Saturday, May 31, 2014
Turkish official’s Ottoman-style circumcision triggers public outcry
quick, organize an anti rally..
- A deputy governor in the western Turkish province of Bursa recently organized an Ottoman-style circumcision ceremony for his son near the tomb of a sultan, drawing public criticism and prompting officials to announce his retirement on May 30.
Mehmet Özcan, deputy governor of Bursa, chose the Hüdavendigar Mosque in the Çekirge neighborhood, which houses the tomb of Ottoman Sultan Murad I, to celebrate his 6-year-old son’s circumcision, a ritual that many Muslims in Turkey regard as the first step to manhood.
Dressed as an Ottoman prince, Özcan’s son arrived in the mosque on horseback and sat down on a throne surrounded with imperial decorations. An Ottoman military band, janissary soldiers, fireplayers and women dressed as concubines accompanied the boy and his family.
Friday, May 30, 2014
29 Boys Killed as Boko Haram Attacks Boarding School in Nigeria
(nbcnews) DAMATURU, Nigeria - Gunmen from Islamist group Boko Haram stormed a boarding school in Nigeria overnight and killed 29 pupils, police and the military said on Tuesday.
Many of the victims died as the school was burned to the ground.
"Some of the students' bodies were burned to ashes," Police Commissioner Sanusi Rufai said of the attack on the Federal Government college of Buni Yadi, a secondary school in Yobe state in the country's northeast.
All those killed were boys. No girls were touched, Rufai said.
Boko Haram, whose struggle for an Islamic state in northern Nigeria has killed thousands, are increasingly preying on the civilian population.
The militant group, whose name means "Western education is sinful" in the northern Hausa language, have frequently attacked schools in the past. A similar attack in June in the village of Mamudo left 22 students dead.
More than 200 people were killed in two attacks last week, including one in which militants razed an entire village and shot panicked residents as they tried to flee.
The failure of the military to protect civilians is fuelling anger in the northeast, the region worst affected by the four- and-a-half-year-old insurgency. An offensive ordered by President Goodluck Jonathan in May has failed to crush the rebels and triggered reprisals against civilians.
Boko Haram have also started abducting scores of girls, a new tactic reminiscent of Uganda's cult-like Lord's Resistance Army in decades past.
(source)
Malaysia: Teenager gang raped by 38 men;13 arrested
(Reuters) - Malaysian police have detained 13 men and are looking for other suspects following allegations that a 15-year-old girl was raped by 38 men in an abandoned hut, media said on Friday.
Astro Awani television and The Star daily reported that the assault took place in the northern state of Kelantan on May 20 when the girl met a girlfriend and was lured to an empty hut reported to be a local drug haunt.
The men took turns to rape her for hours. Police were also investigating whether her 17-year-old friend was also raped.
The alleged attack, one of several brutal cases this week underscoring the violence to which women are being subjected across Asia, sparked outrage among women's groups. Politicians from a Muslim party running the region said their proposal to introduce Islamic hudud law, with harsh penalties, would deter offenders.
State and federal police officers either declined comment or could not be immediately reached.
Thursday, May 29, 2014
Top 10 Political "Third" Parties Currently Active in the United States
- Third parties have an interesting history in American politics. Historically, every major party started out as some sort of underdog and rose to the top of the heap. Today, we have more choices than ever when we go to the ballot box, which brings up the question: which third party fits you best?
Well, if you want to vote for a winning candidate, probably none of them. But their success in running their own candidates doesn’t make them less interesting – and it certainly doesn’t keep them from having major effects on national elections, as the election of George W. Bush in 2000 (and arguably, the election of Bill Clinton in 1992) taught us all.
Here are some of America’s favorite, best, and weirdest third parties that you can join today.
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The way the third party platform is going in the US, we will soon be stuck with 3 major political parties instead of 2. The US doesn't need a" third' party, it needs a multi party position & g-d knows it's not the Republican/Democrat Party.
Google releases workforce demographics, vows to increase diversity
(Reuters) - Google Inc (GOOGL.O) revealed the gender and racial makeup of its 50,000-strong workforce on Wednesday, disclosing a significantly below-average proportion of minorities and women employees that it said was "miles from where we want to be."
Google's disclosure of its workforce demographics represented a rare move for a U.S. company, even if the figures came as no surprise to those familiar with Silicon Valley, an industry long scrutinized for its lack of diversity. Blacks and Hispanics made up just 2 and 3 percent of overall employees at Google, respectively, while women accounted for 30 percent, the company said in a detailed blogpost.
That compares with the U.S. workforce average of about 47 percent women in 2012, according to the Department of Labor. For blacks and people of Hispanic descent, it was 12 and 16 percent, respectively.
Drugs and prostitution add £10bn a year to UK economy
(Telegraph) - Prostitution and illegal drugs are contributing around £10bn a year to the British economy, according to official data.
More than half of that - £5.3bn - is attributable to prostitution, the Office for National Statistics (ONS) said on Thursday, while illegal drugs are worth £4.4bn.
Together, these shadowy activities are likely to increase the level of GDP in 2009 - the most recent year which the ONS has calculated the data for - by around £10bn.
Other illegal activities, such a the smuggling of alcohol and tobacco, are already included in GDP and make up some £300m.
The inclusion of illegal drugs and prostitution is part of radical changes being made to European Union regulations on calculating GDP.
