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Key Posts Category
Professor will live as David Bowie for a year (Mick Jagger not in on the plan)
Will Brooker, a professor at Kingston University in London, has a new experiment: he will live as David Bowie for a year. He will do some "method acting" as Ziggy Stardust, dress up in the garb of Bowie's various other incarnations (Bowie, of course is the alter ego of the private David Jones), immerse himself in mid-1970s culture to enter Bowie's mindset, do his best not to confuse and worry Iman, Bowie's wife, not use her persona to attract groupies, and partake of the singer's milk and red peppers diet, omitting the cocaine.
Says Brooker:
"His mansion in Beckenham has been demolished, for instance, and I'm unlikely to have a fling with Mick Jagger."
Although a few Jagger tribute acts might be up for it.
"However it is possible to engage with and get a feel for his experiences without immersing oneself to a dangerous extent."
Mr Brooker, we salute you, but not like Bowie's alleged 1976 Nazi salute.
Posted: 19th, August 2015 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, News, Strange But True | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Listen to Okilly Dokilly: the Ned Flanders trubite band have a song out
To Phoenix, Arizona, where Okilly Dokilly – the world's first and only Ned Flanders tribute band – are talking to James McCann. They play 'Nedal' music. It being what The Simpson's character would have wanted.
As their Facebook bio notes: "most of our songs are direct Ned quotes."
Lead Singer Head Ned On How They Got Started
"Myself and our drummer (Bled Ned) were in line at a grocery store, entertaining ourselves by coming up with really cutesy names for really hardcore, brutal bands. The name Okilly Dokilly came up and was very funny to us. We ran with it. I contacted a few friends (Red Ned, Thread Ned and Stead Ned), and here we are. Most of us have played in other bands around our hometown. This is definitely the heaviest sounding project any of us Neds have done."
The Sound
"Not as fast as Bartcore, and a little cleaner than Krusty Punk. Not as heavy as 'Homer J.ent' – Nedal is a happy medium in the Simpscene."
Are You All Left Handed?
"I am,"says Head Ned. "The other Neds aren't so lucky. It made writing All That Is Left pretty fun," he continues. "It's our homage to the Leftorium, and the bridge is entirely left handed puns."
The Dream
In reality, this is all just an over-the-top attempt at getting Matt Groening's autograph, even if it comes on a cease and desist letter.
And now for the demo tape:
Posted: 14th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, Music, News, TV & Radio | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Manchester City's 'blind and bald' Raheem Sterling drives tabloid news agenda
Is Manchester City's Raheem Sterling in trouble? The Sun thinks he is. Its headline and teaser place Sterling at a scene of destruction:
Who hit the gas?
EXCLUSIVE: Raheem's Merc crashed with nitrous cans in footwell, but who was driving?
Sterling's mashed up Merc found abandoned in London
And, reportedly, there were "laughing gas canisters by the front seat".
Very soon he learn that the only thing this has to do with the England player who joined Manchester City from Liverpool for £49m, is the car, which is his:
It is believed the Manchester City ace had lent the £125,000 car to a friend, and a worried source warned: "Raheem needs to think about who he hangs around with."
Why does he? We don't know what happened to the car. And laughing gas is not a banned substance. And the car was not "abandoned". It was left by the roadside with damage to the front right wing.
The 155mph Merc was left on a London street after the crash. Its bonnet was crumpled and both airbags had activated, suggesting the impact was at speed.
It also suggests the driver and passenger were wearing seat belts. And according to Safecar.gov:
Frontal air bags are generally designed to deploy in "moderate to severe" frontal or near-frontal crashes, which are defined as crashes that are equivalent to hitting a solid, fixed barrier at 8 to 14 mph or higher. (This would be equivalent to striking a parked car of similar size at about 16 to 28 mph or higher.)
Was the impact at "speed", as the Sun suggests?
It was taken to Manchester for repair. The car was pictured outside a garage in Middleton, with blue nitrous oxide canisters visible in a front seat footwell.
Anyone asked the mechanic about them?
We hear from an unnamed "source":
"The Merc was in London for days after the smash — it was just left on the street. Raheem wasn't in the car at the time, he was training in Manchester. It looks like he lent it to a mate.
"Raheem needs to think about whether he's hanging around with the right kind of people, especially as he is such a high-profile star."
The Sun then reminds readers that Sterling has twice been "caught" inhaling what appears to have been laughing gas.
…it has been linked to 17 UK deaths in five years, and doctors warn it can cause problems including blindness.
No direct link to the deaths has been proven. And as for the gas making you go "bald and BLIND", that 'fact' is rooted in the words not of "doctors', but of would-be media darling Dr David Allamby, clinical director of London's Focus Clinic (see Press for details!), who told media:
"The links between vitamin B12 deficiency and hippy crack are well established, following a series of research papers. And this B12 deficiency causes damage to the optic nerve, something known as optic neuropathy.
"It could be helped by huge supplement injections of B12, but the vision loss could be irreversible, especially if advanced. And chronic abuse of nitrous oxide gas could not only lead to blindness, but a host of other problems, too, including nerve damage.
"I'd argue that if more and more people in the UK continue to abuse this so-called legal high we could be facing a sight loss epidemic in the months and years to come."
The risk of going blind exists for a chronic user – defined as being addicted to the drug – and are deficient in vitamin B12.
Looks like elite athlete Raheem Sterling is safe. As for his car, well, he can always toss some of his fortune at making it better.
Posted: 11th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Sports | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Did Leicester City 'race row ace' learn about 'Japs' in The Sun?
Who is the "England ace" in the Sun's "race row"?
SHOCKING video plunged England footballer Jamie Vardy into a race row last night after he was seen abusing a fellow gambler, saying: "Yo Jap, walk on."
Leicester City striker Vardy, 28, can be heard loudly repeating the word "Jap" three times during a heated bust-up as he played a late-night game of poker at a casino.
Leicester City players have been embroiled a summer race row before. Earlier this year a trio of berks were exposed racially abusing Thai prostitutes in a homoerotic orgy.
A witness appears to tell us how bad it is:
"As an England international he should know that eyes are going to be on him when he goes out, but he acted just like a football thug. The club should investigate. I was outraged."
The Sun then advises its innocent, shocked and confused readers:
The term "Jap'" short for Japanese, has been considered a derogatory racial term since World War II.
Who knew?
But one thing is certain, Vady has destroyed football and the entire season. Oh, he has becasue the ridiculous Kick It Out outfit says he has:
Anti-racism campaign group Kick It Out last night said Vardy's behaviour had "cast a shadow" over the start of the football season.
Dr Taplin, also a Fellow of the University of Leicester, said, remidns us all that footballers are "role models to young people".
Helpfully, Sun readers see Tony Parsons as their rol mode. He tells them:
As a man with a Japanese wife, an Anglo-Japanese daughter and a profound love for Japan, I should be deeply offended by Jamie chucking the old "Jap" insult around. But he is clearly so poorly educated he is somewhere beneath contempt.
Certainly the 70th anniversary of nuclear bombs falling on Hiroshima and Nagasaki is not the most sensitive time to revive such archaic racist terms.
Parsons then tells what names are acceptable to level at Vardy:
But screaming "Oi, Jap!" only makes one person look like a tosser, Jamie. And it is not the gentleman you were shrieking at. The Japanese are a proud, well-educated, civilised nation – the kindest and most decent people in the world. They wouldn't let a thicko like Jamie Vardy clean their toilets.
Maybe he can write for the Sun?
Posted: 9th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Sports | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Edward Heath: of course the PM was a paedophile – he's dead
WAS former Prime Minister Edward Health a paedophile? Did he rape children? Well, he is dead (the former Tory MP died in 2005) so we can all pile in with an opinion. Who needs facts, proof or to navigate any bariers to jusice when you have the police and media so keen to give the corpse a kicking?
Wiltshire police wants you call in if you ever met 'Ted':
"Sir Edward Heath has been named in relation to offences concerning children. He lived in Salisbury for many years and we would like to hear from anyone who has any relevant information that may assist us in our enquiries or anyone who believes they may have been a victim."
Believe they have been a victim? Tell the police and they will investigate the contents of your thoughts. And you will be beleived. For instance, LBC news announces that Ted is guilty:
"Ted Heath Child Sex Victims Appeal By NSPCC"
LBC looks at the hard facts:
"Sir Edward, who was prime minister from 1970 to 1974, never married and there has been speculation about his personal life over the years."
Never married, eh? If you want proof that man is good with kids, look at his ring finger; spot a band on it and know you're in the presence of a trusted sort, a regular Fred West.
The BBC has a list of investigations in which Heath figures:
Operation Midland: The BBC understands Sir Edward is being looked at as part of the operation examining claims that boys were abused by a group of powerful men at locations across southern England and in London in the 1970s and 1980s. It has focused on the Dolphin Square estate in Pimlico, south-west London.
Operation Whistle: The States of Jersey Police has confirmed Sir Edward forms part of its investigation into historical allegations of abuse. It says some of the allegations relate to abuse "within institutions or by people of public prominence".
Operation Hydrant: A nationally co-ordinated exercise to collate all allegations of historical abuse involving high profile-figures. The operation has been notified of Sir Edward being named in connection with an allegation of sexual assault in the 1960s.
Is that all – just the three big investigations?
How many police and raking over the muck? The BBC, again:
Five police forces are investigating claims of historical child sexual abuse involving former PM Sir Edward Heath. The Met, Wiltshire, Kent, Jersey and Hampshire forces are conducting separate inquiries into the late MP.
A mere five police forces are on it! Why so many? Are they all going to point the finger at each other?
Tom Watson MP: "I have referred two allegations regarding Edward Heath to the police"
Can't Watson just show us some proof? Name and shame! Publish and be damned! Can a Watson nudge, wink and puff of the chest be enough to damn the dead?
The Sir Edward Heath Charitable Foundation, which operates the museum at Arundells, his home in Salisbury, said it welcomed the investigation.
