Amateur Proctologists

Two white ex-Milwaukee police officers have been given $300 fines for their roles in a sordid string of illegal anal cavity probes inflicted on male suspects, all of whom were black.

Six months after ringleader Michael Vagnini was sentenced to just 26 months in prison for the crimes, Jeffrey Dollhopf and Brian Kozelek were given the small fine and ordered to perform 100 hours and 20 hours respectively of community service.

A fourth officer, Jacob Knight, took a plea deal in which he agreed to resign from the department and was sentenced to 20 days in jail, 60 hours of community service and a $300 fine.

The assaults happened over two years, and the stories are strikingly similar: The men allege that Vagnini stopped them, placed his hand down their pants and probed their anus or shifted their genitals, saying he was looking for drugs.

One victim said that an officer put a gun to his head while Vagnini administered a choke hold, touched his scrotum and put his fingers in his anus. Another man was probed so violently that he bled.

Wisconsin law specifically prohibits police officers from administering cavity searches. Only medical professionals may do so, and only when authorized by a warrant.  Vagnini even conducted the illegal search a 15-year-old boy, touching his anus and genitals during a traffic stop in December of 2011.

Telling It Like It Is

A series of emails between recently deceased hedge-fund manager Robert W. Wilson and Bill Gates revealed Gates' failed attempt to get Wilson to join the "Giving Pledge" effort championed by the Microsoft billionaire. 

Giving Pledge is a campaign started by Bill Gates and Warren Buffett to convince billionaires to commit to giving at least half of their fortunes to charity in their wills.  Wilson (who committed suicide last weekend, after giving away his final millions) told Gates that the pledge is essentially “worthless” and that he wanted to “stay far away” from his effort.  

Mr. Gates, I decided more than ten years ago to try to give away 70% of my net worth and have already given away one-half billion dollars. (I’ve never been a Forbes 400) So I really don’t have to take the pledge.

Your “Giving Pledge” has a loophole that renders it practically worthless, namely permitting pledgees to simply name charities in their wills. I have found that most billionaires or near billionaires hate giving large sums of money away while alive and instead set up family-controlled foundations to do it for them after death. And these foundations become, more often than not, bureaucracy-ridden sluggards. These rich are delighted to toss off a few million a year in order to remain socially acceptable. But that’s it.  I’m going to stay far away from your effort. But thanks for thinking of me.

The Microsoft founder was not to be so easily deterred, responding (in part):

What you are doing is fantastic. You are giving a high percentage and doing it in a very efficient way to causes you have thought deeply about. 

One of our goals with the Giving Pledge is to make it more common for people to consider their philanthropic plans at a much younger age. A number of people we have talked to about the pledge have said that they are thinking through their plans now instead of waiting because of the pledge.

But Wilson slam-dunks Gates with this on-the-money rebuttal:

Mr. Gates, thanks much for your email. But as my previous email indicated, I wouldn’t have much fun or add much value to this group. You, being a liberal, think you can change people more than I think.

But let me make one comment. When I talk to young people who seem destined for great success, I tell them to forget about charities and giving. Concentrate on your family and getting rich—which I found to be very hard work.  I and the world at large are very glad you were more interested in computer software than the underprivileged when you were young.  Don’t forget that those who don’t make money never become philanthropists.  When rich people reach 50 and are beginning to slow down is the time to begin engaging them in philanthropy.

I’d greatly appreciate just leaving it at that.

Happy Holidays - London, 1968

Merry Xmas to All

All That Is Needed To Be Said

“I don’t know how much lower we can go when you see Barbara Walters sitting with those toothless morons. Why should we even know about them? Why should we be intrigued by them? I’m not sure where we are headed.”

 -- Sandra Bernhard on the octogenarian newswoman's inclusion of the cast of "Duck Dynasty" on her "Most Fascinating People of 2013" special.

Snow In Egypt For The First Time In 112 Years

God Rest Ye Harried Gentlemen

 

A man who was fed up with his girlfriend's incessant Christmas shopping responded to her request for one more look around a mall shoe store by leaping seven floors to his death.

The 38-year-old, identified as Tao Hsiao, had been shopping with his girlfriend at the Golden Eagle International Shopping Center in Xuzhou, China, when she asked to check out one last shoe store.

Having been inside the mall for five hours, Tao had reached his limit, and reportedly insisted that they leave immediately. "He told her she already had enough shoes, more shoes that she could wear in a lifetime and it was pointless buying any more," according to an eyewitness. "She started shouting at him accusing him of being a skinflint and of spoiling Christmas, it was a really heated argument."

Surveillance footage shows Tao angrily hurling the shopping bags and jumping over the railing onto the cosmetics section below.

A spokesman for the shopping center says no one below was injured in December 7 incident, and that the man died instantly upon impact.  "This is a tragic incident, but this time of year can be very stressful for many people," the spokesman said.

A Leader Is Lost

"No one is born hating another person because of the color of his skin, or his background, or his religion.  People must learn to hate, and if they can learn to hate, they can be taught to love, for love comes more naturally to the human heart than its opposite."

-- Nelson Mandela

How Many Rapes Will It Take For Attitudes To Change?

"If you cannot enforce the ban on betting, it is like saying 'if you can't prevent rape, you enjoy it'."

--Ranjit Sinha, the director of India's Central Bureau of Investigation (CBI)

When Will It End?

Five youths have been arrested in the north-eastern Indian state of Assam for allegedly gang-raping a 10-year-old girl, police said.

The incident took place on Sunday. Police said the youths took her to an abandoned house and raped her.  They were all neighbors and usually played together.   It is not clear exactly how old youths are but reports suggest they were all under 16.

Georgia GOP Loves the Hate

Paula Deen was roundly criticized earlier this summer for her past use of the N-word, but among Georgia Republicans, the embattled celebrity evidently has more fans than America's most beloved civil rights icon.

Democratic-leaning Public Policy Polling tweeted out a striking nugget on Wednesday from its survey of the Peach State. According to the pollster, Deen is more popular among Republican voters in Georgia than Martin Luther King:

Among Georgia Republicans, Paula Deen has a 73/11 favorability rating; Martin Luther King Jr. gets a 59/28.   Why am I not surprised?   Ugh.

Avicii - Wake Me Up!

Celebrate the Fourth!

Wendy's Story Headed to the Big Screen?