Tuesday, May 27, 2014
Russia Launches Song Contests As 'Alternative' To Eurovision
(Billboard.com) - In the wake of this year's Eurovision win by cross-dresser Conchita Wurst, Russia's defense ministry is running a children and youth song contest, billed as "an alternative to bearded Eurovision," while another song contest, seen as having a similar mission, will take place in Sochi this fall.
The final of the defense ministry's contest is scheduled for Monday night, just two weeks after Wurst's Eurovision victory, which some officials in Russia slammed or ridiculed as "proof of Europe's moral degrading."
Malaysia: Muslim Groups Declare ‘Jihad’ On Cadbury
Via BlazingCatFur:
A group of more than 20 Malay-Muslim organisations say they want to declare jihad against the chocolate maker after two batches of chocolate products were recalled.
The company has said that it was informed that samples of its Cadbury Dairy Milk Hazelnut and Cadbury Dairy Milk Roast Almond had “tested positive for traces of porcine DNA.”
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This is why Malaysia can't have nice things. They should czech their Asian Privilege..
RuPaul on LGBT speech police: ‘Bitch you need to get stronger'
Big Hollywood
- Transgender activists and LGBT advocacy groups have turned against drag icon RuPaul for his use of words like “shemale” and “tranny” on his program RuPaul’s Drag Race. In an interview with Marc Maron, RuPaul dismissed the criticism as a product of “fringe people who are looking for storylines to strengthen their identity as victims.”
Appearing on Maron’s podcast WTF, RuPaul discussed extensively his childhood, history with performance, and decision to take up drag. Towards the end of the podcast, Maron brought up a controversy that has consumed Drag Race in the past month, as transgender activists and GLAAD have called for RuPaul to self-censor, leading to the cancelation of two segments on the program: a fan message segment titled “You’ve Got Shemail” and ”Female or Shemale,” in which contestants had to guess whether a person was a cisgender woman or a transgender woman.
The program has hosted transgender contestants, who released statements calling for increased awareness of hurtful language. RuPaul himself and the producers of the show released a statement in March, stating: ”When it comes to the movement of our trans sisters and trans brothers, we are newly sensitized and more committed than ever to help spread love, acceptance and understanding.”
RuPaul himself appears to have found the situation extremely frustrating, however. RuPaul told Maron he “loves” the word “tranny,” to which GLAAD and other groups have objected, and denounced censorship of words in the LGBT community: “If your idea of happiness has to do with someone else changing–what they say, what they do–you are in for a fucking hard-ass road.”
more
Read more at HERE
Prince Charles: reform capitalism to save the planet
(telegraph) - Prince Charles has called for an end to capitalism as we know it in order to save the planet from global warming.
In a speech to business leaders in London, the Prince said that a “fundamental transformation of global capitalism” was necessary in order to halt “dangerously accelerating climate change” that would “bring us to our own destruction”.
He called for companies to focus on “approaches that achieve lasting and meaningful returns” by protecting the environment, improving their employment practices and helping the vulnerable to develop a new "inclusive capitalism".
The Prince was taking part in his first major UK public engagement since sparking a diplomatic row last week by likening the behaviour of Vladimir Putin, the Russian president, to Adolf Hitler.
Monday, May 26, 2014
Retail on the verge of Fast food industry collapse
Wal-Mart Profit Plunges By $220 Million as US Store Traffic Declines by 1.4%
Target Profit Plunges by $80 Million, 16% Lower Than 2013, as Store Traffic Declines by 2.3%
Sears Loses $358 Million in First Quarter as Comparable Store Sales at Sears Plunge by 7.8% and Sales at Kmart Plunge by 5.1%
JC Penney Thrilled With Loss of Only $358 Million For the Quarter
Kohl’s Operating Income Plunges by 17% as Comparable Sales Decline by 3.4%
Costco Profit Declines by $84 Million as Comp Store Sales Only Increase by 2%
Staples Profit Plunges by 44% as Sales Collapse and Closing Hundreds of Stores
Gap Income Drops 22% as Same Store Sales Fall
American Eagle Profits Tumble 86%, Will Close 150 Stores
Aeropostale Losses $77 Million as Sales Collapse by 12%
Best Buy Sales Decline by $300 Million as Margins Decline and Comparable Store Sales Decline by 1.3%
Macy’s Profit Flat as Comparable Store Sales decline by 1.4%
Dollar General Profit Plummets by 40% as Comp Store Sales Decline by 3.8%
more
Read more HERE
Mexican man, once world's heaviest, dies at 48
Manuel Uribe had slimmed down to about 867 pounds (394 kilograms), well below his then-record peak weight of 1,230 pounds (560 kilograms), which was certified in 2006 as a Guinness World Record.
Uribe's death was confirmed by an official of the health department of Nuevo Leon state, where the city of Monterrey is located.
Uribe had been confined to his bed in Monterrey for years, unable to walk on his own.
The official, who was not authorized to be quoted by name, said Uribe had been taken to the hospital on May 2 because of an abnormal heartbeat.
He had to be taken to the hospital with a crane by emergency and civil defense workers.
Doctors have not yet certified the cause of death. In addition to the cardiac condition, Uribe was also believed to have suffered from liver problems.
Uribe married Claudia Solis in 2008, and the wedding was one of the few times he left his home in recent years.
Uribe was a chubby kid, weighing more than 250 pounds (115 kilograms) as an adolescent. Starting in 1992, he said, his weight began ballooning further.
Since the summer of 2002, Uribe had been bedridden, relying on his mother and friends to feed and clean him.
