The photos and satellite images from Tikrit provide
strong evidence of a horrible war crime that needs further
investigation. ISIS apparently executed at the very least 160 people in
Tikrit.
Monday, June 30, 2014
10 worst examples of Christian or far-right terrorism
10 worst examples of Christian or far-right terrorism
Conservatives claim that all terrorists are Muslim, but most violent attacks in the US are carried out by white men
Alex Henderson, Alternet
From Fox News to the
Weekly Standard, neoconservatives have tried to paint
terrorism as a largely or exclusively Islamic
phenomenon. Their message of Islamophobia has been
repeated many times since the George W. Bush era:
Islam is inherently violent, Christianity is
inherently peaceful, and there is no such thing as a
Christian terrorist or a white male terrorist. But the
facts don’t bear that out. Far-right white male
radicals and extreme Christianists are every bit as
capable of acts of terrorism as radical Islamists, and
to pretend that such terrorists don’t exist does the
public a huge disservice. Dzhokhar Anzorovich Tsarnaev
and the late Tamerlan Anzorovich Tsarnaev (the Chechen
brothers suspected in the Boston Marathon bombing of
April 15, 2013) are both considered white and appear
to have been motivated in part by radical Islam. And
many terrorist attacks in the United States have been
carried out by people who were neither Muslims nor
dark-skinned.
When white males of the
far right carry out violent attacks, neocons and
Republicans typically describe them as lone-wolf
extremists rather than people who are part of
terrorist networks or well-organized terrorist
movements. Yet many of the terrorist attacks in the
United States have been carried out by people who had
long histories of networking with other terrorists. In
fact, most of the terrorist activity occurring in the
United States in recent years has not come from
Muslims, but from a combination of radical
Christianists, white supremacists and far-right
militia groups.
Below are 10 of the
worst examples of non-Islamic terrorism that have
occurred in the United States in the last 30 years.
1. Wisconsin Sikh Temple massacre, Aug.
5, 2012. The virulent, neocon-fueled
Islamophobia that has plagued post-9/11 America has not
only posed a threat to Muslims, it has had deadly
consequences for people of other faiths, including
Sikhs. Sikhs are not Muslims; the traditional Sikh
attire, including their turbans, is different from
traditional Sunni, Shiite or Sufi attire. But to a
racist, a bearded Sikh looks like a Muslim. Only four
days after 9/11, Balbir Singh Sodhi, a Sikh immigrant
from India who owned a gas station in Mesa, Arizona, was
murdered by Frank Silva Roque, a racist who obviously
mistook him for a Muslim.
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But Sodhi’s murder was
not the last example of anti-Sikh violence in
post-9/11 America. On Aug. 5, 2012, white supremacist
Wade Michael Page used a semiautomatic weapon to
murder six people during an attack on a Sikh temple in
Oak Creek, Wisconsin. Page’s connection to the white
supremacist movement was well-documented: he had been
a member of the neo-Nazi rock bands End Empathy and
Definite Hate. Attorney General Eric Holder described
the attack as “an act of terrorism, an act of hatred.”
It was good to see the nation’s top cop acknowledge
that terrorist acts can, in fact, involve white males
murdering people of color.
2. The murder of
Dr. George Tiller, May 31, 2009. Imagine
that a physician had been the victim of an attempted
assassination by an Islamic jihadist in 1993, and
received numerous death threats from al-Qaeda after
that, before being murdered by an al-Qaeda member.
Neocons, Fox News and the Christian Right would have
had a field day. A physician was the victim
of a terrorist killing that day, but neither the
terrorist nor the people who inflamed the terrorist
were Muslims. Dr. George Tiller, who was shot and
killed by anti-abortion terrorist Scott Roeder on May
31, 2009, was a victim of Christian Right terrorism,
not al-Qaeda.
Tiller had a long
history of being targeted for violence by Christian
Right terrorists. In 1986, his clinic was firebombed.
Then, in 1993, Tiller was shot five times by female
Christian Right terrorist Shelly Shannon (now serving
time in a federal prison) but survived that attack.
Given that Tiller had been the victim of an attempted
murder and received countless death threats after
that, Fox News would have done well to avoid fanning
the flames of unrest. Instead, Bill O’Reilly
repeatedly referred to him as “Tiller the baby
killer.” When Roeder murdered Tiller, O’Reilly
condemned the attack but did so in a way that was
lukewarm at best.
Keith Olbermann called
O’Reilly out and denounced him as a “facilitator for
domestic terrorism” and a “blindly irresponsible man.”
And Crazy for Godauthor Frank Schaffer, who
was formerly a figure on the Christian Right but has
since become critical of that movement, asserted that
the Christian Right’s extreme anti-abortion rhetoric
“helped create the climate that made this murder
likely to happen.” Neocon Ann Coulter, meanwhile,
viewed Tiller’s murder as a source of comic relief,
telling O’Reilly, “I don’t really like to
think of it as a murder. It was terminating
Tiller in the 203rd trimester.” The Republican/neocon
double standard when it comes to terrorism is obvious.
At Fox News and AM neocon talk radio, Islamic
terrorism is a source of nonstop fear-mongering, while
Christian Right terrorism gets a pass.
3. Knoxville
Unitarian Universalist Church shooting, July 27,
2008. On July 27, 2008, Christian Right
sympathizer Jim David Adkisson walked into the
Knoxville Unitarian Universalist Church in Knoxville,
Tennessee during a children’s play and began shooting
people at random. Two were killed, while seven others
were injured but survived. Adkisson said he was
motivated by a hatred of liberals, Democrats and gays,
and he considered neocon Bernard Goldberg’s book, 100
People Who Are Screwing Up America, his
political manifesto. Adkisson (who pleaded guilty to
two counts of first-degree murder and is now serving
life in prison without parole) was vehemently
anti-abortion, but apparently committing an act of
terrorism during a children’s play was good ol’
Republican family values. While Adkisson’s act of
terrorism was reported on Fox News, it didn’t get the
round-the-clock coverage an act of Islamic terrorism
would have garnered.
4. The murder of
Dr. John Britton, July 29, 1994. To hear
the Christian Right tell it, there is no such thing as
Christian terrorism. Tell that to the victims of the
Army of God, a loose network of radical Christianists
with a long history of terrorist attacks on abortion
providers. One Christian Right terrorist with ties to
the Army of God was Paul Jennings Hill, who was
executed by lethal injection on Sept. 3, 2003 for the
murders of abortion doctor John Britton and his
bodyguard James Barrett. Hill shot both of them in
cold blood and expressed no remorse whatsoever; he
insisted he was doing’s God’s work and has been
exalted as a martyr by the Army of God.