Former Italian PM Going to Jail for Underage Sex

Former Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi has been sentenced to seven years in prison for abusing power and having sex with an underage prostitute.  Judges also barred the flamboyant former prime minister from holding public office.  The high-profile case centered on an exotic dancer nicknamed “Ruby the heart-stealer.”

Berlusconi’s attorney told reporters he plans to appeal the conviction.  “What happened today is very serious,” defense attorney Nicolo Ghedini said, arguing that judges had not appropriately considered court proceedings. 

Prosecutors had argued that Berlusconi had sex 13 times with underage dancer Karima el Mahroug and abused his position when he intervened in May 2010 to get her released from jail, where she was being held on charges of theft. According to prosecutors, Berlusconi paid el Mahroug and scores of other young women for taking part in “bunga bunga parties” at his private residence.

The women performed stripteases and erotic actions in exchange for money and gifts. Berlusconi says the parties were normal dinner gatherings where no one misbehaved.  “It is absurd to suggest I have paid for a rapport with a woman. It is something I have never done, not even once in my life. It is something I find degrading to my dignity,” Berlusconi said.   He accused prosecutors of conspiring against him in a left-wing plot. “Communism never changes in Italy. There are still people who use the penal code as a weapon in their ideological battles,” he said last year.

The underage sex trial verdict is the latest in a string of legal troubles the former prime minister has faced.  Last month, an Italian appeals court in Milan upheld a four-year prison sentence for Berlusconi, who was convicted of tax evasion by a lower court last October.  In that sentence, he was barred from public office for five years.

Berlusconi, who served on and off as prime minister between 1994 and 2011, is arguably one of the most colorful and controversial figures in the lively history of Italian politics. For years, he has been entangled in fraud, corruption and sex scandals that have often reached Italian courts.

 

Obama Now Supressing The Rights Of Innocent Citizens

According to reports, President Obama is now putting pressure on countries from which whistleblower Ed Snowden has requested political asylum.

"The president ordered his vice president to pressure the leaders of nations from which I have requested protection to deny my asylum petitions," Snowden is quoted as saying.

"This kind of deception from a world leader is not justice, and neither is the extralegal penalty of exile. These are the old, bad tools of political aggression. Their purpose is to frighten, not me, but those who would come after me."

In the statement, Snowden describes himself as "a stateless person", accusing President Obama of stopping him from exercising the "basic right...to seek asylum".

On Sunday, the 30-year-old fugitive applied for asylum in Russia.  Russian President Vladimir Putin has said Moscow "never hands over anybody anywhere and has no intention of doing so".

Snowden also publicly thanked President Correa, praising Ecuador for guaranteeing "my rights would be protected upon departing Hong Kong - I could never have risked travel without that". He further acknowledged President Correa's "great personal admiration of [his] commitment to doing what is right rather than what is rewarding".

Eqyptian Protests Underway

Huge protests calling for the resignation of Egypt's President Mohammed Morsi and early presidential elections are taking place in over a dozen locations across Cairo, with thousands of protestors surrounding the presidential palace in Cairo.  Demonstrations are also reported to be in progress in other different locations across the country including Alexandria, El-Mahalla and cities of the Suez Canal.   Supporters of Morsi held demonstrations in Rabaa Square, although not nearly in the same numbers.   Protesters accuse Morsi of failing to tackle economic and security problems since taking power a year ago.  So far the protests have been mainly peaceful, although Egyptian police announced they seized more than 142 grenades and 440 rockets from two apartments in Cairo near Tahrir Square.

So True

When the Army Doesn't Like the News, It Censors the News

The U.S. Army banned its members from reading the website of The Guardian, the publication that broke several stories about the National Security Agency's surveillance program. An Army spokesman confirmed that it had filtered "some access to press coverage and online content about the NSA leaks."  Their rationale for censoring access to the website was to preserve "network hygiene."

The Pentagon insisted the Department of Defense was not seeking to block the whole website, merely taking steps to restrict access to certain content.  But a spokesman for the Army's Network Enterprise Technology Command in Arizona confirmed that this was a widespread policy, likely to be affecting hundreds of defence facilities.

Protests Heat Up in Egypt

Egypt's highest religious authority warned of an impending civil war as fights broke out ahead of massive planned protests at the end of the month.  The mostly secular protesters have complained that President Mohamed Morsi is corrupt and incompetent, while those in the Muslim Brotherhood have defended Morsi's presidency.   Morsi's two-hour speech on national TV this week was full of threats and accusations targeted against his opponents, which only hardened the protesters' resolve.

Standing Your Ground

Go Git 'Em Wendy!

Think About It

Israeli Forces Accused of Brutal Mistreatment of Palestinian Kids

A United Nations human rights body has accused Israeli forces of mistreating Palestinian children, including by torturing those in custody and using others as human shields.  Palestinian children in Gaza and the West Bank are routinely denied registration of their birth and access to health care, decent schools and clean water, the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child also said.

"Palestinian children arrested by (Israeli) military and police are systematically subject to degrading treatment, and often to acts of torture, are interrogated in Hebrew, a language they did not understand, and sign confessions in Hebrew in order to be released," it said in a report.

The report by the U.N. Committee on the Rights of the Child acknowledged Israel's national security concerns and noted that children on both sides of the conflict continue to be killed and wounded, but that more casualties are Palestinian.  Most Palestinian children arrested are accused of having thrown stones, an offense which can carry a penalty of up to 20 years in prison, the committee said. Israeli soldiers had testified to the often arbitrary nature of the arrests, it said.

During the 10-year period examined by the committee, an estimated 7,000 Palestinian children aged 12 to 17, but some as young as nine, had been arrested, interrogated and detained, the UN report said.  Many are brought in leg chains and shackles before military courts, while youths are held in solitary confinement, sometimes for months, the report said.

It voiced deep concern at the "continuous use of Palestinian children as human shields and informants", saying 14 such cases had been reported between January 2010 and March 2013 alone.  Israeli soldiers had used Palestinian children to enter potentially dangerous buildings before them and to stand in front of military vehicles to deter stone-throwing.  "Almost all those using children as human shields and informants have remained unpunished and the soldiers convicted for having forced at gunpoint a nine-year-old child to search bags suspected of containing explosives only received a suspended sentence of three months and were demoted," it said.

