Reviews Category
We don’t just report off-beat news, breaking news and digest the best and worst of the news media analysis and commentary. We give an original take on what happened and why. We add lols, satire, news photos and original content.
Brigitte Höss: daughter of a Auschwitz Kommandant living in Virginia questions the Holocaust
BRIGITTE Höss has lived for four decades in Washington DC. She’s worked in a Jewish-owned fashion store. And that’s interesting because her father was Rudolf Höss (aka Rudolf Hoess) leading Nazi and Kommandant of Auschwitz. Rudolf Höss was a mass murderer.
Between the aged of 7 and 11 she lived with her four brothers and sisters in a handsome villa with views of the death camp – the place her father designed and built. She also lived by in Dachau and Sachsenhausen. (Photos above: Brigitte’s on the left.)
The Auschwitz house was decorated with objects stolen from the murdered prisoners.
Men in striped pyjamas tended to her family’s garden.
She’s still alive.
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Posted: 10th, September 2013 | In: Flashback, Reviews | Comments (3)
Syria: John Kerry blunders into a win for Russia and Obama
JOHN Kerry, the man whose gravitas is found almost entirely in his hair and ‘thinking face’, had a thought about Syria.
Asked if there were steps the Syrian president could take to avert an American-led attack, Mr. Kerry said, “Sure, he could turn over every single bit of his chemical weapons to the international community in the next week — turn it over, all of it, without delay and allow the full and total accounting.”
Good idea.
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Posted: 10th, September 2013 | In: Politicians, Reviews | Comment
FLASHBACK to 1896: Henry Ford ride the Quadricycle
FLASHBACK to 1896: Henry Ford is seen on the Quadricycle, the first automobile he ever built in Dearborn, Mich.
On June 4, 1896 in a tiny workshop behind his home on 58 Bagley Street, Ford put the finishing touches on his pure ethanol-powered motor car. After more than two years of experimentation, Ford, at the age of 32, had completed his first experimental automobile. He dubbed his creation the “Quadricycle,” so named because it ran on four bicycle tires, and/or because of the means through which the engine drove the back wheels. The success of the little vehicle led to the founding of the Henry Ford Company and then later the Ford Motor Company in 1903.[5]
The two cylinder engine could produce 4 horsepower.The Quadricycle was driven by a chain. The transmission had only two gears (first for 10 mph (16 km/h), 2nd for 20 mph (32 km/h)) but Ford could not shift into second gear due to lack of torque and did not have a reverse gear. The tiller-steered machine had wire wheels and a 3 US gal fuel tank under the seat.[2] Ford test drove it on June 4, 1896, after various test drives, achieving a top speed of 20 mph (32 km/h).
Over 100 years later, the speed limit in Dearborn is 35mph. Progress…
1933: How the yo-yo triggered war in Syria
ON January 23, 1933 it was reported that Yo Yo’s were banned in Syria because they were also “blamed for drought”.
In 2013, William R. Polk. was quoted:
Syria has been convulsed by civil war since climate change came to Syria with a vengeance. Drought devastated the country from 2006 to 2011. Rainfall in most of the country fell below eight inches (20 cm) a year, the absolute minimum needed to sustain un-irrigated farming. Desperate for water, farmers began to tap aquifers with tens of thousands of new well. But, as they did, the water table quickly dropped to a level below which their pumps could lift it.
Jamaica moves to legalise ‘Blue Montain’ ganga for export
THERE is talk of Jamaica opening itself up to ganga tours.
In this photo a Rastafarian named Bongho Jatusy smokes a pipe of marijuana outside a museum dedicated to the memory of late reggae icon Bob Marley in Kingston, Jamaica. While marijuana is still illegal in Jamaica, increasingly vocal advocates say that Jamaica could give its struggling economy a boost by taking advantage of the fact the island is nearly as famous for its marijuana as it is for beaches, reggae music and world-beating sprinters.
Justice minister Mark Golding told the Associated Press the government that legalisation is on the agenda:
“We will be reviewing the matter in light of the recent developments in this hemisphere.”
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1982: When Michael Fagan met the Queen in her bedroom and urinated on the corgi food
MICHAEL Fagan spent 10 minutes of 1982 talking to the Queen, who was in bed, after he climbed Buckingham Palace walls and up a drainpipe. It was the second time he’d broken into the Palace in a month.
He says of the latest incident of intruders in the Palace:
“I am really quite shocked after all that’s gone on, terrorist wise, that he could get in that easily. Security must have been pretty lax. I think there’s got to be some questions asked. It’s ridiculous. I think this time the Home Secretary should resign, no doubt about it, because he didn’t resign for me when I did it. But this time it’s deathly. Bombs going off everywhere and someone got that far, come on! We were told security was tightened after I got in.”