5. The
Centennial Olympic Park bombing, July 27, 1996. Paul
Jennings Hill is hardly the only Christian terrorist
who has been praised by the Army of God; that
organization has also praised Eric Rudolph, who is
serving life without parole for a long list of
terrorist attacks committed in the name of
Christianity. Rudolph is best known for carrying out
the Olympic Park bombing in Atlanta during the 1996
Summer Olympics—a blast that killed spectator Alice
Hawthorne and wounded 111 others. Hawthorne wasn’t the
only person Rudolph murdered: his bombing of an
abortion clinic in Birmingham, Alabama in 1998 caused
the death of Robert Sanderson (a Birmingham police
officer and part-time security guard) and caused nurse
Emily Lyons to lose an eye.
Rudolph’s other acts of
Christian terrorism include bombing the Otherwise
Lounge (a lesbian bar in Atlanta) in 1997 and an
abortion clinic in an Atlanta suburb in 1997. Rudolph
was no lone wolf: he was part of a terrorist movement
that encouraged his violence. And the Army of God
continues to exalt Rudolph as a brave Christian who is
doing God’s work.
6. The murder of
Barnett Slepian byJames Charles
Kopp, Oct. 23, 1998. Like
Paul Jennings Hill, Eric Rudolph and Scott Roeder,
James Charles Kopp is a radical Christian terrorist
who has been exalted as a hero by the Army of God. On
Oct. 23, 1998 Kopp fired a single shot into the
Amherst, NY home of Barnett Slepian (a doctor who
performed abortions), mortally wounding him. Slepian
died an hour later. Kopp later claimed he only meant
to wound Slepian, not kill him. But Judge Michael
D’Amico of Erin County, NY said that the killing was
clearly premeditated and sentenced Kopp to 25 years to
life. Kopp is a suspect in other anti-abortion
terrorist attacks, including the non-fatal shootings
of three doctors in Canada, though it appears unlikely
that Kopp will be extradited to Canada to face any
charges.
7. Planned
Parenthood bombing, Brookline, Massachusetts, 1994.
Seldom has the term “Christian terrorist” been used in
connection with John C. Salvi on AM talk radio or at
Fox News, but it’s a term that easily applies to him.
In 1994, the radical anti-abortionist and Army of God
member attacked a Planned Parenthood clinic in
Brookline, Massachusetts, shooting and killing
receptionists Shannon Lowney and Lee Ann Nichols and
wounding several others. Salvi was found dead in his
prison cell in 1996, and his death was ruled a
suicide. The Army of God has exalted Salvi as a
Christian martyr and described Lowney and Nichols not
as victims of domestic terrorism, but as infidels who
got what they deserved. The Rev. Donald Spitz, a
Christianist and Army of God supporter who is so
extreme that even the radical anti-abortion group
Operation Rescue disassociated itself from him, has
praised Salvi as well.
8. Suicide
attack on IRS building in Austin, Texas, Feb. 18,
2010. When Joseph Stack flew a plane into
the Echelon office complex (where an IRS office was
located), Fox News’ coverage of the incident was calm
and matter-of-fact. Republican Rep. Steve King of Iowa
seemed to find the attack amusing and joked that it
could have been avoided if the federal government had
followed his advice and abolished the IRS.
Nonetheless, there were two fatalities: Stack and IRS
employee Vernon Hunter. Stack left behind a rambling
suicide note outlining his reasons for the attack,
which included a disdain for the IRS as well as total
disgust with health insurance companies and bank
bailouts. Some of the most insightful coverage of the
incident came from Noam Chomsky, who said that while
Stack had some legitimate grievances—millions of
Americans shared his outrage over bank bailouts and
the practices of health insurance companies—the way he
expressed them was absolutely wrong.
9. The murder of
Alan Berg, June 18, 1984. One of the most
absurd claims some Republicans have made about white
supremacists is that they are liberals and
progressives. That claim is especially ludicrous in
light of the terrorist killing of liberal Denver-based
talk show host Alan Berg, a critic of white
supremacists who was killed with an automatic weapon
on June 18, 1984. The killing was linked to members of
the Order, a white supremacist group that had marked
Berg for death. Order members David Lane (a former Ku
Klux Klan member who had also been active in the Aryan
Nations) and Bruce Pierce were both convicted in
federal court on charges of racketeering, conspiracy
and violating Berg’s civil rights and given what
amounted to life sentences.
Robert Matthews, who
founded the Order, got that name from a fictional
group in white supremacist William Luther Pierce’s
anti-Semitic 1978 novel, The Turner Diaries—a
book Timothy McVeigh was quite fond of. The novel’s
fictional account of the destruction of a government
building has been described as the inspiration for the
Oklahoma City bombing of 1995.
10. Timothy
McVeigh and the Oklahoma City bombing, April 19,
1995.Neocons and Republicans grow angry and
uncomfortable whenever Timothy McVeigh is cited as an
example of a non-Islamic terrorist. Pointing out that
a non-Muslim white male carried out an attack as
vicious and deadly as the Oklahoma City bombing
doesn’t fit into their narrative that only Muslims and
people of color are capable of carrying out terrorist
attacks. Neocons will claim that bringing up McVeigh’s
name during a discussion of terrorism is a “red
herring” that distracts us from fighting radical
Islamists, but that downplays the cruel, destructive
nature of the attack.
Prior to the al-Qaeda
attacks of 9/11, the Oklahoma City bombing McVeigh
orchestrated was the most deadly terrorist attack in
U.S. history: 168 people were killed and more than 600
were injured. When McVeigh drove a truck filled with
explosives into the Alfred P. Murrah Federal Building,
his goal was to kill as many people as possible.
Clearly, McVeigh was not motivated by radical Islam;
rather, he was motivated by an extreme hatred for the
U.S. government and saw the attack as revenge for the
Ruby Ridge incident of 1992 and the Waco Siege in
1993. He had white supremacist leanings as well (when
he was in the U.S. Army, McVeigh was reprimanded for
wearing a “white power” T-shirt he had bought at a KKK
demonstration). McVeigh was executed on June 11, 2001.
He should have served life without parole instead, as
a living reminder of the type of viciousness the
extreme right is capable of.
Spain lawmakers approve protections for former king
Spain lawmakers approve protections for former king
[JURIST] Spanish lawmakers [official website] on Thursday approved controversial new legal protections for former king Juan Carlos after he lost his total immunity when he abdicated the throne last week. After leaving the throne [JURIST report] for his heir, King Felipe VI, Juan Carlos left himself open to possible legal actions, including a paternity suit [Reuters report] brought by a man claiming to be his son. However, Popular Party politicians added amendments to a pending judicial reform bill to assure Juan Carlos judicial privileges. Under the bill, only the Supreme Court will be qualified to hear cases against Juan Carlos. The bill also extends the privilege to Spain's new queen, Felipe's wife Letizia, and their eight-year-old daughter and heir Leonor, Princess of Asturias. The Popular Party, which holds a majority in Spain's parliament, pushed the amendments through despite reluctance from opposition lawmakers, who believe the ex-king should be accountable like any other citizen. The bill passed with 184 votes in favor [AFP report], 109 abstentions and 32 votes against. It will now go to the upper house for its approval.