 

Kelly Rowland - Dirty Laundry

The Week Sure Zipped By

Still Famous for Making a Sex Tape: Kim Kardashian gives birth to a daughter. (USA Today)

Holy Motors: Pope Francis blesses thousands of Harley Davidson motorcycle enthusiasts on the company's 110th anniversary. (The Australian)

Lago, Camera, Action: President of Nigeria Goodluck Jonathan announces a $18 million-equivalent fund to support the Nollywood film industry. (allAfrica) 

Grisly Grizzlies: Russian smugglers carrying 213 bear paws are arrested in China. (Global Times)

So Why Do They Cross the Road: A new study finds that chickens possess numeracy skills and self-control. (Herald Sun)  

Sleeping With the Fishes: Actor James Gandolfini, best known for portraying Tony Soprano in The Sopranos, dies of a heart attack at the age of 51. (ABC News)

 

Mystery of the Moving Egyptian Sculpture

At the Manchester Museum in England, behind a locked glass cabinet, there's a row of small ancient Egyptian statues. And one statue in particular - it's about 10 inches tall - is doing something unexpected and mysterious. It has been spinning in place, very slowly, turning so slowly that it took time-lapse photography over a week in April to show it making about a three-quarter rotation. It's made full rotations, though.

The statue is a figure of a standing man, with three seated figures next to it.  Only the figure of the standing man is spinning on its own.  The case is sealed, with an active alarm to protect against burglary.  Dr. Campbell Price who is the Egyptology curator at the museum, is the only one with the key.

The statue is a representation of a high-ranking official named Neb-Senu, who lived around 1800 B.C.  The time-lapse photos seem to show that it only moves when people are walking around it, which leads to the most credible theory that the vibrations from all the pedestrian traffic are the cause of the spinning.  But that raises a new question-- why aren't any of the other figures affected as well?  Others believe that the mysterious movement is due to a pharaoh's curse.

Hearse in Reverse

Putin Intensifies Crackdown on Homosexuality

Gay activists were attacked and then arrested outside Russia’s parliament as lawmakers unanimously passed a bill that will ban “gay propaganda” aimed at under-18's.  The Duma passed the bill, which also outlaws the “propaganda of non-traditional sexual relations”.

The bill will now become law if it is approved by Russia’s upper house of parliament and then signed by Vladimir Putin, who has already expressed his support for it. The bill is the most criticized element of a series of measures that activists say makes a difficult situation for gay people in Russia even worse. Individuals who violate the law can be fined up to £100, while the penalty for organizations can be up to £20,000.  Foreigners found to be promoting gay equality in violation of the law will be arrested and immediately deported.

More than 20 of the protesters who gathered outside parliament were attacked by extremist Orthodox Christians and pelted with eggs, stinging nettles and urine as they attempted to stage a “kissing protest”.

The law states that “propaganda” of gay relationships includes, “making a false statement about the socially equal nature of traditional and non-traditional relationships”.

Gay-rights rallies and gay-pride marches have been banned in Russia as a matter of policy and the former Moscow Mayor famously referred to gay rallies as “a place for Satanists”.  Surveys frequently show that many Russians feel gay people should be “treated” and there are almost no openly gay public figures. A television presenter, Anton Krasovsky, was fired earlier this year shortly after announcing his homosexuality on television.  Putin said recently that Russian laws do not discriminate against gay people in any way, but when the new bill comes into force it will be illegal to suggest that homosexuality is a normal life choice.

Peter Tatchell, who was beaten and arrested four times for participating in Moscow’s gay-pride parades, said: “This new law is symptomatic of Putin’s increasing authoritarianism and his crackdown on civil society. It violates the Russian constitution, which guarantees freedom of expression, and the European Convention on Human Rights, which Russian has signed and pledged to uphold. Although the law is ostensibly aimed at prohibiting the dissemination of so-called gay propaganda to young persons under 18, in reality it will criminalize any public advocacy of gay equality, HIV education or welfare provision where a young person could see it.”

 

You Know I'm Right

British High Court Upholds Government Scheme to Prevent Resettlement of the Chagos Islands

The British High Court of Appeals upheld the creation of a controversial marine park in the Indian Ocean that many believe was designed to protect a U.S. airbase by preventing the resettlement of the native population.

Former residents of the Chagos Islands, who were forced into exile say the designation of the islands as a marine park (which comes with a ban on commercial fishing) was unlawfully aimed at preventing them resettling their former homeland.  But Lord Justice Richards and Justice Mitting ruled that the marine protected area (MPA) was compatible with EU law.

The British expelled the Chagossians between 1965 and 1973 to allow the U.S . to establish an airbase on Diego Garcia island, the largest island in the Chagos archipelago. The expulsion has been described by critics as one of the most shameful episodes in modern British colonial history.  The exiled Chagossians have fought a long series of legal battles for the right of return.  It is also believed that the island was used by the U.S. for several rendition flights during the Iraq war.

Chagossian lawyers said the designation of the marine park came on the heels of British consultations with the U.S ., during which the Americans were assured that the use of their base on Diego Garcia island would not be adversely affected by the MPA. 

Roberts denied under cross-examination at the high court that the marine park was created for the "improper purpose" of keeping the Chagossians out as the US wanted, and said it was for environmental and conservation purposes.

A classified U.S. government cable leaked by WikiLeaks supported their accusations.  In a leaked cable from 2009, British diplomat Colin Roberts told American diplomats the MPA designation would keep the Chagossians from resettling the islands and mean "no human footprints" in the British Indian Ocean territories.  The judges initially allowed the Chagossians' lawyers to question Roberts about the cable-- but later reversed themselves, saying the the cable (and all copies of it held by newspapers) were inadmissable as evidence.

The judges tried to explain their decision, saying there was now "a settled principle of public international and municipal law that the inviolability of diplomatic communications requires that judicial authorities of states parties to the 1961 convention should, in the absence of consent by the sending state, exclude illicitly obtained diplomatic documents and correspondence from judicial proceedings".  The ruling of the High Court failed to make any mention of the Chagossians or their right to reclaim their homeland.