(Source)
Here we go: Singapore's newest political party labeled Xenophobic & possibly racist
Right Wing politics come to Singapore:
- ...At first glance, it appears that Mr Tan Jee Say’s new party, Singaporeans First, has some impressive candidates with very good resume.
However, I’m not very comfortable with its xenophobic stand by putting Singaporeans First and ignoring the contributions of foreigners to Singapore. Let’s face it, we need foreigners. Singaporeans are not producing enough to support our economy.
Adopting a xenophobic stand does no good for Singapore.
- More at AllSingaporeStuff.com Click
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Multiculturalism isn't working in Singapore it seems. Must be Asian privilege!
Sunday, May 25, 2014
Police hunt Brussels Jewish Museum gunman, France tightens security
must have been a Roman Catholic...
(Reuters) - Belgian police on Sunday were hunting a gunman who shot dead two Israelis and a French woman at the Jewish Museum in Brussels, in an attack French President Francois Hollande said was without doubt motivated by anti-Semitism.
Security around all Jewish institutions in Belgium was raised to the highest level following Saturday's shooting, while French authorities stepped up security after two Jews were attacked near a Paris synagogue.
Belgian officials released a 30-second video clip from the museum's security cameras showing a man wearing a dark cap and a blue jacket enter the building, take a Kalashnikov rifle out of a bag, and shoot into a room, before walking out.
"From the images we have seen, we can deduce that the perpetrator probably acted alone and was well prepared," said Ine Van Wymersch, a spokeswoman for the Brussels prosecutor's office.
"It's still too early to confirm whether it's a terrorist or an anti-Semitic attack; all lines of investigation are still open," she told a news conference.
Officials appealed for witnesses to the attack in the busy tourist district which is filled with restaurants and antique shops. The entrance to the Jewish Museum was lined with flowers and candles, and will remain closed to the public on Monday.
Occupied Hawai'i to raise minimum wage to 10.10 per hour
Via USAToday:
HONOLULU (AP) — Hawaii has raised its minimum wage to US$10.10 per hour, putting the state among the first to meet President Obama's goal of increasing the minimum wage nationwide.
Gov. Neil Abercrombie signed the minimum wage bill into law in a ceremony Friday, marking the first time Hawaii's minimum wage will be raised from $7.25 since 2007.
The increase will be phased in gradually over four years. Abercrombie said he wished the hike was coming quicker, but "we're swimming in the water that we're in."
"I always thought it's not a minimum wage, it's a survival wage," Abercrombie said. "And in today's world, that minimum wage is not a survival wage, certainly in Hawaii."
Hawaii is the third state this year to increase its minimum wage to US$10.10 per hour, following Connecticut and Maryland, said Jack Temple, policy analyst for the National Employment Law Project.
Pope prays at Israeli wall in unprecedented gesture
(Telegraph) - Pope Francis prayed in silence and pressed his forehead against the wall that separates Jerusalem from the West Bank town of Bethlehem on Sunday, during a visit which Palestinians claimed as affirmation of their claim to statehood.
In an unscheduled stop during his visit to Bethlehem, the town where Christ was born, the Pope ordered his white Popemobile to stop as it passed the separation barrier built by the Israelis.
He prayed for a few minutes at the graffiti-daubed section of the wall, beneath a watch tower manned by Israeli soldiers.
"He got down from the Popemobile and walked up to the wall," said the Rev Federico Lombardi, the Vatican spokesman. "He remained there for some minutes, praying silently. He then touched the wall with his forehead."
It was an unprecedented gesture which delighted Palestinians. They were also pleased that during his various addresses in Bethlehem, Francis used the term "State of Palestine".
Saturday, May 24, 2014
Fast food Jihad: How Raising the Minimum Wage Destroys Jobs
Equal pay for everybody!
- McDonald's announced this month that it will deploy computer kiosks at 7,000 restaurants in Europe, allowing customers to place their own orders and pay by swiping their own credit card. Another restaurant chain, Panera, is deploying the computer kiosks for customers in the U.S., a development that Bloomberg News reported under the headline, "More Kiosks, Fewer Cashiers Coming Soon To Panera."
The fast-food trade publication QSR reports that a McDonald's in Laguna Niguel, California, is experimenting with iPads that let customers customize their hamburgers. A White Castle in Columbus, Ohio, has deployed computer kiosks that let customers place their own orders, unassisted by a paid human being. "Both Chili's and Applebee's recently announced that they are adding tablets throughout their restaurants, allowing customers to order and pay at their tables," the QSR story says.
Nextep Systems, a Troy, Michigan-based firm that specializes in touch-screen self-order systems, says its sales for 2013 were up 50 percent from the prior year. At some point, you won't even need the kiosk—you'll be able to order from an app on your smartphone, maybe even before you arrive at the restaurant.
And it's not only restaurants. Even Costco, a firm that President Obama has praised for its labor practices, features self-checkout lanes where customers scan the bar codes on their own purchases, then pay by swiping a credit card and signing on a computer scanner. No cash-register employee needed, whether at minimum wage or "living wage."
For the restaurants and customers, the technology has potential benefits besides savings on labor costs. Accuracy is supposedly improved, and the restaurants seem to hope they can sell more food to customers who don't have to worry about being embarrassed when they ask out loud for that supersize fries.