King Juan Carlos [BBC profile], on the throne since 1975, rejected the dictatorship of his predecessor, General Francisco Franco, and transitioned the country into a constitutional monarchy. He is best known for having paved the way [WSJ profile] to Spain's current democratic system [JURIST report], which effectively stripped the king and his successors of all executive power in favor of a secondary political status. Juan Carlos was instrumental in helping to thwart a 1981 military coup that sought to bring back a Franco-style regime. With close allies of the king having led the coup attempt along with more recent royal family scandals and national economic hardships, the king's popularity has been compromised over the past several decades. The 78-year-old king has also been struggling with declining health due to old age and deficits suffered from a number of personal accidents and surgeries. The king hopes that his son, 46-year-old Prince Felipe, can rehabilitate the scandal-ridden monarchy during this time of national economic strife and general dissatisfaction with Spain's political nobility.
George W. Bush Released Terrorist Mastermind Behind the Benghazi Attack!
George W. Bush Released Terrorist Mastermind Behind the Benghazi Attack!
by News Corpse
The
GOP went nuts saying that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, the leader of ISIS, was
a former prisoner at GITMO and was released by Obama. Turns out, he was
released by Bush.
Sunday, June 29, 2014
Who Violated Ukraine’s Sovereignty?
Who Violated Ukraine’s Sovereignty?
by aletho
By
Ray McGovern | Consortium News | June 28, 2014 Did Russia’s annexation
of Crimea on March violate the 1994 Budapest agreement among Ukraine,
Russia, Great Britain and the U.S.? Specifically, in Paragraph One,
Ukraine agreed to remove all nuclear weapons from its territory in
return for a commitment by Russia, Britain and the U.S. “to […]
Students protest Clinton’s speaking fee
Students protest Clinton’s speaking fee
by aletho
Press
TV - June 28, 2014 Students at the University of Nevada-Las Vegas are
asking former secretary of state Hillary Clinton to return the hefty
speaking fee she is set to collect when she appears at the university in
October. Many Americans have criticized Clinton for her recent
interview gaffes, including her defense of her […]
NYT Investigation Finds Pattern of Mistakes Overlooked at Military Hospitals
NYT Investigation Finds Pattern of Mistakes Overlooked at Military Hospitals
| An examination by The New York Times of the sprawling United States military hospital system — entirely separate from the scandal-plagued veterans system — has found persistent lapses in patient care that have led to severe injuries and deaths. |
| Internal documents obtained by The Times also depict a system in which such avoidable errors are chronic but scrutiny is at best sporadic. |
| The country’s military hospitals care for 1.6 million active-duty service members and their families. |
READ MORE »http://www.nytimes.com/2014/ |
THE FOOD STAMP CAPITAL
Many
people believe right wing lies that cutting food stamps only hurt black
welfare queens, truth is, white children are the ones who are hurt the
most: There is no such thing as a welfare queen.
The
imagery generally associated with people who receive SNAP Food Stamps
benefits is usually a black single mother living in the inner city. She
lives in public housing, and if she does vote, she votes democrat.
That’s typically the image media perpetuates when we think of people who
receive certain government supplements. The SNAP Food Stamp program is a
great option for families here in the United States, who still needs
government assistance whether they are apart of the working
population or on welfare. Despite the stereotypes of the face of the
food stamp program, surprisingly the highest usage of SNAP isn’t in
Brownsville of Brooklyn, Compton of LA or the Southside of Chicago, but
in Owsley County, Kentucky, which is also 99.22% White and 95%
Republican (PoliticalBlindSpot.com). A very great contrast from what is socially projected throughout many media outlets.
Words by Queen, AFROPUNK Contributor *
How Snap is Distributed Amongst Race
The population of this town has approximately 5,000 residents, according to census the earning potential is the lowest income in the country outside of Puerto Rico. Most of their income formerly came from the lumber, tobacco and coal industry, and when that declined employment there did also. Although Black people are proportionately over-represented in the food stamps statistics, this shows that there is much more to the story.
Words by Queen, AFROPUNK Contributor *
How Snap is Distributed Amongst Race
The population of this town has approximately 5,000 residents, according to census the earning potential is the lowest income in the country outside of Puerto Rico. Most of their income formerly came from the lumber, tobacco and coal industry, and when that declined employment there did also. Although Black people are proportionately over-represented in the food stamps statistics, this shows that there is much more to the story.
To go further, 37% of the people enrolled in the Snap program as of 2012 are white, versus the 23% that are black also receiving these benefits (Trivisonno.com). The Amount of Americans added to the Food Stamp program since president Obama was elected is at about 12 million, which is why a lot of the GOP like to call him the food stamp president. Not mentioning that the economy was in shambles when he was first elected in 2008, what they also fail to mention is currently white people are 42% of the poor but in reality use 69% of government benefits (YourBlackWorld.Net). According to Yvette Carnell, the GOP loves to perpetuate this image, of people of color mostly using these services. “If you pay any attention to right wing media, then you know that folks on the right are obsessed with unraveling the safety net, mostly because they believe that the safety net benefits mostly black and brown people” (YourBlackWorld.Net). If you compare the amount of the poor, per race, using these benefits the gap is far greater amongst the white poor. The Economix blog of the New York Times reports that, currently amongst the 22% black poor, only 14% receive government benefits. The disproportion is very evident as to which population generously receives these governmental benefits.
Why Speak About this
Of course the need of SNAP and other government benefits to help supplement income is needed in this country, but I write this to help change the imagery that is connected to a lot of these skewed facts, and numbers. I’m pretty sure the GOP are aware of these misrepresentations, also, they know who will be affected when terminating these programs. The residents of Owsley County (mentioned earlier) have all felt the effects of many of these cut backs. Regardless of race, poverty fosters addictions, teen pregnancy and more.
Which supports the argument that the Right Wing Government has no concern for the poor or working class of the United States, and in order to convince the masses of this skewed agenda, they need a scapegoat, which in this instant is the face of a poor black person.
How Do We Change This
In order for these media images of the black poor to be unattached from these untrue stereotypes we must support media that puts forth truth, articles such as this one, the publications used as sources, as well as other news outlets. It’s also our social responsibility to make the information more detectable for the masses.
PA applauds European states over settlement warnings
Published yesterday 14:17
(MaanImages/file)
BETHLEHEM (Ma'an) -- The
Palestinian Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Saturday welcomed a series of
recent statements from major European countries warning their citizens
from doing business in Israeli settlements in the occupied territories.
The ministry said that the warnings -- which were issued by the governments of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, and the Netherlands earlier on -- reflected a commitment to the universality of human rights.
The statements warned citizens of those countries from engaging in commercial affairs with Israeli settlements not only in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, but also in the Syrian Golan Heights.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlement in the occupied territories, in violation of international which prohibits the movements of civilians from the occupying population into militarily-occupied territories.
The ministry noted that the warnings are consistent with the European Union's "long-standing position" vis-a-vis the settlements, and in line with the UN interpretations of international law which supports "the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination."