Imagine Dragons - Demons

While You Weren't Looking

Kicking the Competition: At the Tony Awards, Kinky Boots takes home the most awards, with six, including Best Musical. (Los Angeles Times)

Leaker Leaves: Former CIA employee Ed Snowden comes forward as the source of recent NSA leaks. Fearful of prosecution for his actions, he defects to Hong Kong. (Washington Post)

Double Fault: Rafael Nadal Rafael Nadal wins a record-extending eighth French Open title by defeating fellow Spaniard David Ferrer.  The event is marred by two protesters, one of whom ignites a flare on court, evoking memories of the 1993 Monica Seles stabbing in Germany. (Reuters via News24)

Land of the Setting Sun: Jiroemon Kimura, who had been the world's oldest living person and the verified longest lived man ever, dies in the Japanese city of Kyotango. (AFP via New Strait Times) 

Duplicity on the Diamond: Officials of Nippon Pro Baseball in Japan acknowledge that they introduced a new, livelier ball for the current season. Previously, NPB had denied that a marked increase in homes runs from last season was due to changes in the ball. (AP via Fox News)

Antitrust Anti-Body: The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that isolated human genes are not patentable, invalidating BRCA gene patents held by Myriad Genetics. (WSJ) 

Maroon 5 Main Man Made by Media Mob

Maroon 5 front man Adam Levine is drawing scorn on social media after quipping "I hate this country" on an episode of The Voice.  On an elimination show, viewers voted off two of the three singers Levine coaches on the show.  Part-way through the segment (at 1:14 in this video), Levine, nor realizing his mike was on, blurted out the offending remark.

Most viewers, one would think, would understand Levine's comment: the American public had just rejected two thirds of his contestants.  But across the country, hundreds of viewers took Levine's smartass comment as an existential threat to liberty, democracy and the principles of the founding fathers.

"Hey @adamlevine this country you apparently hate so much made you rich. You're free to leave. Try Syria. I hear it's nice this time of year," wrote one patriot. "Can we send Seal Team 6 after him?" asked another. Others suggested Levine "move to a communist country".

Initially, Levine tried to laugh off the incident. After the episode aired, he tweeted dictionary definitions for "joke", "humourless" , "lighthearted" and "misunderstand". But social media is (apparently) very serious about being anti-American (whatever that means), and whether due to public or network pressure, his publicist was distributing a penitent press release within the week.

"I obviously love my country very much," Levine avowed. "My comments last night were made purely out of frustration."  Careful everyone-- live by social media, die by social media!

Heroes of the Feline World

H1N1 Outbreak in Venezuela

An outbreak of H1N1 flu killed 17 people in Venezuela and infected another 250, private media and local authorities said.

H1N1, often referred to as swine flu, was a flu strain that swept around in the world in a 2009/2010 pandemic.   “We’re suffering a tail-end of the pandemic,” a former Venezuelan health minister, Rafael Orihuela, told a local TV station, commenting on the widespread reports of 17 deaths in the South American nation of 29 million people.  Most of the cases were in border states near Colombia.

Venezuela’s government has not confirmed the figures given by media and local health authorities. But officials said high-risk groups had largely been immunized, with 3 million vaccinations carried out so far this year.  The World Health Organization’s (WHO) official data show 18,500 people were reported killed in the 2009/2010 H1N1 pandemic, but a study in The Lancet last year said the actual death toll may have been up to 15 times higher at more than 280,000.

Wale & Rihanna - Bad

Leaked Top Secret Document Confirms NSA Domestic Spy Program

The National Security Agency has obtained direct access to the systems of Google, Facebook, Apple and other U.S. internet giants, according to top secret documents obtained by the Guardian.

 

The NSA access is part of a previously undisclosed program called Prism, which allows officials to collect material including search history, the content of emails, file transfers and live chats, the document says.

The Guardian has verified the authenticity of the document, classified as top secret with no distribution to foreign allies – which was apparently used to train intelligence operatives on the capabilities of the program. The document claims "collection directly from the servers" of major U.S. service providers.

Google denied having a "back door" for the government to access private user data.  Apple said that it had "never heard" of Prism.

The NSA access was enabled by changes to US surveillance law introduced under President Bush and renewed under Obama in December 2012.  It opens the possibility of communications made entirely within the U.S. being collected without warrants.

No Due Process For You!

Attorney General Eric Holder has acknowledged four U.S. citizens have been killed in drone strikes since 2009.  In a letter to the Senate judiciary committee, Eric Holder defended the targeted killing of Anwar al-Awlaki.  But he said Awlaki's 16-year-old son as well as two other individuals were "not specifically targeted by the U.S."

The disclosure comes as President Barack Obama prepares to make a speech on counter-terrorism and the drone program on Thursday.  The president will "discuss why the use of drone strikes is necessary, legal and just, while addressing the various issues raised by our use of targeted action", administration officials said.

His speech coincides with the signing of new "presidential policy guidance" on when drone strikes can be used, the White House said.  According to news reports, the Pentagon has already started taking over responsibility from the CIA for drone strikes outside Pakistan. 

The disclosure of the killings in Yemen and Pakistan marks the first formal public acknowledgement of the U.S. citizen deaths in drone strikes.  Holder defended the killing of Awlaki, whom he described as a "senior operational leader" of al-Qaeda in the Arabian Peninsula.  Holder said officials "appropriately concluded that [Awlaki] posed a continuing and imminent threat" to the U.S.

Awlaki, who was born in the state of New Mexico, was killed in a missile strike from an unmanned plane in Yemen in September 2011.  The original announcement of his death did not officially reveal he was killed by a drone.  Samir Khan, a naturalized U.S. citizen who produced an online magazine promoting al-Qaeda's ideology, died in the same missile strike.

Awlaki's 16-year-old son Abdulrahman, who was born in Colorado, was killed in Yemen a month later.  Jude Kenan Mohammad, a North Carolina resident with a Pakistani father and an American-born mother, was thought to have died in a strike in November 2011 in Pakistan's South Waziristan region. Speculation of his death had been reported in local media in Raleigh, North Carolina, where he lived, but was not confirmed by U.S. officials before Wednesday.

 

 

Jay Sean & Rick Ross - Mars

I Know, Right?

Tragic Miscarriage of Justice for Guatemalan People

The victims of Guatemala's civil war waited decades for justice, and finally got it when José Efraín Ríos Montt was found guilty of genocide.  But in a matter of only a few weeks, justice was cruelly snatched away.

Guatemala's constitutional court shockingly overturned the conviction against the former dictator, throwing out all proceedings against him as a result of a dispute over who should have overseen the trial.