Indian dentist in US tries to extract 20 teeth at once, kills patient
timesofindia:
NEW YORK: The license of an Indian dentist was revoked in the US after he attempted to extract 20 teeth from the mouth of a 64-year-old woman in one sitting which led to her death.
The dentist, Dr Rashmi Patel was performing the procedure on Judith Gan on February 17 when she gurgled and lost consciousness.
The procedure included placing implants in the woman's mouth after removing the teeth, according to the New York Daily News.
The paper quoted Patel's assistant as saying that he had requested him to stop the procedure before calling the emergency services.
"He wanted to complete the placement of implants as the assistant begged Patel to stop working, and finally ran out and called 911, but the patient had already flat-lined," the state department of public health wrote in a report.
Friday, May 23, 2014
Actress Shailene Woodley Says, ‘I Like Men’; Feminists Outraged!
That's so gay
- In a recent interview with Time magazine, the actress Shailene Woodley was asked if she considered herself a feminist.
“No,” said Ms. Woodley, 22. “Because I love men, and I think the idea of ‘raise women to power, take the men away from the power’ is never going to work out because you need balance.”
This was such an outrage that it required a 1,600-word article in the New York Times to tell Ms. Woodley how wrong she is, even after she was denounced by every Angry Marxist Lesbian Man-Hater with a blog or Twitter account. Evidently, every woman who has ever held a job earning more than minimum wage owes her achievements to the feminist movement, so that for any professional woman to say “I am not a feminist” — well, this cannot be permitted.
Israel wants to give Mount Zion & the tomb of David to the Vatican?
What would make Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu want to hand over Mount Zion and the Tomb of David to the Vatican? One member of the Knesset has publicly stated that Chief Sephardic Rabbi Yitzchak Yosef has informed him that Netanyahu has formally asked for halakhic permission to give the Tomb of David to the Roman Catholic Church.
And there have been persistent rumors of secret negotiations between the Israeli government and the Vatican regarding Mount Zion and the Tomb of David. So why would Netanyahu want to do such a thing? In any peace deal with the Palestinians, the Tomb of David and the Mount Zion complex should remain under Israeli control. So what is Netanyahu thinking?
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Catholic supremacists won't stop until they have the State of Israel under their Satanic grip: they got political Muslims already trying to destroy the place. G-d help us!
US: Man who did not know he was not a US citizen voted in at least ten presidential elections
Via Blazingcatfur:
- Fifty-eight-year-old Mario Hernandez was born in Cuba and came to the U.S. with his parents in the 1960s, a few years after his native land was taken over by communists.
This Wednesday, the New York Times reports from Miami, he became an American citizen: “It turns out that Mr. Hernandez, despite having voted in every major election since Jimmy Carter’s in 1976 and working for two state agencies and two federal agencies, including as a longtime supervisor for the Bureau of Prisons, was not even a United States resident.”
[...]
Hernandez’s case “represents a broken immigration system,” his lawyer, Elizabeth Ricci, tells the Times. No doubt about that. But it represents something else, too: a broken voting system.
Noncitizens, including legal resident aliens, are forbidden to vote in every state. States that have sought to incorporate verification of citizenship into the voter-registration process have encountered obstacles from the Obama administration and denunciations from the New York Times.
Thursday, May 22, 2014
Mexico reports deadly pig virus in 17 states out of 19 tested
(Reuters) - Mexico reported outbreaks of the deadly Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea virus (PEDv) in 17 states out of 19 tested, the World Animal Health Organization (OIE) said.
Following reports of unusually high mortality, mainly in piglets, in the central-western part of the country, Mexican veterinary officials tested 2,309 samples between August 2013 and May 2014 in farms and slaughterhouses, the Mexican agriculture ministry told the OIE.
These showed that 30 percent were positive for porcine epidemic diarrhea, suggesting that there may be some other causative agent involved in this event, the ministry said.
The OIE posted the report on its own website on Thursday.
Mexico has 31 states plus the federal district of Mexico.
US: Congressman: Obama empowering Boko Haram
(WND) WASHINGTON – A congressman is warning that Barack Obama’s terrorism policies not only appease Islamic jihadists such as the al-Qaida-linked Boko Haram, they empower such radicals, possibly contributing to the abduction of almost 300 Nigerian schoolgirls last month.
The policies also may have led to the murder of a family two years ago in the village where the girls attended school.
“As someone whose cousins were Christian missionaries in Africa, I have a difficult time watching the current administration appear to spend more time empowering radical Islamists in various countries than defending or protecting Christians,” Rep. Louie Gohmert, R-Texas, told WND.
Gohmert proposes a quick and uncomplicated solution to what policymakers are calling a religious cleansing at the hands of radical Islamic groups in northern African countries such as Nigeria.
“If this administration went after Boko Haram the way Bush went after the Taliban, a few hundred special ops and intelligence personnel could be embedded, give air support, then totally defeat them without repeating the Bush administration’s mistake when they added tens of thousands of troops that became ‘occupiers,’ and engaged in nation-building,” Gohmert said.
“We can and should help Nigerians defeat radical Islamists, then get out,” he said.
Read more Here
Conchita Wurst caused Balkan floods after Eurovision win, say church leaders
Dear Catholics, this is why nobody likes you.
(telegraph) - Conchita Wurst is responsible for flooding that left over 50 people dead earlier this month, church leaders in the Balkans have claimed.
The Austrian drag artist, whose real name is Thomas Neuwirth, seized international attention after winning Eurovision 2014 with his hit Rise Like a Phoenix.
