There has been a roaring debate over the decision of the New Orleans city council to tear down all Confederate era statues, which many have argued is wiping out history rather than dealing with it. The most controversial decision is the removal of the iconic statue of Robert E. Lee in the downtown. One casualty of that debate is Nicholas Dean, principal of Crescent Leadership Academy, who was forced out of his post merely because he went to see the historic change and was pictured with a Confederate flag in the background. Not his flag, mind you. Just a Confederate flag held by a protester.
Category: Bizarre
Kali Wilgus and Liz “LC” Connelly thought that they had realized their dream when they opened Kooks Burritos in Portland Oregon. They were even more excited when the local newspaper Williamette Week decided to do a feature article on their new business. The two women recounted how they watched Mexican women making tortillas on a trip to Baja California and adopted what they saw. That admission however led to furious accusations that the two white women were guilty of “cultural appropriation.” They eventually shutdown their food truck.
This week President Donald Trump again made headlines in denying that he ever mentioned Israel in his giving highly sensitive intelligence to the Russians. (The problem is that no one suggested that he had and the later statement appeared to reaffirm to the world that Israel was the source of the human intelligence from a spy inside ISIS. News accounts suggested that Israel might have been the source but no one suggested that Trump said it was Israel to the Russians). Now the Trump Administration is accused of leaking British intelligence to U.S. media in the aftermath of the massacre in Manchester. The British were reportedly irate and made a formal complaint over the violation of core protocols and protections for intelligence sharing. This is a very serious complaint and further undermines the core relationships that we rely on in the sharing of national security information. It should result in an immediate congressional investigation to determine what happened.
We have previously discussed the worrisome affinity that President Donald Trump has appeared to show toward authoritarian figures like Turkish strongman Recep Tayyip Erdogan. Now the Department of Foreign Affairs has reportedly released a transcript of the call between Trump and its blood-soaked president Rodrigo Duterte. The transcript shows Trump heaping praise on Duterte specifically for his crackdown on drugs — the very program that has made him an international pariah over its extrajudicial murders of suspects. Thousands have been reported murdered under Duterte’s reign of terror for criminal suspects. The White House has not denied the accuracy of the transcript. Duterte is now threatening to remove any semblance of a democratic system and declare martial law over the entire island.
It appears that Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross has found relief from the pesky protesters of Western democracies. He gave an almost breathless account of how he didn’t spot nary one protester in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, just tranquil silence of the Saudis. It could be that the Trump Administration found a country unanimously and enthusiastically supportive of its policies. It could also be that protests are generally unlawful in the Kingdom. The Saudis however are famous for public demonstrations of a different kind from beheadings to the image above of festive hangings.
In Oryol, Russia, Orthodox Bishop Nektary (Nikolai Seleznev) has declared that he is entitled to a new form of manna from heaven in the form of a new top of the line, fully loaded luxury Land Cruiser. When confronted by the ethical questions over the gift from a local agribusiness, Seleznev insisted that Jesus would have definitely taken such a sweet ride if it were offered.
We have often discussed how controversial views or positions are often expressed in terms of discrimination as opposed to good-faith disagreements. A case in point is found in a debate over the consumption of alcohol by pregnant women. The view of the medical profession has certainly changed where some doctors are suggesting that moderate alcohol consumption might not be harmful to a baby. However, when Chief Medical Officer, Dame Sally Davies, stated that the rule against any alcohol consumption was still advised, she was denounced as “sexist” and “alarmist.”
Continue reading “Advice To Pregnant Women To Avoid Alcohol Denounced As “Sexist””
For those of us who have long wondered where ISIS and other terrorist groups find people willing to commit atrocities of unspeakable brutality, one answer appears to be white supremacists willing to trade one extremist lifestyle for another. That is what Devon Arthurs, 18, is accused of doing when he gave up a life as a neo-Nazi and became a radical Muslim. He then proceeded to kill two of his roommates, 22-year-old Jeremy Himmelman and 18-year-old Andrew Oneschuk, for blasphemy after they mocked Islam.
Continue reading “Neo-Nazi Converts To Islam and Then Allegedly Murders Two Roommates for Blasphemy”
President Donald Trump is finding friends in all the wrong places this week. Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov seemingly came to his defense by outright denying that he and Trump ever discussed the Comey firing in their controversial visit to the Oval Office. After all, who are you going to trust if you are not going to take the word of dictator-loving, soulless apparatchik serving Vladimir Putin?
I have previously criticized Northwestern University President Morton Schapiro for his lack of support for free speech on campus. Unlike the University of Chicago across town, Schapiro has been leading the calls for limiting speech deemed to be a “microaggression” or offensive. (For full disclosure, I am a graduate of both Northwestern and Chicago). His lack of commitment to free speech has made him popular with some groups while alarming free speech advocates. That concern was heightened this week when Schapiro defended his efforts to give protected “safe spaces” on campus and said that some offensive speech should be considered a form of “assault.” The comments further distinguish Schapiro was one of the most hostile university presidents toward free speech principles in the country. His pandering to those demanding speech codes and regulations should be an embarrassment for the university, which remains one of the world’s premiere academic institutions. He has taught his students well. Soon after the publication of his latest remarks, student groups shutdown a speaker and a class on immigration. It appears that even classes must now adhere to the mob rule at Northwestern.
In Kentucky, Leah Ann Vick, 26, probably does not want her case to go to a jury. She is accused of stealing $26,000 . . . . from the Girl Scouts. Notably, the theft was in cookies and the Girl Scouts are not sure if she kept the cookies or sold them on the side. Either way, the aggravating element of alleging stealing from the venerable charity is enough to guarantee more time on sentencing.
Continue reading “Kentucky Woman Accused Of Stealing $26,000 In Girl Scout Cookies”
The New York Times is reporting (and the White House has reportedly confirmed) that President Donald Trump made some truly disturbing comments in his controversial meeting with the Russians. Not only did Trump call former FBI Director James Comey “a real nut job” but told the Russians that the firing has taken pressure off of him in terms of Russia. The leaked summary will fuel the allegations that Trump fired Comey to try to shutdown the Russian investigation to relieve pressure on himself. While I have discussed my skepticism over the evidence of an actual crime by the President, Trump appears committed to leaving the greatest incriminating impression possible in such meeting.
Most IT specialists tend to avoid mixing water with computers, but Russia pulled out their biggest gun this week to combat the WannaCry ransomware attack targeted Microsoft Windows systems. Orthodox Church’s Patriarch Kirill went to the Ministry of Internal Affairs and sprayed holy water on the computers. It could be a new approach to stopping malware. If you trigger an electrical failure with water, the malware is technically stopped with the now dead computer. Continue reading “The Patriarch Patch: Orthodox Leader Called Into To Combat WannaCry With Holy Water At Russian Ministry”
In what may be the most curious police APB, detectives in Leeds are looking for the witness to an assault. The only description however is that the man was dressed as a giant penis.
Continue reading “Cock of the Walk: English Police Seek Witness Dressed As Large . . .”
I have previously been critical of the stance taken by former acting Attorney General Sally Yates. I remained unconvinced that Yates had the ethical basis to order for the entire Justice Department to stand down and not to assist the president in the defense of his first executive order on immigration. I also questioned Yates’ decision to voluntarily testify before the House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence. She was testifying as someone who was recently in a prosecutorial position about subjects related to an ongoing investigation where no one has yet to be indicted. Now those concerns have been magnified by Yates’ appearance in the media to talk about matters center to the ongoing investigation at the Justice Department and other related subjects.
Continue reading “Yates Goes On CNN To Declare That Russians Had “Real Leverage” Over Flynn”