Ríos Montt was found guilty in mid-May of overseeing the deliberate killings by the armed forces of at least 1,771 members of the Maya Ixil population during his 1982-83 rule. He was sentenced to 80 years in prison.  But the constitutional court threw out all proceedings in the case, saying that the trial against Ríos Montt should have been suspended in order to resolve a disagreement between judges over who should have overseen the case.  

If the Guatemalan people can't rely on its government or the judiciary for justice, who can they rely on?

American Caught In The Crossfire During India's War On Women

Indian police say that a 30-year-old American woman has been gang-raped in the northern state of Himachal Pradesh.

Police said that the woman had been attacked after she accepted a lift by three men in a truck in Manali, a resort town in the state.  No arrests have been made but police have set up roadblocks and are searching for the suspects.

"Because it happened at night, she couldn't read the truck number. At around 7am, we put up checkpoints everywhere and we've been looking for the suspects," senior local police official Vinod Dhawan told reporters.  "We have found some clues at the crime scene.  A case of rape was filed after the woman had been medically examined in a local hospital.

Georgia Clergy Encourage Violence Against LGBT Activists

Police in the Georgian capital Tbilisi failed to protect LGBT activists as thousands of people violently attacked a Pride event in what Amnesty International said was an ineffective response to organized and violent homophobia. 

Georgian LGBT activists were assembling in the capital's Pushkin park for a peaceful rally to mark the International Day Against Homophobia and Transphobia (IDAHO) when the event was cut short by a throng of angry counter-protesters reported to number in the thousands. The ensuing violence resulted in 17 people being injured – 12 of whom were hospitalized, including three policemen and a journalist. 

“Ironically this shameful violence marred a day that is meant to mark solidarity in the face of homophobic violence around the world, and it shows that the Georgian authorities have a long way to go to promote tolerance and protect LGBT people and their human rights,” said John Dalhuisen, Europe and Central Asia Program Director at Amnesty International. “The authorities must investigate this violence and bring to justice those responsible for committing acts punishable by law.” 

Video from the scene depicts dozens of people apparently attempting to lynch a young man because they believed he was gay – something he denies, while making the sign of the cross in front of a nearby church. Police intervened to separate the man from the crowd, but no arrests were made at the time. The attackers at the event appear to have been encouraged by religious authorities from the Georgian Orthodox Church.  The day before the incident, the Church's highest authority, Patriarch Ilia II, called on the authorities to ban the event, saying it would be "an insult" to Georgian tradition.  

Amnesty International noted that this is the second consecutive year that police in Tbilisi have failed to protect LGBT activists from violent attacks by Orthodox groups inspired by intolerance.  “It is becoming a dangerous trend in Georgia to condone and leave unpunished the acts of violence against  religious and sexual minorities if they are perpetrated by the Orthodox religious clergy or their followers. It is simply unacceptable for the authorities to continue to allow attacks in the name of religion or on the basis of anyone's real or perceived sexual orientation or gender identity,” said Dalhuisen. 

“It was clear from last year’s events, as well as this year’s announcements for the planned counter-demonstrations, that violence was to be expected. The police appeared to have been woefully unprepared and failed once again to ensure that LGBTI activists could exercise their right to freedom of assembly and expression.  By failing to take effective measures and hold these accountable to justice, the Georgian authorities are allowing the intolerance and impunity to grow and fester. They must improve their policing of peaceful demonstrations in future and ensure that this is not allowed to happen again,” Dalhuisen added.

 

H.R. Nightmare in Space

Gucci Mane & Rick Ross - Traphouse 3

Dutch Scumbag Still Preying On Women

Infamous Dutch serial killer Joran van der Sloot, serving 28 years in prison for murdering a Peruvian woman, and who is wanted in the U.S. in connection with the disappearance of another woman, is scheming to marry his Peruvian girlfriend in an attempt to avoid extradition to the U.S.

26-year-old van der Sloot is currently serving time in a Peruvian prison for the murder of local college student Stephany Flores.  The Dutchman was long suspected in the 2005 disappearance of Natalee Holloway, but her body was never found and charges were never made.   In 2010, van der Sloot tried to extort $250,000 from Natalee Holloway’s mother in return for details about her daughter’s death.  Van der Sloot took a $25,000 down payment and then ran off to Peru, where he met  Miss Flores in a Lima casino,   He became enraged after she found out about his suspected involvement in the Natalee Holloway case and he murdered her. 

He now faces extortion charges in the U.S.,  and his extradition to the U.S. was approved in principle last year by Peru's Supreme Court-- but only after he serves out his sentence in Lima. He could serve less than ten years in his Peruvian prison for good behavior.

After he lost his extradition appeal at the Peruvian Supreme Court last year, there were rumors that he would marry a Peruvian girl in July-- but those plans fell through.

Recently Van der Sloot has been visited in prison by 22-year-old Leydi Figueroa Uced, who was last reported to be pregnant with his child (although no reports of the baby’s birth have ever been released).   If van der Sloot is able to convince Figueroa Uced to follow through with his current wedding plans, he will be able to  automatically apply for Peruvian citizenship, which will hinder America’s chances of ever extraditing him.

Unapproved Franken-Wheat Found In Oregon

Unapproved genetically engineered wheat has been discovered in an Oregon field, a potential threat to trade with countries that have concerns about genetically modified foods.

The U.S. Agriculture Department has said that the genetically engineered wheat is safe to eat and there is no evidence that modified wheat entered the marketplace. But the department is investigating how it ended up in the field, whether there was any criminal wrongdoing and whether its growth is widespread.

The unidentified farmer discovered the modified wheat when farm workers were trying to kill some wheat plants that popped up between harvests. The farmer used the herbicide glyphosate to kill the plants, but they did not die, prompting the tests at Oregon State to find out if the crops were genetically engineered to resist herbicides.  USDA officials would not identify the farmer or the farm's exact location-- but the field with the genetically modified wheat is in the eastern part of the state.

The tests confirmed that the plants were a strain developed by Monsanto to resist its herbicides and tested between 1998 and 2005. At the time Monsanto had applied to USDA for permission to develop the engineered wheat, but the company later pulled its application.

USDA said that during that seven-year period, it authorized more than 100 field tests with the same glyphosate-resistant wheat variety. Tests were conducted in in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Hawaii, Idaho, Illinois, Kansas, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Oregon, South Dakota, Washington and Wyoming.  During the original testing and application process, the Food and Drug Administration had reviewed the variety found in Oregon and said it was as safe as conventional varieties of wheat.