"We wholeheartedly believe [it] will clear Sir Edward's name and we will co-operate fully with the police in their enquiries," a spokesman said.
Can his name ever be cleared once it is sullied by the shout of "paedo!"?
The Mirror finds a finger pointer. The man was aged 12 when he claims he met Heath:
In a letter to his solicitor, in which he tells how he was picked up in car, saying: "I think it was about August 1961 when I ran away again….I decided to hitch a lift.
"I stuck my thumb out as I walked….when a car pull up and the window was lowered and the driver asked me where I was going. I told him the West End (of London) and he told me to get in the car."
During the journey he started a conversation with a man who he later identified as Heath.
Describing the event, he says: "He was asking me why I was on my own and I told him I wanted to have time on my own and that I came to London on my own a lot and my mum wasn't worried. He asked me if I had somewhere to stay to which I replied in the negative. He said if I wanted to I could stay at his place for the night.
"I was grateful and accepted but knew that he hadn't asked out of generosity and that I would have to pay, probably with my body but it didn't bother me, as I had been using my body for over five years now and it was almost second nature."
Was it boaty muso Ted?
"I went into the living room where I had a cup of tea and a sandwich he had made. I noticed photos of yachts on the wall but one thing that intrigued me was a silver stick in an open box on a sideboard.
"I asked him what it was and he told me it was a conductor's baton. It made him laugh when I said I had never seen a bus conductor with a baton. He explained it was an orchestra's conductor's baton."
Any evidence?
The location he claims was picked up, along the A2 road in north Kent, is believed to be less than two miles away from where the Tory politician was allegedly warned by police in the 1950s to cease cruising for gay sex.
Back at the flat:
"We spent the night masturbating each other…..I don't know what time we eventually slept".. .He continues in the note: "I woke the next morning….I got up and got dressed and went into the living room. There was a sandwich on the table….he said he had a morning appointment and that it was time to leave….he let me out the front door and told me the way to the West End."
He goes on to detail how in 1965, when the man was 15-years-old, he saw a picture alongside a newspaper article with Heath standing next to Margaret Thatcher.
Addressing the female Tory PM by her maiden name Roberts, he writes: "In the picture was Margaret Roberts (who became Margaret Thatcher), Edward Heath…..and a lady (somthing) (I think Smith).
"I realised at once that the man in the photo was the man who had given me the lift and had sex with me in an apartment in Park Lane…"
Did he tell?
"I learned that he was MP for Bexley. This answered a lot of questions as to why no-one believed me about the London saga. I got called a liar and a fantasist."
The Independent Police Complaints Commission will consider whether Wiltshire Police failed to properly investigate child sex abuse claims against Sir Edward Heath. A retired senior officer claims that a woman accused of running a brothel should have been prosecuted in the 1990s.
He claims that when the suspect alleged that Sir Edward was involved in child sex offences, and she planned to expose him, officers then dropped the case against her.
As well as investigating this allegation, the IPCC will look into whether the claims about Sir Edward were ever looked at by the Wiltshire force.
Meet the madam:
Myra Forde, 67, said on Wednesday she had no knowledge of any misconduct by Heath, and denied threatening to expose him to escape prosecution in the 1990s. A prosecution against Forde was dropped in 1992.
In a statement issued to the Salisbury Journal, Richard Griffiths, a solicitor who acted for Forde, said: "My former client wishes me to make it very clear that at no stage did she state that Ted Heath was a client and at no stage did she threaten to expose him as a client of hers if the prosecution was continued."
He added: "For the avoidance of any doubt Myra Forde wishes me to make it clear that she had no involvement with Ted Heath of any kind and has no knowledge of any misconduct on his part." He said the 1992 trial did not proceed because of difficulties with a witness.
Forde was later jailed twice for operating a brothel in Salisbury.
Is Forde a trusted source?
Forde, who was originally from the Philippines, trained runaway children as sex workers from her property in Salisbury, less than a mile from Heath's house. One 13-year-old girl would go straight from school to Forde's brothel, which she called the Oriental Massage Parlour, according to reports of her trial at Winchester crown court.
Following her release from prison, Forde was caught again in December 2009, admitted inciting prostitution, and was sentenced to five years in prison.
The Indy wonders what's new?
Unsubstantiated – and sometimes wild – allegations against the former prime minister have circulated on the internet for years with some even claiming that Sir Edward pushed for Britain to join the European Common Market because he was being blackmailed over abuse claims.
What changed?
As we know now, historically the police failed to take this type of allegation seriously and ignored or possibly covered up child abuse claims made against prominent individuals such as Cyril Smith and Jimmy Savile.
That is no longer the case. All such historical allegations are now being forensically examined – even if the evidence is flimsy.
Balls. This is the police navel gazing, offering introspection in place of investigation. It's not justice. It's PR.
Posted: 6th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Penis biscuits: St Patrick's Day cookie cutter promises golden rain at the ends of the rainbow
Kimberly Wolfe, one of the proprietors of TheFussyPup, has it pointed out to her that the cookie cutter looks like a knob:
"One pointed out its resemblance to the male organ. We had a little giggle and dismissed the thought. While making adult theme cookie cutters isn't our main goal, we are happy to provide cookie cutters for any occasion—and we love to see the creativity of our customers! Now if only someone would send me a picture of the results!"
Spotter: Fastcompany.com
Posted: 5th, August 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, The Consumer | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Why Cilla Black died: a criminal act, suicide and other media speculation
Why did Cilla Black die? The 72-year-old stalwart of British entertianment was found dead at her Spanish holiday home.
The Metro says Cillas "died of natural causes".
Was she in good health? Last December she gave an interview:
"I am falling apart. My hand is falling apart. I can't shake hands. I had arthritis and I had an operation for it. I had it done because I was in pain. I am not in pain at the moment. But it looks a bit deformed on the wrist. That has been fixed but it is going to take some time to heal. I fell in the park earlier this year as well and hurt my hand…
"You see on Britain's Got Talent and The X Factor they all wear ear plugs. But I could not hear myself when I wore them. So that is where the strong voice came from. Now I am totally deaf because of the Cavern days."
The Telegraph adds drama:
Cilla Black's son found star's body after smashing his way into her bedroom
Cilla Black's doting son Bobby discovered the star's body after smashing his way into her bedroom when she failed to rise from an afternoon siesta.
We hear from a "source close to the inquiry":
"Cilla's son found her lying face upwards in a solarium-style sun terrace next to her bedroom. There's no conclusive autopsy results yet but the main theory right now is that she had a dizzy turn after going from an air-conditioned room into the midday heat and losing her balance.
"The marks she's got are consistent with a fall where she's put up an arm as a defence mechanism.
"What's need to be determined now is why she fell and whether it was indeed to do with the sudden change in temperature and the effect that had on her – which seems the most likely scenario at the moment – or whether something else triggered the collapse.
"Midday temperatures on Saturday in the area were in the high eighties and we know Cilla wasn't in the best of health.
"More tests may be necessary after the autopsy to get to the bottom of whats really happened. There's no evidence to link Cilla's death to any criminal act but police and courts generally like to keep an open mind on things."
That speculation from a trusty source who cannot be named becomes fact in the Standard:
Cilla Black died after fall from dizzy turn in searing Costa del Sol heat
Investigation source: "main theory right now is that she had a dizzy turn after going from an air-conditioned room into the midday heat and losing her balance."
…sources close to the investigation said this yesterday morning medical examiners will look closely at marks on her right arm and elbow which they believe may be linked to a fall potentially caused by a sudden temperature change.
We are then told:
Cilla, born Priscilla Maria Veronica White in 1943 in Liverpool, told last year how she would like to die at 75 before she became too frail to enjoy life.
She said: "Seventy-five is a good age to go. I know it's only four years away but I take each day as I find it."
No exactly a suicide case, then. Indeed, Cilla said in 2014:
"I agree with Dignitas, but I couldn't be the one to administer the poison that kills me. I know I couldn't commit suicide. I'm too much of a coward, I couldn't do it. I'd rather somebody make that decision for me."
But the Daily Star still finds it fire to thunder: "CILLA'S SECRET DEATH WISH":
All true – apart from the bits about a secret and a death wish.
Posted: 3rd, August 2015 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Marie Black: the paedophile who ran a child abuse card school in Norfolk
For your nightmares: Marie Black, 34, from Norwich, found guilty yesterday of rape, conspiracy to rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Marie Black, aka Marie Adams, is a paedophile.
In the dock she wept. She complained that she'd been "stitched up".
In court she denied it all.
Giving a defence opening speech, Sarah Elliott QC, representing Black, said she "wholeheartedly" refutes that any abuse took place, adding that the children's recollections had never been challenged.
She said it was possible the victims' accounts may have been "influenced" and "encouraged" by others.
"Their carers have accepted what they've been told, the social workers have accepted what they've been told, the police have accepted what they've been told," Ms Elliott said. "Nobody has challenged them."
She will be sentenced on September 28.
She did not act alone.
Marie Black, 34, of Norwich, stood trial with nine others, including five women, at Norwich Crown Court.
Michael Rogers, 53, from Romford, Essex, was also found guilty of 14 counts, including cruelty, rape and inciting a child to engage in sexual activity. Jason Adams, 43, from Norwich, was found guilty of 13 similar counts.
The BBC:
Carol Stadler, 60, from Atkinson Close, Bowthorpe, Norwich, was found guilty of assault causing actual bodily harm but cleared of nine other charges, including serious sexual assaults.
Six other defendants, Anthony Stadler, 63, Nicola Collins, 36, Andrew Collins, 52, Judith Fuller, 32, Denise Barnes, 34, and Kathleen Adams, 84, all from Norwich, were cleared of all charges.
During the three-month trial, the court was told how the ring would hold parties with other adults who would play cards to see who would get to abuse which child, while other forms of abuse included the use of toys such as Barbie dolls…
In interviews with the victims, it was disclosed that the children were forced to have sex with each other and would be abused in front of each other and other adults.