The ministry also stressed that the the settlements are "detrimental to the two state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders," highlighting that "Israel the occupying power has shown itself unwilling to halt settlement construction and end its numerous additional violations of international law - even as a temporary measure of good faith during 'negotiations.'"
"In this context, such steps by third parties are important to avoid being complicit in Israeli violations of international law and to contribute to putting an end to them," the statement continued, calling upon all EU member states to adopt "all necessary measures not to render aid or assistance to illegal settlement activity."
"Such measures must pave the way for the banning of illegal Israeli settlement products in all EU member states, prohibiting any form of involvement, both direct and indirect, by citizens, groups, corporations and governments in the illegal settlement activity."
The ministry said that the warnings -- which were issued by the governments of the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Spain and Italy, and the Netherlands earlier on -- reflected a commitment to the universality of human rights.
The statements warned citizens of those countries from engaging in commercial affairs with Israeli settlements not only in the occupied Palestinian territories, including East Jerusalem, but also in the Syrian Golan Heights.
More than 500,000 Israelis live in Jewish settlement in the occupied territories, in violation of international which prohibits the movements of civilians from the occupying population into militarily-occupied territories.
The ministry noted that the warnings are consistent with the European Union's "long-standing position" vis-a-vis the settlements, and in line with the UN interpretations of international law which supports "the Palestinian people's inalienable right to self-determination."
The ministry also stressed that the the settlements are "detrimental to the two state solution on the basis of the pre-1967 borders," highlighting that "Israel the occupying power has shown itself unwilling to halt settlement construction and end its numerous additional violations of international law - even as a temporary measure of good faith during 'negotiations.'"
"In this context, such steps by third parties are important to avoid being complicit in Israeli violations of international law and to contribute to putting an end to them," the statement continued, calling upon all EU member states to adopt "all necessary measures not to render aid or assistance to illegal settlement activity."
"Such measures must pave the way for the banning of illegal Israeli settlement products in all EU member states, prohibiting any form of involvement, both direct and indirect, by citizens, groups, corporations and governments in the illegal settlement activity."
Saturday, June 28, 2014
Rep. Grayson Asks If Keith Alexander Is Selling Classified Information To Get $1 Million Per Month
Rep. Grayson Asks If Keith Alexander Is Selling Classified Information To Get $1 Million Per Month
by aletho
By
Mike Masnick | Techdirt | June 27, 2014 We recently noted that former
NSA boss Keith Alexander is running around asking for $600k to $1
million per month for his new "cybersecurity" consulting firm. While
some people thought that the number was "low" for banks, that doesn't
make any sense. You could hire a […]
Israeli night raids terrorize families of Azza Refugee Camp
Photo Essay: Israeli night raids terrorize families of Azza Refugee Camp
By Sheren Khalel and Matthew VickeryRefugee camps across the occupied West Bank have regularly experienced Israeli military raids and arrests in the middle of the night over the past two weeks as part of the crackdown on the Palestinian population in the wake of the disappearance of three Israeli settlers. Sheren Khalel and Matthew Vickery report from Azza refugee camp where families' lives are invaded and turned upside down, seemingly for no reason. Above, a girl's room after a night raid. The laundry machine, which usually sits in the closet of the room was pulled out of the wall and thrown on the floor.
Read in browser »
75% of visitors to Israel’s Canada Park believe it is located inside the Green Line (it’s not)
75% of visitors to Israel’s Canada Park believe it is located inside the Green Line (it’s not)
By Eitan BronsteinResults of a Zochrot survey of 200 visitors to Canada Park on Saturdays, from November, 2013 through January, 2014. Questions focused on the history of the park and the Palestinian villages that once existed on the land.
Read in browser »
‘About 60,000 Americans were murdered’ by Palestinians in Israel, says Shmuley Boteach
‘About 60,000 Americans were murdered’ by Palestinians in Israel, says Shmuley Boteach
By Philip WeissRabbi Shmuley Boteach dismisses the "rotting corpse of the Presbyterian Church" following the vote for divestment-- language that if a Christian used about Jews would draw attacks of anti-Semitism-- and howler alert, says that 60,000 Americans have been "murdered" by Palestinians in Israel.
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Jeffrey Goldberg leads the charge on latest BDS smear: Presbyterian Church divestment is anti-Semitic because David Duke supports it
Jeffrey Goldberg leads the charge on latest BDS smear: Presbyterian Church divestment is anti-Semitic because David Duke supports it
By Phan NguyenNever before have so many pro-Israel Jews and mainstream Jewish organizations excitedly promoted the website of David Duke and wanted to know: “What does former Klansman and white supremacist David Duke think?” What's the cause of this turn of events? Duke recently issued a statement in support of the Presbyterian Church USA’s move for divestment. The insinuation—rarely spelled out—is that if someone as anti-Semitic as Duke agrees with an action, the action itself is anti-Semitic. The tactic of using Duke to smear progressive movements is an old one, and this time the charge is being led by none other than Jeffrey Goldberg.
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Homosexuals wage holy war on Israeli village
Homosexuals wage holy war on Israeli village
Court orders 'faith-based community' to violate beliefs
Published: 10 hours ago
Yad Hashmonah is located in the Judean Mountains near Jerusalem
Nestled in the hills outside of Jerusalem is a Messianic communal
village founded nearly 40 years ago by Finnish Christians who believed
in the biblical restoration of Israel to the Jewish people. Today, some
150 Israeli believers and evangelical Christians live and work there
while providing a “living testimony” as Israeli believers in Jesus
Christ. But now the faith-based community of Yad Hashmonah may
be forced to shut its doors after being ordered by an Israeli court to
compensate two lesbians who were not allowed to hold their “gay” wedding
at the banquet hall and biblical gardens. “We do not hate homosexuals
or lesbians. We love them. We simply told the court that it is God’s
word in the Bible that calls homosexuality an abomination,” Ayelet
Ronen, general secretary for the village, told Israel Today. The women,
who were married in England, where same-sex unions are legal, wanted
to renew their vows and hold a reception at the Messianic Israeli
moshav, or settlement. When the receptionist explained “the owners are
believers in the Bible and cannot perform a ceremony of this nature
here,” the women filed a lawsuit.
The biblical gardens at Yad Hashmonah near Jerusalem
A judge ruled in favor of the lesbian couple and awarded them $20,000
in “damages.” And now that lower court ruling has been upheld by the
Jerusalem District Court. Judge Moshe Yoad Cohen determined the village
violated a law prohibiting discrimination based on sexual orientation
and that the village cannot refuse to host a same-sex wedding reception
despite religious objections. During the trial, representatives of the
Moshav quoted from both Old and New Testaments. “As a faith-based
community we need to be able to refuse events that blatantly oppose our
religious beliefs. We explained to the judge that a same-sex celebration
would ruin our business. The majority of our clientele are Christians
who vigorously oppose gay marriage,” said Ronen. The lesbians’ lawyer
also accused the village of “homophobia” after the moshav published an
announcement that “no homosexual or lesbian organization will be allowed
to rent space for functions on our premises.” As Bible believers, the
community also refuses services for abortion activists and yoga
enthusiasts. “We have already received phone calls from many more
homosexual groups and couples saying they want to get married here. To
avoid another legal problem, for now, we simply cannot book anything at
all,” said Ronen. The moshav has now completely shuttered its banquet
facility, resulting in huge financial losses. “We used to host an
average of 35-50 weddings a year over the past 12 years. Israelis from
all over the country, religious and secular, loved to come here. Now
there are none,” added Ronen.
