The death of Irzen Octa in interrogation in Jakarta has raised an outcry internationally. What is a bit surprising is that his interrogators were not Indonesian police but Citibank employees. The company who proclaims “your Citi never sleeps” appears to harshly interrogated the man for hours in a tiny room over just $5,700 on his Citibank credit card.
Continue reading “Citibank Accused Of Killing Indonesian Man in Harsh Interrogation”
It is getting to the point that you have to wear waders on flights these days. We just saw a recent case of Robert “Sandy” Vietze, 18, (a member of the U.S. Olympic ski Team) peeing on the leg of an 11-year-old girl. Now, famed actor Gerard Depardieu forced a plane to return to the airport after he relieved himself in the middle of the plane aisle in first class. The actor from Green Card and such masterpieces as Cyrano de Bergerac appears not to have been charged in contrast with other cases.
Lawyer Jorge Hernandez Marin had a novel alleged approach to an opposing expert in litigation on behalf of drug maker Baxter International: take this ticket, money, and don’t call me in the morning. Marin was reportedly caught on tape offering to double the fee of the opposing expert, accountant Rafael Aspuru Alvarez, and giving him a free ticket to Las Vegas or some other city if he made himself unavailable.
The British government has formally asked China, Vietnam and other Asian countries to tell their citizens that rhino horn has no medicinal value to try to save the rhino from extinction. The belief that the horn holds medicinal value is deeply grained within Asian culture, as I discovered years ago in Taiwan.
Continue reading “Britain Calls On Asian Governments To Move Against Sale of Rhino Horn”
Blogger Asma Mahfuz has been arrested by Egypt’s military for defaming the military council on the Internet. It is a part of an expanding trend of governments cracking down on first speech by using defamation and blasphemy laws.
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The United States continues to pour foreign military aid and other funds into Pakistan by the billions despite years of knowledge that the Pakistani intelligence service was protecting terrorist suspects. Now, a report has surfaced that our erstwhile allies arranged to have the Chinese inspect the wreckage of the secret Stealth helicopter used in the operation — even as the U.S. was trying to recover the wreckage from Osama Bin Laden’s compound.
We have a couple of good friends who live in Paris, including Eric Tenin who is the founder of parisdailyphoto — a wonderful site featuring his pictures from the City of Light. I was so taken by Eric’s photos (and I so love Paris) that I invited him to send me a picture a week to feature on our blog — our own window into Paris each week. This is the first picture, but more pics can be seen each day on his site.
Continue reading “Paris Picture of the Week”
We have seen the gradual dependence of the United States on China, which holds a huge amount of our debt. The result has been foreign policies designed to appease the Chinese government, including near silence on human rights abuses by that country. Now, academia has its own scandal of kowtowing to the Chinese, which have become equally dominant in research and education. Schools like Georgetown and Massachusetts Institute of Technology have said virtually nothing after their faculty were barred from entering China or flying on Chinese airlines due to objections to their writings. They are called the “Xinjiang 13” and their virtual abandonment by leading universities shows how academic freedom values have been sacrificed to maintain our dependence on Chinese funding.
Call me a skeptic. For years, the world has been fed a constant stream of images of Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin engaged in what may be the longest running mid-life crisis in history. Putin has been shown as a race car driver, great white hunter, jet pilot, oceanologist, martial artist and other action hero outfits. Each appearance has been accompanied by some fawning account of his aides on how he is superhuman. Now, Putin’s macho action series has turned to scuba diving. While only having dived three times, Putin was shown at an ancient Greek Black sea site and . . . you guessed it . . . he “discovered” two sixth century urns under the water. What is really amazing is that the urn were less than seven feet from the surface, together, and just lying exposed for thousands of years waiting for Putin. It was almost like someone put them there and directed Putin who was only in the water for a brief time when he added world-class archeologist to this action hero box.
Continue reading “Now Putin The Archeologist: Russian Strongman “Discovers” Ancient Jars At Ancient Site”
Honestly, what would we do on this blog without those hilarious guys in Iran. In their latest standup routine, the Iranian Foreign Ministry Spokesman Ramin Mehmanparast issued a statement to the British government to show greater restraint in dealing with protesters in London and other cities. That’s right, the government that has killed, beaten, and raped protesters is publicly calling out England on its efforts to stop the rioting and looting in London.
Continue reading “Iran Calls For Investigation of England’s Treatment of Protesters and Calls For Dialogue With Rioters”
It appears that if they just stayed put Texans would be living seal steak and penguin chili. Just 1.1 billion years ago, rocks show that Texas was part of a remote part of the Antarctic continent south of the Atlantic Ocean basin.
Seventeenth Century pirate Captain Henry Morgan is a fascination for many history buffs. That is likely to increase with the discovery of the Satisfaction, his flagship with tantalizing unopened crates. The maker of Captain Morgan rum, which helped finance the search, is hoping that the crate contain some bottles of rum. The discovery occurred just short of the anniversary of Morgan’s death.
Continue reading “Satisfaction: Captain Morgan’s Ship Located In Panama”
With one last stop at at Ladurée we are finally ready to return to the states. We are sorry to leave France — even after three weeks. I wish every American could come to visit this country and see the trimuph of man in the arts, food, and culture. When you are getting depressed about our species, these cities and sites remind you of what were are capable of being.
Continue reading “Au Revoir France: Some Parting Pieces of Advice”
After leaving Normandy after a wonderful time from Honfleur to Omaha Beach, we drove to Paris. We are staying with friends who have a home in Colombes, a suburb of Paris. We have spent roughly a week in Paris. This is the first time for the kids and they were awestruck. The sheer beauty and deep history of the city is overwhelming and a perfect culmination of our three-week tour in France.
Continue reading “Americans in Paris: The Turleys Descend Upon The City of Lights”
After hitting the landing sites from June 5, 1944, we proceeded to another highlight of our trip through France: Omaha beach. While the American cemetery closed just as we were walking up, we went to the beach near Vierville-sur-Mer. We were clearly in the areas code named Charlie and Dog Green. It was spectacular.
Continue reading “The Turleys Land At Normandy: Omaha Beach”