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Posted: 9th, September 2013 | In: Flashback, Royal Family | Comment
Police kill 107 year old man in Arkansas shoot out
TO Arkansas, where a police S.W.A.T. team have shot and killed – get this – a 107-year-old man.
Monroe Isadore was the subject of call that he had assaulted two people at a home. Attending police removed the alleged victims and then knocked on Isadore’s door. They identified themselves. They claim Isadore – now alone – responded by pulling a gun and firing at them through the closed door.
The S.W.A.T. team were called. They pumped a gas into Isadore’s room. Isadore reacted by shooting at the gassing S.W.A.T. team through a bedroom window.
So. The S.W.A.T. team backed off and waited? No.
They tossed in a “distraction device”. Isadore shot. The police shot him dead.
Only in America, folks…
Spotter: Cheryl
Huseyin Centinel and the wonderful painted stairs of Beyoglu, Istanbul (photos)
HUSEYIN Centinel wanted to brighten up his area of Beyoglu, Istanbul. So. He spent 4 days and $800 of his own money painting a set of stairs in bright green and sky blue “to make people smile.” And then someone from the Beyoglu municipality painted them gray.
He told TV news:
“I didn’t do it for a group or as a form of activism. I did it to make people smile”
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Posted: 8th, September 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
EDL Tower Hamlets march in photos and arrests
YESTERDAY’S EDL march was prevented them from passing through the middle of Tower Hamlets, kept away by court order and police from the East London mosque.
George Thomas, for the Metropolitan Police, said people taking part in EDL marches could be “unreasonably” provocative and he believed between 1,000 and 2,000 people would take part in the EDL march and “several thousand” in counter-demonstrations. He said this could leave the police facing “crisis management”.
The Guardian says police made 10 arrests, including that of EDL leader Tommy Robinson. It fails to say that anti-fascists were also pinched:
In an attempt to get nearer to the EDL, a large part of the crowd headed by an Anti-Fascist Network bloc set off round nearby streets. Some of them ended up being kettled by police, who later staged a mass arrest of anti-fascists under Section 12 and Section 14 of the Public Order Act 1986 – the laws which allow the police to impose conditions on public demonstrations and assemblies. In other words, they were arrested for diverging from the route imposed by the police – for little more than standing in the wrong road.
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Essex Council paints dog poo orange – cast of TOWIE envious
IS everything painted orange in Essex?
Council officers will patrol areas where dog fouling is a particular problem and spray-paint any poo they see orange – and leave it like that for two weeks. It is hoped the bizarre project will shock dog owners into changing their bad habits and clean up after their pets.
Or smear it all over their skin and look like an extra from TOWIE. Why not sprinkle a pot of warovski crystals in the poo and call it a beauty parlour…
Major grass problem in Essex
Overgrown trees in Billericay, Essex are being blamed for attracting “hooligans” who damage property and defecate on cars…
Steve Radford, 55, is fed up with the situation. His house backs on to the problem street, which is overrun with out-of-control saplings and unruly sycamores…
After a child is savaged to death it’s time to kill Romania’s stray dogs
STRAY dogs are a big issue in Eastern Europe. In Bucharest, Romania, Ionut Anghel, a 4-year old boy, was fatally mauled by stray dogs last Monday whilst on a trip to the park with his grandmother.
The stray dog population of the Romanian capital is estimated to be around 64,000 according to city hall sources. The Matei Bals hospital for infectious diseases says it has treated 9,760 people for dogs bites this year, of which a quarter were children.
So. Should strays be rounded up and killed?
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Posted: 8th, September 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (11)
Palace police mistake Prince Andrew for terrorist as burlgar pays for a private tour
A security review has been launched after a break-in at Buckingham Palace when a man scaled a fence to get inside the Queen’s home. Police said the man had been found “in an area currently open to the public during the day” and was arrested for burglary, trespass and criminal damage. A second man was arrested outside the palace for conspiracy to commit burglary following the incident shortly before 10.30pm on Monday.
An inner-city mansion packed with shiny things is always going to be a target.
The Telegraph thunders from its front page:
Palace break in: terrorist warning
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Posted: 8th, September 2013 | In: Reviews, Royal Family | Comment
Gun celebrity George Zimmerman’s wife Shellie Zimmerman say he was ‘abusive’
IN every disaster a media carer is born. On Good Morning America appeared Shellie Zimmerman. She’s the estranged wife of George Zimmerman, the woman who shot Trayvon Martin dead and after a trial walked free. Says Shellie:
“I have been married to a person for almost seven years, and I don’t think I ever knew him at all… I have a selfish husband, and I think George is all about George.”