Read more at http://www.wnd.com/2014/06/
World Cup Fever Really Has Hit America — Sorry, Ann Coulter
Dan Hancox, The Guardian
The right-wing pundit's hysterical rant against the "socialist" sport is not really landing. READ MORE»
United Nations Says Turning Off Poor Detroiters' Water Violates Human Rights
United Nations Says Turning Off Poor Detroiters' Water Violates Human Rights
Posted:
Updated:
Detroit's been shutting off water to customers who reportedly can't afford to pay their bills, and United Nations experts said Wednesday it's a violation of human rights.
The UN responded after a coalition of activist groups submitted a report to its Human Rights Office of the High Commissioner last week, detailing water shutoffs and extreme consequences for families in the city who can't afford to pay their bills and have had to go without water. Detroit's Water and Sewerage Department began shutting off water to customers who were behind on payments this spring, cutting service for 3,000 in April and 4,500 in May. Around 45,000 shutoff warnings were sent each month.
Three UN experts criticized the department's aggressive practice Wednesday, saying in a press release that stopping access to water for those who can't afford to pay "constitutes a violation of the human right to water and other international human rights."
“Disconnections due to non-payment are only permissible if it can be shown that the resident is able to pay but is not paying," said Catarina de Albuquerque, UN Special Rapporteur on the right to safe drinking water and sanitation. "In other words, when there is genuine inability to pay, human rights simply forbids disconnections."
A water department official told MLive the effort is meant to collect debts and get people onto payment plans, not turn people's water off. According to the Associated Press, spokeswoman Curtrise Garner said more than half of those affected by shutoffs paid their accounts in full within several days.
"If people are being proactive, we work with them," Garner told the AP. "But if we don't hear anything, we don't know if they are not paying or if they won't pay."
The department has 17,000 customers on payment plans and is starting a new assistance plan for struggling customers next month, according to The Detroit News.
Leilani Farha, UN Special Rapporteur who focuses on housing and standards of living, said in a statement that "if these water disconnections disproportionately affect African Americans they may be discriminatory, in violation of treaties the U.S. has ratified."
The report caught the attention of U.S. Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.), who called the water cutoffs "draconian."
“Over the past decade, Detroiters have seen their water rates increase by 119 percent," Conyers said in a statement. "Over this same period, forces beyond city residents’ control -- including a global financial crisis that left one-in-five local residences in foreclosure and sent local unemployment rates skyrocketing -- severely undercut Detroiters’ ability to pay."
The coalition who condemned the water shutoffs said they feared they were part of an attempt to make the water department a more attractive investment for possible buyers, though the city's emergency manager refuted that claim.
Detroit filed the largest municipal bankruptcy in U.S. history last year and is attempting to settle debts with creditors while improving city services for residents.
Conyers, said, however, that turning off Detroiters' water sets the city back.
"Actions that deny residents the ability to bathe, hydrate, or prepare meals for themselves and their families create costly long-term public health challenges," he said. "These water cutoffs are not only inhumane but economically short-sighted."
Group of Law Students Want Confederate Flags Removed at Washington and Lee University
Group of Law Students Want Confederate Flags Removed at Washington and Lee University
by Steve Szkotak, Associated Press
RICHMOND,
Va. ― A group of law students at Washington and Lee University is
demanding the school banish the Confederate flag from its Lexington
campus and repudiate one of its namesakes, Gen. Robert E. Lee.The students also want the private liberal arts college to end the practice of allowing “neo-Confederates” to march on campus with battle flags during Lee-Jackson day, a Virginia state holiday that falls on the Friday before Martin Luther King Day.
The students, known collectively as The Committee, vowed civil disobedience if their demands are not met by Sept. 1. In a letter this month to the university’s board of trustees, The Committee said it decided to act out of “alienation and discomfort” with the trappings of the Confederacy on campus.
They include the array of eight Confederate battle flags in the Lee Chapel, where the entire Lee family is buried. Lee’s beloved horse, Traveller, is buried outside the chapel.
In a letter released Wednesday to the W&L community, President Kenneth P. Ruscio wrote that university officials “take these students’ concerns seriously” and that they would be addressed. He asked provost Daniel Wubah to meet with the students. Through a spokesman, he declined a request Thursday for an interview with The Associated Press.
Dominik Taylor, a third-year law student, said the students decided to speak out after tolerating for years symbols and events they find offensive.
“A lot of students of color have felt sort of ostracized during their time here,” said Taylor, 24, of Yorktown. “It was just a thing where you would talk to your friend after class.”
Taylor said the “last straw” occurred during Lee-Jackson Day in January when a guest speaker, Democratic political consultant Donna Brazile, was introduced in the Lee Chapel amid the battle flags and it generated racist hate mail.
Washington and Lee, which is located in the Shenandoah Valley about three hours west of Richmond, was founded in 1749 as Augusta Academy, but adopted George Washington’s name in 1796. Lee, who led Confederate forces during the Civil War before surrendering at Appomattox in 1865, served as the university’s president after the Civil War and Lee became part of the university’s name after he died.
Lee is a primary target of the activist students, who argue that his “racist and dishonorable conduct” should be acknowledged.
The Committee claims seven law school students. Taylor said its members include White students and its message is gaining wider acceptance, including support from
faculty.
“I think there’s been a mix of responses,” said Taylor, who is African-American. “A lot of the White students said, ‘Hey, this is coming out of left field.’”
Taylor said he and fellow minority students were aware of the traditions on campus before they attended, but valued a law degree from Washington and Lee.
“Hey, it’s only three years,” he said. “It can’t be that bad.”
He added, however, “When things such as Lee-Jackson Day happen, you’re just sort of feeling left alone and isolated and alienated.”
The Washington and Lee complaints are familiar ones in the South, where the former Confederate states have struggled with symbols of the past that some find racist.
In the city of Lexington, home to Washington and Lee, the adoption of an ordinance in September 2011 outlawing Confederate battle flags on city light poles attracted loud protests from defenders of the Confederacy.
One of those was Brandon Dorsey, who is a commander with the Lexington brigade of the Sons of Confederate Veterans. He participated in the Lee-Jackson march on the W&L campus. He blamed the protests on campus on a small group of activists.
“I think the whole thing is a bunch of tripe,” Dorsey said. “I think the university will have a lot of angry alumni on their campus if they agree to those demands.”
