Random News Stories

[Cain]

I've got 3/1 odds of it happening in the first month.

[Junkenstein]

I'll take that bet.

I'll also give you great odds on him getting caught using a body double to fuck it off entirely.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27106445

A man accused of robbery and assault was shot and killed in a Salt Lake City court after he lunged at a witness giving evidence.

Siale Angilau, 25, died in hospital after being shot several times by a US marshal in front of the jury at the new federal courthouse.

The fallout from this should be interesting to say the least.

[Junkenstein]

If you're obsessively reading my posts, you may recall I'm something of a fan of Jerry Sadowitz. New show apparently starts with an appeal to help out with this:
http://www.standard.co.uk/showbiz/doherty-bouncer-tells-of-last-moments-before-actors-death-7268270.html

Needless to say, shifty shit afoot in spades. Given that he called the Savile antics about 25 years ago, it'll give me a large degree of satisfaction when that useless little crackhead doherty is caught. Given how blatant his various deeds have been to this point it's another highlight of how the media and police interact to protect certain folk. It's stories like this that Max Clifford keeps out the papers in exchange for bra shots of J-list celebrities.

http://www.justiceformark.com/

If you want to have a further look. The already available evidence is pretty stunning including but not limited to - open admission of various drug use and a statement from one guy who said he literally pushed him over the edge.

Six people, three men and three women who were at the party, claimed Mark caused an annoyance. Doherty's minder at the time, Johnny Headlock, said the singer asked him to get rid of Mark. They evicted him – Roundhill had punched him several times and set fire to his hat with lighter fuel before doing so. But 10 minutes afterwards, Mark returned. A minute later he fell to his death. CCTV footage shows Doherty and a female friend, followed by Headlock, running away, swerving Mark's body as they do so.

And as much as I hate to use them:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-499568/Police-open-probe-balcony-death-actor-Pete-Doherty-party.html

Decent article as far as the mail goes.

[Junkenstein]

Daily UKIP "totally not a racist you're misinterpreting me"
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-27176803

A UKIP candidate has defended tweets in which he said comedian Lenny Henry should emigrate to a "black country" and compared Islam to the Third Reich.

William Henwood, who is standing in a council election, said he did not think the messages were offensive.

Mr Henwood told BBC political correspondent Ross Hawkins: "I think if black people come to this country and don't like mixing with white people why are they here? If he (Henry) wants a lot of blacks around go and live in a black country."

On another occasion Mr Henwood tweeted: "Islam reminds me of the 3rd Reich Strength through violence against the citizens."

This shows one of the main reasons I fucking hate UKIP and their ilk - They're fucking DUMB. If you're going to pull this kind of shit, don't try it on Lenny Henry, the public and well loved face of comic relief and such. That can't possibly end badly at all. It's not like he's been pretty high profile in this regard for, I don't know, about 20 FUCKING YEARS.

The main concern here is they seem to be doubling down on the blatant racism. That's going to make the vote count quite interesting and probably worrying if the UK is going anywhere in the same direction as Europe in general.

[Cain]

Not to mention Lenny Henry was, you know, married to a white woman.

Much black-racist.  Very segregation.  Return to bongo-bongoland.

[Junkenstein]

Oh indeed. The man's obviously some kind of extremist.

The latest UKIP idiocy has them being defended by the Hamiltions (Of all people) over a row regarding a stolen slogan from the BNP (of all people). Never has politics looked so much like children fighting over a shit covered stick.

Probably suited to many threads:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-27144637

Formula 1 boss Bernie Ecclestone has avoided a potential £1.2bn tax bill as a result of a secret deal with HMRC.

The deal involved a payment of just £10m, according to legal transcripts obtained by BBC Panorama.

Revenue & Customs spent nine years investigating the Ecclestone family's tax affairs before offering to settle in return for the payment from the family trusts in 2008.

Mr Ecclestone said he paid more than £50m in tax last year.

Mr Ecclestone, the chief executive of Formula 1, is currently on trial in Germany facing corruption charges. It is alleged he was behind a £26m bribe paid to a bank official.

Prosecutors allege the bribe was paid to ensure that Mr Ecclestone retained control of the sport.

Ecclestone admits paying former banker, Gerhard Gribkowsky, but says he was effectively the victim of blackmail as he was worried the banker would tell the tax authorities he had set up an offshore family trust.

No surprises for anyone, anywhere. Taking bets on the outcome though as that's sure to be fucking hilarious. I'm sure it will in no way highlight the difference in treatment that the wealthy get compared to, well, everyone else in the legal system. There is also the fact that we're dealing with Germany here so who knows what the fuck might happen.

[Junkenstein]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27186339

A judge at a mass trial in Egypt has recommended the death penalty for 683 people - including the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.

The defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed.

The judge also reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March, commuting most to life in prison.

The cases and speed of the hearings have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and the UN.

The trials took just hours each and the the court prevented defence lawyers from presenting their case, according to Human Right Watch.

Shit continues in Egypt. This won't end well.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-middle-east-27186339

A judge at a mass trial in Egypt has recommended the death penalty for 683 people - including the Muslim Brotherhood leader Mohammed Badie.

The defendants faced charges over an attack on a police station in Minya in 2013 in which a policeman was killed.

The judge also reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March, commuting most to life in prison.

The cases and speed of the hearings have drawn widespread criticism from human rights groups and the UN.

The trials took just hours each and the the court prevented defence lawyers from presenting their case, according to Human Right Watch.

Shit continues in Egypt. This won't end well.

What's funny is, that - right there, without alteration - is what 47% of the United States wants for ITSELF.

[Junkenstein]

Horseshit.

There's no fucking way 47% would be happy with:

The judge also reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March, commuting most to life in prison.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Horseshit.

There's no fucking way 47% would be happy with:

The judge also reversed 492 death sentences out of 529 passed in March, commuting most to life in prison.

Right, missed that bit.  I was talking about the "no defense" thing.

[Telarus]

Cain, is it just me, or is the Saudi Princess managing to get that video (calling for "revolution") out of the palace a BIG DEAL?

http://www.newsmax.com/thewire/princess-sahar-uprising-saudi-arabia/2014/04/29/id/568330/

[Cain]

It's a pretty big deal, yeah.

I mean, that Iranian TV is also airing it is just the icing on the cake.  Despite how bad things are in Iran, it can legitimately claim to be far more open, democratic and respectful of human rights than Saudi Arabia, and to watch them poke Riyadh with this video must be utterly galling for them.

Of course, Saudi Arabian tv and internet are heavily censored, so this wont ever see the light of day in Saudi Arabia.  But it definitely puts lie to the whole "we're slowly modernising the country and improving women's rights" bullshit the palace has been putting out for the past few years, after people realised they're one-step away from the Taliban on the issue of women's rights.

And if princesses are being treated this way, just imagine how the rest of the country is.

[Telarus]

Yah, my roommate and I were pretty shocked it got out. The Iranian point of irony is quite good, thanks for pointing that out.

[Junkenstein]

Just caught the above, will look into that later on. Most interesting.

About as unrelated as you can be from that however:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-27210992

The residents of a town on Canada's Newfoundland island fear a blue whale carcass that washed up on its boardwalk last week could explode at any time.

The 25m (81ft) whale on Trout River's rocky beach is one of several believed to have died in heavy ice weeks ago.

Town Clerk Emily Butler says the body is bloated with methane gas caused by decomposition and will soon reek, regardless of whether it explodes.

Last year a sperm whale carcass that washed up on the Faroe Islands exploded as a biologist attempted to dissect it.

I can't decide whether it's a great or terrible epitaph - "Killed by exploding whale"