Maybe she’s a victim, too?
fgndgng
In other news, MZ, Zimmerman went on a trip to Florida-based gun makers Kel-Tec. It made the PF-9 pistol Zimmerman used to shoot dead Trayvon Martin. Zimmerman posed for photos and asked about buying a tactical shotgun.
And this is the America that thinking about bombing Syria…
Reporter on Daily Mail drugs sting bought garden herbs
THE Irish Daily Mail wants to highlight the ease with which a journalist can buy marijuana:
“THE ease with which illegal drugs can be bought online is revealed today in an Irish Daily Mail undercover operation. Our reporter was able to click on a website, send an email and a short time later, pay a small-time dealer €50 for three grams of marijuana on a busy Dublin street… The illegal substance was then handed over to the gardaí, and full details of the transaction reported to them.”
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Posted: 7th, September 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comment
Christians for Assad: Why Syrian nun Mother Agnès-Mariam de la-Croix says chemical attack on Guta is a fraud
SYRIA is stuck in the middle of a narcissistic West keen to show it’s moral righteousness by bombing al-Hitler and a Russia eager to show that Barack Obama is out of his depth and America are imperial scumbags. This latest report is from Russia Today:
Footage of chemical attack in Syria is fraud
Any evidence?
Mother Agnes, a catholic nun, who has been living in Syria for 20 years and has been reporting actively on what has been going on in the war-ravaged country, says she carefully studied the video featuring allegedly victims of the chemical weapons attack in the Syrian village of Guta in August and now questions its authenticity.
In her interview with RT, Mother Agnes doubts so much footage could have been taken in so little time, and asks where parents of the supposedly dead children are. She promises to send her report to the UN.
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Posted: 7th, September 2013 | In: Reviews | Comments (5)
Dying from a marijuana overdose in Washington and Colorado: weed turns you into a violent criminal
NICK Wing has a GIF showing all of the people who have died after overdosing on pot:
In a word, yes. But Holder says the State must include “strong and effective regulatory and enforcement systems”.
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Posted: 7th, September 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (9)
Princess Diana was murdered by a former SAS prisoner who hated his wife, says Daily Express
PRINCESS Diana is back in the news. The Daily Express leads with a shocker:
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Posted: 7th, September 2013 | In: Reviews, Royal Family | Comment
Father makes family live like it’s 1986 to feed his own ego
TO Ontario, Canada, to see a family spent the year pretending it’s 1986. Why ’86? Well, the patriarch, Blair McMillan, was born in 1986. He says:
“We’re parenting our kids the same way we were parented for a year just to see what it’s like.”
GUELPH – If you ever need to know who was the prime minister in 1960 and you’re willing to wait 10 minutes for the answer, Blair McMillan is your man.
He’ll take his time carefully thumbing through a volume of his vintage encyclopaedia set, donated by a bewildered soul who probably wondered why the 26-year-old father of two couldn’t just get an Internet connection.
The thing is, Blair and his girlfriend Morgan, 27, are pretending it’s 1986.
And they’re doing it because their kids – Trey, 5, and Denton, 2 – wouldn’t look up from their parents’ iPhones and iPads long enough to kick a ball around the backyard.
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Posted: 6th, September 2013 | In: Flashback, Strange But True | Comment
Charles Dozsa’s arrest: I was eating a meal… a succulent chinese meal…
CHARLES Dozsa was eating a meal in 1988… a succulent Chinese meal… when the police arrested him.
Phrases to watch out for from the magnificent Hungarian:
“Gentlemen, this is democracy manifest.”
“Have a look at the headlock here – get your hand of my pen1s!’
“On what charge, eating a meal, a succulent Chinese meal.”
“Ah Sir, I see you know your Judo.”
“And you sir, are you waiting to receive my limp pen1s?”
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Posted: 6th, September 2013 | In: Key Posts, Reviews | Comments (6)
Stage disasters: the unlucky 13 pop stars for whom the show did not always go on
IN this Flashback, we look at State Disasters. The show doesn’t always go on
Beyoncé’s bad hair day had a happy ending – she extricated herself from the fan (mechanical, rather than maniacal in this case).