The lie that started the First World War
The lie that started the First World War
The personality and motives of the young assassin, Gavrilo Princip, who fired the fatal shots at Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo, were twisted by Austrian propaganda
Gavrilo Princip is paraded by his Austrian captors after assassinating Archduke Franz Ferdinand in Sarajevo Photo: Alamy
7:10AM BST 28 Jun 2014
7 Comments
This day 100 years ago dawned memorably bright over Sarajevo. After days of
stormy rain, Sunday June 28,1914 began cloudless as Austria-Hungary, the
imperial power that held dominion over the small Balkan province of Bosnia,
prepared for a show of ostentatious pageantry in its capital.
Loyal citizens came out in their thousands, lining the route into the city
centre that was to be used for a rare official visit by a top member of the
Habsburg royal house, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, second only in imperial
protocol to the venerable, mutton-chopped emperor himself, Franz Joseph.
Witnesses remember the morning sun being fierce as the crowds gathered,
eight deep in places, many of them waving the yellow imperial standard of
Austria-Hungary with its double-headed black eagle, some shouting ''Long
Live the Archduke’’ as the Gräf & Stift limousine drove sedately by. An
imperial 21-gun salute, from the fortress high in the hills that ring
Sarajevo, sent out puffs of smoke, vivid white against the blue summer sky.
But the crowd was seeded with six would-be assassins united in their loathing
of Austria-Hungary. By the time the sun set, what happened in Sarajevo would
plunge the world into the darkness of global war for the first time.
The details were well recorded: how the first attacker lost his nerve as the
cortege passed, how the next attacker threw a grenade that struck the
limousine but did not harm the Archduke, how the royal party nevertheless
continued with the visit, how three would-be assassins melted away into the
crowd and how one, a 19-year-old peasant, stood his ground.
Gavrilo Princip was his name and he took up station at the street corner where
the royal vehicle was scheduled to turn right, according to the route
flagged up for days in local newspapers, off the wide riverside boulevard
that gives Sarajevo its spine, before taking the Archduke to visit a museum.
What might be called the devil’s luck then enters the story as the decision
had been taken after the grenade attack for the Archduke’s car not to turn
right but to continue down the boulevard. All the senior members of the
royal party were informed. But nobody told the driver.
When the driver made the turn, an imperial officer on board with the Archduke and his wife, Sophie ordered: ''Stop.’’ The driver braked immediately, presenting the assassin with his targets right in front of him in a now stationary car, the canvas roof folded helpfully back because of the sunny conditions.
Princip needed to take only half a step forward before he aimed his 9mm, semi-automatic Browning pistol and fired what amounted to the starting gun for modern history. The killing of the Archduke and his wife was the trigger for the First World War. What happened next is a bone well worried by historians. But the details of who Princip was, his motivation, his actions and his support network have been mired ever since in political bias, ethnic rivalry and sloppy homework.
We have been told that: Princip jumped on the running board of the Archduke’s limousine to take his shot, the Archduke’s wife was pregnant when she died, the shooting happened on the anniversary of their marriage, the car did not have a reverse gear, the Archduke caught the grenade thrown earlier and tossed it away safely, and Princip stopped to eat a last sandwich at the café on the corner before emerging to take his shot. It’s all myth.
Yet, given that this is the young man with perhaps the greatest impact on modern history, I have been drawn to spend the past three years researching what the historical record definitively reveals about the assassin from Bosnia.
Gavrilo Princip was born in 1894, a serf’s son from the hamlet of Obljaj in remotest western Bosnia, short and slight of build with the strong chin that is the dominant hallmark of the Princip male line. His father Petar was trapped in the grinding poverty of generations of Princips before him. Princip was the feudal subject of two local lords who effectively owned him, one called Jovic, the other Siercic. Although the Princips came from the ethnic Serb community, a hundred years ago rivalries with the Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims were not as charged as today. Instead their anger was directed against Austria-Hungary, a foreign power responsible for occupation of particular austerity. And there were plenty of grounds for anger. Six of Princip’s brothers and sisters died in childhood, a level of child mortality that appears routine.
Gavrilo Princip’s break came in 1907 when, after excelling at primary school, he left Obljaj and made the long journey to Sarajevo to take up secondary education. I found his school reports, passed over by a century’s worth of historians, and saw grades that charted the development of a slow-burn revolutionary. The reports show him as a starred-A grade student to begin with, but as the years pass his truancy goes up, his academic performance down. He had fallen in with other young radicals who dared to think the unthinkable: doing away with Austria-Hungary.
And just as with other independence movements across the world, the talk slowly turned to direct action and political violence. Again, Princip was not headstrong, watching and learning as an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made in 1910 by a slightly older Bosnian student in Sarajevo against an Austro-Hungarian target. What stands out, however, is how inclusive Princip’s nationalism was. He learnt to trust Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, not just his ethnic kin from the Bosnian Serb community. He made contact with extreme Serb nationalists in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, to acquire the weapons used in the assassination but this appears opportunistic. There is no evidence he shared their chauvinistic agenda, not least because the attackers were planning on using trusted Bosnian Croats to spirit away the weapons, while one of the six would-be assassins was Bosnian Muslim.
Princip was caught within seconds of firing his pistol, his bid for martyrdom doomed when the dose of cyanide he stuffed down his throat failed to kill him.
Two weeks short of his 20th birthday, Princip was too young to be executed as Austro-Hungarian law said the death sentence could only be given to criminals aged 20 or more. Instead, he was jailed, sentenced to 20 years solitary confinement with the condition that one day a month he was to receive no food. He died in a prison hospital on April 28 1918, his body so badly ravaged by skeletal tuberculosis that his right arm had had to be amputated.
Over the last century his voice has rarely been heard, drowned out by more powerful forces, not least Vienna which was desperate to use the assassination as a pretext to attack its small and potentially troublesome neighbour, Serbia. For this to work, Austria-Hungary worked to represent Princip and the assassination plot as the work of the Serbian government. And this alone is perhaps the greatest misrepresentation of the truth about Gavrilo Princip, with the historical record containing no convincing evidence to support the claim.
Wilfred Owen wrote of the patriotic invocation dulce et decorum est pro patria mori as “the old lie’’, but I have come to see an even greater lie at the founding moment of the First World War. It is the lie used by Vienna in its deliberate misrepresentation of the Sarajevo assassination. On its hundredth anniversary, now is high time to straighten the record.
Tim Butcher’s 'The Trigger – Hunting the Assassin who Brought the World to War’ is published by Chatto & Windus
When the driver made the turn, an imperial officer on board with the Archduke and his wife, Sophie ordered: ''Stop.’’ The driver braked immediately, presenting the assassin with his targets right in front of him in a now stationary car, the canvas roof folded helpfully back because of the sunny conditions.
Princip needed to take only half a step forward before he aimed his 9mm, semi-automatic Browning pistol and fired what amounted to the starting gun for modern history. The killing of the Archduke and his wife was the trigger for the First World War. What happened next is a bone well worried by historians. But the details of who Princip was, his motivation, his actions and his support network have been mired ever since in political bias, ethnic rivalry and sloppy homework.