As of today, however,  no genetically engineered wheat has been approved for U.S. farming.  While most of the corn and soybeans grown in the U.S. are already genetically modified, the country's wheat crop is not.

The discovery could have far-reaching implications for the U.S. wheat industry if the growth of the engineered product turns out to be far-flung. Many countries around the world will not accept imports of genetically modified foods, and the U.S. exports about half of its wheat crop.

The discovery also could have implications for organic companies, which by law cannot use genetically engineered ingredients in its foods. Organic farmers have frequently expressed concern that genetically modified seed will blow into organic farms and contaminate their products.  Consumers have shown increasing interest in avoiding genetically modified foods. Several states are considering bills that would require them to be labeled so consumers know what they are eating.

Bye Bye Batshit Bachmann

Tea Party wing-nut Michelle Bachmann announced today that she will not be running for reelection. In her nine-minute web video announcing the move, she denied that her decision had anything to do with her ongoing ethics inquiry nor the FBI investigation of her presidential campaign.  Maybe it was due to the lawsuit against her for the theft of an email list-- she forgot to mention that.

In any case, it doesn't matter much-- nor does it seem to matter to anyone in her party, as there was no accolades or public comment of any kind from her GOP colleagues.  But that's no surprise, as she was little more than a carnival act, having accomplished next to nothing during her eight-year congressional career. 

While in office, she sponsored 58 bills-- 53 of which were immediately referred to committee (in other words, went nowhere).  Of the remaining five, three were agreed to without a vote: HR 373 (support for designating "National Hydrocephalus Awareness Month") HR 923 (recognizing Minnesota's 150th anniversary) and HR 79 (honoring public child welfare agencies).  Another bill (HR 850, facilitating a proposed project in the lower St Croix river) got out of committee but failed to get any action in the full House.  HR 45 (repeal of "Obamacare") passed the house, but went nowhere further (as it has failed to do another 30 or so times since then).  Impressive!

Bachmann has never wielded a committee gavel (either at the full or subcommittee level) and her amendments have rarely been considered by any committee, even with the House under GOP control.  As lame as she was, she was certainly entertaining--- and for that, we'll miss her!

It's Time for the Millenials

The Scoop on Poop in Venezeula

First milk, butter, coffee and cornmeal ran short. Now Venezuela is running out of the most basic of necessities – toilet paper.  Blaming political opponents for the shortfall, as it does for other shortages, the government says it will import 50 million rolls to boost supplies.

That was little comfort to consumers struggling to find toilet paper.  "This is the last straw," said Manuel Fagundes, a shopper hunting for tissue in Caracas. "I'm 71 years old and this is the first time I've seen this."

One supermarket visited by reporters in the capital was out of toilet paper. Another had just received a fresh batch, and it quickly filled up with shoppers as the word spread.  "I've been looking for it for two weeks," said Cristina Ramos. "I was told that they had some here and now I'm in line."

Economists say Venezuela's shortages stem from price controls meant to make basic goods available to the poorest parts of society and the government's controls on foreign currency.  "State-controlled prices – prices that are set below market-clearing price – always result in shortages. The shortage problem will only get worse, as it did over the years in the Soviet Union," said Steve Hanke, professor of economics at Johns Hopkins University.

Nicolas Maduro who was selected by the dying Hugo Chávez to carry on his "Bolivarian revolution", claims that anti-government forces, including the private sector, are causing the shortages in an effort to destabilise the country.  The government this week announced it also would import 760,000 tonnes of food in addition to the 50 million rolls of toilet paper.

Commerce minister Alejandro Fleming blamed the shortage of toilet tissue on "excessive demand" built up as a result of "a media campaign that has been generated to disrupt the country".  "The revolution will bring the country the equivalent of 50 million rolls of toilet paper," he said. "We are going to saturate the market so that our people calm down."

 

Another Warning To Those (Still) Using Facebook

Facebook has been caught again in an act that further erodes its credibility-- by censoring the free speech of users who are critical of global corporate giant Monsanto.  Facebook recently suspended of an account that posted a photo of children rallying against Monsanto during a protest against genetically modified food.  The photo posted by Facebook user Andrea Lalama shows her children carrying hand-drawn signs.

After this picture was shared on Facebook, Andrea's account was immediately suspended.

As a result, Andrea Lalama can only re-post other people's content but is disallowed from posting her own content. Another woman, Georgia Gallucci, was also censored by Facebook-- her account was also suspended by Facebook after reposting a friend's photo from the Monsanto March.

Yet another account called "Reversing Autism" was also suspended by Facebook for posting Monsanto march photos, claiming that they were "abusive."

Krewella - Alive

Tweet From A Twit

Sarah Palin entertained us yet again with her failure to comprehend current events.  She tweeted the following earlier today: 

The IRS is closed for the day, feel free to use your phones.
— Sarah Palin (@SarahPalinUSA) May 24, 2013

It's unclear how the IRS is connected to anything having to do with phones, but it's likely that Palin was confusing that scandal with the controversy over the DOJ's seizure of two months' worth of Associated Press phone records in 2012.   Oops!

High Salaries For Kenyan Parliament Trigger Protests

Protesters in Kenya have released a dozen pigs outside  the parliament building to show their anger at newly elected MP's demanding higher salaries.  The animals licked blood spilled by a protester outside the parliamentary gates in the capital, Nairobi, according to reports.

The unusual demonstration, organized by civil society groups, was intended to portray the MP's as greedy.  The MP's are demanding a monthly salary of about $10,000.  Kenya's Salaries and Remuneration Commission (SRC) has recommended that their monthly salaries be pegged at around $6,300.

Kenya's MP's are among the highest paid in the world, and their salaries have often triggered controversy.  The average annual salary in Kenya is about $1,700.  "We have spilled the blood of the pigs to show that the MPs are greedy like pigs," said Boniface Mwangi, an organizer of the "Occupy Parliament" march.  He and other organizers were arrested by police, Reuters news agency reports. 

Parliament is made up of 416 MP's - 349 in the National Assembly and 67 in the Senate.  The MP's say they deserve a $10,000 salary because they work very hard.  They also argue that they spend some of the money on their constituents - sometimes even paying for their school fees, our reporter adds.