A male victim says:
"There would be parties and they would do some games where the boys were in one room with the men and the girls were in another with the women. The adults would have a card game and the winner would get to choose a boy to start touching their private parts and then hurt them afterwards."
What about the authorities? Sheila Lock, interim executive director of children's services at Norfolk County Council, said:
"The victims in this case have shown tremendous courage in speaking out. The needs of the children, who were central to the prosecution case, have always been at the fore of our minds and have been the main focus of all of the agencies involved.
"Our priority continues to be the children in this case who, despite the ordeal they have been through, are now doing well and are safe from harm."
We first heard of Marie Black in 2012. Christopher Booker told her story in the Telegraph:
In France there were tears of joy when Marie Black and Joe Ollis were reunited with their baby daughter Luna, born in France in February but then seized by Norfolk social workers, to be brought back to England to live in foster care. Although this action had been sanctioned by a British court, a High Court judge ruled in May that the seizure was illegal, because Luna was born in France and was therefore outside UK jurisdiction.
Despite further prevarication by the social workers, they eventually obeyed the judge's order that the child should be returned to France. Last week, finally, Luna was handed by a French court back to her parents. "At first," they tell me, "she was quiet and withdrawn after her time in foster care, but now she is alert and cheerful."
Why had the social services acted?
Last year I reported the shocking story of Marie Black and Joe Ollis who escaped to France for the birth of their first child, after learning that Norfolk social workers intended to seize it at birth on the grounds that Marie had previously been in a violent relationship with another man, who was by then out of her life…
Marie Black told all to the Mail:
At a cottage deep in the French countryside, a baby girl kicks her feet in the air and smiles at her father, Joe, as she is cuddled by her mother, Marie.
Little Luna is home at last — reunited with her parents at the end of an historic legal battle against British social workers which began when Marie became pregnant and moved to France from her home in Norfolk.
Marie Black was a fighter who loved kids.
Marie said this week at their home near Cahors in south-west France: 'We were so excited. Luna went to sleep that first night back with us as though she had never been away.
'I lost the chance of breastfeeding her, and we missed her first smile. We blame the English social workers'
But she added: 'I had lost the chance of breastfeeding her, and we missed her first smile. We blame the English social workers.'
Sweet Marie.
Marie had married young and had five children by her abusive husband before fleeing his violence. At one stage, she lived with her children in a hostel for abused women.
But when this proved difficult, she asked social services for help. They took the children into temporary care, and have refused to return them…
And not forgetting:
The couple's solicitor, Brendan Fleming, added: 'I find it amazing that social workers flew to a country outside their jurisdiction and brought this baby to Britain at a cost of thousands of pounds of public money.'
Social workers are under immense pressure not to make a mistake following the Baby P case in London in 2007. He died after suffering many injuries despite being seen by Haringey social services and NHS doctors.
The Wisbech Standard:
Allegations were first reported to police in 2010 but it was in December 2012, when further evidence was disclosed, that police decided they had sufficient evidence to progress the criminal investigation and eventually make the initial arrests in 2013.
Posted: 28th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, News | Comments (3) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Queen's Nazi salute: who dares tell the truth about the fascist Royals?
The Sun's photo of Her Majesty the Queen giving Nazi salute in 1933 is a scoop. "Their Royal Heilnesses," puns the Sun.
Queen Elizabeth 2 was just seven years of age when her Nazi-loving anti-Semitic uncle, the future King George VI, encouraged her to give the stiff-armed salute at Balmoral.
The Queen,'s younger sister, Princess Margaret, is equally blameless as she too salutes the Nazis.
But what of heir mother Queen Elizabeth?
The Telegraph, says "sources close to the Queen" described the photos as "misleading and dishonest":
The Royal Household was particularly angry at the newspaper's decision to print the 82-year-old images, which have never been seen before, just three weeks after the Queen and the Duke of Edinburgh visited the site of the former Nazi concentration camp at Bergen-Belsen in Germany.
It takes a special kind of fool to believe the Queen in some way approves of the murder of 6 million Jews. Her Majesty has been a friend to Jews throughout her reign. Jews sings the national anthem with gusto at synagogue services. The Queen is just about the best thing ever to happen to the Royal Family. Three cheers for her!
Others, what we call 'the sane, might wonder at the world in which Elizabeth was raised. In 1933, her mother would have been 32 or 33 years of age. In 1933, Germany had already begin to ostracise and criminalise Jews.
What was the dear old Queen Mum thinking?
The Buckingham Palace spokesman has reacted:
"It is disappointing that a film, shot eight decades ago and apparently from HM's personal family archive, has been obtained and exploited in this manner."
Why? We're not disappointed. It is a terrific story. The only pity is that it took so long to surface.
The Telegraph makes a suggestion:
In a leading article, the Sun accepts that Hitler, newly installed as Germany's Chancellor, was "a faintly comic character" at the time, but argues that the involvement of the future Edward VIII, a known Nazi sympathiser, makes the film historically significant.
It does. Even without him it would be newsworthy. Edward's presences makes it sinister.
Edward, who feared a communist revolution following the murder of Russia's royal family, courted Hitler when he met him three years after the film was shot.
Not only him. The Sun says the aristocracy feared the communists. Well, some of them did. People involved in the Anglo-German Fellowship, which in 1939 welcomed Gertrud Scholtz-Klink – Hitler's "perfect Nazi woman" – to teach them the ways of Nazism did.
The Anglo-German Fellowship, of which Prunella Stack's husband Lord David Douglas-Hamilton and brother-in-law Douglas Douglas-Hamiton MP were both members, was an upper-class and it would be fair to say a predominately right-wing organisation. In fact many of the fellowship were almost unashamedly pro-Nazi and anti-semite.
In 1931 Miss Pamela Bowes-Lyon – cousin of the Duchess of York and future Queen Consort to King George VI and Queen Mother – married Lord Malcolm Douglas-Hamilton in Beaulieu, Hampshire.
You can read all about how close Britain came to being ruled of fascists on Flashbak.
A royal source is quoted:
"Most people will see these pictures in their proper context and time. This is a family playing and momentarily referencing a gesture many would have seen from contemporary news reels. If you watch the film it is people laughing and joking around and playing, and it was one of the things of the day. No one at that time had any sense how it would evolve. To imply anything else is misleading and dishonest. The Queen is around six years of age at the time and entirely innocent of attaching any meaning to these gestures."
It wasn't one of things of the day for the Jews of London's East End, who fought the upper-class led Black Shirts.
And this:
It was unclear on Friday night how The Sun had obtained the footage, which it argued was part of a "hidden" archive of material relating to the Royal family which it said should now be released.
Over in the Sun, we learn more:
…the pictures must be seen in the context of 1933.
Elizabeth and Margaret are kids. Families of all kinds larked around apeing the stiff-armed antics of the faintly comic character with the Charlie Chaplin moustache who won power in Germany.
No one knew then what Adolf Hitler was capable of. Or that, deep in Bavaria, he was already opening his first concentration camp at Dachau.
What gives The Sun's extraordinary images such historical significance, and the reason we believe the public has a right finally to see them, is the involvement of the Queen's uncle Edward.
The man who briefly became our King was already a fan of Hitler — and remained so as late as 1970, long after the Holocaust's horrors were laid bare…
Edward and a clique of anti-Semitic aristocrats were terrified of a communist revolution stripping them of power and privilege with deadly force, as it had in Russia. Fascism seemed like an answer.
But even the Sun has its limits:
His desire to appease Germany stands now in stark contrast to the courage and patriotism of the Queen Mum once Luftwaffe bombs fell. She was so inspiring to Londoners in the Blitz even the Fuhrer considered her a thorn in his side.
The Sun produces a feature entitled "Queen of the Blitz Silly salute, but a rock in country's bleak year".
If there was one woman determined not to let Hitler win it was the Queen Mother.
There were far more people than one woman who wanted to smash the German war machine.
It was Elizabeth who persuaded her husband King George VI that they should remain in Buckingham Palace as the Luftwaffe bombed the capital night after night in 1940.
The stories are hymned. The tales of the bad Royals bits less so.
Like this in the Mail:
…there is the tragic saga of the Queen Mother's nieces, Nerissa and Katherine Bowes Lyon, both born mentally deficient and unable to speak.
They were confined in the Royal Earlswood Mental Hospital at Redhill, Surrey, in 1941, where they remained for the rest of their lives.
Although the Queen Mother knew the statement in Burke's Peerage that both women were dead (published after false information had been supplied by their mother) was untrue, she never visited either of them, and apparently saw no contradiction in her patronage of Mencap, which campaigns against families placing their mentally challenged relations in state care.
And this in the Telegraph:
…not long before the announcement of the engagement of the Duke of York to Elizabeth Bowes-Lyon at the beginning of 1923 the papers had carried reports that she was, in fact, to marry his brother, the Prince of Wales (the future Edward VIII). Hence the suggestion, half a century later, by Diana Mosley [née Mitford] that Elizabeth's enduring antipathy to Wallis was fuelled by jealousy. In a letter to her sister, the Duchess of Devonshire, written soon after the death of the Duke of Windsor in 1972, Diana (Wallis's friend and future biographer) observed: 'the theory of their contemporaries that Cake [the Mitford sisters' nickname for Elizabeth, derived from her sweet tooth and healthy appetite] was rather in love with him (as a girl) & took second best, may account for much.'
Good stuff, eh. Got any more?
Well, yes. There's this:
Released by Buckingham Palace ahead of the publication this week of the first official biography of the Queen Mother, the letter is her personal account of the events of 13 September 1940 to her "darling" mother-in-law, Queen Mary.
In it she records how she was "battling" to remove an errant eyelash from the King's eye, when they heard the "unmistakable whirr-whirr of a German plane" and then the "scream of a bomb".
"It all happened so quickly that we had only time to look foolishly at each other when the scream hurtled past us and exploded with a tremendous crash in the quadrangle," she wrote.