We have been told that: Princip jumped on the running board of the Archduke’s limousine to take his shot, the Archduke’s wife was pregnant when she died, the shooting happened on the anniversary of their marriage, the car did not have a reverse gear, the Archduke caught the grenade thrown earlier and tossed it away safely, and Princip stopped to eat a last sandwich at the café on the corner before emerging to take his shot. It’s all myth.
Yet, given that this is the young man with perhaps the greatest impact on modern history, I have been drawn to spend the past three years researching what the historical record definitively reveals about the assassin from Bosnia.
Gavrilo Princip was born in 1894, a serf’s son from the hamlet of Obljaj in remotest western Bosnia, short and slight of build with the strong chin that is the dominant hallmark of the Princip male line. His father Petar was trapped in the grinding poverty of generations of Princips before him. Princip was the feudal subject of two local lords who effectively owned him, one called Jovic, the other Siercic. Although the Princips came from the ethnic Serb community, a hundred years ago rivalries with the Bosnian Croats and Bosnian Muslims were not as charged as today. Instead their anger was directed against Austria-Hungary, a foreign power responsible for occupation of particular austerity. And there were plenty of grounds for anger. Six of Princip’s brothers and sisters died in childhood, a level of child mortality that appears routine.
Gavrilo Princip’s break came in 1907 when, after excelling at primary school, he left Obljaj and made the long journey to Sarajevo to take up secondary education. I found his school reports, passed over by a century’s worth of historians, and saw grades that charted the development of a slow-burn revolutionary. The reports show him as a starred-A grade student to begin with, but as the years pass his truancy goes up, his academic performance down. He had fallen in with other young radicals who dared to think the unthinkable: doing away with Austria-Hungary.
And just as with other independence movements across the world, the talk slowly turned to direct action and political violence. Again, Princip was not headstrong, watching and learning as an unsuccessful assassination attempt was made in 1910 by a slightly older Bosnian student in Sarajevo against an Austro-Hungarian target. What stands out, however, is how inclusive Princip’s nationalism was. He learnt to trust Bosnian Muslims and Bosnian Croats, not just his ethnic kin from the Bosnian Serb community. He made contact with extreme Serb nationalists in Belgrade, capital of Serbia, to acquire the weapons used in the assassination but this appears opportunistic. There is no evidence he shared their chauvinistic agenda, not least because the attackers were planning on using trusted Bosnian Croats to spirit away the weapons, while one of the six would-be assassins was Bosnian Muslim.
Princip was caught within seconds of firing his pistol, his bid for martyrdom doomed when the dose of cyanide he stuffed down his throat failed to kill him.
Two weeks short of his 20th birthday, Princip was too young to be executed as Austro-Hungarian law said the death sentence could only be given to criminals aged 20 or more. Instead, he was jailed, sentenced to 20 years solitary confinement with the condition that one day a month he was to receive no food. He died in a prison hospital on April 28 1918, his body so badly ravaged by skeletal tuberculosis that his right arm had had to be amputated.
Over the last century his voice has rarely been heard, drowned out by more powerful forces, not least Vienna which was desperate to use the assassination as a pretext to attack its small and potentially troublesome neighbour, Serbia. For this to work, Austria-Hungary worked to represent Princip and the assassination plot as the work of the Serbian government. And this alone is perhaps the greatest misrepresentation of the truth about Gavrilo Princip, with the historical record containing no convincing evidence to support the claim.
Wilfred Owen wrote of the patriotic invocation dulce et decorum est pro patria mori as “the old lie’’, but I have come to see an even greater lie at the founding moment of the First World War. It is the lie used by Vienna in its deliberate misrepresentation of the Sarajevo assassination. On its hundredth anniversary, now is high time to straighten the record.
Tim Butcher’s 'The Trigger – Hunting the Assassin who Brought the World to War’ is published by Chatto & Windus
Historian Dan Snow received hate mail for debunking World War I 'myths'
Historian Dan Snow received hate mail for debunking World War I 'myths'
Dan Snow, the television broadcaster, says angry members of the public abused him when he tried to set the record straight
Dan Snow Photo: GEOFF PUGH/THE TELEGRAPH
8:36PM BST 27 Jun 2014
Dan Snow, the historian, has revealed he received hate mail for attempting to
debunk the "myths" about the First World War, as he argues
glorifying its "awfulness and tragedy" belittles the service of
every other British soldier.
Snow, the television broadcaster, said he was abused by angry members of the
public after trying to establish the truth about the conflict.
Speaking at Chalke Valley History Festival, he told an audience that painting
the First World War as the worst conflict in British history could serve to "belittle"
all soldiers serving in other conflicts.
The reality, he said, was "bad enough", adding: "That's why we
need to remember it correctly."
Snow claimed he had received "hate mail" from the public after
publishing a list debunking ten popular "myths" about the First
World War earlier this year.
Among the accepted "facts" he disputes are that notions that
shellshock was ignored, that the Versailles Treaty was unnecessarily harsh
and that troops were "lions led by donkeys".
There was little evidence for the existence of the famous Christmas truce football match, he added, while some soldiers actually "enjoyed" the war.
Snow added much of the hate mail had come from people who had "read their great-grandad's diary", a single source they took to heart but which contradicted the experience of the majority.
He now hopes to convince the public to stop considering the First World War as the biggest wartime tragedy in British history, saying to do so "belittles" the efforts of troops in Afghanistan and other conflicts.
"If we put the First World War on a pedestal of awfulness and
incompetence and tragedy, it ignores the fact that all wars should be looked
at through that lens," he said.
"It can belittle the experience of soldiers throughout the years if you set World War One apart. World War One is part of our military history; elements of it were worse than other wars and elements of it were better."
He added: "What was so interesting about the work I was doing is that people got very angry that I would even challenge these myths.
"I've got people saying for example, the first day of the battle of the Somme 60,000 British soldiers were killed or injured in a day. That's the worst day in the history of the British army.
"People would say to me, emailing tweeting, saying 100,000 people were killed in a day. I'd say actually they weren't, 60,000 were. People would then go 'well 60,000 was bad enough'.
"Yes, 60,000 was bad enough and that's why we need to remember it correctly.
"It's absolutely vital that these myths are challenged and that the true stories can come out."
First World War "myths", by Dan Snow
1. It was the bloodiest war in history to that point
2. Most soldiers died
3. Men lived in the trenches for years on end
4. The upper class got off lightly
5. 'Lions led by donkeys'
6. Gallipoli was fought by Australians and New Zealanders
7. Tactics on the Western Front remained unchanged despite repeated failure
8. No one won
9. The Treaty of Versailles was extremely harsh
10. Everyone hated it
There was little evidence for the existence of the famous Christmas truce football match, he added, while some soldiers actually "enjoyed" the war.
Snow added much of the hate mail had come from people who had "read their great-grandad's diary", a single source they took to heart but which contradicted the experience of the majority.
