodology, a statistical sampling of a minority of students on a minority of questions, which then generates "plausible values" which are they computed to make the national rankings.

By that standard, I can show that all of Western Europe is populated exclusively by Muslim fanatics and reality show contestants.

[Junkenstein]

Appreciated. I sensed bullshit but it's always nice to know why.

[Cain]

All the evidence points to an extremely strong correlation between parental income and academic ability.  While correlation does not equal causation, I somehow doubt that a child's performance at school affects their parents careers, so I'm going to go out on a limb and suggest that parental income affects educational standards.

But wait.

If we accept that, then we have to question the ever popular and trendy notion that education lifts people out of poverty.  Instead, affluence makes people better students.

And if we want people to learn...well, that brings about any number of exceedingly worrying policy prescriptions regarding wealth distribution.  Especially in a world where 85 people own half of everything.

[Trivial]

http://whotv.com/2014/02/03/raid-filmed-ankeny-police-traumatize-family/


SWAT raid over credit card fraud.

wtf

[Anna Mae Bollocks]

http://whotv.com/2014/02/03/raid-filmed-ankeny-police-traumatize-family/


SWAT raid over credit card fraud.

wtf

Twas ever thus.

[Cain]

It's Tuesday, 11:20 AM and it's the random news thread.

You know what that means, right?

Laughter. Sweet, sweet laughter.
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-26019668

A man who served as UKIP's Commonwealth spokesman for a year is the former leader of a kidnapping gang in Pakistan, BBC Newsnight has revealed.

Mujeeb ur Rehman Bhutto's gang were behind a high-profile kidnapping in Karachi in 2004 and he then took a £56,000 ransom payment in Manchester.

In 2005, Bhutto, of Leeds, admitted being the gang's "boss" and was jailed for seven years by a UK court.

UKIP said Bhutto, 35, had "recently" resigned his party membership.

A party spokesman said: "When we recently became aware of possible issues relating to his past and raised the matter with him, he resigned his membership."

Bhutto said he had now joined the Conservative Party, but the Tories said they had rejected his application to become a member.

Because there are no convicted criminals in the Tory party. At all. None.

And, as it turned out, he was a Tory Party activist after leaving jail, and before he joined UKIP.

Oops.

[Junkenstein]

http://whotv.com/2014/02/03/raid-filmed-ankeny-police-traumatize-family/


SWAT raid over credit card fraud.

wtf

I don't mean to be rude, but have you been keeping up with this era? Kids send swat teams to each others houses as practical jokes now. For CC fraud an excessive response would need at least a few corpses.

The justification that "Money can buy guns" has been used more than a few times to justify heavily armed raids on white collar criminals.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-26039122

Libya has destroyed all its chemical arsenal, the country's foreign minister has announced.

Mohamed Abdelaziz said that this included bombs and artillery shells filled with mustard gas.

Taking bets on how long it is until "all" becomes "most". Given the upheaval in the area since the start of the decommissioning process I would not be surprised to see some CW's turn up in unexpected hands at some point in the near future. There is certainly no shortage of potential buyers in the area and it would be an ideal purchase for many.

[Junkenstein]

Hey Cain,

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-26030911

The head of Saudi Arabia's religious police - the "mutawa" - has admitted the force contains some extremists, and has promised to remove them.

Sheikh Abdul Latif al-Sheikh was quoted in the Saudi newspaper, Okaz, as saying that he would "eliminate" those he described as "advocates of sedition".

He said calls for jihad were "void".

His comments came after a royal decree on Monday specified jail terms of up to 20 years for Saudis who fight in a conflict abroad.

It also said Saudis who joined, endorsed or gave moral or material aid to "extremist religious and ideological groups, or those classified as terrorist organisations", whether inside or outside the country, faced prison.

Among the offences labelled terrorism are any acts directly or indirectly aimed at "disturbing the public order of the state", "destabilising the security of society, or the stability of the state", "endangering its national unity", "revoking the basic law of governance or any of its articles", or "harming the reputation of the state or its standing".

Similar charges were used against almost all Saudi human rights defenders and civil society activists arrested and prosecuted in 2013.

I doubt it's likely, but would you say this would increase the chance of an arab spring like event in SA? Kind of hoping that at some point external support will drop off but I appreciate this is not likely because money.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-26041963

More than 1,200 people are under investigation for a US military recruitment fraud during the Iraq war, officials say.

Two generals and dozens of colonels are implicated in the alleged scheme, in which referral fees were illegally collected for recruiting soldiers.

The fraud is said to have already cost the US government at least $29m (£17.7m) and may top $100m in total.

Details were revealed by two Army generals at a US Senate hearing.

The National Guard programme - established in 2005 and later expanded to the Army and Army Reserve - paid soldiers, civilians and retirees $2,000 to $7,500 to recruit friends and family, according to congressional documents.

According to investigators, numerous schemes were used to defraud under the programme, which saw the Army pay out more than $300m for 130,000 recruits during the Iraq war.

High school principals and guidance counsellors were said to have accepted money for recruiting students who they knew were already planning to join the US military.

There's something about that friends and family line which just makes me think "Multi-level marketing". I suspect the program was set up by someone with experience in such things too.