While her "knees trembled a little bit", she was "so pleased with the behaviour of our servants", some of whom were injured as one bomb crashed through a glass roof and another pulverised the palace chapel.
Hours later, after lunching in their air-raid shelter, she and the King were visiting West Ham in London's East End. She wrote: "I felt as if I was walking in a dead city… all the houses evacuated, and yet through the broken windows one saw all the poor little possessions, photographs, beds, just as they were left."
Oh, you want the juicy bits, the stuff about the Royal racists, philanderers and scumbags. Well, the Royal want those bits kept secret:
The rest of the Royal archive from that period, of similarly immense interest to historians and the public, is still hidden.
It should be released.
Posted: 18th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Royal Family | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Neurotic people see Jesus in things
Do you see faces in inanimate objects (a condition known as pareidolia)? If you do, chances are you're neurotic.
Brain Decoder, who works at Tokyo's NNT Communication Science Laboratory tested 166 undergraduates to ascertain their 'big five' personality traits and mood. The students were presented with pictures of random dots and invited to say what they saw.
The psychological tests found a link: students who scored higher for neuroticism were more likely to see faces in the dots.
Of course, that's not to say Jesus really isn't manifest in that tortilla, tree stump or stain.
Spotter: Brain Decoder
Photo: The "Face on Mars" was one of the most striking and remarkable images taken during the Viking missions to the red planet. Unmistakeably resembling a human face, the image caused many to hypothesize that it was the work of an extraterrestrial civilization. Later images revealed that it was a mundane feature rendered face-like by the angle of the Sun.
Posted: 18th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Strange But True | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Britney Spears shops for Hollywood nostrils and boobs museum exhibits
Shopping list of the week was penned by Britney Spears. Someone dived into her bins and resurfaced with shopping lists.
Spears, we learn, likes Oreos, pasta, Sprite, gritz, Dr Pepper, flowers, Red Bull, pizzas, cheese, ham, "Boobs" and a "Nose (talk to nose guy)".
Aside from being an adult human who shops like Yogi Bear, Spears' shopping for body parts is a curiosity. Does she collects tits and nostrils, aiming to create the ultimate Hollywood museum of add-ons, exhibits to include Jennifer Aniston's nose tip, Cher's laughter lines and an introductory talk from the 'living exhibit' who bought Michael Jackson's fire damaged hair.
Or are the words codes for a kind of Hollywood sustenance?
Dive, dive, dive!
Posted: 17th, July 2015 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Amazon gives free buzzing dildo with children's sandals
Anyone still too shy to buy a dildo should know that Amazon offers shoppers a free vibrator with pairs of children's sandals. You just have to select the right brand, which is not all that subtly called PRIMIGI.
Sophie Grantham, 36, didn't know of the special offer until she took delivery of a pair of said sandals and spotted the five-inch purple Durex vibrator in the box.
Sophie, of Whiteley, Hampshire, explains:
"The parcel was vibrating so the postman made a comment about it maybe being a toothbrush. I was absolutely horrified to find there was this purple vibrator, loose and buzzing about in the shoebox. I don't know what happened, but it's not on."
Posted: 16th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Strange But True, The Consumer | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Madeleine McCann, the Yorkshire Ripper and date night with Jimmy Savile cops
News on the hunt for Madeleine McCann has been thin. But today the Sun has a story:
Ripper's vile Maddie slur – EXCLUSIVE: Serial killer casts doubt on McCanns in Broadmoor letter
The Sun has news of Peter Sutcliffe, the so-called Yorkshire Ripper.
YORKSHIRE Ripper Peter Sutcliffe sickeningly casts doubt on the innocence of Madeleine McCann's parents in a sensational letter revealed today by The Sun.
Mass murderer and woman hates thinks… It's not the most auspicious start to a scoop, is it? Why should we care what the killer thinks?
In the note — one of a series he sent from Broadmoor — he tells a pen pal "there's something not quite right" about three-year-old Madeleine's disappearance during a 2007 family holiday in Portugal.
Posted: 8th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Zion blood is flowing: Lee Scratch Perry's Vision Of Paradise And Top 10 Songs
Lee Scratch Perry's Vision Of Paradise is the story of the great music man's life. German filmmaker Volker Schaner tells Mojo about his film of the great Upsetter:
"There is something so mysterious and sparkling in Lee Perry's music. I always wanted to understand this man and his cosmos, and to make a film with and about him."
Perry's music is a mix of the mystical, spectral and the touchable.
These are our top 10 Lee Scratch Perry songs:
Roast Fish And Cornbread:
Junior Murvin Police & Thieves
Disco Devil
Roast Duck
Posted: 7th, July 2015 | In: Key Posts, Music, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Karen Danczuk and Simon's twitter divorce: RT if you want a sex tape
Karen Danczuk is entertaining Sun readers. In 'BUSTED', the estranged wife of vainglorious paedo-hurning MP Simon Danczuk, the Sun reports:
KAREN Danczuk spent more than seven hours with her personal trainer as he stayed the night at her house. Athletic Ben Bate sneaked into the 31-year-old's marital home late on Thursday — just five days after she split with husband Simon, a Labour MP.
Photos of the man are captioned:
Karen works out in the park with personal trainer Ben
Ben outside Karen's house on Wednesday evening
He walks into the house
Looking out of the window shortly before midnight
Personal trainer leaves in the early hours
Thrilling stuff that any private dick should appreciate.
The pick of the photos, however, is the one labelled:
Wearing T-shirt for Ben's gym
Posted: 4th, July 2015 | In: Celebrities, Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Watch CNN report on ISIS flag at London Gay Pride (fails to notice it's made out of butt plugs and dildos)
The London Gay Pride march featured an ISIS flag. CNN is shocked and appalled.
Lucy Pawle has noticed a man dressed in black. He's holding an ISIS flag, says Lucy.
It's made of dildos and butt plugs.
But Lucy never noticed:
Posted: 28th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Strange But True | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Murder in Tunisia: blame the West's moral impotence and Seifeddine Rezgui's poverty
The horror in Tunisia is getting blanket media coverage. Fifteen British citizens are known to have been murdered. In all, 38 people were killed and 36 wounded by the Islamist at the Sousse beach resort.
The Times: "Tunisia relatives' desperate wait for news"
Not knowing must be terrible.
Ross Naylor has launched a social media appeal for news of his father Scott Chalkley, 42, and his partner Sue Davey, both of whom were staying at the Imperial hotel which was caught up in the attack in the popualr resourt of Sousse. He said he has not heard any news on their whereabouts despite several calls to their mobile phones, the hotel, the Foreign Office and a local hospital.
The Times quotes Foreign Minister Tobias Ellwood:
"This is the most significant terrorist attack on British people since 7/7 and highlights the ongoing threat of Isil [Isis]."
It looks like relying on the Kurds to keep the barbarians at bay is not going to work.
Daily Mail: "Kalashnikov in hand, chilling images show ISIS murderer walking on beach in front of stunned onlookers before unleashing carnage"
Posted: 27th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Fun with child death and lice with these 10 Plagues Seder Night masks
It's Seder Night, when Jews recall Passover and the plagues sent down on the house of Egypt to help along their emancipation from slavery. As dad reads out the story, the cool kids can play along by wearing one of 10 masks, each one representing a plague. "Bagsy, Death to the 'First Born'," says Junior, the rascal. Others can enjoy 'Blood', 'Boils', 'Lice' and 'Darkness'.
The whole set is yours for a mere $14.99 at Bed Bath and Beyond.
But be warned: these mask are only suitable for over 3s lest there be a new plague of 'Choking'.
Posted: 23rd, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, The Consumer | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Madeleine McCann paedophile mania grips Cyrpus
Another summer brings with it another Madeleine McCann front-page news story. The innocent child who became the media's benchmark for all missing children is evoked on the Daily Star and Daily Mirror's front pages. There is talk of child kidnappers in Protaras, Cyprus.
The Star announces:
The Mirror goes with:
Only, she wasn't snatched. No, not Madeleine. This other child. In fact, no other child has been kidnapped.
The Star's Jerry Lawton says "hero dad" James Down performed a "citizen's arrest" on "one of the suspects who had been videoing children on his mobile phone". Holidaymakers say are "up to 10 child traffickers posing as hotel waiters".
The Leicester Mercury sees an exodus:
A British father on holiday in Cyprus has spoken about fearing a Madeleine McCann style snatch after his two-year-old daughter was taken by a gang of would-be kidnappers. The incident happened at the Anastasia Beach Complex in Protaras on Tuesday, resulting in tour operator Thomas Cook moving more than one hundred holidaymakers.
The Times has more from the aforesaid heroic Mr Down:
James Down, 30, said that he apprehended the man and claimed that he had found footage of children on his phone. "He'd been on the beach talking to some children and then he was by the pool. I then saw him kneeling behind a wall talking to some little kids," Mr Down, a wind turbine engineer, said. "I got him by the scruff of the neck and took him to the hotel reception."
Mr Down, a former soldier from Newcastle, said he took the man's phone and found images and videos of children taken in the area. He said that he and his friends had later seen a woman who they thought was linked to the man, chased her and grabbed her. "I saw a pick-up truck which had its engine running and a saloon car. Some of our group tried to run after the vehicles, but they drove off. I think they were traffickers," he said.
Think they were traffickers? Can anyone ask the man Mr Down's arrested and frog-marched into the hotel if he is interested in selling children?
The Daily Record's James Moncur writes:
THREE youngsters were being lured into cars at the Anastasia Beach Complex, near Protaras, when the child-snatcher were caught [sic].
Got him! Brilliant. No make him talk.
A holidaymaker at the Cyprus resort with a wedding party from Dundee said: "We had seen these people around the hotel all week. They'd been in the pool and interacting with some of the children. Some of them were wearing staff outfits so they could blend in more easily. It was really scary."
Scots dad Greg Letford, 28, told how the gang – who staff claimed were Romanians – targeted kids on Tuesday night.