However, several church leaders have now claimed the recent devastating flooding across the Balkans, which was the worst in a century and left over 50 people dead, was "divine punishment" for Conchita's victory.
"This [flood] is not a coincidence, but a warning," Patriarch Amfilohije of Montenegro said, according to e.novine.com. "G-d sent the rains as a reminder that people should not join the wild side."
Homeless: Tent Cities on the Rise as Foreclosure Crisis Returns
(thetrumpet) - The state of New Jersey, along with Camden county and city, began evicting squatters from five tent cities in Camden on May 13. Meanwhile, the number of people losing their homes to foreclosures is skyrocketing again, despite popular belief that the housing crisis is over.
Hazmat teams, tractors and forklifts began demolishing and cleaning up the Camden encampments last week. It may be a blessing to nearby communities, but with city shelters at capacity, many of these homeless will be forced to move—probably to set up camp in someone else’s backyard.
In Portland, Oregon, “Dignity Village,” an encampment set up by homeless people, is now 14 years old.
Despite the demolitions in Camden and elsewhere, the National Law Center on Homelessness and Poverty says that following the 2007 economic downturn and supposed recovery, the number of tent cities popping up in the United States is on the rise again.
According to the center, there are at least 100 large encampments across the U.S., some multiple years old like Dignity Village. Some encampments are orderly, with mayor-like officials, curfews and strict regulations on joining the community. Others are trash-strewn, lawless and filled with everything from human waste to drug paraphernalia.
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See what happens when you let money rule the world? The end results are totally worth it.
Wednesday, May 21, 2014
Mexico City hit for guilt-trip breast-feeding ads.
Via WichitaEagle:
MEXICO CITY — Mexico City thought it had a racy but catchy ad campaign for its effort boost the low level of breast-feeding by Mexican mothers, going with a slogan that roughly translates as "give your breast to you child, don't turn your back on them."
But the ads have drawn a storm of protest. Mothers and women's groups say the government is guilt-tripping women instead of addressing real-life barriers to breast-feeding. Many say many Mexican women need proper nutrition, more information, more maternity leave and permission to breast-feed or pump milk at work.
The ads "condemn mothers, rather than informing them about breast-feeding, and they reduce a social problem with multiple players — fathers as well as mothers, workplaces, health authorities, and public spaces and the community at large — to one person: the mother," a group of activists wrote in a complaint to the city's human rights commission.
Devastating earthquake strikes central Virginia
Magnitude 3.2
(foxnews) RICHMOND, Va. – A small earthquake shook central Virginia on Wednesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but while it rattled nerves there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 3.2, happened at 9:47 p.m. and was centered 32 miles west of the capital of Richmond, the USGS said.
Local television stations reported that numerous residents of Amelia and Powhatan counties, and some from Richmond, called in saying they had felt the quake.
Amelia County Sheriff Rick Walker was quoted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as saying that he was unaware of any reports of damage.
"So far, they just got a bunch of calls about the noise and the shaking," Walker said.
(foxnews) RICHMOND, Va. – A small earthquake shook central Virginia on Wednesday night, the U.S. Geological Survey said, but while it rattled nerves there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 3.2, happened at 9:47 p.m. and was centered 32 miles west of the capital of Richmond, the USGS said.
Local television stations reported that numerous residents of Amelia and Powhatan counties, and some from Richmond, called in saying they had felt the quake.
Amelia County Sheriff Rick Walker was quoted by the Richmond Times-Dispatch as saying that he was unaware of any reports of damage.
"So far, they just got a bunch of calls about the noise and the shaking," Walker said.
U.S. deploys military to help search for Nigerian girls
#BringBackMyGirls
(Reuters) - The United States has deployed about 80 military personnel to Chad in its effort to help find and return more than 200 Nigerian schoolgirls kidnapped by Islamist militant group Boko Haram, President Barack Obama told Congress on Wednesday.
"These personnel will support the operation of intelligence, surveillance, and reconnaissance aircraft for missions over northern Nigeria and the surrounding area," Obama said in a letter to congressional leaders.
Tuesday, May 20, 2014
Burger King No Longer Using “Have It Your Way” Slogan
Via iowntheworld
CBS-
NEW YORK— After 40-years of the slogan “Have It Your Way,” Burger King is scrapping it in favor of the more personal “Be Your Way.”
The chain says the new tag line will roll out across itsmarketing in the U.S., including in a TV ad that will begin airing Monday night. The line made its first appearance in an online video last month.
Burger King says that the new motto is intended to remind people that “they can and should live how they want anytime. It’s ok to not be perfect … Self-expression is most important and it’s our differences that make us individuals instead of robots.”
More
California mayor says bullying victims should 'grow a pair'
(LATimes) - A central California mayor recently sparked controversy over his suggestion that victims of bullying "grow a pair" in response to a student-led anti-bullying effort.
Porterville Mayor Cameron Hamilton's comments came after a city councilwoman on May 6 asked the City Council to support the programme, which would establish off-campus safe zones citywide for teens who are being bullied after school.
"I mean, I am against bullying, but I am getting damn tired of it being used as a mantra for everything that ills the world when all most people have to do is a grow a pair and stick up for them damn selves," he said during the council meeting.
Councilwoman Virginia Gurrola, who introduced the program, quickly snapped back at Hamilton.
"It is hard to stand up and maybe grow a pair when you are maybe a 10-year-old little girl," she said.