MP's in the previous parliament awarded themselves a $107,000 retirement bonus in one of the last sessions before the election.  The package also provided them with an armed guard, a diplomatic passport and access to airport VIP lounges.

 

Capital Cities - Safe and Sound

Woman Lights Up for the Joint

Smokey in the pokey

A deputy in Sacramento was allegedly slapped by a woman trying to kick her nicotine addiction, WPTV reported. Investigators say the slapper, 31-year-old Etta Lopez, was hoping she would get thrown in jail, where she would not be able to smoke.

Deputy Matt Campoy of the Sacramento County Sheriff’s Office says he was leaving the jail at about 4:20 Tuesday when Lopez stepped into his path and he attempted to avoid her.  “I stepped to the left, she stepped to my left,” Campoy told the Sacramento Bee. “I stepped to the right, she stepped to my right. I stepped to the left again and she suddenly stepped into me and slapped my face.”

Lopez allegedly told investigators she wanted to be thrown into jail, where she would not have access to cigarettes.  She had allegedly been waiting outside the jail for hours waiting for a uniformed deputy to emerge.Lopez was booked into the county jail on suspicion of battery on a peace officer.

Sad But True

Dick Trickle Peters Out

Retired stock-car driver Dick Trickle, known for his colorful name and short-track prowess, died on Thursday from an apparent self-inflicted gunshot wound. He was 71.

The Lincoln County Communications Center received a call, apparently from Trickle, that "there would be a dead body and it would be his." Center workers tried to place a return call to the number but did not get an answer.

Trickle, a native of Wisconsin, has been a resident of Lincoln County since the early 1990s. His only victory in NASCAR's premier series was a non-points victory in the 1990 Winston Open.

Not that this story is particular newsworthy-- I just wanted to blog that headline.

Retail Indifference To Bangladeshi Workers

The deadline to sign onto the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh passed last week, and at least 10 major North American retailers refused to participate.

The agreement, which demands a five-year commitment from participating retailers to conduct independent safety inspections of factories and pay up to $500,000 per year toward safety improvements, has seen greater support internationally than in the U.S.

Major European retailers -- for example, Marks & Spencer and Carrefour -- have joined the agreement. Others who've signed on include companies recently involved with factory disasters in Bangladesh, such as Swedish retailer H&M and Italian fashion house Benetton. A 2010 factory fire at a facility that made cardigans for H&M killed 21 people, and Bennetton had a supplier in the Rana Plaza factory that collapsed last month, killing more than 1,100 people.

PVH, parent to Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, signed the accord, along with Abercrombie & Fitch, which agreed just hours before the deadline. Many U.S. retailers are still absent from the agreement, according to the Worker Rights Consortium, an international labor monitoring group.  Many of these companies claim that they are working on/improving their own safety programs.  But of course, none of those measure are legally binding (like the Fire and Building Safety accord)-- so there's no guarantee that those companies will curtail/cut back/eliminate their safety programs after the headlines fade away.

For those of you who factor moral issues into their retailing decisions, here is a list of the largest U.S. retailers who lack the courage to follow the lead of most international companies in guaranteeing improvements in safety for Bangladeshi workers:

WalMart
Gap
Target
Kohl's
Foot Locker
American Eagle Outfitters
Macy's
Nordstrom's
Sears
JCPenney
North Face

Guatemalan Dictator Guilty of War Crimes

A court in Guatemala has found former military leader Efrain Rios Montt guilty of genocide and crimes against humanity.  A three-judge tribunal sentenced the 86-year-old to 80 years in prison.  Montt was sentenced to 50 years for genocide and 30 years for crimes against humanity.

Rios Montt was convicted of ordering the deaths of 1,771 people of the Ixil Maya ethnic group during his time in office in 1982 and 1983.  Survivors described horrific abuses committed by the army against those suspected of aiding left-wing rebels.

The retired general had denied the charges, saying he neither knew of nor ordered the massacres while in power.  He is expected to appeal against the court's decision on the grounds of his age.  Rios Montt's former chief of military intelligence, Mauricio Rodriguez Sanchez, who was on trial with him, was acquitted.

It is the first time a former head of state had been found guilty of genocide by a court in his or her own country.  Other genocide convictions have been handed down by international courts.

Relatives and indigenous leaders cheered when the sentence was read out by Judge Jazmin Barrios in Guatemala City.  "The Ixils were considered public enemies of the state and were also victims of racism, considered an inferior race," Judge Barrios said.  "The violent acts against the Ixils were not spontaneous. They were planned beforehand."

During the nearly two-month trial, dozens of victims gave harrowing testimony about atrocities committed by soldiers.  An estimated 200,000 people were killed in Guatemala's 1960-1996 civil war, the vast majority of them indigenous Mayans.

 

Anna Kendrick - Cups

Can-do Attitude

As Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe focuses on boosting his country's bottom line, a lingerie company is hoping to give Japan a different type of lift.

The "Branomics Bra" from Triumph International is a play on Abe's economic policy known as "Abenomics."  While Abe hopes to bring down Japanese inflation to two percent in two years, the lingerie company says their new garment has a "growth strategy" to help bust Japan's persistent inflation problem, according to Reuters.

The concept bra features three toy arrows and a target shaped pouch, modeled after the prime minister's "three arrows" plan. Business Insider explains Abenomics this way: "The plan ... involves a massive increase in fiscal stimulus through government spending, a massive increase in monetary stimulus through unconventional central bank policy, and a reform program aimed at making structural improvements to the Japanese economy."

Swiss-based Triumph says its creation also has a little something extra up top. "We put in these pads that boost the bra's cups by 2 percent," Triumph spokeswoman Yoshiko Masuda said, according to UPI. "We hope that as the Japanese economy grows we can also help bust sizes to get bigger."

Known for its surprising intimate apparel, Triumph has also produced bras that can be recycled as fuel, the chopstick bra and the husband-hunting bra. But don't look for any of these brassieres – including the Branomics version – in stores. They're not for sale.

Classic Quotes From Charles Ramsey

Icona Pop & Charlie XCX - I Love It

Sunday Sermon

Little Mix - Wings

Safety of Women In India Gone To Shit

Most of the cases of rape of women and girls in India's Bihar state occur when they go out to defecate in the open, police and social activists say.  The police reported more than 870 cases of rape in Bihar last year.