He said: "This Romanian couple were leading the two young children towards a waiting car, another person had a third child up against a wall ready to go, too. Someone spotted what they were up to and stopped them. If he hadn't been there those kids would have gone. One of the men got away and we heard the getaway car crashed a short distance away too. When the police turned up, they took the man and woman into an office in the hotel and a crowd built up in the foyer – there must have been about 60 or 70 really angry people. It was chaos. The police got them into a van through a window for their protection. One of the hotel staff later told us they were Romanian and that one of them used to work at the hotel."
And the arrested man and the Romanian "holiday hell gang"? Well, the 'arrested' man is from Bulgaria. As the Times notes:
Police said they had arrested the Bulgarian man, 19, accused of filming children, but there had been no reports of an abduction and searches of his mobile phone, home and person led nowhere. Other reports suggested the man had been assaulted by a group at the hotel. Nikoletta Tyrimou, a police spokeswoman, said that police made one, not two, arrests and that there was no get-away car or people in disguise stalking children. She said: "Upon arriving at the scene, police officers arrested a 19-year-old man from Bulgaria whom holidaymakers said had been filming their children and was trying to abduct them.
"We questioned the suspect, went through his phone and also searched his home. Nothing we found suggests that he is part of a child-abducting gang or that he was stalking children. The man has since been released."
It did? They did? Mr Daniel Mann tells the Mirror that kidnappers tried to steal his daughter Lillie last year.
It also emerged that a two-year-old girl from Durham had disappeared for 40 minutes at the same resort last year. She was finally spotted being carried away from the hotel by a woman who claimed to have found the toddler wandering alone.
Says Mr Mann:
"It was awful. My daughter was about 10 yards from me at the pool and in the time it took me to turn around and say, 'It is time to go I will go and get the bairn,' she had gone.We were frantically searching for about 40 minutes. I could feel my stomach churning the longer it went on. There were people joining to help all the time. One or two mentioned Madeleine McCann, you can imagine how that made me feel. We found her in the arms of an Eastern European woman who was walking towards a car park. My partner saw her, she thought she was carrying a bag of potatoes, then she realised it was our child. She ran after her, screaming."
Thomas Cook have made this statement:
The safety and welfare of our customers is always our first priority and upon hearing about the alleged incident, we immediately deployed our experienced resort team to the property to provide those customers in residence with individual support. On request, we assisted 16 customer bookings who wished to move to an alternative hotel and two families who travelled back to the UK early. Although there are conflicting reports as to what exactly occurred at the property, we would like to reassure all customers that we take all allegations incredibly seriously and we are continuing to work closely with our customers in resort and the local authorities.
So. Not 100 holidaymakers, then. And Mr Mann's partner, Lillie's mother Kay Baldasara, adds that the woman 'abducting' her daughter is on the loose:
"By the time I checked over Lillie, she had gone."
The pair reported the kidnap attempt to Durham Police when they returned home after the holiday last August. The case was referred to Operation Grange, the unit leading the search for Madeleine. It was also shared with detectives in Cyprus. There have been no arrests.
Daniel told how the latest kidnap bids at the hotel brought their own horror flooding back.
We'll end this round-up with the Cyprus Mail's take on events. Constantinos Psillides writes:
The British media reporting on the alleged attempted kidnapping of three youngsters at a Protaras hotel, "has been completely blown out of proportion and it's all wrong," an eyewitness has said.
The tourist, who wanted to remain anonymous, told the Cyprus Mail that while he wasn't part of the wedding party that was taking place at the Anastasia hotel at the time, he witnessed what happened firsthand.
Go on:
"At some point we heard a large commotion and screams. Somebody attacked a young man yelling "paedophile, paedophile" and then suddenly a group of around 50 people were chasing him.
The 19-year-old Bulgarian was attacked?
We joined them and chased two people to the front desk, a man and a woman.
Police came and took the young man in custody – a 19-year-old Bulgarian — but let the woman go because it turned out that she had nothing to do with the incident and that she just happened to be there. That's what really happened, nothing more," said the holidaymaker, adding that he was appalled after reading news reports on the story.
"They said that child snatchers were posing as hotel staff. That's completely ridiculous, I have no idea where they got that from," the holidaymaker said.
"I also noticed that some have been connecting this incident to the Madeleine case. That is both wrong and disrespectful," stressed the holidaymaker, referring to the famous case of then three-year old Madeleine McCann who disappeared from her room while holidaying with her family in a holiday resort in Portugal in 2007.
Meanwhile, a source close to the investigation told the Cyprus Mail that the parents of the 19-year old Bulgarian that was arrested are employed by the company that owns Anastasia Beach hotel, Tsokkos Hotels.
He was with his mum and dad. Their son has been abused?
The 19-year old apparently spent a lot of time in the hotel, frequenting the pool area. The source said that on the 19-year-old's phone, police found four pictures, none of which depicted children.
"They were pictures of a hotel show. We went through the suspect's phone, we searched his house thoroughly and found absolutely nothing to suggest that he was a paedophile, a kidnapper or that he was part of a gang."
But he might have been, right?
Posted: 19th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, Madeleine McCann, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Trigger Warning: free speech is being attacked and downgraded in Anglo-American culture, says Mick Hume
Anorak asked journalist Mick Hume about his new book, which looks at the highly topical issue of free speech…
Your new book is entitled 'Trigger Warning'. For those not familiar with the phrase, could you explain its origin and its relevance?
A 'trigger warning' is a statement stuck at the beginning of a piece of writing, video or whatever to alert you to the fact that it contains material you may find upsetting or offensive. For example, 'TW: Islamophobic language', or 'TW: references to sexual violence'.
Trigger Warnings took off in US colleges (where student activists want classic works to carry them, suggesting for example that The Great Gatsby should have one along the lines of 'TW: suicide, domestic abuse and graphic violence'). They have since spread across the Atlantic and the internet. If you are not familiar with 'TWs', they are coming soon to a website near you.
For me the mission creep of trigger warnings symbolises the stultifying atmosphere surrounding freedom of expression and debate today. They are like those 'Here be dragons' signs on uncharted areas of old maps, warning students and others not to take a risk, not to step off the edge of their comfort zone, not to expose themselves to 'uncomfortable' ideas, images or opinions.
What is the book about?
The sub-title of the book rather gives the game away: 'Is the fear of being offensive killing free speech?' To which its unsurprising answer is yes, unless we do something about it.
Trigger Warning is about all the various ways in which free speech is being attacked and downgraded in Anglo-American culture today. It describes 'the silent war on free speech'. It's a silent war because nobody in politics or public life admits that they are against freedom of expression; all of them will make ritualistic displays of support for it 'in principle', as they did after the Charlie Hebdo massacre. In practice, however, they are all seeking ways to restrict freedom of expression, whilst insisting that 'this is not a free speech issue', it is merely an attempt to protect the 'vulnerable' against offensive and hateful words.
To that end, the book examines the complementary trends towards official censorship, unofficial censorship and self-censorship in the West today, covering everything from online 'trolls' to football and comedy as well as more conventional political issues.
Of these three, the most insidious is the informal, unofficial censorship promoted by Twitter mobs and assorted boycott-and-ban-happy zealots. They are a relatively small minority, but they exercise disproportionate influence by preying on the loss of faith in free speech at the top of our societies.
I describe these people as 'reverse-Voltaires', who have taken the famous principle linked to Voltaire – 'I may hate what you say, but I will defend to the death your right to say it' – and twisted it into its opposite – 'I know I will detest what you say, and I will defend to the end of free speech my right to stop you saying it'. They do not want to debate arguments they disagree with, but merely to close them down as offensive. Trigger Warning takes on their most powerful excuses in a section entitled 'Five good reasons for restricting free speech – and why they're all wrong'.
What is the main message of the book?
The main message of the book – and I fear it is a 'message' book, or 'polemic' as we pretentious authors say – is twofold, I suppose. That we have forgotten how important the fight for free speech has been in the creation of something approximating a civilised society, and that we are in danger of giving it up without a struggle. It is not so much that we are losing the free speech wars: we are not even fighting them!
Few of the great advances in politics, science and culture over the past 500 years would have been possible without the expansion of free speech and the willingness of heroic heretics to question everything and break taboos. None of the liberation movements of the recent past could have succeeded without putting the right to free speech at the forefront of their campaigns (which makes it all the more bitterly ironic to see restrictions on free speech being demanded today in the name of protecting the oppressed).
Free speech was never a right to be won once and then put on a shelf to be admired. It always has to be defended again, against new challenges and enemies. The big danger today is that so few are standing up for unfettered free speech against the reverse-Voltaires and their like. Where are the young Tom Paines, JS Mills, John Wilkes' or George Orwells of our age? Instead we have characters like the US liberal professor who just wrote a (pseudonymous) article about how he is too 'terrified' of his 'liberal' students to raise a potentially offensive idea or even ask them to read Mark Twain. Time to take a stand before it's too late.
You have been outspoken about the right to offend. But some people seem to believe they have a duty to offend, and we have seen public examples of this recently. How does your opinion differ from theirs?
I have been writing about the right to be offensive for some 25 years, since the crisis over Salman Rushdie's The Satanic Verses. It is the cutting edge of free speech. After all, what use is it is we are only 'free' to say what everybody else might like? If we defend free speech for those views branded extreme and offensive, the mainstream will look after itself. This is not about offensive language, but opinions – as JS Mill pointed out long ago, the more powerful your opponent's arguments are, the more offensive you tend to find them!
The importance of that issue was brought into sharp focus by the reaction to the Charlie Hebdo massacre of course. As the book describes, behind the apparent displays of Je Suis Charlie solidarity, the powerful message was that those cartoonists had gone 'too far' in offending Islam. Those gunmen might have been inspired by Islamist preachers, but they can only have been encouraged by the loss of faith in free speech at the heart of Western culture.