Minnesota Just Became the First State to Ban Anti-Bacterial Soap
(gizmodo) - If you've ever washed your hands with anti-bacterial soap, there's a good chance you were rubbing yourself down with a chemical called triclosan—a chemical that's been proven to be harmful in humans in recent years. Now, Minnesota has become the first state to officially ban it. And yours could be next.
The Minnesota ban, which doesn't actually go into effect until January 1, 2017, applies to pretty much any retail consumer hygiene products that includes triclosan as an active ingredient—including about 75 percent of anti-bacterial soaps.
The FDA claims there's no evidence that triclosan soap is any more effective at washing away germs than non-antibacterial soap and water. What's more, according to recent studies, triclosan can "disrupt hormones critical for reproduction and development, at least in lab animals, and contribute to the development of resistant bacteria." So not only is this chemical not doing you any real good, it could actually be harming you, too.
Minnesota may be the first to pass an overarching ban, but there's a good chance other states will follow suit; triclosan is even getting some heavier regulations nation-wide. Just this past December, the FDA ruled that anti-bacterial soap manufactures would have to prove that their soaps are not only safe, but also more effective than plain soap or water. Which sounds like something they probably should have been doing all along.
Minnesota: Mdewakanton Tribe Sues For Land Reclamation
MINNEAPOLIS (WCCO) — The Mdewakanton Sioux community has filed a lawsuit with the government to reclaim what they say is tribal land.
The tribe says a declaration from the Secretary of the Interior in 1863 set aside a 12-square mile radius of Redwood, Renville and Sibley counties for the Sioux.
A hostile environment prevented them from physically moving to the area at the time.
The Mdewakanton now want the land to establish a reservation. Tribe member Sheldon Wolfchild says what was written 150 years ago means their heirs should inherit the land.
“I know that they’re proud that we’re continuing this battle for the land that they fought for,” Wolfchild said.
The land is currently owned by farmers and the three counties.
Pennsylvania strikes down gay marriage ban in defiance of democracy
U.S. District Judge John E. Jones III called the plaintiffs — a widow, 11 couples and one couple's teenage daughters — courageous for challenging the constitutionality of the ban passed by lawmakers in 1996.
"We are a better people than what these laws represent, and it is time to discard them into the ash heap of history," the judge wrote.
The judge declined to put his ruling on hold for a possible appeal by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, so it went into immediate effect. The governor, who opposes gay marriage, did not issue a statement or indicate whether he would appeal. However, his state party chairman complained that an "activist" judge had usurped the power of the Legislature.
Amid a frenzy of celebration across the commonwealth, county offices in Philadelphia stayed open late to handle marriage applications, while officials in Pittsburgh were closed for election day but accepting them online. Couples must wait three days before getting married, unless a sympathetic judge grants a waiver.
Brit scientists produce Halal Pigs via genetic manipulation
Via Blazingcatfur:
Must be true, the French say so.
"Brit researchers have managed to produce Halal pigs by the introduction of chicken genes."
Must be true, the French say so.
"Brit researchers have managed to produce Halal pigs by the introduction of chicken genes."
Monday, May 19, 2014
Village People Banned From School Talent Show for Being Racist
(moonbattery) - Like an algae infestation that consumes all the oxygen in a pond until every fish has died, political correctness is choking all life out of our civilization. Virtually any spontaneous demonstration of our national personality is a thought crime. Even the Village People, a multi-ethnic gay-friendly disco act that would seem to be diversity incarnate, has been banned as racist:
Has “Y.M.C.A.” ever struck you as a racist song? Well, one North Dakota parentcomplained about a school performance of the song, and her complaint got Bennett Elementary School to pull the song from the school’s talent show in May. However, the complaint had nothing to do with the content of the song itself, but the fact that the group that sings it, the Village People, has one member that dresses up like a Native American.
The school said students should dress up like the Village People for the performance, because the song would be performed by the entire first grade class, but the mother complained it would be “offensive” for children to come dressed to school like Native Americans. She explained, “Hopefully those people that are can make the right choices so all students of any culture and race won’t feel singled out or like their race is being stereotyped against.”
So educrats pulled the song to please the P.C. prig.
If naming sports teams after Indians is racist, then why wouldn’t dressing up as one be racist too?
Even being an Indian may be racist. Felipe Rose, the guy who dresses up as an Indian in the Village People, is part Sioux, a tribe indigenous to the Dakotas.
There will be nothing left of our culture but grim, humorless, monochromatic obedience if people don’t develop the spine to stand up to political correctness and the moonbat martinets who impose it.
Floods affect over 1 million in the Balkans, destruction 'terrifying'
- Areas primarily affected include the former Yugoslavia.
(Reuters) - Bosnia said on Monday that more than a quarter of its 4 million people had been affected by the worst floods to hit the Balkans in living memory, comparing the "terrifying" destruction to that of the country's 1992-95 war.
The extent of the devastation became apparent in Serbia too, as waters receded in some of the worst-hit areas to reveal homes toppled or submerged in mud, trees felled and villages strewn with the rotting corpses of livestock.
The regional death toll reached more than 40, after the heaviest rainfall since records began 120 years ago caused rivers to burst their banks and triggered hundreds of landslides.
Sunday, May 18, 2014
Mexico captures leader of drug gang in violent state
(Reuters) - The Mexican government said on Saturday it had captured the leader of a drug gang allied with a dangerous cartel in the violent southwestern state of Guerrero.