He now hopes to convince the public to stop considering the First World War as the biggest wartime tragedy in British history, saying to do so "belittles" the efforts of troops in Afghanistan and other conflicts.
"It can belittle the experience of soldiers throughout the years if you set World War One apart. World War One is part of our military history; elements of it were worse than other wars and elements of it were better."
He added: "What was so interesting about the work I was doing is that people got very angry that I would even challenge these myths.
"I've got people saying for example, the first day of the battle of the Somme 60,000 British soldiers were killed or injured in a day. That's the worst day in the history of the British army.
"People would say to me, emailing tweeting, saying 100,000 people were killed in a day. I'd say actually they weren't, 60,000 were. People would then go 'well 60,000 was bad enough'.
"Yes, 60,000 was bad enough and that's why we need to remember it correctly.
"It's absolutely vital that these myths are challenged and that the true stories can come out."
First World War "myths", by Dan Snow
1. It was the bloodiest war in history to that point
2. Most soldiers died
3. Men lived in the trenches for years on end
4. The upper class got off lightly
5. 'Lions led by donkeys'
6. Gallipoli was fought by Australians and New Zealanders
7. Tactics on the Western Front remained unchanged despite repeated failure
8. No one won
9. The Treaty of Versailles was extremely harsh
10. Everyone hated it
What Is the Greatest Number of Children Born to One Woman?
The record for most babies born to one mother is 69.
As of 2014, the greatest number of children born to one woman was 69. Birth
records from the 1700s show that the wife of a Russian peasant named Feodor
Vassilyev gave birth 27 times — to four sets of quadruplets, seven sets
of triplets and 16 pairs of twins. It was reported that 67 of the 69
children survived past infancy. Vassilyev’s second wife reportedly gave
birth to 18 children, which would make him the father of 87 children, with
all but three surviving infancy. It has not been proved that the records
are true, and some people believe that the numbers might be inaccurate.
Read More: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i
As of 2014, the greatest number of children born to one woman was 69. Birth
records from the 1700s show that the wife of a Russian peasant named Feodor
Vassilyev gave birth 27 times — to four sets of quadruplets, seven sets
of triplets and 16 pairs of twins. It was reported that 67 of the 69
children survived past infancy. Vassilyev’s second wife reportedly gave
birth to 18 children, which would make him the father of 87 children, with
all but three surviving infancy. It has not been proved that the records
are true, and some people believe that the numbers might be inaccurate.
Read More: http://www.wisegeek.com/what-i
Friday, June 27, 2014
Bankers Could Go To Jail
Bankers Could Go To Jail
by aletho
CEPR
| June 25, 2014 Morning Edition had a strange piece discussing how
regulators can punish banks for breaking the law. The piece focused on
the various fines and regulatory measures that can be imposed as
penalties when banks are found to have broken the law. Remarkably it
never considered the underlying logic of the […]
Iraq: ISIS Execution Site Located
Satellite Imagery, Photo Analysis Pinpoint Site in Tikrit
The analysis suggests that ISIS killed between 160 and 190 men in at least two locations between June 11 and 14. The number of victims may well be much higher, but the difficulty of locating bodies and accessing the area has prevented a full investigation, Human Rights Watch said.
Thursday, June 26, 2014
ICC prosecutor finds no grounds to investigate North Korea war crime allegations
ICC prosecutor finds no grounds to investigate North Korea war crime allegations
[JURIST] Fatou Bensouda [official profile], Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) [official website] announced [press release] Tuesday that a preliminary investigation [report, PDF] into North Korean attacks on South Korea did not satisfy the Rome Statute [text] requirements necessary to initiate a full ICC investigation. The preliminary investigation was launched [press release, PDF] in 2010 in the wake of two North Korean attacks on the South: the sinking of a South Korean warship, the Cheonan [BBC report], on March 26, 2010, and the shelling [Reuters report] of South Korea's Yeonpyeong Island on November 23, 2010. The prosecutor concluded that attack on the Cheonan could not constitute a war crime because the "attack was directed at a lawful military target and would not otherwise meet the definition of the war crime of perfidy as defined in the Rome Statute." In regards to the shelling of Yeonpyeong Island, the Prosecutor concluded that despite civilian casualties, the information available failed to provide a "reasonable basis to believe that the attack was intentionally directed against civilian objects or that the civilian impact was expected to be clearly excessive in relation to the anticipated military advantage." The ICC has reserved the right to reopen the investigation if new information on the events is discovered.
The prosecutor's announcement comes a few months after the chief investigator from the UN Commission of Inquiry on Human Rights in the Democratic People's Republic of Korea in April appealed to [JURIST report] the UN Security Council to refer North Korea to the ICC for alleged crimes against humanity. In March the UN Human Rights Council [official website] adopted a resolution [JURIST report] urging the UN Security Council to take action against those responsible for documented crimes against humanity in North Korea. Also in March the Chairperson of the UN Commission of Inquiry (COI) on Human Rights in North Korea Michael Kirby compared [JURIST report] the alleged crimes of the North Korean regime to those of Nazism, apartheid and the Khmer Rouge. In February UN human rights investigators released a 372-page report [JURIST report] detailing allegations of widespread crimes against humanity in North Korea that they believed merited prosecution within the ICC.
China top court overturns controversial death sentence of abused wife
China top court overturns controversial death sentence of abused wife
[JURIST] China's highest Court on Tuesday overturned the death sentence of a woman convicted of killing her abusive husband in 2010. The Supreme People's Court (SPC) [official wesbite, Chinese] remanded the case [Reuters report] of 43-year-old Li Yan to a high court in China's Sichuan province, finding that her first trial lacked sufficient evidence and factual clarity. Yan beat her husband to death with an air gun in 2010 after nearly two years of marriage in which she suffered physical, sexual and verbal abuse from him, including [AI report] having cigarettes extinguished on her face and having a finger cut off. Yan's lawyer, Guo Jianmei, said this may be the first time a Chinese court overturned the death sentence of a prisoner convicted of killing his or her domestic abuser. Jianmei also believes it is unlikely Yan will be sentenced to death if convicted in her retrial. Yan's retrial is scheduled for May 2015.
China has long been under international pressure to restrict or eliminate its use of capital punishment. In March China's legislature, the National People's Congress, announced [JURIST report] measures that, if passed, would reduce the number of crimes warranting the death penalty. In May 2011 the SPC instituted [JURIST report] harsher penalties for violations of food-safety crimes, including the death penalty if the crime resulted in someone's death. A month prior the standing committee of China's National People's Congress amended [JURIST report] certain laws, which resulted in the abolition of the death penalty for 13 crimes, including some non-violent and economic crimes. In January 2011 Human Rights Watch accused [JURIST report] China of over-using capital punishment as well as falling short of its stated goals in the country's National Human Rights Action Plan of China enacted in 2009 to promote and protect human rights. In February 2010 the SPC issued [JURIST report] new guidelines in an effort to limit the number of people sentenced to capital punishment in Chinese courts, which included instructing courts to issue the death penalty only to those who commit serious crimes.
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