None of this means, as you mention, that anybody has a duty to offend. The right to be offensive is not an obligation. One problem today is that the response to the conformist culture of You-Can't-Say-That tends to be a few comedians and others trying to cause offence for the sake of it. That's infantile and useless. As William Hazlitt wrote, 'An honest man speaks the truth, though it may cause offence, a vain man, in order that it may". A good distinction, so long as we remember that the vain man gets the freedom to speak his version of the truth, too.
Trigger Warning: Is the Fear of Being Offensive Killing Free Speech? is published by Collins.
Mick was answering questions put to him by Ed Barrett
Posted: 17th, June 2015 | In: Books, Key Posts, News | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Lord Janner scandal day 58: Michael Jackson's letter of the law
Lord Greville Janner: a look at news on the Labour peer embroiled in allegations that he abused children. He maintains his innocence. It's been 58 days since the Crown Prosecution Sevice decided not to prosecute Lord Janner on gounds of his failing health.
With no actual news to report, we make do with a tenuous link between Janner and Michael Jackson. In keeping with the story of Westminster peados, like most of the people implicated, Jackson is dead. And he never read the letter Janner wrote him.
The Leicester Mercury takes up the tale:
Greville Janner wrote to superstar Michael Jackson congratulating him on being cleared of child sex charges… The Labour peer and former Leicester West MP wrote the letter shortly after the singer was cleared by an American jury of molesting a 13-year-old.
A number of national newspapers reported at the weekend that Lord Janner wrote to Jackson, who died aged 50 in 2009, on personalised House of Lords paper in 2005.
He is said to have passed the letter to former child actor Mark Lester and asked him to give it to Jackson.
What he wrote was:
"I was so very pleased at the news of your acquittal. What a terrible time you have endured. You know how much I enjoyed and appreciated meeting you at the Universal Studios and in the UK – and especially on that wonderful day in Parliament and the journey to Exeter. So I send you my very best wishes – and hope you will return to London before long and that I should have the pleasure of seeing you once again before long."
In June 2002 Janner gave Jackson, spoon-bender Uri Geller and US magician David Blaine a tour of the Houses of Parliament. Lester is chiefly famous for having played Oliver Twist in the 1968 film.
Says Mr Lester:
"Janner knew I was friends with Michael. He gave me the letter and asked me to give it to him. I stuffed it in my pocket and never got round to it. I stumbled across it while clearing my house. What he said was inappropriate."
If there was ever word that sums up this decade it is 'inappropriate'. Why is it inappropriate for Janner to have to written to the then world's biggest star? I mean, did you see Jackson's fans back then?
There were a few naysayers:
And it was huge news.
But Lester is agog not that Jackson was given a tour of Westminster, but that Janner wrote him a letter:
"Michael Jackson was hounded for much of his life over these allegations and was then found not guilty. No one should congratulate Michael on being cleared let alone a QC and peer. It's as if he's saying, 'Well done, you got away with it'."
No. It isn't. Jackson was found not guilty. Janner said it must have been a burden. He never once said 'Nice one, you got away with it.'
The story of Westminster peadophiles has taken on a life of its own. The alleged abuse is said to have occured over years. This longevity suggests a culture of denial and, to some, a conspiracy of depraved men working together to maintain a secret. But facts are now so thin we get stories of a Wacko Jacko fan letter being passed off as news. In place of evidence of child rape in the shadow of power, we get news of 'inappropriate' words. 'Innocent until proven innocent', says one of the pro-Jackson banners. To which we would add a new one: 'Guilty when dead.'
Such are the facts.
Posted: 15th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Lord Janner scandal day 52: Scotland digs for evidence
Lord Greville Janner: a look at news on the Labour peer embroiled in allegations that he abused children. He maintains his innocence. It's been 52 days since the Crown Prosecution Sevice decided not to prosecute Lord Janner on gounds of his failing health.
Today's news.
BBC: "Lord Janner claim investigated by police in Scotland"
Police in Scotland are understood to be investigating claims Labour peer Lord Janner abused a boy there in the 1970s. Det Ch Supt Lesley Boal said Police Scotland officers were investigating a historical complaint – but did not confirm a name.
As ever, facts are thinner than Theresa May's smile.
BBC home affairs correspondent Tom Symonds said the allegation had first been made in 1991 by a Leicester man who told police that Greville Janner sexually abused him during the 1970s – including in Scotland.
We're told that Leicestershire police investigated and found Janner had no case to answer. And now a mere 14 years later the allegations resueface. The accused man is now old. He and his victims are denied a court trial. And all we get is a stink.
Now Scottish police are investigating.
"Because Scotland has a separate and independent prosecutor, it would be able to make its own decision about whether to charge Lord Janner," he added.
Is there new evidence to warrant a charge that wasn't available to police in 1991? Did the Scottish police investigate Janner? Questions and more questions. And with no court date, there is no chance to having them answered with satisfaction.
So that's two police forces investigating Janner, the Crown Prosecution Service reviewing the Director of Public Prosecutions' decision that m'lord would to be unable to take part in his defence due to his poor health, and Justice Lowell Goddard looking at the Labour peer as part od her independent inquiry into child sex abuse.
Yeah, that's all.
Lord Janner is 86. He says he's innocent.
But the Mail picks up a scent.
Daily Mail: "With a school party on a Commons visit in 1976, two Labour grandees Greville Janner and George Thomas who 'abused children'"
Smiling broadly, two Labour grandees welcome a party of young schoolboys to the Commons. Since this photograph was taken in 1976, Greville Janner and George Thomas have been exposed as alleged paedophiles.
Exposed. Alleged. Can you be exposed as an alleged anything? What happened to those barriers to guilt?
The pair, later ennobled as Lord Janner and Viscount Tonypandy, have been accused of preying on children and yesterday campaigners said there was growing evidence a Labour paedophile ring operated at Westminster.
Is the Mail serious in labelling Labour the Paedos Party? If it is, were Liberal Sir Cyril Smith and Sir Tory Peter Hayman wannabe Labour members?
Thomas, Commons Speaker before becoming a peer, is said to have propositioned young men in his official grace and favour apartment in Parliament. He died aged 88 in 1997, but is now the subject of investigations by British Transport Police over an incident on a train in 1959, and by South Wales Police into a claim he raped a nine-year-old boy.
How can that be proven?
The alleged rape victim came forward to say he was abused at home in the late 1960s and early 1970s by the MP, who had befriended his foster parents.
A third former Labour MP, the late Leo Abse, has also been named as an alleged abuser.
Abse is dead. Smith is dead. Hayman is dead. Thomas is dead.
Yesterday campaigning Labour MP Simon Danczuk, who exposed the Cyril Smith scandal, said: 'If George Thomas abused a nine-year-old boy, then you can be certain it was not a one-off. He would have abused others. The links between these people are coming together like a jigsaw puzzle, and one does get the impression there was a Labour network of paedophiles.'
If. Certain. We're digging up the bodies to beat them with sticks. It's only when the depraved grandees die that their guilt becomes a certainty. The pieces from Danczuk's jigsaw puzzle crumble like dead skin when touched.
The close bond between Janner and Thomas is clear from the black-and-white photograph unearthed by the Mail, which was taken on June 22, 1976. Janner had arranged for 70 pupils from his Leicester West constituency to visit the Commons. There is no suggestion any of the children in the photo were abused…
The claims about Thomas, a one-time headmaster and Methodist lay preacher, surfaced last year. His victim, now aged 56 and living in Australia, said: 'I was raped by George Thomas in Cardiff. I was about nine. He spent a lot of time at my house.'
He alleged the abuse also happened at another address in the city. A second victim says he was sexually abused on a train from Paddington to Aberystwyth when he was 22 and Thomas was 50.
Thomas, an MP from 1945 to 1983, was a secretary of state for Wales in Harold Wilson's government and presided over the 1969 investiture of the Prince of Wales. He also read the lesson at Prince Charles's wedding to Lady Diana Spencer in 1981.
Wasn't is Sir Jimmy Savile who took Diana's secrets to his grave?
In 2001, Leo Abse MP spoke to the Sunday Times about helping with George Thomas MP's young blackmailer:
"Over the years, given his exposed position, it was inevitable that he would fall victim to blackmail. On one occasion, after a distraught recounting to me of the pressure upon him, I insisted I would meet and deal with the young criminal in his constituency into whose hands he had fallen.
"My reputation in Cardiff's criminal underworld stood me in good stead in dealing with the wretch. As a lawyer, I had often acted in the courts on behalf of the local prosecution department, and even more frequently, I had defended the city's gangsters. As one-time chairman of the watch committee, I had the duty of supervising the local police.
"The blackmailing cur, therefore, had no doubt that, unless he desisted, I would carry out my threat to ensure he was put behind bars for 10 years; shortly after our encounter he found it was politic to quit the city."
The Mail forgets to say that Thomas was chairman of National Children's Home (NCH) in 1983.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 9th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, News, Politicians | Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0
Watch FIFA wonk Ismail Bhamjee reveal the 'rigged vote' for World Cup 2010
The Sunday Times has a cracking story on FIFA troughing. The paper says back in October 2010 it showed FIFA a video of leading FIFA officials talking about bribery. Reporters gained access by posing as lobbyists.
The allegations are that the vote to host the 2010 World Cup was rigged in South Africa's favour – and that Morocco was the actual winner.
Allegations are:
* The vote by 24 the Fifa executive committee (Exco) was rigged. At the final count South Africa (14) defeated Morroco (10) and Egypt (0).
* Ismail Bhamjee, an Exco member from Botswana, says: "After talking with everybody . . . Whose votes went where? We're all colleagues, you know. And then we found out that actually Morocco won by two votes." He says Exco members conferred after the vote and realised Morocco had won. Although Bhamjee says some some Exco members could have lied about their votes.
* The ballots were counted behind closed doors. Were they deliberately miscounted?
* It's alleged FIFA suppressed the Sunday Times' tapes and failed to investigate claims of bribery.
* It's alleged members took bribes from Morocco and South Africa.
* Ahongalu Fusimalohi, the former Fifa Exco member from Tonga, says Morocco had offered him a $150,000 bribe for his vote. He did not take any money. But did others?