Mexican police arrested Leonor Nava, boss of Los Rojos (The Reds) in Tecpan de Galeana northwest of the beach resort of Acapulco, the biggest city in Guerrero, National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido told a news conference.
Known as "El Tigre" (the tiger), Nava is suspected of trafficking drugs to the United States, extortion and kidnapping. He is also being investigated in connection with the murder of eight army soldiers in December 2008, Rubido said.
Los Rojos are allies of the Beltran Leyva drug cartel, which fractured into several groups after its leader Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed by marines in 2009.
Rubido said Nava, 45, was the main leader of Los Rojos.
Guerrero is one of Mexico's most violent regions and borders the Pacific state of Michoacan, which the government has had to reinforce this year to beat down another drug cartel.
Switzerland rejects world's highest minimum wage
(BBC) - Swiss voters have overwhelmingly rejected a proposal to introduce what would have been the highest minimum wage in the world in a referendum.
Under the plan, employers would have had to pay workers a minimum 22 Swiss francs (about $25; £15; 18 euros) an hour.
Supporters said the move was necessary for people to live a decent life.
But critics argued that it would raise production costs and increase unemployment.
The minimum wage proposal was rejected by 76% of voters. Supporters had argued it would "protect equitable pay" but the Swiss Business Federation said it would harm low-paid workers in particular.
The issue was the most prominent of several referendums held on Sunday.
Friday, May 16, 2014
Fighting for your baby's foreskin
****
No word on if they are against female circumcision, since it's so rampant in places like Africa & the middle East. It seems that males only matter for their loony crusade of a piece of skin. Besides it grows back!
Thursday, May 15, 2014
Kansas: Boy Who Found $10,000 Can’t Keep It
- A boy who found $10,000 in a Kansas City hotel room won’t get to keep the cash even though it remains unclaimed.
Tyler Schaefer stumbled upon the neatly stacked bills in a hotel drawer last May 25 and handed it over to two uniformed off-duty police officers working at the hotel.
The Police Department is still storing the money. If an owner is not identified after four more years, the money will go to the state treasurer’s office.
State law requires finders such as Tyler to file an affidavit with a state court judge within 10 days and physically post a list describing the money on the courthouse door and at four other public places in the city, which he didn’t do.
Moscow bans parade honoring Eurovision drag queen
ugh..
MOSCOW (AP) — Moscow authorities have turned down gay activists' application to hold a parade honoring drag queen Conchita Wurst, winner of this year's Eurovision song contest.
Wurst's appearance in the continental cavalcade of cheesy pop and garish costumes sparked controversy in Russia, where some called for state television to edit out Wurst from the finals' live broadcast.
Although homosexuality was decriminalized in Russia in 1990s, animosity toward gays remains strong in Russia. The county last year passed a law banning the dissemination to minors of so-called "gay propaganda" and routinely rejects applications to hold gay rights demonstrations.
Alexei Maiorov, head of Moscow's security department, was quoted by the Interfax news agency Thursday as saying the Wurst parade was rejected because of concerns it would provoke clashes between gays and their opponents.
Events to mark 60 years since Topeka’s Brown v. Board broke the back of Jim Crow.
(Kansas.com) - It has been 60 years since the landmark U.S. Supreme Court decision in Brown v. Board of Education was handed down.
The decision – which struck down an earlier court decision that upheld the practice of “separate but equal” – offered hope and opened doors.
“The strategy of the lawyers and NAACP was to eliminate and break the back of Jim Crow,” said Deborah Dandridge, archivist for the University of Kansas’ African-American Collections in Lawrence. “Jim Crow” was the collective name given to segregation laws.
“Once the separate-but-equal issue was challenged in public schools, all the rest fell away,” Dandridge said. “It broke the back of Jim Crow.”
First Lady Michelle Obama will speak Friday in Topeka to commemorate the decision’s anniversary, which was handed down May 17, 1954. Obama will speak at 6 p.m. to graduating seniors in the Topeka school district at the Kansas Expocentre. The event is not open to the public but will be livestreamed at www.ustream.tv/channel/high-school-commencement.
Saudi Arabia: Farmers flout Mers warning by kissing camels
(BBC) - People are taking photos and videos of themselves kissing camels in defiance of a warning from Saudi health authorities not to go near the animals, which have been linked to the deadly Mers virus.
In recent days, Saudi Arabia has urged people to wear masks and gloves when dealing with camels, to stay away from raw camel meat and camel milk, and not to go near sick animals, the newspaper Gulf News reports. But some people have refused to listen to the government's advice, posting videos and sending messages in support of camels.
In one video, a man stands between a pair of camels and asks it to sneeze. "Look at me! Sneeze, sneeze! They say there's Corona in this," the man says, while hugging and kissing his two camels. Then he shakes one of the camels' heads and says, "She says no. Is there Corona in you? She says no."
The fight for a global minimum wage: Fast Food workers go on strike for better pay
(Reuters) - On Thursday, fast-food workers in more than 30 countries across six continents will take coordinated action on an unprecedented scale. In the United States, they will walk off their jobs in 150 cities — the largest strike ever. Workers around the world will join these protests in 80 cities.
The protestors are set to take over a McDonald’s during lunchtime rush hour in Belgium; hold flash-mobs at McDonald’s restaurants across the Philippines, and conduct a teach-in at McDonald’s headquarters in New Zealand.