Some 85% of the rural households in the state, one of India's poorest, have no access to a toilet.  More than half-a-billion Indians lack access to basic sanitation. Many do not have access to flush toilets or other latrines.

There have been a number of recent cases where women and girls have been raped in Bihar after they stepped out of their homes to defecate:

•     On  May 5, an 11-year-old girl was raped in Mai village in Jehanabad district when she was going to the field at night;                                                                                                                  
•     On April 28, a young girl was abducted and raped when she had gone out to defecate in an open field in Kalapur village in Naubatpur, 21 miles from the state capital, Patna;                           
•     On April 24, another girl was raped in similar circumstances on a farm in Chaunniya village in Sheikhpura district. She told the police that two villagers had followed and raped her. One of them has been arrested.

Senior police official Arvind Pandey said that about 400 women would have "escaped" rape last year if they had toilets in their homes.  The Bihar government says it plans to provide toilets to more than 10 million households in the state by 2022 under a federal scheme.  A law making toilets mandatory has been introduced in several states as part of the "sanitation for all" drive by the Indian government.

Charles Ramsey Songified

Donald Trump's New Career As A Military Expert

This week, the Pentagon released a report on the rampant sexual assaults occurring within the military.  According to the report, the number of rapes reported by members of the military rose from 3,192 to 3,374 in 2012, while the department estimates that as many as 26,000 service members were assaulted, based on anonymous surveys.   Most politicians and observers condemned the findings, but rocket-scientist real estate mogul Donald Trump had a different take on the matter:

26,000 unreported sexual assults in the military-only 238 convictions. What did these geniuses expect when they put men and women together?
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2013

The Generals and top military brass never wanted a mixer but were forced to do it by very dumb politicians who wanted to be politically C!
— Donald J. Trump (@realDonaldTrump) May 7, 2013

Last Rhinos in Mozambique Killed by Poachers

The last known rhinoceroses in Mozambique have been wiped out by poachers apparently working in cahoots with the game rangers responsible for protecting them, it has emerged.

The 15 threatened animals were shot dead for their horns last month in the Mozambican part of Great Limpopo Transfrontier Park, which also covers South Africa and Zimbabwe.  They were thought to be the last of an estimated 300 that roamed through the special conservation area when it was established as "the world's greatest animal kingdom" in a treaty signed by the three countries' then presidents in 2002.

The latest deaths, and Mozambique's failure to tackle poaching, has prompted threats by South Africa to re-erect fences between their reserves.  Wildlife authorities believe the poachers were able to track the rhinoceroses with the help of game rangers working in the Limpopo National Park, as the Mozambican side of the reserve is known.

A total of 30 rangers are due in court in the coming weeks, charged with collusion in the creatures' deaths, according to the park's administrators.  Conservationists say the poorly-paid rangers were vulnerable to corruption by organized poaching gangs, who target rhinoceroses for their horns which are prized in Asia for their reputed aphrodisiac and cancer-curing properties.

The trade in rhino horn has seen the numbers of rhino killed spiral in recent years. Over the border in Kruger, the South African part of the trans-frontier park, 180 have been killed so far this year, out of a national total of 249. Last year, 668 rhino were poached in South Africa, a 50 per cent increase over the previous year.

Kelvin Alie, from the International Fund for Animal Welfare, said the fact that the rangers may have been turned while working on such an important conservation initiative "speaks volumes about the deadly intent of the wildlife trade".  "They will stop at nothing to get to their quarry," he said. "It is tragic beyond tears that we learn game rangers have now become the enemy in the fight to protect rhino from being poached for their horns."

A spokesman for South Africa's environment minister said she would be meeting her Mozambican counterpart in the coming weeks amid concerns that the country is not pulling its weight in the battle against poaching.  "Clearly the open fence agreement has become an open season for poachers," Albi Modise said. "Rangers in the Kruger National Park are engaged in daily battles with Mozambican poachers."

Whereas killing a rhino in South Africa can attract stricter punishments than killing a person, in Mozambique offenders generally escape with a fine if they are prosecuted at all.

"Rhinos being killed in Kruger are mostly by Mozambican poachers who then move the horns out through their airports and seaports," World Wide Fund for Nature's Jo Shaw said. "With huge governance and corruption issues in Mozambique, it's a huge challenge."

 

You've Got a Point There

 

Scores Dead in Collapse of Illegal Mine in Sudan

More than 60 workers were killed when an unlicensed desert gold mine collapsed in an area of Sudan's Darfur where hundreds died in fighting over the precious commodity, the district chief said.  It was not known how many people may still be missing after the accident in Jebel Amir district, more than 125 miles northwest of the state capital El Fasher.

Production from unofficial gold mines has become a key revenue source for Sudan's cash-strapped government.  It is also a tempting but dangerous occupation for residents of Sudan's poverty-stricken western region of Darfur which has been devastated by a decade of civil war.

"The number of people who died is more than 60," said Haroun al-Hassan, local commissioner for Jebel Amir, adding that rescue operations were still taking place.  "I cannot give exact figures because no one got precise numbers of how many people were going inside the tunnel," which descends 40 metres (yards), he said.

Rescuers were using hand tools to try to reach the victims, he said, without specifying whether anyone might still be alive.  "We cannot use machines because if they came near, the ground will collapse. People are using traditional tools and because of this, the rescue is very slow," Hassan said, unable to give more details.

"I myself saw this land collapse. It started from Monday evening but the main collapse happened on Tuesday," said a miner who works in a different part of the area.  "Nobody takes the names of those who go inside. Only their colleagues or their relatives know where they are," the miner said, requesting anonymity.  They risk their lives, maybe striking gold but often coming up empty.

"Sometimes you spend more than three or four weeks without getting anything," the miner said. "Other times you get gold that you can sell for 10,000 pounds ($1,590)".  A resident of El Sireaf, the main town in the surrounding region, said he visited the remote site of the accident.  "The problem is that those small mines are so close together and if one of them falls it will affect the others. That is what happened in this mine. All the neighboring mines collapsed," he said, also declining to be named.

Sudan is trying to boost exports of the rare metal and other non-petroleum products after the separation of South Sudan two years ago left Khartoum without three-quarters of its crude oil production.  The lost oil accounted for most of Khartoum's export earnings and half of its fiscal revenues, sending inflation above 40 percent while the currency plunged in value on the black market.