* It's alleged that members Jack Warner, the former Fifa vice-president, took over $1m in bungs from both sides. Bhamjee is cited as having said: "I know they gave Jack Warner personally a lot of money for the Concacaf [Warner's north America confederation]. But please, this is confidential."
Michel Bacchini, a former Fifa director of competitions told the undercover reporters: "But Jack, they [the Moroccans] were paying him and at the end when they were voting here in Zurich, you know, he was making a big scene, he was running out of the hotel complaining that somebody was cheating. He was the guy who cheated, he was making a big scenario out of it. I know a hundred hundred per cent that he was voting for the South Africans and pretended to vote for the Moroccans. I always said you never have to pay any money upfront."
FIFA has responded thus:
"It cannot have escaped even The Sunday Times's attention that these matters are being investigated by the proper authorities, ie, government agencies, not newspapers. And Fifa is fully co-operating with these investigations.
Such are the facts.
Posted: 7th, June 2015 | In: Key Posts, Sports | Comment (1) | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed:RSS 2.0


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CEU: The Archetypes of the Five Elements - Kenmore, WA
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NewsJuly 11 2012
Local firemen fight Black Hills fire
Members of the Kennebec Volunteer Fire Department traveled to the Black Hills to help fight the White Draw , located northeast of Edgemont. The fire burned around 9,000 acres and was finally contained Friday, July 6.
Chaz Bowar and Jake Longville were on site when they were demobilized and released Friday.
The Kennebec Fire Department has a contract with the South Dakota Department of Ag, Wildland Suppression Division to assist with fires within the state. They also have an agreement to help on the National Grasslands. The fire department receives financial compensation for fighting fires which has helped the Kennebec firemen pay for their firehall.
According to fire chief Don Manger, when dispatched the department sends a unit, which includes two firemen and a vehicle, to the assigned fire for a minimum of 14 days.
"Everybody has a job so we split the time up between firemen," said Manger. Steve Manger and Chaz Bowar were the first firemen to volunteer to go, followed by Chad Urban and Rod Bowar.
The firemen have to be certified in wildland fire suppression and hold a red card to prove they passed the physical fitness test to maintain their contract with the state.
Four members of the North Carolina Air National Guard died in the crash of a C-130 plane Sunday,, July 1 that was assisting with the White Draw fire.
- Fall sports back in action
- Kennebec to celebrate Lake Byre Day
- Presho Firefighters receive Grain Bin Rescue equipment and training
- Lyman County ACS Survivor celebration event
- Swimming season comes to an end
- County completes rural development analysis
- Swinson named PHS Distinguished Alumni
- Greater Lyman Foundation continues to grow
- Lyman County law enforcement officers recognized
- Presho's Sidewalk Project presented to public
- Lyman Alumni Reunion set for July 30
- New members seated on School Board


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As some of you already know, I'm a longtime Tom Waits fan. And for most of my fandom, I've regarded Waits with the kind of affectionate bemusement one reserves for musical geniuses whose oeuvre is comprised primarily of love ballads about one-eyed prostitutes arranged with a broken unicycles and wheezing calliopes as backing instrumentation. But lately, as the disturbing reality of the global economic hole we're all gradually sliding into becomes more starkly concrete, his music has started to resonate... READ ON
No one ever said being a parent was easy, but these parents aren't even trying. OK, in some cases, that isn't fair "" circumstances of the day probably dictated the actions of certain parents, like Jack Nicholson's mom. I've got nine bad parents "" who do you think the #10 bad mom or dad should be? I almost added Joan Crawford but decided that since she was the bad parent, it didn't count. Leave your suggestions in the comments!
1. When the movie... READ ON
Evidently, a major stereotype among people of the British Isles is how young ladies from the Northeast part of the country are seemingly impervious to the cold. "Geordies," as the lasses are called round hereabouts, are wont to line up for clubs and pubs skimpily attired in naught but their "glad rags," totally inappropriate for the frigid Northeast elements.
And I thought it was just American teenagers.
In any case, scientists at Newcastle, UK's International Centre... READ ON
Baseball has often been described as the thinking man's game. Yogi Berra once said that America's national pastime was 90 percent mental, and the other half physical. If any player could make sense of such a statement, it's one of these guys.
C "" Moe... READ ON
Sergio Leone's 1966 spaghetti Western The Good, The Bad and The Ugly ruthlessly depicts the brutality of the West as it tells the story of three self-interested gunfighters searching for $200,000 in buried gold. How well do you know the film?
Take the Quiz: The Good, The Bad and The... READ ON
Because we're building up to the Oscars this week (did you miss our first two movie quizzes?), here's a little spoof I wrote that you might enjoy from our pals over at The Morning News—newly published this morning.
Ever wonder how Oscar's Internet dating profile might read?
About Me
I'm here to find a great person for a great time. I want to tremble from head to toe. You'll see lots of ads on here saying stuff like "No games!" or "No... READ ON
Sam Kean is a favorite of ours on staff. We geeked out on his pieces explaining Carbon Trading and covering a Natural Nuclear Reactor in Oklo, Nigeria. This month, he's profiling the new field of epigenetics and how maybe Darwinists shouldn't have derided LaMarcke's theories so much. This story of how mice could eat something, and it could affect their grandchildren really struck... READ ON
I have a real treat today for fans of word games. It's Textropolis ($2.99, iPhone/iPod Touch), and it's by far my favorite word game on the iPhone. It's a simple and beautifully designed game, and boy is it addictive -- I'd rather be playing it right now, rather than writing this review.
Textropolis is an anagramming game. It gives you the name of a city (starting with Kingstown) and you have to build words using the letters from that city's name -- for example, KING, TOWN, KNOT, STOW, and so on.... READ ON
"Nifty vanity plate," said Officer Jane Curtis, approaching the driver's side of a red sports car that she'd just pulled over. "What made you choose that?" she asked, as she kept one hand poised over her stun gun.
"It's not a vanity plate," said the confused driver. Officer Curtis quickly determined him to be much older and more feeble than she had anticipated. She relaxed, warned the man about his speed, and left the scene.
Here are the six letters as they appeared on the man's license plate. Can... READ ON
Following up on yesterday's post about absurdly caloric foods you can make for yourself at home, today I wanted to explore food that comes from vending machines. Almost everyone's bought a soda or a bag of chips from a machine at one time or another, but vending machine companies are always trying to expand our gastro-vendonomic horizons -- sometimes to some very strange, and seemingly unappetizing, places. This is definitely not service with a smile.
For instance, there's an Italian company that... READ ON
Traditional media is in trouble, if not dying out already. How will we get our news in the future?
The guys from Top Gear find out it's not so easy to drive an eighteen-wheeler, especially in the Alps! Don't give up your day jobs, fellas. (via Dark Roasted Blend)
Put some random people in a group, give them a task and soon enough a leader will emerge. Learn how to recognize, or be, that leader.
Presidential Cocktails: History of the White House Wet Bar. Even the president who supported... READ ON
"Three Ballerinas" is representative of the work of Japanese-French artist Tsuguharu Foujita (1886-1968), the only Japanese artist to be considered a member of the "School of Paris."
1. Tsuguharu Foujita was an accomplished artist even in high school. In 1900, when he was just 14, one of his paintings was sent to the Universal Exhibition in Paris. By age 24, the emperor of Japan had purchased one of his paintings; by age 25, he had been asked to paint a portrait of the king of... READ ON
Thanks to all who entered our 14th Caption Contest. Now it's up to you all to pick the winner, after the jump you'll find our favorites.
Drop your vote in the comments below and may the best caption win! (Remember: one vote per person... READ ON
7-Up was originally called "Bib-Label Lithiated Lemon-Lime Soda."


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I am trying to migrate my site from .com to org. and have just about everything but the fonts and colors. I am using the parament theme and I would like to know how to change the color of the block where it says Posted by ....
Also, I would like to know how to change the fonts for the title/header of the posts. (on the .com the 3 fonts are Raleway, "calluna sans", Ubuntu)
To give you all a better example of what I am talking about.. The site that I am trying to duplicate exactly is http://badsentinel.com (wordpress.com site customized using pro bundle.)
the test site I am working on is http://pacontreras.com
here is the code from my style.css
[CSS moderated. A link to your site is all that is needed]
Any help would be appreciated.. Thank You very much.


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Latest Blog Posts
Why do I [want to] work for climate justice?
Guest blog by Rebecca Haydu When I ask myself this, I am met with more questions than answers. Where does positive change actually come from, and who decides what that looks like? What does it […]
by Aneesa Khan (Originally posted on The Odyssey Online) Climate activism burn-out and rediscovering a sense of hope in the movement for food justice.


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Hi, first of all thank you so much for plugin.
But I have problem from ver 2.6.0
and I thought it would be o.k after upgrading ver 2.6.1
but it wasn't fixed, so this is my problem.
1. change to basic setting is not applied.
I used google shortner, but I changed it to bit.ly
but it still shows google shortner...
it doesn't matter which one I changed it to.
I tried changing it to don't shorten urls and everything,
but it still shows up google shortner
(and I don't know why but for some reason,
first two posts is shown with original urls. have no idea)
2. well, but bigger problem is some of them have broken link
when I click on the link it shows the following things on screen;
"error": {
"errors": [
"domain": "global",
"reason": "required",
"message": "Required parameter: shortUrl",
"locationType": "parameter",
"location": "shortUrl"
"code": 400,
"message": "Required parameter: shortUrl"
because of all that, I'm manually typing my post into twitter.
I will wait for your response.


text:
While Central Valley residents are being urged to use water wisely during the drought, a new report shows that residents of Oakdale are coming through in their conservation efforts.
A Sconza Candy Company employee has filed federal charges against a local bakers union and her employer for a litany of rights violations regarding mandatory union membership and a subsequent suspension she received for not joining the union in a timely manner.