The spread of the fast-food movement to the global stage is notable for the speed at which it has happened. What began as a single strike in New York City in November 2012, with roughly 200 workers participating, has in 18 months spread across the country and now across national borders. The efforts of fast-food workers have captured the nation’s attention, been featured in President Barack Obama’s speeches on inequality and inspired local elected officials to raise minimum wages.
Read the rest HERE
Wednesday, May 14, 2014
Pharmaceutical Industry Reeling As More Moms Making Vaccines At Home
NEW YORK—A wave of concern reportedly spread through the pharmaceutical industry this week as several major drug companies reported a dip in quarterly earnings, with experts placing the blame largely on the growing trend of mothers choosing to make vaccines for their children at home.
According to medical industry observers, the homemade inoculations, which are often assembled from scratch in kitchens or atop home craft tables, have become increasingly popular due to their low cost, their do-it-yourself appeal, and rising parental unease over the quality and origins of the ingredients in mass-produced immunizations.
Not again! Race brawl breaks out in Chicago school cafeteria
Via WorldNetDaily:
(CHICAGO.CBSLOCAL) — Police arrested six students at Streamwood High School on Tuesday, after a fight that prompted a “hold in place” order at the school.
Six students were arrested in connection with the fight. No one was seriously hurt, although one student had a bloody lip. It was unclear how many students were involved in the fight.
Police from Streamwood and several surrounding suburbs responded after a racially-based lunchroom brawl quickly spun out of control.
“It was at least 40 kids fighting, then it travelled all the way up to the 2nd floor. They fought inside the offices,” said student Deshawn Cavin.
Read the full story
Tuesday, May 13, 2014
Russian Politicians Blast Eurovision's Drag Queen Winner
That was quick..
(rollingstone) - Russian officials have denounced Eurovision Song Contest winner Conchita Wurst, a bearded drag queen, with one even asking the culture ministry to ban the singer from touring Russia, Billboard reports.
Wurst, a 25-year-old Austrian whose off-stage name is Thomas Neuwirth, took home Eurovision's top honors on Saturday with her Bond-esque ballad "Rise Like a Phoenix"; but her victory message promoting unity and acceptance had no effect on Russia's Deputy Prime Minister Dmitry Rogozin, who tweeted: "Eurovision showed European integrators their Euro-prospect — a bearded girl."
Read more: HERE
Sunday, May 11, 2014
Hawaii is not legally a US State, but a US occupied country
- It is easy to find the courage necessary to support a moral position if that position benefits oneself. True moral courage, however, is proven when one chooses to support that which is morally and ethically right even when such a position is to one's one detriment.
The people of the United States find themselves in such a position right now, forced to choose between a moral and ethical position that carries with it the potential for "inconvenience", or supporting the status quo and having to admit to themselves that they are not the champions of justice they imagine themselves to be. By the end of this article, you will know for yourself which one you are.
Most folks have heard that Hawaii is a state, one of the United States of America. Most people, including those who live in Hawaii, accept that statement as a fact.
But the reality is that in a world in which nations are as bound by the rule of laws as are the citizens of nations (if not more so), the truth is quite different.
One billion people still defecate in public despite health risks-UN
(Reuters) - (Note: Strong language in the second paragraph)
One billion people worldwide still practice "open defecation" and they need to be told that this leads to the spread of fatal diseases, U.N. experts said on Thursday at the launch of a study on drinking water and sanitation.
"'Excreta', 'faeces', 'poo', I could even say 'shit' maybe, this is the root cause of so many diseases," said Bruce Gordon, acting coordinator for sanitation and health at the World Health Organization.
Societies that practice open defecation - putting them at risk from cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, hepatitis A and typhoid - tend to have large income disparities and the world's highest numbers of deaths of children under 5 years old.
Attempts to improve sanitation among the poorest have long focused on building latrines, but the United Nations says that money literally went down the toilet. Attitudes, not infrastructure, need to change, it said.
Mexico legalizes vigilantes fighting drug cartel
- Mexico’s government on Saturday began demobilizing a vigilante movement of assault-rifle-wielding ranchers and farmers that had succeeded in largely expelling the Knights Templar cartel from the western state of Michoacan when authorities couldn’t.
At a ceremony in the town of Tepalcatepec, where the movement began in February 2013, officials handed out new pistols, rifles and uniforms to 120 self-defence group members who were sworn into a new official rural police force.
Thursday, May 1, 2014
Man asks news reporter out while during wildfire
... while shirtless (& bra less)
- Courtney Friel reports live from the scene of a massive fire in Rancho Cucamonga near Los Angeles. During her live shot, a shirtless resident asks her out.
- Courtney Friel reports live from the scene of a massive fire in Rancho Cucamonga near Los Angeles. During her live shot, a shirtless resident asks her out.
10 Failed Conspiracies That Would Have Changed Everything
Like The Failed Attempt To Oust Mao Zedong
- Also like Stalin—and most dictators in general—Mao was subject to his own assassination attempt. Planned by the son of Mao’s right-hand man and heir apparent, Lin Biao, Project 571 (so-called because the numbers closely resembled “armed uprising” in Chinese characters) involved a plot to kill the Chinese leader during his tour of Southern China.
Keep reading
- Also like Stalin—and most dictators in general—Mao was subject to his own assassination attempt. Planned by the son of Mao’s right-hand man and heir apparent, Lin Biao, Project 571 (so-called because the numbers closely resembled “armed uprising” in Chinese characters) involved a plot to kill the Chinese leader during his tour of Southern China.
Keep reading
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