And at least she had the good humour to see the funny side afterwards – other victims of onstage disasters certainly didn’t. And one didn’t even live to tell the tale…
Syd Barrett
Early signs of the Pink Floyd front-man’s mental disintegration were apparent in 1967. That year he appeared on stage with an entire tube of Brylcreem in his hair into which – according to some accounts – he had crushed a handful of Mandrax tablets. Mandies or not, the lotion melted under the lights, leaving him looking like ‘a guttered candle’. The song Vegetable Man (unreleased) reflected Syd’s self-loathing at the time…
Arthur Brown
Arthur’s bad hair was in a league of its own, thanks to his famous flaming helmet, worn in honour of The Crazy World of Arthur Brown’s solitary hit, Fire. Its precursor – a colander soaked in methanol – was less successful. The fuel soaked into his scalp and set his head alight at the Windsor Festival in 1967. The fire was put out with beer.
Vince Taylor
The pioneering British rocker is remembered for two things: his classic single Brand new Cadillac and the mental problems, exacerbated by LSD and booze, which led to incidents such as declaring himself the apostle Matthew at one of his London concerts.
David Bowie was a friend of Taylor’s, and recalls encountering Taylor lying on the pavement in Caring Cross Road, studying a map of Europe and pointing out where UFOs would be landing. He later based the character of Ziggy Stardust on Taylor.
Keith Moon
So many to choose from, not least the time he overdosed and fell unconscious twice during a 1973 Who concert in California. After the second incident, Pete Townshend asked if there was a drummer in the audience, and the volunteer played the rest of the set.
Possibly the most spectacular mishap occurred when Moon detonated some powerful fireworks in his drum kit after the band’s 1967 appearance on the Smothers Brothers show. The explosion (7.20 onwards in the clip below) genuinely stunned the hosts, and is blamed by Townshend for his subsequent hearing problems.
Video here.
Frank Zappa
December 1971 was a bad month for the Mothers of Invention. First their equipment was set on fire by a flare fired from the audience during an appearance at the Casio de Montreux. The casino was razed to the ground, and, as a final indignity, the fire inspired Deep Purple to write Smoke on the Water.
Later that month a fan pushed Zappa off the stage at London’s Rainbow Theatre. He fell into the concrete orchestra pit, sustaining serious injuries to his head, neck, back and legs, and crushing his larynx. He was wheelchair-bound for a long period afterwards and his voice deepened significantly.
Patti Smith
The rock poet ‘did a Zappa’ in 1977, with a 15 foot fall into an orchestra pit in Tampa. She broke several vertebrae.
Harry Styles
One Direction’s young shaver was hit squarely in the other kind of ‘orchestra stalls’ by a shoe hurled from the audience during a performance in Glasgow earlier this year.
Stereophonics
The Welsh rockers suffered a less dramatic shock in 2004 when Kelly Jones and Richard Jones were electrocuted at the Bataclan in Paris. Sparks flew but the band played on.
Kris Novoselic
The Nirvana bassist failed to catch his instrument after throwing it in the air during the 1992 Music Video Awards. Apparently he still has a dent in his head.
Iggy Pop
In 201o, Iggy Pop dived at the New York crowd; and missed.
“When I landed it hurt and I made a mental note that Carnegie Hall would be a good place for my last stagedive. The audience were just like, ‘What are you doing?'”
Les Harvey
The mother of all stage accidents occurred the following year during a Stone The Crows gig the Top Rank Suite in Swansea. Les Harvey (brother of The Sensational Alex) touched an unearthed microphone with wet hands and was killed on the spot.
And finally…
U2
Our favourite. Life imitates art as the Irish megastars suffer a Spinal Tap moment – trapped inside a 40ft mechanical lemon. When the fruit malfunctioned the band were forced to clamber out of the back during their PopMart tour in Oslo.
Posted: 6th, September 2013 | In: Flashback, Key Posts, Music | Comment
Syria: Assad is more Winston Churchill than Adolf Hitler
BARACK Obama says the “red line” is chemical weapons. When Bashar al-Assad used them in Mouadamiya, Syria, as has been claimed, he crossed that moral line. Obama says the use of such weapons is “barbarism“. John Kerry says Assad is a “thug and murderer”. He says Assad is just like Hitler. But maybe he’s like that other wartime leader. Winston Churchill opined on July 6, 1944:
“It maybe several weeks before I shall ask you to drench Germany with poison gas, and if we do it, let us do it 100 per cent… I do not understand this squeamishness about the use of gas. I am strongly in favour of using poison gas against uncivilised tribes. The moral effect should be so good that the loss of life should be reduced to a minimum.”
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Posted: 6th, September 2013 | In: Flashback, Reviews | Comment
At work with the sewer divers of Mexico City (photos)
JULIO Cou Cámara (see above and below) is the Mexico City sewer swimmer. He is one of a handful of divers whose job it is to free the sewers of any blockages. They earn about $500 a month.
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Posted: 6th, September 2013 | In: Money, Reviews | Comment (1)