Veterans' Day now looks a bit different to Oakdale mothers Emmy McDaniel and Alicia London than it did two years ago. Both are now parents to sons who are on active duty in the military. That's a fact which prompted them both to become pro-active with Mid-Cal Blue Star Moms, a congressionally chartered Veteran Service Organization.
Oakdale voters sent a message on Tuesday, Nov. 4 with a resounding "Yes" in approving Measure Y, the continuation of a local half-cent sales tax, passing it by a 70 to 30 percent margin.
The 2014 Thanksgiving Break is going to start just a bit early for Oakdale High School freshman Hope Kindred. The 14-year-old will be boarding a plane on the evening of Thursday, Nov. 20, but she will not be headed for a tropical family vacation. Hope will be boarding a red eye flight out of Sacramento with a final destination of New York City.
Oakdale's The River Christian Community Church, 1351 E. G St., is a collection location this year for Operation Christmas Child.
Extreme weather conditions have led to abnormally high pollution conditions rarely seen in the Valley this time of year.
The most prominent figure in sports to retire this year not named Derek Jeter lives right here in Oakdale.
With little fanfare and no public comment, the Oakdale Irrigation District raised the price of water for its 2,900 agricultural customers Tuesday. Later, board members moved to soften the financial impact of higher rates by supporting a proposal to help farmers pay for projects to improve irrigation efficiency.
Oakdale voters overwhelmingly approved continuation of a half-cent sales tax in voting on Tuesday, Nov. 4.
Longtime Escalon Unified School District board member John Largent was returned to the board by an overwhelming majority in the Tuesday election.
In response to this growing incidence of distracted driving, the California Highway Patrol (CHP) has launched a yearlong, Adult Distracted Driving traffic safety campaign in partnership with the Office of Traffic Safety and the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. A minimum of 80 distracted driving enforcement operations and at least 500 traffic safety presentations will be completed statewide by the end of September 2015.
Riverbank Police and Emergency crews responded to a report of a pedestrian struck by an Amtrak train around 9:13 a.m. on Friday, Oct. 31 near the area of Terminal Avenue and Claribel Road.
Costumes, jack-'o-lanterns, haunted houses and scary ghost stories mark this time of year as all kids of all ages enjoy the spirit of Halloween. But if precautions aren't taken, scary things can happen. Decorations that ignited are the reported cause in 900 home fires nationwide each year. Two of every five of those were started by a candle.
Page 63 of 173
Novice runner Matt Terry has taken his newly acquired passion and quite literally, he's run with it.
California Dairy Campaign (CDC) President Joe Augusto commended members of Congress on Thursday for signing onto a bipartisan, bicameral letter calling on United States Department ...
Volunteers gather once a month at the Stanislaus River bridge on North Yosemite Avenue for a clean-up effort and here are shown loading up some ...
As Central Valley temperatures continue to stay around the century mark, locals may choose to cool off in the Stanislaus River or keep their kitchen ...
For Orange Blossom 4-H members, summer time is fair time! Several members in the club participated in the California State Fair as well as the ...
A rapidly moving grass fire threatened Knights Ferry homes on Saturday, July 30, reported after an assisting unit on an unrelated incident spotted the blaze ...
It was just three short years ago that Oakdale High School alumnus Lindsay Combs graced the stage to accept her diploma along with other members ...
Oakdale Police had West F Street closed off Wednesday morning, Aug. 3 due to a vehicle collision that killed an elderly woman pedestrian.
Page 5 of 5
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Guilty plea in sexting caseJanuary 12,2013BURLINGTON A Vermont man has pleaded guilty to persuading a 12-year-old girl to take nude photos of herself and send the images to his cellphone.
The U.S. Attorneys office says 26-year-old Richard Fletcher of Sheffield pleaded guilty to producing, receiving and possessing child pornography in federal court Wednesday.
Fletcher admitted that in 2011 he persuaded the girl in Utah to take the photos and send him the images.
Fletcher and the girl never met face-to-face. Prosecutors said he met her on a social media website, obtained her cellphone number, and began calling and texting her. They said he pressed for the photos after persuading the girl that he loved her and wanted her to be his girlfriend.
Fletcher is scheduled to be sentenced on April 22.MORE IN Vermont NewsCOLCHESTER Youthful masterpieces of Mozart and Mendelssohn, played brilliantly, opened the... Full StoryMONTPELIER A requested recount of ballots cast in this months Democratic primary for one of... Full StoryBARRE TOWN It took several years and two trips to the Vermont Supreme Court, but a group of... Full Story
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- Report: #613663
Report - Rebuttal - Arbitrate
Complaint Review: FIA CREDIT SERVICES
FIA CREDIT SERVICESPO BOX 15019, Internet United States of America
FIA CREDIT SERVICES BANK OF AMERICA NASTY PRACTICES USED AGAINST LOYAL CUSTOMERS, Internet
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So I managed to land the equivalent of two extra jobs and was able to catch up on the payments. At one time the payment (in just fees for three months) was over $700! Now the fun part begins. During this time I received a late payment warning from FIA that a Penalty APR of 28.75% would be charged. My original APR was 11. 75% (up until June 2009) and with my financial difficulty my APR changed to 28.75% (starting July 2009). This credit card company demonstrated callousness when it did not accept my good faith payments as proof of my intention to honor my obligations when I could not afford to buy food. The new law states: If the cardholder triggers the default rate because of a 60-day delinquency, the bank must restore the lower rate once the cardholder makes 6 consecutive on-time payments. I made my payments and was conscientious - during this time THANKFULLY I did not use the card because unbeknownst to me they lowered my credit to less than half, refused to lower the amount in violation of the new law, and when I paid all money in full summery dropped my account.
This was their response after many letters were sent and their refusal to even consider taking me back to where I started. They cannot be contacted online. When I called they said we will not help me and their advice was that I ask a friend or family member for the money since they will not help me. When I was behind in payments they called me every hour on the hour even on Sunday. I gave up answering the telephone and took it off line. Just this week the final amount has been paid and I am sure they will squeeze more interest from me if they can. Where does someone begin to report something like this? I am a teacher with a teacher's salary and was trapped by them, and I know that many teachers' in unions are also attached to this noxious anti-American business entity. (Why cant teachers be paid well?) There must be a way to combat such a nasty fraudulent company when so many people depend upon them for some stability? I have been with the credit union for many years, in excess of 15, and was treated like garage to be tossed away.
This report was posted on Ripoff Report on 06/13/2010 12:20 AM and is a permanent record located here: http://www.ripoffreport.com/r/FIA-CREDIT-SERVICES/internet/FIA-CREDIT-SERVICES-BANK-OF-AMERICA-NASTY-PRACTICES-USED-AGAINST-LOYAL-CUSTOMERS-Internet-613663. The posting time indicated is Arizona local time. Arizona does not observe daylight savings so the post time may be Mountain or Pacific depending on the time of year.
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Mason-Draffen, a business reporter, writes a column about workplace issues.
DEAR CARRIE: I am a store manager for a major retailer. During the interview for the job, I learned at the very end that I would have to work at least 44 hours a week without earning overtime. While I was not happy about that prospect, I accepted the job because I knew that employers, by law, didn't have to pay managers time and a half when they worked more than 40 hours a week. My question concerns how the hours appear on my pay stub. I am paid twice a month and my hours are listed as follows: "regular pay: 80 hours; "overtime pay: eight." My salary is listed for the 80 hours but no dollar amount follows the overtime designation. Still, since the eight extra hours are clearly listed on my pay stub, shouldn't I receive the overtime pay for them? -- Overworked
DEAR OVERWORKED: If you truly fall into the management category, your company doesn't have to be as rigorous with record keeping for you as it must be for hourly, or nonexempt employees. Those workers have to be paid for all the time they work and must earn overtime when they work more than 40 hours a week.
Latest columns
On the other hand, as a manager, or an exempt employee, you could work 20 extra hours a week and your company wouldn't have to pay you for them. So the hours recorded have less significance in your case.
"Bona fide exempt managers need not have their total hours worked (each workday and workweek) nor overtime hours recorded," said Irv Miljoner, who heads the Long Island office of the U.S. Labor Department.
Managers fall into the executive category and are exempt from overtime and even minimum wage. To preserve those exemptions, companies have to pay the exempt employees at least $455 a week and must guarantee that salary, unless those workers miss a full day of work for personal reasons.
Companies cannot designate someone as a manager willy-nilly.
In addition to the salary requirements, their primary duties must involve managing and they must supervise at least two full-time employees.
DEAR CARRIE: I have been unemployed since April. I am a mature, experienced administrator with excellent skills and am constantly applying for jobs. Since April, I have had about 12 interviews with no offers. Because of my age, I just don't see any job prospects. Many companies prefer someone younger who can give them more years on the job. In the meantime, my unemployment benefits expire next month. What are my prospects for a benefits extension, given my unsuccessful efforts to find work? I know that many extensions available during and immediately after the recession have been scaled back. -- Long-Term Unemployed
DEAR LONG-TERM: You noted that you became unemployed in April. That is key. People who filed their original unemployment benefits claims between March 18 and June 17 of this year could be eligible for one to 14 weeks of federal emergency unemployment compensation, according to the State Labor Department's website. That's beyond the 26 weeks of regular unemployment benefits.
But here's a wrinkle: If you receive those extended benefits, your payments will be reduced 10.7 percent because of federal sequestration, or mandatory budget cuts.
As with all unemployment issues, the Labor Department suggests that you call its Telephone Claims Center because the department determines claims on a case-by-case basis.
You can reach the center at 888-209-8124.
For more on federal record-keeping requirements and managers, go to http://bit.ly/15ewgTR
For more on unemployment-benefit extensions, go to http://bit.ly/17luVKn


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Not sure if this is a multisite question, but we have a user that is running multisite with twelve sites. Setting featured images words on all sites, but not on the 12th (or the 13th). I checked folder permissions and bumped the memory and still not the "saving" message just hangs.
Any ideas would be appreciated.


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